Status Report

I suppose a little bit has happened since our last chat. There have been a lot of harvests, a lot of markets, and a lot of weeding. Blech. We’ve finally moved on from just greens, with some beets and carrots and squash now showing up on our market tables. That feels nice. I’m not sick of salads, but will enjoy the added variety nonetheless.

We’ve also blown through all of our garlic scapes in the past few weeks. What a lovely product. Waste product is more like it, as we would cut them off even if nobody were willing to buy them. But people do, and as they should because it’s quite the nice delicate garlic taste right when everybody’s garlic braids are running out from the previous season. Soon we will start harvesting fresh garlic for the CSA, and then I’ll get to see how we harvest and dry the rest, and perhaps even try my hand at making some braids.

I had visitors, many weeks ago. My parents came out for a few days in their Vanagon… and they dragged Rachel along for the ride. In fact, they will be doing the very same thing next weekend on their way to Vermont for some crazy Volkswagen meet-up they seem to be attending yearly.

We went on a tour of the Berkshire Brewing Company while they were in town. It was quite the nice tour, with an ample amount of free tastings and an entertaining tour guide… rather in depth and fun.

I think the folks had a good time here at the farm. They brought plenty of beer and crackers and cheese and Rachel and I helped them consume it whilst playing Pitch around the wee table in their camper. Mom hopefully got enough pampering in, bringing fixings for dinner and breakfast and also some cookies and the like.

We also went out to a flea market, which was not quite a bust, but close. We showed up late due to poor directions, and it was a semi-cloudy-rainy day anyways, so people were packing up and heading home. I got a good camera tripod though, so that’s good. And afterwards there happened to be a good brewpub on the way home, so we stopped there for a late lunch. You can perhaps see a theme developing here.

This past weekend I went to the Northeastern Permaculture Convergence in Holyoke. I haven’t got the brain capacity right now to explain what permaculture is… perhaps someday. But it’s somewhat involved in designing agricultural systems, if you will. Anyways, it was an interesting weekend, and I’m still processing things in my head. I met Dave from Rochester there, who has a blog I’ve been reading for a while now. So that made it pretty worthwhile. We didn’t talk a ton, but he seemed great and will no doubt be a valuable resource upon my return. He has some connections within organizations I’m interested in, and also is tinkering with his own permaculture garden/yard which I hope to view someday.

I guess there were around 100 other people at the convergence. I didn’t talk to many of them. I’m antisocial, and suck at events such as this. But I did meet a lot of nice folks, and picked a few brains. Mainly I enjoyed touring some farms, gardens, and nurseries. Of course I didn’t write down the scores of cool plants I saw, but I feel like I’m not at that stage yet, and have the names of some books to obtain that should point out the highlights at least.

So, it feels good to be back at the farm. Things were a little weird when I got back, with the oxen getting out of their pasture once again, apparently a problem all weekend. That’s pretty frustrating. And there are many animals that need moving in the morning, which I don’t entirely look forward to. But. Being away made me appreciate many more things about this place, so I shall not complain.