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| Mandi planting watermelon radishes |
I am happy to report that things worked out, and our shares have actually generated around $230 or so for our non-profit parent, the Institute for Global Education. We have more shares available, so message us on facebook or post on the blog if you would like more information.
Speaking of shares, this is the first year that Sandhill is offering veggie shares. Jenn and Scot had a family garden, but it was nowhere large enough to try and provide ten shares worth of vegetables, and they have no experience with gardening on a large scale. Scot new that Case had worked up north for a year on a UP CSA, and invited him to take charge of the veggie share experiment. So far so good.
Getting started was a challenge. In order to expand the garden, we needed to till up new space, which was covered by a nice lawn that was very healthy, fertilized by chicken tractor manure. A neighbor was asked to bring over his tractor to till, and he agreed as he had helped expand a few square yards last year. Alas, like all of us he is a busy man, and after a two week period, we decided to go another route.
I love our John Deer 314 garden tractor. With a loan from Mike and Bev Holaday a few years ago, we purchased it for $900 and it has served the farm well. We bought it from Scott at Outdoor Motor in Wayland, and he is our trusted small engine go-to man, as I do not know mechanical stuff well. I also have little time to learn repair skills. So, Scott keeps things going smoothly.
A little bit about Scott. He is one of those folks who has a work ethic and small business integrity that is often hard to find. he operates his shop in Wayland, and has suffered through my questions and mistakes with the tractor in the same manner that he interacts with me at his shop. Scott is a "what you see is what you get" kind of guy, and he not only takes business relationships seriously, but personal relationships with customers as well.
When I asked him if he had any tiller attachments for the 314, he said he did, but it seemed cost prohibitive. I was telling Scott about our plan to till, and he said that he had a tiller that would do the job, and he would bring it over. so, on a Saturday, he came over with the tiller and dropped it off at the house. I walked outside and said "oh, he left it for me to have fun with. (It was a garden tractor tiller). So I started it up and started tilling. About ten minutes later, Scott drove up to the house and saw me running around tilling to heart's content. Of course, he had a look that reflected thoughts such as "What is he doing on my tiller," to "oh crap. I know how he runs the John Deere into the ground."
Scott calmly got out of his truck and stopped my fun, indicating that it was a delicate machine, and he had spent a lot of time on repairs, and he would rather do the tilling "but thanks." He took the time to teach me a few things about operating such machinery ("don't take hard turns" etc.) He then tilled the whole garden. I'd ask him things like "can I go get you drinks or a snack," and "how much gas should I go get for your garden tractor?" He declined all offers, and just tilled. He tilled, and tilled, and very thoroughly tilled as I listened to the Tiger game on the radio. The best part was that Scott, a fairly stern looking and very serious man who takes every task seriously, responded to my offers of compensation for his taking out a Saturday to do someone else's work. he said "don't worry about any of it. I'm tellin' you, this is what I do for fun."
Oh, about the new garden. Further work was needed, and this time our farm team did the hard work. Zach and Lindsay Oaster of FatToaster farm loaned us their truck to pick up manure to help out with our sandy soil. They actually allowed us to use it to haul manure! Zach and I worked together at Georgetown United Methodist for a while, and he and his wife have a sheep farm. At any rate, we took their truck to my employer's farm and filled it up with cow manure. Two loads worth covered the garden, and our first share size plot of land was ready to go!
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| shov'lin 'nure to get the new garden area in shape |
Getting started was a challenge. In order to expand the garden, we needed to till up new space, which was covered by a nice lawn that was very healthy, fertilized by chicken tractor manure. A neighbor was asked to bring over his tractor to till, and he agreed as he had helped expand a few square yards last year. Alas, like all of us he is a busy man, and after a two week period, we decided to go another route.
I love our John Deer 314 garden tractor. With a loan from Mike and Bev Holaday a few years ago, we purchased it for $900 and it has served the farm well. We bought it from Scott at Outdoor Motor in Wayland, and he is our trusted small engine go-to man, as I do not know mechanical stuff well. I also have little time to learn repair skills. So, Scott keeps things going smoothly.
A little bit about Scott. He is one of those folks who has a work ethic and small business integrity that is often hard to find. he operates his shop in Wayland, and has suffered through my questions and mistakes with the tractor in the same manner that he interacts with me at his shop. Scott is a "what you see is what you get" kind of guy, and he not only takes business relationships seriously, but personal relationships with customers as well.
When I asked him if he had any tiller attachments for the 314, he said he did, but it seemed cost prohibitive. I was telling Scott about our plan to till, and he said that he had a tiller that would do the job, and he would bring it over. so, on a Saturday, he came over with the tiller and dropped it off at the house. I walked outside and said "oh, he left it for me to have fun with. (It was a garden tractor tiller). So I started it up and started tilling. About ten minutes later, Scott drove up to the house and saw me running around tilling to heart's content. Of course, he had a look that reflected thoughts such as "What is he doing on my tiller," to "oh crap. I know how he runs the John Deere into the ground."
Scott calmly got out of his truck and stopped my fun, indicating that it was a delicate machine, and he had spent a lot of time on repairs, and he would rather do the tilling "but thanks." He took the time to teach me a few things about operating such machinery ("don't take hard turns" etc.) He then tilled the whole garden. I'd ask him things like "can I go get you drinks or a snack," and "how much gas should I go get for your garden tractor?" He declined all offers, and just tilled. He tilled, and tilled, and very thoroughly tilled as I listened to the Tiger game on the radio. The best part was that Scott, a fairly stern looking and very serious man who takes every task seriously, responded to my offers of compensation for his taking out a Saturday to do someone else's work. he said "don't worry about any of it. I'm tellin' you, this is what I do for fun."
Oh, about the new garden. Further work was needed, and this time our farm team did the hard work. Zach and Lindsay Oaster of FatToaster farm loaned us their truck to pick up manure to help out with our sandy soil. They actually allowed us to use it to haul manure! Zach and I worked together at Georgetown United Methodist for a while, and he and his wife have a sheep farm. At any rate, we took their truck to my employer's farm and filled it up with cow manure. Two loads worth covered the garden, and our first share size plot of land was ready to go!
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| Sandhill team doing the dirty work to get soil prepped for growing |
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