Winter

Winter officially starts the 21rst of December. It decided not to wait and arrived last night. . . Snow, snow, everywhere there is snow!!

It actually isn't all that much from a New Englander's perspective - only about 4 inches. From the neurotic farm manager who is paranoid about growing plants in hoop houses, mulched over garlic and critters who have suddenly become completely dependant on hay (did we buy enough?) it might as well have been the blizzard of the century!!!!

Oh look, a missed call on the phone. . . from Dana. . . uh oh! Do I panic? Don't I panic. I call her, no answer. . . not even a ring - her phone is off. Eeeeeek. What could this mean??? Wait, there is no voicemail for me. . . Dana would have left a voice mail if the barn fell over, right?!?! Of course she would have. . . why panic??

Breathe, breathe. . . you will be at the farm in 12 hours. . . you can make it old man. . .

Stay tuned for pics of the miracle of farming in the snow!

Thanksgiving.

I am taking the day off. My wife would say that it is about time, but there is always stuff to do.

Farming is less a job and more a lifestyle. Farming sustainably requires more work. A friend of mine, who is trying to live much more in union with the earth than I, once told me that "simplifying" your life doesn't make life more simple, it makes it more worth while.

The growing popularity of winter farming is an exciting new trend in Maine that illustrates the lifestyle over the job. . . Yesterday, in the end of November, I was able to purchase locally grown tomatoes that were ripe, juicy and not tainted by ethylene. Changing seasons and new technologies are allowing us to expand our seasonal diversity, and for a boy from central California, this is welcome news!!!

A lot has been going on here at Pearson's Town in the last couple of weeks. The hoop houses are up and planted. We have cleaned out the turkey coops to make way for the "new" chickens. Yesterday we finally gleaned our fields. . . doesn't that seem a little late??

Sheep were happy about that - they helped us glean!!!

. . . and of course, there was the Thanksgiving meal at Saint Joseph's on the 19Th that featured poultry and produce from the farm. It was great to bring together so many local foods to celebrate a real New England Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!

Foxes, planting and global climate change

We planted in the hoop houses today. Actually, we planted in the second one. The first is looking good.

It's a psychological game. . . planting today filled me with a lot of hope and excitement for the pending harvest that is going to happen in the. . . . winter?!?! Wait a minute. You don't harvest in the winter - you hibernate. We planted today, so summer must be right around the corner, no?!?! It's all very counter intuitive.

A fox came out in between our planting and construction (yes, there are still other projects that need doing), and what not. It was standing at the edge of our leaf pile over in the compost area. My first thoughts were to "eliminate the threat". There are a lot of chickens around that would make for a tasty fox meal, and after a summer of loosing thirty plus chickens from the Phunnypharm (my other farm), I have developed a natural defensive mechanism. Fortunately Dana and Chris were there to enjoy watching this marvel of nature with me. Our conversation and awe saved that wily ol' dog today.

We opted to follow this "monster" for a while (it is by far the largest fox that ever I have beheld in the natural world). It didn't seem bothered by us gawkers at all. It sunned on a boulder for a bit, preening itself a little, then it grabbed a snack from the compost pile and wandered a few yards into the woods to gobble it up. It was old - older than any red fox I have ever seen. It's body was sleek and brilliant red. It's tail didn't have quite the body that you would find in a younger specimen and it's face was gray - astonishingly gray - marking years and wisdom.

As we watched, it eventually made it's way back toward campus - in no particular hurry, with no care in the world. It's well fed. The conversation that followed our chance encounter made me happy that we let it go about it's business. We don't want Pearson's town to be "just another farm". We want to look at the past, and wonder at the future, the whole while creating for a new harmony between agriculture and nature. Chris inspired me today to think of the future of farming as the perfect merger of hunter/gatherer and farmer societies. Perhaps we can develop a Hunter/Farmerer (yes the stutter was intentional) system. . . sustainably.

Turkeys

The big excitement around the farm this week was the butchering of our turkeys for the Thanksgiving dinner at the school. Truth be told most of those who worked with the birds long enough where ready for them to go, even while a procession of "mourners" came by the farm in the bird's last days to bid them adieu!

I promised you photos in my last post, but considering the nature of the work, some folks weak constitutions, and/or just general dislike of meat, I will forgo this time. . . that and my eight year old had the camera, and you know boys!! So instead I will leave you today with what has become my favorite song and film ever to deal with the process of animals becoming food. . . and veggies too.

Many thanks to the youngsters from New Jersey who submit this for the Farm to Fork conference in Portland, Oregon last March!!!! Check it out!!

"Who put the burger on my plate?"

Just a quick update

It seems like it has been forever since I have posted - vacation was good. Funny how one doesn't miss technology when they are away from it. The farm looks good. Dana and the gang did a phenomenal job keeping things running.
We are ready for the last regular harvest of the year in just a week!!!!! The last of the goodies will be coming in for the college folk to feast on for the Thanksgiving meal. Cabbage, bunching onions, just a few more beets, broccoli, carrots, etc . . . .

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we are having a going away party for some of our long term farm residents this week in conjunction with the holiday. A few brave farm souls have volunteered to head up to our friends at Little Alaska Farm to butcher the turkeys that will be used for the Thanksgiving meal. Not necessarily what one thinks about when they think about a school ag program, but it is part of the agriculture world, and this time of year is a major revenue generator for farms around the country.

Alright. . . off to play in the dirt. I will get some photos up here in a few days!

Sheep

The sheep stood for a portrait today. From left: Buster, Dyna(mite), and Danny the Dancer. Lovely photo by Heather.

The Intern Speaks

Hello everybody, this is Farm Intern Dana. I have been handed the reigns for the blog and, oh yes, the farm, while Farm Manager Mike is away. The week has gone well, despite 3 sick volunteers and a busted farm van. The brakes have been fixed as of today, though, and we will have enough hands on deck this afternoon to catch up on all the extra compost! Meanwhile, we have been keeping busy. We planting the first beds of winter lettuce in one of the hoop houses, and they've all survived TWO chilly nights now! We had some help from a small group of 7th graders on Monday. We filled the back of the Educational Field with enough garlic to wipe out all your Halloween vampires. We've also been cleaning, and improving the habitats for all our animals. Many thanks to Chris, who cleaned out the turkey coop yesterday (P.U.). The neighborhood foxes are hanging out awfully near the coops these days, but with the pens sealed up tight everyone should be safe. The sheep are crazy as usual, running amok in the onions when the spirit moves them, but we've managed to protect most of the crop from the wooly beasts. I guess that's the story for now. I haven't figured out how to get a picture on this thing yet, but to make up for it I will provide a farm joke: "A farmer is a person who's out standing in her field." Ha! Time for me to go do that now. Bye.