Seedlings

Awaken, Little Leafies!

 

I've always loved the process of watching a seed sprout. From the childhood wonderment at that first kindergarden bean plant, it seemed like magic to make a plant sprout from virtually nothing.

The act of propagation is to become a mother.
Until you make that conscious decision,
the seed is just potential.
---
You have many needy little children now.
Beans, tomatoes, eggplant, cauliflower, chamomile, cucumber.
I'll sustain them so that they can sustain me.

Standing in the endless field that is one entire acre, I realized how dauntingly few plants I was actually able to propagate. Beloved though they are, my little plant babies were hardly enough to fill 1 of the 4 plots.

That's when the Allie Sunshine Project appeared (http://www.thealliesunshineproject.com/#!blog/ncj4i).

The Allie Sunshine Project is in memory of a woman I never had the pleasure of meeting. Her vibrancy and love I have only heard about through the people she left behind. I can tell from the legacy that Lynn and Dan and Jeremy Hayes have built in her name that she must have been a really wonderful person. They provided Our First Acre with a huge, incredible donation of seedlings. We have planted 2 full rows in our first plot already and we've hardly put a dent in the donation! Thank you all so much.

Plow Progress

Toward the end of May we got to plowin'.

Here's some plow progress.

There's something really satisfying about seeing that grass all chewed up. Just brimming with potential!!

The Community Garden of Hope

Unbeknownst to me, at the same time that I was diving in head-first into this realm of sustainable agriculture, a person named Troy Maleyko started looking for a farmer.

Troy Maleyko and Angela Demarse standing around while Ken Ryles drives the tractor

Troy belongs to the congregation at St Andrew's Church in Lakeshore. He attended a meeting of the Essex County Community Garden Collective, and that's where Lyndon and I first met him. Troy and his wife Neviana run a restaurant in Windsor called Carrots N' Dates (http://carrotsndates.com/) which is this excellent health-food restaurant right next door to Walkerville Brewery (your night is pretty much planned for you).

As restaurateurs and health food advocates, farm-fresh local food is what they're all about.
As an unsolicited piece of advice, their pad thai is ridiculously tasty.

Upon meeting, the three of us were brimming with excitement about what could come from our collaboration over the coming season. Being in a room full of successful community garden leaders, it seemed like this would be a great place to put on our boots and learn what it's like to farm first hand.

Ken Ryles, gettin' riled up on his tractor.

For years, the hardworking people from the St. Andrews Church have been donating their time, and subsequently the tonnes of food they've grown on their acre of land. It's powerful to just imagine how many families they've probably impacted by now.

Lyndon and I set about meeting some of these more experienced people who had been donating their time to this land. Among them was Ken Ryles, who has been plowing the land almost ceaselessly since we told him we were initiating the farm project this year. We came to learn that Ken is a tractor enthusiast, who has spent time buying and selling collector's tractors, as well as competing in local tractor pulls! He has even left one at the farm for us to use at the church property. If you're reading this, Ken, you're an incredible person and we're lucky to have you around.

That satisfaction that comes from tearing up the ground.