An Announcement

Hola todas! Zoe Weizenbaum here. I have just returned from a six-week adventure in Spain! For the first two weeks I worked on a farm in Andalucia and for the month after I hiked one of the many famous pilgrimage routes that culminate in Santiago De Compostela.

In my final days of walking, crossing through the green pastures of Galicia, I came across many small farmers preparing their personal gardens for the coming season. Unlike our garden, which is full of all types of vegetables, they mostly grow greens for a specific soup called ‘Caldo Galego’. Similar to what I’ve learned to do back home however, they also prepare the soil with a healthy layer of ‘poopy mulch’. The smell of sheep and goat manure mixed with decomposing hay that followed me in the last stretch to Santiago made me feel right at home in the Galician countryside. It also inspired an extra quickness in my step as I thought about getting back home to the states and starting to work on our garden.

And now I’m home. I write this blog post staring out the window of my mom’s office. Our very pregnant goats are waddling around the chicken coop sniffing around for bits of bird feed left behind. The horses are close to the barn, using the structure as a windbreak as they take their mid-morning standing nap. The ducks and sheep are mostly out of sight, each busy getting their needs met in further off parts of the pasture and the chickens are taking advantage of the dust bath areas and laying boxes inside the barn. It’s a busy family we’re growing here and I’m happy to return to my place in it.

But what exactly is my place here on the farm? Since coming home from Taiwan in the summer of 2017 I’ve thought about this question a lot. I’ve been inspired by the potential I see here and have put in a lot of work in the past year a half. At the same time, I’ve also felt hesitant to fully commit myself. I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of work this place requires but also haven’t even been clear on what direction to take that work. My time walking the Camino has given me plenty of time to consider this and some clear direction is starting to form. And….here comes the announcement!

In my journey to learn more about homesteading over the past year and a half, I have accumulated a hefty contact list of local farmers/guerilla gardeners/permaculturalists/DIY professionals. They have offered their mentorship to me with such enthusiasm and… now they’re offering it to you! Starting in April and continuing all the way into November, Ancient Ponies Farm is hosting a series of workshops on permaculture and homesteading skills. Learn how to build a clay oven with Northampton based bread maker, Sam Coates-Finke. Dive into the world of tree identification and care with naturalist Walker Korby! Visit www.ancientponiesfarm.org for more information on our offerings and to sign up for classes! I’m so excited for this and the many other new beginning that come with this season. Stay tuned for pictures of goat babies. We’re expecting to “kid out” at the end of this month!