Thats all she wrote

I think I am done blogging for a few weeks.

Thanks, everyone, for reading it and sharing my farming adventure. It has made me feel less lonely here on the farm, away from home and all my friends, knowing that people are taking the time to read and comment and stay updated on my life.

While I am still learning a lot of new things every day, I am finding it harder and harder to describe in a clear way what those things are. I know that I am really finding it much more difficult to stay up late and write in the blog, now that morning milking has been moved to an earlier time!

For now, my plan is stay on the farm a little longer. The pace and chores and people and goats are better than I could have asked for, so I feel pretty lucky. I am finding farm life pretty appealing, quirks and all, and for now am I content.

So anyway, thus ends my brief but satisfying foray into the land of blogs. If I move to another farm, I'll probably be inspired to write again. Or maybe I will miss flaunting my adventures in the public forum, and again write posts of grandiose compost projects and vegetable garden victories. But goodbye for now, little blog, and rest well.

Inundated with Interns

One of the best things about this farm are the people (and there are now people aplenty!). We now have eight interns, and maybe one more on the way. There are also three permanent residents that live in the house year round. I don't know how long all the interns will stay, but at the time, there are enough of us to get the work done, and kick back a little, drink a few beers, and have some fun.

Marcia, who I've written a little bit about before, is the farm owner and powerhouse of the farm. She runs a cleaning business, and takes care of the farm, and leads the interns (kind of). She tries to avoid complaining, never feels sorry for herself, and rarely says anything negative about anyone. She is even the soul of patience with her cranky, controlling husband John, the second permanent farm resident. He delivers milk to the accounts and dabbles in the cleaning business. Finally, there is Craig. He is an energetic, nervous, sweet guy in his early fifties who works for the cleaning service as well. He wants to be a farmer someday, but is cleaning in the meantime to build up a little money. Individually, I like them all pretty well. As a unit, the house dwellers make me insane. They squabble, they chatter, they mess up the house. They actually remind me a great deal of the new litter of puppies we have right now. Except they are even more ineffectual than puppies when it comes to farming.

Speaking of ineffectual...

We interns are an interesting and somewhat uninspiring mix.

First, there is me. I've been here the longest, and, as revealed in earlier postings, am clearly the bossiest if not the most experienced. If I make it til mid-April, I will have been a farmer for all of three whole months. In this time, I have learned that to be a farmer, one must enjoy physical labor, monotony, and being poor. Only time will tell if these things sound as incredibly appealing as they do now.

Caroline, our happy hippie, has been here for about two months. She is no longer quite as happy. But she is still a free spirit. She plays the guitar, songs she wrote herself, but refuses to write them down, on the grounds that she plays only to capture the moment, so the music is only true in the moment. I like her a great deal, even though she insists upon being idealistic and optimistic about life.

Tom was third to arrive. He is twenty, and has never lived away from home before. He has only recently learned how to toast bread, launder his own clothing, and imitate normal human behavior. His interests range from antiques and estate sales to helping birth the baby goats, but with very little in between. He has yet to show any initiative or personality, or willingness to help with chores. I think he will improve with age, but he has a lot of ground to make up.

Then there is Steve. He has been awesome. He works harder than anyone, and has great ideas about how to get things done in an efficient manner. Plus he has more upper body strength than the rest of us combined. He can get a little intense though. We have taken over the farm together- we write the schedule, make the to-do lists, decide what needs buying, and so on. Then we make an evil plan for how to get it done. We make a great team- he lets me be bossy and I let him do all the digging! He is also hilarious and keeps me entertained everyday.

Fifth to arrive was Ben. He is twenty-one or two, and has spent the last few months hitchhiking and train-hopping across the country. He showed up high, looking like he'd been sleeping under bridges the last few months (he had) and hadn't showered in awhile (he hadn't). My judgy side kicked right in, and I thought he'd be be awful. But he is actually a pretty responsible kid, and has taken on all the gardening. He is the only one of us that has ever done any farming before. He'll probably move on before long, but its good to have him here.

The next two interns to arrive were Charlotte and Lulu. They are 19 and 18, and soooo nice, and sweet, and seem very young. Charlotte is my new roommate, and she tells the best stories of silly things she's done, and her recent life in Germany. Lulu is more practical and levelheaded, and makes cookies frequently. Obviously a keeper. They have only been here a week, but with their arrival, things really started getting done. Though they have never farmed and aren't super strong and ask two thousand questions each, we make so much more progress now.

The most recent farm acquisition is a fifty-something year old man named Glenn. He arrived yesterday and I am already worn out. I know I should have learned from my experience with Ben to withhold judgement til I get to know a person, but I cannot help myself. He talks. And talks. And laughs loudly. And talks even more loudly. I usually appreciate talkative people and am impatient with those who are reticent, and yet... he makes me crazy. But he is very glad to be here, and has read everything about farming ever written, so I'll try to be nice.

So that is the crew. I will post pictures soon, so the characters in my story are easier to know. Until then, its back to the low-paying, back-breaking drudgery that I love!

New Post

I was kind of running out of steam when it came to writing this blog a few weeks ago. I was starting to feel like on worn out Debbie Downer record: "not enough interns, super tired, poor me." But a few things have changed, my energy is back, and life on the farm is exciting again! Well, maybe not exciting to read about, but it feels pretty action-packed when you live here. Trust me.

First, I went on vacation, which was great. We went to Vegas and tried to go to the Grand Canyon. March is apparently not the best time of year to do that. Oh well. Vegas was odd and fascinating and a lot of fun. Everything there is such a spectacle. Its like walking through a seedy, drunk circus being performed in a sumptuous palace, but with more neon and gambling and old people. There is just no good way to describe it. We ate a lot, drove around, walked the strip and through all the themed and fancy hotels, drank a bit, saw the lights, played pinball at the Pinball Museum, saw the Freemont light show... The highlights for me were the amazing burlesque show we saw at the MGM Grand, the fountain show in front of the Bellagio, and the drive-in with the best frozen custard in the world.

After returning from Vegas, I got to spend a few days in Portland. That was really nice, too. Visiting made me want to move back there, despite the inconvenience of living in the big city. Of course, I have no job and no money and no rental there... so I came back to the farm. And what a strange contrast that was. Vegas is the polar opposite of farming, I think.

Since my return to the farm it has been constant go, go, go. The newest intern, Steve, has a lot of drive and ambition and tons of energy, so it has been a little easier to get things done lately. Also, the weather has been improving and the days lengthening, which makes all the outside tasks easier. Marcia and John are still not making things easier, of course, but we are bringing them around.

I finally got the greenhouse cleaned. Its all set up with tomato seedlings and grow lights now. Looks pretty awesome, even with all the broken crap John insists on storing in there. The herbs will be sprouting in their trays soon, then the other veggie seeds, so the greenhouse will be packed with cute little plantlings wanting their share of the shelving. That will be fun to see. Then, in a couple of weeks, we can start hardening them off and thinking about where we want them to go in the gardens. Hmm. Better get the garden beds finished soon.

Just today we finished seeding the pasture. We planted it with a rye, alfalfa, and some other range-y, browse-y type grasses. We then covered it with compost mixed with lime, humates, and boraxo soap for fertilization. I am hoping that it is not too early or too late to have planted- any earlier and it might have been too cold and the grass seeds would freeze, but any later and there won't be time enough for the pasture to actually grow before the goats are trampling on it again.

We also built some awesome potato beds. Instead of using half the garden to grow potatoes, I thought we should grow them vertically. So we chopped up some pallets that were just sitting around and made two three foot by four foot-ish vertical beds for the potatoes. I have never grown potatoes like this (or at all), but I have seen them grown in old tires stacked in a similar way, so hopefully it all works out. It was pretty quick and easy, but best of all, it was entirely FREE. Now we just need some dirt to throw in there as the potatoes sprout.

A few days ago, we moved the bucks to a new barn. Oh my gosh! Another barn! Its a small barn on the south end of the property, and it has always been there. Obviously we'd seen it, but we didn't know, however, that there is a stall there that they use to store the boy goats, not just rusty tools and musty straw. It is a tidy little stall now, and the boys are settled cozily in. Its easier to clean then their old stall in the large barn, and has a small pasture attached. It is perfect, and moving the bucks there will not only help us keep the big barn so much cleaner, but will free up space for the new moms and baby goats. We still need to figure out a good system for feeding and watering the bucks now that they have been taken off the beaten path, but overall, it is very exciting.

But when it comes to exciting news, nothing beats this: COMPOST IS UNDER CONTROL! Ok, mostly. Steve has spent two full days on the tractor rearranging compost. Soon, we will be able drive the tractor past the barn where there was once a mountain of compost. Unfortunately, it has merely been relocated, not broken down. But it is progress! In its new location, we will be able to turn it more often and it will break down, and then we'll be able to move it. It has been my fondest dream since coming to the farm that compost NOT take over everything like a stinky, oozing beast of the armageddon. And now my dreams are being realized.

We are also planning a worm business. If all goes according to plan, five pounds of worms will be delivered in the next week or so. They will move into the new worm condo we are designing, and will promptly begin to deal with our kitchen waste. Then, hopefully, they will continue to be fruitful and multpily, and we will use them to break down not only kitchen scraps, but also goat poo and hay, and they will make us many piles of castings for our garden. Steve thinks he can breed enough worms to sell castings as a side business. I am more realistic- call it pessimistic if you like- and think that we will be lucky if they survive the inconsistent attention and the deluge of poo we heap upon them. But maybe they will thrive and selling their byproduct will raise some money. Its a business I've been wanting to get into anyway, and this is certainly an easier location to run it from than the carport at my rental in Portland.

Tomorrow, I am going to begin construction on the hoop house for the garden... if we make it to the Home Depot tonight. We will be growing tomatoes and melons inside of it. Here is a photo of what I hope it will look like when completed:

If all goes well, it will be a 10' x 21' greenhouse with an aisle down the middle of the two four foot beds. I am not sure how well it will hold up in a strong wind, but it should work well enough if this mild weather continues. Of course, the weather has been so pleasant, that by the time the hoop house is ready, it may be unnecessary. But won't building it be fun!

Whew. We have been doing so many more projects in the last few weeks than we were able to achieve all winter that this blog entry could go on and on. But I am stopping here, because its my day off and I want to work on the garden before it gets dark. Also, maybe I need to bake something, just to satisfy my urge to play in the kitchen- I tried making kimchi yesterday but I am not confident in the results, so I will make something foolproof this time, like brownies.

Back home

Back home and all tuckered out already...

No energy to write tonight, but wanted to share a few photos from the last week, then I'm back off to bed.

Oh, yes, and last one is the Grand Canyon photo- I think I really captured the majestic, snowy beauty of the Canyon in March.... in the WHITE OUT FOG AND SNOW!

Many hands make light work

Well, I am super pleased and relieved to announce that Steve is working out marvelously! He is energetic, hardworking, and interested in learning absolutely every single thing about farming or homesteading. He also laughs loudly and suddenly at odd times with inappropriate enthusiasm, leading me to believe his delight with this place is drug induced, or possibly the result of insanity. Whatever it is, I like it!

In addition to Steve, another intern showed up to stay for a few weeks. She has worked here before (its Laura, who was my roommate shortly after I first arrived) so she already knows what to do. She is staying through the fifteenth, which is perfect, since I will be going on a vacation the fifth through the twelfth. Now I can vacation guilt-free!

The increase in interns has already made a huge difference. Yesterday we plowed and re-fenced the north vegetable garden. I dosed all the baby goats with their coccidia medicine. Poor little goaties have all been infected because we didn't get the barn clean enough. Then we gave copper and selenium and wormer to all forty bucks. It was awesome. It was pretty entertaining watching Steve and Carolyn "rassle" the skittish and bouncier goats. Some of them never hold still anyway, always playing and hopping and fighting and scrapping among themselves. Then when you chase them, they get nervous, though they still feel tempted to play with you. In addition to those tasks around the farm, I milked in the morning and made dinner for everyone in the evening, and read some of my book. I felt so efficient! I love days when there are lots of tasks to do, and enough people to actually make a dent in the to-do list.

Speaking of to-do lists, I acidentally aid down the law around here. I got sick of not having a plan, so in my frustration, I bullied Marcia into making a schedule then I hung an enormous to-do list on the wall for the interns. I think bossiness is one of my worst habits, and getting worse all the time. I wanted learn, not direct, but apparently I am an out-of-control control freak. But I try to be a benevolent dictator, keeping the iron fist hidden behind a witless smile and a curtain of manipulation! I am mostly kidding. There is no way I can compel the other interns to do what I want. But even if they don't follow the list, at least it will be a good way to keep me on track. Today I have no milking shifts, so its a project day today. I will have to consult my list to see what I told myself to work on!

I think I will work on clearing out the greenhouse. The greenhouse is a kit greenhouse that looks like a plastic shed and is currently being used for storage of a bunch of odds and ends- broken bicycles, wire fencing, old cardboard boxes, and dirty buckets. It is sitting on the driveway in one of the least sunny areas on the land. I'd love to se it moved but unfortunately its a bit of a beast. For a structure made of hollow plastic pieces, its surprisingly heavy. No matter where it sits, though, the interior needs a thorough cleaning. Of course, there is really no where to organize the contents of the greenhouse to. I'd like to put them in the garage, but it has been compromised by the chickens. They seem to think it is their coop. There are chicken droppings and eggs everywhere. Thats a big project all on its own. Of course, the seedlings might not get enough sun in the greenhouse anyway, so perhaps I'll start elsewhere...

I might do some repairs instead. We have a fence down in the north pasture. I could go try to fix it today, but its tough to do alone. The fence panels are 16' long and weight four thousand million pounds each. Well, almost. So I can't do it unless I can figure out how to get the panels out there on the tractor, or harass another intern into helping. Unfortunately, the pasture has a "creek" running through it that turns the exact area I need to do repairs into a total swamp when it rains. Hmm.

Maybe instead I'll muck the barn. If we do it now, after the boys were paid to clean it, it won't turn into such a nightmarish chore by next week. Then maybe we can prevent more babies from getting sick. I don't know, though. I am a little wary of going in the barn as I spent this morning researching all the zoonotic diseases- meaning viruses and sicknesses that pass form livestock or animals to humans. Ew. Now I am scared of the barn due to the rat population AND the pathogen population. Great. That is the problem with online research. Sure, you may find the info you need, but along the way you may turn yourself into a total hypochondriac! So if I just avoid the barn 'til I forget how it will probably make me catch Q fever, I could instead....

Trim hooves? Don't know how.

Plow the field? Too rainy.

Cook lunch? Too early.

Butcher a chicken? Too icky.

Feed the bees? Too scary.

Build a greenhouse? Too expensive.

Prune the apple tree? Too high.

Clean the driveway? Plant tomatoes? Feed the dogs? Weed the garden? Turn the compost? Check the mail? Muck the run? Fix the feeders? Make some tinctures? Brew some beer? Start some sauerkraut? Build a picnic table? Fill the troughs? Bake some cookies? Grind some herbal medicines? Plant the pasture? Fertilize the soil? Build some worm bins? Bake some bread? Walk the dogs? Exercise the founderers? Check on the pregos? Rotate the pastures?

Gosh, if only I could think of something to do with my day....

Maybe all the help is making me lazy. Social loafing, I think its called. Just the other day I was bemoaning the lack of organization and berating myself for lazing about in my few hours of spare time, while feeling understaffed, overworked, and self-pitying. Now we have plenty of troops to accomplish some big stuff, a whole list of big stuff that need doing, and here I am not doing any stuff at all. Alright, Erin, stop internetting around and go get something done!

Grrrrr.

I am trying to hold onto my happy thought (upcoming time off!) and enjoy the last of my (good weather) fairy dust, but I am having a very hard time flying high this week. We are so short staffed that I feel worn down and strung out. We were supposed to have more help starting this week. That would have been heaven, but I guess it was not meant to be...

The first new intern arrived on Tuesday. She lasted SEVEN HOURS. Then she fled. Seeing this place through her eyes almost made me want to flee with her. The kitchen was a mess, the house is covered in cats and Bible verses, and the mud is knee deep. There were pets everywhere, making as much noise and poo as possible. The farm itself has trailers and cars parked all willy-nilly-everyplace, giving the farm more of a white trash look than pastoral charm or quaint appeal. Add the cackling parrots screeching "Oh my GAAAAAAWWD," and Daya the killer dog acting rabid, and no wonder the poor girl was overwhelmed. Even though she was a fussy city girl, I think she would have lasted if Marcia hadn't greeted her with the news that she had forgotten all about this intern's arrival. How is that for a welcome! Plus the messy, gross kitchen made the potential new resident fear e.coli or worse. Yikes.

Luckily, we have another new intern arriving tomorrow. His name is Steve. Hopefully, he is made of sterner stuff. But just in case he is not, I am cleaning the whole house tomorrow, making a big hot lunch, and greeting him with fun facts like "Everything here is amazing and perfect and it rains candy on the weekends and unicorns help us with the chores!" Maybe by the time he realizes its all lies- that in fact we are a disorganized, dirty, slobby, tired farmers and disillusioned, crabby interns- he will have already unpacked, and will be too lazy to leave again.

I don't know why I am letting the schedule get to me. Lord knows, I have had jobs with longer hours and higher demands. I think it is because there are many cool things I expected to learn on a farm, and instead I am performing the same task over and over and over. Its disheartening. The garden was really fun to work in, and I am excited to get back to that once there are more people to help with milking. We are building a hoop house for the tomatoes, and I think that I get to design it and construct it- which will be a breeze, as its the same style shelter we built for Burning Man a few years ago. Granted, that one collapsed, but... I am sure this one will be more successful! Also, on the bright side, Marcia actually paid three people to come clean the barn! Yay!!! The goats will be more comfortable and healthier, and the interns will be less exhausted and more productive! Yay for the hardworking barn muckers!

But its getting late, and I am sleepy and cranky. We still don't have a schedule up so I don't know if I have a double milking shift tomorrow. That makes me crazy. And the roosters haven't' shut up all day and my trailer is cold, and I'm in a humbug-y mood. I guess for now I am just having a hard time focusing on the silver lining, and I am counting on Steve, whoever he may be, to make everything better. Is that too much pressure to put on one guy? Maybe.

Good Stuff

I am back on the farm after a quick weekend trip to Bellingham. I had such a great visit that it was a little hard to come back to the farm. I really just wanted to stay in Bellingham awhile, where I was enjoying the great city, spending time with my friends, walking through Boulevard Park, sipping on real coffee, seeing my folks, drinking too much whiskey...

But if I had to come back, at least it was on the nicest day ever! Oh my goodness, I love all this sunshine so much. In fact, I am so delighted by the sunny days that I am not even bummed that this early spring weather extends hay fever season into a good six month block, instead of the usual two or three.

We spent some time this afternoon digging in the garden. It was nice and cool, good weather for hard work, but sunny and bright and happy outside. Perfection. I would be a farmer every day of every year if it were always like this in the winter! We started measuring and digging to create a garden of raised beds. We only got a couple of beds and their paths dug, but it loks great so far. The beds will be 4' x 30' -ish, and there will be five or six of them in the south garden, and about four or so in the north garden. So thats about, um... 1,200 sq ft of growing space? That sounds about right. Should be almost enough. Of course,the tough part is deciding how much of everything to plant. I think we've got one entire gardens worth of tomato seeds alone. I am not sure how we will narrow it down!

The tomatoes are all heirloom varieties that we got off of a really great website. Of course, I was sure we could find a vendor closer to us, and resisted online ordering at first. But the photos and the descriptions sounded so good, I caved pretty quickly. We are getting giant white tomatoes, sauce tomatoes, tie-dye color tomatoes, melon flavored tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, chocolate tomatoes, green tomatoes, yellow tomatoes... the list goes on. We ordered eighteen kinds, I think. Hopefully they find someonewho loves making sauces and salsas to work here in August, because they are going to be swimming in tomatoes by then!

Hopefully, the gardens will be really successful this year. If they get some good compost stirred in there in time, and they continue to give the veggies enough attention throughout the season, there should be a pretty good harvest. The plan is to feed the farm crew, and have enough left over for a farmers' market stand. I think they will have better luck if they don't count on having much to sell this first year besides just the dairy's raw milk. After all, its unlikely that a first year garden with a rotating garden staff will really yield its full potential. But with just a little encouragement, there should be a good amount for the twelve person crew that will be living here this summer. That is pretty cool. I don't know that I'll be here to see the literal fruits of my labors, but its fun to imagine someone eating the veggies we are preparing and planting shortly. (Well, someone who is less weird than me about the content of the compost here, anyway.)

We bought 100 trays for seedlings and starters, so the garden should be completely planned and half planted by the end of the week! I am a little nervous that our enthusiasm- and this beautiful sunshine- will lead us to start our seeds too early. A late snow or even an end of March cold snap could be disastrous. If our plants were outside already, they would die in the frost. But if we leave them inside, they may get too big for the seedling trays before we get them outside. Oh well, one worry at a time! For now, there is still a TON of digging to do before I even worry about transplanting. (I'm sure you can relate, Mr. Bird!)

Besides tomatoes, we will be planting the usual suspects: carrots, onions, lettuce and salad green mixes, zucchini, squash, peas and beans. We are also planting corn, basil, radishes, kale, chard, potatoes, strawberries, raspberries, several types of cooking herbs and several medicinals, melons, artichokes, and sunflowers. I am not sure what else. I suspect that, when the time comes, we'll have a few more exotic and impractical choices as well. I do not have faith that we are going to get enough sunshine for melons, but Marcia has boundless enthusiasm and optimism, and maybe even God on her side, so we'll plant whatever crazy thing she wants and it will probably work out just fine!

Here are some photos of a few the cool tomato varieties we are planting. Absolutely beautiful. Pictured are the Black Krim, assorted Berkley Tie-Dyes, the Chocolate Cherry, and the Yellow Pear (I think).