Photos! First three days of real farm work …

We promised photos, so here they are! This should give you a good idea of our activity level over the last three days:

First of all, here’s a photo of the land itself (above). Since it’s just an open field there’s not much to look at here. Yet. Soon it will be full of vegetables! (Please also note the oaks in the hills behind the field. Oakhill!)

And here is what happened when we tried to clean out the tool shed. We made a big nasty mess on the lawn! We found some exciting tools and implements awaiting us on the shelves. And now it’s all mostly back inside, with a small-ish pile to be taken to the dump.

What’s this? Can’t you tell? It’s our soon-to-be greenhouse, of course! It’s a Haygrove tunnel — a light-weight hoop house type of thing. The folks we’re leasing from are continually ‘skeptical’ about this (especially since it’s going to be admittedly huge), but we’re excited because it’s tall enough to drive a tractor through and someday we can move it onto our own land (if that ever exists).

Doesn’t look like much does it? Unless you’re a farmer. This picture is like a test — if you’re a farmer you will see the beautiful order and organization here. This is … where we’re going to make our soil mix for sowing! Ta-da! It’s just one reason why we’re grateful to be leasing on an established farm. We made this in about an hour out of bits and pieces that were lying behind the tool shed in a big pile of wood. How convenient!

Last, but definitely not least: our tractor! Doesn’t it look so funny? But it’s beautiful. And functional. Although it was built in 1946, this tractor has been fully restored, and it has a brand-new diesel Kubota engine. It’s a cultivating tractor, so we’ll use it primarily for weed control (a very big part of organic growing). The mechanic who restored it also put together an awesome, yet highly experimental, cultivating bar with two different methods of cultivation: a ‘spyder’ disc followed by blades. We’re curious to see how this works in practice. We’ll most definitely let you know.

So, yes, we’ve been busy. In the midst of all this, we’ve also managed to secure a lease on a cute house in town. Some nights we sleep hard. And some nights we don’t sleep at all. It’s been life in fast-forward.