city farming

Hello friends!

Working full-time has a way of really rearranging priorities in life ... and when that full-time work is farming the priorities lean more towards showering and sleeping (and of course spending every minute at home with that handsome man of mine!).  The good news for you, though, is that I now have a more portable camera with which to bits of my world with you.  Let's start in Chicago ...

This is the Iron Street Farm, located on an abandoned industrial site.  In the back you can see one of our 6 hoop houses which are mostly growing greens and seedlings right now.  It's hard to make out, but on the right of the picture there is also a big brown pile - that's compost!  ... and actually the pile is much bigger now (some people use machines to build big piles.  not here.  lots of wheelbarrows and pitchforks!).

This is Feona, or FeFe (Iron street cat ...).  I don't really love cats but she has decided that she should follow me around for parts of the day.  On this day it was problematic since she kept walking on the bed I was working on.  Up until this Sunday, the only animals on the farm were Feona, Jimmy Cat, and a parrot named Thunder.  But!!!  After a workshop weekend up at our headquarters in Milwaukee we brought back fish for our aquaponics system!!!!!!!  This is so exciting.  I even dreamed about taking care of these fish.

Here are the fish being gently introduced to their new home.  I promise more pictures of the actual system in the future.  These little guys are perch and we have about 15 of them in the tank right now.  We've had the system built and running for them for a long time now just waiting for their arrival and now they're here!!   And now we have to try not to kill them ... Speaking of which, I'm responsible for them this morning so I'd better go get ready.  Happy Wednesday!

dirt

For the past few days I've been out in Grant Park planting our 'Art on the Farm' installation.  At the moment, we've got chard, lettuce, runaway fennel, some beets and carrots, runaway mint and catnip and plenty of weeds.  The work is part planting, part attacking aforementioned weeds.

Working outside will quickly open your eyes to the subtleties of weather... Friday it poured off and on ... another day is was sunny but the wind was so cold so I think I got sun and wind burn ... yesterday it was hotter than I anticipated ... today looks sunny but who knows what it will hold.  I did enough bending yesterday to get a sunburn on my lower back.  Yeah.  What?!  Apparently my long undershirt didn't do it's job.

One perk of working out at Grant Park is that we're right in the middle of the Loop, which means some friends can come visit me!  The benefit of this to you is that my friends can carry cameras (in the form of iPhones).  And so I bring you actual proof that I do something like farming via Instagram.

for my golden boy

I know I've been long-absent.  I'm working on a plan to get a camera on the farm with me so that I can more easily bring you into my new work life!  Until that {hopefully soon} time, I'd like to celebrate the love of my life, whose golden birthday is today.  With Grady I feel many things, but I think this picture captures the one I feel most often ...

joy

 

Grady, I am so honored to be your wife.  You are a true man, a godly man, and a selfless, loving, wonderful husband.  I'm so glad that God brought you into this world and that I am the one to be with you every day of the rest of your life.  The man that you are makes more real to me the perfect Man, Jesus.  Thank you for living in His spirit and loving me with His Love.  I love you.

Happy Birthday

the new life

On Tuesday I began my adventure with Growing Power in Chicago (the link will bring you to the page of the farm I work at).  But I don't have much to report from the farm front because we spent the week getting ready for the Flower and Garden Show that opens this weekend at Navy Pier.

Expo shows always amaze me because of the sheer size of them.  Last year, I went with Grady to an expo that his company was holding that included maybe 20 full-size trucks, buses and military vehicles just hanging out in this giant room ... they didn't even look big compared to the size of the space.  The expo we were setting up was on an even bigger scale than that and involved tons and tons (probably literally) of sand and dirt.

Every exhibit in the landscaping side of the show was - well - a reconstructed landscape.  I spent most of the week shoveling sand and dirt, burying potted plants in said dirt, spreading wood chips and sod and other such things to get our installation ready.  While it wasn't exactly farming, it involved enough bending and digging in the dirt to make me feel sore and dirty in the exact same ways.

Next week I look forward to some actual work on the farm and I was given some small hope that I will be taught {urban} beekeeping!  I'm probably most excited about that ... bees keeping on the roof ... so awesome. 

I'm still trying to think of a way to get some pictures to this space.  I really can't see myself bringing my expensive, fancy camera with me for the day because I'm afraid it will get broken and I don't have a fancy phone with a fancy camera, so that won't work either.  We'll see.  In the mean time, if you're desperate for some visuals, you can go to their website to get an idea of what's going on.  I may not be back here until next weekend but maybe I won't be so tired this next week!  Here's to hoping anyway ...

Happy weekend!