It seems it's been a while

Hello All,

If you are still following this I will be quite amazed. Keeping up with things online has proved difficult on the road, and what time we have had on the internet has been devoted to our job hunt--we hope to land some decent jobs in Michigan. I know some of you thought we would never return back to Michigan, but home is on the horizon!

Right now, Chris and I are staying with his Uncle John in Everett, Washington which is just north of Seattle. Since we last updated we have farmed in Grants Pass, Oregon; Longview, Washington; and Hansville, Washington. We have seen Crater Lake, Mt. Ranier, and Olympic National Parks. We have explored the stunning coast of the Pacific Northwest, sampled some of the best beers America has to offer (thank you, Oregon), and put many more miles on the car. We've learned to milk goats, make cheese, build fences, and grow pumpkins. We even made some money (thank you again Ruth and Michael)! We've met some awesome people we will never forget. This really was the trip of a lifetime, and we still have a few more weeks to go.

With that said, we should probably start bragging about some of the farms we've visited since we last posted. We spent about two weeks working on Sweet Water Farm, just north of Grants Pass, Oregon. Check out the website for a view of the garden (we had a hiccup with the camera and didn't get any pictures). The farm was owned by Sam and Denise and may have been one of the prettiest farms we got to work on. They grew on just about an acre and a half, but had a beautiful harvest each week for both their CSA and for the farmer's market. It was really awesome to learn what could be done on a smaller space with a lot of thought and care.

Sam and Denise grew a wide variety of produce including kale, beets, carrots, lettuce and salad mix, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. They also saved their seed and had a contract with a seed company. It seems to be a very profitable endeavor and, more importantly, a dependable source of income. We were also very impressed with their farmer's market stand. They had a beautiful display each Saturday and obviously knew how to please their customers. We also learned what a "bad baby cow" is: someone who eats the veggies as they harvest. We are both happily guilty of being bad baby cows and have definitely grow to love more veggies than we'd ever eaten at home. This little adventure of ours has expanded both our knowledge of farming and our love for fresh food. We are very reluctant to return to grocery stores and actually having to pay for food we once grew in abundance.

We also had a lot of time to explore Oregon, and really grew to love that state. We spent a couple days in Crater Lake National Park, which is was gorgeous. We also got to see a Shakespeare play in Ashland, saw Hayward Field (any running nerds out there will know where I'm talking about), and explored Astoria where the Goonies was filmed. Oregon's coast is about as amazing as the Pacific gets. Better yet, it has the country's highest concentration of microbreweries.

I think we'll call this good for now, and hopefully we will post again ASAP! Here are some pictures from Oregon...enjoy!

Soil Born Farm

Since our time in Napa, we've been to an urban farm in Sacramento followed by Redwoods State and National Parks. We're now in Grants Pass, OR, and will be here for a few more days before heading north to Washington.

We had the pleasure of spending a week working with a crew of dedicated volunteers, apprentices, and full time employees at the Soil Born Farms Urban Agriculture Project in Sacramento. The mission of Soil Born Farms is to "create an urban agriculture and education project that empowers youth and adults to discover and participate in a local food system that encourages healthy living, nurtures the environment and grows a sustainable community." The farm runs a 60 member community supported agriculture (CSA) project, sells produce to stores, operates a farm stand, and has a Youth Corps program in which local youth earn a wage and build a solid work ethic in exchange for a few hours of work a day on the farm, among many other projects.

The CSA program provides fresh, seasonal produce from the farm for local residents every week. The program works like this: a family chooses to purchase a share in the CSA and pays an upfront amount of $570 in May for 26 weeks of food, or $483 in November for 22 weeks of food (approximately $22/week); the money paid to the farm early in the season helps to cover operating costs and splits the inherent risks and potential bounty between grower and purchaser; and each week, the shareholder picks up their box of produce from one of three locations. While we were working with Soil Born, we had a chance to help with the harvesting and packing of produce into the CSA boxes and we were amazed with how much food each share got for $22 a week.

A CSA box in the making.

The farm is an oasis in the middle of an urban area. The farm is situated adjacent to a park, a parkway, and a residential area and is surrounded nearly entirely by trees and wildlife. Many of the apprentices and Youth Corps members talked about how easy it was to forget that the city of Rancho Cordova lay just beyond the border of the farm. The fact that the farm raised chickens, sheep, milking cows, and a pig served to enhance that feeling. On our first morning of work, we watched the farm manager hand-milk one of the cows--she produces two and a half gallons of milk a day--and then went into the fields to harvest tomatoes, while chickens ran down the rows.

Bounty from the farm critters

Sheep surrounding a plum tree, catching dropped fruit harvested by Jared


Piggy.


Rows of veggies, irrigated with drip tape

Our one week stay (the farm limits WWOOFing visits to one week, once a month) was a great experience. We had a chance to learn what it takes to run a 25 acre market farm and had our first opportunity to work in a non-profit, educational setting as well as our first opportunity to work with a CSA program--something we're doing at our current farm in Grants Pass, OR and at our next farm in Long View, WA. We will be posting about those farms in the near future.

Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks

This is a bit out of order, but here are some of the fabulous pictures we took in Sequoia and Yosemite. Both parks were gorgeous, and we did some amazing hiking in both--3 days of backpacking in Sequoia and day hiking in Yosemite. As we looked through our pictures, we have noticed how truly amazing all the places we have seen on this trip have been. We are very lucky to have this great opportunity to see our beautiful county. California is extremely diverse and kept surprising us with how quickly it could change.

Sequoia N.P. at sunset on the drive to our first campsite

Chris and one of the world's largest trees! This one is probably about 2,000 years old. Sequoia NP is home to the world's largest tree: General Sherman. It is about 36 feet wide at the base and 275 feet tall.


This very friendly baby bear cub was walking down the hill towards our path. We snapped a few pictures before moving on, fearing that the mother was close by.

Here is Yosemite's famous El Capitan ("El Cap"). It is one of the world's largest granite monoliths, measuring over 3,000 feet tall. We met a couple climbers who were attempting to climb to the top over 3 days...crazy!

Yosemite falls from the bike trail. It's 2,375 feet tall and is one of the parks most popular spots.

Half Dome hike: Most of the next few pictures are from a hike we did to the top of Half Dome. This is easily the most spectacular hike we've done thus far. It was roughly 17 miles long, with about 5,000 feet of elevation gain and took us over 10 hours to complete (we took tons of pictures). The last 600 feet of elevation gain are so steep that there are chains bolted into the rock and all hikers have to wear gloves to maintain a secure grip on those chains. Crazy! We took the Mist Trail on the way back down and got to see some spectacular waterfalls and listen to distant thunder safely off the top of the dome.

You can see the line of people going up the last few hundred feet. I had a death grip on those chains the entire time, and we found out later that about 20 people have died since 1920 after losing their grip and sliding down the rock.

View from the top.

Chris and I with the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the distance.



Chris and I with Yosemite Valley in the background.

Waterfall on the Mist Trail.

And finally a view of Half Dome from the valley floor at sunset. Incredible!

Killing bunnies (and other fun stuff)

For those of you following along, you'll notice that our posts are jumping out of order from how we said we'd post. Work on our new farm has stepped up some more, and we've decided to skip over the posts from Santa Barbara to Kentfield for the moment to highlight a couple recent events at our current stop, Omi's Farm in Napa, California.

Omi's Farm is a 20 acre farmstead with quite a diverse mix of animals and plants. The back portion of the farm is home to a five and a half acre vineyard, full of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes with juice destined for the opaque wine bottles that seem to be everywhere in this region. Moving forward from the vineyard is a large chicken coop and approximately 50 chickens of many breeds, all producing eggs of different colors. To the left of the chickens is pasture for male sheep and childless females, with the other females and their children in the adjacent pasture. To the right of the pastures is an open area with the farm house, outbuildings, rabbit hutches and pens, turkeys, and several fruit and nut trees. The farm grows apples, pears, figs, passion fruit, walnuts, cherries, peaches, plums, and pomegranates in the orchard area, in addition to a garden full of tomatoes, chard, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, corn, and eggplant, among many other vegetables.

Tending to the animals and plants is a daily chore. We begin our days with breakfast around 7:30, followed by feeding and changing water for the rabbits, chickens, and turkeys, as well as collecting and washing chicken eggs and taking kitchen scraps to the chickens. After the animals have been fed, we spend some time helping take care of the propoerty, harvesting fruit and vegetables, and caring for the garden before breaking for lunch and heading back out to do some more work.

Because the farm raises animals, it follows that those animals are being raised for a reason. Those cute, fluffy bunnies fetch $25 a piece on the meat market and, from what we've heard, taste delicious. We had the opportunity to, along with Kirsten and a fellow WWOOFer, Jordan, slaughter and clean five bunnies the other day. The process was a bit greusome for those of us unaccostumed to it, but Kirsten made a good point: those animals gave their lives so we can eat a healthy, tasty meal later on. We won't post the details of the process, but if you're interested in learning more, or checking out some pictures, feel free to email either one of us.

Caring for the animals is an important part of farm life here. Kirsten and Jim work hard to ensure that the animals have a healthy diet, clean and safe housing, access to fresh water, and medical care when needed. Even with all the attention paid to animal health and welfare, problems do arise. Before we arrived on the farm, one of the female sheep passed away due to an unknown cause. Just the other day, that sheep's lamb was found dead in the field as well. Kirsten had noted a couple days prior that the lambs had some swelling around their jaws, and had called the vet to see if it was something to worry about. When the lamb passed away, the vet was called in and noticed the swelling of the jaws, known as 'bottle jaw,' as well as pale skin on several of the lambs. She explained several likely causes, and suggested we take the lamb to UC-Davis for a necropsy to discover the cause of death. Jim decided it would be a good idea to follow the vet's advice, and we made the hour long drive to UC-Davis to drop off the lamb. The next day, we were told that the problems were caused by a parasite the lamb had picked up, and the rest of the flock was put on a medication plan to eradicate the parasite.

Without the help of the vet and the staff at UC-Davis, many more of the sheep might have died. The knowledge of toxic plants (one of the possible causes for the sheep's ailments) and parasites made it easier to determine the cause of death, as well as the likely reasons for the parasite introduction--either a new member of the flock, or contaminated soil that was dumped at the farm recently. Understanding the interactions between the land, the animals, and our actions is important if a farm is to run smoothly and sustainably.

--UPDATE--

Rabbits are delicious. We had our first opportunity on the farm to try rabbit meat last night. Kirsten cooked up a fantastic rabbit chili, which we ate with tortillas, polenta with sauteed veggies and jalapeno cream sauce, and some delicious salsa verde Jordan made. Farm life is certainly tough.

Bryce Canyon to Las Vegas

Our last few posts have detailed our travels and our time spent and experiences gained at Hell's Backbone Grill. Since that time, we've traveled to Bryce Canyon NP, Zion NP, Las Vegas, Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Sequoia and Kings NPs, Yosemite NP, Berkeley, San Francisco, Kentfield, and finally Napa. A lot has happened since leaving Utah, and blogging has been relegated to the back burner for the past few weeks. We're finally making time for more posts again, and we hope to get back into the rhythm of regular posting from here on out.

Because we have so much time to cover, we're going to break up the last month or so into a few posts and try to salvage as much of our experience from the depths of our memories as possible. Starting with our first week after HBG:

Our first stop was Bryce Canyon National Park. It's famous for its wide array of colors and for its hoodoos (pronounced like voodoo). Hoodoos are huge rock spires whose shape and colors are a result of different minerals changing effects of erosion. We hiked through Fairyland Canyon. The trail head was very crowded, but the trail itself was nearly empty. We learned quickly not to stress about big crowds in the national parks; all we needed to do was walk a 1/4 mile down a trail and they would disappear. We hiked 8 miles, saw some spectacular hoodoos and canyons, had a run-in with a rattlesnake, and got to bed early enough to catch the sunrise in the morning.

The next morning we awoke at about 5 am, joined the masses to watch the sunrise at Sunrise Point, and immediately hit the road towards Zion National Park. Despite a 2 hour detour, we managed to get a backcountry permit for a 3 day hike on the West Rim Trail. Few of Zion's 4 million visitors a year make it onto that trail, which made for a peaceful hike.

The West Rim Trail offers great views of the famous Zion Canyon and, for the most part, is relatively flat. Flat for the hike out to our first camp, that is. We put in about 9 miles, made camp, and realized we did not bring nearly enough food. Making matters worse, our a misstep knocked over our pot full of dinner. We ate our fill on day 1, but had very little left for day 2, and would have to hike the 9 miles to the car on day 3 with only a granola bar each. We filled a daypack with all the food we had in preparation for the next day's 12 mile hike to Angel's Landing, and went to sleep under the stars.

Day 2 was where the big elevation change came in to play. It did not take long for us to realize we had a HUGE hike in store for us on the second day in Zion. We got about 2 miles out before getting into some very intense downhill switchbacks. We kept going down, and down, and down, constantly acknowledging that we would have to hike back up at some point. Eventually the trail flattened out, and we approached the crowds preparing to hike Angel's Landing. Neither of us had seen a trail like it. According to the National Park Service, "The route to Angels Landing involves travel along a steep, narrow ridge with support chains anchored intermittently along the route. Footing can be slippery even when the rock is dry. Unevenly surfaced steps are cut into the rock with major cliff dropoffs adjacent" The route was only a few feet wide at times, with 2,000 feet of sheer cliffs dropping off at either side. It is probably one of the most dangerous hikes in America, but rewards its visitors with one of America's most spectacular views.

After taking in the scenery, we reluctantly started back to camp. We had to hike 6 miles, uphill. We learned later this trail has a 2,200 foot elevation change, meaning the trails highest point was nearly half a mile above its lowest. We ran out of snacks and water, and had to take a lot of breaks. It was easily the hardest hike either of us had ever done, and we had just enough energy left at the end to cook dinner, filter some more water, and crawl into our sleeping bags.

The next morning we hit the trail as soon as possible. We had a tough 9 miles ahead of us, but we were rewarding ourselves that night in Las Vegas. We were staying in a hotel which meant our first shower in a week, our first real bed in a month, and more food than we'd eaten in days. We were going from being completely immersed in nature to the so-called Entertainment Capital of the World. The only thing that remained the same was walking; we walked about 10 miles sight-seeing which brought the grand total for the day to 19 miles. We slept in the next morning, got in the car and headed towards Santa Barbara, California where we would be vacationing with Carrie's family for a week.

Hoodoos in Fairyland Canyon, Bryce Canyon National Park

Hoodoos in Fairyland Canyon, Bryce Canyon National Park

Carrie on the West Rim Trail, Zion National Park

Switchbacks down the West Rim Trail, just south of Cabin Spring, Zion National Park

Switchbacks up Angel's Landing, Zion National Park

View from near the top of Angel's Landing (our camera died), overlooking Zion Canyon, Zion National Park

Catching up on things

It's been a little while since our last post. We've been on the road, touring around Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks and Las Vegas, and now we're staying in Santa Barbara, CA for a week with Carrie's family. We'll have a new post coming soon, but for now we'll put up a blog post from a couple weeks ago that was never published:


Blogging from the our space in Boulder, Utah has proved much more difficult than we anticipated. The rough terrain of Utah was one of the last areas in the United States to be charted, and electricity didn't find its way into Boulder until 1947. Our housing on the farm has no electricity, and certainly no internet access. We've spent our time online stationed at the Burr Trail Trading Post--a small coffee shop/gear store/art gallery staffed by a mix of locals, including one of the beekeepers that maintains the hives for the Hell's Backbone Grill farm--as well as in the library of the HBG staff house.

The rough terrain that cuts this town off so successfully from many of the amenities we're used to also makes it a forbidding place to farm. Utah's position between two mountain ranges limits the amount of rainfall the state receives. An average of 7 inches of precipitation strikes the ground of Boulder annually; a small portion of the 30 inches to be had in the Lansing area. Low levels of precipitation coupled with the sandy soils created from the eroding sandstone parent material, a sun that pulls liquid from anything unfortunate enough not to find shade, and desiccating winds means that irrigation is a must for any agricultural endeavor in the area. Boulder is lucky in that it has Boulder Mountain to the north, providing enough melt water to feed the local reservoirs and the irrigation needs of the town.

A constant stream of water sputters out of sprinkler heads dotting every field in the area. Night and day, water flows through the large mains from the reservoirs into farm fields, gardens, and grazing land; anything less would result in a reversion from lush green fields to the area's resident vegetation: tumble weeds, junipers, and yucca plants. HBG's farm irrigates using a mixture of sprinklers, drip irrigation, and a flooding technique in which trenches are dug between beds and flood gates are opened along a main line for water to enter and slowly infiltrate into the soil.

For all of its difficulties--lack of amenities, formidable terrain, blistering hot sun, deafening winds, and the isolation typical of a town of 200--Boulder has been an extremely pleasant place to stay. The rugged terrain provides limitless opportunities for hiking, and attracts some of the most interesting people we have met. We have hiked into the oasis-like lush green river valleys that are Calf Creek and the Escalante River, wading through crystal clear water and basking in the refreshing spray of the Calf Creek falls; we've bored and squeezed and scrambled our way through the famous slot canyons of Southern Utah, staring at the filtered light as it sneaks between narrow walls above us; and we've reveled in the powerful scenery that stretches endlessly, in any direction.The staff at the restaurant and farm are all phenomenally nice, as are the rest of the locals. We've told stories by the campfire, lounged by the pond, learned each other's histories, and discovered more of the U.S. than we imagined we would in Boulder due to the wide range of people this place draws in.

The lack of electricity, cell phone service, running water, and heat have been little more than a nuisance. We've quickly adapted to a life of lost connectivity, recognizing that fact when family and friends drift back into our thoughts between pulling weeds or while taking in the immensity of the landscape. Water's absence is more noticeably felt; it is a short walk to fill our jugs for drinking, and a few days between hot showers. The constructed pond at the farm is a welcome blessing after a day spent under the hot sun. Walking into the pond and rinsing off the dust that sweat and sunscreen so actively attracts has become a ritual most evenings.

The raw physicality of our surroundings and the richness of the life that hold has proven inspiring. The relationships we've forged in just two short weeks with this land and its people will stick with us for a lifetime.

Farming at Blaker's Acres (Boulder, UT)

Hey everyone,

The last 10 days have flown by, and we neglected to realize we hadn't posted in a while. We wanted to take the time to focus on some of the farming details, and not just highlight the spectacular scenery. Here are some of the things we've noticed and learned while working for HBG's farm.

Heirloom vegetables: The farm uses more varieties of vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, and beets than I knew existed. A focus on heirloom varieties such as true gold corn and Amish paste tomatoes widens the selection available for the restaurant and gives customers a memorable dining experience. Using heirlooms also helps keeps these delicious varieties from being forgotten amidst the more popular grocery store selections. The farm also uses crops appropriate for the dry, windy climate in very creative ways; wildflowers become garnish, tumbleweeds, arugula, and lamb's quarters are included in salads and appetizers.


Three Sisters Garden: One of the beds on the farm is planted using the three sisters technique. This follows Native American farming practices; corn provides a stalk for the beans to grow on, the beans provide Nitrogen for the soil, and squash functions as ground cover to prevent weeds and erosion. We planted and weeded just less than an acre in the first week on the farm.

Companion planting: Companion planting is the planting of different crops in proximity (in gardening and agriculture), on the theory that they assist each other in nutrient uptake, pest control, pollination, and other factors necessary to increasing crop productivity.

Climate Control

Hoophouse: A long, narrow tunnel made using flexible tubing covered in plastic sheeting. The sheeting traps radiation, raising the temperature in the hoop house to increase productivity from the plants. The farm uses the hoop house to grow tomatoes and cucumbers. One advantage to these is that it gives plants a jump start: a farmer can get tomatoes and other heat loving vegetables before they would be ready otherwise. You can also grow cold tolerant plants after the weather cools and frosts begin to set in.



Greenhouse: Green houses are another means of combating cold weather. The farm built a straw bale green house. They used reclaimed wood to make them frame, then made the walls from straw bales covered in cob (a mixture of clay and more straw). This is great for insulation--perfect for a green house! The farm uses their green house to start transplants for planting once the weather warms as you can see below.


Milk Jug Greenhouses:

Sometimes when plants need to get into the beds before the weather has stabilized enough the farm uses milk jugs as mini green houses. These are great when there is still a chance of frosts and raiding the recycling bins provides a great free source.


Cold Frames: The cold frames have osaka purple mustard and red Russian kale. These are cold hardy plants so they can be planted early in the season. The cold frames raise them above the ground to keep them warm and have a glass topper to make use of the green house effect.


Mounding: HBG's farm uses mounds for potatoes, squash, and cucumbers. This helps for drainage. Mounding potatoes also lets you continue to bury them to increase the root structure and produce more potatoes.

Root Cellar: Root cellars are a great way to store produce without refrigeration. The farm uses it after harvesting as storage before driving the veggies up to the restaurant. Their root cellar was hand dug but, thankfully, not by us. You can also see the compost piles to the right of the root cellar. Much of the food waste from HBG, as well as weeds and manure, get composted. Compost is used to increase fertility, improve the structure and aeration of the soil, and helps to hold water. Chris and I really like their method of turning the compost; instead of flipping one big pile, you shovel it down the line. This is a much more manageable method of turning compost.

The rest of the pictures are taken of the area around the farm and of the farm's pond. Boulder finally got a good rainstorm. The clouds over the mountains were awesome and we were lucky enough to see a huge rainbow arching across Sugarloaf mountain. The pond in the picture is on the farm. It's used not only for irrigation, but to cool off after a warm day on the farm. Because Chris and I only have access to showers on Wednesdays and Sundays, we have jumped in to wash off at the end of many days here in Boulder.