Highly inspired and humble beginnings
We began this project in February 2008. At least at that point, we gathered in the front yard, looked at a field with no farming history; looked at each other – who many of us had worked together on various farming and community projects; felt into our own heart’s desires and into the beauty and the invitation of the land; and decided to go for it. By March 2008 we had purchased a greenhouse and had begun bringing in as much fertile resource as we could gather for free.
In this photo, it is still winter and lying in the field are imported piles of manure and massive piles of peanut shells from our local Maranatha nut butter factory. We’re finding lots of support from the community at large as other farmer/gardeners with their own projects and aspirations show up with piles of fertility loaded in the back of their pickups to drop off, or seeds and starts to contribute.
Getting the party started
APRIL 2008
The fun begins. We got the greenhouse up, erected the 10 foot fencing around the acre + field to keep deer out, bought organic starting mixes and ordered lots of seeds!!!!
We’re technically a “no-till” crew because we are natural farmers and Permaculture adventurists, but for the first planting, we needed to fluff this compacted scene up a bit and mix in the piles of manure and peanut shells. With the fields nice and fluffy and all the manure’s mixed in, we were ready to begin shovelling out paths and creating the raised beds.
Besides the manure imports, the field was green with weeds and grass which were tilled in. This is called “green manure”, which provides essential nutrients, especially nitrogen, plus the mychorrizal relationships that exist in the soil and root systems to carry on their good work in the overall health of the field.
After this, we are building soil and fertility ecologically as nature might do it, if nature planted market gardens, by mulching and cover-cropping and other purely natural ecological methods.
What we do here is not all about a market garden however. More on that later. That’s when the collective vision comes in and The Village Farm purpose comes into form.
All so beautifully gettin’ it on with life~
MAY 2008
After two months of fence building, seed ordering, plant starting, path digging, visioning, dreaming, meeting, planning and planting, planting, and planting; all of a sudden there was a field of vibrant green greeting us. Varieties of kales, chards, lettuces, beets, radishes, spinaches, chinese mustard, sweet peas, lambs quarters, chamomile, wild mustards, clover and more I can’t recall.
Can you guess which of these are the healthy wild volunteer crops (lovingly referred to as weeds) that, while they might overtake the less resilient annual plants, are indicators of good soil and hence bearers of good tiding and are also doing great work pulling nutrients nearer the surface and innoculating some nitrogen into the soil. As much as we love them, most of them are weeded. The lambs quarters are so tasty that weeding comes with a meal!
Idyllic, yes?!
YES!
These humble beginnings, are humbling for sure. Soon, the rains stop, then it’s too cold again, the warmth arrives late, the greenhouse is roasting, we’re out of money, the quail and gophers are getting fat, the coddling moths are doing too much cuddling, and we’re having too many meetings, then not enough and gracefully nobody’s too concerned about the abundance or lack of meetings.
We are many hero’s on this early part of the journey. The success and survival of the farm is dependent on our main farmer’s and family’s commitment, organizing and ingenuity. There’s irrigation from the irrigation ditch to figure out and water storage when irrigation isn’t available. An outdoor kitchen is built from all recycled and reclaimed items to prepare for harvest time, and lots of communication updates.
There’s the day jobs we all have, and the community building relationships that are ongoing in most of our lives; there’s the growing awareness of all that wants to birth from each of us, and we are getting to know one another on deeper levels. There’s deep-healing and joy gushing from the heart of this project.
And, there’s the first harvest. The first tasty radishes, rainbows of chard, french sorrel, kale, cilantro, and spinach so large and sweet and hearty that it could be considered green-steaks. We are happy.
Bon Apetit!
Please come back for more share-time on the farm. Because there’s lots more to share. Projects, education, art, businesses, and celebrations. Our Villagefarmers website and/or blog should be up soon.
The Village Farm: We are the inner and the outer. We begin with the Heart. We begin with Love. We begin with Nature.
We are children and adults learning through our commitment to co-operatively bring our skills and passions to the field, finding balance in the support we give and receive, as we regenerate our selves and our community to full capacity beingness in these magificently curious times.
We are not a “commune” or intentional community. We are rural urbanites and our “community” is Ashland, Oregon and the surrounding communities.
Our vision is to inspire and model abundant living and joy through partnering with nature, the land and our bio-region as place-based beings living harmoniously in nature’s tender balance. What we bring to each other is an offering of our life-purpose gifts and aspirations as we surrender to the creative will that flows and manifests through the shared projects that support our well-being and that of our community and soul-kins across the universe.
With love and gratitude,
jessica mycelia
nurturer, creatrix, mom, tba
village farmer
earthangel
