Two Feet in the Dirt

Big apologies for the long delay between posts. It finally feels like we’re running a farm in that we have close to no time to think about or do anything besides working outside, planning what work we’ll be doing outside, problem-solving what we’re doing outside, etc., etc., etc., and the last two weeks seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. In the last week, we’ve gotten 30 cubic yards of compost delivered as well as our BCS walking tractor. While I work on spreading the compost around the fields to get an extra boost of organic matter into the soil before next season, Mike is gradually plowing up the fields with the rotary plow on the BCS. The latter can only be described as long and arduous work, but the results are exciting to see. It’s finally starting to look like a farm out there!

It’s been especially fun to involve Caleb in the work. This is the perfect stage for a 2-year-old to help out with. There are no beds to step on, no plants to worry about crushing. He can walk everywhere and ‘help out’ with almost everything (besides the BCS of course!) Yesterday, Caleb and I spent two hours in the morning covering about 3,000 square feet of the fields with compost. Working with a 2-year-old provides a whole new perspective on farm work. I’ve worked with some talkative people, but never one who narrated everything I did for two hours straight! It’s fun to hear how a young child interprets what the heck I’m doing as I gradually moved a giant pile of dirt from one place to another. I’ve also never had a farm assistant who attacks my tools as I work. “Booming Mommy’s rake” (ie, getting the tines of his rake caught in mine as I was raking out the compost piles) was definitely the highlight of Caleb’s morning! It provides a whole new level of stratagem to the work when you also have to avoid a rake attack at all times and actually is a nice change of pace for a pretty mundane job. 

Next on the docket- setting up the hoop house. More on that as we begin working on it next week!