It's Time

The start of the growing season brings farm-overwhelm with the Greening

Even as my body protested with it’s aching muscles and sore joints, I rose at 3am─eager to begin a new day. At long last temperatures have warmed enough that any precipitation is coming down as rain. The gardens and field are free from snow and the greening is underway. It’s time. The season has begun in earnest here at Runamuk Acres and already I am feeling the rising panic of farm-overwhelm. I invite you to get yourself a cuppa and join me now for an update from the farm!

Welcome to the latest Updates From the Farm! If you are new here, I invite you to check out my About page to learn what this is, who I am and why I am doing this. Or just dive right in! At “Runamuk Acres” you’ll find the recantings of one lady-farmer and tree-hugging activist from the western mountains of Maine. #foodieswanted

The Path of Totality

Runamuk was fortunate to lay within the “Path of Totality” for last week’s solar eclipse. The farmstay was busy all weekend with late-season skiers Friday and Saturday nights, then eclipse-seekers Sunday and Monday nights. I can’t even remember how many pancakes I made for breakfasts, lol.

Visitors came from every part of Maine, from all over New England and the northeast. They poured into “dragon-country” last Sunday and Monday to watch the spectacle. I was on my way to fetch my son from the weekend at his father’s, heading south along the mighty Kennebec River, and the number of visitors traveling northward was inspiring.

In my earlier piece “Braving Dragon-Country for a Trek into the Maine Wilderness”, I wrote about how many visitors to the state never venture beyond the coastline, missing out on the beauty and splendor of Maine’s mountain and lakes regions. To see the eclipse in totality, people had no choice but to venture inland─into dragon-country.

At the same time, I knew what a cluster-fuck it was going to be when all of these people wanted to leave again, so I collected BraeTek and we made a bee-line for home to wait it out. My sister, who teaches at the local high school, joined us at the farm after school let out early for the day and the three of us watched the eclipse from the comfort of the farm. Sadly, I did not have the right equipment to be able to take any meaningful photographs of the event. Yet, we made some authentic memories as the small, but tight-knit family that we are and so I feel good about that.

Photo credit: Edith June; post-eclipse southbound procession.

It was reported that some 30,000 people flocked to Maine for the eclipse. Many didn’t even wait for the eclipse to be over before they struck out for home again. They may as well have waited to watch the entirety of the spectacle for all the good an early start provided them. Folks leaving the state had a grueling ride and it took some more than 24 hours to creep southward again.

New Favorite Thing!

The rest of the week was less eventful─but no less meaningful─as we set about cleaning up the front of the farmhouse following the long winter. The Ryobi chainsaw I bought to replace the Stihl is my new favorite thing and a great investment. Already it’s paid for itself 3 times over, first with the sale of the Stihl to a friend, and then with a handful of off-farm pruning gigs.

With a saw I can actually manage, I’m finally tackling projects I’ve been looking at for 5 years. A few weeks back I pruned the old apple trees on the backside of the farmhouse. This past week, BraeTek and I cleaned up the lilac bushes growing out of control along the driveway. Bent and broken limbs had become something of an issue as they brushed against vehicles and made snowblowing a pain.

I can’t wait to get out into the Back 40─where the campsite lies and trails run through the forest. Keeping paths open will be a breeze with this new saw, making the task a joy rather than a drudgery.

The Greening

With an instinctual keening for sun and soil, the pruning work has pacified my soul over these last few weeks. I could get outside on a sunny morning or afternoon, between snow and rain showers, to tackle these smaller projects ahead of the season and make that connection to nature that I crave. But it was like too little water when you’re dying of thirst─not nearly enough.

Finally the time has come. Winter snows have become spring rains as the sun warms the landscape, frog-song lulls me to sleep at night and the greening is upon us.

Green creeps across the land─subtly at first. Peeking from beneath bent over brown grasses from last year’s growth. Flushing the roadsides and then the lawns. Creeping up into the canopy of the trees until it spreads across hills, climbing the mountain-sides.

This is my absolute favorite.

When the hills blush with that tender shade of yellow-green just as the trees begin to unfurl their leaves for the season. For me, it’s something akin to a fashion show where the season’s best designers are unveiling their newest creations.

Nature’s fashion show.

Now that’s sexy!

Author photo: My babies are growing up!

In the Garden

With my phone in the butt-pocket of my jeans, tunes blaring, I worked the steel-tined rake down the length of the 50-foot bed. The sun shone and the breeze cooled the sweat on my body as I went. My back and muscles protested─and were ignored. This is what I had been waiting for all winter. I couldn’t think of any way I’d rather be spending my Sunday than in the garden.

Using no-till methods, I maintain permanent beds and pathways in our 2 market-gardens. This, in addition to our sandy soil, allows me to plant fairly early when combined with the use of hoops and row-cover. I could have lettuces and radishes on the farmstand in 30 days if I can just get them in the ground. With my electric bill still $1k outstanding, I’m eager to get crops in the ground to begin generating those much-needed funds.

NOTE: You’ll be happy to know, that—thanks in part to new paid subscribers to the Runamuk blog—in addition to funds generated by the farmstay, I was able to make a $500 payment to my electric utility. It’s been a tough winter at the farm─financially speaking. We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re gaining! From the bottom of my heart, I thank you very much for your support!

Quite a lot has to happen before I can plant that first bed, however. Debris from last year needs to be cleared away. Spent stalks, grasses and weeds that got out of hand have died back over the winter are much easier to remove in the spring.

The 2 gardens combined comprise about 2 acres, both fenced against the dogs and the deer (though somewhat less effective with the later). I’ve cultivated about half of it, so I’m growing an acre of vegetables, with another 2 acres in fruit trees.

Farm-Overwhelm

I admit that farm-overwhelm has come to me early this year. Usually it arrives with the weeds around June or July, at the height of the growing season. Yet, here it is not May and when I think about everything that needs to be done “right now” my anxiety shoots through the roof. Fear and panic flood hotly through my veins, turning my limbs to jelly. It’s hard to know which way to turn or where to start.

Author photo: Combatting farm-overwhelm with my giant chalkboard to-do list!

Thank goodness for my chalkboard and my compulsive need to organize and plan every aspect of my life! This is where those OCD traits are put to good use, lol. I can trust in the plans and notes I made earlier in the year, knowing that if I just keep going─keep putting one foot in front of the other (and breathe!)─progress will be made. Just as it has every year since I landed here─some 6 years ago this June.

Once a bed is clear, I can take the broadfork down through it if need be, to loosen and aerate the soil. With this first bed, I’ll skip that step and just plug my lettuce starts in around a row of radish seed. Add hoops and a row-cover to protect the crop against nighttime temperatures (still only in the 30’s here at night) and soon I’ll be selling salad on the farmstand! Bam, baby!

It’s Time

It always amazes me the stamina I have at the end of the season compared to the start of it. Knowing full-well how hard it can be to come out of winter and plunge into outdoor farm-work, and partially inspired by

Tom Cox

’s daily walks, I’ve recently undertaken to make the daily walk part of my routine. Adding this to an established yoga-habit, you’d think I’d be in pretty good shape─that I wouldn’t feel the aches and pains so much. But alas, such is the nature of farming!

Maybe it’s my age beginning to catch up with me (I’ll be 44 this September). Or maybe having to do it all on my own is finally taking a toll. I can’t say, but I often wonder how long I’ll be able to continue like this. One serious health issue and it could all be over.

Thankfully, I’m healthy as a horse and fit as a fiddle, lol.

With the growing season upon us, it’s time to begin and it’ll take more than a few aches and pains to stop me. Not hardly.

Not this farmer. No way.

And so…I will savor it while it lasts, immersing myself in the magic and joys of farming. For, in spite of the fear and the overwhelm, every day is beautiful here at Runamuk. My work, however difficult it may be, is profoundly meaningful to me. I truly feel like I am living the life I was meant to live. I wake—every morning—eager to begin a new day.

How many people can say that?

Much love to you and yours, my friends!

Your friendly neighborhood farmer,
Sam

Thank you for following along with the story of this lady-farmer! It is truly a privilege to live this life serving my family and community, and protecting wildlife through agricultural conservation. Check back soon for more updates from the farm, and be sure to follow @RunamukAcres on Instagram or Facebook!