On the farm

On Saturday's from 1-4pm, Wild Willow Farms has a volunteer program. They have been open for a year and depend upon the volunteers to get their organic garden growing. I volunteered because I wanted to learn exactly how difficult it would be to start a garden. Wild Willow Farms is not only an organic farm but they are an education center. When I showed up they were setting up for a chicken class or how to raise chickens in the city. Over 20 people showed up to listen to the speaker. This was so inspiring to me. People really want to start growing their own foods and stop depending on the grocery stores.

 The volunteers that showed up were mostly San Diego college students studying to be environmentalists or naturapathic doctors. I was the oldest one there but knew less than they did. I was so thrilled to spend the day around college students listening to how they live their lives with such sustainability. I never knew being sustainable was so 'in' at the colleges!

 We started by taking composted soil and sifting it out. It sifts out to a soft soil that will eventually be used for potting. They gave us the option to use gloves but we all used our hands. Even though there were creepy crawly bugs, at the end of the sifting, your hands feel so soft from being in the soil. When was the last time any of us put our hands in the earth? It has such an energetic feeling, I need to be doing it everyday!

During this sifting process, a huge rat ran through the field. Later we found out that we were infringing on his home. He was covering his babies in the compost pile. All of these babies won't live and hopefully the mommy will find where the farmer put her babies.

 Before coming to the Wild Willow Farm, I checked to make sure it was completely organic. I was thrilled to see this sign while driving in. I would also like a sign underneath it that says "NO MONSANTO ZONE"!

After the compost sifting, we went over the raspberry field. Well it wasn't so much a field as it was a row of raspberry bushes. The farmers weren't happy with where they were planted and wanted to relocate them. We had the task of digging up the roots and carefully transporting them to another location. I learned that raspberries are pretty resilient and can take some digging. It's not as easy as it sounds. The roots are so deep that they start to intertwine with the bush next to it. So it took alot of digging and alot patience. I worked on this root for a good 1/2 hour!

 This seating area is part of the garden. I can only assume it's for night time ghost story telling!

One of the many baby chickens at the farm. I didn't ask why they were in a cage but had to assume it was because the volunteers would disturb them? Also, do you know how difficult it is to take a picture of one chicken? Everytime you think you have the shot, they move. Damn divas!!

 After we took the raspberry bushes out of the earth, we replanted them in smaller pots. There was a mom and her 2 beautiful girls there planting spearmint plants. It warmed my heart to see children excited about planting and helping their mom. They were contributing to their meals and learning about how agriculture works. They were great helpers. I asked one little girl what she thought spearmint went in. We thought about it together and I said, "gum" and she said, "perfume"! I just wanted to eat that little toothless angel!!

We couldn't figure out if this what kind of bird this was but thought it was an emu or ostrich?