Sorry for the information blackout. I am currently in Michigan, attending the wedding of a best friend from college. Robin and Jerry become husband and wife tomorrow at the Kalamazoo Nature Center, in a barn, and I am exceedingly happy for them (and also quite jealous...Robin, stop getting married in my fantasy wedding!!!). It is a great weekend, spent with some of the greatest people I know. I promise I'll post again, either Monday or Tuesday, after a productive visit to the farm. Please check back then for updates, I'll be super excited to share them!!!
I must be for real. Like, seriously I am now a farmer. Not because I have land or produce or a tractor. No siree, I am a legit farmer because I now own a pair of overalls! And not just any overalls, but vintage, Sears-made, gorgeousness from sometime before the 1970s. Aren't I so very adorable in the overalls?! Makes me feel very country and actually grown up. I'm not just screwing around in a dirt pile. I'm doing something real, that others recognize as real. That kind of affirmation cannot be bought. A big thanks to Donna's mom for seeing these and snagging them for me. I had always been wanting a serious pair of overalls. Now I have them and not only are they cute, but they are super practical! I was weed whacking today, and felt not a thing as bits of grass and straw were flung at me. I walked amid scores of grasshoppers, mosquitos, and crickets and was unafraid because I had my magic overalls to protect me. They were amazing, and will forever go down in my memory as one of the most thoughtful and unexpected gifts I have ever been given. Now, onto more pressing matters.
Simple things sometimes feel like amazing things. When I began this journey, I had dreams of sharing it with others. That it would become a way for me to connect with people and maybe even impact a few lives. I have felt successful in this regard at church with the Green Thumbs Up Garden. Finally today, I felt that on the farm. Mike Shunt (who created the very amazing logo on the front page of this site and at the top of this page on the right hand side) came out to the farm today with me and Mom. It wasn't a truly spectacular day. Nothing earth-shattering happened, no big revelations or huge gains were made. But it was an incredible experience. Mike is a rockstar and helped to set up the green bean trellis, stake the tomatoes, and do some serious damage to the weeds with the weed whacker. By the by, I do some serious damage with the weed whacker too, but I usually do that serious damage to the plants I'm trying to protect Today, I killed three plants...two pepper and one pumpkin. Oops! He helped us pick potatoes and also helped to make what is normally an enjoyable day, for me, a truly wonderful one. We spent probably a little over three hours working, and to me it felt as if no time at all had passed. I could've stayed all day, if not for needing to make a beverage run across the border in Wisconsin (for the impending arrival of my college friends). I've told him this several times today, but it's so heartwarming to be able to share this experience with people who don't have to share in this with me. My family is obligated to listen to me grumble and whine and worry and rejoice with each passing milestone. They have to accompany me many times and brainstorm to solve the various new problems that seem to crop up everyday. And I don't mean that they absolutely have to do these things, but being my family and loving me like they do, they are kind of stuck on this journey with me. But Mike is not stuck with me. He chose to climb aboard. My old camp counselor Judi has reconnected with me over this and has also chosen to hop on. Next Monday, I should have a couple of carfuls of people voluntarily coming with to experience what we go through trying to grow something where I can't fathom anything surviving. What an unbelievable thing to have anyone want to do this with me. It's nice to not feel alone.
Everything was looking good today. There are new pictures posted in the farm and home garden sections. We were able to harvest a bit of potato. They aren't big, but there are more coming out of the soil than went in. And certainly there are lessons being learned about how to better prepare the soil for them next year (and how excited am I that we're already talking about next year?!). The soybeans look like the leaves are being eaten right off. Grasshoppers are everywhere and part of me wonders if God is sending down a plague!!! I don't have any of his people to let go, so I'm not sure how to make it stop. Pumpkins!! Yes, you read right. There are two pumpkins growing. They are large, about the size of a 16-inch softball. I began jumping up and down with delight when I first spotted them. In my head, I keep playing these images of walking through the pumpkin patch in October, like we did when I was little, to pick the perfect pumpkin to bring back for Halloween. Although, our first priority is having some pumpkin to puree for the Thanksgiving pie. All I need are 8 more pumpkins and I'll be able to outfit the kids of the church with pumpkins for the spookiest of seasons. The corn is taller, not as tall as it should be, but all I need is for it to make something (it doesn't have to look impressive). Everything else seems happy enough. And I think that I seem happy enough. And for now, that's all that has to count.
I say it often, but I'll say it again: Thanks for reading, thanks for being part of my journey.
You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt. ~Author Unknown
Just a quick update, more to follow tomorrow. There are new pictures in the church garden portion of the website. We had a great day in the Green Thumbs Up Garden. One tomato, two mini green peppers, and a few salads-full of lettuce were harvested and brought in for the members of the congregation. We had a new family join us this week and they were super cute, super enthusiastic, and a joy to have with us. It's nice to see some new life coming into the church. For so many years now, we have just lost some of the most enthusiastic members (along with their small children). Dorian's mom today commented that a big reason that he wanted to come to church was for the garden and accompanying sunday school program. What a wonderful compliment. And finally I feel like we're doing something active to restore some life to our aging church. Tomorrow brings a trip to the farm. The hope is that the weeds haven't gotten too bad, and that the rain hasn't turned the soil to mush. I'd love to be able to let Mike pick some potatoes to take home! I promise a longer update with fun pictures tomorrow. And I even have a surprise outfit to show off!!! Thanks for reading, enjoy the dry, cool weather.
The rain came and went. Thank goodness. I didn't sleep much last night and the only things I really kept thinking at 2, 3, and then 4 in the morning were thoughts of my possibly drowning plants all over northern Illinois. A good soak was much needed and our severely flooded backyard was hardly wet by 2 in the afternoon. Mother Nature does a far better job than I of properly watering. And so I am ever so grateful for the rain, but will next time be very careful about how hard I wish for it. It has rained about 2 inches in Harvard over the last 24 hours. Moisture was desperately needed. I'm pretty sure the rain totals for the last 24 hours surpass the total rainfall for the last four weeks there. The hope is now that the soil there absorbs enough so that when we go up to work on Monday, it won't be one big pit of mud. Mostly because I would still have to work in it, no matter the conditions!
I'm heading off to church early tomorrow morning. I need to get there and survey the damage to the containers. I may have to run to Pesche's for stakes (I fear the wind blew over the pepper plants), plant food (because, well, they're in containers!), or insect soap (the aphids and thrips have taken a commanding hold over at least five of the tomato plants). Hopefully, I get there and all is right with the world. The plants will look well watered and well nourished. There will be a bright red tomato for the picking! It's Justin's turn to pick something, so I really am praying he comes tomorrow to take our lone Amish Paste tomato off the vine. I've got to remember to charge my camera to take some stellar pictures to show off how well the kids are keeping things up.
At the house, we are finally starting to see the plants kick it into high gear. The pepper plants are making many green peppers. I finally have a Sub-Arctic Plenty tomato beginning to turn. This should be the straw that breaks the camel's back...many tomatoes should follow after. The green beans have climbed well over the top of the swingset and are now beginning to set flowers. We should be eating green beans in 1-2 weeks. It's all beautiful here, and though there are always issues to deal with, I am happy as a clam. Thanks to those of you who have been reading. It's nice to feel like there are others taking this journey with me. And to the people who have expressed interest in helping or coming to visit the various spaces, thanks so much! It's what I'm all about. I love to share this and maybe even instill some passion in others.
Love to all, I must get some sleep!
Give me the splendid, silent sun, with all his beams full dazzling. quote / saying by Walt Whitman
It has rained almost two inches in the last two days at the farm. The house is being watered as we speak, and I would assume that the church garden is also! It's been a good 3-4 weeks since a good soak has come from up above. And thank goodness. No one does a better job watering than mother nature. I am glad to be relieved of that duty if only for a few days. This also means we won't have to spend time watering at the farm on Monday. Hooray! Instead, there will be construction of a bean trellis and then never-ending battle royale with the weeds. But such is life. And it seems that I will have a good amount of help on Monday. Mom, Alycia, and Mike at least will be joining me for a little toiling in the soil. Love it. No more tomatoes at the moment. The first few ripe ones got me all excited, but nothing else is turning yet. It's just a sea of green. Fingers crossed that more fruits set and that the stuff on the vines begins to get a little tan from the sun!!!
Sitting in the living room after a really wonderful day, I'm trying to figure out what words to use in this post. It's scary to put this in writing, but I have to say what is bursting to get out of me. Things are starting to happen. I posted this website on Facebook again a few days ago and got a lot of hits. And then I got a couple of offers of people wanting to come and experience the farm (like, legitimate offers). On Sunday, I got to spend an amazing time with Alex in the church garden where we picked his favorite veggie, zucchini, and had a great talk about how zucchinis come to be and why there are different types of tomatoes. I then watched him bring a friend into the garden and explain to him what everything was. The excitement he exhibited while showing off our garden to Azu was something else to behold.
While driving home from the church garden today (which was sorely in need of water and reinforcements), I made the comment to Alycia that I think I finally know what I want to do with my life. How could I not farm? How could I not educate others, and try to instill a passion for food and the earth and being a part of creation? Nowhere in my life have I ever felt the kind of peace or excitement that I feel when I am with the plants or talking about the plants or thinking about what I'm going to grow next year. To have a sustainable farm that would be a place for education and fun and existing in the outdoors would combine the majority of the things I love in life (if only I could figure out how to make it musical...).
I don't want this to come out wrong. But I, for the first time in my life, am feeling like I have a direction. The last three years of my life, and perhaps it's been for a longer time than that, I have felt as if I had no plan, no real passion to pursue. Sure, there are things I love and what I was going after for my life I did love and thought would be the wonderful thing I did. But I have never wanted anything more than this. I have never worked this hard and been this happy at the same time. I hate hard work, or any work at all...I avoid it like the plague. I cannot for the life of me keep up with my laundry or the god-awful mess in my room. My car is not clean and I really don't care. I can't seem to send off mail to my friends. I still have christmas gifts sitting around the house for my college friends because I can't seem to muster up the energy or whatever to get my behind to the post office and mail them (which is certainly not because I don't love them...at this point I'm just waiting until I see them all at the end of July) But this farm business, this church garden business, this I seem to be able to do. It must mean something. And the thought of not doing this with my life, the thought of this becoming another one of my washed away dreams fills me with a panic and deep, deep sense of loss. I have never wanted anything more.
Things around me feel like they are starting to change. Everyone who did big things in their life, with their life, started with a small dream and a small impact on those around them. Gradually, more and more people became aware and involved and opportunities began to present themselves. I feel like there are opportunities that are beginning to open up to me. Having anyone want to be involved in this with me is a miracle in itself. Maybe I can do this. Maybe this is what I've been called to do with my life. I know it would be hard, perhaps the most difficult thing I could ever think to do. I know that farms do not make money, I would never be wealthy (monetarily, at least). But I feel such a strange draw to it all. I have no idea how to start, where to start, if I'm even able to make a start! I'm trying to stay open to any possibilities that may come my way. In the meantime, I'll be going back to school in the spring for my teaching degree. I want to be a certified educator because I love kids and want to be educating whether it's in a classroom or on a farm. Please God, help me make this dream mine.
"To dig one's own spade into one's own earth! Has life anything better to offer than this?"-- Beverley Nichols
It has been a long week away. Sawyer, Michigan was my home for the week of July 10-17. HUG Camp was super fun...cute kids, lots of nature, and tons of laughing! One of the greatest parts was being given the chance to talk about the church garden and the great things the kids of the church are doing with their summer. While I was away, my mom was charged with overseeing the plants in all three locales. She did an excellent job of keeping everything alive! For my mother, this kind of thing can sometimes be a challenge. But everything is alive and has grown leaps and bounds in my absence. The first tomatoes were harvested while I was away. Two Chadwick Cherry's were ripe and my father claims he enjoyed them. When I got home on Saturday, after a week of almost no sleep and lots of movement, it was off to the garden for me. I was able to pick a few cherry tomatoes and a couple of Amish Paste tomatoes. The plants are bearing a lot of fruit and I am very pleased with their progress. Everything is looking worlds better than it did last summer. Finally I may actually have the epic harvests that I dream of.
Today brought me to the farm. For many reasons, I was unable to get up there this weekend. I was very excited as we got there, as Richard Boyko had lent me his super amazing weed whacker!!! By far, it was the best piece of equipment my mom and I have brought up. The weeds, when we got there, were to my waist or higher in some places. With the weed whacker, we were able to buzz down most of everything and are now able to see the individual plants from afar. The battle with the weeds is a losing one for me. And so instead of futilely trying to completely eliminate the weeds, we are intending to work with and around them. Each plant gets weeds hoed from around it, creating a collar. The rest of the weeds in between were chopped down close to the ground today. I realize that this means a few hours of weed whacking every week, but today was the first time since we sunk plants originally that I felt like we had taken back control of the wildly unruly pit that it had become. I know the weeds are not gone. I know they will grow back with a vengeance time and time again. But at least they have been somewhat contained, for now. The corn looks only okay. But as the nice old man at the roadside farmstand told me, "Young lady, it doesn't have to get very high to get at least an ear off of it!". And he's right. It doesn't have to be perfect, especially not in the first year. I learn so very much each and every time I go out there. Today, I learned that the potatoes don't have to look big and beautiful (like they do at my house) in order for them to actually be making useable potatoes. We were able to harvest three plants and, though small, potatoes were produced. I immediately, upon returning home, fried them up with a little salt, pepper, and garlic and that was my lunch. I forget each year how incredible a fresh from the ground potato tastes. When eating it, I had a moment of happy that I will hold onto for all of my lifetime. I provided for myself. The soybeans are getting bigger and I now have to figure out when and how to harvest them. It's an absolutely great problem to have!
Disheartened was the feeling of the day as I stepped out of the car. The weeds had completely taken over. The corn was nowhere near as tall as it should have been. From afar, the potatoes looked sad and unproductive. But once I really got in there and decided to do something about it, I discovered wonderful things. The pumpkin plants are enormous. Like, the vines are yards long! We're still waiting to see an actual pumpkin happen, but the bees hang out over there and tons of flowers are blooming on the vine. It will happen...nature intends it to. The acorn squash I planted for Donna has gotten big and turned dark green. I think it will be ready soon, and we discovered another one on a different plant. A full-on zucchini was ready to be picked. I believe it is large enough to make bread with. The soybeans were no longer tiny wisps that I had to squint to find. Instead, they are big and looking like legitimate beans. The tomato plants are making tomatoes. And finally, we were able to harvest potatoes. Suddenly, the farm seemed like it might actually be productive. It won't be quite the bonanza I had dreamed of back in January, but it certainly has not turned into the failure I had feared back in May. And nowhere do I feel as happy, as peaceful, as purposeful, as when I am at the farm, working in the garden.
Everybody read The Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer-Purcell!!!
The first gatherings of the garden in May of salads, radishes and herbs made me feel like a mother about her baby - how could anything so beautiful be mine. And this emotionof wonder filled me for each vegetable as it was gathered every year. There is nothing that is comparable to it, as satisfactory or as thrilling, as gathering the vegetables one has grown. - Alice B. Toklas
What exactly happens when God fails to provide the water that the weathermen forecasted? Well, you get up at 6 in the morning to drive up to the farm and move water from the creek onto the plants. And that was my Friday. I dragged Alycia with me (with the promise of bakery treats, of course) as the job of watering is at least a two person endeavor. Here's how it works:
First, you grab all of the things you're filling with the creek water. For us, this includes 2 five-gallon buckets and 2 ten-gallon buckets and close to 30 one-gallon milk jugs. The milk jugs are great because they have lids and handles and so make the job of watering just a little bit easier. Once you've collected all of your tools, you grab one of the five-gallon buckets and a rope and saunter over to the creek. And you have to saunter because the job you are about to do sucks and you have got to keep a little dignity. Once at the creek, you attach the rope to the bucket and lower it over the metal tube you're standing on and into the water. The bucket begins to fill and you begin to wonder how you'll haul it back up without joining it in the cool running water. Eventually you bring the bucket back up and walk it over to the various other large buckets and begin filling them, with many trips, to capacity. Person number two then begins to fill the gallon jugs with the water from the large buckets. This whole process takes about 30-40 minutes. Then you load up the car with all of the water jugs, along with the 2 ten-gallon buckets that have screw-on lids and lots of heavy water inside, and drive it up to the garden. Finally, you unload all the water and begin to actually water the plants. Yesterday required two trips like this. And a total of close to two hours of work just to be sure the plants would not die of dehydration.
The final lesson learned was that water is heavy and even if you lift with your legs, ten gallons can take your back out a little bit. I consider myself to be strong and I am regularly lifting weights and other such things. However, I was apparently not prepared to be lifting quite the volume that yesterday required. Laying on the floor is good, Aleve does nothing for me, and I am now off to church camp for the week, running around with kids and hiking up hills. I am praying for a quick recovery...like the length of the car ride up! Please everyone think good thoughts for my brave little plants who will soldier on without me for 8 days. I will miss them dearly, but will be so very excited to see the obvious progress when I get back next Saturday. Everyone also think good thoughts for my mother, who I have left to hold down the fort of all three growing spaces. She has a daunting task ahead of her and I am ever so grateful for her willingness to help. Well, I now must go and journey to Michigan...
Monday on the farm brought about loads and loads of work and many wonderful helpers. Mom, Alycia, and Justeeny (Alycia's friend) all came with to try and tackle the weed infested pit where I make an attempt at growing fruits and vegetables. We worked from 9-3, intensely pulling and plucking stubborn weeds from their rocky homes. The goal of the weeding is to create a collar around the individual plants so that the weeds don't choke them out. We cannot weed the entire garden space as it is too big and we are not there often enough. So this is our strategy...just make sure the individual plants are as happy as can be and don't worry about the overall ascetics of the garden. I'd love a big, beautiful, black patch of ground where even the seedlings are clearly visible from yards away. But it's too big, and I don't live there to be tending to it daily. My home garden is well manicured, but the farm, by its very nature, cannot be.
We had many visitors! My cousin Tim and his wife Amy dropped by with two bales of straw. Straw is currently being used as a barrier against the weeds (also, it makes the plants look prettier!). What we really should have done, according to my mother and backed up by Rema, was lay down newspaper first and then cover the newspaper with straw. This method would drown and rot the weeds, while preserving some moisture around the plants we're trying to protect. We're saving up newspapers now for next year. Lesson learned. But the straw alone will still be a million times better than no barrier at all. Fingers crossed that our struggle with the weeds begins to subside, I have other struggles to focus on. At the end of the day, we were visited by Donna, Jody, and their mom. I had called Donna earlier in the day to let her know that the acorn squash I planted for her was actually growing. You can see it in the picture at the top of this post. She and her mother were curious, and so they came. I can only hope they weren't disappointed that the scene they happened upon was nowhere near the idyllic farms of books and movies. It was really great, though, to be able to share this adventure with yet more people.
The corn is most definitely knee high by the fourth of July. It looks good. Not as good as the neighbors' corn, but that corn was planted a good month before I got mine in the ground. Next year we will do better and have earlier successions of corn. The potatoes are beginning to look a bit worse for wear. Both Tim and my mother believe they need nothing more than a bit of water. I, of course, believe that some harrowing disease has hit every last one of them and that we will have no potatoes. Usually, I am wrong. I hope that is the case this time.
The weather over the last two weeks has been uncooperative. I was okay with it not having rained last week. The ground had become too wet and needed to dry out a little. Plus, the plants needed a few days of uninterrupted growth. They certainly got that, as witnessed by the impressively long pumpkin vines now evident. However, as of Monday, water was sorely needed. We decided not to water and instead focus on clearing weeds from around the plants because it was supposed to rain Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. Today is Thursday and there has been exactly .09 inches of rain since we left on Monday. And so I find myself having to drag my sister up with me at 6 tomorrow morning to water the plants before I leave for church camp on Saturday. I do not at all have time for these games that Mother Nature is playing with me. But I guess that is part of what it means to be working and attempting to live off of the land. Your schedule is irrelevant. I am needed by the plants and so I figure out a time to go, regardless of what is happening. Please wish me a speedy watering in the morning, as there is much packing to be done and a well earned pedicure to be had with Jessica.
Love to all.
I never had any other desire so strong, and so like to covetousness, as that one which I have had always, that I might be master at last of a small house and a large Garden. ~Abraham Cowley, The Garden, 1666
Goodness, aren't they cute?! Seriously, peas are freaking adorable! This week at the house I was able to really get concrete tasks done (of course, much of it was with the help of my mother...I couldn't do this alone). We strung a trellis up for the cucumbers and green beans out of twine and wooden stakes. It actually has a lovely rustic feel to it, and it adds a bit of charm to the old frame of my childhood swingset. A whole lot of weeding has been going on! But all of the garden beds, at the moment, are weed free. It finally came time to pull up the pea plants. The broccoli had been growing amongst the peas and needed to be set free. I was able to get probably another half cup of peas off of the remaining pods. I spent a calming 20 minutes shelling them. They were big and juicy. I hope my dad enjoys them. Oh, and Aunt Chris? I will plant some peas for you next year...promise! I went down to the Green City Market on Wednesday morning to get strawberries for jam and some herbs, as the ones I started from seed are having a hard time getting big enough to use. The strawberries were a bust, as the season for everything was early and so things are going out of season faster. But there was this very nice farmer who sold me 5 herb starts for only $3! And then I had to go to another grower to get the few things he didn't have and spent $12 for 4 plants. Bummer. But they're all in pots or the ground and they look beautiful and I no longer have anything to buy or plant until the end of August when we start rotating the fall crops in. It's nice to finally be transitioned into summer and have not a whole lot to do other than maintain the current crops and be on the lookout for signs of pests or diseases. The tomatoes are blooming and I will hopefully get a few off of the Sub Arctic Plenty plants in the next couple of weeks. I'm still dealing with a slug problem and am trying to find effective yet safe cures for the tiny, slimy, pink demons that eat away my broccoli and beans every night. I welcome any and all suggestions! We are heading up to the farm on Monday, if anyone is interested in tagging along. I can't give anyone anything for their efforts right now, but I can promise a cut of the produce once it's ready! Alright, gonna go make some stir fry and then head out to church to water and plant seed this afternoon. Hope everyone is well and happy.
Let no one think that real gardening is a bucolic and meditative occupation. It is an insatiable passion, like everything else to which a man gives his heart. ~Karel Čapek, The Gardener's Year, translated by M. and R. Weatherall, 1931