Is anybody out there...

I know that you're reading this, but I've gotten almost no reply to my call for questions so I'll repeat it; if there is anything you'd like to know, please feel free to ask in the comments, or send me an email, or a text. Help me out here people. I realized based on the questions I did get, that I've talked very little about conditions on the farm, and I'll be remedying that in my next post, as well as posting a tour of my trailer, but in the meantime, since I'm on vacation in Seattle...

That's right, I have two days off in a row, and took the opportunity to get out of the rural, idyllic, Olympic peninsula, and am checking out another of those metropolitan areas that has always called to me. I'm only going to be here for a day, but as I found out in Portland, a day is plenty long enough to develop a taste for a place, and a desire to return. If I'm being honest, only an effort of will kept me from returning to Oregon...that and the four and a half hour drive. Which is a little excessive for a day trip. Not that Seattle is all that much closer.

I'll get to what I did in the Capital of the PacNorWe in a moment, but first, what have I been up to on the farm since last we spoke? Well, this week it rained. Every day. All day. Despite that fact we managed to get a lot done. We spent three days planting brassicas, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages and brussel sprouts, several kinds of each. We planted somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty rows of plants, around 1300 in all. It was a long hard week, but it's always satisfying to put food in the ground.

So to answer some question that nobodies asked...hows the writing going? Well, thanks. Since I've been on the road, I've finished three short stories, but haven't submitted nay of them yet. I'm working on the first round of editing, and it's going well. In addition to the short stories, I'm still working on the comic series I started at the beginning of April, and have just finished writing issue number six. It's going pretty well, I think. I'm getting along well with the Johnstons, we all work hard, and given my propensity for supplying them with baked goods, and their supplying me with farm fresh eggs and produce, and raw milk from a nearby dairy, we're all pre-disposed to get along.

I think it's time for me to move along, but I'll get another blog posted in a few days, I'll answer any questions that come up, and post some pics of the trailer, and share some of what I've did while in Seattle...any guesses? To finish us up until next time let's have some pictures.

The aforementioned idyllic small town(PA):


Who knew a brussel sprout could be so pretty(he's called Oliver)?:


My corn; my sweet, sweet corn:


Eggplants, recently transplanted into larger pots:


Some potato thyme bread, made from local flour, milk, potatoes and thyme(locavore what?), and the first cookies I made in the trailer oven:


Lastly, my new ride, gifted to me from a new friend, Leela. She interned with the Johnstons for several seasons, and now, with her husband, is running a farm down the road:

Images of things to come...

As I said in my last post, here is an update concerning life on the farm. Mostly concentrating on the work we've done in the last week, and some pics anticipating the things we'll be doing soon. I spent the last week doing the things that have become my regular chores. We finally finished weeding the garlic, and what a triumphant feeling that was. Of course by the time harvest begins to approach we'll probably have to do it all over again. C'est la vie. Life on a farm, especially one that doesn't use the RoundupTM. Yesterday I weeded strawberries, and it struck me how the skills I developed weeding the garlic simply don't translate. They're too different.

Our garlic, twenty rows most containing two or three varieties(plus some shallots, and bunching onions):


Berries - Straw:


Berries - Goose(two varieties):



Berries - Black (just coming into bloom, won't be ready to harvest until the end of the summer):


Berries - Blue:



Berries - Rasp:


Some apples (growing on the beautiful ornamental branching trees which will fence off the blackberry patch one day) :

The chickpeas we transplanted on Tuesday:

One of the twenty-odd varieties of taters which we're growing:


Brassicas (mostly Brussel Sprouts) waiting to go into the ground:


My peas have grown so much since we got them trellised:


A view from the roof of the barn, which is still under construction, but is starting to look really nice:


The first pizza I baked in my little RV oven, sauteed Bok Choy, with roasted mushrooms and peppers, topped half with feta and half Havarti:


The salad I ate for dinner last night, topped with a fried egg, the yolk of which was so golden-orange I almost stopped to take a picture rather than eat the thing:


So am I a farmer? I don't know. I do know that I'm loving this. Even the days which are frustrating, I feel like I'm doing something respectable, and I feel like I'm a part of a community here, which is a really special feeling, especially coming from the isolated islands of the suburbs. Everyone has gone out of their way to make me feel welcome, and to include me in their activities. I keep having these moments where I pause, look up at the mountains, and shake my head, grinning at the fact that I'm here. I hope you are all doing well, and if you have any questions for me, leave a comment and I'll endeavor to answer them as best as I can. I love you all. I miss you.

In which I find myself atop a mountain, and achieve, momentarily at least, enlightenment...

Or something to that effect. This past Sunday I found myself with an afternoon to do whatever I wished, and what I decided was to climb a mountain. So I loaded up my van and drove west until I arrived at Crescent Lake. The whole drive I found myself remarking "Hey, you're in the Pacific Northwest." This revelation keeps surprising me, and making me grin like an idiot. I arrived at the Storm King Ranger Station, to hike to Merrymere falls, which was supposed to be short, sweet, flat, and as easy as walking to the mailbox. It was, but that came later. First, as I was leaving the parking lot, not half a minute from my car, and five feet to my left a doe, and her faun.

Isn't that precious? ::shrugs::


I also decided to take a little side trail that went straight up the side of Mount Storm King. That trail was two miles long, and one mile straight up the side of the mountain. It was a short intense hike, and by the time I reached the end of the trail I understood, or at least felt the compulsion to make it to the top that plagues mankind under those circumstances. So despite the trail ending, and the sign posted on the tree warning of steep, rocky, unmarked paths, I trod on.

Some shots I took along the way. I broke out the camera whenever I had to stop to catch my breath, which was rather more often than I'd like to admit. This was a serious trail, unlike the suburban trails back in NoGa:




It wasn't much farther from the end of the trail to the top of the mountain, but I had no choice in the matter. I had to do it. I had to, if not conquer the mountain, share a little triumph, a victory, with it. There were several stretches that would have been impassable if it were not for the courtesy of those who went before leaving ropes strung along the several parts of the trail to allow for successful crossings. I met a pair of rockclimbers just before I made my final ascent. They seemed surprised to find me there without so much as a bottle of water, but I could only shrug. Once I started there was no way I could let myself stop until I had reached the top. Everytime I thought about it, it made me laugh, and at the same time, it made me feel more human. To share this compulsion with so many of my fellow hairless monkeys.

And here we are. Doofy grin plastered on my face, and I'll tell you I couldn't wipe it off the whole way down the mountain, or on the way to the falls. I was probably still smiling like an idiot as I drove back to the farm after the hike ended:


I didn't get any shots of the waterfall, my camera died, but undoubtedly if you'd like to see it you could search for it on Flickr. I saw plenty of people with much nicer cameras than mine taking pictures. So aside from my mountaintop adventure, how am I? I'm really quite well, thank you for asking. The work on the farm is hard. Really hard. I have never been half so dirty, and for such an extended period of time, in my life. We're still getting this place cleaned up from the winter, but we're starting to put more food in the ground, and it's taking shape before my eyes. It's really cool. I'm eating ridiculously well, and as the seasons turn, I have no doubt the food will only get better.

I promise my next post will be more farm centric and less about taking a walk in the woods, but after all, how often does one find ones self doing the things you've always wanted to do. I've spent much time lusting after the PacNorWe, and now I'm here. Simple as that, but it still has only just begun to sunk in. This is beautiful country, and I feel genuinely privileged to be here. On the other hand, privileged my but; I earned that hike. Just ask the pigs, or that chicken that keeps escaping.

My what a shocking afternoon...

No, really. I was trying in vain to get the pigs to eat from my hands, and I accidentally bumped the electric fence. If there had been anyone watching I have no doubt that they would still be laughing at me. I must have jumped three feet straight back from the fence waving my arm above of my head, and dancing back and forth from one foot to the other. Not sure why, but it seemed like the thing to do at the time.

Ever since i realized that I can get WiFi on the Johnston's gazebo, I've appropriated it as my spot, and when I got out here this afternoon I found that Christie had kindly put out a table and a chair for me. She's so sweet. It was a beautiful day, sunny, and seventy. I've been working hard, and the farm is starting to look really amazing. Fields are being tilled, produce is going into the ground.

Here are some pictures from the Dungeness Spit, where I took a hike last Sunday, my day of rest:


This tree trunk was over one Tom in diameter:



Still turning out loaf after loaf of bread, despite the difficulties of cooking in the trailer's oven, I'm achieving respectable results. Take a look:

What have we been doing, farm work? Do we do that? Oh yeah, peas, trellised, lettuce transplanted, and a compost pile built. I did the construction. Using tools. I know, it seems unlikely, but I was there. It happened. Proof:


Our compost to be, this pile is over six feet tall, and about thirty five feet long. I built the pipe system used to blow air through the pile:


The veggies we started the other day have sprouted. Squash, or as they say around these parts sqaursh:


And field corn; this stuff seriously looked liked pomegranate seeds, gorgeous:

A view of the new cupola atop the barn:

And to finish up off for the evening, how about a produce shot? Some cutting celery, shortly before being finely diced, sauteed and added to an omelet which was so yellow it was hard to believe:

It's late now, and I'd best leave you for now, but I'll reiterate all of my salient points. I love and miss you all. I'm having fun, working hard, eating well, getting my writing done, baking bread as much as ever, and I imagine none of that will be changing anytime in the immediate future.

Remember how I kept saying I was going to be worked to the point of exhaustion...

Boy, did I call that, but realistically, after the first few exhausting days, I've settled into a groove, and have begun to really enjoy myself. Despite the hard work, I feel priveledged to be allowed to become a small part of this really cool community. I'll try and sum up the last few days since my last post, but honestly I haven't done a whole lot of exciting things, but I'll do my best to amuse you all.

For starters here are some pics that i promised you for several posts now. The pigs, and a shot of Bowie the pony and his companion, the as-yet-unnamed Newfoundland:




My pigs(perhaps it isn't kosher{get it?} for me to call them mine, but given that they're my responsibility, it's how I think of them:



I discovered, first thing the other morning, that I am in fact a farm boy, if not a farmer. I had just woken up, and was enjoying my first cup of coffee, locally roasted of course, and I looked out the window of the trailer which is right next to the chicken coop, and noticed a rogue chicken. I had seen her before, and when I asked Christie about her, she explained that she had gotten out several months earlier, and they hadn't been able to recapture her. So I put down my coffee, went outside, and after five hilarious minutes captured her, and returned her to her home.

I had some remarkably success baking bread given the nature of the oven, but am looking forward to the possibility of building a wood-fired oven with Kelly at some point, after we finish getting the farm into shape. When I arrived it was a little worse for wear; it had been a hard winter, and the Johnstons hadn't had as much help as they're used to, but between Kelly and I, and the part-time farm hands we've made so much progress in the last week. I can see clearly now how good the farm will be given only our hard work, and am getting really excited about all of the things we're getting ready to plant.

In the last week I've weeded garlic, carrots, spinach, and peas. I've mowed lawns and tilled fields, and planted seeds, and slopped pigs. Gathered eggs, and harvested salad greens and radishes and herbs. I'm exhausted most nights, but not so tired I don't have time to cook tasty, fresh, exciting meals for myself using a combination of local fresh produce, and all those pantry goods I hauled across the country with me. I'm baking as much bread as ever, maybe more given the fact that I've been sharing with hungry farm folk, and getting my writing don every single day, as always. I am content, and I'm so glad that I actually did this. I've yet to figure out what comes next, and that's helping me stay excited about what I'm doing now, and what the future may hold.

I'll leave you with a shot of some of the produce I've been enjoying, and a pic or two of the neighbors cattle fields. Remember that I love you all, Happy Mother's day to all the moms, and I hope you're all doing as well as I am. I'm going to go take a hike on the Dungeness Spit now, pics to come next time.

Thyme, thyme, never enough thyme...

Here I am once more, and I've only got time for a quickie before I need to be moving on to making myself dinner.

For starters we'll take a peek at the first two successful loaves of bread I've baked in the trailer's oven.

A standard sourdough, or Pain Au Levain, if you want to get all french about it:


Then we've got a five grain, three wheat sandwich loaf(The three wheats in question are whole wheat flour, bulgur, and whole wheat couscous{yes, couscous, what of it?}):



On Monday I got a day off from weeding garlic, but don't worry I got back to it today, and instead spent the day planting seed with Kelly. It was a nice break, and incredibly educational. We might well have gone a little overboard, but his wife wasn't there to reign us in:

What is all of that, you ask; why it's winter squash and summer squash, melons, cucumbers, and some dent corn, a beautiful ruby variety from Italy, for making into cornmeal. The seeds look like pomegranate seeds.

Today was back to the garlic, and in the rain for much of the afternoon. Boy, will I ever be glad when this chore is done, and over with. Yesterday we had a visitor, another potential intern, and a possible roommate depending on how the living situation works out. His name was Jon, and he seemed like a nice kids, he's spent the last few years traveling around the country working on farms. So unlike me, he has some idea of what he's getting himself into.

I'm about to lose internet access, so I think this will be the last I post for now. I've got more to tell you all, but until I've got a day with unfettered internet access, it will just have to wait. I love you all, and I miss you, and I can't wait to see you again. To leave you on a happy note, look what I harvested for myself from the kitchen garden this afternoon. Can you say dinner?: