Farm or Business?

There is a passage in Cook's Country (my completely selfish Mother's Day gift to mom) that is very appropriate. Here is our favorite part...

"On a small farm, agriculture wasn't a business. It was what you did from before breakfast until suppertime. Food was local--store-bought was the exception. You knew where everything came from: the corn, the lettuce, the berries (from bushes down around the abandoned corn crib), the maple syrup, the beef, the green beans, and the potatoes, that last stored in large plastic buckets on an unheated porch. But we didn't study food, or compare it, or set out to find the best this or the best that. It was just our food, the stuff that we cooked and ate.

It's hard to explain that to someone used to the aisles of Whole Foods. Choices give life possibilities but also complications. Sometimes it's nice to know what's for dinner simply be peeking into the root cellar, the garden, or the freezer..."

I love this passage. Not just for the images and feelings it evokes, but also for the way it makes me kind of glad things are different today. The first line is especially appropriate because am currently in the process of finalizing our business plan. Before I took this business course, agriculture was simply what I did from breakfast until suppertime. However, if you want to grow food for other people, it is a business. It is a regulated, market-driven, consumer enterprise. I will admit, business to me used to be a four letter word. But now I have a special appreciation for business, especially small business, especially local business. The people who I am taking this course with are extraordinary people, extraordinary farmers, with extraordinary visions.

Perhaps the most extraordinary is that most of them, as far as I can tell, do not have visions to become huge operations. Profitable, of course, but still local, sustainable, and community oriented. I include ourselves in this group. What I also realize is that if these businesses are not profitable, they will not continue, and we will actually have less choices. The passage is true, choices complicate matters. But if all or most of your choices involve a high-quality product you can truly feel connected to and good about buying, then complication is a blessing. I feel this is especially true when it comes to making choices about the foods we feed ourselves and our family.

Finally, I also feel it is becoming easier to explain this to someone used to the aisles of any grocery store, and perhaps a little easier to those who shop at Whole Foods. Although we may have to explain to people the principles of eating seasonally, using sustainable methods for the health of our family and planet, and the cost of doing so, people are listening. The fact that I am able to wake up every day, look forward to working in the garden to grow the best food for my family and yours, is a testament to this.

So to you, my customers and community members-I thank you for continuing to demand and support excellence and for perusing the aisles of our garden as well (if not better) as the aisles of the grocery store. And this, coming from your local farmer...and businesswoman.

If I planted seashells....

Figure 1

Figure 2

I am enjoying bit of peace and quiet as both boys are sleeping and instead of cleaning up my mess (see figure 1) I am writing a much needed update on farm happenings. There has been a little excitement these past weeks. We had a turkey get loose and make her way all the way down to the garden. Luckily, my mother in law saw her and was able to watch the boys while I tried to corral her into a dog kennel. After about 3 laps around each garden I finally got her into the little garden, cornered her by Dad's "nursery" vines, and thought the whole ordeal was over. I grabbed her like I would any chicken by holding her wings down and trying to carry her. Unlike a chicken, turkeys have amazingly strong wings. Needless to say, she got away and Lucy (our lovely dog) chased her into the trees. I thought she was gone for good. However, Dan and I were coming home late that night, equipped with a flashlight for checking his calves, when I asked him to just scan the trees and see if she was roosting. Not only did he spot her, but he climbed the tree pile and effortlessly retrieved her. Despite Holden's requests that the turkey ride in the back seat with him, we put her in the dog kennel and returned her to her flock. Dan is officially my hero, and this story illustrates perfectly why I married him.

Holden is also dabbling in poultry farming. After a trip with his dad to the local farm store, they returned with a peeping box full of ten pullet chicks. He makes sure they are checked on every day and very well fed. All of his earnings from egg sales with go straight into his John Deere piggy bank.

Finally, this morning, we got the artichokes repotted. They are doing so well, they have outgrown their Jiffy-7 pellets and needed some more space to grow. So our activity this morning was repotting the artichokes. We successfully repotted almost all of them. Holden had so much fun digging in the dirt, throwing some on Wyatt-despite my threats of taking away his fruit snack privileges, and even helping fill the pots. My proudest moment as a parent also came about as a result of this activity. We have been reading a book called My Garden, by Kevin Henkes. (Wonderful book if you have not read it.) In this book, the little girl helps in her mother's garden but has her own ideas of what a garden should really be. Her ideas include patterned flowers that grow back right after they are picked, jellybean bushes, chocolate bunnies, hundreds of birds and butterflies, and growing seashells--if you plant seashells. I love this book and want Holden to love it too, for obvious reasons. He does ask me to read it often but I didn't understand his appreciation for the book until today. Rather than tell you what happened, I will use a picture to illustrate. (see figure 2) Keep in mind he did this with no prompting from me. I must say, the mess I have to clean up is totally worth it.

This is how Holden helps with cookie making.

Onion seedlings...they smell like onions already.

Artichokes and leeks. Notice the inches of snow on the railing.

Our albino artichoke. Unfortunately, this little guy won't make it due to his inability to photosynthesize.

Well, we have an official snow day today. Roads are icy, snow is blowing, cancellations abound, there is chili on the stove, and Grandma and Holden are making cookies. I figured it was the perfect time to chill a bottle of champagne on the porch, make myself a mimosa (mimosa is the new wine), and update my blog.

Things on the farm are going ...albeit a little slowly. The plants are growing, the hens are laying sporadically, and the garden is still in its winter rest. But we are planning for the busy part of the season by laying out the garden, putting in our seed orders, and organizing equipment. I am also compiling the formal list of mistakes we have made so that we do not repeat them again. On the other hand, I am also going over last year's records to see what great things we did that we need to continue and improve upon this year. That is what we do in the winter on the farm. That...and take time to rejuvenate.

Which brings me to my second order of business. I will warn you, this is about to get sappy. I am sure many of you have been reminded, more than once, as I was this week, of how short and precious life may be. So I just want to say that my garden will probably not be weed free, my house may rarely be clean, and my blog may not be updated every week. However, I can assure you that the time I would be taking to do those things I will instead spend reading to my boys, watching them spend precious time with their grandparents, and enjoying a mid winter blizzard from the warmth of the kitchen. And I must leave on that note to get a warm cookie before Holden and Grandma eat them all.

Resolution, Schmesolution

Our last Tom Turkey...trying to impress the ladies.

Recycling pine cones into bird feeders.

I know my resolution to write weekly has already been broken...(as has my exercise regimen.) However, I am going to try again for the Chinese New Year, which is February 3. We shall see. Regardless, the new growing season has officially begun. I have started artichokes (yes, we can grow those here), leeks, celery, and onions from seed. This is the first year I have started onions from seed, so I may be buying plants come April. If it works, I will have saved a lot of money and I will not have to worry about any of the onions bolting. Onions are biennial, so they form a seed head every second year. Those seed heads ruin the integrity of the onion, even if you snip them off. So if all goes well, we will have a great onion crop this year.

Mom and I have started taking a business course for agricultural producers. Hilarious, considering I dropped every business class I tried to take in college by the third class. After the initial shock and bewildered looks, we decided that it will be beneficial for us and our customers to work hard at our business plan. And we did not get reprimanded for giggling during class yet, although I really believe we may have to sit separately to avoid disrupting the class.

We recently ordered 50 pullets in order to increase egg production by the time our CSA starts. There was a tragedy that occurred during mailing and we have significantly less chickens than we ordered. Luckily, my father in law managed to save a few lives, and the remaining chicks are thriving. Needless to say, we are waiting for warmer weather to increase the flock.

And, as you can see, some of our turkeys survived the holidays. Because Wyatt came a little earlier than expected, our goal of selling the turkeys took a backseat. We did enjoy some fresh, chemical free turkey for Thanksgiving and hope to have the rest dressed within the next two weeks.

More updates to come on planting, livestock, and academic progress. Until then--Happy Chines New Year!

New, New, New

New Year, new resolutions, new baby... This past year has brought some new changes and this next year promises to bring many more. Beyond my new year's resolution (which includes an exercise regimen I do not love and may have seriously injured me after two days), this year also brings a fresh enthusiasm for the farm. We hope to erect a hoophouse this spring, we have a giant refrigerated trailer we are turning into our harvest and packing shed, and I am scouring the seed catalogs. The most exciting news is that I am doing this with a 9 week old baby on my lap.

The newest addition to the farm is Wyatt, who was born on November 1st. He and Holden are getting along beautifully and we hope Wyatt loves the garden as much as Holden.

Another of my resolutions is to update my blog weekly. I know you have all heard this before, but new year's resolutions have to last the whole year, right? Finally, we have opened up our 2011 CSA. As soon as I talk to my wonderful brother-in-law, we will have the new brochure and sign up sheet on the site. Happy Happy New Year!

The end is near...

Could he be any cuter?

The peak of our tomato harvest.

Part of the last Wednesday pickup.

More items...

A last burst of summer color.

We had our last Wednesday CSA pickup today and this was my message to our subscribers...

Well, the end of the season has arrived and it is definitely bittersweet. While I am getting very anxious to wrap up things in the garden and get the nursery ready, I sure am going to miss picking fresh produce for supper. That is why, even though it is the end of the season, we have been thinking of next year for some time now.

We have some exciting new ideas already. First, we are planning on expanding—especially our squash and gourds plot. Our dream this year was to have a sprawling display of various types of squash and gourds. Our hungry mouse definitely cut down on the variety and we realized we need a bit more space than we allotted this year for these sprawling vines. We have also applied for a hoop house grant and are getting a refrigerated storage trailer this coming week. Finally, we are going over our mistakes made this year and figuring out ways to make sure we do not make the same mistakes next year—though we always expect different mistakes.

We would like to take this time to thank our CSA members for being so loyal, honest, and patient during our first year. We are happy to announce that we will not only be continuing our CSA next year, but we will also be offering more shares. We are however, going to make some changes. We will still be offering full shares for $500. We will still be offering half shares, but it will be in the form of a full share on a bi-weekly basis for $250. I promise to offer detailed storage information so that your produce will last you through the two weeks if possible. We will also only have one pick up day, on the farm. We feel this will give all of our CSA members a closer connection to the farm, and a chance to enjoy the progress o the growing season. It is quite amazing to watch the garden go from a plowed piece of ground into a living, growing, and ever changing productive farm space. We also have plans for a flower cutting garden that will be reserved for subscribers to cut your own flowers for a small fee. The format will be a self-serve station with an element of choice in some of the weekly items, as well as an opportunity for exchange. For example, an early spring pickup may go something like this. You will arrive at the farm and there will be a table of items with a list of what you may take. The list might say:

Take 1 bag of nettles.

Take a 1 lb bag of lettuce mix.

Take 1 bunch of radishes.

Take 12 garlic scapes.

Take either a bag of snow peas or bag of shell peas.

Take either a bag of collard greens or a bag of mustard greens.

Take either a bag of spinach or a bag of arugula.

There will be a box at the end of the table where you may place items that you do not care for in exchange for another item.

We will also be offering homemade jams, jellies, eggs, and poultry for sale. We may partner with other local producers to offer honey and baked goods.

I know these modifications change things for some of you. If you do decide you would like a share next year, we would love to have you back and just ask that you let us know by January 1 if you will be returning. I will be giving out a more detailed brochure and registration form in the near future. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or recommendations to help us with the next year we would love to hear any and all of them. Again, thank you for making this season so rewarding, We could not have done it without your support!

Fall is Here!

As always, the farm has been a busy place. We are picking often and trying to preserve the harvest as much as possible. That means pickling, canning, freezing, and making baby food. There is an old wives tale that claims if you can when you are pregnant the contents will spoil. While we usually disregard such claims as folklore, the year I canned while pregnant, the contents did indeed spoil. That year, Mom and I even canned together, and she has never had any spoilage in over 40 years. Lucky for me, this is one myth we are not trying to bust this year. So mom is busy preserving the harvest. I would love to say I am picking up the slack by picking more often in the garden, but because I tip over 10% of the time while trying to pick tomatoes, and closely resemble a ripening tomatillo bursting out of its husk, my duties are mainly inside the house. However, the cooler weather does motivate me to be in the garden a bit more. Today, it was a perfect fall day, and I spent a little time cleaning up the tomato beds. We have quite a few canners and a lot of tomatoes for the chickens. Their yolks are going to be very yellow for the next couple of weeks.

It seems like we leapt in to fall overnight. The leaves on Delong Rd are falling off the tress and the weather has taken a dramatic turn. I know we are in for some more steamy days but I can not help but think fall is on its way. The locusts have been gracing us with their music for about two weeks, and the old timers say three weeks after the locusts start crowing, fall will be here.

Our pumpkin patch is a sea of orange and cream. The two varieties I planted the most of were Long Island Cheese and Howden. Long Island Cheese resembles a cream cheese wheel and is highly suitable for pies and soups and Howden is our carving pumpkin. I am hoping to be able to have a few Howden's store long enough to use for Halloween. I have also never had the pleasure of eating a pumpkin pie made with a home grown pumpkin--until now. I am thinking that one pumpkin will be enough to make a pie, soup, and some baby food.

We are down to 8 turkeys, one of which has gotten some illness and had to be treated with antibiotics, (which we clearly marked). I think we will still have a few antibiotic free turkeys left for Thanksgiving dinner, if anyone is interested. We have not yet figured out how to catch the bobcat eating chicken without also catching our resident farm cats as well. Relatively speaking, this was not a great poultry year for us, but once again, we are writing down our mistakes in order to not repeat them again, which is perhaps our greatest accomplishment.