A post with all those pictures I promised, parties, and picking, and pickling too...

I'm writing another blog entry, and so soon? Maybe it's late enough in the season that I've got some spare time. We'll find out later(hint: It's not).

For starters I realized you haven't really seen what's been going on in my part of the garden at Solstice, so I though I'd give a little tour.

My Garden, in several stages of development:



Radishes, first harvest of the year(many moons ago[not so long ago as it seems]):



Delicatas:



Fennel:



Carrots and beets:

Parsnips:

Cucumbers:

Brassicas:

The corn, maybe the only corn in the valley that's actually going to get ripe:
I've been eating hot buttered corn, well salted, all by itself for dinner for the last week, or so, three four ears at a time. One of the benefits of waiting for the season is that when it finally arrives you don't have to feel bad about (over)indulging.

The pumpkin(and the rest of the winter squash)patch, complete with Megan the wonder dog, patiently waiting outside of the garden(where she is not allowed):


Winter garden, freshly prepared for planting(complete with volunteer garlic):
And after a month or two; carrots under ag fabric, and beets and broccoli:


More carrots and beets; chard and kale:
Pig Pile:

Moutons sur le pâturage:

Last Sunday we had a big party to celebrate This Goat, Ike, a friend of the local farming community, a sculptor and pit-master extraordinaire, smoked the little kid for six hours, leaving me free to make a bunch of side-dishes for the party(in between helping out on several farms for farm tour). Friends, interns and farmers came, and complimented me on my first tanning project, which I'll try and get a picture of. It was a really special evening, the food was incredible(I made some of my standard party fare, hummus, pureed beet salad, pita bread, carrot and chickpea salad, celeri remoulade, smashed zucchini, you know, just a little nosh) and Tassie, who co-owned This goat with me, brought several other dishes, and we properly feasted. I might be able to get my hands on some pictures that someone else took at the party, but it will have to wait. It was a fine way to end a very full week, and it felt like a successful end to venture, despite the cute little guys untimely death. Olivia and I slaughtered and butchered his brother, That Goat, last week as well, and it was quite a good learning experience. It was the first time either of us actually did the whole process from beginning to end(without adult supervision, as I put it), and we did quite admirably, if I do say so myself. So if any of you ever need any small to medium sized animals slaughtered, and butchered, give me a call.

You might recall me mentioning a bridge earlier in the year, or on the phone, well, we finished it, and some benches, and a cute little roof, and I've done enough of the work to say, in all honesty, that I've now built a bridge, and some benches, and a cute little roof:

Now is that cool, or what?

Some of the food I've been eating lately, roasted beets, lamb sausage(from Solstice, with homemade kraut and mustard):

Some pickles, I made for Jen, who is in Montana, visiting her friend shawn(sean?):

And a little flower arrangement to close out the summer:

It's well on September, and it's starting to get cold, and grey again, and to be perfectly frank, I'm ready for things to start slowing down, but I know, that it's going to be a while yet before I have a chance, to breath, to relax, to take stock, and decide what my future will hold. I'm optimistic, despite being quite worn out, and excited about all the possibilities the future holds. I hope, as always, that you're doing well, and welcome questions, comments, and phone calls. I just sent off my final batch of hats, so if anyone needs any knit wear, I take requests.

Walking around and taking picture this morning gave me a moment to really appreciate how special the place I am, and I've been so busy(harried, if I'm being honest) that I haven't been as good about taking that time as I was last year. I'm sure that some of it, is just the simple fact of the wonder wearing off, and the reality of what I'm doing, and what I want to do settling in. I'm ready to be doing my own thing, and as much as I love Solstice, and all of the other farms where I'm working or just helping out, I'd really love to find a place of my own, where I can do things my own way, and make my own ,mistakes, and learn my own lessons. I think I'm ready for that. So if any of you have some land you think I could raise some sheep and goats and ducks and pigs, you just let me know(this statement is meant half-jokingly).

I love you all, and hope you're well, and hope to get the chance to see you all this winter. Fun and excitement in the meantime.

I'm not feeling clever enough to come up with anything entertaining or witty...

I wonder what that says about me or about this season. At my coffeeshop of choice in Port Townsend. My barista just threw out three espressos before she pulled one she felt satisfied in serving to me. It was delicious. It's been beautiful the last few weeks...for the most part, but it still hasn't really gotten anything like what I'd call hot. I've been unbelievably busy for weeks; trying vainly to keep up with the food in the garden, and enjoy the bounty of the season. It was such a late start all over, and at Solstice in particular it seemed like we only just started getting summer crops, and now somehow it's September. Being down in the valley I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we don't get an early frost, so I have some time to make some pickles before all of my cukes get dead. The garden is full of food, and the pigs are getting fat fat fat. This spring's lambs are so big I scarcely recognize them, and the ram, Charlemagne, our farm's newest addition is huge.

I'll try and get some pictures posted in the near future, but it's quite time consuming, much more so than just writing some of the goings on, so you at least have an idea of my state of mind.

This goat died, last weekend. It came as a shock, we had not planned on slaughtering them until they had gotten a little bigger, but the poor little guy fell down a hole and broke his neck, and it was a freak accident, no one's fault, and I got over to the land where we were pasturing them, and eviscerated him, skinned him, and got him into the freezer. I'm in the process of tanning his hide, and am planning on having a big party next weekend to celebrate his life the best way we know how...eating him, of course. I'll try and get some pictures of the event, and take the time to actually post them.

I got a couple of flats of peaches from Eastern Washington last week, and have filled my freezer with slices to last me through the winter. Also, on the fruit front, at the co op, I discovered a whole pile of Charentais melons, also from Eastern WA, and I've been eating them instead of meals for three days. It's the height of summer, and if you accept the fact that cukes and zucchini and eggplants and tomatoes are all fruit, then I'd say that my diet these days is about ninety five percent fruit, and five percent basil. I'm just fine with that.

I've been covering some shifts at one of the yarn shops in Port Townsend, which almost seems unfair, given how hard I have to work to earn money farming, getting paid to sit and knit feels almost dishonest.

It does unfortunately mean that I've been busy six days most weeks, which leaves little enough time for relaxation or decompression. I suppose I'll be able to do those things in two months when the crops have died, and there is less work to do.

As far as my plans for after the season go, the FIELD program ends at the close of November, and I'll be staying at Solstice at least through the middle of January. Jim and Linda are taking a vacation to the East coast from the middle of December until then, and I'll be watching the farm with Jen and Sean. I'm looking forward to it, actually. After that I'll try and come and visit everyone; I'd like to spend some time in California, and, DC and Atlanta, before moving on to whatever I'll be doing next year.

As for what that will entail...well...I'm of two minds about that. Part of me wants nothing more than to find a piece of land and start farming. Another part of me wants to travel around, and continue doing what I am doing, essentially, learning from people, and enjoying the rhythm of the seasons and the company of farm folk. Part of me wants to do that, but try and do it across an ocean or two, maybe spend some time farming in a place where there are actual summers, but then I think of how sweaty a Georgia summer can be, and I'm not so sure about that. I know a farmer who asked me about perhaps leasing some of her property to raise some livestock on next year, which would be a great learning experience, and would require less capital investment on my part than actually getting a farm started will.

Life is pretty well up in the air.

I could do so many things, and some of them are quite appealing. Others would be a good idea in the same way that it's a good idea to eat your vegetables and to brush your teeth regularly.

Most of the interns who were here for the summer session have left. Friends going away, and moving on to other things. It will be interesting to see how many of them stick with agriculture, and how many of them will make the world better in other ways.

I have to take the time, now and again, to remind myself of how important the work I'm doing is. It's easy to overlook, especially when I hear nothing but the negatives from the people I'm around. I know that some of you don't really understand why I'm doing what I'm doing, some days I wonder about it myself. I'm not trying to save the world. I'm just trying to live a life that doesn't contribute to the downward spiral, and one that I find satisfying and enjoyable.

Even on the days when all that we do is shovel shit.

My most-common pithy quote on farming is that it boils down to two things:

Moving shit(often the shit is actually shit).

And choosing what lives and what dies(crops, weeds, livestock, and the people who we feed).

It's easy to say that no one's going to starve if Red Dog brings no carrots to market. It's true. As long as the systems that exist now for feeding the masses continue, and there are plenty of smart people who say that they won't, not forever, and so rebuilding the infrastructure that will allow communities to feed themselves is of utmost importance.

So do me a favor...if you've got the chance. Go buy something from a farmer. Don't complain about expensive how those carrots or salad greens are. They're worth it. A human being toiled over those plants, and you'd not believe how much work a carrot entails. While you're at it, cook for each other. I wish I could be there to cook for all of you. I know how busy life can be, and I freely admit that sometimes I'm too tired to cook, but I promise you that I cook a meal for myself at least twice a day, and I know you work hard, but I promise you that you're not working any harder than I am.

Wow, that got preachy, didn't it?

Sorry. I'm at a place in my life where I no longer feel the need to rail against the things I see around me that I can't change that I think I should be able to, but sometimes I still need to say the things that I believe, a little louder than I should, in a public place, where some kid at the next table might overhear me, and might decide for themselves that you know what, how we feed ourselves is important. It's the one thing, aside from water, that none of us, man or woman, animal or plant, can do without. Food is life.

I hope you're all doing well. I'll try and keep updating this blog for as long as I can, and will probably be able to do more as the year progresses. Next week I'll see if I can't just post a bunch of pictures even if I can't manage to write anything.

Two nights ago, at Finn River I sat under the stars, surrounded by farm folk, enjoying a dessert pot luck, and watching The Green Horns, a documentary about young farmers. If you've got the time, give it a watch. It's nice, even if the narrator's voice can be a little grating. It's easy to get bogged down in the day to day details of living in the country and caring for plants and animals, but it can be more satisfying than anything else I've ever done.

I'm going to end with a simple anecdote. Last Sunday, I had plans to see a movie, but could not, because we had hay down in the field, and a rainy front moving in. We bucked hay, loading it onto a flat bed trailer, and storing it in the barn. As I stood on top of the pile, organizing the bales, and breathing deeply in the scent of drying grass I couldn't help but smile, knowing, beyond doubt, that somewhere there was a Wall street banker working on the weekend, who would have wanted nothing more than be in a barn somewhere breathing in the scent of hay, and working at something tangible.

It's funny, given how busy I am...

...how little I have had to say here.

Life progresses apace, friends and loved ones. I started a new job last week, harvesting two days a week at Red Dog, which is just around the corner from Solstice. That's right, boys and girls, I'm now getting paid for to do that which I've been doing for free. Part of the time, at least. It's a really cool operation, Karyn and her crew grow really beautiful and delicious produce, and they have quality control standards as high as I've ever seen. I'm learning a lot, just being around her and her crew(even though I spend most of my time picking strawberries). She runs a really successful operation, and it's great to see someone my age making her farm work, and still managing to treat everyone involved fairly. Cool stuff.

At Solstice we've pretty much finished planting the garden, and although I'm continuing to put fall and winter crops in anywhere I can find some empty row space, we've reached the point where we're mostly going to be maintaining what we've already done in the coming months.

We had to put down one of our pigs, Shorty, he was sick with an infection of some sort, and none of the treatments we tried managed to get him healthy again. It's sad, but it's also a fact of nature that not every animal makes it to maturity.

The goats are doing well, and This Goat and That Goat are getting quite fat. It's almost time for them to be weaned, and we're all pretty excited at the prospect of no longer having to bottle feed every day.

The new interns have integrated into the community at large, and we're all getting along well. We're learning a lot, and working hard, and even managing to have a lot of fun in our spare time. Not that I've got a whole lot of that with the new gig on top of all the work I was doing before. Recent classes have included climate variability and food security and soil science. This month we've got classes on fiber(wool FTW) and at the end of the month we're taking a class of pickles and jams from a master preserver.

I've been baking always, as is usual, and with a new group of coworkers to endear myself to I've been pulling out all my best treats. On the savory front I've made rabbit confit, from one of the other interns, Tassie's bunnies, which were her independent learning project; I also just finished cooking up a bunch of corned lamb's tongues. I think we've had a potluck at least every other week all season long.

As much as I love watching the food in the garden grow I was reminded how satisfying I find working with the animals the other morning when we treated the new lamb's hooves, and wormed them, prior to separating them from their mothers for weaning. I spent the morning kneeling in poop, and administering shots, and squirting wormer down the mouths of calm and accepting animals, and it was a joyous way to spend a day.

The newest batch of layers, Rhode Island Reds, are maturing quickly, and are starting to look like little chickens instead of like tiny feathered dinosaurs. Olivia, at Spring Rain is raising turkeys for her independent project, and if you've ever thought baby chicks are cute it's only because you haven't seen baby turkeys.

Not sure how much else I have to share. I'm still writing, and still knitting(working on three projects right now), and I've actually been working on a hide from the last slaughter. Kay at Spring Rain has been learning to cure hides, and tan leather just as a personal interest, and one of the things that all of the interns are really excited to be able to do is share our knowledge and our passions with one another. What could be better than that? Bread baking classes anyone?

What was that? You want some pictures? I guess I'll see what I can come up with.

Asparagus, garlic scapes, salad greens and a fried egg? Don't mind if I do:



Asparagus Volunteers:

Dilly scapes, first pickles of the year:



Sheep at sunset:

My lettuce, and potato bins in the background, and a preview of the intern row on the garden(these pics taken a few weeks ago, I'll get some updated shots with stuff actually growing for next time):


Last knitting project? First pair of socks...guys let me tell you if you ever have the chance to rock a pair of handmade wool socks, I reccomend it unreservedly:
Hope y'all found something to enjoy in that. I enjoyed sitting and writing it; since it gave me a chance to reflect on the last few weeks, and to think of you all. Working on having my bike sent out here, so I have an alternative to driving the beast of the van. Thinking ahead to what i might do next. Not coming up with any definite answers, but I definitely have some tentative plans. I've got a pretty big birthday coming up, and the thought of it is both exciting and not really. I've been claiming thirty within days of turning twenty nine, but the reality of it is another thing. I look forward to the day, and I look forward to the day when I next get to see you all, so I can tell you how much you all mean to me in person, instead of as a group by way of a blog entry.

Love you guys, hope you're enjoying life as much as I am, and are keeping busy and productive and are making new friends and learning a lot. I know I am, and it makes all the difference in the world.

This is the third time I've sat down to write a blog entry...

...we'll see if I can actually get it finished this time. I'm not really certain why I've had such a hard time finding something to say. I've been busy enough that I feel like I should have tons of stories to relate, but when I try and start typing I find myself at a loss for what to say.

So what have I been doing? I ask for my own benefit as much as yours. This week, I helped finish planting the garden, squash, cukes, and corn. We trimmed sheep hooves, and wormed, and selected out the Ewe's who'll be culled after weaning(not the most pleasant of jobs). We installed a French drain at the northern edge of the garden. I weeded my peas(my own personal stash/cash crop), and helped Jim and Linda prepare breakfast at the B and B, one morning. I've been feeding our goats(did I mention I bought livestock with some of my fellow interns?) three evenings each week. This week for our FIELD class we took a nature hike, and discussed the natural history of the Olympic peninsula(and weeded raspberries); afterwards I played in the first farmer kickball game of the season. Aaron...team sports...it went much as I'm sure you're imagining it. The asparagus is probably on its last week, which means that we're finally allowed to partake with abandon, rather than harvesting it all for the co op. I've spent some time getting our row in the garden prepped and planted, and am beginning my planning for late summer plantings for fall and winter harvest. I've been doing research about motorcycle shipping options, my van just being too expensive for unpaid farm boy to use as a primary mode of transportation, I've also been biking a lot, and rocking the bus whenever possible.

We started the summer FIELD session last week, and have eight new interns participating, suddenly we are a force to be reckoned with. I've spent a lot of time talking over my plans with members of the food community here, and people all seem excited when I start talking about what I'd like to be doing in the next couple of years. Now all I need to do is find the right piece of land, and the right people, and secure all the funding, and...

In the meantime I'll continue learning all I can, and making plans that will undoubtedly all have to be changed when I finally find where I'll be, and learn what will be appropriate to do there.

I went to La Push for my friend Lela's birthday a few weeks ago. It was sunny and beautiful, and a perfect opportunity to enjoy sand in between our toes, and wonderful food(as is always the case when a bunch of farmers get together for a special occasion), not to mention scenery unlike any beaches I've experienced until I came to Washington:




Starts, ready for transplanting(which have been planted in the past weeks[and Ellen our fierce, fat, barn cat]):



50 Rhode Island Red chicks
Steaming hot pizza, fresh from the oven(rhubarb, roasted radish, and mixed greens, with local chevre):

Making cheese in my spare time(notice the Robert Heinlein quote in the background, which I didn't even put up):My goats, these two This Goat and That Goat, have been joined by two more, Other Goat, and Ike's Goat.

This Goat:

That Goat:

The goat pen, complete with pallet based, Aaron constructed, shelter:


The flowers, in bloom, keep our apartment bright, and smelling sweet:


I hope everyone is doing as well as I am. I find myself constantly surrounded by people who are as excited about what we're doing as I am. This has helped me to appreciate where I am. Solstice is really a beautiful place, and a part of an even larger community of people who support what we're doing.

I'm really lucky, and have on more than one occasion in the last week had the chance to remark aloud to myself, that I really love my life. I hope you all are loving your lives as well, regardless of whatever challenges we face, there is much to be optimistic about, much to be excited about.

I'm excited.