produce, community involvement, and learning opportunities

Bramble Hill Farm community share:
[csa, community supported/shared agriculture], May-September, $200-400
1 workshare, member pays $200 with commitment to collaborate, 20 hours per week or workshop schedule
5 csa shares, members pay $400 for 5 months of fresh produce and up to 25% off on a variety of workshops

**option to order from East Mamas Bakery is available**
cookies, cupcakes, cakes, breads, muffins

eastmamasbakery.com

*payment options available, 5 payments over 5 months
*produce pick-up are on Saturdays at the farm
*berry picking is included
*fee covers fresh produce May-September, chicken coop/chickens, greenhouse/water collection system, machinery, and land use.

sometimes you just gotta pick up the shovel and DIG.

and thats what i did. today. with jack and josephine on the sidelines, playing. the longer days are blessings when there is work to be done. a great deal of work. not just any work. handwork. my efforts in finding someone with a tractor failed. and the ground is not going to reveal itself on it's own, so i went for it. and blisters, broken pokey things sticking up from the ground, cranky children, or 80 degree weather on March 13 in TN IS NOT GOING TO STOP ME. and the work has only begun...did i say that twice?

Luckily, the lower field was drawn out the year before, so visually i could see how to begin. i managed to *cut out* 7 of the 15 intended plots [for one side of the lower field] using the double dig method in about 30 minutes or so. The plots are approximately 3-4 feet wide and more than 8 feet long. after all the plots are finished [on one side of the lower field], a second round of hoeing and raking is needed. Then on to the other side of the lower field. This area of the farm stays about 10 degrees cooler, so perfect for spring and fall crops...looking forward to getting the seeds in...

Begins with children, a barn, and chickens.

winter is one of my favorite seasons of the year. Why? It is *cold*. Everything is *dead*. *cold* propels the need for warmth-physically and mentally. *dead* is just a disguise for dormancy.

Finally, today I got a chance to visit and actually work up at the farm with jack and josephine. I decided to focus on the barn, which i am thinking of a name for, the barn. Bramble Barn, Vanwinkle Barn, or simply the barn. The barn is quite the attractive play area for the children. I begun the work i intended to do while jack and josephine immersed in imaginary play. I managed to clear away tall brittle weeds with a hoe and rake, dragging brush into a pile ready for a furious fire. There is a swing set not too far from the barn. Perfect area for a nature play and children's early spring and fall garden.

and across from the barn is an excellent spot to build a large enclosed chicken coop along with a three to four section compost system much like a short sectional network of stalls to fill with kitchen/veggie/fruit scraps, leaf debris, grass, etc. all of the organic matter can be rotated as well as fed to the chickens.

The earth at Bramble Hill is rich, soft.

grounding. and as close to home as one can be...

fragility, the fig tree.

flower pickin

Friday outing to Bramble Hill Farm was a short visit with 6 spectacular kids, half of them my own. The visit was mainly to check on the strawberry plants and to write down the type of battery the riding lawn mower requires.

As we walk up the dirt road, we frolic through the overgrowth that still bares flowers. and that's what the children did, that is what provoked smiles--flower pickin: purple, yellow, white, pink, green foliage...stems lined together, clasped in small palms.

The place is stunning to me...overwhelming with work to be done, but stunning. Seems like each time i visit the vegetation appears 5 inches taller. but my true self explodes with colors...happiness...genuine challenge. because i have no experience in farming. I have no experience working farm equipment or own actual farm equipment for that matter. The love of learning, that's there. The ability to accept failure, that's there too.

Notes are taken about the battery. The children collect what they need for their arrangements. We walk out of the realm of organic magnitude and hop into the minivan. I identify queen annes lace in one of the children's bouquets. And memories swell in my mind and heart of family, friends, and the roots that Mother Nature provides when one engages all the five senses in life.

placed on this earth to return to the earth

i truly believe that i was placed on this earth to return to it. and the more i practice slow growing, the more rooted i become in community, the environment.

Sunday morning, i get to the farm around 7:30 and manage several trips to the strawberry patch..back to the minivan...back to the patch...and so forth. the last back and forth involved a childrens red radio flyer wagon and a bale of hay. the patch is larger than i remembered...and i imagined the plot larger just denied its possibility until upon reality-the patch is generously large. i can work with that...what else to do..can back up. so what any montessorian would do--break up the plot into equal amount of squares. fill the inner squares with the 50 strawberry plants. so i trudge up to the half barn and grab some short 1x1s and trudge back down to the patch...waiting for me. i mark off two large equal squares with the stakes and begin with an edging shovel, outlining the raised bed. then, the hoe. then, the rake. then, the hoe..again. the plants are divided and planted among the two inner squares of the original rectangle. the plants are tucked away with straw...and i forgot the water. the wagon serves well, except when forced over overgrown grass and deep ruts. a truck would be a luxury at this point.

I head up and around to seek out the hiding fig trees. I find the first three. and then the other three are found hiding all the way behind the blackberry brambles.

pictures next time...and maybe a fixed mower...and some camping!

sunday morning with the kids.

Strawberries were very much on my mind for that morning with the children.

However, the weekly lack of available transportation [to carry out my well known ability to create spontaneous "adventures"] and universal chaos lead the weekend pack with NO PLANTS. we did manage to slowly establish the main paths, carelessly search for one another and one of many of the hidden fig trees, and took advantage several times, the compostable "potty"...which is well equipped with handwritten instructions, faded cotton southwestern back drop, and handwashing station.

on arrival, its awkward. a minivan is sure to fail trying to get up a rutted earth road...so we park in a gravel lot and walk up to the earth road from the paved road.

and then we walk...and walk...and hike up a rock laden trail shaded and shadowed by a variety of large trees...its a "tall" hill, but up to the top opens up to a very real natural "untouched" world,

quiet.

there is some struggle walking with the younger children, so the older ones go on...on their own adventure. first stop was the "potty"...we spent a great deal of time here...while i "meticulously" snipped at overgrowth with cranky handshears, directing and observing children...who quite successfully help each other...we head sporadically down the hill and reach a sweet spot in a light ray of light,

quiet.

snipping back and forth with the cranky sheers...childrens voices in the close distance...

reaching the partial barn to find widdeling and imaginative play..as if there was a mountain musician softly recalling a tune with a battered string instrument...or bells.

and then we go...chattering and taking advantage the last bits of nature and solidarity.