Last Wednesday was hay day. Our spirits have been doing well in this wet summer, but we were less certain about the hay – hay generally needs three full days of sunshine to dry between when it is mown and when it is baled, and Vermont was not cooperating. After waiting as long as she could, 
Chantal (the farmer)crossed her fingers on Sunday afternoon and mowed the hay, and we almost made it – we had some sprinkles Tuesday afternoon, but Chantal judged that much of the hay would be usable, and on Wednesday afternoon we turned out to the fields to load the hay bales onto trucks, and unload them into our dairy barn. It was a day filled with sweat, patience, and mechnical failures, but by the time the last of us returned for a late dinner, the hay was in. The day and unsteady weather was a blow for many New England farmers, whose farms often rely on the summer hay crop to feed their cattle over the winter.
This week also saw several out-of-camp adventures – the entire camp was hosted by Flying Cloud for their first naming ceremony of the summer, and a vanful of campers travelled with Kuenzi to her family’s farm near Montpelier to see a local vegetable-production farm firsthand. The farm has an in-house biodiesel production facility, a heavily customized ‘tractor of the future’, and a host of other innovations that allow the farm to flourish in an era when industrial scale agri-business is tough competition.
Trips
Next week (July 17-23) is our trips week, and all 66 campers and most of our staff are heading out for a week of farm service, hiking, canoeing, and unknown adventures. All of us are excited, both for the trips and for the return next weekend to our beloved farm, warm dry clothes, and the reunited community.
Visiting Day
Visiting day is next Saturday, July 25. We look forward to seeing the many family members and friends who we hope will come to briefly be a part of Tamarack Farm 2009. We ask that visitors arrive no earlier than 11 AM; feel free to bring a picnic lunch for your camper if you like, but please bring enough to share with a few campers who don’t have visitors. After a picnic lunch, we’ll have activities and time to visit in the afternoon and an extended shared dinner. At 9 PM we will ask our visitors to say goodbye, and will officially kick off the second half of Tamarack Farm 2009.
-Dave