French Volunteer, Dry Sunshine, and Sustainability Students
The darkest month of the year has come and gone, a rather dry and somewhat mild December that ended a big year at Merry Lea Sustainable Farm. As some of our students might say, 2014 was ‘solid.’ I think all of us at Rieth Village would agree.
Much happened this month. Being almost entirely snowless, December enabled some outdoor work to still get done. From protecting new trees and shrubs in our five-acre permaculture planting, to repurposing old scrap lumber to make next year’s garden signs, and hauling horse manure from a board member’s property for our composting, tasks got crossed off the list before the real brunt of winter. Thank goodness that our French WWOOF volunteer Jean-Pierre stuck with us until mid-December!
Unfortunately, our beloved chickens left Merry Lea the following week, a mixed blessing before Christmas. Farm decisions can be tough some times, but self-care is just as valid to pursue as egg production. We decided it would be better for farm staff to be able to travel to see family over the holidays (instead of making daily trips to Wolf Lake to feed 17 birds), so we found homes for them (live!), giving Dale and I time to plan how we grow the flock this spring. Two gracious farms were willing to take our hens and the lone rooster. While our birds are missed, they are in good hands.
Before Jean-Pierre left we brought our produce stand to Goshen College campus one final time before the snow came, selling our remaining produce (potatoes, garlic, frozen chickens, and popcorn) to customers during the Goshen College art sale on Dec. 9. I’d missed seeing the familiar faces of students and faculty in the weeks since the last on-campus sale! And thanks to Jean-Pierre who brushed up on his English while staffing the table, I was able to support Goshen College students by purchasing some of their beautiful handmade gifts as Christmas presents.
One experiment that we tried at the farm this December was greenhouse season extension. With the dry and cold (but not bitter) conditions, we succeeded in keeping kale, collard greens, bok choy, and various lettuce varieties alive in our unheated greenhouse. The winter rye that was planted in the greenhouse and hoophouse in late November also started growing, poking green shoots through the layer of fallen leaves we’d laid as mulch. Hopefully the rye breaks up some soil compaction and stimulates good biological activity underground. We shall see how long we can keep such greens alive if January proves to be as brutal as last year! It’s worth the risk—nothing tastes better than fresh greens in the dead of winter!
What a blessing it was to have students and a WWOOFer around this month. The Sustainability Leadership Semester students as well as Jean-Pierre had their last day at Merry Lea on December 12, a day filled with celebrations, packing up, cleaning, and lots of goodbyes. It made us feel good to know some of our greenhouse kale and remnant tomatoes were used in the salads that day. But soon, Rieth Village became much quieter without five students cooking, playing games, chatting, and studying. As the winter solstice approached, a sense of quiet and a slower pace returned to Rieth Village.
December ended with lots of planning projects. As usual this time of year, updating sales records and revisiting summer curriculum return as part of the winter work rhythm. But new tasks, new projects are on the table. For this coming spring, Merry Lea Sustainable Farm will develop indoor and outdoor pens for new farm animals for the first time, thanks to our new barn. Research, measuring indoor space requirements, and flagging possible outdoor pen locations began as we think about pigs or meat goats in 2015. Agroecology Summer Intensive students will surely enjoy the connection to more farm animals this coming summer!
With December passing and a new year beginning, we want to say thank you to all those who spent time at Merry Lea this year and engaged our agroecology programs, those who said yes to volunteering at Merry Lea Sustainable Farm, and customers and supporters who purchased farm produce or donated to the sustainable agriculture program and the farm infrastructure projects. It is astounding to feel the support and to see interest grow in what we do here at Merry Lea. May 2015 also be a positive, encouraging year in this place.
– Jon Zirkle, Farm Manager & Agroecology Instructor