Bluebird Trail Wwoofin'

to preserve this adventure

[mollywwoofs]

some little looks around the farm

[mollywwoofs]

a few more farm friends

[mollywwoofs]

some kittens, hannah the barn cat, and walter

[mollywwoofs]

some sweet bunny friends

[mollywwoofs]

Day 4

Double Post! Hi Pals!

Today was a lot better than yesterday. Haylee left this morning, which was sad. I enjoyed her company here. But there’s another wwoofer here now, Savannah. 

Margie and I started the day by feeding all the animals, and then we moved on to gardening. Margie was preoccupied with housework. She had to clean all the sheets from the spare bedroom because her uncle is stopping in for a few days, unexpectedly. And she had to ready things for Savannah as well, as she was supposed to arrive on Wednesday, but was a little ahead of schedule. So while she was busy with all of that, she had me do some gardening. 

I began with raking and hoeing 5 plant beds, then planting a total of 48 potatoes. It was the first sunny day since I’ve been here and I was definitely sweating and reapplying sunscreen. (Spoiler alert: I still got sunburned.) Post-potatoes, I moved on to the meadow and planted all kinds of seeds. Next I arranged some flowers in pots, planted some herbs, and tipped raspberry bushes. 

I finished up around 3:30 and was pretty tired. I took a little nap, met Savannah (and her dog, Irene,) and ate dinner. In a little bit, Haley (a different one), is coming to teach us how to brush the donkeys and the horses. And if any of you don’t know, I’m pretty afraid of horses, even if they’re miniature. So that should be fun. 

I took a bunch of pictures yesterday, so I’ll post those tonight! 

[mollywwoofs]

Day 3

Hi Pals, 

I’ve been avoiding this post because I’m pretty mad at myself for it, but in the name of honesty to myself, here it is. 

Day 3 was yesterday. I hardly got out of bed. I slept pretty soundly the night before, though I did have some strange, bad dreams. When I woke up my brain was immediately telling me how badly it didn’t want to get out of bed. And, I listened. I knew we were off for a good part of the day, so I went down to the house, grabbed some breakfast, and went right back up to the Hide. Haylee was at the house when I was eating and she had decided to work that day. She said good morning and left pretty quickly. 

I stayed in bed for basically the remainder of the day. I wanted to do so much, but I just...couldn’t? I missed the birthday party and I texted Margie about it, skirting around saying this was a depression thing and blaming it fully on physical symptoms. 

I came down to the house after the party, at around 5 o’clock and Margie asked me how I was feeling, and if it was really just physical. I said I was having a “low day.” She understood, and that was great, but I still felt absolutely terrible about missing the party. I stepped into the bathroom and cried, and then I journaled a bit and felt a little better. 

I took a walk down to the farm and took some pictures of the animals, met up with Haylee and painted flower pots. Seeing people and being outside made me feel so much more present and I sort of forgot about how much I had been in my own head earlier in the day. 

I wish this wasn’t a thing I had to deal with, and I’m a little surprised it came on so soon into being here. But, it happened, and Margie and I talked about it. And it’s just a thing I have to acknowledge and let pass. I won’t let an entire day go by again here, though. I don’t want to waste this time hidden away. 

[mollywwoofs]

Day 2

 Hi Pals!

Yesterday was my first ~actual~ work day, even though it was cut a bit short by rain. I woke up around 6? 7? 8? I don’t really remember, I slept hardly at all. I suppose I was just overwhelmed, not in a bad way, but still, and that contributed to the lack of sleep. I think I caught 3-4 hours worth of z’s, and then it was time for breakfast. I had a quick yogurt and then it was off to feed the animals. 

It had rained a lot the night before, and was still misting when we were heading towards the barn. Every morning, all the animals get fresh water, a scoop of their respective food, and the large animals get a square of hay. 

Then it was time for deworming! So, I mistyped yesterday when I said “6 or 7 goats.” There are in fact, 5 goats, and one sheep that is small enough to pass as a goat, honestly. Anyway, Haylee (that’s the correct spelling of her name, I’ve learned) and I had to hold the goats down while Margie administered the shot into their shoulder. One by one they trotted directly into our arms, got the shot, screamed, ate some treats, and trotted right back into the pen. 

Margie gave deworming goo to the ponies as well, which they couldn’t decide if they loved or hated. Then it was time for chick moving! Haylee and I were tasked with moving all of the baby chicks from two separate heat lamps, to one central one. There was a lot of animal screaming involved in that process as well, just...smaller. 

After that, Margie handed us shovels and rakes and brought us to the pony pen in the barn. Poop scooping: Honestly, not as bad as I thought it would be. I didn’t totally hate it, and it was done rather quickly since Haylee and I were working together, however I’m not saying I’ll be thrilled to do it again. 

Post-lunch, since it was so rainy out, we couldn’t do much gardening, or much of anything else. Margie made up a little quiz for me to identify all the veggies and herbs growing in the garden. I did...okay, but I’m still learning! And she assured me that’s all it was for. After the quiz, though, we were pretty much done for the day. Haylee and I were just relaxing, reading, and doing some writing when Margie let us know that she and Bill have a membership to the Y, so after a little adventure for ice cream and a bathing suit for yours truly, Haylee and I headed over there to do some laps in the pool. It was nice to drive around the town a little bit as well. We listened to Fleetwood Mac the entire time in the car. 

We got home, had tacos for dinner, and Bill and I talked about the best places to get crabcakes in Maryland, as he’s worked in Rockville before. I nestled into bed pretty early, and slept probably too well because my body was tired and I hadn’t slept well the night prior. 

Today is Sunday, and we’re off pretty much the whole day, except for a birthday party at 3. Butterfly themed for a 5 year old girl, should be fun. I’ll post some pictures and a summary of the day tonight. 

[mollywwoofs]

[mollywwoofs]

Day 1 (More Things!)

Hi pals!

Ok, so I’ve arrived at Bluebird, and it’s honestly better than I could have imagined, thus far. Margie, the head of the farm, greeted me and introduced me to Jen, the master gardener. Margie said without Jen nothing on the farm would grow. She then brought me inside the house and introduced me to Walter, the farm dog. 

We took a walk up to the Bird Hide, which will be my sleeping arrangement for the next three weeks. I’ll post some pictures, but it’s basically an 8′x10′ room with a bed and a bedside table and wifi! It’s a raised sort of cabin-ish-thing with a little porch that I’m far too tall for. But, believe it or not, it feels like the perfect amount of space. 

After I got all settled in, I met back up with Margie to take a tour of the farm. It’s situated on 20 acres of absolutely gorgeous nothingness. It’s just green, green land for-seemingly-ever. Across the street is another farm with about 20 cows that seem to never stop mooing. 

What I thought was going to be a tour of gardens mostly and a few animals, turned out to be pretty animal heavy. They have currently (bear with me on the approximation of numbers): 2 alpacas, 6 or 7 goats, 3 donkeys (one named Finn who loves to be pet!), 2 miniature horses (Lil’ Sebastian and Ruby), 7 rabbits (three of which have recently had the most adorable babies), several roasting chickens, several hens, several turkeys, 2 ducks (Jake and Ruby), a barn cat named Hannah, and her 3 kittens. I think that’s everyone, but I might be wrong. While I’m working here they’ll also be getting pigs and honeybees! If you can believe it, I really feel like I’m missing an animal in that list. 

They have an entire trail lined with birdhouses for bluebird watching. And there’s a birdhouse attached to my little cabin that has a very tweety barn swallow inhabiting it. 

After the tour I met Bill, Margie’s husband, and Haley, a girl wwoofing here until Tuesday. We had dinner together and walked Walter and now I’m back in the Bird Hide, getting very sleepy. It’s been quite the day, and there’s been so much to take in. But I’m so happy to be here, and I feel very comfortable despite not feeling quite prepared enough. Margie and Bill seem like angels, and from what Haley said, they are. I’m proud of myself for coming here and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings. For now, a good night’s sleep is calling my name. 

[mollywwoofs]

Day 1

Hello family, friends, and any internetters who stumble upon this lil ol’ blog at some point, 

I’m on my way to Corning! For those of you that don’t know, even though I feel like I’ve been talking about this nonstop, I’m going to visit? volunteer? wwoof? at Bluebird Trail Farm in Corning, New York for the next three (ish) weeks. It’s a small (mostly) produce farm that does the majority of it’s work through the CSA. I found out about this farm through WWOOF, which is the Worldwide Organization of Organic Farming.  

I’m a mixture of drastically too excited and feeling like I’m stepping into something way out of my league. To be completely honest, I know almost nothing about farming, but I want to. And that want is what’s pushing me to do this. And I hope that want will continue to push me through these next few weeks. 

The drive up so far has been beautiful. It’s been raining and/or overcast the entire way, and usually that’s a bit of a bother, but some parts of the trip have made me really appreciate it. On a highway in Pennsylvania, I passed through a stretch of road that was walled by rocks and because it had been raining so much, a small waterfall had made it’s way down the rock face. I hope all those people who live there feel lucky that they might see that on their daily commute, because I don’t know any Maryland highways that offer makeshift rain waterfalls. 

I also passed a street of homes in Liverpool, PA who’s most beautiful house was their funeral home. And in the next town over, every building looked like a barn, including the church. I wish I could’ve stopped to take a photo. Maybe on the way back. 

I’ll do my best to write here or at least post pictures every day. I’m planning to journal as well, so this may just end up being tidbits of those entries. Either way, thanks for reading and I hope you’ll continue to follow me in this weird little adventure I’m taking on. 

-Molly