Ditl 20.11.13
This week I'm finishing up a Farm Internship at an organic farm on Denman Island BC.
Morning comes super early when you don't have curtains on the main window.
Plus, the birds like sitting on the roof and singing LOUDLY.
Perks of living in a trailer I guess.
This is an epic trailer. It's a 1964 Chevy Oasis that hasn't been restored yet.
If you look really hard in the lower right hand of this picture you'll see the extension cord for the electric heater.
There's also an internet cable. Deer nibbled on it though so it doesn't work most of the time.
After getting dressed I head on over to the main house for breakfast.
They're still in the process of building it so nobody lives inside yet.
We're all in random trailers and cabins scattered around the property.
There's five of us here right now. The main farmer, his wife & kid, their friend, and me.
Apparently I forgot my water bottle outside overnight.
The spiders and dew have turned it into art.
Breakfast is tea, goat cheese, homemade yogourt and seed bread, and plum preserves.
Omnomnomnom.....
After breakfast I get told to feed the chickens and collect eggs.
Best job ever!
Lots of chickens means lots of eggs.
They'll go into the sink and get a quick brush down so we can sell them.
The cracked ones will be for lunch.
Tada!
Next up is rock picking.
We're getting an area ready for more raised beds next year.
Worst job ever...
Hot too! It was totally t-shirt weather.
I'm sending this picture to all my friends up north with the caption: Winter in the Canadian Gulf Islands.
Eventually we prevail against the nasty rocks and break for lunch.
Fried eggs and goat cheese on homemade seed bread. YUM!
After lunch we trundle down to the back pasture to get some maple leaves.
We're going to layer leaves, sea weed, and manure on the new bed area to build up the soil.
There's some goats lurking down here! Boss says, 'Eh? When did those get dropped off?'
Apparently the neighbour's overwinter their goats in the back pasture and didn't set an arrival date this year.
Oops?
Couple hours later and we have a respectable pile of leaves.
Time to go get sea weed!
But first, a "coffee" break.
After coffee we toss some garden forks, tarps, and wheelbarrows into the back of the truck.
The great thing about this farm is that it's a bit rural. The driveway is like walking along a trail in an old growth forest.
We're going to bounce the farm truck down it though, as we need something to carry back our sea weed haul.
More driving, this time on the "highway".
Stopping to get the mail.
Our destination! The Big Beach. Also known as: The One On The Left or The One Where Jacob Almost Drowned Last Year.
Last night there was a huge windstorm and a whole bunch of sea weed washed up on the shore.
The island on the left is Hornby Island. Land of the crazy ladies who think I'm some American girl named Matilda.
Everytime I go over there they buy me tea and ask about my husband/dog.
Matilda, if you're reading this, just a heads up. You're going to get preggers and buy a snake in 2014.
Mandy saw it in a dream she had about you.
After admiring the scenery for a bit we grab our forks and start filling up the wheelbarrows.
Then we push them up a hill and into the back of the truck.
That's 12 barrows full of sea weed, mini crabs, sea shells, sand fleas, and rocks.
Truck is full so back to the farm we go!
We started spreading leaves and sea weed around the new bed area, but apparently didn't quite grab enough to cover everything.
Guess what we're doing tomorrow!
Boss decides we need to move a green house before dinner. Whilst moving it we discovered a rams skull.
Wired that sucker onto a pole, for instant garden decor!
Super classy.
Greenhouse is set up!
The frame is made of some old metal poles pounded into the ground, we then tossed some plastic over it and held it down with ropes and some random logs from the saw mill. Hopefully that'll hold it down in the winter storms.
Inside the greenhouse Maggie has planted a winter crop of kale and lettuces.
They'll probably be ready around February.
In the summer the plastic will be rolled off and the plants inside exposed to fresh air so they don't get fried with the heat.
After the greenhouse is successfully set up Maggie says I can have the rest of the day off.
Time for a walk!
I want to check out the Beach On The Right before it gets dark.
Unfortunately I got distracted by the natural bonsai trees.
Aren't they cool?
Beach On The Right has a lovely view of the sun setting over Denman island though.
Walking back in the dark wasn't fun.
Ate dinner in front of the wood stove then decided to make cookies.
Break out the cookery book!
Ended up making Raisin Oaties and baked them in the wood stove.
Omg were they good.
And this is where my ditl ends as I lost my camera down the side of the couch.
Goodnight Ditl!