“Are all farmers xenophobic serial killers?” by John

I’ve spent the last two days on the farm going on a mass killing spree, and it’s really been starting to get me down. Between weeding the strawberries, rototilling the raspberry beds, mowing the lawn, weed-whacking everything I can find, tilling the lower field and drowning every slug I come across, I’ve inflicted a whole lot of death and destruction in what is supposed to be “our growing adventure”. Not to mention the fact that a lot of it was done on or with one of the various fossil fuel guzzling noise polluters that are essential to our farming life.

A farmer friend of ours once told us that farming is more about killing the things you don’t want than anything else – and after this week I certainly have to agree.

All this hasn’t been great on my body either. Sore back from bending down, stiff shoulders from controlling heavy machinery, and those who know me well will understand the meaning of one word … allergies! (I swear, sometimes I think I should be a developer and try to pave everything instead of an environmentalist – given how much my body seems to love nature)

Today though, today was different. Today we went to see our friend Christy at her retreat located at Peace of Paradise Farm – and boy was it! I treated Cindy (and myself) to a late birthday present – a full body massage – and while Cindy was getting her massage I explored the grounds, design and maintained according to permaculture principles by Jay, and started reading “Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture” Between the setting and the promise of a massage to come, I found the first chapter of the book highly inspirational and motivating.

So, today, with body relaxed and spirits high, I planted something. Just carrots and parsnips, and just a third of a row, but it was something. I also watered the site of what will hopefully be a soccer pitch again someday, and I tried to take some time to enjoy the space that I’m living in. Of course I also fired up the Mantis and the weed whacker and did some work with those, but with the addition of starting life into my day, I didn’t feel so bad taking some back. After all, the grass clippings serve as mulch and the whacked weeds break down into organic matter to feed the soil to help grow other plants, so it’s all just part of a cycle.

Thanks for reading.

“Full steam ahead” by Cindy

plans

Thought it would be fun to show you just how organized our plans are…

And yes, this means we finally got a printer/scanner.

In other news, our farm website is in the works, we started some onions and leeks, our garlic is sending up shoots, we submitted our application to the farmers’ market, and we are rototiller shopping (anyone know where we can get a good used BCS?). The greenhouse strawberries do not look so good, but more on that later. G was here and we went for a nice walk-around, and he gave us some helpful tips. Then, feeling inspired, Joan, John, and I did some raspberry topping – boy, do things ever get done more quickly with three people!

But wait, didn’t you just finish pruning the raspberries (or did I forget to mention that?)? Yes, the raspberries were fully pruned, but in the spring, which it is starting to feel like around here (sorry you Ontario suckers), it is best to top the raspberries before they put too much energy into getting tall. We want them wide and full of lateral pickable branches, so we chop them at about head level (my head).

Next, we get to tackle pruning the blueberry field (there are a lot of blueberries in that field). Today, though, it’s all about using the fancy pH meter we borrowed from a wonderful local farmer (thanks Dan from Dragonfly!) to check our beds. This way, we can amend them as needed and prepare for a bountiful crop. Don’t I sound optimistic? I haven’t even had any caffeine today.

Anyway, things are exciting around here, and we are looking forward to long sunny days in the field. It’s good to be positive, right?