Since meeting Hunter, the lead permaculturist, I really wanted to check out his plot. Because we didn’t work directly with him, I had to schedule a time for him to give us an informative tour.

He lives in a tiny home he constructed near the back of the farm. His front porch is his garden. One of his main focuses is researching and implementing water saving techniques. He uses wicking beds, rain water and a technique he calls “planting water” to achieve this goal.

He uses old bathtubs for wicking bed containers since he gets them for free. A simple PVC pipe with an elbow joint and drainage holes constitutes the filling mechanism and reservoir. The pipe is buried under pebbles, followed by soil. The wicking bed saves water by watering from the ground up. This prevents water from evaporating from the soil, as it would with traditional means. Additionally, it only waters the plants when they need it. The wicking action is initiated by the lower soil drying out. As the soil dries, it pulls water from the reservoir and re-saturates the soil.

Utilizing rain catching devices also decreases his water footprint. He has several rain barrels raised on pallets spaced around the garden. They have taps on the bottom and are connected to irrigation pipes that direct the water where he needs it. He also has connected his roof gutters to a rain barrel.

Lastly, his technique of “planting water.” He saves this method for the most water hungry species in his garden, which are apple trees. When the trees were young, he excavated around the rootball and planted a mix of vermiculite and wood chips. These substrates have a lot of pore space and great water-holding capacities. When it rains, they absorb a lot of water and prevent it from penetrating, holding it available to plants for an extended period. This allows him to grow species that would not be possible otherwise.

Hunter’s last project he showed us was his vermicomposting bin. Vermicomposting is a method that utilizes the power of worms to turn food scraps and weeds into fertilizer. The worms eat the provided food sources and their castings, or poop, can be used as a natural fertilizer.

CSA is short for Community Supported Agriculture. Also called “crop sharing,” a CSA program allows the public to “share” weekly harvests for a fee. Interested persons can purchase a weekly subscription to a farm, and in return, they receive fresh produce. Subscriptions are typically for one month, and are available for as long as the farm wishes to support. This system benefits both the farmer and the consumer. 

Advantages for the farmer:

• Get to spend time marketing the food early in the year, before their long days in the field begin
• Receive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm’s cash flow
• Have an opportunity to get to know the people who eat the food they grow

Advantages for the consumer:

• Get to consume super-fresh food loaded with vitamins
• Get exposed to new vegetables
• Develop a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learn more about how food is grown

Rahane farm is a CSA provider and had 11 subscribers while we were there. Subscribers picked up their orders every Thursday. For us, that meant Wednesday and Thursday mornings were spent harvesting ripe produce. The above photo is an example of an order. It consists of cabbage, kale, carrots, garlic, pie cherries, bok choy, swiss chard, chives, dried habenero peppers, peppermint, and dill. A pretty good haul for one week.

Most weeks, kale was part of the CSA orders. Aphids love kale and because Rahane doesn’t use any pesticides, there were always two people removing the aphids with hoses on Wednesdays. 20 pounds of kale to wash takes many hours of work. There weren’t a lot of aphids on any one piece, and they didn’t do any damage, but it’s safe to assume people wouldn’t enjoy finding them in the folds of their kale.

A key component to the perpetual cycle at Rahane is composting. The soil on the farm is already rich and alive, and adding compost to the mix creates a super-charged soil the plants love.

What materials are composted?

• food scraps
• egg shells
• weeds
• wood chips
• chicken manure
• leaves
  

These materials are added in layers to the compost pile. Every 6″, a layer of straw is added. The straw helps keep oxygen in the pile. Because Rahane relies an aerobic organisms to break down the mix, oxygen is essential. To further facilitate the colonization and well-being of these organisms, the pile is shaded and kept moist. These factors ensure constant environmental conditions that allow the compost process to be as efficient as possible.

The entire process takes about 6 months. When the compost is finished, a portion of the completed goodness is added to preexisting piles. Doing so adds colonies of established bacteria, fungi and other organisms to the younger compost. I was lucky to have this job. While going through the finished compost, there was so much life you could actually hear them crawling through the mix. It was kind of like listening to the cereal “Rice Krispies” after adding milk.

Observed organisms:

• pill bugs
• worms
• rubber boa
• alligator lizards
• mycelium
• mold

As the summer went on, the tomatoes kept growing. They were some of the most prolific plants in the garden, growing at least 4″ everyday. Eventually, their stems started falling over as they began developing fruit.

-Insert Kayla and Jared-

It was our job to trellis the tomatoes to support the plants. This was easy work, but very time consuming. Most of the tomatoes were planted on the perimeter of the gardens, up against the fence. We tied string loosely to bottom stems, and then up to the fence. Tomatoes planted in the open were not as easy.

To provide support for these plants, we had to first drive stakes into the ground. Because the stakes were 12′ in length, we had to stand on ladders and use a stake hammer to pound them about 2′ into the soil. This was a lot of fun and the stake hammer, “Le Smasher,” was really heavy so this was another good workout. We spaced the stakes at 5′ intervals.

Once the stakes were in, we secured lengths of 2 x 4s across the tops with rope. Now we were able to use the same string trellising technique as before. Instead of tying off on the fence, we used the 2 x 4s. The project came out really well and eventually created solid walls of tomatoes.

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At the end of June, days were pushing 100°F and we were feeling it. Lucky for us, Rahane has an artificial pond that fills with spring water. The pond was really cold but was incredibly refreshing during lunch break and after work. On some days, we would jump in with all our clothes on so we would continue to stay cool when it was time to return to work.

Although the pond’s construction was man-made, there was no shortage of life. I saw the largest salamanders I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I was unable to identify the species. Tadpoles, and then frogs were also plentiful. Water boatmen, dragonfly and their larvae, water skaters, diving beetles, garter snakes, honey bees, and hornets rounded out the list.

We all spent a lot of time here and created many great memories together.

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Every Saturday, we participated in the Hood River Farmer’s Market. Similar to CSA days, we spent Fridays harvesting produce for this event. We always had a great selection of produce, herbs, and medicinal teas.

This place was an amazing environment. After frequenting the event for several weeks, we had our favorite vendors picked out. The cherry lady, the Thai soap woman, Gorge Ice Cream, and the blue cheese lady topped my list. The best part was, some of the vendors were willing to trade our produce for their products! In addition, there was always live music and good weather. Other products at the farmer’s market we enjoyed were: mushrooms, honey, kombucha, sauerkraut, black garlic, and beeswax food wraps.

Another avenue of cash flow was selling produce to local markets. Our kale was in high demand so that’s mainly what we sold. In addition to all the kale washed for CSA orders, we added another 20 pounds for a local grocery store!

Who knew I would end up loving goats?

When I first learned we had 10 goats on the farm, I’ll admit I wasn’t the most enthusiastic…traumatic childhood petting zoo experience perhaps? However, once I got to know the family, I quickly came to love them.

Gina and Gloria are the mothers of 8 total children. Adam, with help from Ari, takes care of them. They live in a massive enclosure bordering the forest. There is plenty of good forage within the pen, and is supplemented by wheelbarrows of weeds from the property. People say goats will eat anything and I can attest to that. My jeans and clothes were all tasted, and sometimes, even my fingers were nibbled.

In addition to these sources of food, Adam and Ari take the goats on daily “goat walks” through the forest where they forage on native plants. On my first walk, I was surprised to see how fast these animals can devour food. They stop for only a few seconds to wolf down a bunch of leaves before hurrying on with the rest of the herd. That was the other surprise.

These goats needed no leashes to stay together and would always follow the human at the front. If a goat foraged too long and became separated, they would cry and follow the calls of the other goats until they had found their way back.

A highlight of any goat walk was located at the clear-cut site. Berries thrived in this intensely lit area and we stopped frequently to graze ourselves. Black raspberries, red raspberries and blackberries were all enjoyed. On several occasions, we brought small buckets with us and turned our harvest into “fruit leather.” To make the leather, we smashed the berries into a thin layer on wax paper and left it in full sun to dry. After a few days it was ready for eating. It was kind of like a fruit-roll-up, only organic and way better.

Adam milks the mother goats every morning. He uses the milk to make cheese, kefir, and to drink! He has hopes of training his goats to carry packs so he can eventually live nomadically, living off the land and goat milk.

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Another feature of Rahane were the flowers grown for medicinal purposes. Calendula and chamomile flowers were both harvested by Kayla and I. When the plants were in full bloom, it was a daily task. The flowers developed quickly and had to be picked at peak bloom to maximize the medicinal benefits. Care was taken to harvest only the flower heads and no stem material. After collecting the heads in small buckets, we placed the flowers on mesh racks in the drying house. When dry, Aera crushes the flowers and puts them in tea bags, ready for use.

Benefits of Calendula tea

• strong anti-inflammatory properties
• protects cells from free radicals
• relaxes muscle spasms
• aids constipation
• improves oral health by fighting gingivitis, plaque, and cavities
  

Benefits of Chamomile tea

• calms anxiety
• settles the stomach
• eases heartburn
• fights insomnia
• relieves mouth sores
  

In addition to these flowers, we also harvested and dried species of mint for tea blends. Species included: spearmint, peppermint, and chocolate mint.

Aera sells her teas at the local farmer’s market every Saturday.

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After all of our hard work trellising, it was time to harvest. Tomatoes are one of my favorite foods and I had been looking forward to this day. There were about 8 different varieties grown on the farm. They varied in color from green, yellow, orange, red, purple, and mottled heirloom varieties. The crop was so plentiful, there were plenty of first-class fruits for us and the CSA orders. Our favorite was the orange “sun gold.” Harvesting days were some of our favorites. It is relatively easy work and has edible benefits!

Due to the rapid influx of produce on the farm when a field ripens, Rahane is faced with a fortunate problem of food surplus. To deal with this, many of the crops are preserved by canning, jamming, pickling, or “zoodling”.

I’m still not sure if “the zoodler” is the correct name for this device but I like it. It rotates vegetables through a blade, cutting them into thin noodles. I spent a lot of time running squash through the device. You can’t see it in the photo, but the noodles are being collected in a large mixing bowl. When the bowl is full, I dumped the contents into hanging racks to dry. Over just a couple days, the noodles become dehydrated and crispy. They can be stored like this for long periods.

Whenever you desire some squash noodles, simply rehydrate them in water and add whatever spices and veggies you like. We cooked up a bunch of zucchini noodles and they were delicious! We also added fresh noodles into salads.