We went out mostly on weekends for a few hours doing simple chores. After we were done, Robert usually welcomed us to pick what we wanted out of the gardens to take home. It was great to get outside, do something productive and physical and get rewarded with the most beautiful, fresh, organic veggies. We were hooked.
After a year of volunteering, it had start to sink in that I wanted to do this full time. I even was excited to go out after a long work week at a produce department. When I first brought it up to Tarra, she was supportive. Though, if I told her I wanted to be a street performer, I swear she'd stand behind me. I know she had to be tired of me lamenting about how I had just really botched up college and now had 3 degrees I didn't care to use. I think she was grateful to see me take a direction really.
She encouraged me to go to the California Farm Academy (CFA). We talked many a long talks about what our lives might be like if I was a full time farmer. Could we live with me making only $3 an hour. (Umm what? You're kidding right? Nope. The average small farm owner makes $3 an hour. Granted we work 80 hours a week it works out to a liveable wage. I mean food is included, right?) Could we live with aforementioned 80 hour work-weeks? What about kids? Can we plan to have a baby in the winter so come spring-busy-time we have a baby that can at least sit up? How many weekends can I "take" from Tarra before she looks forward to Mondays at her "normal" job. Will she help me market? We tried to cover all the hypothetical and really talk them through. My dream was important, but so was the woman of my dreams. Could they co-exist?
The first challenge came in my first paid gig. It was during a summer that I was attending CFA, back yard gardening, volunteering at PSG, AND this new job. It was a non-profit sort of thing where I would have to be a farm manager and a volunteer coordinator. I was so excited for it. It played on all my strengths and fueled all my passions. It was perfect, except for the land owner. Let's just say we had a difference in opinion in interpersonal communication styles: I thought you should be nice when talking to people, he did not find that necessary. He would send emails that were so passive aggressive, micro-managing, dismissive and disrespectful... they would leave me in tears. Not to mention the times he actually red-in-the-face yelled at me. Tarra bore the brunt of my anguish.
She had to not only help me do all the really hard physical work of starting from scratch in a new place to farm, but all of the emotional baggage too. It was hard to say the least.
The second big challenge was the P.E. Tarra, by trade, is an engineer. She is in the process of getting her Professional Engineering License that will allow her to be promoted. It is comprised of three tests, one that is 8 hours and two more 2 hour tests. The studying, the cost, and the anxiety are immense. She really needs me to help keep her fed, focused, the house clean, laundry done, and soothe her worries. No problem, I promised that in my vows. Except, at the end of the day, the last thing I can offer is extra support. I need extra support! I never had enough energy to do it all which meant that sometimes dinner got made, the dishes never got done, Tarra did the laundry while procrastinating from studying, and the house was a disaster. None of this helped anyone's mood. Try as I might, I could just never convince the dog to help out either.
With all of that, I was burning my candle at both ends and holding the whole thing over an open flame. Needless to say, this was hard on our relationship. My favorite fight was over ice cream. We had gone out to eat one night right before the test because I was too tired to cook. On the way home, I suggested we stop to get a pint of ice cream. "You know I need to study! We don't have time!" Tarra snapped. "For real? It'll take 5 minutes. If you don't pass because of 5 minutes less studying, you've got bigger problems than ice cream!" We both decided to end it there, make a U-turn and pick up a pint. I'd like to say bickering like that was rare, but it was pretty regular.
As the season picks up, Tarra and I grow more and more restless waiting for her test results. If she passes, we're free and clear to live our lives with normal farm-stress. If not, it's another set of hundreds of dollars and lost weekends to studying. Even if she does pass, how many ice cream fights will we have when we're both working 7 days a week?
I can't predict the future, but I can tell you that there will be more conflict. I can also testify that farming isn't just physically hard. It taxes everything you've got, marriage included. Tarra is an amazing partner though, and I think we're stronger for the challenges so far. I know that there are a lot of really hard times coming, not even thinking about throwing kids in the mix, but I know we'll work it out in our own way. This is the life we chose because it feeds our souls. Nothing really beautiful came from a gentle, easy journey.
Recently, Tarra has been freed from the grips of the P.E. (at least until we find out if she passed) and came out to the farm. Here are some pictures from one of our first days out there together in waay too long. I am always so glad to have her out with me. Not just for the help, but because everything seems easier with her around. Drudgery becomes fun. Also, you really can't beat a good snuggle break in the shade.
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| Byron enjoys a good nap lap during weeding. |
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| As much as the melons enjoy being covered by shade cloth when it's cold, the weeds love it more. |
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| AHA! I knew there was a melon beneath those weeds! (This image is the "after" of the one previous. Yes, there are that many weeds in our "weed bank") |
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| What happens if you miss an asparagus by a day? It gets GINORMOUS! |
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| Then, it blossoms! This is an asparagus fern. What we eat of asparagus is really the flower stalk! It ends up being this lovely fern plant that makes delicious food from the sun to feed its roots so it can make us more asparagus noms next year. |
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| Con: your riser is leaking and making a puddle. Pro: this cute little guy lives here now. |
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| We were hijacked by a couple of rogue chickens! "Alright naked neck, you steer. brown screaming chicken, you do the pedals. I'll keep a lookout!" |
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| This was B.B. short for "broken beak". Cross beaks happen sometimes in chickens. Hers was pretty severe though. She passed away last week. It was probably just too hard to get enough food. Rest in peace BB. |
The recipe for this week is a great way to use up a lot of your veggies! It's also a super great way to sneak more whole grains in to your diet. Aside from also being delicious, it's super quick to make!
Spring Grain Salad
Whole Grain
Protein
Nuts and Seeds
Radishes‐ sliced
Snap Peas‐ halved
Parsley‐chopped
Arugula Flowers
Lettuce‐chopped
Cook your grain and let cool. Mix in your protein, seeds, herbs, and veggies into the grain and add a dressing of choice. Toss mixture over lettuce and top with flowers. Viola! Fancy dinner!I used chicken, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, quinoa, and artichoke garlic dressing with a whole orange squeezed in‐ but you can use what you have/like!
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