Where's the beef?

A couple of days ago Walter said something that I've been thinking about since. He said that he keeps hearing about the farm but is wondering when he'll see anything from it. Good question.

We ARE starting to see some benefit from all our work. We have had a fairly steady 4-eggs-per-day, lots of blackberries, about 5 pounds of blueberries so far, 3-4 yellow squash per week for several weeks now, assorted greens. The problem is two-fold: quantity and consistency. This is why we can't use the farmers market and why we feel we can't yet offer anything for sale.

So, how do we deal with these problems? Why don't we plant more? What's the hold-up? The reason is that we are still feeling our way into making sustainability work. We are making good progress with the chickens and hope to offer pastured poultry in the fall. The produce is another issue. Here is a recent example of the hold-up: a possible way to deal with the quantity issue is to have value-added products (such as preserved foods and jams) that can be accumulated into enough volume so that it makes sense to take it to the farmers market.  For that, we need a certified kitchen which we are in the process of building. But we want to use the graywater to water the gardens--rather than the non-sustainable practice of putting the wastewater into a giant holding tank and then pumping well water out of the aquafer. However, this is not the standard approach so we have to figure out what can be allowed and how to get permission to do this. Ironically, many of the officials we have queried about this seem to believe we are trying to get away with something--when the fact is that it is more expensive initially to be sustainable. Pumping water from the aquafer is, we have been assured, CHEAP. what IS our problem?!  

Note the pictures below of our current watering system. The problem with this system is that it is a capture system that requires rain--but we only need it when it DOESN'T rain. Sometimes we run out.

This is just one small piece of the puzzle. There is also the issue of tryng to build our kitchen sustainably with as much recycled and reconfigured materials as possible. This type of construction generally takes more time. Another piece of this sustainable puzzle is that in the past most of my preserving has involved freezing because I like the taste and texture better than canning. However, freezing is not sustainable while traditional canning is. So, I need to learn how to preserve food sustainably.

All of this "stuff" takes time--time away from weeding, hoeing, tilling, tending a garden without chemicals. But all of this stuff is part of the sustainable journey and stuff we need to figure out before we can begin to make a profit and share with Walter the fruits--and vegetables--of our labor.

Sustainable farming

The wonderful thing about farming sustainably is that again and again I have the opportunity to see that for everything there is a purpose. Three recent examples stand out.

 First, there is betony weed. I had disliked this weed for quite a while because it is so hard to irradicate--it grows back from any small piece left in the garden. But then Judy Pruitt in my Master Gardener class told me pickles can be made from it. I did that and had the most disgusting grub-like but delicious bread-n-butter pickles. Then I tried eating it raw. It tastes like a very fresh water chestnut! WONDERFUL! Now I look forward to digging up betony.

 Second, fire ants. Fire ants are the bane of my farming existence. I react badly to the bites and am generally covered with either scabs or recent scars from fire ants. They swarm onto you before the first one stings so that by the time I know they are there, it's too late to successfully defend myself. I couldn't imagine looking at them with anything other than fear and loathing. Well, that hasn't changed entirely but I feel a bit better about them since I recently found some devouring an orange dog caterpillar. The "orange dog" looks like a bird dropping and can set back the growth of a young tree. For once I was actually glad to see the fire ants because they had dealt with this threat to our young trees before I was even aware it was there. So, while I still do not love the fire ants, I can at least acknowledge they serve a purpose.

The most recent example (but not likely the last) is pigweed. Pigweed is a prolific weed in the amaranth family that loves manure. Our variety is the spiny pigweed which has thorns on it. Pulling it out of the ground requires gloves. It is EVERYWHERE this year. But, I recently found out that it is edible. It is one of the few pot greens that grows in the summer around here. Not only that, it is a plant that will pull nutrients up out of deep soil and into the topsoil--important in an area that has too much  sand. So, I no longer loathe it but instead welcome its presence. While I still pull it out of the ground, I no longer worry that I must obsessively irradicate it.

 All of this is a valuable lesson. We all have weeds and things that bite and sting in our environment. We face them every day. It is a wonderful relief to know that they all serve some purpose--now if I can only figure out the reason for those spiny cactus!!

Finally...

Well, finally I have started the farm blog. Many times as I have been enjoying the meditation we refer to as "weeding", I've thought about a blog. Something about the random thoughts that appear during weeding remind me of many of the blogs I have read. So, finally, I've taken the first steps in making it happen. Pardon me while, feeling a bit self-conscious, I begin.

Last evening was a beautiful evening--one of those where the temperature is perfect and there is just enough breeze to keep the bugs at bay. We were enjoying the company of the kitties and sitting out among the herb beds when we noticed that Scooter was wallowing in the catnip.   

John got up and put a fence around it so Scooter wouldn't completely destroy it. The next thing we knew, Scooter had climbed inside the fence and after battling the forces of evil (known as Macbama),

 

enjoyed the fruits of his illicit labor.