I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for giving me the resource to share my experiences with farming.  As I said in my first post, I came into this summer with no background in farming at all – I had never been to a farmers market, and the only time I had spent on an actual farm was one hour of “volunteer” work picking onions on a kibbutz in Israel.  I have to say that I feel accomplished with my growth as an employee of a farm for several reasons.  First is my general familiarity with the farm itself.  Walking around the farm now as compared to my first day there, I know where I am allowed to step, which plants are meant to be picked (or not touched at all), the proper technique for using various tools, etc.  Second is my new appreciation for the farming community.  Meeting people that are so passionate about farming that they not only dedicated their lives to it, but also to teaching and encouraging others to get involved was amazing.  I was also very impressed with the farm’s first year of volunteers.  Despite joining a brand new program to encourage the practice of organic farming, I was able to see how much the volunteers developed as independent farmers themselves; not only on the main area of farm land, but also on their individual 10×10 plots.  Third, and probably most important, is that the farm changed me as a person – not just internally, but externally as well.  I developed large callouses on my palms from pulling weeds the size of small trees.  I now have a very defined line between my arms and shoulders – arms being a much darker shade of pale than the shoulders.  My hat has engrained a circular ring of matted hair on my head with tufts of hair sticking out to the side, even with hat off.  I now have dirt under my fingernails that will serve as a reminder of the farm for several weeks as cutting them did not remove all the dirt.  All these physical changes cumulated in one moment at our last work party when one of the farm volunteers walked by me as I was hacking at a large growth of weeds and said, “Wow Danny!  You look just like a farmer!”.  I took a short hiatus from my hacking, leaned casually against my scythe, and pondered that statement with a smile on my face.  Perhaps it was the combination of brown shoes, jeans, a sweat-soaked white t-shirt and hat, or maybe, just maybe, it was the general air of confidence I had developed for my work during my time on the farm.

Yesterday on the farm, we hosted several high school students who wanted to get more involved with the local farming movement.  Vicki, the same neighboring farmer from last post, showed them around the farm and gave them a similar tour to the one she gave us on Monday.  After the tour, the students were ready to work, so we took them to the potato row (German Butterballs) and began to dig.  Karrie, another neighboring farmer, was planning on bringing 10 pounds of our potatoes to a farmers market, so Vickie and the two students kicked into high gear and set off harvesting the 10 pounds.  Within a minute, the harvesters had developed a digging and picking system – one that was so efficient they were pulling up a potato every 15 seconds.  After about 10 minutes, the formerly empty basket was filled with the German Butterballs and Karrie had enough to bring to market.  The students were clearly satisfied by their achievement, and luckily I was able to be standing right there to appreciate the whole experience.

Yesterday on the farm, I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and was given the opportunity to try out our new sprayer. I dug the unopened box out of the back of the shed (which happens to be infested with a wasp’s nest right now – I’ll be borrowing a fellow farmer’s bee keeping suit for this (story will come in another post)) and began to set up the sprayer. The directions were easy enough, and within minutes I had the liquid reservoir strapped to my back, pump in one hand and spray handle in the other. Carrie, the farmer who had prepared the pesticide, calmed me down from my excitement and poured the bluish liquid into the container. I noticed a slight hint of fishiness wafting from the container and asked what the liquid was made of. She explained to me that it was a mixture of Bt (a bacterium that serves as a natural pesticide), a homemade fish emulsion (as fertilizer) and water. Once the liquid was in, I primed the pump and set off spraying the tomatoes. Scenes from Ghostbusters came to mind as I sprayed the plants, and I imagined that I was performing a much greater task than simply squeezing a handle on a backpack sprayer. After spraying a full row of tomatoes, I passed the important duty on to a farm visitor and proceeded to study the manual to familiarize myself with the ins and outs of this amazing device. Carrie requested a demonstration and I could tell from the look on her face how much easier her work on the farm had just become.

Hello all,

We recently created a youtube page where we will be posting short videos about our experiences on the farm. Please support our page and subscribe!

http://www.youtube.com/user/EarthDanceFARMS

Last Monday EarthDance held our monthly farming party to allow all our volunteers a moment to enjoy the farm together.  Typically the farming parties consist only of farming, but this time we had two new aspects to our festivities.  First was the potluck aspect, as farming delicious organic vegetables easily goes hand in hand with cooking and eating them.  Second was the presentation of plans for a new cobb shed as well as the initial constuction and layout of the shed.  A group from Architecture for Humanity attended our farming party, explained the benefits and expectations of constructing and maintaining a cobb shed, and gauged the interest of the farm volunteers in helping with this project.  The volunteers were very open to the idea as most of them said they would volunteer their time to help an important addition to the farm become a reality.

I myself was also able to learn about an integral aspect of farming that I had previously only seen from afar: plowing dirt.  After weeding for over an hour I was in the mood for something more interesting, so I wandered over to Brian who was measuring out the area of dirt for planting pumpkins.  Asking Brian if he needed any help – he just looked at me, then at the plow on the ground, then back at me.  I quickly got the hint and picked up the clunky metal object, lining it up with the invisible path Brian had outlined.  I assumed that the plow would cut through the dirt like a warm knife through butter, but after pushing about a foot, it got caught on a piece of grass and just stopped.  About 5 minutes later I finally made it to the other end of the field where I was soon informed that I would be going back and forth on this path until the divet was deep enough to plant the pumpkin seeds.  Not wanting to stumble across the field as I had the first time, I threw off my shoes and pushed the plow back barefoot, feeling my feet clinging to the damp dirt below.  This passing was much more enjoyable (mostly due to the barefootedness) and once I was back at the start I was quickly told to put my shoes back on – unfortunately my muddy fun was short-lived.  Recommendation: if you know the dirt you are working on and are comfortable with insects crawling on your feet – farm barefoot!

This past Tuesday evening we had our first farm concert with the band Ave Marling.  We chose to locate the concert in the front of the farm to not only allow those who planned on coming to find the show easily, but also to allow passers-by to come and share in the fun.  Seeing as that it was a farm concert, we seized the opportunity to sell some of our produce and set up a tent near the performance area for those who wanted to purchase some of our vegetables.  Our purple green beans were the biggest hit – mainly due to the novelty of the item to the customers (this is something we have found not only with the vegetables themselves, but also with our displays at the markets – the more unique the offering, the better the product sells).  The highlight of the night was without a doubt Ave Marling – two young women who filled the farm with their unique blend of folk and melodic soul.  After the show, they thanked us for allowing them to play on our farm and told us how much they appreciated our organization.  It was a great ending to a great night!

The crowd at the Ferguson Farmers market this past weekend was rather sparse when compared with previous weeks.  We did sell out of many of our vegetables and the only leftovers were the expected culprits (collard greens and the uglier potatoes).  This left a lot of time to discuss the market in general with the other local vendors, as well as the other two EarthDance volunteers.  Many of the discussions revolved around the topic of farmers market techniques, such as putting bags of ice under the vegetables themselves in the baskets to keep them fresh.  Yet we also discussed the Ferguson farmers market and what makes it unique when compared to other, larger markets.  I brought up the fact that I was able to recognize most of our customers after only having attended the market 3 times.  Others brought up the sense of tradition related to the farmers market; from the infamous distant steam whistle that marks the beginning and end of the market, to the live folk music that weaves it way through the air and around the market every Saturday.  I know I’ve said it before, but I’m learning that there is so much more to farming than the crops themselves.