Hey there,
A big part of why I work hard on our farm and Observatory is due to my desire to connect the community. This last week was scattered with encouraging and meaningful connections, ones I was really needing. The week brought a bit of life back to me and helped me put what we are doing into perspective.
Last Wednesday I got the opportunity to join MOFGA for a training workshop and tour of an Herb farm. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Associations offers a lot of free educational opportunities to observe other organic farms. We are practicing organic and natural methods here with the desire to possibly be organic certified.
This event was more than just farm training for me. It was an opportunity to see other growers that are in similar situations. It was rather cathartic to listen to the struggles and success of their business. The farm is Wild Few Herb farm in Arundel. They have a beautiful little set up there with some very helpful tea blends. Go check them out!
Friday was a really exciting day. First, we had a few individuals from the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) visit the farm. They helped us identify what we can do to improve our pollinator habitats and get some ideas of what to do for irrigation. Our application has been accepted. We’ll find out sometime next spring if we qualify for any grants or services. Hopefully we will at least get a Forest management plan.
Friday evening, we hosted an Astronomy Pizza party. I’d say it was a real success. There were roughly 25 people that came. Lots of yummy food was devoured. Phillip taught us a little about Astrophotography using the Andromeda Galaxy. Then he aimed the telescope towards Saturn. We got a good show!
We plan for many more pop-up astronomy parties. As of right now, we will be doing a pop-up tomorrow, 8/29/24, at 8:00 p.m. Phillip will be directing the telescope on Andromeda and Saturn again. I won’t have pizza, plannig to bake some sort of bread though. Let me know if you can join!
The last connection I had was with my neighbor Gale. She’s been gardening and farming her land for over 40 years. It’s an enchantingly beautiful space. She happens to be a sculptor, welding copper into lifelike figures. I was able to sneak over to her yesterday to bring her some grapes. She was grinding metal, forming the shape of a sunflower for a customer.
She stopped her grinding as soon as she saw me, pulled up a chair, and commanded me to stay a while and chat. She’s a woman near 80 years old. So full of experiences and knowledge about gardening. Of all the things we talked about, one stood out. No single growing year is going to be the same. They will each come with their own new problems and wins.
This morning as I weeded, I found a little strawberry. It’s one of the Charlotte varieties we planted in our very first year. The plants that helped us introduce ourselves as growers of food. It’s also a variety we’ll never plant again. It doesn’t produce very much fruit and attracts pests late in the season.
Seeing this berry made me think about what Gale said. Every year is going to be different. We can’t rely on what works this year to work next year. This is the importance of diversifying what we grow and even what we do in life beyond the food. This idea is both exciting and terrifying.
Hope you have a great week and hopefully be able to stop by tomorrow.
Thanks, Gwendolyn
