Zombie Me

You know how you feel when you have to nurse someone at 12 midnight and then again at 3 am and then awaken to hysterical screaming by someone with a bloody nose who won't stay hydrated properly during the day at 5:30 am? You feel like a bloody zombie, that's what.


One of my favorite songs by No More Kings. This isn't their official video (couldn't find one), but it's pretty cute.

Then, when I have a few moments to myself, in my zombie state I sit around and read The Internet. I'm tired, I should go have a nap. Nope, let me just finish this article. Wait, one more email! Ooh, what about my favorite comics? Gotta have time for Lolcats! Next thing you know, the twins are awake again and it's back in the grinder for me.

When I snap out of my zombiefied state for a bit and have a shower, all of the thoughts I was avoiding come in to pummel me. Can I really do this farming thing? Where am I going to get start up money from? How am I supposed to learn about irrigation and crop rotation, succession planting and marketing without spending a lot of money learning it the hard way? I can't afford to work 12-16 hour days! I have 3 young children and a husband that expects to see me on a regular basis! Hell, I quit my last job working for The Man right before they outsourced 85% of my organization to India and I was "only" working 10 hour days then.

How do you know it's Opportunity knocking on your door and not A Really Bad Idea?

How are you supposed to recognize that This might just be IT! The Dream. The Job. The Career you've been wanting/waiting for?

How do you deal with the terror of the unknown and the sinking feeling that maybe this isn't such a good idea?

::Yeah, yeah, yeah, you love to grow plants. So the eff-ing what?! Who cares! Can you make a living at it? Will it take a pile of money to start up (Uhhh, yeah. Like $20-30K.)? Where are you gonna get that money from? A loan?! Based on what as collateral? Your house? You're going to bet your house on your ability to make plants grow?!::

Oh man!

But wait! What if I don't do this? What will I do instead? Slog along being a SAHM and take pretty pictures of my kids on occasion and wonder about What Could Have Been? Am I supposed to wait for that uncertain time in the far off future where all of the stars will align properly (Children grown up, lots of cash on hand, free time, plenty of sleep and energy and a good idea.) and then jump in and do Something Cool?

Right now I feel like I've got a Great Idea and a friend with lots of land and enthusiasm. I don't have money, or time, or childcare, or experience farming on a large scale. I have fear and uncertainty and a messy house; the ability to take a pretty picture, possibly write a little (I don't claim to be a Writer. What the hell do you do with semicolons, anyway?!), grow a few veggies and flowers and a passion for plants. And cooking. Oh and 3 kids, 2 cats, a husband and a yard that is never neat and tidy, yet has a lot of wild charm to it. Where's my cheerleader? Where's my Venture Capitalist with bags full of money?

How do you put your fears and skills together and make a business?

How do you grow up and make a job that you want to have?

How do you recognize that Knock on the door?

I don't have a peephole.

Hatchet's Day Spa

Hey! You!

Wanna lose weight and gain muscle? Would you like to get a nice golden tan? Do you want to get in touch with Nature (And have Nature get in touch with you!)? Are you tired of riding that exercycle to no where? Lifting those dumb dumbbells?

Then join me at Hatchet's Day Spa!

Just the place to get in shape and make a difference in your community.

Surrrre some people call it (Insert sarcastic eye roll and double quote rabbit ear fingers here -->) "Farming", but where else can you muscle up, slim down, commune with nature (Where sometimes "commune" means "be eaten alive by mosquitos"), eat what you're working on and get a tan?

Get handy with a shovel! Dig some holes. Move some compost. Plant a few hundred plants!

Need a cardiovascular workout? Run planting equipment from one end of the field to the other!
Interested in strength training? Haul loads of compost or water here and there!
Looking for some quiet time and a chance to meditate? Pull some weeds!

Just don't forget your bug spray and your sun block!

Manicures and pedicures not available. Get used to the way a Dirt-i-cure looks on your hands and feet. Learn which lotions really work on softening up chapped and callused hands. Get comfortable being sweaty and dirty and make showering really worthwhile.

Come on down and get dir-taaaaay!


Hmmm....Perhaps I should rename myself Woman with a Shovel?

Small Farms Aren't Dead

They're undead.

"Graaaaaaains!" says Eric the Zombie.

What?!

Confused? Well, let me clear it up for you a little. I'm currently reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (BTW, really good book.) as part of Green Bean's reading challenge. I just read this out loud to Eric:

Among other obstacles, these [small] farmers have to contend with a national press that is quick to pronounce them dead. Diversified food-producing farms on the outskirts of cities are actually the fastest-growing sector of U.S. agriculture. The small farm is at the moment very busy thinking its way out of a box, working like mad to protect the goodness and food security of a largely ungrateful nation.
-- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle pg. 114

Graaaaaaains! was his response.

Yes, this is why I keep him around. I keep him in tomatoes and beautiful children and he keeps me in stitches (And clean laundry and dishes and dinner. You should get one of these!).

It is true, though. There's a boom going on (at least around here) with new small farms. There are bunches of "kids"(Read: twenty-somethings) starting farms in our area. I swear I'm older than most of them and if the "kids" can do it...so can I!

Although I do admit to being seriously handicapped by the addition of nursing 7.5 month olds and the lack of a fully functioning brain. Even so, it's the right thing to do. I like good food, I love to grow plants and as food gets more and more expensive it just makes sense to grow more of your own, if you can. However, it is also good work. Work with meaning.

We're saving the Earth, one shovelful of compost at a time.

Lucre. Filthy Lucre.

In case you weren't paying attention, there's something new going on around here.

No, it's not just the three column look, although that was the prequel. And you know what they say: where there are three columns...soon there may be [Whispered] advertising.

You know what that means.

Why? Why am I doing such a thing?

I'm doing it for The Children. The children are in need of a college fund.

Tell your friends: there's a new BlogHer Blogger in town.

Tiny Green Babies: First Up!

Today as I was obsessively checking my seedlings, I saw this:
First tomato seedling up! It's a Pineapple tomato.

"A what?" You ask.

It's an heirloom tomato. One day it will have fruit that look like this (IhopeIhopeIhope!):
Image from TomatoFest.com. Where they say:

An heirloom garden favorite that grows to 2 lbs. This bi-colored, slightly flattened, yellow beefsteak has a red blushing and streaks on the outside. It's yellow interior contains few seeds and a red star-burst in the center. Taste is wonderfully mild with tropical fruity-sweet flavors. This is a show stopper!

Yum. Go on, tell me you're not hungry now?

I also have these popping up as well:

Which one day will look like this:
Image from here by Garden Stuff.

BTW, for those of you counting, that was four days for the tomato seed and three days for the basil seed to germinate. Yowsa! Did I mention the green thumb? Did I mention the passion, nay obsession!, with gardening?

All we need now is some buffalo mozzarella cheese, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a sprinkle of sea salt and cracked pepper and we've got Caprese Salad! You can see a lovely picture of a complete salad here.

Summer can't come fast enough.

Success!

After an exhausting week on jury duty (I'll get to that later - it's a long story.), 9-5, Monday through Friday, sitting upright with no where to rest my feet, and visiting with relatives afterwards, I went to bed at midnight on Friday night and woke up at 5 am on Saturday in order to get myself and my first 70 plants down to the Farmer's Market.

All of the work I'd planned on getting done during the week was shot to hell by jury service. However, I squeezed in as much last minute work as I could Friday night. Eric helped tremendously, running last minute errands for me and washing off plants we unearthed from the raised bed via light from a rapidly dimming flashlight.

We tried to look as professional as we could, but were somewhat unprepared. Fortunately, there's plenty of room for improvement as the summer wears on and we get the hang of slinging all of our gear into one vehicle in a more organized manner. We showed up just past 7 am at the market and started setting up.

The fabulous (and somewhat expensive) professional sign I'd designed and ordered was done, but not available to me since I was trapped in deliberations all day on Friday until 5:30 pm. They called Eric at home at 3:30 to tell him the sign was ready and could he be there by 4? Well, that didn't work out, since Eric was off playing with Caitlin and never got the call. Also? Half an hour to whip into the local city and pick it up before they closed? Crazy. Oh well. We'll have it for next time we go to market. It's gonna look great! It's purple. Really REALLY purple, with white lettering and is two sided to take advantage of the fact that we'll have our backs to a local street. Eye catching!

So there we were, setting up, a little cold and I was scared. Scared of The Public. Would they want our plants? Would we look like a reputable outfit? Would they scoff at our prices? Would they be disappointed in our measly offering of 70 plants? It is early spring, after all. I'll have hundreds of different plants in June. Right now, I just have the bunches that I'd heeled in last fall.

Watching the market get set up is rather like being behind the scenes at the circus - food vendors wheeling up their carts, tents being assembled, tables wiped down, signs erected. It was cool! Then the waiting, until the first customer approached.

Speaking of which, Heather had the gall to walk off and leave me to go get coffee and hot chocolate when that very first customer showed up. I had to make the very first $2 sale all on my own! (I'm just teasing, in case you're wondering - although I was nervous.) Strangely enough, it wasn't all that hard to take a $5 and make $3 change.

Our first sale!

The rest of our time was spent chatting up everyone that stopped to peek at our offerings. Some bought, some didn't. Some clearly just wanted to talk to two young women for ages. Old men. Surprise! It wasn't so bad. It was very like training and project management, though - you have to be on all the time. Chatty, perky, cheerful. Knowledgeable. And man! I owned that plant information! I surprised myself from time to time with how I sounded. I sounded like someone that knew what she was doing and that you could trust. Awesome!

I even directed one couple away from purchasing my plants when they mentioned recently buying a home at 8500'. I suggested they talk to their local nursery and discuss plants acclimated for their elevation and purchase them there. I was up front about the fact that while I didn't want to give their money away to someone else, it would be the most prudent thing to do - find out which plants thrived that high up and were already hardened off. I'd like to think they appreciated my candor and I certainly established my credentials at the same time.

Oh and Heather? Heather rocks. She knows everyone at the market and they all seem to love her. She chatted up customer after customer and helped me get into the groove. Yay Heather!

So, for our very first day, we made $98 and a hamburger.

What? The hamburger was in trade for two small $2 plants that a young boy (food vendor) was getting for his mom. It all works out in the end!

Now it's just a matter of growing my potential 872+ plants on, pricking out plants outside and growing them on for sale.

I'm officially a farmer!

It's official! I'm a...farmer!

We are farmers.

Heather and I.

In business together - an LLC (cuz I have my very own lawyer to write up paperwork). The farmer's market approved our application yesterday and apparently rolled over laughing about our name. Heather turned it around and asked if they'd ever be able to forget that name. They all sheepishly replied "No" and really got it. Novice farmers at the market! Yay us!

Crop lists, farm drawings and acreage, oh my!

OH MY GOSH! This is gonna be so much fun!

I get to plant a kabillion seeds this spring and propagate thousands of plants in the summer!

I'd better go find some overalls, a straw hat and a piece of hay. I feel a photo shoot coming on!

Yeeehaw!

My brain is exploding!

I just got Adobe Photoshop CS in the mail yesterday and installed it late last night. I watched a few ads about it on their website and I'm blown away!

I'm so excited about working with it that I couldn't sleep last night. My brain kept thinking about all the cool new things I could do! Aieeee!

So, it's going to be a few extra days to get those photos out while I figure out how to use the giant new toolset that comes with CS, but it should be totally worth it!*

Sqeeeeeal!





*Disclaimer: you may not notice a difference in my photos, but I will and don't you want your photographer to be happy? Errr...yeah....