Busy as a Bee Hive?

It is no secret that there has been some activity at the farm over the past few weeks.  We have continued with our campaign to address significant problems with the farm house and the current focus has been on replacing the deteriorating siding (two layers of it) with new.  This, of course, means we have to address rot and other issues as we find them.  We realize there are some people out there (and I suspect you know who you are) that want to see what sort of progress is being made. 

The good news?  There has been progress!


Sometimes progress looks a bit like regression.  Ok... sometimes it FEELS like it too.  And, it can get a bit nippy when the wind picks up out here.  But, we are within shouting distance of getting the North side finished as well!  Tammy and Rob have been doing tear-off and Travis and Rory of Duncan Home Services work to make it look good after that.


While we are at it, you might remember that we had a couple of "Pooofs" this past Summer that did a little damage.  It was a little un-nerving to watch the metal on the Poultry Pavilion ripple and emulate the ocean's waves during one of those poofs.  A second poof not long after the first sent several panels flying.

Well, December was the month of making things right.  The guys at J.D. Builders did a nice job, I think.  We had some insurance coverage to help pay for this AND we fully realize that if it were only Rob doing the work, it would take much more than two days.

Much MUCH more than two days.


And, we wanted to show you that we are also making progress on the rest of the house... even though it might look more like regression at the point these pictures were taken. 

All of this is not without some backlash.

Bree says, "I have a drill, a toolbox and a cooler.  Stop the insanity or I will be forced to use them!"

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?

Veggies to Look Forward To in 2020

We've committed ourselves to growing veggies again in 2020, but we have also committed ourselves towards focusing on a much smaller set of crops as we do things like ... oh... raise the growing areas on our farm to address continued/increased wet conditions.  We announced the types of crops we are anticipating growing next year and we expect to continue to follow up on the details of what we are going to do in 2020 in this blog.  If there is something you would like us to address on these pages, please let us know.

Bunte Forellenschus

We have a commitment from the kitchens at Jorgensen Plaza for our lettuce in 2020, so we are going to pull out the stops on trying to have lettuce for as many weeks as are possible on our farm in the coming season.  This is great news for heirloom lettuce lovers in the area because that means we should have extra lettuce to provide to those that sign up for our program for much of the year AND for those who just want some fresh, local AND certified organic lettuce, but are not signed up with us.

Bunte Forellenschus is one of our favorite butterhead types to grow and eat.  We've found that it slots in very nicely for the mid Spring to early summer slot and again in the mid-Fall slot.  Leaves display much more of the red coloration in cooler weather, but the taste stays fairly constant regardless of the season.  When this lettuce is going well, the farmer can be caught humming as he pulls a tub of these in for cleaning and distribution.

Onions have done pretty well for us each of the last five or six seasons and we see no reason to stop what has become a good thing.  The biggest issue with onions is that they need to go in pretty early.  If things are too wet early, when do you put them in?  Well, like this past season, you just find ways to get it done - even if it isn't exactly the way you want to do it.

We prefer White Wing for our early season white onions, though we also grow Gladstone and Sierra Blanca (sometimes).  The white onion harvest is actually very pleasant because, in a very real way, they always feel a bit like a surprise to us.  Why?

Well, white onions usually start sizing up in July and the speed with which they put on the bulk can be a amazing.  We typically walk our fields every day just to keep up on everything - and they still manage to sneak up on us.  The process of white onion harvest is usually a quick walk of the bed, taking stock of how many are ready to be pulled (and how many we need for CSA or other orders).  The walk back allows me to simply bend down and pull up the onions that are ready.  Usually I can hold 20 to 30 in each hand (grasped by the stem/leaves) before I have to put them in a container.  First harvests are particularly pleasant because there are usually so many onions remaining in the bed that it barely looks like I've brought anything in!

It is Winter, so an heirloom tomato is bound to make the post simply because people miss a good tasting, fresh tomato about this time of year.  Shown above is a variety called Black Sea Man - a new trial in 2019.  Will it return in 2020?  We'll put it this way, if we have seed remaining in our inventory - yes.  If not, we'll focus on our Black Krim and Paul Robeson plants for tomatoes that fall into this class.  

We love putting the 'black/purple' tomatoes in the high tunnels since that is where they perform best for us.  Typically we put them in our white nest/stack trays - never more than two deep to avoid bruising or damage.  Usually, we get to eat fruit that will not transport well.  Hey!  These are heirloom tomatoes, there will always be some that won't go to market - fresh tomatoes on sandwiches and fresh pico for the farmers.  Good deal.

 The butternut squash have a history of doing fairly well for us most seasons (just not 2019).  We plan on growing about as many row feet as we have in prior years, but we also plan on doing more things to protect this crop in an effort to avoid some of the issues we have seen in 2018 and 2019. 

The butternut harvest is not usually one of my favorite events, nor is it among those I dread.  However, the display of quality butternut squash just after harvest?  That's something I love to see and photograph.  Butternuts are a long season crop and require effort throughout the year.  So, a nice harvest neatly set out represents a significant yearly accomplishment.

And, yes, we will grow Wapsipinicon Peach tomatoes this coming year.  The positive thing about the new system of CSA this year?  People who love them will be able to get MORE of them.  Just remember to catch that juice before it lands on your new shirt.

What Have You Got Yourself Into? Files Part II

 In our prior post we mentioned the siding project that is ongoing at the Genuine Faux Farm farmhouse and we thought people might enjoy seeing some of the "progress." 

 The East side is the first side to get torn off of the house.  As we mentioned, there is an asphalt and particle board shingle-type siding that was placed over lap siding.  The outer layer has been taking on moisture and has to go.  It is far easier to take that stuff off first, so we strip what we can of that off, often being able to just pull it off with much help from tools.

And in case you want to know - yes, my shoulders are now sore.

 There was some thought that the cedar lap siding might be in reasonable shape.  There were patches that were pretty good, but far too many patches like this.  Other areas had badly cupped siding and yet other area had other problems.  That means our decision to strip it down to the underlayment was a good one.  Also, the timing was right to address the problem.  Too many more years as it was and we would have many much bigger problems to deal with.

And here we are on the East side with no lap siding on everything we could reach with the scaffolding in its current position.  There were, in fact, a few places that needed repair under the windows and at the corner on the left.  Otherwise, the underlayment was in pretty good shape. 

That is a huge relief!  So far, this has also held true for the North side of the house as well, with even smaller areas needing repair.  We do not hold out the same hope for the South side - but we shall see.

And here is a sample of what is to come.  Tammy and I get to do the tear off and Duncan Home Services get to do the making it look nice part.  Here's hoping the weather allows us to keep plugging along on it as we enter the new year!

As of today (Dec 26), there is siding about halfway up the East side.  We have taken off the two layers of siding more than halfway up the North side and the outer layer of siding halfway up the West side.  It is actually nice to be able to expend some energy fixing up our dwelling.  But, never fear!  We did some farm work today too!

What Have You Gotten Yourself Into? Files

One of our earliest pictures of the farm house at the Genuine Faux Farm

It has been said that home ownership is a surefire way to get rid of any extra money or time you might have.  It has also been said that you can do the same if you farm.  As a good friend has reminded me (more than once) - I told me so.

Tammy and I have gone through the home ownership process more than once and, each time, the house was 'older' and needed some attention.  When we moved to the current farmstead in 2004, we were aware that there were going to be some things that would need attention and we thought we knew what those things would be.  Of course, we were wrong.  But, that's a story for yet another day.

Over the last couple of years, things have really come to a head with respect to home repair.  If you have read the blog, you know about the kitchen project because it shows up here and there.  That project is well on its way to being done.  Except that... it's not done.  We still have one more cabinet to put up, a floor to put down, some lights to put in and some finish work to do.  But, it functions better than it has for years... and we aren't afraid we'll step through the floor and visit the basement.

It's all good.

The current focus is on the siding.  You see, there is this shingle-like siding on the house that was put over standard cedar, lap siding.  The siding was actually one of the things we identified when we first moved here as needing attention at some point.  Well, it's 2019 going on 2020 and the siding is getting attention. We'll put some new pictures up in the next week or so.  It is already much different than it was! 

Too Easy to Forget

The gravel roads throughout the state of Iowa took a beating last Fall, Winter and Spring.  The biggest culprit?  Record levels of rain in the Fall and snow in the Winter, followed up by a fairly damp Spring.  Our little Honda sat in our drive, unused, for most of the first half of 2019 for fear that it would be sucked into one or another of the sloppy areas that could be found on every section of road between us and paved thoroughfares.  As it was, Chumley, our 4-wheel drive work truck, had a few adventures that had us wondering.

We were forced to admit that the roads were not in sufficient repair to host a couple of busloads of Waterloo kindergartners as was planned.  Not only that, but the farm was probably a bit too wet as well.  We're happy to help with education, but we aren't equipped to extricate a bus-load of children from the morass that was our road.

The road crews had their hands full and their budgets had to be strapped.  Remember the record snowfall?  That means the snowplows had to be out more than usual.  Add in some flooding that washed out roads and the pervasive condition issues with all gravels and you must have had a nightmare set of conditions for those who were trying to manage maintenance and repair.

But, it is too easy to forget that there were people working at a disadvantage as they try to keep our rural roads passable.  More than one time, I was struck by a comment from someone who just "didn't understand why the crews couldn't just fix the roads."  Sometimes, these comments included a little bit of abuse aimed at the very people who were fighting against conditions that were created by record-setting precipitation.  I hope I did my best each time to remind people of the weather conditions that contributed to the current situation, but I am sure I'll never know if it made a difference.  After all, we're so very comfortable with placing blame on others for our discomforts without taking time to connect a few dots and considering the causes. 

Enough to Raise the Bed?

Our Foresight 2020 Campaign continues with a post exploring some of the major changes we will endeavor in the next season of growing at the Genuine Faux Farm.  One of the first things on our minds is looking for ways to deal with the excessive moisture that has made it increasingly difficult for us to succeed.  So, in this blog post we ask:

Is it enough to raise the bed?

Note the growing areas that are not under water.

The problem is this.  We've had numerous seasons of late where we have had above average precipitation.  In fact, we set some all-time records for rain and snowfall in 2018/2019.  Our ground is flat, the soil is heavy and the water table is typically on the higher side.  The number of times we have experienced "100 year storms," "500 year storms" and "1000 year storms" has far exceeded the 1%, 0.2% and 0.1% chances they are supposed to have for likelihood of occurrence.  I think we outline the issues we have to deal with when things get really wet on our farm in this year's post titled: Clueless No More. 

Basil and tomatoes looking fairly good in August.

Our Spring planting was delayed by four to five weeks this season because our soils were simply too wet to work.  Even with that delay, we still had some decent looking crops as we went into August.  Not all of the crops looked good, mind you, but there were hints that we might still know a thing or two about horticulture.  There were also numerous hints that our land still has some capacity to cap.

September - how we rue you!

But, we got into September again this year and our entire Fall has been fairly damp.  It's a notch or two below 2018, but considering Iowa averages show ever decreasing rainfall amounts as you go into the Fall months, the slight reduction isn't much of a consolation.

So, what are we going to do?  We're cutting back the number of crops we are growing in 2020.  We are hopeful that by reducing the number of crops and the amount of space we cultivate, we can spend some time adapting our farm to wetter (and probably warmer on average) conditions.  In short, we're going to become earth movers.

This worked in prior wet years.

We have had a couple of raised beds on the farm for a few years now and they are a place we can plant most of the time.  It is a bit of pain that we have to irrigate these more often, but the alternative (unwatering the plants when it rains too much) really isn't possible.  The soil surface for these beds are about twelve inches above the surrounding area, so the plants and their entire root zone are unlikely to be saturated even during some of the most difficult rainy conditions.

The problem is that this space is very limited and we can't raise bigger areas this much.  In fact, we wouldn't want to do too much of this because we know there will still be dry periods and we don't want to pull up that much ground water to irrigate.

Raised growing areas in Eden.

We actually dug out the paths in one of our high tunnels and added soil to the growing areas this past year.  Why?  Well, we've had so much moisture that water was actually seeping into the tunnel via the high water table.  The plants needed a few more inches of soil so they could stay healthy.  Happily, this worked for us in 2019 and Eden was again a happy growing place.

The issue is that this approach does not completely solve the problem in the field. 

Look again at our first picture.

If you take a second look at the first picture in the blog, you can see that we DID have raised areas for our plants.  The wheel tracks for our tractor remained lower.  The problem is that the root zone remained saturated to a point that the plants suffered and many died.

Our proposed solution is to mirror the approach we had for Valahalla, our second high tunnel. 

Valhalla

Prior to putting up this structure, we had two ditches dug along the long sides and we used that dirt to raise the pad for the building.  In the end, it is only a two to three inch difference.  But, it seems to be enough.  Even the field that was NOT covered by the high tunnel in 2019 did reasonably well.  So, our plan is to have 18' to 20' wide growing areas flanked by 6' to 8' swales.  This is going to require significant time and effort on our part and the earth moving will have to occur at times when it is dry enough to move the soil successfully.  Hence, some of the reason we are paring down our growing plans and adjusting how we deliver our produce to everyone.

The good news?

If this is successful, we hope that we can see more consistent success with our crops once again.  But, we also see this as an opportunity to provide more natural habitat within our farm AND a chance to deal with the water without passing it all downstream to become someone else's problem.  We feel good about all of this in principle.  We are asking for your support and best wishes as we work to get better.  We'll keep you informed on the process in our blog and elsewhere as we find out...

Is it enough to raise the bed?

Are We Amused Yet?

Our indoor supervisors, Bree and Hobnob are getting a bit tired of me trying out jokes and puns on them.  They told me by simply giving the look you see below that I need to find a new audience.  Guess what?  YOU are the new audience.  Aren't you lucky?  You'll be really lucky if you get to the end of this post (which is highly recommended if you can stand it).

Actually, I thought I would share some things that were sent my way that I found amusing.  If it inspires me to further silliness, then that is price of doing business.  Or at least, it the price of reading the Genuine Faux Farm blog.  To get started, let us all assess our moods.  

Unfortunately, I am a farmer, so I really have a hard time trying to figure out where I fall on the scale of cat.  After all, according to the graphic below, it changes from moment to moment.  Let's just say I follow a progressions from 1 to 9 most days - although I might move 7 to the end.

We've also been discussing the legal structure of the Genuine Faux Farm.  We are thinking that we should create a new position simply because I want to be able to put these initials at the end of my name:

Our next trick is to determine what CIEIO stands for.  Some thoughts include:

Chief Informal Executive Involving Onions
Credible Information Exists In Observation
Crumpled Iguana Ears Ignore Owls

I'd love a few more ideas - so have at it in the comments!

The Sandman used to always let me try out jokes on him.  He usually encouraged me to keep them to myself.   Regardless, the following illustration made me think of the Sandman.  I wonder if he really was a dragon using an illusion spell?  I wouldn't have put it past him.

But, the real motivation for this post is in the following:

I nabbed this from a facebook post being shared by a group of farmers and I just could NOT help myself.

I decided I should milk this for all it was worth!  Gather around like cattle and ye shall be HERD!

Dear diary,
  Today I went to the farm to ruminate about ruminants.   I thought they might have a beef with me, but it turns out this was the udder kind of bovine.  I met a cow and gave it the nick-name "Cuddles," but it turns out that this reference turned the cow's stomachs.  I tried to cross the field without touching the ground by leaping from the back of one young cow to another.  After that, I took stock of the situation and realized my calves were sore.  Now THEY had a beef with me.  I guess it was time to moove on.

I was wondering how farmers select a bull to mate with a cow and figured they must have gone to a meet market of some kind.  One guy tried to tell me that he had a batch of chicks and some young calves that shared a pasture.  After a while one young rooster took a liking to one of the bullocks, riding on its back from place to place.  He said they went everywhere together, including the county fair.  I decided that had to be a cock and bull story.

I realize that many people have not been exposed to the story about the cow that got a foot caught in a trap and had to have its hoof removed.  Removing a hoof is the equivalent of taking off ones toes, it has to be difficult to adapt to.  It was made worse by the fact that the other cows ostracized the hoofless cow.  Apparently, they were lack toes intolerant.  Yes, that's the untoed story.

So, now I HAVE milked this for all it's worth.  Why?
Because you have just experienced "deja moo" - the feeling that you have heard this cow pun before.

Now, go take a nap.  It's pasture bedtime.