Hi Everyone,
Never have we worked harder or written less! I apologize for the lack of updates, but here (finally) is a little something. As always, here's a topical look at the contents, so you can browse:
1. Fall Potluck at the farm: Saturday, September 23rd
Each year we have a fall potluck here at the farm, and we want to alert you now so those of you who are interested can save the date. The potluck dinner starts at 5:00, but the pre-dinner activities start at 2:00. The last couple of years we've had a lot of fun shelling beans and edamame for next year's seed. And for those with more energy we also try to at least get a good start on putting together the hay maze in the loft of the barn. This year the hay maze is going to be a bit of a challenge, as we put up over a thousand bales of hay as winter feed for the cattle. So we'll have to work around that! It should be interesting and a lot of fun!
We ask each family to bring a dish to share, a beverage (for themselves), and their own plates and utensils. We'll have a big green salad from the farm. We also have a cooler to keep your dish in if you come early to join us in the pre-meal fun.
[My apologies to our delivery members. After I wrote the note in your boxes on Wednesday, Wendy and I discovered a conflict on the date for the potluck I had given for the potluck. It turns out the 9th of September is the Seattle Tilth Harvest Festival, which we always participate in. The 23rd is a more traditional harvest celebration time anyway, as it's the fall equinox.]
2. Steiner and Sustainability
Something almost miraculous happened on the farm since my last update. We made compost. Well, that wasn't miraculous, but the way we did it was new for us, and the results were, well, nearly miraculous. We did it in a way prescribed not by Rudolf Steiner himself, but by a farmer who uses Steiner's methods. Steiner insisted that a truly self-sufficient farm (we would say "sustainable") must have animals, and preferably cattle. There are three major benefits from cattle: meat, pasture management, and manure. Many of us enjoyed the meat from the beef we had available last year. And we here at the farm have certainly appreciated the cows' ability to turn old, overgrown areas into beautiful pasture-well kept and, thanks to our intensive, rotational grazing, well fertilized too! But last week we experienced the big "pay off": the utilization of winter manure. Let me explain.
Cattle work especially well into our particular farm. It would seem like the flooding in the winter and the wet fields would be a problem. Really it's a blessing. It forces us to get the cows out of the weather, out of the mud, and into the comfort of the loafing shed for the winter months. When I raised cows before, I also had them in the loafing shed (and the main barn, where our market now is) during the winter, but I was forever "mucking out" the barns and trying to pile up the wet, runny manure. Last year we didn't muck out even once, nor will we ever again. Instead of trying to scoop out the wet manure, we simply go in every two or three days and cover the manure with a layer of old straw or hay. The hay and manure become a mat, that gets walked on by the cows, compressed, and becomes stabilized. There is virtually no odor, because all the nitrogen is bound in the mat. When spring comes, and we let the cows out to pasture, what is left behind is a two to three foot mound of compressed hay/manure mat that covers the entire floor of the loafing shed. It is completely stable, and still has no odor (as there is no escaping nitrogen).
Next year we'll get on the compost first thing in the spring, but this year we didn't get to it until last week. I was anxious to try the "new method," but it was also a little intimidating, and got put off. The method is this. We take our newly acquired (though very used) manure spreader, connect it to the JD's power take-off, and then use the back-hoe to dump, scoop by scoop, the mature mat from the loafing shed into the manure spreader. The floor of the manure spreader moves the mat to the back of the spreader, where it is pulverized and thrown from the back of the spreader by the flailing blades that are on the spreader. Bits and pieces of mat are flying everywhere, but eventually build up into a pile. When the pile gets to be about five feet high, we pull the spreader a couple of feet forward, and keep building the pile. We didn't use straight manure, but interspersed bucket loads of old compost, green grass, and one other "component." This component was one of the biodynamic preparations indicated by Rudolf Steiner in his famous "Lectures on Agriculture" given in 1924. The US Biodynamic Association sells the preparation at just the cost of production: Steiner was adamant that his preparation was not to be sold for profit, but was "a gift to all humanity." And that noble admonition is upheld to this day.
The "preparation" is a distillation of the microbial life taken from culturing, under very specific directions, a variety of plants-nettles, horse tails, dandelions, and several others. The microbes are then dried ("spored off"), and the individual powders mixed for the preparation. We then activate the preparation by adding water, and dilute. Then, while all the mature mat, grass, and old compost is being pulverized by the blades of the manure spreader, we spray on the highly diluted culture of microbes. This may sound complicated-I certainly had my doubts about how we were going to pull the whole thing off-but it came off without a hitch. In about four hours we were done!
Now, for the "miracle": Well, the next evening, exactly twenty-four hours after we had made the pile, I was coming in from moving the cows. It was just about dusk, and as I was driving the tractor back to the barn I smelled something in the air. I knew what it was, but could hardly believe my nose! It was the peculiarly distinct odor of an active compost pile. It's not a bad smell at all, but it is distinctive-many of you probably know what I'm talking about. So I followed my nose with my eyes, and what I saw, silhouetted against the horizon (it was after sunset-the usual mid-summer time to be ending a long day!) was our new compost pile with steam coming off the top of the entire length of it. Now I couldn't believe my eyes! I have made a lot of compost piles, but I've only seen a few that actually steam-and never have I seen it happen in less than 24 hours. Of course I went and got Wendy. We were foolishly giddy-giggling, celebrating, and feeling almost like proud parents. For a week now the pile has been between 150 and 160 degrees. It is absolutely phenomenal.
All of this leads me back to Steiner, and to his insistence that a farm that is truly sustainable must eliminate all off-farm inputs. Really, its only common sense; if you are bringing in fertilizer or whatever from off the farm, you're not really self-sufficient. Of course sustainability in this strong sense has little to do with being a "Certified Organic" producer-it's not even expected that a Certified Organic grower make compost, and it's certain that growers on ten-thousand acre "organic" farms in California aren't composting. I don't know how long it would take us to become sustainable in this sense. The key is having more animals, and making quality compost, and learning to make the Biodynamic preparations. Wendy and I will are hoping to get away for a couple of days in September to visit a group of Biodynamic farms in Oregon. We're pretty excited about the prospects of farming biodynamically, and see in the legacy of Steiner a benchmark of agricultural integrity that is lacking in our present certification standards.3. Nutrition and aggression in children
I was interested to note in a recent newspaper article that the findings from a study at USC confirmed a link between nutrition and aggression in children. The study suggests that children with diets deficient in minerals and vitamins not only lead to health issues but also are disproportionately characteristic of young people who demonstrate excessive aggression. The reason this was of special interest to me was that I remembered reading in Sir Albert Howard's An Agriculture Testament that such a correlation was common knowledge in the 1930s. Sir Albert, of course, is considered the greatest "pioneer" in organic methods and his Testament is read today by nearly all serious organic agronomists (even "would-be" agronomist like me!). He claims in his book that hamlets of England which had abandoned the practice of home-gardens in favor of "factory foods" noticed a distinct increase in the agitation, irritability, and aggression among its children.
The recent study seems to confirm Sir Albert's observation. Can you imagine what he would say if he could see our modern concoctions of "factory foods," our dearth of "home gardens," and, well, the behavior of our children? Howard claimed that children raised on vegetables grown in soil fed with good compost lead children to be more relaxed and of a "peaceable temperament." I know this sounds a little self-serving, but I'm not making this up!
At present there isn't, so far as I know, any "hard" scientific data to support a further claim that I believe to be true: that the nutritive qualities of the food we eat is made more efficacious not only when it is grown organically, but additionally when it is grown "intentionally" by people who care about the food they grow. I think someday scientists may get around to confirming this, too, which will certainly throw even more doubt on the Cartesian understanding of "matter" most of us have picked up from our uncritical "educations"!
4.
The State of the Farm
Usually about mid-season I reflect on how things are going. This is certainly mid-season-week ten of twenty. At this time there's not a whole lot we can do to alter what will happen in the next ten weeks. Yes, we have another planting of lettuces, one more planting of brassicas, and several more plantings of greens. But by and large, the planting is done. And we're just a couple of weeks from having the weeds slow down. So we are largely into the harvest and preparation for winter mode.
There are quite a few new members, and for them I'd like to outline what crops are still "out there" and are going to end up in your boxes before all is said and done. There are a couple of big ones. One of these is potatoes, and I'd like to say something about this year's crop. Actually, we have two crops. Our first planted field (and first to be harvested) are potatoes we got from Tom Wagner-breeder of tomatoes and potatoes. He has done literally thousands of crosses of potatoes, and we will be the beneficiaries of his work this year. This week as a kids' activity I took the kids down to the potato field to get our first preview of some of his varieties. They are interesting, and different than we usually get. Many are crosses with potato seed Tom got directly from Peru. They are a variety of colors, sizes, and shapes. I also suspect they are a variety of flavors! They are not as prolific as our modern hybrids, but I didn't expect them to be, so we planted more than usual. We also did a last-minute planting of our usual varieties just in case... They are still a few weeks off, but are doing reasonably well. We'll have potatoes in your boxes on and off for the remainder of this Summer Session, and for the Fall and Winter Sessions as well.
Another item that is coming along is corn. Everyone loves corn, and we have quite a bit planted. Last year I think we had corn for six or seven weeks, and I expect at least that much this year. The first could be ready the week after next. If we've done an adequate job of separating rotations, we should have a steady supply from then on. This year I tried what I think is the best of all corn varieties-Silver Queen-again for the first time in about eight years. Most sweet corn takes between 72 and 78 days from germination to maturity. Silver Queen takes 105 days. So in our climate there is no guarantee that it will mature. But it's certainly off to a great start and maybe by the end of September it will be ready. It's a white corn, and indescribably delicious. I've only had it mature once, but the memory lives on, and that was enough to give it a try again.
Melons. This is another big one for us, as our many faithful members know, and new members are about to find out. I was resolutely informed by people who should know that they couldn't be grown in our climate (along with eggplant and peppers). Those, of course, are "fighting words" to a stubborn Norwegian, and I took it as a personal challenge to make it happen; and it did. There is a little good and a little bad in the melon forecast for this season. The "bad" you probably won't notice. It seems to me like the fruit set, particularly on the watermelons, and more particularly on some varieties of the watermelons was not good. The reason I say you probably won't notice is that we over planted this year (again), and I'm sure we'll end up with all we need. The "good" is that I've observed a relationship between water availability and sweetness. It's similar to tomatoes-the less water, the better the flavor. This year, having had virtually no rain for over two months now, we've been able to control completely the amount of water the melons have received (which was a lot when they were young, a little after fruit set, and none since). Because of this we're hopeful for a crop of excellent tasting fruit. The cantaloupes ripen first. Wendy and I had our first two days ago. It was the only one I found that was ready (well, almost), but it's kind of like when a flock of chickens starts laying; after the first eggs, the rest aren't far behind. If not next week, the week following we should have cantaloupe.
One more word about melons: based on last year's trialing of 25 varieties, we have introduced about eight new varieties into our production this year. The melons especially are very distinctive in their external appearance. We're really hoping for feedback on what you like. We'll be doing some sampling from time to time in the barn.
Also on the soon-to-appear slate are peppers. Well, I guess we have already harvested a few. This has been a good year for peppers in the NW. Even our outside peppers are doing great. Last year we tried hard to introduce some new varieties, and this year we hope you all will be willing to take, try, and find recipes for the many peppers that will be available. The same is true of eggplants. Last year we did a lot of trialing, and this year we have good reason to think we have narrowed down our plantings to the "winners."
Still a way away, but setting fruit in quantities that are almost frightening, are the winter squashes. It seems like so long ago that we went out on a Saturday morning with nine work share members and transplanted squash for four straight hours. But we all remember all-too-well the weeding of that same patch of transplants a month later! Now the entire area is a mish-mash of intertwining vines and copious quantities of fruit. Over the years we've learned to resist the temptation to harvest early. But when it's time, we'll be there, and you'll be the beneficiaries of what looks to be a bumper crop of winter squash-in all sizes, shapes, and varieties!
There's a lot more I could say about the "state of the farm," but I'm afraid that work share member and friend Bill will complain again about my news letters being too long (you don't have to read every word, Bill-that's why I have a "table of contents"!).5. Jubilee Farm selected as "King County Conservation Farm of the Year."
Wendy and I were pleased to attend an event last Sunday during which Jubilee Farm was named the conservation farm of the year. I don't want to say we didn't deserve this honor, but it does seem to me that the reasons we (might) deserve such an honor aren't really known by many people, and some of those reasons are known by no one except me and Wendy. But we're still proud of the recognition, and we hope that you take pride in this too. I only know of one other farm that is as dependent on CSA as we are (Clair Thomas' Root Connection). We truly are a membership farm, and without your support we wouldn't be here. So, this is a recognition we can all feel good about!
6. Looking for a few good people to help out in October
When we're in route to watering the cows (every day) we can't help but notice that despite the drought, the pumpkins (which get no water, and have had none in two months) are setting fruit. That reminds us that October is coming, and we'll be looking for a few people to help us out. We could use help during the week (especially from ten to two) with school tours, and on each weekend with the public who will be coming to get pumpkins. We will also need a few teenagers to help with the hay maze. I need to tell you all that we won't be able to open the hay maze to CSA kids on week days the way we have in the past. This year we have the barn stacked pretty high with hay for the cows, and we will have a hay maze, but the potential for a serious injury by climbing and falling from high hay is too great to have the maze open unless we have it monitored. It will be open during the weekends (and I hope you'll all be out for that), but only when we have a responsible person there watching. The key word here is "responsible"-if you have a teenager that would be willing to work on some weekend days, be sure to let us know.
We really like to get our October help from our CSA. While it's true that pumpkins have become our "cash crop," we also use this time to educate the community about organic farming and to (shamelessly) promote our CSA. We could just find anyone off the street to work here during October, but it's so much better to have members-people who know about our farm, how it works, and what the CSA is all about. Everyone who works here gets asked and has the opportunity to tell people about the farm. So, if you like the farm, have some time in October, like people, and are willing to work, please contact us.
7. Eggs
Our last batch of chickens have (finally!) decided to get with the egg-laying program and are on their way to full production. This presents the slim opportunity of recouping some of our expenses, and we'd love to do that. It also presents you all the opportunity to get some great, farm-fresh eggs. I wish we could offer you a bargain price, but we have to charge the price at farmers' markets--and even at that, because we don't have the volume, we barely break even. They cost $4.50/dozen. But even if you have to pay, at least you get the opportunity to get what very few people do: eggs that come from a source you know and (hopefully!) trust. Eggs are now available during all pick-up times, and we can deliver eggs in the boxes on a regular schedule if you contact us.
8. Farm Chatter
You would think by now I'd be "chattered" out. Not quite. The "state of the farm" section above didn't really get to an assessment of the season. I'm tempted here to launch into said assessment, but I've thought of something better. I think that we should hear from you about how the season is going. We are now exactly half way through the Summer Session. We use to do mid-season surveys, and I think it's time to do one again. We'd like to get your input, and especially your suggestions. We always do this at the end of the season. But for two reasons, it might be good to do one now too: (1) there might be things relevant to the early season that you'd forget by the end, and (2) if you make suggestions now, we could act on them before next season.
So we'll have survey forms in the market and in the delivered boxes next week. Please be thinking about comments or suggestions. The surveys won't be long-we just want to get at what is working for you with your membership, what needs to be improved, and any general suggestions you have for our CSA.
Erick and Wendy Haakenson