Hello all,
Welcome to Scrap Farm, formerly Scrap Kitchen, where I talk about starting a farm while also running a farm.
Why the name change you ask? Or maybe you didn’t. Mostly because, while I love the kitchen, hell I’ve spent most of today there making salves and Paprika, I am actually trying to make a farm. As wonderful as the kitchen is, I’m sure it’s pretty confusing to pretty much anyone trying to find info on farming to see something labelled ‘Kitchen’ that’s actually about ‘Farm’.
Justifications aside, it’s once again been a busy couple of weeks.
I have recovered from my wisdom tooth extraction and have a jawline again (rejoice). My jawline arrived just in time for my partner to leave to go visit his family in California (hello Goodmans!), which left me the solo manager of the farm. This also coincided with the big ol’ Winter Squash harvest. We managed to finish just 6 minutes before the first raindrops fell. So now our bounty of squash are tucked up safe in the greenhouse, curing and thankfully dry.
This week I also gave a Seed Keeping talk/demonstration at Bellville Library. And this time eight people showed up. That's seven more than last time! We talked through selection, collection, cleaning, storage and more. It felt really wonderful to share something I’m passionate about with people who asked lots of questions and were excited to winnow for themselves. I might look in to doing some more seed talks virtually and in person over the winter to keep this knowledge-sharing going. If you can think of a group or business that might be interested in a talk on Seed Keeping, get in touch.
This week we also had a Girl Scout troop out to the farm. Ten or so eight-year-olds were let loose on the tomatoes, they tried the nasturtiums and dragon tongue beans, trailed through the spinach shoots and helped us with our squash harvest. Many tiny hands make light work. It was wonderful to see them try each vegetable, especially since it was reported after that they "don’t usually eat those at home”. One of the greatest perks of this job, especially the U-Pick element is getting to see children interact with where their food comes from. There are many times when a customer will do something heinous (ripping herbs out by the roots or harvesting 50lbs of tomatoes, deciding they don’t want them and HIDING them for us to find a week later), but when I watch a tiny person peer up at pea plants or stroll purposefully towards their favourite vegetable it makes it all worth it.
Aside from the massive harvest and the influx of children, there was little to report on the farm over the past two weeks. The outside tomatoes have died the death and the inside ones are hanging on by a thread. Literally. We trellis them with string. But also it’s a metaphor. The tomatoes in the harsh outdoors die faster because we don’t trip them like we do the inside ones (which we baby, and for good reason). They are left to grow as much as they can before the blight sets in. And boiiii has it set in.
The mornings here have been misty as all heck. A real pea-souper, as they say. Driving in has been like driving into a dream. Some days it doesn’t burn off until the afternoon, but as the last of the summer sun breaks through it gets even prettier.
Our sunflowers have been providing a lot of food for the local birds and more are chattering on them than ever. This time last year two massive murmurations of migrating birds came through and stopped us in our work. Thinking back to the non-Newtonian movement of hundreds of birds in the crisp autumn air is pretty magical. I hope we get to see some again.
In other farm news, the corn has gifted us with huitlacoche. This is a delicious type of fungus that grows out of the corn kernels or off of it’s tassels. In Mexico, it is considered a delicacy and you can purchase it fresh or canned. Sadly it is less well known in the US but it to have it growing on our corn seems like an honour. Fungus abound this week as our King Stropharis/Garden Giant/Wine Cap mushrooms are loving the cooler weather and are springing up from their woodchip home by the dozens. We planted them along the high tunnel in the spring, over the season their mycelium spread and now the rain has brought on flush after flush.
Future Farm Updates
Big movements on this front. Our business plan is officially in and we are scheduling a call with a prospective land partner in about two weeks. It feels too good to be true to even get this far so I don’t want to jinx it by oversharing. Sufficed to say we are excited, the land seems really cool and I have a little kernel of hope lodged betwixt my ribs.
We’ve also been in contact with a lawyer to discuss the finer details of our visa application (as succinctly as possible since lawyers are not cheap) and that will give us the push/advice we need.
It’s only a month before we fly to the Uk and in that time we have to sell a car, get rid of a lot of stuff, get some more info on the visa and ideally work towards getting a land agreement. And we have to do three more weeks of CSA and get the farm ready for winter. It seems improbable. Daunting. And yet we must do it.
So we’re battering down, getting our shit together, and doing all that.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
M
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If you missed the last update, read it here:
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