Chick-a-biddy Acres

well, we're here!

we are Christopher and Emily, two new farmers officially one week into a six month internship. here is Chick-a-biddy Acres, an organic farm nestled in the rolling green of the Trent Hills a bit north of Rice Lake, five minutes west of Hastings, eight kilometers south of the Trans-Canada Highway, and 20 or so minutes east of Peterborough, Ontario.

our day starts around six o'clock. we get up in time to make a big breakfast, usually half a dozen farm fresh eggs between us, with porridge or toast, and coffee or chai. we meet our boss Josh and fellow intern Tara on the porch at seven sharp to get an idea of what's up for the day.

on a regular morning, barn chores are always first. we let the three ducks, Lucy the goose, the ewes and their lambs all out into the barnyard and pasture. we feed Snake the ram his breakfast of hay. we check on the chicks and chickens, and collect any stray eggs. and as of yesterday, we tend to four Tamworth weaners.

after that, every day on the farm is different. hell, every hour is. in the six and a half working days we've been here, we've already done a wider variety of tasks than I've ever experienced at any of my umpteen billion jobs in the city. this is, in a nutshell, what makes farming such a rewarding and exhausting way of life.

since it's spring we've spent a lot of time prepping fields for planting. new beds get turned up with the rototiller or cultivated with the tractor, then either hand-weeded in preparation for transplanted seedlings or raked clear of rocks to make way for the seeder. planting seedlings is one of my favorite tasks: laying out the seedlings at their ideal spacing, slicing into soft dark soil, setting the new plant up in its new digs and whispering grow.

today we started several varieties each of lettuce, bok choi, tat soi, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli on their journey to becoming tasty foods; last week we planted so many things I can't ever remember.

the greenhouse gets opened up around nine every morning, and one person spends an hour or so watering all the young plants inside. work in the greenhouse is generally reserved for rainy days, like tomorrow. the four of us will be rotating DJ duty on Josh's boombox as we sow seeds and re-pot seedlings, adding hundreds of new plants to the everflow out, out: from greenhouse to cold-frames to field.