Tour of Troy and Intern Classes

Yesterday was the first in a series of intern classes at Troy.  It was about using your body effectively to minimize injury while doing quite arduous work day in and day out, at the farm.  The key (of course) is to strengthen your core muscles and let your hips and legs do most of the work, not your back.  While many of us know this, it's one thing to talk about it and quite another to do it effectively every time you bend over.  But just being aware is a good start, and I definitely will use the tips and tricks we learned to give my body a break while working, especially transplanting.  My hamstrings haven't stretched this far in a while!

We also met with all the interns from each of the various programs at Troy (farm, kids garden, and natural areas) and took a tour of the entire grounds.  In the photo, Christie Ralston discusses the Natural Areas with all the interns while we sit in one of the circles in the tallgrass prairie.

Here we can see a bean trellis put up by an enterprising community gardener (one of 350 at Troy):

Here, Nathan Larson shows us many features of the Kids Garden, including the chicken coop.

Wednesday, it was back to business and usual and the CSA harvest.  Tuesday, they picked more salad mix, spinach, and garlic scapes.  Today, we got cilantro and dill, lettuce, radishes, sugar snap peas, kale, and broccoli.  The lettuce heads in particular were just beautiful, gigantic, and glistening in the sun after being drenched by yesterday's rain and today's sunshine.

After the harvest, we continued weeding (surprise, surprise).  We pulled out big handfuls from the chard and beet beds.  The only major weeding job to be done is the peas, which seem to have sprouted lots of thistle.

I wonder what we're in store for on Friday?  Tomato trellising perhaps?