Our Spring Volunteer Day was a Huge Success! We had over 30 people come out to play on the farm. We got a lot accomplished, had a great time and a tasty lunch. Thank you to all who came! If you missed it, don't worry, we are going to do it again on the Summer Solstice, June 21st.
Tour
The day started with a quick tour of the farm.
And the tour ended with all of us spending 5 minutes picking up rocks in the new High Tunnel...
After that we split into three groups. I led a group to cover the high tunnel, David led the weeders and Josh and Aida led the mulchers.
High Tunnel
In order to cover the High Tunnel I needed at least 6 people and a very calm day. Any little bit of wind would take this very large piece of plastic up in the air and off into the trees. I couldn't make the call on doing this project until the day of. Luckily, we had plenty of able bodies and the weather cooperated.
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| Unrolling and unfolding the plastic along the long side |
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| We attached 4 ropes to the plastic and threw the other end over the structure. |
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| Then we pulled |
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| The plastic slid over quite easily |
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| The we attached the ends using wiggle wire |
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| Here's Cory from Logan Tavern working with Wiggle Wire |
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| Next was to pin the plastic to the hipboard, again using wiggle wire |
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| We also got one of the ends walls covered |
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| Lane stopped by and finished the baseboards too |
Weeding
A second crew spent the morning weeding our perennials. They started with the asparagus and moved on to the Rhubarb and Strawberries.
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| David leading the weeders |
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| Bringing tools down from the barn |
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| Weeding Rhubarb |
Mulching
Group number 3 spread a lot of mulch in the orchard, at all the berries, Rhubarb and Asparagus.
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| Aida, fearless farm friend |
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| See, farming is fun! |
This group also relocated the mushroom logs to their new home in the carport at the stables. I'm hoping this will be a good spot to keep them out of the sun and close to a water source for soaking.
Lunch
Our weeders helped with lunch by harvesting Arugula that we enjoyed in a fresh salad. The summer volunteer day will have more options but I was glad we got to enjoy at least one thing off the farm.
The bulk of the food came from Chef Bonk over at
The Pig. He made us fried chicken, pasta salad and spicy coleslaw.
We also had a special visit from
Hancock Family Farms, a neighboring farm in LaPlata that specializes in eggs and meat but also does some produce. They helped with the High Tunnel and brought some eggs and sausage to sell. Our hungry volunteers bought their entire supply. The eggs were awesome and I've heard great reviews on the sausage as well. They are hosting their own open house Saturday April 26th and do on farm sales most Saturdays. Check out their Facebook page:
Hancock Family Farms
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| Tyler, local food rep from Hancock Family Farms |
Puddy Time
Puddy enjoyed all the company, including Maddie and Moxie, two other puppies who came out for the volunteer day. I wish I had pictures of them to share but I missed them somehow.
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| Puddy, morale officer |
I also finally got around to finishing two of the windows which can be opened during the day for additional ventilation. It got up to a sunny 80 degrees this week and I added a shade cloth to the top of the greenhouse to help keep it under 100 degrees inside. 
