Is there a mechanical bird in my bedroom?!

I captured this video of the ruckus made by my new roommate, which I think is a starling.



How many birds is that!?, and I think the answer is ‘one’…but it’s insane!

Check.

-Dawn

Blackberries and Bat Heads

Stuart and Dawn dropping lettuce plants 

We had a great week!  For me, there were three definite high points. The first being the big plantout we busted out on Tuesday.  We were able to plant a bed of green onions, adult lettuce, broccoli, and two weeks worth of baby lettuce.  Hallie, Dawn, and Stuart did an amazing job, especially since we planted about twice as much as we usually would on an apprentice's first plantout!  I remember the first bed of green onions we apprentices planted last season, and, although it’s  really kind of embarrassing I feel like it might be useful educationally, for us to share and compare.

Last year.

This year.

 The second highlight for me was the attack we launched on the blackberries along the barn field fence.  It was an epic battle of good and evil, in which we actually kept score, with random shout-outs (“Horton: ‘3’!... Blackberries: ‘1’!”, etc.)  in the most brambly of  moments. The fence, which was knocked down by this winter’s flooding, needs to be replaced – however, the blackberries were so thick they were like a fence to the actual fence, and Bill wasn’t able to get in there with his tractor. Not anymore.  Final score - Horton:‘6’…Blackberries: ‘3’.    Heh, heh, heh.

Dawn, Stuart, Lisa, and Hallie ATTACKING.

 And, last but not least, the third best thing to happen to me all week: cleaning out of the trucks.  I know that sounds odd, or boring, and kind of unimportant, but let me tell you, it made me feel like a real winner.  Some of the dump runs we made this winter in that blue truck…well, let’s just say that a complete scrub down-bleach-spritz was lonnnnnnnng overdue.

Speaking of fresh, sparkley trucks, I should also mention that we’re itching to load them up with food!!!  Depending on the weather this coming week, there is a slight possibility that some salad greens will be ready to harvest for Saturday Market!  Keep your fingers crossed!

 In other exciting news from the barn, one of the cats gave us a unique present the other day: a bat head.  Just the head, with it’s little fangs and beady eyes, was left to stare up at us from its final resting place on Ashley’s lawn chair cushion.  What’s worse is I think that it’s still there.  Maybe I’ll go take care of that right now…

 Check.

-Rachael

They're Here!

On Sunday night we made 9 pizzas.   No joke.  The rest of our crew arrived Sunday afternoon and we started the season off right with lots of cheese and creativity.  

Dawn, with a 'split personality' pizza

I can tell we're going to have a great crew this season.  Hopefully we will hear from Stuart, Hallie and Dawn on this blog soon!

Earlier in the week Lisa, Ashley, and I did the first plantout of the season.  Two and a half beds, in the field we call South Dakota, are holding our first heads of lettuce, broccoli, and baby lettuces.  It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and I remember thinking that there was nothing else I would have rather been doing.  For the first three hours anyway.  Then my body began to remind me that I wasn’t exactly in the physical shape I had been at the peak of last summer.  (Let’s face facts; I was downright lazy this winter.)  However, at the end of the day I looked out at the field and felt that my work had been not only personally satisfying, but moved to know that my efforts were a part of something larger than me.

Check.

-Rachael

Broccoli!

March 2012: Out Like a Lion

Rain + snow + more rain =  we had another flood!

 I, fortunately, was not trapped on the farm for the two days that water gushed from across the street (where the creek had risen three feet above the flood zone) and made the barn an island. I, fortunately, got the message to stay in town and wait it out, which I did, warm, cozy, and full of homemade pizza.

 This flooding, though not as major as our January flood, did cause some destruction. The water took down a good portion of our fence (which is a necessity in keeping deer and other foragers out of the fields). It also damaged our first beds of salad greens, which otherwise may have been harvestable for the first Saturday Market!  And because the ground has been continuously wet, we’ve had to push back some scheduled plantouts.  On top of that, the flood took the life of our rooster Houdini, who had been a part of the farm for several years.   Nevertheless, we’re not stressin’.  Spring has only just begun, and there is plenty of time to repair, (re)plant, and remember to acknowledge and appreciate the power and wisdom inherent in Nature.  

 In exactly 8 days we will be a full crew with the arrival of three new apprentices, Hallie, Dawn, and Stewart!  We are all so excited to meet them and for the start of this season. In preparation we’ve been doing lots of clean up and improvements around the farm and in the barn.  Most noteworthy is the beautiful kitchen table Ashley just finished building!  

 We’ve also put up new shelving, did lots of painting, got a new tacky gold recliner for the living room, AND glittered the fridge.  

Yes, glitter,
and Yes,
it looks Awesome.

  I think back to last April when I was first arriving at Horton.  I had no idea what to expect (never before even caring for a potted plant) and at first had some real doubts about my ability to do the work here. My back hurt.  I couldn’t get the salad cut down. There seemed to be no escape from the mud and wet and cold (even in my room which was the only one with insulation and a strict no-boot zone). Then something changed.  I let go a little.  And then a lot.  I soon found myself excited to wake up and get out to the field, rain and cold and mud or not.  I was working harder and getting dirtier than I ever had in my life and I felt fulfilled. I came to realize that my whole being had been craving this kind of work - physical, sense stirring, and essential to the land and community.  When the season ended I felt saddened to leave the work of the farm and return to ‘civilization’ (though, I did enjoy my parent’s hot tub on several occasions, among several other luxuries…).  I never would have guessed that just a year later I’d feel so connected to a place, my work, and a community of people.  

It feels good to be back. 

Check.

-Rachael

Green Onions!