One can’t help but want to go inside and curl up and get warm and dry after spending a number of hours in the rain at the Free Farm Stand. The work is beautiful though and the rain I can’t complain about. I can’t wait to go to the farm on Wednesday and see what new life sprouted from the extra water. And while curled up one can’t help reflect on the changing seasons. I look back at the amazing work that has been done these last two and a half years. Connections that have been made like networks of roots growing in fertile soil. So many good friends we’ve met and so many beautiful hands kneading this revolution like bread dough. So much food grown and given away or collected or gleaned. I feel great about it all and am always grateful and thankful. Many places are having harvest festivals this time of year and I hope next year we will have our own special celebration where we can come together and be joyful together.
Thank goodness for Annamaria lending us another canopy so the bread table wasn’t in the rain. On Wednesday Tom brought me 245 pounds of small melons he picked from a farmer in Santa Rosa that didn’t want them and by Sunday many of them had gotten over ripe, but we still had plenty to give away. Plus he brought some beautiful big winter squashes that Marshall cut up. We had some Yacón root (go to my post last year for more information about that root http://freefarmstand.org/2009/12/) and red sunchokes also from Tom. I wasn’t at the farm on Saturday, but we had a small harvest of collards and kale and a small amount of cherry tomatoes.
Last week I had a meeting with Park and Recreation and a neighbor who objected to the project of planting fruit trees in Parque Niños Unidos and we worked out some compromises that will enable to move this project forward. Unfortunately, because of the delays in having to meet again to work things out with the obstructionists we lost the grant that Park’s Trust wanted to give us. Hopefully we will have enough funds to make this work or I will have to raise more money. Imagine the idea of planting fruit trees in a public park? I think the time has come and hopefully by the beginning of next year the planting will begin!
Last week I also attended (for free thanks to the generosity of Ian and Madrone Studios) a workshop on the “Introduction to the BioLogic Method” by Ian Davidson which included information about Compost & Compost Tea, Carbon Farming , the Soil Food Web, Regenerative Pasturing, and Mycorrhizae. The event really blew me away and I feel like I understand the basics of gardening and farming on a much more solid level now. I am dreaming of micro- organisms and can’t wait to start making some compost extract and feeding our soil more beneficial fungi.
Last year in December we took a couple of weeks off to take a break for reflection and to summon up energy for the new year. I am thinking we will take the whole month off this year and hopefully spend some of that time building our new greenhouse for the Free Farm. I will keep everyone posted with updates about that plan.