Oh, the things we've learned!

As the farm days go by it's easy to forget how much is growing, on the farm, and in our minds. It's quite a different experience completing course requirements by picking strawberries than it is by studying Powerpoint slides for hours on end in preparation for an exam the next day. The latter requires rehearsing, memorization and is intentional. After the exam, we can measure how much we learned based on the mark we received.

When working in the garden, there isn't always new information we are trying to gather. Rather, we have a list of tasks that need to be completed so that the farm and the farmers market may go on. Consequently, however, a lot is learned. Many things are learned just by watching, or just by doing it with some instruction once. After doing it just once, it becomes a task that we will always know how to do again, for instance, starting seedlings, applying compost, planting transplants, trellising beans, staking tomatoes, setting up irrigation or harvesting anything. It's not always obvious how much learning occurs through completing farm tasks, but the little pieces of knowledge we stumble upon throughout each day add up, and in the end lead to something rewarding.

When I first started this program I had never farmed before. In truth, I had never even had my own food garden before. The idea of starting one intimidated me, it felt awkward and uncomfortable, as I'm sure many people who have grown up in homes without gardens can relate to. Today, I feel honored at how far my education has come, how confident I feel in growing food and how excited I am to get my hands in the dirt - and a lot of that learning has occurred amidst sunny, punny and fun-filled farm days!

Piper, with a garlic scape spectacle.

I think you could say she's just "scapin'" by.

Piper and I walked through the plot of garlic and cut off the garlic scapes to sell at the market. Galric scapes are one of my favourite foods to eat when I can find them, however, I had never actually harvested them until today. I learned to cut the scapes near the base of where they emerge, and that they must be cut before the flowers begin to open, as they will be too bitter after that point.

Garlic scapes in the field.

Harvested garlic scapes.

Strawberries!

A small group of us also spent some time harvesting strawberries. The strawberries are for a research project that is looking to discover what varieties grow best in this region. It has been fascinating to taste how different varieties have different complexities of flavors. Over the weeks that I have spent sampling the strawberries, I've also learnt that the weather plays a role in the flavor of the fruit, which I have experienced first hand (or mouth?). The beginning of the season was cool, wet, and rainy which made for strawberries with a lot of water mass. Since they had also not been under the stress of heat, which promotes sugars, the strawberries were not very sweet. They had a watery, mild flavor, but still delicious, nonetheless. Since the weather has gotten sunnier and hotter, the strawberries have sweetened up and the flavors intensified. Being a weekly strawberry sampler has helped me to further understand the connection between weather and flavors. I wonder if on a biological level our bodies pick up information about our environments based on the flavors and compounds of the food we eat?... food for thought!   

And not only do strawberries come in all sorts of flavors, I've also discovered that they come in all shapes and sizes beyond the imagination...

Alien strawberry

Very stunning strawberry

Will's most beautiful strawberry

Enormous strawberry

Excited strawberry

Plus, I've learned that it is quite enjoyable to make bouquets. It's never been a skill I had before, but I started putting flowers together from the pollinator garden for the market and the final product has been getting more and more dazzling each week!

What did you learn today?

Kirsten

"Everyone has come so far and has their own bit of knowledge to contribute now. It's interesting listening to people teach each other and what comes out of it when we all put our individual knowledge together."

Jordan

"Cabot is not the strawberry I would plant. Not very attractive and lots are unmarketable. It's all about the taste, a late maturing strawberry with a lot of sugar. Cabot is not sweet enough."

Will

"Electric cars are very quiet. Living mulches are hard to establish. Chicken feed containers are very expensive when bought brand new. And potatoes don't grow on trees."

Emmalee

"Lady bug eggs look similar to cabbage worm eggs, but ladybugs are beneficial and cabbage worms are not". 

Nick

"The difference between cabbage moth and diamond moth larvae. We were looking for cabbage moths on broccoli."

Lindsay

"Today I learned how to sucker tomatoes and take out the 'arm pit' hair."

Eric

"It's so great to have beneficial insects on the farm. Today I saw lady beetle eggs on the same leaf as aphids. But then I felt bad for harvesting their habitat."

Mike

"I learned that we can't possibly start early enough. I always think we can do more than we can in a given amount of time."

Emily

"It's really difficult to hammer in things that are taller than you."

Piper

"Hammering tall things is hard when you have no leverage."

Stark

"Hen hào chī = good to eat in Mandarin. I also made friends with Darrel the beetle."

Darrel the beetle

In the beginning of the semester we had a lot of questions about how to do things - how a crop should be harvested, how to package produce, how the market stand should be set up, what to do next, and more. We hadn't quite formed our dance yet. Now, I look at around at most points during the day and am so cheerful to see how beyond doubt our work has become; we organically create assembly lines of hands that harvest, weigh and package food for market like a hive of busy bees dancing comfortably around the gardens.

Kirsten and Jordan, with style.