Pollinator Support in the Nooks & Crannies

This year's Practical Farmers of Iowa conference was held virtually at the end of January and it went as well as any event that is normally geared to face to face interaction can go when it must be done at a distance.  Both Tammy and I presented as part of a 'Lightning Talks' series of presentations where each individual got about 8 minutes of time to cover a topic.  Tammy presented on turkeys and I covered planting to support pollinators and beneficial organisms on the farm.

PFI will put at least some of the sessions out for public consumption as time goes on, but I suspect the Lightning Talks won't make the cut.  It's just the nature of the beast.  However, I thought that people might enjoy a blog version.  It won't be exactly the same, of course - but perhaps it will have value on its own merits.

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One of the things Tammy and I have committed ourselves to over the years at the Genuine Faux Farm is providing a diverse and healthy habitat for beneficial critters on our farm.  We delight in seeing all kinds of bees and toads and snakes and ladybugs and...  Well, you get the idea.  There are even some creatures that are welcomed with less joy on a vegetable farm, but are nonetheless part of the diversity that makes for a healthy ecology.

Every year, as we design our planting plan for the season, we identify the edges and the corners that could be turned into opportunities.  Here are some of the opportunities we try to take advantage of every season as we are able.

1. Let Some Areas Go

A healthy farm is not necessarily one where everything is completely tidy and there are no wild areas.  In fact, it is important that there be some truly wild areas on every farm, in my opinion.  Places that you just don't get to when you look at 'cleaning things up.'  

Of course, you would be correct if you point out that there might be 'good wild' and 'bad wild' as far as our farms are concerned.  One example of a 'wild' that I am not terribly pleased to keep are the stands of Giant Ragweed that we've battled from "Year One" at our farm.  These plants tend to choke everything else out and they don't really seem to support much diverse wildlife.  So, we've worked to control those areas and encourage other 'wildness' that harbors more diversity.  

On the other hand, we had some strong patches of asters this year and we were happy to let them go so our pollinators would have a reliable food source late in the season.

2. There Are Plenty of Corners Outside

If you plant as many crops as we do at the Genuine Faux Farm, then you have plenty of little nooks and crannies where you can slap some interesting and attractive flowers.  And, we are NOT above being opportunists.  We planted these chleome at the end of a bed in 2019 and found a significant number of volunteers popping up in that area again this season.

We ended up transplanting some, cultivating others out and leaving a few in the same spot this year.  While I do not acknowledge chleome as a highly attractive pollinator plant, they lend color and a diverse landscape for all sorts of critters.  We also tend to go with some of the more traditional, old varieties rather than the highly hybridized versions because they often do seem to support wildlife better.  This decision is based only on our own anecdotal evidence - but it is enough for us to feel comfortable with this decision.

3. And Opportunities Inside!

Most vegetable/hort growers around our size of farm have at least one high tunnel for production.  The tendency is to recite the mantra that the space inside a high tunnel is "Prime Real Estate."  Thou shalt not waste the "P.R.E.!"  As a result, too many farms put a single crop in their buildings to optimize production.  This tends to eliminate diversity and the grower commits the same sin so many of us like to blame row cropping systems for doing.

Perhaps we go quite a bit further than many growers by having anywhere from eight to twelve different crops in each of our buildings.  All that does is illustrate either the level or our commitment or the extent of our insanity.  But, I do think many growers miss an important opportunity when they fail to do anything to diversify in the high tunnel.  For example, we plant sweet alyssum at the base of our trellised heirloom tomatoes.  

The biggest issues?  Well, the sweet alyssum is a strong volunteer plant the next season that will need to be controlled in crops that don't get as tall as tomatoes.  And, I suppose you could argue that they get into the walking path and try to trip you up as you harvest.  I think I can tolerate that.

My biggest concern about attracting pollinators and other wildlife to the high tunnel is that these buildings can be a death trap to some of our worker friends.  Sometimes birds and butterflies don't figure out how to get back OUT of the building and we find their bodies later on.  In the end, I just have to trust that by creating more habitat, we encourage more robust populations - even if we lose some in this fashion.

4. Lawns and Pastures are Opportunities

Our farm has lawn areas closer to the farm house and pasture areas for our poultry.  In both cases, we are happy to let dandelions grow so the pollinators have early season food sources and we encourage clover in all of these areas.

We have even gone so far as to allow a couple of areas in our 'lawn' to become overwhelmed by clover that we cut once the first peak bloom finishes so it will be encouraged to produce a late bloom.  The presence of bumblebees and butterflies confirms for us we are doing a good thing.  I was tempted to say we are doing the 'right thing,' but I wonder if that is too presumptuous of me to say.  Nature is far too complex for me to ever be completely certain what the 'right thing' might be.  

Maybe I should say we are doing a 'better thing' - as in - 'better than other things we could be doing.'

5. Plant Those Borders with Pollinator Support Crops

We are fully aware that many of our crops are highly reliant on the presence of pollinators for production.  Melons, squash and cucumbers are all more likely to do better if you encourage pollinators to be present.  Even crops that do not rely on pollinators, such as broccoli and cauliflower, will benefit from the presence of predators you encourage by providing shelter and diverse habitat.

About the easiest nook or cranny any farm might have would be the edges of plots, rows and fields.  Give up that outer row that never produces all that well anyway and put in some annual flowering plants.  Or, better yet, put in some perennial pollinator habitat there.  The endangered Monarch will thank you for your efforts.

You do not have to go right to the end of each row with your cash crops either.  Put a few flowering plants at the end of row.  It's still in the row so your cultivation practices won't have to change.  Planting a few things on the edges is a simple task that you could even ask a volunteer to do.  

6. Intercrop Rows of Pollinator or Habitat Support

You can always go to the next level and dedicate some of your beds to plants that do not directly provide you with crop production.  Several years ago, we decided to reduce the number of rows that had melons and replaced them with borage, zinnia, calendula, basil and other flowering plants.  We planted 1/3 fewer melon plants and expected a corresponding drop.

Let me be perfectly clear here.  We removed cash crop plants from our plan.  We put in flowering crops that would have no harvest value to us.  We treated these flowering crops as well as we did our cash crops by cultivating and even running a drip line during a dry season.

The result?  We got 1/3 MORE saleable melons that year.  And we had similar results in the years that followed.  

We got a positive result that was directly attributable to this change in this instance.  But, we do NOT expect such a return for every one of our projects at our farm.  Typically, we will call these efforts a success if our production stays close to what it was.

Why?  Well, if we can do things that do not actually hurt our bottom line for production AND we see evidence that it helps provide useful habitat - why wouldn't we? 

And, of course, we are more likely to reach our goal of creating a field that we like to be in.  That is a successful field!

7. Intercrop In Row

Take it up one more notch.  It really isn't all that hard to do - even if you use a waterwheel or other, similar, transplanter. 

We will often use marigolds, calendulas, zinnias, or other flowers to mark a change from one variety of a crop to another.  For example, we have typically grown three to four varieties of broccoli to extend the harvest period and handle variability in seasonal conditions.

We also use flowers as dividers when we do on-farm research.  If you look closely at the picture above, you will see some color here and there in our broccoli and cauliflower rows.  

Sometimes, the selection of a flower to intercrop in row has a very specific purpose.  We have found that nasturtium can reduce the incidence of vine borers in squash.  Now, that's a pretty good incentive to slap a few nasturtiums in between plants in our cucurbit rows! 

8. Leave That Spent Cash Crop

The picture below shows a field where we have some arugula and mustard flowering at the right side of the picture.  As the season got warmer, these plants bolted and wanted to flower and set seed - all part of the natural process.  These crops often flower when flowering plants are not at their peak to be available for our worker friends, so we left the crops to bloom for a time before we took them out.  These plants were BUZZING with activity.

The obvious downside?  Well, we aren't growing anything for farm production there while we let the plants bloom.  But, we have found that perhaps we don't need to make every square inch be productive in that way for every day of the growing season.  And - if we have healthier pollinators at this time of year, they will be there for our crops that need them later in the season.

The next obvious downside would be the volunteer plants we are bound to see in future seasons in addition to some weeds that get more established than they would have otherwise (the flower stalks make it hard to cultivate near those rows).  Frankly, these are not insurmountable problems, so I am willing to deal with them.  Once again, I think the benefit outweighs the cost.

9. Some Cash Crops Work for Habitat Too

We made the choice to grow several 200 foot rows of basil every season because we liked how it worked with our tomato field.  There was no way we would have demand for that much basil.  And, even if we DID get that much demand, we did not have a processing system in place to handle that much of the crop and get it to the proper markets. 

We still grew that much basil because we could target sections of it for the basil we wanted to give to our CSA customers or sell and the rest could be allowed to bloom.  Basil, especially Lemon Basil, really does provide an excellent food source for many of our smaller pollinators.  And, those same critters increase the pollination levels in our tomatoes.  

In short, you need to remember to pay your workers well.  If you do, they will work better for you.  Sometimes, that means giving up a little production space so the workers have a 'break room.' 

10. Grow to Leave Some Food Sources in Winter

With the snow pack this year and the extreme cold we have had recently, I have found myself feeling even more grateful that we planted and then left many row feet of sunflowers standing on our farm.  

The Cardinals and Goldfinches love the seeds and we hope this has helped some of them survive so we can see them again this Spring.  If you feed the birds, that's great.  But, why not feed them AND provide places for them to perch.  Places that might have more shelter from predator birds or the farm cat?  

The woody remains of basil plants provide shelter for the smaller creatures - including mice - that you might like to have predating on weed seeds (and basil seeds).  They help hold soil in place and capture some of that snow that would otherwise keep on blowing until it sits in the ditches.  

Certainly, growers know enough to point out some of the shortcomings of these practices.  The more variety you plant, the harder it is to be efficient in your labor.  But, while it might be harder, it is not impossible.  Every tool - and I consider this approach one such tool - has its learning curve and every tool has its plusses and minuses.  But, it is my belief - once again - that the issues created by planting pollinator and beneficial population support in the nooks and crannies are nothing compared to the potential benefits that might be accrued when more people do this habitually, rather than haphazardly.

Are you a grower?  I challenge you to use those nooks and crannies well.

Do you have a yard or a small garden?  You too have your opportunities!  The scale is different, but you can still take some of the thoughts here and make them your own.  I also challenge you to find those nooks and crannies in your life and fill them with flowers and worthwhile habitat.

I am looking forward to a beautiful growing season for all of us.  Let's make it happen.  Let's create a pollinator paradise.

Different World - Postal History Sunday

Welcome again to Postal History Sunday on the Genuine Faux Farm blog!  

This is the place and time where I remind you that you should pack your troubles into a tight, little ball and then throw them as far away from your person as you are humanly able to do.  And, if you are not much for throwing things, call your young nephew over and tell him there is "no throwing in the house" and hand him that ball.  I suspect there will be plenty of distance, but it might add, rather than detract, from your list of troubles.

This week I thought I would reflect a little bit on how postal history helps me to understand how the alignment of nations and the borders they keep evolve over time.  It is always tempting to try to fit history and events we did not live into our own understanding rather than trying to learn how things were at that point in time. But enough philosophy!  Let's get down to some interesting postal history and maybe... just maybe... learn something new!

The Tuscan Lion Still Roared

One of the things I tell myself to remember as I explore a postal history item is that the people who carried mail and implemented the systems to handle that mail were NOT worried about my desire as a collector to find order amidst the artifacts I collect.  In fact, it is frequently the case that what I uncover is a tangled web that may not have a perfectly easy and simple explanation.

One such case study would be the postal history that surrounds the Italian States prior to their unification as the Kingdom of Italy in the 1860s.  Prior to 1859, Italy was not a single political unit.  The Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia was a semi-autonomous state under the direction of Austria.  Sardinia, in the northwest (and the island) was a kingdom that had a fairly close relationship with France.  Tuscany, Modena and Parma were their own entities, but each were influenced to varying extents by Austria.  The Papal States controlled all of central Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Neapolitan & Sicilian territories) covered the south.  

And - of course - I have over-simplified the whole thing.  Don't quibble with details here.  I'm just trying to point out that Italy was a bit more complex at the time if you want to figure out the postal history.  What we have here is enough of a picture that we can identify the stamp issuing postal services in Italy during this period.

When it comes to postal history in the 1850s and 1860s for this area, it is very important that you learn as much of the basics as you can about the history of the various states and how they interacted with each other.  All of these entities had their own postal systems, they had different currencies and usually had different rules for handling the post.  Sometimes they even had different weight and distance metrics.  If that isn't enough for a little confusion on my part, then I don't know what is!

For points of interest for the cover I show above - note the yellow (Tuscany) and the three shades of pink (Papal States) on the map. 

So - let's get back to that Tuscan Lion, shall we?  

The Marzocco, the heraldic lion of Florence (Firenze), is depicted on the first postage stamps issued by the Tuscan postal services in 1851.  As a point of interest, the most well-known sculpture of the Marzocco was created by Donatello in the 15th century.  

The Tuscans used a monetary system based on the Tuscan Lire that could be divided into 12 crazie or 20 soldi.  The stamp shown above indicated payment of 6 crazie.  If you were wondering, "crazie" is plural and "crazia" would be the singular form of this word - one crazia, two crazie.  The weight of a letter was determined in denari (denaro singular) with a standard domestic letter weighing no more than 6 denari (7.1 grams). 

The letter above was sent from Firenze (Florence), Tuscany to Rome in the Papal States.  The cost of that letter was determined to be 6 crazie because the distance was over 20 Austrian leghe (leagues - with 1 lega equal to 7.5 km).  A single letter was anything weighing up to 17.5 grams (about 15 denari).

So, what's with the Austrian leghe....  and why rate letters for every 15 denari when the internal rates were figured for each 6 denari?

I am glad you asked!

It just so happens that Austria promoted a "postal league" where participating postal services agreed to standardized rates for mail.  Austria, Lombardy and Venetia, Parma, Modena, Tuscany and the Papal States had all entered the agreement.  In order to make it work, rough equivalents in weights and currencies had to be determined.  You can certainly see how Austria felt this could be to their benefit as they were looking to solidify their influence in the region!  Easier communication lines might promote political cooperation.

When Baden was a Grand Duchy and Bavaria a Kingdom

Germany was also undergoing a transformation in the 1850s and 1860s that led to the eventual unification of the various states under the leadership of Prussia.  The folded letter shown below was mailed in 1853 from Mannheim to Sinsheim - both of which were inside the borders of the German state of Baden.  Baden had its own postal service and issued its own postage stamps, just as Tuscany issued its Tuscan lion stamps and managed their own postal services.

The monetary units in Baden at the time were based on the gulden where 1 gulden = 60 kruezer.  The units of weight measure were the pound and the loth where 1 pound = 30 loth and a single loth was roughly equivalent to ½ ounce.  The meilen, or postal mile, was similar to the Austrian leghe (7.5 km = 1 postal mile).

It just so happens that many of the German states and Austria had come to an agreement to implement a "postal league" in the early 1850s.  This agreement is known as the German-Austrian Postal Union (GAPU) to English-speaking philatelists or Deutsch-Österreichische Postverein (DOPV) to those who speak German.  In fact, this would be the model for the agreement Austria would have with the Italian states mentioned for the first letter in this blog post.  

Postage for a letter was calculated by a combination of the weight of the letter and the distance the letter was required to travel to get to the destination.  This specific letter cost 3 kruezer for an item weighing no more than 1 loth and traveling no more than 10 meilen.

The map above gives you some ideas as to all of the political boundaries and some of their movement over time during this period for the German states.  You will notice that Baden is in purple towards the lower left of the map (just north of Switzerland).  By the time we get to 1875, Germany will be unified, including Alsace/Lorraine (French prior to 1870 and French in the present day).  

If you look more carefully, you might notice that Baden, Wurrtemberg, southern Hesse and Bavaria were not part of the North German Confederation established after the Seven Weeks War in 1866.  These southern German states maintained autonomy over their postal services longer than most.  Baden ceased using their own stamps by the beginning of 1872, when they began using the postal service maintained by the newly minted German Reich.  Bavaria, on the other hand, continued to issue its own postage stamps until 1918 as an autonomous kingdom within the German empire.

Shown above is a folded business letter with 3 kruezer paid by a Bavarian postage stamp in 1864.  The rate is the same as the letter in Baden.  The German-Austrian Postal Union was still in force and this letter must have weighed no more than 1 loth nor did it travel more than 10 meilen in the postal services.

But, there is something strange going on here!  The black marking at the left reads Aschaffenburg - which was in Bavaria.  The blue marking at lower left is a business hand stamp for C. Marzell in Frankfurt - which was NOT in Bavaria.  Frankfurt was in Hessian territory and would not have used Bavarian postage.  In fact, Frankfurt was more than 10 meilen from the destination, so this postage would not have been enough in any case.

Sometimes it pays to have a relative with a business or a branch of the business in another city.  Franz Marzell was in Aschaffenburg, according to the marking on the back.  

One of a two things happened (other possibilities exist but are unlikely).  

1. Someone who worked with the Marzells just carried the letter from one office to the other so it could be mailed from the Aschaffenburg office.
2. A packet of letters/business correspondence was mailed from Frankfurt to Aschaffenburg.  Franz Marzell then took charge of posting each item in the Bavarian post.

And Ceylon Coffee was a Thing

The contents of this letter mailed in Bavaria included an invoice for Ceylon coffee (‘caffee’) and reflects the popularity of coffee from that region in the mid-1860's.  In 1866 alone, Ceylon exported over 897 million pounds.*  In fact, the development of coffee plantations in Ceylon occurred in a way that could be likened to a gold rush, with primarily English speculators clear cutting the natural forests in favor of a monocrop system.  

*according to Ceylon: A General Description of the Island, etc by H.J. Suckling

 Above is an illustrated plate from an unidentified magazine circa-1880.  Offered as an ebay lot and not further attributed.

The soil in much of Ceylon was such that farmers would need to supplement the soil to maintain production, but few speculators were aware of this and lost a great deal of money in the 1840s.  After a peak of 1.6 billion pounds of export in 1868, production declined rapidly with the appearance of Coffee Leaf Rust over the next several years.  The spread of this fungus can be largely attributed to poor agricultural practices and the ridiculous dedication to a single crop with no regard for environmental balance.

And you wonder how I can link postal history to our farming blog?  It was a bit of a long road to get there, but I did it!

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And there you have it!  A blog that starts in Florence, Italy, and winds up in Ceylon and a brief discussion about Coffee Leaf Rust (among other things).  

If I were to summarize for you the take-away form this blog post it would be that postal history often has a direct link to the historical context in which it resides.  If you take some time to learn the basic history and look at a few maps from that period, you can more easily understand how a letter traveled and gain some insight as to why the post offices worked as they did.

But even if you do not learn the basic history so you can understand the postal history of an old letter, you may find yourself drawn into the history anyway.  After all, these letters have stories to tell, you just have to take the time to read them.

Have a great remainder of the weekend and a great week to come!

Grima

Fingernails on a chalkboard.  The whine of a dentist's drill and the feeling you get as it grinds at your teeth.  The scraping sound that makes you grit those same teeth when someone drags a knife across their plate - and then making you grimace because you've just gone to see the dentist!

There are times when I FEEL like that.  In fact, this is probably a good description of my state of being for a good chunk of the last couple of days.  It's more than me not feeling quite in sync with the world, nor is it exactly feeling down - or angry - or even frustrated.  It's just... well....  fingernails & chalkboard.   Ugh!

And, apparently, it is enough of a well-known concept that there is a word that describes the combination of sound and feeling that comes with these ... um... events.  But, that word is not an English word, though it could be adopted from the Spanish speaking world.  That word is "grima" according to this BBC article, which also features some other feelings that you and I might be familiar with that are described by words in other languages.

Of course, the first thing I thought about (because this is just the way I am) was Grima Wormtongue from the Lord of the Rings.  A still shot from the 1978 animated adaptation showing their version of this character is below (and was taken from the link shown earlier in this paragraph).

Wormtongue is portrayed as a lecherous individual who would poison the minds of those around him with the intent that this would allow him to achieve his desires - in this case, controlling a kingdom and the woman he desired.

Fingernails.  Chalkboard.

Yes, we could have more discussion on this topic because it is always a bit more complicated than a few words make it.  But, let's do that at some point in time when I'm feeling a bit less like...   well...

Grima and the dentist's drill. 

Maybe this will help.  Kittens.  Kittens will help.  

Bree apparently sensed I needed a little consoling and snuggled up with me as we watched a Poirot episode this evening.  While she is no longer the little kitten you see in this picture, she does a pretty good job of turning on the cute when she wants to.

And maybe... flowers.  Flowers will help.

There is actually still one crazy Gerbera flower in bloom in my office and there is a beautiful red amaryllis in the kitchen.  We even brought in a couple of petunias and dianthus in pots that have flowers.  I have no regrets regarding this small indulgence.

And... sunsets!  Sunsets are a good thing.  I bet they help too.

You know.  There is one being that used to share his wisdom regularly with me that would know what to say when I have this... grima... feeling.  

If I share his picture - perhaps - just maybe - I'll remember some of his wise words.

"You will give me a skritch.  You will listen to my purrs.  And you will take a nap.  I, the Sandman, have spoken!"

Yeah.  That cat had it together.  

Still some grima, but the whispers in my ears have less power now.  And for some reason, I feel like getting some sleep.

Be well everyone!

Genuinely Fun Facts

Every once in a while, Tammy and I see something and say, "Hm, that might be interesting for other people to see on the blog."  Sadly, most of the time, we say this when neither of us is prepared to write it down.  As a result, there are a whole bunch of great ideas that fall out of our brains and rattle around on the floor.  So, if you see some of our ideas sitting on the edge of street somewhere, please direct them to us.

Genuine Faux Farm By the Numbers
Many of you already know that Rob likes his numbers.  Sometimes, the numbers actually interest other people as well, so we thought we would share a few that might be enjoyable.

Mr Aubergine wants to know...

190,000 - the approximate number of eggs our laying hens have produced from 2012 to 2020.  No, it's not the same group of laying hens every year.  

We have a great post about the ladies that answers a number of questions about how we raise the birds and we point you to the Poultry Slam post from 2015 as a starting point.

41,500- the approximate number of cucumbers harvested on our farm since 2006.  Yep, that's about 3000 a year.  All that time picking cucumbers and wondering when the cucumber frog is going to startle the farmer...
 

164 and 11.1 - the number of songs a typical Genuine Faux Farm music play list contains and the number of hours that playlist would normally take to play in its entirety.  Our most recent playlist is actually only 95 songs and 6.4 hours.  We attribute that to the PAN job and all of the Zoom meetings Rob has been attending over the past several months.  It turns out, turning up music by the Choir or King's X or Apocalyptica only makes these meetings more difficult for most people.  Me?  I think we'd get more done - but that's probably my introverted nature speaking!

75 - the number turklets we intend to order for our farm in 2021.  Tammy actually presented on the topic of raising turkeys for the 2021 Practical Farmers of Iowa annual conference.  Many people think turkeys are very difficult to raise and the reality is that turkeys are a much higher investment per bird, so you feel the loss of one far more keenly than you might a broiler chicken or a laying hen.  Still, we've gotten pretty good at it over the years and we enjoy the birds (most of the time).  Good enough reason to keep at it.

Of course, we should also remember the collective amnesia farmers have this time of year with respect to some of the hard work and the issues they must deal with during the growing season.

Genuine Faux Farm, A History

Once upon a time, there WERE foxes on the Genuine Faux Farm

Take a look at the larger crack in that foundation.

In 2007/2008, after the old hog building came down, a vixen decided we had the perfect place to raise a few kits.  We were able to get a few pictures and were also able to contact photographer, Kip Ladage.  Kip came out and got some great pictures (one of which is signed and hanging on our kitchen wall).  Once he had captured his photos, we went about our normal business of farming.  This was too much for Mama and she moved the kits away soon after. 

Frankly, if they would have signed a contract stating they would not kill all of our chickens, we'd have been happy to have them stay.  But, having us as their neighbors was just a bit too close for comfort from their perspective.

I'm not sure how we should feel about that.

 That old barn was good for something

Those who have been to the farm over the last ten or so years, but not prior, have not seen the old barn with a roof and siding.  When the barn was still largely intact it was the perfect nesting space for barn swallows.  There were always two major hatchings of chicks and once they fledged we'd get to see the grand line-up on the electric lines.  Sadly, with fewer nesting spots and other issues having to do with the decline of our wild birds, we don't get to see this any more.

Both of us feel that the decline in swallows corresponded with the increase in Buffalo Gnats on our farm as well.  It's almost enough to make us build a barn just for swallows.  The problem is - we know it is not just the absence of the barn.  The number of swallows nesting in our granary and the Poultry Pavilion are also down from prior years -and some of the old barn still stands, but does not seem to support much more than one nest.

The acrobatics of all of these young birds was something to see those first several years at the farm.

The year the cucumbers would not grow

Just... pitiful

The farm is full of lessons of humility.  One of our earliest such lessons came in 2008 when we had a year where one of the 'easiest' crops to grow simply wouldn't.  The following year was a bit better, but 2010 was the year of the cucumber, when we harvested well over 7000 fruit.  

There are still a few people who read our blog that will remember the year of the cucumber in their CSA shares.... I hope they have forgiven us.

You Did What When?!?

We thought we could end this post by high lighting a couple of other posts that tell you some stories about each of us.  Take each link and enjoy! 

Young horticulturalist?
Would you like your plants to get big and healthy this year?  Diligently prune off the flowers just as Tammy did in her family's garden.  Just remember that you won't get any fruit if you take off ALL the flowers.  But, then again, if that's the goal you want....

Deliveries by Rob started earlier than you think.
Officially, the Genuine Faux Farm started operations in 2005.  But, the very first deliveries were made years earlier - even before Rob and Tammy met.  The produce came from the 'garden' Grandpa Faux maintained and he was happy to have a high school baseball player available to run the gauntlet that were essentially 'drive-by vegetablings.'

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This post is loosely based on a fun post published on February 23, 2018.  As I was doing a quick look for "throwback" candidates, I felt compelled to do some updating and modifications to this one.  Yes, some of it is similar to the original, but there is sufficient new material to keep it fresh.  

Have a good day everyone!

Sustainability by Planning on Doing

There are times when you embark on a project and you make headway - and then something happens and all progress stops.  Once example of such a situation is the series of three blog posts I undertook to write in May 2019.  

I succeeded in publishing Sustainability By NOT Doing and the follow-up Sustainability by Doing - but I failed to get the Sustainability by Planning on Doing post out there!  So, here we are in February, 2021 and I looked at the stub for this post and realized just how forlorn it looked.  Sitting there all by itself!  Let's see if we can make it feel better by giving it a little love!

The Sustainability Triangle

I like the analogy of the three-legged stool to talk about sustainable farming, but some people prefer the "Sustainability Triangle." 

From our perspective, a sustainable farming operation needs to take care of all three points (or sides if you prefer) of the triangle.  There must be care for the environment, for the financial viability of the farm, and for the farm's place in the community of people that interact with it (which includes our own well-being as the caretakers of this farm).  

It is not too terribly hard to see how too much emphasis on any one of these aspects can short-change the others.  For example, if profit is my primary motivation, I will likely exchange some of my well-being in the community or my own personal well-being for more profit.  Or perhaps, I will take short-cuts that deplete the soil and reduce the pollinator population to ensure my profit making venture.  On the other hand, if I make every farming decision based only on environmental or social concerns, I may find that I am rapidly out of business - which means I can no longer make progress on the other two parts because I can no longer operate the farm!

Things We Don't Do Review

In the first post of our series, we highlighted some of the things we have chosen specifically NOT to do at the Genuine Faux Farm and the logic that drove us to those decisions.  

The three things we highlighted in that post were:

1. No plastic mulch
2. No pesticides
3. We do not pre-pack CSA shares

We won't revisit the logic for each here as you can go to the original post to see that.  But, I will tell you that we continue to stand by our decisions to avoid using plastic mulch and to eschew (ah! what a fun word!) pesticides.  On the other hand, we no longer do CSA shares - so that one is now a moot point.  But, I am pretty sure if we did CSA shares, we would still adhere to that as it was a sound decision for our farm.

Review of Some Things We Do

The second post of the series focused on things we do at the Genuine Faux Farm and the logic behind those decisions.  Again, you can go to the post for the background and logic behind those decisions.

1. Re-using and re-purposing what we can
2. Using renewable and natural resources when possible
3. Balancing farm use of our land with natural spaces
4. Local sales and connections
5. Charging what food is worth
6. Always seeking to improve

The first of this set is the one with the most tension because there are many times when re-use and re-purposing takes a great deal of time and effort.  And, as we just mentioned in yesterday's installment - time is our most valuable resource.   We do our best to re-use and re-purpose, but there are times when that is the wrong answer. 

The others also require fine distinctions - which is unlike our first list where we just say we are not doing something... period.  For example, nature would probably be happiest if we did our best to put it back into a natural state and left it to itself, but then there would be no farm.  So we work to find that proper ratio of wild and tamed areas at the Genuine Faux Farm.

And then there are...

The Things We Planned To Do - and Did!

 Solar Panels

The interesting thing about this that some of the things we were planning on writing about in 2019 have a different status now.  For example, we actually managed to get the solar project completed on our farm that we had been dreaming about even before the Genuine Faux Farm was a real thing.  

Putting up the solar panels is, in our mind, a net "win" for the environment.  We are certainly aware that solar panels require natural resources to build, etc.  But, overall, our research seemed to indicate this was going to be a good thing.  From a financial standpoint for our farm, it will likely be a net loss in the short term with it slowly balancing out over time.  So, we had to consider the cost on the economic corner of the triangle and whether it could justify the gain on the environmental corner.  But, we also considered that there is also a gain on the "social" corner as well, which helped to sway our decision.

After over one year of production, the solar panels are more than covering the farm's electrical use and we continue to find ways to convert other power uses to the electric power this system generates.

Honey Bees

We were also going to talk about a foray into bee keeping.  The plan was to maintain a hive in 2019 and then expand to two in 2020.  Believe it or not, we actually succeeded in that project as well.  Now - we have yet to see if our bees survived this Winter.  But, we intend to continue with this project in 2021.

The key components for this decision were primarily economic and environmental.  We were not intending to gather and sell honey, so there was not going to be a direct income to offset the expense the honeybees were going to incur for our farm.  We were looking at some economic offset by hoping the pollinator services would help offset the decline of natural populations of pollinators in our area.  

We were concerned the introduction of non-native bees to our landscape might hurt those native populations further.  So, we did a fair amount of reading on how honey bees may impact the workers we already had on the farm.  Once we were fairly certain that we had plenty of habitat for all interested pollinator workers, we went ahead with the project.

It turns out that there was a social aspect because it drew even more positive attention to the farm and set some examples we think were good ones for those we know sometimes look at what we do here.  But, even more important is the social aspect that covers the health and well-being of the farmers themselves.  We enjoyed having the bees around and they reinvigorated our interest and enjoyment of the farm itself.  And, as it turns out, we did gather some honey for ourselves simply as a part of hive maintenance.  I know we'll be sad when we consume the last jar in the next few weeks.  But, wow!  It has been so good!

Other Projects

We also planned on reintroducing the use of grass mulch and increasing the use of cover crops on the farm.  The grass mulch idea also came to fruition in 2019 with good success in a wet year and decent success last year as well.  We did better with cover crops last year, but that one is an ongoing battle because every season is just different enough that we have to keep adjusting.  Case in point, our late attempt at lentils showed a good deal of promise in 2020, so we expect to do more with them in 2021.

What's Next?

It's great to be able to look at some of our past decisions and be able to still say that we think we're doing a decent job of supporting our farm's Sustainability Triangle.  This is supposed to be a positive post, so I won't go into things that I am not as happy about.  But, that's the whole point.  The triangle requires continuous maintenance to keep it balanced.  

During this off-season Tammy and I have been working very hard to plan for things that deal with an imbalance in the "Social" corner of the triangle.  It should be no surprise that some of the social things actually stem from doing an even better job with environmental balances on the farm - while still maintaining a healthy financial outlook (both for our farm individually and how our farm balances with the larger economy).  The biggest issue continues to be how we maintain our own personal mental and physical health so we can continue to make the Genuine Faux Farm go.

 Perhaps our plans for 2021 will cause us to write a 4th installment to this series?  Odds are pretty good that will happen.  But, like this post, you just never know when!

Valuable Resource

The cold months are when farmers are more likely to convene at conferences.  Perhaps not in person this year, but we convene nonetheless.  For me, that means participation in the Cooperators gathering for Practical Farmers of Iowa in December, the PFI Conference in January, the Iowa Farmers Union in December and sometimes MOSES in February. 

We gather to listen to some people who say they know some things and to others who do know some things.  We listen and we sometimes speak.  And often, our topic rotates around how we can be the best stewards of the resources we have at our disposal.  Our soil.  Our water.  Our equipment.  Our money.  And our time.

Perhaps the last item is at the crux of many of the discussions for the diversified vegetable growers on smaller farms where we trade our time and labor so readily for a few sales here and a few sales there.  We hope, in the end, that we can make a good enough trade each year that we can continue to exchange our time for more of the same the next season.

We discuss ways we can better reach out to our customers - with the knowledge that any efforts to provide that outreach will cost us the price of our own time.  We listen to ideas about how we can perform our field tasks more efficiently so we can make the most of our precious labor hours - the unit of time that often drives our decisions the most.  And we attend presentations on ways we can be good stewards for our soil, raise healthy and tasty foods, and apply the highest of ideals - as long as we are willing to trade the time it often takes to implement the techniques and systems that help us to do those things.

What we sometimes forget is that time is the currency that we must also pay for our leisure and for our health.  Our learning often comes from experience, which is also a product of time and effort.  If we measure ourselves by only one thing - the output of our farms - then we will find ourselves spending all of our most valuable resource on that one thing.  Is that ok?

Perhaps it is for some people.  After all, there are those who can find a whole and fulfilling life working hard from day to day on a diversified, food-producing farm.  There are good things to be experienced and there is satisfaction in the work.  There is learning galore and there is much to enjoy.  There are valuable connections to people and organizations to be made when you farm this way.  And there is an amazing diversity of tasks and skills that are exercised at this job.

The problem is - there is so much of everything that one has to do on farms not unlike ours.  In fact, there is often so much of everything that we run the risk of spending all of our time on the doing part and not enough on the living part.  It is a balancing act that many who try this life are very familiar with.  And it can be so easy to get overwhelmed by the doing that we forget to do the living - even though the living on a healthy, diversified farm with the connection to nature and the good world around us can be truly rewarding and worthwhile.

This is why we take pictures of crocus when they are in bloom.

And this is why we gather in the cold months.

To discuss the ways we can be stewards of our most valuable resource and remind ourselves that stewardship requires care and balance.

Mind Numbing

We all tend to wear down under extreme conditions.  As a farmer, I tend to reflect on extreme weather conditions.  Long periods of heat, consistent high winds, flooding, drought, extremely long periods of cloud cover - all of these can eventually make you feel numb.

I distinctly remember a couple of times when Tammy and I just stood in the kitchen while the weather radio ran down the list of flood reports and the warnings for flash flooding and the warnings for excessive rain AND the warnings for severe thunderstorms.  We couldn't move and we couldn't do anything.  We were just numb because we had been standing in that same spot, day after day, hearing the same kind of reports and warnings.  And... the forecast kept saying the same thing.  Rain and flooding.  More rain and more flooding.

After a while, you just go about your business as best you can.  You don't even realize that you're not being very efficient in your work.  You are no longer certain how long this particular trend has gone on.  You just trudge forward as best you can.  

It isn't until things start to change that you realize exactly how numb you were, how lost you were and how little progress you made.

The current cold snap has a numbing effect on us as well.  Yes - if you're out in it too long, there can be some numbness - so cover up that skin, ok?  But, I am talking about how Tammy and I often put "progress on hold" during these cold stretches so we can concentrate on just dealing with the situation.

As we've mentioned before, we need to go out and deal with the poultry frequently each day.  If you want eggs, you have to collect often or you end up with broken/frozen eggs.  The chickens need unfrozen water, so you need to deal with that as well.

Our most recent cold weather episode found us dealing with waterers freezing because the base heaters were not keeping up with the cold.  

First, you need to understand that we do not have a water line that goes out to their building in the winter months, so we must haul water from the house to the building.  That's fine.  We can handle that.  But, now, if waterers are freezing, we have to start switching out the waterers as well as bring water from the house.  We are certainly not against exercise, but we're also not looking for extra time in -35 F wind chills.

Of course, when you do go outside, you are bundled up.  You just don't have the same range of vision you do most of the year.  Your eyes tear up (and freeze) in the cold, which makes it even harder to see.  So, it is not so easy to figure things out when something isn't quite right.  Add to that the fact that you really want to get back INSIDE...

and remember, our minds are numb.

To make a long story less long - electric cords become much less flexible in this kind of cold.  Water that drips out of waterers freeze fairly quickly on other surfaces too.  Poultry step on most anything they can step on - including frozen, inflexible electric cords.

Yeah.  Funny thing about electric cords that get pulled out of the insulation part way - they can tend short out, spark, and threaten to set things on fire.

No - that is not how we want to keep our water unfrozen.  And, no, I don't think the birds would have liked that kind of heat for very long.

Of course, all is well.  We did jolt our minds into action enough to investigate the heater problem.  After all, we knew they might have problems keeping up - but we also knew this one was failing to do its job in such a way that it was indicating another problem existed.

The backup heater is working now.  And the one that had a short in the cord?  Well, the base is still frozen to the ground in the hen room, but the cord is off of it so we will never be tempted to plug it in again.  Fair enough.

So, I was tempted to start a countdown until we saw a temperature around freezing again based on the forecast.  But, am finding I can't count that high.  Not only that, I can barely remember which day it is.  All I know is that my eyeballs shiver and the hairs on my head try to grow back into my skull to get warm each time I go outside.  That explains everything well enough.  I grew my hair out to make room for my brain and now my hair is trying to take up my brain space.

No wonder I'm numb.

Foolish Desire - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to the February 14th edition of Postal History Sunday on the Genuine Faux Farm blog!

This is the place where I take a few moments to share some of the aspects of the postal history hobby that keep me interested and encourage me to keep exploring.  I put these blog posts out here each Sunday and invite you to join me in the time and location travels that are created when we look at some of these items.  Take a few moments and see what we have to offer this week and stuff those worries into your filing cabinet (should you still have one) under "N" for "Not Now Please."  Let's see what new things we can learn this time around!

This week I wanted to feature this small letter that was mailed from New Haven, Connecticut on December 15, 1863 to London England (arriving Dec 26).  The letter was written by Harriet Silliman Shepard DeForest to her cousin Erastus Lyman DeForest - and most of the letter came along with the envelope when I acquired it several years ago.

Postal History Stuff

This letter is similar to several other items we have featured in our Postal History Sundays in that it shows a 24 cent stamp paying the 24 cent rate for the first 1/2 ounce in weight for a letter going form the United States to the United Kingdom.  The letter was mailed in New Haven, where it then traveled to New York City.  The foreign mail office there marked the letter for a December 16th departure on the Cunard Line's Scotia, which was reported to arrive at Queenstown (Ireland) on December 24.  It was taken out of the mailbag in London on December 26.

The letter was sent to Baring Brothers & Company, a financial institution that provided travelers with lines of credit and mail holding (or forwarding) services.  There are no markings on this envelope that seem to imply that Baring Brothers sent this to Mr. Erastus DeForest, so it is likely that it sat in their offices until he picked it up along with the rest of his mail from whichever side-trip he was on.  The alternative is that several letters were bundled together and forwarded to his current location.

The other interesting postal history aspect is the artistic design used for the device that canceled the stamp.

Postal administrations used canceling devices to recognize the stamps that paid for the service by marking or defacing them.  The primary motive was to avoid the loss of revenue that would come from people trying to re-use postage stamps without buying new ones.  Some postmasters took the time to carve cork handstamps into various designs that they could use to cancel the stamps and the New Haven postmaster was evidently one such person.

As you might guess, these carved handstamps wore down quickly, so the period of use for a particular design is often quite short.  There are many who appreciate these cancels and enjoy researching their background.

Social History Stuff

This particular item has some short-comings.  The envelope has fallen into two pieces (a front and a back) and the letter itself is incomplete, with a closing page apparently missing.  If I wanted an item that showed off the postal history aspects (other than the neat star cancel), I would probably select something in better condition.  But, that's not the biggest reason why this particular letter from 1863 is interesting to me.

In this case - it is primarily about the letter - and the people referenced in the letter.  I'll start by sharing my best effort at transcribing the contents. 

 A cousin (Harriet Silliman Shephard De Forest writes to Erastus Lyman DeForest while he travels in Europe:

New Haven Dec 11th
Dear Erastus,
I have so much I will tell you.  I shall write very closely & as small a hand as I am capable of.  You know how I can fill up a letter with my sprawly writing & tell precious little news.  Well, mon ami, as things have turned out I wish I had remained in Paris. That is if you are going to be there this Winter. New Haven is of course very dull & now you and Charlie are away I am more solitary than ever -

As to my husband obtaining a furlough it is all nonsense to talk of the thing.  Gen Banks has positively forbidden the application even for leave of absence unless in the case of disability leave.  Mr. De Forest continues perfectly well & has no excuse except the foolish desire.  I see his wife & soldiers are supposed to have no feelings or just suggest the government ignores such weak mindedness - but seriously, it is  ???, the prospect of not seeing my lord & master until his time is up next October. 

Sometimes I am ?? & mentally ?? ?? ?? & ?? put up with it.  But what is the use?  I am helpless these ?? grass we know are to be pitied and the war drags on at snail's pace.  I do not think it nears the end in spite of the predictions of those who pretend to be wise.  Mr. Curtis (I should say Curtis, he is not (?) distinguished to have a handle to his name) called last evening after his lecture ? Lee ? and we talked war, abolition & politics for ? hours.  For comfort he promises me the war nice and over before eighteen months!  I presume he knows about as much as you and I do about the prospects of peace.  We have had another  ? to Richmond and are safely back again.  Charleston we begin to believe we do not want - ??? - I am getting fearful unpatriotic & impatient .  Maybe when Mr. De Forest gets home I shall be for a vigorous prosecution of the war.

Here I am in ?? pretty much as of old.  I can hardly realize I have been over the waters & with you in Paris so recently.  I wish you were here. I mean for my own sake, for your good & pleasure.  I wish it as it is?  My porter? is very pleasant (???) I have Julie ? piano and plenty of music in the evenings.  ???  Mary was getting too great an influence over the boy (*presumably her son Louis*) ...??sentence???

Mrs. Beers  says so and of course it must be so.  By the way, aprapos of Mrs Beers  ... at my door ?? Mrs B " Oh,  Mrs. De Forest - have you heard the news?  Your cousin Erastus went to a bull fight in Spain on Sunday." 

"Who says so, I asked without showing any signs of surprise." 

"Mr Thomeson wrote to some one here in town that he & Erastus had just returned form a bull fight on Sunday.  Do you believe it Mrs De Forest?" 

"You say it is so, why do you ask me anything about it?"

"Oh I suppose you know more than I do about it.  Erastus has written and told you all about it!" 

She was mistaken this time.  Mrs B left, disappointed as she shut the door remarking "You d'not seem to be surprised, I suppose you d'not think it is very dreadful"  No reply from me.  So you see that your sins have gone before you to ??? No doubt you are tried & condemned by Mrs. B & some of her ?? friends & put down as a hopeless sinner, past praying for.  But d'not let Mr Thomason write such items home about you, it is best to keep in with the witches (?).

? of my old friends, Mr. Stine (?) the artist (you may remember him) has been here for the past six weeks.  He has a studio on this floor, he has been painting Geo Baldwin, J?? Ingersoll & seven or eight other portraits he ??? return to New York this coming week.  I hope his work will hold out longer.  Julia & I will miss him very much.  He is very agreeable company. 

Be sure you write and tell me all about your trip to Spain.  I envy you the prospect of being in Italy this Winter.  I shall depend on long and many letters.  D'not disappoint me.  If you knew how glad I always am to hear from you, you would write often. 

Your aunt was here looking at ?? the other day.  She is still undecided what to do.  I meet (?) her in the eatry (?) with Mrs. B and was introduced.  She told me she received a letter from you on Thanksgiving day.  I was glad to hear of you.  I am in the middle of a dress-making campaign.  I have another love of an alpaca (black) ??  I thought I must tell you as you are such an admirer of alpaca.  If is ever prettier than the ? I got in Paris. 

I am a perpetual wonder to myself.  I am in such splendid health ?? I am shamed to ? 145 pounds.  I have not had a sick day.  I can't remember when!  I walk for hours and sometimes more every day.  This is when it is pleasant.  Dr ? came to make a friendly visit last week.  "I never saw you looking so well, what does it mean?  You must have friends  ??? in Paris of ???"  So you see, I have no........

And then, I find I have no more of the letter!  Well, sometimes you just have to appreciate what you have.

And now we'll take a look at the people who are referenced, one way or another, in this letter.  Well, at least the people I could identify!

Who was Erastus?

Cousin Erastus sure does sound like he is an interesting fellow, doesn't he?  Trotting off to Spain to see bull-fighting - much to the chagrin of Mrs. Beers and those in society who saw this as a scandalous activity!  

Erastus Lyman De Forest was, it turns out, quite the scholar in mathematics, he completed the Bachelor's degree in engineering at Yale by the age of 20 and completed an advanced degree by the time he was 22. 

After completing the advanced degree, Erastus was scheduled to travel with his aunt, but disappeared, leaving his luggage behind.  The family searched for some time, even putting notices in the New York Times looking for him.  Eventually, they assumed he had been murdered.

After a couple of years, it was discovered that he had gone to California and Australia and was teaching there.  He returned in 1861, only to travel again for a few years in Europe (1863-1865).  If you want more of a biography, this link provides an excellent overview.  The photo is from that site and is also found on wiki commons.

Upon his return, he dedicated his study to mathematics and is credited with making improvements to the mortality tables used by the Knickerbocker Life Insurance Company owned by an uncle.  His work was not initially recognized by mathematical scholars, but have since been given more attention.  He is even given credit for the initial discovery of the chi-square distribution (for those who know some statistics).  Four of his papers (published from 1866 to 1871) are listed in this Catalog of Scientific Papers compiled by the Royal Society of London 1877 (vol VII). 

One wonders if some of those mortality tables referenced the likelihood of a bull-fighter living past of the age of 25?

Who were Mrs. De Forest and the referenced Mr. De Forest?

This is where the detective work must begin.  It was not hard to figure out Erastus, because his name is on the envelope and he happens to be well enough known for me to find information about him.  But, there are many, MANY noteworthy De Forests in Connecticut and New York and actually MORE than one who was an officer under the referenced General Banks.  

The keys for locating the proper Mr. De Forest were to recognize that he had to be an officer under General Banks in December of 1863 and that it is likely he had strong ties to New Haven, Connecticut.  After a number of dead ends, I have concluded that our Mr. De Forest from the letter is none other than John William De Forest, a realistic fiction writer, who was a captain in the Union army, forming Company I from New Haven, the 12th Connecticut Volunteers.  

Another clue in the letter that lines up is the mention of Charleston (South Carolina), where the DeForests lived prior to the barrage on Fort Sumter.  They were on the last boat to leave Charleston, returning to New Haven.

At the time of this letter, John William De Forest had just been assigned to be the inspector general of the first division, 19th Corps.  He was finally mustered out of service and could return home on Dec 2, 1864, when his health could not longer allow him to continue his work in the Louisiana campaign.

Mrs. De Forest (nee Harriet Silliman Shepard) was apparently known to be quite intelligent and an 'exceptional classical scholar' according to this Master's thesis by Elizabeth Maxwell Bright focused on John William's writing.  She was the daughter of Charles Upham Shepard who was a professor of chemistry and somewhat prolific author of papers on mineralogy.  He taught at the medical school in Charleston during the colder months and returned to New Haven in the Spring.  This further confirms the connections to New Haven and makes it fairly certain I have found the correct people!

It is a bit of a shame that Harriet, and most women of her time, are not featured prominently in histories as she seems like she could have been a most interesting person.  At least, with this letter, she has a voice - and we have the opportunity to hear it.

Apparently, many of the De Forest family papers are held in the archives at Yale and could be accessed for further research if someone desired to dig through them.

But Wait, There's More!

This week, you hit the jackpot, because we're going to take this just a little bit further by bringing us back around to another connection that a postal historian enjoys.  The General Banks, in question is Nathaniel Prentice Banks, an individual who might fit the prototypical "American story" of a person who started with modest means and went on to "greater things."  He worked as a 'bobbin boy' at a textile mill his father managed and went on to publish newspapers, serve in the state legislature (Massachusetts) and then as a congressman in the House of Representatives (first as a Democrat and then as a Republican).  He was then elected governor of Massachusetts in 1858 and ran to be the presidential nominee for the Republicans, losing to Lincoln.  Lincoln appointed him to the position of Major General (as a political appointee) in May of 1861.

In December of 1862 he was transferred to New Orleans, which is where he and John William De Forest were at the time this letter was sent.

While General Banks is not a household name, nor does he feature prominently in most history books for his roles in the Civil War, he is fairly well known to postal historians that study this period in the United States.  In 1861, Banks decided that his division would have superior mail services and apparently used his connections to do just that.  Banks secured a special agent of the Post Office Department to work out of Banks' headquarters. 

This arrangement resulted in the use of multiple hand stamps, such as the one on the envelope shown above, that indicated the origin of the letter as being from the Banks Division.  This letter was postmarked on August 1, 1862 when I believe the division headquarters was located at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia).  An excellent article by Richard Graham can be found here outlining more details about the Banks Division postal services.   

Bull Fighting to End of War Predictions

Harriet mentions a prediction that the war would end in 18 months and greeted it with some skepticism.  After all, she was worried about her husband.  As she said, "Maybe when Mr. De Forest gets home I shall be for a vigorous prosecution of the war."  It's a normal sentiment, of course.  I'm all for our troops taking the victory, but I would rather they do it without my husband in harms way.  

Amazingly, the war did end in approximately 18 months, but Mr. De Forest would depart the forces prior to its end, having only received a small wound - but still suffering from other maladies that ended his service time.  Apparently in December of 1864 he had more than the foolish desire as an excuse to go home again.

Each of these stories are far more complex than what I have written here.  If you desire to read more details about any of these individuals, feel free to take the links I provide in the text and read to your heart's content.  Or, you can decide you have had enough of this silliness.  The good news is - you have a choice!

===========================

Thank you so much for joining me in this longer than usual journey into the real of postal history and the social history attached to it!    I hope you enjoyed it. 

Have a great remainder of the weekend and a good week to follow.

Do you want to learn more?

A couple of references to some of the printed materials that are now also on the web:

Richard B. Graham, G.B.D. and Banks' Division Markings, US Philatelic Classics Society, Volume: 20 Number: 3, 1968 - the Chronicle is one of the best US journals for early postal history and much of the earlier publications are searchable online.

Elizabeth Maxwell Bright, An analysis of the methods used by John William De Forest in An analysis of the methods used by John William De Forest in translating his personal war experiences into realistic fiction as translating his personal war experiences into realistic fiction as shown in Miss Ravenel's conversion. shown in Miss Ravenel's conversion.  University of Louisville, 1949.  - this is the Master's thesis referenced in the text.  There are many interesting tidbits in the biography section.  

But, if you want to appreciate the rest of the thesis you should consider reading:

J.W. De Forest, Mrs Ravenel's conversion from secession to loyalty, New York, Harper & Bros, 1867.