Bill Rocks!

Sunday morning at the hive

Sunflower seedlings

Basil, basil, and more basil...

A big shout-out to My Mom's Main Man, Bill Strauss, for the snazzy new camera he sent me.  Now I can document this experience in living color. (Happy Mother's Day to Bill's Main Squeeze!)

After all my talk about the bees, I thought it appropriate to include a shot of Imagination, the hive that swarmed the first week I was here.  Look carefully and you can see the bees flying toward the entrance.  Things seem to be going well for both Imagination and the still unnamed new hive a week post-swarm.

Second shot is of the sunflowers I started from seed in the greenhouse, where most of the day is spent when it rains.  It's very peaceful to seed and transplant things while the rain beats on the roof.   There are probably close to several thousand plants in there now.  I had watering duty this morning, and it took some careful maneuvering not to knock over the various trays of seedlings with the hose.

Third shot is a patchwork of the various types of basil we transplanted.  Can't you just taste the pesto??  Fellow intern Elexis and I are already dreaming about all the things we can preserve to eat in the winter months.

I almost forgot to mention that last Thursday I had the chance to help disk one of the fields.   Disking involves turning and breaking up clumps using a somewhat fierce-looking machine with about a dozen round metal blades that rotate as they are pulled through the soil.  The dynamic equine duo of Captain and Eva pulled the disking machine as Mac directed them via their lines (that's teamster lingo for reins) and I steered the machine with Peter coaching me.  As you may or may not know, horses are very strong and can move quite fast, so I had to take leaping steps behind the machine in order to keep it in the center of the row.  You definitely are living in the moment with this task.

Friday and Saturday were focused on second-to-last training session for what's known as "The Year-long Course".  This program provides part-time training in biodynamic growing practices with regular monthly sessions from September to June.  The interns attend all of these sessions for free.  Highlights included painting the trees in the orchard with a special paste made of manure, clay, and sand and turning the barrel compost.  Rather than building the typical pile of refuse, barrel compost is made by digging a shallow pit, lining it with bricks, and layering in horse manure that is then treated with special botanical preparations to help with its decomposition before covering it with plywood.  The pit had been created a month earlier so it was time to turn the manure and add more of the preparations.  It should be done breaking down in another month or so.  I know you can hardly wait to see my photos of that!