Earth Dance, Week #6

Wednesday

May 19, 2010

We started out planting herbs.  Mark and I planted the thyme, and then Mark went with Norm to tear down a fence and put new posts in.

Bushra planting sage.

Got to meet Matt who started on Monday, May 17th.  He is a philosophy major at La Crosse and is from Rochester (Elton Hills).  He went to Lourdes High School.  He wants to do his Master's degree in organic farming, and he definitely wants to farm organically some day.  His Dad and brother are both engineers at IBM.  Matt volunteered at Earth Dance for one week last year, and Norm liked him and hired him on for this whole season as an intern.  He's a happy, funny guy.  As soon as he met me, he gave me the name, "Wednesday Special!"  I got quite a kick out of that.

Norm, telling Matt and Mark that the old sage patch needs to be weeded.

Bushra and Matt planting marjoram.  Love the new hat, Bushra!

Bushra taking rosemary plants out of their pots to be planted.

Thyme seedlings.

Marjoram seedlings.

Rosemary seedlings.

Sage seedling.

After planting all the herbs, Mark rejoined us, and we weeded the old sage patch.  The picture above is looking back at the morning's work.

Mark putting everything away before lunch.

At lunchtime, I checked out the chicks!

I also peeked in the greenhouse...there's lots left to plant!

Here are the tomatoes I planted from seeds on my first day (April 14th).

After lunch, both the guys went with Norm to continue the fence post job.  Bushra and I mulched the herbs that we had planted this morning.  It was starting to get hot, and I lent Bushra a spare long-sleeved shirt, because she felt like she was getting too much sun.

Next, Bushra and I weeded in the strawberry patch.  It was hard to move too fast, because it was in the 80s by now.

Norm took a break from working with the guys and came and picked Bushra and I up in his pickup, along with Adriana, and he took us up to see the Shiitake mushrooms.  He had just picked a basket of asparagus, and we were eating it raw...it was very tender and tasty!

He had just been up to see the mushrooms before he came to get us and had picked this basketful.

Up behind the horse arena, just inside the edge of the woods is where he grows his Shiitakes.  Holes have been drilled in these logs, where the spores are placed and covered with wax.  It then takes a few years for these mushrooms to grow.

Close-up of Shiitakes.

Norm drove us back down to the house, and Bushra and I finished weeding our rows of strawberries.  Next, we went up to the rhubarb patch to weed.  On our way, I got to see where they had planted the rainbow chard (above).  They're so tiny now.

Riley showed up after school and started weed whipping the raspberries.  Bushra told me she had tightened up the strings for the raspberries since the last time I was here.

We could hardly see the rhubarb plants when we started weeding, and this is what it looked like after we cleared the weeds around each plant.

Bushra strikes a pose.

: )

It's 5:00...our work day is done.  Stopped and petted the horses on our way down.

Earth Dance, Week #5

Wednesday

May 12, 2010

Chilly, rainy day.

Mark and Bushra and I weed the thyme field.

Bushra pulling apart the thyme seedlings

to plant amongst the older plants.

Mark and Bushra mulching between

the thyme plants with straw

to discourage weed growth.

The chicks got moved to a new place

in the chicken house,

 but a different room from the adult hens.

They're getting bigger every week!

The chicks are just inside that white door

on the chicken house.  Lots more room

than that old stock tank they started out in.

Hundreds of seedlings waiting to be planted,

but there's been too much rain,

and it won't be letting up until the weekend.

Mark and Bushra had time off this week because of the rain,

but they will have to work on Saturday this week.

The honey spinner.

Mark uncapping the honey cells in a frame

with an electric hot knife.

Three frames go in the spinner at a time.

Norm showing us

how to spin the honey.

Mark checking to make sure the honey

has all been spun out of each frame.

If some honey remains, a torch can be used

to warm the honey to help extract it.

After the honey is spun out of the frames,

it is let out the bottom of the spinner

and run through 2 separate strainers.

Mark takes a turn with Bushra,

spinning the honey.

Must be close to the end of they day,

cause here's Riley to try his hand at spinning honey!

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.

: )

Earth Dance Flyers

Spent the morning putting up flyers for the farm I work on, Earth Dance Organic Farm.

First, went to the Rochester Athletic Club and gave one to the front desk person, who said they would be able to post it in the employees' break room.

Next, went to Curves health club on 18th Avenue, where I also gave it to the front desk person who said they would post it.

Northgate Health Club actually asked for 2 flyers, because they said they could put one up in each of the women's and men's locker rooms...perfect!

Stopped at the Rochester Public Library next.  They have a huge bulletin board, but it needs approval before it can be put up, probably on Monday.

Workout World was next.  I was actually allowed to put the flyer up immediately on their bulletin board in their foyer.  Wow, that place was hopping.  I bet they are giving the RAC a run for their money!

My husband even took a flyer to put up at his place of work, Hardcore Computer!

Well, at that point, I was out of flyers, and the first run had been such a success, that I decided to go home and print out some more, because I had thought of another list of places they could go.

This time, Alex got to come along, and I was allowed to post flyers right away at the following places:

Andy's Liquor Express in Country Club Manor
Kwik Trip in Country Club Manor
The Hy-Vee Laundromat
The Crossroads Laundromat

And, I gave a flyer to the front desk person at the YMCA, who said it would have to get approved before it could be posted, but she did tell me she was actually interested herself, and I told her to go ahead and rip off an info tab for herself.

I bet that will help fill Norm's shares for the season!

By the way....Happy May Day!!