Finney Farm

I made it to my second farm on Monday: Finney Farm in Concrete, WA!  Everyone is super welcoming and nice.  This week I've worked with two other WWOOFers from Washington who have been at Finney for a month (They both leave today - bye Cat and Jason!).

Finney!

The ever-welcoming 100 foot tall ex-concrete mill in Concrete

Main street with the Cascades behind

Skagit River

Herb garden with the barn behind

While here I've done various odd projects like transplanting vegetable starts, weeding, and scattering hay on top of grain beds for a mulch layer.  Additionally, I've worked on the brand, spankin' new Finney Farm greenhouse.  When I first arrived all it consisted of was a metal and wood frame atop non-level ground.  Since I've started working we've put the plastic covering on, leveled the ground, built up beds, covered them in plastic, and began transplanting tomatoes.

Though the greenhouse project isn't entirely cohesive with the Finney Farm goal of sustainability (Jennie, the WWOOF coordinator, described it as a "plastic altar"), growing tomatoes does offset other purchases on the farm.  By growing a crop of vegetables unaccustomed to Washington weather in a greenhouse, the farm can eliminate future purchases of ketchup, salsa, canned tomatoes, and fresh tomatoes.  By making and canning their own tomato products, the farm owners reduce the carbon footprint of their meals by eliminating transportation from farm to store to home.

Hay-covered grain bed and greenhouse

Shaping beds

Black, plastic covering on the beds to further raise the soil temperature in the steamy greenhouse

Tomatoes ready to be transplanted!

This weekend I'm heading to Bellingham, WA to check out the town and work on schedule planning for fall.

Red Dog Wrap Up

Following are some photos from my last weekend in the beautiful northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula.

First, notes on Port Townsend, a small, eclectic artist's town on Puget Sound.  The town is funky and earthy - a bit like a mix of Hillcrest and Ocean Beach.  There are organic restaurants, funky vintage clothing and record stores, and tons of coffee shops in town.  

A PT bumper sticker notes the sarcastic nature of residents

Postcards by local artists at the PT farmer's market

Scarves done using a felting technique by another local craft-maker at the farmer's market

On Sunday I went to Marrowstone Island where a part-time worker at Red Dog is house sitting.  She hosted a croquet and potluck party!

Gorgeous guest house on the property built by Jim, the owner

A fierce game ensued

 Some got competitive when given the chance to knock other players' croquet balls away

 After the game, Janet, a neighbor, led us through the woods down to the shore or Marrowstone Island

We found a geocache box in the roots of a driftwood tree.  Inside we found a log book, shells, and a pair of turtle socks!

 A view of the Sound from the top of the cliff on our way back

 Meadow atop the cliffs

 In the meadow - a group of old, weather-beaten houses with moss-covered rooftops

On the way back to Red Dog from Marrowstone I stopped on Indian Island to walk along the shore.

Back at Red Dog I took a few final photos of the farm.

 An attempt to take a photo with Woofins, the barn cat.  He drools and brought rats into the bathroom to present to me sometimes.

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I left Red Dog farm Monday morning, as scheduled.  I had a fantastic time on my first WWOOF farm.  I learned a ton about basic harvest, transplant, and tool techniques.  The people I met and worked with through Red Dog were welcoming, adventurous, and exceptionally understanding about my lack of farm knowledge! 

 Miss you already, Red Dog Farm crew!  Keep on rockin'.

Vegetable of the Week: Jerusalem Artichoke

Neither middle-eastern or related to the common artichoke, Jerusalem Artichokes are in the sunflower family.  Used primarily as a root crop, the plant, sometimes referred to as a "Sunchoke", has tall stalks and yellow flowers when fully grown.  

Resembling a common sunflower

Last Friday at Red Dog Farm I helped plant Jerusalem Artichoke starts.

Jerusalem Artichoke roots in the trench, ready to be covered, watered, and grow

 The roots are kind of bizarre looking, like a bunching of brown sweet potatoes or ginger roots.

Weird, right?

To me, they resembled that creepy animated Mandrake root from the movie Pan's Labyrinth.

What's cool about Jerusalem Aritchokes, Karyn told me, is that they produce inulin (yes, inulin, not insulin).  It's a natural carbohydrate/sugar and, when processed into fructose, is safe for diabetics to consume!  Though the plant is widely considered gross raw (by my informal polling of my co-workers), it's pretty good when seasoned properly and baked.

Hakureis and Hygiene

Today we harvested turnips and radishes for weekend markets and store deliveries.  There's a sort of science to radish and turnip harvesting.  On French Breakfast radishes you have to squeeze the end of each one to check for pith, a spongy texture indicating the radish has dried out and isn't marketable.  On Easter Egg, Pink Beauty, and Red radishes each one has to be checked for bolt - when the stems are conjoined at the base of the plant - which indicates the plants were overheated at one point, leaving the vegetable with a tougher skin and woodier texture.  Similarly, while bundling and harvesting vegetables, some I find are enormous and can't go to market due to their abnormal size.  Though these traits don't always often affect the flavor of the produce on the farm, people tend to buy more uniformly-sized and textured vegetables at markets.  It seems like somewhat of a waste to me to not sell oddly shaped produce but it works out in the end -- I get to take all of the misfit vegetables I want!

Perfecting bunch-size on Hakurei turnips

 Hakurei turnip slug

 Turnip bundles ready for washing

 Rinsing for market

The cleaned product

 Hail on Hakureis!

The weather has been crazy today.  Last night we had 55 MPH winds (I got to pitch my tent in the barn), this morning it was sunny for a bit, at lunch we had a torrential downpour, and after harvest it started hailing like mad.

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In other news, I haven't used hair conditioner in two weeks, my face is covered in grime, I shower every three days, I have a semi-permanent layer of dirt under my fingernails, and my cuticles have gone to hell.  I'm not a high-maintenance kind of person - I brush my hair every other day at most and the last (and only) time I got a manicure was in the eighth grade - but my nonchalance has reached new heights.  I kind of like it.  Except for the cuticles.  Even I'll admit those are a little gnarly.

Worse in person.  Click to enlarge and zoom in for the full effect.

Transplants

This morning I transplanted greens - lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli sprouts.  After the beds were flattened and tilled I measured out distances between sprouts and hand planted each one.

 

Flats of sprouts ready to be transplanted.

124 sprouts per flat, about dozen flats total.

 Freshly-tilled rows ready to be filled

Afterward, Karyn, the owner of Red Dog Farm, set up the irrigation line which we attached drip tape to in order to water our new transplants.

Drip tape along rows of cauliflower

 Small slits on the top of the tape allow water to drip out slowly, allowing plants to soak up water gradually instead of being drowned out.

 Ru inspecting my drip tape job

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Last night was the Red Dog vs. FinRiver Farm kickball game.  It was a close one - we lost 10-9 - but tons of fun!  I pitched and played first base and was unofficially deemed rookie of the game by my teammates.  There was some talk about flying me up every other Tuesday for kickball, but I'll have to consult with my agent first.  Perhaps I have a future on a co-ed kickball team at UC Berkeley.

Kickball on the back pasture of FinRiver farm.  A freshly mowed base path.

Rain and Kickball

My second full day of work is complete!  Since I'm a volunteer on the farm I only have to work 5 hours a day, Monday-Friday, but I still feel exhausted at the end of each day.  I've spent the last two days meticulously weeding beds of extremely fine carrot sprouts, hoeing rows of vegetables, and harvesting, bundling, and washing chard, lettuce, and radishes.  I'm always kneeling or squatting or bending over and I definitely feel the effects of it.  (A yoga class in Port Townsend yesterday helped to work out some of the kinks, though.)

Besides working with staff and one other WWOOFer, I worked on Monday with a woman who does 'work trade' on the farm every few weeks.  In exchange for four hours of morning labor, she gets to harvest several bags of vegetables from the fields.  It's an interesting system - reducing some of the farmer's costs in labor for a minor loss of product while involving community members.

Today I woke up to the patter of rain on my tent, which meant the day was going to be messy.  I donned my rain pants and jacket and heavy rubber fishing boots from my internship on a ranch last year.  After harvesting and washing all morning I was covered in dirt and extremely thankful for packing trash bags to stash my muddy rain gear in.

Naturally, the sky cleared up right when I got off work.


In other news, tonight Red Dog farm is playing FinnRiver farm, just down the valley, in kickball.  Tensions are running high.  The competition will be fierce.  I'm so ready.

Weekend in Chimacum

After arriving on Friday and working for a few hours in the afternoon I had Saturday and Sunday off to explore the local area.  On Saturday I explored the local OlyCap thrift store and drove into Port Townsend for the last day of the 75th annual Rhododendron Festival.  That evening I cooked some balsamic chard and lentils and listened to a local zydeco group with other people who work on the farm at Underground Cafe - literally underneath the streets of Port Townsend. 


This morning I went with another WWOOFer to the Olympic National Forest and hiked Mount Zion.  

 The hike was just under 4 miles out and back, but was fairly steep going up.  The views from the top were incredible - Puget Sound and the islands were right below us and Mt. Rainier was visible off in the distance.  

View from 4,262 feet

  

 Back to work tomorrow!  Rain in the forecast for early next week.  Hopefully my rain fly holds up!