We are about six months into our farming adventure and have been away from Colorado for about seven and a half months (crazy!!). We are currently in New Hampshire on a certified organic farm which offers CSA shares to their community and vegetables at the local farmers market. At this farm hard work is expected and the land makes it all worthwhile. The house sits atop a grassy hill overlooking over 200 acres of their forested property which is home to a diversity of trees, birds, frogs, mushrooms, moose, deer, and some interesting people. This farm boasts the name “Good Enough Farm” which provided us with a grossly underestimated idea of how stunning this land would be. The vegetable fields stretch over the back yard intermixed with over 150 blueberry bushes and a handful of apple and peach trees. Wild strawberries disperse across the landscape amongst fields of dandelions and wild blackberries. There's a greenhouse giving a home to all the baby vegetables that will be in the ground in a few short weeks which we water daily.
We’ve already planted tomatoes, sugar snap peas, and pole beans and pruned up the blueberry bushes. To my dismay, New England’s first “crop” is jokingly referring to all the rocks that surface after a winter of melting and shifting soils. We’ve had to gather and dump truck loads of rocks out of the garden beds to ensure there's enough space for roots to hold tight to all the nutritious soil which was a cumbersome task to say the least, yet it's all part of the farm work agenda. “There’s always something” as they say on the farm and you'll never run out of tasks to do to prepare the gardens for the eventual rush that will be harvesting, weeding, more harvesting, more weeding, washing, packing, and distributing all the produce of the hard work of the spring time.
The absolute best part of this farm is the land that it sits on. Not too far behind the gardens is a stream that winds through the property with clear waters and smooth rocks that eventually find their way to their personal waterwall which I have made my second home on the farm. It's a dream fairy land of a waterfall with all the necessary components of the fairy ideals: mossy rocks, trickling secondary falls, multiple pools to swim in and sit under the falls, tucked away in the woods to bathe in private, ice cold waters to wake the body and mind, and just enough sun peaking through the trees to highlight the soft sands at the bottom. In the summer it'd be a godsend. It's still in the 60s here with some days reaching mid 70s but not quite hot enough to make getting in easy- but that has not stopped me from dunking in whenever I get the chance. I'm no stranger to cold water and it feels so amazing to wake up all your cells with the iciness of the natural pools.
Since our last farm in West Virginia, Zach and I took a small break from farming to visit New York City and Boston to see friends and family while we were in the area. Last Sunday we resumed farm life here in NH and were so happy to be back in business. Farming is both of our callings right now and it feels like we're in the right place. A nice young couple of nature enthusiasts have a deal with our hosts and live in their woods in their own home that they built themselves. They are close in age to Zach (and me but closer to Zach) and have become an integral part of our stay here. Aaron (32) is the hard-working hands behind so many of the projects that unfold on this farm and was beyond happy to meet us and have us working alongside him. His partner Sara works away from the farm but shares his dream to live in the woods and make a sustainable, off-grid life for themselves. It has been eye opening for Zach and I to see all that can be accomplished with a lot of hard work and dedication. Living in alignment with your goals and dreams doesn't seem so far-fetched after all, which was kind of the goal experience of this whole adventure. We have lots to learn about farming from our hosts and we can't wait for the season to progress and for the veggies to start popping out of the ground. I am already tasting that first sun-warmed tomato with its juices exploding on the first bite.
I am currently writing on their back porch that wraps around the house and is decorated with bird feeders of all types to attract the many birds that live in these woods. It's been a treat to see up close the beautiful biodiversity of this landscape that I had never been to before. Spring in New Hampshire is something special and I am so glad we continued our trip up north. The next state we go to will be Maine which is our symbolic finish line of the trip yet we won’t really be done then. We hope to keep farming into the summer and eventually make our way back to Colorado to get our belongings and regroup before we decide what comes next.
We're so happy you're blogging about your farming experiences so we can share this part of your life . We're getting a new appreciation for how we get our food. So happy for you and Zack, love, GJo and GJerry
Keep the posts coming, Carly. I love living vicariously through your farm experiences!