BIENVENUES A LA FERME!

So after almost a year of inactivity during my AmeriCorps “sabbatical” (that was anything but relaxing) I have decided to resume my blogging activities. This time, instead of fish, the topic shall be farming. Yesterday I arrived at Community Homestead, a non-profit rural community that lives and works with people with special needs. My main duties for the next three months will focus mainly on gardening and milking, but I will also have the opportunity to try other things such as canning, making yogurt and baking bread.

So far, so good. I am living in Morning Glory, one of six houses on the farm, with the Elmquist family (they have four children, all but one that are out of the house), a German girl who is here for the summer, and four long-term residents. I have my own room, which after this past year is a dealmaker in and of itself. And the house has a resident cat, Kit-Kat, who is very sweet but is all skin-and-bones due to a case of intestinal worms that he is being treated for later this week. There are a plethora of other animals running around as well – mainly just dogs and cats, but chickens, too.

As for food, we have fresh, unpasteurized milk from their 30 dairy cows, completely organic. Most of the produce comes from the garden and orchards, but otherwise each house operates on a monthly budget for food and other household needs. To earn money, Community Homestead has a CSA and sells woodcrafts, fiber arts and anything else the residents produce. No one here has a salary and all money is communal.

This morning (Sunday) we attended the “Gathering”, which is a very informal version of church, if it can even be called that. Anyone from the community is welcome to attend, but it is not mandatory. We sat around in a circle, a few passages were read (not necessarily from the Bible), we sang a few songs (that change depending on the season), and then people just visited. All in all in took about 30 minutes.

This evening we went down to the river for a picnic dinner and some swimming. I’ll update everyone on the day-to-day runnings of the farm when I get more accustomed to the schedule. So far, all I know is that Mondays we start bright and early at 6am to start the week’s harvest! Otherwise, starting times each day are a bit more flexible.

A TOUT A L’HEURE!