Archive for the 'Travel' Category

back from Bellingham

Published
by
Steve
on November 12, 2008
in Travel, Web and farming
. 0 Comments

So I went to Bellingham, Washington this past weekend for the Washington Tilth Producers annual conference. I also spent a couple days in and around Bellingham, checking out the area because I had never been there. My friend Marina says she really likes the city and especially likes the Fairhaven area, so I spent some time there on her recommendation.

beautiful morning

I was a horrible photographer this weekend, though. I didn’t take my camera to the conference at all. I wasn’t really sure what I’d do with it there. I went for a walk Monday in Bellingham and snapped a few shots along the way, but that was it. I didn’t get photos of either of my couchsurfing hosts or any of Fairhaven! Silly me. I’m not sure why. I just didn’t think about it … maybe it’s because I think I will go there again and spend more time there.

First domestic couchsurfin’

I couchsurfed the whole time I was in Bellingham. My first host, Jessica, wasn’t even there for two of the three nights I crashed at her place. So awesome! She just left me the key and I slept there after the conference. She got home on Sunday night and cooked me a really awesome pasta dish with some of the produce out of her own garden! Her gypsy peppers were better and redder than the ones we grew at Plum Forest!!! Then I surfed with Jim and Rick in Fairhaven on Monday night. Man I wish I had taken some pictures! Jim and Rick have a great house in a great location with an amazing garden! I also met their friend Mike, who was great company and my tour guide around Fairhaven. Both experiences were absolutely great. Just such amazing people couchsurfing hosts are!

Farming, farming, farming

The conference was pretty amazing. So much information. Too much information, really, as conferences usually are. It was awesome to be around so many like-minded people. Everyone I met was really easy to talk to - we all had so much in common!

Over the course of the conference, there were five workshop sessions. Each session had five different topics to choose from. It was so hard to choose! I was really happy with all my decisions except one. Here’s what I did:

  1. Nutrient Management and Soil Ecology
  2. Local Marketing: Two Multifaceted and Complimentary Business Strategies
  3. Greenhouse Propagation and Season Extension
  4. Pest Management of Slugs and Cabbage Maggots
  5. Efficient and Appropriate Use of Farm Equipment

The last one, #5 was completely mis-titled. The description says the presenter would “concentrate on those pieces that our operation uses the most and which are of greatest benefit to us.” Which he certainly did, but his presentation had absolutely nothing to do with the title of “Efficient and Appropriate Use of Farm Equipment.” It should have been titled: “What equipment Mike uses on his 35 acre farm and what he thinks of it.” To me it was especially inappropriate because one of the first things he told us is that they use a very traditional tillage method on their farm - meaning they run their tractors over the land many, many times plowing, discing, fertilizing, rotovating, cultivating, etc. etc. etc. when every piece of sustainable agriculture knowledge I’ve heard and read is for the most part against such tillage practices. Anyhow … it simply didn’t have one iota to do with what I’ve done or will do with farming.

That little rant aside, the conference was just awesome. I met so many folks, talked about so many different farms. Ate some good food, tried some great wine and got to meet people I’d heard of and conversed with over email, but had never met before. So great! I especially remember Autumn, whom I got to know through several conversations about farming and her farm in Oregon. She bought one of the herb pots I’d been eyeing on our dinner tables. I didn’t get out of my last session in time to buy one before they sold out! Thanks Autumn! You rock! These herb pots were on some tables through out the conference. They were 4 different kinds of herbs - in my case sage, rosemary, mint and thyme - in a terra cotta 6″ pot. After the conference was over, rather than throwing them out, they sold all the pots and leftover food that was unused.

Officially in business

The other big thing I did in the last couple weeks - I’m officially a sole proprietor doing business as Wilson’s DesignWorks! I took the plunge after I errantly forgot to ask a client to make the check payable to “Steve Wilson” and got a check made out to Wilson’s DesignWorks. That prompted me to take the step to make what looks and acts like a business into a business. I just hope it’s not going to cause me any heartburn … tax or headache-wise!!!

Moving on

I’m moving to Sun Island Farm this weekend to start work with them November 17. I’m really looking forward to it! I’ve got some heavy-duty Carhartt rain work wear now and am ready for the elements like I have never been.

I just wish I could get used to this time change!!! It is so darn dark at 4 pm! I’m tired and ready for bed by 8 pm!

it’s like the U2 song …

Published
by
Steve
on August 19, 2008
in Lifestyle and Travel
. 2 Comments

I still haven’t found what I’m looking for …

While that’s not a good or bad thing, necessarily, it’s amazing how many things that lyric can apply to all at once. Mainly what I’m applying it to right now is my love life. Or, now, my lack thereof. In my last post I mentioned Alissa from Chicago. Well, she’s back in Chicago for almost a month now. And, things have changed. It was different when she was here, apparently. Sure it was! I don’t know what it is or what happened, exactly. Of course I want to say it was on her end, but who knows. Maybe it was my fault.

In any case, I’m bummed and disappointed because - I truly felt with her that I had found what I am looking for. After she had left I thought, possibly incorrectly and mistakenly, way to much about what I ought to do to keep things fresh and interesting between us. I felt like, I really want to hang on to this girl. I mean, it is not like I was calling her every day, or emailing her every day, or poking her on Facebook every day. We talked every once in a while on the phone. I sent her an email here and there. I asked twice in an email two weeks apart if she’d had any more thoughts about me coming to visit. (Which, I thought would be crucial to anything lasting.) I mentioned a visit once on the phone and got very positive response (not so much with the emails). Also in an email I tossed around some travel ideas, about meeting in Chicago and going on a trip, or her joining me on a motorcycle trip somewhere. Or various other ideas.

But I guess I pushed it too far. Pressured her a bit more than she wanted. Had I known that she doesn’t feel up to a relationship, I would have never kissed the girl. I mean, you can’t ask that before can you? Wouldn’t that ruin something?

After feeling so good about the connection between us, I felt really stupid to find out she’s essentially not interested. How does that happen? The only thing I can think is that it was all in my head (which, everything is, really). She showed interest in me too (fleeting or not, maybe I need to be able to tell the difference?)

How do people find each other and stay together?

I guess 2000 miles between you at the very beginning (i.e. days after) of a relationship isn’t the best thing for keeping things going. And, finding out if the other person is looking for the same thing you are (a relationship) is key, I guess. I don’t know what to do now. Do I let it go? and if she wants to rekindle something later, renew my interest then? She knows how I feel about her and my desire for there to be an “us”, I’m pretty sure. Do I call? keep in contact?

Damn.

Any secrets?

For the moment this recent occurrence has made my future planning easier. I’m now planning my motorcycle trip down the west-coast. I may have the first wwoof farm already lined up. I’m putting some feelers out for freelance work.

I still don’t have even any vague plans about 2009 yet. Although, they could involve a drastic move away from the Northwest. Or could involve extensive two-wheel traveling. Either way I think farming will be part of it.

Send me some freelance work if you got it! :)

second farmer’s market

Published
by
Steve
on June 22, 2008
in Miscellany, Travel and farming
. 1 Comment

Yesterday was Plum Forest Farm’s second farmer’s market. And, I’m happy to report it was better than the first - for me and for Plum Forest Farm. Not that the first one was awful or really in any way “bad.” After reading the first market post again, I think it is easy to come away from it negatively. The first market was a good learning experience. This market was just better!

Aside from better sales, Rob shared with me the nifty method of keeping a running tally in my head of what a customer is buying, rather than trying to add everything up when they are done picking out their produce. It worked wonders! Duh. Sometimes I am so slow on the uptake. Doing this reduced my sucky math stress to nil! There were also fewer people browsing and more people buying.

garlic scapes

We were in a different and better spot at the market yesterday too. I didn’t think about until just now how our location might have affected sales. We were at the end of a table next to Seabreeze Farm on our right and Lavender Sisters on the left, closer to the sidewalk entrance of the market pavilion. On our side of the pavilion, anyway, we were the first and only produce vendor, I think. We ended up selling out of almost everything. Which, here’s the list of what we had:

  • Artichokes
  • Bok choi
  • Cauliflower
  • Kale
  • Salad mix
  • Garlic scapes
  • Patte D’Oie salad (pronounced pot dwah, a mix of beet greens and spinach)

The only item we didn’t sell completely was cauliflower. Of which, all the prettiest heads sold and only the floret pieces we chunked off from uglier overall heads didn’t sell. And they were pieces of cauliflower that even I wouldn’t buy, so it’s not a surprise they didn’t go. I was sort of surprised, though, because last week our cauliflower was the second thing to sell out (right after broccoli).

After the first market Rob mentioned the idea that our sales would hopefully be higher this week because people would remember us from the week before and might be more inclined to buy from us again, or buy for the first time if they didn’t last week. I think this idea, coupled with our location probably helped a lot.

All this farming and going to market stuff got me thinking yesterday about my experience at La Chalaguere in France. I went to the archives to see what I wrote and found that I really didn’t post much of anything to my blog. And, for as much as I think about the place and enjoyed my time there so much, it’s too bad that I didn’t share more about it!

Mainly why I was thinking about La Chalaguere is that this time a year ago I was there! It is satisfying to me to know that this time last year, what I’m doing now is what I hoped I would be doing at this time this year. The main things that are different this year versus this time last year is the scale/size of the farm, the location, the relative success at the farmer’s market, and the lack of a secret affair with a french farm girl … all of which I miss! :) A neat similar thing about Plum Forest, though, is Rob speaks fairly good French and we grow quite a few French varieties of vegetables.

Anyhow … I’m not sure what else to post right now. I’m on the verge of writing a huge long rambling post, but I’ll save you from that. Today is Sunday and it’s gray and cool out and it’s a great day to just do nothin. There isn’t anything I have to do. Maybe a few things I feel like I should do. Definitely a thing or two I wish were easier to do (like see Dana). But I don’t think I’ll get to any of them! Maybe I’ll call my siblings and mom …

end of the day update: After thinking so much about La Chalaguere, I decided it was time to just call them! I fired up Skype and rang. I got to talk to Granville and Stella, but unfortunately missed Cia by just half and hour. It was really good to talk to them!