farmlife issue no. 1

Life on the farm is busy, entertaining, & full of joie de vivre. If I'm ever bored or lonely, all I need do is head out to the farm where I'm sure to find Riley fishing in the pond, a garden being planted, scouting that needs to be done, or eggs that need to be gathered. I love being married to a berry farmer--even if it means we'll never get to go on a summer vacation again. There is so much energy & life poured into raising berries. And it's so much more involved than corn & beans, (sorry Midwest). The whole family participates in berry harvest & is interested in what's going on. I know all the varieties of berries Tom Sinn & Sons grow, & I know where in the field they're grown. I know which ones are early, which ones are good shippers, but not tasty, which ones are tasty, & which ones are prone to disease. These are things I was never interested in learning about corn & beans, mostly because my personal interest was nil, but also because it seemed so boring & removed from me, one puny little girl. Harvest was done by a big, noisy machine, not by scores of hand laborers who sing & crack jokes while picking. Vast acres & acres of the same plant, while beautiful in their own way, failed to catch my interest the way a little back 40 of bell-flowered blueberry bushes does. That, & an ear of field corn just isn't a handful of sweet, frosty blueberries:). And if I didn't personally enjoy the berry farming, Dar's love of what he does would make me. I'm convinced that any male that grew up on a berry farm secretly wishes that's all he'd ever do. He gets to work with his dad & nurture the farm he grew up on & has such fond childhood memories of. Every last one of his six brothers have dreams of farming someday, too. I feel very blessed that Dar's dad asked him to join him out of college. Hopefully, some of the other boys get the opportunity someday!

Anyway, enough idealistic farm prattle. Here's some photos of the coming to life of the farm for this year's crop. I'm going to attempt to do updates on the farm every month or so, at least til winter. But this is the first one. Farm issue no. 1. 

 

These are the blueberry bushes in late February, before their leaves came out.  I was so pleasantly surprised to discover that blueberry bushes turn red in the fall & stay red all winter! They added some color to the winter landscape.

 Dar checking their blackberries in late February for any damage from some cold weather we had in December. The plants themselves won't be harmed, just the fruit for this year. So far, it doesn't look like the damage has been too extensive.

 

Putting in irrigation in one of the new fields. I love seeing Dar & his dad working together. They aren't exactly the same, but they respect eachother a lot & get along very well. And I know Dar's parents have done a lot to help Dar get started on his own & will be forever grateful to them for that. 

 

The blackberries a few weeks later--look how much they've grown! We should have some berries by the end of June, Dar said. My goodness I can't wait!

And then there's Riley. He is such a little outdoorsman. What he doesn't know about fishing & their pond would fit in a thimble. Many afternoons find him racing off the bus to grab his pole. This particular afternoon in early April was NOT warm enough to go shirtless, but he did anyway. I spent this afternoon by the pond, intermittenly catching bluegill (yes! I caught fish) & chatting with my friend Adriana who saw us lounging & walked with her daughter down the road from where she lives to join us. It was like an afternoon out of some sweet bygone days before cellphones & busyness. Just pure loveliness.

 

Putting in more irrigation for Dar's first field of his own. If you look closely, you can see all the posts in the background that will be the supports for the blackberries when they are bigger. They planted the baby plants last fall, & pounded posts all winter. Next summer, they'll maybe have some fruit, & the next summer, we'll have a small harvest. 

These are what a blueberry bloom looks like. Each one of those dainty little bells will be a luscious, dusky berry come July. I'm salivating already! Also, despite my bragging of how much I know about berry farming earlier, I have no idea what variety these are:).

Now this is how they plant a garden in the Tom & Edie Sinn family. Which explains a lot. 

 This is the filbert orchard. (I feel so local calling them "filberts" as opposed to hazelnuts. Humor me.) They don't have a ton of filberts, just a little orchard on a hillside that was too steep for berries. Why is wasn't too steep for filberts, I don't know. Dar likes to get my heart racing by driving too fast (in my opinion) around the hills of the orchard. I don't know if my flatlands upbringing will ever overcome my fear of tipping over on the steep hills out here.

 

And this is what the blackberries look like now. See a few blooms? 

 

Another charming difference in farming out here: bees. They have bees brought in to pollinate all the plants & for weeks now, we've been serenaded by the thrum of bees. On a warm, sunny afternoon, you can lay in one of the berry roads (what they call the dirt lanes winding around the fields), & watch the bees zooming up & down the roads like they're their own little interstates. Fascinating creatures. I've only been stung once so far, & that was my own fault. I pinched a bee that was nestled in a flower I'd picked because I thought it was dead. It wasn't. 

 Studying for his pesticide applicator's license during his lunch break. It was 88 degrees that day.

I am in love with the flowering shrubs out here: azaleas, peonies, daphne, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, lilacs. Everywhere you look, things are blooming. I've got a fresh arrangement on my table daily.

 

We spent part of the afternoon on the dock yesterday, basking & sipping a cold beverage, watching the baby fish dart around. Riley & Buck went for a plunge. I love the pond. It has the loveliest way of reflecting the setting sun. And it's a little gathering spot for the family. Everyone just kind of wanders lazily down there to see what's going on. Grammy chats to us over the fence. It just feels removed from stress & worries. 

So there you have it: a small glimpse into the life of a berry farm. I wouldn't trade it for anything.