Cane Creek Farm » Hailey’s Blog

leavings and arrivals.

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:53:00 +0000

Today is my last full-time day here at the farm, and I am truly astounded that it's come so quickly.

My leaving has been planned for a long time, as I'm about to start an Americorps position in Greensboro following a trip to WI that begins today....

but, honestly, I still feel rather torn apart and somewhat devastated!

This summer, just as every summer here at Cane Creek, has moved me, challenged me, frustrated me, enlivened me, and changed me, in the most essential and fundamental ways to who I am - as both a being and a farmer.

I know that it's the right time for me to move on, and this departure was 100% my choice (mostly motivated by the fact that I've only just graduated from school, and feel like I'd be limiting myself to not explore my many other passions). But my heart is full of love for this world, and for Eliza, and for this land, and for my gardens, and I feel like I'm grieving this day in a way that's more painful than I'd anticipated. I have lots of gaps to fill in describing my garden adventures this summer, and they will be filled as time moves forward and life becomes a little more centered. AND - there are so many more adventures to come!! Thank you for your attention, and your care, and for reading the ramblings of a somewhat silly, but very alive 22 year old farm gal. All my love, forever and always. -Hailey

lovin, and these summer nights.

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 03:18:00 +0000

Hello everybody :).

*photo credit to the lovely Hannah Sherk, one of my new housemates!

It's Tuesday night, and I'm in Greensboro, in my new house! For the next year, I'll be living here with some delightful ladyfriends: Hannah, Molly, Melissa, & Sasha. The latter 3 ladies have yet to arrive, but our friend Grace has been staying here and the interim. She's fantastic ~ smart, elegant, creative, and a VERY talented pastry chef with an easy, room filling laugh. I've been here for the past 2 days, finally having some much needed time for rest and relaxation, and even though I've been utterly exhausted from a long and rather hard week last week, I'm also filled with love for these wonderful women in my life. Here are some farm updates: - it's crazy to be writing this, but the summer growing season is coming to a close. Planning, implementing, tending, and harvesting from these gardens of mine have been the primary occupation of my past 6 months, and the prime of their glory and growth is coming to a gentle halt. Tomatoes are done, eggplant is continuing to produce but is waning (the orange eggplant are almost completely done, having succumb to a blight to which the others seem to be immune), sunflowers are fading from fullness, and the watermelon have almost completely finished yielding their sweet fruit. Some crops are still coming in strongly, like zinnias, okra, peppers, and beans. Last week was our first week of edimame, and it. is. FANTASTIC! I'm quite behind on pictures of these lovely crops (my camera battery died a few weeks ago and I've yet to find a moment to reboot it), but I've taken a good number that I hope to post within the next few days. Also.... it's time for our fall garden! I'm so completely delighted about this. We're planning to grow: radishes, beets, spinach, kale, collards, chard, carrots, fall blooming flowers, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, snap peas, onions, and more. I've ordered a delightful assortment of seeds from some companies that I'm completely infatuated with, and in the upcoming days I'll also post links to pictures of these delicious crops and their growing information. To conclude for the moment, I'd like to share that I recently got accepted into an Americorps program that will begin in September and continue for an entire year! The project is called the "Partnership to End Homelessness," and I'll spend 20 hours a week working for an organization called the Barnabas Network in Greensboro, which focuses on connecting with local faith organizations in order to provide furniture and bedding to families who lack these basic assets. I'm completely stoked. This also basically means that after I plant the fall garden, I'll be moving to one day a week at the farm. In some ways I'm really devastated about this, but the choice was mine, really. The decision was based on the fact that I'm still SO unsure of what I want to do in this life, and, having just graduated from college, I feel like I need to seize every opportunity to explore my options. We'll see though... the plan for next year's gardens at Cane Creek is to downsize CONSIDERABLY. I'm going to try and enforce Eliza's plan to have one, small garden to provide for her family and to allow for a beautiful display at market. In essence.... I think we're all really starting to move forward in a way that is both terrifying, and utterly beautiful in its vulnerable newness. Sweet dreams, dear ones. I wish for us all open hearts and eyes this week, as we delve further and further into the month of August, and our own, unique, and gorgeous journeys.

geez louise it’s late.

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 06:54:00 +0000

It's 3AM and I should waaaaaaay already be asleep. However, this night was incredible! My best friend/life-mate Haley (yes... we do indeed have the same name) is here visiting me for the week, which is a delight in & of itself, but tonight we went to Greensboro and met up with friends for $1 tacos/$1 margarita night... which is, of course, the best night of the week, each & every time! :) It also just so happened that some musician friends were visiting Hannah, my new roommate and dear friend, and whom are also staying in our house. So, after our bangin' meal we had a private, christmas-tree-lights-lit concertslashjam-session in our living room. Delightful. And actually - this whole week has really been quite delightful. Except that... At this very moment, I'm sitting next to a little pig named John Henry, who is about to pass away. It's so tragically sad - not so much that he's dying (death happens so frequently here that I've finally come to accept it as a fundamental element of the life cycle here), but he just seems to be in such pain, and there's not really anything I can do :(. If death is coming to him tonight, I pray that it comes as swiftly and as painlessly as possible. So, please keep this sweet little Ossabow in your hearts, with a prayer that he will fade gently into the evening sky and be released from the struggles of his young, fragile life.

good morning, thursday.

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:25:00 +0000

It is a beautiful Thursday morning, and so I thought I'd help myself get moving by writing a little bit about my plans in the garden today. Today I hope to.... harvest all of the okra, peppers, and melons that need harvesting in the upper garden. (our okra really is still coming in beautifully!) figure out what's going on with our bean plants... I kind of made an error with this one. I planted a row of beans, with the help of my family, and then decided to ask Derek to do a second planting of lima beans in between each plant. The problem is that lima bean plants appear to have a pole habit (i.e. - they need a trellis!). As a result they've sort of climbed over the other bean plants, which are still alive but may or may not be producing fruit (beans) at this point. Essentially: crapola! But, I do like to be real with myself about my errors, which is why I feel more than comfortable writing about them here. Today, I need to get in there and face this massive, jumbled pile of beans and set it all straight! check the edimame plants, which are absolutely lovely, and very close to harvest! look at the new popcorn plants that I put in the ground last week -- have they germinated yet?? water both gardens - check the pressure on all drip tape lines. (we irrigate with a drip irrigation system, and sometimes minerals or other debris clog up the lines. To check/clean this out, I just go down to the end of each row, turn the nozzel "on", and let it run for a little while so that the line frees itself of whatever's inside) Well..... it sounds like today will be an upper garden day! I'm excited and ready for this, as I tend to secretly prefer working in the lower garden because of all the lovely flowers. Over & out, dear friends!

Hailey’s Blog: I think I just broke my toe?!

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:24:00 +0000

Okay possibly not ;) - but I stubbed it 45 minutes ago, and it's still throbbing! Oh well... toes are overrated anyway, right? On non-toe related fronts, life is really looking up. I'm finally feel better (yahooooo!) and have accepted that some days, you really just can't work in this heat (especially when the index has been up to 105). My folks were here for a few days this weekend, as well as my little sister, Chloe. It was really great to see them, and my parents really helped a lot out in the fields. After a few hours out in the sun, my mom got really fussy and insisted that she buy me a "sun shirt," i.e. - a long-sleeved shirt that is breathable, dries quickly, and has an SPF of at least 30. Although I was initially resistant to this ENDLESSLY dorky idea, I gave in and I think that she may actually have a point after all. I've also been pumping the water, putting electrolyte tablets in my drinks, and chewing on these completely awesome electrolyte gel bars made by Cliff. Anyhow, news on the farm is: that our tomatoes are still chugging along, although it looks like their peak has passed. I think we should still have a few more weeks of harvests over 200lbs, which is great, as some other farms have already stopped harvesting their heirlooms. Our melons are also passed their peak, which is a little bit sad since we normally have a much longer harvest. With our disease problems, as well as some water pressure issues earlier in the summer, plus this ultra intense heat, we're definitely going to lose our plants early. This makes me sad, but what I'm learning is that with farming - you win some, and you lose some, and all you can ever really do is just the best that you can do. Peppers, okra, and eggplant are still coming in fabulously, as well as zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers. We've also started to plan our fall garden! Stay posted for more on that. Well, it's 11:22PM and I'm still up in the shop. I just spent several long hours cleaning and sorting the veggies form the 3 markets we do each weekend (Greensboro Curb Market, Carrboro, and Saxapahaw). Now everything's nice and clean, and I can happily head on home. Thanks for reading, and catch you soon!

Hailey’s Blog: lessons in faith.

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 04:10:00 +0000

[the photos in this post are credited to Luck Photography, and were taken a few weeks ago at the farm. thanks, sarah!]

It's been a hard week here at the farm. Since feeling ill last week, I just haven't been able to bounce back in the way that I normally do. Even a week later, I feel weak and tired easily, have had trouble sleeping even though I'm exhausted, and just generally feel sort of spent, and out of (full) commission. It's hard to feel sick, no matter the circumstances, but it's been an especially painful week for me as I've struggled in vain to get all of my work accomplished while feeling so physically down. I think I'm beginning to feel better, as I try to rehydrate my body and pump myself up with electrolytes so that I can begin this new week with the full force of my passion, hard work, and dedication. However, in all honesty - I'm really feeling worried!! There's so much to accomplish, and I feel weary from both physically and spiritually, still slightly battered from the frustration of getting barely a thing accomplished this past week. However - the flowers are blooming, and my corn is just beginning to form its husks. Tonight, rather than focus on my concerns or fears, I'd like to think about the concept of "faith." I've recently started to explore Quakerism, but am generally not a religious person. However, I think of faith as something more than just tied to the Divine, but rather a fundamental trust in the magnificence, connectedness, and eternal hope of the world. This is a kind of faith that I've needed this week, and still need so fully in this present moment - faith that there is a rhyme and a rhythm to life, and to the work that I throw myself into each day. The two following poems express this sentiment so beautifully. I hope you'll find solace in them, just as I certainly have.

Faith ~ David Whyte I want to write about faith about the way the moon rises over cold snow, night after night, faithful even as it fades from fullness, slowly becoming that last curving and impossible sliver of light before the final darkness. But I have no faith myself I refuse it even the smallest entry. Let this then, my small poem, like a new moon, slender and barely open, be the first prayer that opens me to faith.

Little Summer Poem Touching the Subject of Faith

Every summer

I listen and look under the sun's brass and eveninto the moonlight, but I can't hear

anything, I can't see anything -- not the pale roots digging down, nor the green         stalks muscling up,nor the leavesdeepening their damp pleats,

nor the tassels making,nor the shucks, nor the cobs.And still,every day,

the leafy fieldsgrow taller and thicker -- green gowns lofting up in the night,showered with silk. 

And so, every summer,I fail as a witness, seeing nothing -- I am deaf tooto the tick of the leaves, 

the tapping of downwardness from the banyan feet -- all of ithappeningbeyond any seeable proof, or hearable hum. 

And, therefore, let the immeasurable come.Let the unknowable touch the buckle of my spine.Let the wind turn in the trees,and the mystery hidden in the dirt

swing through the air.How could I look at anything in this worldand tremble, and grip my hands over my heart?What should I fear? One morningin the leafy green oceanthe honeycomb of the corn's beautiful bodyis sure to be there.

-- Mary Oliver

Thanks for listening, sweet ones. I hope that this week finds us all brimming over with faith in the power of each passing moment, and in the basic goodness that is accessible within it. G'night!

Hailey’s Blog: thursday thursday

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:28:00 +0000

Happy Thursday, and, in honor of my dear friend Kate's model of blogging, here is what I'm thankful for in my garden world today: for corn forming on the stalks in my three sisters garden, and the fact that the pole beans climb up them with no human intervention whatsoever. for zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers. for my delightful pup, Huck, who always greets me with such excitement and love. (ironically,) for my having heat stroke last week! this week, I'm drinking water out the wazooooo, which makes garden work in the sun a million times more enjoyable. for heirloom tomatoes - brandwines, german johnson, evergreens, kellog's breakfast, and more. for new crops coming up from seed - white beets, red beets, golden beets, chard, arugala, and a whole new crop of sunflowers. for the fact that I get to pull up our poor, disease-infected cucumber crop today! for Eliza, who is my family, and whom I love immensely. for fall gardens, for which I'm selecting seeds this very day. we're going to grow brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, beets, radishes, carrots, and more. for being forced to learn to not let the negativity of others affect my mood, or ability to accomplish work. for electrolyte tablets! :) for burgundy and multi-colored okra. for sunflowers yet again - always for sunflowers <3. We're coping with the struggles of the disease and blight problems as best we can - spraying with neem oil (which is an organic, plant-based fungicide and insecticide). I think that we'll most likely lose some plants, but the bulk of them appear to be growing and producing in a very healthy way. Today I'm feeling really joyful, despite some inter-staff conflicts, because a garden mentor of mine told Eliza that these are the best gardens that Eliza's ever had. These words make me swell with pride. I'm going to savor this feeling today while working in the gardens. Wish me luck!

Hailey’s Blog: heat-stroke saturday.

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:56:00 +0000

So, I'm feeling a little under the weather today, mostly because I got kicked in the face by a minor case of heat stroke yesterday. This is alarming for all the obvious reasons (such as the fact that I had heat stroke), but also for less obvious reasons like the fact that it's limiting my ability to "hop to" in the gardens today. Which are in sore need of my attendance! Mostly I'm just feeling a little drained... probably from the frickin' HEAT STROKE. ;) Now I'll stop complaining and give y'all the updates of the week: This was kind of a big week out here on the farm. On Wednesday, I harvested with Derrick (who works here on Wednesdays and Saturdays) and Kate. As you can see from the pictures I posted a few days ago, we are certainly in the midst of the summer garden bounty - as our cucumber and squash harvests start to die down,our tomato, green bean (well, purple green beans!), pepper, eggplant, zinnia, cosmos, and basil crops are being harvested at their optimum levels. Annnnnd - melon season is now beginning! On Wednesday I went with Eliza to work the Carrboro market, and we sampled a "sorbet swirl" watermelon, named such because it's orange and yellow swirled on the inside. It was delightful! :) However... there are also a number of pretty serious problems that I've had to start addressing this week. On Thursday, our extension agent came out to the farm to look at some of the disease and blight problems that have popped up in our tomato, eggplant, bean, squash, melon, and cucumber plants. This is pretty distressing, because many of these "foliar" fungal diseases and blights can be absolutely devastating to a garden operation if not addressed in the right way and at the right time. I was so excited about his visit, but as it turned out, the results were still rather inconclusive... leaving me feeling overwhelmed and a little paralyzed with worry for my plants. I'll update once I get a better handle on this situation, but needless to say - I'm feeling a little down, and not sure that I have an adequate knowledge-base to really address the problems at hand. Send me some good vibes, today, my friends - for my health, and the health of these plant babies. p.s. - on a brighter note, less than one month til I move into a house in Greensboro with a bunch of fantastic ladies! It warms my spirits considerably to think about how wonderful it will be to share my days with strong, intelligent, and passionate women like these. So very inspiring, to say the least <3.

Hailey’s Blog: back, and at it.

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 03:37:00 +0000

First off, just *one* little picture from Italy...

....... yup, that's right, the leaning tower of Piza!!!!!

Italy was super awesome. We visited Rome, Florence, Venice, the Cinque Terre, & Pompei, all in two short weeks.

Now I'm back at the farm, and I have more pictures to share with you, as I try to chronicle (somewhat frantically) all of the different crops that we're producing right now.

To begin, it's finally:

tomato season!

We're growing a number of different heirloom varieties, such as brandywine, german johnson, evergreen, kellog's breakfast, a "heart-shaped" variety, a "peach" tomato variety, and little baby sungolds.

And of course, not to neglect the ever-fabulous....

cherokee purple tomato, which is the most tender, non-acidic, yet uber flavorful tomato you'll ever eat. Hands down.

We've also been harvesting:

cucumbers,

squash,

heirloom green and "burgundy" okra

eggplant, that have been growing quite voraciously, and that I am most incredibly proud of (yes, those orange balls are also a type of heirloom eggplant)!

and, also:

zinnias, sunflowers, and cosmos (of which there's only one - the white flower in the background).

Last but not least, here's a few other pictures I took today:

Huckie and I, working/loving away, right before I ran to get ready for market.

A slightly larger view of the lower garden (and look how big that corn is behind all the flower and herb rows!).

And finally, a view of the house and lower garden from the "middle field" (the one that you walk through to get up to the shop and other garden).

I have about 3480723047.97 zillion other things to say tonight, but I'm also very tired and ready for bed (nice and clean, and fresh out of the shower <3). As such, let me just say this: Kate, Eliza, & the boys did such a good job tending to things in the garden while I was away. Last week was a whirlwind of activity, but this week I'm focusing on addressing the blight and disease problems that have unfortunately seem to have arisen in my absence. Luckily, our extension agent, Mark, is coming out at 8:30AM tomorrow to take some samples of the "problem" sections in for diagnosis at a lab in Raleigh.

As usual: regardless of all outside worries or day to day difficulties, as the sun goes down on Cane Creek farm, I am endlessly grateful for the richness of my life here.

G'night!

Hailey’s Blog: Italia

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:44:00 +0000

So we're leaving tomorrow morning for Italy, and I can't believe it. I'm feeling super excited for the voyage... and ready to not think about ANYTHING that could be potentially stressful while I'm gone. That being said... let me just admit: I miss the farm already!! I really do. It's been nice to have a few free days to laze about and, for example, watch 7 episodes of "Law & Order SVU" in a row (hehe), but at the end of the day it pains me a little bit inside to be so far away from my plants. I also feel a little weird because I haven't heard from Eliza since Wednesday... This is not a long time, clearly, as it's Friday, but it feels long to me! :) I'm really going to challenge myself to be present for the next 2 weeks. So that means no blogging til I get back! Sending all my love, & wish me luck in Italia. p.s. - on the feeling lost front, I'm feeling much more settled within myself. In fact, I've actually been feeling more at ease then I have in awhile over these past few days. Which is nice. YAHOOOO! :)