CONFESSIONS OF A FARMER.
It is in these verdant days of summer that I am most often reminded of my profoundest secret: I have never grown a thing.Indeed, I have prepared ground, carefully and respectfully. I have spread compost. I have sowed seeds, cultivated plants and even harvested their fruits, but if there is one job on the farm I have never had the privilege of, it's growing. Something, or Someone Else entirely, seems to do that work.What magic. What captivating magic that part of the process remains to me. Seeds, many the size of the letters in this post, become food, flowers, or more seeds, making plants potentially taller than ourselves. And I, beyond providing the ideal venue, have nothing to do with it.I have such a deep respect for the forces that make growth possible—forces which science has so prosaically rendered into fancy words and chemical reactions. I learned about processes like photosynthesis in school—I'm assuming—but if someone had just told me it was all a mystery, or it was magic, I might have been in the garden years ago. We all might have been––out there hoping to catch a glimpse of This Allusive Being who reaches into the soil and massages a seed into life, then pulls its white string through the dirt and into planthood. If in biology class I had just been asked to tend a garden, then perhaps I would have left school with a greater love for, and understanding of, biology. Or if more churches spoke of the wonders of nature and God's creation, maybe more people would be gardening (...or going to church!). I'm happy to have found that love now, however, to have found a job working alongside Nature and stewarding its art, enjoying the fruits if its labor professionally.Even if I never get to do the actual growing, though, I've got no complaints. By becoming farmers we dedicate our lives to making sure whoever it is whose job it is to grow can do it well, and do it indefinitely. Farmer, assistant to the Grower. Not a bad title.- Jesse.
'TIS THE SEASONALITY.
Onions, sweet potatoes, eggs, kale or chard—that is what our winters look like. For several months, from December until asparagus, we eat pretty much the same meal every day. But then the spring creeps in and we're rewarded with a head of lettuce, some dandelion greens, a strawberry or two. Slowly, these treats turn into a bounty and before we know it, we're waist-deep in summer. And it's glorious. We celebrate with potato salad and cold soup, grilled squash, or, more often than not, a simple ripe tomato in the garden. We celebrate glutinously and by the time the season is over, we're pretty much sick of summer foods, awaiting the first sweet potato or collard green with the same anticipation we awaited that first tomato—the very one we had this week.We don't eat tomatoes out of season—not really. Maybe we'll eat some canned tomato sauce or sun-dried tomatoes, salsa at a Mexican restaurant we happen into, but we do not seek out tomatoes. We wait, patiently, slowly growing tired of what we have to eat, making that first bite—face first, beard covered in juice—all that much more rewarding. By September, we'll be plum sick of tomatoes, and in October we'll be eating them begrudgingly. But by April we'll be missing their sweetness, then July will come and we'll feel very much like we do right now: grateful for seasonality, looking for a napkin to wipe our faces.- Jesse.
THIS & THAT.
Some random photos from the past week.
We had a long, hot day of harvesting garlic. But it was worth it!
Today, we will be making lots and lots of blackberry wine!
Adorable little turtle friend!
One of Little Seed's piggies found a creative way to cool off.
The kids learned how to identify mushrooms with spore prints.
GOAT'S MILK AND GUINEAS.
We were oh-so-happy to spend last Sunday with our friends at Little Seed Farm. As before, we loved playing with all of the animals...but this time, we arrived early enough to help out with the milking!
But the real reason we were there: another bartering session! Our tick problem is completely OUT OF CONTROl - and we have been desperate for guineas, which are notorious for their pest controlling abilities. Lucky for us, Little Seed's guineas hatched out some keets last week! So we brought them honey and mushrooms and took home seven guinea keets and a few pullets as well. It is definitely cuteness overload at the farmstead right now.
- Hannah.