Week One of Farming!!

I've decided to spend the next three weeks of my life working at a CSA farm with Sydney called "La Finquita Del Buho" right outside of Hillsboro. La Finquita is a beautiful family farm, founded by Lyn and her husband Juvencio - who met in Honduras during Lyn's time in the Peace Corps. I chose to work on a farm first because I've always been interested in agriculture; growing up I helped my Grandparent's on their Montana cattle farm each summer during the auction season. I thought that since I'd experienced the livestock side of ag, delving into the produce side would be a great opportunity for growth and learning. In addition to my curiosity into farm life, I chose to work at La Finquita because I knew I wanted to spend my entire senior project outside, moving. The pandemic kept me inside more than I would have liked, and so being outdoors was one of my senior project priorities. Speaking of working outside, my first project  goal revolves around the physical aspect of farming. I'm hoping that this project will expose me to the daily work that goes into running a farm. Based on my achey back and knees, and the fact that I could easily fall asleep at 6:30 pm tonight, I can confidently say I'm getting a taste of how truly difficult farming is. More than that, I'm learning a lot about different vegetables, - how to seed them, how to transplant them, how to keep them happy - and I must admit that it takes quite the organized mind to keep everything in order. On that note, my second project goal is to understand what specific sort of work goes into running a CSA. While I've experienced many a CSA from the consumer's perspective, I don't know very much about how it differs from a farm that sells to grocery stores or wholesale. Over the next couple weeks I hope to learn from Lyn why she chose to be a CSA farm and what are the benefits/difficulties. Lastly, my third and final project goal is to build my patience. In addition to robbing me of my outdoor time, the pandemic also stole my attention span, tragically making me shockingly easy to bore. What with the monotonous tasks of weeding or shoveling dirt for 2 hours, I hope to rebuild my patience. Thus far, I've loved my time at La Finquita and I'm looking forward to the weeks to come!

Picture Info: 

(Top Left): The best farm cat ever who's name is Chang. She comes when she's called and likes to sleep on the plants in the greenhouse.

(Bottom Left): All the weeds that Syd and I pulled that were choking two rows of zucchini

(Bottom Right): La Finquita's sign just inside their lovely barn