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!