Last Week :(

So it was my last week last week and it was so amazing! On Monday we worked in the production garden in the morning and then it started RAINING!!!!! I LOVE RAIN! Then we went inside and worked on our float for the Ag Fair Parades 150th anniversary. Tuesday was parade day and when we were leaving, me, James, Katie and Marieke decided to ride in the float. We were on our way when he heard a weird noise...OUR TIRE WAS FLAT!! Luckily Jon, the executive director brought another tire and it was okay but it was funny. When we got there, there were some pretty cool floats like one had a pig and goats and one was driven by draft horses, but our float was the best..just saying! Then tuesday we went gleaning and gleaned kale and corn. There were so many people that we got all the kale in less than half and hour! On wednesday we worked in the PG all morning and then we went to serving hands to give the produce to people in need. On thursday we cooked in the morning and then went to the fair. When we got to the fair, Zeus and Apollo, the oxen were being judged and they got 6th place for performance and then 1st place for looks...they did an awesome job! On friday we worked in the garden and then when we had friday feast, my parents came for our last one and Kaila had us all come up and she gave us our t-shirts with a certificate that says we completed the program. When everyone left, we had a meeting and did something called I take and you say something to everyone that u will remember about them or just something that you admire about them. It was so emotional because people said some really nice things and I was crying because the FARM Project really meant a lot to me. The 5 of us just sat there talking and then when it was time to go, we all hugged each other and it was really nice. I wanna thank everyone for reading my blog and I hope you enjoyed it because this is my last post. THANK YOU!!!!!

Chicken Processing: Commercial and Backyard Style

Heyy! This is going to be an update of the week so that you are all caught up. So Monday, we basically spent the whole morning in the production garden and weeded the strawberries, then we worked on the float for the rest of the day. On Tuesday, we went gleaning at Martha's Vineyard, which turned out to be the most fun gleaning I have ever had. All of us met at morning glory and since Jaimie wasn't there ( the one who organizes it all) we just sat around waiting for her While we were waiting, I decided to get a cup of iced coffee and then after finishing the first one, decided i needed a second so i went back inside and bought another one. Then, when Jaimie arrived, we all walked right over to the fields and began harvesting and because of the coffee, I had a ton of energy and was ready to work. I had managed to fill 3 boxes before Jaimie needed me to sort the produce. There were anywhere from 20-30 people harvesting, so we got far pretty quick. Then, after just about everything was harvested, we were told that we could take some corn. Each person took a row and we walked down the aisle picking the biggest ones. When everyone was all pooped out, James asked if anyone wanted to play Hide and go seek tag in the corn rows so Me, Aaron, Jaimie, James and Melindas foster son played. We all hid while James counted and I would stand really still and at one point, he walked a couple of rows in front of me and I stood there hoping that he wouldn't and when we was ahead of me, ik moved over a couple rows and he heard me and chased me and i fell so he tagged me. On Wednesday, we did chicken processing and helped out with killing them and then putting them in the scalder which helps lossen their feathers, then pluck them and take out all their guts. It was okay, but I didn't want to do the killing part even though amos did. Then, today, we worked on the float and Me and James went out to the field and helped Caitlin and Liza's group move the sheep over to new grass. The kids were irritating me because one kid was chasing after the sheep and since the sheep were really skiddish, they would run away. So this kid was chasing after them and I had to tell him to stop 2 or 3 times. Then, as we were moving the fencing, the kids pulled up the fence and all the sheep got out, but we were able to get them in and it was okay. Later on today, we worked with Ann's group and made seed paper. Then we slaughtered 2 hens backyard style. So the first one, Katie slit its neck and the second one, we chopped its head of with an axe. The one that we chopped its head off with and axe, we let it run arounnd because the nervous system is still working even though it was completely dead. It was so funny and disguting at the same time. Then after that was all done, and cleaned up, as I was walking back to the main building, i heard a lot of squealing from one of the pigs. I knew that Jon was killing one of the pigs because Aaron told us it had a hernia in its belly. So when i heard the squealing, i went over there and saw Jon with a rifle and then i heard him shoot the pig. Aparently, he hadn't gotten that clean of a shot because it was squealing really loud and rolling around in pain. Then there was no more noise and Conor brought the tractor over so that he could pick up the pig. We got to Watch as Jon took out all of its intestines and cleaned it all up. It was pretty neat to see how to do it all. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it all!!! Bye!

Chicken Catching

Today, we first went out in the garden and harvested for the saturday market, and since there wasn't that much to harvest, we left around 10 am to go to the fridays farmers market at Edgartown School. We only brought a little bit of produce because that farmers market isn't that big so we weren't going to sell a whole lot. It was fun, but there wasn't that much that we could do because one of my co-workers was kinda running the stand and we didn't need 6 people there, but he has really good people skills and he is supper friendly so it worked out nice. When we got back, we had lunch, and then cooked for friday fiesta(it is not called feast because it is only a tasting) and we made cucumber salad with cucumbers, dill, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. We also made some dish with butter, sauted onions, buckwheat seeds and bulion cubes in water. After friday fiesta, we did straight talk and basically it was just ideas we had that we had or things that we wanted to make better. There were a lot of good ideas that are far too complicated to explain right now, but I was just sitting there listening to everyone talk and taking in all the information because I didnt have anything to say of importance. When we were all done, we all went out to put our old seed balls into another bin so that they wouldn't get destroyed. Me, Colin ( another kid that works on the farm)  and Jamed went on a chicken catching expidition. It was so funny because James, The Chicken Wrangler, would chase after a chicken and dive on his knees and grab it..I would just stand there laughing my head off because a) I get easily amused and b) because it was so darn funny. When i was just about to put the chicken that i had under my arms back into its proper pen, James handed me another chicken to which i proceeded to tuck under my other arm. Then Kaila took a picture of me with her camera, and I wish I could show you all, but it wasn't my camera. It was funny because when my friend Corrine got chickens, I was afraid of them because I thought that they would peck me, but now I'M GETTING CHCIKENS WHEN I GET HOME!!!!!!!!!!! IM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, today was really fun and chicken catching was probably the best part. WOOP WOOP!!!

Sheet Mulching..the coolest thing on planet earth!!

Okay so let me start by saying that my computer craped out on me (now i have an excuse to buy a new one..hehehe). I tend to break things a lot is because just this summer I broke 2 cell phones, my computer and a plate..woops..Today was so much fun because we learned about sheet mulching which is the alternative to roto tilling. First we put down newspaper and then cardboard and then compost and finally hay. You put it down in the summer like nowish and then you let it sit over the winter and by next spring it is all decomposed and you can plant in it. I thought that that was really cool and i want to do it when i get home. Then we went back to the farm and we were going to do the same thing in one of the green houses, but we couldn't find newspaper so we just used cardboard which is okay, but you should really use both newspaper and cardboard. Also we are participating in the Ag Fair's parade because it is the 150th anniversary. We are doing a timeline of Katama Farm and everybodys gonna be jealous :) THERE ARE ONLY 2 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS LEFT (basically only 12 days left)..IM SO SAD!! Tomarrow we are going to Grey Barn which is this dairy farm and it is brand new so it gonna be fun! And also guess what?? Tomarrow is our day with Aaron but i wont post that as the title because my mother has recently told me that she is sick of the title..

Our Day With Aaron....

Hey! Today was our day with Aaron and we first cut up some of the squash and cucumbers that were too big from yesterday's glean and fed them to the pigs and the chickens. Then we crushed up our Bio-Char and mixed it up with water and omg it was so much fun because I would put my hands in this mixture and it just felt so awesome! Because it was windy, all the Bio-Char was blowing everywhere and it would blow on our faces and we would be all black with soot. Then Amos decided he wanted some on his face so Katie put it on his face and then we all decided to put some on our faces so Katie also did my "makeup". We looked so silly and everyone stared at us like we were weirdos! We also watched a video about urban farming and it was this one woman who told us her story and she had pigs, chickens and goats and rabbits that she slaughters...which is so sad because you watch them grow up. If I had animals like pigs or chickens, i don't think I would be able to slaughter them :( We also worked with the oxen and we yolked them and attached a cart to them. So much fun! I just wanted to say thank you to my family for loving and supporting me. I love you guys!

Gleaning and Distribution and Fro-Yo!!

Hey Y'all! Today we went to Morning Glory and we harvest so much produce- we actually harvested 1100 lbs of squash and cucumbers!!!!! So amazing! Then we went to the distribution and we had so much produce that we told people to take as much as  they thought they could eat. After that, we went to a place called Tis Berry which is a frozen yogurt place and it was so good...I bought James a frozen yogurt because he didn't have any money and if I didn't have any money, I would want someone to buy me a frozen yogurt so i just try to put myself in his position...Then me and Kaila went to drop off some groceries to people at Hillside and Katie, Amos, Dylan and James went to the Oak Bluffs Senior Center to drop off produce...Then when we got back, we made Dilly Beans which is like pickled beans...so tasty! I am listening to Cold as You by Taylor Swift and am feeling really good. Sometimes when I listen to music, i feel really good about myself and life and my future..might sound silly but music really is my life because it always makes me feel better and I would die without it.

PICTURES!!!

Okay so the first pic is the Friday before meals in the meadow, we had to move the cows to a different pasture and so all of the people helped and it was cool. The second picture is a bruise I got on my leg from when we were filling these huge holes in the ground and we were filling uo wheel barrows with dirt and bringing them to the hokes and i accidentally fell in the hole and scraped my thigh on the way down...but it is super cool because its like a battle wound! The 3rd picture is a little calf that was born almost a week ago and that picture was taken hours after it was born. The last but certainly not least is the oxen named Danny...he may be huge, but he is like a big teddy bear :) The last picture is a picture of a bull here at the farm, his name is Roy...but isn't he cute?? I hope you enjoyed these pics!