Holes, Fences, and the Goshen Farmers Market

Cool nights, warm days, and hints of turning leaves will mark our memories of September this year, offering us the gorgeous weather we’ve waited for all summer.  This fall at Merry Lea Sustainable Farm has been a changing landscape of faces, as the Sustainability Leadership Semester came into full swing and as WWOOFers appeared on the scene.  Two volunteers joined us during September and their friendliness, energy and enthusiasm have been greatly appreciated.  Check out this unique way to work, travel, and explore through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (if you’re hearing about it for the first time)!

With September came the opportunity to resume selling produce on the Goshen College campus, a Friday afternoon treat for students and faculty.  This gives us an opportunity to interact with folks on the Goshen College campus, connecting us to our home institution and to the people who make it a wonderful place to study and work.  Our production beds continued producing tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, onions, kale, cabbage, tomatillo, garlic, basil, salad mix, watermelon, okra, kohlrabi, and ground cherries.

 One of the important tasks completed with the help of WWOOFers was the placement of a telephone pole in our ‘Woody Perennial Polyculture’ field where we will install a camera for time-lapse photography.  We will observe the development of our brambles, vines, shrubs and trees, and perhaps the occasional visit of white-tailed deer.  The wet clay was a real challenge to dig through, but we succeeded!

A damp, overcast, cool day ends this glorious month of September, and we look forward to many events in the month of October.  This includes a food and farm tour for youth who want to explore opportunities in sustainable agriculture (Oct 11) and the Goshen Farmers’ Market ‘farm to table’ mealon October 18.

Do keep in touch with a visit to the farm or by exploring our eight miles of trails at Merry Lea.

– Jon Zirkle, Farm Manager & Agroecology Instructor