It Has Been THAT Time Before

We've got a number of things for you, so we thought we'd just get right down to it!

Early Spring Issues

The garlic suppression campaign.

The early warm weather is something we haven't talked about in recent blog posts, but maybe we should.  It is even rarer that we spend blogging time giving specific examples of problems an early Spring can cause for us at the farm.  Well, here we are, doing just that!

If you will recall, we had a very early Spring in 2012 that resulted in some difficult losses with our garlic (see #4 on this post).   Garlic was weeks ahead and their early emergence made them fair game for Aster Yellows.  The end result was that the garlic would not store and we could not use any of our own seed for subsequent years.

Determined to avoid having the same problem, we decided to do something about it this year.  Tammy and I went out and pushed all of those anxious little garlic plants BACK into the ground.  We also made certain to give them a verbal admonition to wait "just a little bit longer - for your own good."  Unfortunately, garlic does not have ears, so they must not have heard us and they popped back up the next day.  It is also possible that a few of them will not be garlic plants anymore since they gave us the 'raspberry' when they popped back out of the ground.

High Tunnel Wrinkle Repair Underway

A good sunny day helps, but botox will not.

The past weekend provided us with much needed warmth on the farm.  One of our normal Spring activities is to do routine maintenance on the high tunnel.  Along with fixing breaks, tightening turnbuckles and preparing the soil is the annual job of ironing the plastic.  This is one task we didn't count on when we first purchased the building, but I suppose we should have realized that the plastic would expand and contract given the temperature extremes it is forced to go through every year.  Since this year was exceptionally cold, the plastic is ... well... exceptionally wrinkly.  We hope to get through to the Fall before we replace the plastic, so we spent a good deal of time with a special ironing tool working the plastic back into shape.  Failure to do so would result in inadequate light entering the tunnel, so this is a critical step.

We were so busy with the process that we neglected to get a picture showing you how we got the top of the tunnel completed.  We'll try to show you a picture in the future.

One Phobia Beats Another
The Bandsaw Man is not too fond of heights.  But...

All I said was, "Look! A snake!"

Anonymous Farmer Project Includes Genuine Faux Farm

We have NO idea who that is.

The Genuine Faux Farm has been selected to be a participant in a new project called the Anonymous Farmer Project.  Since many people do not seem to place much importance on learning about where their food comes from, this project was created to reflect this common approach to food acquisition and consumption.  Photos were selected from those provided by participating farms and were placed on a calendar that can be found in the produce, fruit and meats section of many grocery stores throughout the nation.  In every case, the farmer's identity is obscured - providing the consumer with an excellent excuse for not knowing who grew the food they have purchased or how it was raised.

Dyed Water to Get Colored Eggs
Our farm participates in many research projects.  Some of them are of our own making, and this year is no exception.  We have noticed that the composition of the eggs laid by our hens can change depending on what the birds ingest.  For example, you might notice that the eggs become a richer yellow as they spend more outdoor time on green pastures and they fade a bit during the Winter.  In fact, we've noticed a definite orange tinge to the yolks when we feed them squash.  If you need more evidence, let me point something out.  What happens when you eat red beets?  I rest my case.

After the recent egg sales for Easter, we realized we may have missed the boat on an opportunity here.  Therefore, this Summer, we will segregate a small batch of chickens and put colored dye into their water.  Can you imagine how convenient it would be for all of you to celebrate Easter with pre-dyed eggs?   Our next step will be to figure out how to pre-hardboil the eggs.  We're not sure the chickens are going to enjoy that experiment as much.

Egg Filming In Progress
Iowa Public Television was once again at the Genuine Faux Farm to record supplemental footage for an upcoming Iowa Ingredient show.  GFF will already appear on a show that features the use of duck for this season and next season they will use footage for a show focusing on the use of eggs.

Awaiting the hatch with baited breath

IPTV staff contacted us in hopes that we might have some fertilized eggs that could eventually hatch.  Of course, we do have roosters in our flock, so we responded in the positive.  After all, the operative word in their request was "could."  Or, maybe they could have if they hadn't already been put in the refrigerator - but they don't need to know that - so don't tell them.

The filming crew has been at the farm for the past four weeks, taking turns keeping the camera running just in case the eggs should begin to show signs of hatching.  We suppose we should tell them at some point that these eggs needed to be in a warm environment for them to hatch, but when they aren't filming they've been pretty useful around the farm and we hate to lose the extra help.

Pre-Wilting Technique for Greens
Your farmers spend some time reading up on the newest techniques for production and harvest during the cold months of the year.  One of the hot topics recently has been finding the best ways to deal with post-harvest handling of greens.  Our farm has used hydro-cooling since 2007 in an effort to make it possible for lettuce and other similar veggies to last longer in your refrigerator and we feel we've been very successful with this process.

Note the successful wilting in the row to the right.

Apparently, one of the newer techniques is to stop watering the target plants long enough for the leaves to wilt.  Once wilt is achieved, they are re-hydrated with a heavy irrigation pass prior to harvest. 
The logic here is that those leaves that return to their prior picture of health were the ones most likely to last longer after cutting.  In short, this removes any of the weaker leaves from harvest, resulting in the customer getting the best quality leaves from the plant.

This process may be akin to the recent trends towards removing irrigation from tomato plants for a period of time prior to harvest to encourage more sugar set in the fruit. However, the articles we have read thus far do not discuss the taste quality of the produce in question.

Given the picture above, we can manage the wilting part.  We're not sure if we've got the timing down for the rest.

Rhetorical Farm Cart

If a 'rhetorical question' does not require an answer, then it makes sense that a rhetorical farm cart does not need to carry any payload.  Sometimes, it is all about the existence of the item and the point it is trying to make - at least that's what we've been told.   We purchased this new cart at an auction recently for $15.  Why did we buy it?  Well, we were running short on cash and needed an influx of money somehow...

Now, hear us out on this.  Usually, a little cart like this, in good shape, with good tires, would cost a minimum of $100.  Heck, we've seen a pile of tires go for $15.  In fact, we've seen another running gear without a deck with similar characteristics go for a couple hundred dollars.  At the very least, we figure we saved $50 on this rhetorical farm cart.  So, technically, we are in the positive by $50 or more.  We're still working out why the balance in the checking account went DOWN however.

Litter Harvest Reaches New Record Levels

Apparently word has gotten out that our farm actually resides on one of the richest deposits of scoopable cat litter in the state.  As a result, the demand has gone through the roof since its discovery.

In an effort to keep costs low, we've been re-using old litter buckets to harvest the pure, unrefined scoopable litter from the deposits deep in the earth.

Thus far, we have been only selling the litter 'ore' to larger refining companies, but we are considering working on setting up our own refinery so we can sell local scoopable cat litter direct to the consumer.  The hardest part has been coming up with a name for the new product.  We were sort of thinking about "True Grit" but are a little nervous that there might be some legal fall-out from John Wayne's estate.

Sadly, we had to move to a new vein last week after our outdoor cat farm managers discovered the initial lode. 

Tiny House For Felines


You probably have noticed the 'tiny house' concept for humans - well, here is the next new thing for pets - the litter bucket tiny home!  We read about cat lovers in a Chicago suburb placing litter buckets in the alleys and other locations where feral cats tend to be found.  After all, those poor critters suffer in the elements too!

There have apparently been a few issues with this approach that have yet to be addressed.  We have addressed one of them with Soup's personal 'tiny home' on the farm.  You see, most of the buckets in Chicago were put out with the lids on.  People were forgetting that cats do NOT have opposable thumbs and opening a lid is not likely to be easy for them.  When asked about this, one person said they were worried that the open side would result in the cat getting wet in a driving rainstorm, so they wanted to leave the lid there as a 'door' that the cat could shut.

Our solution allows the cat to get in and out just fine.  We figure if there is a driving rain coming in the opening, the cat can jump out quick and spin the bucket around in another direction.

There were several other problems noted with these tiny homes, but we'll let you figure out that bucket list on your own.

Weed Maze
GFF enters agritourism with first annual weed maze.   Anticipated opening of the maze is sometime in August when the foxtail, pigweed and giant ragweed have had a chance to reach their growth potential.  Tammy was quoted as saying that this would work as long as those pesky tomatoes weren't always in the way.  An attempt to have a weed maze was thwarted when the worker who was sent to mow the maze path was lost.  Recent field clean up revealed that the worker had survived the mild winter, eating frozen tomatoes and field mice.    

Moving Away from Free-Range

If you've paid any attention to our farm, you will know that we are dedicated to practices that work with nature.  We grow certified organic produce and day-range poultry.  However, our days of free-range workers on the farm are coming to an end.

Apparently, the good people that work on our farm are quality individuals who are in high demand in so many other places.  Some of them graduate and then go on to further schooling or to a 'real job,'  leaving us behind with ne'er a backward glance.  Others, for some reason, find themselves taking things called 'internships' in their field of study.  Still others do things like 'get married' or take 'full-time employment' or whatever sad little reasons they come up with.

Well, we've had enough of this.  We are planning on moving to the confinement model for farm workers this year.  As long as we keep them fed and watered, they should be happy.  We may even throw them some excess produce now and again so they can chase it around the pasture like the turkeys do.

We still need to work out how we can keep them under control when we let them out of the pasture to do actual work on the farm.  We have considered the ankle bracelet monitoring systems used for some law enforcement purposes, but that seems cost-prohibitive.  Instead, it seems more likely that we'll just tie a bright red balloon onto a string and tie that string to the worker.  Then, we just need to look for the balloon so we can locate the worker.  I suspect there are some problems with that plan as well, but we have to start somewhere.

Compressed Air Aids Laying Hens
The process of laying eggs can cost a hen a great deal of energy.  And, as we have found, egg production decreases during temperature extremes due to the increase in energy required to maintain body temperature.  We are considering the purchase of a new air compressor with special tubes and attachments to aid the hens with their egg laying tasks.  This special equipment is not entirely unlike automated milking machines in set up, but rather than using suction, puffs of air will be sent through the hoses and into the birds' beaks.  Essentially, the intent is to reduce the effort of laying eggs by helping to push the eggs out with air pressure.  It appears the most difficult part of setting up this equipment will be determining the correct psi (pounds per square inch) setting on the compressor.  Clearly, if the setting is too low, the only thing that the birds will get out of it is an extra dose of oxygen.  On the other hand, we're not entirely sure we want to find out what happens if the setting is too high.  We really do not want to be dodging eggs flying around the room that got pushed out a bit too quickly.

Cucumber Frog Re-applies for Clemency
The Genuine Faux Farm Cucumber Frog applied for and apparently received approval from someone other than Farmer Rob to move indoors during the cold Winter months.  This latest comes on the heels of Mr. Frog's prior application for clemency with regard to prior 'wrongdoing' on his part.

Mr. Frog is known for his tendency to find ways to startle Farmer Rob during cucumber harvest times.  The timing of his 'surprise appearances' can be good enough to cause the farmer to drop freshly picked produce and/or jump backwards quickly while saying something that sounds like "Gaaaah!"  The farmer is quoted as saying "that frog is a menace and hazard in the field. I am just glad I don't have to deal with him at other times of the year." 

Apparently, the Cucumber Frog has been given access to warmer places on the farm this Winter.  And, what could be warmer than the farmhouse itself? Now, with Mr. Frog enjoying these warmer environs during some of those "other times of the year," the farmer has dropped the laundry basket, a pile of books, a stitch and a line or two.   

"Look," said the farmer, "I appreciate all Mr. Frog does to keep down some of the pests in our cucumber field and I don't want him to leave the farm.  I can tolerate his shenanigans during cucumber harvest.  But, I just don't feel I should have to worry about him jumping out from behind the shower curtain when I'm trying to use the loo."

In later news: Yes, the Farmer Did Say "Use the Loo." 

Star Wars has it Right
Wheels?  Who needs them?  We have decided that wheels are over-rated and we're looking at new ways to move things about the farm.  Rob is working on a 'hover-craft' of sorts and has already identified the payload - the old flair box shown in the picture below:

A thousand and one uses....

Thus far, efforts have met with mixed (at best) success.  The first effort with a series of shop-vacs pumping air out the bottom resulted in some lift, but there was no room left for anything else because it took too many vacuums to get it to go.  For all of you I borrowed shop vacs from - I'll get back to you (see below).

The second effort seemed to work better.  I put the shop vacs on another wheeled cart and then had the vacuums suspend this box over the cart.  It looked neat until I realized I was still relying on wheels.  In disgust, I cut off the power to the shop vacs.  So.... about those shop vacs I borrowed.

My next effort was an attempt to get electromagnetic suspension to work.  Using maglev suspension methods that are used for some trains as a model, it seemed like I could be in business.  The parts only cost a little bit.  Well, ok, let's just say I owe more than I'll ever earn in my lifetime.  The whole project hit a snag when I realized I needed to lay rails everywhere I wanted to go on the farm to make this thing work.  Since I didn't want it to be limited to only certain areas, I decided to lay track "on the fly."  As the thing moved forward, I picked up the rails that were behind it and moved them to the front.  It's not hard to move them with the loader on the tractor.  Did you spot the problem with this solution?

Yep, the chickens kept getting in the way.

Speaking of chickens, my latest idea is to strap a whole bunch of chickens to the bottom of this thing and get them to fly.  What could possibly go wrong?

Next Year's Project: Rear-Discharge Lawn Mower

We Assume You Have Figured It Out By Now
Why yes... today IS April 1.  And, yes, you might have seen some of these before.  Why?  Well, we went out grabbed some of the April Fool's mini-articles from the past several years and put it into one.  Will there be a new one in 2020?  Well, what is today?  And, when do WE usually post our April Fool's posts?  We shall see!

March 30 Walkabout

We hadn't seen the sun at the farm for several days in a row.  The grey skies were starting to feel heavier than they had a right to be.  Perhaps it had something to do with the added worry that comes with a pandemic and all of the adjustments and the issues that arise because of those adjustments?  Then, March 30th comes along and gives us a glorious day.  The pandemic was still here and frankly, it was still terrifying.  The adjustments and the issues that come with them were still here as well.  But, somehow, the sunshine and blue skies helped us feel that there is a way forward.

 I took a walkabout on the farm with camera in hand during the morning hours.  I am not much of a photographer - more of a point, shoot and hope to get lucky hobbyist - but I do know good lighting when I see it.  So, I tried a few things for fun and I took other shots to just record the state of our farm at this time.
 

 Our seemingly perpetual puddles were calm and there was no wind.  I just happened to look and see that one puddle was showing a reflection of the granary that has our logo painted on the side.  I thought it might be neat to capture it, so I did. 

 The old barn has a melancholy attractiveness to it right now as it continues the process of coming down on its own.  Hopefully, we can begin working to salvage what is left this Fall and early winter. 

 Part of me wishes we could salvage at least part of the building, but the logistics and costs are probably more than we can bear.  We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  In the meantime, we'll see if we can get some interesting pictures out of it.

 It is the time of year when I start looking at the soil more critically to determine when I might be able to do some work in the fields.  This is particularly important this year because I hope to create swales (ditches) and raised areas using the soil removed from the swales so I can deal with the higher moisture levels we have been seeing.  I think the soil might still be a bit saturated - what do you think?

And, the sky was really blue.  No filters on the camera.  Just blue.

I did make sure to appreciate it.  I hope you did to.

2020 Vision - Poultry

With so much change going on at the farm - even before the pandemic pretty much took over most of humanity's attention span (short as it often is) - we thought we would put out a series of shorter posts to talk about what is going on with us and the farm.  I thought we would focus on our poultry plan for 2020 in this post.

Laying Hens
Our current flock is at about 85 ladies right now.  In prior years, we were normally at about 120 birds.  However, we had multiple cycles where we had way too many eggs for the demand that was being shown.  Happily, we had CSA customers and we put eggs into the shares to move them AND to add value to the shares for our customers.  Still, that doesn't help us actually cover costs and make a little money on the enterprise, so we reduced the flock.

And, now, demand has gone up in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.  Well, we can't make them lay what they can't.  But, the plan is to purchase more hen chicks in early Spring and bring flock numbers up slightly (to maybe 100 total for next Spring).  The new birds won't start laying until September, but it is what it is.

Broiler Chickens
We raised four flocks of 150 birds last year and we were still trying to sell them up until this month.  We have a pretty good system for these birds worked out, but there are two tasks that can take a great deal out of us.  One is moving the birds out of the brooder and into the pasture.  The other is the actual processing sequence.  So, we are working to make this more efficient, especially with less help on the farm this year.

Our plan is to run four flocks again, but we will run them in sets of 2 flocks at a time.  We will reduce the flock size to 125 each - which means we will have about 100 fewer available in 2020.   The big thing that this does is it takes the number of "birds out of brooder" and "processing (going to the park) day" events down to two each instead of four each.  Yes, those events will be a bit more intense for us, but we can handle that.   It is the fact that each time we do these things, there are significant tasks that surround them.  With the processing day, our sleep cycle gets altered as well.   So, the difficulty is the number of times those events happen.  If we lessen the number of times we do these things, we might be able to get a someone or two to come out and help with those tasks.

Turkeys
We are still discussing turkeys, so we'll fill you in once we finalize the plan.

Input
If you have input for us on our plans, feel free to let us know.  If you think you and others can increase the demand for certain product enough to change what we do, then talk to us. 

Farm Report

There are so many topics that come to mind for our blog.  In fact, there are currently sixty different posts sitting in our 'unpublished' posts that are in varying stages of construction.  Some of them just feel too heavy to lift at the moment.  Others may never find the right time to become an active part of our blog.  When in doubt, it makes sense to simply write about what is going on now at the farm.

The farmer gets another job

What would this world be if there wasn't change?  Well, the farm is undergoing change, just like it does every year at some level.  This year, part of the change is that Rob will derive some of his income from a job as the Communications Associate in Iowa for the Pesticide Action Network.  This is a part-time 'gig' that will, nonetheless, take a serious chunk of time away from the farm.  But, not to worry, our season plan for the farm is continuing.  We do still plan on growing most of the crops we listed and we will raise chickens and turkeys.  

 

Rob setting up a 'drift-catcher' to measure chemical drift on the farm

One of the important things here is that Rob is simply making his efforts to address pesticide/herbicide misapplication and overuse more formal (and more consistent) by taking this position with PAN.  There is a strong consistency with the Genuine Faux Farm's mission to educate and work with the environment and the efforts that are required to perform this new job.  

 

 2020 Pre-Paid Farm Credit Program

- Do you travel and you found the CSA to be a problem rather than a benefit because of that schedule?  This program provides flexibility to allow you to participate.

- Were you tired of receiving produce you really didn't want?  This program allows you to select what you want.

- Did you want more of one thing and less of another?  Farm credits allow you to order what you want from the things that we have available at any given week.

- Were there times you wanted to pick up in Cedar Falls rather than Waverly or vice versa?  Well, you can do that with the new program too.

- Are there times of the year when you are more interested in buying farm products and others when you are not?  Once again, you order as you go, using the credits to acquire what you want, when you want it.

- Did you like the old CSA program?  Well, good news, we can offer packages at each delivery for a certain number of farm credits.  If that is what you liked, then it will be similar - we'll just be counting credits.

- Just want eggs or chickens?  Well, guess what?  They're part of the program too!

- Would you like lower prices?  Members will receive items at last year's prices (which are remarkably similar to the past eight years).  Those who are not members can still purchase, but we will not guarantee the same price.

Carrotman encourages you to join us!

We will run the system in $50 increments.  In other words, you can purchase a minimum of $50 of farm credit at a time.  We will cap the maximum amount of credit at $200 and you can refill your farm credits at any point.

Like the CSA program, this gives you the advantage of not having to pull out money at each delivery.  Instead, we will have a ledger with tracking for your current credit balance.  This also provides us with some working capital to start the season.  Also, like the CSA program, we will give participants better pricing and opportunities than those who might prefer to 'pay as they go.'

A major difference this year is that farm credits can be used for ANY farm product the Genuine Faux Farm offers.  If you buy farm credits, you can apply them to purchasing meat chickens, vegetables, eggs or any other thing we offer this year.

Want to sign up by mail?  You can do that.  Or, you can use Paypal!  Please contact us at

gff at genuinefauxfarm dot com

and we'll send you information on how to do so.

We are accepting purchases of credits now and throughout the season.

 

Egg Cartons

In the interest of reducing a potential vector of viral spread, we will decline egg cartons for re-use for the time being.  Please save them and bring them to us after the current pandemic issues are in the past.  We will be using new egg cartons for all eggs we provide for the next couple or months for all of our eggs.

 

Balancing Things, Just Like Everyone Else

The two of us are making adjustments and trying to balance how to do things with new limitations to address the current pandemic.  We refuse to be part of the problem and we encourage everyone who reads this blog post to do their best to reduce the spread of this disease.  

 

As a college professor, Tammy has been working extra hours trying to adjust classes to new venues and handle the premature termination of placements/internships for the seniors in the Social Work program.  Students have needed the support of their professors and college staff more than ever as they enter a frustrating and frightening situation.  Teachers everywhere, at all levels, are working hard to protect, nurture and (yes) educate through a difficult time.  I am proud of Tammy's efforts and I appreciate all teachers everywhere.

Gentle Reminders

We have been using the term "gentle reminder" for some time when we send out our second note for egg, veg, poultry delivery days.  We do this because we know days are busy for people and a reminder is often necessary for them to place their order or remember to come pick their orders.  Neither Tammy nor I tend to like to be aggressive in our sales pitches because we both know that sort of sales pitch turns us off.  Hence, the gentle reminder approach.

Well, here we are, in a world facing a pandemic.  If there was ever a time we need gentle reminders, it is now.  While the Genuine Faux Farm probably isn't a primary source for influencing people one way or the other, we do know a few people take something away from the things that we post here or on places such as Facebook.  And, you know what?  Even if no one else reads these things, we will write them anyway as a reminder to ourselves.  Why?  Because how we react will cause ripples with others that know us.  That alone makes it worthwhile.

The two of us have been making adjustments, just as everyone else has been (or should be) doing.  The blog hasn't gotten the love it deserves lately, but this will be rectified in coming weeks.  To start us off, I will include the gentle reminders that have appeared recently on Facebook for your viewing pleasure.

March 13 - Today's gentle reminder to focus on something beautiful - all the while doing your best to do the right thing.

 

March 14 - Today's gentle reminder - the snow falls now, but there remains promise in the soil.

March 15 - Today's gentle reminder from the farm - even if you can't go there physically, you can still find a calm place by picturing it in your mind.

March 16 - Today's less than gentle reminder from the Sandman - "Everyone take care of yourselves and take care of each other! I, the Sandman, have spoken! - Now... go take a nap."

March 17 - Today's gentle reminder from the farm - there will be flowers. Make sure you see them when they grace you with their presence.

March 18 - Today's gentle reminder from the farm - an annoyance for some just may be nectar to others.

March 19 - Today's gentle reminder from the farm - flowers on fruit bearing plants provide more than one kind of food.

March 20 - Gentle reminder of the day from the farm - sometimes a kind word and a skritch or two behind the ears is all you need to find a little bit of peace.

March 21 - Today's gentle reminder from the farm - slow down and find something that soothes you wherever you are. Then, let yourself be soothed.

Farm House Project

It has been a while since we posted an update on the farm house work that is ongoing this Winter.  Since things warmed up this past week, we have had the chance to work with Travis and Rory and get more of the exterior of the house dealt with.  Rather than write too much about it, we'll share some pictures!

A reminder of where we had things on January 7 (click on photo for larger version).

We did get a bit more done in January that we have neglected to show here.  

West side.

North side.

Enter March and the madness continues!  The South wall of the kitchin/dining room in its 'before' state is below.

And the outside of that same wall is next.  Note the old air conditioner at the left, window at left and door in the center.  The door didn't look half bad on the inside, but we failed to take a picture to show the issues on the outside.  That... and it required a firm 'hip check' to open or close it in Winter... a full body block to open during more humid months.

Out with the A/C, window and door!  And... yes... we did take the old Christmas wreath down too.  What this picture does NOT show is the brick facade over the foundation that we also took out (ok, a little of it is visible bottom left).  We suspected there were some foundation issues being hidden there and we were, sadly, correct.  Guess our next project?

 Well....  that sure makes it easy to go in and out of the house, doesn't it?

 Once again, Bree was not on board with the activities for the day....

But, by the end of the day, we could see out the window without actually feeling all the elements of actually BEING outside.  Bree is not yet pleased because there is still too much applecart upset for her tastes.  She'll get over it.  We hope.
 

 Another before picture above.  Note the upper 'porch' and the door on the second floor.  Yes, the storm door was falling off and the inner door was sealed shut for Winter.  Time to fix that.

 How about a nice big window.  Big enough that we can still use it for an escape if necessary.  That's been on the list for a long time!

 Oh look!  Even more progress.  Siding under the porch.  More siding off the rest of the South side... and is there something else new here?  We'll get to that.

 But, first, here is a close up of the new window and door.

Wait!  There is a new door and new windows here too! For those who do not know our house, the front door on the main part of the house has only been visible from the outside.  The prior owners sealed up that door on the inside and put paneling over that.  As of yesterday, we have an operable door to the main part of the house. 

 This, of course, means that Bree has had even more to be upset about because the destruction has reached not one, not two... but three rooms in the house.  Poor kitty.  Hob Nob has also let her displeasure be known, but she decided part of her protest was to not allow her photo to be taken.

Guess we'll need to address some of the interior issues next too....   Ah, old houses!

2020 Practical Farmers of Iowa Presentation

Once again the Practical Farmers of Iowa Annual Conference was a quality event and we were pleased that we were able to get there despite some very questionable weather.  In fact, attendance was actually quite good despite the storm that hit right around the time the event was scheduled to start.  It is amazing to think that there would likely have been more activity if the weather had been nicer!

The link above will take you to the current conference page that includes access to presentation slides and videos of sessions that were recorded.  So, if you missed the conference, you can still pick up some of the ideas and knowledge that were freely shared between farmers of all sorts during this event.  While there, Tammy and I attended sessions on establishing cover crops in row cropping systems, selecting plants for seed saving purposes, bush berry production, mechanical cultivation options and techniques and several others.  The staff do a fine job of identifying topics and presenters so that there is something for everyone.  Livestock, commodity crops, horticulture?  There is something of value to be had for each.

This year, Rob was honored to be able to give a presentation on mulching techniques in a vegetable production system.  Even better, this session was recorded.  Since we have had a few requests for slides from the presentation, we thought we would do one better and provide a direct link to PFI's You-tube channel and the actual presentation.

We think it went pretty well and we hope it will be useful to others.

Promise

There was a smell in the air that accompanied temperatures in the 40s that reminded me of something.  I admit that I often push back against the anticipation of Spring because it represents the beginning of our hectic season.  Yet, I still found that I perked up a bit when I recognized the air quality.

No, it wasn't manure spread in the field, you party pooper (literally and figuratively)!

It was more than a smell.  There is also a feel to days like this.  Some of it is a physical difference.  It was warmer than it had been and there was more humidity in the air.  In short, the air felt a bit like... hope of a promise to be fulfilled.

The apple trees will be covered with blossoms.

Sure.  We all call it Spring and we spend a great deal of time glorifying it as we anticipate its arrival.  But, I am hopeful that this Spring I'll do more to appreciate it when it is actually happening.   This is always a challenge because there is so much we have to do as the weather warms.

But, I actually WANT to smell sweet alyssum in the high tunnels again.

This is a funny thing about humans.  We spend significant amounts of energy anticipating good things and so little of it actually appreciating those very same things when they are happening.

Have you noticed how green conifers are in Spring?

There are hundreds of sayings that highlight the wisdom of appreciating the good that is in the moment we are living.  And yet, we all do a fine job of failing to put that wisdom to action.  It's almost as if we prefer to either anticipate or remember.  Acting, on the other hand, is simply too difficult.

Flowers patiently pose for us to give them recognition

 That is why I am making a promise to myself that this year, I will pick up the camera - whether I actually use it or not - more often than I have in the past couple of years.  You see, when I pick up the camera, I am telling myself it is ok to take the time to observe and appreciate.  Often, when I have the camera, I find myself forgetting to take photos.  But, I do smell the flowers, watch the bees and hear the whisper of the wings of a butterfly that flutters within inches of my head.

Bumblebees are a tremendous source of entertainment.

Strangely enough, I find that taking the time to appreciate something actually strengthens the quality and value of my remembrances.  In turn, my anticipation of a return visit includes more dimensions of the senses.  The purple flower stalks will be moving ever so slightly as the bumblebee forages in the flowers.  The sage plant it visits has a pleasing scent and I can even recollect the texture of the leaves.  The memory is a good one, but it is not perfect.  That is why I have a stronger anticipation for the next opportunity.  I know the actual experience will be better than the memory, so I look forward to it.