Life on an organic farm is.... Resourceful. Old yogurt containers are used for scooping, and cut up for plant labels.

It was a cold, rainy day on here Maplewood, as we dug through the field to transplant 3 rows of Fiesta Broccoli. My hands felt numb at times pushing through the soil, especially covering the plant when the soil got hard and clay-like. We enjoyed finishing, that's for sure! But before we left, Hannah let us three interns try out using the rototiller. We tested it on rows that currently don't have plants in them, and for a good reason! My trips down the row with the rototiller would have uprooted any life planted there! It's much more of a powerful machine than I could have imagined, and pulled me more than I pushed it! Not sure if I'll be up to trying it out again any time soon....

Mixed in with the broccoli we planted Cosmos and Calendula flowers. Every 6 broccoli plants we'd put one of the two flowers. The Cosmos attracts beneficial insects, while the Calendula attracts bees, but also repels unwanted insects. Many different types of flowers act as natural attractants or repellents to desirable or undesirable insects, a practiced called companion planting. It's an excellent idea for all you vegetable gardeners out there, and necessary for organic growers wishing to decrease their chances of a pest problem!


Here are some examples of plants that will offend unwanted pest:

- Onions to keep out Carrot Rust Flies
- Tansy for Colorado Potato Beetles
- Marigolds Mexican Bean Beetles and Eggplant
- Basil as well, for Eggplant
- Nasturtiums for Squash Bugs
- Marigolds, Mint or Thyme for Cabbage Moths

I finished my day with feeding the mother-less calf. I as some of you may
know, have been obsessed with cows since I can remember, and so this was a remarkable experience! She was moved into the old dairy barn this morning, after a cold night outside, where she now lays on a hay patch under a heat lamp to stay warm. Hannah and I heated up some milk for her in a bottle, which basically looked like a bigger size of one you'd use on a baby. Her back legs shook as I feed her from the bottle, as if she was still too weak to comfortably stand. Hopefully she'll be able to survive, as we're all getting to grow quite fond of tag number 91! She's a cute little thing, and drank everything I feed to her this afternoon, so can only get better soon enough.