Howdy folks,
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| 2017 Apprentices: Diane, Phil, Jared |
This week you get to hear a new voice from the field. Phil is completing is first year as an apprentice at Powisset and his second year farming. I have invited other members of the farm crew to share their perspective of the farm over the next few weeks
Farming leaves me dumbfounded. Our crops grow big, ripe and delicious from nearly nothing. Sure, we expect this. It's the whole point. We spend our days ensuring this growth, doing things that have worked for millions of farmers over centuries. We're a skilled group at Powisset, and we expect success. Still, while we farm I can't shake the feeling that what we do is ridiculous, even insane - that messing around in the dirt all day cannot actually make food grow.
For example: we start the season with white paper envelopes filled with seeds. These seeds are tiny, dry, and unremarkable. Some look like dark grains of sand. Some are larger and horned and usually you'd only notice them if they became stuck inside your hiking boot. These lifeless bits of trash we bury in dank soil. We hose them down. The next day, we hose them down again. Same thing the day after that, and the next. Within a week or two - are you kidding me - from the spots where each seed was buried, fragile sets of matching leaves poke through the soil, waving from tender shoots. Pretty soon, the leaves are recognizable: there's basil, there's lettuce, kale, beets, cabbage, et cetera. How can I match the silly little things I did, the burying and the watering, with this miraculous result? You'd think I must have cast a magic spell over each seed to make life arise where no life had been. At the least, you'd think I must have been concentrating very hard. But when life began I probably wasn't even paying much attention - my mind likely wandered elsewhere, to the smells in the greenhouse, my bank account, the stiffness in my neck, or a joke from one of the knuckleheads on the farm crew.
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| Look for our new labels around the farm stand |
Because I'm very new to farming, the strangeness of this job is still clear to me. Farmers make changes to the ecosystem which favor the seeds they've planted. Sometimes these changes are simple, like weeding. Other times they're complicated, like adding nitrogen to deficient soil. But no matter what changes we make, we can't take credit for the mystery at the center of what we do. Life starts, and food grows. We facilitate the mystery, but we aren't responsible for it.
Phil, 2017 Apprentice
This weeks share:
Scallions
Lettuce
Beets
Winter squash
Peppers
Bok choi
Garlic
Potatoes
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| Simba is always ready to distract with snuggles |
This hot weather has stressed out the fall lettuce. This week we have to harvest it small because it is starting to bolt (go to seed) prematurely.
In the Farm Stand:
- Wild Maine Organic Blueberries: Available in 1 pound and 10 pound cotainers
- A variety of Bushel and Crumb take and bake pies
- Powisset grown Tomato Puree
- and so much more!
2017 WINTER SHARE SIGN-UP IS OPEN!!!
OR Bring payment to the farm stand!!! You can now register and pay for your 2017 winter share at the farm stand while you are picking up your summer share!!!
Your farmer,
Zannah
