10/01/2016
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU HAVE TO W**D A LARGE SQUARE // Siri Chillara
I looked at Alexandria Brown, Shoshi Preuss, Nadia, and Emily Volk. We all sighed together. It was July 23, 2016, and the space we were given to work on as The Swaraj Project was laden with five-foot-tall milk thistle, a giant patch of mint, and largely overgrown grass. It was nearly 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and we realized that we needed to pull out most of these plants if we wanted a chance at farming this land.
We had a small rusty rake that was there prior to our arrival and a bush whacker (not really, but imagine a stick and at the end of it, a spiky rectangle) provided by the well-wishing Lisa Barker, and we went at it. I started with the latter tool, using it to chop down tall weeds which Alexandria then removed with clippers. By the way, we recommend this tool to anybody who’s experiencing some frustration. We each took turns, and boy, knocking those thistles felt empowering!
Alexandria came the most prepared with gloves and a hat. I had said to her, "We won't need gloves! We gotta use our hands, man, feel the earth!" Well, I for sure felt the earth, and it was prickly and rash-inducing. Lesson learned. Anyway, Shoshi, Emily, and Nadia were pulling the smaller weeds out of the ground, and we switched roles every so often.
The land-prep job is always hard, and I’ve had conversations with people about the trendiness of urban farming and how the name hides the back-breaking work. In city environments, we expect these compact, efficient systems, and in some cases they are, but farming is farming; it isn’t glamorous. It requires patience and honestly, intense manual labor sometimes. Our motto for the day was, “Bit by bit, we’ll get it done.” In short, just do it.
