(Continued from what? Read my previous post, here.)

I'm not sure I knew then how much of an impact those times with my great grandparents and their farm-dwelling siblings would have on me. I know now. What was intended to be a way for my grandmother to give my mother some personal time (or time away from my father) also served as a glimpse into an alternative to what I was accustomed to. I could have quiet, verdancy, family, love, and good food over chaos, anger, anxiety and noise. It was a choice I was being offered, one I would have to make as an adult. I stowed these experiences away as dear memories, but they would come back to me as a sort of guide, helping navigate through the rough patches in my life and directing me to places where I would be safe and could flourish.

I don't think this type of experience is unique. I believe we all have these places and times in our lives that inform who we are to be or what we want but sometimes we fail to defer to them in moments of doubt. I don't want to give myself too much credit, but I cannot recall a single time in my adult life where I've not fallen back on these times to gain some clarity. I find myself in a tough spot and I think to myself, "How can I get back to that place? What do I have to do to get to those blue mountains again...at least in my heart?" The way often presents itself in time. Sometimes the way makes you wait. It took a long time after I first moved to New York to feel like I was treading on the right path.

Before New York, I was back in Baltimore after a failed moved to Arizona. I had cruelly left one man to be with another that I had developed strong feelings for. I was in my early twenties and frankly, I was a complete shit. I would barrel through whatever and whoever to get my way and people got hurt sometimes. It was a terrible flaw but I feel I have tempered that part of myself in my more adult years. In any case, I fell in love with a person that I had always considered out of my league. His affection was returned, and I was done for. At first it was a like a dream. It had seemed as though we wanted all of the same things (we both had a reverence for nature and a desire to live the "good life".) For the first time I saw myself with a real future with someone. We created a really wonderful home and dug up our first vegetable patch together. We took a beekeeping course and cooked meals from food we harvested. We had a routine of eating breakfast and drinking tea on the front porch every morning with the cats. I was in domestic bliss.

Except for when I wasn't anymore.

I don't know what happened. It's been a long time and I've picked that relationship apart down to it's atomic structure. I'm not even sure what parts are true and what I've allowed my imagination to embellish. But what I know for certain is this: I was immature and unfulfilled and he fell out of love with me, leaving me to contend with the ghost of our relationship. I had gotten my just deserts for all of the times I had done the same to other people, and it really sucked.

He went to NYC to start over, and I followed. It took me a long time to admit, though it was obvious to anyone with eyes, that I wanted to work things out with him. It was insane of me. I uprooted everything for a misguided attempt at salvaging a relationship that had absolutely run it's course. To be fair to myself, I also just wanted to get out of Baltimore. I had loved that city once but there was nothing there for me anymore. I recognized a good opportunity to move on and I took it. I landed a good job with a small clothing company in the Lower East Side, a great apartment with cool landlords and was doing pretty well, on paper. Behind closed doors, however, I wasn't even a person anymore. I was a pulsating, raw nerve prone to bouts of hysterical blubbering and insanity brought on by the fact that this man I was attached to had moved on and I was in a city I wasn't sure I liked very much. My friends endured a lot during that time and I'm glad to have had them around.

I tried dating again and I proved pretty quickly that I was not ready for it. I made a mess of things right out of the gate. I just couldn't do it. In some roundabout way it occurred to me that I should focus my attention on something that would make me feel like everything in the world was right where it was before. I recalled all of the times I'd lay in bed thinking about spring and tender green things and warm sunlight and the farm and I knew that instead of seeking a romance with a man, I'd do well to seek romance with the way of life I dabbled in back home in Baltimore.

That first Brooklyn spring, I started a garden with my neighbors. The next year, we set up a beehive (a total life changer) and got a small flock of laying hens. I quit my job to start teaching classes on the subjects I've learned so much about. I've documented much of it here. I continue to learn and I've remained hungry for even more knowledge and understanding.The most important thing I've gleaned from all of it is this:

No matter what hardship and drama is going on in your life, the world lives on as it ever has. You cannot let these things unravel you. None of the things that happened in my life had the capacity to ruin me unless I let them. The world beyond my own heart is still the same. There are relationships at play out there that are age old and far surpass the silly human need to chase romantic love. Our overly intense, cartoonish impression of what it should be is wrong. It's out of balance. No one person should love any one thing to their own detriment. We would do well to direct some of that intensity inward towards ourselves and outwards to the rest of the world. The world is a cruel, amazing, beautiful place and it pains me to see people take it for granted. It pains me to see people hurting themselves as I once did.

It's 9 a.m. on a Wednesday. It's raining and the chickens are in their enclosed run with dry hay. The garden is planted with tomatoes and herbs and beans and buckwheat and the linden trees are about to pop. This will be the biggest source of food for the bees this spring. I've been cobbling this blog post together for a few days now, and I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say. Maybe I just want my readers to understand where I come from so that they feel what they want is within their reach too. Perhaps what I want to say is that the choice to live this way is what saved me. Perhaps it's given me a chance to gain some perspective, to see more clearly. It's pulled me out of my own head, where I had trapped myself. It's thrust me into the world to be part of it. Whatever it is that I am trying to say, I know one thing for sure. I feel so grateful. So eternally grateful to have loved, to have been hurt, to endure and to be alive.

Reposted from BigCityFarmSupply.com

Hey folks!

I'm looking for a short-term intern until the end of July. I've been inundated with stuff to do and I could use an extra hand for about 10 hours a week doing stuff like responding to emails, starting seeds, weeding, transplanting, assembling bee gear, tweeting, entering email addresses for mailing lists, and organizing, organizing, organizing! This is an unpaid internship, but I'll do my best to make it worth it for the right person.

I'm looking for an individual who is interested in learning a bit about urban farming, self-employment and social media and is a quick and efficient worker. I'd prefer a person who is available on a weekday either a full 10 hours in one fell swoop or two 5 hour days dedicated to helping me tighten up my operation. The ideal person is well versed in Microsoft Office, WordPress and Movable Type. Someone with some interest and perhaps a little experience would be great, but I'm flexible. Brown-thumbs welcome as well. Please be able to start ASAP!

Here's what I can offer:

An opportunity to learn a bit about gardening, raising small livestock and beekeeping. This will not be the focus of the internship but you'll be brought into the loop and will be able to participate in classes offered at Hayseed's and will get to absorb information by just being around it. On days when there's no paperwork to be done, we will garden and clean rabbit cages and chicken coops and turn the compost. Farm work. So be able bodied! We lift 30-50lb sacks of feed and stuff often so if you've got a bad back, it might not be a good fit.

One paid meal for each work day...and coffee, plenty of coffee. We drink a lot of it around here.

A monthly Metrocard or cash equivalent. If we can't pay you, the least we can do is help get you around.

If you are interested and committed, please email me if interested with a paragraph or two about yourself and a resume!

My friend Patty from Livingston Brook Farm (who you may remember took me on a ride in a meadow brook cart pulled by her draft horse Steele on a visit to see Jenna and drop off my rabbits) came to Hayseed's to pick up some bees and bring a load of meadow hay for us to sell. In addition, she surprised me with this pretty gal. A Flemish Giant doeling that I promptly named Carrot. She's going to be a big girl (Probably around 15 lb or more) but she's not for eating.

This sweet, friendly rabbit will be part of the team at Hayseed's. She'll help with the production of fertilizer and compost fodder. She'll help to educate budding urban farmers about the benefits of having a pet that can contribute to the garden. Once the end of the 3 month stay is over, she'll either come with me to NJ to join the rest of the colony or she'll find a great home with a loving family somewhere around here. I'm leaving things open-ended. For now, the gals at Domestic Construction are happy to let us have a mascot for the shop. Look out for a new class on rabbit care coming up soon!

I freaking love these images. They never get old.

(Image by Harry Whittier Frees)

Well friends, the day has arrived. After months of planning and hard work, Hayseed's Big City Farm Supply is opening today at noon! I can scarcely believe it. For those of you who are scratching your heads wondering what I'm talking about, Hayseed's is a store dedicated to urban farming created by me and my partners Gwen and Chase from Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm. The store is hosted by and styled by Domestic Construction, a Greenpoint-based design duo. At Hayseed's we'll be providing seeds, soil and amendments, tools, books, beekeeping supplies and weekly workshops. To read more about it, check out our website.

Tonight we will be having our opening party from 6-9, which so far looks like it will be very well attended. The fine folks at The Drink, Breuckelen Distilling," Red Jacket Orchards and Brouwerij Lane have been swell enough to provide some wonderful libations for the celebration. If you plan on coming by to embibe, PLEASE BRING A DRINKING JAR OF YOUR OWN. Sorry, but the idea of buying a bunch of disposable solo cups makes us cringe...besides, drinking out of jars is the bees knees! We'll also have some live music later in the night...some banjo pickin' from Hillary Hawke and friends to be exact!

If you cannot make it to the grand opening today, please feel free to come by during our normal business hours; Wed-Fri 12-8, Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 12-5. We're located at 218 India Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

(Photo by Alex Brown)

Get yr tickets before they are gone!

Ever wanted to learn how to grow, make and preserve your own food in a small space but need some hands-on guidance to do so?

Join Meg Paska, the "Brooklyn Homesteader", on her own turf as she teaches you how to raise chickens, keep bees, grow a garden, compost, forage, can, pickle, preserve and homebrew all from her tiny Greenpoint homestead.

Coffee and homemade donuts will be served in the morning before the class commences. It will tentatively go as follows:

-Building Raised Beds and Planning a Vegetable Garden
-Composting
-Chickens 101
-Food Preservation (Freezing, Drying, Canning, Fermentation)

LUNCH!

-Beekeeping 101
-Wild Edibles
-Homebrewing basics
-DIY Home and Body Care

WIND DOWN with local beers and Q&A

Attendees will get hands on experience in all aspects of the above mentioned topics and will leave with care packages of assorted goodies! (Books on the subjects covered, seeds, canned and pickled items from the class, etc)
Please email Megan@BrooklynHomesteader.com with any questions.

Students are expected to bring notepads and pens, dress in light color clothes, be able to climb ladders and are willing to sign a waiver, as we will be getting up close and personal with stinging, venomous insects, boiling hot jars of food and eating weeds from the nearby park.

All other materials are included in the cost of the class.

Between 2004 and 2005, the NYC Dept of Sanitation conducted a census of what was hiding in our trashcans and recycling bins: The New York City 2004-05 Residential and Street Basket Waste Characterization Study, or WCS. It was the first comprehensive look at our waste stream since a similar DSNY study conducted in 1989/1990.

If you've read my earlier posts, you're probably aware that I kind of have a thing for trash.

While I love me some good scavenging action, there's a lot more to our waste stream than finding drawers in it. Bear with me today; this trash talk has a good point.

A few years ago, I read an article somewhere about how our thrown-away Chinese takeout leftovers produce large amounts methane, a pretty feisty greenhouse gas, as they decompose in landfills. Well, more than just the leftovers... it turned out that just about any organic material (kitchen scraps, paper, yard waste, natural-fiber fabrics, etc.) in the ol' landfill, when entombed under other crap, decomposes anaerobically (i.e. no oxygen present) and emits methane as part of that process.

Vroom vroom!

Back to the 2004/2005 WCS. I was happy to see, among lots of interesting data points, a focus on organic waste. Apparently, the amount of organics in our fair city's residential waste stream, if apprehended, could exceed one million tons of material per year. And that's only counting kitchen scraps, yard trimmings, and compostable paper... and only, again, residential. If we also count paper material otherwise designated for recycling, a whopping 64% of our waste is organic.

More than half. Of the 64,000 tons* of stuff we place curbside. Per week. *According to 2004/2005 figures.

And a buttload of it is heading for the dump. Hello, methane!

The good news is that we regular folk can get crafty to address this problem, benefiting us individually and our ecosystem (and the DSNY, if you care). Fellow homesteaders, take heed.

( Click to read the rest of this entry )

Reading his diary (1890-1920) instead of writing like I ought to be. But, frankly, can you blame me?

From HenriStrobel.com

a.k.a. placing my rabbits in foster care.

Just got back from an overnight trip to Washington County to drop of the rabbits until I get settled in at the new place in August. Jenna was sweet enough to take my gang in for a few months, which was a huge relief. It's a lot for any non-rabbit person to take care of that many critters, but Jenna has experience and I trusted that they would all be safe in her barn with the rest of her rabbits.

(The gang, ready to roll. Salad took the front seat with me. After all, she IS my girl!)

I'm kinda bushed but I really wanted to share my experience in some capacity. I wish I had the energy to describe the whole trip, but I managed to snap a bunch of pictures with my phone while I was there so I think I'll just share those instead. Enjoy!

( Click to read the rest of this entry )