The Field of Dreams

This past week of farming has been the most wickedly cool and butt-kicking one so far. I've never felt so exhausted after a day's work, but witnessing the faces of whom I was working so hard for, made it worth it. This past Thursday, we celebrated our first CSA deliveries for the season! For the Cowgills, it was the first off their new farm, and for me, it was my first ever. Wahoo! It was a success. I delivered five shares to our members in Conrad and the Cowgills delivered 30 to our members in Great Falls. I got to meet Pat and his young son Patrick, who were hosting the drop-off point for Conrad at their home.

Pat and Patrick, our CSA members in Conrad.

While a quick exchange and drop-off, I realized on my drive back that that little boy Patrick and his family and other families in town were going to eat healthy and organic food while supporting their local economy and seeing a face of the farm they support. That simple connection made all the back-bending work meaningful and gave me a more realized-understanding of this local food web.

On that note of back-bending work, it really has been a challenge for me to keep up with Jacob, not that I probably ever could, but at least I try. He is fast and has a lot of stamina, probably because he is a mountain man by nature, but probably also because he's got nearly 10 years of farming experience under his belt. Still, I look up to his sheer ability to just keep moving, keep planting, building, making, fixing, tilling, hammering, watering, sowing...farming. My challenge is working fast. I can do a job well, but not always fast and well. On harvest day, especially, the day blurred by as I harvested 36 shares of Ruby Red Mustard greens, Green Mustard greens and some baby-looking Bok Choy veggie I forgot the name of. We're racing against the heat of the sun that is to hit after morning fades into noon, which could destroy our harvest. Plus we needed to deliver these precious goods between a certain time frame. We moved so fast, I didn't even get a chance to snap some shots of the harvesting process for you all, but don't be disappointed, I'll make it up with pictures next harvest time. There is also the cleanliness issue which dissuades me from snapping photos because I do not want to touch my phone and then go back to touching the food we are packing. Don't fret, I'll find a way to do both!

                               On the road to Conrad.

Driving to Conrad with precious green cargo in cooler.

It really wears on you, farming that is. It wears on you physically. You feel this ringing and vibrating in the joints of your fingers, ankle joints and shoulder joints. Maybe, it's just my ankle joints because I'm either wearing garden clogs or rain boots and not very supportive hiking boots as Jacob is. Anyhow, it's unlike any aches I've ever felt. No pain, luckily (knock on wood), but still aches. I suppose it is part of the job description. While all the squatting and bending over have been great for my legs, glutes and lower back muscles, I think my knees are paying the price for beauty and farming. I'm sounding more geriatric by the day!

Much brain power does go into farming, especially organic farming. You have to consider what part of the land you are cultivating on and what type of plant, so that you can rotate with another crop like say a legume to fix nitrogen into the soil which your previous plant depleted. I know a lot of life and great things are in the works, and a lot more is happening underground than above most days, but sometimes, it does feel like I'm just pushing a wheelbarrow around in circles. You have to be able to see the big picture, always, otherwise, farming would just be a series of redundant and repetitive mechanical motions, did I mention redundant? For instance, stamping labels and packing 75 bags of grain can become redundant.

 

Farro grains

Packing Farro grains to include in CSA share.

While I suspected, and I suppose many would suppose that living out in the plains, in the country, in the backwoods, may be lonely, and while I have to admit, it can be lonely weeding beds of garlic alone, the farm is actually always filled with visitors every week. Whether it's friends or family, there is always some new faces I get to meet every week. So, it's really not that lonely to live outside of the city if you have a good group of friends and family who keep in touch.

I'm constantly awed by the giving nature of growing food, whether farming or gardening. It's just an atmosphere which promotes community, the sharing of ideas, produce, or just simple encouragement amongst friends. The Cowgill's friends Tony and Michelle stopped by for a tour of the farm and to donate a small greenhouse which Tony had built. Because they are moving to Ohio to begin their own CSA and farm, they wanted to give it to the Prairie Heritage Farm. They stayed for lunch and made for another day of good company to meet. Before they left we gave them shares of veggies which a few of our CSA members did not pick up. They were thankful, and as Michelle lifted the bags, declaring she was going to make a salad for dinner, my heart smiled knowing that those were the bags I had filled with carefully harvested greens.

Mixed Lettuce

I myself continued the contagious giving cycle by asking Jacob if I could bring some extra peppers and tomatoes we had planted which were dying due to lack of watering. The poor plugs were just eyeing me outside the greenhouse, desperately wanting a bigger space to live in and a home outside of those plugs. Not being one to ask for things, which I'm not saying is always the smartest or most beneficial characteristic of mine, I built up the courage to ask what Jacob was planning to do with them and if I could take them to share with the Pea Pods community garden. He happily agreed that that was a great idea and so that afternoon I shared them with friends at the garden who were thankful for some peppers and tomatoes.

After a long day of harvesting in the heat, driving 100 miles round trip to deliver and then head back into town to share and plant some peppers and tomatoes in the community garden, it was time to relax. So I headed home, took a nice shower, and indulged in my new favorite pastime, cooking. All in all, the crunchy taste of fresh, organic Pak Choy fried rice with garlic, carrots and scrambled eggs, doused in fish sauce at the end of a humbling harvest day, made it all worth it.






*Photos by Tiffanie Ma & Raul Orrostieta