We are in a big hoeing cycle right now getting the beds ready so the starters can really take off. Using the Hula Hoe in soft soil like we have can be rather fun. It produces satisfying results and  the movement is very rhythmic, like a dance. But then there are times when the hoe won't cut it and you have to get a little more up close and personal with the weeds. Yep, down on hands and knees. In this case, sorting baby green onions from the weeds which are trying to suffocate them. By the end of the day, I was ready for a new task but hey, this is farming. Farming is about tending to your crops, cultivating them and helping them thrive. There isn't any job on a farm that is glamorous. It's all about getting done what needs to get done and there are always weeds that NEED to be pulled. So instead of focusing on quittin' time, I used it as an opportunity to learn about weeds. And as it turns out, weeds are pretty fascinating :) Many are edible, medicinal or beneficial in some way. Take Lamb's Quarter (as shown in the above picture). I recognized this weed immediately. I've seen it in Ohio where I grew up, in California, now Colorado. This guys gets around. But, it's edible! It is the Chenopodium family along with other leafy greens like spinach and Swiss Chard. Other varieties include grains like quinoa! The infamous Pig Weed is the ugly step child of the Amaranth family whose more lovable cousins produce nutritious grains which can be used for a multitude of uses like flour, cereal and even popcorn. Obnoxious thistles and bind weeds which seem to serve no other purpose than to annoy you like mosquitoes actually have a higher purpose too...their "tap" roots extend deep to lower horizons in the soil which bring nutrients up closer to the plant. Plucking or chopping them back leaves those vitamins for the plant you are trying to grow versus allowing the weed to feed off it instead. Pretty cool system they've got. A natural herbicide/pesticides like Chrysanthemum can be used but it is pricey so many farmers don't use it. And of course, we can't use chemicals so the only other way to get the weeds is to pull them by hand. Yet another reason to love and cherish your food. Today I had to pull five weeds off one little green onion. I want that onion to make it's way into a yummy salad and not get forgotten about in the crisper drawer of someone's fridge.

The Greenhouse Project...below is a progression shot of the greenhouse in its next phase of transformation from a packed sand & granite floor to airable soil. After depositing loads of compost, we had Pete get a little practice with the plow by mixing the compost in with the tough ground below. Go Pete!

Abbondonza is predominantly a veggie and seed producing farm but they do have a fair number of farm animals. The majority of that is taken up by the 230 chickens which compromise over 30 varieties. These are the happiest of chickens roaming free all over the farm in the pastures and around the barns. We are constantly shoeing them out of the nursery or greenhouse but take delight as they "express their chickeness" (term coined by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms). CSA members can get an egg share or folks can buy them  at the farmers market where upwards of 80 dozen eggs are for sale each week - one dozen for $7 or two for $10. Today, while watering starter plants in the nursery, I discovered it truly was a nursery because roosting behind some potted saplings, was a mother hen and her eight chics. Not all were even born yet as you could see the beak of a chic pecking through its shell, see picture below.We took just a moment to admire and let the mother get back to her babies. Then as we uncovered some compost, a mouse scurried away exposing a small nest with four baby mice curled up in a bed of chicken feathers. We put the nest in the shade near to where the compost mound had been and hoped the mother would return. We left it unattended and within an hour the the mother had come back to relocate her family.

In the barn, we have two goats named Mack and Ringo, two work horses named Kane and Pete and one donkey named Ellie. The goats help with mowing the grass and disposing of food scraps. But watch out for their horns. They have and aren't afraid to use them! Pete and Kane are in training to be work horses. Pete is five and Kane is three, see below. Pete is Kane's uncle. A couple times a week, husband and wife team - Ken and Becky, arrive for Pete & Kane's training exercises where they practice walking side-by-side around the farm perimeter with a plow on wheels. We're hoping to have Pete in the fields by fall. And then there is sweet Ellie who just loves a treat and a scratch on the nose.

It's only the first week and my mind is already churning with ideas for where this road may lead. Farmers are so busy with the day to day that they can't dedicate the time they would like to marketing and business development. It's a priority for sure but when the veggies need to be harvested and taken to market that takes precedent. Whether it be working part-time for a few farmers or being hired as a consultant, farmers could use advice on how to leverage what they do best or how to promote themselves better. For instance, I was at the local farmer's market this past Wednesday evening. Which, by the way, is a community celebration here in Boulder where people come for the social aspect as much as for the fresh produce. The place was packed with food vendors, children playing and street performers. Anyway, I saw arugula at this one stand and thought about this yummy white pizza I make with arugula salad on top. But as I sized up the stand, I got the impression it was not organic so I went to the next stall which had lettuce displayed in baskets, a fun name and catchy logo (FYI...just because a farmer is at a farmer's market, doesn't mean they are organic). The next day, I asked my farming co-workers if that other farm was organic and they said yes and they do a really great job. Whoops! The farm's logo, however, was generic and looked more like a sister company to Monsanto than your local, organic grower. And their stand was bland and not well staffed. Yes, I should have asked if they were organic and yes ,we need to get to know all out local farmers,. But, the average Josephine has a farm profile in her mind. A little elbow grease into the branding and profits could increase. For some farmers, it may mean diversifying to attract more customers not just at the farmer's market but to the farm itself. I read this article yesterday in the New York Times on Agritourism. Not only can, and should, farms market themselves better but they may find a new business opportunity and a way to hire more employees by starting a side business and offer farm stays, bed and breakfasts, work shares, pick-your-own, barn weddings, field dinners, etc...

As I woke up, I could hear the sound of car tires driving over wet pavement. Rolling over and sleeping in sounded like a much better idea than going out into soggy fields. Was a rainy day to farms like a snow day is too schools? Closed! If only I could turn the radio on and hear that my farm was closed for the day and work was canceled. I started thinking how a rain day probably meant non-field chores like maintenance and cleaning and that maybe I didn't have to work today because I was a "farm" intern. But I rallied. My good conscious knew better. I'm glad I did, a farm on a misty, cool spring morning is just as beautiful as a sunny day in summer. And I learned an important lesson...working on a farm has as much to do with barn duties as it does with field work. You can't learn to cook without knowing where things are in your kitchen. Same with farming! Half the job is keeping a well organized work space. So much stuff gets misplaced or rearranged during the course of business and needs put back and straightened. Plus, the diversity switches things up and keeps every day different. It allowed us to start a project which I will be very interested to see develop...building productive soil. I'm a big fan of soil! The project: transform the greenhouse’s organic flooring made of sand & granite into nutrient rich soil. The pressed sand/granite floor works well when you need a leveled service that's permeable so starter trays can drain atop screened-top tables. But the plan is to convert this area to a hoop house which will use soil on the ground to grow starters rather than trays on tables. It will involve breaking up the top layer of pressed dirt flooring to get at the soil below. Next, we'll mix compost in with the sand/granite flooring and roll it all together with the sub-soil sequestered underneath. See picture below for the prep work. Look for future posts and pictures marking our progress.

In the attached photo is co-worker, Austin. He is holding our favorite lettuce, Forellenschluss lettuce, a.k.a. Speckled Trout's Back. This sassy little lettuce starter goes in the ground Monday morning!

Lunch happens every day right around 1pm, three hours after the 10am break. We prepare a group lunch and everyone pitches in before all sitting down in the shade of open air barn while a cool breeze washes over us. People will spend $80 or more for a barn dinner but for us, it's a daily celebration. We've been eating "onion greens" sautéed with olive oil and tossed with scrambled eggs and other yumminess. I know, I had never heard of them either. Come to find out, they are the tops of yellow onions. Who'd a guessed. I'm totally into them. They're mild and a bit sweet not bitter like chard or kale. Not sure how to get them at home though...ask your farmer or grow your own :) Here's a another fun fact about onions...scallions, or green onions, are just young bulbous onions. Let scallions grow and they'll develop a bulb like yellow, white and purple onions. Maybe I'm the last to know this but I found it fascinating.

In other news...Yesterday I learned that hoeing has a dual purpose. Seems like most things do on the farm. Today, I learned that plastic tarps aren't just for keeping weeds out but for also helping to generate heat for hot crops like melons, cucumbers and tomatoes. The tarps you see covering fields is there to generate heat while also keeping the soil moist. Pretty nifty! But then you have to sprinkle dirt around the base of the cucumber or melon plant so the leaves don't touch the plastic. The plastic can get really hot obviously and can scorch the delicate leaves. You can't just throw the dirt on there though, you have to carefully distribute the dirt so the base of the plant is free to breathe but no plastic is showing within a foot of the base. There is a lot of precision in farming. The melons and cucs we were planting were trials meaning we were only planting two or three of each variety in order to see which one does best in this climate. The winners will get to come back next year and have a whole crop of its own (Abbondonza is a seed farm too but I'll cover all that in a different blog post - even cooler stuff).

You know it's going to be a good day when the owner and lead farmer, Rich, greets you with a hug and says, "let's go farming!" I am an experiential learner which is why I chose this self-described path to become educated about our food system. And without effort, the knowledge is dripping everywhere. We start by trimming some chamomile and Rich takes the trimmings and says, "now smell that." And we pass it around breathing in its lovely fragrance. These are the type of people you want growing your food...it's grown with love! The first part of the day was devoted to transplanting starters to their field beds, broccoli and fennel. It's a traumatic process for these youngsters as they get pulled from their plug and sit in the shade waiting to get planted in their new home. It's a frenetic process because you don't want the starters sitting out too long and drying out. They must go in the ground with wet roots. But they also must be handled carefully. The afternoon is all about hoeing. We hoed over 1600 feet apiece which took about 4hrs. You've heard the concept that if you eat meat, you should hunt and kill at least once. Well, if you eat vegetables, you should hoe for a few hours. We would waste a lot less food in this country if we did because you would see the care and time it takes to nurture the food that we see so bountifully in the produce section or at the farmers market. Someone had to bring each and every plant to harvest. And hoeing is serious business. I call it The Hoe Theory...We must have stopped as a group to talk about the technique of hoeing at least four times...working in teams, one person doing the sides and someone else the in-between. And what I learned is that hoeing is not so much about aerating the soil but weeding. Aahh! And the hoes are state of the art. It's still backbreaking work but this beauty slices and dices. The real coincidence is, I just saw the hoe we were using profiled on Grist.org the other day It's called the Hula Hoe. So when I saw what we were using, I was like I know that hoe :)

I could write a whole blog just by what I saw and learned on my orientation day at the farm. If it is any indication of what's to come, it is going to exceed all expectations. I arrived to the smell of bacon cooking and I was invited to sit down at the kitchen table with Shanan and her two small boys, Dylan-8 and Spencer-7, who are both home schooled. We talked about what it means to "believe in what you are doing." For the CSA shareholder (community supported agriculture), it means joining for more than just because everyone else is doing it. Ask yourself, "why you are member?" And are you conscious in other aspects of your lifestyle? Abbondonza went from 350 shares to 30 shares in an effort to redefine what it means to be a shareholder. For the organic farmer, they have to constantly remind themselves why they got into the business and keep believing in those convictions. It's not an easy balance to strike when weighing the finances. For instance, most organic farmers in Colorado import their starters (lettuce, greens, etc.) from California because it is too expensive to have an on-site nursery. That means that even though you think your food is local, it is still traveling over 1000 miles. To help correct this, Abbondanza is in the seed business and starting to provide "starters" for local farmers so they don't have to outsource from so far away. Farmers educating farmers. That my friends is the wave of the future!

It's only day three of my Boulder experiment and I feel totally at home. Living close to a downtown area, you feel the soul of a community. Its chest rises and falls like a living creature and you can fell the life which unites neighbors, merchants, students, artists, etc. Boulder's reputation as a vibrant and colorful community is no secret. There are a lot of wonderful communities like my own in Truckee, CA but Boulder is the quintessential community. So many people live in such close proximity to the downtown area that it pulls more people from the perimeter to participate in the daily flow. And flow it does. So much activity and engagement! Community will be an important thread in this blog because community will be key to solving a lot of our nation's problems. Localizing economies will make communities more resilient so they can provide, support and sustain themselves whether it be creating jobs and building infrastructure or sourcing energy and growing food.

After leaving Great Basin National Park, I decided to bee line it for Boulder in a day with just a couple stops along the way. One was in Glenwood Springs, CO to meet up with one of the local organizers for the tour I currently manage for the Wild & Scenic Film Festival. Judy Olesen is the Development Director for the Independence Pass Foundation in Aspen, CO. Their organization has hosted the festival as an outreach tool for new members for the past four years. Among Judy's many talents is owning and operating Colorado Mountain Jam with her husband, Brian. They grow and package all their own organic jams and jellies on sight in Palisade, CO. And out of 1700 entries every year, CMJ has won the SOFI Award four out of the past five years for best specialty, organic product. WOW! This is only day two and I'm already having the encounters that I hoped this trip would produce. It's a reminder that if we pay attention, every day offers an opportunity to connect us to the food we eat.

Today my Foodlust journey officially began. I left my hometown of Truckee, CA today at 12:30. Destination...Boulder, CO and the Abbondanza Organic Farm where I will intern for the next four weeks starting Monday the 6th. Today marks three years in the making and a promise to myself to get out there and see what I can do to help fix our food system. I have a lot to learn but excited for every experience, encounter and event. I'm about a third of the way to Boulder sitting in my favorite roadside cafe in Baker, NV (Lectrolux Cafe). Where? Baker is the sleepy little town at the base of America's least visited national park, Great Basin National Park. The park intrigues me. It's remote and quirky. Two things I love. And the road you take to get here is also my favorite highway, Hwy 50. People either love it or hate the drive. I'm on the extreme end of loving it. The wide open spaces between mountain ranges lets my mind soar. It allows me to exhale all my worries and be filled with hope and possibility. Before I start getting too philosophical, I'll just say...it's a pretty magical road. And the perfect way to start my trip.