I finished working on the farm last week. On my last day we showed the farm to a group of Japanese college students. On Sunday I drove home. I had a ride sharer incapable of driving manual, so I drove the whole 12 hours solo. We ran out of gas around 9 PM two miles from the first gas station in Arizona. A nice fellow helped us out and we got going again in 30 minutes. Got to the Meadow at 12:17 AM Monday morning.

Thus, I am once again in Flag. I have spent the last few days moving house up to the Meadow.




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Harvest


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Wwoofer Quinn, Peter Eichorn, Me


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Leni, Tagako, and I transplanting redwood babies.

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Fresh Eggs


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Peter telling what's what.


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BASIL!


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What Wwoofing looks like



My time on the farm is coming to an end. This last week I canned some green beans because the green bean plants are making more green beans than an army can eat. Picked daily we still have too much for anyone. I have been perfecting the hash-brown process. I made some more epic food concoctions from our here land.

Here, for any who care, is a not quite all inclusive list of food eaten from this farm; peach, blueberry, wild strawberry, blackberry, basil, lettuce, chard, kale, watercress, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, beetroot, nasturtium, garlic, eggs, chilis (Padron, Jalapeno, + others), purslane, almonds, avocado, alfalfa, meyer lemon, orange, grapefruit, arugula, honey, propolis, nectarine, plum, mulberry, elderberry, potato, black beans, quinoa, squash (Yellow crookneck, zuchs, pattypan, lemon cukes), eggplant, tomatillo, herbs (oregano, lemon verbena, spearmint, peppermint, lavender, thyme, rosemary, etc)

One might be curious why spend more than a month of summer slaving away on a farm. Well, I learned some cool stuff. I learned how to drive Gail (Gehl) the tractor, Mary the mule (kawasaki 4x4), prune roses and lemons, mulching, vermiculture, greenhouse management, gopher control (snakes, raptors, and traps), rat and vole control, honey extraction and a slice of beekeeping, weed control, pest deterrent (deer, bird, and vermin), grain harvesting winnowing and preparing, grafting, biodynamic stirring and organic plant spraying, compost (pile is over 200 degrees f since we made it 2 days ago). I probably spent more time picking lemons, or waiting for Peter.

Effectively I learned a chunk about how to promote life and then keep out competing species from eating the fruit of the labor. Organics is on its most basic level all about creating an atmosphere in which life, molecularly, wants to thrive. From the molecule up, the soil and grasses grow. Organic farmers often consider themselves soil farmers, or grass farmers because the real work is to try and create a soil in which plants thrive. A strong plant in a diverse landscape is resistant to the problems that the monocultures of modern agriculture face.


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Breakfast: chocolate chip potato pancake topped with front yard berries.

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Persian Mulberry Sorbet (best sorbet to date for me).


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Hash De Padron (fresh picked potato x padron chili x tomato x purslane)


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Bean Pickles


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Got Beans?


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Poison Oak



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Propolis Band Aid Tincture
I made friends with urushiol this week. It's great stuff.

I volunteered at Henry Miller Library some more, read some books, and watched some movies. I slept in my car a bit around Big Sur.

I cut my own hair. It looks pretty bad, but so does my whole body right now.

I also took some pictures.


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Something about my right eye and putting it in the way.



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Nasturtium, Hass, and Lettuce


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The baby chicks.


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Quinn. Fellow Wwoofer.


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Lemon butter, broccoli, and hops.



 
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