Chickens and tractors....

Rain has come at last to our little farm, not to mention, the whole surrounding area. What a treat for the plants to finally get a nice long drink of water. They sure could use it too, and already looking out to the fields and gardens, it is easy to see the change of the landscape. Plants stand a little taller, trees look a little greener, birds sing a little louder. Yes, this rain has been good. During this time, us little interns have hunkered down for the weekend, taking the time to enjoy some down time and stay dry and out of the rain. But come tomorrow, back out we go. It should be an exciting day, tramping through the clay-like mud. Already, our boots, clothes and house have been covered in this soft mucky matter. It brings out laughter and smiles, but also the mutters of "we need to keep the house clean!", something which is difficult when living in a house of 12, add in a little mud and you've got chaos! But that's all part of the process no?
Our weeks are beginning to dwindle now. With only a handful left, it seems like we have only just begun. Over the past few weeks, we've been meeting and talking with prospective interns looking to get a place for next semester. Is it that time already? Yes, good golly. And soon, just as quickly as we came, most of us will take our leave, off on new adventures. But let's focus on the now.  The future will come soon enough.

Last week was exciting. The highlight (depending on who you ask...) of chicken killing on Wednesday (the chicken I'm afraid has little to comment on this lesson). Leading up to the day, I deliberated whether I would partake in this lecture.  Being rather fond of all creatures great and small, and growing up a vegetarian, killing an animal for food hasn't been a subject that has crossed my mind all too often. With  Wednesday approaching, my decision was made. I decided I would attend, and witness the show. Bob, realizing that this subject was not for everyone, approached the lesson with great compassion.  He spoke softly and gently, whereas in most of our other lectures his voice booms with passion. But this was an occasion to be humble and quiet. I had envisioned the process to be an aggressive struggle of man vs chicken, with a lot of distressed clucking of the rooster and, but was surprised how little stress the task was. Bob's method: an axe and burlap sack. There were three birds slated for the demonstration. I stayed for one, but after the first, felt I had seen enough and was content to spend the rest of the lecture wandering about the grounds instead. This was alright. I now know how to kill a chicken, though doubtful if I will ever find myself wielding the axe.  Bob, knowing what he was doing, went through the steps explaining in detail what he was doing.  The roosters head was cut with one fell swoop. It would take others a few turns. A burlap sack was utilized to contain the birds wings throughout the affair.  I learnt that the bird, after the head has been removed, will continue to convulse a few times as it's body begins to die. This was the hardest part for me, watching the headless body continue to move with blood from the neck oozing to the ground below.  Not for the faint at heart, that's for sure.  With a vat of hot water ready, depluming was the next step, then the removal of organs. I am grateful to have seen the process.  I wouldn't call it my favourite lesson by any means, but one in which I took away great learning...and felt humbled by. We have the power to take life, but hopefully we use that power wisely, taking only what is needed and with reason. I think the process of killing an animal for food is something that more people in our society should experience. To know how we get the food that we eat, and to know where it comes from, begins to break down the barrier between ourselves and our food. We could all use some perspective.
Thursday's lesson in turn, was a lighthearted change in gears. As we stood out in the first bouts of rain, we learnt a different skill: how to drive a tractor.  Firstly, I have been attempting to learn how to drive stick shift. In the handful of times I have sat in the drivers seat, though there are minor improvements, and my confidence goes up, I would say, it is a difficult thing. But to stand in front of a tractor, with its many levers and gears surrounding you from all sides, it amazes me that it is more simple to drive a manual tractor than a car. Or is it? Maybe there is truth that in a car, I am over-thinking it. You certainly have less traffic to worry about while manuevering a slow moving, easy riding tractor!  Maybe, next time I sit in the drivers seat of a manual car, I will find driving it a little more easy. Fingers crossed.
What, oh what, I wonder will be in store for this week? As I rub my hands together, I can only imagine. One thing is for certain. There will be a lot more pruning of trees in the mornings.

House of Muir

Saturday morning. Ahh the weekend! 'What, oh what to do with the day?' I sat wondering, while sipping on my morning tea. The last two days of rain were slowly letting up, and it seemed like a perfect day to go exploring. I decided to take a trip to Martinez, CA to visit the house of John Muir.

I am not sure what the heck I learnt in school, but the more I grow older, and tour around this country, the more I realize there are significant gaps of fascinating history and people who never made it into my education. What on earth did they teach me in school? John Muir and the many national parks certainly were not subjects covered in any of my classes. The only thing I can recall from my school days, is the endless teachings about WWI and WWII, which though heavy and significant to know about, has also left me with giant voids of information. But I won't dwell, for surely the knowledge of trench foot and mustard gas will be helpful in my future no?! 

Admittedly, if you were to ask me a year ago, who John Muir was, I would probably shrug and reply "I think he is someone who makes stickers of trees."  Yosemite? "A vague concept of a place in the west, envisioned as an overpopulated RV/Car campground."  I kid you not. Sad isn't it? But that all changed last summer, when I had the sweet priviledge to see Yosemite first hand, spending several days exploring the different areas, peaks, views and venture off the beaten path to really see and absorb the beauty and heart of this National Park. In the fall, again, my eyes and feet were given a treat as I hiked a portion of the John Muir trail. In all my life, I have never set foot in a more incredible and enchanted place.  Everywhere I looked, was one captivating moment after the next. I could spend weeks, months or an entire lifetime in that land and feel as though I were seeing it all for the very first time. And all of this was all thanks to one man. Who, I wondered time after time, was this John Muir? Tid-bits began to seep in about his life, passion and tireless work to preserve some of the natural beauty of this country. And from there the learning has begun!

Since my time on the trail and visit to Yosemite, my interest in the area and the man has grown. I have come to look and appreciate all wild areas with a new eye. Recently, I've been watching Ken Burns series: National Parks; America's Best Idea.  This documentary in itself is inspirational, taking the viewer from one park to the next, giving context, history and accounts of early visitors and their tireless struggle to save these wild places. It moves my heart.

Simultaneously, I picked up a book by Donald Worster entitled, A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir.  It follows Muir from a child in Scotland through his life in America and has begun to unravel the man behind the legend. I am enrapt, and find myself being pulled out to the wilds, desiring to explore and filled with a great curiosity to understand how I am connected to the natural world around me. Once read, I will begin to read Muir's own works. 

So today, with Muir swirling in my mind and thoughts, I decided the days adventure should be to explore Muirs home in Martinez, where he lived with his wife and two daughters, tending his father-in-laws orchards, and where he would write the majority of his books. Though after Muir had died, and many other owners lived in the house prior to the Parks Service scooping it up to turn into a historical site, the house continues to stand as it used to. The rooms have changed over the years and the furniture not original to the house, the site paints a picture of what times looked like during Muir's time. The grounds, once lush and large, have now been whittled down to a small section, with a small orchard of plums, apples, apricots, peaches, oranges and cherry trees still remaining. Surrounding the homestead, is highway and suburbs.  It is a reminder as to how much time has changed. But still, as one walks through the house and grounds, it is easy to get a sense of Muir's life, his restlessness for the Sierras, and the inspiration that drove him to fight for his beloved Yosemite. 

Headed home, after visiting the house, I grew silent in thought, absorbing the experience. A dawning was about to occur. If you love something, or have an interest in something, than it doesn't matter where you are, what you are doing, or how it is done, it is your inspiration and desire alone that sets you in motion, to learn, to fight, to experience and to seek out those passions. That is how we grow.  Not everywhere we go in life, will we find teachers. Sometimes, it is us that must become our own teacher, our own motivator.  This is a lesson I have been trying to grasp and understand here at the farm. Being a teacher doesn't mean that you have to know it all. To me, it means that your mind is open to learn, and all it takes is for that first step to set your course. This is the school of life. And today, I think I've just become both student and faculty.

More shots from the farm!

Nothin' like a little sunshine on yer socks... 

Walking to work in the morning

The crew awaits what's in store for the day

Laura and Wesley on peaceful afternoon

Rick, teaching us about being bee-releasers.
He makes his own hives!

Learning about how to be a bee-releaser

Attentive listeners during lecture at Bob's

Beautiful smiling Chip and Rochelle

At the table ready for lesson at Bob's.  Notice the teaching tools in
the front: a bottle of wine and a pack of smokes. 

Our teacher Bob Cannard

Updates from the farm

Greetings to you from a warmer nook of California. It still seems to boggle my mind that it is firstly January, and secondly that the weather feels more like an early fall day. Winter what?
Farm life continues to truck on.  Now with only 6 weeks left to the program, I find myself wondering where the time has gone? What will the second half of this internship look like?

Our daily routine is more or less set, us little interns wake up, eat our hearty breakfast and brave the early morning frost.  I've been on chicken chores for the past two weeks, which entails an early morning harvest of green leafy num nums for the creatures. With a frosty morning, and frozen plants, this has led to frozen fingers on more than one occasion. Nothing like a warm rising sun to help defrost the ole digits! By 10am, frost and being cold is as far from one's mind as could be, as the layers are shed while digging into the mornings work. What has been on the plate as of late? Painting the exterior of the restrooms, hoeing garlic, hoeing weeds, harvesting vegetables galore, pruning apple trees to name a few, all the while sneaking samples of cheese from the farm store!

In class, we have been focusing on pruning, and spent an entire week, discussing, watching, and finally getting to prune a few trees ourselves. The rule of thumb? Practice only makes you more knowledgable, you can never over prune a tree, (however if you prune too much the chances that you'll get any fruit become less and less), and keep your fingers away from the saw. Apparently, I wanted a little extra practice and went for my finger. Nothing to be worried about, but hopefully trees aren't as sensitive to pain as humans are.

An exciting discovery was made earlier last week. As I went to check on my little carrot patch, I noticed that there were four little green rows where I had planted peas over a month ago. To my delight and surprise, after giving up all hope that these peas would grow, there they were at last, all reaching upwards to greet the sunshine and world above.  What is it about seeing something sprout up and grow bring such joy into my heart?

As interns, we are asked to create and see through a project of our choice (a personal project) that gives back to Green String in some way. Everyone has been abuzz recently, talking and planning out what they will do for their project.  For me, I decided to build a spice rack for the intern house. The idea came rather quickly, as our kitchen is the most popular place in the house, but also the most disorganized and relatively useless set up. Imagine this if you will. On the opposite side of room from where the stove and counter are, along the floor, sits all our grains, flour and cooking foods. Near the stove, stands this sturdy tall shelf, which houses a disarray of jars filled with herbs and spices. This shelf would be better served  to house all the food containers bringing them closer to the cooking area.  Then, creating a better system that would allow anyone who cooks to not only better access the ingredients, herbs and spiced they need.  Our teacher Bob Cannard, has been teaching us how to use various power tools and saws in the woodshop, and have put together the plans for a basic shelf that will hold all our jars of spices and herbs.  This evening, I began my project.  With all the boards now cut and marked for the shelf grooves, it will soon be time to assemble the beast and get it into the kitchen! My first independent woodworking project- I'm excited to construct it and see how it will turn out.

This week, also comes the lesson that I have been dreading. Harvesting a chicken. Actually, according to Bob, we'll be harvesting not one, but three. This will be my first experience watching an animal be killed. I've already been privy to watching the depluming of both a rooster and duck, but to see something go from alive to very much not, will be something else. I'm sure I will have a thought or too once the lesson is over. Gulp!

The dailies on the farm

What's it like to live on a farm? Here's a few windows into what our daily lives look like on the farm and at home.

Rochelle. Stirring up some sourdough for our daily bread 

In our kitchen, making a batch of ravioli, bread and good conversation.
Wesley, Kayla and Rochelle.

Outdoor house cat, Lentil in the tree hiding from the dogs

All hands on deck as  the crew churns out a batch of pumpkin ravioli!

Clay's first batch of woodstove bread, waiting to be cooked

Emily and Mike, boiling the ravioli's

"This isn't a carrot" carrot pulled from my carrot patch.
I thought it was a weed, but much to my surprise when I pulled it out it was a mammoth carrot!

My carrot patch! On the right is a pea patch in the making....

Attentive listeners Clay and Brian tuning into lecture up at Bob's place

Our teacher and mentor, Bob Cannard

Amanda, enjoying a fresh tangerine picked right off the tree at Bob's place

The crew, getting a demo on composting

In the greenhouse, our first batch of germinating seeds. Each intern was given 4 flats to plant four different varieties of seeds during the weekend of the full moon.

Sprouting up! Salad bowl lettuce is beginning to grow

Early morning yoga as the sun rises over the hills, led by Cricket with appearances from Farley the farm dog

Our chickens

Getting up close and personal with a fine feathered friend. Thanks for the golden eggs every morning!

Amanda and Brian out collecting the greens for the chickens. The more greens they eat the more golden the yoke!

In the morning we go out to the fields to harvest the bounty for the farm store.
Pulling up beets and cutting red chard was this mornings venture.

A box of harvested beets ready to be washed. Yummm!

Beautiful beats drying in the sun after their harvest bath

Emily getting a box of goldies ready to take to the store

Mike, Clay and the beets

Wesley with the beet bunches

Colleen in the brussel sprout patch

A happy stalk of brussel sprouts, ready for harvesting

In the heart of the leafs hides a small head of green cabbage

Chip making signs for the farm store

Instead of snowmen, we build pumpkin people

Time to compost all those leftovers Rochelle

On the Farm: week 1 in retrospect

Upon driving down the driveway into what would be called my home for the next three months, I was filled with a great excitement. Here I was, my first day at Green String Institute, an eager and keen person ready to learn and work on a farm. What to expect? My first impressions as I drove up was one of welcome. It was a golden sunny day, and was met with smiles and waves by the previous season of interns. They on their way out, back into the world and off on new adventures. In front of me stood a white house, nothing exceptional about the place, but this would be my home, shared with 11 other individuals. The largest amount of people I have ever lived with under one roof. Who would they be? Around the house were little gardens, at various stages of growth, from just beginning to sprout to needing a harvest and to be eaten. I looked around. Vineyards to my left and right, with buildings and gardens in the middle. Home. As the day slowly passed, more folks began to trickle in the awkward first greetings happening as we exchanged small stories of who we each were. In the evening, we met as a group, and got a formal introduction and a short tour of the farm. Afterwards, we shared our first group dinner, one of many, many, many. So glorious to share a hearty meal fresh from the garden, and with a great collection of people, who soon will morph from strangers to family.
The second day brought us to our first day of training. We were again taken through a daily routine of what each chore looked like and its process. We met the chickens. We wet out into the larger gardens and harvested beets. The colours so rich and vibrant. Some that we harvested would become our dinner that evening. In the afternoon, we met Bob Cannard, who would teach us over the next three months about farming and how to do it sustainably. Under this umbrella, we will learn about seeds, composting, retooling and sharpening, how to drive a tractor, metalworks, beekeeping, pest management, the business side of running a farm...the list goes on and on, and each day we tick one thing off the list, while storing into our books and minds a plethra of incredible and valuable information.  Bob, through years of his own personal experience has designed this program so that he can pass his knowledge on to future farmers who have the earth in mind. Throughout the week we as interns learnt the daily routine and each day it becomes just a part of our day as we master each task. We have taken on farmers hours, rising before the sun, and capping the day off around 9:30. Some brave souls have pushed past these hours, but more or less we're up early and in bed just as early to get a ready start on the next day.
Week one we learnt about selecting seeds, creating a good potting soil for germination, lunar cycles in regard to when to plant, and planting our first trays of seeds the day of the full moon.
At home, though there are 12 people living all together, it is surprising how uncrowded it feels. The kitchen is certainly the social hang out.  Always there is one or two folks cooking up a delicious meal for the crew, or delving into a food project like making home made yogurt or butter, sourdough bread, and olives. It is not uncommon to linger in the kitchen for a good conversation, or to keep warm by the glowing fire. Our rooms are the quiet places to retreat to, or out in our own personal gardens. I have undertaken a neglected carrot patch, overgrown with weeds or as Bob likes to call it "competition". At times it feels like an endless task going through the rows, trying to give the carrots room to breathe and grow. One area was promptly dug up, as there were very few carrots growing, and spend several days overturning the soil and planting peas. My first direct sewn seeds....I don't think there will peas while we are interns, but the next crew should get a nice harvest of them to enjoy.
As the first week drew to an end I again looked around and felt content. I look at each person that I am sharing this internship with and feel that I have known them far longer than a week.  Amazing how a little dirt can bring a whole bunch of people closer together!

Highlights, Common Sense and the open road

Ever have one of those solo road trips where around every turn there seems to be something that happens? Well I happened to have one of these such moments as I traveled westwards towards California.

1. Freezing rain and the art of a curvy road. Add in the speed limit and your car is sure to dance in a rather alarming and involuntary way. My car got daringly close to other far side of the road and the ditch below. Heart racing monitor from 1-10: 8.96.  What a way to start the trip.

2. Under a starry sky facing the thunderous waves of Lake Superiour. With wind howling, and waves crashing, I couldn't help but to lift my face to the sky and holler out for the sheer joy of the moment!

3. Cranked the passenger seat down as flat as it would go and nestled up for the night in the VW Golf hotel. May be cramped but its free. In the morning, I had to scrape the ice off the inside of the car. Woops.

4. 5 dogs, a hearty broccoli and rice dinner, a glass of strawberry rhubarb wine, A Christmas Story playing in the background and the company of one very dear friend. A magical and warming night, as we caught up and laughed and shared our stories.

5. Incredibly long journey across the plains. My secret for getting through this tedious section? A very thorough and awesome playlist of top 5 billion singable songs. Works everytime, but be sure to keep the list updated and fresh. Otherwise you're in for a lonnnng drive. Hoarse voice at the end may happen. Just roll with it.

6. Return to an old haunt and enjoy the adventure of visiting all your favourite places to roam. Catching up with my lovely roommate from last winter, and then sharing a delicious breakfast at the local breakfast cafe (the Nova Cafe!).

7. Visit the ole storage unit. How, I wonder, is it possible that I had forgotten that I had: a bike, boxes of books, pots and pans, a shelf and a giant sized bag of linens? Who else would forget all of this?

8.  On a well intentioned plan of taking a different road south, I learnt a valuable lesson, that different isn't always wise. Especially when it comes to selecting faint grey roads on the map. I found myself deep in the heart of ranch country in a snowstorm and managed to get myself stuck in the snow for a brief panicking moment before my luck kicked in, and was successfully able to turn around and return to the road more traveled. Phew!

9. Another night at the VW Golf hotel, nestled between the purring idles of giant transport trucks.

10. Sunrise in the high desert. Sheer beauty.

11. Arrival to Green String farm where I met 11 wonderful people who's hearts are all turned towards food and growth. Happy to be out of the car and fluff my bum cheeks, I explored my new home and dreamed of all the days ahead.