It's Monday and another HUGE day on the farm. Always something to learn! The coolest thing by far was learning how to siphon. Maybe this was something you learned way back when but I never did. Today, we had to empty the tubs of water we use to wash the veggies. The tubs don't have drains so instead of emptying them out with buckets, we siphoned the water out. I was delighted with this new trick. If you are like me and not in the know, here is how it works...you take a hose that is not connected to a spicket but leads out to any area that can drain. Then you take a hose that is connected to a water source and submerge both hoses in the water. Turn on the water and blow the water into the drain hose. It creates a vacuum that pulls the water from the tub and out the drain hose. Magic! But the best part is not the siphoning, it's what happens before when you are preparing the veggies and greens. Today's processing was a private order for a local employer's organic cafeteria. Dunking the heads of lettuce and rinsing them lovingly in a cool bath is so soothing and therapuetic. I like thinking were they will go and the yummy dish they will be apart of.
Today was also a rainy day so we found ourselves back on The Greenhouse Project. We made a lot of progress. First loosening the firm ground underneath with ditches of water (see pictures below). Once absorbed, we shaped the mixture of sand, clay and compost into raised beds. Working the ingredients you could see the healthy soil developing in front of you. We first used pitchforks to chisle the soil, then added more compost sifting it through the top layer and finally raking the beds to even out the peaks and valleys. When you are doing this type of work, you are doing a lot of repetitive tasks. Tasks that you take joy in perfecting or just having fun with because they become rhythmic. So as we listened to some reggae funk music on the greenhouse's stereo, I can up with this dance routine (click the link for the video). It added a little cardo workout to the movement. Maybe local Crossfit gyms would be interested in coming out to the farm for a few rotations. Could be a good way to recruit some volunteers :)
Today was also a rainy day so we found ourselves back on The Greenhouse Project. We made a lot of progress. First loosening the firm ground underneath with ditches of water (see pictures below). Once absorbed, we shaped the mixture of sand, clay and compost into raised beds. Working the ingredients you could see the healthy soil developing in front of you. We first used pitchforks to chisle the soil, then added more compost sifting it through the top layer and finally raking the beds to even out the peaks and valleys. When you are doing this type of work, you are doing a lot of repetitive tasks. Tasks that you take joy in perfecting or just having fun with because they become rhythmic. So as we listened to some reggae funk music on the greenhouse's stereo, I can up with this dance routine (click the link for the video). It added a little cardo workout to the movement. Maybe local Crossfit gyms would be interested in coming out to the farm for a few rotations. Could be a good way to recruit some volunteers :)
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