I'm Sore All Over

Saturday was our first day at the farm to start off a weekend of planting. I was beyond stoked to get the ball rolling on the uprooted movement. I had all these expectations driving up, so anxious to get our little seeds into the ground.

We pulled up to our plot to discover the grass had still covered it. It was caked in grass. I didn't realize then, but we would not be putting any seeds in the ground that day. We could hardly even get our shovels into it.

We needed the big guns. Fortunately Ben has just about every tool and equipment we could need. Ben brought out the tractor, and after some trial and error, we decided the top layer of sod needed to be completely peeled off to allow us to till up the ground properly (remember we are newbie farmers with the only experience or knowledge coming from blogs and books!). What a headache. But we realize ground that has never been gardened needs patience, heaps and heaps of patience.

The next day we got the rototiller out and forks and went at it by hand. My poor delicate office hands. And my back, my poor sad little back! But 5 hours later, we had what looked like a semi-decent garden, with 4 large beds prepared for our beets, turnip, carrots and pink popcorn!

I could hardly function that night. I was tired from my fingers to my toes, I had dirt everywhere. How could I get dirt there? My body is not conditioned for hardly any manual labour, let alone 6 hours in the sun, with back breaking work. I toiled through it all, with Ben manning the rototiller for nearly 5 hours straight (his strongman conditioning helped him through it). You would think we would be hot and grumpy by the end of it, but oddly enough we sat there looking at our hard work, and smiled. We had triumphed.

Of course this would be hard. Our full time jobs are spent behind a desk. But I kept telling myself, we are meant to move! Despite how young we are, or even as young as we feel, this office work is the death of us. We have to move. We can't shy away from good hard work, because nothing good comes easy.

This is the beginning! After 100 feet of turnip, 100 feet of beets, 150 feet of carrots and 50 feet of popcorn sunk into our loamy gorgeous dirt, we sat and admired our experimental first crop. We cant wait to see how our efforts are rewarded! Even if its just with more lessons learned to help with the future of Uprooted Farms!

I am sun-soaked, sore and accomplished. "If it was easy, everyone would be doing it", Ben had said once. Family farming has diminished because its hard work and life has gone down the toilet with the search for convenience and ease. Now we are all soft. Admit it, we are all soft and lazy. Well I wave my hoe at that in protest! If this is a millennial revolution, then I have jumped on board to grow your own, work hard and earn it.

I wouldn't have made it through the weekend without Ben. He was beyond motivated to make this plot happen and he worked like an ox to till up the land. They say couples that farm together, stay together right? :) The way he works makes me believe there's little that could get in the way of our dreams! Aren't I lucky? What a catch! ;)

As we both get back to "real" jobs this week, we are left with a great satisfaction this weekend that has opened our eyes to potential and possibilities. It takes over our conversations and gets us coming up with ideas every day. Admittedly it's hard to keep us thinking one day at a time!

If we work hard enough this summer planning, experimenting, testing, and learning, there's a good chance we could make a lifestyle change next year that will see Uprooted Farms full fledged!

Stay tuned for more lessons and adventures as we grow this summer!

Cheers,

Kait

#learning #learningtofarm #hardwork #failing