We’re installing an arbor to surround Faithful Fountain. I bet you never thought about how all that big art was installed, did you? Yeah, me too.

The arbor is made of rebar. It was built in the metal shop, which is down by the house. In order to move it up the hill to Dandelion Ballad, Candace and Loren had to cut it into four sections—each of which is still bigger than a truck can easily carry. I honestly have no idea how they got it up the hill. But I know one thing for sure: these folks can really work with what they have.

Introducing the Power Wagon.

click to enlarge

Yep, that’s an old Dodge (circa 1948) with a boom lift mounted to the front. It takes us (and by “us” I mean “Loren”) hours to get the boom positioned correctly and ropes tied just right so they don’t take off the top of the fountain, but damn if Loren doesn’t work it out.

And then, we start raising it up. It goes a few inches at a time: lift it a little, put cinderblocks underneath, shorten the ropes, lift again. I am full of doubt: there’s no way this will work, the angles are all wrong, it’s too heavy, etc etc. But before long, lo and behold, we’ve got it a couple feet off the ground!

click to enlarge

So now comes the positioning. It’s got to be just right, so that the arched doorways are aligned with the center. Candace and Loren and I all take turns staring at it, hemming and hawing, pointing, lifting, turning the arbor until it looks pretty much right-on. My favorite part is when the boom needs to move to the right a hair: Loren just puts a jack under the left side of the truck, and cranks it up until the positioning is better.

And there it is. Next Loren busts out a transit level, and we get the heights just right. From there it’s a simple matter of hammering in about a zillion stakes (which we make by welding together lengths of recycled rebar) and mounting the arbor so it stands on its own. Tedious work, that, but it gets done despite my griping.

All told, it takes us nearly four days to get that crazy thing in the ground. But the closer we get to finishing it, the better and better it looks; by the end, our furrowed brows have turned to big grins, and dang if we don’t have a piece of art on our hands.

Another victory for Dandelion Ballad!

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Post tags: adventure, art, featured posts, starving artists, voluntourism, WWOOF

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Reign of Grace cob bathhouse at Dandelion Sustainability Farm

My longtime readers will remember Dandelion Farm (Lower Lake, California), where I had my first WWOOFing experience way back in December. The other day I received this message from them, and thought I’d pass it along for anyone in California who’s interested in natural building.

Candace Stolley writes:

volunteers building Reign of Grace
Photo courtesy of Dandelion Farm

We have just broken ground for our first little cob cabin in Enchanted Encampment…hurrah! So we are planning our first work/party on the 18-21 of Sept (Fri AM to Monday PM).

We ask $25 ($35/ couple) for first time volunteers only for this period to help with food/expenses.

This is also a good time to get to know us and us you to see if a longer stay would work for all sides. Please have other options for after the party…we may be full even before it starts.

USF students at a 2008 work party

Loren and Candace Stolley

If you have not cobbed before (mud and straw building) this will be a great opportunity to experience this building technique that anyone can do, so naturally! We hope if you are musical you will come prepared to entertain the mud fun. The ponds will be refreshing and a good way to get that mud off. Overnight camping will be available. Bring a sun hat, your sleeping bags and pads and a good flashlight!There MAY be indoor space, but you must reserve early with your $25. to be sure of that.

Please email and let us know if you can make it so we have an idea how many to cook for.

We will possibly host more work/parties later to finish the building. If you can’t make this one and wish a later date let us know!

HOPE we get to share the work and fun with you and show you all the progress that your help here has led to!

Warmly,
Candace and Loren

Queen of Heaven Gate at Dandelion Farm

Dandelion Farm is full of incredible metal and natural art. See more photos or visit Dandelion online—or email Candace and Loren to reserve your spot on the work party!

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Post tags: agritourism, biotecture, building, California, cob, community, construction, education, farm, green building, natural, organic, sustainable, training, volunteer, voluntourism, WWOOF

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Way back in May, I told you a little about the gorgeous gardens at Zephyros Farm, gave you a bit of the background behind Daphne Yannakakis’ gardening skills, and showed you some photos by Karina Salinas Heredia, a farm intern from Ecuador.

For new readers: Zephyros is an organic, family-run farm in Paonia, Colorado, where I WWOOFed for two weeks this spring. So far, out of all the places I’ve visited, it’s been my favorite. Read all about it here: Zephyros Farm and Garden.

Just the other day, Karina sent me more photos from the farm—and so I’m passing them on to you. Spring and summer have been good to the gardens, apparently. Here’s how things have blossomed in the past few months.

Note: these are just my favorite shots. See all of Karina’s photos here.

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Post tags: agritourism, Colorado, ecotourism, farm, flowers, gardening, nature, organic, Paonia, phenology, photography, summer, voluntourism, WWOOF

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Catherine Gockley, owner of Fire Mountain Farm and Apiary, didn’t start out as a farmer. She didn’t even start out wanting to be a farmer. But once she sets her mind to things, they get done: having decided to become a grower later in life, she spent ten years learning and working to reach her goal. Fire Mountain is a beautiful example of an organic, chemical-free farm built on small acreage and with a reasonable budget— and Catherine made it all happen on her own gumption.

A bit of background: a trained geologist, Catherine worked as a backcountry ranger in Denali and Yosemite before deciding to become a grower. She found a couple of farms in the hills of California where she could work and live, picking up skills and experience from the landowners. She took a special interest in beekeeping, becoming an apiarist and even teaching chemical-free beekeeping workshops. And then she took the plunge, buying four acres of sloped, sunny property on the Pitcairn Mesa.

Catherine was my rideshare from Boulder to Paonia. I thought she was fabulous and fascinating, and I was intrigued by the idea of visiting a brand new organic farm. How do you get started setting up a small farm? Where do you begin, and where do you go from there? So I invited myself over to get a better look at Catherine’s method.

Fire Mountain Farm is small, but it’s the perfect size for Catherine: soon she’ll be able to support herself completely on this little piece of land. Here’s how she began.

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Read the rest of How To Start an Organic Farm – a visit to Fire Mountain (739 words)

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2009. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: agritourism, chickens, Colorado, community, environment, farm, gardening, how-to, organic, Paonia, permaculture, rideshare, sustainable, travel, voluntourism, WWOOF

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Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers also feed the soul. – The Koran

It was planting season when I visited Zephyros Farm and Garden: snow melting off the mountains, grass high and green, and everything beginning to sprout. We spent most days preparing beds for tiny plants that would soon grow tall and fragrant. As we worked, Daphne buzzed around the farm, visiting every bed to check on her babies.

Smart as a whip and twice as fast, Daphne knows exactly what each plant needs— along with its proper Latin name, family history and variant. Under her care, scores of perennials grow tall and lush. When the time is right, she harvests the blooms, arranges them artfully, and sends them off to market.

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Read the rest of Brilliant (organic) Blooms of Zephyros Garden (218 words)

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It started out innocently enough: it was a sunny Friday afternoon, and everybody at Zephyros was ready for a break from work. On Fridays, most of Paonia heads to Revolution Brewing. Daphne and all the interns (except Siwar, who was too young and therefore tasked with cooking dinner) hopped in the Subaru to go have a pint.

Like I said, it was a good day and spirits were high. The brewery’s yard was full of interesting people, and as we all laughed and chatted one beer turned into two.

But then the sun started setting: we’d stayed too long. We had to get back to the farm for evening chores. We motored back up the hill, arriving after dark, and powered through our work as quickly as possible. We hit one snag, however: the chickens had fallen asleep outside of their coop. Actually, under their coop.

Now, let’s talk about chickens for a second. Chickens, for your information, are stupid. Implacably idiotic, even. See video above.

Still, these particular stupid chickens had been hand-raised since they were two days old. Most of them were too young to start laying, but would be old enough soon; their (organic, cage-free, grain-fed) eggs would bring a lot of money at market. These stupid chickens were loved. They were important.

You may notice I’m talking about them in the past tense.

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Read the rest of The Great Chicken Massacre of '09 (477 words)

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photo by Karina Salinas Heredia

When I was in third grade or so, my class visited a local farm. I didn’t learn a lot that day, not exactly: mostly what I recall is the smell of hay&manure, and the big scary turkeys clucking at me through a fence. Still, it brought the idea of a farm out of the Old MacDonald fantasy realm, and into reality; thereafter, when I saw an Orzalli peach pie at the farmer’s market, I knew where it had come from.

Don and Daphne at Zephyros Farm have taken the farm visit a step further: more than just a tour, their educational visits give kids the chance to see earthworms up close, weed and plant, and cuddle any adorable quadriped that might happen to be grazing nearby.

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Read the rest of Flowers, Lambs, Worms & Dirt: A Kid's-Eye View of Organic Farming (212 words)

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My first night at Zephyros Farm, I set up my tent as usual, and went to bed early like a good farmworker. It was quiet and breezy as I drifted off to sleep… but sometime in the middle of the night it started raining.

Hey, rain, no problem! It’s good for the plants, and my tent was up to the challenge. I woke up long enough to notice the rain, and then went straight back to sleep. Until about 5am, which is when the rain that had collected on my tent turned to ice and started rolling down the rainfly.

See? That’s ice, bro

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Read the rest of Colorado Springtime: ICE RAIN (213 words)

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Post tags: adventure, camping, Colorado, environment, nature, outdoors, Paonia, photography, spring, water, weather

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Yes, that’s right: it’s time to talk about irrigation! WHOO exciting! IRRIGATION YEAH!

Okay, calm down all yous. It may not be the most fascinating topic, but it’s more interesting than you think. And it’s necessary: in places like Paonia, which gets less than 20 inches of rain a year, it’s next to impossible to farm without using irrigation. Zephyros Farm sits below Landsend Peak, which is covered in melting snow. But how does that runoff get to these fields, and what happens to it after that?

Well, I’ll tell you.

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Read the rest of Things I Learned: Flood Irrigation! (650 words)

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Right off the bat, I knew I’d love this place. 35 acres of organic, healthy goodness: Zephyros abounds with beautiful veggies, scampering lambs, mouthy goats, budding blooms, and one big black dog called Ullur who spends all day prancing around with giant sticks in his mouth.

The farm (and garden!) is run by Don Lareau and Daphne Yannakakis. They’re a bit hard to photograph, since they’re usually each in the middle of five hundred different and equally important tasks. Between the two of them, they run a diversified organic farm and CSA; manage four full-time interns and various short-term workers; raise two absurdly cute kids, Sophia and Diego; manage a website full of photos, links, recipes, and news; host farm dinners and educational sessions; serve in the local organic growers’ association; make gourmet bread and cheese and lasagna and run their own house besides.

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Read the rest of Zephyros Farm and Garden (524 words)

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Post tags: agritourism, animal, Colorado, education, environment, farm, flowers, organic, Paonia, photography, spring, teaching, volunteer, voluntourism

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