After visiting years ago a friend described to me the sensation that our farm was like one of those mosaic puzzles you get when you are a kid. A picture that is cut up into a grid of little squares which slide up and down and sideways but can’t be lifted out. You have to assemble the picture by slowly sliding around all of the pieces. The trick being that there is only one square that is empty, so any piece you want to move needs another piece moved first. This week has been that.

In an attempt to set up a nice, clean, well-lit and warm (all be it temporary) germination chamber for winter sprouts and the earliest greenhouse starts I needed to empty a set of metal shelves. The shelves have been make-shift storage in the granary for all of our glass and ceramic crocks. These items now have a new, clean home in the basement of the bank barn, yeah! But, in order to set up the new shelves for all of this glass to be moved on to I needed to clear out the rag-tag set of ancient cabinets, falling apart cardboard boxes and dusty, dirty bushel crates that have operated as our tool storage and workshop for the last few years.

I had a mental map of where nearly every random tool or fastener was, but I was the only one with access to the map. So, this slowly rusting heap of metal and disintegrating wood needed to be moved, cleaned and organized into another beautiful (all be it temporary) space which now has walls graced by a set of good solid shelves, cabinets and peg board.

In the end we have a very nice home for all of the greased, oiled and labeled tools to live; a warm, bright space for the flats of sprouts to thrive in; and an (almost) unpacked clean storage facility for glass, butchershop and kitchen supplies. None of it permanent, but all closer to their final homes.

In the Farm Share

In the veggie share: Kohlrabi, radish, turnips, leeks, potatoes, cabbage, onions, garlic, shallots, carrots, beets, parsnips, celeriac, dried sage, wheat berries, whole wheat flour and dry beans. I am still tinkering with the sprouting systems (see above), so no sprouts just yet.

In the meat share: All cuts of pork and beef, half and whole broiler chickens in the freezer. Lard and leaf lard are available.

Sara Kurak
Full and By Farm

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