Keeping Things Alive!
“What things” you ask? Well…essentially the entire Market Garden this week! Stephan, the master mind behind the farm market garden, is taking a well-deserved vacation this week, which leaves me to try fill his shoes while he’s away! He’s been training me on different areas over the course of this past week, and while I feel (mostly) okay about keeping things under control and alive, it will be a very busy week, and I feel like I’m going to learn a lot! Nothing like being thrown into the water to learn how to swim, right?? (Please don’t actually throw people who cant swim into water.) So I’ve decided to try keep an ongoing blog post, where I update each day with something I’ve learned during these 8 days of keeping the garden alive!! So keep checking back, if you’re interested in following along!
Panorama image of the Market Garden
Day 1: To easily break down what exactly I’m in charge of doing each day, its essentially: Opening and closing the sides of the high tunnel (depending on the weather and time of day), turning different irrigation systems off and on throughout the day, keeping a watchful eye on the moisture level and sun exposure of some seedling trays at different levels of sprouting, as well as keeping an eye on some weeds so they don’t go to seed, and making sure recent transplants are watered. A few other things as well, but those are the main things.
One of my learning experiences today had to do with seedling trays and sun exposure. In a recent session of my online permaculture class, I learned about weather patterns, and paying attention to them, and the movement of the sun. One of the main parts of permaculture is taking your surroundings into consideration (topography, climate, weather patterns, wildlife, etc). I just thought “sure, sure, that makes sense.” This morning I began my first seedling care task, which was moving the seedling trays from a fully shaded spot, into a mostly sunny spot. They essentially sit under a table-structure with a light cloth over them that lets in 85% of the sunlight, for a few hours. Just so they don’t have harsh sunlight directly on the tender little sprouts. I placed the trays of newest JUST sprouted seedlings under the table with the rest, and moved on to my next chore. When I came down a few hours later, I realized the spot where I put the newest seedlings was a place where the sun could still hit them. I hadn’t considered the sun shines at a steeper angle in the morning before it moves upwards! It was ultimately fine (I’m pretty sure), they weren’t shriveled or dried up, and by the time I actually got to them, they were under the shade cloth. But now I know! Put the little baby sprouts further under, and maybe the more established ones can be on the end where the sun can hit them.
Day 2: Its HOT. The forecast is in the 90s every day this week. Everything needs water but the poor water system at the lower farm is struggling to keep up. The resident housing is on the same water system as the market garden and the livestock, and the pressure has been lower than usual this week. The source of that issue is still being determined, but this means that whenever I need to water something, or have irrigation systems going, it lowers the water pressure in the house... but I need to be watering things pretty much all day! And extra in this heat! But also, people need to be able to take showers, and wash dishes, and hydrate themselves! Ahh!
The thing I've learned today is that I need to keep an extra eye on the young plants in the garden, in particular, the newest lettuce transplants. Lettuce is our biggest money making product from the garden, and we grow a variety of ..varieties. Farmers market customers love lettuce! For a few months, there has been a new planting of lettuce each week, and that will continue for a few more weeks yet, to ensure we have lettuce throughout the season. Last week, I transplanted a bed of little lettuce babies from the seed trays into the ground. Stephan has told me that new transplants should be hand-watered every day for a while, until they’re more established. This task of hand watering has been an afternoon activity. Before Stephan departed, he wrote out a detailed daily schedule for me to follow to keep everything on track, and said to adjust when necessary, based on surrounding factors. I had planned to keep watering the lettuce as an afternoon thing, and was busy following the other tasks, and didn’t check on the newest transplants until the afternoon. In THIS heat??? Girl. When I went to look on them, I had a moment of panic. They were wilted, and flat on the ground. “Oh no oh no oh no, did I just kill this round of lettuce????” I grabbed the watering cans, filled them, and got water on the poor lettuces as fast as I could, and prayed that they would revive, so I wouldn’t have to explain to Stephan that I didn’t keep a watchful enough eye on the lettuce babies in the heat! But lo and behold, by the time I got done watering the bed, the ones at the end where I started were already perking back up! Bless that little lettuce.
And THEN, we got that giant rain not long after! It was not in the forecast (at least not on my weather app!) and I had to hustle to get the high tunnel closed up, but I’m so grateful! Maybe it will release some strain on the water system for a bit.
Day 3: The lesson today was that you can’t even rely on a torrential downpour to keep things watered in this heat!! I thought with the heavy rain we got yesterday, I may be able to skip one of the irrigation rotations, or not have to hand water the baby lettuces again. But jokes on me I guess! Turns out 90+ degrees and full sun will either suck the moisture right back out of the soil or make the plants soak it up out of desperation! (Relatable, honestly.) Continued to run the regular scheduled programming of watering everything, baby lettuce even got watered twice. Another scorcher tomorrow. 😫
Day 4: Today’s lesson was coming to the realization that there is no rest for the farmer! Growing things and maintaining a garden is enjoyable and rewarding. But its also tireless in the growing season! Back home at my bakery job, I work the usual 5 day work week. Some days would require long hours, but I always had a weekend to look forward to, when I could rest and use free time as I pleased. I’ve been doing alright this week of tending to the market garden; I’ve been tired at the end of each day, but it hasn’t felt like too much. But I caught myself thinking about when the next day I could sleep in is, and it kinda dawned on me that, wait, people like James and Stephan, who have full time responsibilities to this farm, don’t get to sleep in! There is no day when they can just be like “I think I’ll just sleep in” or “eh I think I’ll stay in this evening".” Animals have to be fed! Goats need to be milked! Sprinklers need to be turn on or off! Seedlings have to be tended to! And there can be dire consequences if you decide to skip on chores for one day, especially if rely on your farm for income, which I imagine most farmers do! This is a job that requires commitment. I’m grateful for this week of extra responsibilities, as its giving me kind of a taste test of what a farm career path could look and feel like. And I’m grateful for my body and its strength for carrying me through it thus far.
I noticed the colorful array of nasturtium flowers in the high tunnel the other night between chores, and decided to pick some and spend 20 minutes arranging them in an aesthetically pleasing ombre.
Day 5: Today has been a balancing act. We had some people out to the farm this morning to take a look at our well to try figure out why our pressure has been so low. That meant that water on the lower farmstead had to be shut off for the whole morning while they worked on it. I wasn’t sure how long it would be off, and in this heat, I had a looming cloud of worry in the back of my mind about the plants getting the water they needed. And especially the delicate little seed trays that need watered Avery couple hours so they don’t dry out. Would they be able to fix it? Would I be able to run two different irrigation systems at once when the water is back on, to keep up with all the things that need to be watered today? Will I have to pick and choose which of these poor parched plants get water?? Can I plant those new trays of lettuce seeds today, if I can’t water them in afterwards?? Water on the upper farm still worked, so I filled a bucket of water at lunch to take down for the seedlings, in case it was still not on when I came back down. Luckily, they found a fix, so water was working again, and the pressure issue seemed to be better, so I turned on two irrigation systems and hoped for the best. I also planted the seeds, and will be hoping for the best for the next few days until they germinate. There was supposed to be some rain tonight, but it looks like that’s gone from the forecast so…just a lot of hoping for the best today!
Day 6 & 7: I’m posting these two days as one, because in reflecting on the days, I couldn’t pinpoint one thing that stood out as some sort of “lesson” to be learned. These days have kind of just been continuing on with the watering schedule, checking on the same sorts of things I do each day, trying to lay out my day in a way that makes the most sense for activities in between watering tasks and seedling care. I transplanted another round of baby lettuce last night (which I will do my best to not kill again), but that’s been a typical weekly task. I did seed some new trays, which I had not done before, but had been given a pretty in depth tutorial, so it didn’t feel like any kind of big achievement. I spent a few hours working on some hand painted signs I’m doing for the farmstead, but that felt like more of a respite from the outdoor heat than anything else! Keeping up with all the market garden care has been a lot, and I’m definitely tired, though it hasn’t felt like too much. That said, I’m still looking forward to Stephan’s return! I don’t know how that man constantly does all of this and then some, and finds ways to still have energy. This evening, I helped out with the weekly community pizza night, which I usually do and is part of my regular internship hours, but it was a bit different this week, since I had to continue garden care tasks throughout the evening as well. So twice during my shift, I had to leave and run from the upper farm down to the lower farm to turn off some drip tape here, turn on a sprinkler there, close up the sides of the high tunnel, water the seedlings… I made it quick, so I only missed maybe 15 minutes of pizza work each time, but y’all. The second time (in the evening, probably 4th or 5th today) I climbed back up Acorn Trail to return to pizza duties, I was sweating from the heat, my legs were tired and burning, I was out of breath. I thought to myself “just one more day of this,” just one more day of constant garden care. But then I remembered that if I wanted to work on a farm full time, or have my own farm one day, this is probably what it would be like! It’s constant work! So then the next question on my mind was “Could I do this for more than 8 days at a time? Do I think I could handle this more long term?” And despite by burning legs and huffing and puffing to climb that hill, it didn’t take half a second for me to answer my own question with “yes”. The whole point of doing this internship is so I can experience what farm life could be like, and see if this is something I’d want to do more long term in the future, so I feel like the fact that my first thought was “yes I could do this” feels like a pretty good sign. :)
Day 8: Despite yesterday’s question of “could I do this?”, today’s question is now “but do I want to??” That question come partly in jest, because it came as my morning alarm went off, and my legs hardly felt any more rested than they were the night before. I remind myself though that not all farms have a steep hill that one must climb multiple times a day. After I did my morning garden duties, I trudged up the hill (1) to help with the farm breakfast. With the ovens and stove going, it was hot in that kitchen. After breakfast was all done, I went back down to the garden for the next round of duties, and went back up the hill (2). Cristina and I went out to the raspberry bushes by the resident garden, and spent some time picking berries (and me getting a little sunburnt), which was fun but again, hot. After that, I went back down to continue the day’s garden tasks, and then decided that I didn’t wanna climb the hill any time soon, so I stayed on the lower farm, and spent a few hours processing through some basil clippings, and dividing it into bags. I sat outside in some shade to do this, despite the high temperatures, because there was at least a breeze; there was no air flow inside! By the time I finished, it was close to 6, so I did some more watering tasks, and headed back up the hill (3) to eat dinner that Cristina graciously prepared. Once the sun went down enough, I went back down to the garden, with an air of excitement, because I knew that I would only have to ascend once more!! (Until next week anyways…) I closed up the high tunnel, turned off all the irrigation, and then paused. I had to take a second to appreciate everything that was (still) growing. Some of the tomatoes in the high tunnel are reaching 7 ft tall. All the flowers are getting bushy, and will be stunning in a week or two, and the lettuce I was worried that I killed at the beginning of the week is now looking pretty established! Looks like I kept things alive! I headed back up the hill (4) to an air conditioned house, a shower, and a bowl of ice cream. And the joy of having no alarms set for the next morning! I guess the lesson today is that it looks like I can handle managing the garden for a while! And I don’t hate it at the end!
I posted a panoramic picture of the garden at the beginning of this 8 days, and I took one at the very end. Proof that its still alive!
