STRANGE DAYS.
The garden is a strange place right now. We stand in it and feel a bit lost, still unsure of when we will have to leave. We continue to work - but our labors are no longer filled with hope and excitement and satisfaction. Planting our fall seedlings feels a little sad, each of us working in silence as we transplant, neither of us saying what we are thinking - "what is the point?" Our ambitious weeding and mulching program has fallen out of the picture completely, our cover crops neglected, the deer fence taken down. Our main focus has been the fall garden, hoping for a change to at least stay til November, and so we place our enthusiasm in that - tending to our little cauliflowers and broccoli and cabbages and hoping for a rain, for a little more time.
The garden also looks like a strange place these days, wild and full of life. Like I said, the weeds are a bit out of control. Our pole beans have overwhelmed their trellis, sending a massive tangle of vines toppling into the sorghum row. Watermelons are growing throughout the sweet potato patch. The vines of the pumpkins have died back, leaving them peculiarly arranged, inttermintantly placed alongside the tomatoes. We were letting our future garlic patch sit under a heavy planting of buckwheat, whose flowers have brought a consstant, throbbing hum of honeybees. One of my favorite examples of garden neglect is the old lettuce row. Lettuce, when left alone, will grow to an extreme height, getting taller and taller until it resembles some sort of Dr. Seuss-like flower. It is like a little alien garden of purple and green and yellow algae. On the plus side, besides lookingkind of amazing, letting your lettuce go to flower also allows you to collect and save seed!
We are hoping tonight to be able to sit down and determine our exact timeline – when we have to be out of the house, and what is going to happen with the garden. This will definitely help us to have a better idea about what comes next, the possibility of a Fall CSA share, and allow us to make some big decisions. As always, we will keep you updated!- Hannah
WENDELL WEDNESDAY.
Wendell wants you to know he has found a sock and he needs someone to chase him.
ALTERNATIVE CANNING.
Jesse's latest article for Sustainable Kentucky is up! Head over here to check it out. It is basically an experimentation in fermentation....a different way of canning your extra tomatoes that saves a LOT of time and energy. While you're there, you should also read the last in the Young Farmer Series about Good Life Ranch, another young farming couple doing some seriously unique stuff! Here is the link.- Hannah.
MOVING FORWARD.
First of all, I know a lot of people are waiting anxiously to hear some news. But basically...I've got nothing. Although many more opportunities, offers, and suggestions have come up, we haven't yet made a decision. We have spent the past few days keeping up with the farm chores, researching, and making a big ol' list of PROS and CONS.But on another note: Jesse is currently reading The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball (I just finished it: it is wonderful). This morning, he was reading the chapter where Kristin is starting to get the impression that no one in her new community thinks her and her husband, who have just started an organic farm in upstate New York, are going to succeed. When her doubts begin to get the best of her, she asks her husband about it: "Of course we had a chance, he'd say, and anyway, it didn't matter if this venture failed. In his view, we were already a success, because we were doing something hard and it was something that mattered to us. You don't measure things like that with words like success or failure, he said. Satisfaction comes from trying hard things and then going on to the next hard thing, regardless of the outcome. What mattered was whether or not you were moving in a direction you thought was right."As Jesse and I ate our lunch today - juicy, purple slices of heirloom tomato on warm bread with our own butter and slivers of spicy garlic - I was stunned with the simplicity of it, the perfection of its smallness. And I reflected on these last 5 months - what all we have accomplished. We have eaten so many meals like these, beautiful meals with the food we grew. We have fed others, many loved ones and friends. We have slept most nights with the tiredness and true rest that can only come from devastatingly hard work. And so, as I feel words like "failure" start to creep in...I try to focus on this: On a tomato sandwich, on the positive words and support from our friends, and on the excitement and possibility that lies ahead as we continue to move forward. And that feels pretty successful.- Hannah.
