Settling In

Another week has passed on the Farm, and things seem to be coming together.  Last week I was somewhat disheveled and uncertain of myself and my surroundings.  This week I tapped into some of my familiar confidence, which had subsided during this transitional phase, and my outlook is swinging in a more positive direction.  The Mexican family that works on the farm, are finally taking a liking to me.  Even though only three of them are able to communicate with me (via broken English), the others are warming up as well.  They return my smile now, and are genuinely interested in helping me.  Jose is the father and second hand man to the owner.  His two nephews, two children, and son in law work on the farm as well.  For the most part I’ve been paired with the daughter each day – I follow her lead and, in the process, I’m learning the daily cycle of tasks on the farm.  Humidity this week has been intense – one day I direct seeded (a surprisingly intense physical activity, pushing a two wheel seeder through the mud) for several hours.  I drank two gallons of water that day, and sweat just about every bit of it out – my entire being was saturated.  On Friday I was assigned my first weekly task, pulling seeds for the following week’s direct seeding.  Each Monday I will be taking those seeds with me to either seed them with the tractor or, what I prefer, seed them with the Earthway push seeder.  On Thursday Jose insisted that I take a stab at driving one of the John Deere tractors, an offer which I had declined on Wednesday.  So I jumped up the three steps to the seat and the daughter showed me how to maneuver it.  It was surprisingly simple and turned well when I reached the end of the beds.  However, there was a front end load of wooden stakes and it got too low to the ground, cutting the plastic mulch of the bed beneath and slightly damaging the tiny lettuces and tomato plants below.  But the damage was not significant, and I quickly learned to adjust the height of the load.  At the end of the day, after pounding these wooden stakes next to each tomato plant (hundreds of them) I drove the tractor back to the shelter.  This is the point that everyone saw me, as I crossed over the field and through the central corridor of the farm.  Several from the family thought it was just great, and were laughing because I was driving the thing at record low speed.  The son then jumped up on the tractor and showed me the gas lever (a gas “pedal” that is used via the hand – who’d of thought?), and I finally stopped creeping and quickly drove over to the shelter - the wrong shelter, naturally.  Anyhow, it was a good ending to the day, and I’m glad to say that I’m gradually finding acceptance in the Mexican family.  I believe Fridays are going to be my favorite day of the week – harvest day.  This week we harvested yellow and green squash, squash blossoms (a personal favorite), green onions, lettuce, kale, baby greens, bok choy, radishes (I love the way the radishes sounded as I ripped them from their root, it was a subtle and gentle pop sound), cucumbers, turnips, dill, cilantro, and basil.  We also had starfruit and avocado from a farm near Miami.  What is even more exciting is that we get to take home pretty much anything we want, and in any quantity – I can definitely get used to this.  What a way to supplement the grocery bill!  So Mateo is making pesto and freezing it.  I made an avocado black bean salad using tthree avocados, and we have five more to somehow use.  The green onions I’ve been using in everything.  Today I made up a black bean / radish / green onion / cilantro spread thing, which turned out magnificently.  We have a whole shelf dedicated to lettuce and baby greens – salad days are obviously here.  What is more, these are the most wonderful and delicious tasting vegetables I have ever had the pleasure of eating.  Yesterday was my first market, in S., and I was in my element entirely.  We had a six person crew and it was fast paced from start to finish.  I was busy restocking the tables, bagging the baby greens, tending to the basil, and answering any questions people had.  It was nice to see crazy homeless people and talk to randoms again – things I was used to while working at Marsh, and now I must say I rather miss it.  I was able to flash my smile again, and the people on the receiving end welcomed it warmly, and returned the gesture.  Saturdays will certainly be something to look forward to each week (even though it makes for an 11 hour day – 3:30-3:00), because it puts me back in touch with the public and, of course, I’ll feel at home being surrounded by what keeps people ticking – food.