Advertisement
Published: July 12th 2010
Edit Blog Post
June in Oregon, ahhhh. The Pacific Northwest is GORGEOUS and I think I chose the perfect time of year to be here. It rained the first week I was in Oregon, then was sunny and perfect for the rest of the month, so I cannot complain.
I spent one week in Tiller, OR at PermaOrganic Goat Farm with Dan, the other wwoofer, located 20+ miles from anything, even a post office, with no cell service, surrounded by the national forest. Dan and I spent our time walking in the forest with the goats, reading, drinking goat milk and playing lots and lots of cards! We milked seven mini-Nubian goats every morning, using the milk to drink and make cream cheese and butter. There was more milk than we could consume or make cream cheese with, so by the end of the week the refrigerator was packed with ½ gallon glass jars. The remote location of the farm made it hard to sell or distribute in any way the surplus milk, so as far as I know, Dan and Alexis (the owner of the farm) were just drinking it (or maybe swimming in it?)
The past three weeks I have
been at Meyer Creek Family Farm in Ashland, OR. I set up my tent in the far field across from the creek and adjacent to the pond, inside the partially complete cob house. While at first, I was not thrilled to be tenting-it, by the last week I was enjoying it. I befriended Alice, the little barn cat, so that she would follow me from the barn to my tent as I made my nightly trek out there, then curl up at the end of my sleeping bag and spend the night in the tent. I became accustomed to the sound of the creek bubbling, the bullfrogs calling from the pond, and the sheep baa-ing in the pasture (yes, I shared the field with them…), making my tent-time rather peaceful.
My work here consisted mostly of weeding the garden that takes up about one-half of the 100% organic five acre farm. Abby and Steve grow onions, garlic, carrots, salad greens, peas, beans, squash, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, melons, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and pears, among other things, all to feed their family of 3 plus one or two wwoofers. I felt like the weeding turned my brain to mush, but my
iPod sustained me for the days I had to work alone and I did develop some bad-ass arm and back muscles from it, and a nice tan, so there’s always that, haha! Abby taught me to double dig garden beds, which is an old French method of farming that involves digging two, six-food layers into the soil to aerate and gently till the soil without disturbing the integrity of the soil and the important microorganisms that live in each layer of the soil. Double-digging is a very time and labor intensive method but it produces beautiful results. The beds that had been double-dug earlier in the year had much less weeding needed and pulling the weeds up there was ten-times easier than in beds that were not double dug.
Besides weeding, I spent HOURS every day picking raspberries and strawberries which ripen in the sun in matter of hours, it seems, so that the need to pick never ended! We were eating berries raw, in smoothies, ice cream, yogurt, pie, freezing them, canning them and making preserves - with more to spare! Besides berries, there was the goat milk! The two goats, Zane and Shilo were milked twice a
day for milk to drink and make cheese, butter and yogurt. I was particularly excited about coming to Meyer Creek Farm because Abby has been making hard, raw goat cheeses which are not only very expensive to buy in the store, but hard to find and extremely time consuming and complicated to make on your own. It takes an average of five hours to make one wheel of hard cheese with detailed instructions for heating, cooling, straining and pressing the cheese, not to mention the 30+ days of aging that is required to give the cheese it’s flavor. Besides hard cheese, I experienced eating and making raw feta, chevre and ricotta cheeses, yum!
Part of what I enjoyed the most about this farm was the completely organic methods they used and shared with me while I was there. Abby taught me a lot about companion planting, which is the method of planting particular plants next to each other to deter disease and bug/animal infestation. For example, basil is an excellent companion plant for most vegetables, particularly tomatoes, as it keeps away bugs and happens to taste great with tomatoes. Onions and strawberries grow well together, which was evident as
Abby’s strawberries had absolutely no signs of bugs or animal damage. Beans and corn work well together because the corn acts as natural stakes for the beans to climb. Comfrey is an herb that is planted in bunches all over the garden to aid other plants in successful growth. I continued to learn the importance of mulch (either wood mulch or straw) in the importance of weed-prevention and water retention, especially for berries. The list goes on and on!
Among other things, I witnessed the annual shearing of the wooly sheep on the farm, grew my own sourdough bread starter (!), helped bottle two batches of home-made wine, learned to use a scythe (the grim reaper tool!), participated in a ceremonial blessing of the property using specially formulated compost water and witnessed the death of two geese and two chickens in accidental deaths. I walked Sammy, the dog, all over the neighborhood, planted both seeds and starts in the garden beds, visited Emigrant Lake outside of Ashland, attended a performance of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” at the Ashland Shakespeare Festival, visited Crater Lake (bluest blue ever!), napped in the hammock and met two awesome wwoofers (hey Langenn and Danny!) Overall,
Oregon was a great choice in the farm-journey. I feel much more knowledgeable in organic farming methods on the plant-level, as most of my previous experience has been with animals or much smaller scale gardens. I wish Abby and Steve the best in their progress and hope for a good year of wwoofers and food!
I will be farming just outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota as of July 21st. Starting this Wednesday, the 14th, my friend Lindsey and I are driving from Portland to Minneapolis looking for trouble, so any suggestions of destinations or places to stay along the way are welcome. Thanks for reading this and supporting me, xo.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.155s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 53; dbt: 0.0534s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Kelly Baraban
non-member comment
Looks Beautiful and interesting!!
Portland does look beautiful, I hope I get to get up there eventually! And I'm going to have to start some of that companion planting, great ideas!