human-ness

I am excited about the coming week.
I am excited about the past weekend.
I am excited about future farming prospects.
I am excited about human-powered agriculture.
I am excited about raspberries
I am excited about ...............

The coming week:

Lots of mowing, for sure. We are hosting the next CRAFT visit (our topic is Mechanical Cultivation which D knows inside and out) and D wants the place to sparkle. So do we. The great news is that the place already sparkles. Just one more pass should do...
Lots of celebrating as well. My brother and his girlfriend.. and my friend Jonny all have their birthdays this week. NICE.
The 4th of July means fireworks!! NICE.
H will be visiting. NIICE.
We will be harvesting tons of garlic on Friday with members!! NIIICE.

The past weekend:

Distribution was fantastic.

The share was easily the most varied/colorful yet.

Beets
Broccoli
Carrots
Swiss Chard
Turnips
Summer Squash
Zucchini
Garlic Scapes
Head Lettuce
Cabbage
Kohlrabi
Scallions
Spinach
Goldenfrill







Amy from Wild Hive joined us this week. Sold a loaf or two from what I could tell (snark snark)...



Mike from Thunderhill Farms was selling fresh eggs as well. SO MUCH GOOD STUFF!

We crowned the winner of our 10th Anniversary T-shirt design competition. Congratulations. Dig the design. Think I'll get me an apron (oh yeah, available in apron format as well).

During distribution I got a chance to further cultivate the winter squash in A. Seems that Purslane has no idea when to quit. Pull it out and leave it in the row? It just re roots and comes back. And that in a few days. Tenacious, that stuff.
So I hopped on the Cub and worked my way down each row turning the soil with the spade attachments. The process is very similar to hilling potatoes (as it is just that, hilling soil to cover weeds), but it is so much more delicate. Squash stems are about as fragile as they come, so running an iron shoe down the row about an inch from each plant at a couple miles and hour took a little doin. And being right across from the members' parking area, on display, made the experience a tiny bit nerve wracking. Regardless, the result was satisfying.



After distribution it was straight to the train for a quick city getaway.
Simply, wonderful.

Future farming prospects:

H and I will be visiting with a land owner in PA in a few weeks. She has expressed interest in the possibility of the two of us farming her land. More as that unfolds. In short... we're excited. We shall see.

With that in mind, this past week has handed me quite a bit of brainstorming concerning human-powered agriculture.
More thoughts research on a bike/tractor/harvester.
Brainstorming irrigation possibilities... i.e. Pedal-powered water pump filling a large gravity tank. Hmmm.
This guy seems to have the right idea.
H sent me this. Also very cool.

Thoughts. Thoughts.

Raspberries:

Just that. Had my first one from our row. It was not fully ripe, but I couldn't help myself. I've got a bit of a berry fixation. Again... I've got a bit of a berry fixation.

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Today? Straightforward.

Harvested Kohlrabi, Carrots (note to self: buy big rubber/waterproof overalls. used d's today. aaand...being dry after washing 100+ bunches of carrots is really really nice), Scallions, E & D harvested Summer Squash/Zucchini

A new/old volunteer, Gordon, joined us for the rest of the morning and ALL of our afternoon. Now THAT's a trooper.
We weeded herbs in E. That took us to lunch.
Afterward I weedwhacked the paths between the beds of garlic. Kinda painful. Whole lotta flinging of small "stuffs" at my legs/arms/face.
Then it was down to Y to cultivate carrots, leeks, scallions, cilantro, beans and others I'm forgetting. Gordon wheel hoed and moved irrigation... by himself. Go on now...

After work, E and I made a trip to pick up a free washer/dryer from a kind soul that offered it to E online. We hook it up tomorrow and it's "good-bye" to painful remote washing experiences... Hello, convenience!! Thanks E. Good score.

Finished the day with some hand cultivation in the 3 Sisters Field. First half done, second half tomorrow.

Speaking of, I get to be here for distribution this week.

Dig!

work. celebrate.

Nas in the phones.
Peanuts, hand to mouth.
Yuengling in a bottle.

Life requires celebration.
Large and small.

A rather physical day/week done.

We started the day harvesting in Y. Head Lettuce. I got to mow the headlands of the bed so our legs could remain dry during the washing part of the harvest. Yeah, all excited about mowing. Still.

Next up? W1. Spinach. Go know. We thought it was done/gone. Little did we know that bolting does not necessarily mean "over." It tasted great so we went for it. Got close to 90 lbs.

Next victim? Swiss Chard. A rainbow of watery fiber. Bunched by the dozen..ish.
Nancy and Judy pulled the yellow leaves from the row as D & E followed with their knives and twist-ties.

During all of this I ran to the barn, hopped the closest John Deere (w/ rototiller attached) tractor I could find and beelined back to W1. The (finally finished) Spinach beds needed to be turned over. I did just that.

Upon completion, D spun buckwheat seed (summer cover crop) by hand over the beds. Back to the barn I went to detach the rototiller and attach the brillion seeder (which, in this case, was to be used for its weight to press the cover seed into the soil). Before I could return to the field, everyone magically appeared at the office for a morning break.

Nancy brought muffins. GOOD! I heated up coffee. Drank it. Buzzed. Smiled. On with the rest of the morning... which consisted of pressing the cover seed with the brillion and raking the pathways beside the Swiss Chard beds. Many discarded leaves close to healthy leaves = Opportunity for rot/disease. I removed said leaves in a harvest cart and to the compost pile they went.

-Intermission-

Straight to summer squash (last piece of this week's distribution puzzle) after lunch.

-(aside) I'm having an extremely hard time putting together today's series of events in my head for whatever reason. I know we ended with trellising tomatoes, but I want to say some minor task directly preceded that as I remember D saying, "I'll go get ready to trellis while you guys do ...???" Ugh!!-

Anyhoo, we learned how to trellis tomatoes today. (note to self: we trellised a little late in the game. still effective, but way too much work. trellis tomatoes at around 12-18". much easier. better for the plant too.)
Not too complicated. Pound metal posts into the bed between every other plant. String 1 continuous twine, post to post, using a wooden stick (extends your reach to alleviate loads of back bending). Support plants about 3/4 high. Repeat. Easy.







After work and a quick hour of relaxing, I caught my second wind. What to do?
Hmmm. Tomorrow is distribution and I've got hours til dark?? Beautify!!
Mowing!! Rocked the mower for a couple hours... hit a hidden rock near the flower garden after most was done... bent one of the blades... had to quit... will fix on monday. Had a great time though.

Made my evening rounds with camera in hand.
A couple things stood out:

1. THE most gorgeous color (black purple??)/plant (to me) on the entire farm. Japanese Eggplant.









and

2. WE GOT BEANS!!! In the 3 Sisters Field that is. The Red Noodles are ahead of the pack.. then the Trail of Tears. No word from Scarlet Runner yet.
I feel like a proud parent. ...Pretty compacted soil. Fighters, these ones!!

















Can.You.Dig.It?

I knew that you could.

Dig

processes

Hand weeding A/winter squash:

Kneel in path
Identify weeds (mostly Purslane)
Discern from squash plant (easy, though other plants are not)
Extend hands, palms down
Thumbs behind base of squash plant
Push weeds/dirt away from base towards opposite side path
In return motion, sweep all fingers (small circles) through weeds/soil on either side agitating thoroughly
While moving to next plant perform steps 2, 3, and 4 so you can have your thumbs behind the plant by the time you're stationary.

Raking clumps in A/winter squash:

Stand in path at 45 degree angle from bed
Hold rake as you would a broom
Place rake about 2-3 inches from base of plant
Pull rake toward you through the soil
Move it slightly side to side at the same time to further break up clumps
Work your way down the row



Stirrup hoeing melons:

Much the same as raking squash except that you walk backwards along the path.



Harvesting carrots:

Stand sideways in path facing carrots
Place heavy duty pitchfork/shovel about 3-4 inches from base of greens
Force down into dirt with foot (as you would a shovel)
When about 6-8 inches down, pry tool back, forcing carrots up
Pull carrots by the bunch, gently shake off dirt and lay parallel in path
Tie 8-10 to a bunch
Rinse thoroughly and spray off with hose



Harvesting cabbage:

Force open leaves downward with your hands exposing head
With left hand push cabbage head to the side exposing the stem
Cut through stem
Place in bin

(no pics. sorry.)

Rototilling unusable crops back into soil:

Pull tractor to the head of the bed
Pull forward until rototiller is at the head of the bed
Engage PTO
Lower rototiller
Proceed down bed
Raise rototiller when you have reached the end of the bed/crop



Stretching at the end of the day:

Clear your mind of all thoughts
Stretch ALL muscles

Dig

small-scale living

Last night I passed on blogging. Why?
Lazy? Nah.
Away from the farm? Please.
To bed early??? Nope.

Reason: I talked to my sister on the phone for almost an hour and a half. Really nice. I feel very fortunate to have family that I love and enjoy talking to and can be around for hours/days...even if we only get to do so once a month... or year. The basic things in life.

Thanks family!

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So, yesterday, E and I continued our self-management stint. Though, to be fair, D was just about back in action. He spent the morning doing office work. Obviously just as essential as anything else. Also, to be fair, I think he should have been home resting more. A troo trooper, this guy.

The rest of the broccoli, 700+ sprigs of basil and 180+ summer squash were harvested to make up the balance of our Tuesday shares.
With the help of Johanna we got a jump start on filling the 69 bins to be taken to the city for Tuesday's drop off. With D laying low in the office, I seized the opportunity to take the "share picture" for the week.



Not terrible, but not even close to what D can capture.

With bins loaded and placed back in the cooler, we took a short break. Coffee and cookies. Chips Ahoy cookies. Yeah, yeah, I know. Questionable ingredients. But, good gravy, they tasted awesome!! Thanks Johanna.

Before lunch I managed to rototill two beds in F and help finish hand-weeding the carrot row in E. Carrots are, without doubts, the most painstaking weed experience on the farm. For me anyway.

After lunch we loaded the van, I made myself comfy in the driver's seat and sped off toward the city. A truly by-the-book drop off. No news is usually good news when on the road.
On the way back I stopped for groceries. My body was screaming for some fresh fruit. ...all is good now.

I cultivated the sides of the path in the 3 Sisters field after I got back. And must say, AGAIN, it's looking really good.





Look at that corn!!



This is one of the MANY reasons why I will pursue (and stick with) small scale farming. One has the luxury of being able to pay attention to detail. Individual plant growth.
Dozens of acres of corn?? Numbers. Figures. Works for some... not me.

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Today. Wednesday. June 25th! Already.

We played catch up. Seeding flats, (trans)planting and cultivation. Rutabaga & lettuce in the greenhouse,



herbs/parsley/lettuce/scallions in D/summer squash in F, and winter squash in A...respectively. I learned how to direct seed with a Planet Jr. Love the human-powered implements. We then pulled out the drip tape to water in the transplants as the sun was pretty merciless this afternoon.

So, yeah, F saw its very first seeds today!! Cucumbers and squash! Now, come one soil..Do it up!



This afternoon we weeded A (Winter squash). Period.

I don't have a "before" picture, but this is what it looks like now.





Just reinforces that small-scale notion. This could not be done so thoroughly/carefully were it on a larger scale.

Post workday had me mowing around the 3 Sisters and F. Meditation time...

A full belly and a shower earlier finds me quite satisfied and happy with this Wednesday. Another great day with its own unique discoveries, successes, failures (or "learning opportunities), laughs and reflections.

I'll end this post with that thought... and some pictures of the sheep, older chickens, "teen" chickens and baby chickens at the request of my sister. All from today.









The teens and Scrawny were hanging out on top of the root cellar.









for H.



Dig.

exceptional

This weekend was exceptional. In all ways.

Distribution had a great energy to it (or so I was told...).
I got to mow for the first hour.
I spent 10 hours afterward cleaning the back barn.
D's son had his 5th birthday celebration.
H made her train.
I shaved.
The longest day of the year came and went.
It was gorgeous.
The drive from the train station was breathtaking...
Exceptional amounts of rain = Exceptional growth. So lush. Everything.
Wine and pizza. Does it get any better...?

-Sunday-

H & I direct seeded 3 bean varieties in the 3 Sisters Field.
Cherokee Trail of Tears (in the outer corn stalk mounds)
Scarlet Runner (in the inner corn stalk mounds)
Red Noodle (around the base of each canopy branch)
We also strung together and secured the branches of said canopy.
Storms rolled through at regular intervals.
So happy/excited about the results and can't wait to see the beans begin their ascent...

In the evening I got a call from D.
He was LAID OUT with a major sinus infection/fever. Resting Monday.
It definitely had to be serious. D works non-stop.... really.
E & I were to move and shake the farm for the whole of Monday.

-Today (didn't get any pictures as it was raining on and off for the duration)-

First, I would like to thank the semi-elderly cab driver (same one each time. same woody station wagon too. nice.) who "hustled" to pick up H this morning. Again.. she made her train.
E took inventory to determine what and how much we needed to harvest.
I loaded the van with the proper tools/bins and we hit W1.
Bok Choi
Broccoli
Head Lettuce
Scallions
Kohlrabi
Turnips

Not bad for a two-person venture.
E spent the afternoon writing up another Member Newsletter article.
Me? I cleaned the perpetually dusty/dirty office. Lookin good now.
note to self: forevermore, use a LARGE window fan to draw dust out of enclosed spaces when cleaning. yeah, sometimes it's the obvious that hits you last.

A very successful "apprentice-led" Monday.

Pic time? I'd personally enjoy it.


















H holding the canopy branches together as I rush to get the twine (well, yeah, enough time to snap a picture)...



Crazy twine-tying concentration





Voila! Now picture it with long burgundy beans hanging all over it and vines wrapped inside and out. Dig.