'Sup Down'n The Farm?

I am currently wondering what is going on down on the farm? What are we, what have we, been doing? After eight straight cloudless days you can bet the lawn mower was dusted off and fired up. There was talk of hooking up the brush hog in order to knock down some of the old corn and sunflowers that are still standing tall. And you can bank on talk of the tiller; let's do some ground work! Alas, tis only talk. The ground is too squishy. And when we said tilling can surely be done in another two days, well, then it rains. And rains.

And, you know, that is all OK. We have been starting seedlings and bumping up some of the more eager sprouts to larger containers or soil blocks. Sowing seeds and/or bumping up seedlings is a daily event this time of the year. Did you know that tomorrow is March? Hit me with the stun-ray too.

With all the warm air and sunshine weeds are on the grow. Which means we farmers are on the pull. Never mind trying to stay ahead of it, swish, just do it.

There has been extensive work in the cold frame: harvesting of radishes and arugula, sowing of 13 rows of various seed such as micro-greens and other lettuce. Two rows of sugar snap peas are in the cold frame already. And, extensive weed control.

Some "business" stuff has been handled. I dont know much about this kind of thing but it all helps us grow. The entire farm is going thru a name change and experiencing some growing pains or rites-of-passage as it were. We will be Crooked Furrow Farm in practice and on paper. And that just tickles me silly.

Where does Your food come from? If it ain't comin' from a Farmer's Market, from a Farm in your community, you don't want to know. Sick and wrong. Damned depressing. Wish I didn't know...
Big, big Companies. Big Big Government.

See what I mean; Start pokin' round here.

Now if one was a CSA member in their community, supporting a farmer in the community, well then, one would Know whence came the Food. And Who grew it, and when, and how. Wow. That's nice.


One would say, "Ahhhh! Now that is lovely. Mmm mmm delicious."


From Farm to Market. Eat!

It would be very difficult for many members of our society to stop shopping the supermarkets. It becomes a total lifestyle change. My family is not weened and I haven't the confidence that will we be loosed from the easy beast any time soon. We are conscious of what we are eating. Vastly increased our consumption of fresh grown veggies and fruits whilst lowing the intake of processed meats. Breaking up with steak is like detox from an addiction. Maybe I'll have just one more, then I'm done.

It truly is a choice for families, and individuals of course, to make in this life, this one life we live. And in this life we must eat! We can decide, choose for our very own, what Food we eat.

There are already Farmers "making" food in your neighborhood. Go for a taste test. Sign up for CSA shares right away and start the good food mood, dude.

whole lotta the four-one-one

This page is LOADED with information! Posting it here right quick and then getting back to reading:
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_csa.html

Sun Shine on a Cloudless Day

I don't know if you can smell the sun shine, but I can. I can breathe soo deep my whole body is energized, warmed and refreshed. The past two days have been near perfect in the amount of sun, slight breeze and temperature. If today wasn't 18 February I would have thought it was mid-spring.

And mid-spring gets the Farmer jumping. Jumping the gun it would appear. See, on a day like today, or yesterday, and if the forecast can be believed, like tomorrow, one can get the itch to start Ground work. But just take a short walk in the field and one can fast see that we are easily fooled or drawn to the Siren's song. I mean it is SQUISHY out there, people. The ground is gurgling and sloshing. Reality lets us know that tilling and driving the tractor into the field is still Weeks away. Oh, well. It is not to wet to start or rather continue sowing seeds indoors.

These glorious sun dipped days will never grow tiring or unwelcome. I never get bored with The Weather. I am ever thankful for variety in the region's climate. No hum-drum boring old Southern California post-card carbon copy days. And, ha, no overly outrageous real estate prices to go along with it!

Good Earth! Good Sun! Good Food!!

It has taken farming to help me see rainbows. Or, maybe a move to Oregon. I see lots of rainbows in Oregon compared to any other place I have spent time outdoors, in the rain.

I like them. Never tire of the sight. I even lost count of how many Double Rainbows I have seen since Farming! Can you imagine, DOUBLE RAINBOWS? Who'd a thunk it? Bah, the long timers, the locals, might say. Bah, common as water in a pond.

I have dug a bunch in two years and each one (two?) still feels like the first.

I aint gunna lie to ya, they cheer me up!!

QUALITY CONTROL

I discovered something today: when washing eggs all ten of my hand digits participate. Standing there at the kitchen sink, looking at the egg in my fingers, watching how the water ran and was splashed on each, I could see clearly that I turned and rubbed each cackle berry using a similar method for each 3 second scrub down. Now I say three seconds and you say yeah right like you timed every one. No, I did not time every one. But a bunch just to make sure it was a scientific test. Three seconds probably isn't an average either, and, it was the most recurring measurement.

When washing eggs I am doing several things at once( all egg washers do these things, I suspect) the grandest of which is ensuring a high mark of quality. LDF egg-purchasers can be assured that their eggs have been thoroughly cleaned and stress tested. Sounds strange, indeed, stress test for eggs. Essentially when the cackle berry is in the hand under the water flow quite a bit of pressure is applied to all sides. I move the things in a random way, spinning and turning to cover all areas of the egg's surface. By applying pressure the dirt comes off and any structural flaws are presented most hastily and squishy. No bad eggs get by me. And this includes less than gorgeous ones, too. Stained or too oddly shaped and they go in the "seconds" tray; some eggs are cracked or otherwise damaged and they go on the "seconds" rack i. e., not good enough for sale but still tasty and useful and good enough for the farmers and their families.

I can assure you that every egg is tested in this way. Every egg is touched! This IS hands on quality control!!

Quality, the highest of quality, extends to field crops as well. This is evident each and every week for CSA members. Also evident twice the week at local Farmer's Markets.

Community Supported Agriculture has the ring of quality, doesn't it? And it should. CSA is just that: Community(a group of people striving & thriving together), Support(sharing risk and burden and Harvest) Farming. In a community there are many responsibilities to be shared. Thankfully, in a community there are no shortage of helping hands, and minds, to handle these responsibilities!

MACSAC says:

CSA is a unique social and economic arrangement between local households and farmers who work together to share the responsibility of producing and delivering fresh food. Households support the farm by paying an annual fee in the winter or spring that entitles them to a "share" of the season's harvest.

Very nice, succinct. They really have a very nice list of things on that page that apply to us and many many other CSAs. I encourage you to click around.

Go HERE and HERE and of course, HERE.

The USDA says CSA," ...provide mutual support and sharing of risks and benefits of food production."

Locally grown! That means the food you(hopefully you and your family) the share holder eat comes from, quite nearly, your very own neighborhood. No trains or airplanes used to deliver this food. No China factories to process it. No tankers, cargo ships or Mack trucks to haul it hundreds or thousands or hundreds-of -thousands of miles. It is on the Farm, grown, harvested, delivered or picked up by you, and then, hold on, eaten!! One might want to add a cold water rinsing, but that's all.

I wanna go on and on, people. I have been writing this one post for over a week now and need to put it to rest, or Post in this case.

More to come...