Organic Farming Reflections.

I imagine this will be a bit of a reoccurring stream here as I reflect on some of my experiences and thoughts from working with Lynn (that’s Lynn in the picture with her sunflowers) and Chuck at Cane Creek Farm. I hope to do my best to not over-romanticize my experiences. I have zero financial stake in the health and success of the farm. Thus far, I’ve only worked 1 day with them. I haven’t had to go through drought or a hard freeze. I don’t know what it feels like to loose a crop to either. I have never had to work weeks on end in 100+ degree heat. Yesterday was a fierce 70 degrees with a nice cool breeze. So I’ll try really, really hard not to romanticize things. And I imagine if you talk to me in a couple of months, my story might be a little different, but after the first day, I really, really, really want to be a farmer.

So here are some of my thoughts in no certain order . . .

I left the house on the Irenic Luchador and drove 36 miles out to the farm with nothing but a mild idea of what I would do and an anxiety about sweating for the first time in over an year.

This is what I did yesterday:

This is what I learned yesterday:

It was so nice being outside in the fresh air, with dirt all over my jeans and under my fingernails. I learned that 2 people make the work go by faster and easier. Whether it was with talking to Chuck about the Air Force, retirement, Joel Salatin, Wendell Berry, and the benefits of goldenseal while we cleared chickweed and worked on the hoop house. Or with Lynn talking about her kids, family, grafting, canning, recipes, and unpasteurized milk while we planted new trees that wouldn’t be ready for a couple of years.

Everything seemed slower. There was no rush. We leisurely worked. And casually chatted. Lynn told me about this old man that she gets some of her fruit trees from who has been running this old nursery for the longest time. Apparently, he’s a world-famous grafter of fruit trees and is known by everyone in that field. Lynn talked about how he’s nearing the end of his life and how it’s such a waste for all of that knowledge and wisdom that will effectively disappear. When you think about this and the other men and women just like him from a couple of generations ago, it’s not hard to see why many of us are losing our sense of location and place. And in the process losing the ties to a simpler and more sustainable time. This man’s daughter left to go to school and his wife passed away. Now it’s just him living out his last days and keeping his wisdom with him. I think I could sit with this thought all day and think about the ramifications.

(Lynn & Chuck in picture at a local Farmer’s Market) I realized how much life goes on in the grass and the soil. I learned that Goldenseal grows best when it’s naturally grown in the woods. So we didn’t spend time out in a field clearing the chickweed. But under the pine trees that surrounded the “farming land”. I quickly realized that in a natural and sustainable environment, it makes sense for some things to grow in their natural environment without “industrializing” them to rows in a field. On my hands and knees under the trees with the chickweed, pine straw, and pine cones I found a whole other world of life. By clearing away the surface layer and getting back to the soil I found grubs over an inch long and as round as a dime. I saw earth worms and crickets, ants and beetles. The whole “forest” floor was crawling. Chuck taught me about the different natural medicinal benefits of goldenseal and how the Indians used it. He told me about the greater natural, medicinal movement that exists primarily in co-ops and the one to which he belongs to in North Georgia. He shared about why he wanted to start raising animals on the farm a couple of years ago so that he could reintroduce one more of the natural cycles with the sheep fertilizing the fields with their manure and by moving them from pasture to pasture. I heard the fear/frustration in his voice when we first started clearing the chickweed and the pine straw away and trying to find the goldenseal buds to no avail. He was worried that last year’s drought might have killed them. I wondered what it would feel like to me if I had invested countless hours and a hundred pound of seed only to see it go to waste. He told me about how different parts of the goldenseal (the root, the leaves, the flower) and different combinations are good for different things.

All in all, it was a good day. I’m sore all over. And I went to bed at 9:00 last night for the first time since I went to India and had jet lag over 2 years ago. As a matter of fact, it’s the first time I’ve gone to bed before 11:30 in nearly 2 years. I was exhausted. But loved every minute of it.

And if you live anywhere in North Georgia or the Atlanta area, I’d highly recommend swinging by the Cane Creek Farm and checking out some of their fine produce and flowers in the coming months. Email me if you want some more info.

Cheers.

Listening: Taking The Long Way by The Dixie Chicks