First Day in the Fields

Despite a farmer's intent to be up before the dawn, I didnt really make it out of the city until Saturday afternoon.  I went to a "real" Home Depot in NJ (unlike the one in NYC which is clearly for people at the lightbulb and paint level of home-improvement).  I was able to get some nice yard shears and a bow-saw to go along with my gloves, compost bin and overalls.   Ready to go.

My main project for the day was to create a compost pile that would be added to all fall and winter to be used in the spring. We have started collecting compost in a large bin at the FEED World Headquarters and it has yielded a consistent amount of coffee grinds, fruit cores, uneaten potatoes from the bottom of the fridge, and left-over salad.  Beautiful. The good news is that they make veggie oil-based trash bags that are neat but completely biodegradeable, and therefore compostable...ah, the life of the gentle-woman farmer.  This kitchen waste becomes the nitrogen-rich "greens" of composting and to make a balanced mix, one needs to add carbon-rich "browns" of some sort of dry organic matter.  We're in luck...because I have nothing but tall, dry grass on the property to use!!

The catch: cutting it and moving it, when you dont have a tractor.  But, that's what my back and arms are for....to cut and carry bales of dry hay!

It was sweat-inducing but very rewarding and made me so excited to all the fun manual labor I will be doing on the farm.

I carried the grass and kitchen waste to the far end of the property and started a little compost heap that will hopefully grow and rot to become a windrow of usable fertilizer for the soil.

We'll have to wait and see if it works!