63. Co+Operation
Since I started farming 5 years ago, I’ve found it charming how much time a farmer can spend during the “off” season just simply daydreaming. It has the potential to derail an afternoon, just gazing blankly at the satellite image of the farm with all sorts of ideas firing off. I’ll jot the occasional note, open a new tab for a search and fall down a rabbit hole, then refill my mug over and over again. It’s work of a more restful sort than in the summer time.
It’s been what feels like a lifetime since I wrote my last blog. But then I just looked, and it’s actually been less than two months. It feels like a lifetime because since then, Chloe and I have become parents. We live in a different dimension now. Our daughter Kora is finishing her 5th week since #womblife and she rocks our world. Being a farmer changed the way I felt about any potential future in parenthood, and I’m already grateful that Kora will grow up in a community tightly connected to land and to nourishing one another.
We had a crippling freeze over Christmas that all but ended outdoor veggie production. It really ripped the band-aid off, and sent us into off season mode. There has been a lot of infrastructure improving going on around Lick Run, including an indoor packroom that’s (almost) finished and functional! We even have a separate sink for hand-washing like all the food safety evangelists say you should, and it really is a nice addition. After 3 tries the past 3 years, we finally nailed the washing machine-to-lettuce spinner conversion. The hand-crank spinner will be used for back-up and microgreens only, so now maybe my right bicep won’t be so much more swole than my left.
Our front porch and wheelchair ramp are done, and we’re currently planning the front yard garden. The front door opens into the great big community room, which is ready for paint this coming week. A team of ultra-handy volunteers met up to teach me how to lay a subfloor, and we made quick (affordable) work of it in exchange for a home-cooked meal. One of the coolest parts of working on this project is how folks have found the ways they can offer their time and expertise to keep us progressing on all the renovations and constructions we are making here. The fence builder, the plumber, the tractor operator, the electrician, the drywallers: almost everybody is coming here by word-of-mouth referral and it’s a keep it local kinda vibe.
All of the ongoing work at the farm is made financially possible by the everloving encouragement this community has shown in all of the ways. One new way to show that love is to simply go buy groceries at the Roanoke Co+Op! In the month of January, the Southwest Virginia Agrarian Commons will be the recipient of the round-up change collected at the till. Thank you to Roanoke Co+Op for the opportunity to build the community of support around this urban farm project.
Planting schedules for next year are pretty much done and all the spring seed orders have arrived and been sorted into their bins. I’m deciding on which compost and amendments we’ll be using come spring, and diagramming irrigation for the expanding growing spaces. On Wednesday, we began grid layout and soil preparation in the new garden in the back of the property. Myself, my parents, and two friends took turns with the broadforks as we aerated the soil that will bring the first bounty of 2023. And every now and then I just stood there and daydreamed about what the future could hold for this land.
