hello stranger!

well, look who finally decided to show up! Me! Sorry for the absence. I can't count on the number of times I thought to myself, "You know, I should really update my blog." I just didn't. A lot has been on my mind lately. I'm in the throes of planning my business; tracking down what things I need to do to be a legitimate business, continually rewriting and editing my business plan, reading up on sustainable farm practices, planning my planting schedule for next year, trying to put together a seed order, orchestrate meetings with insurance agents and loan officers. The list goes on. Talk about a juggling act! And if these few months are any indication I'm in for a wild ride next year. Keep me in your prayers!
So here's a quick update:
I have officially incorporated!
My farm finally has a name, Wild Goose Farm, LLC (limited liability company, it's a business thing)
I have a new email address for the farm, wildgoose.farm@yahoo.com
I'm still working for Sandhill Organics, that will continue through mid December. I'm still working on getting a winter job.

That 's the interesting stuff, anyway. I could get more into the details but it's not that exciting.

I'm posting a picture of the land that I'm renting. Right now it's growing a cover crop, a crop that I will till into the soil in the spring which will add nutrients and organic matter to the soil. Plus it helps keep down erosion through the winter. It snowed here today so you'll just have to picture the field with a light blanket of white. I get so excited each time I see my field and picture in my head what it will look like next year.

Newest Farmer

It's official! I'm going to be farming next year!! I'm still stunned and excited too. So much is happening! I will have to expound later. I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed and when that happens I get sleepy. But I will definitely talk about this again!

First Sweetcorn of the Year

It's finally here! Sweetcorn! Oh there is nothing like fresh, crisp sweetcorn. The past few days I've been enjoying this very seasonal delicacy. There is very little worse than mushy out of season corn. If only we had more. But like I feared, our sweetcorn crop is quite small. Our first couple plantings did nothing and this last planting has some disease. We won't get much out of it. Sad.
We've also started harvesting our tomatoes out of our hoop house. Our field tomatoes are getting closer. Oh they taste so good. I used to never like tomatoes. Then I only liked them cooked. Now I love them in sandwiches and other things raw or cooked. I still can't eat them like apples. I'm sure that will come some day. When I started working on a farm last summer I was afraid to admit that I didn't like tomatoes. I thought they'd fire me for sure since tomatoes seems to be one of those quintessential organic farm crops. Thankfully I found that I liked them and I didn't have to be run out of town. :)
We're still grinding away at the farm. The days are hot and sometimes long. We all move a little slower. It's late July. I get the feeling that this is typical for this time of the year. Once the days cool we'll regain the spring in our steps. Now we just plod faithfully along, doing what needs to be done. Cooler days will be here before we know it!

Song of the Cicada

You know it's deep summer when the cicadas start to sing. I am serenaded constantly during the day. I love the sound. It sounds like summer. The hot, hazy days are not complete without the cicada. Then at night there are the fireflies! oh the fireflies. There are so many here. I am mesmerized by them. Sometimes I miss my bedtime because I just have to stay up and watch them. One night I couldn't resist the urge to go out into the middle of them. I just stood there and every which way I turned I saw their little glowing bodies. It was actually a deep and moving moment. I have to admit that I did a little dance. I had to do something. I wanted to join in and since I am not blessed with bio luminescence and I was afraid singing would startle them, I danced. And to tell you the truth it's has become a cherished moment.

This past week has been the hottest so far. Honestly it wasn't that bad. We were definitely sluggish and we sweated a lot. But, working in the heat is not the worst thing in the world, contrary to what all the d.j.'s and newspeople say. You will not melt if you work in the heat and humidity. You just go slower and drink a lot of water. Oh, a wide brimmed hat is a good idea too.

On the future farm front (like that alliteration?), I have sent in my preliminary business plan to the person in charge of program that rents land and equipment at low cost to beginning farmers. It's called an incubator program. There is one right next to the farm I currently work on. My plan definitely needs work but I'm excited to have a draft done. This farming thing is becoming more and more of a reality. There are days when I'm terribly excited and there are days where I'm so overwhelmed I just want to crawl into bed and sleep. But I keep plodding along with my plans and praying. Oh, there is lots of praying going on. This isn't just about me finding a career that I like. This is more of a calling for me. This is where I think God is calling me to serve him and others; to be Christ to those I meet through farming-my fellow farmers and customers, to share with others my belief in the deep importance of Creation and how we treat it, to be an active part of the change I want to see.

Pray I don't lose sight of these things as I go through the details of business planning and budgeting. This is so much more than a business to me. It's my calling. May God be glorified through all of this.

My, how the summer flies! I can't believe it's July. Unfortunately some of our sweet corn has missed the "knee-high by the 4th of July" standard. I'm wondering if we'll even get any this summer. A few weeks ago we were out in the sweet corn fields weeding and discovered that half of our first planting was only 6 inches tall, had tassled, and had baby ears of corn already! This is not a good sign. Perhaps we'll have stir-fry sweet corn instead of the traditional sized delicious ears. Quite sad, really.
Other than that things are going along just swimmingly. We've just harvested the first beets of the season! I am really excited about them. I've always loved beets. I love their deep red, almost purple color. I love the taste of sweet, earthy goodness. They're amazing with a little salt and butter. The broccoli is huge. I am amazed every time we go out to harvest it. It's one of my favorite things to harvest too. We take along large harvest knives that are about the size of half a machete. Then one person hacks at the stem. If you're good and the knife is sharp you can cut through the thick stalk with one swing. Next you toss it to your partner who takes off the excess leaves and puts it into the crate. It's so much better than harvesting zucchini which leaves your arms all scratched up from the prickly plants. Boo hiss.
So that's the update from the farm. Tomatoes and peppers are coming soon. But not soon enough for me. I'm so tempted to start frying the green tomatoes. I might have too soon. But for right now I'm content with my fresh garlic and broccoli pizza. mmmmh.

Summer Days

Welcome Summer, Happy Solstice!
Perhaps this sounds a somewhat pagan greeting, but being a farmer I live my life by the seasons. Why not celebrate the seasons of Creation? This past week has been absolutely gorgeous on the farm. The sun has been shining, there have been beautiful breezes and clouds going by. We had a few quite showers yesterday which we enjoyed as well. I can only describe it as delicious. I love being in the rain on a summer day. Today had a gloomy start but has now become so sunny. I went on a walk and found mulberry trees with their berries just starting to ripen! I'm now thinking of muffins and crisps and other wonderful things to make with the coming mulberries. I just made my first batch of strawberry jam! It's a little runny because I refuse to use the amount of sugar the recipes call for (7 cups!). It's still delicious. The next batch will have to be strawberry rhubarb.
Plants are continuing to grow on the farm. This week we harvested broccoli, parsley, and garlic scapes for the first time. I know you're all wondering what the heck are garlic scapes. You are, aren't you? Garlic scapes are the flower stalk that the garlic plant sends up. It naturally does a curly-q and then flowers at the end. Once the stalk curls we snap it off so that the plant will focus it's efforts on the bulb in the ground where the cloves form. The scape can be used like a green onion (scallion) but it tastes like garlic. They're a breeze to harvest and our hands smell of garlic for the rest of the day. Meet the garlic scape.

As the weeks go by i find myself getting more and more excited about having my own farm. I have come a long way! Last year i would freak out when I would think about having a farm of my own. Now I am thinking about it all the time and strategizing. I am even hoping of starting my farm next year! I am looking into programs that help out beginning farmers and offer land and equipment rental for low rates. I don't even have a name yet, but I am hoping that will come in time. Any suggestions are welcome. :)

Farmer's Market Update and Even More Storms

I must say the farmers' market was wonderful. I had a great time. I did have trouble sleeping just as I thought I would, but I didn't become zombie-like until after I got home. I really enjoyed the people at the market. It was so much fun talking with them, introducing people to new vegetables, giving ideas of how to prepare different things, and joking around too. The other vendors were great. We were in between an herb vinegar guy and a Wisconsin cheese guy. Oh, the smells were delicious. I could've spent a fortune at the cheese stand. They're curds were amazing. I got to barter for a couple of things too. I loved it. I'm looking forward to the next time I go to the market.
Just to give you a quick update on the farm- we've had a ton of rain. Fields were flooded Monday after two heavy rains on Sunday. Harvesting has been interesting. The aisles have been filled with water in most places. It's been quite disheartening. With all this rain we could lose some crops. The ones in the most danger are the tomatoes and the peppers. It's so sad. I love peppers and I'm starting to really like tomatoes. Plus we're growing so many different colors of tomatoes. On one hand it makes me glad that I'm not farming on my own yet. This potential crop loss doesn't really harm me, but it does hurt my bosses. It's humbling, to the point of frightening, how you can plan well, have healthy crops in the field, have everything looking so promising and then BAM! Disaster strikes.
I guess the reality is that we're really not in control. We like to think we are in control. We act as though we are in control. But the stark truth is that we are not in control. God is. I think farming is one of those few professions where that truth is so blatant. You live daily with the fact that life does not go according to plan. On one level that frightens me to the core. But, it also excites me. It excites me because I see the chance for God to do great things in such a life. Acknowledging that I have very little control over life can bring such humility and faith. Oh, how I hope for such things-that I will learn to give up the illusion of my ability to control my life or that I know what's best for me. And that God may increase my faith. There's a passage in Habakkuk that scares me and yet entices me too.
Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength:
he makes my feet liek the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights. Habakkuk 3:17-19

May that kind of faith grow in us all.

To Market! To Market!

Well, despite all the storms that have blown through we have had a busy week. The spring CSA is going well. People are loving their vegetables. We've also started going to the Oak Park Farmer's Market on Saturday. Tomorrow is my first farmers' market as a farmer! I'm very excited. We spent most of today harvesting. We'll be taking lettuce, spinach (two kinds), arugula, green onions, green garlic, kohlrabi, napa (chinese) cabbage, asparagus, radishes (three kinds), hakurei turnips, and i think there's something else but I can't remember now. That's quite a list! We start loading the truck at 4:30 AM! I'm hoping I'm coherent. Actually, I'm not worried about getting up. I'm worried about falling asleep. I'm so excited I might have a hard time sleeping. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. 

Stormy Weather

I have to laugh. I mentioned weather in my last entry. It just goes to show that weather plays a bigger role in my life than before. Truth be told the title to this entry refers not only to the physical weather but the recent turbulence in my life. 

   Friday was a stormy day here in Grayslake. We had high winds in the late morning that resulted in ripping off half of the greenhouse plastic. We watched helplessly as the plastic roofing flapped violently in the wind. Then we got the signal to take shelter in the basement of the farmers' house. There was no tornado siren, but we felt like taking the precaution. Strangely enough the sun came out in the afternoon and we had a lovely summer day.  Once the winds died down we cut off the rest of the plastic since it would no longer completely cover the roof. Now our greenhouse stands with its ribs showing. Thankfully it was time for the plants inside to meet the outside world. 

   The turbulence in my life came the first Saturday in May. I moved to a house right on the farm property (separate from the famers' house). It's an adorable house. However, in the move my computer got bumped and went on the fritz. Thus the reason for my month long silence. True, I have had occasional access to the internet throughout the month. Yet, I just didn't  make myself enter anything in here. There was always something else to do.

     Anyway, my old computer died and I now own a new one-the reason for the turbulence. It was quite the investment and one that I wasn't quite ready to make. It's opened my eyes to how much faith I put in my savings account. It's been hard. But I am glad that I have seen this foible. I pray my faith in God and His provision grows stronger no matter the fluctuation of my bank account. 

Midwest Weather

This week has been a little odd as far as weather goes. Monday it was quite chilly and cold. Snow showers were predicted at some point but nothing like that developed. We were out in the fields planting the onions that were seeded in the greenhouse. There was a chill wind, but we still planted. Our fingers got cold, but we still planted. It began to drizzle, yet we still planted. That is, we planted until we had muddy claws for hands and a few numb toes. We decided to pack it up and head for the greenhouse. Once we thawed out we worked in the greenhouse for the rest of the day. That's one thing I love about farming; there's so much variety, so many different things to do.
A woman I live with (who isn't a farmer) remarked on Monday, "What an awful day to be a farmer!" I didn't say much in reply, but I disagreed. It's not that I thought Monday was a perfect day for farming. It's just that I didn't think about whether I wanted to be a farmer that day or not. There were jobs that had to be done, so we did them the best we could. I can't choose when I want to be a farmer and when I don't. It's a commitment. It's definitely trying at times, but it's also hugely rewarding.
Later this week it warmed up and was beautiful right up through most of today. Then it got cold again. I think we'll have some rain pretty soon. Ah, but this morning was wonderful. We planted rhubarb! It's one of my favorite things. Unfortunately, we won't enjoy any of it this year. It's a perennial crop and you need to wait at least one season before you harvest any of it. Strawberry-Rhubarb pie is my absolute favorite pie, followed closely by Rhubarb pie. The first time I realized what an amazing dessert is Strawberry-Rhubarb pie was back when I was in high school. My sister was living with my grandma down on the family farm and she made the pie. My cousin made homemade vanilla ice cream. It was summer and we ate in the kitchen. It was the best dessert I've had, hands down.
This afternoon we planted popping corn in the field. That's right, we're growing popcorn! I was very excited to hear that we were growing popcorn. It'll take until October to be ready. Ah, the anticipation. . .

Wormies and Chicks

Today I got to spend a part of my morning watching Laurel and Ruby, two year old twin daughters of the farmers. We spent a full 30 minutes playing in a dirt pile. I kid you not. We were looking for earthworms or as Laurel and Ruby call them, "wormies". We would dig with our hands and the girls would yell, "Wormies!!" whenever we'd find one. They of course had to hold them. Then we'd continue digging looking for more. Laurel announced that she wanted no fewer than seven wormies. Ruby was content to find as many as she could. Sometimes we would take breaks from digging and the girls would run up to the top of the dirt pile (about 4 ft high), scream and giggle, then run back down. Then it was back to searching for those wonderful wormies. Who would have thought that a dirt pile was such a great toy? I loved every minute of searching for wormies with the girls.
After work I stopped by tto see the new chicks that had come in the mail. Believe it or not you can order chicks through the mail. They are shipped over night and must be picked up at the post office! They made it safe and sound through the postal system. There were also some fertilized eggs someone was incubating. These came from a local hobby farm, not through the mail. A few had just hatched so we watched them try to figure out how to use their legs. New life is amazing. I strolled home smiling and chuckling over the day's events. What a unique place I am in and what a wonder-full life is farming!

A busy week

Hoop House 2 getting greener
One thing I love about working on a farm is that so much gets packed into one day. I feel very productive after a day spent weeding garlic and sweet turnips, seeding tomatoes, moving trays of broccoli and kale outside to harden off and laying out row cover to stop marauding rabbits. There’s also the pleasure of simple things; the joy of seeing the corn that was seeded 6 days ago starting to pop up, feeling the sun on your face after a long dreary week of cold rain, and meeting the newest members of the farm, our two piglets!


The pink one is a Tamworth and the black and white one is a Poland China. They are cute now but pretty soon they’ll be big porkers. Which is good because they aren’t pets. One day they’ll be food.

In other exciting news, I got to participate in my first prairie burn! A few years ago people began to figure out that native prairie grasses had adapted to an occasional fire sweeping through. In fact some species need fire in order to drop their seeds (some trees are the same way). Thus was born the practice of prescribed burns. We have quite a bit of prairie grasses around the farm (and in the subdivision which the farm is located). This spring there have been quite a few burns (all organized of course!).

(I helped burn that!)
Tuesday afternoon we strapped on backpacks filled with water and followed our fearless leader to the designated area. He started the fire and we somewhat herded the fire where we wanted it to go with our backpacks and hoses. It was great. I definitely felt like I had a proton pack from Ghostbusters! There was one quite uncomfortable moment when another farmhand and I were waiting on the other side of a berm to make sure the fire didn’t get into some piles of equipment. The wind was blowing towards us and the smoke became so thick that if you could actually get your eye open you couldn’t see 2 feet in front of you. Naturally, it was hard to breathe. It got to the point where I was about to stumble off to a less smoky area so I could take a breath, but then the wind began to clear out the smoke. It was just enough that I could breathe and not choke. Other than that it was a great experience.

Just all in a days work at a farm!

Life Lessons

This week I’ve really been enjoying my daily prayer readings. They are from Charles de Foucauld. I don’t know anything about him, but he writes beautifully. The readings have been about God’s beauty, love and infinite goodness and how incredibly close God is to us;
“ . . .You, who are perfection, beauty, truth, infinite and essential love, You are in me and around me. You fill me altogether . . . there is no particle of my body that You do not fill, and around me You are nearer than the air in which I move, . .My God, You who are in me, in whom I am, let me know my happiness.”
It got me thinking today about how I view God. Do I believe deep in my gut that God is close? When I pray for God to give me strength do I expect God to move my arms and legs as if He were a puppeteer and I the puppet or do I believe that God fills me with strength?
Though I know in my head that God is near, that God is within me, I often do not believe it in my heart or deep in my soul. I hear myself saying, “I believe, help my unbelief,” or as Charles de Foucauld put it, “let me know my happiness.” What funny creatures we are; that we know something yet not know it, and that we believe and yet not believe.
I then started thinking about my years at HoneyRock, a camp I worked and studied at for two years in Wisconsin. There are lessons I learned through my experiences about God that were so tangible, so real. They were the kind of experiences that jump up and bite you in order to get your full attention and reveal God. I treasure them so dearly. I have to share two. I promise to keep them short.
God will give direction when the time is right:
On a backpacking trip we were hiking along a trail designated by blue diamonds nailed to trees. Our leader wanted us to walk down spread out, one by one, in order to allow for a meditative time. As I was hiking along by myself (I couldn’t see the person infront of me) I came to a point where I could only see one blue diamond at a time. Usually the only time I could find the next blue diamond was when I had reached the previous one. Only then would my next step be clear and sometimes I had to wait until the next blue diamond would just suddenly appear. That was the only way I got through that part of the trail. So often God works in the same way. We may only know a step or two and only once we take those steps will God show us the next ones.
God will provide:
A canoe trip in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota took a turn for the worse. We were on a large lake on a very windy day. The waves were treacherous but we made it to one side, but we could go no further. We couldn’t paddle against the wind, nor could we paddle with the wind. It was a miracle we made it across the lake in the first place. But we had to move on and find a campsite for the night. We were stuck on the docks of a lodge on the lake. I watched helplessly as even motorboats had a hard time with the waves. We could not go anywhere. I never felt so helpless or incompetant in my life. I shut down. I gave up. I would’ve cried if I hadn’t been one of the leaders on the trip. I had nothing to give.
As soon as that happened my co-leader came walking up with an angel dressed in hipboots and camouflage. The angel and his friend filled their motorboats with us stranded canoeists and pulled our canoes to a campsite. I did a dance of joy right there. I had had nothing. God provided everything. Praise be to God!

It’s amazing how clearly I saw and deeply I felt these lessons in my treks in the wilderness. May God continue to give us all such real, slap-you-in-the-face lessons about His goodness, love, and mercy.

of Greenhouses and Kitchen Mishaps

Our Greenhouse
The past week has been cold and wet. This means we've been spending our time on the farm among our greenhouse and two hoophouses. What's a hoop house you ask? Let me explain. A hoop house is a structure made of plastic pulled over hooped metal rods, hence the name hoop house. Usually it is only heated by the sun. We transplant our seedlings from the greenhouse directly into the ground of the hoop house. It is warm enough there for our early crops to grow well, things like beets, swiss chard, lettuce, and napa cabbage. The rabbits have already helped themselves to our spring garden and so we have retaliated with covering some of our crops with row cover. It's a white, gauzy type thing that reminds me of a burial shroud.

Hoop House #2
Our time in the greenhouse has been split between seeding thousands of tomatoes (I'm not exaggerating. We'll be growing 2 acres worth of tomatoes!) and transplanting celery,celeriac (celery root) and parsley from smaller trays to larger ones. It's been tedious at times but enjoyable. I can't wait to see all the different colored tomatoes out in the field. We'll even have purple ones!

Transplanting Celery
As for the kitchen mishaps, let's just say it's always an adventure when I enter the culinary domain. Today's adventure involved a bread machine, a sweet bread recipe that was too big for the machine, and a just washed kitchen floor. Oh, and me as well. The dough was floury and dry on top and quite gooey on the bottom when I pulled it out of the machine. I made quite a mess. Thankfully my mom was napping through the whole event and so is oblivious to the small disaster. All is well now, the dough was remixed in a bowl large enough to handle it and is peacefully rising in the oven. I should have learned by now that baking takes twice as long as usually expect. Ah well. Another kitchen story to archive. :)

Next Chapter

well, it's been a while since my last entry. whoops! i'll sum up- worked two jobs, learned about setting up a farm business, went to an organic farming conference, was hired by a farm in northeast illinois, began farming april 1st.
consider yourself caught up.

i'm really enjoying my new job at this new farm. it's in grayslake, illinois and it's called Sandhill Organics. the farm is situated in a subdivision called Prairie Crossing. it's a really neat subdivision. there are native plants in the landscaping as well as prairie plots throughout the subdivision. there are two small schools within the grounds as well. besides Sandhill there is another farm that rents land and equipment to beginning farmers. they call it an incubator program. it helps new farmers start out without having the big expense of buying lots of equipment and building things like greenhouses. i'll have some photos soon. it's a great place.

i'm enjoying the people i'm working with as well. i think this farm will be a great fit. there are a lot of new things to learn here as well. we'll be selling to farmer's markets beginning in june and that is new for me. we have structures called hoophouses where we grow some of our crops. a hoophouse is similar to a greenhouse except there isn't a heater in it and you plant your seeds or plants directly in the ground. again, i'll provide pictures so you can see what i'm talking about.

this week has been a great encouragement for me as well, because i have felt confirmed in my trek towards becoming a farmer. i definitely feel this is where God is leading me. you know those moments where you feel as though your soul comes alive? there's a rush of joy, a refreshing ahhhhh feeling, and an urge to throw your arms open and embrace the world and say yes! this is what i'm made to do! this small, sustainable farming is like that for me. there is also the reality of those low days where the sun is beating, the humidity is oppressive, and i am sick to death of reaching into the scratchy plants and harvesting yet another load of zucchini. in spite of those days farming still awakens new life in me. perhaps i should say it is God that awakens my soul through farming. through farming a new facet of myself is revealed. and may it all be to the glory of God.

so prepare yourself for another season of growing! let the new adventure begin!