A Time to Grow

Nearing the end...

2008-06-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a long time. A lot has happened!

Gavin and Angela left the farm, the biggest picnic ever was a success with 49 people I didn't know attend, we built a new movable greenhouse, I planted tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, tomatillos, and basil in greenhouses, I also planted 16 rows of corn along with both summer and winter squash, spent a day on a farm in east sooke and learned about dairy cows and how to make cheese, keifer, and yogurt in exchange for shoveling tons of wheelbarrows full of cow manure, my brother, Nick, and his friends visited me, had the first and last harvest of my carrots (56 bunches at 8oz each), the pigs became pork, visited my cousins on Lasgueti island, and made the decision to leave the farm!

Yup, that's right...it's time. I've been feeling a bit lonely and isolated the past few months (I'm such a social creature who loves people!). And although I love the farm and the lifestyle I've been living, I think it is time for the next chapter in the life of Natalie Constance Brubaker. It is really hard to leave in the middle of the season, but I have been here a full year. I really miss the landscape of the east coast...and especially the trees that live there. I didn't realize how important pines, dogwoods, maples, tulip poplars, hickories, walnuts, beech, hop hornbeam, and oaks are to me...and that rancid peanut butter smell of the Kentucky coffee tree. The trees have really developed a sense of place for me and I think it is time to return. Not to say that I don't love the douglas furs, cedars, and arbutus trees of the west coast...but it is just not where I belong.

I will be returning to Atlanta the middle of July...but more about that later. Check out my pictures!

Que guapo! How handsome! Greenhouse building.

Pulling the plastic on the greenhouse.

Me and my boys G-vinny (that's his rapper name I gave him) and Coolindell(just cause it's cool) - a good team.

Gavin and Angela (Gavin has issues with the sun...he doesn't normally look like that)

Exactly 49 people showed up to the picnic!

Marika, Holger, and I

The pigs before their big day-o-death.

The pigs finally graduated to pork.

Squash new born

Squash toddler

Squash adolescent

The Three Amigos

The Flirtacious Poppy (makes me weak in the knees!)

Lush Lupin Leaf

Radishes in all their glory

Saturday morning bouquets

Aye de mi!

2008-05-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

It's MAY!!!

I can not even begin to express how happy I am that it is May. This means I made it through the winter! And, I can't even begin to express how much I hate January, February, and March. Except for the fact that some really cool people in my life were born in those months. But besides that, I really just can't stand the grayness of January and February. I mean, who really wants to start off a new year, cold? And lonely in a trailer?

The weather is slowly starting to be nice. We finally had two consecutive nice days last week, which was a big deal. The sunshine and rain have been battling it out and it appears as though there is not a single fan hanging out on the rainy bleachers. We are all ready to be dry and warm. Luckily, we are gaining more and more daylight...it now gets dark just before 9 o'clock! It's so wonderful to be able to sit outside or go for a walk after work.

The past couple weeks on the farm I've begun transplanting tomatoes into greenhouses, started my summer squash in pots which will be planted outside sometime this week, also started cucumber and basil seedlings. It has taken all of my might not to just eat the basil starts. They smell like sweet sweet summer and everything good in the world! I've covered almost half of my field in clear plastic to solarize the soil...heat it up for the corn to go in. Corn likes it hot to germinate. Market has started, which is great. This past Saturday we made over $1,000 in 4 hours! I'm starting to learn the names of the regular folks that come to market. It is such an amazing community of vendors and costumers.

Now, my biggest accomplishment as of late (other than the chicken bottom ordeal...which, mind you, I've become a pro at..I can now stick my hand under any chicken booty) is that I biked into town yesterday. That is 12 miles there and back. This is huge! I've been a bit terrified of biking the past few years - no thanks to Dr. Churchward who gave me one word of advice back when I was thinking of starting. His advice: "Don't." "You will get hit." Well thanks! Couldn't wait to start biking after hearing all of his horror stories. But now, here I am. I did it. I don't have a car anymore and I don't exactly want to surrender what little social life I have at the moment. So my only option is the bike and the bus. After, my twelve mile accomplishment I must say I feel quite free. I can go anywhere! And! No extra carbon emission coming out of me (well almost...I am human after all) and no money going towards gas! It's pretty sweet.

The only other thing I can think of that's going on at the moment is development of THE BIGGEST PICNIC EVER!!!!!! I decided that since this will be my first birthday away from my family and friends I need to take charge and make sure my day-o-birth doesn't turn out lame. So I decided to organize the biggest picnic EVER! Like in the world.

Here are the conditions:

1. People must invite AT LEAST one friend.
2. People must invite AT LEAST one stranger.
3. Those invited must follow all of the conditions as well.
4. Everyone must bring their most favorite food and/or drink.
5. BYOU - Bring your own utensils.

And I put out a request for things that would make this the COOLEST picnic ever:

Voluntary displays of musical talent, ebullient men and women on stilts, kites, bubble wands, drums, frisbees, a slip'n slide, balls of all colors and sizes, dancing, kazoos, giant hula hoops, pogo sticks, croquet, costumes (especially gorillas, sumo suits, and anything renaissance), badminton, sparklers, belly dancing, ferrets, a hot air balloon, a marching band, dodge ball, jumping beans, water guns, jump ropes, candy apples, spin art, a cake walk, juggling, cotton candy, harmonicas and banjos, clowns, face painting, mud wrestling, rhythmic gymnasts, henna tattoos, hacky sac, boom boxes with phat beats.

For those of you who aren't familiar with facebook...it is possible to create an event invitation and have it set up so that guests invited can invite other guests and so on. I started out with under 20 guests (all the people I know here) and in one day the guest list was up to 235! Then...482, 584, 1,012, and currently 1,597 people invited - 104 of which have confirmed they are coming. And it's only been 5 days since I made the invite! What have I done?! Is this bad? The picnic isn't until the 25th. And the guest list is exponential. I keep telling myself...it's gonna be in a public park...and so what if hundreds of people want to pic-a-nic on the same day? Eeeee....

The Case of the Broody Hen - Part 1 - Who's the Chicken Now?

2008-04-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

The Case of the Broody Hen: Part 2 - Gavin Saves the Day

2008-04-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

The Case of the Broody Hen: Part 3 - Easter Egg Hunt Gone Wrong

2008-04-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

More Photos!

2008-04-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

We've downgraded computers. The current one is a ten year old laptop which makes our highspeed internet work at dial-up speed. This is why I haven't updated my blog in awhile...sigh...patience. Here are some recent photos and I'll write soon!

Amber visits! She's my beautiful kindred spirit with whom I signed a contract to farm with someday. We're thinking somewhere around 2030.

Too bad all my friends get to do when they visit is weed.

Egg Stealing!!!

Total hippies.

Little Pigs - Beginning of November

Big Pigs - End of March - They are gaining a pound a day at this point and will be bacon in about a month.

We recently moved the pigs to the new piece of property adjacent to the farm. It was about time the pigs had a bit more space to roam around...and they are very good at tearing up weeds and roots and things...which makes less work for the farm when they plan to grow things over there. It was the hardest thing trying to get the pigs into the trailer to move them. They were too busy eating weeds on the path to the trailer to care about the buckets of food waiting for them in the trailer. Obviously, Marika was getting desperate and tried pushing them...and they didn't budge. Finally, after an hour we got them in.

Road Trip!

The pigs in their new grassy home with Mama Marika.

I call this "Thwartation of Spring" - A couple of weeks ago we had several days of snow/rain/sleet/sunshine/hail. It was miserably gross, cold, and wet.

A couple of weekends ago we went on a hike to Mystic Beach where there is a beautiful waterfall right on the beach.

Here, Colin was burning holes in black plastic to plant strawberries in. The strawberries are ever-bearing...meaning they produce strawberries all summer and will last for about 3 years. The black plastic helps prevent weeds and heats the ground up. We ended up planting 1,400 strawberry plants!

Farmer Colin

I went to a dance party last weekend where I won the limbo contest! I think this photo was taken just before I fell...judging by my ankle.

Photo Time

2008-03-16T16:38:00.000-07:00

I got to cut off Colin's pony-tail. I've always wanted to do that!

Spring flowers!

Rat nest in the sofa with potato peels, squash seeds, and walnuts. Gavin and Angela had been reading on that sofa moments before.

Now it's here.

Now it's over there!

Got it! My job was to make sure it didn't get out.

Sucka!

Cars seem to kill rats better than us. And "trailer shakin" is our new favorite adjective on the farm.

Strawberry the rooster prefers this spot to watch over his ladies.

Tomato seeds on the heat table under the grow light...is this cheating?

The tomato seed didn't feel its job was done yet.

And the surprise visitor is Mikey Holmes! Just came to help me weed for a day...you know.

Tomato Transplanting

2008-03-12T21:50:00.000-07:00

So far we have started around 800 tomato plants which will eventually take up the majority of our greenhouse space (we have 6 of them). After germinating the seeds in wet paper towels they were transplanted into rows in 6x4in trays. Once they were pinky size we transplanted them into 4 inch pots (4x4). Needless to say, 800 plants took forever! Several days worth of work. But we made it enjoyable with warm tea, a space heater in the potting shed, good music, and lots of laughs. We finally finished today...but only to start more tomato seeds for seedlings to sell at market. Ahhhh!!!

This past Saturday, Gavin, Colin, and I did our last Seedy Saturday in Cobble Hill (a little ways up the island) and made $700...on seeds! This is nothing compared to the Victoria Seedy Sat. where we made $3,000. That's 1,000 packages! And guess who packaged all those seeds!

What else...last week we planted Warba potatoes. Just so you know...you don't grow potatoes from seed...you actually grow them from another potato, called the "mother" potato. I'm sure you have all seen potatoes with "eyes" on them which could potentially produce long leafy shoots! We could grow potatoes from ones we harvested last season, but this practice has the potential for building up disease in the potatoes (not totally sure how and why...would be interesting to learn). So we get our seed potatoes from and organic supplier in Pemberton, BC (known for being good seed potato farming...not as much potential for disease there or something).

We also direct seeded (meaning you don't start them in trays and transplant them) peas and broad beans (fava beans)!

Mmm...today, I thinned the my carrots seedlings so that there would be about an inch between them. I also weeded them a bit. Carrots are very finicky in that they can't tolerate weeds very well. It is very helpful to plant radishes in between the carrot rows to take up space where weeds would otherwise take root...plus they germinate really fast and are out before the carrots get too big. I also spent some time weeding the beds around the trailer. I can't wait to plant flowers there. Once there are things in bloom I'll post some before and after photos.

Let's see...oh! We had a rat killing fest last week. Or I should say, Gavin, Angela, and Colin had a rat catching fest. A couple Saturdays ago we were eating dinner when someone saw a rat dash under the sofa in the living room. Since our traps had been unsuccessful we of course felt the need to trap this one and drown the sucker. Turns out they had been making a nest in our couch with potato peels, squash seeds, walnuts. Tres gross! I'll try to post pictures of the whole ordeal...it pretty much involved tearing the house apart trying to catch them (there ended up being two) and me screaming the whole time. I didn't realize I was that girlie until I saw them run UP the wall! Too much. I decided to take the job of photo documentation. We ended up catching one and drowning it, but the other got away. Gavin has since trapped 4 more, as we are getting a better sense of where they roam.

In the past few days I've had two bad chicken experiences. One, I went to collect the eggs one night, taking a deep breath before entering the coop. As soon as I stepped in I could sense something was not right. A rat scurried away from this dark shadow in the corner. As I got closer, I saw that it was a chicken lying on its side with it's neck curled under. Sure enough the thing was dead. Ugh. That was not something I wanted to deal with before going to bed...or anytime for that matter. Colin was kind enough to come down and remove it, while I screeched and did the squeamish dance (refer to November's post on eggs for the last time I did the squeamish dance). Again, tres gross. I think dealing with dead chickens is at the top of my list of things I don't like to deal with. Followed by live chickens.

The second incident occurred the next night when I stepped out of the movable coop and my foot slipped off the trailer hitch. I landed flat on my face, wrenched my knee, and smashed and entire dozen of eggs. I guess it was bound to happen at some point. I then had to carry the oozing egg carton back up the hill. Tres...you got it...gross.

Well, that's it for now! I have a couple of friends coming to visit. Stay tuned to find out who!

I've stolen the following photos from Colin. Check out his blog too for more photos.

Soil blocking in the greenhouse...me, Marika and Gavin

Seedy Saturday

Keep checking for rat catching photos!

January and February

2008-02-27T17:37:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm back! After a long hiatus I am ready to get blogging again. I've been inspired by our new apprentice, Colin, and his blog which I've added to my links on the left. I recommend checking it out because he's good about taking photos of the day to day life on the farm.

I'm going to give a brief synopsis of the past couple of months along with some photos to catch up.

January
Gavin (our new apprentice) and his girlfriend Angela moved onto the farm, spent a day shoveling chicken manure from a nearby farm to add to our compost (it smells like the flatulents of a big man digesting a block of cheddar cheese - no joke!), fruit tree pruning, pruning of perennial herbs and flowers, direct seeded spinach (soaked the seed overnight first)and carrots in a greenhouse, watered the carrot beds with warm water every morning to aid germination, became the master at pretzel making, Holger taught and Gavin and I how to make sourdough bread, Gavin, Angela and I instituted Sunday night dinners and Wednesday Movie Nights making for a very happy social Natalie. Yay! No more lonely nights knitting by the fire!

February
Seedy Saturdays begin (we travel to different locations on Vancouver Island to sell our seeds), packaged tons more seeds, had an excavator come and pull out huge stumps from the new property and we got to tend and feed huge fires all day! It was amazing to climb on top of huge piles of stumps and push them down into the flames...I didn't realize I am such a pyro!, began harvesting salad again (started out with 2lbs a week and now we are at 5...come the summer we will be harvesting close to 40!), my carrots and spinach germinated!, went to a workshop on biointensive farming on Saltspring Island, had a concert in the farmhouse to celebrate Bob Marley's birthday (Marika's band played along with a couple other folks...Gavin, Angela, and I also performed "No Woman, No Cry" in a bluegrass style to feature my spoon playin...poor guy rolled over in his grave), had a surprise dinner for Gavin's birthday, Colin moved onto the farm, soil blocked lettuce (to eventually be saved for seed), onions, leeks, shallots, mustards, broccoli, kale, peas, fava beans and put them to germinate on a heat tables in a greenhouse, germinated tomato seeds by placing them in wet paper towels in plastic bags on the printer for several days, I killed the sourdough starter by not setting any aside to use for the next round (I was viewed as a failure by all and labeled as a yeast murderer), went to West Palm Beach, Fl for my cousin's wedding and had a big family reunion, came back and seeded flowers in trays to germinate at different temperatures on the heat tables (65-70 degrees), and continued weeding the flower bed next to the trailer. And that's it! Whew! Big month.

Now for the pictures:

Weeding next to the trailer...come spring it will be full of flowers!

Gavin and Angela

Pretzels!

Gordy and Leslie (I knit with Leslie once a week)

Playing the spoons at our farm concert

Tool Sharpening

Gavin's Rat Trapping Extravaganza!!!

COLD!

2008-02-01T21:57:00.000-08:00

I promise I'm still here doing the farming thing. And a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. I am just having a case of the "cold farmhouse" and I can't seem to sit at the computer for more than 5 minutes before my appendages begin to go numb with cold.

But! All is not lost! We've acquired a small space heater which could totally save this blog. Ha! The space heater that saved farm blog.

Anyway...I have a lot to say about chicken manure, fence building, weeding in the snow, pruning, and seed packaging and it will all come in do time.

Till then, I'm gonna try to stay warm.

Odds and Ends

2008-01-15T22:17:00.000-08:00

Today, I learned how to use a chainsaw! - How to start it, how to cut with it, how to sharpen it, how to be safe with it (that's for you mama.) I love the fact that I am getting to learn so many little things that I probably would never do otherwise. I also helped chop a good amount of wood...nice fresh alder, and learned the proper stacking technique.

I also began preparing a couple beds in greenhouses for early carrots. I forked the soil to loosen it, watered it, and will let it sit for a couple weeks to let any weeds present germinate. Once the weeds sprout up I'll either cut them with a collinear hoe (it has a sharp blade that you sharpen with a bastard file...yeah I know, cool name...I especially love the thought of carrying a bastard around in my back pocket when I use it) or maybe flame the bed with a torch to wilt the leaves (also very cool...but slightly tedious in a plastic greenhouse.)

So yeah! It was a full day and my body is feeling it. It was just wonderful to be outside in the sun, despite the freezing temperature. Yesterday was spent stuffing envelopes with our 2008 seed catalog. For those of you who may not know the farm also owns a seed company called Full Circle Seeds (www.fullcircleseeds.com)...you should check it out.

There is so much to say about seeds, but I'm too tired. I hope to write a post just on seed saving because it is pretty cool and an important part of farming. That will have to come later and maybe with some more slugs in the news (a reference for woonie mike)!

Spring is on it's way!

Slug Luv

2008-01-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

Wow, 2008 has no idea how much I'm gonna rock it. Happy New Year everyone!

I'm back in BC...still a bit hung over from celebrations in Whistler, where I spent the past few days visiting my cousin and her family. I've only seen at most a couple inches of snow in my life...so seeing feet of snow was quite amazing. I learned how to cross country ski and tried my hand at skate skiing...downhill skiing will have to wait until after this poor farmer stage.

I believe in my last post I promised a tale about two slugs in love...so here it is.

Before I left for Atlanta I did one final night patrol in my greenhouse only to find some serious hanky panky going on. As I scanned the beds with my head lamp I noticed two slugs cuddled together. As I investigated closer I noticed that the slugs were head to tail with these huge white glistening proboscises sticking out of their necks. Further down the length of their bodies, each one had a hole in their side, which looked like they'd been punched in with a push pin. The slugs were slowly slowly stroking each other with these albino tongue looking things and occasionally sticking it in each other's holes. Eeeewwww! ...you may be thinking...but NO! It was quite beautiful...very compassionate and sensual at the same time. So I sat in the freezing cold and watched this late night show for a good long time. They were having a moment and I just couldn't bring myself to pluck them out of it. And now they've probably made babies who will soon be feasting on my lettuce as well. Sigh. The things you do for love.

I'm home!

2007-12-11T00:08:00.000-08:00

I just arrived in Atlanta. I'm not going to write again until I'm back on the farm in January. But stay tuned for a tale about two slugs in love...true story.

Happy Holidays!

Dancing

2007-12-04T19:37:00.000-08:00

The weekend before last I attended a house concert in the marvelous attic of an old home in the heart of Victoria. It is an interesting thing going to an event where you know pretty much no one. (I don't count meeting someone once as knowing them). Now, I'm definitely a social person and I love love love meeting new people and finding myself in weird situations. Which is I why I was absolutely thrilled when I sat next to Tittilating Todd (this is the adjective he chose when I asked him to describe himself with a word that started with T).

I sat down in the empty seat next to him and without looking at me he said "I've seen you before." "Mmmmm...." I think I said (insert any intonation of voice here as they probably all fit the situation.) "At a concert at Alex Goolden Hall" he added, continuing to stare straight ahead. And without flinching, he slyly reached into his pocket and handed me a 2x2 inch square of paper. It was an invitation to a Disco, Funk, Soul dance party!!!! I am sure in that moment I totally ruined the covertness of the situation when I expressed my utter excitement of being invited to a dance party!!!!

So this past weekend it snowed! Yup. We got two inches of beautiful white snow on the farm. But there was no snow high enough to keep me from attending the mysterious dance party. Honestly, it was about time I moved my rockin moves outside of the trailer. So I braved the roads (sorry mama) and drove really really slowly until I got to the highway.

It was totally worth the slow drive because I went absolutely CRAZY!!!! Oh my goodness...I danced and danced for hours and hours...just thinking about it makes my face beam.

For me, dancing is like the ultimate moment of living a rich life. I've told many of you this before...I want to die dancing. That's right. If any of you happen to be around me when I'm dying, I need you to get me up dancing...so that I go mid twirl. Ha! Then one of you can write about it in Chicken Soup for the Dancing Soul.

Time to leave the library now and have my own dance party in the trailer.

Pigs

2007-12-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

I think I may have mentioned that we got four baby pigs earlier this
month. Well, they aren't babies anymore...and they just keep getting
bigger and bigger. The weekend before last, Marika was out of town.
This meant I had to take over the pig and morning chickens duties.

Wow.

That's all I have to say. Feeding 52 hungry animals (48 of them with
sharp beaks) is a lot to handle at 7 o'clock in the morning. My first morning feeding the chickens did not go too smoothly. I just couldn't attach the feed tray to the thing it hangs from fast enough...so they were all over it and me. I was totally sweating by the time I left the coop.

Now compared to the chickens, the pigs are a piece of cake. The only discomfort with the pigs is that they bite a my gum boots. I'm worried about what they'll bite at when their bigger. My uncle reassures me that they only do this when they are young...it is
their natural reaction to get the milk to come. Sorry piggies! Ain't
gonna get no milk out of me! It's pretty funny to watch them eat
because they are so mean to each other! Pushing each other out of the way...and standing in the feed tray. Such pigs!

When I went out on Friday night it was very strange to have the thought "Well, I can't stay out too late cause I've got to feed the pigs and chickens in the morning." Never in my wildest dreams did I foresee a thought like this entering my mind in this lifetime. Ha!

I'm still having photos issues with the farm computer...but you can check out pictures of the pigs on my flikr account.

Slug Battle

2007-12-04T19:17:00.001-08:00

The caterpillars and slugs are devouring my lettuce plants. Now, I have the utmost respect for my fellow vegetarians...but I have very low tolerance for those who invite themselves over for dinner and then defecate on the leftovers. How crass!

Several weeks ago I transplanted an entire bed of lettuce in my greenhouse...and when I went to check them out a couple days later there were entire sections totally missing! THEY ATE THEM ALL!
Those merciless little creatures. So with Mary's advice I constructed the ultimate gauntlet. I dug a trench in the entrance of the greenhouse and filled it with rocks, ashes, and broken egg shells. Nice caustic materials on tender flesh. I transplanted onions in the newly emptied pockets, and sprinkled ashes around all the beds.

One morning Mary handed me a "slug kit" she put together. The contents of the white bucket contained two grapefruit peels, two avocado peels, two cat food containers, and a half full can of beer. I was told to put the avocado and grapefruit peels face down on the soil because the slugs like to crawl in a hang out. The cat food cans I buried in the soil and filled them with beer. A nice alcoholic swimming pool for the critters to have an after dinner drink and die.

Last week I did my first "night patrol." This involves walking through the greenhouse with a headlamp scouting out slugs and cutworms. The first night I attempted this it was too early and I only found 18 slugs in motion (slow motion) not having quite reached their feasts. But I plucked them right out of their delightful pilgrimage to Mecca and put them in a jar to be saved for the chicken's breakfast. The following night it was far too cold and I only found 1 slug. But tonight, the conditions should be just right. There are enough clouds in the sky for it not to be too cold for slug flesh and I plan to make my prowl at just the right hour of the night.

Oh Canada!

2007-11-23T17:44:00.000-08:00

It's official. I am a Canadian.

Some of you may not know that I'm a duel citizen cause my pops was born in Canada. So today I received my Canadian liscence and now I can drive legally! I am also set up on the BC Healthcare (which is not totally free like the movie Sicko leads you to believe.) I currently pay $54 a month and after 12 months of being a resident I can apply for premium assistance (since I'm poor) and get part of the cost subsidized. Cool huh? The health plan covers a wide range of things...except dental. You can get a percentage of the cost of a massage reimbursed, but you can't get your teeth cleaned...unless you have extended coverage through your job or something.

I also have a library card and a L.I.F.E pass to the Sooke recreation center. Again, because I am poor I can use the facilities for free! I can go swim, ice skate, lift weights (cough), and even join the jazzercise and water aerobics classes for free! Ain't gonna be no obesity issues here.

According to my grandma, I even sound Canadian. Apparently, I raise the ends of my sentences nOW. But I haven't reached the point yet of saying "Eh" (is that how you even spell it?) And I've noticed that the younger generation here says "hey" instead of "eh" - "That was a pretty cool concert, hEY?"

I will never stop using the word "y'all" though. I mean, it makes perfect sense! There is no 2nd person plural in the English language. Genius.

Alright yall. I'm aboot to go oot so I'll talk to yall later, hEY?

Knitting

2007-11-19T22:13:00.000-08:00

This evening I had my first knitting session with Lesley, a wonderful British woman who lives here in Sooke with her husband Gordy. Lesley sells her felted hats and bags around town and is very talented with her work. And lucky me, she is going to teach me how to make a felted hat.

Let me just say that Lesley and Gordy are the cutest and sweetest people ever! I believe they are both retired...I'm not sure what their professions were, but Gordy carves beautiful wooden sculptures and is a musician in disguise. One minute he was playing a little diddy on a wooden flute and the next minute he was playing the guitar and singing songs about the Georgia pines (making me nice and homesick for my Piedmont trees...oh man, I have so much to say about the feeling of knowing what trees surround you and what a sense of place that evokes...but that would be a major digression.) He even gave me a penny whistle so that when I'm alone in my trailer I can practice becoming a grand penny whistle musician.

Lesley was very excited to have me come knit with her...apparently she's been waiting her whole life to find someone to knit with! So we drank tea and knitted while watching the "log" on TV. Yes, that's right a fireplace on TV. HA! I didn't know that actually happened in real life. Lesley says that when there is nothing good on the telly they just turn it to the "log" - channel 50. Is that not awesome?! At times, there was even a hand that reached in and probed the indestructible log that hadn't changed shape in two hours. All the while, Gordy talked about one thing or the other...comments like "I bet a lot of kids are nicknamed 'peanut' down there in Georgia." And then Lesley would roll her eyes and tell him to shush! "She's counting her stitches!" she'd say in her British accent. "Shush is my middle name around here" Gordy would reply. The whole time I was internally beaming with how cute the two of them were.

When it was time for me to go they had put together a bag full of fresh baked cookies and banana bread (which according to Lesley I need some "marge" to put on it)...along with a felted "knitting" bag made by Lesley, my penny whistle, and a bunch of tea light candles...cause Gordy has a ton..."a bag of 100 for only $5."

All I have to say is that I smiled the entire way home. There are some damn beautiful people in this world.

On an entirely different and not as beautiful note - I am going to start adding my rat count to the bottom of each entry along with the number of times I've been pecked by chickens.

Rat count: 2 and a mouse
Chicken pecks: 5 (maybe this means I look tasty) - and one of those five drew blood.

Eggs

2007-11-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

I suffer from alektorophobia. "Alektorophobia is an abnormal fear of chickens which may be a result of the fear of feathers, of winged creatures, or of flying animals or birds. Such fears may also include eggs and live or dead chickens. A few reasons include fears of being pecked, swooped upon, and because they roost above eye level or that they eat food from the ground or manure piles which apparently may contaminate the bird. Such fears usually involve relative closeness to live chickens, but usually don't include cooked chickens."

Those of you who have known me for a significant part of my life have been aware of my perpetual fear of eggs - aka "hen fruit" (according to thesauraus.com). This disease has plagued me for years. I even remember hiding a piece of hard-boiled egg from a preschool snack in with the basket of building blocks. My mother tried for years to disguise them with cheese but I never failed to sniff out that proteinaceous stench. Later on in life, my Costa Rican host mother thought I wasn't worldly enough to know that French toast was drenched in the stuff..."No hay huevos" she said as she handed me my plate.

I am starting to understand that my apprenticeship here at ALM farm is really chicken/egg boot camp in disguise. Today, while cleaning off the pooh streaked eggs I broke two of them. One cracked in my hand and the other fell on the floor. I believe I yelled both times and did the squeamish dance. I can only imagine what I must have looked like trying to scoop the egg off the floor with a spatula - yeah, I know...what was I thinking. There is just something about that smell...that flat fishy smell that can't hide the sticky, slimy goo it belongs to. All I have to say is thank you, thank you mama, for your wise words that have stuck with me all these years - "You can always wash your hands." This has become my mantra.

The thing I really don't understand though is why I have to suffer this alone? How do you all do it? Do your intestines really not flip when observing all the forms and textures an egg can take on? From cool, sticky goo, to sweaty, quivering jello, to sebaceous rubber, to that really weird pastiness of hard-boiled? I've watched you all devour these things my whole life and I still to this day do not get it.

Sigh.

Amazing how my blog reflects more on my albumenal fears than my verdurous passions (yeah...that was some total thesaurus work there).

I'll continue to keep you all updated on my progress.

October

2007-11-10T16:21:00.000-08:00

Did you know that tomatillos grow until they explode? I noticed that today as I pulled the last plant out of the greenhouse. I think that's probably the coolest way to die - grow until you explode.

A lot has happened this past month. The month of change.

Here's a quick summary of October:

Marika harvest something like 1500 lbs of winter squash- we pulled up the remaining squash plants and made a giant compost pile- pulled up all the irrigation before a heavy frost came- pulled out the sweet pea plants- prepared the upper greenhouse for lettuce transplants- transplanted lettuce and spinach- harvested all the green tomatoes and wrapped them in newspaper for their final chance at ripening- pulled all the tomato plants out of the greenhouses- pulled up the dhalia flowers and stored the bulbs in the barn- moved the movable greenhouse with the tractor (crazy to see a greenhouse move)- started carrying cedar logs Jan cut in the woods to the new property for fence posts- started doing chicken duty for the first time- attended a few of Mary's classes on "Farming as a Business"- killed Cocky the rooster. Yeah!

The saddest thing that's happened is that Yoko and Renae finished their apprenticeship and have headed off to new experiences. Since I came during the middle of the apprenticeship, I plan to stay through the winter into the next season. Mary says that if I make it through the winter I'll be the first one! Ahhh! What Mary doesn't know is that I actually love being alone and relish in quiet time. There is definitely the feeling of a black hole on the farm without Yoko and Renae around...but there is also a feeling of rest and calmness.

I don't think I have ever felt this calm in my life before. Everyday is a day of internal reflection and listening. For the first time in a long time I'm hearing myself again. And I'm happy to realize that I'm the same person I've always been! Same heart...same dreams and passions. It's pretty exciting actually.

Growing up I always talked to myself in the mirror (wow. I'm confessing this on a public blog. weird.) I think that was probably the best thing I could have done growing up...because it meant that I learned a lot about myself. I worked through problems on my own...saying things like "Well Nat, look at it this way..." and never once did I leave a conversation unhappy. I haven't done this in many many many years. Until now. I talk to myself a lot...and I listen to myself a lot. And I am recognizing all the things I'm fortunate for (which is pretty much my whole life...so wow!) and being thankful for them. And lastly, I'm just falling in love with myself, which honestly makes me the happiest person each day! Ha!

I bet at this point you are all thinking I'm going crazy in my colorful trailer out in the woods. Maybe I am. But at least I'm happy.

PS. Mary and Jan had their annual Halloween party. I dressed as the Ghost of Cocky the Rooster...back to haunt Jan. Look at the pic below.

PPS. I've put new pictures on my flikr account...check em out.

Death of Cocky

2007-10-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

Today marks the death of Cocky the rooster. He was just too cocky for his own good.

Yup. Today I witnessed my first chicken killing. Gulp. Let's just say, the
ax wasn't the sharpest and Cocky just couldn't let that head go.

Chickens are starting to enter the picture of my daily life. Yoko and
Renae leave in less then 2 weeks, which means that I can no longer
escape chicken duty. It will be my job to collect the eggs each day and
tuck the chickens into bed each night. Yoko informed me that they will
expect me to say "Nighty, Nighty" as well.

I'll be quite honest...I am very nervous about this new responsibility. As most of
you know, I am not an animal person. I don't like things that flap, and
I'm really not a fan of small feet. Yoko and Renae say this will change
and I will soon fall in love with the chickens as well. I'm not so sure.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night from a nightmare about the
chickens. They had all escaped their coops and were terrorizing the
farm. This probably wouldn't have been too scary...except for the fact
that they were giant sized...huge! Ahhhh! Luckily, the dream ended with Yoko saving the day. Aye! I'm still freaked.

Think of me when you eat your eggs and chicken legs.

I'm alive!

2007-10-17T19:14:00.001-07:00

I'm back! Wow. It's been awhile, and a lot has happened.

For one...Lilli came for a visit! It was wonderful to have an old friend around to laugh, talk, and reminesce. She was put to work for the majority of her stay, but luckily she made it in time for Canadian Thanksgiving! My cousin Sadie, her husband Andrew, and their baby Kohen came for the celebrations. We planned and prepared a wonderful 100 mile Thanksgiving dinner. It was pretty cool to brainstorm how to do it, and it really brought to light how much we take for granted the transportation of the foods we eat.

Let's see other things that happened...hiking in East Sooke park...spending an evening listening to a wonderful jazz singer with Lilli and my new friend Tracey (she's the coolest girl ever! and my first urban friend!)...went to the Wailin Jenny's concert...and last but not least! CONTRA DANCING!!! That's right folks, I'm an addict and that was the first thing I looked into when I moved here.

Contra dancing is pretty new here...which is made apparent my the size (not even 1/4 the size of atlanta) and the very basic dances. But! It is a great place for beginners to learn, and I am very proud of the fact that 9 of the dancers there last Saturday were there through me. The first thing I ask each new person I meet is if they like to dance...then I get their email address so I can bug them about it later. My plan is to get tons of young people into it so that the dance will have to be moved to a bigger location. Then, I need to somehow lure contra dancers from the states over the border to really show these Canadians how it's done. Unfortunately, since most everyone is fairly new to it there is no one to advance the group to the next level of funness. Hopefully, it will come with time.

Other things...I moved into the trailer! I finished painting before Lilli came and this past weekend my wonderful aunt came and helped me cover the love seats with this awesome colorful fabric. It is nice to see it really become my place. There are still a few items I need to make it feel really comfortable...cookware...curtains..and such. But soon I will be as snug as a bug. Speaking of bugs...I have totally taken over this giant bug haven and turned it into a Natalie friendly habitat. There are still some persistant bugs that made it through the devestation, and I'm thinking I'll keep them. But they can't have babies! No. I already see a spider egg sac forming and I'm going to have to thwart that effort...mama can stay but she's gotta find a new home for her babies.

So, because all of this has been going on...and I've had to figure out the farm computer to where I can get my blog on...it has taken me a long time to get caught up. But I'm back! Thanks to Terez for keeping the blog alive in my absence...even if he did to it with greasy fingers.

(grrr...still having trouble uploading the photo...annoying old macs....)

Bloggers Block

2007-10-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry all. I am currently experiencing a case of bloggers block. I have many thoughts rolling around in my head from the past week about the frustrations and joys of being on the farm. They are thoughts that require a good amount of energy to express with eloquence. It will come.

Friday Nights

2007-09-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

Friday nights on the farm are quite different from Friday nights back home. Instead of going out for a drink or going dancing, I sit with Renae and Yoko (and now Mari, another Japanese girl visiting for a couple months) and knit. Keep in mind that Fridays are our longest days...harvest goes late, and then we have to wake up uber early for market on Saturday.

But this past Friday night...we reached a new level of entertainment with a grand game of "Who can put dry beans in the ice cube trey with chopsticks the fastest." Needless to say the Japanese girls kicked our American forking butts! So yeah...that's what I do now.

Just as a side note: I have realized that any man out there looking for a beautiful, intelligent woman should start farming right away. Seriously! Most of the organic farms on Vancouver Island are fairly well connected with each other....and all the apprentices I've met from various farms are amazingly beautiful women. Just a word of advice for you single men seeking single women.

Birthday Surprise!

2007-09-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

It goes like this:

1. Chris Rockett's mother offers to fly Natalie home to surprise him on his birthday.

2. Natalie feels it is too soon to go home.

3. Chris Rockett is bummed.

4. Chris thinks his birthday can pass like any other day.

5. Natalie plans to surprise the scrooge right out of him and organizes a surprise party to be attended by all of Chris' friends.

6. Back in Atlanta, Chris comes to the realization that now is the best time to visit Natalie and immediately purchases a ticket for September 11th.

7. Upon learning of Chris's British Columbia plans, Chris's loyal friend alerts him to Natalie's evil birthday party schemes.

8. Chris thinks it will be a big hit to give Natalie a little surprise of her own - the old switcheroo.

9. Chris convinces all his friends to play along with Natalie's birthday party plans.

10. Natalie is really excited that almost 20 people are going to show up at Chris's birthday bash...including Daniel from Florida!

11. September 11 - Long harvest day and farm errands for Natalie to run. She returns home around 7. Where is everyone?

12. Natalie begins to cook some dinner.

13. Natalie's uncle, Doug, comes home from work (mighty late for Doug).

14. Natalie continues cooking.

15. The doorbell rings.

16. Doug goes to answer the door. "Nat, you have visitor!"

17. Natalie goes downstairs. No one is there.

18. Boo! Chris jumps out of the dark hallway!!!

19. "I hate you!" yells Natalie. "I knew you were gonna do that! I hate you!!!"

20. Natalie proceeds to hit Chris repeatedly.

21. Natalie starts crying.

22. Natalie sits down and stares.

23. Natalie smiles.

Farmer Tans

2007-09-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

This is the new-age, hip, organic farmer girl tan!

Notice the nice strip of brown above the buttocks. This makes it quite apparent that the majority of our time in the sun is spent bending over!

Recent Recipes

2007-09-03T20:21:00.001-07:00

Apple pudding

This recipe is on the farm website. It is from Mabel Barton (Mary Alice's mother)

Cream together:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter

Add:
1 egg
3 shredded apples

Sift together:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together dry and wet ingredients. You can add nuts or raisins to dress up this pudding. Bake in square 8"x 8" pan at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the center is firm. Serve warm with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce or lemon sauce.

Pizza Dough

4 cups sifted flour

1 pkg. yeast

1 1/3 cups water

2 TBS olive oil

1 tsp salt

Add yeast to warm water. Mix everything together. Knead for 10 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise about 2 hours. Preheat oven 400 degrees. I usually spread the dough out on an oiled cookie sheet and back for around 10 minutes. Then put the toppings on and bake for 25 minutes.

Sesame Baked Tofu

1 block extra firm tofu
1 TBS sesame oil*

2 TBS soy sauce

1/4 tsp cracked pepper

1 TBS sesame seeds

Cut tofu into 1/2" cubes. Toss with remaining ingredients, spread on an oiled backing sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. I toasted the sesame seeds in a pan so that they turned a slightly darker brown and sprinkled them on top afterwards.

* I highly recommend purchasing authentic sesame oil from an asian market and go for a dark brown color. The generic kind I've purchased from grocery stores and health food stores is just not the same...it really lacks the yummy flavor. Plus, if you get it in an asian market it will most definitely be cheaper.

Rosemary Focaccia

5 1/2 cup white flour

1 pkg yeast

2 TBS fresh rosemary

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 cups warm water

4 TBS olive oil

1 tsp coarse salt

In a large bowl, mix flour, yeast, rosemary, and salt. Stir in water and 3 TBS olive oil and beat well for 5 minutes or until well mixed. Cover and let rise in warm place for 40 minutes. Knead gently for 1 minute on floured surface. Roll out onto 2-3 10 inch pans or 1 big baking sheet. Cover, and let rise for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400. Indent top of focaccia with fingertips and brush with rest of olive oil. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Arroz con Pollo

1 tablespoon Vegetable oil

1 pound Boneless, Skinless, Chicken breasts cut into thick strips

1 medium Onion; chopped

1 medium Green pepper; chopped

1 medium Red pepper; chopped

1 Garlic clove; minced

1 teaspoon Chili powder

1/2 teaspoon Ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon Turmeric

1 cup Uncooked rice

1 medium Tomato; seeded & chopped

2 cups Chicken broth

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken 8 to 10 minutes or until brown on all sides. Remove from pan. Add onion, green pepper, red pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and turmeric. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add rice and tomatoes; stir until rice is lightly browned. Add broth; bring mixture to a boil, place chicken pieces on top of mixture. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. To serve, fluff with fork stirring in chicken pieces.

I've also made a pasta with savoy cabbage, onions, carrots, tons of garlic, balsamic vinegar, roasted crushed almonds, and browned butter. It was delicious! But the recipe is too long to type, and I'd feel too bad about copying it. I also made really really simple strawberry muffins with a recipe out of the Joy of Cooking. You can do it with any fruit and it's mega easy.

Last week's lessons

2007-09-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

Compost Piles

We've been on a compost binge the past week. We can't stop cooking up some compost! And it really is a lot like cooking. First you set down a base layer of hay, sprinkle on the okara (nice and smelly tofu leftovers we pick up free from a tofu factory downtown...looks a bit like Parmesan cheese would in giant world), put a layer of poo (horse manure), next add any weeds or grass clippings, some magic cumphrey leaves (shhh! secret ingredient), a good dousing of water, a pinch of ashes to taste, another layer of hay, and begin again! I have learned a couple of times what nutrients each of these layers adds to the compost...but I've never had a pen handy to write it down...hence the reason I can't tell you what any of these do.

When building a compost it is best to make it as square and flat (as opposed to a dome) as possible so that the heat building up inside is spread throughout a larger area. During the hot summer it is helpful to have the top of the compost slightly concave so that water doesn't roll off the sides. During the winter when it rains a lot it is better to have the top slightly convex so that the excess water rolls off. There is soooooo much to learn about compost but this is the basics that I know right now. You can also build compost to have certain nutrients to benefit specific crops if you want.

Lettuce Transplanting

Last week we transplanted the lettuce seedlings I seeded about a month ago. They're so cute. Here are all the steps involved. Read ahead if you find it boring.

1. Weed the bed completely.

2. Rake flat.

3. Dig 3-4 trenches with a hoe. They don't need to be too deep, but make sure they are straight.

4. Put compost in the trenches (or sea soil if you don't have compost). You can also sprinkle in ashes if you have some.

5. Heavily water! Tons and tons of water...the soil should be fully saturated.

6. Dig holes about a full hands width apart. Stagger them between rows.

7. Pull out the seedling from the tray and place in the hole.

8. Pack dirt around the seedlings and press down.

9. Water around each seedling.

10. Set up some sort of irrigation...we use a drip system.

11. Cover with remay!

Wow. That is way to easy and simple for me to bother typing it. Oh well.

Compost Tea

Compost tea is exactly what it sounds like. It is used to foliar feed (spraying on leaves of a plant) certain plants to provide extra nutrients and prevent disease. It is really good for tomatoes, squash, and corn. You wouldn't want to spray it on crops like lettuce because you eat the leafy part.

In a 5 gallon bucket mix together:

1/3 bucket full of compost (best if it hasn't been fully broken down because it will still be full of useful microbes)

1/4 cup unsulferized molasses

1 tsp kelp concentrate

Water up to 3" from the rim

Stir it well. Put an aquarium bubbler thing in for 48 hours to aerate it. Stir each morning. Strain and dilute 1:10 and spray on crop. Lastly, cut crusts off mini sandwiches and serve with biscuits.

Blackberries

2007-08-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

My name is Natalie Brubaker and I'm a blackberry addict.

Blackberries seem like an infinite treat right now. Each day I eat a ton from a particular section where they are fat and juicy and the next day they reappear as if a berry muncher never stopped by. They are like the thorny bush that keeps on giving.

Mary Alice said that if we wanted to pick blackberries for market we could sell them for $4.50 a pint and keep the proceeds. Now most people outside of the city would see that price and let out a hearty laugh or muffled grunt (depending on their stance in life). They are quite aware that blackberries are a free and infinite resource in their own backyards. Yet people in Victoria may not be so lucky to enjoy blackberries that melt in their mouth whenever the desire finds them. So the city slickers and older folks purchase the blackberries because they don't have the means to pick them...and upon first glance they drool at the chance of indulging in such a joyous occasion of splendor.

So this past Friday, after a long harvest day, I had to dig deep (no pun intended) for the energy to pick a few pints of blackberries. I put on my blackberry garb of several layers and headed straight for my favorite spot: the rock pile. For some reason the blackberries have entirely taken over the rock pile...and out of all the blackberries on the farm these are most certainly the biggest, fattest, most juiciest blackberries...most likely because they are the most dangerous to pick.

There I was, proud of myself for finding the blackberry jackpot. I twisted and turned, balanced and weaved, bent and stretched...and plucked every giant blackberry in sight. Just as I was balancing on a wobbly rock, reaching for the gold, the wind moseyed in. I snickered to see the blackberries bend with the wind, thinking how lucky I was not to have to submit to such a giant force. But I guess the wind was snickering too...or maybe I just lost some weight... because the gust just blew me right over! Of course my reaction was to reach for the nearest thorny branch which came right down with me as I landed bottom side down on a bed of thorns. I looked up just in time to see my bucket of blackberries come pouring down on top of me! I lied there for a good while hoping no one would walk by. The thorns in my bottom brought back not so fond memories of the time I sat on a cactus while peeing on the side of the road in Ecuador.

I slowly got up, eating what blackberries I could save...and peered behind me to see a nice purple blackberry squished bottom. Yeeessshhk! I was about ready to give up, but I just couldn't leave empty handed. That weekend I sold 3 pints! Now that's some serious dough for a poor, purple bottomed, wanna be farmer.

Shhhhh...

2007-08-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

I'm talking too much. It is interesting moving to a new place where no one really knows me. No one knows what my life was like back in Atlanta or who I was there. I feel like I can't stop talking about myself...as if the more I tell, the better everyone will know me. It feels like freshman year of college all over again. Everyone wanted to talk. Funny, I didn't realize how comfortable my friendships back home were. How good it feels to be surrounded by people who have spent years laughing, eating, dancing, picnic-ing, drinking, cooking, contemplating, swimming, singing, discussing, music-ing, listening, crying, hugging, secret telling, popcorn eating, organizing, planning, traveling, embarrassing, walking, coffee drinking, camping, art making, partying, and changing by my side. I want everyone here to hurry up and know me! And I want to know them...really know them. That is why I am talking too much. I need to remember that it takes time...lots of time, to feel comfortable in new surroundings. It will happen though, I just need to be patient...and a little quieter...listen.

Is this starting to sound like the beginning symptoms of homesickness? Maybe so. But I'm sure it's just for this week. I'm loving it here.

Trailer Trash

2007-08-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

I've been told by a frequent visitor of my blog that I need to post an update. My knitting is taking over my computering!

I spent a good part of Saturday cleaning out the very retro trailer on the farm. This is where I will be moving once I get it cleaned up and colorfied. The problem is that the trailer is REALLY dirty - at least by my standards of clean. I may be a disorganized person...but dirty under disorder is something I do not do. Actually, Mary told me that the trailer is clean compared to how it was left before the previous occupant. Eeek...I don't want to imagine.

I will have the option to live in the farm house or the cob house (really cool space) once Renae and Yoko leave in November. However, I am a cold wimp and it is sounding like the trailer is going to be the warmest option. The problem with the farm house is that it is a very communal space. We all share the kitchen for lunch each day and there are frequent visitors who stay in the guest room and use the kitchen and computer room as well. I like the idea of having my privacy, which the trailer and the cob house both offer. The only issue with the cob house is that it really difficult to keep warm during the winter. There are tons of windows which don't hold the heat at all...and Renae informed me that she would have to get up in the middle of the night to tend to the fire so that she wouldn't have to wake up in freezing morning temperatures. So, seeing as how sleep and warmth are two things I need...and also two things that when absent make me MEAN...I think I should stick with the trailer that is small to heat and has a hot shower.

I am spending my "free time" (which really means my Sundays) scrubbing every nook and cranny. I have plans to recover the seats, do some artwork on the wall, and paint the bedroom section to make it brighter. The entire thing is a fake dark wood...which will surely depress me if I don't liven it up. That's the best thing...I have the leeway to fix it up as I please (within reason) which means that I can really make it my space. It's going to be a haven of color, warmth, and light by the time I'd done with it.

I am going to go attend to this dreadlock that seems to be forming on the right side of my head. I guess that's what I get for not brushing my hair for a week. More to come later...

Soap Making

2007-08-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

After market on Saturday - Renae, Yoko, and I made soap! It took us about 5 hours, only because we were not very organized - running off to gather herbs and flowers to add...eating Yoko's miso soup...stopping for pie...building a fire (it was freezing! unbelievable for you hotlanta folks.)

Yoko has made soap many times and was our expert teacher. Safety was key when working with the lye, also known as "caustic soda" - ouch!

The first step was to measure out 3 pounds of water (kind of strange to measure water in pounds), adding the lye slowly to it. Within seconds the water became very hot as the chemical reaction was taking place. While the lye was cooling, we scooped a ton of coconut oil and palm oil into a pot to melt together with 4 pounds of olive oil. The lye needed to cool to around 80 degrees before we could mix it with the oils. In the meantime, Yoko showed Renae and I how to line bread pans and box lids with wax paper...our molds. This was quite the annoying task trying to fold the edges perfectly and not make creases. We used an electric mixer, along with a hand mixer to mix the oils and lye together very thoroughly. We took turns with the hand mixer for about 40 minutes until the liquid became thicker. I believe Yoko added a little grapefruit oil also as a preservative. Once it was ready we quickly divided the mixture up between us and hurried to add our herbs and essential oils of choice. I added tons of dried lavender flowers to one mix, along with some lavender essential oil to make sure it would smell yummy. My second batch I added ground up calendula flowers to the lavender which changed the color and scent a bit. The final step was the most fun...I got to had whole calendula flowers on top as decoration...I liked to prettify. And that was it! A nice cozy way to spend a Saturday evening.

My New Friend

2007-08-07T22:32:00.000-07:00

Four year old, Chloe, and her family came to visit the farm the past couple of days. They came all the way from Vancouver to check out the farm and to meet Mary Alice.

Chloe and I hit it off right from the start...and then she wouldn't leave my side. From across the farm she would yell my name "Matalie! Matalie! I picked some potatoes!" or "Matalie! Matalie! Here's a strawberry...it was right next to the reindeer poop!" My favorite line was when she asked me if I have "bras on my boobas." Ha! Oh man, it was great having a little munchkin around...even when she stepped on a head of lettuce and pick a succulent tomato that needed just a bit longer to get bigger.

I guess you would really have to let go of perfection if you were to ever raise kids on a farm or near a garden. The good thing is that they sure don't have a fear of getting dirty!

*I was able to add the rest of my photos to my flikr account. Check them out!

Tomato Seed Saving

2007-08-07T21:15:00.000-07:00

The whole point of seed saving is to preserve certain favored traits in a particular crop. If you have one gigantic juicy tomato wouldn't you want to produce tons of gigantic juicy tomatoes? The problem with veggies like tomatoes and cucumbers is that the seeds are within the fruit part that we eat. So when you sell a tomato you are basically selling the seeds along with it. This is why Mary Alice has mandated that we save ALL of the seeds of any tomato we plan to eat or cook with. As we all know, tomatoes have the gooey outer covering that is nearly impossible to remove. There are four ways to get rid of the tough outer coating of tomato seeds:

Stratifying - freezing the seeds
Scarifying - blending the seeds
Chickens - digesting the seeds and pooping them out. Yum!
Fermentation

The farm usually uses the fermentation method to remove the outer coating.

Tomato Seed Saving

1. Cut the tomato in wedges opening up each chamber (or carpel if you want to get technical).
2. Scrape the seeds into a plastic cup. Make sure to label the variety!!!
3. Cut out any bad parts and add it to the seeds. It is good to have some pulp in the mix because the sugars in the pulp aid in the fermentation.
4. Add a little water.
5. Cover the seeds with a labeled coffee filter for ventilation.
6. Let the seeds sit for 4-5 days until the mold starts to from. It is good to swirl the seeds around every once and a while.
7. Once the fermentation has happened, strain out the pulp.
8. Fill the cup with water. The non-viable seeds float and the viable ones sink.
9. Gently pour the out the water, along with the non-viable seeds. Pour the rest through the strainer.
10. Rest the strainer on a towel to absorb excess water.
11. Spread the seeds out to dry on a paper plate. Don't forget to label the plate also!

That's it! You don't have to buy tomato seeds again! The only problem is that it makes cooking with tomatoes much much longer....

Baby Chicks

2007-08-02T21:12:00.000-07:00

We have 15 baby chicks that hatched yesterday! I must say, they are pretty cute...even for a non animal lover. And they will stay cute as long as they stay away from me. Actually, this is a ridiculous fear that I really need to get over...but if they peck at me, walk on me, or flap their wings at me - it's over!

Yoko did a wonderful job taking care of the brooding hen...making sure she was comfortable and not stressed out. I think the last brooding hen pecked the eggs to pieces. But! With Yoko's close care there was a 100% success rate. Now the hope is that they are all females...so that we can eventually have more eggs for market. The first step is to name them all feminine names and keep our fingers crossed.

Now Rake It Out, Rake It Out

2007-07-31T20:40:00.000-07:00

My back hurts. I don't want to bend over ever again.

I finally finished double digging my carrot bed this morning. Por fin! The last step is to rake the bed to make it smooth....I couldn't help but do the "Rake it Out" dance:

Now Rake It Out

Now Rake It Out ....

Rake Rake Rake

Now Rake It Out

I Said Do It How U Do It Gone And Rake It Out"

(A little reference to DJ Unk for my generation)

Wow. I'm so tired! I am about to fall asleep and the sun hasn't gone all the way down. Tomorrow it is my turn to cook lunch again. I think bagel pizzas are going to be on the menu...along with some braised kale...and something else that I haven't quite figured out. And I'm gonna try my hand at some raspberry oat bars for dessert. We'll see how this goes! I seem to find the days I cook the most tiring...maybe because I'm not good at it yet. There seems to be a certain way to move in the kitchen that I haven't yet mastered. I'm not graceful with spoons and knives and I end up making a giant mess. Not to mention the multi-tasking part...lunch from start to finish takes me about 4 hours - this includes washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, taking out the recycling, compost, and trash. I am determined to start a new dish washing system. Tomorrow, I plan to have the sink full of soapy water and a bucket of clean water and everyone will need to wash their own plate and cup and put it to dry. It will be easy for each person to do real fast and will save me some time. I've already put this idea out there, but no one has executed it. Tomorrow...tomorrow, begins a new dish washing tradition.

My plan while I am here is to gather a whole bunch of new skills. Here are some on my list:

beer making
bread baking
soap caking (well, really "making"...I just wanted a new word to rhyme)
cooking in general
knitting
welding
preserving
rock climbing
and of course the whole growing things part

I can't wait to get some new skills! Cause in the words of Napoleon Dynamite, "I don't have any skills!" Oh, that reminds me...nun chuck skills also.

Bagels

2007-07-29T22:57:00.000-07:00

I made bagels today! Ever since I visited a commune in Missouri and ate homemade bagels for the first time, I have been yearning to try it out. It took me most of the day...and with my Aunt Diana's help I was quite successful! It is quite a long prOcess.

Bagels

8 cups whole wheat flour
1 TBS sea salt
2 packets of yeast
2 cups lukewarm potato water *
1/3 cup honey
¼ cup oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 TBS raw sugar
2 quarts boiling water

1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Soften in one-third of the potato water and stir into flour.
2. Add honey and oil to remaining potato water and stir into flour mixture. Add eggs and beat to form dough.
3. Turn onto a lightly floured board and knead for 10 minutes. The dough should be quite firm. Add more flour if necessary.
4. Return dough to clean buttered bowl, cover and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about one and one-half to two hours.
5. Preheat the oven 450 degrees.
6. Knead the dough again until smooth and elastic.
7. Pinch off pieces of dough and roll into ropes six inches long and three-quarters inch wide.
8. Bring the ends of the dough together and pinch them to form a doughnut shape.
9. Drop raw sugar into the pot of boiling water. Drop bagels into the water one at a time and when they come to the surface turn them over. Boil one minute longer.
10. Place bagels on oiled cookie sheet and bake 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.
Yield: About 20 bagels

* Potato water is made by boiling peeled diced potatoes in excess water until they are tender. Drain and use liquid.

I would suggest using less salt. Also, mix all the liquid ingredients together first before adding it to the flour mixture.

PS. Those are my bagels in the picture! I've also added a bunch of photos from the farm to my flikr account. I've exceeding my photo limit for the month...so I will put the rest of them up in a few days. Enjoy!

Rock Climbing

2007-07-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

Renae, a fellow apprentice, has been dying to go rock climbing since she came in February. Sadly, she has had no one to do it with. One of the first things she asked me was if I rock climb...and I had to disappoint her and explain my terror of heights. However, I did say that I would be willing to try it out if she was willing to teach me. I figure I can always belay her and keep my feet nice and planted on the ground. I was able to borrow a harness and shoes from my cousin, Sadie, who I can't imagine will be climbing anytime soon now that she has a new baby to take care of.

Wednesday, Renae and I started work early in the hopes of going climbing in the evening. Renae had purchased a book on local rock climbing spots...and that afternoon we headed for Mt. Wells a regional park in Sooke.

According to the book there was an easy climb (good for beginners) right off the "main trail." So we parked at the base of the mountain and started walking up the "main trail" of the mountain. We kept going...and going...and going...carrying all our stuff...kept going...and going...after a long day of double digging...kept hiking and hiking...until we got to the top of the freaking mountain without seeing a single clean rock to climb on!!!! So after 2 hours we made our way back down the mountain and drove a little further down the road to another parking spot. We followed what looked like a secret trail and were unsuccessfully met with brush and prickly things. So we drove further down the road until we came to a spot with lots of cars and what look to be fresh rock through the trees. Again, we followed what looked like a trail...but really involved traipsing through foliage, thorns, and fallen trees to get to what looked like the beginner rock in the picture. So what the book really meant was follow the "no trail" and you will see the rock on the left. Just when we thought we had made it to our destination after climbing an entire mountain...we were met with a rock that didn't have those metal hooky things (I'm obviously still learning the lingo) to attach the line to. Bleh. How frustrating! At that point it didn't really matter anymore because we had no energy to do anything else.

Renae decided to teach me some basic things about putting the harness on and all the safety precautions. I was so excited to actually do something that I sat down and enthusiastically started putting the rock climbing shoes on. And for anyone who doesn't know...rock climbing shoes are meant to seem 2 sizes too small...they make your toes scrunch up like you are making a fist with your feet. Very uncomfortable. It wasn't until I put the shoes all the way on that I realized Renae wasn't doing the same. "I don't need to be wearing these for what we are about to do, do I?" I asked. "No!" Renae replied sheepishly..."You looked so excited to put them on, I couldn't tell you no!" Ha! I just burst out laughing...sitting there with the most uncomfortable pointy shoes. How lame am I?!

So yeah...Renae taught me all the safety steps and the things you ask your partner before beginning. I think we are going to go again some weekend in the hopes of finding other rock climbers to get advice from...or to get the inside on how to get to the rocks...since obviously the book was written to deter new climbers in the area.

At least I got to climb Mt. Wells and enjoy a beautiful view of Victoria and the surrounding water. Sometimes I forget that I'm on an island.

Double Digging

2007-07-29T14:14:00.000-07:00

So. As of last week, I officially smell like a hippie. It takes a long time to cultivate the right musk. Any older hippie could smell that I am quite fresh. Nascent Neo-hippie Natalie. It really is unavoidable - I get dirty everyday...what can you expect?

This week I learned how to "double dig" carrot beds. This essentially means digging around in soil 2ft deep to remove any possible rocks. Here is the method: 1. Dig 1ft of soil off the top of a 2ft wide section. 2. Use a pitch fork to aerate the soil, lifting the soil up to loosen rocks. 3. Remove any rocks the size of a baseball. 4. You can put a wooden board across the bed to stand on...and to disperse the weight. 5. Pile the dirt from the next 2ft. section onto the previous section. As far as I know this is the most strenuous bed prep for any vegetable. The problem is that if there are any rocks impeding the growth of the carrot...they may be stunted or split in two. The bed will sit for 2 weeks so we can wait for any weeds that are present to germinate. This way, we can pull the weeds out before we plant the carrots, so that they don't intrude upon the personal bubble of those finicky carrots. Besides rocks and weeds, another problem facing carrots is the carrot rust fly. The carrots must constantly be covered with remay (a soft, porous fabric) because otherwise the rust fly will get in and burrow black holes.

Let's see...what else did I learn. How to prepare beds for chard (I'll go into this some other time...if you are interested just know that they like potassium which you can get by adding seaweed and they like alkaline soil...so not too acidic, which you can adjust by adding lime). And I also learned how to collect seeds to be saved for next year and to sell. I am actually going to be in charge of seed collection and organization. Different plants go to seed (meaning they flower) at different times and the trick is to capture the seeds before the plant disperses them by their own means. It pretty much just involves cutting off the dry flowers or seed pods and putting them in a paper bag or remay to dry for awhile. During the winter when there isn't much to do on the farm we will be spending a lot of time cleaning up the seeds - removing them from pods and flowers, and packaging them for sale. Veggies like tomatoes and cucumbers that have internal seeds we ferment somehow to save the seeds. I haven't yet learned about this seed saving method.

This week’s meal:

Veggie stir fry with peanut sauce served with rice

Sliced cucumber with a little salt, pepper, and balsamic vineger

Salad

Ginger snap cookies (well, without the snap)

Peanut Sauce Recipe

1/4 cup chicken broth (this isn't necessary, I used water)

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons cilantro leaves, chopped

2 mint leaves, chopped

1 tablespoon plus

2 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

3/4 teaspoon chili powder, or to taste

I just mixed all these together while heating it a little. I also added basil leaves, just cause I felt like it. It was pretty cool to run all around the farm to collect my herbs.

Thursday night we had a Food Security meeting. This has been started by people in the Sooke community in reaction to a study that showed that if food entering Vancouver Island were to stop (say the ferry system shut down), people on the island could only eat for 4 days. The whole point of the food security initiative is to unite farmers and fishermen in Sooke, and encourage them to keep a good amount of their food local and in the community. Other parts of the plan include making the produce from local farms more accessible to the public. I think they also hope to encourage schools to use more locally grown foods and serve healthier meals to students in the Sooke school system. Another thing they need to consider is the amount of farms currently in Sooke and how land can be acquired for promoting more farms to serve the community. One problem is that land in Sooke is really expensive and therefore not really an option for new farmers...especially not new organic farmers.

The meeting started out with everyone going around and introducing themselves and explaining what food meant to them. It was interesting to hear different stories of people growing up with grandparents who had farms or gardens...and the pleasure of eating ones own food. People talked about how important food used to be for uniting communities and how that is somewhat lost now. Many had their gloomy stories of how frustrating it is too see the crap kids are eating in schools...to see kids in strollers holding coke bottles. The reason I gave for supporting local food was inspired by my time in Costa Rica. It was really frustrating to stay on the coffee farm in La Piedra with a wonderful family who were rich in land, but were still very poor. The problem being that they were using every inch of land to grow coffee, from which they were making around $500 to $1000 a year...and using none of the land to grow food to sustain themselves with! The father had to find a construction job in a city 2 hours away to make money to buy food. And my host brother had a constant pain in his chest and a chronic cough from the pesticides he was spraying on the plants. What a rude awakening it was to see how our unsustainable lifestyles in the states were creating an unsustainable lifestyle for this family miles and miles away. Now, I know, I know I can't grow coffee in British Columbia...so maybe I should shut up (drinking Fair-trade Organic coffee is the best thing to weaning (ooo I hate that word) myself off) but this situation goes for all the unseasonable vegetables we eat year round from the grocery store. So EAT LOCAL folks! Even if you don't believe the organic thing quite yet...at least think local and save the thousands of miles your food has to travel to get to your kitchen. Basta.

** Note: For you Atlanta folks....There is a local farmer's market every Saturday morning in the Alon's Bakery parking lot in Virginia Highlands. There is also another one in Piedmont Park on Saturday mornings...and every Wednesday afternoon there is a farmer's market in Decatur at the corner of Commerce and Church St.

July 16 - 21

2007-07-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

Let's see...this week I did a lot of weeding...so much that it was all I could think about when trying to fall asleep. There is something satisfying about pulling up weeds and watching their long roots pull out of the soil. It reminds me of that time at Oxford when I watched the lady in the Ox (a late night grill on campus) pull a long hair out of my milkshake before handing it to me.

This weeks lessons:

- When letting a field go fallow it is best to fill it with "green manure." This means that when you harvest crops you plant leguminous plants (such as clover) in its place. It is best to mix those plants with wheat because it is a "pusher" - it encourages the legumes to do their job of nitrogen fixing. Eventually, the green manure will be turned over in preparation for a new crop to go in.
- Sunflowers are allelopathic, meaning they deter weeds by releasing a toxin. Therefore, sunflowers are good to plant at the end of a beds to prevent weeds from creeping in.
- When picking peas...if you lightly pinch the outside and feel a slight hollowness or hear them rattle they are not ready to pick...and if they have a bumpy, rubbery shell they are too old.
-White rot, Sclerotium cepivorum, is a fungal disease that attacks garlic plants. Once a farm gets white rot they can never grow garlic again because it sporifies until it senses garlic again. It also has an ability to move through the soil...so planting garlic in another location on the farm doesn't work. So whenever we visit other farms we have to clean off our shoes so that we don't track it elsewhere.

Mmmm...it was pretty rainy all week. Funny how rain effects my mood...makes me bleh. I cooked lunch again on Friday! Que disorden! I made lentils cooked with carrots, onions, raisins, garlic, pepper, curry, and garham marsala! Yum. Along with some stir-fried kale and sunflower seeds...and oatmeal cookies. What a process! Or prOcess (long o sound) as the Canadians say. I'm gonna have to think of easier and faster meals. Any ideas would be much appreciated!

My cousin Sadie and her 11 week old baby, Kohen, came for a visit...along with my second cousin, Acacia. It was nice to have family visit...and especially nice to have a bubbling baby around. Babies have such a sweet life....so cozy. Que rico! - As my host mother in Costa Rica would say. It's the same phrase you would use when saying a meal is delicious. How delicious babies are!

I went to market again on Saturday with Mary Alice. From there I caught a bus home. It was my first DOUBLE DECKER BUS! As soon as I got on I rushed upstairs to get a good seat in the front row, and it turned out I was the only person ever up there. I was like a dog going for a car ride...all panting and stuff. I guess Canadians are soooo over double deckers. Anyway, tis all for now...until something more amusing comes along.

Chicken Soup

2007-07-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 13th

Attention! Natalie Constance Brubaker cooked a chicken soup! Yes, that is correct...I, Natalie Constance Brubaker, cooked a chicken soup. I never thought the day would come when I would cook a meal that involved meat of any kind...and there you go!

We all take turns cooking lunch for everyone on the farm. On Friday, Holger just happened to be out of town and left his chicken soup to me. I was quite worried and very frantic about the whole thing after experiencing the grand feasts the others had prepared. The day before, Holger had boiled the chicken carcass (shiver) and it was my job to pull the pieces off the bones (double shiver). I almost had a few tears come out of my caruncule (that is the pink fleshy thing on the corners of our eyes, in case you were wondering) when I pulled off the skin, fat, and cartilage. Anyway, besides this traumatizing event I was able to pull the whole thing together with potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, peas, dill, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper. Amazing! And it tasted like chicken soup! Looks like Natalie is gonna become a (de) bone-a-thighed chicken chef.

Ok, so besides the whole chicken thing...Friday was HARVEST DAY! This means that everyone starts early in the morn harvesting all the veggies to be sold at market the next day. Apparently these days are long and tiring, but I really enjoyed it. I learned how to harvest lettuce, which really just involves pulling lettuce leaves off the plants. The farm doesn't sell heads of lettuce...just bags of mixed lettuce...which means that you can keep using the same plant for leaves as new ones grow in. It is best to pick the leaves close to the stalk so that they keep better. The salad gets washed twice to make sure all the slugs get out...then it is weighed and bagged. The final step is to add edible flowers for beautiful color and taste. It was also my job to harvest the edible flowers: jolly (julie?) jump ups, nasturtiums, shungiku, borage, and violets (yes the same violets growing in your backyard GA folks! Go eat em!)

Saturday, July 15th

Market Day! We got up around 7 to load up the trucks with all our veggies and to make flower arrangements to be sold as well. There are two markets we go to...one in Sooke (the town the farm is in) and one in Victoria. Renae and I prepared to head all the way to Victoria (about 45 min maybe). We got there around 9 and began setting up. No one is allowed to purchase anything until the bell rings at 10 o'clock. It was crazy to see all these people standing in front of the table waiting to buy the best stuff before everyone else. Once the bell rings it is loco! There was such a long line to purchase our veggies! In the attempt to help Renae I tried to take other costumers. As a woman was buying some shelling peas I went to go give her change...I opened the box and realized...I didn't know what any of the coins were worth!! I hadn't even had a chance to get Canadian money of my own yet, and had no idea what all the coins were! So I frantically called Renae over to help me out...and the lady asked me where I was from..."the states" I said sheepishly. And even after all that, I still gave the lady the wrong change. Five quarters instead of five dimes. Don't you think she would have said something! She ripped and innocent united statsian farmer girl off...just so she could buy some extra carrots are something. bleh.

Sunday, July 15th

Cob building! Holger is a master builder, especially alternative construction. So on Sunday, the plan was to help Edward, the chef for a famous hotel called the Harbor House, build and outdoor cob oven. He is a really great guy who buys a lot of our produce for his extravagant meals. It was a community building event where everyone came together to help build, drink beer, and hang out. Edward had also planned to fix a fabulous meal...which was probably more the incentive for us all to go.

No, cob construction is not made out of corn cobs! I already asked. It is a mix of clay, sand, and sometimes straw. The best part is that all of it is mixed by foot. Yes, my uncle Doug and I became master cob mixers/dancers. I will have to put a picture up soon once I figure it out.

Anyway, I won't go into the whole building process, but it was pretty neat. During part of it Doug and I went to pick seaweed to dry out for soups and snacks. The water in the ocean was really cold...I mean warm (according to my uncle). We picked a couple buckets of this brown seaweed called Nori (spelling?) - it is the same seaweed used in sushi. We headed back to help out more with the oven...and after lots of stomping in mud and beer drinking, we were served with a delicious meal of tuna (barely cooked...sushi grade), salad from the farm, roasted potatoes, kale...and a bunch of other yummy things.

It was a full day and we headed home in the evening.

Monday, July 16th

I have my first blister! Spent the morning weeding asparagus that had become overgrown with weeds. After lunch, I learned how to make seed blocks to germinate seeds in. I won't go into all the details...but basically there is a gadget that allows you to make those compacted little soil squares to put seeds in. Marika showed me how to put the little lettuce seeds in the little holes. It is gonna be my job to water them and watch them germinate. Hopefully it will work out!

Potato Party

2007-07-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

Goodbye fingernails! I just cut them off. Fingernails and dirt are no good...unless I want to start my own soil microcosm under there.

Today was all about potatoes. I spent the morning helping Yoko with her potato plants. We dug holes in a zig zag pattern, filled them with a little chicken manure, and sprinkled on a mix of different nutrients and minerals (I will be learning more about this part soon). We then threw several varieties of "mother" potatoes with several eyes on them. Apparently, the more eyes the mother potato has the more little potatolings are going to grow. The fewer the eyes the more likely you will get a couple big potatoes. The soil was very rocky in this area and I had to cart a couple wheelbarrow loads of rocks to a big pile in the back of the farm. This was tough! Oooo weeee! My back and hands were sure hurting. I can't wait till I am pass this stage.

After a delicious feast of a lunch, I helped Renae pick Yukon Gold and Fingerling potatoes to be sold at the market on Saturday. After a couple hours of that, Shiela, a very nice Chinese woman down the way came for the weekly Qigong session. Qigong (also known as Chikong) is kinda like tai chi...a very calming, meditative movement and stretching. Amazing!

In the words of little orphan Annie...I think I'm gonna like it here!

Day 1

2007-07-11T22:54:00.000-07:00

I arrived at the farm in time for a delicious lunch. It looks like I'm gonna be eatin me some delicious meals of fresh veggies. Ahhh...Natalie bliss! I met the two other apprentices who have been here since February...Renae, from Wisconsin, and Yoko, from Japan. Marika has been on the farm five years now and Holgar (spelling?), from Germany, has been here for twenty years. Mary Alice Johnson is the owner and she lives down the street with he husband Jan, a wonderful artist.

After lunch, Mary Alice gave me a tour of the farm...so many little fields and greenhouses scattered around. There are beautiful flowers throughout the greenhouses that Mary calls "volunteers" because they just appear without being planted. They allow them to stay in order to save the seeds to sell at markets.

After the tour, we helped Yoko make bundles of lavender to be dried in the herb house for sale at the markets. We saved every last flower to be used for potpourri. It was nice to sit there out of the heat with a glass of cold wine and nice conversation.

Once we finished with the lavender, Holgar, Renae and I rode bikes to a nearby lake. Yes...that's right...Natalie Constance Brubaker rode a bike. Now that was a funny sight! The problem was that I kept turning in whatever direction I was looking and couldn't keep a straight path for the life of me. On the way back we had to go up some wicked hills...and in my attempt to copy Renae's zigzag method...I kinda over did the zig and head straight down the hill! I couldn't seem to figure out how to stop and when I did my pants go caught in the brake. Aye de mi! What a mess. Well, maybe with more practice I'll come home a farmer and a biker!

Natalie the Farmer a.k.a. Organica!

2007-07-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

For awhile now, I have had an itch to learn how to farm. I guess there is no better time to try it out than right now when obligations are low and I can afford to be poor. I am fascinated with agricultural ecosystems and their complexity. I feel this is a knowledge that will be useful in so many ways later in life. Plus, this is a desire I need to get out of my system before I move on in life...otherwise, there will be a mountain of regret.

So! Tomorrow, in less than 8 hours I will begin my journey to Vancouver Island, British Columbia. There, I will be doing a farming apprenticeship at the ALM Organic Farm in a town called Sooke. My duties will include:

seeding
planting
transplanting
cuttings
weed management
harvesting
farm maintenance
cultivation
irrigation
marketing (box program, farmer’s market, or restaurants sales)
care of chickens (eek! I don't know about this one...small feet and eggs...two of my worst fears)
major field crop of my choice
the planting and care of one or two greenhouses
a value added product: herbal teas, dried fruit, frozen, canned or dried fruit or tomatoes

They also have workshops on alternative construction, beer making, woodworking, preserving, and many others.

If you would like to check out the farm here is the website. It is amazingly well put together. You can take a virtual tour of the farm, watch some videos, and I think there are some recipes scattered throughout.

http://www.almfarms.org/

My plan is to use this blog to record what I learn. And I figure, why not share the knowledge...I am sure most of it will be learned through mistakes...most likely funny ones at that.

So here we go...a time to grow.