Monday morning this intrepid group picked the first corn of our season: nearly 1,000 pounds, which was delivered to Channel One Regional Food Bank in Rochester. Thanks to (L to R) Sarah Purdy, the Sloo family (Ayva, Myranda, Mindy and Mark), Smack, Julie and Sarah and Ida York. In a little over an hour this crew completed the first pass through the first planting.
Thank you all!
Sunday night we had an epic thunderstorm with some of the most violent winds I’ve ever seen. In the morning I found the corn had been knocked sideways – most of the stalks were standing at a 45 degree angle. I worried “What will this mean for the harvest?”
Update, Wednesday August 12th. Turns out corn wants to grow straight up and down. Look at how this cornstalk bent to stand upright. They all did. Mother nature is amazing!
This corn stalk has straightened itself to grow upright after being knocked down by straight line winds.
As spring 2020 approached, the outbreak of Covid-19 was on everyone’s mind. Thinking ahead to this year’s farm season and the likelihood of the pandemic affecting food supplies, we decided to dedicate a portion of the farm’s acreage to growing food for distribution by foodhselves. Second Harvest Heartland in the Twin Cities and Channel One Regional Food Bank in Rochester agreed to help with distribution and Dana Jokela of Sogn Valley Farm agreed to help with machine work and planning. So I bought organic corn seed and squash plants, we worked up the field and planted in May and June. Now The Land Stewardship Project has agreed to act as fiscal agent for the project so anyone who’d like to donate funds to pay Sogn Valley Farm for their labor and use of their machinery can do so tax-deductibly (is that a word?).
If you’d like to join the effort by donating, you visit this GoFundMe page. Donations are tax-deductible.
Soon it will be time to gather volunteers to harvest corn – but more about that soon.
With instruction from our mates Tim and Lesley Brooks in the UK (see photo below), we wassailed our apple trees this year. A cold-hardy group gathered at the farm in January (near the time of “Old Christmas” in the UK). We had a potluck feast then performed the Wassail ceremony with hard cider, recitations, song and loud noises. This was followed by a grand bonfire and then fiddle tunes around the wood stove. Here’s hoping the tradition will well serve our apple trees!
Wassail Bonfire, 2019
Wassail Tunes, 2019
Tim and Lesley Brooks Wassail their mighty apple tree, Abbots Langley, UK, January 2019