One Woman With a Farm and a Voice

“I’m trying to convince myself that BraeTek and I can eat all of these,” I said, filming the squashes and pumpkins crowding the porch. Then I sent that video to one of the guys at Wolf Classics, the garage next door where they’re retrofitting Land Rovers. Knowing he has a family to feed, I promised him a good deal, shamelessly hoping to coerce he and his wife into taking some squash off my hands.

CSA members had first dibs, of course, then the neighbors across the street came over. They brought four of their grandkids to pick out pumpkins, and I talked them into stocking up on squash for the winter. Later that afternoon, returning from the garden, I glanced across the street and saw them all spread out on a blanket on the lawn—and what were they doing but carving their pumpkins! Love and pride washed over me, knowing I’d played a small part in their special family time. I’m thankful for this knack I have for growing and making food, because I know the power it holds in bringing people together.

Another neighbor down the road has two small children, so I invited them to come pick out pumpkins. Mercifully, they took a couple of squashes as well, including a big blue hubbard that I was glad to see getting some love.

The dude from the garage texted back asking about some of the varieties in the video, said he wanted in, and that he’d take $100 worth! He brought his two young daughters to the farm, and those little girls spent a good fifteen minutes in serious deliberation before settling upon one of the Big Max pumpkins and a large Cinderella-type. I sent them home with a trunk-full of squashes and specialty eating pumpkins, along with the two they’d picked for carving.

What remained in the end, was a more reasonable number, and BraeTek and I shuttled them all from the farmstand to the pantry.

Now, surveying the former guest room, I’m filled with immense satisfaction. An assortment of squashes and pumpkins line the bottom shelf of the food rack, as well as the floor underneath it. Paper bags of dry beans sit against the wall, waiting to be processed and stored in jars. I have a small stash of surplus non-perishables, a couple jars of dried herbs infusing in oil, and a freezer full of vegetables I managed to preserve: snap peas, green beans, tomatoes, green peppers, and a few frozen herbs. My potato harvest is stashed in the closet in that unheated room until I’m ready to bury them in the ground for the winter.

That reminds me—I need to get a move on digging that hole!

In the barn, the onions are cured and waiting to be trimmed and bagged, and my Maryjane crop is hanging and drying. I’m still pulling carrots and have no idea where they’re all going to go, but I’m confident we won’t go hungry this winter, whatever happens in this crazy, chaotic world around us.

What’s Been Happening on the Farm

PREPPING FOR GARLIC PLANTING
It’s time to plant garlic here in Zone 4 western Maine. My seed garlic arrived a couple weeks ago from the Maine Potato Lady, and I’ve kept it in a cool, dark closet ever since. I’ve dedicated the beds, amended them, and worked the soil very lightly. The squash money bought ten bales of straw for mulch, and I spent the last two evenings cracking bulbs into individual cloves so I can plant this weekend.

CURRENTLY HARVESTING
Last week was all about getting the dry beans in, and this week I’m pulling the final bed of carrots. My poor, sandy soil grows some sexy root crops, and hauling these loooooong carrots out of the ground makes me downright giddy.

B’S CAR
Finances have been tight, so this one took a while to fund, but we’re gaining. With every paycheck, BraeTek moves a step closer to putting his ‘09 Subaru Forester on the road to replace the gas-guzzling truck as our primary vehicle. A couple weeks ago he bought the battery it needed. Last week we insured and registered the car, watched a YouTube video together, and installed said battery. Then, we put the plates on and I had him start it up. She lives! (invoking Disney’s Mushu scene from Mulan)

Now we just need a visit to the mechanic to track down the thunking underneath, swap the current tires for winter snows, and we’re good to go.

I GOT A JOB!
Greater Franklin Economic and Community Development has been hosting “marketing meet-ups” over the last few months, each geared toward a particular industry. I was flattered when they invited me to join the September panel on the food industry. My two-minute spiel was about the power of storytelling in marketing, and because I’m a little OCD, I also made a hand-out for my fellow business people to take home. Well, apparently something in that short speech resonated with the folks at Greater Franklin, because they’ve asked me to work with them—and I said yes!

If you’ve been following along, you know taking off-farm work is hard for me. I’m playing Uber three times a week to get BraeTek to and from work, and I refuse to compromise my farm any longer. But this job will be mostly remote, and capped at ten hours a week—and more like five during the growing season—so it felt doable to me.

I’ll be updating the Greater Franklin website, building up their blog, launching a newsletter, helping with social media, and showing up at local events. Best of all, I get to support and cultivate this part of Maine I love so much. It all ties back to my community service values, with the bonus that building up my community benefits Runamuk, too. I start on Monday and I can’t wait to dig in!

One Woman With a Farm and a Voice

Is anyone else really pissed off lately? Maybe it’s perimenopause getting the better of me, but I don’t think so.

Heating oil in Maine is averaging nearly $6 a gallon, almost 80% more than this time last year. I was lucky to get some fuel assistance from my fairy godmother, but at these prices it won’t cover the winter, and I’m not the only one doing that math. Fear and panic are rampant across the state.

Everywhere I look, the wealthy elite are using and abusing the rest of us for their own gain, and they don’t even bother hiding it anymore. They sell us food engineered to make us sick, then sell us the prescriptions. They charge us for five pounds of ham and hand us less (See this note I shared earlier this week about grocery stores and companies short-weighting products!). They saddle eighteen-year-olds with loans they can’t comprehend, and they buy the politicians who are supposed to stop them. And if you’re a woman, it’s not only your wallet on the line—it’s your body, your safety, and even your voice—just look at the Cornell 7. Look at our own ‘president,’ mocking a woman’s weight from the stage while his supporters attacked her at his rally.

It’s not right. It’s downright evil—and it’s unacceptable.

Personally, I’m not waiting for leaders or politicians. I’m not waiting until “the time is right”, because people are getting hurt and the time is RIGHT NOW.

So I’m doing it where I am, with what I have. And what I have is this farm, this uncanny ability for storytelling, a podcast and now a food show. Come Monday, I’ll be putting that storytelling to work for Greater Franklin and this corner of Maine I love, taking action right here at home. I have a pantry full of food I grew myself, and this weekend I’ll plant my garlic, tucking it in for the winter with straw paid for by the $100 from the dude at the garage.

But most of all, I’ve got this rage burning inside of me and I’m one hellova force to be reckoned with, my friends. It’s time to start taking back our lives from these greedy elitists. It’s time to stand up, demand better, and BE better ourselves, because one woman with a farm and a voice can create more ripples than they’ll ever admit. And you can too.

Until next week, farm friends.

Sending love and good juju to you and yours.

Your friendly neighborhood farmer,

—Sam

🫶Ways to Support Runamuk

1. Pre-order Stop Tilling, my no-till guide, at the pre-order discount before it launches the week of November 2nd. Click here.

2. Upgrade to a paid subscription at Substack. You’ll get Office Hours with me, a live workshop every month (Pumpkin Pie, Seed to Slice is on Nov 12), and the full Grower’s Vault. Upgrade now.

3. Make a one-time contribution toward the farm and our wildlife conservation work through PayPal or Venmo. Or check out Runamuk’s Amazon Wish List to send us a gift!