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!

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. 

WWOOF News!

A quick update about WWOOF in the news -

• The WWOOF USA website has a swanky new layout and several bonus features, including the option to leave reviews for farms and post information on a discussion board.  Check it out here!

• A few people are in the final stages of editing a documentary on WWOOF farms set to come out later this year.  Interviews, footage of WWOOFers and their work, and insights of the filmmakers are included.  The trailer is available on the WWOOF! The Movie website here!

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In other news - I have made it to Washington state safe and sound!  My car clicked over 82,000 miles today without any hitches (as of yet - fingers crossed!) after a bucolic drive through the back roads and logging towns of southwest WA.  Tomorrow I'm taking the Olympic Peninsula by storm and promise to post photos of my finds.  Lets hope for clear skies, roads, and minds.

"Congress Created Dust Bowl"

Last week I was in a packing, buying, and organizing frenzy attempting to get everything in order for a month long WWOOFing trip.

The morning after senior prom I went on a bike ride with my mom for mother's day and threw my life into the trunk of my Subaru Forester.

Yesterday I drove with my dad from San Diego to Sacramento through hundreds of miles of massive agribusiness farms in the San Joaquin valley.  Between fields and fields of crops was the occasional "Congress Created Dust Bowl" road sign on barren fields which had once been farm land.

Back in 2007 restrictions were imposed on water diverted from the Sacramento rive delta to protect the dwindling habitat of the endangered Delta Smelt, a small native fish.  Agribusinesses were furious they they no longer could irrigate their fields of water-intensive crops and began a campaign of protest which included the signs.

For years agribusinesses and their respective lobbyists have secured the political leverage needed to divert all of the water from northern California they need to irrigate their crops in the dry southern valley.  Left to its own devices, the San Joaquin valley would be full of grasses, occasional oaks, and chaparral.  With modern water diversion techniques, however, the valley is filled with lush, green fields of crops and endless groves of nut and citrus trees thanks to water pumped down from Sacramento.  

It was jarring in a sense to see a grove of perfectly aligned nut trees standing dry and lifeless in a sea of weeds. It almost looked as if fall had come, stripping the trees of leaves and nuts - but oddly in May, when every other grove in the valley was just entering the growing season.  The remnants of orchards were a reminder that many of the crops grown in the southern valley aren't capable of growing in its near-desert climate without the help of human-imposed water diversions.  No matter how hard man can try to alter some ecosystems - like turning desert valleys into fertile farm land - some will flatly refuse to cooperate with corporate demand.

Read about the initial water restrictions which prompted the road signs here.

Google Calendar

Below is my Google Calendar recently updated with my driving plans to get to my first WWOOF farm in Chimacum, WA.  Click the right blue arrow to flip between May and June where my plans are posted.  Click on each event for details of where I'll be driving each day, mileages, etc.  In the pop up window, you can click "more details" and can find a link to the Google Maps route I'll be taking in the description section.

Confirmed!

The moment has arrived - I have officially secured my volunteer positions at two farms in the pacific northwest for endersession! After emailing 10 different farms - some saying they were full, others not responding at all - I have found two places which I can't wait to start working for!

Starting May 15 I will be working on Red Dog Farm in Chimacum, WA on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula.  Located just 20 minutes away from the nearest town (Port Townsend), Red Dog grows over 20 acres of hay, mixed vegetables, berries, and flowers.  The farm is part of a local CSA and sells crops to restaurants, farmers markets, and individuals.  WWOOFers are expected to work 25 hours a week weeding, planting, and working on whatever projects require volunteer attention.  I'll be enjoying the experience tent camping and have access to communal bathroom, shower, laundry, and kitchen facilities.

After a ferry ride (less than $12) across the sound and a short drive east I'll arrive on May 25 at my second WWOOF volunteer site, Finney Farms near Concrete, WA.  Once a blueberry farm at the foot of the Cascade Mountain range, the land now supports fruit orchards, mixed vegetable gardens, and a second-growth forest -- providing food almost exclusively for the group of people who tend to the land and community.  After 32 hours per week working in gardens, assisting in "green" building projects, or preserving food, I can stay in a community/guest house or my own tent.  I'll have access to a living room, kitchen, shower, laundry facilities, and sauna, but no indoor toilet -- they have an outdoor composting toilet instead!

I just had a phone interview with Jennie from Finney Farms yesterday, and she explained that I won't get the same "tractor and all-day field work" type of opportunities I may find on other farms.  I feel Red Dog Farm represents more of the "traditional" farm experience, whereas Finney Farm focuses more on land stewardship and communal living.  Each site seems far different than the other - Red Dog farm is a business whereas Finney Farm is a self-sustaining community - but I feel these individual quirks will give me a taste of the variety of farm models seen in modern agriculture. 

Red Dog Farm image from reddogfarm.net
Finney Farm image from travelblog.org

Shameless Self-Promotion

Last semester I made a short film, Environmental Identity, for my fall senior project. In my film, I interviewed an ex-coworker, Elin Ljung, who shared with me how the environment influenced her identity.  Elin works as the communication coordinator at the Mono Lake Committee, a small, non-profit environmental organization in the Eastern Sierra where I volunteered during the summer of 2008.


After I completed my project I sent Elin and the MLC a copy and they wrote a short article about it on their blog, the Mono-logue (which I highly reccomend for anyone interested in the going-ons in the Eastern Sierra and water politics and usage in California).

Anyways, I'm posting this here because they mention my future plans - including my upcoming WWOOF volunteer experience - in the article.  It was during my volunteer time at the MLC that I first learned about WWOOF from a co-worker and was instantly hooked.

Check out the article on my film here!

Searching for WWOOF host farms in Washington state

 I have decided to WWOOF in Washington state.  This does not necessarily mean that I am going to college up north, but I'm currently very interested in exploring the pacific northwest. 

Flipping through my WWOOF USA host directory, I have marked and highlighted and attached sticky notes to tons of listings for attractive host farms in the Puget Sound area.  As I am whittling down my selections, I have started to develop a list of questions to ask host farms which can help me get a feel for the one or two farms I will spend endersession working on.

1. How many hours will I work each day?
2. What specific jobs or projects will I be working on?
3. Do I need any specific, uncommon skills for these projects or jobs?
4. What sort of living accomodations do you offer?
5. How many meals a day are WWOOFers provided with?
6. What type of crops are grown on your farm?
7. Is your farm small or large-scale?
8. Do you participate in farmer markets or a local CSA (community supported agriculture)?
9. Can I expect to be working with other WWOOFers or independently?
10. Do you allow WWOOFers to access the internet?
11. How far is your farm from the nearest town?

The closer I get to choosing my host farms the more excited I get for endersession -- and the closer I get to the end of traditional high school.  Excluding endersession, breaks and weekends, there are just over three weeks left in my senior year.  I feel WWOOFing will provide an exciting transition between the formal school year and my "free" summer before college.