I realized that I´ve left out an important part of my life on the farm: working. While it´s true that "work" is sometimes a loosely-defined term, with afternoons spent in the kitchen making homemade veggie burgers or gooseberry-rhubarb jam, we do spend a good portion of our time doing activities that more closely resemble what one thinks of as "farm work."
Each morning, we meet Cynthia down at the house and go to the barn to feed the animals and clean their stalls. The work isn´t hard, especially with four or five of us doing it, and it is really satisfying in its routine and rhythm. When the calf is tied up outside, the bunnies are fed and watered, the stalls are shoveled out, the pig has its bucket of wheat germ slop, and the poultry are busily pecking at their corn and vegetable peel breakfasts, we let the cows in, and my favorite part of the day begins: milking. I´m at the point where I can do this on my own, though there are always at least two of us doing it together. the milking machine is very simple, and the whole process takes only about 15 minutes, but watching the milk move through the clear plastic tube into the milk can (which actually looks like what a milk can has looked like for probably more than a century!), pouring it into a bucket, and then using that same milk later in the day for cooking, or cheese making, is just a magical thing.
For the past couple of weeks, we´ve been working on an expansion of Cynthia´s larger fruit and vegetable garden. I remember when she first mentioned the project and showed us the spot, it seemed like a huge undertaking. We started by clearing a plot next to the current garden (which is about 24 ft by 34 feet, roughly). This was hard work and took a few days of pulling out thorny michay plants, and digging up extensive and stubborn roots. Next, we dug three new holes for fence posts and carried heavy trunk posts from up by the house and planting them in the holes, along with large holes and earth. Then we had to undo the chainlink fence and wires that held it taut, extend it around the new posts, attach it to a new portion of chainlink fence, stretch it, and attach it to the old fence again. After that, we started carting wheelbarrow loads of compost, making new beds, and planting potatoes, broccoli, lettuce, and chard. Finally, the new garden is pretty much complete, and it´s so satisfying to see what we´ve done! I´ve adopted Cynthia´s habit of exclaiming, "Hermoso!" (Beautiful!) every time I pass, often out loud. Unfortunately, I don´t have any pictures of it uploaded yet, but I¨ll put them up when i get them.
Cynthia´s goal in hosting WWOOF volunteers is more to teach all that she knows about self-sufficiency, which is amazing, because it´s much more like an apprenticeship than just a volunteer job, and not a day passes without learning something useful about gardening, animal care, or most fun, cooking and baking. We are just as often leaning over Cynthia´s kitchen counter as out in the garden, and so far we´ve learned how to make: two types of cheese, jam, dulce de leche, bread, veggie burgers, empanadas, canellonis, flower champagne, granola bars, yoghurt, and butter. These sessions are my favorite, and have made me realize how easy it is to make some of the things that I would only ever think to buy in the grocery store.
Below is a picture of the greenhouse at the elementary school that Sol, Cynthia´s 10-year old daughter, attends. Cynthia built this greenhouse with the help of some other parents, all but one of whom have since dropped off the project, unfortunately. The saga of the school garden project has a lot of disappointment and frustrations, but Cynthia´s resolve to provide fresh vegetables for the 200 K-7 students at the school has carried the project forward. We work there every Wednesday morning, and it´s been really amazing to watch it transform from it´s state at the beginning, when it only contained last year´s bolting chard plants, to its current status, filled with robust and happy tomato, corn, lettuce, and squash plants.
And finally, the baby pio-pio´s.
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