Give the Frog A Name

What should we name our little frog friend?

Blogging 101: When in doubt about what you should write about, start your post with a picture of a tree frog that likes to observe you washing eggs in the basement sink.

In addition to Bob, the green frog that likes to hang out in the water tub outside and Russell, the Cucumber Frog, we now have this little one that likes to hang out in our basement.  It took to sitting on our faucet handle until the day Rob nearly squished it when he reached to turn on the water without checking to see if there was an amphibian sitting there first.  Happily, no injury occurred and the frog hopped over on to the spray bottle where supervision of egg washing could safely be performed.

The solar panels have had some pretty nice days to collect rays and convert them to eckletricity.  What?  I can call it eckletricity if I want!  So there!  And, we finally have access to the monitoring site so we can see how well these panels are doing.

Solar energy for the week at the Genuine Faux Farm

We both find it interesting to see how the power generation actually provides us with a partial history of the weather as well.  For example, I remember working outside on September 10 and enjoying a nice, sunny morning.  Then, suddenly a bank of clouds came through and I recall commenting to them that they had NOT been in the forecasts I had read the prior day.  My words shamed them into leaving and the rest of the day was pretty sunny after that.

 A task earlier in the month was a harvest of beets and carrots from the southwest field/plot.  On this day, I chose to removed the tops in the field rather than pulling them into a building and setting up to remove the tops then.  It was a nice day with a light breeze, perfect temperatures and just enough clouds to make it the nicest place to do the job.  So, why not?

This harvest had us pulling in come Dolciva carrots, Guardsmark Chioggia beets and Touchstone Gold beets.  They are in storage for now, but they'll come out to be a part of CSA shares soon!  Actually, some of the smaller beets have already been distributed because we find the smaller beets store less well than the larger ones. 

Now, I am getting hungry for beets.

But, I don't think I'll ever get hungry for carrots.  Yes, that's Rob.  The farmer who grows, but doesn't like, carrots.  That means more for all of you, I guess.

Cauliflower rows

Another crop that is approaching harvest are the cauliflower.  I am not entirely pleased with the damage the grasshoppers are doing to some of the heads, but that's just the way it is sometimes.  There is enough there that I am guessing we'll do ok with the harvest.

I am actually showing this picture for a few other reasons.

1. We did a better job this year getting flowers into our rows at the same time as the crops.  This, despite the late planting and the huge push that had to go on to get the plants in.

2. The brassica successions became ONE succession for cauliflower and broccoli this year.  That was NOT an optimal solution, but it is what happened - for a whole host of reasons.

3. The paper mulch is holding on pretty well for the cauliflower.  On the other hand, the cultivation between rows has not happened as we wanted it to this year.  Once again, for a whole host of reasons.

But, the biggest reason of all is to show you (and ourselves) that we had at least one crop that grew threw the malaise that most of our crops seemed to show in July and early August.  Some of the change in plant health seemed to correspond with the point that our soil started working like 'normal' soil.  It was not until July at some point that we started feeling as if we had more than one inch of soil that wasn't mud.

The garden in Eden

 The net results for production in our Eastern plots is going to be very disappointing this season.  The broccoli was ok, but we didn't have the normal spread of production that successions would bring.  The onions have been pretty good and the cauliflower looks fine.  The garlic was also fine this season.

On the other hand, the summer squash, zucchini, winter squash and melons have all struggled mightily this year.  You know there is something going on when you can't get overwhelmed by zucchini.  There were some nice green beans and we're still trying to find time to pull in the taters.  But, we're not expecting much from them.  As long as we get something, we'll be fine.

As has happened other seasons after excessive moisture, the grasses have been the most successful plant type.  Not exactly what we were going for this season.

To end on a good note, let's go visit Eden.

Ahhhhhhhh!  The tomatoes are attempting to touch the top of the high tunnel.  I don't think they will make it this season, but I don't mind if they wish to try.   The sweet alyssum plants are doing well planted at the base of the trellised tomatoes and we both like how this appears to be working.  The raised beds in Eden have done their job and we're very happy with these plants.

In addition to tomatoes, we've had some quality lettuce, basil, green beans and peppers out of Eden this year so far.  The melons were excellent and we are now pulling the dead vines out so we can put in a Fall crop in their place.  I think, perhaps, the nicest surprise has been the quality tomatoes from Tasty Evergreen, Black Sea Man and Cosmonaut Volkov in this high tunnel.  All have excellent tastes and textures and it is nice to have some good, consistent production from them this season.

And, now, if we could just find a name for our frog friend.

Broiler Chickens at the Genuine Faux Farm

Many of the posts on our blog are simply a combination of pictures we happen to have taken combined with whatever is on Rob's mind.  But, nearly half of the posts you read here have been planned out at some level and often are created over a period of time.  This is especially true of posts that are a bit more ambitious, such as this 2015 post that discusses how you can cut up a whole chicken (thank you again for the help Elizabeth).

This is one such post because it has more than one purpose and we'll start by getting the 'business part' out of the way!

The Business Part - A Special Purchase Price September 9 and October 7
Flock number three is due to go to the "Park" Sept 8 and will be processed... er.. prepared for "Freezer Camp..." Sep 9.  Flock number four will go on the 6th of October and be available October 7.  We still have a significant number of birds in our freezers that are looking to be dinner guests as well.  Is your home looking to host a chicken as the main course... um... "Guest of Honor at the Dinner Table?"

Cost is $3.50/ pound.  Weights typically range from 4 to 6 pounds, so prices are typically from $14 to $21.  We have had birds process as big as seven pounds and as small as three.

We will have a special pick up on Monday, September 9 and October 7 in Waverly from 6pm to 6:30 pm at St Andrew's Church (in the parking lot).  We will add a pick up location in Waterloo/Cedar Falls on October 7 if we get at last 30 birds ordered for that trip.

Why should you particpate?
1. We will bring UNFROZEN chickens for pick up.  If we don't have to freeze them, we will reduce the price per bird by 40 cents (our cost to freeze them at the locker).
2. If you purchase 10 or more birds, frozen or unfrozen, we will reduce the price per bird by 25 cents per pound.  ($3.25 per pound price).
3. You help the farmers convert one asset (processed birds) into another (cash) so they can convert that asset into more feed for the remaining turkey, hen and broiler flocks on the farm.  Quite a cycle, that!

Can you buy birds at other times?
Of course!  But, we're only offering these special prices tomorrow.

What do you need to do?
Contact us by commenting on this blog post, sending us a message in email or in Facebook prior to 3 pm on September 9.  It is important that you tell us how many chickens you want because we will NOT be bringing all of the birds with us.  We will bring some additional broilers with us in case someone shows up that we were not aware of, but we anticipate bringing more than five or so additional birds.

And now for the next part!  Please read and learn how we raise poultry for you and allow us to give you some reasons to consider picking up some broilers tomorrow or in the near future.

the Brooder Room

How the Genuine Faux Farm Raises Broilers

It Starts With Day Old Chicks
We do not hatch our own chicks, we are a 'finishing' operation only at this point. Chicks have been purchased through the JM Hatchery and we raise the Red Ranger chickens for meat. While they do not grow as quickly, nor quite as large as the standard Cornish X meat bird, we are pleased with their willingness to roam within their pasture. We believe that these birds taste better and have more consistent meat quality from the whole bird. In general, these birds appear to stay healthy and thrive in our system of growing.

The chicks are packaged into specially designed cardboard crates that are mailed from the hatchery to our post office in Tripoli via the United States Postal Service.  Typically, we will receive an early morning phone call telling us our chicks have arrived and we then drive ourselves into town to pick them up and relieve the poor postal employees of the continuous chirping of the baby birds in their boxes.  We take the chicks to the Poultry Pavilion (an old machine shed on the farm) and put them in one of the sections of the brooder room we built inside the building in 2017/2018.

The process of prepping an area for the chicks includes putting wood chip bedding down and covering that with newspaper.  We get a feeder and a waterer prepared and filled.  And, we connect one or two heat lamps to bring the temperature up to the chicks' comfort zone.  Each chick is removed from the shipping box and its beak is dipped in the water to show them that they have a source of hydration.  Especially in the earlier months, we put a top over their divided area to eliminate drafts and keep the temperature high enough during cool nights.

Get the Birds Old Enough to Regulate Their Own Temperatures
Once the birds start growing in their feathers, we can consider putting them out on pasture.  In the meantime, we have to expand their space in the brooder room.  Each flock has 150 chicks and it is important that we give them enough space to keep them healthy, while still keeping the space small enough to keep them as warm as they need it to be.

The newspaper is removed after a day or two and we add straw as necessary to their bedding to keep it all reasonably clean.  They need food and water daily and we change the height of the heat lamps as they grow and need the temperature support less.  By the time we are ready to put them out on pasture (typically around 3 weeks), they should be getting through the night without any light or supplemental heat.

Of course, once the birds are out of the brooder, we have to clean the brooder out and return the walls to the smaller layout for the next batch of chicks.  We'd like to tell you that we do this right away, but life on the farm rarely allows you to get 'ahead.'  Let's just be honest and tell you it gets done in time for the next batch to move in.  Good enough.

The whole 'brooder room' and raising chicks indoors during cooler months has some risk.  Heat lamps, if they get knocked down into the straw, can certainly start a fire.  We have only had that happen once and we (thankfully) caught that well before there was a major problem).  On the other hand, there can also be a thing with faulty wiring.  In this case, the circuit breaker took care of us and we were able to identify the situation and remove the plug.  For the time being, we bypassed the plug and we'll re-install it this Fall.

mobile feed bin

Many Mouths Mean Much Munching
Since we raise 150 broilers per flock (and we raised/are raising four flocks in 2019), there is a need for a significant amount of food (at least from our perspective).  We cannot expect broiler chickens to survive purely on forage.  For that matter, we do not expect our layers to survive only on forage.  Even if we do provide foraging opportunities and we encourage them to explore their pasture areas.


We have been pleased to support the Canfield Family Farm and their endeavor to grow diverse crops that they then mix into feed on their farm.  We appreciate their approach to farming and we find that we have received top quality feed from them over the past few years of patronage.  Add to it the fact that they are also a local farm (Dunkerton area) and you can now double your effectiveness with respect to supporting local business when you buy our broilers.

some nice clover in that pasture!

The chicks require a different feed mix that is more finely ground than they will receive as they get bigger.  Additionally, broilers require a different mix (more protein) than our hens (added calcium).  This means we find ourselves buying different mixes from the Canfield's and having to find ways to store that feed on our farm as we use it.  The mobile feed bin is taken down to the Canfield farm to be filled with 3000 pounds of whatever feed type we will be needing the most of for the next several weeks.  Other feed is provided either in 50 pound bags or in a bulk bag (usually 600-800 pounds at a time).  To keep rodents from getting into the feed, we transfer the bulk bag into other containers using the tractor.

rain hat over a feeder

Every morning, we let each flock out of their protective building and we provide them with feed and clean water.  By the time the broilers reach full-size (at about week 10 or 11) they will consume three five-gallon buckets of feed a day.  Like other living creatures, they have 'hungry days' and 'not so hungry' days.  We may adjust their feed amounts downward if it is clear they did not get through the previous day's feed. We supplement the broilers' feed with forage opportunities in their pasture and we will occasionally give them cucumbers or other vegetables (though the hens and turkeys get more of that).


By virtue of their stocky bodies and thick legs, broilers tend to be less able to hop up onto things than hens are.  That means we need to be sure water and food is at their level.  Of course, our broilers have surprised us by showing us they like to hop up onto roosts in the evening (about 18 inches above the ground).  But, this is by no means ALL of the broilers and we need them ALL to access food and water.  They get the CHANCE to hop up onto a roost if they want it.

Since the broilers are out on pasture, their feeders are also out on pasture.  That means they get rained on!  Many of our feeders have plastic 'hats' that we can place on the feeder to keep the feed dry, though it does look a bit silly when you see a black hat with a bunch of chicken rumps sticking out in all directions.... and that's ALL you see.

Older portable building and electric netting

Day Ranging Poultry
We do not keep our birds in a 'chicken tractor' during the day, instead we use a 'day range' system. They are out in a pasture with fenced borders to keep them out of our gardens and to slow down potential predators. At night, we make sure birds go into one of our portable shelters to protect them from owls and other predators. We move the birds to a new pasture area periodically to maintain the quality of the grass/clover crop for their benefit.

We have maintained the principle of letting our broiler flocks out on pasture since the beginning, but the processed has been refined each year.

One of the earlier discoveries was the quality electric netting sold by Premiere One (another Iowa business!).  We have acquired a number of sections of netting over the years and have six or seven solar chargers so we can maintain multiple pastures for our various flocks (and to protect some of our veggies from varmints).  The combination of portable solar chargers and movable netting allows us to move the area being used as pasture for our broilers.

Jeff and Rob working on unloading a building.

In prior years, we have not been quite as consistent with moving the building (and thus the fencing) as we have this season.  If you look at the last photo at the right, you can see what passed as a 'portable' building for us.  Tammy and I could lift one of these and move it, but it was far easier with four people (one at each corner).  We didn't always have four people to move it.  And, when it rains, things can get slippery...  Let's just say that the time had come to change how we moved buildings, so we did so with the help of the Bandsaw Man, Mr. Jeff Sage himself!

Jeff had created a couple of buildings (much bigger than our buildings) that were on skids.  They are intended to be moved using a tractor, whereas our old buildings would not have withstood the stress of being moved that way for long.  Jeff is not likely to be using the buildings anymore, so we made an offer to purchase them for our farm.  What a great move that was!

If you look at the picture on the right, you will see why we move these buildings every other day.  It only takes two days with 150 birds for the footprint of the building to look pretty rough.  We are not in the business of destroying pasture with our chickens.  After all, we want future flocks to use these areas as well.  That means we need to keep the buildings moving.

Happily, the fences do not have to be moved every time the building is moved, but they do need to be moved every so often as well.  If one section of fence is being used, it needs moving every week or so.  If it is two sections, we move it every other week.  This might sound like a great deal of work to just pasture raise a few chickens.  And, in fact, there is real work involved.  It isn't magical, it takes some effort.  On the other hand, it is a reasonable amount of effort for the results.

If a fence does not need to be moved, Rob can take Rosie, the tractor, out to a pasture and move a building in fifteen minutes or less (if all goes as planned).  A section of fence has to be taken down to allow the tractor in.  The birds need to be encouraged out of the building and then excluded by closing the door.  A rope is attached to the skids on one end of the building then to the bucket of the tractor and then Rob backs the tractor up to get the building over a fresh patch of pasture.  Unhook the tractor, open the building back up, hang up the rope and put the fence back up.  Not a big deal.

UNLESS...

The birds don't want to leave the building or you have to move the fence or you have to do some fancy maneuvering other than a straight back move.  Each of these things are bound to happen a couple times for each flock at some point during their time on pasture.  Even so, these things don't usually take that much time in a day.  It's more the fact that we often have a looooong list of things to do, so we might get a little grumpy if this one task takes longer than we want.  Sometimes, delays working with poultry can make Rob say silly things.

I guess wind can move our buildings too.

Other considerations
Like anything else on the farm, things do not always go completely according to plan.  There are weather events that can impact the flocks.  A recent wind storm moved one end of a broiler building.  Happily, the birds had selected the OTHER end to congregate at the time of the storm, so we observed no injuries the next morning.  It has been mentioned to us that we could consider putting anchors on the buildings.  But, I remind you of the process to move these buildings every other day.  Adding an anchoring process begins to make our approach less attractive.  If we can only have one instance of buildings moving every few years, I think we can manage.


On the other hand, we have had to pay more attention to where the buildings are being moved so we can keep birds OUT of water.  This was especially true last Fall, but it has been a consideration most years.  Setting a building in a spot that is known to puddle is just a bad idea if you know there is heavy rain possible.  The real problem last Fall was finding ANY spot that wasn't a puddle.

Remember, broilers don't tend to leave the ground much, though some will get on those roosts.  Birds sleeping/sitting in water will get hypothermic which, at the least, is going to affect how well they grow.  Our solution for prolonged periods of wet has been to leave buildings in place and just keep adding straw to keep the birds dry.  Clearly, that doesn't allow us to move them to new pasture - but we are talking about a response to extreme conditions.  Thus far, in 2019, we have not had to resort to this - though we have had to re-route where a building goes a couple of times.

Emma and Sophie can use other approaches to deal with gnats

Another issue that has gotten increasingly difficult is the increased buffalo gnat population from late May into early July each of the last several years.  Once again, 2018 was exceptionally bad.  This year wasn't particularly good, but after last year, it seemed like a picnic to us.  Either way, the gnats can cause problems for poultry, so providing shelter with good air circulation is critical.  It is also important to pay attention to how the birds are doing in each location because the gnats can be more populace in some areas than others.  Once we notice the birds struggling, we move the building in hopes of reducing the stress from the gnats.

In addition to gnats, we have had losses to hawks, skunks and raccoons.  This might make it sound like it is a terrible situation, but we typically start with 150 - 152 chicks and we process 142-147 birds at the end.  We consider this a reasonable success rate, especially given the health of our birds and quality of the meat they provide.

Processing - A Day at the Park
This post from 2009 gives you an idea of what a trip to "the Park" is like for us.  We still take our poultry to Martzahn Farm in Greene, Iowa (another local Iowa business!) and they do a fine job of cleaning and prepared the birds for sale.  A state inspector is present, which allows us more freedom in selling our poultry.  Rather than run through that entire process here, we'll let you take the link.  The biggest differences are that we typically take our birds the night before (and we find they are less stressed by this) and we only do 150 birds per flock now.  Oh... and the birds are, on average, bigger than they used to be.  This does mean we often have a late night followed by a long day, but that's just the way it works.

The day after we bring the birds in, we have to clean the truck and the cages they rode in.  Once the birds are ready in the afternoon, we go pick them up from Martzahn's.  If we know some people want unfrozen birds, we can arrange to deliver them.  The rest go to Frederika Locker to be frozen (and another local business).  After they are frozen, we move them to our farm and our freezers (assuming we have space).

so... Why Buy Our Chickens?

1. We raise our birds in a way that is humane and supports their natural processes.
2. We work to maintain our pastures and reduce stress the flock's presence might place on that system.
3. Our birds are healthy and have some character.
4. The quality of the meat throughout the bird is consistent.  You'll like the dark meat and the white meat.
5. The quality of the processing is top-notch, you will not find pin feathers on these birds.
6. You support a local farm business that, in turn, supports several other local/state businesses to raise these birds.

Let's empty the Genuine Faux Farm freezers so they can have space for flock number four in six weeks!

September Newsletter

Welcome to September
An amazing thing happened on the way to the Poultry Pavilion Saturday morning.  I realized that tomorrow would be September the first.  (Yes, I write the newsletter the day before it is posted.  Shocked, you are!)  Once I had that realization, I also remembered that Tammy and I had made some fairly important decisions about how we were going to go about business this year during our "official" farm retreat in February.  One of the things we agreed on was a time frame for making some decisions about how the Genuine Faux Farm would proceed (and whether it would proceed) in the future.  This installment of the Genuine Faux Farm newsletter will address this topic as well as many others, so hang on to your hats (and read on)!

Schedule Changes
Our schedule has been on the blog for a while and you can go to the original blog post here.  Once I am done with the newsletter I will update that post with the correct dates for a few things.  But, we'll get right down to it here as well!

• Broiler flock #3 goes to "the Park" on September 9.  There are some nice big birds in this flock and they are looking VERY tasty.  See below for more on them.
• The November 5 pickup in Waverly needs to be moved to November 6 (Wednesday) due to a scheduling conflict.
• The August Summer Festival was cancelled due to lack of interest on the parts of the farmers as much as anything.  We simply did not have the energy to promote it and then set it up.  We may talk about that more in a bit as well!
• Add in our first (and last?) Gathering at the Gateway to Autumn at the Genuine Faux Farm scheduled for September 22.  This will be a potluck that will also feature GFF turkey (we will roast a bird we have in our freezer from last year's flock).  The meal will be at 12:30pm and the event will start at 11:30am.  This is going to be a family friendly, low-key event and we would like all of our CSA members, past and present, to come share a meal with us.  The invitation includes all farm supporters, poultry purchasers, family and friends.

Broilers enjoy the apple trees for shade and the occasional windfall apple

Crop Roller-coaster
It certainly would not be September without a reference to how crops are doing so far this year.  Per the norm, some things are doing well and others are doing... uh... not as well.  Thus far, we have been pleased with the green beans and romano beans this season.  The beets have been good and the early lettuce was excellent.  The high tunnel melons have been a real treat as well.  We've had some gorgeous basil and the carrots are in pretty good shape (the earlier crops).

On the flip side, we are looking at poor vine crop production in general.  The late start, wet soils and likely exposure to other issues have done them no favors.  Add in some weed issues for some of the crops and there you are.  To be clear, the weed issues followed after many of the other issues.  They were already doing poorly and we just couldn't find the energy to spend to rescue things that were clearly doing poorly to begin with.  Evidence is provided by the summer squash and zucchini.  We've weeded, watered, etc etc... and the production is still way below what it should be.

Onions enjoy music, apparently...

After late starts and false starts, we've had some lovely broccoli and the cauliflower is coming along nicely for a mid-September crop.  The onions have been good, but not spectacular (we always hope for spectacular, but good is, well... good).  In fact, we still have 400 row feet of onions to pull in that are just now about ready.  The tomatoes in the high tunnels look very good and the peppers in the high tunnels have already been producing.  The field tomatoes and peppers... not so much.  And, the potatoes are always a mystery until we dig them all.  We're winding up for a batch of short season Fall/Winter crops in hopes that we can finish strong.

Broiler Chickens
We have about 300 broiler chickens in two flocks at the farm at this very moment.  Flock #3 goes to the park on September 9 (as you see above) but we still have a significant portion of flock #2 in our freezers right now.

Allow me to let you in on a secret.... shhh...  don't tell anyone.  We can't put flock #3 in our freezers if they are already full with flock #2.  So, we're putting the word out that we have lots of tasty chickens still available.  We have kept the price at $3.50 per pound for eight (or more?) years and we feel the quality has actually been improving as we continue to make advances in how we care for our flocks.  You actually have two opportunities here.  You could order some birds to pick up on September 9 so you could receive them unfrozen.  Or, you could opt for the already frozen birds.  They all taste good, so why not contact us and order some?

Farm Retreat Goal Check
Tammy and I set a number of fairly specific sign-posts for us to gauge how we were doing this year and to help us decide what we are doing going forward with the Genuine Faux Farm.  We agreed that we would assess where we were at during the August/September period of the season.  This is a dangerous time to assess because Tammy is starting the semester at Wartburg and Rob is now looking at a Fall work period with no other farm workers other than when Tammy is home.  But, it is also a realistic time for us to consider where we are at so we can balance it against the optimism that February often holds with respect to the farm.

One major theme was that we needed to make progress on projects that make our farm house a farm home.  The good news is that we now have a functioning, but not quite complete, kitchen in the farm house now.  We are now up to FOUR plugs in the upstairs floor (up from one) and the project to repair the stair to the basement and create a safer entry to the house is underway.  And, the solar array is now producing electricity!  In order to support all of these projects, we have (finally) completed the refinancing process of our mortgage - a project in and of itself.

The farm part of the Genuine Faux Farm has not been neglected either, with the creation of Casa Verde, among other things.  We increased the number of row feet we have using paper mulch and we re-introduced grass mulch to our repertoire (part of the reason for the green bean resurgence).  However, we have had some major setbacks this year as well.  The wet soils pushed us back four or more weeks for most of our planting.  An illness that prevented sleep in July (yes, it felt like all of July to me) set us back even further.  And, we are becoming more and more convinced that there is an accumulated buildup of herbicides, fungicides and pesticides in rural Iowa that are manifesting themselves on our farm.  That, in itself, is worth a future bit of blogging.

Potatoes and beans with some grass mulch to try and control the weeds

From a sales perspective, our CSA program is down again this year.  At its peak, the Genuine Faux Farm CSA delivered 120 shares per week.  We now deliver 40.  We attribute that, in part, to trends that have been obvious since 2016.   Some of the issue is likely our own fault for changing the program so dramatically this year.  But, we do not regret the changes because we do believe it made for a better product for our customers given the special conditions of this growing season after record precipitation levels.  Many people are warming to the 'credits' addition to our program and some have taken full advantage to stock up on their favorite veggies.  Also on the plus side, the simplification of our growing list has also helped us this season, which tells us that we might be moving in the right direction there.

On the other hand, we have increased sales to other entities (Jorgensen Plaza kitchens, East Bremer Diner, Farm Shed) - which was a part of our plan for the year.  However, we are still struggling to get more consistency with these and we need to add others.  In short, it is still unclear as to whether we can rely on these sales for the income needed to continue with the farm as it is right now.  Broiler chicken sales are also down this year - a year where we actually added a fourth flock of broilers because we anticipated a possible increase in demand.

To be perfectly blunt.  Our farm has not made any money the last couple of years.  My (Rob's) salary for his work on the farm consists of the amount that is our profit.  For that matter, Tammy also does not get paid for her work on the farm.  As unwise as it might sound, we do not pay a salary to myself and include it as an expense for a number of reasons that could ALSO be its own blog post.  The changes implemented this season have been, in part, an attempt to address the situation. 

So, what does all of this mean?  Well, we'll get to that.  But first..

Gathering at the Gateway to Autumn
September 22 starting at 11:30 am.
We would like to invite all CSA members, farm crew, poultry buyers and farm friends and family to join us for a potluck lunch at the farm where our contribution to the feast will be a roast turkey raised at the farm.  This gathering will be similar to our Summer Festival in that it brings us together to enjoy some food and each other's company.  It differs in that it focuses on the middle of the day rather than the end of the day.  At present, we are keeping the event low key so we can focus on making contact with those who are able to attend.

Why do this?
Well, did you know that this has been our FIFTEENTH season running a CSA at the Genuine Faux Farm?  It seems like a good time to request your presence to celebrate this with us and give us a chance to thank all of your for your support over the years that we have operated our farm share program.

Thanksgiving Turkeys Available Again This Year
Somehow the turkeys managed to avoid being mentioned until the bottom of the newsletter.  Don't tell them, they like to be first on the list for every VAP we create.

We will have turkeys available again this year and we will keep the price the same as it has been for several years now as well.  To make it up to the turkeys, we will create their OWN blog post to give details.  But, we want you to consider getting your Holiday turkey from the Genuine Faux Farm this year.

2020 Visions
Our vision for the Genuine Faux Farm in 2020 and beyond has to consider the realities of growing where we live and finding a market that will take what we grow.  We certainly have the right to change anything we say here as we learn more.  After all, Winter is usually the season for reflection and planning.  However, there are a few things that are now clear to us.

No such thing as a straight path forward, so let's just find what looks like a good one.

1. The CSA is dead.  Long live the CSA?
The 15th season of our CSA program will be our last with the CSA program as it has been.  Does that mean that we will not make produce, chickens, turkeys and eggs available to the fine people we have served in the past?  No.  We realize that the Genuine Faux Farm is unlikely to survive if we completely forsake sales direct to you, the consumer.  We value you and we NEED you for this farm to continue.  But, the burden of support has been falling to a smaller and smaller group for several years and we need to adjust.  It's a question of how we will do things more than anything.

We would like to know how YOU would like us to continue to serve you?  The only certain things are:

1. We will not continue as we have with the program.
2  We must change if the farm is to survive.
3. We know that the uncertainty and diminished reach of local farmers markets is not a solution either.
4. We still want to operate the farm in some fashion, continuing to use our certified organic, sustainable methods to grow quality food.

2. Increasing Other Direct Sales
We have always had some opportunities to sell to local entities such as restaurants, retirement villages, schools and daycare facilities.  However, the CSA has always gotten first priority for our growing lists and our harvests.  With the decline of the CSA, we have been pursuing more of these opportunities, but they carry their own uncertainties.  It's always safer for a farm business to have a diverse outlet for its product.

3. Re-assessing Poultry
It is still too early to determine what sort of adjustments should occur with the chickens and turkeys.  We make adjustments on the farm every season, so that is not earth-shattering.  The question is whether we make larger or smaller adjustments here.

4. Adjusting for Reduced Labor Hours
Neither of us has been allergic to hard work or long days.  However, it is clear to both of us that our tolerance for it has declined.  We have to find a way to control the number of hours we labor on the farm.  There are many ways to address this, of course, and we will explore them.  The good news is that we have improved in so many ways over fifteen years that we think this is certainly possible.  In fact, we have put many things in place over the years to improve our farm as a workplace for ourselves (and, likely, others).  We are, in particular, concerned with adjusting the work-load so Tammy doesn't have to essentially work two full-time jobs (teaching and farming).

5. Continuing to "Go Big" with Adjustments
One of the themes of our Farm Retreat in February was that we were at a point where some things needed to show significant progress or change.  In other words, it is still time for us to "Go Big or Go Home."  Since the farm IS our home, I guess we have to 'go big.'  If our farm is going to be our home, we need to continue to make repairs to that home so we aren't wasting so much time on emergency fixes or 'work-arounds' just to get our everyday living done.  And, if our farm business is going to continue, we have to make some major adjustments that will reduce stress and improve efficiency.  If we fail, so be it.  But, we intend to succeed.  We're just not always sure what that success will look like in the end.

Reflections

Once we reach the end of the traditional school "Summer Vacation" months, the farmer gets a bit more contemplative regarding the ongoing growing season, looking at what has gone wrong and (hopefully) what has gone right.  There is typically a whole host of things that we won't share on the blog either because there is only so much time and motivation to write it up or the thoughts were too transitory in nature (or the thoughts were really no one else's business anyway!).

This year's late August into September thought process may have a bit more significance than other years because we did enter this season with some particular BIG goals in mind.  Our relative success or failure in reaching those goals were going to be our signposts for determining how the farm and the farmers were going to progress from this point going forward.  The path of least resistance is usually to just stay the course and not make changes.  But, when have you all known us to take that particular path?  We, of course, know we often fall back to what we know - even if it doesn't look like it to everyone else.    So, trust us, we are just like most people, we struggle with taking new directions, even when it is obvious that a living farm is one that is rife with change.

This season, perhaps more than others, I have been even more aware of how we adapt to the variability that the farm provides even on a day by day and hour by hour basis.

All it takes is a little storm to roll through and alter our landscape a bit and viola!  We have to adapt.  The season progresses and the crops that are ready change and the needs of the remaining crops change.  Last week's need to have a certain space open for traffic becomes the need to get that onion crop under cover and never mind the traffic.  Every year, I catch myself saying that we'll get better at being more consistent and efficient on our farm.  And, every year, I remind myself that much of the farm is variable by nature, which means certain types of consistency are actually not virtues and efficiency at the highest level is rarely possible.

One way to illustrate this is to show an early May partial 'chalk door list' of things that needed to be done.  From day to day, the list content varies.  Of course, every day has a list of 'chores' that have to be done every morning or every evening.  But, those usually just reside on the "mental chalk door list."  Some days, the written list is quite granular (sometimes including some chores), with the smallest tasks listed just to be sure we don't forget any of them (and the workers like to cross things off).  Other days, the list is something along the lines of "WEED!"  Yes, you could split that into smaller chunks.  But, why?  Other than giving everyone a starting point for weeding, there really isn't much need to say more.

The take-away for us on this particular set of reflections is that we can certainly optimize certain tasks, but our diverse farm will, by its very nature, prevent us from getting too comfortable with any particular set of conditions and processes.  We can successfully implement a process for harvesting garlic and getting it hung up to cure.  In fact, we have done so, seeing the time it takes to do that task decrease each year for several years in a row.  But, we just need to accept that every day is different and it will require an approach that is adapted to that particular day's traits.

Other reflections on this season follow a particular pattern.  For example, I walk by this patch of chleome every day.  I keep expecting that they will fade, but they appear to just be getting bigger and brighter!  The first thought is usually, "Wow!  Look at that!" The second thought is "Why didn't we plant more of those?  I wish we had.  How is it that we planted two trays of those and we only have that patch?"  But, the next one is, "But, you haven't planted them most years and here they are now.  How cool is that?  Let's plan on more next year."

The bigger issues are always underlying the smaller issues.  The smaller than planned number of chleome came about in part because of the late start the weather forced on us in 2019.  The other reason had to do with issues with our starting facilities - some of which we have addressed at some level already.  Other parts of the farm can follow similar patterns.  The picture above shows our portable feed bin that we take to the Canfield Family Farm to fill with the 3000 lbs of feed each time we go there.  The small issue is figuring out what to do when there is a couple hundred pounds of feed still in the bin, but we are scheduled to go down and pick up another 3000 pounds.  The bigger issue is that feed management is not as simple as finding a temporary home for a few hundred pounds of food.  But, that might be good enough for another post in the future.

The point is that the farmer brain is always part on the current problem "How do I deal with the old feed so I can go get the new feed?"  Meanwhile, it also has the larger issue running in the background, "Is there a better way I can manage our poultry feed?"  And, just to make it more interesting, there are also many related things running around in the farmer brain too!

"I've got to remember to do X,Y and Z for the birds today."
"What do we have to do to sell all of these chickens?"
"Is our sale price covering our costs?"
"Should we do this many birds again or do we need to change that?"
"Do we even want to keep raising broiler chickens?"
"How do I change things to help the pastures recover?"
"Should I spend time putting in a new access into the turkey room?"
"Oh yeah!  That hose is still leaking over by the hen pasture, I should fix that."

Safety tip:  It's okay to have all of this stuff running around in the background.  But, you should always be present with whatever you are doing.  Tractors can be dangerous.  A few thousand pounds of feed can shift and can be dangerous.  There - public safety message complete.  And, no, I am fine, I did not just have a recent experience that reminded me of this because one of the things always running through my head is "Pay attention to what you are doing!"

When I have no more workers on the farm, Tammy is at school and the weather is nice and there is plenty to do I often wish I could sit down next to Inspector and just have a nice session of thinking and reflecting (and perhaps napping too).  And, once in a while, I actually let myself have that sit down - for as long as my brain lets me.

But, the reflections often get drowned out by the "chalk door list" that resides in my head for the given day.  So, I put the reflections into the background where they churn around while I pay attention to what I am doing.

Perhaps I'll just have to go weed something.  That is one thing I can do AND I can reflect at that same time.

There's a thought.

Onions, High Tunnels and Choices

 We made the choice to expand our onion production in 2019 with the understanding that there was the likelihood that we would have some bulk orders for onions if we could successfully grow them.  After all, we have had pretty good success for each of the past several years, it seemed like a good bet.  Now, here we are in August after planting 10,000-12,000 onion plants this Spring and we're starting to bring in the onions. 

Ailsa Craig Exhibition sweet onions

 The first thing everyone should understand is that when we plant 10,000 onions, we do NOT expect to harvest 10,000 onions.  Some plants will not survive the cultivation process and some just won't produce a good onion.  We also realize that some of the varieties we choose will not provide us with consistent sizes or shapes.  This has not been a big deal because our CSA customers often have different ideas about what an optimal size for an onion should be.  The range in production doesn't hurt when your customer base likes some of the size options.
 

White Wing onions

This season saw a very difficult planting period with mucky soil conditions.  The difficulty is that if you want good onions in Iowa, you need to get them in early.  Our region tends to grow long-day length type onions better than short-day or day length neutral onions.  Essentially, long day onions are triggered to bulb by daylight periods of 14 to 15 hours.  So, we need to get onions in the ground in time so they can establish a healthy plant BEFORE they worry about bulbing out.  Typically, the more established the plants are prior to reaching the daylight threshold, the better the onion crop is going to be for consistent and larger sized onions.

So, what happened this year?  We got onions in at different points in time depending on when we were able to 'mud them in.'  The poor early soil conditions have led to inconsistent production.  We've got lots of onions, but the sizes are all over the map.  The taste has been good and we'll see how they store.  We certainly can't say that we are disappointed because there is some good onion production here.  But, it's not the picture of perfection we had in our heads.  Even so, it is marketable - so now we need to sell it all.  The whole plan falls to the ground if we can't move them!

Valhalla in late July

 The high tunnels, once again, were indirectly impacted by the early season weather.  The best laid plans for planting order and location never seem to be implemented because we are always making adjustments for the weather - even when we are inside buildings!

How does that work, you ask?  Well...  if you can't get a crop in the ground outside, you might press some of the inside space into service for something you were not planning.  And, if you were planning on moving a building, but it is too wet or windy to do so, you have to delay that move.  It is what it is and we go through this at some level every season.

If you look at the picture of Valhalla above, you will see a good deal of open space.  That is not the way it was supposed to be at this point, but, we've moved a few things around and they are now slotted for some late Summer plantings to fill in some of our Fall - early winter crop needs.  The trick is that we want the tomatoes, peppers and other crops already in there to stretch their production into late October (and maybe early November) so we have to select compatible crops that will germinate in the conditions found in the building in August.  It's a giant jigsaw puzzle.  Good thing we like puzzles.

Eden in late July

Eden is much more crowded than Valhalla for a couple of reasons.  First, we will move the building to the West position in October - we think.  Remember the adjustments and conditions issues that occur in the Spring?  Well, Fall has been an adventure the last couple of years.  Remember the continuous rain last September, for example?

We made a choice this year to hill up the planting space in Eden to deal with the issue of torrential rains flooding out crops in this building.  You might be able to see what I mean if you click on the picture to make a larger version.  The good news is that the couple of heavy rains that got Eden wet inside the building this year did not impact the crops.  The bad news?  Well, things in hilled beds dry out faster.  And, during normal weather, high tunnels are DRY areas that require irrigation.  Every choice has its consequences.

Regardless of the issues, we can say that our efforts have led to success.  The early Summer lettuce crop (that grows up in the shade of the young tomatoes) was great - except we couldn't sell it all when it was ready.  The birds were happy.  The tomatoes are looking very good, the peppers have already produced above prior year levels and beans are doing well.  The melons are about on par for a normal season and the basil looks great.  We do feel as if we lost some flexibility with this model as it doesn't really support some of the crops we traditionally have grown in Eden.  But, it all worked well enough that we can make adjustments rather than abandoning the whole thing.

And there you have it... onions, high tunnels and choices.

Crazy Maurice Talks About Neighbors

Crazy Maurice is our farm's local creature correspondent for the blog and we felt it was about time that he give us a report on some of the natural neighbors we've seen recently.  For those who do not know, Crazy Maurice is the resident Weeping Willow tree on the northwest corner of the Genuine Faux Farm.  He first appeared on our blog when he gave his two cents worth last Fall.

Crazy Maurice

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 The Pretty Lady and the Fuzzy Guy with the Red Top have not been out to see me nearly as much this Summer as they did last Fall.  I have to admit that I have been a little disappointed by this as I find their company agreeable.  However, they assured me at our last visit (when they asked me to write this post) that we would be seeing each other much more in coming days!  They also assured me that I would not have to deal with those silly chickens again this year.  If you'll recall, I found them amusing, but they can get on your nerves with all of the talking:

"That's my spot, get out of my spot!  That's MY spot! Get OUT of my spot!"
"I'm laying an egg!  I'm laying an EGG! I'm laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaying an EGGGGGG!"
"Give me food!  I want more food! You call that food?!?  I want food!"

I was able to observe the turkeys last year and found them to be a bit less vocal and Pretty Lady told me I would get to see them a bit closer this year.  I think that will be ok, but I am learning that you don't really know someone until you live with them for a while.

 Once we got past June, things on the farm have gotten much dryer.  I realize the farmers are happy about it, but I don't wind the wet so much.  Still, I have to agree with them - the last year through early Summer was too wet for our farm.  Some of my tree friends failed to survive the Winter and the Fuzzy Guy was saying he thought it was because they were in some the areas that didn't dry out.  It was hard for me to watch while the farmer took out the remains of one of the 'Bristle Brothers,'  but it wasn't pleasant looking that spruce's remains every day either.

On the other hand, the wet weather has encouraged an increase in the number of frogs we have had this year.  I've had more tree frogs hanging around in my branches than I ever remember.  I admit that they tickle a little bit, but generally I like having them around.

Most of the frogs aren't looking for much attention, but we have a couple that are looking for notoriety.  Russell, the Cucumber Frog, has been in the cucumber patch most of the Summer.  Unlike past cucumber frogs, Russell doesn't like to jump out at the farmer much.  Instead, he'll just move a bit out of the way and observe as the farmer harvests.  Bob, on the other hand, likes to hang out in the tub that catches the water from the veggie cleaning station.  It seems like all he does is float around in the water, though I heard him singing the other day.

It is my understanding that the 'henlets' are on the other side of the Poultry Pavillion right now.

Pretty Lady collecting eggs.

Pretty Lady told me they were going to move the young chickens into the flock with the older chickens soon.  The next day is always quite an event.


You see, the hens are neighbors, of a sort.  They reside in the Poultry Pavillion at night and they come out to their pasture during the day.  Their pasture is not too far away from my location, but they ARE far enough away that I don't have to be bothered by their chatter most of the time. 

But, the day after moving day?

"Who are you?! That's my spot, get out of my spot!  That's MY spot! Get OUT of my spot!"
"I'm laying an egg!  I'm laying an EGG! I'm laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaying an EGGGGGG!  Hey!  New bird!  Stay away from my EEEEEEGGGGG!"
"Give me food!  I want more food! You call that food?!?  I want food!  You can't have that food, it is mine!"

Ya.  Same words, just directed and with extra emphasis so it can be heard everywhere on the farm.


The farmers added a new bee hive to the farm this year (yes, we've had honey bees here before) and these have been very pleasant neighbors.  I especially like it when they come by and hum a tune for me.

Lately, I have been most entertained by the new hatching of dragonflies!  The wetter year has provided a bit more support for them and the Fuzzy Guy with the Red Top told me this is the largest population of dragonflies he has seen since he got here.  I can just sit here and watch them hover, dive and spin.  Some of them have favorite places to land in my branches.  They will often use them as a sort of 'jumping off' point to go grab some insect as a snack.  Then they come back and chew a bit.  Happily, most dragonflies know to chew with their mouth closed so we don't have to have discussions about manners.

Can't see the dragonflies?  Click on the picture to enlarge and look at the sky!

August Faux Newsletter

Some of you may have noticed that we failed to put out an August newsletter in a timely fashion.  So, here is a fake newsletter to make up for it.  Well, actually, it's just a few pictures that represent some goings on at our farm that we thought we'd share.  That qualifies as a newsletter doesn't it?  It doesn't? 

Well, we're going to do it anyway.  So there!

Mini-Poof at the Farm (again)
It feels like we've had more wind gusts that have caused us issues this year than we have most years.  That is not to say that we have had more severe weather than usual.  It's more the fact that we've had more visible consequences this year than we usually do. 

Guess where this building WAS before the wind?

 The latest burst hit the farm sometime between 2 am and 4 am this morning (Aug 18).  Tammy woke up to raindrops hitting her face. 

*** pause for dramatic effect ***

Yes, she woke up because rain was being driven through our open window, across the room and into her face.  This is good because we had a few windows open that needed closing.  But, this was not the gust in question.  That came just after she got the windows closed.  Let's just say that the whole house shuddered when this one hit.  We do get winds that make the house move about a half dozen times per year, so it isn't a completely new experience.

In any event, the little sweet corn patch we planted for ourselves is completely down.  That's just a reminder of one of the reasons why we don't put much effort into growing sweet corn.  A section of our maturing broccoli got rolled over.  They should be ok with a couple of exceptions.  And, a chicken building got moved a bit.

The last item was the most concerning since we had just gotten our youngest batch of broiler chickens out to their portable building.  These buildings are meant to move, but they are usually moved with Rosie the tractor during the day when Rob and Tammy are around to herd the birds out of the way so it can be safely moved.  The good news is that there does not appear to be any real damage to the building and the birds seem to be fine.  Now, with 150 little birds that like to stay next to each other, you can't be completely certain - so we'll keep our eyes open for problems the next couple of days.

In the end, the damage is light and we can handle it. 

Horizontal Surface = Good Place to Nap
Our two Outdoor Farm Supervisors have been working extra-hard lately, which means they have been getting into some serious napping!

What?  You wanted to use this lawn tractor?  No, you don't.

 Just this morning, Tammy used the lawn tractor for a few minutes to help with some of the AM chores.  She parked it with the intention of coming back to it so she could do more.  The picture above is what she found.

Keep in mind that the period of time between parking and returning was probably not much more than 15 minutes.  And we still don't know how Soup would think that mower deck is a comfortable place to nap.

A good skritching is cause for a good nap.

 Inspector followed Rob into the granary while he went to load up some feed for one of the flocks on the farm.  He requested attention and Rob gave it to him in the form of a good, solid skritching.  After taking food to birds, Rob came back and found Inspector sleeping on the feed bin (seen above).  Apparently, that skritching wore Inspector out.  The sad thing?  Rob was not allowed to take a nap as well.

Anxious to Get It Running
And so, you have this big, beautiful solar array sitting on your property.  It took years of planning and then weeks of scrambling to do what it took to get it there.  It is collecting the sun, but that energy is going no where.  Why?

Well, it is all part of the process.  Alliant still needs to install the two-way meter and hook this system into the grid.  They have a period of time during which this is supposed to happen, so we are trying to be patient.  But, shucks, we have some very sunny days and we really would like to use some renewable energy on the farm!

We'll keep everyone posted as things progress.