7/23, Monday
We flew through the normal Monday rituals this morning and got a lot of things accomplished today. By 10:00am we had finished seeding this weeks lettuce, which has taken until noon on some days. So we went out and transplanted lettuce and finished just in time for lunch. That left the rest of the day to cleaning and preparing for the master gardeners tomorrow. Cecelia is a master gardener and she is hosting a meeting and sort of a show and tell of the farm.
I pruned and put supports up for branches on one of our plum trees (picture). This is the first year the trees have produced plums since they moved here over twelve years ago, and the branches can’t hold up all the weight, but the ripe ones are tasty. Then I helped Steve mow around the pond and then washed the green machines (picture).
7/24, Tuesday
This morning we got right to work harvesting for the co-op delivery so I could pick-up some last minute things for the Master Gardener meeting that we hosted, and get back before it started. When I got back, I made some signs to put on the road to the farm and did some more cleaning and set-up.
At the beginning of the meeting each intern stood up and gave short talks about how they made their way to this farm and the projects we’ve been working on all summer. It was nice to meet some of the local people and learn about what they do and how they’re involved with the Master Gardener program.
7/25, Wednesday
I helped Steve harvest a lot this morning. We had to finish the harvest so they could go to the Wednesday market in Seattle. Thinking back, I’ve only been to one Wednesday market and at least three Saturday markets. I wonder if I’ll ever go back to a Wednesday. I finally remembered to get a picture of the list of almost everything we harvest. Sometimes things get left off of the list. Hopefully one of theses days I’ll be able to take my camera out during a harvest. It’s a really pretty site on the washing table when we bring in radishes, beets, kale, carrots and all the different colored veggies.
We spent the afternoon weeding in the hoop houses and in the field.
7/26, Thursday
Today we did a lot of weeding, pruned tomato plants, harvested for the co-op and harvested ten of our chickens. I had never slaughtered a chicken before and I’m not sure if I will have meat birds if or when I have a farm, but it was a good experience and I’m glad to know how it’s done. On this farm the meat harvest is done in two parts, the slaughter and then the butchering. Tomorrow we’ll cut the meat into pieces and freeze it for later use.
7/27, Friday
Today was a big harvest for the Saturday market. At this point we’re harvesting almost everything that will go to the markets.
Once we were ready for the Saturday market, we took care of the second part of the chicken harvest, butchering and packaging the meat. I only got two picture of cleaning and packaging. It was hard to take pictures while handling the meat. None of the meat will be sold, it’s just for our use, but it’s enough that it needs to be frozen.
Urban Farming 