leavings and arrivals.

Today is my last full-time day here at the farm, and I am truly astounded that it's come so quickly.

My leaving has been planned for a long time, as I'm about to start an Americorps position in Greensboro following a trip to WI that begins today....

but, honestly, I still feel rather torn apart and somewhat devastated!

This summer, just as every summer here at Cane Creek, has moved me, challenged me, frustrated me, enlivened me, and changed me, in the most essential and fundamental ways to who I am - as both a being and a farmer.

I know that it's the right time for me to move on, and this departure was 100% my choice (mostly motivated by the fact that I've only just graduated from school, and feel like I'd be limiting myself to not explore my many other passions).

But my heart is full of love for this world, and for Eliza, and for this land, and for my gardens, and I feel like I'm grieving this day in a way that's more painful than I'd anticipated.

I have lots of gaps to fill in describing my garden adventures this summer, and they will be filled as time moves forward and life becomes a little more centered. AND - there are so many more adventures to come!!

Thank you for your attention, and your care, and for reading the ramblings of a somewhat silly, but very alive 22 year old farm gal.

All my love, forever and always.

-Hailey

farmer's markets soothe the soul,

so I thought I'd write again and say something a little more upbeat now that I'm feeling happier. :)

For example.....

-this Saturday I'm all set to pull the summer crops in the lower garden (which are our tomatoes, some of our eggplant, some flowers, & some herbs), to clear space for our fall crops. I'm debating as to just how many of the flower and herb plants I should pull. Our zinnias are still looking soooo lovely, but they also just aren't selling well at the markets. Perhaps I'll just leave a few plants so that we'll continue to have flowers through the end of the summer.

- In the upcoming weeks, starting this Saturday or Sunday after I clear and add organic matter (compost and perhaps some organic fertilizers) to the soil, I'm going to begin our fall plantings! I'm going to plant:

• arugala, chard, collards, kale (including this glorious deep red variety), spinach, new zealand spinach, and 4 varieties of heirloom lettuce
• pumpkins... although I doubt very seriously that they'll make it because a) I'm planting them incredibly late and b) because we had such pest and disease problems in that plant family this year.
• snap peas
• beets (4 different kinds, including an heirloom called a "misato rose"), radishes (3 different varieties), and carrots (4 different heirloom varieties, including a purple variety called "dragon" and a big, fat, super hearty kind called an "oxheart"!)
• cauliflower, broccoli, and brussel sprouts
• and finally, perhaps also some fall blooming flowers, although I haven't yet done the research as to what those would be.

It's a really exciting crop list, especially since most of the seeds are from too companies that I love: Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and Seed Savers. They specialize in open-pollinated, heirloom seeds, many of which are also organic and many of which have been on our beloved earth for generations and generations, saved by those who grew and loved them. It's amazing to help preserve the biodiversity of crops - plus you get to try vegetables of all colors, shapes, and sizes that you've never seen before!

That's all for now, I suppose. I just got a new part-time job as a bartender in Greensboro, at this fantastic place called "College Hill." However, I have 0 experience so I have to go "practice" pouring liquor... except with liquor bottles full of water, haha.

Hope your days have been fantastic! Tune in later tonight for some veeeery delayed photos of summer crops in the upper garden.

*sigh*.

I'm feeling a little sad this morning. It's probably just the gloominess of the weather on top of the whirlwind of commuting back and forth between Snow Camp and Greensboro that I've been doing as of late, but I guess I'm just feeling a little bit alone in the world.

... which is very silly, as I am practically never alone. ;)

Sometimes when life gets a bit too stressful, or overrun with responsibility.... or there's a goat with an infected hoof wound that needs my attention twice daily, every day - I realize that this is the first time in my life that I've ever really lived with such complete independence. I'm becoming financially independent for the first time, which helps to alleviate the weight of feeling like a financial drain to my folks (I'm an unfortunately expensive child, it seems haha). I'm done with school, at least for awhile, and am finally making choices based on what I really love and feel inspired to do. Which.... is AWESOME! :) However, sometimes on days like this, I also realize that I still have these deep pangs of sadness that arise when I realize that my heart has also changed in difficult ways over these past few years.

Maybe this is a good thing, ultimately. But I hate that insensitive boys and broken hearts have made me so afraid. 

Good lord - I'm being so melodramatic (!). Better close now haha. Off to harvest edamame, peppers, okra, and melons, then prepare for market.

Sending you all my love, beloved friends. Hopefully your mornings are going a little bit more peacefully. <3

lovin, and these summer nights.

Hello everybody :).

 *photo credit to the lovely Hannah Sherk, one of my new housemates!

It's Tuesday night, and I'm in Greensboro, in my new house! For the next year, I'll be living here with some delightful ladyfriends: Hannah, Molly, Melissa, & Sasha. The latter 3 ladies have yet to arrive, but our friend Grace has been staying here and the interim. She's fantastic ~ smart, elegant, creative, and a VERY talented pastry chef with an easy, room filling laugh. I've been here for the past 2 days, finally having some much needed time for rest and relaxation,  and even though I've been utterly exhausted from a long and rather hard week last week, I'm also filled with love for these wonderful women in my life.


Here are some farm updates:

- it's crazy to be writing this, but the summer growing season is coming to a close. Planning, implementing, tending, and harvesting from these gardens of mine have been the primary occupation of my past 6 months, and the prime of their glory and growth is coming to a gentle halt. Tomatoes are done, eggplant is continuing to produce but is waning (the orange eggplant are almost completely done, having succumb to a blight to which the others seem to be immune), sunflowers are fading from fullness, and the watermelon have almost completely finished yielding their sweet fruit. Some crops are still coming in strongly, like zinnias, okra, peppers, and beans. Last week was our first week of edimame, and it. is. FANTASTIC!

I'm quite behind on pictures of these lovely crops (my camera battery died a few weeks ago and I've yet to find a moment to reboot it), but I've taken a good number that I hope to post within the next few days.

Also.... it's time for our fall garden!

I'm so completely delighted about this. We're planning to grow: radishes, beets, spinach, kale, collards, chard, carrots, fall blooming flowers, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, snap peas, onions, and more. I've ordered a delightful assortment of seeds from some companies that I'm completely infatuated with, and in the upcoming days I'll also post links to pictures of these delicious crops and their growing information.

To conclude for the moment, I'd like to share that I recently got accepted into an Americorps program that will begin in September and continue for an entire year! The project is called the "Partnership to End Homelessness," and I'll spend 20 hours a week working for an organization called the Barnabas Network in Greensboro, which focuses on connecting with local faith organizations in order to provide furniture and bedding to families who lack these basic assets. I'm completely stoked. This also basically means that after I plant the fall garden, I'll be moving to one day a week at the farm.

In some ways I'm really devastated about this, but the choice was mine, really. The decision was based on the fact that I'm still SO unsure of what I want to do in this life, and, having just graduated from college, I feel like I need to seize every opportunity to explore my options.

We'll see though... the plan for next year's gardens at Cane Creek is to downsize CONSIDERABLY. I'm going to try and enforce Eliza's plan to have one, small garden to provide for her family and to allow for a beautiful display at market. In essence.... I think we're all really starting to move forward in a way that is both terrifying, and utterly beautiful in its vulnerable newness.

Sweet dreams, dear ones. I wish for us all open hearts and eyes this week, as we delve further and further into the month of August, and our own, unique, and gorgeous journeys.

geez louise it's late.

It's 3AM and I should waaaaaaay already be asleep.

However, this night was incredible! My best friend/life-mate Haley (yes... we do indeed have the same name) is here visiting me for the week, which is a delight in & of itself, but tonight we went to Greensboro and met up with friends for $1 tacos/$1 margarita night... which is, of course, the best night of the week, each & every time! :)

It also just so happened that some musician friends were visiting Hannah, my new roommate and dear friend, and whom are also staying in our house. So, after our bangin' meal we had a private, christmas-tree-lights-lit concertslashjam-session in our living room.

Delightful. And actually - this whole week has really been quite delightful. Except that...

At this very moment, I'm sitting next to a little pig named John Henry, who is about to pass away. It's so tragically sad - not so much that he's dying (death happens so frequently here that I've finally come to accept it as a fundamental element of the life cycle here), but he just seems to be in such pain, and there's not really anything I can do :(.

If death is coming to him tonight, I pray that it comes as swiftly and as painlessly as possible. So, please keep this sweet little Ossabow in your hearts, with a prayer that he will fade gently into the evening sky and be released from the struggles of his young, fragile life.

good morning, thursday.

It is a beautiful Thursday morning, and so I thought I'd help myself get moving by writing a little bit about my plans in the garden today.

Today I hope to....

harvest all of the okra, peppers, and melons that need harvesting in the upper garden. (our okra really is still coming in beautifully!)

figure out what's going on with our bean plants... I kind of made an error with this one. I planted a row of beans, with the help of my family, and then decided to ask Derek to do a second planting of lima beans in between each plant. The problem is that lima bean plants appear to have a pole habit (i.e. - they need a trellis!). As a result they've sort of climbed over the other bean plants, which are still alive but may or may not be producing fruit (beans) at this point. Essentially: crapola! But, I do like to be real with myself about my errors, which is why I feel more than comfortable writing about them here. Today, I need to get in there and face this massive, jumbled pile of beans and set it all straight!

check the edimame plants, which are absolutely lovely, and very close to harvest!

look at the new popcorn plants that I put in the ground last week -- have they germinated yet??

water both gardens - check the pressure on all drip tape lines. (we irrigate with a drip irrigation system, and sometimes minerals or other debris clog up the lines. To check/clean this out, I just go down to the end of each row, turn the nozzel "on",  and let it run for a little while so that the line frees itself of whatever's inside)

Well..... it sounds like today will be an upper garden day! I'm excited and ready for this, as I tend to secretly prefer working in the lower garden because of all the lovely flowers.


Over & out, dear friends!

I think I just broke my toe?!

Okay possibly not ;) - but I stubbed it 45 minutes ago, and it's still throbbing! Oh well... toes are overrated anyway, right?

On non-toe related fronts, life is really looking up. I'm finally feel better (yahooooo!) and have accepted that some days, you really just can't work in this heat (especially when the index has been up to 105).

My folks were here for a few days this weekend, as well as my little sister, Chloe. It was really great to see them, and my parents really helped a lot out in the fields. After a few hours out in the sun, my mom got really fussy and insisted that she buy me a "sun shirt," i.e. - a long-sleeved shirt that is breathable, dries quickly, and has an SPF of at least 30. Although I was initially resistant to this ENDLESSLY dorky idea, I gave in and I think that she may actually have a point after all. I've also been pumping the water, putting electrolyte tablets in my drinks, and chewing on these completely awesome electrolyte gel bars made by Cliff.

Anyhow, news on the farm is: that our tomatoes are still chugging along, although it looks like their peak has passed. I think we should still have a few more weeks of harvests over 200lbs, which is great, as some other farms have already stopped harvesting their heirlooms. Our melons are also passed their peak, which is a little bit sad since we normally have a much longer harvest. With our disease problems, as well as some water pressure issues earlier in the summer, plus this ultra intense heat, we're definitely going to lose our plants early. This makes me sad, but what I'm learning is that with farming - you win some, and you lose some, and all you can ever really do is just the best that you can do. Peppers, okra, and eggplant are still coming in fabulously, as well as zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers. We've also started to plan our fall garden! Stay posted for more on that.

Well, it's 11:22PM and I'm still up in the shop. I just spent several long hours cleaning and sorting the veggies form the 3 markets we do each weekend (Greensboro Curb Market, Carrboro, and Saxapahaw). Now everything's nice and clean, and I can happily head on home.

Thanks for reading, and catch you soon!

lessons in faith.

[the photos in this post are credited to Luck Photography, and were taken a few weeks ago at the farm. thanks, sarah!]

It's been a hard week here at the farm. Since feeling ill last week, I just haven't been able to bounce back in the way that I normally do. Even a week later, I feel weak and tired easily, have had trouble sleeping even though I'm exhausted, and just generally feel sort of spent, and out of (full) commission. It's hard to feel sick, no matter the circumstances, but it's been an especially painful week for me as I've struggled in vain to get all of my work accomplished while feeling so physically down.

I think I'm beginning to feel better, as I try to rehydrate my body and pump myself up with electrolytes so that I can begin this new week with the full force of my passion, hard work, and dedication. However, in all honesty - I'm really feeling worried!! There's so much to accomplish, and I feel weary from both physically and spiritually, still slightly battered from the frustration of getting barely a thing accomplished this past week.

However - the flowers are blooming, and my corn is just beginning to form its husks. Tonight, rather than focus on my concerns or fears, I'd like to think about the concept of "faith."

I've recently started to explore Quakerism, but am generally not a religious person. However, I think of faith as something more than just tied to the Divine, but rather a fundamental trust in the magnificence, connectedness, and eternal hope of the world. This is a kind of faith that I've needed this week, and still need so fully in this present moment - faith that there is a rhyme and a rhythm to life, and to the work that I throw myself into each day.

The two following poems express this sentiment so beautifully. I hope you'll find solace in them, just as I certainly have.

Faith ~ David Whyte
I want to write about faith
about the way the moon rises
over cold snow, night after night,


faithful even as it fades from fullness,
slowly becoming that last curving and impossible
sliver of light before the final darkness.


But I have no faith myself
I refuse it even the smallest entry.


Let this then, my small poem,
like a new moon, slender and 
barely open,
be the first prayer that opens me to faith.

Little Summer Poem Touching the Subject of Faith

Every summer

I listen and look 
under the sun's brass and even
into the moonlight, but I can't hear

anything, I can't see anything -- 
not the pale roots digging down, nor the green 
        stalks muscling up,
nor the leaves
deepening their damp pleats,

nor the tassels making,
nor the shucks, nor the cobs.
And still,
every day,

the leafy fields
grow taller and thicker -- 
green gowns lofting up in the night,
showered with silk. 

And so, every summer,
I fail as a witness, seeing nothing -- 
I am deaf too
to the tick of the leaves, 

the tapping of downwardness from the banyan feet -- 
all of it
happening
beyond any seeable proof, or hearable hum. 

And, therefore, let the immeasurable come.
Let the unknowable touch the buckle of my spine.
Let the wind turn in the trees,
and the mystery hidden in the dirt

swing through the air.
How could I look at anything in this world
and tremble, and grip my hands over my heart?
What should I fear? 

One morning
in the leafy green ocean
the honeycomb of the corn's beautiful body
is sure to be there.

-- Mary Oliver

Thanks for listening, sweet ones. I hope that this week finds us all brimming over with faith in the power of each passing moment, and in the basic goodness that is accessible within it. G'night!

thursday thursday

Happy Thursday, and, in honor of my dear friend Kate's model of blogging, here is what I'm thankful for in my garden world today:

for corn forming on the stalks in my three sisters garden, and the fact that the pole beans climb up them with no human intervention whatsoever.

for zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers.

for my delightful pup, Huck, who always greets me with such excitement and love.

(ironically,) for my having heat stroke last week! this week, I'm drinking water out the wazooooo, which makes garden work in the sun a million times more enjoyable.

for heirloom tomatoes - brandwines, german johnson, evergreens, kellog's breakfast, and more.

for new crops coming up from seed - white beets, red beets, golden beets, chard, arugala, and a whole new crop of sunflowers.

for the fact that I get to pull up our poor, disease-infected cucumber crop today!

for Eliza, who is my family, and whom I love immensely.

for fall gardens, for which I'm selecting seeds this very day. we're going to grow brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, beets, radishes, carrots, and more.

for being forced to learn to not let the negativity of others affect my mood, or ability to accomplish work.

for electrolyte tablets! :)

for burgundy and multi-colored okra.

for sunflowers yet again - always for sunflowers <3.


We're coping with the struggles of the disease and blight problems as best we can - spraying with neem oil (which is an organic, plant-based fungicide and insecticide). I think that we'll most likely lose some plants, but the bulk of them appear to be growing and producing in a very healthy way. Today I'm feeling really joyful, despite some inter-staff conflicts, because a garden mentor of mine told Eliza that these are the best gardens that Eliza's ever had. These words make me swell with pride.

I'm going to savor this feeling today while working in the gardens. Wish me luck!

heat-stroke saturday.

So, I'm feeling a little under the weather today, mostly because I got kicked in the face by a minor case of heat stroke yesterday.

This is alarming for all the obvious reasons (such as the fact that I had heat stroke), but also for less obvious reasons like the fact that it's limiting my ability to "hop to" in the gardens today. Which are in sore need of my attendance!

Mostly I'm just feeling a little drained... probably from the frickin' HEAT STROKE. ;)

Now I'll stop complaining and give y'all the updates of the week:
This was kind of a big week out here on the farm. On Wednesday, I harvested with Derrick (who works here on Wednesdays and Saturdays) and Kate. As you can see from the pictures I posted a few days ago, we are certainly in the midst of the summer garden bounty - as our cucumber and squash harvests start to die down,our tomato, green bean (well, purple green beans!), pepper, eggplant, zinnia, cosmos, and basil crops are being harvested at their optimum levels. Annnnnd - melon season is now beginning! On Wednesday I went with Eliza to work the Carrboro market, and we sampled a "sorbet swirl" watermelon, named such because it's orange and yellow swirled on the inside. It was delightful! :)

However... there are also a number of pretty serious problems that I've had to start addressing this week. On Thursday, our extension agent came out to the farm to look at some of the disease and blight problems that have popped up in our tomato, eggplant, bean, squash, melon, and cucumber plants. This is pretty distressing, because many of these "foliar" fungal diseases and blights can be absolutely devastating to a garden operation if not addressed in the right way and at the right time. I was so excited about his visit, but as it turned out, the results were still rather inconclusive... leaving me feeling overwhelmed and a little paralyzed with worry for my plants. I'll update once I get a better handle on this situation, but needless to say - I'm feeling a little down, and not sure that I have an adequate knowledge-base to really address the problems at hand.

Send me some good vibes, today, my friends - for my health, and the health of these plant babies.

p.s. - on a brighter note, less than one month til I move into a house in Greensboro with a bunch of fantastic ladies! It warms my spirits considerably to think about how wonderful it will be to share my days with strong, intelligent, and passionate women like these. So very inspiring, to say the least <3.

back, and at it.

First off, just *one* little picture from Italy...

 

....... yup, that's right, the leaning tower of Piza!!!!!

Italy was super awesome. We visited Rome, Florence, Venice, the Cinque Terre, & Pompei, all in two short weeks.

Now I'm back at the farm, and I have more pictures to share with you, as I try to chronicle (somewhat frantically) all of the different crops that we're producing right now. 

To begin, it's finally:

    tomato season! 

We're growing a number of different heirloom varieties, such as brandywine, german johnson, evergreen, kellog's breakfast, a "heart-shaped" variety, a "peach" tomato variety, and little baby sungolds.

And of course, not to neglect the ever-fabulous....

cherokee purple tomato, which is the most tender, non-acidic, yet uber flavorful tomato you'll ever eat. Hands down.

We've also been harvesting:

cucumbers,

squash,

heirloom green and "burgundy" okra

eggplant, that have been growing quite voraciously, and that I am most incredibly proud of (yes, those orange balls are also a type of heirloom eggplant)!

and, also:

zinnias, sunflowers, and cosmos (of which there's only one - the white flower in the background).

Last but not least, here's a few other pictures I took today:

Huckie and I, working/loving away, right before I ran to get ready for market.

A slightly larger view of the lower garden (and look how big that corn is behind all the flower and herb rows!).

And finally, a view of the house and lower garden from the "middle field" (the one  that you walk through to get up to the shop and other garden).

I have about 3480723047.97 zillion other things to say tonight, but I'm also very tired and ready for bed (nice and clean, and fresh out of the shower <3). As such, let me just say this: Kate, Eliza, & the boys did such a good job tending to things in the garden while I was away. Last week was a whirlwind of activity, but this week I'm focusing on addressing the blight and disease problems that have unfortunately  seem to have arisen in my absence. Luckily, our extension agent, Mark, is coming out at 8:30AM tomorrow to take some samples of the "problem" sections in for diagnosis at a lab in Raleigh.

As usual: regardless of all outside worries or day to day difficulties, as the sun goes down on Cane Creek farm, I am endlessly grateful for the richness of my life here.

G'night!

Italia

So we're leaving tomorrow morning for Italy, and I can't believe it. I'm feeling super excited for the voyage... and ready to not think about ANYTHING that could be potentially stressful while I'm gone.

That being said... let me just admit: I miss the farm already!! I really do. It's been nice to have a few free days to laze about and, for example, watch 7 episodes of "Law & Order SVU" in a row (hehe), but at the end of the day it pains me a little bit inside to be so far away from my plants. I also feel a little weird because I haven't heard from Eliza since Wednesday... This is not a long time, clearly, as it's Friday, but it feels long to me! :)

I'm really going to challenge myself to be present for the next 2 weeks. So that means no blogging til I get back! Sending all my love, & wish me luck in Italia.

p.s. - on the feeling lost front, I'm feeling much more settled within myself. In fact, I've actually been feeling more at ease then I have in awhile over these past few days. Which is nice. YAHOOOO! :)

farm pics, part 1

Just a few photos of the farm before I head out for Europe tomorrow!

radishes.

 greens! - baby lettuces mix, braising mix, rainbow chard.

                      

so this isn't the farm, 

but it's a picture I took while driving in Saxapahaw. The sunset was ravishing that day.

Hailey, Squeaker, & the farm fannypac = good times all around :).

wanna be freeeee, easy like a sunday morning

It's Sunday morning, and unlike the song - I'm feeling a little lost within the world today, if that makes sense at all - excited for the day (as I look outside the window, the wind is whipping through the trees, and the sun is dabbled through their branches), but I'm so scared of what I'll find outside my doorstep. Metaphorically speaking :). In reality I'll find "Oscar" the pig, recently renamed "Squirt" by Eliza's 9 year old daughter, who will nibble veraciously on my toes until I feed him, and about 34087284906124 dogs. No, what I mean is this - that I'm feeling like my heart is on my sleeve today, and I'm just not sure that I'll be able to do enough to protect it as I walk into the sun, and the rain, and the day to day musings and heartaches of this beautiful Sunday morning.

BUT - in a few minutes I'm leaving to go to meeting for worship, which should help revive me a bit. Also, things are actually going quite swimmingly here at the farm! Weeding is relatively under control, the flowers are blooming, the tomatoes are thriving, and other than the fact that our squash and cucumber populations appear to be pretty much doomed at this point, we are in for a pretty fantastical summer.

I need to find a way to include pictures very soon. The three sisters garden is looking especially amazing, I must say. The corn is getting to be almost 2 feet tall, and I can't WAIT for the beans under it to start climbing up the stalks. I just planted a bunch of new sunflowers in the rows near by, so at the height of summer, the lower garden really should be a sight.

The problematic part of farming, of course, and a part that I haven't really discussed here up to this point, is the economic bit. I really don't think that we're making money on these gardens, which is pretty important since this is a working farm that needs to be turning a profit on this enterprise. The main problem here is that I'm really just a garden baby, taking on a task that's more than a little bit out of my range of expertise. I think I'm trying my best, and doing a really good job with some things, but it's really difficult to ensure that your garden will be profitable when you're really just learning as you go, as I am.

Anyway - no need to dwell on this at the moment, but it is certainly something to reflect upon in the months (and probably years!) to follow.

Well, I suppose I'm off to great the day at last.

Wish me luck. <3

hard days suck HARD.

Today really sucked.

Like... really sucked. I'd try to put a positive spin on it, but really - it just SUCKED.

My beloved dog, Huck, bit someone at the farm yesterday, and I didn't realize how serious it was until today. Even though he is the absolute MOST submissive, docile, gentle dog on the face of the earth, Huck did some very serious damage to one of my co-workers during the process of him trying to restrain my dog yesterday :(. I still don't know all the details, and I honestly can't help but still believe that my dog is good at heart even in the face of all this, but I'm horrified about what happened. Mortified, really, and so, so, so sad.

It's really been eating at me today... that and the fact that I'm also feeling stressed/overwhelmed about our current pest problems in the garden, and the fact that I'm leaving in less than a week to go to Florida, and then leaving a week from Saturday to go to ITALY, not to return until the beginning of July.

However - there are, of course, some positive notes to bring up after getting all that off my chest. Our first cucumbers just came in, and our first zinnias are beginning to bloom <3. I am THRILLED about this. It'll only be a matter of time until the whole lower garden is in full bloom - zinnias, sunflowers, cosmos... I just can't wait. Also, I made a really thorough garden schedule for when I'm gone, and also a master list of all of our crops, their locations, basic needs, harvesting instructions, and storage directions. Making the list made me feel really knowledgeable, which is always a plus :). Also - I started cleaning out our chaotic greenhouse today, fertilized our up-&-coming herb and flower plants (more zinnias, basil, thyme, sage, savory, and cilantro), and collected all my tools inside the greenhouse. So... essentially - a very mixed review of the day. I'm destroyed about Huck, but I think I need to also give myself a pat on the back for what I am doing right. Which is more than I usually give myself credit for, I must say.

More to come, & I'll leave you with this:

"Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me"
by Mary Oliver

Last night
the rain
spoke to me
slowly, saying,
what joy
to come falling
out of the brisk cloud,
to be happy again
in a new way
on the earth!
That's what it said
as it dropped,
smelling of iron,
and vanished
like a dream of the ocean
into the branches
and the grass below.
Then it was over.
The sky cleared.
I was standing
under a tree.
The tree was a tree
with happy leaves,
and I was myself,
and there were stars in the sky
that were also themselves
at the moment
at which moment
my right hand
was holding my left hand
which was holding the tree
which was filled with stars
and the soft rain -
imagine! imagine!
the long and wonderous journeys
still to be ours.

I hope that, by reading these dear words, your own lives will become endowed with this kind of sweetness. I love you <3.
- H

days on, day off!

Well hello there. I'm currently sitting in the Guilford College library with my delightful lady friend, Ella. It's a day off from the farm after a long weekend of farm-sitting, market preparation, rain, and garden work. I'm relishing every moment of this day - I think we're going to garden a little bit at the Guilford community garden (where I have a veeeery neglected plot), go play with animals at the shelter, and then snuggle and eat snacks and watch movies in my bed ♥. Perfect day with a perfect lady.

Last week saw SO much rain, which is awesome for our fields, but not so awesome for our (already fairly serious) weed problem. I anticipate spending a LOT of time in the upcoming week trying to address this. However - Kate, Eliza's cousin, and her partner Nick just arrived, and are staying with us at the farm for the next two months! This is excellent, because they are lovely, fun people, and also because I'm leaving in a little over a week for Italy!! Family trip 2010... so awesome, but also pretty stressful since I'll be worried about the farm in my absense. But what can you do, right?

The squash seem to be doing somewhat better, although some have been infected with some kind of a wilt virus (probably carried by the striped cucumber beetles). We'll see how that goes - continuing to apply organic insecticide, and planting new winter squash plants that may or may not make.

We've also decided to try and calculate expected yields, actual yields, and amount sold at market each week. This is a pretty big step for us as a farm... I suppose it seems obvious that we'd do this, but it's been sort of overlooked in the past. I've also drafted a work schedule, outlying which days we'll do which activities. Hopefully that will help Kate & Nick while I'm gone, as well as help ME to be a lot more organized in the way that I do work :).

Well, off to go love on my Ellabella. More to come soon!

hilling potatoes & permaculture rockstars

well to be honest, I'm not sure if I've EVER felt this tired. I think it's a combination of sun, not quite enough water, not quite enough sleep last night, my recent whirlwind of travel, and, most of all - the fact that I worked my butt off today.

I'm super ready to shower and fall asleep on the couch, but first, let me tell you a few things:

-- my weekend in Florida rocked my socks off. The train was sooooo awesome, and being in my own house and seeing my old friends (who have known me for life) was so special. And you know what else? I think I'm exactly where I need to be right now, and that feels really, really good.

-- today I tilled up the area around the three sisters garden rows (it's a garden that uses corn, pole beans, and squash to complement one another - the corn acts as a trellis for the pole beans, which is turn fix nitrogen into the soil for the nutrient hungry corn, and the squash act as a shading agent, delaying the growth of weeds. It's an old native american tradition that I'm uber excited to be trying!) with this awesome new manual tiller I bought (it has a handle like a shovel, but then at the end has kind of a spiral of 4 spikes that you kick down and then twist to break up the soil. This is especially important when you have hard clay soil the way we do). Then I planted winter squash :). Next I hilled potatoes with Leland, mulched the 3 sisters garden, hand watered the new bean rows that are beginning to germinate, helped Leland bag greens, and watered the greenhouse periodically throughout the day. All in all, I very long, very great day.

-- Will Hooker, who is this lovely professor from NC State the specializes in permaculture came out to the farm today to help our friend Eric Henry look at the land next door. He also came and took at my gardens and was very helpful and complementary. I think he's a really great example of someone who pairs knowledge with humility and kindness in a really incredible and effective way. <3

Well... off to clean my body, and rest my soul. G'night!

FLORIDA!

So my big surprise was that I took an all-night train to Florida the night before last, & surprised my friends and family in Gainesville! This had me peeing my pants for a number of reasons, but primarily because a.) I really love trains and b.) every single one of my beloved high school friends happen to be in town. :)

So I'm here! Currently lying in my bed, in my bedroom, in my parent's house. It's funny when "your house" is no longer the same as your "parent's house." For me the transition was almost unnoticeable, and pretty painless. But - it's also strange to be here in some ways. I spent some time with Haley (best friend since 3 and soulmate of life), Siss, & Erin, and while it was completely lovely, I realized yet again that we've all changed SO much over the past four years since we graduated from high school. It really made me wonder - at some point will this place not really feel like "home" at all? No way to know, clearly, but interesting to ponder. For now, I'm pretty much just thrilled to be here, and soooo eager to take in all around me in this familiar, yet eternally-fabulous place.

p.s. - trying super hard not to let a frustrating boy situation get me down. I will not worry, I will not worry, I will not worry.... or will I? ;)

on the verge of sweet, sweet dreams

Well holy CRAPOLA I am tired. Every muscle in my lower body is aching from bending over all day over plants, weeds, and rows of mulch. The day felt like it was about 1984927492 hours long, BUT: we got the entire upper garden mulched (FINALLY!!- this is a major success, as I have been weeding all week long), peppers planted, cucumbers planted, organic insecticide sprayed (to help address our squash pest issues), and the day planned out for tomorrow. The long work day was followed by a delightful evening with Eliza and her partner Margaret. We ate goat burgers (produced at the farm!), our squash (sauteed), and a salad made of my co-worker Leland's homegrown lettuce. Followed by cookies and strawberry smoothies.... mmmmmmm. :)

I'm feeling really happy, and satisfied with the efforts that I put into work today. Earlier in the morning, I was feeling pretty discouraged about the amount of work we still had left in the gardens. But, just as it happens so frequently around here, the afternoon was a whole different story - all hands on board in the garden, and all tasks completed!

I love it here, I must say - even on these endless summer days.

p.s.- Today I created an awesome surprise plan that I will reveal at a later date. teehehe.

horticultural hotline hailey

Good afternoon, my name is Horticultural Hotline Hailey, at your service!

In all seriousness, I am currently working the master gardener hotline at the extension office. Chuckle if you'd like, but it's a rivoting horticultural world out there, and some of us need to face it head on! :)

For example, we have the case of the missing potatoes. Manny McFarmer dude planted a 150ft row of potatoes... only to find that a little while later they had all VANISHED. Theory #1: bad seed. Theory #2: due to the EXTREME wetness of the spring, the potatoes rotted to oblivion. Theory #3: Manny McFarmer is a senile old bat, and simply forgot to plant the potatoes. Theory #4: something in the "small critter" family found this 150ft row to be a LOVELY dinner treat, and ate them all. right. UP!

Rivoting, I know. However, afternoon shifts are actually pretty nice here - few calls, and lots of time to hang out in the office & play online. Which is a privilige these days, since I am mostly without the net.

Week one at the farm flew by. It's crazy how quickly time can go by, even when the individual experiences seem to drag on forever (i.e.- pulling pigweed, also known as the Blight of Cane Creek Farm). The week was pretty successful though, I must say. Highlights include:

-- LOTS of hoeing (hehe, I know. Farming has an endless potential for sex jokes), weed pulling, and mulching. We mulched our two bean beds (I direct seeded these beds with the help of my wonderful mom, dad, & sister, Chloe, when they were in town for my graduation. Now every time I look at them, I think about my family, which is really special <3). My friend/soulbrother Nicky came up to visit with his partner Addison from FL, and we mulched together on Saturday while adapting our favorite songs to include the word "rock" in every sentence (not quite as random as it sounds - we were picking up rocks to make a border for a new circle garden I'm creating, which I'm very excited about! I'm going to plant flowers and herbs.
-- I weeded and remulched the open beds in the lower garden, which are looking pretty good overall. I can't wait for the flowers to bloom -- we have sunflowers, cosmos, and zinnias in the ground, and I'm going to plant a few others soon! (probably some marigolds and nasturiums first, to help with some of our (somewhat pervasive) pest problems)
-- I got the world's worst sunburn.... good LORD. My own fault, of course, for gardening in my scanty summer attire (shorts, a rolled up tank top, and boots), and not wearing sunscreen. However, I luckily didn't peel, and have learned my lesson... only the semi-hard way. :)
-- Despite the health of most of our plants (tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, beans, peppers, and flowers are all looking pretty healthy), we are currently in the midst of a squash crisis. I sent a panicked e-mail to Karen Neill, the Guilford County urban horiculture agent, entitled "help, Karen! - squash crisis." And unfortunately, it really is. Our plants are teeming with cucumber beetles and squash bugs (pictures to follow). Luckily for me, however, there may be more options than I'd originally thought. I'm about to try and track down two organic sprays -- one called bifenthrin (which may be under the names talstar or bifen)and another called sabadilla. I'll let you know how they work, and what tactics we ended up using to apply them most successfully. I'm pretty concerned about this pest problem, because it's only gotten worse since last year. If we're going to be an "organic" farm, then we need to follow the "integrated pest management" principals a little more religiously. However, it's really hard to do in such a limited amount of space!! It's also hard when I'm kind of inheriting a space that's been farmed for awhile, but in exactly what ways I'm not really sure.

Anyway - lots to do, and lots to look forward to in the upcoming week.

day one in the "real world" (what does this mean?)

My name is Hailey, and today allegedly marks my entrance into the world of "adulthood."

I am unsure of what this is actually supposed to mean. Nonetheless, here's what has recently happened to cause such an (apparently) drastic change in my life:

Last Saturday, May 8th, 2010, I Hailey Lisbeth Moses graduated from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC, with a double-major in Spanish and Peace & Conflict Studies. Less than ONE short week later, today I sit at the desk of Eliza Maclean, my first post-college boss/adopted mother/soul sister and owner and manager of Cane Creek Farm in Snow Camp, NC. I'm here as the new garden manager in an operation that primarily produces grass-fed beef and pastured pork, a job for which I've been (rapidly, effusively, and somewhat-subtly) training for the past 2 years as a farm intern here. I still can't believe all of the complicated reasons and twists that have resulted in my being here, but I can honestly express that I am simultaneously ecstatic and completely (and I mean, completely) terrified to be here. I have become woven into the fabric of life here, and I'm so worried that I won't live up to the astronomical expectations I've set for myself (you know, changing the world and being Superwoman McGardener, and all that). HOWEVER - I also believe firmly in the importance of every minute that I spend touching, healing, and loving the soil in this place. This land is holy to me, and I want to make it my productive, beautiful, and ever-evolving refuge of, quite literally, growth, and the laying down of deep roots.

Join me as I embark upon this road. I intend to make it as far from the traditional notion of adulthood as possible, with an emphasis on local food, long dirty days, and baby pigs named Oscar. Love <3.