On the way back from Orchard Hill we detoured down to the lake, where Nitya and I had a quick dip.
(Peter McClusky, right, with fellow interns from Whole Circle Farm during his 2010 internship) To see more photos and learn about my journey from New York City to farm, and to Toronto (my home city) to start the Toronto Garlic Festival, you're welcome to wander through my blog.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Quick Dip in Lake Ontario
On the way back from Orchard Hill we detoured down to the lake, where Nitya and I had a quick dip.
Visit to Orchard Hill Farm
As part of our education we visit a farm each month. Today we visited Orchard Hill Farm, run by Ken and Martha Laing. There were 80+ other farm interns and farmers also visiting today - we're all part of the CRAFT Network (Collaborative Regional Farmer Training). Orchard Hill uses draught horses, which once mastered, are cheaper to maintain than tractors, and supply valuable manure for the fields.
This 2 horse plow I'm having a practice run on certainly isn't as powerful as most modern tractors, but it's a different feeling riding behind the two mares as it cuts through the earth (Ken was nearby in this photo, but I cropped him out so I'd look like an old hand with a moldboard plow).
Heather and Andrew reinact the famous painting by Grant Wood.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Behind The Camera
Many of the shots this season were taken by me. For the shots where I'm included I often perched the camera on an improvised tripod, be it a pile of dirt, a tree branch or, some sturdy grass blades. Then I'd set the timer and dive into the shot.
Building the pighouse
By late morning we started and almost completed construction of a portable pig house. If not for a late afternoon storm fast approaching from the north-east we would have finished it. Between the seven of us we had four hammers, a skilsaw, a level, two tape measures, a square, a pen and a pencil. That should have been enough tools to keep everyone busy. But for some reason - maybe it was the coffee we had after lunch that made everyone hyper. Or, might have been the pre-storm electricity in the air. Whatever the cause, everyone was multi-tasking. It seemed we were poised to win in the Eastern Division of the National Annual Hog House Building competition. Every body was doing every thing. "Pass the pencil." "I need the square" Who's got my tape meausure." "Cut that 12 foot board to 12 feet one inch." "Wha?"
Unfortunately it started to pour. We packed up our gear, and drove back to the farmhouse, to meet up with Johann and Monique who left ahead of us to start some biodynamic preps.
Monday, May 3, 2010
The Whole Circle Team
l to r: Maggie Kleinsasser, Shioban, Johann Kleinssser, Andrew, Heather, Abhi, Peter, Nitya, Monique. Shioban joined the intern team last week.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Raw Milk Debate
Johann, Monique and I attended Canada's first Cowshare college, run by Michael Schmidt and a veteran of the raw milk wars in the US, Tim Wight (sic). The idea is to introduce an agreed operating procedure for raw milk production. More on this later.
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