Farming

Working at Andrew's Family Farm

In 2012 I first started going to Andrew's Family Farm. It is a Community Shared Agriculture, or CSA, farm where people pay for a share of the farm over the entire season. At Andrew's Family Farm you also have the option of getting a worker's share where you can help out at the farm each week.

Amy and I purchased a share from another farm last year but this year I decided to get my hands dirty and get a worker's share. It has been such a privilege. The opportunity to experience the work that it takes to get food to the grocery store first hand and to have the satisfaction of doing that work has been one of those life experiences.

I wish I could say that I was there at the beginning of the season this year, but it really started nearly a year ago (there are so many tasks that needed to be done well ahead of planting if there is any hope to get everything done in the short months of Spring!). However, I was able to be at the farm starting in March when we got to work planting the tiniest of seeds: Many seeds were supposed to be planted 1", 2", or 6" apart and planting a 50ft row of those is hard work!

During the mid season we started to get varieties of lettuce and a few small crops. There was some harvesting but a lot of weeding, some more planting, and lots of spreading compost (did you know that hay is a pretty good, cheap compost? It really helps keep the water in). It was wonderful to start seeing green start sprouting up all over the place and know that our work in planting would soon be rewarded.

Now, during the middle of the harvest, I'm taking some of the rewards of farming for granted (we actually get overwhelmed sometimes by the amount of vegetables in the fridge). It's more fun than work to go to the farm on some days where the harvested crops look so tasty that many of us are talking about recipes we want to try and tasty foods.

It's been a fun year (well, it's actually not over until October!) and I hope to make time for it again next year. If you're interested in a CSA, check out ColoradoCSAs.info and maybe I'll see you out there. Happy Farming!