Catching up on the farm

I'm stuck in DIA on a layover on my way to see Cristina in Milwaukee, so I'll catch up a bit on the last week or so:

I went to New Mexico to attend the first five days of a Permaculture Certification Course with Zach. (www.permaculture.org) The class was taught by Scott Pittman and Toby Hemenway next door on the Seeds of Change farm. I arrived on a Wednesday and the class started Saturday.

I must have managed to pack the Northwest rainclouds in my carry-on because the very night I arrived, the first rains of the year began. I half awoke early in the morning to the foreign sound of raindrops on an adobe rooftop. Throughout the day, the cool rain continued, filling up the water buckets placed under the gutters and softening the soil for weeding and planting. I spent the first two days getting back into the rhythm of chores, including bottle feeding the lambs (which is the best part, of course). The triplet lambs are named Win (brown female), Place and Show (the boy) because they were born on the same day as the Kentucky Derby. Other lambs (which we aren't bottle feeding) include Tanto (a single lamb who is disproportionately huge) and Holstein (who is colored black and white, just like a cow). We joke about eating Holstein all the time, just because of the way he looks. There are two more lambs, but we haven't named them. The goat kids include Ricky, The Lone Ranger and the triplets, Eenymeeny, Miney and Moe.

The way we managed to get into this Permaculture class in the first place was because the organizers asked Carol if some of the class members could camp on the farm for the duration of the class. She agreed on the condition that Zach and a friend of his choice were given free tuition to attend. (Guess who he picked!) The campers started showing up Friday evening and tent city began. The lawn fit all the tents just right and Zach had set up an outdoor sink area with a solar shower. I set out jars with candles for the evenings and we piled firewood against the cottonwood near the fire pit. We set out chairs on the lawn and had the first of 6 gorgeous evenings around a fire. The weather was just cool enough at night to really enjoy its warmth. Over the next few nights, we watched the moon rise every evening and grow brighter until it was full on Monday night. The fire's smoke kept away the mosquitoes and the nights couldn't have been more beautiful.

The classes were 9 – 5 every day and full of lecures, group discussions and a little “hands-on” weeding and mulching on the Seeds of Change farm. Permaculture is a collection of principles and practices that consider ways of providing for yourself and your family while taking the utmost care of the land. The name originated from the term “permanent agriculture” and has evolved to mean “permanence of culture” to include land uses that aren't categorized as agriculture. My impression so far is that permaculture simply takes a lot of great ideas and puts them together in a way that makes sense. I plan to spend more time later describing some of my favorite ideas in detail.

The best part of the class overall has really been the people I've met. This topic of permaculture seems to attract active, conscious, fascinating individuals from many different backgrouds. I mostly got to know the campers, since we spent the evenings together while everyone else left. We all got along wonderfully, and I even met someone that knows a couple of my friends in Olympia. It was so fun to watch everyone swoon over the lambs and kids and Zach gave so many little tours of El Paradiso. Everyone loved the farm. The last night, Zach invited all the campers who weren't leaving right away to eat dinner with us. We barbecued and ate outside around the fire, of course.

The next two parts of the full course will be in July and August. I'll miss the July class, since I'll be in Spain, but in August I'll get to see everyone again and finish up. I'm definitely looking forward to it. Now that I'm interested in permaculture, I've decided to find some farms in Spain that practice its ideas and ask to volunteer there for the first couple weeks, until my family shows up.

The last two days, Zach and I worked nonstop on the veggie garden. We weeded the beds (microweeding, because they're all just barely sprouting) and planted a variety of veggies and edible flowers in all kinds of combinations. The peppers, carrots, quinoa, wheat and soybeans are in raised rows near the asparagus (which were mature enough to harvest for the first time!). The corn, beans and squash are interplanted in the traditional manner. This works because the corn is nourished by the legumes (beans) fixing atmospheric nitrogen, the beans have poles (the corn) to climb, and the squash cover the ground and shade out weeds. We created sunken beds for the first time with a flagstone footpath down the center. There, we planted sweet and thai basil, zucchini, and three kinds of beets. We planted Calendula flowers, which are edible, in two long rows next to the strawberries. I'll put up pictures soon.

Now, I'm going to Milwaukee to hang out with Cristina and her family. She invited me up and I just couldn't resist. We're also going to Chicago to meet up with Mom, Lee and Lee's girlfriend on Monday. I'll be back in Olympia by Tuesday night, and I'll be preparing to graduate! Yay!