Week Two
This week we finally go the satisfaction of harvesting for CSA and for Farmer’s Market. While James and I have had many a good conversation in the late afternoons while freeing raspberries from the choke hold of angry thistles, we much prefer pulling box after box of colorful organic vegetables out of the ground, washing them, and packing them up in perfect bags. Twice last week we harvested beets, radishes, lettuce mix, arugula, mustard greens, sunflower sprouts, carrots, mint, cilantro, and baby garlic, and we baked over 20 pounds of granola. And there is more produce left over than the four of us could ever eat! In fact, the chickens and goats have been dining on organic arugula for several days now.
The weather here has been crazy and unpredictable. One evening, James and I were sitting in bed exhausted (from weeding thistles, no doubt), and we realized we’d left the gates to the field open. After we got up and got them closed, we were standing in the wide open field, watching the rain streak down on the neighbor’s homestead, and before we knew it the sky was dumping hail on us and we were running at a full sprint towards the house. There’s been a lot of rain. After several nights of watching rain water drip from the wooden beams of the tipi onto all of our belongings and, finally, our faces (that was the breaking point), we moved into a fifth wheel trailer on the farm, which is dry and still has a wonderful view of the night sky. Many nights, we are awakened the strange chirping bark of coyotes in the distance, and, even more so, the three dogs trying to scare them off from the baby chicks.
Last weekend James and I spent a full day baking several beautiful loaves of multigrain and cinnamon raisin bread in the wood fired Navajo oven. We also found a really cool and unexpected mountain biking park in Cortez (30 minutes from the farm) and got to demo bikes that are more expensive than we should ever sample! We met some locals (one from Jackson, Mississippi, believe it or not) on the trail who directed us to a section called “The Ribcage.” It was a rollercoaster if I’ve ever seen one. The steep descents require you to get all the way back behind your bike seat or risk flying over the handlebars, and then you get to sail up the hills without a bit of effort. We flew through this part, loving the new terrain. We were slightly terrified, but mostly successful. And then, as soon as it flattened out, I made the tiniest of tiny (and, by the way, completely optional) jumps, managed to land with my handlebars sideways, and in slow motion went down on my side, still attached to my bike, on the hard, desert ground. Somehow I managed to get bruises and blood on both sides of both legs and completely skin my elbow. I’m still covered in bandaids!
Well get back on the horse, I guess, because tomorrow we’re headed to Durango tomorrow check out the biking out there. We got up at five o’clock this morning to help at the first farmers market of the season, which was a lot of fun. Well, after two cups of coffee it was fun. Before that I seriously questioned our judgement. Tonight we are headed to a party at the home of a man who makes top notch mandolins (yes, James is excited!), and tomorrow we head out from there to Durango for some more falling off of mountain bikes and sleeping in tents! Hope all is well in your worlds. Here is a link to pictures of the farm:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114092&l=8cc02b30e3&id=503860738
The weather here has been crazy and unpredictable. One evening, James and I were sitting in bed exhausted (from weeding thistles, no doubt), and we realized we’d left the gates to the field open. After we got up and got them closed, we were standing in the wide open field, watching the rain streak down on the neighbor’s homestead, and before we knew it the sky was dumping hail on us and we were running at a full sprint towards the house. There’s been a lot of rain. After several nights of watching rain water drip from the wooden beams of the tipi onto all of our belongings and, finally, our faces (that was the breaking point), we moved into a fifth wheel trailer on the farm, which is dry and still has a wonderful view of the night sky. Many nights, we are awakened the strange chirping bark of coyotes in the distance, and, even more so, the three dogs trying to scare them off from the baby chicks.
Last weekend James and I spent a full day baking several beautiful loaves of multigrain and cinnamon raisin bread in the wood fired Navajo oven. We also found a really cool and unexpected mountain biking park in Cortez (30 minutes from the farm) and got to demo bikes that are more expensive than we should ever sample! We met some locals (one from Jackson, Mississippi, believe it or not) on the trail who directed us to a section called “The Ribcage.” It was a rollercoaster if I’ve ever seen one. The steep descents require you to get all the way back behind your bike seat or risk flying over the handlebars, and then you get to sail up the hills without a bit of effort. We flew through this part, loving the new terrain. We were slightly terrified, but mostly successful. And then, as soon as it flattened out, I made the tiniest of tiny (and, by the way, completely optional) jumps, managed to land with my handlebars sideways, and in slow motion went down on my side, still attached to my bike, on the hard, desert ground. Somehow I managed to get bruises and blood on both sides of both legs and completely skin my elbow. I’m still covered in bandaids!
Well get back on the horse, I guess, because tomorrow we’re headed to Durango tomorrow check out the biking out there. We got up at five o’clock this morning to help at the first farmers market of the season, which was a lot of fun. Well, after two cups of coffee it was fun. Before that I seriously questioned our judgement. Tonight we are headed to a party at the home of a man who makes top notch mandolins (yes, James is excited!), and tomorrow we head out from there to Durango for some more falling off of mountain bikes and sleeping in tents! Hope all is well in your worlds. Here is a link to pictures of the farm:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114092&l=8cc02b30e3&id=503860738