First Farm Update of the 2018-2019 School Year!
Greetings from Emerson Farm!
Mornings are nice out here, and the first hints of fall are showing. We needed some rain, but so far the crops are holding on despite very few big rains over the last month. Here is an update on summer farm camp and other happenings.
An abundant cucumber crop found us scrambling to make use of it all. Before summer camp, I traded a couple bushels for chicken feed at Joelton Hardware and Farmacy. We need plenty of feed right now with the arrival of 40 baby chicks and 20 guinea keats that are now about a month and a half old. To accommodate this fledgling flock, we needed to build a bigger chicken coop and so the summer camp crew got to work. Max, Alia, Lily S., Elijah, Samuel, Reuben, and Meridian worked out a pretty nice coop on an old farm trailer that can easily be pulled around the pastures with the sheep.
Speaking of sheep, Alia, Reuben, Lily S., and Meridian succeeded in the year-long goal of halter training one of the sheep which turned out to be “Beans” (also, the giver of our best fleece). Hazel and Margo washed, carded, and spun some of Marigold’s fleece during the first week while Arlo, Alex, Ben, and Samuel put up a teepee. Max was the chief harvester and cook for week one, and Anabel and Marissa assumed that duty in week two. Nothing is better than okra, squash, zucchini, tomato, onion, garlic, and, yes, even eggplant, cooked up fresh right out of the garden.
Hot afternoons found Alex, Ben, Alia, Meridian, and Lily S. weaving baskets in the shade of the barn, and in week two it was Hayden making jump ropes. Elijah and Hayden took a shine to the baby chicks, and Elijah also learned some carpentry and helped to build stairs up the retaining wall as well as kitchen shelves. Hanging in the windows of the kitchen are marigold chains, and outside that window you see the painted birdhouse gourds that we hope will attract mosquito eating purple martins.
Second week farmers participated in a small service project at Freedom Garden at Dixon Memorial Church in North Nashville. We weeded, built trellises, and planted fall greens under the direction of Sherry’s friend Ellen Pugh, and we look forward to maintaining our connection with this community. Throughout both weeks, morning yoga with Jenni Derryberry Mann and Geena Huggins helped us set our intentions and reminded us to listen to the sounds of the living world of which we are only a part.
Now as we turn our attention towards summer harvest, tomatoes are just ramping up and I expect to have plenty to share when the school year starts. Soon we plant the fall garden of greens and root crops. Margo and I are so grateful for the time we spend with the students at the farm and are looking forward to year two at Emerson Farm.
Peace,
David and Margo
Farm Guides
Mornings are nice out here, and the first hints of fall are showing. We needed some rain, but so far the crops are holding on despite very few big rains over the last month. Here is an update on summer farm camp and other happenings.
An abundant cucumber crop found us scrambling to make use of it all. Before summer camp, I traded a couple bushels for chicken feed at Joelton Hardware and Farmacy. We need plenty of feed right now with the arrival of 40 baby chicks and 20 guinea keats that are now about a month and a half old. To accommodate this fledgling flock, we needed to build a bigger chicken coop and so the summer camp crew got to work. Max, Alia, Lily S., Elijah, Samuel, Reuben, and Meridian worked out a pretty nice coop on an old farm trailer that can easily be pulled around the pastures with the sheep.
Speaking of sheep, Alia, Reuben, Lily S., and Meridian succeeded in the year-long goal of halter training one of the sheep which turned out to be “Beans” (also, the giver of our best fleece). Hazel and Margo washed, carded, and spun some of Marigold’s fleece during the first week while Arlo, Alex, Ben, and Samuel put up a teepee. Max was the chief harvester and cook for week one, and Anabel and Marissa assumed that duty in week two. Nothing is better than okra, squash, zucchini, tomato, onion, garlic, and, yes, even eggplant, cooked up fresh right out of the garden.
Hot afternoons found Alex, Ben, Alia, Meridian, and Lily S. weaving baskets in the shade of the barn, and in week two it was Hayden making jump ropes. Elijah and Hayden took a shine to the baby chicks, and Elijah also learned some carpentry and helped to build stairs up the retaining wall as well as kitchen shelves. Hanging in the windows of the kitchen are marigold chains, and outside that window you see the painted birdhouse gourds that we hope will attract mosquito eating purple martins.
Second week farmers participated in a small service project at Freedom Garden at Dixon Memorial Church in North Nashville. We weeded, built trellises, and planted fall greens under the direction of Sherry’s friend Ellen Pugh, and we look forward to maintaining our connection with this community. Throughout both weeks, morning yoga with Jenni Derryberry Mann and Geena Huggins helped us set our intentions and reminded us to listen to the sounds of the living world of which we are only a part.
Now as we turn our attention towards summer harvest, tomatoes are just ramping up and I expect to have plenty to share when the school year starts. Soon we plant the fall garden of greens and root crops. Margo and I are so grateful for the time we spend with the students at the farm and are looking forward to year two at Emerson Farm.
Peace,
David and Margo
Farm Guides
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