New Beginnings

Disillusioned with school and eager to test my other possible life goal I have decided to spend the summer working on an organic farm. History has always been fascinating but there's something about working with the land that has always fascinated me. I think part of it was the fact I was raised listening to stories my dad shared about his own minor experiences and how he wanted a farm and had so many chances but never took them. Either way I found an interesting program here in Ontario called C.R.A.F.T. (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training in Ontario) which is how I found the farm I'm staying at now. Farmers - from what I hear - are getting old and their children in a number of cases aren't taking over the family farm. This means there could be a sudden drop in the number of farmers. Not only that but all the chemicals and alterations made to plants cannot be good for the land or us - it's completely unnatural. So I'm working on this organic farm which raises unaltered and chemical free chickens and cows along with a fair variety of plants and a large, successful CSA.

A lot of work is done by hand, they have two beautiful Norwegian horses who will sometimes help with the plowing to reduce the need for fuel. They have two greenhouses - one full of seedlings waiting to find their home in the ground (which has been delayed due to too much rain) and the other full of salad greens. I spent a day helping to collect a couple of tubs of greens and wash them by hand before packing them away in cold storage for the Saturday market. I've helped transplant some of the seedlings by hand and in a machine. The machine is very handy - you can plant them so much faster! - but it takes practice to get them to land upright in the soil. So I hope their onions come up okay because I was still learning and I think a number ended up on their sides or upside down - they're also due to a few gaps from the ones I missed.

The farmers I'm staying with are wonderful people. They're excellent teachers, patient and though we are here to work for them they'll get down on their hands and knees with us to help with the grueling job of transplanting and picking salad greens. I remember being pleasantly surprised the first time this happened. The wife is an amazing cook and I find myself fascinated as I see her buzz around the kitchen and put together a meal in little to no time. At the same time she explains what she's doing so not only do I get to help a little but I get a bit of a cooking lesson at the same time. (In future I hope to include pictures of some of these meals or events around the farm. So far I've been a bit too busy and forgetful.)

This week I've been helping to look after the chickens - which means I give them water, feed them, and collect their eggs in the morning. They have about a hundred and fifty laying hens which are allowed to wander freely through long grass to collect bugs and peck at the ground and given lots of shelter and space to lie down comfortably (though they all have some favourite spots where you often find two or three trying to crowd into). As much as I've always wanted to work with chickens I've been a bit nervous around them this week. A bit of a new experience I keep expecting them to fly at me or attack me for taking their eggs. Before stepping into their coops and I was home reading about them all I could think of was how exciting it would be to eat chicken and eggs I had raised and collected myself. I never thought how they might be a little flighty or temperamental when you try and reach under them to collect their still warm eggs. Whenever I go in their coops I talk constantly to calm myself down more than anything. The coop with just hens isn't so bad, there's one or two grumpy ones but the other coop with the three roosters causes me some grief.

Tomorrow is the open house. I'll be in charge of the hatching chicks in the incubator and I'll also be in the same area as the kittens. Maybe I'll snatch a photo of my favourite kitten and post it. They're hypoallergenic and given away for free - it's so tempting to adopt one! However, I'm here for the summer and I think it would be too used to outdoor life by the time I head home where it would have to live indoors. I'm also not sure how the cat and dog would react to him. We have done a lot of prep work through the week and tomorrow is the big day. I've heard lots of stories of past open houses so tomorrow I think will be an interesting day.