On the Way to Work

This summer, I took a job at Take Root Farm, a local CSA, after learning that they paid some of the employees with food shares. The Share Exchange spots were all taken, but I was offered employment of 10 to 15 hours a week from May through October. Employment = weeding, planting, harvesting, preparing veggies for the shares, putting down row covers, taking up row covers, hauling, digging, weighing, measuring. I figured it would be a good fitness program in addition to providing oodles of veggies and fruit.

It is and it does! Even the sheep have benefitted by getting pea vines, bean plants, sunflower heads, carrot tops, split carrots, and reject squash.


I love the drive to work. It's all on back roads, the opposite way of most of the traffic. There is just one stop sign on my way out, and it's only 6.5 miles each way.

My drive takes me past Lake Tapps - getting more and more built up every month. It's not my favorite part of the drive. The "favorite" parts start after I leave the arterial and turn onto the back farm roads.

I've watched the farm below transform from rough field to neatly manicured pasture. This barn is on my "would be really nice to have" list.

The farm is on this little lane which heads through the trees and up a short hill. It's my second favorite part of the road. It's so quiet, and I seldom even meet another car on this section.

Just up the hill and around the corner is my favorite part of the drive. Mt. Rainier dominates the skyline, and the road wanders past a dairy farm that still lets the cows graze in the fields.

Mt. Rainier is prominantly visible from Take Root Farm. "The Mountain" has been out many of my workdays this summer.

The first week in October, this was the scene as I arrived at work. Jen had decorated for fall with corn stalks, pumpkins, gourds and ...

... a little pointed organic humor. The link at the bottom of the sign is :

http://www.thefutureoffood.com/

The more I hear about GM (Genetically Modified) foods, the scarier it is. Needless to say, I want to know as much about where my food comes from as possible.

Here's a little closer look at the poster and the 2 "scarecrows".

... in case you can't quite read "John's" lab coat:

And "gourdman's" tee is the leading photo in this blog entry. "Food grown in harmony with nature and each other." Take Root Farm is not only an organic farm, but sustainable, utilizing compost, open pollinated seeds, cover crops, organic fertilizers and old fashioned covers and picking to reduce insects.

Below are three fall photos of the farm. First, the tomatoes, finally with ripe and ripening tomatoes, not long before the first frost took them out. In front of the tomatoes are some of the flower beds - zinnias and statice.

Here are two of my coworkers, Julia and Randy, trimming leeks for the weekly shares. One of the dalia beds is in the foreground.

And here are some of the myriad of gourds from the "gourd tunnel". The winged gourds are especially fun!

There are only 2 more weeks of "summer share" at Take Root, and with them, only 2 more weeks of work for me. I'm sorry to be done, and at the same time, ready to move on.

- Franna