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.

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.

Farm Photos

As promised, here are some photos of the farm!  Again, you can click on any of these pictures for a larger view.  Enjoy!

Down the road to the farm

Dandelions outside of my tent and some light left at 9 PM

Mason jars of food staples

Ru, the namesake of the farm

A foggy morning in the valley

If anyone is so inclined you can send me a letter, postcard, care package, first born child, etc. to me general delivery at the Concrete, WA post office to pick up next week when I get to my second farm.  Tell me if you send anything so I know to pick it up!

Address things as follows:

Natalie Holt
General Delivery
Concrete, WA Post Office
45650 Main Street
Concrete, WA 98237-9689

Drive Up/First Day at Red Dog Farm

I've arrived at my first farm!  All of the people I worked with today -1 other WWOOFer, 3 permanent staff, and the owner - were all exceptionally nice.  I worked harvesting and bundling radishes and turnips for farmers markets tomorrow morning.  After, I used a hoe to weed rows of onions and weeded patches of strawberries.  The valley that Red Dog is in is filled with pastures, other farms, and private homes.  From my tent I have a clear view of the surrounding mountains and a field of cows neighbor me to the west.  Today it was sunny and warm, perhaps unseasonally so, which made working outside awesome.  I'll take pictures of the farm this weekend and post them soon.

In the meantime, I have some pictures from my drive up here with my dad.  You can click on any of these for a larger image.

View of Mt. Shasta in northern CA

Siskiyou Summit on I-5 just across the California/Oregon border

Driving on the beach in Ocean Shores, WA

On Highway 101 on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula

La Push beach on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula

Panoramic view of Port Townsend harbor, WA

On the ferry to Edmonds this morning to drop my dad off at the Seattle airport

I love the first farm so far!  I'm excited to enjoy some local hiking this weekend and work more come Monday.