I just arrived home after work to the eerie sound of silence. The pigs are gone. Which means in about two weeks we will have fresh pork in the freezer and on the dinner table. In the 4 1/2 months that we had them on our farm, the 6 animals ate through 2300 pounds of grain and an untold amount of scrap, and rooted their way through an entire pasture turning it into a moonscape. We seeded some of that area with winter rye just this past weekend so that when we move the ewes back down to the barn, they'll have something to munch on in the early spring when they are very pregnant and need the nutrients.
Speaking of sheep, a new record was set on the farm. My darling husband and I moved the sheep fence (and the sheep) in under 40 minutes yesterday. We use electric netting from Premier Fencing which is fabulous (I really like Premier for its customer service--if you ever have a livestock- or garden-fencing question, give this company a call), but a bit tedious to move every couple of weeks. On average, it takes us about 1 1/2 hours to move the 800 feet of fence, set up the new pasture, and move the sheep (and their shed) into said new pasture. Perhaps we've finally perfected the skill, or it was simply a combination of dumb luck and good fortune (I tend to think it was the latter). Initially, this spring, it took us over 2 hours to move the darn thing (but of course, the sheep got loose then too!). Yes, we are farming neophytes!
Have a great week. If you live in the Northeast, enjoy the rain; we certainly need it!
Remember, Farm Aid concert this Saturday at our place if you're in the area!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
For the love of bats
Warning: Do not continue if you are squeamish about bats (the flying mammal, not the ash variety).
Our bats died this summer. Obviously they were not pets, and they secluded themselves in the eaves of our attic, but they certainly served a noble purpose on our farm. They numbered maybe around a dozen. For the past several years, they tolerated us while we rummaged through the attic for an extra lamp or an old book, barely making themselves known that they existed. While in the attic, we could look up by the chimney and see their small beady eyes keeping a wary eye on us as they scurried back into the recesses. In the early morning, we would hear them returning through the north face eaves of the house, crawling/climbing/flying back to the south face to their daytime home. In the evening, just as the sun went down behind the hills, we could see them swooping silently out of the eaves, ready to spend a night feasting on various undesirables.
The likely suspect is White Nose Syndrome, which was originally found in the county next to us back in 2006-2007. We first noticed the problem on our farm back in the early summer when we found a couple of dead bats around our yard. Upon investigating the attic, it was clear that the population had decreased as the tarp we had laid on the floor to catch their guano (valuable fertilizer) was not as soiled. There were fewer beady eyes watching us from above, and in the evenings, only a couple animals would come swooping out instead of the ten or twelve that we previously saw.
I can't say I miss hearing them re-enter the attic in the early morning but I do miss their presence, particularly because of the explosion in mosquito population. We have never been bothered by mosquitoes on the farm, even though there are wetlands within 50 yards of the house. Yet, this summer, the mosquitoes have been out in full force, finding fresh flesh to feast upon within a minute. I can't work in the garden without being bothered, and I certainly can't enjoy a nice cold beverage after a hard day's work on the front porch.
Our bats died this summer. Obviously they were not pets, and they secluded themselves in the eaves of our attic, but they certainly served a noble purpose on our farm. They numbered maybe around a dozen. For the past several years, they tolerated us while we rummaged through the attic for an extra lamp or an old book, barely making themselves known that they existed. While in the attic, we could look up by the chimney and see their small beady eyes keeping a wary eye on us as they scurried back into the recesses. In the early morning, we would hear them returning through the north face eaves of the house, crawling/climbing/flying back to the south face to their daytime home. In the evening, just as the sun went down behind the hills, we could see them swooping silently out of the eaves, ready to spend a night feasting on various undesirables.
The likely suspect is White Nose Syndrome, which was originally found in the county next to us back in 2006-2007. We first noticed the problem on our farm back in the early summer when we found a couple of dead bats around our yard. Upon investigating the attic, it was clear that the population had decreased as the tarp we had laid on the floor to catch their guano (valuable fertilizer) was not as soiled. There were fewer beady eyes watching us from above, and in the evenings, only a couple animals would come swooping out instead of the ten or twelve that we previously saw.
I can't say I miss hearing them re-enter the attic in the early morning but I do miss their presence, particularly because of the explosion in mosquito population. We have never been bothered by mosquitoes on the farm, even though there are wetlands within 50 yards of the house. Yet, this summer, the mosquitoes have been out in full force, finding fresh flesh to feast upon within a minute. I can't work in the garden without being bothered, and I certainly can't enjoy a nice cold beverage after a hard day's work on the front porch.
I'm sure some would say that losing the bats and gaining the mosquitoes is a coincidence, as perhaps it was just a "good year" for mosquitoes. It is true that I don't have any quantifiable data, only my anecdotal evidence, for my conclusion. But the bottom line is I liked having the bats around, and I appreciated all the work they did keeping various pests at bay. And so, for the 10% of the population that is supposedly resistant to this fungus, I say, you're welcome back on the farm any time.
Photo by Bob Gress
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Farm Aid 2010
It looks like Google just made some updates, so it is easier to edit my pages. Very exciting. Hence, the orange, and the different font.
It's been a busy week (and weekend) in my hometown. The tomatoes keep coming in, and I'm running out of time and ideas for what to do with them. I made a peach and tomato salsa a few nights ago, and it turned out well despite needing to be processed in the pressure canner. We've also had lots of pasta and tomato sauce this past week. I plan on dehydrating some once I finish drying some apples.
Perhaps I mentioned this before, but we had a low crop of both potatoes (due to the blight) and carrots (due to my lack of attention and some pests) this season so we are supplementing those with some produce from a local organic farm. Which brings me to my next topic...Farm Aid.
Check out their website here, but basically the organization has been helping family farms (NOT agricorporations) for 25 years. Every year, the group holds a fabulous concert and this year it is on Saturday, October 2nd. You can see the concert live if you happen to be in Milwaukee. We are hosting a Farm Aid/Earth Dinner (you can read about Organic Valley and Earth Dinners here) on that date so if you're in the neighborhood, drop by. The idea is that the weather will be beautiful, and people will be gathering at our farm from 4pm to whenever. We have asked everyone to bring a side dish made from ingredients provided by a local farm (it is the height of the harvest season, so it shouldn't be difficult). We are also going to have the phone numbers and web pages available to make a donation to Farm Aid.
Sadly, while our pigs will have gone to market by then, we will not have them back from the butcher in time for the party, and our turkeys will be just a bit too small to send off at that time. So, my darling husband and I will prepare a beef roast or two to serve as a main meat dish.
Have a great week everyone! Happy almost autumn!
It's been a busy week (and weekend) in my hometown. The tomatoes keep coming in, and I'm running out of time and ideas for what to do with them. I made a peach and tomato salsa a few nights ago, and it turned out well despite needing to be processed in the pressure canner. We've also had lots of pasta and tomato sauce this past week. I plan on dehydrating some once I finish drying some apples.
Perhaps I mentioned this before, but we had a low crop of both potatoes (due to the blight) and carrots (due to my lack of attention and some pests) this season so we are supplementing those with some produce from a local organic farm. Which brings me to my next topic...Farm Aid.
Check out their website here, but basically the organization has been helping family farms (NOT agricorporations) for 25 years. Every year, the group holds a fabulous concert and this year it is on Saturday, October 2nd. You can see the concert live if you happen to be in Milwaukee. We are hosting a Farm Aid/Earth Dinner (you can read about Organic Valley and Earth Dinners here) on that date so if you're in the neighborhood, drop by. The idea is that the weather will be beautiful, and people will be gathering at our farm from 4pm to whenever. We have asked everyone to bring a side dish made from ingredients provided by a local farm (it is the height of the harvest season, so it shouldn't be difficult). We are also going to have the phone numbers and web pages available to make a donation to Farm Aid.
Sadly, while our pigs will have gone to market by then, we will not have them back from the butcher in time for the party, and our turkeys will be just a bit too small to send off at that time. So, my darling husband and I will prepare a beef roast or two to serve as a main meat dish.
Have a great week everyone! Happy almost autumn!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
As Easy as Pie
I just finished making an apple pie using the recipe from "New Basics" by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins as a guideline. Making a pie from "scratch" (Carl Sagan reminds us that if we truly want to make an apple pie from scratch we must first create the universe) isn't really that difficult, although I know the thought of having to make a pie crust terrifies some people. Two hints: Chill the dough first, and then have plenty of flour on hand. I also roll the dough up around the rolling pin to transfer it to the pie dish.
Anyway, the phrase "as easy as pie" doesn't make much sense in today's context, because it is time consuming and as mentioned before, somewhat intimidating. I suppose however, this wasn't always the case. Pies (both sweet and savory) were a staple of American (and European) tables in the nineteenth century. So what happened?
Enter my first foray into modern education on this blog. We no longer teach the practical arts in our schools, and it's been this way for a while so now kids' parents can't teach them either (or they are never home, or they don't consider it a priority because of the ways we can get around not learning these skills). First, in the 1980's, was the loss of home economics. I never "learned" how to sew, and I certainly didn't "learn" how to cook. Through trial and error and a few lessons with my mom, I can replace a button and hem a pair of pants. I am indebted to my maternal grandmother for teaching me how to knit when I was about 6 years old. Now "shop" class (usually called technology education or industrial arts these days ) is also on the way out. Kids will no longer have the opportunity to design and build a birdhouse, a framed bulletin board, storage box, etc. It really wasn't the finished product that made these projects so integral to a sound education, but the process kids had to go through to create the end results. The measuring, the mistakes, the safety lessons, and the pride that that process instills when the project is finally finished and you have this beautiful, useful item. With the loss of these programs, kids sit in a classroom and are inundated with information about many different subjects, rarely learning skills that will be necessary later on in life, when they can no longer depend on their parents.
Over the last twenty years, the K-12 curriculum has become overstuffed with thousands of objectives that need to be taught (whether they are actually meaningfully learned is another subject all together). Kids are tested up to whazoo on all these different facts but their critical thinking skills, never mind the practical ones, are hardly ever evaluated. Educational administrators and policy makers have forgotten that our paradigm of learning has shifted with the information age. Any information kids need is right at their fingertips. Yet we spend 6 hours a day tossing more information at them. But what students don't have at most schools are the opportunities to create meaningful final products with their hands, to participate cooperatively in activities, to learn the business skills for life outside of high school or the practical skills such as how to fix a flat tire or change the oil in the car.
Over the last twenty years, the K-12 curriculum has become overstuffed with thousands of objectives that need to be taught (whether they are actually meaningfully learned is another subject all together). Kids are tested up to whazoo on all these different facts but their critical thinking skills, never mind the practical ones, are hardly ever evaluated. Educational administrators and policy makers have forgotten that our paradigm of learning has shifted with the information age. Any information kids need is right at their fingertips. Yet we spend 6 hours a day tossing more information at them. But what students don't have at most schools are the opportunities to create meaningful final products with their hands, to participate cooperatively in activities, to learn the business skills for life outside of high school or the practical skills such as how to fix a flat tire or change the oil in the car.
Part of the problem is that we live in a consumer culture and that culture is reinforced by the education system. There's no need to learn how to change the oil in the car because you can always take it to Jiffy Lube. No need to construct your own fine furniture...just buy it. No need to learn how to darn socks--just buy a new pair. No need to learn how to cook (and serve) a healthy family meal--you can pick up fully prepared meals at a grocery store or restaurant. I'm not suggesting that everyone should become an expert in all of these areas but students should have the opportunity to become exposed to these valuable trades, not only to help themselves in the future, but to also see what options there are in terms of professions. For many school districts, all that kids need to know is how to perform well on standardized tests including SATs so they can go to the top colleges (also a product of our consumer culture), come out with a Bachelors and no idea what they are good at or where they are going after school.
Schools often use fiscal constraints as a scapegoat for not bringing the practical arts back into the curriculum. But there would be plenty of money if we were to eliminate the focus on mandated testing (the amount of money spent on state testing is ridiculous) and there would be flexibility in the curriculum to teach these meaningful concepts as well. Policy makers, educators and parents really need to think about what testing shows us about students. That they are able to answer multiple choice questions and write essays based on documents? That they can memorize facts (without really understanding the hows and whys)? Where is the real creative thinking? Where is the real applied knowledge? Where are the practical skills that everyone needs in life? Just some points to ponder while nibbling on that apple pie.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
The fallacy of absolute truth
A quick post today as school has started and I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed and underprepared.
I serve on an institutional review board (we oversee all human subject research for the institution) and today we got into a discussion around cultural relativism and beliefs and idealogies of certain sectors of our population. Upon reflecting on this meeting, what was fascinating is that the group (medical doctors and researchers) did not recognize that they too, are a "certain sector or our population" with certain beliefs and ideologies. Yes, scientists work within the framework of empirical data, which by the very way in which it is presented may seem like the "truth", but does that make it any more correct or incorrect than those who work off of other systems of problem solving?
To complicate the situation, scientists often claim to have the answer, but then with more knowledge (often from the severe adverse effects/outcomes), that answer changes (use of DDT to kill bedbugs; giving menopausal women hormone therapy, using radiation to determine if a woman was pregnant). What was a "truth" suddenly becomes an "untruth". It is no wonder that we become overwhelmed (and feel underprepared) about how to act/what to do/how to respond "correctly" to a situation. In our society it seems like the scientific community pushes us one way and we tend to believe them because they work on the "absolute truth" framework of empirical science. Then the watchdog media says another thing entirely. Meanwhile, many of us ignore our own intuition and our own interpretation of our surroundings.
Today's meeting reminded me of the importance to maintain an open mind; to aknowledge and listen to all sides; to follow gut instinct and to be cognizant of the fact that we are all products of the political, social, economic etc. environment in which we live and are trained professionally. There is no absolute truth about anything. I think everything has to be considered within its context. It would behoove us to consider different interpretations of a situation; to step outside our own culturally constructed framework and look at it from a different completely belief system. We might learn something.
I serve on an institutional review board (we oversee all human subject research for the institution) and today we got into a discussion around cultural relativism and beliefs and idealogies of certain sectors of our population. Upon reflecting on this meeting, what was fascinating is that the group (medical doctors and researchers) did not recognize that they too, are a "certain sector or our population" with certain beliefs and ideologies. Yes, scientists work within the framework of empirical data, which by the very way in which it is presented may seem like the "truth", but does that make it any more correct or incorrect than those who work off of other systems of problem solving?
To complicate the situation, scientists often claim to have the answer, but then with more knowledge (often from the severe adverse effects/outcomes), that answer changes (use of DDT to kill bedbugs; giving menopausal women hormone therapy, using radiation to determine if a woman was pregnant). What was a "truth" suddenly becomes an "untruth". It is no wonder that we become overwhelmed (and feel underprepared) about how to act/what to do/how to respond "correctly" to a situation. In our society it seems like the scientific community pushes us one way and we tend to believe them because they work on the "absolute truth" framework of empirical science. Then the watchdog media says another thing entirely. Meanwhile, many of us ignore our own intuition and our own interpretation of our surroundings.
Today's meeting reminded me of the importance to maintain an open mind; to aknowledge and listen to all sides; to follow gut instinct and to be cognizant of the fact that we are all products of the political, social, economic etc. environment in which we live and are trained professionally. There is no absolute truth about anything. I think everything has to be considered within its context. It would behoove us to consider different interpretations of a situation; to step outside our own culturally constructed framework and look at it from a different completely belief system. We might learn something.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
The Mad Dash
It's a quiet Labor Day weekend for us which is good, because we are in the throes of tomato processing. On Tuesday I went to the Farmer's Market to pick up a crate of romas to supplement our own production. The crate sat around the kitchen for a few days awaiting the start of processing. Daisy, our curious lab, only snagged a couple (she enjoys collecting various items in her crate, and if we're lucky, she won't totally destroy them). My darling husband generally takes responsibility for making the tomato sauce and just today he mentioned "we" should make some salsa. I'm not sure if that was a royal "we", a true "we" or an actually "you" "we". He also took some of last year's strawberries out of the freezer (to make room for the tomato sauce) and now I think I'm expected to make some jam with that. How I would love to have a whole separate kitchen for processing. While it always takes a certain amount of motivation to can, it's probably better to do it now than later as school starts on Tuesday and finding the longer time blocks required for canning will be much more difficult.
We're experiencing the tropical depression of the remnants of Earl, and it's 20 degrees cooler today than yesterady so at least it's comfortable working in the kitchen. We're celebrating the cooler weather with our first roast in a while as well. Every 10 months of so we get a quarter beef cow from the neighbors. In the summer we tend to stick with the steaks, but as the weather cools, we bring out the roasts. Tonight it's a shoulder roast with crushed tomatoes and garlic and carrots and salt potatoes on the side. Perhaps a blueberry-peach cobbler for dessert! None of which I've started of course and won't really be able to start until 4pm!
We're experiencing the tropical depression of the remnants of Earl, and it's 20 degrees cooler today than yesterady so at least it's comfortable working in the kitchen. We're celebrating the cooler weather with our first roast in a while as well. Every 10 months of so we get a quarter beef cow from the neighbors. In the summer we tend to stick with the steaks, but as the weather cools, we bring out the roasts. Tonight it's a shoulder roast with crushed tomatoes and garlic and carrots and salt potatoes on the side. Perhaps a blueberry-peach cobbler for dessert! None of which I've started of course and won't really be able to start until 4pm!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Heat Wave
Apparently, the area got a drenching a couple of weekends ago when we were in Philadelphia, but since then there has not been a drop of rain and the temperatures have been warm. This may mean that I actually can take a whole week off from mowing the lawn! Yay! Sometimes I feel the only things I do on the farm are feed the animals, fill water buckets, pick and then pickle cucumbers and...mow the lawn! Oh, and weeding. When in doubt, there is always weeding to do.
The chickens I think are feeling the heat. And they're going through a huge molting as well. Which means we are really not getting any eggs--maybe 2 a day if we're lucky. For most households, this is not necessarily a problem but the 8 year old loves, loves, LOVES french toast which requires eggs, zucchini bread uses eggs, blueberry muffins require eggs, and mayonnaise requires eggs. My darling husband is ready to dispatch the hens (this is their second year) but I'm hoping they start picking up the pace and make it through until next fall. Obviously, we will be getting a new batch of chicks in the spring to replace these current non-laying layers (keep your mind out of the gutter).
The pigs are eating us out of house and home. Each pig eats about 50lbs of grain per week in addition to any and all garden scrap, restaurant scrap, weed scrap that we have around. We also use a 50 gallon water tank for them which they prefer to stick half their bodies in when they drink, thus getting it dirty pretty quickly.
I totally understand the advent of the "pig waterer" but we obviously haven't moved in that direction. So we will continue spending 20 minutes a day cleaning out and filling the water tank as well as spraying the pigs with water (which a couple of them love) and making mud pits for them to wallow in (which all of them love). I'm hoping that in the next month or so they will put on those final 75 pounds so we can ship them off. 
The chickens I think are feeling the heat. And they're going through a huge molting as well. Which means we are really not getting any eggs--maybe 2 a day if we're lucky. For most households, this is not necessarily a problem but the 8 year old loves, loves, LOVES french toast which requires eggs, zucchini bread uses eggs, blueberry muffins require eggs, and mayonnaise requires eggs. My darling husband is ready to dispatch the hens (this is their second year) but I'm hoping they start picking up the pace and make it through until next fall. Obviously, we will be getting a new batch of chicks in the spring to replace these current non-laying layers (keep your mind out of the gutter).
The pigs are eating us out of house and home. Each pig eats about 50lbs of grain per week in addition to any and all garden scrap, restaurant scrap, weed scrap that we have around. We also use a 50 gallon water tank for them which they prefer to stick half their bodies in when they drink, thus getting it dirty pretty quickly.
I totally understand the advent of the "pig waterer" but we obviously haven't moved in that direction. So we will continue spending 20 minutes a day cleaning out and filling the water tank as well as spraying the pigs with water (which a couple of them love) and making mud pits for them to wallow in (which all of them love). I'm hoping that in the next month or so they will put on those final 75 pounds so we can ship them off. 
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