Rain Rain Go Away, We Still Have to Farm Today

This week at my practicum, located at the Last Resort Farm, I spent almost five hours shoveling dirt. Did I mention it was raining the whole time? Organic farming stops at nothing. If plants are still growing, you best believe someone’s going to do some mowing. My mentor plans each day out with specific tasks in mind for his employee. Rain or shine, I always have work to do too! When it rains I get to work on finishing my vertical garden boxes that now contain lettuce seeds. Personally, I like it when it rains because the work is less back-breaking since we work on projects inside of the garage.

Shoveling dirt at an organic farm is a tedious job. First, we had to shovel dirt from a pile located at the top of the driveway into the bed of a truck. We then drove the truck back to the farm and shoveled as much dirt from the truck as possible into a wheelbarrow. We then took the wheel barrow, filled to the brim with heavy dirt, to a garden bed located on the other side of the farm and emptied it. This monotonous process went on without end; back and forth, back and forth. Although it would have been much easier on us workers if we could have driven the truck directly up to the bed, saving as much quality time with the wheelbarrow; however, taking the time to shovel the dirt gave us a unique feeling of success. We worked so hard to prep that garden bed, that by the time we were through, I was ready to collapse.

Just as the rain continued to fall, we continued to work. Although we were already exhausted and felt the success of a good days work, my mentor had other plans in mind. We were then shooed into the back yard and were put to work sprinkling clover seeds over an herb bed. This new activity was to help keep the soil in place until our mentor was ready to plant his herbs. In order to keep birds out of the seeds, we then shook hay all over the clover-infested mound.

Having never had a garden of my own, I had never realized exactly how much work goes into running a small-scale organic farm. It was a day of hard work that I will never forget and I will always think highly of Benjamin, my mentor’s only farm worker. He works from sunrise to sunset every day and is as strong as an ox. He is always smiling and I have never heard him complain. Organic farming or farming in general should not be something that is underestimated. It takes time, a lot of labor, and at least a few muscles.