Today On The Farm

So it's looking like the new normal for Friday's on the Farm will be working the wash/pack station to get orders ready for the next days CSA pickups.

This is my new home.

Wooo doggies, it was a back breaker today.  My job was to weed a 100 ft bed of carrots.  On my hand and knees.  With the most spectacular little tool.  Though after 200 feet of it it did give me a blister.

Here’s the long shot of the row - it might load up sideways, sorry about that.

I did the whole row and back again which was 200 ft all in on hands and knees. 

After a much needed water and apple snack break I went over and helped broadfork a new bed to be planted.  For those that don’t know a broadfork looks like this:

Today was my first day back on a farm in such a long time, it was nice but also a little weird to be pulling on my work boots after such a long absence. 

I rolled in about ten to nine and met up with Ann, the woman I’ll be working for/with.  We jumped in right away, heading out to the field with the beautiful pup Ella along for the ride.  Today’s task was to dig holes and transplant tomatoes.  I started with the hole digging which I thought would be harder than the planting, boy was I WRONG.  When I did switch to planting I discovered it was murder on my knees and back.  Just another sign I’m out of shape and that in the end this work will be so good for me.

We got through one row in the intermintent rain before she called time for a cofffee break.  I know I’m only there for three hours and should work straight through, but not gonna lie, a warm cup of coffee aftern toiling in rain and dirt and cold was very very nice.  We ended up chatting with her partner (who I’ve known for awhile now) over coffee and never making it back to the field to plant the second row.  She was okay with that for today as it was day one and we chalked it up to the weather and the newness of it all.

In all honesty I was having some stress about going out there and getting started but I was up front about my knowledge and limitations and she indicated she’s all about balance and not hurting ourselves so I think this will actually go pretty well (fingers crossed) moving forward.

Hey Everyone!  It’s been ages since I’ve been on a farm or used this blog, but tomorrow I start my weekly CSA work on a vegetable farm - yay learning new things!

I’ll work three hours a week and in exchange get a monthly box of delicious veggies May - November!  Hoping to keep you all updated on the fascinating world of agricultural labor* here in the future.

This conference has been great, but the reason I got in my car oh so many days ago and traveled two days into a winter wonderland* was to see Leah Penniman, author of Farming While Black, present a workshop by the same name.

It was amazing.  So many of the farming techniques, methods, and processes are stolen from the black/African community.  And the workshop wasn’t just “Hey, this is stolen” she gave the historical context of the originators of all these ideas.

I highly encourage you to check out her website and farm at www.soulfirefarm.org/ and buy her book if you can afford to.  

Of note was the discussion on how permaculture is just a mish-mash of stolen ideas from other cultures rolled into a concept sold as “new” and that barely scratches the surface of the original ideas.  As I am currently in a permaculture class for my last semester it made a lot of sense as I thought about it.  Will definitely have a new lens as I continue through the class. 

Day two of the conference and I’ve had two sessions so far.  One was amazing, a workshop on LGBT+ folks in ag spaces and how to be more inclusive and land justice and all the things we need to do and be to be better ancestors to those that come after us.

Seriously, it was good stuff.  And I have a two page list of resources of groups, books, movies, and magazines to share with @farmlandia when I (hopefully) stop and see her on the way  home from the conference. 

The next workshop was titled Successful Local Food Systems.  It was...not what I was expecting.  And to be honest, I didn’t give it my full attention.  I’m in the middle of buying/selling a house and paperwork needed to be signed mid session as we waited with bated breath to see if a second offer would come in before the deadline (it didn’t).  So I was a bad participant.  But not all hits can be homeruns ya know?

Now I’m on an extended break at the bar while I skip the keynote and wait for session number three of the day which is all about Elderberry as a Cash Crop.  I personally am not growing elderberry but it’s a hot new thing and my farmer friends back in Indiana are so I’m hoping to get some tips and resources to bring back to them.

I just finished my first day of MOSES 2019 - a farming conference in La Crosse, WI focusing on organic and sustainable farming.  Today was the full workshop day.  The day that’s “extra” above and beyond the two day conference that officially starts tomorrow. 

I got the chance to attend (with a scholarship) the Food Safety Modernization Act training hosted by the Produce Safety Alliance.  Ain’t that mouthful? Basically the government has enacted new rules affecting (effecting?) produce growers and they roll into action over the next few years.  It won’t apply to everyone, but for those that it does apply to (selling over a certain threshold and other random things) one of the requirements is that someone on staff has been to one of these training sessions and is officially certified.

So now, after 7 and a half long hours, I am certified. Without a farm, this seems weird.  Why do I need to be certified since I’m not actually selling anything? And even if I had a product to magically sell tomorrow, it would take me awhile to get even close to the thresholds needed for the new FSMA (pronounced Fizzma) regulations. 

But I’m hoping that this certification will help build my resume and make it more robust when I’m job searching come...well, now to be honest.  I graduate in May (AHHHHH), so job hunting is where I’m at.   

I haven’t even processed the Acres conference yet and here I am setting up plans to attend another farming knowledge extravaganza. 

This one is the MOSES Organic Farming Conference in LaCrosse, WI.  I was lucky enough to be picked to get a scholarship for all but $50 of the full ticket price.  That plus some incredibly kind friends who are letting me stay with them means I can focus purely on the excitement factor of attending.

I hope to be a better networker and communicator this time, but we shall see.  I don’t think I ever mentioned but I ended up running into the instructor that recommended the Acres conference to me on day one and spent much of my time chatting with him.  While it was very nice to have a friendly face, I worried it kept me from challenging myself.  In the end, as I reflect, I think that I would of just been lonely if not for his company so I’m glad that we crossed paths.

I’ll be solo for MOSES though, so I better start practicing my spiel now.  I think, next week, I’ll spend sometime brainstorming and actually writing down a business plan.  Those activities will help me to focus on what it is I want to be doing, and hopefully, will help me be able to talk about it with others.

I’m sitting back at the starbucks tables where I have spent many moments these past few days.  I failed at buying a drink this time, but figured I’ve paid enough over the past 72 hours to have earned me a seat for just a few breaths.

The last workshop just wrapped up.  The halls are filled with yellow lanyards (the necklace thing they give you to hang a name badge from) and fevered conversations.  I just overheard a group all listing off where in Indiana they are from (I really should go say hello but I’m too shy and too tired and they all seem to know each other already).  Everyone is overstimulated and saturated with excitement and camaraderie (that took me three tries to get close enough for spell check to pick up what I was trying to put down).

There is one final keynote - one that like the two others before I will skip.  I was so excited about the keynotes before I arrived.  They were one of the driving reasons I wanted to attend.  A chance to see two living legends!  But circumstance and life turned the excitement to dread and I choose my health over their speeches.  Could I have pushed myself and attended?  Probably.  Will it have mattered?  I’ll never know, and I’m not going to waste one more moment worrying about it.

I am full up of information and have pages of notes.  The key is to let it sink in but not to lose it when I go back and get wrapped up in the whirlwind that is finals, and leaving for an international two week vacation.  To come back to it in January and page back through all the materials I’ve amassed (oh, so many flyers and postcards!)

Did I post here about the fancy business cards I had made?  And how I was going to pass them all out at the Ag conference I’m at?  And I would meet so many great people who would help me along on my self employment journey?

Failure is a key component in life, and I’m succeeding in an epic way at failing.

I have not handed out a single card.  I have learned that I don’t know how to speak about what I do or am trying to do.  I have learned some good tools to help me shape what I want to do. I have learned I need to sit down and get serious about a business plan.  But I haven’t actually connected enough or been brave enough to hand out my card.

I did take some cards.  I showed one of the presenters where a Dunkin Donuts was outside of the hotel and we walked (with another guy) to get coffee (the Sbux line at teh hotel was way crazy pants long) and asked for his card and we chatted about the farm school he is running (and I alluded to emailing him in the new year to pick his brain about it some more).