I can't believe it's almost July. We've been here for over a month working on the farm and it's hard to believe we are half way through with this summer internship. THERE IS STILL SO MUCH LEFT TO DO!!

Oh boy. I guess this would be a good place to write down some weekly goals. You probably came here to read about my experience and what I'm thinking about so here it goes!

First off, I would really like to finish up with the website by mid way through next week. A couple interns will be gone this weekend, but I would like for them to be part of the process, so hopefully by Wednesday we will be finished with this thing. Kind of related to the website, I would like to publicize more, to really promote Miller Farm and get the the Richmond and Earlham communities more involved. I was very surprised by the lack of Earlham faces at the farmers market's this summer.  We have seen a couple professors walk through with their kids, and we've seen a few EC grads coming in and supporting the locally grown community farmers, but nowhere near the amount of people I was expecting to see.  I don't know why this is. It could be because so many of our professors don't actually live in Richmond- maybe they've got their own farmers market's that they attend. Who knows? But I would like to get EC more involved somehow.

This past Saturday, Mark Brim came out to Miller Farm bright and early to film us while we prepared for the farmers market.  He made a great video with some beautiful shots. It's been posted to the Miller Farm facebook page and has been shared by many. Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYqmhbBOAqo

Another goal would be to find Koshka a home very, very soon. The longer she is here, the harder it is to "try" and find her a new home. We have all fallen in love with her. She's an amazing dog and so sweet. Never aggressive, very playful, and so smart. There are a few people who have expressed interest, but nobody that's agreed to take her from us. I am very afraid that when the end of the summer comes, we will have no choice but to give her to HELP.  They are full at the moment, but I'm sure there will be space soon enough. If any of you are interested in a wonderful dog, please contact us. We would love to have you come out and meet her.

There is always work to do around the farm: watering, weeding, planting, finding a home for a furry friend, etc. We've got our work cut out for us, but I think we can get it all done.

Thanks for reading!
Ellen

Alright. Here it goes. Blog post #1... 

First thing you should know about me is that I am not good at things like this. Blogging, journaling, letter writing, and anything else similar to that I have never been successful.  The challenge for me is taking the time to actually sit down and write it all out. This is a first for me so be patient and I promise I'll work to get better at it. 

So I've been here for almost a month now working at Miller Farm.  I had previously little to no experience with farming of any kind and I had only been out to Miller Farm once or twice when I applied for the intern position.  Honestly though, that was probably the biggest reasy why I wanted to be an intern here. Miller Farm, historically, has been a huge part of people's lives at Earlham.  I know many students who participate in Farm Day every week and even know a lot of the people who have lived at Miller Farm, but I have never gotten involved.  I was curious to see what life was like at the farm, so I applied.

I have learned a lot being here.  I come at 7 am three days a week to work the morning chores.  These include taking the compost and chicken bin's out, letting out the goats and chickens, feeding all of the animals (chickens, goats, cats, and a dog), and watering all of the gardens (five in total).  After morning chores are over I start off my day with working in the gardens.  It's so much cooler and less buggy in the early morning so weeding, turning beds, laying compost, and planting is far more enjoyable.  The afternoons are saved for intern meetings, website work, visits to Orscheln's for animal feed, and brief (but wonderful)  naps.  When the evening rolls around and it starts to cool off, another intern will do evening chores (similar to morning chores) while myself and others work in the gardens again. When the sun goes down, it's time to go home and sleep. 

When I arrived here our two goats, Meesh Meesh and Goatrude, were pregnant.  A couple weeks after we started working, I showed up for morning chores and walked over to the goat pen to feed them, but when I tried to open their pen I couldn't. I looked over the small gate and there it was.  A baby goat laying there, all fuzzy and new.  I had so many emotions and thoughts running through my head that it took me a few seconds to register what that baby goat actually meant.  I sprinted up to the house to wake the other interns who quickly dressed and followed me back outside to see the goat baby. Goat Baby #1 has been named Indigo(at). A couple days later wile at the farmers market with Natalie and Mishel, we got a call telling us that Goatrude had a kid.  Happy day!  Less than 30 minutes later we got another call saying that Goatrude had gone into labor AGAIN and had another kid! We shared the good news with all of our customers and eagurly awaited noon so that we could go back and meet Goat Babies #2 and #3.  These two are now named Khal Drogoat (G.O.T. reference for anyone who watches) and Rhuby (short for Rhubarb). The goats and their kids are wonderful and one of my favorite parts about the farm. 

We have been to 3 markets so far and we are doing well!  Yesterday was the first day we participated in Thursday market near Main Street Diner.  It was wonderful to meet a different crowd and talk to some of the other vendors.  I also bought some delicious local honey and real maple syrup. 

I think that's all I have for you for now. I am excited to start to have more to take to farmers markets and want to help Miller Farm make some connections with other local farms. 

I hope you enjoyed this!
Until next time,
Ellen