Day 10: Wine and Cheese Social

Nobody was down at breakfast this morning, so I ate my meal in solace, reading a National Geographic.  I’ll be so educated about 1990’s environmental topics by the end of this summer.  Just before 8, Sage came stumbling down sleepily to give me my to-do list.  I wanted to be prompt about getting outside by 8, but Sage needed me to make breakfast for her first.  I first had to water both hoop houses.  There’s a piece that connects 2 hoses to the hose from the house, and I’m assured to get my legs and feet pretty drenched every morning when I have to unscrew the main hose to water the upper hoop house.  While ‘bugging’ in the lower hoop house, I was pleased to find few predatory insects on the cucumber plants, as I normally find many, and instead there were more bug eggs to be squished.  I then finished weeding, suckering, and wrapping the tomato plants in the upper hoop house.  I didn’t have to weed between the rows of the upper hoop house since Mary has the entire hoop house covered in black plastic to have maximal prevention of weeds.  Sage, again, was following me around this morning, and wanted nothing but to play more 20 questions and the interrupting cow knock knock joke over and over again, so I suggested we sing some songs, for variety.  Mary had already left with Kenya to pick up our 4^th (1^st of the day) load of hay, so she had to explain my next task to me, planting lettuce seeds.  While weeding the herb garden a few days ago, I pulled out the roots of the harvested mesclun and tilled the soil.  Using a hand trowel, I spread out a ½” deep and 1” wide lane along the entire 12-14” of each hole.  I sprinkled the lettuce seeds in, which are very small and dark brown, close enough so that they’re just next to each other but far enough so that they aren’t on top of each other.  I then covered the seeds with 1/4"-1/2” of soil.  By then, Mary had returned with the hay.  Kenya’s 2 friends returned today to help, although we were still without Katie and Eli.  As well as getting the bails off of the trailer, I lifted the bails from the ground where Gil left them to the top of our hay staircase, handing them off to Caitlin.  Lots of bottom right to top left lifting.  Lunch was between the hay loads, and we finished hay day(s) with final count of 407 bails.  Mary had me go plant flowers, 5 to 6 in a line in each rectangular hole in field 6.  Again, she wanted each of the different kinds of flowers planted together.  Although many of the flowers pots came with multiple seedlings in each pot, I was to separate the seedlings and plant each in its own hole, covering them so that the soil was flat and even (allowing the water to soak down evenly, as opposed to hilling the soil around the plant which makes the water pour down the hill).  Today was a special day, however, because I stopped at 2:45 to pick flowers around the yard for Mary’s Wine and Cheese social tonight, and I closed up shop.  I had just enough time for a quick hand bath to wash the visible dirt off of me and getting into a dress (a nice reunion with my favorite piece of clothing) before Eli, Mary’s boyfriend, came to pick up Gil and I, as Mary had already left with Kenya and Sage to set up.  I didn’t wear Katie’s pants today while haying, so my bare legs got scratched and bled from the hay and could be seen beneath my dress.  Trying to hide my scratches as best as I could, I explored our settings in the Belgrade water conservation center.  The walls covered with milfoil¹ alerts and education.  Mary was hosting this social to raise awareness for her campaign to turn Winterberry Farm into a Forever Farm.  Mary will use the Maine Farmland Trust to put easements on her property to make sure the land of Winterberry Farm always stays farmland.  Maine is rich in farmland from potato farms up north in ‘the county’ to diversified farms down south, like Mary’s.  Because Winterberry Farm is on a highway, Route 27, it’s vulnerable to development moreso than other farms.  Putting easements onto land to protect the farm is more effective than including this criterion in a deed because easements involve a 3^rd party enforcing the law even if the farm leaves the family or falls into someone’s hand who wants to get rid of the farmland.  Stacey from the Maine Farmland Trust spoke about her company, and Mary had Eli’s brother, a Maine congressman, speak of the importance of farmland preservation. 

I was pleased at the 20-30 person turn-out in the small room that we were in.   At the last moment, we found out we couldn’t serve alcohol in the water conservation center, so Eli brought over some Eli’s Pop, a Maine-based soda company (not associated with Eli, however), with flavors: root beer, blueberry (tasty!), strawberry, and parrot punch.  Along with the pops were mason jars of well water from Winterberry Farm and of well water with frozen blueberries in them.  Kenya and I helped spread goat chevre² and another cheese from a local cheesery onto crackers garnished with fiddleheads or pickled watermelon rinds.  I served crackers and sold tickets for Mary’s fundraising dinner on July 29^th that will be on site at Winterberry Farm.  While selling tickets, I was pleased to meet a couple of Mary’s CSA members, an older couple from Great Falls, VA who have come to Belgrade Lakes every summer for 42 years.  It was lovely to chat with some fellow Virginians, coming from just an hour down the road from Richmond, about how great Belgrade is and Winterberry Farm, too, and they told me all about their daughter-in-law training for a half-marathon when they found out I was a runner.  

After an exhausting day, Kenya wanted to go running, so I biked along side her as we ran up a very scenic road while the sun was beginning to set.  I barely had time to settle down and relax when Katie came home and we were called down for dinner at 9:20pm.  Katie, Kenya and I did the dishes, and Kenya then showed me pictures of her family’s canoe trip on her blog³.  

Packaged toast gone

Kenya showed me pictures of her canoe trip and article about her from Joslin (include article url and blog url)

¹ Milfoil is a weed destructive to lakes’ ecosystems.  It dominates native plants, destroying ecosystems from its base.   Kenya explained that there are checkpoints across New England to clear boats’ motors and propellers of the weed.  The only way to kill Milfoil is to drain a lake, a destructive and costly process itself.   

² Chevre is goat milk cheese.  The chevre served tonight was packaged in olive oil and herbs.  

³ Kenya has her blog (http://kenyastrek-kenya.blogspot.com/) to document her progress for a trip that she’s taking next year.  This trip is a 5-month-long semester abroad (Jan-June) through Kroka Expeditions.  She and ~11 other students her age will cross country ski up Vermont, build their own canoes, and canoe back down New Hampshire.  Not only is this a challenging trek, but Kenya faces dealing with her Type-1 diabetes in harsh conditions (she’s worried about her insulin freezing in the cold temperatures, for example).  This amazing trek has made Kenya sort of a ‘poster-child’ for Joslin, a diabetes center that Kenya goes to in Boston (http://blog.joslin.org/2012/06/type-1-teen-to-trek-through-northeast-wilderness/#.T86MzfhEVlk.blogger).  Kenya tracks her fundraising and preparation for her trip on her blog.  Check it out!