Farm life I: A chronicle of my first week

Uprooting myself from Knoxville was a job and a half. I didn't make time to post while I was moving through it. Let's just say there were tears, laughter, grins, and a whole lot of joy and hope. AND a new hair cut!



I officially work for Tree & Leaf Farm, which is operated by Zach & Georgia Lester and managed by Katherine Stewart. Our crew is comprised of Mike, Dan & Kathleen (engaged), little Zach, and me. Tree & Leaf takes up a large part of a pretty darn big piece of land owned by Chip & Susan Planck, who run Wheatland Vegetable Farm. They have four workers, Steve & Alicia, Jessica, and David. Steve & Alicia are engaged, and, along with Jessica and her fiance, are planning to start an organic farm in Boulder, Colorado. They have a blog, too. We all live in the barn except for David, who lives in a loft above the tractor shop. We all share chores like cooking dinner, doing dishes, burning trash, composting, and recycyling. It works out pretty well. They've even decided to cook at least 3 dinners a week with my diet in mind. This is pretty great since Sunday dinner is every man for himself, and Tuesday is a potluck, so I can eat with everyone 5 nights a week. So now I live in a barn (another post on that), use an outhouse, cook in a screened-in kitchen, and try to get internet on the farm. We have wifi, but it doesn't reach to the barn, and it's pretty dicey even in the kitchen. My plan is to get a range extender to put in the barn so we can get internet access all the way up there, which would include the worker kitchen. Jessica, one of Chip & Susan's workers, has a fiance who works with computer stuff, so she's checking to see whether he's got an extra one lying around that we could have. We could really use it.

I have finished one full week at the farm, and it's been wonderful. Hard work. Outdoors. Rain or shine. Often both in one day, and we work, work, work. Did I mention I love it? I have missed manual labor outdoors, and now I remember why: it's thrilling! There were definitely rough spots where I didn't know if I'd make it or not, times where I knew I was working way slower than acceptable, but here I am, with lots of sore but stronger muscles. And I haven't been in shape like this... ever. I've been in lindy shape, in biking shape, in African dancing shape, and now I'm getting into farming shape. It requires different muscles than lindy or biking (although we get around the farm on bikes- smiles!). There's a lot of squatting and bending and washing and harvesting and "how do I keep doing this so that I won't feel like I'll break in half?"- oh I guess I'll just keep going. A lot of my brain power is put to work figuring out how to get just enough water: not too much so that I need to pee all the time, but enough so that I'm not dehydrated. I haven't achieved that balance yet, but I think I'll be more able to manage it this week.


So here goes a chronicle of my first week on the farm, so you can all get an idea of the rhythm of it:

Sunday, May 24 I arrived at the farm in my rental car around 11:30 at night after a long and mostly enjoyable road trip from Kingsport. I stopped at a Whole Foods for some essentials (hello kombucha). I ate at a particularly awesome Thai restaurant and discovered the joys of the Drunken Noodle. Little Zach, a fellow worker, was there to show me around. (He's called little Zach because the owner of Tree & Leaf is also named Zach.) I put some things in order, made my room a bit tidier, and called it a night around 3 a.m.

Monday, May 25 We all had the day off on Monday, and little Zach assisted me with returning the rental car, buying fabulously pink rain boots, and getting more groceries. Before we left, I ran into Zach Lester, the owner of Tree & Leaf, at the barn, and requested a spray bottle that he delivered later, along with some rain gear. I got to meet some people as they all filtered back in from Sunday travel. It turns out all of the Tree & Leaf crew lives in MD or DC, so they normally go back there during their days off. We ate dinner together in the worker kitchen, and I started a batch of kombucha before heading to bed to prepare for the next day.

Tuesday, May 26 First day of work. It was raining, so Kathleen, Katherine, and I were in the big greenhouse cleaning up some tuberose bulbs. Something like 18 crates of them. LOTS. We normally have a potluck Tuesday night, but we didn't this week because of a big school board meeting that all the farmers were going to. Apparently the school board wants to build a huge school complex here that would house 4,000 students. It's an overwhelmingly rural area, and we're just 2 of the many farms around here. So the farmers definitely don't want that to happen because it would put such a strain on the land.

Wednesday, May 27 We got Wednesday off because of rain. I was disappointed not to work, but it was a beautiful day to enjoy because it didn't rain hardly at all. The five of us piled into 2 cars and headed to Beans in the Belfry in Brunswick, Maryland for brunch. Mike, Dan, & Kathleen headed to see Terminator, and Zach & I went to MOM's in Frederick before heading back to the farm. Then I did more puttering, laundry, cleaning, arranging, all that I-live-in-a-new-place-and-I'm-nesting stuff.

Thursday, May 28 We started all together with tomatoes. Kathleen & I planted them under the supervision of the farm manager, Katherine, and Mike, Zach, and Dan. After tomatoes, the girls set to work harvesting & bunching radishes. We ended up with exactly 240 bunches of Champion radishes. They're so pretty & red, and they pack quite a bit of heat, lighting up my sinuses like wasabi. We get 2-hour lunch breaks except on Friday, and I did some singing during mine. It was really enjoyable to explore the Lakme duet a bit more. Such beautiful music! After lunch I harvested lettuces with Zach and Katherine for a bit and then headed to the wash tunnel to clean the harvest. It turns out that the knife I brought is excellently sharp, and it did a great job on the roots, making a nice, clean cut. Zach also taught me a better stance for harvesting, which I appreciated: legs spread wide apart, knees bent, forearms resting just above the knee. Works really well, but I still need to change movements pretty often.



Friday, May 29 First we rolled up the sides of the greenhouses because it was going to be a sunny day, and we didn't want the plants inside to roast. Then we set to work planting tuberoses. 3 really long rows of them. Rows SO long they have perspective, just like German nouns. That's how most of the morning was spent. Have you ever smelled a tuberose flower? If you have, you'd know it. They're little white flowers that are incredibly aromatic (or stinky, in my book). Apparently we're know for growing them. So we planted the better part of 3 very long rows of these plants. The planter was either being finicky or already in use, so we poked holes in the black plastic by rolling the big green planter wheels by hand which was a bit challenging. Then Mike watered, Daniel made the planting holes bigger, and Katherine & I planted. The guys joined us when they finished with their tasks. Katherine left to get the truck repaired, and we kept on without her. After we'd finished all those rows, we mulched them.

What is mulching, you ask? You open up a hay bale- square bales for us which are smaller than the stereotypical round bales- which is comprised of smaller hay cakes (totally my wording - they remind me of the old-school shredded wheat that comes in large blocks that you break apart). So you take a hay cake and shake it all around, much like the hokey pokey. It starts out small and then fluffs up a lot, much like teasing hair. Luckily we just toss it on the ground instead of eventually having to get out all the tangles. Yay for mulching! I'd never slung hay bales before this week, but it's silly and fun. And it was Friday that we heard that the farmers won out against the school board! Yay! So for now no worries about overloading the land. Just more farming and no huge construction or 4,000 students.
At the end of the day, I had to get to bed early because I was scheduled to work the Mt. Pleasant Market the next day. Huzzah!

Saturday, May 30 The day began dark and early at 3 a.m. Yes, I woke up at 3 instead of going to bed then. Dan & I met Katherine near her house a couple minutes before 4:00 to go over to Zach's house and prepare for market. We made salad mix: this week it was a combination of baby chards, golden-frill mustard greens, red boer kale, beet greens, and baby romaines. It was beautiful! We loaded two trucks, one heading for Falls Church, VA with Dan & Katherine, and one bound for Mt. Pleasant with Georgia (Zach's wife) & me. I fussed over some signs for market, not really sure what needed to be brought and what didn't. We took them all and marked them there. Rachel met us there and helped us unload and set up the tent and tables. It's a pretty big tent and really awesome display. I thought we looked like the best farm there! We had loads of produce everywhere: beets, radishes, kale, chard, cabbage, escarole, romaine, garlic scapes (the tops of the garlic plant before it flowers: yummy!), scallions, fresh basil. It was absolutely beautiful by the time they got it all arranged. I finished making the signs, distributed them, and then attached them to the able or basket. We finished early but aren't allowed to sell anything before the market bell rings at 9:00, so I took the opportunity for another bathroom trip and to change into some cute clothes. I may be a farm girl, but I do take any chance I have to wear cute outfits! I thought it might help with sales, too.

I was SO excited to be there. I said hi to anyone who would make eye contact. I mean, it's a market! What's more festive than that?? I definitely felt the northern difference- DC is not a Southern city, and some people were definitely confused as far as what to do about the girl with the huge grin saying hi to them. But I just kept smiling and chatting and having a great time, and it worked out just fine. It was a steady market- not super crazy like a restaurant for Mother's Day brunch, but steady and manageable. I hope it gets crazy some, too; that's fun. And I sold all 8 crates of salad greens that we brought! Holy cow, it was awesome! We just kept going through it, and talking people into buying kale and perpetual spinach and basil (kindly, of course), and before I knew it, market was almost over and so was the salad mix. Suh-weet!
It was my turn to make dinner Saturday, so I did a fresh salad with basil, apples, radishes, and curry mustard dressing. Then quinoa with pesto and lentils with tomatoes, balsamic, and tahini. Tasty stuff, that.

Sunday, May 31 I spotted a sign for a nearby church earlier in the week, and decided to bike on over to it for their 9:00 service. I woke up late - 8:40 - so after a trip to the outhouse, I hopped on my bike at 8:55 and made it there at exactly 9:30. Zion Lutheran Church, established in 1892, meets in a quaint little stone building about 5 miles away. It was a glorious morning for a bike ride, and the smell of honeysuckle was everywhere! It was great to celebrate Pentecost with country folk. There was even birthday cake since some people consider the sending of the Holy Spirit the birth of the church! After church I had some lounging time in the barn, cleaned in the kitchen, and then biked into Purcellville to get a library card. It's only 6 miles, but I had definitely not moved out of lounging mode. I kept asking myself why I was biking into town, but I just kept plowing through it. I got the library card right before they closed and then headed back to the farm. The ride back was better, but I must say that my body has not yet adjusted to biking on super bumpity dirt & gravel roads. Ouch.



Wow. Life's full sometimes, ya know? That pretty much sums up my first week. More blogs to come, and SOON!