The saturday of CRAZY!

Farmstock!

Ya know…I really hope I'm spelling that right. I honestly have no idea…

So today was basically a day offish. I woke up and did chores, but then was set to work washing gourds. (?) I had a bowl. I had a sponge. I had soap.

This was not what i expected when coming to work on a farm! hah. But i did enjoy it.

So, the reason for the prettifying was that we were making a display, hoping people would see it and then want to buy the gourds. I'm not sure it worked or not. But regardless, I spent all morning cleaning the DIRT-RIDDEN squash.

Everyone else was rushing around setting other things up and bringing out instruments. The atmosphere was pretty loose and excited.

Jen's parents came back with their two dogs, Katie and Leo. They had gone home for a day to make sure their house was hurricane-ready.

Around 12:30 people started to arrive, and so we began giving tours. Someone from the local paper came to check it out, and other various folk. Young and old came to see what Channery Hill Farm really has to offer. Of course, Sebastian was in heaven since there were plenty of other kids to play with, and Jen's mom, who was once a science teacher, i believe, brought all the kids up to the pond and collected some pond water for them to observe and experiment with.

I also got to meet Jimmy's girlfriend, Amanda. She's extremely nice! She even brought presents for Sebastian: lighting McQueen crocs, which were probably the most awesome crocs I've ever seen, and also a cars travel cup. He was very excited to say the least.

I gave a tour to an older couple, who couldn't walk as far, so I just showed them around the barn and the greenhouse. I told them ahead of time that I wasn't the best tour guide since I had only been there a week–but they didn't seem to mind. Just asked how I ended up here.

But as I gave them the tour I realized how much I've actually learned in just a short week. It's astounding! And it isn't like school where I'll learn it and then promptly forget 95% of it, I retain 95% of it now, and once I've got it I don't think I'll forget it because I'm actually DOING things. I'm working with what I'm learning and that makes all the difference.

After the tours were all done and people were just milling around, I got kind of… overwhelmed. There were so many people all doing their own thing and you must remember, for the past week the most people I'd been with is… 5-Jen, Kai, Sebastian, Jimmy, Katie. And I was also having trouble with the fact that Jimmy was leaving. I didn't understand the full impact it would have on working here yet, but I did not it would be different. And I didn't want different, because the way it was was perfect.

Anyway, I had to go sit alone for awhile–let myself breathe and everything.

But I soon decided that it would be better to immerse myself in the hecticness and that is when the gifts were bestowed upon the child and excitement ensued.

I also met Acadia who lives across the valley at Apple Pond farm. She's working on a land project and is hoping to make good, organic food to give to schools. It's pretty awesome, actually. But anyway, her truck broke down, so after everyone had left it started pouring rain and her mechanic still hadn't arrived so she stayed and chatted for awhile, and three things happened at once:

her mechanic arrived

I was told I should move my car since it was currently parked on a downhill slope

Jimmy was packed and ready to leave

So I moved my car and when I hit the brakes, they made the horrible screeching noise that made everyone look up and stare at me…

uh. crap.

But I did repark, and the brakes worked fine! They just made horrendous noises…

I said bye to Jimmy as the rain began to start up again, and then went to ask Acadia's mechanic about my brakes.

He said it was just rust since Ruby had just been sitting there for a week and it had rained during that week.

Or Ruby, she's so spoiled with her garage and all! Not used to weather!

But apparently, if I drove her, the noise would go away after a couple miles.

And that was basically the end of the day. We had dinner–the grandparents, Jen, Kai, Sebastian, and I–and talked about the impending storm.

Then went to bed, knowing when we woke up that a storm could be raging outside.

Here's another cute picture, because I have very few pictures this week.

The storm is coming!

Preparing for Irene!

Our tasks for the day were:

Move the wood pile so that it doesn't become projectiles that hit the house during high winds.

Take down the high tunnels plastic.

Harvest as though it's our last one.

Move everything inside that might be picked up by wind.

Finish preparing for farmstolk! Which is tomorrow.

And of course, the weather was void of clouds and HOT!

As we were moving the wood pile, garden snakes would slither hurriedly away as we uncovered them and put the wood on the tractor. It felt silly, moving the wood AWAY from the wood stove, but a necessary precaution. Jen didn't want huge pieces of nail-covered wood flying at the house.

Kaite and I cleaned up all the scraps in front of the old chicken house while Jimmy and Kai took down the plastic (a job I'm glad I missed. :p).

Things went pretty quickly with all of us, and by lunch everything but the harvesting was done. Jimmy went out and braved the heat while Katie and I made sauerkraut and pickled some cucumbers.

So making sauerkraut:

chop up cabbage (we did it with a food processor)

put the chopped cabbage in a big tub

fill the tub with salt water

find a way to submerge the cabbage completely so that the air can't easily get in

let sit (i'm actually not sure how long it has to sit for… but maybe just overnight, or perhaps a week. I really don't know)

And that's it. It's pretty simple as long as you have the right equipment.

All the while, Jen was making soup with some leftover CSA veggies, and watching legally blonde–this was a delight since I haven't seen a movie in a long while now. And I am certainly a movie person! So I feel a little deprived. It was nice to have a movie in the background.

Unfortunately, halfway through krauting I began to get an urge to pick tomatoes. I'm not quite sure why this is, especially since I generally prefer doing indoor tasks, but nevertheless, as soon as I was done making said sauerkraut, I went out to join jimmy in the harvest. Though, when I told Jen I wanted to go out and pick, she told me I could definitely have a break. I think she was surprised in my eagerness to get back out there.

So the work day ended with Jimmy and I picking tomatoes in the greenhouse, just as it had started. It was very bittersweet for me since it was Jimmy's last full day, and I was beginning to really hate the idea of him leaving.

But the night bore on and everyone was frantically trying to make instruments for farmstolk, Jimmy and Jen made a–or rather came close to making–a "ductare," or as most of us non-four-year–olds know it, a guitar, out of an olive oil tin.

Kai made a washtub bass, which, I must say, was the coolest thing I've ever played.

And Jimmy also brought down his keymonica…with looks and acts like a kids toy, so obviously Sebastian took a liking to it and ended up being able to keep it on the promise that he will practice any one instrument for at least one hour every week.

. . .

that hasn't happened yet.

Oh well.

We also ate some of the 40 hot dogs that Katie grilled. We decided to cook all the raw meat just in case we lost power, but of course, there was a LOT of meat.

Jimmy gave me some last bit of college advice, which was "don't drink the punch."

And I shall never forget it.

And that's that.

The end of my first week, really. And the end of the perfect paradise that this farm was for me.

It's certainly not bad now, but nothing holds a candle to how amazing that first week was.

And my first CSA drop off is here!

I woke up around 5 so that we could finish getting the orders ready (we ran out of bags the day before and had to wait till Jen's parents came, with bags, in order to finish bagging the shares).

It was cold and dark, but at least I didn't have a full day of heavy work ahead of me–just some social time with Jen, and a visit to the city.

We stop at the gas station first, and of course right by it there's SUMAC. Both Jen and I had an incredible urge to harvest them… but we resisted.

I guess I'm beginning to develop harvester's greed.

On the way down we listen to the radio which tells us over and over and over again that YES! Steve Jobs is INDEED resigning! Just in case you didn't get it the first 20 times, we MUST reiterate this point! Oh yeah, and there's a hurricane barreling toward your area with 65-100 mph winds. But really guys, WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO APPLE!!?

geez. I understand why NPR did this. Steve Jobs affects, basically the whole nation. The hurricane only directly impacts the East. So, I get it. But you'd think something that poses a threat to human life would be more talked about. Because, if, for instance, you didn't hear about the hurricane because everyone was too busy discussing Steve Jobs and you left your apple laptop outside and it got destroyed, YOUR LIFE WOULD GO ON. And your laptop could probably be replaced. But if you decided to go camping that weekend because you didn't hear of the impending disaster…you cannot be replaced.

So fuck you too news people!

...

Oddly, when we entered the city, the streets are NOT packed with traffic. And we arrived at 9 am! On a Thursday! It works in our favor, but we were a little kerfuffled about why the city was so empty.

We make it to IIN, our first drop off point, park illegally, and Jen rushed to deliver while I sat in the car–making sure it's not towed and driving it around the block if I find it necessary.

After this stressful event, we move on to ATC, where Jen parks the car (we arrived before 10:30, so we snagged a spot due to alternate side parking!), and I set up tables.

This is basically the end of anything exciting, or would've been, had I not had a visit from Kate, Cadence, and Hazel. Otherwise, you just sit around until three. So we're advised to bring stuff to do.

So I go out to eat lunch with Kate and the girls. We go to a Fulllaffel place next to the law school, and then get some amazing Gelato for a lunch dessert. It was pretty good visit, and Kate ended up with a lot of leftover CSA yummies! Including rainbow carrots, which I pulled myself, and were my personal favorite!

Of course, while with Kate, we also stopped at a drugstore to pick up some emergency supplies. Apparently parts of NYC were in evacuation mode and hunker down mode. Which is why the city was so empty.

Going to lunch with my sister and nieces was… an experience I had never had before. And It didn't sink in until later how bizarre and new that was. Not once have I just gone to lunch with them. It's always a big extended event because it's such a hassle and a big deal for us to get to one another, considering we've always been 100s of miles away.

In a way, the visit to the city made it more apparent that I was no longer living with my parents.

Anyway, by the time we got back, Jen is in full panic mode about the storm. We not only have those humans inside to worry about–we also have all the farm animals we care for, all our plants, and the greenhouse! So many things could go wrong.

So, we began preparing.

(And to finish the day, Jen's parents made roasted chicken with some veggies! YUM! And we all ate out on the deck in the cool summer night air. And for dessert–chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels and lemon sticks… I opted for the chocolatey goodness! It was as perfect as any night good be.)

P.S.

These seem to be popping up on every aspiring farmer's property! (I say aspiring, because my father has one on the side of his house...and he is only, so far, an aspiring farmer.)

CSA HARVEST AND PROCESSING DAY

Harvest and Processing day!

This is every Wednesday and it's very fun. Basically, we go out and pick whatever is going to be in the CSA that week and then rinse and package them into 36 different shares and stick them in their appropriate bins and store them in the giant fridge, with the working shelves!

So this week we pulled carrots, which I did with Jimmy and got to learn a little more about him, which was nice. He's really cool, I like him a lot. Very laid back. So now, of course, i'm not so happy that he leaves at the end of the week since he's one of my only possible friends around here and he is going to leave. Oh goody!

I'll just get used to it–the whole people coming and going out of my life thing.

Anyway, we also picked sauté greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower. We washed em off with the hose and I got to know the processing station well. It was a good day, since it was a little bit less strenuous and we got to work more closely with everyone throughout the whole day.

In the evening, Jen's parents came, but since they got stuck in traffic we had to do little odd jobs until they got there. So I picked Channers, or rocks, and washed them off so that we could make little channers with faces for farmstolk.

As I was picking up rocks, the kittens began to surround me and I was in heaven, throwing rocks so they could hunt them…it was adorable! And then of course, because I was throwing things, the chickens assumed they were getting a snack and also began to surround me. It was quite a sight, apparently, since Jen said later that I looked like I was having a Dr. Doolittle moment!

So Katie left, and we got tired of waiting, so Jen, Jimmy and I jumped into the car and went into town to pick sumac, which was an awesome little excursion. Quite fun.

The first place we stopped was just on the side of the road near a stream and the majority of the trees were too tall for Jen and I, so after just a few minutes, we had harvested all we could and went to Peck's Market to pick up some groceries.

You see, there are no big chain stores around here. As far as I know, if you wanted to go to a target, you'd have to go on the interstate to get to one. Luckily, Peck's has everything I'd need. Not that I know how to actually get there yet.

But of course, while at Peck's, we also purchased a junk bag of funions (i don't know the spelling of that snack). And then finished the whole bag by the time we got home.

It was Jimmy's first time eating funions, and I'm happy to report that he did indeed have "fun." :-P

Also before we got home we made a few stops to pick more sumac and go on an excursion through some tiny town that I can't remember the name of, and of course we found just a couple places in that town where there was sumac to pick, and naturally there were posted signs saying "private property! something something something gun society!" so, we decided not to stop there.

Arriving home, we realized that the grandparents had finally come! And they are really just sooo sweet! Treated me as though I was family right away.

And you see, Jen's parents are from Connecticut, so they brought live lobsters! Now, I can't say I like seafood, but as far as seafood goes, I could understand why people like good lobster. And this was also my first time eating lobster, so they had to teach me what to do.

One direction was to take the claw, take the back end of the knife, and just smash the claw until it breaks! It's a little, uh, horrendous, getting to the meat. But it was certainly a fun experience. Probably my favorite meal so far, and it was the least tasty (to me. I much prefer grilled veggies)!

And in all? Probably my favorite day so far. The picking of sumac, the eating of lobster, the having of company–all made the day quite splendid!

OOh, I also learned how to lubricate things with solid gulf wax!

And that's that!

This is the sumac!

Day 3

Jimmy came back last night, so we finally have all the interns together, which meant, things went by quickly. I picked tomatoes while Jimmy picked beans, while Katie picked cucumbers. So much more can get done with more people.

Something about picking tomatoes–you would think that you'd only pick the ripe ones, however, that's not how we do it here. At the first sign of color, you pick it because apparently there's some chemical that helps it to continue ripening after the first flesh of color, even if it's off the vine. Neat, huh? It helps so that you have less rotten tomatoes, because if you wait to pick until their ripe, you may miss some and then they'll rot more quickly. Whereas if you pick them before they're ripe, you're less likely to have rotten tomatoes since, even if you wait a few days to pick again, it'll be okay!

(euck, that sentence got crazy. I lost my train of thought. Hope you understand)

But anyways, today was just like the others, chores, daily tasks, lunch dinner, ya ya. The only difference was that Sebastian started soccer! Woo! He is an only child here in the middle of the county, so it gets kind of lonely for him, therefore, soccer is a good remedy.

He came home complaining of the mean boys who got it into his goal, and we had to explain to him that that was just part of the game. It's funny, i've never thought about having to teach kids how to understand sports where the other people are trying very hard to do something you really don't want. It seems to go against some of the other values we teach kids, such as, don't do to others what you wouldn't want done to you.

Eh, weird.

Because he started soccer, though, Jen and Kai were both gone in the evening, leaving just Jimmy and I to do evening chores. This is when I learned that there is a hose right next to the barn, so when you have to fill the chicken water, you don't have to drag the hose all the way from the greenhouse to the barn. :-p

That knowledge would've saved me a good deal of time had I known it earlier. oh well!

And then we got done a little early, close to 6:30, so I took a shower and Jimmy went down to the gas station cuz he was hungry and just couldn't wait for dinner. hah. What an appetite.

I'm still learning the lay of the land around here. I'm afraid to venture out because I'm certain I'll get lost…but hopefully I'll figure it out in the three months that I'm here.

We'll see!

Oh! and this was also the day Jen made pizza soup. It was amazing. We shall market it and become rich. AND the soup was made entirely of the things we harvested right outside. AMAZING!

And now a KITTEN IN THE GREENHOUSE SERIES!!

This sweet little one is named Banjo. She's the only girl.

Finding the routine and becoming handy!

The days are now beginning to blur. I know it's Monday, but I don't know the actual date…I don't even know if it's still August. But the funny thing? this is only my third day!

So today I met Katie, the other intern who lives off the farm. Jimmy was still gone visiting his parents, so it gave me some time to work with and get to know her one on one, which is good since she's staying all through September.

Today was very different. I woke up at 7:45 and went out to feed the chickens and open the greenhouse, Kai raised the high tunnels today though (yay!). Feeding the chickens in the morning is a wonderful job. I'm not entirely sure why… I mean, the chicken house is extremely smelly, but the chickens themselves are just lovely to be around. It's like, when I would wake up in the morning for school the only thing I had to look forward to was, well, going to school. And that made waking up more daunting. But now I get to look forward to hanging out with the chickens! And that makes waking up pretty okay.

So I've found that the schedule of the day is generally:

Wake up b/t 7 and 8, put on the clothes you wore yesterday, and go out to do morning chores.
Once chores are done, go inside, have some breakfast and a cup of coffee
Ask what there is to do today, since a new list is made up every day. And then go do that thing.
Eat lunch b/t 12 and 3. And it's either something super yummy made by Jen, or just some leftovers. But we all eat together, and the food is always earned. You earn your appetite here. There's also not a microwave, which i've found to be perfectly fine. I didn't even notice until I tried making oatmeal one morning…this is when i realized I had to find the pots for the stove.
Go back out and continue working on the stuff to do.
Katie goes home around 5, and I usually take a break.
Around 6:30 or 7, do evening chores (close high tunnels, close greenhouse, feed chickens).
Chill out, get into evening clothes, do whatever (knit, blog, read, play with sebastian) and wait for dinner, pretty much always something made by Jen. And always yummy. And if it's a good day we eat out on the deck with a great view of the mountains and the cats and 4 kittens and Cordelia, the pug. It's a family affair.
And then, go to bed.

Something I really like about being here is that we eat all our meals together (besides breakfast), and it's always a fun occasion. I laugh more here than I have anywhere else, I believe. I think that laughter is the ultimate language in this household., and it's great.

So on this day, I learned how to gather and put away agerbond (a mesh-type material that covers a row and helps to keep pests out. The bad thing about it is that it's out of sight, out of mind, and that's why Edgars weeds got so crazy).
Weeding with four people is unbelievably fast in comparison to one person. We finished weeding Edgar by lunch.

BTW, they named all of their rows different names. It was a manifestation of cabin fever, according to Jen, caused by the winter blues.

I learned about the processing station, which is where we take everything we harvest to clean it, weigh it, and record how many lbs were brought in from the field.

I also learned where the majority of the things in the kitchen are, which is something you wouldn't think you'd have to learn-but when you move into somebody else's house, it's a big deal.

Oh yeah! And Once Katie left around 5, Jen said I could just break until evening chores, but then Kai called me out to put in the new fridge shelving. He said it would be easy. Ahah!

Here's the fridge, with the shelving.

It was just a metal shelving thing, not made for the fridge, so I had to install it into the fridge itself, which was difficult because there's a piece of metal separating the two sides of the fridge, and the shelves were the entire width of the fridge…ok, so it's hard to explain. But I'll show you some pictures and guarantee that it was a frustrating task. Rewarding when done! But frustrating. And of course, I was embarrassed to ask anyone for help, because Kai said it should be easy! So I assumed I was just not looking at it the right way, and continued on-trying different ways to put it in, glad that no one was watching me, and finally, after many attempts, figured out a way that I could actually get it in, but it was still really difficult, and I ended up needing four hands to do it anyway. So Kai and I finished putting it in after a good hour or so, and to my great relief, it seems to work perfectly.
HAZZAH!

So that's that for day 3.

Day 2

Sunday was my first full day of work, and I learned the morning chores consist of feeding all the chickens and letting them out of the barn, (because they are indeed free range, and they're just more fun that way! I couldn't imagine being able to put them in a tiny cage for their whole life. They have such personality, and they're wonderful to be around–very calming. So BUY FREE RANGE. It's inhumane not to.) opening the greenhouse and watering the plants inside, and opening the corners of the high tunnels…which is a job I've learned to hate. I'm not tall enough to get it over the bend, so most of the time they just fall right back down after I raise them. It's frustrating, but I try my best.

Then, I weeded. And weeded and weeded and weeded. That was my only job for the day, and I went out into the field and weeded Edgar (the row with potatoes and tot-soy…and bolted lettuce, which I pulled along with the weeds) for about 7 hours total. I was by myself weeding a tiny forrest!

But I began to learn which stems were weeds and which were potatoes or tot-soy, just based on touch (I chose to weed without gloves).

I learned which weeds were easy to pull, such as wild amaranth, and which were not easy to pull.

I learned that dandelion roots are a singular cone shape, so if you tug it correctly, it's a satisfying weed to pull since you get the majority of the root.

I learned that I was brave enough to stick my bare arms into thick clumps of weeds, not knowing what plants of bugs were in there.

I learned to crush slugs with my bare hands, as slugs are not so good for plants.

I learned that plants bolt sometimes, because they feel threatened. A bolted plant is essentially a plant that is going to seed REALLY fast, so it doesn't produce the produce that we like to harvest. But you can collect the seed. Bolting is a survival mechanism, if the plant itself can't survive, then hopefully their seeds will, and their species will continue.

Working here makes it very apparent that plants are living things. You can't just plant something and hope it grows. Every plant is different, and they can get sick and weak due to different factors, just like us. For instance, the flood that happened before I came to Channery Hill is still having an effect on the plants. The ones that were in the path of the flood are more susceptible to pests because they're weaker and can't fend themselves as well.

Anyway, there was a LOT of bolted lettuce because lettuce thrives in a colder climate, so the heat agitates them, makes them nervous, and makes them go to seed early in the hope that their seeds will continue their species.

Everything on this earth is fighting to survive. Nothing living is passive. Not humans, not any other species of animals, not plants, and especially not weeds!

But, the final thing i learned that day was that I am a slow weeder… I didn't even get close to halfway down the 350 ft row during that 7 hours. Eh…maybe I'll learn and become quick.

Here's something else: I'm sitting there in the field alone weeding away in the sun, and i hear a siren, which to me, signifies that there's a tornado… huh. the sky is clear and the sun is out, so I just keep weeding! I later learn that it's a test siren that they turn on everyday at noon. Since I have no way to keep time out there, it's a nice way to know that lunch will be soon.

In the evening I met the prospective intern, Lauren. She's really nice and awesome with sebastian, and is thinking of beginning in September. I hope she does, it'd be great having another intern around once Jimmy leaves.

So, there was some rain in the evening and we sat on the porch and pet the kittens, then ate dinner and went to bed.

End of full day 1-here's some of the things I thought about as I sat all day weeding by myself:

I now know what real monsters are–they're the towering weeds that hold millions of tiny seed pods that, if nestled ever-so-gently by the wind, will fly all through your newly weeded potato patch and sprout before you can even gasp!

If I get tired and feel like giving up, I can turn around and look upon the vast and lush mountains and in that gaze I remember why I am truly doing this. It's to keep the natural beauty–not have it turned into a completely manmade world. Humans cannot create such beauty… but then I look back at my hand, and realizing there's a spider crawling there, I flick it away and begin to work again. My bare hands in natures soil.

My hands will never be clean again, and it's only day 2.

Things that used to freak me out or make me squirm are now just–eh!

Such as spiders crawling on my arms–slugs under my shirt on my back–moths in the shower with me–bees–foraging basically alone in a forest for blackberries, trudging through brush and thorns that rise above my head–sticking my hands into thick brush made up of unknown weeds and not knowing what I'm going to touch…

I no longer have that regret that at the end of the day, that I've accomplished nothing.

That is what I love.

And here is a CHICKEN SERIES!

If it's feeding time, you become a rock star, and they chase you. It's exciting!