“It’s nice today, only 90 degrees.” Welcome to farming in the California desert!

I arrived at the Ananda Marga Organic Peach Farm on Tuesday. Although it’s called a peach farm there aren’t any peaches in season right now, so we’ve been working with many vegetables. It’s been very enjoyable so far. Dada runs the farm and has been teaching us so many interesting things, from how to help seeds germinate to making delicious Indian corn bread. There are two other volunteers here from Taiwan, so there’s also a lot of Chinese-speaking going on. Randomly pleasant surprise.

The living quarters are rustic, and the work is hard. Even with several breaks throughout the day, I’m still ready for bed by about 9 pm. We spent most of the last two days building raised beds. I’m now steps closer to becoming an expert wood worker.

Cutting wood with Ann and Richard

Assembling the beds

Collecting chicken wire for the raised beds — rough work!

There are six dogs on the farm. They help guard the land and also provide great entertainment.

Meet Will. He follows us around everywhere. Most of the time it’s endearing, unless he’s panting in your face while you’re using the power saw.

Today is our big harvest day. We were up at 6:30 am collecting tomatoes, kale, arugula, beans, basil, and chard. Tomorrow we head to the farmers’ market!