This Farmer Likes to Write

I wasn't planning on creating a blog for this summer, but after my computer blue-screened for the 9th time in 4 months (as of last night) I decided I want to ensure that my journal and photos are preserved. That aside, I've been asked if I planned on creating another blog so I decided to do just that. I won't be writing as extensively here since there's not a whole lot I can say about weeding, but I can certainly share my photos with you. Plus after my first haying experience yesterday I am too excited to not share my excitement about life on the farm with the rest of the world in hopes of spreading some interest and developing the idea in peoples heads that farming is a beautiful career (perhaps not for me, but that's yet to be decided, if ever).


My Rockin' Airstream

I'm working as the farmer's apprentice (I'm officially Apprentice #2)for Sunfield Farm and School (501c3) in Port Hadlock, Washington (on the Eastern edge of the Peninsula). The school is a private Waldorf school (grades K-7) which follow's Rudolph Steiner's ideology on agriculture and education. The Waldorf education is quite different from the average public school education. Arts and social life are strongly encouraged at school. The kindergartners spend no time in the classroom. The children go to school in order to play. Granted their play is mostly in the from of songs or teacher led games and walks in the woods and wetlands on the 85 acre property (protected by a land trust) but they don't sit in chairs and learn their ABC's like other children. There is very little emphasis on reading, writing, and the "classics" skills (though mathematics are well covered). I believe that this helps involve parents with their children's education since many children learn to read at home with the one-on-one attention of their loving mothers and fathers. I know very little about the Waldorf education (the school is obviously not in session at the moment since it's summer and the camps they offer are not the same as their regular school sessions) so don't take my brief summary for granted. Waldorf is a fairly common system so just Google it and find out a bit more. It's fascinating. All I have to say is that the children are some of the smartest and friendliest people I've ever met. They're learning the same thing I'm learning in COLLEGE. Plus their interactions with each other are forgiving, patient, and beautiful--what more can you want from children?


The Hoophouse

Enough about Waldorf...I'm working on the farm. Though the farm and school are one operation, I'm based entirely on the farm, running the CSA and market harvests and pioneering the weeding with two other girls.

I have received an astonishing amount of criticism for working on a farm for the summer from various friends of a relative and other neighbors. Nothing direct was stated, but upon announcing my plan to work on a farm for the summer as an internship I found that certain people did not know what to make of me which read across their faces and their uncertain words of congratulations for finding such a wonderful job. This slightly non-conventional manner of developing my skills seemed to them to be a bit childish and silly. Why wasn't I studying abroad or assisting a marketing manager like all the other children of higher thinking? This has angered me (quite a bit) which is partly why I have interest in sharing my thoughts and experiences on the farm--not that I have created this journal out of anger, but I do like to channel my energy productively and I want to share the beauty of working outside with anyone who's willing to read this!


I like to have dance parties in my Airstream.

And we begin....

Finally home after my first official day at work (I jumped in to help when I arrived yesterday at 11 a.m. and didn’t leave until 9:00 that night…lots of chores to do), I’m getting a brief opportunity to catch my breath and absorb myself with my settings. Home is a 30 foot Airstream with a 150 square foot porch attached to it. Settled in a small clearing in the evergreen forest on a small, family owned and operated goat farm (future cheese-making business), I’m four miles from Sunfield. The family, Amy Rose, Bruce, and Esther (their five-year-old) live in the building that will become their business after they have a chance to build their home on the same small plot of land. They lived in the Airstream for a year after driving it across the country from Philadelphia where Bruce had a catering business (he still makes the most amazing pastries ever).


Broccoli Patch with Chicken Coop

The Airstream is fully outfitted: stove, oven, TV (not going to use it, but it’s here), stereo (don’t have CD’s), bathroom, double bed, pull-out couch, kitchen table, refrigerator, microwave…yes, you get it, the works. Best of all, it’s decorated with lots of Esther’s crayon drawings and a bouquet of fragrant wildflowers she picked for me this afternoon. It’s a 300 square foot home in the woods of the Olympic Peninsula. Basically my dream home. Amy Rose has loaned me various cooking wares; a pot, a pan, tea kettle, French press, some oatmeal, a towel, and dishwashing materials. All I need is a bike (which I have a loaner from Rose-May) and a trip to the grocery store…then I’ll never want to leave my trailer. It’s a good thing I love the farm already.

Sarah Alt (my 26 year-old co-worker from Wisconsin…”WiscAnsin”…she doesn’t actually say it that way, just poking fun at the Cheeseheads) and I woke early this morning…rather she was up at 5:45 and had to wake up my lazy ass at 6:15 since I slept through my alarm (big surprise, right?) and we promptly left her house at 6:30, pulling into Sunfield 15 minutes later. I knew most of the morning routine since it’s the same as the evening chores, except backwards. We checked the ropes to make sure the driveway was fenced (it only has a single line running the sides) before herding two Dexter dairy cattle, Lucky and Auggie, into the barn for milking. Snapping the stantions shut after they automatically placed their heads inside, eager to munch on the organic Canadian grains we fed them every morning. Sarah took care of the sweet mothers while I sterilized the pails and prepared the iodine solution we use to clean their udders.

Lucky goes first, and I wiped her udders with a soft, iodine soaked, hot rag and began to milk clumsily after drying her udders. I leaned against her warm black coat, my cheek against her side listening to her four stomachs gurgle and grind, my head moving left and right with each of her deep breaths. She didn’t mind me milking her despite how awkwardly I was performing—at least until she ran out of grain. Then she tossed her horned head impatiently, though never violently. I can manage well enough with my right hand, but my left hand can’t seem to coordinate itself with the same rapid, consistent rhythm as Sarah who can finish the job in 20 minutes (for both cows). Unwilling to continue being such a klutz and driven by my unrelenting desire to be good at everything I do, I admit to the fact that I’ve been practicing the motion of forming a fist and rolling my fingers down my palm while keeping my pointer finger curled (so the milk doesn’t shoot back into the udder…you can actually feel it move up the udder if you loosen your grip). My hands are cramped and sore from doing it all day, but I’ll be damned if I don’t learn how to milk a cow in ten minutes by the end of next week!


Broccoli

Today, Wednesday, is a CSA day. For those who don’t know, a CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Community members buy a share from the farm (it runs about 500 dollars for the season) and receive one box of farm goods each week. Sometimes you receive the same things three weeks in a row, but that’s part of the reality in farming—not everything is available all the time and when there is availability, there’s generally an abundance. The CSA allows the farmer to receive income early in the season unlike the usual routine of getting paid once a year (in the fall) and farmers can prepare for next year’s crops. Sunfield continues to grow each year both in the farm and the school, as well as the infrastructure to support its apprentices. The CSA is an important part of that growth.

Perhaps it doesn’t sound exciting to my reader, but I had a blast today. I harvested 25 pounds of spinach (it takes a lot of spinach to make 25 pounds), 25 bunches of cherry drop radishes, and a stack of leeks. Dressed in ridiculously large yellow rubber overalls, I crawled on my hands and knees, covered in mud with a harvesting knife in hand, selecting the greenest bunches of spinach from the neatly lined (but incredibly weedy) rows…weeds are such a battle, especially when you’re short-staffed and rely heavily on volunteers. Listening to the ravens cackle like wicked children, watching the occasional two-seater plane scoot overhead, and munching to my heart’s delight on Lambs Quarter (a common weed) and spinach (one for me…one for Sunfield Farm CSA members…), I filled two large Tupperware bins with the iron rich greens. I will mention though, lambs quarter has far more iron and other nutrients than spinach. It’s considered a pest, but tastes rather nice with lots of garlic and hot sauce (then again what doesn’t taste good when smothered in fresh garlic and hot sauce?!). I’m planning on stir frying some in butter for lunch tomorrow…and drinking milk too, of course. Over the course of a day and a half, I’ve already had 1 gallon of fresh, whole, raw milk. We filter it, label it, and refrigerate it. Then I drink it. This rocks. So far this is the sickest summer of my life. Who could disagree?

I met my boss, Willie, today. Healthy, strong, and highly energetic, one would hardly be able to argue his age, save his appropriately weathered appearance—he is a farmer after all! I sense he is capable of talking my ear off, especially about agriculture. My only hope is that I can retain at least 1/10 of what he teaches me as he’s already proven to be a valuable resource, rattling facts about applied agriculture off the top of his head as easily as if he were just telling us what he had for breakfast an hour earlier. Both a teacher and farmer at heart, I’m sure I’ll have many opportunities to learn from him as long as he doesn’t swamp himself too much with Sunfield’s endless chores and projects.