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From Skinny Dipping to Snow

Some crazy weather up here in the Sierra Nevadas. At the beginning of this week, we were wearing shorts during the day and still skinny dipping in the pool after work. This morning, we woke up to 40 degree weather and snow! We spent the day harvesting the rest of the summer tomatoes and peppers. Winter is here, and the farm is transforming again.

Fruit orchard and part of the winter garden before the snow

Snow!

Working on beds in the green house while snow falls outside

We got more new WWOOFers and a few visitors this week, which makes for a great work crew and a full lunch table. Tuesday night everyone gathered at the main house to watch the election results. Hansel broke out bottles of farm-made wine,  I baked a ton of snickerdoodles, Emma (one of the new WWOOFers) shaved her head, Obama won reelection, and marijuana was legalized in Oregon and Washington. Great night!

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Time Flies

Alex, another WWOOFer who arrived on the same day I did, reminded me that we’ve been on the farm for exactly one month today. Time is flying! I’ve done a bad job of keeping up blogging, but it’s a testament to how wonderful this place is. There are so many cool things going on and so many great people here that the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a computer screen.

This 80-acre farm is run by the Kern family, who are incredibly warm and inspiring people. Everything here is owner-built, and they’ve had more than 300 WWOOFers come through so far. There are currently 10 WWOOFers here, and most of us live in a community of trailers and RVs called WWOOFVILLE.

We just started working winter hours (9 am – 1:30 pm). The Kerns are really great about mixing up the work so things never get monotonous. I love having a farm-fresh breakfast every morning and meeting Hansel to talk over the day’s tasks. Just a sprinkling of some of the cool work we’ve been doing:
– transplanting kale, chard, cabbage & onions for the winter garden
– climbing walnut trees and getting stained fingers from peeling walnuts
– moving firewood for the winter
– harvesting everything from tomatoes and peppers to apples and peaches
– working with kids at the local North Fork school garden every Friday
– canning tomatoes and peppers
– making goat cheese
– milking goats!
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