The end of our first month at Maggie’s

A few days of sunshine and warmth have been interspersed with the quickly approaching cold weather of winter.  Lucky enough, my work group and I were timber framing in the greenhouse through the first rainstorm of fall.  As the noise of rain pattered against the newly lain plastic, our hands worked feverishly to chisel out and bore through the posts and beams that we milled out of trees from our forest.  We are solely using hand tools to make the frame, which has been an incredible and painful process of learning to use new muscles!  Timber framing here at Maggie’s seems to be one of those full circle moments of sustainability where all of the work that we are doing is derived from the very forest that we maintain. Its mind boggling and the first day of learning about our plan to build a 16 x 25 ft. timber frame left my brain feeling like mush.  Slowly but surely I was able to wrap my brain around the work and actually find myself enthralled in the process of building and carving out beams that will be supporting such a massive structure.

Along with working on our timber frame, we have finished our final harvest for our 175-member CSA. As we cleared the final beds of broccoli greens, kale, and turnips, we would find them completely covered in glistening frost.  It was a beautiful and chilly experience that left my hands numb from the ice of their leaves.  As we boxed up our last CSA distribution, I joined Carlen in cutting thyme and oregano from our home garden to bundle up and place in little bags for each customer.  The smell of the herbs lingered on my hands as we wrapped up our day.  Since our harvesting is finished for the year, we are beginning to delve into the depths of learning how to test and analyze soils to prep for next years planting.  By digging into the ground and looking at its various layers, we are beginning to understand what we will have to add to our soil (compost or lime for example) in order to have all the nutrient levels and the pH level appropriate for whatever crops we decide to sow.  My hands have thoroughly loved being covered in dirt and it is beginning to seep into the small cracks forming on my fingers from working!

Another moment from the last few weeks was taking the last few pigs here to the slaughter house. The day that we took the pigs was an intense day of self-reflection and coming face to face with my first experience at a slaughter house.  Since that day, I have felt that there is nothing more intense than to see the animals you have raised and cared for being taken into a building where they will take their last breath.  As sad of an experience as it was for me, I feel that is was also such a beautiful thing to be exposed  to the raw and unfiltered experience of seeing where your food truly comes from.  By pushing on the edges of what I am comfortable with, I can feel myself beginning to ask more questions and seek more answers in the search to understand my own consumption of meat.

Another big moment was being one of the milkers of our mini-jersey cow, Goldie.  Every morning and evening my chore partner and I would venture into the barn and set up Goldie in her stanchion in order to begin the milking process.  The scene was usually relatively peaceful as she would chew her hay and slurp up water.  The occasional kick of the bucket would always jostle me out of my meditative milking state, as if she was reminding me that she wanted more hay.  One of my most cherished memories from my time milking was when I would rest my head against her warm body as I sat on our bucket while milking.  There is something so peaceful about those types of moments with animals, something to always remember for sure.  I definitely have seen a tremendous increase in my speed as a milker, as well as my forearm strength!  All of the milk that we have here at Maggie’s now is raw, and goldie-fied.  Our milk fridge is like a massive holder of beautiful bottles of gold!  There is nothing like it, it is simply the best.

Snapshot from the last few weeks: The sun had begun to set on one of the Bailey’s  bright grass fields that is lined with trees that were holding onto the last remnants of fall.  As we rode through the field, the sky began to turn brilliant shades of pink and gold, making the whole experience feel like it was out of a movie.  There are moments in life where I am utterly blown away by the beauty of nature and my surroundings, and this was one of them.  I am constantly delighted by the beauty of New England.  As Alicia moved back to the cart, I stepped up to the driving seat and grabbed the straps, instantly feeling at home.  ‘Come up team!’ I spoke firmly, and off we rode into the woods, heading back to the Bailey’s barn for the evening.  Learning to use my hands with the draft horse straps was like a dance.  As I moved my hands, gliding them to choke up on the straps, I felt as if my body knew what to do without me having to think about it.  Before our draft horse workshop I would have never thought that I would have been comfortable working with such large animals.  I was proven wrong once our teacher, Jay Bailey, facilitated the space for me to learn.

Week Two: An apple a day

From the trees in Harvard forest to the apple orchard here at Maggie’s, this week was filled with tantalizing views of tremendously beautiful trees.  As the season continues to divulge massive amounts of color, leaves are truly beginning to fall and line all of the roads here in Athol and Orange.  While we travel to and from our fields during harvest in the back  of our trucks, I have noticed that the trees that we look up are beginning to look bare (the first display of the season to come).  This week we were lucky enough to spend the whole first half of a day with John O’Keefe of the Harvard Forest.  A highlight of this time with him was being introduced to a 400 year old black gum tree.  This tree stood with leaves glowing at its top, as if it was on fire, towering over  the canopy of white pines and hemlocks.  Our hands were all filled with the colors of fall as we followed John and his beautiful stories around the forest.  Later on in the week we were able to learn about our orchard trees here at Maggie’s and to harvest apples for cider, the pigs and of course for our bellies.  Each apple has such distinct flavors which have filled my mouth with freshness and the crispness of fall.  Each time I bite into one of our apples I am overwhelmed at their sheer deliciousness.  There are many of us here at Maggie’s that are definitely eating more than an apple a day!  What could be better than a crisp apple on a fall day with a view of fire-engine red maple trees in the distant pastures of New England?  Not much, that I am sure of.

We are entering into the next final few weeks of harvesting for the CSA and as the temperatures drop, we are finally beginning to see the gleaming crystals of frost on our summer squash and turnips.  As their leaves begin to curl towards the ground, it is evident that winter is quickly approaching.  Now, the harvesting that seemed to be so new a week ago is beginning to feel a bit more comfortable and fluid.  We have dug up many of our carrot beds and our arugula is entering its fourth cutting, which is incredible and so delicious.  As we are beginning to see the tilling in of crops that were grown, transplanted and maintained by last years Student Farmers, I cannot help but miss their presence and think of all of the hard work that was put into making Maggie’s fields look so darn beautiful.

The Student Farmers were also in charge of raising upwards of 40 mixed breed pigs for our meat CSA.  These pigs are now reaching over the 200 pound mark and are meandering about the forest, making pit stops at their feeder for snacks.  If you walk around quietly, you can hear their snorts and grunts as they approach you to examine who and what you are.  As curious and adorable as I think pigs are, I find them a tad bit scary because of my fear that they will gobble down my toes.  As their little snouts turn up roots and their bellies roll in the mud, I can surely say that despite this fear (and their smell) they are becoming one of my favorite parts of the farm.  This week we worked with JDP, our animal manager, to build the pigs a more secure pathway and pen for their exit into our trailer.  It was a colorful day of learning new vocabulary and dealing with the frustrations of trying to secure a wooden door onto a metal trailer.  Animal days with JDP are always a riot and the moments while we wait to fill the cow water or observe the next group of layer chickens, allows me to reflect on the breadth of what I am learning every moment of every day here.  Every day is packed with new concepts, techniques, skills and chances to stretch our minds to dig deep into the work we are doing.  This week marked a milestone for me as I was trained to use our John Deere tractor.  Even though I did manage to knock down a tomato stake, my teacher was forgiving and returned my look of sheer panic with a warm smile.

This Week’s Snapshot:  Our first class with Carlen was this week and I could not be more excited!  We began our afternoon by digging our hands into the depths of our wheel barrow that was filled with winter rye and hairy vetch seeds.  Carlen talked to us about the importance of cover cropping our fields through the winter with specific ratios of seed variety to yield the best results in the springtime.  Each of us received a bag of gleaming seeds to sow in the newly turned fields of South Waslaske.  As we all walked across the field in silence, you could hear the trees blowing and bending with the fall breeze.  As our muddy boots massaged the ground with our steps, the seeds awaited the final stage of tillage to come.  Running my hands through one of our cover crops close by, I pictured the gleaming green mixture that would soon sprout from the newly sown ground.

Other highlights:  Carpentry 101 with Olivier, Cheese making with Emily, Reading and discussing the Contrary Farmer with Ben, and so many other things!!

Stay tuned for next week’s post!