Scott's leaving Two Spruce + wash station complete! + an ode to the draft horse

Sadly, Scott has decided to leave Two Spruce and Northland to move on and work elsewhere this season. He's currently up at Essex Farm near Lake Champlain, a horse and tractor powered year round, full diet, free choice CSA. We're sad to see him go but wish him the best of luck wherever he lands. Whomever he decides to work with this season and in the future will be lucky to have him!

The wash station has been one of those projects that took a while to come together. We were trying to decide between various kinds of basins (bath tub? plastic totes? sink?) and how many washes we wanted to have. Donn and I ended up building a double basin system using a 55 gallon barrel cup in half long ways and then set on top of a table that I built to hold them. We also now have a 4 x 8 spray table for washing roots. It's a repurposed rabbit hutch that I pulled out of the scrap pile and cleaned up. It already had the wire mesh fence on it that I was looking for--I just added some legs. Post-harvest, we'll lay out our bunches of beets, carrots, etc. on it, spray, turn, spray. The last thing to do is to put some pallets down on the floor to keep us from standing in the mud.

You might remember that a couple of weeks ago, we went to Connecticut for a plow clinic. After dinner one night, Jay Bailey sang us this song. It was written as a goodbye to the draft horse by a Scottish group called the Battlefield Band. He changed the words to make it about a revival of draft power and sang it after a long day of plowing with horses.

Here are the words (Jay Bailey's edits are in red).

Tonight’s (Last)Trip Home 

Original Words: Davy Steele Music: John McCusker

New words: Jay Bailey

A’ve worked on farms an frae the start

The muckle horses won ma heart

Wi’ their big broad backs they proudly stand,

The uncrowned Queen  (kings) o’ a’ the land.

And yet for all their power and strength

They’re as gentle as a summer’s wind.

So steady girls (boys) walk on, oor work is just begun (nearly done)

Once (no) more we’ll till and plough the fields, the horse’s day has come (is gone)

An’ this is just the night’s trip home (will be your last trip home), so steady girls (boys) walk on.

Noo you’ll hear men sing songs o’ praise

Of Arab stallions in a race,

Or hunters that fly with the hounds,

Tae chase the fox and run him down.

But none of them compare I vow,

Tae a working pair that pulls a plow.

Chorus

In all the years I’ve plied my trade,

An a’ the fields we’ve ploughed and laid

I always knew the time would come

When a horse’s (clydesdale's) work would’ve just begun (would ever end) 

And progress runs it’s driven course

And tractors ha’ rejoined (replaced) the horse.

Chorus

As we work the fields our friends stop round (As we head back, our friends have lined)

To visit an’ share some news they found, (The road tae be there one last time)

For none of them will want tae (shirk) (For nane of them would want tae miss)

The chance tae see us at oor (work). (The chance tae see us pass like this

They’ll say they saw in years to come,

The muckle horses’ coming back. (The muckle horses' last trip home)

Today is a day of bed forming with the two horse cultivator, seeding, and transplanting before the rain comes in the second half of the week. 

The first CSA newsletter is coming soon--keep your ear to the ground.