Ghosts of May Past

I have been reminded by various people over the years that a 'living farm' is a farm that is not a stranger to change.  Every once in a while, when the "to-do" list seems insurmountable, it pays to look in the mirror and remind ourselves of what has gone before.  Below is proof positive that we do accomplish tasks and we do adapt from year to year as the situation demands. 

2008 - during our first Practical Farmers of Iowa field day.

We don't have terribly many pictures prior to 2010 because we did not have a digital camera at that time.  Hey, do you remember having to develop film?  Indeed, it cost money to do that.  So, we tended to be a bit more selective with our picture taking.  In the case of the picture above, someone else with a digital camera took it.  And, this picture is from August.  Without it, we have no 2008 entry.  

There was still a beautiful Silver Maple in the center of the farm that was an attraction for all sorts of birds, but its trunk touched the base of the garage.  In many ways, it was a different place.

2010 - old plastic cold frames

I had almost forgotten that there was a (non-working) pass-through door on the truck barn in the southeast corner.  There is a window there now and the electric service is now underground and enters in that corner.  Just as important are the changes in how we keep young plants warm.  

The plastic cold frames in this picture are now long-gone.  The plastic covers held up for a couple of years in our wind, but there were only so many times they could withstand a windstorm that uprooted them and tossed them around the rest of the property.  The wooden cold frames took their place, but they too are no longer in service.  Over time, wood rotted, glass broke and the farm moved on to other options.

2011 - we wood if we could.

The old barn still had siding and much of a roof as early as 2011.  Now, it is a shadow of its former self.  The wood pile is much of what came from one of the oak trees that used to reside in front of the house.  Lightning took it out and we arranged to have it taken down.  

That wood pile is still there... sort of.  For some reason, it's a little shorter than it was in this picture - and it's not because we used the wood for bonfires or heating.  Hugelkultur anyone?

2012 - birdy paradise

We used this semi-portable building for raising our broilers for several years until the cover started to break down and the wood base started to rot out.  My wonderful Dad did most of the work on putting the frame together for the end walls.  The only real shortcoming was the 'semi' part of the portable....  Tammy and I moved the building many times, but we decided we needed to do something different after a couple of wipeouts while we tried to move it in very wet years.

The metal frame is still in use, but we put in longer metal legs so we could walk into the building without ducking.  As a matter of fact, this is our new locations to keep young plants warm early in the year.  

It's nice when things in a blog tie together.

2013 - Here, let me help with that.

Some changes are not of our choosing, nor were they welcome.  Mrranda was one of our friendly farm supervisors who disappeared in 2016.  When you live on a farm with outdoor cats you have to expect to lose them well before their 'time.'  We'd been lucky with other cats living very full lives of 12 to 15 years, so having Mrranda leave at about 3 to 4 years of age was pretty rough.  

Sadly, her cousin, the Sandman, went missing in May of 2019.  We've muddled along without them and have a new contingent for our Farm Supervisory Crew.  But we still miss our little friends.

2014 - DUCK!

Other changes have definitely been part of the ongoing reassessment of what we should be doing on our farm.  We raised ducks for a few years with some success, even running a trial between two breeds.  For the most part, we enjoyed having them on the farm. 

Low demand and the growing reality that we just had too many flocks to care for led us to remove ducks from our production list.  At one point in time, we thought we might reconsider and have ducks on the farm once again.  Like many things, the longer it goes the less likely it becomes.  Never say never, but you can say unlikely.

2015 - Bush line time.

It took us until 2015 to finally put in the full effort to complete the eastern bush line on the farm.  This was something we wanted to do years before, but time and other resources often left us (and still leave us) with an annoyingly long list of 'maybe next years.'   

A satisfying percentage of these bushes have matured and done a fine job on the border of the farm.  It may have felt, at times, like they would never get any size to them.  Well, they're a good size now.  It's a reminder that the best time to plant if you want to see trees or bushes get some size on them is now.

2016 - the Inspector arrives

The cast of characters changes as the wheel of time turns.  We have had a number of wonderful people work during the summer months on the farm, but we often had to turn over in that group from year to year.  In recent years, we haven't had anyone else working on the farm.

Workers, customers and farm supervisors move on and new characters that bring their own brand of goodness to the farm each year.

A sizeable crew helps us with plant potting - 2017

That got me to thinking about the number of people who have left an impression, both big and small at the Genuine Faux Farm.  May was often the time of year when we would have groups (often students) tour the farm or come out as a work group.  Sometimes they would have a class project, such as those who took soil samples so they could do a lab to analyze soil components.  At other times, they would get the nickel tour and then help us do something that required many hands - like moving tomato cages out to the field from storage.

2018 - the rotary harrow (Vince) is added to the farm

One of the benefits of time on a farm that is at least moderately successful is that you can build up the infrastructure that is needed to keep on keeping on.  Sometimes, the tool we select and add doesn't excel at its role as much as we hoped.  Sometimes, it does just want we wanted.

We gave this tool the name Vince because it is a harrow and that makes us think of Vincent Price, who was known for horror movies.  If you want a harrowing experience, Vince seems like a good name.

From poultry to Casa Verde - 2019

Changes on the farm don't always mean that we completely remove something or add something new.  The CV Building (Casa Verde) was formerly used to house poultry and after modifications it became a mini-greenhouse to help us harden off young plants.

The job of hardening off plants had formerly been the purview of various cold frames - and now we have this.  The biggest issue has been the plastic.  We've had to replace it multiple times.  Thinking positively, we would rather replace the plastic for this smaller building than one of our high tunnels - so it's all good.

Bees on the farm - 2020

We've had bees on the farm longer than a few years, but it wasn't until 2020 that Tammy undertook doing the beekeeping herself.  Prior to this, the hives on our farm were largely maintained by other beekeepers.  In exchange for the access to our pollinator habitat, we would get the pollinator services.

Now, we do our best to treat our own bees well.  We don't pretend to be experts in beekeeping, but we sure do love seeing the activity around the hives.  

We also have a great appreciation for the native pollinators on our farm, but the responsibility of caretaking honeybees provides us with additional encouragement to keep doing our best to make our farm friendly for them and for the native bees.

2021 - rolling out row cover is hard after surgery

Things changed in a very different way for us in 2021 after I underwent surgery to have a kidney removed in late April of 2021.  Suddenly, early season tasks were significantly more difficult (or impossible) for me to do.  And, of course, what happens, we had a very late freeze.

It was also the first year we were growing plants out for vegetable seed under contract.  The cucumbers under this cover failed, despite our efforts, after the freeze and we could not make up for the losses with no farmworkers and one of the farmers going through the physical recovery process.

Last year - the PIT gets filled

It was just about one year ago that we arranged to get the pit next to the Poultry Pavilion filled up.  This is a project that has been on our minds for years.  But, the combination of time, money and a willing contractor just didn't line up until 2022.

The biggest positive here is that we no longer wonder if we need to check on each other if we're gone longer than usual while doing poultry chores.  While it certainly wasn't quite that dangerous, we knew it was approaching the land of unacceptable risk.

Now it is May once again.  The farm season will soon be in full swing - whatever that might mean for 2023.  It will be interesting to see what we will find ourselves featuring if we update this blog post in a future year for the year that is to come.

Have a good day, and thank you for joining us for today's GFF farm blog.