Hi everyone and welcome to a recap of the last week on the farm! Monday morning I had an early start. I woke up at 5:30 and drove straight to the farm from Telluride. I was home to see my boyfriend before he left for college. Once I got to the farm we harvested some huge leeks and numerous cucumbers. After lunch I harvested all the summer squash. We finished the afternoon in the washroom, I weighed 60lbs of summer squash for this really cool business called Farm to Summit. They use farm seconds or buy whole sale and create backpacking meals that they dehydrate and sell at the farmers market.
Tuesday morning we started by harvesting flowers for the CSA bouquets. I was in the flower tunnel getting zinnias with Morgan.
After the flowers we started on the most time consuming job that was not particularly my favorite, picking beans. It took us 3 hours before lunch and the last hour of the day. The green beans are especially hard because they are camouflaged and you have to move around each individual plant until you think you got them all. I discovered a new variety of bean though! It’s called the dragons tongue bean and is a lot easier to harvest because they are not green.
They are purple !Wednesday I made a chocolate zucchini cake/bread with cream cheese frosting, because that night everyone from the farm gathered for a potluck! We made burgers and people brought things like cauliflower wings, stuffed squash blossoms, and beet salad. It was super fun everyone I met on this internship was so amazing.
This is Michael and farm homie Carrie at the potluck
Thursday was Michael’s last day on the farm since he had to go home because the person who he rented his room from got back. We harvested flowers again for the bouquets they bring to market. After that Michael and I harvested tomatoes, cucumbers, and broccoli. After lunch Michael and I weeded arugula that was planted a few weeks ago.
After the farm we got to go on a field trip! The Old Fort was hosting an open house where people get to go and check out the whole garden. The whole farm crew went and it was cool to check out where Morgan and Kate started. They did the incubators program there, and when they first started their business they rented a plot there.
Morgan and Rae Rose next to the plots farmers can rent
While we were there we talked to one of their friends who just started to farm for seed instead of fruit. He said it’s been a really cool and different experience/learning process. He also got to talking about the drought tin Mancos and the grasshopper plague. The grasshoppers have really made it hard for farms in Mancos because they’re eating all their crop.
Friday on the farm was another day of harvesting. Kale, collards, kohlrabi, and I got to harvest carrots! It was super fun I got to use the broad fork to loosen up the soil and the pull all the rooted veggies out of the ground. Carrots are a fun vegetable to harvest because they look like little people sometimes.
In the afternoon I worked in the wash station cleaning and packaging all the produce for market. My host family stopped by at the end of the day to check out the far before I left.
This experience at the farm had been so amazing and I am extremely grateful to have gotten the opportunity to work with all these amazing people. I learned so much and gained a lot of perspective of what it takes to be an organic farmer. Thank you so much for reading !!!
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