Thursday, July 15, 2021

Dagny's Summer on Heron Farms

I'm so grateful Max and I got a tour of Heron Farms before Dagny's internship came to an end. This last week has been so busy there wasn't any time! And she'll be off to Florida and to Ecuador on a mission trip with the Sisters of Home of the Mother. Do check out the amazing story of Sister Clare Crockett. More on that after she returns. Please pray for their journey to be fruitful. 

Dagny has enjoyed her time at Heron Farms so much because she is involved in all areas, from planting, doing research, to harvesting and packaging of sea-beans (not a bean but a succulent salty plant, also called samphire greens or sea asparagus, but technically Salicornia). She, along with a friend, even made an emergency trip to Baltimore to deliver a big shipment to one of their clients in a refrigerated truck. I think they didn't get more than four hours of sleep in 30 hours and I can only thank God for their safe journey. The friend said, wisely, "Never again." But my Dagny...always ready for an adventure :) She's the youngest on the team and the least experienced, and she's discovered the beauty of being a beginner, how wonderful it is to work with people who are all better than you are, how much you grow. And of course, we're learning all sorts of interesting things as well.    

We've had a chance to do a few experiments with the seabeans they were discarding. We fermented it, planted it in the marsh (but I suspect it's not salty enough), made green salt, and of course, I used them in my cooking! They are good to eat by themselves as well as in stir-fry. It's been such fun.

Dagny has worked hard, played hard, and served well. I'm so excited to see what she will do with all the new things she's learning. We are so proud of her.  

 






3 comments:

Mirka Breen said...

Dagny will be growing things and growing inwardly as she takes the responsibility of the job. Summer is a marvel for those who support growth. (The idiom "growing like a weed" didn't escape me as I looked at those many rows and shelves of sprouting plants)

Barbara Etlin said...

Dagny has worked hard and learned lots. What is "green salt"?

Vijaya said...

Dagny has grown phenomenally--academically, personally and spiritually. It makes this mama's heart swell with pride and longing.

Barb, we dried the seabeans and then crushed them into a fine powder, which is green salt (less salty than our regular salt but plenty salty still). We also extracted salt by boiling the seabeans, draining them and letting the water evaporate to have seabean salt, which tastes more like regular salt. But the green salt is pleasing to the eye!