Yep, we made a little video to promote our upcoming Seedling Sale Days. One take. 59 seconds of goofery. That is all you get for this year!!
(Technical note: I cannot seem to get the full video to load to this blog page. So just click on the link and that will take you to our public facebook page where you can see it.)
See if you can spot the product placement for Vermont Compost Company, an "I biked to the [Common Ground] Fair!" sticker and American Farmland Trust's "It isn't farmland without farmers" bumper sticker. And yes, that is real dirt on the stereo. I think it spent some time on the concrete slab.
The seedlings look great. We can't wait for the on farm sale days where we get to see so many of our gardening friends and neighbors.
May 9, 16, 23 and 30 right here at Village Farm
8 am-12 pm
Hope to see you soon! Like tomorrow at the orchard planting party?!?!?
Though this picture was taken last Spring, we are not far from this degree of green. Just a few more weeks, I would guess.
Back in late March, I (Polly) took the boys on a road trip to Vermont. Abe asked if they would have different fruit available there. Ben asked if he should pack his shorts and crocs. No, no and no, boys. Vermont certainly was no respite from the late, cold and windy Spring we had in Maine, but it was a break from the ordinary days here at home. We had a blast visiting friends.
We stayed in Richmond with a family that had recently returned from a 8 month trip to Bolivia. Wow, did we soak up the stories and pictures and admired their Bolivian duds that they wore home as they left all their American clothes there with new friends.
One concept that I think of often as I plug away at all of the farm tasks that have me working a desk job, by myself, is the Bolivian word for work party: minga.
Our Vermont hosts spoke of the townspeople in Samaipata getting together regularly to do a job that benefited the community or just one household. They would call a minga, gather and get a job done. Together.
So won't you come by this weekend for a community effort right here in Freedom? Our dear friends, Rebecca and Matt Stauffer are planting an heirloom apple orchard in our eastern pasture.
Orchard Planting Party
Saturday, May 1 (and possibly Sunday May 2)
9am-4pm. Lunch provided. Bring a shovel and a bucket.
We hope to see you!
And I have a list of VF news pieces that need sharing here on this blog, so stay tuned!
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.
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.
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!)
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,
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