Lessons This Week

Following Guy’s last post, Santa Cruz hit 106 degrees on Tuesday! A rarity relished by the sunflowers, tomatoes, and eggplants, but dreaded by the strawberries, lettuces, and willows. Similar reactions were elicited by the apprentices from the Southwest, Midwest, and East Coast versus the native Californians. We are back to normal this weekend.

This week we had some incredible classes on farm business planning and plant pathogens. In all the excitement of learning, I do experience periods of sheer panic when I try to wrap my mind around how unrelentingly complex this field really is. Sure, we tout sustainable agriculture and homesteading as “getting back to basics,” to “our roots,” to “the land.” But really, navigating and mimicking the complexities of natural ecosystems to yield enough food to distribute equally amongst the members of our local economies AND make a decent living? That’s tough, man. The more I learn the more complicated it all gets. In many ways, this career lifestyle that we are all pursuing here is more difficult than quantum mechanics.

At the same time, with each passing day I feel more confident that I can do it. I practically learn something invaluable every thirty minutes! On Monday I learned how to grow hops. On Wednesday I realized that I hate cabbage. HATE it. So I’ll cross that off of my crop plan. Better not grow something you don’t like! On Thursday I mastered the differences between the most obvious signs of plant disease caused by bacteria vs. viruses vs. fungi (vs. oomycetes, a subgroup of fungi that spreads primarily through water). Yesterday I finished an herbal tincture to address my allergies. Today I have learned how to make yellow and red food colorings out of marigolds and beets.

Seven weeks to go. More lessons as they develop.

Mer

Back In Action

It’s been a month. Maybe more.

Our absence from the blogosphere is not neglect; it is tightly correlated with the sudden and spectacular vegetative boom that the farm underwent post-summer solstice. The days are getting shorter everywhere, but here, it is only beginning to warm up (we hope!). July and August, it would not seem, are the summer months. It’s likely that we might have some tomatoes by the END of SEPTEMBER. Peppers come on in August. Our broccoli is THRIVING?! Remember Sunny California? Uh-uh. Un poco. Nada.

HOWEVER, we have just returned from our week-long break, which we spent travelling up the California coast into Oregon, spending the week with a friend whose family lives in Portland. The weather was much warmer but still mild compared to East Coast. Our stay in Oregon was relaxing and we were well treated. We also spent four days at a small music festival outside of Portland called Pickathon, which has a somewhat bluegrass/contemporary folk theme. The crowd was largely young families with many children running around laughing and shrieking. But the camping was quiet and mostly within the shade of the forest. We stayed entertained at the Woods Stage, which consisted of a small, intimate stage surrounded by campsites and with straw bales for seating. Musicians performing there usually played acoustic instruments with only minimal amplification. We saw Martha Scanlan, Foghorn Stringband, and Breathe Owl Breathe to name a few. It was great and all worthwhile especially at the cost of volunteering for a few hours rather than purchasing tickets. Thank you, Pickathon. Thank you, Portland.

Now we are in our Final 10/Pathways. This means that we have begun the final ten weeks of the program and are now in our chosen site for this rotation—the ‘Pathways’ rotation. We all call it the final ten. Pathways-shmathways, we all know it means we’ve only got a few weeks left. Besides, choosing a Pathway site to be in does not necessarily reflect a certain life choice. Mer has chosen the Down Garden and I have chosen the Field. Luckily we are a team and can share experiences, but for most people who are here independently, the choice of a Final 10 site is no big deal. It’s a matter of having fun and being where you want to be right now; while we are still here. What we do next in life will not be like this, so have fun. I kinda wish I had chosen the Up (Chadwick) Garden; but I like the Field. It suits me.

On one hand it’s important to recognize the value of the education we’re receiving. Each site corresponds differently, but mostly I think it’s all good. I think most people agree. What we all are REALLY thinking about is our experiences here, and I’d say they’re pretty significant. The final ten weeks have started counting down and we are getting to feel the emotional tension rising. It’s suddenly real that we love these people and we are sharing something really special. But right now, like the few bubbles rising amongst the group in conversation, we are still able to cut it short. It is not yet time to talk of leaving. So I will leave it at that.

Looking forward to summer come September,

Guy