Pickles and Paulownias

One week ago tomorrow I was stepped on by a cow. Specifically, this cow:

Her name is Frau Cow. She is the alpha/loner cow of our semi-recently-acquired dairy herd:

(Please note that Frau Cow is very firmly facing the opposite direction of her fellow bovines. She's a smidge anti-social).

The cow girls (tee hee) have called the Small Farm Unit home for about a month now, and I absolutely love them.  Once you get past the wet cow smell and move to the warm cow smell (I promise, it's one of the more soothing scents in existence), they're quite charming.  All seven have fantastically punny names, from Chow Cow to Triple Sow Cow to Cowmatian. All in all, they're a swell group of girls who do a great job as forage rotation for the unit.

Work on the farm has been picking up in a lot of ways as of late: spring is fully in swing here.  We are now readily harvesting from the spring crops we planted in our first few weeks of the apprenticeship (whaaat?!), ranging from broccoli to kale to spring onions. And lettuce. Lots and lots of lettuce.  Our peas are putting out their first tentative pods as well.

Our first broccolis!

Baby beet greens, yum

 

 

 

The community work in Goldsboro has also been evolving in approximately one thousand fascinating directions, one of which is the Freedom Farm.  The city recently donated an acre of land to the Wayne Food Initiative, which is gradually turning the space into a communal farm plot.  The apprentices have gotten the INCREDIBLE fortune to work with some ladies from Esther's Refuge, a transition house for females coming out of incarceration.  These women are interested in growing food for themselves and to sell at the local farmers' market - which is amazing! Through our work with them I've been mulling over the entrepreneurial potential of revitalizing local food systems and regional foodsheds, and this hands-on work is a refreshing way to approach such ideas.

Yesterday I helped set up tables at a market downtown and had the chance to speak with Dreamweaver, a long-time local of Wayne County who runs the market. He asked if I had ever seen this image, a classic of the American farmer:

That's right, friends - none other than your friend and mine, American Gothic by Grant Wood.  Of course, I said I had, and he immediately signed me on for a new photography project of his.  Dreamweaver wants to specifically focus on the new definition of the American farmer - more specifically, he wants that new American farmer to be me. In my overalls.  This project begs the obvious question - what is the new American farmer like? The average age of farmers now in this country is 57 and climbing, begging for the emergence of a much younger (and trends show, more eco-savvy) batch of agriculturalists.  Given demographic shifts in the last half-century, though, who is that person? More likely than ever that farmer does look a bit like me - a woman, a young person, someone first- or second-generation immigrant.  I haven't come to any conclusions on that thought yet, but it is interesting to chew on and wonder whether the shift in that image is a desire or reality at this point in time.

Well, folks, that's it for now.  Today is the most hallowed of all spring days - the 25th annual NC PickleFest.  I'll keep you posted on the results of the Pickle Derby! In the meantime, get outside and enjoy the long-awaited springtime :)