I absolutely LOVE this picture!
Here is Rose, volunteer extrordinaire, milking “Girly” Friday. I wasn’t out there while she did it, but looking at these pictures, I enjoy seeing her confidence. I’ve milked that goat once, and let me tell you, you get hand cramps…it’s not easy, atleast not for me.
She's a pro!
Let’s also pay a visit to the American Red Cross website, and see how you can help those affected by the storms this week.
Last week a series of thunderstorms rolled through these parts of Arkansas and beyond. Tornadoes touched down further south across several states, the hardest hit being Mississippi and Alabama. Up here, it rained 10″ in 24 hours. The next day more rain fell, causing flash floods in NWA. On the farm, the rain washed down our footpath to our house, which is its natural draining pattern, and washed over my bed which was planted with carrots. It washed over it so much, that eventually cut channels through the bed, washing the soil into the onion bed. We tried to alleviate some of the damage by putting straw bales into the path of the water, but when thousands of gallons are running off of a large roof over a matter of hours, you just can’t compete. We tried, but it did no good. It was interesting talking to some of the farmer’s at the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market today, listening to their stories of what the rain washed away. One farmer said it washed his topsoil away. Another mentioned, how his topsoil didn’t leave his property, but that it had washed to the bottom of the hill. That’s something to think about, right. Your dirt. And how important it is. Treat it well.
Paul and I were standing at the windows watching the lightning
Lightning just struck and lit up the sky. You can kind of see how hard it's raining, or maybe it's just blurry
A result of the rain, 2"+ of water inside
This is the rain, day 1
The rain creating a little creek
Flooding the onions
Here is a link to the American Red Cross, to see ways you can help those who were affected by the tornadoes in the south this week.
There has been so much tat has happened, so, I’m posting pictures…Come visit! I need more volunteers!
January-ish, possibly early February, greenhouse and gorilla(s).
Snow and freezing temps outside, almost 70 inside AND it’s not even insulated yet!
Inside Hoop house, snow on the ground outside.
See.
Lettuce on the inside.
A team of tree cutters came through and cut down a bunch of trees lining the driveway because they interfered with the power lines. This is a group of neighbors helping to clean up the mess that the tree guys left.
Back side of the greenhouse.
Paul and intern Johnathon putting up a gutter on the hen house to catch water for them to drink.
Rose, the first place volunteer in our ever-expanding group of volunteers and Grace, one of our latest WWOOFers getting rid of the lettuce in the hoop.
Courtney, WWOOFer #2, keeping it real, building potato beds in Carharts. And to all of my Humboldt homies, she’s wearing a “Drive thru Tree” hat from Leggett California.
Johnathon, Grace, Courtney, Amanda making potato beds.
Courtney and Grace stayed for a month volunteering for us.
Stuccoing the Greenhouse was part of the agenda.
Ike took this picture.
Lettuce out, potatoes in.
Plantin’ ain’t easy.
MORE POTATOES!!!!
John and another guy, I don’t know his name. But, he came for a day to volunteer.
Tractor came to plow it up.
MORE POTATOES!
Zack. Says he’s “WWOOFing”, but I’m not so sure. He has a strong back, but if he could only get up before 2.
More tractor action.
This is Courtney and I getting ready for 26 high school students to come and volunteer. We’re straight up bustin’.
These students were from all of the area high schools. They are a part of a program called “Upward Bound”. Their supervisors found our farm through a volunteer list serve via the University of Arkansas. I was worried that these kids wouldn’t be into it, but was pleasantly surprised at how into it they were.
So we are turning over the dirt that the tractor plowed, to get rid of the grass and roots.
I gave them a greenhouse tour. See the girl in the blue? She was the only one who was not into this farming thing. She picked at the same clump of roots for two hours. It’s cool girl, that’s why you’re in that program…you’re a somebody who has options. Farming isn’t for everybody.
We had them plant potatoes too. We have about 2000 sq. ft. planted.
The girl with the sunglasses on told us her sister was “impregnated”. It was random, and funny, but that’s Arkansas for you.
This patch was tilled up to eventually plant sweet potatoes but for now, it will be an irish potato patch…because the theme of this photo essay is POTATO.
This is Alyssa, she visited us from Ohio for her spring break.
Here’s a better picture of Alyssa. Thanks for your help girl, it was fun having you.
Here’s some community garden action happening. The group dug a trench and is laying pipe for water spigots throughout the garden.
GO TEAM!
And this was this morning, when Grace and Courtney were leaving. They are off to Texas, continuing their farm tour of America, and we are keeping on here on the farm. Best of luck Ladies, you were an awesome help!
As I sit here, drinking my morning cup of coffee, letting my interns get their last ten minutes of sleep, I’m just realizing all of the work we still have to do before we can plant any seeds. Trying to write it down on paper, to have some sort of game plan, so we’re more efficient out there. Today, I think Franchy will wear shoes. He learned a lesson yesterday and I didn’t have to talk to him like his mama…I can come off that way a lot, (right Monica). But, I just thought I’d drop my readership a line to let you all know there is hard work to be done today, so please come over and show your face, pitch in if you wish! TTFN.
Today Paul took Franchy to the farmer’s market to meet with Patrice Gros about the hoop house building that will be commencing here in November. Patrice, a fellow Frenchman was excited to know about our new French help. Pleasantries, pleasantries. When Franchy and Paul arrived back on the farm, Beth and I were in the north rows weeding and attempting to make them larger. Franchy stepped in and began pitch forking the ground, while Beth shook the soil from the grass roots. I was a row over returning mulch to the row. Franchy turns to me, and with his French-English says, “Uh, I need, how do you say, uh…” and he lifts his foot which is covered in blood and dirt. “A Band-Aid” I say, “Yes! A Band-Aid, yes.” He replies. “What did you do?” I ask him. He motions that he stuck himself with the pitch fork. “Okay, go back to my house and show your foot to Paul, and he’ll take care of it.” I tell him. After he walked away Beth and I giggled. His first day on the job and he stabs his foot. I think it’s noble of Franchy to travel with the WWOOF program, however, bless his little French heart, I don’t think he has ever worked on a farm before. I sat tonight down at the home with Mrs. Barbara, doing some care giving and told all of the old ladies at dinner about this episode. They all had a good laugh. Hopefully tomorrow will bring less injuries.
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