Not Monday, not Tuesday. not Wednesday, it's Waynesday. That means it's time for the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood to head over to Wayne's organic farm outside of Elgin, Texas. Kevin Wayne Lundgren is owner and operator of Branch Grove Farm and is one of the SHIRE's closest partners. He helps us by performing heavy-duty work with his tractor and sharing years of agricultural wisdom and delicious, home-grown vegetables. We help him with our time and energy, lending a hand by picking up a hoe or designing a straw bale greenhouse and bunk space. Last week, we went over to plant 1800 transplants. 

Branch Grove Farm

You come to the crest of the hill and see the Lundgren red barn rise from the brown and yellow landscape. Driving down the dirt road patches of green appear and the dogs come rushing to greet the car with frenzied barks, coming so close to being run over as they nip at the front bumper. We stop the car beside the barn and get out. We watch as Sean and Dakota--two of Wayne's most devoted farm hands--attempt to lure one of the half dozen roosters, spending their day under an old cedar with the rest of the flock, into a trap. Smiles and hugs go around as Wayne steps out of the farmhouse. 

Wayne is good old Texas man, broad chest, blue jeans, John Deere hat, and a smile as big as the sky. He has spent the past two decades revitalizing his family's land, restoring the fertility of the soil by increasing the organic matter and slowly dropping the pH. Wayne is now a proud Certified Organic Farmer--the largest organic hay producer in Texas--and runs Organic Media, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to "educating the public, from producers to consumers, about the benefits of organic farming."

Transplants

Wayne walks us down the hill past his newly installed irrigation pipes and takes us to one of many of what Wayne calls his "House Gardens", 20 or so rows, some bare, some filled with large bushes of cabbage and bok choi flowering with bright yellow flowers buzzing with honey bees hard at work. At the end near the pond sits 18 crates of transplants--three different kinds of broccoli, green cabbage, red cabbage, cauliflower, and sixteen 4" celery transplants.

Materials in hand: 4 hoes, two 5 gallon buckets for watering, gloves, and organic plant starter.

Nick, Jessi, Braden, Lizz, Patrick and new Hundred Acre Wood guest Keli got to work. One weeding the rows with the diamond hoe. Another digging holes for the transplants with a solid swing from the square hoe. Someone would follow carrying the transplant cartons, poking the plants loose from underneath then placing each one beside the dug hole. Another would gather water from the pond, mix the plant food--only a cap full or two--and pour a generous splash into the freshly tilled soil. The final task is the most tactile and wonderous: sowing the plant into the earth.

Mindful to break apart the seed ball, we soak the potting soil into the watered hole, scraping lush, nutritious soil on top. The feeling is magical. Covering each transplant to the stem, packing in down slightly. After a few hours and hundreds of plants, it is hard work. 

Singing and laughing we finish the rows, planting the cabbage transplants next to big bushy cabbage, digging up ripe radishes to make room for cauliflower and broccoli. Sean and Dakota come over to help. We planted 750 sprouting vegetables, eager to sow roots into this fertile earth. 

Sean went back to the house early and made pasta and sauce from Wayne's tomatoes. We all broke for lunch and were treated to a feast that left us all food coma'd. We said goodbye and Wayne sent us home with huge bundles of bok choi and shallots. 

We came back two days later and finished the rows, stopping before the eastern-most two where tiny spinach sprouted slightly out of the soil.

Waynesday

On the second visit, Wayne lent us his incubator. With a thermometer set at 99 degrees, we are ready for more chickens. We will keep growing. That's why today is Waynesday. 

Last update: January 12, 2011
07:29 pm

Published in : Articles, Sustainable Philosophy

Keywords : Wayne's Day, Waynesday, Wayne'sday, Wayne Lundgren, Branch Grove Farm, SHIRE, transplants, Hundred Acre Wood, Certified Organic Farmer, Elgin, Texas

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