The Last Two Weeks: A Routine, But Not Really, Because What Ever Does What It’s Supposed To?
Dear Maine,
I know. I know. It’s been a while. Part of that is because some things have become routine and so some of the novelty has worn off; part of it is because, in an unusual turn of events, I fell ill (more on that later); and another part of it is because, sometimes, I just don’t want to talk about things until I’m ready. Sometimes I like to sit with my experiences before I share them, even if they seem mundane.
But let me catch you up!
Monday, May 9
Today, Maine, you dealt one of the seriously most unpleasant May weather days I have ever experienced. It’s lovely that farming has lots of interior chores (interior meaning in the greenhouse or hoop house), but sometimes things just need to be done at a particular time, and those things need to be done outdoors. I got off to a lucky start by helping Joe plant lilies in the greenhouse. I think I told you about this activity when I first did it a couple weeks ago. It’s a rather easy thing to do, because it doesn’t involve making any soil blocks or managing teeny, tiny seeds. It just requires filling crates with about two inches of soil, giving them to Joe, who sets in the rather substantial lily bulbs (about twelve or so per crate), then covering them up with another two inches or so of soil. Then the crates get stacked on top of each other, where they hang out until the lilies start coming up, which only takes a couple days for some of the varieties. I wish I had a picture of them (put that on my to-do list), because they look really cool as they are starting to come up.
Anyway, the indoor work was too good to last, which led to one of my least favorite things I’ve done since arriving here, not so much because of the task itself, but because of the totality of the circumstances. The only thing that made it bearable was Joe, because he’s not opposed to taking breaks, and he’s interesting to talk to. The task was weeding irises of witch grass. So here’s the thing: first, witch grass is annoying in and of itself, because it’s tough to pull up and eradicate; second, the irises were at a stage where they looked a little more like the witch grass than they would at other times in their life cycle; and third, it was drizzly, dreary, cold, and blustery, and, of course, the irises live outside. Fortunately, that was Joe’s last task for me for the morning, so after that, I got to go back inside the toasty (well, sixty degree) and windless greenhouse, where I began the task of potting on tomatoes. I had a tray of 288 cells, each with (well, mostly each; there was not one hundred percent germination, which is to be expected) its own little plant of the tomato, basil or tomatillo variety. These cells are super tiny, so once the plants start reaching a certain level of achievement, they need to live in something larger, which, in this case, means two-inch soil blocks. It takes time to make the trays (there are fifty blocks in a tray), so I did what I could in terms of making trays and getting the cute little tomato plants into their new homes. I didn’t finish the tomatoes or even get to the basil or tomatillos, but I spent a good morning’s work in the relative warmth and comfort of the greenhouse. I think poor Nate was stuck outside the whole time I was basking with my tomatoes.
I think part of what Nate was doing in the morning was preparing for the afternoon, which meant planting tomatoes. I don’t mean to suggest that it ever got warm, but at least by afternoon, it was tolerable being in the hoop house, which is the tomatoes’ new home. When I got there, it had been tilled, and rows had been marked out with string. Then I got to use the “Dummy Stick” to mark out the spots for the holes. Even a smart person can benefit from the Dummy Stick, Beth tells me. It’s actually a pretty smart invention. It’s about 5 feet long with a semi-pointy end and a string with a rather large nut tied to it. So what happens is you start by making a small hole with the semi-pointy end, then you drag the nut along until it’s in the hole you just made, and then you make another hold with the semi-pointy end, drag the nut until it’s in that hole, etc. The end result is a series of equally spaced marks, which will then be dug into holes for the tomatoes. I got lucky; I marked them all out while Beth and Nate dug, but once I got them all marked, I dug some holes, too. Then Lauryn and Beth dropped the plants; Nate, Jane and I planted them. Then it was time to water them in, and that was the end of our afternoon. We even finished a little early, and it was way too miserable out to embark on any new endeavors, so we all called it a day.
The only picture I even have is this rather unenthusiastic one of Nate looking at the tomatoes we just planted:
On our way to close up the greenhouse as part of our chores, we met Tom, the neighbor. He’s originally a midwesterner who loves Maine (there’s a trend here, Maine; people come to visit you, get to know you, fall in love with you — despite your annoying weather quirks — and stay), and he’s clearly very intelligent and loves to talk politics. Unfortunately, we couldn’t talk long because it was freezing and because I had to get ready to go to my first yoga class in Maine.
I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about that experience just yet. I know that I shouldn’t have expectations, and I do come from one of the best yoga studios in existence, so that set the bar pretty high. Maybe they just have a different idea of “hot yoga” than I do. I bought the unlimited week pass so I could try another few classes before making a decision. The studio itself was very nice. I think that’s all I have to say about it for now. I was very disappointed. But that’s what happens when you have expectations… yoga has taught me this.
I got home way past my bedtime, but it was nice to go to bed after a yoga class. I always sleep better.
Tuesday, May 10
Today it felt like spring again, and it was very welcome after the misery that was yesterday’s weather.
We started out in the field, planting bok choy, tatsoi, and cabbages. Once they were watered in, Nate trimmed the apple trees (he likes being on ladders), and I returned to potting on my tomatoes. I’ve noticed that my throat is getting raspy and sore. I’m losing my voice.
We had lunch, then went to Hannaford to pick up a few things. After lunch, I returned to the field to direct seed beets and carrots with the seeder. That thing is cool. It has a hopper to fill with seed, a front wheel that drives the hopper as it spins to dispense seed, a tiny plow to make a furrow into which the seeds fall, and a flat back wheel to press the seeds into their row. It was my first time, and my rows came out reasonably straight.
My next task was to harvest tulips. It didn’t go so well at first, but then Beth came over and showed me, and then I got the hang of it. The key is to cut them very close to the ground, tear off all the leaves that are within three or four inches of the cut, and, most importantly, to harvest them before they are open, when you can just barely tell what color the tulip is going to be. I also learned that tulips are fickle; they will change drastically throughout the day according to heat and light, and true tulip growers will harvest several times a day. Oh well, at least I got to make a bouquet of the ones I harvested that were too open. It’s not like it was a waste; they were too far gone to be saleable, so they might as well be enjoyed!
Once I finished that, I was feeling pretty tired, and my throat was getting even more sore, so I returned to the greenhouse to move onto the basil. I potted that on until quitting time, then got myself back inside to rest.
I’ve been feeling a bit run down and tired, and thus, uninspired, so the only photo I have is this one of Mittens holding things down so they don’t blow away (as if there’s any risk):
Wednesday, May 11
I do not understand this: I am feeling awful. I’m achy; I have no voice; I feel spacey, and I feel like I may have been run over by a rather large truck. I do not get sick. I don’t know quite what to do with myself. But, me being me, I must carry on and power through. I started with chores, as usual, then spent my morning with Joe planting flowers in the field that has been designated for annuals. We planted larkspur and a few other things, but I don’t remember what. After we finished, I finished potting on my basil and tomatillos — the last of Monday’s project. All I know is that I was in a hurry to get back to the cabin and nap my way through lunch, which is what I did.
Due to the MOFGA apprentice event this evening, we had a short afternoon; we worked from 2:00 - 3:30 (by the way, in case I haven’t mentioned it, our current schedule is this: we start chores at 7:30 a.m., which take about fifteen minutes, then we start our morning tasks and work until noon. We have lunch from noon to 2:00, then we work until 5:00, at which time we do chores and call it quits. “Chores” are enjoyable. Right now they consist of opening or closing the green house and hoop houses, and feeding and watering the chickens and sheep, and collecting eggs in the evening. I love the animals, so chores are fun, unless the Golden Comets [that’s what the mini-clucks are, and they’re not so mini anymore, so now I just call them by their breed] are ravenous and peck at me when I go into their enclosure). I spent my afternoon pruning things that didn’t belong near the fruit trees and around the outhouse. Once that was done, I helped Lauryn roll a stupidly wet, stupidly moldy, stupidly heavy half of a round hay bale that the sheep didn’t finish over the winter into the bucket of the tractor so Lauryn could take it to the compost pile. That was the end of our work day.
We got cleaned up a little then headed over the Villageside Farm for the first MOFGA apprentice event, which was about effective communication — definitely something both Nate and I need to work out. Don’t get me wrong; we are both very good about saying exactly what’s on our minds. What we are not good at is doing so nicely all the time. The workshop had some basic, but very good, pointers/reminders that I hope we will both implement. Anyway, we got there way early, so we got to wander around the farm a bit, and chat with Polly and Prentice and their three boys, Abe, Ben, and Joe. When we came up in January, we had interviewed with Villageside as potential apprentices. We both loved the farm and the family, so it was great to see them again. That was a difficult decision for us. We found ourselves in the unique position of having to decide which of two probably really great experiences would be the better one for us. Ultimately, we decided that Fisher Farm would be the better fit for us, and, of course, we will never know what we are missing at Villageside Farm, but we are very, very happy with our decision, and it’s nice to be welcomed warmly by Polly and Prentice in spite of our decision. They have a bunch of apprentices who seem to be really happy there, and the feeling seems to be mutual.
The program started with a walk around their farm, which was really neat, since the last time we saw it, it was under a blanket of snow. We learned more about their operation and got this one super piece of advice: have a detailed business plan. If I learned nothing else, I learned that! (But I learned lots of other things, too.)
Polly and Prentice have a brick pizza oven, and that was dinner. Omigosh! I could have eaten a zillion pieces of that pizza! It was SO delicious! Nick and Kelsey, whom we had met at the MOFGA fair last year were there, so we got to reconnect with them and chat for a bit. Unfortunately, we didn’t get much of a chance to get to know everyone else, so we will be looking forward to doing that at upcoming events.
I, of course, underestimated your ability to get cold and windy in a hurry, Maine, so I was freezing the whole time. I know; I could have brought more layers, but I thought what I had was enough. Along with my raspy throat and increasing aches, I really felt pretty miserable, but I enjoyed myself as much as I could given my deplorable physical state. Nate did the driving; I cranked the heat up for the drive home; and I completely fell into bed and went fast asleep as soon as we got home.
Two things I want to mention: First, since we are so caught up, we have another full day off tomorrow, which I think will be beneficial for the sickness, and second, Polly and Prentice have a very inspiring outhouse. It is quite literally over the river and through the woods (sounds far, but it’s only a hundred yards or so) in this beautiful setting, and it has lovely windows on both sides, so you’re really surrounded by nature. Plus, unlike our two-seater outhouse, which just has a couple holes, theirs has an actual toilet seat. Guess it’s like that out in Freedom, Maine…
Oh, Nate made a little intermediate shelf so that Willow could get up on the high shelf from the bed instead of hiding under the bed all the time, which is apparently as close as she can get to being a basement dweller. She humored him and got on the shelf:
Thursday, May 12: The Sickness, or WTF?!?
This is so confusing. I don’t get sick. But I woke up awful. I barely slept. Instead, I coughed. I ached. I tossed. I turned. My nose got super stuffy. And this whole day, I was running a temperature that topped out at 101.9. I kept myself bundled up because I believe in stoking the fires to give the fever what it needs to do maximum carnage to bacterial and viral invaders. I read a little, and slept a little, then read a little more, and slept a little more. I had a good spell for about an hour during which I got up and did some organizing of things inside the cabin (it’s amazing how so few things in such a tiny space can get so disorganized in so short a period of time), but then I crashed. It was an incredibly miserable day. I was delirious. I didn’t even feed myself. I had no appetite. All I had was whimpering and whining. I was convinced I was dying. Nate left and did stuff on the land, I suppose, but I don’t know. I wasn’t listening. I was coughing, sneezing, blowing my nose, aching and being feverish. Once Nate got home, he convinced me (and half dragged me) to take a shower. I thought it would help my sinuses and my head, because hot showers usually feel good when I’m sick, but no. Not even. I slinked back into my bed of misery, relented and took a Benadryl to help me sleep (and breathe). I thought I might die, and frankly, I was okay with that.
At one point when I ventured outside, I saw that someone had left me a sweet little vase of flowers to help me convalesce. :)
Mittens, however, did her best to nurse me, and somehow in the process, Nate took a picture of Mittens looking absolutely enormous and me in the background looking absolute pathetic:
Friday, May 13: I’m healed!
And as quickly as it came on, it went away. When I woke up, Nate told me that I did much better sleeping, as in, I thrashed less and I seemed less stuffy, and he handed me the thermometer, and I was a healthy 97.7. It’s like I went to bed during a hurricane and woke up to sunshine after the storm had passed.
So, I figured I might as well go to work, since I almost lost my mind yesterday with my inability to do anything at all, even though Beth said I didn’t have to. I presented myself to help with the harvest, but Beth told me there wasn’t any work for me to do there because she, Nate and Lauryn had it covered (sneaky trick!), so I wandered down to the greenhouse after chores to help Rose, because I know that there are literally thousands of flowers to be potted on. Rose suspiciously decided that she was done at 11:00 and I should be, too, so I got a long lunch to recuperate.
After lunch I harvested more tulips. There was quite a contrast between my first harvest and this one. This time I knew what I was looking for, and my tulips were much more robust. I spent part of my afternoon bunching them up and putting them into a pretty display for market. I tried to set them out for a photo shoot, and Sebastian decided to check out my work:
I helped Rose pot on some more flowers for another hour or so, and then she again suspiciously decided to end the day early…
She’s a sweetheart, that Rose. Earlier in the morning, I had thanked Beth for the flowers, assuming she and Jane had picked them for me and put them outside the cabin yesterday, but Beth informed me that anything sweet or nice that happens around here is Rose’s doing, so I thanked her instead.
It was nice to have an early end to the day so I could get more rest for market. It’s definitely my way to overdo things…
Saturday, May 14
I was feeling much better, and I went to market. I still love market. This is what the set up looks like when we are indoors, which we weren’t supposed to be this week, but Rick said that the wind was so brutal that he wasn’t able to get the roof on outside, so we had to be indoors for one more week. It sure does get toasty inside that greenhouse!
After market, I still wanted to recover, but instead we went and got some provisions and headed up to the land and painted the gate. It looks much nicer in this rich brown than it did in galvanized steel:
Nate got to show me the things he had been doing on the land on Thursday while I was in the throes of my malady. He picked out two spots for potential dwellings (practice dwellings, just little bunkhouses before we build our actual, final home), and he showed them to me. We walked the Pioneer Trial, which is something we are dedicated to doing each time we come to the land in order to make it a good trail. The black flies are horrible, but at least they’re primarily annoying and not really biting. We did what we could as quickly as we could, because I was still tired and blowing my nose like crazy, and I really wasn’t in the mood for the black flies. Brian and his son Adam we out planting the field across the way, so we chatted with them for a bit, then headed to Corinth to do laundry.
Okay, so, normally the laundromat is neat and clean, and I’m always excited about the puzzle. (Last week I finished off the existing puzzle, and this week there was one that was just barely started. I don’t like them when they’re like that, but I couldn’t help myself.) I’m not sure what happened this week, but the two washers we usually use looked like this:
Interesting, right? It’s like one of those games where you have to find the random objects hidden in the picture! Can you find a broken spoon, a bottle cap, a food wrapper, a sticker of a rooster, a giant staple, a piece of styrofoam, a plastic ring with mouse ears, a pacifier, a second food wrapper, and what may or may not be a piece of an eraser? Give yourself an A+ if you can find all ten. I guess there’s always one, even in Maine.
My memory is still a bit of a blur, but I think we did next to nothing after we got home, because I’m still tired and recuperating.
Sunday, May 15
Today was a good day of recuperating, relaxing and doing things I enjoy.
We were going to have our Bacon Tree breakfast, but we got there and found that it’s closed until it reopens in its new location. We were bummed, but we made do just fine with breakfast at the diner across the street. It’s nice to take a break from making breakfast once a week.
I’m tired of schlepping around my water bottle, and I really like to have my hands free, so, based on inspiration from the farm apprentice on Wednesday night who had crafted a carrier for her water bottle out of duck tape, I made this:
I like that the material is the cast-off edge of fabric used to make clothing. That wasn’t enough yarning for me, so I also made Willow a woozle mat for her shelf. Unfortunately, I didn’t get enough yarn, so it’s too small, but I will make it bigger once I get more yarn.
For dinner we braised some fiddleheads! They’re tasty!
Monday & Tuesday, May 16 & 17: A Blur
I’m not really sure what I did on these two days, because I’ve just felt so out of it with recovering from being sick. It’s not helping that I’m taking Claritin and Sudafed simply to be able to breathe. They make me feel fuzzy, but my head is still draining. I’m not stuffy, and I feel mostly fine aside from being tired, but it’s just so annoying to keep blowing my nose so much. Grr.
I know Monday was wickedly cold, which may be why Mittens couldn’t bear to look:
I think I spent all day in the greenhouse potting things on because I was deemed still too unwell for outside work, especially in the bitter cold.
But that may have been what I did on Tuesday, although I think on Tuesday, Joe and I planted flowers out in the field and did more greenhouse work. But that may have been Monday.
Tuesday evening looked like this:
I loved the way the sun was hitting some trees while others were in shadow. I’ve got to say, Maine, you do amazing things with the lighting around here.
Wednesday, May 18
I do remember what I did today, because, after this beautiful sunrise…
(That’s at 4:22 a.m., by the way. First light comes early this far north and this far east.)
…Today was all about the tomatoes! It started with Dennis & Nate stringing up the wires to which they will be trellised. While they were doing that, Lauryn and I rolled up the string that had separated the rows, then rolled out drip tape to go along both the sides of the tomatoes, right up close to their stems. When we were done with that, we rolled out landscape paper between all the rows and pinned it down very tight and flat, over the drip tape. Next came the trellising, which we started in the morning and didn’t finish until the end of the day. It is a long and tedious process. It starts with two pieces of twine being cut for each plant, long enough to go from the wire, which is probably seven feet up, to the plant with some to spare. They get tied to the wire, then the ends get gently tied around the plant to support it, and eventually for it to climb up. I was fine with cutting the twine and with attaching it to the wire, but I wasn’t comfortable tying it around the plants, until I finally heard the plants and understood what it was that they wanted. Then it was a breeze. Note to self: Get out of your head and listen to the plants instead. That always works.
Finally, at the end of the day, we had this:
It was finally, finally, FINALLY warm enough for shorts! And I learned that it is true, that yes, one can get a sunburn inside a greenhouse. It’s all good. I could use a little color.
After work we went to Lowe’s to get some concrete blocks as part of tomorrow’s project. We got dinner at Chipotle.
Thursday, May 19
Today Nate thinks he’s Napoleon. You’ll see why later. He’s done something to his left forearm. There’s a muscle there that’s all inflamed and painful. He may have done it splitting wood earlier in the week, but who knows? It’s amazing how the slightest movement can tweak something when you’re not used to using a muscle in a particular way. Anyway, he’s the one-armed man today.
We started with putting the plastic on the hoop house, which is quite a production, since the hoop house is, well, big, and it’s one giant sheet of plastic. With the way the wind is around here, we had to get on it early, because it doesn’t take long for the wind to notice that you’re up to something and to insert itself into your plans, not unlike the way in which a cat or small child decides to insert itself into your plans. Once the plastic is unrolled, the next step is to find a flat, fist-sized rock with no sharp edges. This gets tied to a rope then thrown over the hoop house frame. (Not one of us cleared the whole frame on our first try, so we each had to do it in multiple tries, but we eventually all got it.) Once the ropes are draped over the frame, their other ends get tied to the plastic in this ingenious manner: the plastic is wrapped around the afore-mentioned rock, which has been detached from the other side; then the rope is wrapped around the plastic around the rock so that no holes are made in the plastic. Genius! The next step was for Joe, Lauryn and I to pull our ropes (now attached to the rocks which are wrapped in the plastic) in order to pull the plastic up and over the frame while Dennis, like some strange curling participant, or possibly like someone who desperately wants to audition to play the Wicked Witch of the West, runs around with his ladder and broom to sweep the plastic in places where it’s a little stubborn or where the rocks get caught on the frame (theoretically, since they’re flat, this risk is minimized, but it still happens). There were a couple glitches when one of the rocks pulled through the plastic and when a couple relatively minor gusts of wind came along, but ultimately we got the plastic over the frame. Once it was in place, Dennis tacked it with a lath at the peak of each end while we each held a corner (something Nate could do with one hand), then we worked our way down one side, tacking the whole thing in with lath. Once that side was done, we pulled it tight again, reset the lath at the peak, then worked our way down the other side. At that point, I went to help Joe in the greenhouse (more potting on), but what was left was to finishing attaching the ends with lath, to put the bar in place to be able to roll up the sides, and to put the ropes on that keep the sides from flapping. Nate, Dennis and Lauryn finished those tasks. And this is the finished project:
I borrowed that photo from Fisher Farm’s Facebook page. Dennis gets all the credit.
Once they were done, Nate kept popping in and out of the greenhouse because he was bored. He’s really not good at doing nothing, and there’s not much that can be done on a farm one-handed. (Though I bet there are one-armed farmers out there who would beg to differ with me.)
At break time, Nate took off right away to get up to the land for an important delivery. I took some time to collect a few items, including our leftover Chipotle for lunch, then drove up to meet him. This was the first test of my car’s ability to navigate the driveway, and, if I go slowly enough, I can make it the whole way without bottoming out or having any other incidents! I was worried about that.
The whole reason for the rush was the delivery of this:
We messed around, ate, walked our trail and waited, but once I learned that it was going to be a while, I headed in to Corinth to Maine Savings FCU to open a checking account. Vikki, like most Mainers (all of them, really, except the ones who did whatever they did to the washing machines…), was incredibly friendly and helpful, and I got my checking account, savings account, and special savings account (where my rewards roll into…) without incident. I still can’t figure out what the catch is… Everything was FREE! There are only fees if there’s an overdraft! I’m still trying to wrap my head around this one.
By the time I got done, Nate let me know the container had been delivered, so I headed back to the property to see it.
Here it is, with Nate:
So earlier today, Nate was standing around with his arm dangling, and I suggested he elevate it, so he walked around like a cactus for a while, then ultimately determined his shirt makes a great sling, so there you have it: NapoleoNate.
We didn’t hang out long, thanks to the black flies, but it’s nice that we now have secure, weatherproof storage on the land. That will give us a great head start, because now we have a place to keep our tools and materials up there. Next step: start building.
I wanted to get some stuff at the Natural Living Center, and I wanted Nate to come, too, so he could see what it’s all about. Google Maps took us through Orono, which was a new way for me, but not any longer, and certainly just as scenic. As we were heading down I-95, to the left there was a beautiful rainbow, one that goes from red to violet and back to red again. It was a lovely end to the day.
Nate headed on home, and I went to Walmart to pick out a few things. I don’t really like all this Walmart business, but right now it’s where we’re at, and eventually, once we learn the local businesses and get our finances straight (things are entirely different now, of course), we will get away from this habit. I also had to pick up kitty litter. It’s amazing how a month working on a farm makes tossing a forty-pound bag over your shoulder, keeping it there the whole time you wait in line, while you dig out your money, and while you do the whole transaction, basically, seem like nothing.
Friday, May 20
I did chores mostly by myself because of NapoleoNate’s limitations, which is fine, because he needs to rest. The only part I don't like is the part where I have to climb the extension ladder to roll up the plastic on the roof vent on the greenhouse. I don’t like ladders.
Then it was time to harvest for market. Nate got to go fill up the sinks for washing, because that’s what people on the DL get to do. (I got to do it last Friday while I was recovering. It only takes one hand, minimal effort, and about half an hour to fill all three sinks.) Beth, Dennis, Lauryn and I harvested salad greens, spinach, kale, radishes (Rudolph, Pink Beauty and French Breakfast), salad turnips, arugula, pea tops and beet greens. That took about two hours. Then I took it to the packing shed to unload it:
Beth and I spent the next two hours washing it. Beth is amazing. She is focused, thorough, and very, very efficient. I couldn’t believe how quickly we washed and packed everything up for market. True, we didn’t get done until a teeny bit after noon, but wow. Two fully packed carts for market. We had a lot of stuff!
I took a wee nap during lunch, because I’m still feeling tired, but after lunch, I went out and collected more tulips, then arranged them for market. After that, I helped Lauryn weed the spinach with weeding hoes. This is something I’ve never used before, but it’s amazing! It basically has a small, flat, sharp blade, and you sort of “sweep” with it, between the rows and around the plants, and it uproots tiny weeds. Super efficient. After we weeded the spinach, we weeded the super tiny beets and carrots, which made me very nervous because of how small they are. We finished up around 4:00, and we made that the end of the day, because everything is all caught up!
In the evening, Beth and Dennis lit the enormous pile of scrap wood on fire. I hear it was pretty impressive, but we were eating dinner and didn’t get to the party until it was mostly just embers.
Two other cool things happened today. First, I remembered to take pictures of the trillium Jane showed me the other day. I’m embarrassed that she needed to show me, because they are right along the path through the woods that links our cabin with the farm road!
Next, the pigs arrived! Jane named them Pinkie and Bluevy. (Pinkie I get; Bluevy requires a little more explanation. I will have to ask.)
They are going to be a fun addition to the farm. I’ve never been around pigs before. They should be interesting. And ultimately delicious.
Saturday, May 21
Since Nate is still on the DL, it was a perfect time for him to come to market with me, and I’m glad he did, because it was a nice “date” (and we don’t really go on dates anymore). He was a good help and a good companion, and he enjoyed it. We had so much that we didn’t manage to sell out, which was cool, because that meant we were there until 12:30. We were outside for the first time this year, and I’m glad, because I bet it was very warm inside. Market is strange in that there are rushes and lulls, but it’s ultimately very enjoyable.
We got home, unloaded, gave Jerry his molasses donuts, then had lunch. We wanted to do something this afternoon that would be fun but not physically taxing, so we went to the Maine Military Surplus store (after we went to Walmart to exchange the yarn I got in the wrong color to finish the Woozlemat. Nate was very charitable about being dragged to Walmart). This place is so awesome!!!
They even have camouflage bikini tops and a camouflage tube dress that I had a hard time resisting. Ultimately, we left with two empty ammo cans (great for weatherproof storage), some Permathrin (this is serious stuff to keep ticks away), and a new farm purse for me. (Since getting sick and my sinuses draining, I’ve been carrying around a canvas bag with tissues, a plastic bag for dirty tissues, cough drops and a few other things that have snuck their way in there. Beth calls it my Sneeze Bag. I call it my Farm Purse. There’s a part of me that can’t wait to offload it but there’s another part of me that really likes it. I guess I’m downsizing it…?)
I then suggested we go to this place that Joe told me about on Route 1 on the way to Ellsworth, since we were sort of in that general direction. It’s called the Big Chicken Barn.
See, there was this tragedy that happened back in June. In a fit of getting rid of stuff, I got rid of something I deeply regret: my Stephen King collection. I had something like forty or fifty of his books. I am now determined to rebuild my collection, but under these conditions: the books must be used; they must be paperbacks; and they must cost less than $5.00 apiece, except in the most extreme circumstances (not sure what those might be just yet). I was lamenting this circumstance to Joe, and he suggested the Big Chicken Barn. I’m so glad he did! I literally cleaned them out of Stephen King paperbacks, taking my collection from zero to fourteen! (Soon to be fifteen, once my penny copy of Pet Sematary arrives from Amazon.) It seems silly, but this will be a fun scavenger hunt and a more meaningful way to rebuild my collection. Garage sales may suddenly hold new interest for me. Don’t tell Nate.
We drove home via Bucksport, stopped at Hannaford and got the worst trail mix ever (it’s supposed to be fruit and nuts, but it’s soooo sugary that it’s inedible!) and some chips with which to eat our jalapeño hummus from market, along with the ribeye steak we also picked up at market.
Have I mentioned that I love market?
So, you know how I mentioned that Mittens really likes to hold things down? Her favorite thing to hold down is Nate. The second he is stationary, she is on him. He happened to be sitting at the table with his hand on the bed frame (yep, it’s like that in here. We have cats on the bed at table level grabbing things off our plates while we eat), and he crossed his other arm over for some reason, and that’s the moment Mittens chose to attack. Unbelievably, she ended up like this:
Another thing that’s interesting is that Nate manages to get a tick every single time we go to the land. We found this one in his vest pocket when we were at the Natural Living Center on Thursday.
And believe it or not, Nate left his clothes outside after that, and earlier today, when he went to bring them inside, he went through them carefully, and there was another of the little bastards in his vest pocket. Unbelievable. Fortunately, these are dog ticks, which are not known to carry Lyme or borellia or any of the other nasty tick diseases, besides Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which, I think, is pretty much confined to the West.
Sheesh. We really have come to hate ticks.
Sunday, May 22
I went to bed so early last night that I woke up super early this morning, after an inexplicable night of tossing and turning. I’ve been having strange dreams lately.
We got up and had breakfast here at home (this will be our thing until the Bacon Tree reopens). Nate started sketching out some ideas, as I reached my limit with disorganization (again, limited things in limited space… they tend to wander) and rearranged all the stuff on all the shelves. I put my recently-acquired SK books in their rightful place on the bookshelf, and I completely revised the pantry in a way that made sense. I sat down and took care of some paperwork I had been neglecting, cleaned out my purse (my actual purse, not my farm purse), and then Nate and I talked about going to Fort Knox, but since it was kind of late-ish, we decided instead to read and relax. I think it’s good to do that at least one day a week. It gets tiring to keep going and going all the time.
Which brings us to now, Dear Maine. I have been writing to you for nearly two hours, and I enjoy it. Alas, until I make some other arrangement with Verizon Wireless as to data, I cannot convey these thoughts to you until the morrow, on which my 3 GB of data reset. It’s incredible how quickly data disappears, even though it has now been over one month since I have so much as streamed a video.
Hmm. It has also been over one month since I have used Wifi, taken a bath (I’ve been taking showers, fear not), used an oven, used a microwave, used a refrigerator, or dried my clothes in a dryer. Yet somehow I survive, nay, thrive! We really do seem to think we need so very much more than we actually need. There is, however, something to be said for what we want. I, for instance, already know what I want for my birthday: a bath!
…
May 27, 2016
Dear Maine,
As you can see, I miscalculated as to when my data reset, and then I got busy. Such is the way of things.
Allow me to catch you up. Monday wasn’t much different from many other days. We always start with chores, then I helped Joe plant some flowers in the field while Nate did some electrical stuff in the greenhouse. I finished my day with greenhouse work, potting on various flowers and vegetables. I did, however, remember to take a picture of the lilies I was telling you about earlier.
Tuesday and Wednesday were exciting days for us, and a break in the routine! MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association; www.mofga.org), the incredible organization through which we have this awesome apprenticeship, put on a two-day immersion program called “Organic Farming: Principles and Practices” at their Education Center in Unity (which is where The Fair is every year [on the third weekend after Labor Day], and, if you haven’t considered attending, you absolutely must!). The first day was all about crops, and the second was all about livestock. We learned SO much information. I took copious notes (seventeen pages, front and back!) on the various lectures, which included Soil Husbandry for the Long Haul: Managing the Organic Matter, Soil Nutrients, Cover Crops, Organic Pest Management of Vegetable Crops, and Weed Management on the first day; and Organic Livestock Management, Pasture Management, Holistic Farm Management, Pastured Poultry, Pigs and Sheep on the second day. The first day was all lecture, but we got to go outside and do some hands-on work assessing pasture with a measuring stick specific for pastures and with a chart that helps tell what’s in pasture. I also learned that my pace is roughly five feet, so now I’m a better distance measurer.
After the first day ended, we had a discussion with the other apprentices, and we learned more about MOFGA’s journey person program, which is something we may be looking into in the future. While some apprentices spent the night, we opted not to, since it’s only about a forty minute drive, but we did stay for pizza. There was a minor issue: the first ingredient in all the crusts but one was “high gluten whole wheat flour”, so I knew that was out, and there was only one gluten-free crust, which had already been called. But I approached Laura, who was more than happy to share the gluten-free pizza. Nick, one of the other apprentices (I’ve mentioned him before), worked at a pizza shop at some point, so he was really talented when it came to working with the pizza dough. Laura and I? Not so much. But, you know, gluten-free dough is more difficult to work with anyway, but we found a rolling pin and a lot of olive oil, and we made this beautiful replica of Westeros.
We topped it with olives, peppers, onions and nettles. It was delicious. Between the two of us, we stuffed ourselves, but we managed to eat the whole thing. Several times we had to shoo people away from the only gluten-free option, so we finally just put all the pieces in front of us at once. Very satisfying.
After dinner, we headed home. We got up the next morning and did chores a little early. We didn’t have to leave until after 8:00 a.m., which is weird because we are so used to already having been working for half an hour or more by then. It was nice that we got to go outside and do some hands-on stuff on the second day. We were back in time to do chores, which is good, because I like chores. The next thing I need to do is type up all my notes from the program so that Nate can benefit from them, too. Right now, they’re in that perfect secret code known as my handwriting.
That evening, I had a chance to photograph Willow in her favorite spot, in Nate’s suitcase under the bed (we don’t have much space so we store our clothes under the bed in our suitcases and/or totes), and I snuggled a rather unwilling Mittens while I did a crossword puzzle. I’ve always enjoyed those, but I haven’t had much chance to do them, until recently.
Thursday was another good day (most of them are, really). We offered to make up for our educational days by working the whole day, but Beth said no because it was set to be a scorcher (and it was), and she and Dennis wanted to take the day off as well. Let me tell you, it was hot. It was the first day that I started the day off wearing shorts, and I was glad that I did. (There have been a couple days that started as pants days and ended as shorts days, but only a couple. Despite all the crap you pull, Maine, overall I like your weather. But don’t push it.) I started by seeding some squash in the greenhouse until Joe was ready to get some flowers planted out in the field, then Lauryn and I helped him with that. We then returned to the greenhouse, and I continued seeding squash and melons until we ran out of soil…at which exact moment Nate saved the day by returning with the thirty bags of soil he had been sent to pick up. I managed to plant almost all of the melons before I ran out of time. I watered the greenhouse, then went back to the cabin, grabbed some snacks (watering the greenhouse made me fifteen minutes late) and headed to Lowe’s to get some things for our land projects today.
We got some timber, some fencing, some two-cent Lowe’s permanent mini-markers with a hook for a carabiner (I’m totally excited about those), and took it all up to the land. We stopped at the Bradford General Store for some cashews and an apple, because I totally underestimated how hungry I would be when I snacked before we left, made our obligatory post office stop, and headed up to Bug Central. I got some all-natural bug spray, and I think it helped, though I did get bitten, but compared to Nate…
It appears that the black flies are about done, but the ones left are the biters, and now the big flies are out, but not so much with the mosquitoes. I need to get working on the bathouses and birdhouses that are on my to-do list.
The first thing we did was unload all our purchases into our weatherproof, secure shipping container (yay!), and then we walked the Pioneer Trial, which we do every time, because we want to ensure that our trail remains a trail. Next, we blazed a trail to the spring that we think we have in the southwest corner of the property. There is definitely a small stream of clear, running water, and it’s awesome, but I want to go further and locate the spot where it actually comes out of the ground. This may become our primary water source.
Next, we built our compost operation. We put in eight T-posts, then made three separate compartments with chicken wire, and ta-da!
We weren’t really thinking, because it’s one of the first things that you’ll see when you approach the clearing, but its location makes sense in terms of its proximity to where the growing fields will be and its distance from where we will be dwelling. Besides, it’s nothing that a few lilac bushes can’t fix (they’ll help with the smell, too). It was triumphant to put that horrible, stinking compost into its proper location. It had been in these not-so-breathable fiberglass bins since we brought it up from New York (Yes, we did that. We spent the better part of a year collecting that food waste, so there was no way we were going to leave it behind!). I just hope that the bears go easy on the fencing. It was clear last time we were up on the land that they had rummaged through the bins and picked out the juiciest bits. At any rate, this land is starting to turn into something, and I’m excited for it to evolve.
One of my projects, because we want to encourage the growth of good trees (speckled alder = bad; any kind of maple = good, for example), is to work on the red maple situation. Here’s what I’ve learned about trees when they get harvested: so, obviously a stump remains, but that’s not the end of the tree. It will send up “suckers”, which are little baby trees that grow from the stump, from the crown (the part of the tree that basically connects the above-ground stem to the underground roots), or from other parts of the roots a ways out from the initial tree. Because the tree is so stressed, it sends up a bunch of these things from various places. The best ones are the ones that come up a distance from the stump, the next best ones come up from the crown near the stump, and the worst ones come up from the stump itself. These last ones tend to be weak, often because they curve at the base in order to come out at an angle from the original trunk. At any rate, if the plant is sending energy to all these suckers at once, each is getting only a fraction of the available energy, so the best thing to do is to remove all but the most securely established and strongest of the suckers, so this is what I’ve been doing, and it’s a project that I will be doing for probably many years.
This is a wounded red maple (okay, felled; all that’s really left is the stump and the suckers) before I come along.
I cut off all but the best couple suckers, and voilà:
It’s a little hard to see because there’s so much beautiful greenery, but zoom in, and you’ll see what I mean. I’m no expert, so I hope I’m doing this right (if I’m not, that’s what the “comments” section is there for…), but it’s what I gleaned from several sources is the right thing to do.
While we were walking out to trim the red maples, we happened upon this guy
who was in the clearing, quite a ways from water, interestingly enough. He was just sunning himself and hanging out. Definitely not the snapping variety and pretty docile when I pet its shell (like it could feel it, but I just like touching turtles).
Our last task was to set up some rocks for the end of our gate to rest on so as not to put stress on the hinges while we wait to get gravel in and set the permanent posts on the ends (one for when it’s closed and one for when it’s open). As we were driving out, I jokingly told Nate, “Don’t run over any turtles!” and oddly enough, there was a second turtle at the end of the driveway, which leads me to believe Original Turtle No. 1 was actually a female (I’m sure there’s some obvious way to tell male from female, but that knowledge is not yet mine). This second turtle was backed up to a hole she had dug, so I think she was about to lay some eggs. Of course, she high-tailed it out of there (despite their reputation, turtles can move when called upon to do so. Don’t be fooled.) once we got out of the truck to close the gate. The first part of our drive home was with all the windows down to evict the black flies. As an aside, those things really are bastards. They literally wait outside the vehicle window and then swarm as soon as you get out. Fortunately, most don’t bite but enough do to make them Nasty Mother F***ers. I did, however, research them, and they do serve a purpose: black fly larvae are a good indicator of stream health, and they are a large contributor to keeping streams clean and healthy. Still, I don’t understand why they have to be such NMFs.
We got home, showered (sunscreen, bug spray, filth and bug bites. Yuck.), ate our dinner and went to bed very, very tired.
Today was another one of your weird weather days, Maine. After all of us talking yesterday about the best beaches to go to around here (I’ll never tell. I like my beaches human-free, thank you very much.), we had a bit of a surprise. Friday, so far, is the only day that really has a set activity, but I understand that this will change once the CSA gets up and running (community-supported agriculture, a situation where you can buy “shares” of the farm, meaning you get a box of goodies every week, consisting of different vegetables, and in the case of Fisher Farm, at least, a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers. If you’re in Maine, you should join our CSA, and if you’re not in Maine, you should check around you and join a CSA that’s local to you, because you will get amazing, fresh (and possibly organic) produce that is locally (and lovingly) grown, and which comes direct to you without subsidizing a major corporation but rather by keeping your money local. It’s seriously the way to go. Please check into it.). Then things will fall into more of a routine.
Anyway, Friday morning is always the harvest for the Bangor (“my” market; the European Market on Buck Street) and the Bar Harbor markets (it’s on Sunday, and Joe does it. I haven’t been yet). Beth was gone all day at the Hampden School’s Farm Day, so Lauryn, Nate and I were in charge of harvest until Dennis showed up later. We harvested greens and root vegetables from the hoop house first, and it’s amazing how much these things grown in such a short period of time! I’m telling you, Mother Nature is all about supporting us; she will give us everything we need, so maybe we should consider giving her what she needs and make this a relationship of give-and-take, not just take-take-take. Just saying.
Anyway, as we were harvesting indoors, it began to rain. Which wouldn’t be a big deal except that today was twenty degrees colder than yesterday!!! I swear, Maine, you may be a bit unbalanced, or at least mercurial! Of course, the hardest rain hit just as we were moving outside to harvest arugula and more salad greens. The rain let up by the time we got to the spinach and the lettuce, but by then we were already soaked, muddy and cold. Nate and I washed the veggies while poor Lauryn (who forgot her raincoat) and Dennis did some more work outside. I like washing veggies, and I will like it even more on warmer days. Normally, some “field heat” comes off the vegetables when they go into the first vat of water for washing, so that water warms up a bit, but not today. All three of those sinks remained bone-chillingly cold. Alas. We finished up right before noon and came in for lunch. Honestly, my hands have never been so cold. They were actually swollen from the cold, and I could barely move them. I had no sensation at all. It was such a strange feeling, and despite all my winter activities, I had never experienced it before. I managed to get inside and heat up some water for tea, and I put the leftover hot water in a bowl (mixed with some cold, of course), but that still wasn’t enough. Naturally, we got out of our wet clothes right away, but that still wasn’t enough. I got chilled, plain and simple, and, if you’re not aware, we gingers have a different relationship to heat and cold than you regular people. We literally feel temperature differently from people who don’t have the MC1R mutation. (Redheadism, I think, is more of a syndrome than anything. My favorite treatment of the concept is by Tom Robbins in his fantastic book — probably my absolute favorite book ever written — Still Life With Woodpecker. If you’re looking for something to read, check it out.) Anyway, I handled the chill after lunch by taking an entirely unnecessary trip to Hannaford, simply so I could spend a total of twenty-six minutes listening to NPR in my tightly-confined space of a Hyundai with the heat on full blast. Problem solved. And I got some lemons, too.
The rain had stopped and it had warmed up… enough… by afternoon. I started by finishing seeding the melons I started yesterday. There were seven flats (350 plants) I didn’t get to do yesterday, but now they’re done. Next, we planted sweet potatoes, which, I learned, are not in the same family as potato-potatoes. Not surprising, because sweet potatoes are planted by planting “slips”, not actual potatoes with eyes. “Slips” are basically stems with some leaves and some nodes from which roots will grow.
Okay, thank you, Google. Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) are in the Solanacaea (nightshade) family, and sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are in the Convolvulacaea family. Dennis was saying that the word “potato” is somehow adopted from a native word for sweet potatoes.
Anyway, we planted sweet potatoes. Four beds of them. Yum. Can’t wait!
That took a good portion of the afternoon, which, thankfully, was not so wet and cold. When we finished, we headed to the tomato house to weed, prune and train. Time being what it was, the only portion of that task that we completed was “weed”, so “prune” and “train” await. Apparently pruning takes place weekly for the indeterminate varieties, at least until they climb up to the horizontal wire, at which point they get to do what they want. The determinate varieties don’t get pruned; otherwise, they don’t produce fruit, and that’s bad if you’re a tomato plant.
Chores: check. Dinner eaten: check. Blog caught up: CHECK.
In other news, the cats have gone completely psycho. We don’t know what’s happened, but they’ve gone crazy. They are constantly tearing around, attacking each other (normally they avoid each other), and Mittens has taken to imitating Willow, and like most kids, Willow doesn’t like being imitated. So there are scuffles.
One thing I miss is having an oven, so I’ve decided it’s time to learn how to bake with a Dutch oven. It came today!
Mittens was the first one to discover the box in which the Dutch oven came
but at present, the box has become part of their evening exercise routine. I swear… these cats!
Oh. And. I’m not sure if you knew this or not, Maine, but lupines are among my favorite flowers, and I was delighted when we first got here to see bunches of lupines growing in the grasses in front of our cabin. I was sitting inside writing to you when Nate sent me this picture. Thanks, Maine!
