Follow-up - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to this week's Postal History Sunday on the GFF Postal History blog or the Genuinely Faux farm blog.  Everyone is welcome here, whether you have years of study involving postal history or you are merely curious what it might be that gets a small-scale, diversified farm operator interested in old envelopes that have already served their primary purpose in life.  Let's send those troubles off on a merry chase somewhere, and hope they never return, while we explore something I enjoy.  And, if we are lucky, you will be entertained and we will all learn something new.

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Learning a truly new thing is actually very difficult, especially if you do not have a place in your personal experience to start from.  I recall exactly how frustrated I was when I first decided to try and learn things about letter mail during the 1860s.  I had very little idea as to where I should start.  I didn't know the terminology, I didn't know where to go to find people or books or other resources that could help me learn.  I didn't even know what questions to ask to even start with the topic.

I could have just stopped - and I was tempted to do so.  But, if I have learned anything about myself, I can be pretty stubborn about learning.

Each new thing learned gives you a stepping stool that lets you reach out to other, related things.  Sometimes, the stepping stools you select lead you one way and you end up missing something that becomes obvious when you look back.  Today's post is dedicated to things I have been able to reach because of an earlier studies or things that I missed while I was there.

If you wish to visit the related Postal History Sunday to each topic, you can take the link I have placed in the title of each section.

"For What Ails You"

Back in March of this year, Postal History Sunday featured stamps from the US Columbian issue of 1893.  The title was For What Ails You because the items featured were from packages that probably contained various pharmaceutical or medical supplies.  

Sadly, this particular envelope did not qualify to be included in that post, both because it didn't clearly fit the theme and because it wasn't in my collection at the time.  But, the fact that I had recently explored packages in this post led me to consider adding this item in the first place!

The postage on this larger envelope from August of 1893 includes eleven copies of the 4-cent denomination and six copies of the 3-cent stamp, giving us a total of 62 cents of postage paid.  The red label with the letter "R" in the center tells us this was sent as a registered item, which cost 8 cents (effective Jan 1, 1893 - Jun 30, 1898), leaving us with 54 cents in postage.  And, if you look towards the bottom, you will see the number "54" in pencil, which is a nice confirmation that a postal clerk came to a similar conclusion.

This large envelope was apparently mailed at the foreign letter rate from the US to Germany at a cost of 5 cents per half ounce, but the Universal Postal Union guidelines were based on one rate per 15 grams (Jul 1, 1875-Sep 30, 1907).  For the curious, 15 grams is a little more than a half ounce (.529 ounces).

If you are paying attention, you probably are now saying "Wait!  Fifty-four cents is NOT divisible by five!  What's going on here?"  And that's exactly what I said.  One clue just might be the pencil "11" at the bottom left.  The 11th rate step would be for a weight over 5 1/2 ounces and no more than 6 ounces in the US.  So, the amount due would have been 55 cents.

The 11th rate step in Germany would have been measured in grams - over 165 grams (5.8 oz) and no more than 180grams (6.35 oz).  Is it possible that this thing actually weighed more than 5.5 ounces and less than 5.8 ounces?  From the US perspective, an item that weight would require 11 postage rates, but the Germans would only see it as ten.

Either way, the US postal clerk should have noted it was one cent short UNLESS they were aware of the difference in weights and made a decision to send it as paid using the 15 gram increments as a guideline.  It is most likely that the single penny wasn't going to be worth the extra effort and it was ignored.

We'll likely never know, but it is fun to speculate.  And this gives me something to stand on that may lead me to explore this item more.  If I do, you may see it again in a Postal History Sunday!

"Hyper"

Here's a case where you wonder how things happen the way they do.  In the original blog post, I give a summary of how postage rates rapidly increased in Germany during the period of hyper-inflation in the early 1920s.  I don't typically go searching for this sort of item, but if I run across something and it looks interesting to me and it is very inexpensive, I might go ahead and add it.

Oh!  Ugh!  Why would I add THAT?!?  It looks pretty beat up and.. what's going on here, Rob?  Have you led us all astray?

Oooooh!  Ok.  The back of this cover has another 14 postage stamps at 5000 marks each for a total of 75,000 marks in postage.  I guess I was feeling like adding another piece of postal history that had a lot of stamps on it.  

This postage rate was for internal letters in Germany that weighed no more than 20 grams and this particular rate only lasted from September 1, 1923 until September 19 of the same year.  This letter is postmarked from Hanau on September 12.  So, I thought to myself, "Yay!  I got an example of a rate in 1923.  Those were usually effective for short periods of time!"

Then, I looked at what I had again (go visit the Hyper blog) and I found I actually had something for this particular date range.  In 1923 alone, there were seventeen DIFFERENT rates for domestic letters.  I pick up two - and they both fall in the same rate period.  What are the odds?

So, what did I learn here?  I guess I learned why some people have checklists or some such thing when they are looking at items they might want for their collection.  But... that's no fun!  And, this cost less than the drink you have in your hand... and I had fun researching it.

So, I win again!

"Cruising Along"

Just a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about some letters that traveled across the seas in the 1930s and one of the pieces of mail I featured traveled from the United States to Finland.

I did a cursory look at the addessee, Mr. J.G. Sihvola, but I did not find anything.  That's ok, the blog and the story for the cover still held up nicely.  However, I recently shared this cover with an online acquaintance who lives in Lahti and I immediately got confirmation that this correspondence is fairly well known by postal historians in Finland.  Score one for sharing what we enjoy!

Jorma Sihvola worked at the Finnish Legation in Washington, D.C. for over ten years, starting in the 1930s and remaining through World War II.  His correspondence to family in Lahti is colorful, suggesting the possibility that there was a collector or two in the family, and has been distributed to collectors of stamps and postal history over time.  

J.G. and Aino Sihvola (husband and wife) had a wool clothing factory in Lahti.  Their son, Jorma, had probably not been in the United States for terribly long when he sent this letter.

Just having a name to refine searches brought me to an old newspaper where the likely sender of this letter was featured as a guest for the Singer's Guild in Washington, D.C.  That's one way to add a little color to the story.

My thanks to Tapio Hakoniemi for pointing me to this article that  features numerous items from the Sihvola correspondence during World War II, including a 1944 letter that suggests Jorma Sihvola had been in the US for a little over ten years.  After reading that bit of research, I now have something else to keep an eye out for if I am so inclined.  

Another step and something new I can reach out for.

"To and Fro"

In June of this past year, I took a look at how mail traveled across the Atlantic between the US and two European entities, the United Kingdom and France.  I kept it simple there and looked at some of the most common examples of mail that was sent when there was a postal agreement between the United States and these two nations.

But, what was it like when there wasn't a postal agreement between the United States and France?

Here is a folded letter that was sent in December of 1855 from France to Boston, Massachusetts.  The postal convention was not going to be in effect for another year and a half, so there was no way to fully prepay mail to the US from France.  Instead, mail travel relied on the agreement France and the United Kingdom had to pay for all of the postal services UP TO the point the letter was placed in the hands of the US postal system.

Since the British Post Office also had an agreement with the United States, they were able to act as an intermediary between the two nations that did not have a working treaty for the mail.

The cost?  One franc and thirty centimes (130 centimes) covered both the French and British postal costs.  An additional 5 US cents were due from the recipient in Boston to pay for the US postage costs.  That explains the nice bold "5" marking on the cover.

Once France and the United States had a postal agreement, starting in April of 1857, the postage cost for this same piece of mail would have been 80 centimes (15 US cents) and it would have covered the whole trip!  This is a case where I stood on my knowledge of mail during the later postal treaty to help me explore backward into years prior to that agreement.

"Second Childhood"

In August of this past year, I wrote about some postal history that showed stamps from the National Parks issue from the 1930s.  These are stamps that drew my attention when I was a very young collector, so it makes some sense that I find myself attracted to them even now.  When we combine it with my interest for mail that travels from one country to another - we have a winner!

The initial post focused on letter mail that was classified as "surface letter mail."  In other words, these were items that used transportation methods that stayed on the Earth's surface (boat, train, carriage, etc).  But, air mail was beginning to make its presence known in the 1930s, so it shouldn't be surprising that I might show an example of that mode of conveyance here.

Here is a letter that actually used the air service in the United States, crossed the Atlantic on a steamship, and then used air mail in Europe to get to Athens, Greece in 1935.  The cover itself gives me a multiple confirmations that my reading of its travel is correct.  A blue label (Par Avion / By Air Mail) states that air mail is to be used.  Red and blue parallelograms around the edge also indicated to the post office that air services were desired.

We also have this docket at the bottom of the envelope that may have been a directive to simply confirm what the postage was for.  It is also possible this text was added AFTER the letter had gone through the postal services by a collector.  I have no sure way of telling, but air mail was new enough that some direction in the form of a docket might have been useful.

The postage costs for air mail went through a number of changes in the early years and some of the calculations could get a bit complex.  Happily, this one is not so difficult.  We can start with the fifteen cent fee for a registered letter.  That leaves us with 11 cents for the letter mail postage.

The US required 8 cents in postage for each ounce in weight (Nov 23, 1934 - Jun 20, 1938), which included postage for the air carriage to the Atlantic port city as well as the Atlantic crossing on a steamship to England.  An additional 3 cents was added for each half ounce for air carriage in Europe (Jul 1, 1932 - Apr 27, 1939).

Well, I sure am glad that one added up properly (15 + 8 +3 = 26 cents)!  After the big Columbian envelope, I was beginning to wonder.

"In the News"

About a year ago, I featured items that were newspapers and other printed matter items that qualified for a cheaper postage rate.  While I am still in the process of researching this one, I felt like this might be a good follow up to show us all another way that we might NOT want to be "In the News."

What you see here is a good, old-fashioned "wanted" notice, which could have been posted publicly.  Wanted posters weren't just a "Wild West" thing and Theobald Pouth had better have been covering his tracks because the authorities in Amsterdam were looking for him on November 16, 1836!

A rough translation of some of what you see here follows:

Description of Theobald Pouth

Birth and last residence Trier (probably Trier near Luxembourg)

Profession: Tobacco fabricator (makes cigars, cigarettes, etc)

34 years old, 5 foot nine inches, black eyes, brown hair, heavy eyebrows and a sunken chin.  Full face and a black beard. An oval forehead

Special characteristics - muscular

Crime: Fraudulent Bankruptcy

The notice was sent from the prosecutor for the North Holland provinces to public prosecutors and offices of the police in the area.

Unfortunately, this item has lost some of the text at the bottom right.  When you combine that with the fact that I do not know Dutch well enough to fill in missing words with good guesses, we just have to go with what we have.

The outside of the document shows evidence of travel in the postal services from Amsterdam to the mayor (Burgemeester) of Limmen, which is northwest of Amsterdam.  The red postmark probably reads "Beverwijk," which was a larger town south of Limmen.  

There is a "10" by the red town marking that likely indicated the postage paid in Dutch cents.  At present, I do not know the postal rates for this area in 1836.  So, I do not know if this was a printed matter rate or a letter rate. That just shows you that I continue to seek out and learn new things.  Maybe once I learn more this one will make a return to Postal History Sunday?

Put It Out There and People Will Help

The danger of putting things out for anyone to read is the fact that people who know more than I do about something will roll their eyes at my feeble attempt at figuring it out.  The benefit is that many of these people take the time to help me to learn something new (or unlearn something that's wrong).

For example, Sören Andersson was very kind to point out an error in my analysis of the fourth item in Sneaky Clues.  The registration fee for incoming mail from the Netherlands WAS 10 cents, which makes the whole thing far easier to understand and, sadly, a little less interesting - in my opinion.  But, it is always better to make it right!  So, I'll be fixing that blog post at some point in the future!  He also advanced the idea that the "8" on the last cover could have been a room number in the hotel.  We'll still never know, but it is another option!

John Barwis pointed out that I left the passengers on Newfoundland in Run Aground!  Passengers took the St George (a steamship) and got to Glasgow about the same time as the mail (July 11).  That helps close this story a bit better.

In the post titled Business, Madness and Social Betterment, I included a small section about the rapid collection of mail by mail trains.  Rick Kunz mentioned a short documentary from 1936 titled Night Mail.  For those who might enjoy learning more about efficient ways to put mailbags on and off trains, here you go!

And then, Winston Williams has also been kind enough to provide useful thoughts and information.  In There and Back Again, he points out that a big reason for the US Notes marking is that the agreement with the British did stipulate that compensation be done using specie (essentially precious metal) which had a different value than paper money.  And, in Poo d'Etat, he pointed me to a resource and a rate for an item I did not successfully dig out for myself.

Thank you to everyone who provides me with corrections and additional information!  I may have missed a few of you here, but it has all been appreciated.

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There you are, another Postal History Sunday has been released "into the wild" to find audiences wherever it will!  I hope you enjoyed today's mishmash of items and that you were entertained and, perhaps, learned something new.

And, a quick reminder that I do accept constructive feedback, including corrections, additional information, and pointers for resources.  There will certainly be times when I will omit information on purpose for the sake of readability or due to time restrictions on my part.  But, that doesn't mean you can't point omissions out!  You honor me with your responses and care in providing them.

Have a wonderful remainder of your day and a productive week to come.

Long Days and Longer Lists - June

The sun sets in the northwest, and takes its sweet time sinking to the horizon.  It's true that these days with extended daylight are both a blessing and a curse to us.  We get up early with the sun and we know we can't clock out from the farm until the last rays fade in the evening.

What would we do without these long days, where the peak growth of many of our crops begins and the buffalo gnats come out to make us wonder why we spend so much time outdoors?  They balance out the long nights that come with living in the Northern Hemisphere during November, December and January.  It is then that we develop a different kind of weariness that comes with a thirst for light and warmth.  But, for now, we deal with those moments when we're just simply tired because we have been moving constantly.

As I write this, it is December and we're at the front end of the long dark that comes with this time of year.  Already I look at this picture with no small amount of envy, even though I am fully aware of the less appealing side the month of June brings with it.  

Eventually, I realize that I have an affinity for each season and their different textures and atmospheres.  I am also fully aware of the struggles they bring and the warts they try to hide, even when I select a beautiful picture to represent that particular period of our orbit around the sun.

Anything's Possible - May

This past May was unlike nearly every May in my life up to this point - and yet, it was very much the same.  My vision of May is that it is bursting with potential and possibility.  And, as a farmer, it is full to the brim with activity and responsibilities surrounding the new life making itself apparent.  Seedling plants in the ground.  Chicks in the brooder.  The return of butterflies and birds we have missed.  The renewed activities of the bees and other pollinators.

Yet, this past May, I spent so much of my time just trying to get back to being me after having a kidney removed in late April.  Despite that, I have so many pictures that give witness to the continued cycle of new life at the Genuine Faux Farm.  Yes, it is true.  I did not put the trellis stakes in this year.  I did not plant all of the tomatoes in Eden this year.  I did not transplant the lettuce into the ground and only some of the melons went in by my hand.

Still, I participated as I was able.  And, by participating, I improved the possibilities that I would again be doing these things without thinking so hard about NOT exercising parts of my body that had been cut open.  Perhaps I will not perform exactly as I had before - but that's not really necessary.  What is necessary is that I participate in the making of possibilities.  

After all, in May, anything's possible.

Impatiently Patient - April

It happens every April on the farm.  We get a batch of warm, dry weather.  Or, at least the weather is warmer than it has been - enough that we start believing that the upcoming growing season isn't something relegated to just the future.  Instead, we see that it could begin right now!

And yet, we are perfectly aware that impatience only yields disappointment.  The sweet corn we planted too early that led to no better than 10% germination.  The succession of peas that waited to pop out the ground at the same time the SECOND planting also broke the surface.  The transplanted crops that were covered with four inches of snow.

Yes, we've done all of these things over the years, but it can be so hard to keep the hand off of the plow and out of the dirt.  So, we do it all anyway, knowing that, most of the time, we'll only sew a failure.  But, sometimes, we have a breakthrough and we gleefully pull a special treat out of our fields far earlier than we know we should have.

I have a new plan for the coming year.  I will show myself this picture in August to remind myself how I feel when it has been many weeks since I worked the soil.  Perhaps it will motivate me to get out there when I CAN do the work, even if I am feeling hot and tired from the work that has gone on since I started in earnest during the month of April.

Or, more likely, I'll just roll my eyes and tell myself that each feeling comes with the season, and that's where it rightfully belongs.

Veg Variety Winners 2021

It has been a tradition, every year from 2007 to 2019, for the Genuine Faux Farm to provide a list of the Veggie Variety Winners for the season.  We neglected our duty in 2020, so our last entry was 2019.  If you want to see what we have selected in season's past, you can take this link to Veg Winners in 2019.

Production at the farm has changed dramatically since we last provided a list, so some of the things we're looking for are different.  And, the number of crops and varieties within those crops has also changed.  What is interesting to note is that our success with certain varieties in prior years informed our decisions as to what we should grow in 2021.  For the most part, those selections were good. 

So, without further ado, let's get to the top ten veggie varieties at the Genuine Faux Farm in 2021.

11. Halladay's Mortgage Lifter

We'll start the list with the new introduction.  And, yes, my list actually goes to eleven.  Isn't that normal for a top ten list?

We often try out a new (to us) variety (or three) every year.  Last year we tried Halladay's and felt that it might be worth doing again.  We had seed left-over - so...  And here it is, the end of the year and I liked it well enough to put it on our winners list.  Halladay responded well to our high tunnel environment and produced some excellent, larger red tomatoes that aren't quite a beefsteak in style.  They seemed to crack less than other varieties and had a really good tomato flavor.  Even though we have been reducing the number of tomato varieties we grow here, this one will actually get added into our future grow list!

10. Dolciva Carrot

We've grown as many as two thousand row feet of carrots in one season and up to five varieties - not always successfully, since our heavy soil often gives us some fits during wet seasons.  This year, we just grew Dolciva, a good combined purpose carrot (storage or fresh eating) and it comes in pelleted seed, which serves our new look farm quite well.  On top of it all, Dolciva is NOT an F1 Hybrid.  While it is not an heirloom or heritage variety, it is open-pollinated and that's something we strongly support.

Germination was on par with other hybrid and heirloom varieties we've grown in the past and production has now been consistent over three seasons.  While we don't anticipate scaling up this particular crop again unless something changes with our cleaning equipment we'll happily keep on growing a couple hundred foot rows each season.

Dolciva was #5 in our 2019 list

9. Imperial Broccoli

In the past, we grew Gypsy for earlier production windows and Belstar for the longer succession.  Imperial fell between those two, so it made for a pretty good way to spread out harvest so we could have broccoli over more weeks of the year.  So, what happens when you actually want to compress your harvest window?  I guess you pick the one in the middle for most of your production.  Now, don't get us wrong, we still believe in variety within a crop type.  But, when the volume doesn't support that much variety, you have to pick - and we picked well.  

Harvest for most plants landed in a two week window, as we preferred.  The only down side is that Imperial seems to react to differing soil conditions a bit more than the other broccoli varieties we've grown.  That can certainly be addressed with targeted fertility adjustments, so we have no reason to complain.

Want to read more about broccoli?  How about this: Broccoli: Seed to Transplant

Imperial made it to #10 in 2018

8. Provider Green Bean

Tammy and I tend to prefer the taste of Jade, but there has been some germination inconsistencies with some suppliers over the past few years with that one and our available labor has decreased.  We've grown Provider for years and we appreciate the consistency and the taste just fine, thank you very much!  The benefit of Jade is that it produces less at a time, but more consistently over time.  Provider, on the other hand, tends to have two major harvest peaks.  That fits our new model far better because we just don't have the labor to keep up with a few hundred row feet of Jade anymore.

Provider was ranked #7 in 2010

7. Italian Heirloom Tomato

We have certainly come up with a fairly solid group of heirloom tomato varieties that we rely on from year to year.  Now that we have moved all tomato production into our high tunnels to counteract some of the dicamba drift issues we feel impact our plants, we have to stick with those tomatoes that make the transition to a new environment well.  

Italian Heirlooms tend to be smaller plants, even though they are an indeterminate.  That means we don't have to do a whole lot of staking and trellising, which is important when you reduce your labor hours significantly.  Plant them, cultivate them, irrigate them and put a square cage around them.  Then, harvest.  It works well for us and we get plenty of those meaty, almost ox-heart shaped tomatoes that often reach one pound in size.

If you are interested in growing tomatoes, here's something more to read: Interplanting in Tomatoes

Italian Heirloom was #5 in 2013, #9 in 2010 and #3 in 2007.

6. Montauk Sweet Corn

One of our personal goals for 2021 was to make sure we grew enough sweet corn to process for ourselves and to have a few excellent summer meals.  Unfortunately, the distractions of upcoming surgeries and other health issues led to a delay in our orders and we had trouble finding any varieties we knew and wanted.  So, we picked what we could - and couldn't be more pleased.

Montauk provided us with sturdy stalks that were consistently giving us one top quality ear and sometimes two.  We found them a bit harder to harvest than some varieties because the ears did not want to separate easily from the stalk, with the outer husk hanging on tenaciously  But, shucking was pretty quick and the taste was very good.

Were we pleased simply because we succeeded in putting sweet corn high enough on our list in 2021 that we actually grew some for ourselves, or was it because Montauk was good?  It doesn't matter, we're happy.

5. Napoleon Sweet Bell Pepper

We were privileged to grow Napoleon Sweet as a seed crop for Seed Savers in 2021.  As expected, production levels were quite good, but we had to do a fair amount of selection to make sure the seed came from plants that showed the best characteristics of this plant.  As we finish cleaning the seed and do a germination test, we are pretty pleased with the results.  But, if we had been growing these for fresh eating, we would have been ecstatic.

As it was, we were still able to work a deal where a customer helped us core out the seeds so they could use the red flesh on the outside.  The quality was excellent and we're glad we got to participate in growing them.  

Napoleon Sweet was #12 in our 2015 list

4. Blizzard Snow Pea

This year we finally dedicated some early high tunnel space to starting the peas.  We got them in when we wanted to and then we rolled the high tunnel off of them and they flourished.  We easily met our normal goal of a half pound per foot quickly and then exceeded it with the late flush of fruit.  Several years ago, we compared and contrasted a number of snow pea varieties and found that Blizzard had the best taste, was the easiest for us to harvest, and it produced at a level that was close enough to more productive varieties like Oregon Sugar Pod II.  Selecting Blizzard for this early planting was a very good choice.  

We even have a blog post that features this variety: Blizzard

Blizzard was #1 in our 2015 list

3. Waltham Butternut Squash

I am not sure I can impress on everyone how pleased we were to get our squash and cucumbers into the ground at what we felt was the optimal time and optimal soil conditions in 2021.  By scaling back to our available labor, we were able to hit those time slots despite Rob's surgery in late April.  Imagine now how disappointing the very late May 29 frost was for us.  The cucumbers did not survive, but the winter squash did.  And, they did a fine job of producing quality fruit at the rate of about one per row foot.  We've stuck with Waltham for the duration of our farming, despite all of the new and "sparkly" butternut varieties out there.  Sure, we've tried some of those, but Waltham is consistent in quality, production and taste.  And, it's open-pollinated, so we'll stick with it.

Waltham has appeared more than once on our lists, #2 in 2016 and #3 in 2017.

2. Musquee de Provence Pumpkin

As was the case of the Waltham's, we got our pumpkins into the ground, only to have a frost.  There was a good deal of scurrying around the farm as we tried to cover all of our young plants that we had diligently (and happily) placed in the ground.  Then, a strange thing happened.  After a slow start, these vines really took off, enjoying their space between the sweet corn and the borage.  They produced a very fine first crop.  

Then, the Fall just kept going and these vines actually produced a SECOND crop that was only a tick below the first one for size and number.  And, we love the taste of these pumpkins. It is no wonder that this was our selection for the variety that would stay with us after all of the big changes at the Genuine Faux Farm.

Musquee de Provence was featured in this blog post: That's Not Orange

Musquee landed at #6 in 2012 and #7 in 2015.

1. Adirondack Blue Potato

It feels kind of odd to be writing about Adirondack Blue because I have to admit that I have been stuck on Purple Majesty for our blue/purple flesh potato ever since we started growing that one in... maybe 2011 or so?  But, seed availability and other factors forced my hand and we had to find other options.  And, for the most part, this was the ONLY option unless you wanted to pay exorbitant amounts of money for seed (which we did not).

Well, we tried something new this year.  We started some of our potatoes early in Valhalla (the bigger high tunnel), putting them next to the early beans and peas.  Once May rolled around, we moved the building off of that area and, like the crops around them, they did beautifully.  I am usually happy enough with a five pound return for one pound of seed potato, but I would prefer something over a seven or eight to one return.  How does sixteen to one sound to you?  Yeah.  We're happy with that.

Will it happen again in 2022?  My brain says, "why not?" but my heart says "nope" simply because we've learned to never treat the exception as your new expectation.  Still....

And, yes, there is even a blog post featuring Adirondack Blue, how nice of us!

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Thank you for joining us for our 2021 Veg Variety list of winners at the Genuine Faux Farm.  Remember, every farm is different, so your choices may not line up with mine over time.  But, maybe something you see here will help you with your own growing.

Have a great day everyone!

Look Around You

We move our feet to propel ourselves from here to there.  We peddle our bicycles to travel between places.  We ride in our vehicles and keep our eyes on the road so we can get to our destinations safely (if we are driving, of course).  

I am certainly all for getting oneself from one place to another efficiently and safely.  But, I think we also need to give ourselves and opportunities to move around while LOOKING around.

Tammy and I have been a bit more purposeful in seeking out opportunities to walk and observe the world around us this Fall.  Sometimes the camera goes with us, sometimes it doesn't.  On one walk a few weeks ago, I remembered to look up and I saw the sunshine playing off of the oak leaves still holding on to the branches over our heads.

While the picture fails to capture the slight movement and the changing light as the leaves filtered the sunshine in different ways, it is enough to remind us of some of what our senses were picking up as we looked at things from a new angle.

Or maybe we can look at things we don't usually give a second glance to.  Once you get to November and December in Iowa, the color green is featured ...um... less, that it is during the months just prior.  But, there it was.  A stone that isn't rolling.  So, of course, there was some moss.

Or perhaps this is the stone they DID leave unturned?  Whichever saying you want to reference is fine with me.  There was still green on this rock.  And we might have completely missed it if we were walking there in June, or September.  But, November?  It was almost like a neon sign!

The two of us are rapt when it comes to watching raptors.  I am not certain when we both recognized that the other was just as happy to watch a Red-Tail Hawk soaring on a thermal as the other one was.  It doesn't really matter when or why we recognized that fact.  What matters is the fact that we DID.

And now, we stop, when we are able, and watch these birds fly by - tickling the underside of a bright blue sky.

A puddle in the gravel driveway is something to notice and then avoid - especially if you have the wrong footwear for mud puddle stomping.  But, if it is twilight and you are waiting for your partner to join you.  And... you have a camera in your hand at that moment for whatever strange reason...

You can record the reflection of the Mighty Oak branches that can be seen there.  Whatever possessed me to take this picture?  It doesn't matter.  What matters is that I was observing the world around me and taking no small amount of delight in little things that are uncommon only because we ignore them so much of the time.

Amish Cockscomb are a strange sort of flower - almost looking a little like the things you would see on a coral reef.  And, when the sun hits them just right and you give yourself a moment to observe them up-close and personal, you have an interesting spectacle that is unlike ...  Well, unlike most anything other than coral?

Sometimes, you actually miss the moment.  In this case, I meant to go view these flowers a few mornings prior to the one where I actually did go look at them.  You see, if I had done that, I would have seen them in their full glory BEFORE the first frost scarred them.  Yet, I did not let that stop me from seeing them at all, for that would have been a bigger loss.

And then there are places on the farm that are home to the mundane and oft overlooked.  A t-post can be found in many locations, both in use and in "storage."  And, there are certainly various dead branches with fungi here and there, because that is part of what happens in wild places.  They're just part of the background noise as we go about our daily work at the Genuine Faux Farm.  

One day, I stopped to look more closely and decided there were interesting textures and colors to be observed here.  Suddenly, the mundane became interesting.  Interesting enough that the next time I had the camera out, I snapped a couple of photos just to see if I could record it - and maybe share it with you.

Have a great day, and take a moment to stop, look, listen, smell and touch.  Add a little awe and wonder to this rotation of the Earth.

When I Grow Up

"What are you going to do when you grow up?"

I don't know if it still holds true today, but I bet it does.  One of the common approaches used to get school children to write was to ask them a question about themselves.  Giving them a chance to write a couple of sentences and draw a picture of what they see themselves doing when they are older seemed like a pretty safe exercise.

I recall that each time that question was posed to me in elementary school, I came up with a different answer.  And, I bet most of my answers were pretty typical for a child of that age to select.  After all, how much understanding does a person who is six years old have of any potential occupation?  Considering how many of the Peanuts (Charles M Schulz) books I read and re-read, I wouldn't be surprised if I thought about doing World War I Flying Ace on a Sopwith Camel at some point.

Somewhere along the line - probably about fourth grade - that question disappeared for a while.  Perhaps it would show up when an adult who didn't know me was searching for something to say to make polite conversation with a kid.  And, that's probably about the time many kids were figuring out that they really did not know what they wanted to do when they grew up and the question was no longer as innocuous as it once was.

Of course, "what are you going to do when you grow up" started to take on a new meaning in high school.  Now, there was actually a little bit (or maybe a lot) of pressure that came along with the question.  People expected you to have some sort of direction or inkling of a plan.  And, as you progressed through high school and maybe college, the question changed to "WHEN are you going to grow up?"

At some point after that a strange thing happens.  You are the youngest adult involved in an activity, or at work, or some other sort of thing and you do a pretty good job on a particular task - perhaps better than a "rookie" is expected to do normally.  And someone responds with some variation of "what are you going to do when you grow up?"

Now, it's a compliment of a sort.  You've exceeded expectations and maybe there is a hint that you will go on to do something truly amazing in that field or workplace.  

And that's often the last time you'll hear it applied to you.  Even if you feel like you are still in the process of "growing up."

What do I want to do when I grow up?

I want to exercise a playful attitude and a joyful spirit, things that often seem to come more easily to us when we are six.  I want to learn - and then learn some more - even though there isn't as much that is completely new to me as there was when I was nine.  I want to take the time and energy to be awed and react with wonder to the world around us.  I want a butterfly landing on my hand now to still hold the thrill it did when I was seven.

I want the big heart that so many eight year-olds seem to have and the lust for life that most who are five years of age exhibit.  But, despite my words that say I want some of these characteristics that kids often show, I am not saying that I want to be that age again.  Instead, I appreciate the experiences I have had and I want to integrate them with playfulness and joy, a thirst for learning and a willingness to experience awe and wonder, and a heart and soul that sees life as a gift that we share with others.

So, what are you going to do when you grow up?

Another Merry Chase - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to Postal History Sunday, a weekly writing that is published on the Genuine Faux Farm blog and the GFF Postal History blog for all who might be interested. For those who might be new - or if you've missed this sort of introduction before - Postal History Sunday started as a "pandemic project" where I, Rob Faux, a vegetable/poultry farmer and postal history collector, decided to share this hobby I enjoy with anyone who might want to read about it.  This will be the 68th "official" entry in the series.

Everyone is welcome and I try to write so that persons with no personal history experience can still appreciate what I am sharing.  At the same time, I do my best to provide some "meaty details" that other postal historians might appreciate.  It is my hope that everyone who reads these posts will find something to enjoy and, perhaps, learn something new.

Now, put on the fuzzy slippers and get a favorite beverage - keeping it away from the keyboard and the old paper items.  Pack up those troubles and worries.  We don't need them right now.  And let's see where we can go with a new "merry chase."  The first entry to feature a merry chase was published in September and received positive feedback - I guess I'll just have to do my best to live up to it.

Cutting to the Chase

Today's merry chase features this envelope that was mailed from Philippeville, Algeria to Lyon, France on December 7, 1858.  Already we can see that this letter must have been forwarded at least once because the address "Rue de Castries, Lyon, Rhone, France" has been crossed out.

A new address has been placed at the top which reads "a nice poste restante." It seems likely that Madame Brachet had gone to an area that is now known as the French Riviera or the Côte d’Azur.  In the 1850s, it was already well known as a health resort, especially by the British elite.  So, apparently, we have a person who likely had money, or was connected to someone who could host them.

But, what does "a nice poste restante" mean, exactly?

The first part is probably not so hard for a person who knows something of southeastern France.  Nice is one of the larger settlements on the Mediterranean Coast, so the first part means "in Nice."  But, no address is given for Madame Brachet.  Instead, the words "poste restante" tell the postal services in Nice to hold the letter at the post office for the recipient to pick up the letter.

And, since the postage had only been provided to mail the letter from Philippeville to Lyon, she would have to pay additional postage, which was indicated by the black squiggle in the middle of the envelope (we'll get to that later!).

And, here is the back of this small envelope.  Once again, we see "a nice poste restante," but written in pencil and there are a few postal markings here.  So, let's run down what the postal markings say (at least the ones I can read).

1. Philippeville, Algerie Dec 7, 1858
2. Marseille A Lyon Dec 12
3. Lyon Dec 13
4. Lyon A Marseille
5. Nizza Arrivo Dec 15
6. IO in a circle
   

The travels of this letter can be seen below.  Remember, you can click on an image to see a larger version.

This piece of mail traveled by steamship from Philippeville to Marseille and them by train form Marseille to Lyon.  The train trip is confirmed by the Marseille A Lyon marking, which would have been applied in the mail car on the northbound train.

There are two Lyon markings on the back and I can only read the date on one of them.  One was likely applied when the letter was received and delivery was attempted.  The "IO" was probably applied in Lyon for the carrier route or distribution, but I have not confirmed that as a certain fact.  It was determined then that Madame Brachet was away and instruction with a new address led to the letter being forwarded without postage.

Back on the train (Lyon A Marseille), the letter would return to Marseille.  I am taking a guess that it may have left Marseille on the 14th to take the train to Toulon - which was as far as the train went at the time.  It would have to be carried by coach the rest of the way to Nice.

And there it sat - at the Nice post office - waiting for Madame Brachet. 

So, who was Madame Brachet?

Unfortunately, the contents of the letter are no longer with the envelope, so we don't have much more to go on other than to search to see if we can find family in the Lyon area during this period in time.  Since we are fairly certain that this is a person with connections, we can make some additional educated guesses.  It turns out that our addressee may well have been related (a newly widowed spouse?) to Jean-Louis Brachet (1789 - Apr 10, 1858) who is profiled in a book edited by Stephen Ashwal (photo from that book). [1]

Jean-Louis applied to Hôtel Dieu, which had served as the main hospital facility in the Lyon area for centuries, to study medicine at the age of 17.  He became a surgeon intern after seven years and adjunct surgeon after only five more.  He was appointed as Napoleon's personal surgeon during the latter's exile in Elba until Brachet contracted typhus and returned home.

He was a prolific author of medical materials on a wide range of topics.  His first paper was published in 1813, but he is best known today for Traite de l' Hysterie (Traits of Hysteria, 1847) and his work regarding convulsive disorders in children.  

This is certainly an interesting diversion, but how certain can we be that the recipient of this letter was, indeed, related to Jean-Louis Brachet?  The answer is, we cannot.  But, we have clues that could, if I wanted to pursue it further, help to prove or disprove the theory.  For now, we'll just leave it as an interesting, and plausible, side story that Brachet's widow was able to go to Nice and get her mind off of the recent loss of her husband.

What qualifies as a Merry Chase?

"Merry chase" is an "official" Postal History Sunday term.  And, as such, I can define it any way I want to.  I suppose I could just say it is any piece of postal history that makes Rob say, "what a merry chase," but that would probably be viewed as an unsatisfactory definition by everyone except me.

One way an item qualifies is if it was forwarded to a new destination two or more times.  For example, something like the letter below would work.

Miss S Louise Jewell was clearly traveling Europe in 1914 and this letter chased her around Europe and clearly did not catch up until she returned to college in Claremont, California.  Letters to persons traveling abroad often provide us with excellent opportunities for a merry chase.

The second characteristic that gets me to qualify something as a merry chase is if an item was forwarded to a new destination once, but the travels provide me with enough interest that I happily dive into the details.  That is what today's featured item provides.

One-third of the French Riviera wasn't

In today's world, Nice is a city in France and the French Riviera reaches all the way to Menton, at the border with Italy. However, in 1858, Nice was on the border of France and the Italian state of Sardinia.  In fact, Nice was on the Sardinian side of the border!  Madame Brachet had actually left the country.

It would not be long before this region would be ceded to France by Sardinia in exchange for France's help during the Italian War of Independence in 1859.  This area was actually the eastern portion of the County of Nice.  The western section of the county had already been annexed by France in 1792.

After the regional referendum that confirmed the cession of territory to France, many disappointed Italians relocated themselves in protest to the Italian settlements to the East.  This is referred to as the Niçard exodus.

Shown above is an 1847 folded letter that was mailed from Nice (Nizza) when it was within Sardinian borders and well before it was given over to France.  This business letter was sent to another Sardinian city, Genoa (Genes).  The smaller markings at the top right read 7'1, which indicated that the weight of the item was 7.1 grams.  This was too much for a single weight letter at that time, so it was rated as a double rate letter.

The other, larger scrawl is a "12," which would be consistent with two times the 6 soldi rate.

And here is another folded letter (1864) that was sent from Genova (Genoa) in the newly unified Kingdom of Italy.  This item was sent to Nice (Nizza Marittima), but it required foreign postage because this was now a foreign letter (40 centesimi per 10 grams : Jan 1, 1861 - Jul 31, 1869). 

This brings us back to our featured, merry chase, cover!

The large, dark "squiggle" at center right on this envelope is a "5," which would have been the proper rate for a foreign letter received in Sardinia from a French origin.  Five decimes (or 50 centesimi) were due at the post office when it was picked up there.  

The rate between France and Sardinia was based on weight and distance in 1858.  The 50 ctm per 7.5 grams was applied to letters that did not qualify for the border rate.  Since Nice was much more than 30 km away from Nice using straight-line distance, it required the full foreign mail rate (Jul 1, 1851 - Dec 31, 1860).

And, Algeria was French

For the purposes of a postal historian, Algeria was simply a part of France in 1858.  Beginning January 1, 1849, Algeria used the same postage stamps as France and they qualified for France's internal mailing rates.  For example, if someone in the United States mailed a letter to Algeria in 1863, it would have cost the same as a letter mailed to Paris.  For the purposes of our letter, that meant a location in Algeria could mail something to a location in France for the same cost as any internal letter anywhere in the France proper. 

Above is an 1854 folded letter from Bône (now known as Annaba) to Toulon, France.  Toulon is located between Marseille and Nice.  The internal letter rate for France was 20 centimes for the first 7.5 grams of letter weight.  So, even though this letter AND our merry chase letter had to cross the Mediterranean Sea, it still only cost 20 centimes for the first 7.5 grams in letter weight. 

The French conquest of Algeria began in 1830, and for those interested in a visual timeline, you can click on the map above (from wikimedia commons) to get some idea of the progression.  The wiki page for French Algeria feels like it is a summary of Ben Kiernan's work, which I will cite at the end of this blog. [2]

A single incident involving merchants who would not pay a bill, a French consul who was probably intent on siding with them, and ... a fly whisk... is cited as the cause of the war that followed.  I think we can be certain the motivations were likely more complex than that.  By the time we reach the year 1875, an estimated 825,000 indigenous Algerians had been killed in the war.

Knowing some of the history of French Algeria actually helps us to understand why a letter might be mailed from Philippeville (now known as Skikda) to Lyon in the first place.  Beginning in 1848, France administered Algeria as if it was simply another département - a rough equivalent to a state or perhaps county in the US.  People had been emigrating to Algeria from France and taking advantage of land confiscated by the French government from the native peoples there.  By the time we get to 1858, and the mailing of our merry chase letter, the majority of people residing in the coastal cities of Algeria were actually Europeans who had emigrated there.

That seems to be as good as any reason that a person who lives in France might receive mail from someone in Algeria.

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Thank you for joining me for what started as a fairly simple Postal History Sunday and turned our to be quite the merry chase.  I hope you found something to enjoy and that you learned something new in the process.  Have a great remainder of your day and an excellent week to come!

[1] Kellaway, Peter and Mizrahi, Eli, Bio of Jean-Louis Brachet in chapter 2 titled The Beginnings of Pediatric Neurology: the Early 19th Century, Child Neurology: It's Origins, Founders, Growth and Evolution, 2nd edition, Ashwal, Steven, ed., Academic Press, 2021, p 25

[2] Kiernan, Ben, Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur, Yale University Press, 2007.

The Blue-est Sky - March

When I picture March in my mind's eye, I think of windy days, big snowstorms after the main Winter snowpack is gone and puddles on ground that is still frozen.  I don't associate blue skies with the third month of the year, yet my photographic evidence tells me that we may find ourselves viewing the deepest blues and blue-violets that the heavens can offer on a sunshine filled day.

Sure, this is not true for every day of March.  But, what sort of day during this 31-day period is most likely to get a farmer to trot outside with a camera and take pictures of the landscape that barely has a hint of green (if any)?  But, of course, it would be just this sort of day!

Perhaps the sky seems just that much bluer after months of white, frigid landscapes or brown and battered scenery during those times when the snow has yet to cover those surfaces?  Does it really matter?  I'm not sure that it does.  But, what does matter is that we do notice the beauty of a day like this, regardless of the time of year.

Frozen Sunshine - February

Citrus is a winter-time treat in Iowa.

No, I think you just interpreted that wrong.  I am NOT implying that Iowa grows citrus.  What I am saying is that we do NOT grow citrus and it is typically pretty cold during the month of February in my home state.  And that is why citrus is a winter-time treat.

Driving in states like Florida or California, you can see evidence of an abundance of various citrus treats.  If you live in such a place, it would be tempting to feel that there is no reason to believe that a ripe orange that is ready to eat is terribly special.  But, in Iowa, it is not so common and we do appreciate the drops of sunshine that come in the form of a tasty food.

I remember that we would occasionally get a bag of oranges in our house and Dad would do the honor of peeling them.  His four kids would open their mouths like baby birds, asking for the next juicy slice and he would toss them to each, depending a bit on their ability to catch what was offered.

Tammy and I are now fortunate to have relatives in Florida that will send us a box of oranges every so often.  But, we are sometimes not so fortunate if the delivery company does not remember that we live in Iowa - and the temperatures do not stay above freezing here during the month of February.  

It turns out that you can't peel an orange successfully when it has an internal temperature of 27 degrees Fahrenheit.  In fact, it is pretty hard to put the probe of a thermometer into an orange when it is that cold.

Just a bit of frozen sunshine, I guess.

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What's going on here?  For those who do realize that this post is coming out in December, you might be a bit confused.  Well, I am taking photos that were taken during each month during the past year and doing a little bit of writing about each.  This was a picture that we took in Febuary 2021 - and yes, we did our best to make some orange juice out of the frozen fruit before they all went bad on us.

Memory of Seasons Past - January

One day this past January, the sky was leaden and the fog rolled in, causing rime ice to form on any surface that would have it.  Old spider webs, door knobs, tree limbs, and the clothes pins still clinging to the line we use on the farm for drying our laundry on days that will allow it.

You could ask me why our clothespins were still on the line in January and my first reaction would be to be slightly defensive.  After all, we did just hang some laundry out to dry on this line on November 28 of this year.  Surely that's not so far away from January?

But along comes the freezing fog, covering each wooden clip in a mockery of our desire to use sun, warmth and breeze to finish the process of washing our clothing, our towels and our various sundries made of material that would benefit from a drying.  It's very presence reminds me that there are always things that I don't get done - like removing the clothespins from the line before the rime frost covers them.

I remember a neighbor from a home in years past that would bring out their cloth bag of clothespins and hang it on the line.  It was incredibly convenient for them to reach into the bag for pins that would hold the next piece of laundry in place.  And, I remember the day they came dashing out into the rain, all aflutter about the mostly dry laundry reverting to a very damp state.  But, mostly about their bag of wooden clothespins getting soaked.

If our clothespins could talk, they would probably wish they belonged to that person, so they could come inside for the winter - and not be covered with the evidence of a nice, cold day.

December Genuine Faux Farm News

This will be the first time since August/September 2019 that we've managed to produce a GFF Newsletter two months in a row.  Of course, I've also been producing a blog post nearly every day since April 2020 and we do put together a short email newsletter for each delivery.  But, I've come to realize that we've gotten away from letting people know what IS going on at the farm. 

What's up at the farm?

I have to admit that I've been grateful for some above average temperatures in the late Fall this year.  With the Pesticide Action Network job, I am not as free to work on the farm as I was in prior years, so this has given me a chance to get things done without a high-stress/high-energy burst of long days in frigid weather attempting to get it ALL done.

Of course, there is never such a thing as getting it all done.  If I've learned one thing - that's it - work on the farm is perpetual and continuous.  But, it is also true that there are things that really need to be done by a certain time and others that you can... well, you can get along without completing them for a while longer.

At this point, we've gotten almost all of the irrigation equipment in and most of the poultry equipment is also in.  The hens are in their winter room and winter pasture.  Crops are done for the season as we decided not to do anything with late plantings and will probably just go with some very early plantings for next Spring.

We are about at the point where we shut down the walk-in (which is now used to keep things warm rather than cool) and move the remaining product into the house.  The biggest projects are to clean up the high tunnels, clean the turkey and brooder rooms, and re-arrange all of the equipment in our outbuildings so it is all properly sheltered AND we can get to the things we need to get to.

Of course I have simplified the list for this post and, of course, we won't get everything done I hope to complete before we decide we just ride the rest of the winter months out at whatever point we get to in the next week or two.  It's a typical early December on the farm.  We do what we can and then we do what we have to.

Avoiding the temptation of the Status Quo

We have made some decisions to move on to different models for our farm during the last few years.  One of our consistent enterprises has been to raise broiler chickens for meat and turkeys.  We are aware that we have developed very good systems for each and it is often easier to just "leave well enough alone" and just keep doing what we've been doing.

Except.

Except, we found that we were getting pretty tired of raising the broiler chickens in the numbers we had been doing.  They were taking too much of our available farm time and energy and we weren't getting to do some of the things on the farm that we like doing more.

So, there has been an internal battle where we find ourselves see-sawing back and forth.  How can we give up an enterprise that by most measures is successful and in a good position to continue that way?  How can we justify feeling worn out by one enterprise when the others we enjoy more suffer from lack of attention?

Don't worry, we aren't struggling with it that much.  We continue to stand behind the decision to raise turkeys, but drop broilers to numbers that are more personal and family use numbers.  But, we want to point out that voluntary changes in life aren't always that easy to see all the way through.  

Seed Savers and Jorgensen Plaza for the win in 2022

Rob will continue to work his 90% time job for Pesticide Action Network for the foreseeable future and Tammy will continue to work for Wartburg College as a Professor of Social Work.  We do not anticipate hiring someone on a permanent basis to work on the farm.  As a result, we have to be very selective in how we parse out our farm hours.

What we have learned in 2021 is that we CAN accomplish a lot, but we have to continue to shave certain tasks off of the list if we want to be successful with the Genuine Faux Farm and our jobs.  While we did lose two of the three crops we grew for Seed Savers to extreme weather events, we feel comfortable that we can still produce for them in the future.  The concentration of labor needs favors our new model, so we will continue to refine our processes to make this one work until it does OR until we are certain it will not work.  

And, we have been pleased that Jorgensen Plaza's kitchen has become much easier to work with during the past several months, increasing our optimism that we can grow food crops in larger, bulk amounts to serve their needs.  With farm time at a premium, we cannot spend it as we did when we ran a CSA farm share program or other models with numerous small orders.  We still want to grow food for local consumption and this is our window to do so.  Here's hoping we can continue to work with JP in the future.

Remaining 2021 Schedule

We have one remaining egg delivery scheduled for 2021 on December 8th (Wednesday).  We will maintain our normal times - 5:15-5:30 at Yogi Life in Waverly and 6:00-6:15 in the West parking lot at Jorgensen Plaza.  

After that delivery, we may contact individuals who have ordered larger numbers of eggs if we get overwhelmed by the numbers in our hands.  Otherwise, we will see you again in 2022.