As we said earlier, Donn Cooper of Greyfield Garden is truly the teacher we never had. If you were to look up “omniscient” in the dictionary, you would see a big ole hansom photo of Mr. Donn Cooper. Between Sex And The City trivia, amazingly appropriate comebacks for every situation, an uncanny ability to lift a very heavy set of garden dumbbells, and most importantly, garden know-how out the wazoo, Donn Cooper is Mr. Renaissance. He has a thirst for knowledge that simply cannot be quenched especially when it comes to sustainable organic farming. Having arrived on Cumberland this past July, Donn’s work was cut out for him before he had even arrived. Greyfield Garden, located on a little plot of land behind the Greyfield Inn and a stones throw away from the marsh, braces a plethora of harsh elements from depleted soil nutrition to high winds and the most annoying biting midge problem one has ever seen.
During our weeklong workstay, Donn eagerly put us to work on several projects including planting seeds, preparing beds, and most importantly hoein’ some rows (accent IS necessary). The weather is a huge hindrance to the success of the garden. As you hopefully already read on our rainy day post, we were laid up that day and the remnants of that storm, mainly the soggy soil, affected our work for the rest of the week.
Greyfield’s biggest problem is soil nutrition. The soil, if you can even even call it that, is essentially sand, and sand has next to no beneficial nutrition for growing plants. Donn tries to replenish the lack of nitrogen and potassium by adding the wild horse manure and also by composting materials from the Greyfield Inn. Even still, some things just won’t grow. The weather is very unpredictable and extreme in all seasons. To help seeds get a start and have a fighting chance, Donn has built a make-shift greenhouse by using a strand of Christmas lights, compostable cups, and a whole lot of loving and hoping. Donn also has to fastidiously fight off garden loving creatures such as armadillos, horses, and many other small rodents. I personally find the Armadillos to be the peskiest and by far the ugliest.
Anywho, Donn is gung-hoe about making Greyfield Garden's production a strong asset to the operations at Greyfield Inn especially in the kitchen. He hopes to figure out the soil imbalance and get things growing all while fighting off those pesky biting midges (no-see-um, my butt).
Best of luck to Mr. Donn! And thanks to him and everyone at Greyfield for making our first farm visit the most influential and special... that's what she said (that one's for you Donn). make sure to support his cause by heading to his blog and/or becoming a fan of the garden here!
So many things to say...Obviously, I LOVE it. For the record, that very tiny barbell was extremely heavy (see the strain on my face?). And although a possum pretty much obliterated our seedlings, including your squash and cucumbers, it's turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as we've found much more suitable pots. (Said possum has been safely trapped and relocated, by the way.)
ReplyDeleteThe Greyfield gang agrees, Dodge and Batty: best Wwoofers ever.
P.S. I love the gate picture, but somehow I feel it doesn't tell the whole story.