Volunteering at the Orange Cat Community Farm

During my stay in Reedsburg I have been volunteering at the Orange Cat Community Farm, a certified organic vegetable farm owned and operated by Laura Mortimore.  I am interested in working on different organic farms so that I can get an idea of the many different ways to run one.  Each farmer has a slightly (sometimes major) different way of doing things and this way I can pick and choose what I think is best for me if I decide to have an organic farm some day...or at least a super rad garden!

My day at Orange Cat always started by being greeted by the orange cat, Little Anne.  The sweetest, softest kitty.  Laura had a pumpkin carving party and mine is the scary one on the first step.  I was going for a Voldemort feel...

On my last day at Orange Cat Community Farm, we harvested the last of the carrots.  Laura uses a tractor to go over the row.  There is a weighted piece on the back that goes into the ground to loosen the soil and bring up the carrots.  This makes the job go a lot faster than forking, especially when you have many rows of carrots like Laura.  Haley and Katie stood on the piece to make sure it sunk lower into the ground so it would not cut up the carrots.

Then we dig!  Women farmers power!

Carrots and more carrots!

Laura!

Haley!

I have had a fun time farming at the Orange Cat and have made some wonderful friends that will hopefully visit me in Chicago sometime soon!  I am really gonna miss it here.