Graduation!

Let's start with the sad part: the tomatoes just couldn't handle all the rain. They are ghosts of their former glory. It's kind of ok at this point, because with Fall coming I'm excited for some pumpkin soup and roasted winter squash. That is the joy of seasonal eating.

There was a huge party at the farm with all our friends and families for graduation. My Mom and Dad and Rebecca and Anthony all came to help us celebrate. We kicked off the afternoon pressing cider in the orchard.

Mom helped take the leftovers down to the pigs. They were so excited! (And huge!)

I think the most amazing skill anyone has learned this year is the rare ability to levitate pitch forks. Theo is obviously a master.

We all sat on hay bales (and were given the above pitchforks as a present) for a wonderful ceremony full of poems, thank yous and a violin duet by Emily and Rebekah.

We made Sara a cake for her birthday on Tuesday.

I put a rabbit on it in honor of the angora rabbit she has taken care of over the last year.

Post graduation on the tractor!

With Maggie's Field in the background.

And our diplomas!

And the best graduation presents ever! Sweatshirts for our new farm. I'll post more about this soon, I promise!

Dad, who used to be a welder, checking out my fire cube with me.

And finally, the T-Rex that Betsy and Sarah gave Theo as a graduation present with the Prosecco from Rebecca and Anthony. You can also see Theo's bingo card from Thursday night with Josh, Stephen and Justin on the coffee table as well.

Things I wish I had known

I had a lot of questions this time last year, so I'll do my part in passing along a bit of knowledge, or at least experience (some of which was learned the hard way).

What to bring?

You need really good boots. We all have the neoprene and rubber muck boots, either from Muck or from LL Bean or one of the other places that make them. Imagine walking through muddy water with manure in it that's higher than your ankles.

A really great set of rain gear. I have a gore-tex rain coat which I love and I really wish I had a pair of the carhartt overall rain pants. I have non-overall rain pants which are fine, but I have to wear suspenders with them. Another image? Bending over to harvest and having rain run down you pants because your jacket is above your waist. It makes it a completely horrible day.

Theo would like to add that he wishes he had a set of warmer rain gear and then something lighter for when it's hot out. He has those carhartt overall rain pants and says they're great, but they're too much for the spring and summer.

Speaking of having rain running down your pants, if you're living off the farm for the year, I highly recommend keeping a complete change of clothes either in your car or at the farm house. Not just dry socks and stuff like that, but shorts and a tshirt for if it suddenly gets warm, warm clothes for if it suddenly gets cold, something comfortable for sitting around the farmhouse for class and never, never leave your rain jacket at home.

A lot of people wear carhartt work pants (or deluth- there's lots of brand loyalty and comparison). I'm a fan of carhartt because they make women's clothing and it's really comfortable.

Multi tool/ and or pocket knife. I got mine from Chainsaw Bill (who you will meet and love any maybe win a pocket knife from) but I wish that I had the kind where part of the blade is serrated.

Work gloves are also a good thing to come with. Theo likes the $4 Ocean State Joblot kind and I like my leather Carhartt ones. It's funny that none of us really wear gloves any more, probably since we're just used to having poop on our hands and getting our hands pretty beat up everyday, but we wore them all the time in the fall. Also bring a pair of lined gloves (I got Kinco ones) because it get's colder sooner than you think and I wish I had had some from the beginning.

For the winter? I loved my wool shirts and my onesie LL Bean long underwear. Quilt lined overalls are good but I really wish I had (and might buy for myself one of these days) the full body coveralls that are quilted. So warm and cozy! I also got a winter work coat (also from carhartt... seeing a trend?) since I didn't want to ruin my nice ski coat.

Bring warm blankets for the winter since the farm house is pretty cold, and slippers since nobody wants work boots inside (or sandals for when it's warmer).

Bring musical instruments and board games and cards.

Bring a really, really good hat and really warm socks.

Some general advice?

There is so, so much food at the farm which is such a blessings. Part of what I'm saddest to leave behind is the meals we all ate together. However, if you have a non local or out of season food that you really like (for me, avocados and for Theo, any type of fish) you can expect that you'll have to buy that yourself.

I also think a real strength of the program, and the management is their willingness to accommodate what each person wants to learn. Obviously, one person can't change the whole curriculum, but the staff is really supportive if you want to go deeper into a certain subject. Advocate for yourself- it's really helped me when I wanted to do more welding and Theo when he wanted to spend more time canning and preserving.

One other tip for the few weeks left? Come to the farm prepared to carry heavy things. I wish I had spent more time building strength- you'll be carrying 50 lbs of turnips down a rocky path and lifting it into the back of a pickup. Also heavy? Throwing hay bales, lifting two five gallon buckets of water and 50 pound bags of grain.

A final thought: leaving the farm school is hard and figuring out what to do after is even harder. There was a lot of stress in March and April about everyone's next step. Wm (who you will also meet and love) told us that it happened every year and hearing that made it a little better. Throughout the summer we've met many, many farmers looking to hire us. Theo and I had many opportunities of where to go to start our own farm. And who knows, maybe we'll need someone this time next year.

I'm sure there's other things and if I think of any, I'll post them later. Off to go shuck the corn for dinner!

Community Living

These are some of the gems that get pulled out of a community fridge. There was no tuna in there, just some delicious, undated tuna water for the cats. Yum

River Rat Race Part 2

Check out the video of the start here! After driving down to the bridge in Athol to watch the start, Theo and I jumped in our car and drove the back way to Orange to be by the finish. We watched Andrew and Justin paddle their way across, closely followed by Emily and Tyson. Such an incredible day, made even more so by finishing it off with the first cookout of the season at Reid and Kim's!

River Rat Race Part 1

This past weekend was the River Rat Race. It's a canoe race from Athol to Orange that is probably the craziest thing these towns see all year. We'd been hearing about it for months and the weekend did not disappoint with a carnival outside of Ocean State Job Lot and a parade down Main Street. There was a 5K on Saturday morning to kick of the festivities and we had all been betting on Kiyoshi, a fellow student farmer, for the win.

He did great! Theo, Emma and I were watching at the finish as he came around the corner and left the second place finisher in the dust for a time of 17:41. It was a very, very exciting finish.

Theo and I were on chores and when we returned to the farm, we found Emily and Tyson gearing up for the canoe race that started that afternoon.

Check out their super fast, super awesome, super rusty canoe!

More to come about the race when I get the video online.

Housesitting

Don't get me wrong, we love living at the farm. The company is amazing and it's really fun to be living with so many different people. At the same time, when Kim and Reid mentioned they were going on vacation and needed someone to watch their house, we were more than happy. We just spent two weeks walking their dog, feeding their cat and watching movies on their huge TV. A wonderful, winter break from our normal farm lives.

Goodbye Andrew!

Sadly, our second year student (read mentor, food orderer, mediator, community organizer, sunday morning breakfast maker and question answerer) is leaving us to work with Nate onCrimson and Clover Farm. We threw him what was supposed to be a surprise (didn't work out so well) going away party on Thursday night. We cooked up some beef stew, churned ginger ice cream and even scraped together a few presents.

At the NOFA conference, Lee bought Andrew this antique scythe. Very awesome.

Josh gave Andrew a women's t-shirt with a sequin flower. Also very awesome.

We gave Andrew the dishes that have been sitting in the basement and are very likely possessed by a ghost. Also, I take full credit for the amazing duct tape bow.

Snowy!

A photo essay of how chores in the snow disintegrated into play time in the snow.

Snowy horses:

Snowy cars:

Snowy Barn:

Snowy Theo head:

Snowy Emily climbing into the sheep manger headfirst:

Snowy Theo helping snowy Emily climb into the sheep manger headfirst:

Snowy sheep eating hay from their manger:

Snowy Theo laying on snowy sheep eating hay from their manger:

The End!

Goodbye and Good Luck!

Our Head Grower, Nate is leaving us to start farming in Northampton, Ma. We're very happy for him and very sad since he's a great teacher and great friend. In the best way of saying goodbye, we drank beer, ate s'mores and burned brush. We're looking forward to getting to know our new grower, who will join us this winter and hopefully we'll have a great season together!

Hannukah

What did you do today? Because in honor of our Hannukah celebrations (it helps to have our very own Rabbi), I made a menorah out of purple top turnips. Can't wait for latkes and applesauce for dinner!

The good old days

It has sadly come time to say goodbye to our original groups. We've been split into two groups of six for the last two months, but upon returning from our thanksgiving break this morning were informed that the jig was up. I've officially switched from group b to group a and we've been shuffled around to work with new people. Things just won't be the same...

Next up, the transition from bird to dinner, a close up look at turkeys and did we really send the wrong sheep to slaughter? Or did we catch it in time? Stay tuned!

Also...

Also, this happened. I'm refering to the part about spraying molasses all over the grass. Lee, my fellow farmer friend, is blogging as well. She, however, can add captions and borders to her pictures, making them look much cooler. I'm very jealous.