It finally got a little cooler today!  It was in the 80’s instead of 90-100.  This made the work go a lot faster and we accomplished more because we weren’t stopping for water as much.  We started off with our usual introductions and then got to work in the three groups.   Morning is the best time to weed so we got started with that first.  We weeded on either side of the carrot bed so that we could plant carrots later on in the day.  Sure enough, we finished the weeding we started on before break! 

After eating some homemade pickles and sharing some laughs during break, we headed back out on the field.  One group took on cutting wood and putting up more pole bean teepees, another group readied one of the beds for carrots and started planting carrots.  The last group cleaned up in the parking lot and then planted leeks and dragon lingerie, which is a bean.  I think we all felt pretty accomplished by the end of the day, and time seemed to fly! 

The Saturday CSA pickups started today.  Full Plate customers flocked to the farm to pick up their shares, including vegetables from Stick & Stone and Remembrance Farm and flowers from our very own Three Swallows U-pick.  Meanwhile, youth farm workers finished more weeding.  The field is starting to resemble a farm again.

Today was our first development session day.  We started out with some team-building activities and then discussed how the workweek went for everyone and what things could be improved for next week. 

Next, Karl Grahm joined us to talk about the advantages of having both a checking and savings account and fill us in on some money-management techniques.  After that, Ann led a discussion on sustainable agriculture, including a history of farming that has led to the mass-producing monoculture that dominates our food system.  Partway through the discussion, some of the teens met up with a cook from GreenStar who taught them how to make a delicious meal made from local ingredients. 

Afterwards, the whole group came back together and enjoyed our lunch of quinoa and beans, cucumber, onion and tomato salad, fruit salad, and kale with onions, zucchini, and summer squash.  Most thought it was incredible; however, some people were hesitant to try the food and a few people declined from eating it.  I’m curious to see how the attitude towards this food changes as we move forward at the farm.  There were many others that were as impressed with the meal as I was.  A couple people were surprised at how full they were after this meal because they didn’t expect veggies to be very filling.  During the meal, the chef explained where all the ingredients had come from.  One interesting tidbit we learned is that the Amish are always the first to have tomatoes in the area, but GreenStar has to go pick up the crops themselves because the Amish don’t drive cars.

For the second day at the farm we played some name games and I’m pretty sure we all know each others’ names already!
  
Today, we started off with weeding and got a couple more rows done.  After break, team leaders were assigned and three groups were formed.  One group was assigned the task of planting leeks, another group pounded posts in one of the tomato beds, and the last group made tepee pole bean structures.  This was nice for two reasons: one, we weren’t weeding, and two, each group had a smaller, more manageable task so they were able to work together as a team.
  
Today was another scorcher, probably reaching into the high 90’s, and yet we got almost all that we needed to done.  With about one hour left in the day, one of the groups began to harvest food for the Congo Square Market.  We harvested a few heads of lettuce, some kale, collard greens, zucchini, parsley, and basil.  It turned out that an hour wasn’t really enough to harvest all that we wanted to, but we can adjust that next week.

Today was the first official work day!  We have a really great group of 18 teens getting paid to work on the farm this summer, and we will have some volunteers trickling in as well  (Today we had LACS students Jintana and Francesca, our youngest farmers).  We started off by introducing ourselves and then played a couple of games to get to know each other better.  The first game we played was a sort of musical chairs.  Instead of being "out", the person who gets caught without a seat must say something about themselves.  Anyone else for whom the statement is also true must then stand up and move to another seat.  Next, we played "Two Truths and a Lie", where one person tells two truths and a lie about themselves and others must guess which is the lie.

Next, Ann gave a history of Three Swallows Farm leading up to it being a youth-run farm today.  Dan then gave a timeline of this growing season and described all of the hard work it has taken to get the gardens to where they are now.  After a quick tour of the farm and a popsicle treat, it was time to get our hands dirty!

As we darrive at the farm, we all saw that the garden was full with lots of lush, green plants.  Unfortunately, not much of what we were looking at were actually crops.  Today, we set out to change this and were successful in weeding three whole rows in one 100° afternoon!  This is a testament to how hard-working and motivated our group is.

Tomorrow will be the first day of the official summer work schedule!  From now on, here is how the work time will be distributed:
 
The work shifts for the students being paid to work on the farm will be from 9am-1pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  Each day will start with a morning check-in and a little group bonding before the workers will split into groups to weed, plant, harvest, and doing basically everything else that needs doing.  Anyone who feels like contributing a couple hours of farm labor is welcome to drop by on any of these work days!

On Fridays from 9am-1pm, the youth work force will have farm education days at Southside.  Speakers from various venues will come and present on many different aspects of farming, from Asian rice farming methods to composting techniques.  We will also use these times to enjoy some of the food we've been growing.
 
Saturdays, also from 9am-1pm, will be community time.  This is when the Full Plate customers in the Danby area come by to pick up their weekly CSA shares.  This shift is optional for the student workers, so work time is generally a lot more casual.  If you're curious about what happens on the farm and just want to drop by for a little while to see what's going on, Saturday is the perfect time to do so.