six months has never been filled with so much joy, compost, laughter, and growth. I will remember how I fell in love with fruit (and the art of pruning fruit trees), the perfect flickering light in the late afternoon Chadwick Garden, making capes out of remay, the mystery of the Le Creuset pot, and looking at the night stars while trying not to fall in a hole on the walk back to my tent. I am so appreciative of my fellow Apprentices who shared in this journey. With out them, and of course our beloved Site Managers and Second-Year Apprentices, I never could have learned what I did, forty times over.
I don't know exactly where this new knowledge will take me. But, there certainly are adventures in agriculture to come for Farmer Leah. So stay tuned. At my mother's request, and I hope not to the dismay of other readers, I'll do my best to keep the blog going. Up next: growing flowers for a wedding.
My Mom came out the Farm last weekend and spent Friday working with me. A day in the life of an Apprentice. We woke at 6:30am, had breakfast, prepared water buckets for harvesting flowers. As one of 5 "Cart" Managers, I led my fellow Apprentices through harvest: cutting flowers, harvesting produce, and making flower bouquets. Mom and I harvested Calendula, Nigella Exotica, Cloud Larkspur, Cerinthe, and Radicchio together. She made a couple beautiful bouquets and then we were off to help set up the farmstand. We sold produce and flowers at the farmstand from noon until 1:30pm, had lunch and then went back to the Down Garden to work. We pulled out flowers from an old bed, and prepared the bed for a new planting. Then, at 5:30pm, we stopped by the CSA pick-up to say hello and went back to Cart to pick up signs and clean up the farmstand. We finished cleaning up and bringing all our supplies to the Farm around 7pm. What a day! It was wonderful to have my Mom join me - she was such a hard worker. A nice glass of zinfandel and dinner at sunset was well deserved at the end of the day. Thanks Mom for a fabulous weekend!
Did you know that peaches and nectarines are of the same variety? Nectarines just lack the gene for "fuzz." A neat fact! Thinning peaches, plums, and apples kept me busy this week. The photograph above is from a peach tree in the Up Garden. Orin Martin (the Up Garden Manager) says to thin between fruits: 5-6" for peaches/nectarines, 3-4" for plums, 5-6" for apples, and 3" for apricots. Thinning the fruits will reduce damage to the fruit skin, reduce weight on the branches, eliminate habitat between fruit for pests, and help the tree to produce yummy fruit.
