Yes, as you can possibly guess from my lead into this blog, we had lots and lots of kids at the farm this past week. Some of our regular little people, but we are also getting help from lots of big kids.
Everyone was so happy this week!. Glad to be at the farm, glad to be of help, and enjoying my standard salad turnip farm snack! Maybe it’s the warmer temperatures and abundant sunshine. Maybe it’s the countdown to the end of the school year. Maybe it’s the connections we are building, familiar faces, familiar tasks, and dirt therapy.
Whatever the reason, it was a fun and productive week with our Waldorf kids, a solo senior from Greely High School finishing up her senior project, our Morse High School kids, our annual visit from our Freeport Seniors (thanks Dede), and at the end of the week, Seguinland Institute. It was fun to see a few familiar faces from last Fall’s visits. They had lots of great questions and genuine excitement as I described our mission and how we achieve it. Here is a photo roundup of our “older kids” and their joyful attitude.
They were not only joyful, they accomplished so much, too! Here are some shots of them working on multiple tasks.
Innovation is always welcome. Stacking a wheelbarrow inside a black wagon was genius!
As we guided our younger volunteers, our steady team of volunteers, and our Farm Skills team worked mostly on their own, utilizing their farm skill set. Take a look….
Another first this week was our first big glean! Our Merrymeeting Gleaners came to harvest rhubarb, salad turnips, and radishes. I told them we were shooting for 50# of rhubarb. Their haul came in at 35# so they all marched right back to the rhubarb patch to make sure they achieved 50#! I thought that was admirable! Thanks, Marie, Miriam, and Linda! You got us off to a great start, and since Marie was delivering the first of the season, she was the first to use the John Newlin roundabout. Now the gleaners can just drive up, and we can load up their cars–no more backing up! Many will be excited about this new feature designed by our road commissioner. 🙂
I am always amazed how invested our teams are. This was our last week for Farm Skills training. Sivi, Holly, and Jess were working on getting tomato seedlings in the ground (I estimate we have over 1,000 in so far). I told them it was after 12 and time for lunch. They all said “No, we’d like to finish this first”. First, the gleaners wanted to make sure they achieved what was asked, then our skills team wanted to see their project to the end. Amazing dedication!
If dirt therapy is something you are interested in, we have the Green Thumb Challenge coming right up. It’s a fun, hands in the dirt, fundraiser for Growing to Give. The dates are July 7,8, and 11th. All the “dirt” on the event will be on our web page and I will remind you endlessly until then!
Always grateful,
Theda