This morning, I was tasked with picking peas. I picked all the large, crispy peas but when the Head Harmer inspected my work, we said to pick the smaller peas too. I just needed to avoid picking the tiny ones. I apologised for having to do the same job twice but he told me it was better that I didn’t overpick. I really appreciated this feedback, and felt validated for the way he said it.

Afterward, A and I finished pulling up the spinach from yesterday. A used a hoe and I picked up all the greens to throw into the compost. That was so much faster than yesterday’s method, which made the work more satisfying! Once we’d finished with the spinach, A and I pulled up the bed of arugula that had gone to flower. The arugula smelled so nice as we ripped it out. We worked on the arugula and a light bit of weeding until lunch time.

It was such a nice morning. It was slightly overcast and breezy. It was definitely not too hot like some of the other days. The Farm Mother has recommended this holistic remedy for allergies called Sabadil a few days earlier. It seems to be working really well so I am going to buy a box of it from her when her next order comes in. It has been helping me enjoy these lovely days more. With beautiful days like this morning, I want to take advantage and enjoy them as much as I can.

The Head Farmer was busy after lunch so the Farm Mother put us to work. She had

me work on haying the potatoes while the other wwoofers weeded a field. I was so excited to be doing something new. Haying potatoes is a process of burying potato plants halfway in a pile of hay. When this is done, the potato plants will make more potatoes under the ground. I made sure to wear long sleeves and gloves to keep the hay from cutting and scratching me. Unfortunately, this process made my hand hurt a little more, because of the way I was moving my thumb. I need to be more careful so that this hand can heal.

When that short task was complete, all 4 of us wwoofers started weeding a bed near the flowerbeds to get it ready for planting. Ellie learned how to operate the hoe from Harold which was insightful. I learned a lot from listening in to the process. Ellie then hoed the terribly overgrown field and I cleaned up all the plants. Meanwhile, the Head Farmer took a rototiller to the beds we had weeded a few days earlier. Then he called J over to help him plant broccoli in those fresh new beds. Eventually, He needed more help, so he called over Ellie and A. I continued weeding. (See the image below of the before and after, keeping in mind that they were taken at different angles.)

I came to the conclusion that wwoofers are organic herbicide. My primary function on this farm seems to be pulling weeds. I could not have understood how much weeding there really was on an organic farm until coming here. Organic farmers can’t spray herbicides like RAID on any plants new their crops, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t have weeds. So farmers need a different form of weed abatement, and human seems to be the next best choice. I’m happy to oblige!

I weeded until 4:30pm and then cleaned up the hoes and “the tools” we had been using and put them away. To properly clean a gardening tool, I need to dip the tool into a bucket filled with used motor oil and sand. Then I take a wire brush and scrub the tool until there is not dirt and wipe off the excess with a designated rag. This process keeps the tools from getting rusty. It’s important to remember to roll up your sleeves when doing this, to avoid getting motor oil on them.

Ellie, A and I decided to go swimming in the “pond”. It was so refreshing to jump into that water today, it was not so cold that it made me breathe hard when I jumped in, but cool enough to really take away the feeling of work that my body was carrying. We swam for a long time and talk about the meaning of life, death, finding one’s way, and silly conversations with existential french people. We headed in just in time for dinner.

The dinner conversation went as usual. I fould out that the Head Farmer is baking a wedding cake. I mentioned that making a tiered cake is challenging, but he’s confident in his abilities. His wife revealed that he had baked his own wedding cake. He seems like the kind of guy that can just succeed at anything he sets his mind to.

After dinner, Ellie and I went for a walk down the road. This time we walked to the West rather than the East. We discussed weddings, and wedding dresses. We also discussed why wwoofers wwoof, why she is wwoofing, and why I’m wwoofing. Some wwoofers wwoof because they want to travel and need a place to live and eat while they do it. Some of them want to find or reinvent themselves, and this is a great way to do it. Some are in a transitional period in their lives, and want a new experience. And some want to escape the life they have. I wwoof because I want to learn about organic farms, how they are managed and the work that goes into farming. I want to learn how to plant different seeds, grow them for good production, and when it’s time to end the plant’s life, the best methods or ripping them out. I want to learn about fertilizer and compost, soil management and watering schedules. I want to learn about planning the field, running the business, and country skills. I know that is an ambitious list, and I am fully aware that this farm won’t be able to satisfy this all of them, especially in such a short period of time. But I am determined to learn as much as I can in the time that I have.

Ellie and I got back to the farm and I wrote until I was too tired to keep writing. That’s why this entry is posted in the morning. I’m just glad I was able to finish writing it before work!