Since the last post a great deal has been taking place at Z Food Farm. There will be time to sit and sing later on, but for now Farmer David is more putting the pieces together rather than picking up the pieces. This point was mentioned in the previous post, but the truth of the matter is that despite how much time David has allowed himself to get things done, such as putting together the greenhouse, things still take longer than anticipated. But day by day David is gettin' there. One important item to mention is that the website is, sort of, up and running. 'Sort of'- the site is still a work in progress with much yet to do (there is an ongoing theme here). Thanks to David's friend Gab, with assistance from brother Peter, for getting the site moving towards excellence. To visit the site go to www.zfoodfarm.com.
The following is paraphrased from the book "Bringing It To The Table", by Wendell Berry- "People live for quitting time, for weekends, for vacations, and for retirement. One works not because the work is necessary, valuable, useful to a desirable end, or because one loves to do it, but only to be able to quit. This is explained, of course, by the dullness of the work, by the loss of responsibility for, or credit for, or knowledge of the thing made." The reader can decide for them self the extent to which this statement is true for them. For Farmer David, and the farmers within his local farming community, as well most small family farmers, this is simply not the case. Small farmers, and even some who are part of the large agri business farm system, couldn't do what they do if they did not have a passion and commitment to what they do. For the most part 'quitting time' for a farmer is when the sun goes down and there is very little that is dull about the process of farming. When you go to your local farmers' market, get to know the farmer and learn about their love for what they do. Peace, happiness, hopefulness, and healthy eating to all.
And now to bring you a little up to date with some of what's been going on at Z Food Farm.
It might be a little thing, but appearances are important. On the left is the before, on the right is the after. The color of the newly painted door is Miso.
Greenhouse construction- Part 1: The first step in constructing the greenhouse is to pound the posts into the ground, in as straight a line as possible and to as an equal depth as possible. A surveyors transit is used to get the posts to the same height, relative to the level of the ground.
While the posts are being pounded into the ground, the hoops are being put together. Each hoop consists of three pieces that are connected with a bolt and a nut. Both of these steps is very time consuming and took the better part of six hours.
To install the hoops one end is placed in one of the posts. Then it requires team work with one person pushing the hoop to get it in line while the other person pushes the end of the hoop into the post. A vice grip is put on the end of the hoop end to make sure it doesn't go to far into the post. A nail is then inserted through the pre-drilled holes that are now lined up in the post and the hoop end.
After the hoops are in place one cross beam is attached to the top of the of the hoops and two are attached along the upper sides. In the picture you can see Farmer David pointing to the top beam and around waist high you can see one of the side beams.
The reality of life on a farm is that ground hogs are not the farmers friend. They are very destructive of crops. While traps can be effective at capturing ground hogs, the best weapon against them is man's best friend, the dog. Here Hule has dispatched her first ground hog at Z Food Farm.
At the end of a busy day, Hule enjoys a well deserved nap.
There will be more pictures of the construction of the greenhouse in the next post. Until then, happy and healthy eating to all.
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