The Routine

One week into my new adventure, life on the farm has settled into a routine. Most weekdays we work from 7:30 to noon and from 2 to 6 pm. And depending on the day we may plant lettuce, pick squash, weed spinach, bunch basil, wash turnip greens, fertilize tomatoes, trim chard, or sort eggplant, among other tasks. On weekends, our long days, we wake up around 5 am, drive to farmers markets near DC, hock our veggies until early afternoon, and return to the farm for late afternoon harvesting.

As for the most important non-work routine - meals - we eat in a communal screened-in worker kitchen, equipped with two couches, a large wooden dining table, two stoves, two fridges, a sink, and a smattering of haphazardly-placed and not particularly-washed dishes, pots, and pans. Each person makes their own breakfast and lunch, while dinner is cooked by a different farm worker each night. Staple foods we eat include the produce we grow as well as products we trade to other vendors at farmers markets, like bread and apples. A communal kitty is used to supplement our pantry with other key items, from nuts to milk.

As for bathroom arrangements (I'm sure you've wondered), we make due with a rustic outhouse tucked among strawberry bushes behind the barn and a wood-framed shower adjacent to the workers kitchen with two sinks and a mirror. When I asked another worker if she tends to shower in the mornings or evenings, she responded - "on Tuesdays." I confess I'm adjusting to that weekly tradition more readily than I would like to admit.

And, finally, we sleep in the unheated barn clustered in two rows of modest rooms, with a mattress, outlet, and window in each. Most nights, we hit the hay (sleeping bags actually) around 9:30 pm, after an hour or so of post-dinner chit chat.