Winter Farm Updates

Now that winter is settling in, life on the farm is changing as it does with the seasons. We still have greens in the ground, but with such short days and cold temperatures, they will grow very slowly. It has been a great fall for greens and I hope some of you have enjoyed what your children brought home. Colder weather gives an extra sweetness to greens, and one of the most enjoyable things about a garden is finding out how good vegetables really can be.  

Harvesting has been a major piece of work that has been done every week by every student that comes to the farm. Certain tasks require the help of every student! Some students took special interest in preparing and cooking greens, beets, carrots, turnips, and radishes, all of which came from the garden they helped build at the beginning of the year. The favorite dish was sautéed carrots in olive oil, salt, pepper, and the special ingredient: honey. 

We learned to make unique tea blends from freshly harvested herbs to warm ourselves on cold and rainy days. Cutting kindling and making fires are other basic skills we needed to employ in order to stay outside on in lower temperatures.

Daily chores include feeding and watering (and holding!) the chicks, and working up new garden beds. Students prepare food for our group meals using crops from the garden harvest that day, and then we have time for other projects.  

We sharpened our saws and made some pretty nice benches and tables out of scrap wood from the barn.

Some students took interest in dyeing wool and cloth with walnuts (brown) and osage (yellow). We made the decision to take on five wool sheep in January after much deliberation and working through the process by hand to take the raw wool to a usable form.

We have just begun planting our berry orchard, a very large undertaking with more than 350 plants to get in the ground. We also allow the students space and time in the wide open expanse of the farm landscape to build forts, run in the tall grass, and notice hawks overhead. Here's to a successful first fall season at Emerson farm!

Over the winter break we will hold an evaluation meeting of this first season and send you more information about the direction we will take throughout the winter and the spring.

Cheers!

David

Abintra Farm Manager