Tag Archives: farming

Feb1

Up and Over Rover

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Today it was 60 degrees.  Now, some of you might be thankful because in general people are winter shy.  Me however, am mourning the lack of winter, and have nothing but complaints over the beautiful, gorgeous, epic day today.  One thing I can’t complain about however is the lack of wind.  Why?  Well, because we’ve had this hoop house going up, and have been waiting all month, or longer possibly to get the plastic up and over the top of this behemuth…it’s been a long wait, but TODAY was the day.

In other news, a side note that helps propel this story forward, we received a new WWOOF’er yesterday, around evening time.  His name is Damian.  He comes to us from the great state of Texas, Dallas area (represent).  Now that you all have been introduced to him, the pictures that he’s in won’t seem so unfamiliar.  Moving on…

Why don’t I just cut to the chase and start feeding you pictures with captions.

Everybody, this is Damian.  Damian, this is everybody.  I’m assuming by this picture, I didn’t take it, that he has a sense of humor.

Whilst I was at school, the crew was working on finishing the south end wall construction.  Patrick, I like that you’re wearing the sweat band I crocheted.

I like this shot a lot, I titled it in my folder “Intimate Hands”.  I feel like we’re peeking in on this intimate moment of teamwork.

Whoa, the pull back reveals that it’s the brothers…that would make for an interesting plot.  I say this in jest men, thank you so much for the help.

Here is the finished end wall.

This is my artsy end wall shot from the other side.  This right here, is exciting!  Not the shot, although I think it’s neat, but the end wall.  It’s almost finished!

Forgive me, I was premature, I should have put this picture in the mix a little earlier.  This is the finishing touches to the end wall.

I like this little series here of Paul cutting the door out after the construction was complete.  I must admit, this has been a long road, putting up this hoop.  Even though the top is not on at the moment, this cutting of the door plastic, felt like a ribbon cutting of sorts.  Enjoy.

Suspense building…

HERE WE GO.  This means that the top is near.  A quorum of farmies came together to pull the plastic.  A lot of the faces were the same faces that helped us last year when we pulled the plastic on our first hoop.  Last year it was soooooo windy.  Not as windy as it has been lately, but windy none the less.  It seemed really frantic and critical to get it done and get it done quick.  This year, today, it was so calm and work at your own pace-like, totally a different mojo.  It made this process a whole lot easier.

Here’s Patrick.  Patrick is laying out wiggle wire.  The wiggle wire fits into a c-channel, which attaches the plastic to the structure.

The posse assembling, getting a tentative set of instructions.

Laying out the plastic.

I think this picture is neat.  I couldn’t decide between this one and one that turned out a little warmer. But, I like the coolness of this one.  Since it is February, we should all get the illusion that it’s cold outside…unless you’re standing underneath that plastic.

Photo credit: Mark Landry.  Awesome shot!  Richard Orr, prepare to become a star my man.

They are attatching the plastic here.  Working on the wiggle wire.  Most people are holding up the plastic.  For a time they were working in a bubble.  A few of us bystanders helped hold up more of the plastic so those guys could breathe.

Hi.  I was there too.  I pretended to be a tough girl and helped hold the plastic.  I almost dropped my camera trying to get a shot of me being tough, but this is what I snapped.  It’s tough to maneuver a camera with one hand.  But now you know that I was there too, and did some.  Thanks y’all who did most of the work, ahem*, Patrick, Jake, Paul Z, Barry, Pauly…and for those of you I’ve forgotten…I’m getting the flashing light, I’ve got to go…I love you all!

Patrick sacrificed and climbed up on the wall to cut the plastic to lay flat, so as not to interfere with the top plastic.  Hardcore Patrick…really hardcore.  Someone agree with me.

Here it is.  It’s happening.

Holy moly.  I can’t tell you how happy this makes us.  This was a feat.  Like the building of the pyramids, just not on such a grand scale.  High fives all around!  That’s Jo-nathan Bame down there.  He’s the CSA manager for Northwest Arkansas Local Harvest.  He’s giving a thumbs up, which you can’t see, but now you know.

There.  It’s up now.  This is EPIC.  A humble thank you to everyone who was present today, as well as throughout the entire process.

Jan29

Christmas into the NOW

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I know I said that I got a banjo for Christmas, and if you didn’t know that, now you do.  That’s what I’ve been up too, no pictures though to share, I’m shy.  However, I DO have other pictures to share with you, you know, to keep you all further kept up on the happenings in this endeavor.

Christmas day chess match.

Santa lettuce beard.

Carrots out of the Missouri Angels’ garden.  If images like this don’t tickle some sort of feelings within you, then I don’t know what will.  These are BEAUTIFUL!

We grew a lot of leeks this year, and are very proud of them.

#LEEKS!

I think I’m going to create a website of pctures of Isaac holding produce.

Carrot harvest.

Does this make you want to plant a seed?

Pickin’ and grinnin’.

I’m not so sure what caught his fancy.

This one always has a smile.

Seeing this makes my mouth water.  Wouldn’t it be great if fast food restaurants served this through the drive-thru window?

Ok, ok, here it is…the BANJO!

You want to know what else is going on that some of you have been waiting so patiently to see?

The new hoop.

Make it happen!

There you go dear reader, this is pretty current.  If any one in the regional area feels like helping to pull the plastic up over the top of this rig, let me know.

Jan29

What you’ve all be waiting for

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I’m about to take you all on a visual journey.  All of these pictrures were on the camera when it and my creativity died.  So, we’ll take a look at some of the highlights from the summer-ish.  I think I’ll spread it out a bit to keep you hungry for more.  So, lets get on with it.

Your guess is as good as mine.  August?  We put them to work young around here.

This one is smart, he documents the work.

If any of the people in this picture (ahem, Patrick and Jake) have any idea what you’re planting, please pipe up.

This is Karen and Kyle, remember them?

Baby chicken, which are now big chickens and almost ready to lay some eggs.

My second run of zinnias this summer.  This is the “Giant Rose Cactus” variety I ordered from Baker Creek.

They grew so much better the second go round as the summer was closing…remember that gem I just gave you, put it somewhere for later.

Tree climbing fun.

This is a picture of snake putting boquets together for the summer CSA season.  The leeks did not go into the arrangements, silly.

These were some eggs laid on the inside glass of the greenhouse.  They were all over the place, but I don’t know what kind of eggs they were.

THIS is the last picture taken by Isaac, before the camera took a dump.  You’re welcome.

Jan24

Southern SAWG

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This past weekend, Paul, Jonathon and I attended the Southern SAWG conference in Little Rock.  I believe, without looking it up, that SAWG stands for Sustainable Agriculture Working Group.  The conference lasted Friday and Saturday with Wednesday and Thursday being pre-conference field trip days.  Our local food CO-OP Ozark Natural Foods provided us with a scholarship to attend the conference.  In exchange, we helped at their table at the trade show, marketing organic chicken and goat feed that they now sell.  The conference was very informative, offering many sessions of classes.  One in particular that I enjoyed was a class on flowers, taught by Mimo Davis.  She was born and raised in New York City, and moved to St. Joseph Missouri and started growing flowers.  She had no prior experience in growing anything before.  I love stories like hers, because she’s so pumped up to let everyone know that they can do it too.  It’s somewhat a leap of faith that few take.  Just think about it dear reader.  There was a strong Northwest Arkansas farming presence at the conference which was nice to see.  Everyone was so excited to see each other, because when you farm, you’re always on your farm FARMING…you rarely get out, and you like it that way.  There was also a large youth population at this conference, which was very encouraging.  Last year, when Paul and I went to the Arkansas/Oklahoma Horticulture conference, it was all old people.  Really old.  So to see young twenty-somethings, in their puffy vests and dark rimmed glasses, hipster chic was great.  These young farm folk identified with the 99%, they said so in a note that they left in an upstairs lounge.  Farm advocates, who put up a petition to “FREE THE DUCKS!” at the Peabody hotel where the conference was held.  It was eventually taken down…those rascals!  There was one woman who was there, her name was Severine, and she was promoting a documentary film she had made called The Greenhorns.  She had organized a “mixer” for young farmers in the hotel across the street.  When the hotel realized that more than 40 young farmers were going to attend, they cut off the line.  So a mass of young’uns came back to the hotel where the conference was and reassembled, and to tell you the truth, their party was probably  a lot more fun…but maybe Severine could tell me otherwise.  We also had the chance to meet Alice, from BROOKLYN, who was representing Certified Naturally Grown.  She organized a meeting of local farmers in our area who are Certified Naturally Grown, to get together for potlucks throughout the season to see each others farms and see what each other are up too.  It was a very informal and quick gathering, but everyone who sat down was more than happy to open up their space.  For those who lived far out in the sticks, those closer to Fayetteville were opening up their homes (to strangers more or less…does knowing someone’s name for 10 minutes count as acquaintances?)  Alice was very surprised, that kind of hospitality was being offered.  I just told her “Welcome to Arkansas” and a few people replied “Yep”.

Oct19

It’s here!

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What’s here?  Where?  The frost dear reader, the pre-cursor to the dead of winter, it has finally made its frosty disposition known last night.  From an unknown source (weather.com), it said that it was only going to dip down to 36°F last night.  However, it dipped a few degrees lower than that.  Paul went out and cut basil by the bunches before it turned black.  We also built a fire.  At first it seemed a bit of a stretch at 8pm to be building a fire, but by 6:30 this morning it made sense.  Brrrrr!  I asked Pat, one of the Missouri angles less you forget how he slept in the RV.  He said it was pretty cold.  Jake was unavailable for questioning, for he just got a job in the produce section of Ozark Natural Foods, who by the way just installed 20 solar panels!

Sep10

All in a day’s work, and it’s not even over yet

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This morning the boys got involved in a little work, filling in the trenches that contain the water lines.

It was pretty darn cute to witness. Oliver said “I’m going to work until lunch”.  Just like the big dudes!

Get it Isaac!

These are just a few cute pictures of Isaac climbing a tree.  That’s Sushi, the evil Tom.  I’m speaking about the cat.

Even though his face is a filthy mess, I can’t resist his smile!

 

Sep10

MORE BABIES!!!

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We got our new chicks yesterday.  I’m interested to see how this will play out.  Paul didn’t want new chickens six months ago when I said the hens were broody, now we have mucho.  I think the tally is a whopping 75 head of fluff.  I’m still in the dark as to what the variety of chickens these are, this being addressed to Tabby who is just dying to know…aren’t you.  Tabby, and every one else, they are being kept in the green house at present to keep them warm and such.  Here are some pictures of them arriving.

Everyone was excited.

Doesn’t Karen look happy to be holding a baby chick?!

I told you I’d get a better picture of you Emily!

Did you know chickens were born in a box?

A temporary home.

In other news, Emily, Kyle and I made cultured vegetables for the first time.  We were winging it.  I watched a few YouTube videos and we went for it, but dear reader, it seems to be working.  There are so few directions, so it seems to easy to be true.  I’ll let you know in a few days how they taste.

Here is a picture of them this morning doing their thing.  There is beet, cabbage, kale and collard greens in here.  We also added salt, ground coriander and cayenne pepper.  What a terrible picture!  Too much coffee.

Sep8

The week in a nutshell

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So, I know I mentioned that Kyle and Karen came, well, Emily also came to join us.  She’s from Iowa, on her way to do an internship on the Heifer Ranch down in Perryville Arkansas, so naturally she came here first.  I think I might have a picture of her, sorry Emily, it may not be the best one, but I promise to get a better one of you before you leave.

Emily and Kyle prepping and planting carrots.

You need to watch out for this one!  She is as fierce as that side eye she’s giving us.  Try playing a strategy game with her, she’s got it on lock!

PAKI!  The Pak-man, who at 26 found out that he’s not Greek.  It’s a funny story, and if you come and volunteer I’ll tell it to you, unless Paul is still here…then he can tell you himself.

Carrot planting.

Here’s Karen.  She’s been hiding, but someone found her and snapped this picture.  The water drops look neat at the bottom of this shot.

Teamwork.  Look at them all bending at the hip.  Don’t they know they should bend from the knee!

Few of us have seen this.  Before this picture was taken, only Marine and I had seen this operation in action.  This is the law of nature at its finest, a hornet grasping a cicada, before it drags it into its hole in the ground.  It’s quite an amazing sight to behold.  Now you all know, you can share in the wonders and joys, heartbreaks and…I don’t know, MOTHER NATURE PEOPLE!

Hmm?  What’s going on here?  This is what I like to call Amish paradise!  Kyle here is running a trencher, digging a trench to my house for a water line.  It’s not going into my house…yet, but there is now a spigot in my yard!  When I saw the spigot finished, I wanted to cry.  That’s what love is.  Water.  In your yard.  All day long.

Paul P. is running the trencher through the garden for a grey water something or other.

The Missouri Angels are looking at these pictures, biting their lips because they missed it.  You’ll be back.  And here’s another tidbit fellas.  I beat Paul P. at Settlers of Catan.  I stole the red pieces.  I think that’s his weakness.

Chicken coop for the orchard in its beginning phase.

Aha!  I make an appearance.  Yes, I guess I’ll help for a minute, but not a second more!

Moving whatever piece that is into the chicken yard area.

Amanda, why are you wearing an apron?  Well dear reader, because I’m a domestic, it’s my uniform of sorts.  Also, Emily and I had just finished making 29 jars of wild plum jam for the CSA.  Go ahead.  I dare you to say something.

Sep8

Bear Trouble, or Kung-Fu Deer

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I talked about the bear that ripped through the chicken fence, that more than likely was a karate-kicking deer.  Well, here are the pictures to back up my story.  Sorry Missouri Angels, but the silver lining is, there’s something to do when you get back.

This was what surprised me the most, this pole bent all the way to the ground!  Maybe it was a bear.

Waking up to this image over our morning cup of coffee was not fun.

 

Sep2

Old, new and in between

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We woke up to a beautiful misty morning the other day.

A picture of one of our CSA baskets.

Some Anaheim peppers.

Patrick displaying the “take”.

Amy Brosi came up to see us from Huntsville Texas.  She along with her husband own Evolution Biodiesel, and also have a farm called Far Out Farms.

Here is Paul Pakis, the mystery, the legend.  I had mentioned him before, now here are the pictures to give you a visual.  We’re glad to have you Paul, and to other WWOOF host farms, you could be lucky to have him also, he’s looking.  It sounds like I’m trying to set him up on a date, maybe I am.  Ladies!  He can spread mulch like he’s done it his whole life.

Get it Paul!

The Pak-Man.

This is Kyle, one of the newest additions to the WWOOF-pack.  He and Karen arrived together, they hail from Chicago, but have been traveling and WWOOF-ing for a few months.  They arrived yesterday morning.

Siesta time affords you many luxuries, like fishing.  Take that 9-5 job!  Doesn’t he look thrilled to be holding that little bass?