We started school this week! One of our first projects was decoupaging the kids’ new nature notebooks for the year.
The big news on the farm this week was the start of our school year! We started a week earlier than the other schools in our area, because we were ready, and I don’t want to rush through our plans this year. No need to if we have plenty of time over the whole year!
First day photo!
Rusty is in first grade this fall, and Dottie is a preschooler. As far as Casey and I are concerned, our whole life is an education in practical living and immersion in nature. But academic-type learning is important to us too (we do both hold graduate degrees, after all! And we are grateful for those educational experiences we had!). So, the kids and I have a morning rhythm now that includes the basic things like handwriting practice, math, reading aloud very good books, phonic practice, Spanish, music/singing, craft projects, and games (not necessarily all of those in one day!). In addition, for “science,” we are continuing to do nature study, with these fall’s topic being birds. That’s an easy sell in our household, since Rusty has been truly “geeking out” on birds for several weeks now after stumbling across a few very cool books at the library (including one that plays bird songs!).
But this morning, we skipped our usual morning routine because we had some last minute visitors from Washington State University. Amanda and Joseph are traveling up the west coast this summer, visiting organic farms to collect data from the fields. They are studying bird and beetle populations, surveying them to track their populations in the fields and look at other possible relationships between the fields and these animals as well (for example, how a diverse messy farmscape might possibly increase beetle populations which in turn may provide beneficial predation of pest species in crops). We had heard about their work on friend’s farms, and we were super excited that they decided to add Oakhill Organics to the project.
They arrived last night to set up “mist nets” to catch birds and traps in our fall brassicas to catch ground beetles. Very early this morning, they came back out to actually open the nets and check out our local bird and beetle populations.
Dottie, Rusty and I helped Amanda set up nets all over the farm, including between rows of trees in our home orchard.
We set up another net between the kids’ garden and the north end of our field.
Unfortunately the misty rain this morning required that the netting process be cut short, but even in the very first few minutes of having them open, Amanda and Joseph caught many birds — enough to spend the morning processing them. Mostly, there were White Crowned Sparrows but we also saw a Scrub Jay, Common Yellow Throat, and Savannah Sparrow. We’ll receive a more official report eventually sharing with us the numbers.
Needless to say, their presence consumed all the kids’ attention for the morning. And Amanda and Joseph were so warm and welcoming of us, happily allowing us to tag along on all the work and watch as they took samples from the birds and measured them before releasing them back outside. Dottie even got to help release the birds.
Dottie helped release birds back outside after the measuring and sampling process.
So, our bird study took on a very different, delightful and unexpected twist today. Casey and I have a feeling that the kids will be processing the wonders of this visit for a long time. And, now that we’re part of the project, we get to host the scientists again in future years as they continue to survey the same farms!
If you’re wondering, we did manage to somehow fit in our normal Wednesday work today too. After he too had some time to “geek out” on the science stuff this morning and doing a large unexpected harvest for a local customer (who had a true “produce emergency”!), Casey harvested for the CSA. The kids and I enjoyed our final weekly river date with friends too. And, we managed to sneak in some of that book learnin’ stuff in the afternoon (with the kids in pajamas, because after spending most of the morning outside, it really was a pajama kind of afternoon).
Also, it’s hard to even remember since the intervening days have been so full and eventful, but last Friday was our Ratatouille Rendezvous farm event! Thank you to everyone who came and helped make it into a truly lovely evening of delicious shared food and fellowship. I really can’t imagine a more lovely (if a bit hot) evening. Our next farm event is coming up toward the end of October. On Sunday, October 23 we’ll host our annual Pumpkin Patch Open House from 2-4 pm! Put it on your calendar now!
Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Jonagold apples — A new type of apple this week! These are great for eating fresh and cooking with. An all around great apple.
- Brooks plums
- Concord grapes
- Lettuce — Your choice between head lettuce OR salad mix
- Heirloom tomatoes — We have lots this week!
- Red peppers
- Green peppers — Lots of green peppers this week too!
- Eggplant
- Chard
- Collard greens
- Cucumbers
- Zucchini
- German Butterball potatoes
- Garlic
And this week’s extra goodies from the farm:
- Eggs — $6/dozen
- Lamb — Chops are $14/lb; roasts are $10/lb; ground lamb is $10/lb; and organs/bones are $6/lb.
- Beef stock bones — $6/lb.
- Pork organs, fat & bones — $4/lb
