Week Two - Greenhouse Czar

I am having a hard time stretching my brain back toward the beginning of this week.  I think it's because I fainted on Monday and haven't been at 100% all week, which also caused time to move quickly.  Chris trained me to take on the greenhouse responsibilities this week.  He's been calling me the Czar, which I find pretty empowering.

In the house we have four pallet tables the length of the germ room.  I went through two shaky trainings on how to water our little sprouts.  Even strokes that keep moving, no double passes, don't stop at the end and flood the last cells, don't trip over the hose, slower over the flats with root systems, keeping your arm extended at shoulder height...it was like learning a choreography.  My arms have actually been a little sore from it. 

Monday we planted over 2000 strawberry plants...I only got to handle about 60 of those before I passed out.  It was pretty cold and rainy, and I had to ditch my gloves after the mud started clumping my fingers together.  I remember being excited that I would get to interact with each plant on such a personal level and then my body went into shock I guess.  Now that I'm feeling a bit better, I'll have to prove that I'm not usually so frail.

Tuesday was more greenhouse work (started eggplant, early toms, and parsley) and irrigation set up in the strawberry beds.

Wednesday we started more lettuce, and cleaned out the overgrown hoop house.  It was a half day, Chris is hoping we will all feel better quickly.  Everyone's been in and out of function with some sort of ailment. 

Thursday I fed the seedlings fish and kelp with a backpack sprayer.  It smelled like the sea in there.  It was pretty hot so I had to keep up on the watering too.  We had placed the eggplant, toms and parsley on the germ bench (controlled temperature for the delicate starters), I have to water these with a spray bottle so they we drying out quick.  We also built cold frames just beyond the house, for our transplants.

Friday I kept close as it was another sunny day, I needed to keep the air flowing through house and water, but Chris had me on some odd jobs patching up irrigation and blowing out the lines before we start watering some beds.  Jonah was plowing the potato field, which I got to watch for a bit, while Chris explained that the field we're using this year had been in farrow for five years when they got it.  The cover crops were clover and oats.  Watching that field get plowed versus the ones that have been worked year after year, I saw a pretty amazing difference in the soil.  Super chunky and hard to work with, but healthy oh so healthy.  We are going to have tons of potatoes too.

As for the weekend, I watered and checked on the greenhouse obsessively.  Everyone else had off, and I will be on the off rotation two weeks from now.  There doesn't seem to be a lot going on community wise, and there's only so much eating and drinking for entertainment that I can do.  I found a yoga studio that offers one class a week, and a bouldering gym not to far off.  That should help switch up the entertainment a bit. 

Today I am baking bread and making tiny quiche for the freezer and breakfast throughout the week.  Looking forward to produce in May.  Listening to this record, my favorite lately.

Breakfast after the flu.

Had the flu symptoms yesterday.  Woke up feeling hungry, so I went for the last slice of pretzel bread, comfort.

When I bit it was soggy.  Looking down into the grocery bag I realized why.

Pussy pissed on my pretzel.

I just spent the last 24 hours with a woman in labor.

At the end of it, she had a baby a good healthy baby.

I have no words now, just thoughts, an apartment and a cat.

Can't wait for farm life.  I can be around all kinds of birth all the time.

fire dancing

It's been a drab winter, the snow fall fades quickly to a thaw.  I've been struggling to keep a clear mind and focus on the tasks at hand.  It seems like it's going to be years before I get close to accomplishing them!

Two weekends ago there was a great snow fall, traffic was slowed and my windshield wipers were moving frantically, which caused flash backs of the winter storm I encountered last February in New Brunswick.  Nothing will top that storm, but it was a good reminder. 

I was driving out, didn't know where, I have just been sick of entertaining myself in the cabin/apartment...I ended up running into some friends who invited me to a photo exhibit at the George Eastman house here in Rochester.  Man was that guy wealthy, pretty much anything good and lasting in Rochester was started by him.  He liked to hunt too...he had so much fur, and an elephant head to boot. 

After this Lisa, our friend Joel and I went sledding...we had to spend some extra energy convincing Joel to come along, but when we mentioned we'd be going to the back woods, he lit up and little and said "that's good, I've been wanting to try something out there."  He wanted to drive separately...I don't know Joel that well, he's pretty mysterious, he plays the accordion at the market on Saturdays, climbs buildings, paints houses with his dad when he wants to, makes jewelry from animal bones, and can do trapeze tricks.  I got a little nervous about him wanting to "try something" in the back woods. 

We had great moon lighting and more snow fall for our little trek, Joel seemed super focused, and when we got far enough in he threw his pack off eagerly.  He started pulling out glass bottles, a candle, and a guitar cable with something bulbous tied to the end of it.  He stuck the thing (resembling a cattail) thin side down in the snow, spilled something from the jar on it, lit the candle and then lit the cattail thing.  It was burning high and hot, he picked it up by the base and started spinning it around by the guitar cable. He was treating that torch like a yoyo, he liked to toss it towards us girls so it would whiz in real close to our clothes and faces and then laughed when we jumped.  It made the most intense noise, I wish I could describe it, but I told him he needs to find a way to record it, and get a loop of it going to accompany his accordion.  Just when I thought that was the end of his wild dancing, he stopped for a minute to take a swig out of one of those glass bottles.  Lisa gasped, and asked him what he was doing, Joel swished his liquid mouthful to the side, losing a little of it in the process, and told us it was rubbing alcohol.  He started dancing again, and got the torch right close to his face, before he breathed the first in a series of fire breaths!  Freaking astonishing, his grand finale was called the devil's handshake, which apparently he cultivated the skill and trick himself...no instruction.  Picture below.

rustic pie and sunshine

Lately my fridge holds about...this much.

I had two sweet potatoes, an over sized apple, amaretto (from my dad), and some flour.

Rustic Pie!  I had a little sharp cheddar on the side.

Also this bean recipe is the best, from my mom.

Spicy Mayocoba Beans

1 lb. beans, soaked overnight
1 medium onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder*
2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
7 oz. chopped jalapenos

*I had no chili powder so used lots of paprika plus a little bit of cayenne pepper as a substitute

Put the beans in a big pot, cover them with a couple of inches of water and simmer until tender.

When the beans are getting close to done, heat some oil in a deep skillet or a heavy bottomed pot and saute the onion until translucent. Then add the garlic and the rest of the spices, reserving only the jalapenos. I like to cook everything well at this stage to bring out flavor, but am careful not to burn anything. If a crust starts to form on the bottom of the pan I deglaze it by throwing in a little water, beer or wine (depending on what I'm drinking while I cook), then loosening all that tasty goodness with a spatula.

Next, add your beans and their water to the onion mix, stir well and let them continue to simmer as long as you can, so the flavors have a chance to blend. Add more water as necessary so they don't burn, keeping the consistency as thick or thin as you like.

Stir in the jalapenos at the end for an extra kick.

Serve with yogurt or sour cream, maybe.

These spicy beans make for amazing gourmet burritos. If cooked with more liquid, they can be served as a bean soup/chili sort of thing.