This makes me want to raise my own beef…..
Two rows of potatoes, planted at the same time. The row on the right is our saved seed potatoes and the row on the left is purchased seed potatoes. To save our potatoes last year,all we did was throw a few end of season potatoes into our root cellar…which is actually nothing but a crawl space off of the basement. But root cellar sounds much more “homesteady” than crawl space. So this spring we ordered our usual seed potatoes and decided to experiment with our saved potatoes. I would say our home grown seed potatoes are kicking ass!
My favorite quote of this article is, “We must stop this incessant victimhood mentality. Somebody else will not fix things. Somebody else will not make me healthy; somebody else will not make me happy. These things are my responsibility.”
Harvest Day
Today I got to experience preparing for a Farmer’s Market, from the farmers point of view. Harvest like a crazy person - then wash/bag/weigh/pack like a crazier person. George, the owner/farmer where am I now working, calls these days, “Fire drills.” He had to leave for the market by 2:00 pm, I got there at 9:00 am and George, with his brother Scott, were already in full swing. I harvested and washed for four straight hours. My back was burning, my legs were shaking - dear Lord I’ve been sitting at a desk for 30 years. I haven’t even been on my feet for four hours straight, let alone bending, cutting, carrying, lifting…. The last hour was hell. I was in agony, dreaming of taking off my gloves, putting away my knife, and sneaking off to my car and escaping. Instead of fleeing, I began to chat with the living and breathing entities I was working with. They became my co-workers. We talked about their upbringing and how lucky they were to be on an organic, sustainable farm. We talked about how loved and cared for they’ve been and how we were all hoping they go home with loving, caring families where they will be fully enjoyed and appreciated. Their company helped the last hour pass a little more quickly and mildly less painfully.
I drove home, taking the long way through the valley so I could just sit in my car longer. I didn’t want to move. I pulled into my garage and couldn’t move. I checked and returned some e-mail from my phone. I checked Facebook and tumblr - anything I could think of to delay having to move my legs and walk. I now have a new appreciation for the farmers and the vegetables.
The very first sprout of asparagus! I think asparagus is one of my favorite veggies simply because it represents the start of a new season on our farm…..(well, technically it’s a garden that we pretend is a farm). We had frost last night, it’s still quite chilly here, but the asparagus knows warmer weather is coming.
