Down on the Farm

Henry sleeping at market on Saturday

He is generally looking so big these days. I like this photo because he still looks like my baby.

Mimi and I had a rather dirty day today... this picture doesn't even begin to do our filth justice. We constructed the trellises for the peas, transplanted melons into the field, and did some other tractor work as well. It's a busy time on the farm right now as we scurry around getting as many things as possible out of the seedling greenhouse and into the field. But the great thing is that this place is really starting to look like a veggie farm, things really are coming along.

Life as an intern...

My name is Claire. I'm the intern that arrived on the farm last week. Peter, Maryellen, and I decided that perhaps hearing about the farm from the point of view of an intern might prove interesting and add a little more zest-i-ness(of which I have large amounts) to this blog. So here I am with my first contribution.

I'm not sure that I can adequately communicate how beautiful this place is...

I just ended my second week of work (Mimi has been here for three weeks now), and I have to say that I honestly can't get enough. Peter is an effective teacher who has taken Mimi and I under his wing, thoughtfully answering our numerous questions while showing us all the many details of what it means to be a small-scale veggie farmer in Vermont. It's been a hard two weeks of incredibly dirty work... and I LOVE it! But it can also be exhausting, so Mimi and I have claimed this section of the porch as our relaxation corner.

So, after a full day of discing one of the fields, covering the field in remay(see below), planting one of many many crops spanning from potatoes to onions(look below) to cucumbers to egg plant, or trellising the tomatoes(they're looking really great, take a look below), we can come here, grab a book, and take a breath.

(life under the remay)

(onions)

Barbara Kingsolver speaking on eating local

Barbara Kingsolver is speaking Friday night at Vermont Law School on her book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, about eating local for one year. More information here. Thanks to Cornelia for the tip!! Check it out!!

Lettuce

Friday was a big day

Friday was our first harvest day of the season. That's a blurry shot of the washroom and the crew washing salad turnips, and our new intern Claire in the middle. Welcome Claire!!

Also on Friday, we got a kitty!! His name is Captain Jack -- he was named when we got him, but we like the name and will probably stick with it. For now we pretty much just call him kitty.

We got a van!! Our truck has 320,000 miles on it and is breaking down, so we will keep it as a farm truck but use this to get to market. It is going to make the process of getting to and from market a lot easier.

More tractors

Henry on Richard's electric tractor

Our friend Richard hosted a tour of his farm the other night, in conjuction with the Vermont Veg and Berry Association and NOFA-VT. It was a great chance to see some interesting things Richard is doing on his farm, and a chance to visit with other growers from the area. Richard talked about the electric cultivating tractor he built this winter, and then afterwards Henry climbed up for a photo opportunity. We also talked about Richard's biodiesel set up, grafting greenhouse tomatoes, and the new water benches Richard has built for his seedlings. All in all it was a great evening!

Welcome Mimi!!

Mimi Rooney has arrived! She is one of the interns with us for the summer. Here she is plowing down some rye grass cover crop in order to prep this piece of field for planting in a couple of weeks. Thanks for joining us this season! Claire gets here next week, and Jenny has already been around a couple of times, but will start in earnest in June.

Photos by Jock Gill

The kids and I took a long, rambling walk all over the farm yesterday with our neighbors Jock and Johanna. It was pretty fun. Jock is a great photographer and offered to take a family photo of us. The photo on our about us page is missing Henry, for one thing. The stars seemed to be aligned because not only had Peter shaved the night before but he also reached into the cab of the truck and pulled out a dress shirt to replace his very dirty work shirt. Anyway, I love the photo. Thank you Jock!!

The field behind it is a big new strip that we're planning to plant to crops that don't need much water, like winter squash, since it will be difficult to impossible to get water back there.

Speaking of water, we also showed Jock and Johanna the frog eggs we found the other day with Deirdre and Eliot, and the stream we use for irrigation (of which the frog egg puddle is an overflow elbow).

Peas that the kids planted

Starting to take off.

Hothouse view

The hothouse up top. Sun gold tomatoes with napa cabbage planted beside -- the napa cabbage will be done and out before the tomato plants need the space. Heirloom tomatoes with salad turnips in the next rows. Remay cloth for laying over the plants for warmth on cold nights. Up against the far baseboard, peas. Outside the greenhouse, the old cub cultivating tractor.

"You smell like cherry tomatoes"

Wavy just woke up, and Peter just came in from trellising tomatoes since before light I think (the coffee was already off when I woke up and I think its on a 2 hour timer). Waverly was snuggling him in her chair and looked at him and smiled and said he smelled like cherry tomatoes. Which, from Waverly, is a huge compliment as cherry tomatoes are her favorite food!!