my day job my weekend job and pushing buttons

This is my desk at work. There are little hints here and there that let you know I am unusual that I like to grow vegetables in my spare time from the little farm bureau stuffed horse, the no farms no food sticker and lastly the Hoegger calendar with  April's baby goat picture are all clues that I have something else going on besides my day job.

The good thing about our farm (aka our backyard) is that it is so small I cant even toy with the idea of working on farm full time and giving up my day job. Not that I wouldn't mind working closer to home and maybe finding something a little more emotionally satisfying but for now I am okay where I am. To be honest I like working in an office ever since I saw the movie 9-5 I have been fascinated with office work but honestly I think I just like pushing buttons. Which makes my present job a good fit because I get to push A LOT of buttons. Maybe one day we can make enough income from the farm that I can work part time somewhere and it would be nice to be able to devote more time to growing things so fingers crossed that can happen in the near future. I would also like to add some livestock to our farm but until I am home more that cant happen. I can barely manage to let the dogs out before I go to work so I think trying to milk a goat is out of the question.




This is a picture of my weekend job...this was taken when we first broke ground 2 years ago. I call this field Big Mama because its the biggest field we have growing stuff. It can handle about 32 60ft rows of vegies and its one of my favorite places to be in the world. If you have read this blog before you know that I sometimes struggle with how small we are and that I often feel like not a real farmer because we are so small. Well good news I think I am finally moving past all the angst and just accepting who we are for what we are. I had a great talk last weekend with another farmer down the road who is quite a bit bigger than us and while we were talking I pointed out all the good points of being our size from not having to have a tractor, not having to hire help and figure out benefits and paychecks, being able to use our home well to water, and to maybe most importantly of all the fact that everything we sell I have grown from probably a seed and everything is weeded by me picked my me washed by me and well sometimes by tommy too. So for us I think the benefits of being small far out weigh the negatives. Frankly when I walk the 196 acres that surround my house and think what would you do if this was all yours honestly it makes my stomach hurt. Maybe I am finally okay with just being me and 3 dogs barking farms being the quirky little nano farm that it is.

promise of things to come a pic from last year....

Almost time to get planting and introducing the new puppy Booker.

We mowed part of the garden the other day in order to get ready to start planting. Depending on the weather we might try and get the peas in soon hopefully it wont rain too much during the next couple of days. I like the picture above its such a spring picture everything is still brown but you can start to see the green popping through. Only a matter of time before its so green you cant get your head around how brown it was just a short time ago. Funny how fast we leave winter behind.

When I started this farm in my backyard we had 3 dogs so logically I named it 3 dogs barking farms well we lost two of them last year and we were down to only one dog who only sometime barked. But I am happy to announce we have a new puppy his name is Booker or aka "the tiny terror" here is a picture of him looking sad at being tied up.

He is lucky he is so cute because he really is a puppy in every sense of the word good and bad. So here is to having 2 dogs once again and I am hoping he is a mad chaser of voles, voles are on my hit list this year! They ate my fall beets last year and as you can tell I am still bitter about it. In other farm type news we are still seeding away like mad with more to do it seems everyday. My dining room table is now working double time as a potting bench. Oh one day maybe we will have a small greenhouse so my dining room can be an actual dining room! Oh and I sold our first dozen eggs today at work! Oh cool is that!
 

looking for a meaningful life and spring for that matter.

Spring was here then spring was gone then it nicely came back again only to go away again. Spring what a fickle beast you are. Hopefully if the weather report is correct Spring should show back up later in the week. Thank goodness because I feel like its February again and being the stubborn mule I am starting on April 1st I have refused to wear a coat.

I have been reading Walden maybe for the first time but probably not I took "Nature in American Literature" twice in college because I failed it the first time (not for lack of understanding mind you more for a lack of not doing one presentation) and someone erroneously told me that if you take it again and do well it will wipe out the F. Um not so much both times I took it remained on my transcript and I had to sit through the class twice. Argh. But anyway re-reading it now and this quote I thought summed up spring just right.

"They were pleasant spring days, in which the winter of man's discontent was thawing as well as the earth, and the life that had lain torpid began to stretch itself."

I already feel like I am behind farming wise but I was smart this year I padded the dates I needed to get things seeded by and it turns out that I am on time for most early for some and late on a few. Funny when you learn how to trick yourself. I have 9 flats to seed when I get home hopefully I will have the energy but I will probably get some done today and the rest over the next few days. But all should be well. Hopefully if the weather turns warmer and the ground dries out we can actually get dirty soon. Can't wait! I love the smell of dirt. Hell I even like the smell of manure although I prefer horse to cow. Too much information? Perhaps.

I have been thinking a lot lately on a slightly deeper level than usual mainly thanks to a wonderful blog I started reading a few months back written by Jon Katz if you don't read it add it to your list he talks about things that every human should give some time to thinking about. His website is www.bedlamfarm.com. In addition to being a fine writer his photography is pretty amazing and has inspired me to take more photos which is something I enjoy doing and a good creative outlet for me. Funny I took some picture of the dogs the other day and my husband looked at them and said wow you have changed these are amazing and I replied you know what the difference is? I tried. Interesting. So check Jon out it might make a difference in your life like it has mine.

One of the things he talks about is leading a meaningful life. Being an atheist and being pretty sure that this life is the only one I am going to get a crack at I need to start living my life with more meaning. Starting the farm has helped because growing things not only makes me happy but it give me a lot of self worth and makes me feel like I am part of a solution to a problem instead of just part of the problem. Here is another quote that pretty much sums up why I want to grow food.

The greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only 10% of us do this, there is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend on the very system they attack, and who produce words and bullets, not food and shelter. - Bill Mollison


I still have A LOT of work to do in moving towards a more meaningful life and a big part of that I think for me will be finding outlets for my creativity. Unfortunately I still have an off-farm job and probably will for quite awhile so its important for me I think to find things that fulfill me on a creative level since I spend my days talking about paper. Not the worst thing to talk about but not the most fulfilling. I think this blog helps channel many of the thoughts that ramble around in my head and is almost in some ways like therapy. Taking photographs and needlework also adds to the puzzle. Funny there have two times I have consulted a physic and both times they told me I needed to do something creative with my life. Well I have yet to listen 100% but I am getting there. One thing I am really getting in touch is that life seriously is a journey and the path is the goal (to borrow from the Buddha) and we cant stop learning and growing at any age. If you think you have it all figured out at 30 you have another thing coming because you might have hopefully figured out a thing or two but you don't even know what you are going to have to figure out later so just relax and look forward to the challenge.

Remember THE PATH IS THE GOAL!!!!

Dirt under my nails again its a good thing.

So my hands are in dirt again and it feels great. I already have dirt under my nails I can't get out. From this point forward probably until November I probably can guarantee that I will always have dirt under my nails. It amazing how dirty I can get although its not really surprising since I was the little kid who was famous for my dirty face and even managed once to walk around with a lolly pop stuck to my face. Yes true story. I think my poor mother just gave up after awhile and figured as long as I went to bed with a clean face it was all good. I think it was one of the uphill battles of motherhood that she just ended up throwing in the towel on. I don't blame her don't blame her one bit.

Not too bad yet!

So the seeds have been started 2 weeks ago I started the onions, last weekend I started tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers for the high tunnel and yesterday I started a couple of flats of early spring stuff lettuce mix, spinach, arugula, and leeks. The spinach, arugula, and lettuce mix will mostly get direct seeded outside in a few weeks but I like to have a couple of transplants too to get the season off to a nice (fingers crossed) early start. I am super excited this year I am going to sell to people that I work with many of who just don't have time or its not their thing to check out farmers markets so I will bring the market to them. I think this is going to be great for us and hopefully will turn into another market day for us in terms of income without the need to go to market. The cool thing they actually seem to like me and would rather buy my stuff then go to the grocery store. Eva and Becky (my first two guinea pigs that I am going to sell too) even threatened me that if I tired to give them a discount they wouldn't buy from me. These are good peeps I'm telling ya. I am a lucky girl. So this little fledgling work buy program and hopefully and expanded presence this year on farmie market and of course my favorite day of the week Saturdays at Bpsa we should be in good shape this year. I don't want to bite off more than we can chew and I want to make sure I have a bounty of product for each enterprise. So here's hoping. I just realized I say "so here's hoping" in almost every post I write but I guess that's one of the things about farming you are always hoping.

Now this year to keep myself organized I have finally done what I jokingly threatened to do last year. I have taken pages off one of those desk calenders and put them on my dining room wall (or also known as seed starting central) surrounded my by seed/transplant scheduled. So hopefully this new system will keep me on the straight and narrow and so far its working!

think I should patent it?

The bible for the year!

It is supposed to be in the fifties today so I think I will take Lulu out for one of her walks and picture taking jaunts. Too wet out there to do any work and I think I just might have over wintered some spinach now that would be the bees knees!

Waking up and getting going.

So my last post was about napping my way through winter well I decided today it was time to wake up and get this season started. So Tommy and I went to the organic store this morning and got some seed starting supplies and some new growing medium which I am really excited to try.

And it begins....today I was going to start the onions but then I did the math and realized I need 5 flats of onions which I don't have the room to start here so instead I will start them in my parents basement later today when we go over there for family dinner. Tonight I am making everyone beef stew cant wait it should be yummy. The second thing that kicked off time to wake up day was I took Lulu for a nice hour long walk out back and explored the 196 acre plot of land that surrounds our house in more depth than I have in the 8 years and change that we have lived here. Its for sale and I dream that I have the 1.3 million bucks to buy it man I would be in the big time then.I just hope another dairy farm buys it and saves it from development. This area doesn't need any more freaking development. So if you know anyone with some change in the bank and looking for a beautiful piece of land point them our way. 

Here are some pics from the walk it was a great walk it reminded me of the kind of walks and adventures I used to take as a child. The kind of walk where you try to get lost and transport yourself to a different place maybe even a different place in time. I tried to get some pictures of Lulu but she was too busy running around with her nose to the ground sniffing everything she could find I think you can see a little brown dot in the above photo. I even managed to climb a fence fall into a creek and get stuck in some barbed wire so you see it was a great walk indeed. 

So Tommy and I are off to my parents in Saratoga to make a stew and get a start on the season. Here are some pictures of the seeds for this year I love this time in the season the seeds have arrived the plans have been drawn up and its getting time to get our hands back in the dirt. 

Seeds from last year!

growing wheat for the first time cant wait so excited!

wake me when winter is over.....

I know we have a way to go with this stuff called winter but I have officially had enough. So if anyone out there has any magical powers now is the time to use them. I have been sleeping a lot on weekends even more than usual and I think I am subconsciously trying to hibernate. I think I secretly think if I just take enough naps one time I will wake up and it will be spring. Well I guess that's true in a way and it would be neat to go to sleep in winter and wake up in spring but I doubt even I could take that long of a nap. I also think I hunker down this time of year because I know whats coming and whats coming is a whole lot of work. Not that I really mind all the work because if you mind work growing food ain't for you its just that I know once the season really gets rolling I go from 2 days off a week to zero. Again its okay not complaining its my choice but I swear I am trying to store up nap-power now!

Potatoes and Happiness and NOFA-NY WC2013

On the farm side of things the potatoes have been ordered! They were such a great seller for us last year that I actually didn't get to eat one so this year I am planting 3 times as much because dammit I should grow enough so I can eat my own potatoes. The farm plans for this year are coming into focus and I am probably a week away from ordering the seeds and getting things finalized. I love this time of year. I haven't messed up yet and things are hopeful! I have the seed starting and transplant schedule down with time added in for my procrastination factor see I am learning! I think this year I am going to take one of those big desk calenders and put it on the wall with what I actually have to do each day maybe if I see a visual it will help me get going! That's the thing about life you have to learn at some point who you are and what you are good at and bad at not always sure about what I am good at besides drinking wine and taking naps but I am very familiar with the things I have to work on! Ha! So onward and upward to becoming a slightly better version of myself.

This past week I attended my 3rd NOFA-NY winter conference. If you care about food and the people who grow it and you are not a member please become one they do such awesome work and are pretty much single-handedly responsible for me and 3dogs being as far a long at this farming thing as we are. Check them out when you get a chance the world is a better place because of organizations like NOFA-NY.  So I had a great time met some great people which you always do people are just so freaking friendly even my snarky ass comes out of my shell and is chatty. Its crazy nuts! I learned a ton as always took about 8 hours worth of classes on soil  and I don't think I have even really scratched the surface. But I have some great ideas how to improve my soil and in turn make my plants healthier and more disease and pest resistant. Even if you are a home gardener or just love talking about growing food consider going next year there are lots of classes on everything from food policy to making your own beer. Whats better than that?

Okay on to happiness. I flashed back the other day on my way home to probably 1988 or 89ish (yes gasp I'm old) anyway I was hanging out at my favorite bar and my super secret crush Bruce the bartender (it wasn't a very secret crush I followed him around like a puppy dog drooling) was trying to tell me in a polite way he wasn't interested and I was of course ignoring the very obvious message as only a 19 year old can do. So to the point of the story during this awkward conversation where he probably mentioned that it wasn't me it was him he asked me what my goals in life were. I thought about it (lots of pressure) and all I could come up with was I just want to be happy. He scoffed at me and said you just want to be happy what on earth does that mean. I said its simple really I just want to be happy. I am not sure what he expected me to say maybe that I wanted to become an astronaut or maybe a rodeo clown who knows but he really couldn't deal with my very simple answer. People are funny but seriously what other goal should you have besides the simple goal of being happy? It leaves everything open to you even being an astronaut as long as it makes you happy. Simple as pie.