Well it’s summer again, and it’s been almost a year since I moved down here and started this whole farming ordeal. This was one of my goals when I started thinking about how my time down here should work; I didn’t think (and it turned out to be the case) that I could get  a fair judgment of what was going on with only a few weeks or months of work on a farm. By staying a whole year or longer, you get a much larger  perspective on the cycle of things and the place certain events have in the year; it’s one thing, for instance, to pick up the strawberries and plant them and know they will eventually need harvested and plowed up, but it’s another thing to actually be the one helping do those things. That firsthand experience is extremely valuable.

The dynamics of a farm vary so much depending on seasons that it’s almost like 4 separate experiences. Different jobs are delegated to different times of the year just as you would do in your year. Paying taxes, mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, it’s like that but on a much bigger scale. Something I’ve come to realize is just how much work there actually is and how much there is to remember; it’s like instead of living and managing day by day, or week by week, you’re going year by year. These farmers have a lot on their plate.

On top of the usual dairy fare, this summer has brought a LOT of gardening. We got a little carried away with ourselves last spring and planted… well let’s just say we planted enough. So far we’ve planted, harvested, and plowed under potatoes, onions, green beans, carrots, beets, strawberries, broccoli, cabbage, and other greens. Our squash, cucumbers, rhubarb, okra, peas, watermelons, cantaloupes, blackberries, raspberries, peaches, plums, tomatoes, peppers, *deep breath, and a few more are still making or are almost ready. Our blackberries, in particular, have been doing spectacular. It’s only their first year (which is supposed to be a very barren year for them) and we mowed them down a little lower than we probably should have, but despite all that they’re doing good. And delicious. They make a good reward after hoeing the 300 ft rows.

Another exciting new development this summer has been our new storefront. Rocky and I worked on it all winter; framing, insulating, running electricity and everything after dark under the lights, and Carol redid the whole inside so that it looks legitimate instead of how we finished it to look like. Which was like a box. We sell pretty much all of our produce out of the store as well as the dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt, keifer, etc.), so it’s another place that demands our attention, but it can be nice to interact with all the people who come to shop.

Empty baskets after a busy day

And last but not least, our kids are getting older but not wiser. It’s a never-ending job dealing with them, but I don’t really mind it. I suppose if the novelty ever wears off I may be of a different opinion but for now i think they’re pretty neat.

Other than that it has been hot, it has been dry, and I had to buy new boots because my other ones got a hole in them. That pretty much sums it all up :)

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