NOT My Typical Growing Season

The latest farm-updates from Runamuk Acres

“Do you want your cane?” my son taunted me.

“It’s not mine! I’m not that old!” I protested indignantly, but my ankles betrayed me as I hobbled across the room and the 18 year-old laughed at the sight of me.

It’s been a very long—and very full week. My body is bruised, sore and aching. On Tuesday, I pulled a muscle in my shoulder that has made sleeping a torment, and come Friday my ankles are screaming in agony for it to be over.

The upgrade in foot-wear last fall made a huge difference for my poor feet, but the floors at school still take a toll. It doesn’t help that—rather than resting my body—I’ve been coming home and pushing to squeeze in a farm-project at the tail-end of the day.

Frustrated with “it all”, I’ve largely taken the week off from writing—sleeping in till 4, rather than getting up at 3 to work in the office. Sitting on the couch with my aching feet up on a cushion until it’s time to get ready for school seemed the least I could do for my abused body….

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

In This Post:

The Rain in Maine
Weekly Run-Down
Sheep/Lamb Update
Subscriber News
NOT My Typical Growing Season

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Welcome to the neighborhood! Wolf Classics in the building to the left, BillieJo & Mike across the road, and then there’s Runamuk with house, barn and garage. With Black Hill looming above it all.

Here in Maine, it’s rained every weekend since March, making it exceedingly difficult to get work done outside. With the season rolling out before me, I’ve been fairly frustrated with the lack of progress and the delays affecting the farm. Partly due to the rain, but largely because my situation dictates a dire need for that off-farm income that the school district currently provides me.

The Rain in Maine

Apparently, the persistent rain in Maine is primarily due to a recurring atmospheric pattern involving the jet stream and low-pressure systems.

State climatologist Sean Birkel explains that variations in the jet stream have led to a pattern where low-pressure systems move through the Northeast every few days, often aligning with weekends. This has resulted in increased precipitation during weekends, with Maine experiencing over an inch more rain than usual in April.

To top it all off, we have an uncommon May Nor’easter hitting New England this Memorial Day weekend, bringing more rain—and some of our mountains may even see snow at higher elevations.

So much for my plans of making a big push during my 3-day weekend!

Weekly Run-Down

SATURDAY
My big community work-party was a wash-out last Saturday, too. Cancelled due to—yup-you guessed it: rain.

SUNDAY
Sunday afternoon offered a dry spell, and I pounded 22 t-posts into the Earth to create the new fence-line I’d wanted.

MONDAY
These are long days at school with food and milk orders to be submitted before I leave the building. By the time I got home, did my share of the afternoon critter-chores, took the dogs on the field and came back to cook dinner, the day was done.

TUESDAY
Back at it on Tuesday after school, I managed to string 4 out of 5 lines on the new 220-foot fence before coming inside to make dinner. I didn’t even realize I’d pulled a muscle till the next morning. It’s been a torment lifting anything since, but sleeping is the worst by far. When you use your elbow to prop yourself up to roll over? That’s when it “sings” the loudest. It jars me from my sleep and causes me to groan or cry out with the pain of it. Ouchie!

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday was a long day at school, with our monthly Cook’s Meeting followed by Kingfield Elementary’s annual Art Show & Seedling Sale. My feet were not happy, but my heart was full. As School Garden Coach it’s important for me to show up to connect with the parents of the students I’m working with—to facilitate the idea of growing food.

We made $400 for the Growing Gardeners program thanks to the support of parents and community members.

THURDAY
When my weekly delivery arrived early at school on Thursday afternoon (with no walk-in cooler or freezer, I have to be on hand to put away perishables), I was able to get home to the farm to knock out another project. The front lawns were looking like the proverbial jungle—and with a rainy N’oreaster projected for the long weekend—I opted to make mowing my priority.

We have a simple push-mower and a lot of lawn, so mowing is a bit of a chore. Yet, when I look back to my childhood at how my brother was always assigned to mowing, while I was relegated to washing the dishes or some such house-holdy task, I’m grateful for the opportunity to mow the lawn today.

Plus—I’m grateful just to have a lawn at all.

FRIDAY
In the kitchen at school till 12:45. Growing Gardeners from 1 to 2:15. Fetch provisions in town (more milk because we’re still bottle-feeding 4 lambs, and off-road diesel for the furnace so we can have hot water We ran out of heating fuel 2 weeks ago and I don’t have the funds right now to purchase a bulk quantity—so I buy 5 gallons once a week), and then home to the farm by 3. Had me a little party on the field, blaring tunes from the old Forrester while the dogs romped, before I went to put out a couple lengths of net-fencing for the rams to finally get onto some grass.

SATURDAY
With my ankles still fairly sore, the pulled muscle in my shoulder singing loudly, and off-and-on rain showers, I relegated myself to light-duty. I washed some dishes and tidied the kitchen. Took a brief cat-nap, then trucked over to Farmington with BraeTek to fetch provisions and have dinner and play games with my sister.

Sheep/Lamb-Update

Because I’m still working to bring the fences online and have yet to make necessary repairs to the Sheep-Tractor*, both groups of sheep are still living in their winter accommodations: the mammas with their lambs in the Sheep-Shed, and the rams across the yard in the pallet-shed. They cry at me for access to the fresh grass, maaaaa’ing at me whenever I’m in the vicinity.

NOTE: “Sheep-Tractor” is a play on words based on the more commonly known “Chicken-Tractor”. It’s not an actual mechanical tractor, but rather a 3-sided livestock shed on skids which gets dragged around the field by way of a heavy-duty utility dolly.

With one half of the garden-fence energized, I’ve been able to attach net fences to each pen, expanding the sheeps’ access to grass.

It’s not long, though, before they have that spot mowed down—especially the mammas with all their lambs. And I’ve shuffled that fence twice now just to offer them a new patch of grass.

The weather looks dryer today and tomorrow, and though that damned muscle in my shoulder is still causing me some discomfort, I’ll see what I can get done on that front.

Here’s what still needs to happen for me to move the flock out:

• Move a pile of manure away from my newly established fence-line so that I can tighten the wires.

• Clean discarded debris off the area to prevent injury to sheep (some rotted pallets and other items discarded from the adjacent garden).

• String line number 5 on the new fence.

• Connect the new fence-line to the existing garden fence—one cable for the electricity and one to the ground.

• Test the fence and troubleshoot any issues.

• Make modifications to the Sheep-Tractor.

SHEEP-TRACTOR MODS
Concerned about the lack of shade the flock has on the field during the hot days of summer, I invested in a big shade-cloth (the kind one might hang above their patio) for the sheep. This will replace the rotted plywood currently serving as the roof on the Sheep-Tractor. It should be big enough to extend outward over the front and back of the little shed like an awning, offering more protection for the flock.

I plan to attach it to the tractor using PVC, but have yet to determine just exactly how to support the 4 corners in such a way that will be rugged enough to withstand abuse from the sheep, (t-posts???) while still allowing us to move these supports with the tractor every 4 to 7 days.

Then the question remains: will it become a sail during high-winds???

(There’ve been just a couple of instances when the winds from a coastal hurricane reach far enough inland that they’ve sent the sheep-tractor flying across the field. It rolls right through the fences, and the poor sheep come crying across the field to me, drenched and pitiful-looking after withstanding the rain for who knows how long.)

Meanwhile, the babies are growing fast and we should see the mammas begin weaning them over the next few weeks. Also, we’re down to just 1 bottle-feeding session a day with our bottle-babies which saves me money on milk.

Subscriber News

No posts to report this week, but this happened!

NOT My Typical Growing Season

In the name of self-care, I’ve taken a break from writing over the past week. I’ve been—and still am—frustrated to be so far behind with projects on the farm.

Farmers trying to cope with the pressures of the growing season.

Typically, I’d have carrots, onions, peas and lettuces all planted by the end of April, as well as all of my spring brassicas. The sheep are normally moved out of their winter accommodations around Mother’s Day. Outbuildings are cleaned, and any pruning and yard-work are completed well before this, too.

Having to work off-farm this season, however, this is NOT my typical growing season—if such a thing even exists, lol.

Here we are at Memorial Day weekend and all I have planted are some snap-peas—and I’m still fighting to bring fences online to move the flock onto the field.

Earlier this week, I voiced my frustrations in a Note:

“Current political, social and economic “turbulence” is only making matters worse for people like me. People who are living paycheck to paycheck, already stretched thin, going without and trying like hell to make the best of it.

Don’t get me wrong—the kids at school are super cute and there is meaning in that work—but I’ve been called to another purpose. Every day away from Runamuk feels like time stolen away from me—and for what? To earn a dollar? My paycheck is spent before it ever reaches my bank account. What a joke.”

Yet, in spite of those frustrations, I can’t bring myself to actually give up on farming—or conservation.

Believe me—I’ve considered it.

I go round and round on the topic….

• It would free up SO much time and MONEY!

• I wouldn’t be constantly beating up my body anymore and I could finally commit to yoga and walking for exercize like a normal person, rather than spending 3 hours in the garden and calling it exercize.

• I’d be able to keep a cleaner house and yard.

• NO MORE CHICKENS!!!

• I could buy myself some new clothes and NOT get them all stained and torn up from working on the farm.

• Maybe I could finally get a date???

But for every point against farming, there’s another point in favor:

• It’s not about the money—it’s value is in the lifestyle.

• Look how strong you are! Check out those biceps! You’re in great shape!

• The house and yard aren’t that dirty or cluttered. And—didn’t you mow half the lawn last week?

• It’s not about what you wear on the outside. It’s about the quality of the heart and soul on the inside.

• The right guy will love you just as you are. Farm and all. And he will move mountains to be with you. Be patient, young grasshopper.

Honestly, I don’t know if I have it in me to give up on Runamuk. I fear that a part of me would die with it—a part of me that is crucial to my identity. But, is that right? That one’s identity should be so tied up in a thing?

Obviously I’d survive, because all we really need to exist is food, water, air, clothing and shelter, right?

But what kind of life would it be without this thing that makes me—me?

And if I were no longer farming, would I retain my connection to nature? Because that is more precious to me than anything. Even more than the farm.

But really—the farm allows the connection to flourish.

It’s bizarre, maybe—but one of my favorite things to do is to take that rusty old Subaru Forrester of mine out onto the field for a little Me-Party at the end of the day.

2 dogs in the back seat, a beverage in the cup-holder (and on a Friday night you can bet it’s spiked) windows down—tunes blaring from the radio because the car’s too blissfully old to have bluetooth.

I park at the back of the 10-acre field and the dogs run and roam, while I sip my beverage, smoke a fatty and sing along with the songs on the radio.

Of course, it was raining this week while I had my little Friday-night party. A drizzle that became more of a light rain as I sat in the back of the Forrester. When it’s open, the hatch on that car provides a protective canopy and I can sit with my legs dangling over the rear bumper, lounging in the back of the car and watching the world around me in relative protection from the elements.

Drinking in the sight of the rolling grasses bordered by the omnipresent Maine forest as they weathered the late May N’oreaster—my heart swells to know that I am a part of this place.

Deep down I know I will never relent. Not ever.

This is a hugely difficult time of year for farmers. When everything wants—and needs—to be done all at once and you’re pulled in a thousand different directions. You’re sore and worn-out. It’s normal to doubt oneself, to stress and worry.

I know it’s not just me.

So, if you’re close with any farmers, be sure to be extra kind to them these next few weeks! Reach out to them and see if you can lend a hand. Or drop off a casserole to spare them from cooking and ensure they’re eating well during this busy season!

For my part, I choose to believe that working in the school kitchen is just another chapter in my farm-story.

A short chapter, lol.

It won’t be forever, and while I’m there I’m doing good work—making a few ripples in the water.

And who knows how far those ripples will travel? Who they might affect?

No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading.

Let’s keep growing, together.🌱

Sending love and good juju to you and yours.
Your friendly neighborhood farmer,

Sam

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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. If you found this valuable, please consider Restacking so more people can see it!

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