What We Ignore

You do this, I do this, we ALL do this.  Or should I say, we DON'T do this.  In general, we do NOT read labels.

Ok, the farmers at the Genuine Faux Farm may be exceptions to the rule because we've put ourselves in a position where reading labels has a bit more consequence than it might have been if our lives had gone another direction.  But, here we are, reading herbicide labels.  No, we have not decided to use herbicides on our farm - but that would have been the RIGHT reason for us to spend time reading an herbicide label.  That would have meant that we were researching a tool that we thought we might use on our farm.

I tend to read these labels for two reasons:

1. Our farm is susceptible to many of the chemicals that are applied to the neighboring row crop fields.  We aren't always entirely sure that applicators read these labels all that carefully - and if they do - they seem to ignore whatever is inconvenient for them to follow. (Perhaps this is not entirely fair.  There are applicators out there who take their job seriously, but from our perspective it doesn't seem like enough of them do).

2. It's part of Rob's job with Pesticide Action Network to have some awareness regarding these labels.

These chemicals are poisons and are dangerous if not managed correctly.  For that matter, some of them are dangerous even IF they are managed.

Warnings on the Atristar/Battlestar herbicide

Shown above is one of the chemicals that were recently used on a field near our farm in 2018.  It was applied with other chemicals on a day when the wind was strong and coming our direction.  That explains why I looked up the use label.

You can read about those details here.

I will grant you that most every household is likely to have containers with warning labels that show at least as strong a warning as this label does.  I will ALSO grant you that there are numerous things that occur in nature that are every bit as (and more) dangerous than this particular herbicide.  But, in turn, you must grant me the good grace to admit that we do not want to see anyone coated with this product.  Fair enough?  That gives us a place to start.

Environmental Hazards from the Battlestar label

One responsibility that comes with any tool is to use it in a way that it does its job without collateral damage.  

For example, many agricultural chemicals are known to cause problems if they enter the water system.  If you don't think this matters to you, consider this: 20% of Iowa's drinking water comes from surface water.  While much of the rest comes from various aquifers, they too can be impacted by chemical run-off.  If it is not enough for you that allowing run-off harms other living (but non-human) beings, then maybe knowing it can get into our drinking water would be enough to encourage a person to be careful with the application of this item.  

If it truly has to be all about you, then you are impacted if you like to boat, fish, swim and/or hike around Iowa's rivers and lakes.  But, it really should be enough to know that someone or something could be hurt to make you want to manage use of this chemical carefully.  I refuse to believe that many people willfully want to hurt others - though I know some people of that sort do exist.

Supposedly, it is against federal law to apply chemicals, such as Battlestar, in ways that go against the label requirements (see the first sentence under Directions for Use).  But, a law is nothing if there is no enforcement.  And, enforcement doesn't happen if people don't stand up and report when there are problems.  Frankly, I would rather not need to use enforcement because I'd like all applicators to take their job seriously and use these tools cautiously and well.  But, our experience tells us this isn't happening.

The other thing that everyone should notice is the 24 hour "do not enter" period for workers/humans.  This is called the Restricted Entry Interval (REI) on agricultural chemical labels.  If the chemical goes 'off-target' that increases the "Do Not Enter" zone to the drift area.  Applicators should be aware of who may be in the drift zone and they need to

1. Cease application if they witness people in the spray zone
2. Inform anyone who might enter the spray zone that they need to stay out and give them information about the chemicals used.

If it is hard to figure out whether or not there is a problem we want people to think of the "Loved Small Child Test."  If you are certain that little one you care for so much could be harmed if they are standing in a neighboring field, then all is well.  If you aren't so sure, don't risk it. 

The label says what should be common sense.  If the spray might go where it shouldn't, don't spray.  What else can I say about this?

Once again, the label is fairly clear.  Please note that the reference to wind speed in this is non-directional.  In other words, you just do NOT apply when the wind reaches these levels.  Prior to this, the labels indicate that if the wind is going in the DIRECTION of something that is sensitive, you should not spray.  But, once we get to 15 mph, you should NOT spray, period.  

Why is this, do you think?  Could it be the chemical producers are aware that some of the chemical could go a LONG way in winds 15 mph and higher?  Now it may not be about the neighbor - it's the neighbors next to those neighbors (and so on).

There is more to this puzzle than just the current crops in the ground.  Chemicals that are applied can impact future crops.  After all, Battlestar IS an herbicide.  It's purpose is to kill or prevent the germination of anything except the cash crop currently in the field.

So, what happens when the chemical goes where it isn't supposed to be?  Take a look at the numbers at the right.  These are the number of months before you plant a new crop of certain types.

We lost our peas in 2018 to a chemical application that included this chemical.  What options do we have to try to make something out of that space this year?  It looks like dry bean and snap bean are our choices.  Too late for potato (and they won't work in our rotation in that spot).  But, since the application occurred on June 29, we actually have to consider what we will plant next Spring.  It is possible there will be enough carryover residue that some seeds will have trouble germinating.

The labels include all sorts of nitty gritty, but not always details that will help if a crop that the product was never intended for is drifted on.  In this case, we can see that Battlestar could potentially be used in snap and dry beans.  Apparently, this can be applied as pre-planting/pre-emergent or after the beans reach a certain size.  The beans could display some damage that they should 'grow out of' according to the label.

But, you still have to consider the set back periods for every crop.  Snap beans can not be harvested until 30 days after application and dry beans are 45 days.  These numbers are extremely important to people such as ourselves when drift occurs.  They are also one of the reasons drift can be painful.

If my snap beans are only 15 days away from harvest and there is chemical drift from Battlestar on them, that means that 15 days of what should be the production period of my plants are now not safe to eat.  I cannot harvest these and sell them.  

Sure, I could sell them and pretend I didn't know.  But, if anyone gets sick, their insurance company will come to us for the money.  First, I don't want to make anyone ill.  Second, our farm certainly couldn't afford the results of illness due to sharing chemically fouled produce.

So, what do we do for 15 days of bean harvest?  Well, if we hope to harvest AFTER those 15 days, we have to keep the plants picked during those 15 days so they are encouraged to produce more beans.  And, of course, we would destroy the beans by composting.  We can't feed them to the chickens or other animals (note the additional information that you shouldn't let livestock forage on the plants).

Is that worth it?  Or should we plant new beans?  From a labor perspective, that's probably what we should do.  But, what do you do if you were counting on those beans in two weeks?

Why Did We Do This Post?

We believe part of the problem is that others do not understand exactly WHY chemical drift is a problem for farms like ours.  First and foremost, it is a FOOD SAFETY ISSUE.

Some might say, "hey, the leaves on your cucumbers had spots on them, but they look fine otherwise."  The implication is that we are over-reacting and that we should just continue as if nothing happened.  That's all fine until someone gets ill, I suppose.  But, you tell me, should we ignore it and give everyone cucumbers?

How would that be any more responsible than ignoring the label and spraying when drift is likely?

Second, and at least as important is that it is a PERSONAL SAFETY ISSUE.

These chemicals were not created with the intent that workers meander around in the fog of the spray without protective equipment on .  That should be doubly true for the family living on the edge of town in Janesville next to a soybean field.

And yet, we seem to feel that we don't need to take the application of these products seriously.  

So, tell me.  I had my left kidney removed because there was cancer in that internal organ.  Is it possible that the cause of this problem had something to do with my exposures to various agri-chemicals?  Well, there are too many variables to prove causality in my own case, of course.  

But, should I even have to think about this?  Not if we take human safety seriously.

Third, it is an ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE.
That environment includes any surrounding crops, such as our peas and cucumbers.  It includes the waterways and natural areas (such as they are in this state).  It includes your garden and that beautiful "Love Lies Bleeding" plant that looked so good until...

While I still believe that we over-use chemicals in this world, I do tend to agree that the bigger issue is that we use them nonchalantly.  We didn't see anyone get violently ill immediately during/after the point of spray, so it must all be ok?

Well, it is not ok.  It's a theme I have been writing on periodically since 2012... and perhaps before that too.  And, I don't believe we've made any progress on the issue.  If anything, it feels like we have gotten more careless. 

Change is needed and we need everyone on board.  Let's make it happen before it is your child having a kidney removed and you find yourself wondering if maybe the chemicals they were exposed to might have contributed to the problem.

At the End of the Day

At the end of the day, the sun goes down.  And sometimes it paints a picture for us to enjoy.

Sometimes, it sneaks its way to the horizon behind a wall of clouds, letting a few rays of light make the announcement that the sun has done its job for this trip and that's all it has for us.

Then there are days where there are no clouds at all and the sun blazes its way through the evening hours until it looks like it might melt the ground or boil the ocean.

The end of a mid-January day in Duluth finds the sun diving for the shelter of the edge of the earth so it can hide its embarrassment that it did such a poor job warming the landscape this time around.

A day spent in the woods resulted in the sun playing hide and seek between the tree limbs until it finally found that sweet spot above the horizon but below the canopy so it could bathe the trail in light for a few short minutes.

But, on this day, the sun danced over the mountains and teased the clouds.  Its beams of light found ways to sneak back out to play even after the sun had finally gone to bed.  And, you could hear it chuckling in a self-satisfied way as it slowly pulled the sunbeams back into itself.  

And it finally sank into the West.

It's Supposed to Be Hard

While I find myself occasionally using the phrase, "it really isn't all that hard"... I can also honestly say two things:

1. I have worked hard to remove that phrase (and others like it) from my repertoire over the years (but it still creeps in once in a while)

2. When someone needs encouragement, I try to tell them they can do it and the effort they put into it will be worth it.

A recent article in the Washington Post discussed the concept of being honest with children about the difficulty of math.  The basic idea being put forward here is that we do not help someone who is trying to learn math by telling them that it is "easy" or "not too hard."  After all, if you assure them that it is easy and they struggle with it, what conclusions are they going to draw?

It was supposed to be easy and I can't do it, therefore I must be stupid.  Or, I can't do that, something is wrong with me.  Should we be surprised that so many people claim to be "no good at math?"  

Well, with a set-up like that, what else are they supposed to conclude?

It's a bit like giving someone the walk-behind tiller in the picture above and telling them they need to till the entire field you see there.  As you tell them this is their task, you say something along the lines of "it's an easy job."

How would you feel if I did that to you?  Is it likely you'll just decide to go somewhere else and find another thing to do?  When I ask about it, what excuse might you give?  Something along the lines of "I'm not very good at tilling, sorry."

Yeah, I thought so.

I guess I had a reputation that my classes were "tough" wherever I taught.  That's definitely something I can live with, that's for certain.  

As a teacher I routinely told my students that they should expect these classes (especially the introductory classes) to be difficult.  I reminded them that they haven't done this before, and if it were easy to learn what you needed all on your own, then this class wouldn't be worth your time now, would it?  

Some were unhappy that I would make these classes so hard.  But, it wasn't me.  It was the subject that was posing the challenge.  My job was to assist in whatever ways I could in learning - that was MY job because I'd already been there and these tasks are easy (or easier) for me.  If anything I was pushing them forward INTO the subject at hand.  I wasn't letting them skirt the edges so they could just "get through the class."  I did my best to be there, giving a hand up when it was needed, pushing them in the right directions, answering questions - and I was always cheering for them.

Why?  Because I know that worthwhile learning is not easy.

And yet, I still hear the words "it's easy, all you have to do is..." escape my lips far too often.

What I am doing when I say that is just being lazy.  What I mean to say is that you should not be scared of what looks like a pile of rotten roofing material in front of your house.  Once you figure out the 'trick of it' the task will not seem as daunting as it does now.  Will it be hard?  Yes.  But, you'll get there, and I'm willing to help you with that.

Most of the time, "it's easy" is meant to encourage.  We offer the words "it's easy" from the other side of experience.  We've already tilled that field and cleaned up that pile of roofing ourselves.  We know some of the techniques and shortcuts.  We have some practice doing these things and we know how to use the tools that come with the job so it isn't so daunting.  

And maybe, you happened to be one of the lucky few who came to the learning with an advantage.  Perhaps you had an aptitude for this sort of thing.  Is it possible you had gotten lucky and learned about some tools somewhere else that you recognized could be used here too?  One of your parents used to do this all the time and would take you along to help once in a while? 

To us, it IS easy.

To them, it looks like an impossible task.

Well folks, it is NOT impossible.  But, the task of learning is difficult.  It's supposed to be hard, because you'll come out on the other side and find what you know after the struggle is worth it.

Don't Be the Irritant

We all have our pet peeves - things that just bother us for a good reason or no reason at all.  And, many of us have a tendency to observe and even point out the bad habits we have seen in others.  It's almost a sickness of a sort - it's like we take a certain amount of glee in the fact that we can find fault with another individual.

Ok, that's not always true.  Sometimes there are things that people do that are very upsetting or extremely annoying.  There are times when another person can really push the buttons that can make another pretty unhappy and uncomfortable.  It can be bad enough to ruin someone's day.

I admit that there are attitudes and actions that can really make me angry, or depressed, or ... well, pick an unhappy emotion.  I am just as prone to this as anyone else in the room.... that includes you.  Yes, you! 

I fully realize that my negative response to something that bothers me only gives that action or that attitude even more power over me and how I go about living my life.  It would be tempting to tell myself that the best thing I could do would be to find a way to ignore these things that bother me so much.  The logic is that I would take away their power over me - probably a good thing.  And, this is something I can control.  I am in charge of my own response to what someone else does or says.

But, finding a way to ignore or avoid something is too simple and not a good enough answer, in my opinion - which explains why I get into trouble with myself so often.

I do agree that I can and should control my own reaction to things that bother me.  On the other hand, I do believe that there are times when ignoring and avoiding will not improve the situation any.  That's especially true when I suspect that the thing that annoys and bothers me may also be causing problems for other people too.

Many years ago, in a mathematics class far, far away, I had a student who would chew and smack their gum loudly through the entire class.  I did not care for it, but I could handle it.  On the other hand, I had some students that  COULD... NOT.... STAND.... IT!  These people would shoot murderous looks at the "gum smacker" and they eschewed the chewer whenever they had a chance.

Not one of them actually approached the individual to say anything and none asked me to do something (as the instructor) about it.  However, since I was not entirely deaf and blind to what happened in my classroom, I did talk to this individual (carefully) about what they were doing.

They had NO idea they were even chewing loudly.  They simply did not hear it.

To make a long story less long.  We came up with a hand signal I could give them to let them know they were falling into their bad habit.  After a couple of weeks, there wasn't a problem...  Well...  for the most part it did get better.  It certainly wasn't perfect.

My point?  Ignoring something simply means you might be missing some way to make things better.

On the other hand, there are certainly times, places and people where you might not be able to make a difference.  So, I say again.  You can control your own response, even if you can't change what is bothering you.  If your response has to be removing yourself from the situation, so be it!  Just consider whether it really is the best response.

And, maybe we should take a look in the mirror and consider the things we do that might irritate others - and maybe work to NOT be the irritant that we often believe everyone ELSE to be.  We can control that too.  

We can also control how we react when someone confronts us with words we said that hurt them.  We can work to understand why they were hurtful and try to change what we say or the way we say them.

We can listen when someone tells us our actions have been frustrating, or annoying... or whatever.  And we can consider whether we can do anything about it.  We can at least take some part in trying to improve the situation.

Just a suggestion - don't be the irritant.  Maybe then, you can find a way to be less irritated yourself.

The Whole Picture

One of the things I have always wanted to accomplish with our blog was to give an honest portrayal of what life is like on a small-scale, diversified farm.  I feel this is especially important because I have noticed that most small farms promote their products using light-hearted and positive themes.  The only time you see the negative is when a major disaster occurs.

You do not typically hear about the day to day challenges.  Why?  Well, I suspect most people do not want to buy brutal honesty and farmers like us know that.  We suspect you would rather see the smiling farmer holding out a bunch of carrots or some other product for you to enjoy.

Pictures like the one above, showing smiling volunteers holding tomatoes at our farm are what we (and so many other small farms) push out front to encourage buyers to continue to patronize us.  It's even better if you can show children.

Or, perhaps, baby animals

There is no dishonesty in showing any of these photos and then using them to promote the Genuine Faux Farm.  They were all taken here.  The smiles on the peoples' faces are not "photoshopped on."  Those are our turklets in the photo shown above.  These are real life moments.

And they do, in fact, show some of the truth that is our farm.  But when things like the dirty, cracked hands holding the turklets show up for public viewing, they are not the focus of the picture and most people will not even notice them.

But, like everything else in the world, smiling people, happy children and baby animals are only part of what makes up an honest and complete story.  That full story includes days when the farmers work hard while no one watches.  As they work, they deal with broken equipment, human error, pests, difficult weather, life and death, and dirty, cracked hands.

It's all part of the package.

Speaking of packages.  One of the unexpected "downers" we experienced recently was the arrival of our 250 broiler chicks on July 1st.  To set the stage, we planned to raise two sets of 250 broiler (meat) chickens this year.  The first batch was due to go to "the Park" on the night of July 1st and early morning of July 2.  We also received the second batch of chicks early on July 1st.  You can tell that it was going to be a long couple of days by that description.

When we went to pick them up, the postal worker said they were glad to see them go because the box "smelled."  Usually, they are just glad to see them go because they are "noisy."

Having a postal worker say the boxes smelled is NEVER a good thing to hear.

Yes, twenty-seven chicks had died in the box in transit to our farm, and others were weak and unlikely to survive.  This is part of the reality that we deal with as a part of what we do.  Not every baby animal is healthy.  And, each delivery of poultry, equipment, supplies and seeds to the farm brings promise and, sometimes, disappointment.

Later that same evening, as I was looking to put the hens away for the night, I noticed there was still a bird out by the feeder.  But, it looked kind of odd - mostly because it wasn't moving.  It turns out that this particular bird somehow got wedged into a corner of the feeder and it had effectively been strangled.  Just another reminder that accidents happen - sometimes a chicken makes a costly error.

As I walked by Middle Earth (one of our growing plots) on the way to close up Valhalla, I noticed a big puddle that shouldn't have been there.  Our irrigation sprung a nice leak that neither of us caught during the day.  It's not the end of the world, nor is it a horrible thing to fix.  Oh, and, by the way, we got some wire accidentally wrapped around the mower blade and the rot under the pass-through door on the truck barn has made it known that we need to fix it because the door won't close.   

This is just an illustration of how things can stack up quickly.

Then there is all of that time in between that is neither happy nor sad.  The moments that are not necessarily outstanding in any respect.  Sometimes it feels like a bit of a slog and other times there is comfort in the constancy of the work.  It's more the fact that it happens each and every day - because it just needs to get done.

This makes up the whole picture of what it is like to run a small-scale, diversified farm.  For every moment where I happily (and rapidly) harvest 30 pounds of quality lettuce and feel pride in our efforts, there are others where I drop a tray of seedlings or notice that the germination rate for another tray is very poor.  And for each of those positive and negative moments, there are all of those other instances where I put seed into trays, water seedling trays, transplant seedlings, irrigate lettuce and cultivate lettuce - just doing the things to help the lettuce to stay alive and grow.

The true picture of our farm and its farmers never was that single instant where Tammy or I smiled as we pulled out a beautiful head of Bunte Forellenschus (or two) for you and your family to enjoy.  Behind the smiles there exists a complex picture of failure, success, constancy and persistence.  Does that mean we aren't pleased that we can provide someone with healthy, quality food?  Of course not! 

Our smile might be as a result of a combination of things.  Relief that we have managed to bring this product successfully to its destination.  Pride in our efforts to produce something that looks and tastes good.  Genuine pleasure that someone is interested enough in what we have grown that they are arranging to purchase from us.  And the smile might also be one way to hide some of the things that aren't going so well at the farm at any given point in time.

The whole picture is never all that simple.  And that's part of the beauty of it all.

Digging In - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to Postal History Sunday!

Grab yourself a beverage of your choice, making sure that you keep it away from your keyboard or the paper collectibles!  Have a seat or stand up if that's what you prefer.  Push those troubles from your mind and take a few moments of your day learning something new.  Meanwhile, I will attempt to regale you with a story surrounding some postal history I enjoy.  

Perhaps, if we're all lucky enough, each of us will learn something new.

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This week I felt like digging into a single postal history item in my collection.  To be perfectly open about this one, I've done work on this cover before - but I felt compelled to work with it a bit more.  This is not at all unusual.  Sometimes I just want to get the basics for an item down and I'll recognize that I could certainly do more with it later.  But, more often than not, I'll just run out of time and I leave the rest for later.  If I am lucky, I will have taken some notes so I don't have to start all over again!

Before I go much further, let me recognize that many who read Postal History Sunday are not postal historians. So, I should clarify what I mean when I use the word cover.

A cover is essentially anything that surrounds or holds the contents being mailed to the recipient.  You and I are most familiar with an envelope, which would qualify as a cover.  In 1859, envelopes were gaining popularity but, most covers were actually a sheet of paper that surrounded the letter contents.  Sometimes, the outer sheet included some of the letter content on the inside facing part of that sheet. 

Our featured item happens to be a folded lettersheet from Antwerp (Anvers), Belgium to St Etienne, France mailed in October of 1859. 

How It Got There

Markings on the cover:

Anvers Oct 14, 1859 - 9-10 S

partial marking on the back - unknown

PD in a box

Belg Amb Calais Oct 15, 1859 - E

Paris Oct 15, 1859 (on the back)

Mail between Belgium and France crossed the border at Tourcoing, Quievrain, Erquelinnes, Jeumont, Vireux-Molhain, Givet and Luxembourg.  There were, of course, other crossings for local mail between neighboring communities that happened to be on opposite sides of the border.  The crossings I mention above were for letters from and/or to destinations that were not border towns.

We can make educated guesses as to which border crossing was used if we look at the markings on the cover.  Mail between nations at this time were exchanged between designated post offices.  Aptly enough, these are called exchange offices and the markings they applied to pieces of mail are exchange office markings. (My!  Aren't we clever with our names?!)

The exchange office markings on this cover indicate where the mail was placed in mailbags in Belgium and where they were taken out of those mailbags in France.  Unfortunately, part of the reverse of this cover is missing.  There is evidence of a partial Belgian marking that would have given us the Belgian exchange office.  The French exchange office was the mail car (traveling or ambulant post office) on the train to Calais (Amb Calais).  This leads me to the conclusion that this item probably crossed the border at Tourcoing.

How did I know that?

This is where I pull out the postal historian "voodoo magic" that is really just a combination of experience (seeing several covers from this period between these countries) and knowledge of some of the official documents that directed the mail exchange process in 1859.  A little knowledge about the available rail lines at the time doesn't hurt either! 

There is additional information in some of these postmarks that have the potential for further decoding.  The 9-10S (9 to 10 PM) in the Anvers marking tells me when the train was due to depart.  The E in the Calais marking references the team of clerks working in the mail car of the night train running from Calais to Paris. Go Team E!  I wonder if they had their own cheer or chant or something?

How Much Did It Cost to Mail?

As of April 1, 1858, a flat rate of 40 centimes per 10 grams was established for prepaid mail from Belgium to France regardless of distance.  This rate was effective until December 31, 1865 after which the rate was reduced to 30 centimes.  If an item were sent unpaid, the cost would have been higher at 60 centimes due to be paid by the recipient.

 The "PD" marking indicates the letter was "payée à destiné," which translates to "paid to destination."

The obliterating cancellations were applied to prevent the re-use of the postage stamps by defacing them with ink.  In this case, the obliterators or cancels are a round circle of bars with a "4" in the center.  Many European countries assigned numerals in canceling devices to particular offices or towns/cities.  The "4" in Belgium was assigned to Antwerp during this time period.

Who Was This To?

As a person who sometimes looks at his, or other person's writing, from even a day or two prior and wonders "what does this say?" it is not so hard to understand why it might be difficult for me or anyone else to read the address panel on this cover.  

Apparently, this is to a Mr. Evrard.  And, after a bit of a struggle, I have concluded the rest of the address reads: "fungenieur des mines, gérant les houiller de la Chazotte." This tells us that Mr. Evrard was a mining engineer, managing the Chazotte coal mines near St Etienne, France.

The Chazotte coal mine and Mr. Evrard feature prominently together in the mid-1800s largely because Evrard's inventions for coal washing and agglomeration received significant attention at the time. My basic understanding is that agglomeration was the creation of pressed coal bricks or blocks.  Evrard's machine for creating these bricks is mentioned in this document reporting on the Paris Universal Exposition.  Some of the relevant text from that document is below (see resource 2).  You can click on the images to view them more closely if you wish.

Evrard's innovations were apparently not limited to the agglomeration process as his design for coal washing is also featured in another contemporary document.   Part of the idea of washing was to separate the coal from the pyrites, which are heavier than the coal.  One of the figures showing the design of his coal washing system is shown below (resource 3):

As a kindred problem-solver, I can appreciate the approaches used for solving these production problems, even if I do not pretend to fully understand the entire process or the qualities desired for coal at the time. 

Bonus Material

The mining region where the Chazotte mine was situated is shown in the map above to give an idea as to location.  This is of interest because a postal historian could find numerous covers (sometimes with letters) relating to coal mining in France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom from this period.  If this topic grabs your attention, you could pursue mining related items using the knowledge of where the coal fields were situated to help you.

This article just might provide an excellent rabbit hole regarding mining in the St Etienne (Loire) region (resource 4).  And, if you want to read about the formation of coal beds, including the one for the Chazotte mine, you can go here (resource 5). This is an illustration of how postal history is dangerous - you can find yourself reading and becoming at least mildly interested in things you never considered before.

A quick search resulted in the following scan from a document from 1843.  I do not own this item (nor will I, given the price). A person could own shares of Chazotte mines.  I wonder if Evrard's efforts at innovative machinery helped share prices or not?

I place the financial component front and center to remind us of what drove the exploitation of coal fields in the first place.  With the event of coal fired engines, the demand increased rapidly.  Prior to this coal was used for heating and smelting iron ore.  But now, trains, steamships and all sorts of other equipment (including Evrard's inventions) were using coal to provide power.

To close things out, I wanted to point out that it was not just the coal field that was exploited in the mining of coal.  This interesting summary regarding the Felling Collier Disaster in 1812 reminds us that mining was (and still is) a dangerous job (resource 6).  In this single disaster, ninety-two people died, ages 8 to 65.  In fact, the coal communities in Europe are still seeing the effects that the focus on coal created in the present day.  This interesting paper by Esposito and Abramson notes in the abstract that:

... former coal-mining regions are substantially poorer, with (at least) 10% smaller per-capita GDP than comparable regions in the same country that did not mine coal. We provide evidence that much of this lag is explained by lower levels of human capital accumulation and ...  result from the crystallization of negative attitudes towards education and lower future orientations in these regions.  (resource 1)

It's at this point that you and I look at each other and ask - "how did we get here?"

Oh. Yeah.  It was that silly piece of paper that carried a letter or business correspondence to a mining engineer in France.  Imagine that.

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Thank you for joining me in today's journey!  This is one of those cases where I did not expect the Postal History Sunday blog to go as far as it ended up going.  I hope you enjoyed it, even if we did get a ways "into the weeds."

Have a great remainder of your day and I hope you have a great week to come!

Resources:

1. Esposito, E., Abramson, S.F. The European coal curse. J Econ Growth 26, 77–112 (2021). 

2. Blake, W.P., ed. Reports of the United States Commissioners to the Paris Universal Exposition, vol V, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1870.

3. Byrne, O., ed. Spon's Dictionary of Engineering: Civil, Mechanical, Military and Navel with Technical Terms,  Vol III, E & F.N. Spon, London, 1870.

4. Barau, D, Les sources de l'histoire miniere aux Archives departementales de la Loire, vol 8, 2nd Semester 2008, pp 40-66.  Taken from https://journals.openedition.org/dht/633?lang=en on July 10, 2021.

5. Stevenson, J., The Formation of Coal Beds IV. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Jan-Apr 1913, Vol 52, No 208, pp 31-162. https://www.jstor.org/stable/983997

6. The Industrial Revolution, coal mining, and the Felling Colliery Disaster from Letters and the Lamp: Davy, Stephenson, and the Miners' Safety Lamp, site developed as part of the Lancaster University Impact and Knowledge Exchange Award. http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/lettersandthelamp/sections/the-industrial-revolution-coal-mining-and-the-felling-colliery-disaster/ viewed on July 10, 2021

The Ground We Walk On - PAN

I farm, and I am acutely aware of the role soil plays in my life as a grower of food. Healthy soils provide my farm with pasture areas for our laying hens so they can forage, enjoying some clover and chasing various insects in a plant-diverse landscape. I rely on these same soils to provide the foundation necessary for the green beans, cucumbers, and other vegetables we grow each season.

The health of the soil is critical for the continued success of my farm, yet many of the actions I take as a farmer are less than ideal for the ground I walk on.

Farming alters the soil

Most skilled farmers are fully aware that many of the techniques that come with purposely growing a crop or grazing a pasture will impact the health of the soil. The simple act of breaking ground so that it will receive the seeds for crops of our choice will change the soil’s physical, chemical, and biological properties. For the most part, these changes are not an improvement.  

With the awareness that farming often damages the soil comes a responsibility to find a balance between successfully growing food and doing our best to maintain the health of the soil we rely on. A grower must do more than just consider how their farm provides income for their family, they must also be a steward that seeks to restore the ground we walk on to health.

Tensions between farming goals

In its simplest form, the goal for a particular season is to successfully see a crop, herd, flock, or orchard through to the point of harvest. Most farmers will declare the season a success if the yields are reasonable and, hopefully, the financial balance sheet shows some income. But, that formula omits the potential losses in the balance sheet that represents our soil’s health.

We have to give something back to the soil when we ship away nutrients in the form of our harvest. We must find a way to address the loss of soils to erosion that comes as a result of our working the land. And, we need to find ways to support the regeneration of the biological life in those soils that we weaken because we sprayed, we tilled, and we changed the habitat in which that life once thrived.

We have been aware for some time that excessive tillage is harmful to our soil. In fact, this has been one of the arguments for the increased use of pesticides in crop production. Unfortunately, the constant use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers also contributes to the degradation of our soils.  

In its best form, farming couches the success of one season within a system that ensures success over time. Instead of hoping for record-setting yields each year, we should be looking for consistent yields of diverse crops. Rather than measuring success only in our monetary balance sheet, we should also be investing in our future by building up our soils and limiting practices that we know will harm them.

There is a third piece to the tensions farmers hold, and that is the role of public policy. At this time, many policies discourage farmers from using practices that are best for the health of the soil.  

Practices that support healthier soils

Research and generations of farming experience tell us that the more persistent we are in using a practice that harms the soil, the more damage we cause. This cumulative effect applies to tillage, it applies to pesticide use, and it applies to monocropping. Unfortunately, this is exactly what corporate agriculture is pushing — and it is the last thing we need if we want to maintain healthy soils for future generations.

One of the simplest adjustments we can make to address soil issues would be to lengthen crop rotations. In Iowa, where I live, many farmers grow corn in the same field year after year. Others will alternate corn and soybeans. A minority will have three, four and five crop rotations. Simply getting a majority of row crop farmers to add crops to the rotation would be a good first step.

Soil is healthier when it has roots in the soil. Farmers need to be more willing to find ways to include cover crops in their rotations to provide soil coverage. The simple act of seeding down field edges to perennial grasses or putting in pollinator strips in land areas that yield poorly can also help. Adding hayfields or alfalfa into a rotation can break the tillage cycle for a few years and help soil to build itself back. None of these things are terribly difficult — they’ve all been done before.

Vegetable growers have even more opportunities because soil actually likes having a diverse population of roots in the soil. Intercropping and adding plants to attract pollinators are some of the simpler steps an operation of any size could implement. A farm that maintains some wild areas encourages pollinators and beneficial wildlife, which can actually improve yields. Adding animals into the rotation addresses the potential loss of fertility and encourages the restoration of soil biology.

Unfortunately, farmers may be willing to admit that these practices could be a good idea, but they are unwilling to fight a battle against public policies that favor agribusiness and corporate farms. Farming is a difficult job, there is often little energy to push against the status quo.

Worth our efforts

I do not pretend that the process of adapting to support soil health will be easy. But, our actions say that we believe that soil health is not necessary.  

It is important that we expend the effort to create more diverse growing landscapes that include wild areas and perennial plants. We must reduce the use of chemicals in agriculture and we cannot allow ourselves to be stuck in a system that pushes large fields of a single crop. We need to re-integrate animals into our farms instead of pushing them into high-density confinements.

All of this is going to require more effort on our part, and that may be the biggest reason why we have done so poorly when it comes to defending our soils. We want high yields and we don’t have the energy to fight against the culture created by corporate agriculture and the policies they have pushed into place.

So we rely on mechanical tillage and chemicals because they give us the short term gains for less effort.  And we ignore the long term costs.

The ground we walk on is worth the effort it will require to restore it to health. Let's make the effort to do so.

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For those who are not aware (or if you need reminding), Rob is a Communications Associate for the Pesticide Action Network and one of his responsibilities is to write blogs form his farmer perspective - in particular as it relates to the over use of chemicals in agriculture and food production.  This blog was written for PAN and is published on their Ground Truth blog.

If you are concerned about the over-use of pesticides and the movement of agriculture to every bigger entities, I encourage you to join PAN.  By doing so, you will get the monthly Iowa newsletter (which I write) and you will receive action alerts that make it easy to contact legislators and members of the executive branch in an effort to move towards a healthier and more equitable food production system in the US.     

Of course you are not obligated to take every action that PAN sends your way, but let me remind you that organizations, such as PAN, work to try to make it easy for you to effectively make your voice heard.  Take advantage of these services and help them (and me as a member of PAN) to advocate for things we want to have happen.

Evening Song

I took the camera around the farm as the sun was going down a few days ago.  The broilers were still on the farm, so I had to do the pre-chore task of putting their food inside their buildings to encourage them to go in for the night.

Sometimes when I do these rounds, I am a bit too early to just close the birds and high tunnels up, so rather than go back to the house and go inside, I might meander around the farm a bit.  As I walk, I listen to the sounds of the evening, or feel the breeze, or observe the clouds.

On this particular day, I was able to take some photos of what I was seeing.  Some of them turned out to be pretty good pictures.  The one above falls into that category.

In the foreground is one of our small, "Iowa" peaches.  It's more of a bush than a tree, really.  Behind it is a tree that is on the border of our property.  We did not plant it - it is a volunteer - and we considered removing it because it is likely a bit too close to the edge.

But, it is in an area where we don't have much for bushes.  And, more important, Mr. Bunting likes to sit in that tree in the evening and sing his evening song.   If you look closely at that tree, you can see Mr. Bunting at the top right.  No, he would not let me get much closer, so this is what we've got for photo evidence.

This same tree allowed us to spot our first Scarlet Tanager on the farm last year.  It's a favored evening spot for one of this year's Indigo Buntings.  

Now, I am inclined to leave that tree unless the neighbor complains - and I'll go there to listen to the birds as they give their evening concerts.

July Celebration

As many people in the United States celebrate Independence Day with fireworks, beer tents, softball tournaments, visits to parks, and grilling burgers and brats, I find myself celebrating in a different way.

First, I celebrate the potential the United States still has to truly be a place where everyone is free from oppression and free to live a good life without having to push someone else down in order to do just that.  We certainly aren't there yet, but these things require work.  If you want something really good, you have to put some investment into it.

Second, I am not a big fan of fireworks, beer tents or crowds.  I am not on a softball team and but I did have some tasty brats.  We celebrated our independence by appreciating some things we are able to do differently from many people - either because they don't want to do these thing or they are unable to do them. 

I tried to capture an audio file that could illustrate for you the hum we hear as we walk by our bee hives at almost any time of day (or night) this time of year.  That didn't work out, so you'll have to settle for a picture.

Tammy and I are still relative newbies at this bee game.  In the past, we often had someone else place and maintain a hive at the farm.  This year, we have three of our own.  And, like so many things where you are new at it and a bit uncertain, some of the tasks get delayed because they seem bigger than they often turn out to be.  Yet, we're still holding our own - which is a good thing.

At this point, I would say at least a couple of the hives are doing pretty well.  And we do still enjoy seeing the workers out and about at the farm.  While the clover is struggling a bit in the dry weather, there are still enough flowers that the bees are often checking out.  This is still a constant joy for me because I remember growing up and it was normal to see bees in your yard checking out the clover that most yards had.  

Well, I am fortunate to have a big "yard" now with lots of clover.  But, I have to have my own hives now to see bees on the clover.  I celebrate the fact that Tammy and I can do this.

Sometimes a growing plot works out pretty well.  Middle Earth this year has sunflowers, sweet corn, pumpkins, watermelon, winter squash and borage.  The plot is nearly completely covered with the canopy of these crops now.  For the most part, there aren't many weeds because we got cultivation and weeding done in a timely fashion.  

In short, this field is probably at its peak as far as visual appeal goes.  Once we add sunflower blooms to the mix, it will certainly be there.

This plot comes partly courtesy of our shift away from the CSA program that had been a part of our farm for many years.  Our reduced planting complexity and the removal of the early season harvest, clean, pack and deliver cycle allowed us to add sweet corn back into the mix AND we could hit the optimal planting periods more easily.

Plus, it's always nice when field looks good.  I like to be around it (we can't get into it much anymore), so it's a successful field on our farm.

Some row crop farmers have decided that milkweed is worthy of foul language, but we welcome it (most of the time) on the farm.  I admit that we don't always like where it tries to pop up.  But, when it chooses the wrong spot, we remove it with little to no remorse.

Why so little remorse?  Well, we are providing and encouraging it to appear and grow many places on the farm.  If they decide to compete where we are growing a certain crop, we feel they breached the contract - so to speak.

Ok, ok.  We don't make the milkweed sign a contract.  But, we do like seeing more monarchs on the farm and so far, we've had a few more visitors this year than we did last year.

This is a good thing that we are celebrating after very disturbing news about the very small numbers of Monarch butterflies that over-wintered in Mexico this past year.

While I am not sounding any sort of "all-clear" bell for the Monarchs, I am relieved that last year was not the last year I would see them.  I am pleased that we are doing what we can on our farm to try and make this year NOT be the last time I see them as well.

 

We had a Black Swallowtail hatch in Eden and enjoy the clover flowers nearby in the morning and we had our first Tiger Swallowtail of the year show us one of the routes he will probably fly twice a day for the next couple of weeks.

And, lest you think I only appreciate the big and bold butterflies, I like the little Blues and Hairstreaks too.  (see above).  I will, however, draw the line at the large number of Cabbage Butterflies we have seen this year.  It is making us a little frustrated for our broccoli crop this season.

Then, there are the things I visualized for the 2021 growing season that might actually become reality.  

I wanted to have clover blooming in the driving path between Valhalla (the high tunnel) and Freyr Field.  I also wanted to have a hedge of sunflowers on the north edge of Freyr field so it might feel a little bit like you are walking through a tunnel or a lane of some sort.

Sure enough, clover blooming on the path (even if it isn't as robust as it would be with some rain) and a hedge of sunflowers on the right.  Maybe in a future blog I'll show you the zinnias, borage and butternut squash on the other side in Freyr Field.  It looks pretty good too!

Already, there are many smaller birds that are flitting around in the sunflower and zinnias.  The Goldfinches are probably anxiously awaiting the production of sunflower seeds that they will feast on through the Fall and Winter.  I caught Mr. Bunting sitting on the tallest sunflower as he sang his song.  He was a bit surprised to see me walking down the lane, so he departed rapidly.

I'd say having a good vision of what you'd like to see and then executing that vision with good results is a reason to celebrate.  But, again, I had the freedom to try to make this vision come to fruition.  More reason to celebrate!

Maybe the odd thing about this July celebration is that while we celebrate our freedom to do some of the things we are doing, you might notice that many of these things are not just about us.  We are hopeful that some of the things we do will be good for other creatures and other people on this earth.

Because freedom is not about being able to do what you want, no matter what.  It is about having some choices about how you meet your obligations to the world around you.

Misunderstanding and Irony - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to the July 4th edition of Postal History Sunday on the Genuine Faux Farm blog!  If you've just walked into the door to view this blog for the first time, please feel welcome and if you have been here before, please be patient while I remind everyone to take a moment to get comfortable and grab a favorite beverage - but keep it away from the paper items (and the keyboard)!

As for those worries that bog you down during the week, now is the time to imagine that they are tied to the fireworks and let them go screaming into the sky, only to explode into a sparkly rainbow of color.  Let's see if we can learn something new today!

This week we're going to look at an item that is much newer than many of the things I tend to show here.  This letter was mailed by Otto Becker in Chicago on June 24, 1947.  He addressed the letter to the Spencer Fireworks in Polk, Iowa, placing a 16 cent stamp to pay for the standard letter rate (3 cents) and the special delivery charge (13 cents).

3 cents for a standard letter + 13 cents for "Special Delivery" fee

The Postal Rates

The three cent per ounce letter rate for mail inside the United States was effective on July 6, 1932 and remained in force until July 31, 1958.  Twenty-six years probably seems like a pretty long time for a single rate to be effective.  For contrast, these rates changed eleven times from 1974 to 1999 (26 years) where the postage rate started at 8 cents at the beginning of 1974 and was 33 cents by the end of 1999.

At the time this letter was sent, postal customers could opt for Airmail letter service, which would have cost 5 cents per ounce.  Such a letter would have required some sort of marking that airmail was requested.  This letter does not use air service, so postal historians like to call it "surface mail," which covers travel by boat, train, car, truck or alpaca.  Ok, maybe not alpaca.  But, I think you get the idea.

The Special Delivery service cost an additional 13 cents (Nov 1, 1944 - Dec 31, 1948).  Payment of the additional postage meant that once the receiving post office got the letter, they would send it out for delivery - even if the postal carriers had already left to run their routes!  This service was available in the United States starting in 1885 and was terminated in 1997.  At present, any mail received at a destination post office after the mail distribution will simply wait until the next day's distribution.

Spencer Fireworks catalog ca 1941

The Misunderstanding

Otto Becker probably wanted to do business with the Spencer Fire Works company located in Polk, Ohio.  You would think that someone who lives in Chicago would have some idea as to the difference between Ohio and Iowa.  Yes, yes, I know.... They both have a lot of vowels.  With two of the three letters in common, you *might* be able to suggest that they were having trouble with a vowel movement.

No, no.  We shan't be punning here.  Oh, it's too late?  Sorry.

In any event, a helpful postmaster found that there was a Polk CITY in Iowa, so they added "City" to the address and away it went, leaving Chicago and arriving in Polk City the next day (June 25).  

The Polk City postmaster probably rolled eyes to the sky and said, "we've got another one."  

I'm guessing this wasn't the first (or last) time that something was incorrectly addressed to the Spencer Fire Works company and sent on to Polk City, Iowa, by mistake.  

The postmaster dutifully re-mailed the item to Polk, Ohio and a backstamp on the envelope shows that it did arrive at the proper town in Ohio on June 28.

Arrival at Polk (Ohio) June 28, 1847  6PM

The Irony

Items like this are a bit more interesting to a postal historian, such as myself, because something didn't quite go according to plan in the delivery process of this letter.  I will also admit that the connection to my home state (Iowa) also makes it more attractive to me.  If this letter had been correctly addressed to Polk, Ohio, I highly doubt I would have given this item a second glance!

Initially, I thought it was interesting that someone would try to send something to a fireworks company in Iowa of all places.  After all, there had been a ban on the private sale and use of fireworks in this state since 1938 (and has only been recently lifted - see below).  By 1947 (the time this letter was mailed), I suspect most people in surrounding states might have some idea that fireworks were illegal in this state.  One could say that it is ironic that people are confusing one state with legal fireworks with another state with no fireworks allowed.

But, that's not good enough.  I like a full dose of irony when I can get it.  And, I got it this time.

A wooden shipping crate for fireworks.

In the process of confirming the date that the ban was put in place, I was able to learn some information about a key event that had much to do with the fireworks ban in the state.  Before I tell you about it - look again at the NAME of the fireworks company.  Got it stuck in your brain now?  Good.

The year was 1931 and a very dry weather was beginning to take hold of a significant portion of North America.  Have you heard of the Dust Bowl?  Well, there you are.  In any event, things were dry in Iowa, but towns in the state were still intent on celebrating the Fourth of July with fireworks.  On June 27, 1931 temps were in the mid to high nineties and winds were strong.  I think you know what comes next...

There was an accident in one town.  A local retailer had a display of fireworks that was accidentally set off.  Fires spread rapidly.  By the time they died down, one hundred buildings in the center of town were destroyed.  Amazingly, no one died in the fires.

The name of the town that burned due to a fireworks accident?

Spencer

And A Bit More of the Story
One major event wasn't quite enough evidently to spur the ban.  The "Remsen Holocost" of 1936 simply provided more impetus for change.  Legislative action in 1937 led to the ban taking effect January 1st of 1938.  This ban existed up until its removal in 2017.  

The presence of large retail outlets at the border attested to a long-standing tendency of Iowans to cross the border to purchase fireworks regardless of the ban.  As recently at 2013 there were more than 25 fires started by personal fireworks in the state.

Sadly, some of the side effects of ban removal were felt in the first year.  Among them was an amazing decline in air quality in the state during the primary fireworks use dates.  Interestingly enough, one of the reactions has been for local communities to ban the use of fireworks within town limits. 

Air quality in Iowa in 2017 on July 5

Now, in 2021, we're looking at very dry conditions for most of the state.  It's not Dust Bowl dry, but it is enough that we should all exercise caution with fire.  Here's hoping we have safe celebrations for our independence.

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I hope you enjoyed today's installment of Postal History Sunday!  Thank you for joining me and letting me share some things that interest me each week.  Have a good remainder of the weekend and a splendid week to come!

Want to learn more?

You can start sounding like an expert when it comes to United States domestic postal rates if you know what resources to use.  An excellent work by Henry W Beecher and Anthony S Wawrukiewicz is titled "U.S. Domestic Postal Rates, 1872-1999."  I certainly do not memorize all of the dates and rates - especially when I am looking at items out of the 1860s.

Would You Walk On By?

We were exploring a walking/biking path that the "locals" often used for all of the things locals use such paths for.  At the furthest point in the loop, we came upon a pond that had gentle ripples in the water from a light breeze.  The sky, clouds and surrounding trees were reflected in its surface.  At that moment, there were no "human" noises that we could detect other than out own footsteps as we approached. 

We had the camera along.  Well, of course we did, we were taking a hike on a new trail and we almost always bring the camera for such things.  And, I wanted to capture what we were seeing as best as I could - knowing I would likely fail in the effort.

And, this is the photo I like best of the ones I took at that moment in time.  It's a good picture.  I did manage to capture what I was seeing, and feeling, while I stood there.

When people see images like this one, they often comment that they would love to be there, just sitting and enjoying their surroundings.  It looks so peaceful.  It's so beautiful.  A person could relax there.

So, did we?

The answer is actually "yes" and "no."  This was a new trail to us so we were in explorer mode.  We weren't sure how far the trail was going to run and we did not know how long it would take.  So, there was a little pressure to keep moving.  On the other hand, this was a hike for enjoyment and no other purpose, so we were pretty relaxed.  And, we did take a few moments to appreciate this particular place.  But, not nearly as many moments as I would like to now - as I look at the photo again.

Human beings are very good at seeing something and then proclaiming that they would

• relax and enjoy if they could only be at this place.
• sit and listen to the sounds of raindrops and songbirds on a lazy Saturday morning.
• pull over when they notice a family on the side of a road with a flat tire.
• be the one who takes action when we witness a bully and their aggression.

Yes.  We're pretty good at making ourselves legends in our own minds.  And, we know good things when we see them if they are in a picture or recording.  But, we aren't usually all that good at actually noticing that moment when the birds actually ARE singing.  We have a tough time convincing ourselves that we have the time or ability to help the family at the side of the road.  We hesitate and rarely follow through when we witness someone who is being rude and threatening.  

And, we all too often fail to notice that we're actually standing in a beautiful picture.