Farm Love

Another great morning at Sola Gratia. How can 4 hours slip by so blissfully?!

I got there an hour earlier today. The temperature and the work load is picking up significantly. My manager was out at another field already, so I took a peek at the swiss chard and kales we transplanted last week. They're twice as tall now! It feels like a miracle every time, watching something grow according to its own instincts/patterns/DNA/environment. Water, sunshine, and time. I dinked around pulling weeds in the greenhouse and chatting with another volunteer. People come in all flavors. And opinions. Interacting with folks outside my usual routine reminds me of that every time. I recently heard a TED Radio Hour (NPR) broadcast about the benefits/techniques of venturing outside of your comfort zone. There's a technique called fear-setting (just look up Tim Ferriss, kinda like goal-setting) that I'd like to try. Anyway, it was on my mind as we spoke.

My manager got back and put me to work seeding mid-to-late-season tomatoes: wet the potting mix, fill the flats, seed, label, and water the flats, then deliver them to the "germination chamber" (a dark walk-in cooler with a space heater in it). He asked about my previous farm/garden experience (apparently not many volunteers ask the kinds of questions I do) and offered me a farm hand job, if I could make the 20 hours minimum. That made me happy. It's nice to have skills, even if I don't have 20 hours a week to spend working on them. It'll be another few years before my summers free up. In the meantime, I'm happy to learn what I can n the time I have.

Seeding didn't take very long. The rest of my time was spent laying drip tape in the field to water baby pea and carrot plants. Dirty work. Lots and lots of walking up and down the looooong rows laying tape, connecting hoses, repeat and repeat again. It's a lot of work right now for a huge advantage later. No one wants to hand-water acres of anything.

And then my time was up. Picked up kids and got on with my day a much happier person. This is good for me in many ways :)