It’s the Perfect Day to Garden!
Hello! Welcome back for another week of Happy Valley Farming! This week, we are harvesting big, moving ground, analyzing seedlings, planning curriculum, and revamping old systems. We’ll start with the most recently exciting event: Harvesting Big! In a single harvest today, I picked 1 POUND and 10.3 ounces of lettuce from 2 garden beds. Wow! The spinach […]
Reflections
Happy Holidays from Happy Valley Farms! I hope you have spent the holiday in a comfortable, pleasing environment. I personally have been blessed to reunite with my family in Houston for a warm, humid week. The year of 2015 has passed, thus it is appropriate to take advantage of this time to reflect on our progresses, […]
Breaking Ground, Breaking Cycles
Several weeks ago (before the rains started) the ground was hard as a giant chunk of rock. It was so hard it necessitated a sledge hammer to pierce anything into the unforgiving crust. Since then, as I mentioned, the rains have permeated the hard, angry floor and has softened it to a very amiable, dark, […]
Gratification: Redefined
As I look back through my photo library, I am able to see the timeline of change in the garden in its most raw form. It has now been seven weeks since our volunteer weekend with my family. We produced a fence, diminished trash piles, established garden beds, and bonded relationships. As far back in […]
Starts: Old, New, and Unfamiliar
My Thanksgiving trip to Southern California was a wonderful break from beautiful and now familiar Happy Valley – all 70 acres of it! Yes, it was a relaxing escape from day-to-day duties, and upon return, I have jumped back into the gardening game with more vigor and excitement. I suppose the life-time practicality and opportunity of designing […]
Control. Is It Yours?
Lately I have had a lot of time to think to myself, what with an empty campus and a multitude of encroaching, dark hours each day. Really, I’m always thinking, always attempting to understand my own intuitions. At this point in my life, I have not yet been completely set loose to take care […]
Weekends Are Meant For Working!
We had a momentous weekend here in the Valley! Oh, it was wonderful – the merging of friends, family, and strangers to work with a common purpose slashed item after item off our heavily laden to-do list. Personally, I brought in seven outsiders, all adorned with a “do-it-for-me-because-you-love-me” ornament dangling above their heads. And girl, […]
Business Plan Progress
Although Clayton has left us and gone back to Iowa (where he’s probably melting from all the humidity) Angie and I have continued to be hard at work on our business plan! A lot of our focus has been on physical actions. We have spent a substantial amount of time hiking the North 40 grounds […]
One Small Step For Farm To Table, One Giant Leap For Happy Valley!
Today has been a momentous day! Why, you ask? Because today was the start of Happy Valley’s garden. That’s right, I said it, Happy Valley is going to have a big farm some day, and we have just broken ground for it – er, created ground, that is. Donald and I started out the day […]
It’s All About Progress
Farming. That is all that’s on my mind lately. Each day we interns retire to our beds ready for the forgiving night of sleep to ensue. Today we had the opportunity to tour Camp Harmon, a camp designed for people of all sorts of disabilities. They are nestled in the red woods, just like us, […]
