Community Muscles

If there is such a thing as high summer, then mustn't there be a high winter? This week feels like it. With two whopper snowstorms behind us and another one before us, we Village Farmers are knee deep in seed catalogs and crop planning spreadsheets between plowing and shoveling events.

The barnyard report is blissfully uneventful. The cows grunch-grunch their hay in a most satisfying way and the hens are happily ensconced in their hoophouse turned chicken house. That is about it. Well, I guess we did find out this week, in a most embarrassing way, that Miss Meow, a recent addition to the barnyard menagerie, is actually a male. Oh well, leave it to the farmers to skip looking for the identifying parts.

There was a solid turnout Thursday night at a community meeting here in Freedom. I don't get out much, as they say, but as the children were off for a weekend with their grandparents, it was a pleasure to sit with other Freedomites for a few hours of mid-winter scheming. The scheming at hand was regarding a building that the Historical Society acquired this past fall. The Society paid back taxes to the town to take ownership of "Keen Hall," the yellow house on the western edge of our village. Most people remember it as the principal's house. Clayton Larrabee remembers taking his senior finals in it in the 50's. 

Chris Glass, an expert on historical preservation was in attendance and he spoke eloquently to the value, both economic and cultural, of historical preservation of significant buildings. He brought some drawings of possible renovation scenarios for the 18x36 original building, the 18x18 original ell and also recommended that the existing, decrepit garage be torn down.

The Historical Society asked for ideas from the gathered citizens. There were words of encouragement and support and, of course, words of doubt.

Not everyone agreed that this building was a worthy project but in the speaking and listening, a few key misconceptions were cleared up.
1. This is not a town project. There will be no additional tax burden to Freedom residents. This is a project of a newly incorporated 501(c)3 non-profit (The Freedom Community Historical Society).
2. Though non-profits do not pay taxes to the town, some choose to give a "payment in lieu of taxes" to acknowledge the use of town services and the fact that a property in town is no longer on the tax rolls.

What I witnessed was a room full of people who were interested enough in the project to leave their woodstoves and comfy chairs and show up to a meeting. I heard people speaking up in support and others speaking up in dissent. To me, this all adds up to the good news that people care. And since change comes only through our active participation in our places, our towns, our waterways, I think that those who want to work together should work together.
Working together builds our community muscles.
And working together feels good.
There are certainly many ways to improve and give back to our town. (Cleaning up falling down houses was one that came up quite a few times last night.) Through the initiative of the Historical Society, the one before us last eve was a "bold," (to quote Mr. Freedom General) suggestion that instead of tearing down an eyesore, we fix it up. This house stands at the western gateway to our village. The questions on the table were "Does this part of our history have a future? Should we work together to save it?"

I do hope so. I look forward to lending my hands to its restoration but mostly I look forward to having a project to work on with my neighbors.

Want to get involved? Next meeting of the Freedom Historical Society is Wednesday, Feb 11 at the Town Office Annex. 7pm.
 

With all our best, The Village Farmers

Wood

It seems to be the appropriate time of year to write about wood.
Wood. (Singular or plural? I love this word.)

Sugar Maple bark.

We burn it all day long in our home stove. We build with it: benches for the new greenhouse, a pine floor for my studio, a pencil holder for Prentice's birthday (shhh! Don't tell! It is Benny's secret project!). We think about it and plan it into our future: what part of the woodlot next year's firewood will come from, how much wood our new greenhouse will need to grow rockin' good seedlings, what trees we will grow out for FEDCO Trees. And we dream about it: I want to plant raspberry canes, American Plum seedlings, more elderberries, build a grape arbor and  on and on.

We just got an email from a beginning farmer in Vermont who is starting a medicinal forest orchard. I tell you, I love to grow vegetables but my heart sings when I think of a "medicinal forest orchard." Wow. I want to plant one, too! Let me on that train!

This farmer was seeking rootstock for an elderberry variety that we "introduced" a few years ago. I say "introduce" as that is plant world lingo for bringing a new variety into the world--of commerce, yes, but also because they are plants, I think of it as spreading the genetic material. In this case, an old variety, probably a chance seedling gets to become a "new" variety. Anyways, enough with the "quotation marks!" We took cuttings, propagated them, grew them out here in our nursery, dug them and sold the young plants to FEDCO Trees. I, quite literally, grew up under this elder. It is the elderberry that grows from the place where my parents' 200 year old barn and the earth meet. It grows from the foundation, it seems, but I know it's roots are in the earth. We called it 'Meadowview' after my parents' farm.

Some cuttings of cornus rugosa.

Before I can commit to sending elderberry wood or young plants to this inspiring, forward thinking farmer in Vermont, we shall have to wait and see how many cuttings I can humanely take from my parents' planting this spring. We have established our own 'Meadowview' elderberry orchard here at Village Farm but the plants are still too small to take cuttings. And somehow, without that barn looming overhead and those granite foundation stones, I am somehow in doubt that it will be the same variety.

A sculpture carved into a stump in Belfast, Maine. Photo by Joseph.

Perhaps you will plant a tree this spring. Perhaps I will, too!
More, soon. A new website is on its way.
All the best from here,
Polly and co.

In Between

Happy Holidays from all of us at Village Farm! Sure hope that you have enjoyed the season's mellower notes as well as just as much cheer and partying and mirth as you can handle.

We won't go into this in-between weather other than to say we are hoping for ICE (to skate upon!) and then lots of SNOW. Winter sporting type activities, or shall I say, winter frolicking activities of all sorts are big in our house, so we all get kind of obsessed with the NOAA forecast. Hoping for perfect ice and then a dumping of "snowball snow."

This picture is from early December. I tend to take lots of pictures like this from the porch. I see something out the window that looks good enough to photograph, which for me is a combination of beauty and story and I grab the camera. Click. There you go. Pretty, snowy dusty fields with my dear Prentice biking to check on some very late cauliflower in the far field. Beautiful and story-rich.

Another few pictures taken from the dooryard: Prentice walking Sal and Pep, the 18 month old steers, and  father and son in matching insulated suits, heading to the barn for chores. If you look to Benny's right, you can see our new barn kitten, Miss Meow, there by the hayrack.

Today we were outside all day long taking advantage of the spring-like day to tidy up the woodshed, move a lot of potting soil, replenish the hens' straw bedding pack and the like. It felt to both of us like a day out of the ordinary. There was a leisureliness to it. These days before 2014 shuts down and 2015 revs up are sweet in their special kind of in-between feel.

We have a lot ahead of us before the first seeds of 2015 hit the soil. Our new greenhouse needs a heat plant and benches. We need to T-up the CSA and fluff the website with new pictures and offerings for 2015.
We need to sign on a couple more apprentices and of course order seeds. For now, though, we are tending the children, hearth and animals as we breathe deeply into our blessings.

With love and gratitude from here, 

(Lovely little vessel by a wonderful friend and CSA member. Thanks, Liz!)

More gratitude to add to your pie.

And a note about schedule: Fall CSA members, remember no pickup next Tuesday. 

Last distribution Dec 9.

With all warm tidings for a lovely, warm and cozy weekend.

Polly and Prentice, Joseph, Ben and Abe and all the critters

Hello October!

Don't you love it when a picture actually kind of captures the beauty before your eyes? The light around this place is at its most gorgeous in the shoulder seasons of spring and fall and at the shoulder times of day. . .dawn and sunset. Probably true of most places, right? Although I only occasionally wrangle my "point and shoot" camera  into my pocket as I traipse about, I do try to capture a bit of the feel for the workings of our place with you blog readers in mind.

 Evening, looking to the west.

 Morning, looking straight "south" (down!) at a beautiful mess of Ailsa Craig onion bunches. They glow!

 A bit outdated, these onion pictures were taken way back in August.

 Another intern shot: Ally in the chard patch.

 Look at that sky, all wispy!

 

And remember those four heifers born this spring? They are in their pre-teen phase of life, I would say. And like pre-teen members of our own species, they prefer to move everywhere as a unit. 

"I am thirsty."

"Me, too."

"Me, too."

"Me, too."

The work around here changes in fall;. less weeding and very little planting. There are lots of harvests but they seem to be faster, bigger and simpler. The To-Do whiteboard in the pack shed gets populated with more carpentry projects. If I was handy, I might cross off "pour concrete slab" with some computer-photoshop magic as that job is Done.
Wait, look, I can cross it off here, but not from the whiteboard above. Pour concrete slab.

This slab will be 24ft of our new, larger seedling greenhouse. This will be the seedling house we have needed for the last five years. We really outgrew our first one the year we built it. The remaining 72ft will be bare soil for in-ground growing and movable benches for seedling trays. Having more space in the spring greenhouse will be a boon for us. The slab will allow us to move firewood for the furnace, potting soil and racks of seedling around with ease. The larger capacity will allow us to sell more seedlings to our existing customers and expand our offerings.

 Any earthwork project has its stresses, no?

Prentice is an excellent teacher, even in the midst of a job like pouring cement.

 This is the ginger and turmeric crop before we dig it. Not as tall as last year so we are expecting lower yields but we shall see! The two beds on the right are seeded to cilantro, I believe.

The Summer CSA season is coming to an end with our last distribution on October 7th. Our Fall CSA season will begin October 14 and run until mid December. The crops look excellent. These scallions and celery will be part of the bounty. It is too late to get a vegetable share but we could add on a Fall Cheese Share from Appleton Creamery if you are interested. Send us a line or give a call.

And lastly, Prentice and I had a good laugh over this song when we heard it on WERU last week. It is called "Too Blessed to be Stressed" and it (really just the cheesy title!!) was a great reminder to us to count our blessings, relax, laugh and take a longer view of what we are doing here at Village Farm.

Up til now, one might hear one or  the other of us mutter this favorite quote to ourselves or our stressed-up partner:  "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." (Annie Dillard) This quote has been a regular reminder of our freedoms, our privileges, our choices.
I think for the time being, we will belt out "Too Blessed to be Stressed!" in our best soulful voice when one or the other of us needs a talkin'-to.

As always, we send our best out into the world in the form of vegetables to the CSA, to the Belfast Coop, The Lost Kitchen, Swan's Way and Trillium Caterers, The Juice Cellar and others. We send our best wishes to all of you, too. Today and all days,

Polly and Prentice, the crew and little people.

Pick and Pack

July brings more predictable days to us Village Farmers. The crops grow. The weeds grow. The "chickens need feedin'" as our dear friend, Grace, likes to say. The seedlings are all sold for the year. The CSA is in full swing, of course, so we gather the week's share early Tuesday mornings, wash and pack and cool them and then bring them to members Tuesday evenings. A larger portion of our vegetables go to wholesale accounts: The Belfast Coop, Swan's Way Catering, Trillium Events and of course, our new neighbor, The Lost Kitchen, among others. Still more vegetables go through our beloved distributor, Crown O' Maine, and make their way to many fine stores and restaurants to the south of us.

Now that all the large spring plantings are completed, we settle in to something of a daily and weekly rhythm. In the early mornings a few people do animal chores and a few people begin harvesting. We break for breakfast then all return to the fields for more harvesting. Prentice bikes around a lot to check on things. I tend to walk. We move vegetables from field to packing shed with this Jeep and a human powered cart.

Once in the packing shed, vegetables either go to a wet pack line or the dry pack counter. You can see a couple of ubiquitous clipboards there on the dry pack counter. The clipboards keep our pick lists handy, accessible to all as we wash and pack and check off the day's harvest. The pick lists tally each wholesale customer's order for the day. Those white mesh bags hold herb bunches and loose greens in our repurposed washing machine turned greens spinner.

You never know who will stop by the pack shed. This place is a hub of activity and always needs a good foremonkey. Or is it foregorilla?

This is the northside shed which is most definitely a wet pack line. Ally and Amelia are working through 150 or so bunches of scallions. We soak, separate, strip bottom leaves and stack. Lots of fast hand work. Then the scallions get bunched, trimmed and put through a final spray down before being packed.

 Max is working through a gaggle of beet bunches.

 Sparkly vegetables is what we like to see!

Just as ubiquitous as the clipboards are the blue rubberbands. But more numerous!!  We have barely made a dent in the bale of blue rubberbands we bought two years ago. I guess we are stocked for the next decade. Not that you are interested in the rubberband inventory, but I will keep you posted.

Our first batch of meat chickens return from the butcher's this week. Come by and get one for the grill this weekend! We will have fresh chickens available Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday from 8 am to 5 pm. Raised on pasture and organic grain, these birds are delicious and nutritious. $4.75/pound and most birds are around 5 pounds.

As always, we appreciate your interest in our farm business. Take care and enjoy these mid-summer days.
Fondly, Polly and co.

Good Sports

The hours and days and weeks go by at a good clip, don't they? No faster at Village Farm than anywhere else, I guess, but the non-stop action of May and June, the sprint that starts the already short Maine Summer.. . breathless we are not, but tired every night, yes.

Here are a few pictures taken about the place. 

 Our second batch of 200 'Red Bros', a red feathered, bred for grazing meat chicken, has arrived. When they arrive at the Post Office, we unpack them immediately and give each a drink. Benny says the holes in the packing box are so they can whisper to each other en route.

 They learn with that one dip and then are ready to help themselves.

And the following picture is just a gift from the camera gods. Neither chick nor boy posed for this. I just love it: a captured vision of two small beings having a moment together. 

It is really not cliche or an overstatement to say that we care for every one of our animals, even the ones that we raise for meat.

 

 We ask our farm crew to start work at 6 every morning. Sights like this are common and welcome.

 And then there is mid-morning and high clouds.

 And then there are broken down tractors and multiple calls to mechanic friends.

 Muffin tins full of bolts. And reconstruction. A fixed tractor.

 There are snail trails on the hoophouse endwalls and turtle trails in the driveway. Killdeer making a loud living in the gardens and an elusive snipe circling, circling. When I called it "an unremarkable bird" (not a bad thing in my book!!) today, Eliot thought that the snipe was trying its best to be quite remarkable. Such are the conversations, at times.

 Prentice was a good sport to let me clean off and dress up his barn workbench for the on-farm dinner by Chef Frank Giglio a few weeks ago. It was a lovely evening. Great great food. Lovely company. (I don't have any pictures.)

 Prentice is also a good sport about the state of his farm bike seat. 

 And boy, is he a good sport about machinery breakdowns.This is the irrigation pump and in the background the fuel tank to the John Deere. The Allis Chalmers cultivating tractor was also giving him grief this week.

 Luckily, there are large beds of gorgeous spinach

 and broccoli coming along to cheer him up when the grease is too much for him.

And small victories when machinery gets fixed, and crops get much needed water.

And sweet Sundays on Freedom Pond in a new to us sailboat.

And of course, it is all relative, right? This Village Farm resident has her own problems and joys. 

It was our joy to cross her path on our way to the pond.

All our best wishes for a lovely end of June-early July to one and all!

Polly and Prentice, boys and crew..