Look in the (Rear-view) Mirror

We fall prey to the idea of looking back at a prior year when the first week of January rolls around, just like everyone else.  When done in moderation, looking in the rear-view mirror is healthy and instructive.  When done excessively?  Huh?  What was that?  I was just looking back at some interesting things that happened this past year...

As I prepared to write this post, I looked a bit further back to see how we handled year in review posts in prior years.  I don't think we really wrote one for 2018, but we do have installments for 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2008.  One of the things that struck me as I looked at these was that we do not tend to sugarcoat life as seems to happen with so many online posts by farms and small-businesses.  We're not entirely negative either - rather we try to balance the pluses and the minuses in hopes that we give a true picture.  We are not sad sacks who never smile (well, Rob never smiles) nor are we skipping around our fields tossing flower petals into the pathways (those poor flowers!).  Instead, we are the REAL Genuine Faux Farm.

Without further ado, we bring you 2019 in review for the Genuine Farm Farm:

January - A Chance to Exhale

The farmers had the chance of a lifetime and they took it, going to Kauai for four weeks so they could look for the Ents.  We had the opportunity to decompress and see nature's beauty while taking stock of our lives.  We fully realize that most people do not have a chance to have this sort of experience, which makes us even more grateful that we were able to take this trip and restore our souls.

February - Retreating and Advancing
The farmers returned to the Genuine Faux Farm in February in time for the weather to get REALLY cold and the snow to REALLY get started (we set records for snowfall during the 2018/19 Winter and precipitation for the Fall-Spring period).    But,the real news is that we came back prepared to make some changes in the coming year.  We moved to the farm in 2004 and officially started the Genuine Faux Farm and its CSA in 2005.  Our farm has been far from static since that time, but it had become apparent to both of us that we needed to do more than make adjustments to our status quo.

The highlight of the month was the Farm Retreat that Tammy and I called for ourselves.  We reserved a conference room with lots of white board space and gave ourselves a 9am-5pm day to explore what we could - and maybe should - do in the coming year(s).  We put everything on the table and agreed that no idea was too stupid to mention.  Yes, moving to Kauai was one of the things we mentioned...  I do think we abstained from thinking about joining a traveling circus.

One of the things that came out of this was that we were both concerned that the farmhouse was in need of significant work that kept taking a backseat to the rest of the farm.  The other interesting item that came up was the idea of fulfilling our desire to put up solar panels.  Hmmmm.  Of course, we talked about plenty of farm ideas as well, including how we needed to adjust our CSA program and growing plans to fit market, weather and other conditions that have become prevalent over the years.

March - The Madness Begins
And March is when it all got a bit crazy.  We followed through with contacts made after a meeting in February that introduced a 'group buy' for solar panels and we continued with deconstructing our kitchen.  The first seeds for the season went into trays and the hen chicks arrived at the end of the month.  We held a planning meeting with the kitchen staff at Jorgensen Plaza and contacted other potential customers for our produce and poultry.

It was in March that the magnitude of the amount of snow (and total precipitation) was becoming fully apparent to us.  In fact, we were starting to get an inkling or three that the Spring was going to be challenging for us because the patterns matched prior years that forced us to put things in the ground late.  To be honest, we saw this coming after the extremely wet Fall, but the certainty of what we would have to deal with was increasing on a daily basis.

March was a month full of activity and we still managed to hold our annual "Nota" conference with our friends from Grinnell Heritage Farm, Wabi Sabi Farm, Scattergood Friends School Farm and Blue Gate Farm.  There was a quick visit to Jacksonville for Tammy to go to a conference and for us to briefly see Tammy's sister and family.  We had a chance to see the Choir (our favorite musical group) in concert and we even had time to start planning an event at the farm for 150 elementary school kids.  Madness, I tell you! 

April - Trying to Get Ahead of it All
We heard our first frogs of the year on April 5 and our first Brown Thrasher on April 7.  We started having some volunteers come to the farm and help us with farm work on Wednesdays (thanks Jared, Megan, Jaden, Matt and Ben).  We also managed to attend Weather Spotter training sessions, promote our CSA and take signups and visit the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture in hopes that we could promote some changes with respect to pesticide drift and misapplication.

We even got Tammy all suited up and prepared to add an apiary to our farm.  We have had tame honey bees on our farm in the past, but it was always managed by someone other than us.  This was our first attempt at taking care of a hive on our own.   We'll call it successful if we find we still have bees this coming Spring.  But, it was pretty nice having them around and seeing all of the activity around the hive.

More seeds went into trays.  We prepared equipment to get work done in the fields.  Broiler chicks arrived.  But, every time we would get hopeful that fields would dry out or temperatures would moderate, other... stuff... would happen.  Like this, on April 27.

May - That Sinking Feeling
The month of May is normally one that people associate with hope.  Sadly, this past May represented the dashing of many hopes at the Genuine Faux Farm.  We did what we could.  This blog sums it up well enough without rehashing it all in this post.  We actually ended up cancelling the event for the elementary school kids (scheduled for May 21) because the gravel roads to our farm were impassible for school buses.

Of course, all was not lost.  We did manage to plant onions, even if the soil was pretty damp.  And, we managed to build a pretty nice little plant starting building.  We put it right in our driveway to the garage because it was an area near water and we could isolate it from the varmints that had been munching our seedlings.  We paid for this in November/December - of course.  After all, if you want to put your car in the garage, you've got to move the building!  Arg!

June - The Ball Finally Starts Rolling
We did our level best to stay calm as the days ticked by in June.  After all, if you can't plant...  you can't plant.  But, the stress was telling in all sorts of ways.

Once we got to mid-June, we just started pushing, trying to do a months worth of work in ten days.  Needless to say, we did not succeed in doing it all, but we sure did make the attempt.  Meanwhile, our third batch of broiler chicks arrived at the farm and the first batch left for the "Park."  The kitchen project moved forward and we inched forward on the solar project and mortgage refinancing to help us fund our projects.  We had much appreciated help from a Green Iowa Americorps group on the 10th of June and our crew of Emma and Sophie started to work for us for the season.  Happily, the gnats were not as bad as last season's ridiculous numbers - but they were still a bit of an issue.

We even managed to move Valhalla - almost on schedule.

July - Big Progress
July restored some of our faith by providing us with some weather that allowed us to do work outside, all the while still trying to accomplish things inside  We were maintaining five flocks of poultry and briefly had a sixth when the fourth batch of broiler chicks arrived.

We were finding that a new tool we had purchased was working to help us use grass mulch on some of our crops.  It didn't hurt that Emma and Sophie kind of liked spreading the mulch.  The garlic crop came in and we felt that it was a decent quality harvest (we do set the bar for these pretty high, so we did fine). 

The kitchen continued to move forward, culminating in a working faucet/sink by the end of the month.  Let's just say that having running water for dish washing, etc in the kitchen made many things that much easier for us.

And, somehow, something happened AHEAD of schedule.  The solar panel array was up, but not functional, on July 23.

August - Accomplishments and Farewells
The month of August went like so many Augusts have before it... We worked hard for the first couple/few weeks and then everyone (except Rob) left.  I realize that sounds blunt and maybe a little bitter.  I assure you it is mostly the former and not so much the latter.  It is what August is for us at the farm because most of our workers attend or teach school.  When the school year starts, they go do their things!  This includes Tammy, who also works during the Summer - but her schedule at that time is much more flexible then.

Jared and Megan volunteered for us for part of the Fall in 2018 and through the Spring and Summer in 2019.  Once their Americorps positions terminated, they moved on to the West Coast.  We are grateful for their willingness to help and we hope their time at the farm was beneficial to them in some fashion.  They pose above after completing the planting of a bed of onions (early June).

And, of course, we cannot forget Emma and Sophie!  These masked women braved the elements (and gnats) dealing death to weeds, giving unwanted baths to potato beetles and training tomatoes and melons to stand up straight.  Well done, ladies!

And, in August, two long-term goals were accomplished.  Rob finally won a 'grand' award for his postal history exhibit and the farm flipped the switch on the solar array and began to produce electricity to off-set our use on the farm with some "clean" energy.

September - The Sinking Feeling Returns

The plants in the high tunnel were finally looking good.  Some of our field crops were doing reasonably well.  But, we were already noticing it in August - many of the field crops were not terribly happy.  The reasons for this are too complex to enumerate here.  But, we were reminding ourselves that August/September is when the reality of failures on our farm can hit us hard.  There had been a fair number of successes as well and we were working to assess whether we were just letting the time of year get to us or if we had proper reason to feel a bit disappointed in how the season had gone.

It turns out, we had reason for concern, because we were experiencing ANOTHER wet September.  It was not as severe as 2018 (thank goodness!) but it was enough to cut many of our crops short.  Yes, the very crops that went in four to five weeks late.  But, we were doing our best to keep our heads up and our attitudes positive.  We did have wonderful sights to see - like the sweet alyssum peaking out from under the high tunnel tomatoes in Eden (at the left) and we were still harvesting some green beans from Valhalla.  And... there were actually TATERS, precious!

And, we kept on keeping on...  The kitchen project was mostly done, so we moved on to the project of repairing the back entry to our farmhouse and re-arranging access to our basement.  Once again, we were addressing problems we had identified as needing attention years ago.  They just had not bubbled to the top of the priority list.  But, we had made it clear to ourselves at the beginning of the year that we needed to make some of these things happen now and we were getting much needed help to make these things happen.  So, while the 'sinking feeling' with respect to growing crops had returned, we were buoyed by the support from our parents, families and friends and the efforts of those who contracted to do the work (Duncan Home Services, Eagle Point Solar, Midwest Foam and Insulation)

And, as we moved through September, we decided to hold a farm festival (Gathering at the Gateway to Autumn) in hopes that we could have some of our favorite people come and celebrate our fifteen years of running our Genuine Faux Farm CSA.  We were getting a feeling that this was a good idea that had run its course, but we didn't want to give it up without some positive recognition.

October - Making Our Own 2020 Foresight

As is the norm for Octobers on the farm, the number of poultry flocks contracted until we were at the point where there was only our laying hen flock at the end of the month.  It is always amazing to us how much easier chores become when you only have to worry about a single group.  We had our first frost AND hard freeze (28 degrees F) on October 12.  In fact, the early cold terminated most of the remaining field crops.  We weren't terribly pleased by this because we still had a CSA to fulfill (weeks 9 through 13 of a 16 week season).  Yet, we were still able to pull in more potatoes and the cauliflower was coming in as well.  And, yes...  it was still wet out there.

The biggest part of our 2019 October?  We made the decision that the old CSA model that we had used since 2005 was no longer working for us.  We made the announcement and began moving forward with surveys in hopes that we could receive a little help in figuring out our new directions.  We are continuing to process options for the coming year(s) but things are much clearer now than they were then.

And, yes, we finally got a safe back entry to the house and to the basement.  For those of you that recall the wobbly cement 'steps' we had for the entire time we have lived at this farm, you will find the new entry to be quite a treat.  We may just have to hold a Spring Festival of some kind to celebrate being able to go into the house!

November and December - Re-Invention and Continued Progress

So, how far can the farmer reach to brush snow off of the solar panels?  Anyone?

The final two months of the year have been, as you might have guessed, no less busy for us than the other ten.  They just provide us with a different kind of busy.  There is still plenty of farm work to be doing.  We need to clean root crops, clean out fields, put equipment away, etc.  There are usually still crops to harvest most seasons, but this year was pretty harsh on the late crops, so we didn't have that much in that area to do.

Tammy's semester at Wartburg required extra attention - just as it usually does.  Tammy and her Social Work students helped run the Holiday Shoppe (gifts to help those who could use a little help during the holiday season) and her research class honed their professional reports to present to their community partners.  It would not be incorrect to say that Rob gets sucked into those things a little bit as well, but not horribly much.

There is always plenty of 'office work' to do.  Things like trips to the Vet for the Farm Supervisory Crew often get pushed back until this time of year because we can actually get to the appointment!  The roof damage to the Poultry Pavilion was taken care of at the end of the year as well.  The hens approve because they didn't care for the water dripping onto their perches and nest boxes.

Of course, the house projects continued as we began the process of taking off two layers of old siding so a new layer could go on.  Rob has been primarily responsible for the removal of the old so Travis and Rory of Duncan Home Services could put on the new.  We are pleased that this project is moving forward because it has become clear during removal that a couple more years with the old siding would have resulted in many more complicated issues.  Caught it just in time.

Somehow, we managed a trip to Blue Gate Farm to help put on new plastic (which had blown off a SECOND time this year).  We had a full house for Thanksgiving (yay!) and we went to the PFI Cooperator's Meeting to discuss farm research results and plan new research projects.  We even managed a quick Chicago trip (pleasure) and a quick Denver trip (business).  All the while, we were working through the uncertainty of what would happen in 2020 and beyond on our farm.

We have been exploring all sorts of options, most of which have to do with what Rob will do with himself in the future.  At this point, we are fairly certain he will continue to farm for at least the near term - but he will do so with many major adjustments.  First, we are going to attempt to raise our growing areas to deal with wetter weather.  And, we are limiting what we grow and announced our preliminary crop list for 2020.  It is still an ambitious list, but given our past grow lists, this one seems pretty tame to us.  It might not surprise you to note that most of our 2019 Veg Varieties of the Year should be returning in 2020. 

A farmer selfie to greet the new year.

As 2019 came to a close and 2020 began, we were able to take a few moments and take stock of all that we have experienced and view all that is in front of us.  We can sum it up as follows:

The Genuine Faux Farm is dead.  Long live the Genuine Faux Farm!

Maybe this time we break out of the cocoon as a butterfly?