The Farm

Okay, well it's finally time to start writing about the work I am doing on the farm. I arrived here at Stellar Seeds (stellarseeds.com) on July 2nd around noon. When I got in, we all had lunch and I met my WWOOF coordinators, Colleen and Patrick. They seemed great from what I had learned on the WWOOF Canada website, and they are even more pleasant in person. I also met their apprentice, Graham, one of the brewery owners, Rebecca, and a brewery employee. By the way, I'll write more about the Crannog Ales brewery and the hops farming on site after I learn a bit more about it.

The most coincidental part of the day was that the brewery employee I mentioned is actually from Chicago. She grew up in a nearby suburb to mine, and went to a rival high school. This seems to happen every time I travel--I go 2000 miles just to meet someone from Morton Grove or Crystal Lake! Anyway, everybody is extremely friendly, progressive, and thoughtful. We already had some great conversations, and I've started to learn a bit about this part of the continent.

As for the work I'll be doing--a lot of it will be weeding. In fact, we already started on Friday after lunch. Here's what the row looked like before I started:

And here it is afterwards. There was apparently some lettuce down there:



My daily routine will be starting work at 8am, working until noon, eating lunch, then working again until 5pm. A lot of times, I'll get to work with the rest of the crew, so that there's some good conversation. Every day, one person will cut out at 11am to make lunch for everyone, and someone else will cut out at 4pm to make dinner. Not everyone is a vegetarian, but since this is a vegetable growing operation, that makes up the majority of their diets.

Here's the house I'll be staying in:





After weeding for the whole afternoon, it was time for dinner. We had a nice stew that Patrick whipped up. Graham then invited me to go see some live music with him and another friend. The venue was really unique. It was an old yellow house tucked away from the road, and inside it was decorated with vintage items from old bowling alleys. The floors were formerly bowling alley lanes. The railings were constructed out of pins and bowling balls. The bands themselves were very talented (Steve Brockley and Old Mans Beard). I am often skeptical of live music, particularly when I don't know the bands, but this was a pleasant surprise. Old Mans Beard was unique because they are the first band I've ever seen where every single member of the band (including the drummer) can sing.

Finally, this morning I walked into town to check out the Sorrento Farmer's Market. Here are two views I saw along the way. I lightened the foregrounds up in photoshop, which made it look more yellow out there than it really was:



Okay, last map until I start driving home. I'm at 702 Elson Road, Sorrento, BC. Let me know if you want any seeds!


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