Life on an organic farm is...filled with interesting techniques! Today, we used a blow torch:)

Carrots in the smaller garden by the house, were planted in early May. Right before they begin to sprout above the ground, they push up on the soil, creating a little ridge; and this is when, Hannah says, is the best time to bring on the blow torch! I never realized this was a technique used for weeding, but it makes sense. Instead of being on your hands and knees pulling out the little weeds, like we did for most of the day with strawberries and asparagus, we burnt them down. You only have to use a small flame and leave it over the weed only for a short amount of time, just long enough for the plant to start to wilt. Since some wood chips still remain towards the end of the row, tiny little fires would start, leaving me to stomp them out with my foot.

After some transplanting of Cilantro (which still has a strong scent even when it's just a seedling!), Hannah showed us how to prepare some organic fertilizer. They apply it to their greenhouse as well as to the plants out in the field about once every two weeks. They choose a fish and seaweed solution, and pour just two ounces of it into a sprayer, which they fill the rest with water. After the solution and the water are in the sprayer, it's compressed (their sprayer has a pump built into it, that when pumped will compress). Once it gets harder and harder to pump, it's ready to be sprayed. If you're interested in applying something like this to your vegetables, apply it either in the early morning or evening. It can't be too hot out because you apply right to the leaves, and it could evaporate off quick, or the fertilizer could burn the plant with too much sunlight on it.

I've defiantly started to feel my guns bulk up a little bit, guns meaning muscles, am trying to avoid getting a farmers tan as much as possible, but have very defined tan lines from my rings, and by the end of the day feel dirty as ever! Yesterday I finally made my bed for a first since I've been here, and spent more time wiping dirt and grass off of it than one would probably like. Ellyn decided we should call our camper a bachelor pad, since it's beginning to look like it with our mess, compared to Eric's nice neat and organized room in the house!