The family that HOES together GROWS together!
Earlier today, I had a conversation with a friend while our kids splashed in the river together. We talked about how important it is for children to do actual real work, always stretching themselves in their abilities, so that as they grow into adults they will feel capable as they approach so very many new necessary tasks in their daily lives.
Later, after lunch, we got to put these idea into practice. Casey and I had some weeding to do. The first priority was what we call “guerilla” weeding (alternately known as “liberating the plants”) — it’s yucky work that happens at least once a year when farm tasks necessarily distract us from weeding when the time is best (which is when all the weeds are very small). We can do it, but it’s hard and daunting and requires us to “gird up our loins,” as it were, before we approach it.
So, today we set out to “liberate” our sweet potato plants from over-zealous summer weeds, and then I was immediately needed up at the house. The kids had gone up there to retrieve their big straw hats, and in the midst of getting her things together, Dottie dropped her current favorite toy through the slats in the deck. Her current favorite toy is a teeny tiny plastic pig — smaller than an adult fingernail and light pink — and now it is somewhere amidst the gravel under our porch. Much comfort was needed when we realized that pushing a stick under the porch would not uncover the teeny tiny pink pig.
As I held my very distraught and crying little girl, I thought about those weeds that very much needed me to help pull them out and how many I wasn’t pulling in those moments. Parenting and living any other kind of life is always a balancing act. But my arms were needed around that girl just then, and so the weeds waited.
Thankfully, big brother Rusty came to the rescue, encouraging Dottie to come on out and build fairy houses with him. Instead, they ended up playing in the muddy dirt around an irrigation pipe, and the next time I saw Dottie, she held her browns hands up into the air and yelled, “Look at how muddy I am!” Hoorah for mud.
The littlest one decided she was done.
Our next task was a more satisfying one — cross-hoeing a recently planted patch of brassicas (cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, collard greens). Cross-hoeing like this feels amazingly good — it feels like we’re scratching the Earth’s back. And, with this task being easier to see and understand, the kids wanted to pitch right in. Casey gave each a hoe (see photo above!) and they joined us for as long as they were still having fun. For Dottie, that lasted about twenty feet into the first row. Rusty finished almost an entire row before moving on to procuring the afternoon snack: yellow plums from my parents’ tree, which they snacked on in their mobile play house while Casey and I finished up another seven rows.
As the kids grow older, I value these types of afternoons more than ever, as I can begin to see the cumulative affect they have on our children. They are still so very young, and of course they do not step up to tasks the way we can. Nor would we expect them to. But I appreciate how their proximity to our work and their ability to chip in in proportion to their size and ability allows them to slowly grow into the concept of real work alongside the other many things they are learning every day. We are already amazed at how many tasks they do know how to do on the farm already.
Enjoying plums on their little porch!
Whether they become farmers themselves someday is entirely up to them. But the farm can teach them lessons that apply elsewhere too — how to follow a task to its completion point, how to work with other people, how to see when work is needed to be done, and how to enjoy tasks (most notably by doing them together!). They also see us balance our work with play, and I see those mornings we spend at the river to be just as integral to it all as the afternoons hoeing together. They are both part of our life, and I feel grateful that the children get to be part of both.
Casey and I grow through it all too. What better lesson in patience for me than to hold that girl through her tears and know that the weeds had waited how many weeks; they could certainly wait another fifteen minutes. When we look at life as a journey, and the daily tasks as the end in themselves (rather than a means to an end), it all feels so magical and wonderful. I’ve observed a lot of kids in community getting close to adulthood lately (we have been here ten years now after all! That’s plenty of time for kids to grow!), and WOW does it really truly go fast! So, yes, I will hold you little girl. And I will laugh when you lie in the path, and I will be so happy to see you and your brother eat plums until the juice runs down your chin!
May you enjoy all the gifts of summer work and play. And, enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Methley plums — These are the plums from the hornet nest tree(s)! It took a few tries, but Casey did manage to safely remove the hornets’ nest (and discourage them from continuing to come back). And so today he finally got to pick these plums, which are now very ripe and juicy and delicious! The juice will run down your chin.
- Cherries — This week’s cherries are Sweethearts rather than Lamberts. Also delicious!
- Tomatoes — We were so excited to be eating tomatoes on the Fourth of July this year. In our minds, that is an exceptional feat of farming. A delicious one too!
- Broccoli/cucumbers/green peppers/basil — We only have a few of each of these items, so they’ll be in a box together and folks can choose ONE. More of each will come in future weeks!
- Cut lettuce mix
- Fennel bulbs
- Chard
- Zucchini & summer squash
- New potatoes — A rainbow selection this week! Red skin and white flesh; purple skin and white flesh; and purple skin with purple flesh!
- Sweet onions — Big, beautiful sweet onions with fresh greens on.
- Garlic
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And this week’s extra goodies from the farm:
- Eggs — $6/dozen — We are especially short on eggs this week because we had an accident involving some broken eggs (sad face!). Sorry!
- Goat — Goat roasts and grind are $10/lb. Goat chops are $14/lb. Organs and bones are $6/lb.
- Beef cuts — Roasting type meats are $10/lb, and steaks are $14/lb. Organs and bones are $6/lb.
- Ground beef — The best ever — $10/lb
- Pork organs, fat & bones — $4/lb
