Hiking the AT: Thornton Gap to Compton Gap

I did it! Well, it was a couple weeks ago, but I did it! I finally set out for a long hike on the Appalachian Trail in order to start making my way towards one of my goals this summer. I am hoping to section hike the length of the Appalachian Trail that is within the bounds of Shenandoah National Park. I haven't figured it out exactly, but I think it's about 104 miles or so. I hiked from Thornton Gap (which is the closest point on Skyline Drive from my farm) to Compton Gap, about 22 miles north. And I did it with my pack in about a 24 hour period.

The first day I hiked about 13.5 miles or so. Rachel kindly dropped me off on her lunch break in order for me to set out mid-day. I hardly saw anyone on the path, and at times finally felt far away from the constant foot and car traffic one usually finds within this well-used park. I followed the white marks on the trees as well as the AT symbol in the photo to stay on track. Oh yes, and my map, of course.

I was planning to stop about 4.5 miles sooner, but I realized I had plenty of daylight left when I got to that destination, so I just kept trekking. I passed a hang glider launch site along the way! Wouldn't that be fun? Maybe that will be my reward when I arrive at my goal. This is a picture of the launch site. Remember you can click on the image to see a larger version of it. Anyone want to come with me?

So I stopped at the Gravel Springs AT Shelter. The shelters are just 3-sided shelters made for "through hikers" so that they don't have to pitch a tent every night. The night I was there was pretty busy. There were probably 15 folks in the shelter itself, and then another 10 or so in their solo tents nearby. Then there was an entire boy scout troop taking up the big swatch of land intended for overflow tents like mine. I luckily found my own little site tucked around the corner from everyone just as the sun was setting. I pitched my tent, watched five lanky teenage boyscouts work together (quite hilariously) to hoist their HUGE backpack full of food and pans onto the bear pole, ate a granola bar, and went to bed.

I set my alarm early because I needed to finish before 1pm, when Rachel and I agreed she'd pick me up. I awoke at 6am and left camp by 7am. The last nine miles didn't seem to take as long as I thought they might, so I had time to hike off the trail a bit to see some viewpoints. Oh, and I did see a bear the second day! It was close enough that I didn't stay to take a picture. It was relatively small, too, so I was afraid mama might be somewhere close by. I made a lot of noise, talked to the bear and it's potential mama, and scooted along...quickly.

Overall, I was feeling pretty good about the hike and that I was going to make it. About a mile before the end of the hike, however, I met up with some through hikers on Compton Peak. They were pretty nice, despite the often-talked about through-hiker disdain for section hikers. We talked for a while and then one of them mentioned that the other guy had hiked 30 miles the previous day. And this one had hiked only 22. Oh, and they were hiking up to Front Royal today. I felt suddenly humbled. Hmmmmmmm, well...my accomplishment is relative, I suppose. They were sweet and said it was a great accomplishment for having to work at the farm on either side of my 22 mile hike! I took it, even though I think they were generous to say that.

One fifth down, four fifths to go!

This Little Piggy Went to Market

And not only did I go, I got to run the whole stand myself! I have never been to the Warrenton Market. Miranda has been doing that one since we started heading to markets. However, they wanted someone to alternate with her throughout the summer, and I feel lucky to be the one! Miranda made a map of the stand for me, but left it in her pocket last night when she went home. And Rachel and the kids tend to come to this market mid-morning to help out, but their car broke down. So this was my first time, never having seen it, to do the whole she-bang...and I ended up by myself! It was a pretty slow market, though, so I was able to get everything figured out and organized mostly before the bell rang. (Most markets have a bell that they ring at the beginning and end of market to indicate when vendors are allowed to start selling and are supposed to stop selling.)

We sold out of blueberries and Red Russian kale. We sold most of Rachel's bouquets of flowers and a good amount of summer squash. We sold all but two bunches of chard. For some reason, no one wanted curly kale this week. I suppose that's because they seemed to be opting for our loose leaf lettuce mix that we sell in 8 ounce bags. Oh, and cucumbers were popular today. I think a cucumber sounded good to a lot of people because it was, yet again, a humid, 95-degree day.

Today was long, too. I woke up at 4am. Made my way down to the barn at 4:45am. Loaded up my greens and other veggies to be on the road by 5am. Warrenton is half an hour up the road, so around 5:30am I arrived and started setting up. I ran the market, loaded the car back up, went home and washed my returns from market. Then I took a lunch break at 2:30pm, only to find out the US soccer game was not being streamed on the internet! Darn! I fell asleep just after getting the radio broadcast to come through.

I woke up just in time to head back to work with the crew at 4:30pm. Guess where they were? In the squash patch. You guessed it! And they saved the green zucchs for me. Gee, thanks! I thought I was going to get a little break from my row. Oh, and the long sleeve idea is going swimmingly. No more wrestling spiny things for me. After squash we finished planting a few melons and then covered the melon field. Then we went back to blueberries. Sigh. And stayed there until nearly 8pm! I got a little crabby, despite my best efforts to stay positive. That's a little too much work time in one day for me! I've worked a lot of long days in my past, but I think it's harder because I've always had control over how long I am working. In this case, I had to work until boss said we were done. And today that wasn't until we had finished to the end of the fifth row of blueberries. They are the smallest variety of blueberries that we have, so they take the longest to pick. I probably would have done the same thing if it were my farm, though, because we have sold out of blueberries at the Takoma market every week so far. One week we made $800 from blueberries alone! Each bucket is worth about $80 bucks and we had 10 buckets.

So there you have it. Lots of people ask if I have to wake up really early and if I have to work really long days. Now I can answer: YEP. :)

Whoa, I just fell asleep and then jerked awake because I thought I found a raccoon under some row cover. Goodnight!

Oh wait, one more thing. There was a customer (I don't know him/her) who made this video by our stand at the Charlottesville market last week. It's silly and fun. You should watch it. And see? There are other people who think about blueberries as much as we do...

http://www.marketcentralonline.org/market_central_site/Blog/Entries/2010/6/19_I_found_my_thrill_-.html

Spiny Summer Squash and Gnarly Garlic

Well, first things first, Happy Father's Day, DAD! I love you. I hope you are having a glorious (and less humid than here) day today. I also hope that you know how much I love you and appreciate everything that you have done and sacrificed for us kids. You have been a constant support to me in every endeavor I've taken. Thank you, Pops. I can't wait to live in the same state as you again!

And...wow! It's been a while since I posted about the farm. As I've mentioned before, I have a lot of time to think out in the fields, so I keep a running list of things to write about in my blog. The problem is, if I don't blog everyday, I forget a lot of things. And also if I don't blog everyday, I forget what I've actually blogged about or what I've been THINKING of blogging about. Sheesh. I must be 30. Have I written this already? Anyway...

I've been thinking about summer squash. We've added it to our daily schedule just like opening the greenhouses, watering the plants in the greenhouses, feeding and watering the chickens, collecting eggs, and - previously - picking asparagus, although we have finished with asparagus for the season now. As with any new thing that we learn, I was very excited to finally get the lesson about harvesting and storing squash. We all have a variety of squash that we were assigned to pick regularly so that we can get to know it better. I was assigned to green zucchini, which, if you ask me, is the most camouflaged of them all. We pick it every day because it grows so darn fast! I feel like I am hunting squash when I am out there. Eric tossed a few over his shoulder that had been overlooked in the field for a couple days and therefore were too big to sell. All I could think about when he did that was "Zucchini breeaaad!" I guess there's only so much bread that one can make. We tend to pick squash on the small side, when it's more tender and easy to transport to market. However, this means that the skin punctures easily (fingernails!) and the entire squash perishes more quickly.

One thing I remember Eric saying during his lesson is, "Squash is a very large AND yet very fragile plant. We will be working with these same plants for the next 4 to 6 weeks so we want to treat their large leaves, stems, and stalks with care." He also said that harvesting squash is a bit like surgery in that you ever-so-carefully position your knife to harvest the squash without harming the rest of the plant. Ah yes, I see what he means now. I've sliced off several huge stems with only the slightest over-cut of my harvesting knife. Oops.

Oh, and last but not least, those squash plants have a subtle, fiesty spunk to them. Without realizing it, as I made my way down the row of squash, those gals tore me up! I had tiny gashes, scratches and hives up and down my arms and legs by the time I finished. Hear me out - I will be wearing long sleeves for the rest of squash picking season (though it is still too hot to give up my shorts for pants).

Next? The blueberries are peaking this week! On Friday, four of us picked through all five rows/varieties of blueberries. That was a LOT of picking. I discovered two things that afternoon. One, I am the fastest blueberry picker on our team. Great! The one thing I am good at is going to end soon! And two, blueberries give me a stomach ache! Or at least in the quantity that I was ingesting them. Heh heh.


We also learned to harvest garlic! The garlic was planted clove by clove last fall with Miranda's ex-crew. We are pulling the garlic up out of the ground a little earlier than usual because it is "starting to go soft" in the fields. In other words, the ground is wet and some of the garlic is starting to rot in the ground. We use a pitch fork to loosen the soil beneath the heads of garlic, and then we just pull pull pull 'em up and out. Most of what we pulled up looks great! We are selling some of this garlic fresh at market, but the rest is hanging from the rafters of the old barn so that it can cure. It's beautiful! OH, but I have a quickly growing aversion to the smell of rotting garlic. But then again, who would like that smell?

We were discussing today over a beer how much the farm changes while we're away from it. Things bloom in the greenhouse, cucumbers come into season, most of the garlic gets harvested and strung, etc. I am thinking of this because I nearly missed the boat on scallions. I started getting nervous that the scallions were going to disappear before I had a chance to harvest some because they started during the weekend that I had days off. Luckily, I had the opportunity to pick these purple gals yesterday morning for today's farmers market. And I think there are still a few more in the field. Phew.

Last I gathered, we were up to 161 eggs in one day! That means that we are only waiting for a mere 14 hens to figure it out. Not that they will all be egg-bearing. This is actually a pretty good percentage, but since the number has steadily risen (123, 128, 139, 149, 158...), I have high hopes that the total number of regular eggs will still be a bit higher. Oh, and carrying that many eggs is HEAVY! Here's an idea of how many eggs that is getting to be (although these were taken before the 161 day):

Some of these gals are even laying double-yolked eggs. They are so big, they don't fit in the cartons!

Well, there is always more, but I am getting sleepy. Here is a funny video to end on. It's of me driving up to the chicken coops and the chickens coming a-runnin! Now that most of them are producing eggs, I think their appetites have significantly increased. Or at least their attitudes have. They are growing to be...a bit demanding! I still love 'em. And it still makes me laugh to watch them run alongside the truck when I drive up.

Going to Market Today

This is too late to be staying up before market.

Oops.

Please Become a Bone Marrow Donor ASAP!

I've been thinking all day about what line I am going to use to open my blog today, like:

I worked all day yesterday with a pair of wet purple underwear in my pocket.

or

Squash is a giant, yet fragile plant.

or

Note to self: Don't use soap with seeds in it while working on a farm during tick season. It makes your shower less relaxing.

or

I wish you could see the moon right now.

or

Sometimes there is tension on the farm.

or

I think I have mushed more bugs during the last two and a half months than I have in my lifetime.

or

Have I mentioned that the shed's latest infestation of bugs is some kind of pincher earwig bug? Ugh.

BUT, on a more serious note, I'm starting with:
I just joined the Bone Marrow Registry. Will you?

Prior to signing on to my blog, I read an email update about my friend, Annie. She was diagnosed two weeks ago with Leukemia at age 26. She has already had several blood transfusions and has made it through her first round of chemo. She's been on my mind a lot lately, especially since I can't drop in to see her in DC each time that I think of her. There is a possibility that she will need a bone marrow transplant in the next 2-3 months, and it takes 2 months to get tested, approved, and into the search-able database. So PLEASE JOIN TODAY TO HELP ANNIE and many others.

Here's a picture of Annie dancing (typical!) in the hospital the weekend that she was diagnosed. She's the one on the left. I was so happy to be able to go visit her. Love you, Annie!
Below is a note from Annie's mom and one of her sisters about how to join the registry. And if for some reason you do not qualify, please pass it on to someone you know or post it on your blog, facebook, or webpage. Thank you, dearly.

"Hi everyone. Rachel and Perla here. We'd like to ask all of you to please please please take a few minutes out of your day to consider joining the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry ASAP. You can join in person at a bone marrow donor drive, or YOU CAN JOIN ONLINE. (see below)

Who knows, one of you could be a match for Annie. Imagine how amazing that would be!

Your information takes about 2 months to be added to the registry, so this means that we need you to act right away. We'll update you more on this soon, but the latest and greatest news from Annie's doctor is that she could need the bone marrow transplant in the next 2 to 3 months.

Here's How:

You can use this Web site to enter your zipcode and search for a donor drive near you at a time that is convenient for you. No appointment is necessary:

http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_in_Person/index.html

OR to JOIN ONLINE FOR FREE

1. Go to this link: http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_Now/join_now.html

2. Fill out the information

3. When you get to payment information, enter promo code SDBB2010

4. Receive your kit in the mail

5. Complete the easy cheek swab

6. Return kit via mail

**Please note that if you join the national bone marrow donor registry, you will be eligible to help not only Annie, but anyone else in need.

Here's the gist:
If you are between the ages of 18 and 60 and in general good health, you are eligible to be screened and join the worldwide registry for patients in need. All it takes to find out if you are a match is a simple swab from the inside of your cheek."

Much love to you all and healing energy to Annie...Goodnight.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Ｉ love you!

Blueberries! and Tomato Stakes

We harvested our first blueberries today! We knew they were close because we had seen Eric, Rachel, and the kids head out there to pick blueberries a few different nights in the past week. We were secretly planning to make a midnight raid if the opportunity didn't present itself soon, but luckily Eric beat us to the punch. We didn't even have to feel guilty! Or stay up that late.

There are five rows of blueberries, and each row is its own variety. They planted varieties that ripen one after the other so that the season of blueberries lasts a little longer. Eric said that they usually are harvesting one or two of the five rows at a time. The bushes that we harvested from today still have several unripened berries (as you can see in the picture above), so we just picked around them. Eric said they don't have much trouble with pests or birds eating their berries. He thinks it's partly because the birds don't find the berries before we put up the net that's in these pictures. That was a pain, but worth it if it keeps the pests away. More berries for me! I'm already thinking about having berries in my granola and yogurt tomorrow morning. They are the closest thing to the intern house so I don't even have to wake up earlier.

Speaking of waking up earlier, we are starting at 7:30am now and going until 6:30pm, adding one more hour to our day. We're up to nine hours now. I didn't notice it too much this week. Well, my stomach usually tells me that she knows when I have to work a half an hour longer, but she adjusts quickly. Or I put a granola bar in my pocket.




Did I ever post a picture of those pesky asparagus beetles? See the chunk they ate out of the asparagus tip? Click on the picture so that you can see it bigger. Okay, I actually thought they were kind of cute, and i couldn't bring myself to squish them as instructed. I handed the ones I caught to Anika. Thanks, Anika.




I hosted a happy hour at my shed a couple weeks ago. See, I got all my stuff in there after all! And all of my coworkers, to boot! Oh, and you can even see my driven-over-waterbottle as wall art if you look closely.

Rachel and the kids spotted this painted turtle laying her eggs in the kids playground last week. She was pretty calm for so many folks standing over her and taking pictures.




The other thing we did today was stake tomatoes. I don't have a picture of our work yet, but I do have a picture of the tomatoes getting rooted into our ground. They are babies now, and I'm sure that they will look a lot different even in a week or two. So more pictures will follow with stakes and big plants...and hopefully some big tomatoes before I head off to grad school in the fall.

Love Affair with Garlic Scapes

Today was the first day of our CSA! We had one head of lettuce, a half pound of loose leaf lettuce, one bunch of oregano, a half pound of kale, one bunch of garlic scapes, a half pound of spinach, and a pound of asparagus! We set up all of the full share and half share boxes and then distributed each item into each box. Oh, and that also meant that we started at SIX in the morning! It wasn't too bad waking up at 5:30am though. I thought I would be more tired than I was. It helps that it is light out at that time now. This also means that we have a three and a half hour lunch break in the middle of the day. What did I do? Why, head to the swimming hole, of course!

My new favorite things to harvest are garlic scapes. As I walk down the aisle I can't help but think of the grace-filled and elegant neck of a crane. Here is a wild and beautiful bouquet of scapes for you.


In fact, here is an ode to garlic scapes:PS. Did I mention that we found two surprises on the same day while mulching hay? I found seven live(!) tiny baby mice in one bail and a rat snake living in the bail next to it. I don't think it looks so good for the mice but we covered them up with some extra hay to give them a fighting chance.

PPS. Is it weird that I can't tell the difference between the sound of my cell phone ringing on vibrate and the cow mooing outside my shed? Why doesn't that cow just call me? It would make things so much easier.

One, Three, Nine, 14.5, Thirty, SIX DOZEN!

It is obvious that I haven't written in a while because the number of eggs I want to tell you that we're up to keeps increasing! We all share the job of feeding, watering, and collecting the eggs of the 175 hens. So I get to check on the girls once or twice a week. They make funny sounds, and now they squat down when I walk by because they think I'm a (big!) rooster. I guess it could be worse?!


Here is what I found the first day that I collected eggs:
Here's what I collected the next time:

And now we're counting dozens a day!


...SIX DOZEN the last time I collected eggs (a few days ago)! 72 beautiful and perfect eggs!

Maybe it's already obvious, but I think that one of my favorite things to do on the farm is work with the chickens. Well, that is, when they don't peck my feet or their own eggs! I guess sometimes they eat their own eggs. Ew. We were hoping it would be a while before they figured out that they liked the taste of eggs, but we already have a few peck-ers. We have found up to four eggs a day that have been pecked by the mamas. Dang.