The farm

Ok folks, I've gotten the word that people want to hear about the farm that I am working on. So here is a massive post to catch y'all up. I have been working at Land's Sake (www.landssake.org) since May 1. It seems crazy that we are already almost through June. I have learned so much in such a short amount of time. I feel truly luck to have stumbled across this little oasis just outside of the city. 

This past Saturday we celebrated the peak of the strawberry season with our biggest festival of the year. Since my first day at the farm everyone has been talking about how great the Strawberry Festival is.  I experienced this first hand yesterday. The weather has been terrible here all week. Everyday it has rained and the temperature has been in the 60's. The weather forecasters predicted rain for Saturday. We all kept our fingers crossed that the weather would break just long enough to celebrate. Low and behold the goddesses and gods smiled on us for about 24 hours. It was a gorgeous day and flocks of people came out to celebrate with us. We spent the early morning harvesting as usual. Right now we have bok choi, totsoi, garlic scapes, radishes, hakurai turnips, broccli raab, arugula, scallions, and 6 varieties of lettuce ready for harvest in addition to strawberries of course! At about 9:30 the people began to line up for our 10 o'clock opening. Thus began the insanity! We welcomed over 1000 people onto the farm to pick, eat, listen to live bluegrass, dance, and romp about. Initially I was put to the task of harvesting any last minute items we needed (like the last of the rhubarb crop). Then I was sent to relieve one of my fellow farm crew members from the duty of selling quart containers (one per person which turned out to be an issue for some folks) at $5 a pop. I did this for about 10 minutes which was enough time for me to remember how much I dislike customer service work. Next I was relieved from selling in order to take over the tractor pulled hay ride. I was surprised to find out how popular this ride was particularly amongst the 2-6 year olds. I had never driven the tractor that was pulling the hay trailer but I was assured it was easy. I took one lap riding the tongue of the trailer watching over Doug's shoulder to learn the route and how to drive the tractor. After this short tutorial I was sent on my way... It went really well and I had a grand time cruising around the farm for the next hour and a half with a trailer full of eager city folk. I only had one hiccup when the trailer tire went flat and we got bogged down in the mud. It only took about 20 minutes to fix and we were back up in operation in no time. A short side note about the tractor is that it was donated by James Taylor's sister and that they both grew up in Weston where the farm is located. The highlight of the day was having Anna there to share in the experience of this new community we are discovering. I think it is key for both of us to foster our connection with the land (where ever we are) and with other like minded and passionate folks. I'll be writing more about the farm when I get the chance throught the summer.