Last Saturday and Sunday afternoon Ari and Dan tackled the burn piles in the back yard in preparation for turning that lawn into another permaculture garden. (The old chicken house in the background is about to be removed, as chickens are now housed in the small barn beyond which is on the next door DeKist property that we purchased three months ago).
Day one.
Day Two
Meanwhile, on the same Day One, I drove down to The Overlook, our new Community Maker Space and helped with initial cleaning. The gofundme drive was successful.
A few photos from my one hour there.
Through the glass hole(s) darkly . . .
Mementos from the past . . .
Notice the floor swept clean, and thank yours truly!
From the front:
I think it was also last Saturday — or was it Friday? — time blurs by — Briana attended the day long Small Farm Conference near Indianapolis. And came home with lots of literature and ideas. I asked her to give some highlights.
Briana:
1) Getting to see Eliot Coleman lead a workshop on innovative tool strategies for small-scale farming. Coleman spent several years touring England and other parts of Europe to learn about farming practices where “Big Ag” hadn’t taken over. He began to bring more ergonomic tools to farming here in the U.S. and now popular farm companies like Johnny’s carry these tools. Coleman also developed the soil block recipe we’ve been using.
2) Getting to sign up for the National Young Farmers Coalition. A group of young farmers who were at the conference last year got this going. The coalition is currently working on getting legislation through congress that would recognize farming as a public service therefore having student loan forgiveness as with other “service” professions. I’m personally skeptical about how far this will go but excited that there will be more people my age (35 and under) planning events together like movie screenings, potlucks and farm tours in Indiana!
3) Eating lunch with a variety of different folks. One, a purchaser for the restaurants of French Lick resort (which has 14 restaurants!) – I know they try to feature local produce and wine. A couple from Spencer county that has a “hobby farm” aka full time jobs but a greenhouse, extensive garden, and bees they manage together. It seems they are about to retire and want to homestead full time. Lastly, a gentleman who came because his dad is a corn and soybean farmer and wanted to go to a certain workshop. His dad left and the son stuck around to learn a bit more about diversified farming – he seemed pretty blown away/interested by things like hoop houses, cover crops, soil health, etc.
4) Nerding out on a workshop about hoophouse and irrigation technology – what materials to build with, location, etc. Drip irrigation vs. above-ground irrigation systems. Makes me dream of growing on a field someday and being able to apply for grants grow in a large hoop house…someday. Just trying to hold the vision long and hard enough.
-That’s it!
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I’ll end with photos from last night’s Community Dinner, a gathering of about 18, including four kids. We love the kids!
There’s a new teenager in this photo, Andrew, lurking behind Juakim and Asiri, only his striped pants visible. Of course he’s on a tiny screen; and of course all three are mesmerized.
And now for the usual synchronicity: I decided to make a concoction that featured cooked cabbage, something I’ve never done for our dinners before. And guess what? A newbie to our dinners, Eva, appeared at the front door, immediately sniffed the air and said she smelled cabbage! She was excited. “I’M POLISH!”
We about finished it off. Everybody thought it was fabulous. The secret? Coconut milk.
