Earth Dance, Week #4

Wednesday

May 5, 2010

Adriana has a friend who lives in Stewartville, and she will be working on the farm this summer.  Norm asked me if it would work for this girl to ride with me on Wednesdays.  Since I come right through Stewartville anyway, I think it would work great.  She'll be starting in June, after school lets out.

Here are all the seedlings that need to get planted.

Oh my goodness...look at how big they've gotten!

The strawberry field needs to be weeded.

Strawberry plant.

Got to meet the new interns today!

Two of them started this past Monday.

This is Bushra.  She is 23 and from Duluth.

She is doing a short-term volunteer internship.

She is studying Environmental Engineering

and is going to go into the Peace Corps.

While we were weeding the strawberries,

I came across this monster dandelion...

it was so big, it looked like a bouquet!

Next, we planted Copra yellow long-storage onions.

Here, Norm is tilling the beds to plant them in.

This is Mark.  He is 21 and is a paid intern.

He is from the Chicago area and

majored in both Environmental Engineering and Philosophy.

He would like to farm organically someday

on land his family has in North Carolina.

He also likes to play guitar on his breaks!

Time to plant the kohlrabi seedlings.

We get them loaded on the cart,

and Mark pushes them out to the garden.

Norm tills up the beds for the kohlrabi.

Here is Norm giving us planting directions.

Laying out the kohlrabi in rows.

Peas are next.

Here's Hannah checking

to make sure we've got enough peas to plant.

Bushra planting peas.

Here I am planting peas, too.

Bushra was kinda enough to take my picture.

These are the beds for the peas.

All we had to do was sprinkle

the peas into the rows.

Then, Mark came behind us with a garden rake

and smoothed the dirt over them.

Yay!  Riley's here!

And, just in time,

because we needed one more bed

tilled up for a few more kohlrabi plants.

Man, that guy can really drive a tractor!

Bushra, finishing up planting for the day.

She and Mark, along with Norm and Riley,

will finish planting the kohlrabi tomorrow.

Now that the interns are here,

they will be helping Norm everyday.

I only come once a week, so I bet things

will really be different by next Wednesday!

I went to the kale patch to pick some kale

to take home.

As I finished and started to walk up to my car,

I looked up and saw the horses running out to pasture.

They were so happy and free,

kicking up their hooves and tossing their manes.

It was a very windy day today.

I feel kinda beat up from that,

but it was a great day,

and I'm really going to sleep tonight.

: )