Tread Lightly

 

Cats and humans do not exactly speak the same languages and they certainly come with different perspectives when it comes to the world around us.  What I have learned over time, with the help of my various feline friends, is that when you are not absolutely certain how your words or actions will be interpreted - you tread lightly.

It's actually common sense.  Reserve the heavy-handed response or the emotionally charged display or the loud and expansive declaration for those rare moments when they are really needed.  Otherwise, take a more conservative approach.  After all, if you start with your volume at 11, there isn't anywhere else to go.

After yesterday's post made me reflect on our prior feline companions, I realized that we were taught how to better communicate - both with cats and people - by Eowyn and Strider.  I am positive this has not prevented me from making more mistakes with our feline friends since that time - but I'd like to think I have gotten more innovative with the errors of my ways.  At least that's one way to put it.

On the very rare occasion that I might raise my voice towards one of them, it tends to get results.  And, I rarely feel good about it afterwards.  That's simply confirmation that maybe that approach is best left to extreme circumstances.

Yet, we make mistakes like this all of the time in our day to day communications - and I don't think we even recognize it.  It is one thing if we are face to face, maskless, and with people we know well.  Members of the group are familiar with each other and ALL of the communication clues are present and accounted for.  We can get away with short-cuts and we can be a bit more ridiculous, a bit more emotional, a bit more clever, and maybe even a bit more truthful in those situations.

But, take away some of the clues and you have problems.

Case in point?  I was having a conversation with a couple of people with whom I was acquainted.  We had a hobby in common that put us together.  Otherwise, we only had the basics as to what each person did and what each individual was like.  We were face to face, but wearing masks.

I tried to make a clever and slightly sarcastic remark as it seemed to be fitting with their mood and conversation.

They both became silent and stared at me.

Then I realized something.  They did not know me all that well and they could not read my eyes.  They could not see my smile and the tone was muffled.  I, of course, made sure to explain what I was saying and the tension left rapidly - thank goodness.

I had broken the rule of treading lightly when there are hindrances towards understanding between members of a conversation.

We break this rule constantly with electronic communication modes - both when we type/speak or when we read/listen.  It is bad enough when we type our words and then fail to re-consider them before posting (or speaking).  It is worse if, as the listener or reader, we don't take a moment to consider the intent behind the words.

There are ways to tread lightly and still stand firm when one must do so without losing the power of what you are saying.  There are ways to tread lightly when you confront another person so that you do not turn it into a public shaming event - giving them space to go about the learning they might need and removing the motivation to dig in their heels and close their ears and eyes.  There are ways to tread lightly and gently probe for more clarity, while being friendly, approachable and kind.

Another case in point - this time online, but still within the same hobby.  I shared an item and someone bluntly posted that they thought it (a piece of postal history) was a fake.  Others jumped to my defense before I even knew there was a response - some of their comments were interpreted by the person who felt the item was fake as being a bit aggressive.  What should I do now?

I tread lightly.  I openly admitted that there could be questions about the item even though I felt it was genuine - and I asked what this person had seen.  They responded.  I recognized their observations as valid concerns and then I discussed each of them and why I didn't think they were a problem - and allowed them to counter if they wanted.  The key was to give this person's observations and concerns value and voice while making it clear the question was still open (that I was not in agreement yet - and might never be).

In the end, we both agreed the item was fine.  In the end, we had more respect for each other - or at least I think we did.  It was still all online and there are still limits to what I can conclude.

So much of the time, treading lightly is a better way to promote learning and mutual understanding - because treading lightly doesn't mean you have to agree about everything.  Treading lightly doesn't mean we have to be someone other than ourselves.  All it means is that we're trying to adjust for the non verbal and other clues we are missing and we're admitting to ourselves that we could be missing something very important.

And, by the way, you should also SIT LIGHTLY in case there is a cat wrapped up in the blanket on the chair.

Boxes

 

This throwback post comes from January 13, 2010 - twelve years ago.  It was just two days prior that we had taken our 19-year old feline friend, Eowyn (the tortie at upper left), to the vet for the final time in her long and illustrious life.  She and her brother cat, Stryder, had been with Tammy and I for most of our married life.  They are both shown on the "Mighty Perch," an ugly wood contraption that we built, with our friend, Phil - using a very limited set of tools and an even more limited idea as to what we were doing.

Believe it or not, that darned perch traveled with us from home to home - just as our two companions did.  Fitchburg to Burke to Duluth to Mankato to Lake Crystal to Decorah and Chokio... and finally Tripoli.  They endured much - as did that perch.

It wasn't until a couple of years ago that we finally dismantled the "Almighty Perch" having never introduced it to the current Farmhouse Supervisors, Bree and HobNob.  

I was looking for a January throwback post that I wanted to share and came across this one and felt it was worth another viewing - not necessarily to grieve, yet again - but to celebrate the joys of companionship.

--------------------------

I'm in the car, driving home and there is a box in the back seat.
The four flaps are interwoven in the traditional way.
But, I know interweaving the flaps isn't necessary.
I know what is in the box - and it makes me think of other boxes.

Nineteen years ago, I was driving a different car and I was driving home.
There was a box in the car.
The four flaps were interwoven in the traditional way.
And, I knew what was in the box - so I knew the reason for this precaution.

There were two kittens in that box.
One black and white, the other tortie.
It had been difficult putting them in the box.
When one was put in, the other would try to leap out.
It reminded me a little of those silly "bop'em gopher" games.
Every time you pushed one little feline head down
The other would pop up.

Boxes became the equivalent of fun time.
This was especially true for the tortie.
Make scratching noises on the inside.
She would jump in.
Make scratching noises on the outside.
She would bat at the source of the sound.

Boxes became the base of operations.
Play sessions with the nerf ball
would always start with the tortie in a box.
Until she couldn't stand it and would dart out,
and do her best to chase the ball,
as it was rolled from human to human.

Boxes became the place to lick perceived wounds.
While she was named Eowyn,
We nicknamed her "Bat" (or acrobat)
Due to her amazing leaps as she played with us.
She would get wound up
Until she landed on a human or otherwise lost control.
Soon after, she would be back in the box.
For a cat's time out.

Boxes were a way to pretend
that everything on the inside was mysterious
and everything on the outside was spooky.
We would tip the box over the cat,
and she would creep around.
Paws occasionally darting out to defend
against an unseen adversary.

As time went by, boxes became a place of safety.
Any time life became too much
she would go to a box and sit in
or on
until things settled to her liking.

Boxes were the booster seat
to sit closer to the level of her humans at the dinner table.
Boxes were the perfect place to nap,
Especially with her head propped on a corner like a pillow.
Boxes were the place to be in winter,
when the box was placed next to a radiator for heat.
And boxes were sometimes the place to do things,
that the humans didn't really want her to do.

But now, the box serves a different purpose.
I know what is in this box.
It is one nineteen year old, tortie cat.
It was difficult putting her in the box.
And it will be difficult taking her out again.
For one last time.

Whether Wythards

Weather can be such a transitory thing for most of us.  Our attention is usually focused on whatever is in front of us - whether it is the forecast for the weekend when we hope to be outside with friends and family or the weather of the moment as we dash from the car to the shelter of a building.  It takes something truly exceptional to stick in our memories for very long - unless you are a farmer, climate scientist or a meteorologist.

Then you tend to mull things over a bit longer.

from KWWL social media post accessed Jan 8, 2022

I am still processing the weather systems that barreled through the Midwest this past December.  First, there was the big storm on December 10 and 11 that spawned one of the longest continuous tornadoes on record (with a continuous track of about 165 miles).  In Iowa, we got ice, which brings about some of its own problems.  But, this was one of those times where we were grateful not to be in the bulls-eye at the same time we looked with horror and concern at the damage in Tennessee, Kentucky and surrounding states.

from National Weather Service 1/18/22

I don't think I would have been the only one to think that we should be done with this sort of storm for the Winter months now - which is why the derecho that followed on December 15 was not just terrifying - but it felt like a grave offense to all our sensibilities (among other things).

After all, despite the fact that I have paid more attention to weather as a small-scale farmer over the past eighteen years, I had first learned of the term "derecho" in 2020, when the August 10 storm blew through Iowa.  I am taking a wild guess that very few people in the Midwest knew this piece of weather terminology prior to this point.  Or, if they did, it got pushed to the front of our minds with emphasis!

I guess it is possible that I'd heard of a derecho prior to that point, but it sure didn't stick with me.

KWWL social media post Jan 7, 2022

I think I made the mistake of continuing with the belief that tornadoes (and derechos) are warm season events.  Yes, there can be strong winds in a blizzard - but a derecho in mid-December?  

Even the forecasters seemed to be a bit flustered by the whole thing.  I have to admit that they were warning about this for a couple of days prior to the actual event and they did not waver.  They were throwing around words like "unprecedented" and "completely new territory" as they predicted the weather system that was heading our way.

Well, we listened and spent the couple of days prior to the event trying to get every potential "missile" tied down or put under cover - and happily, our farm fared reasonably well.  Some roof damage on the lean-to to the Poultry Pavilion, but we kind of expected that and couldn't do anything more to prepare for it.  

And, as you can see - we went and blew past the record for the most confirmed tornadoes in a single "outbreak."  And this was in DECEMBER.  Ugh.  Oddly enough, we had another top-five outbreak on July 14 of the past year too, including a tornado that ran just south of Waverly.

The crazy thing about the July 14 storm set is that it was so close and yet so far from our farm.  But, we got our chance at the Genuine Faux Farm on August 24 this year.  It was strong enough that it rates its own weather page at NOAA - hurray, we're famous!

That's the storm that actually caused some real damage on our farm, including knocking the chimney on the farm house down.  Nothing really horrible, but it did make some extra work to clean things up.

But, I think we could be forgiven if we were pretty jumpy on August 27, when storms went north of us.   But we still felt that one when all of that rain came down the Wapsipinicon River.  Yes, we came close to a record setting crest at Tripoli.

All of this and I haven't even mentioned that irritating killing frost at the end of May.

Oh.  Oops.  Just did.

So, what's the point in looking at all of this again? It's all in the past.  We're all doing whatever we need to do (or we have already done what we need to do) to get past these things when it comes to clean up and repair.  Severe weather happens every year, all over the globe - and has done so since the beginning.

Well, it's like a lot of things on this Earth.  It does no good to dwell on the bad things that have happened nor does it do to dwell on the bad things that could happen.  But, it is also foolish not to pay attention to these things and make reasonable preparations for the future.  Closing your eyes is also not a valid solution here.

So, what things are we looking at doing at the Genuine Faux Farm now that we've taken a look at the weather patters for the past fifteen or so years (we're just highlighting one here)?  That, my friends, is a blog for another day!

Biding Their Time

Every year we have lived in the Midwest (our entire lives actually) there has been a stretch or two of weather that might be cold enough to qualify for the word "frigid" to be used as a descriptor.  I remember some of those days when I delivered the Sunday newspaper and I recall exactly how grateful I was that Dad would often get up with me and allow me to load the pile up into the van on those frigid mornings.  

I can recall mornings at college that were especially cold.  And, since I lived on the edge of campus, I often got to look forward to some of the longer walks to go get breakfast or attend classes at 8 AM.  Now - to be perfectly honest - my typical daily routine didn't have me getting up all that early - but I sure did find myself walking back to my room pretty late at night.  I remember several times walking from the computer lab after my shift ended at midnight.

The good news?  The walks were actually pretty short and - as a college student - I was probably not quite as aware of how cold it really was as I should have been.

We had a HUGE stretch of cold when we lived in Duluth and it defined for us a new reality as to what Winter could really be.  Surprisingly enough - we got a new definition once we moved to Lake Crystal and the record snows fell.  There were parts of southwest Minnesota where driving down the highway felt like you were in a tunnel.  Even the semi-truck drivers couldn't hope to see over the edges of the piles of snow on either side of the road.

Once we moved to the Genuine Faux Farm, we got yet another perspective on what it means to have cold weather.  While a person would prefer to stay inside where it is warm, the need to care for animals on the farm actually requires that you go outside MORE often - but maybe for shorter periods of time if you are lucky.

We are looking at another batch of cold for a couple of days this week.  More trips to collect eggs before they freeze and many more opportunities to have your eyelashes freeze to your cheek and feel the snow texture change.  And, more opportunities to stand outside for a moment - transfixed by the absolute stillness of the world as your breath forms a cloud around your head. 

But, if that cold is not for you - I present you with promises that some of our flowering plants hold with them as they huddle under the surface of the soil - waiting for their chance to shine once again.  Remember these moments when you wish days were warmer and hold them in your heart so that you can feel even more joy the next time you see a perennial flower in bloom once again.

They're biding their time.

Wordplay

The amount of time I spend on social media is dictated by a few things.  First, my job with PAN requires that I do some work with producing social media posts.  Second, I have found that many people who read this blog come here when they just happen to see one of my posts linking to the blog - so I guess I need to keep posting there.  And third, if in my quick perusal of content in recent posts shows me something of interest, I might dig a little more.

I had been noticing odd posts from people I know and I really was not sure what was going on.  Things that looked like this:

Eventually I figured out that people were sharing their results for a word game that is available on the internet called Wordle.  Every day, a new five letter word in the English language is chosen and you have six tries to guess what it is.

Each guess has to be a valid word (you can't just spill out a batch of any five letters).  Once you submit a guess, the game tells you which letters are in the word or not.  If they are in the word, but in the wrong place, the letter is shaded yellow.  If you got the right letter in the right place, it is green.  So, you can see from the image above that I got one letter correct in the first guess, but it was in the wrong place.  My second guess had two letters correct and they were in the corrects spots at the front of the word.

This is what the actual puzzle looks like. When people share their results, they share the image I showed at the top so that they are not showing other folks the answer in case they also want to play.  I am willing to show this answer because it is from last week (a new puzzle is introduced each day and I presume older ones are no longer accessible).

Your life experience matters

Some time ago, someone asked me why standardized tests could possibly have a bias towards one population over another.  Well - you have an example above.

After guess number three, we KNOW four of the five letters and where they belong.  There were TWO word choices that could have been correct (unless I am missing a word option, but I do not think I am).

I chose the word "Tansy."  A tansy is a flower that is not native to North America and is considered by some to be a dangerous invasive plant.  Meanwhile, others might think of it as a beautiful garden addition that might have some other benefits as well.  So, who would recognize the word "tansy" more readily than the word "tangy."

Someone like me.

I could take a wild guess that the majority of the population in the US would recognize "tangy" as a word and not even know that "tansy" was one.  So, if you want to write a test that favors people like me - make the answer "tansy."  If you want to favor everyone else.... 

I think you get the point.

Or maybe it's just me?

I have only played a few Wordles thus far.  But, I do like word games, so I suspect I'll enjoy it for a while.  It doesn't take much time to do and it is a good brain exercise.  But, I will say this - my luck with Wordle is the same as it seems to be with many other games.  If there is a perfectly equal chance that an answer is one of two options, I'll pick the wrong one.  If there is a perfectly equal chance of one of three options, I will pick a wrong one and then another wrong one.

Case in point?

I knew the first three letters of a word and they were all in the right place at the front of the word.

The letters?  D  R  I ........

Take a moment, what five letter words start with DRI?

I first tried DRIFT

Well, I had an impending snow storm on my mind, so perhaps that's why it was my first guess.  Regardless of the motivation - it was wrong.

I then tried DRILL

I had used our cordless drill earlier in the day.  Maybe that's why I chose this next.  But, it was still wrong.

The answer was DRINK

Probably the most common of the three words and I chose it last.  

Yep, it's just me.

The Rural Burden - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to Postal History Sunday!  This weekly post can be found on the Genuine Faux Farm blog amidst posts that are farm related, nature related, or whatever-else related.  Over the past couple of years a new entry has appeared on that blog nearly every day.  But, Sundays are reserved for posts that share the farmer's postal history hobby with those who might enjoy it.  If you are only interested in Postal History Sunday, you might prefer the GFF Postal History blog.  Postal History Sunday is cross-posted there and all of the farm stuff is absent.

It doesn't really matter which location you read Postal History Sunday.  Everyone is welcome.  It doesn't matter if you are a beginner in postal history or an expert - or a passing bystander who just likes to learn a few different things here and there while I share something I enjoy.

Put on the fuzzy slippers and grab a favorite beverage - it's time for some postal history!

--------------------------------

Pickup and delivery of the mail in rural areas has always posed a unique problem to postal services.  Since I live on a gravel road in a decidedly rural area, the handling of the mail in such places has a personal connection for me.  Of course, the hard part about my focus on mail in the 1850s, 60s and 70s is the fact that there is much less material from and to rural areas than there is to the big cities and towns of that time.  It's a simple matter of the mathematics - a rural area has fewer people, so there is bound to be less mail to and from those locations.  And yet, there is still plenty to explore.

The postal drop box in France

The folded letter above was mailed in December of 1856 from the rural area near Le Neubourg, France to Evreux - about 25 km to the southeast.  Forty centimes of postage were applied to the envelope to pay for a letter that weighed over 7.5 grams and no more than 15 grams (effective July 1, 1854- Dec 31, 1861).

The postmark at the top left that reads Le Neubourg was applied at the post office in that town, which could not have been very large in the 1850s, but sufficiently large to have a post office.  However, we have a clue that tells us this did not actually originate in Le Neubourg.

The "O" in circle marking was applied by a rural carrier using a hand stamp that was kept in the rural mail drop box.

Many rural villages in France did not have their own post offices.  However, mail boxes were provided for residents in the area to drop mail.  The mail carrier would remove mail from the box and apply a marking to each item to indicate the rural origin of the piece of mail.  The hand stamp that was used to apply this marking was kept inside of the drop box and only pulled out when the carrier needed to mark the letters being picked up.

These markings were introduced in 1836 and were in service until being completely phased out in 1912.

I presume, but do not know for certain, that a unique letter was given to each drop box within a rural area - so I do not know if the letter "O" can help us determine exactly where this piece of mail originated.  However, we are in luck with this particular piece of postal history because we do have some of the contents!

This letter was sent to the department prefecture in Evreux to obtain permission to build a dwelling.  The seal of an ‘Ingenieur Ordinaire” and the “Ingenieur en Chef” are both affixed to the letter.  Presumably giving approval.  The contents of the letter indicate that the building would take place in Épreville, and there just happens to be an Épreville-près-le-Neubourg to the southwest of Le Neubourg.

It now seems like a very good guess that this would be where this letter got its start.  It is also a very good guess that we do not have all of the contents since the single sheet of this folded letter is certainly not enough to require the additional postage.  Perhaps there was additional documentation or some other material inside of this cover sheet?

Eure is in the Normandy region and Evreux was prefecture of the department.  Evreux's population was around 12,000 people in 1856 while Le Neubourg and its surroundings were (and remain) much more rural in nature.  You will find Le Neubourg listed as Neubourg on the portion of the 1861 map below.

As a bonus, you can go to this blog by Mark Joseph Jochim to learn all sorts of things about post boxes if you are so inclined.

That will cost you!

Our first example focused on mail being sent from a rural area and our second item will look at the other end of the process - the delivery of the mail.

This large envelope was mailed from San Francisco, California on November 9, 1867.  It traveled overland (mostly by train) until it got to New York City.  It left New York on December 3  and went to Boston so it could be placed on board a steamship named the Cuba, which was part of the Cunard Line fleet.  The Cuba left Boston on December 4 and arrived at Queenstown (Cobh, Ireland) on December 13.

This letter would have gone through Dublin (Ireland), London (England), and Ostende (Belgium) before it was taken out of the mailbag while in a Prussian mail car on a train that ran from Verviers to Coeln December 15.

This letter was pretty heavy - weighing more than a half ounce and no more than one ounce.  This required a double rate of postage, which was 28 cents per 1/2 ounce.  So, fifty-six cents of postage were applied in the form of two 24-cent stamps and one 10-cent stamp.  The letter was properly treated as a prepaid letter from the United States to the Kingdom of Hannover, which was part of the German-Austrian Postal Union (GAPU).

Now - finally - I get to the "rural" part of this letter.  There is a receiving postmark on the back of this envelope that reads "Bersenbruck" and the date is too faint to read.  The address panel ALSO reads "Bersenbruck K. Hannover."  So, that seems like the case is closed, doesn't it?  It was delivered to Bersenbruck?

Except the back of the envelope has this marking in red pencil.  Hmmmm.  What could this be?  It certainly looks to me like a postal marking - but what is it for?  

It turns out that the Hannover post would collect 1/2 silbergroschen for letters delivered to a rural destination, to be collected on delivery by (and for) the postal carrier.  The amount was not dependent on weight, so this would have been the cost for a simple letter or a very large packet.

If we look more closely, we see this is mailed to an address that reads "in Gehrde ??? Bersenbruck."  Leaving the letters I am less sure of alone for the moment, we can guess that the recipient was actually in the small town of Gehrde, which did NOT have a post office and was located a short distance to the east of Bersenbruck.

I wonder if they sounded a post horn as they entered Gehrde to deliver this letter?

Forward to Climax

We'll conclude with a letter that was mailed in the 1860s from Grand Rapids, Michigan to rural Kalamazoo County at the 3 cents per 1/2 ounce rate for domestic letter mail in the United States.

The address panel is a bit more complex than most letters of the time - and that may well have to do with the rural destination.  The address reads as follows:

Galesburgh, Kallamazoo Co.  Please Forward to Climax with Daily Mail

For further clarity, they included "Mich" at the bottom left - just in case there is a Kalamazoo County elsewhere in the United States...  I was able to find an image of the 1873 Climax Township plat map that shows the land owners and settlements in that area.

If you click on the map to view it, you will find there were exactly three post offices in the entire township in 1873.  One was in Climax itself.  One in Scotts and the last in South Climax.  It is possible, if I could decipher the name of the recipient, that we might find them on this plat map if they owned land - so if anyone can help me figure it out, let me know.

During the 1860s, most rural residents had to expect that they needed to go to the post office to check if they had any letters.  And, at that time, most post offices in small towns were the local mercantile or other such business.  The owners of these small businesses likely appreciated the opportunity to serve as postmaster since it also encouraged customers to patronize their business at the same time they were picking up their letters!

But, there is more to the story!

It turns out that Climax was the first post office in Michigan to establish Rural Free Delivery on December 3, 1896.  And, it also turns out that the citizens of the area were pretty proud of that fact!  

Pictured at right is a monument that was constructed from stones collected from each farm (nearly 300 of them) on the rural route.  

Rather than re-write some of the pertinent history surrounding the events of free delivery of the mail to rural customers of this particular Michigan post office - I will quote this Kalamazoo Public Library page (viewed Jan 15, 2022).  The photo comes from this page as well and was taken in 1955 (Kalamazoo Valley Museum Photograph 72.338.2A)

The first Rural Free Delivery mail service in Michigan was started in Climax in December, 1896. Two postmen, Lewis Clark and Willis Lawrence, Judge Eldred’s great-grandson, set out on their routes, one by horse and buggy and the other on a bicycle. A memorial to this event, dedicated in 1917, is next to the Lawrence Memorial Library. On four sides of the memorial are bronze tablets, contributed by the State Grange, the D.A.R., the Michigan Rural Letter Carriers Association, and the Climax Men’s Fellowship Club. The ten-foot high RFD Memorial was built with nearly 300 stones, one each was contributed by farmers on the rural route.

Today, people like me continue to receive delivery of the mail to our rural farms and homesteads for the same cost a letter to a recipient in town might require.  An oddity that has come about over time is that some rural towns in the Midwest have no carrier delivery - requiring residents to purchase post office boxes for their mail.  Meanwhile anyone living outside of the (often outdated) town limits would qualify for free delivery to mailboxes near the road next to their homes and farms.  This can result in homes mere yards from each other having different status when it comes to mail delivery!

But, that's all for another day and another Postal History Sunday.  I hope you enjoyed today's installment.

Have a great remainder of your weekend and a fine week to come!

A Tune A Day?

It's true - I do like music.  I prefer to work in the office with music playing.  I like to listen to music when I am walking behind a wheel hoe in the field.  If we need an alarm in the morning, it is ever so much nicer to wake up to music than it is to some buzzing or beeping sound and some calming music at night is often appreciated.

So why would I actually set myself a goal of listening to music for the new year?

Well, there is listening - and then there is listening.  I was hoping that I could encourage myself to stop whatever I was doing just ONCE per day and really listen to one tune - allowing myself to pick out a countermelody or a nice harmony.  Maybe I would hear a little bit of something in the background that just makes a particular song that much more interesting.  Or, perhaps, I would actually listen and think a bit about the lyrics.

The funny thing about it is - I haven't been able to actually accomplish this task more than a few times so far this month.  It turns out that it is actually kind of difficult to let myself fully concentrate on the music without thinking I should be doing something - anything - else.

Well, I'll keep trying.  Maybe this isn't something I need to do - because I do still enjoy the music that plays while I do other things.

For now, I'll just share the few tunes I've taken the three to five minutes to really listen.

Easy to Ignore by Sixpence None the Richer

You and the moon are a beautiful sight to me.
The stars in your eyes make it really hard to see you.

I've Got This Friend by the Civil Wars

This one catches my attention with the strong use of dynamics and phrasing in what one might call popular or maybe folk music.

Slow Your Breath Down (Piano & Strings Version) - Future of Forestry

Slow your breath down
Just take it slow
Find your heart now, oh
You can trust and love again

Have a great weekend - and I hope you find some music to listen to in your life as well.

Farms Need Wild Spaces

 

I have been watching, on and off throughout the last few weeks, as one of our neighbors methodically removes all of the bushes and small trees that populate a fence line between their field and another neighbor’s field.  One side of the fence has been planted to field corn every year since 2010, and the other alternates between corn and soybeans.  By removing the woody perennials between the two fields, they might each get another row or two of field crop.  But, I find myself doubting the wisdom of this effort.

When did it become imperative that we put every scrap of land into service for personal gain?  Why is it so difficult to leave even these small parcels of habitat available to wildlife?

Gateway to nowhere  

There is a gate that once held a position of prominence on our farm during the days when there were more pigs than chickens and others worked the land that is now under our care.  Today, a gate post holds up one side of the gate and a tree holds up the other.  The tree, being the obstinate sort, has decided it wants to be where it is and it will slowly swallow up the gate by growing around it.  It is possible that we could have removed the gate during the first couple of years of our stewardship, but there were so many other things on our 'to do' lists that this task was barely worth a mention.

Now, I usually don't take notice of the gate at all during the growing season.  Leaves and grasses hide it from my vision and it really doesn't lead to anywhere that I want to go.  Instead, it waits until the late Fall and Winter months to remind me of its presence.  When the leaves are gone and the grasses and other plants have died back, I start considering whether or not this area is due to be 'cleaned up' this year or not.  The answer, thus far, has been 'not now.'  It is possible that the answer for us might even be 'not ever.' 

Not every part of a working farm needs to be 'cleaned up' and not every gate has to 'go somewhere.'  Too many people have a tendency to believe that everything has to work for us and that it is a sin to not take advantage of every resource.  

I do not believe that the needs of the humans on the farm are, by necessity, larger, or more important, than other beings that make the farm their home.  Sometimes it is the 'messy' areas that become the most useful by providing that location where the frogs and toads can hibernate, or where the ground nesting bees can manage their colony with minimal disturbance.

Does this gate do anything in particular to provide habitat?  Oddly enough, it does.  The gate will not open the way it is.  Which means the humans don't go behind it without significant effort.  The farmers put up fences to exclude pests from getting at the hens or the broccoli.  Well, here is a case where a fence is being used to keep the pesky farmers out.  In a weird way, I actually find that refreshing. 

Wild places have a place on farms

Fence lines are fast becoming a thing of the past, as we continue to support the consolidation of farms into larger, corporate structures — and as we push the narrative that the only things that matter are yield per acre and acres in production.

It was just last winter that I watched a flock of a dozen Cardinals flitting around in the cover this particular fence row provided.  Flying gems that would then head over to our farm to partake in the dried berries in some of our bush lines and then back again as part of their daily routine.

I grieve a little bit every time I see another fence row flattened.  These borders have value — just like that gate on our farm.  They are reminders that the ‘wild’ places that are part of our farmscape have a purpose and that every purpose does not have to serve us.

--------------------------------

I am honored to have this blog featured on Pesticide Action Network's Ground Truth.  You may also notice some connection to another blog on our farm blog called Gateway to Nowhere.  It's one of those times where making connections helps make the point even better than before.

But, I would be more greatly honored if we could all make a bit more effort to maintain, create and support the wild spaces in our world.  Thank you for being willing to consider and ponder some of the things I write about.

Continuously Delayed Perfection

The Genuine Faux Farm has been in existence since 2004.  Well, we "officially" started really doing this farming gig in 2005, but we actually did hold a spot in some farmers markets as early as 2004.  And some folks might be surprised that we held a table periodically in Decorah even earlier than that and sold a couple of "farm boxes" informally when we lived in Chokio, MN as well.

In 2008, the old barn was still in use, with the hens being housed in a room inside the barn we built to keep the varmints out at night.  The pasture to the East of the barn was where the hens went to play each day.  So, we knew how we were dealing with our laying flock, but we had other planning to do and decision to make.  And, almost exactly thirteen years ago, on January 10, 2009,  I wrote a blog that shared some of our thoughts on our plans for the future of the Genuine Faux Farm.

We titled that blog "... or was it Continuously Delayed Perfection?"

I found it enlightening (and maybe a bit amusing) to see what was on my mind at that time.  And, I thought it would be interesting for me (and you) to see what I think NOW about what I thought THEN!

THEN

We realize a few key things about veg farming:

1. What works in one growing season may not work the next
2. What works for some farmers may not work for others
3. You must be ready to make a change and be prepared to maintain it - otherwise it will fail

NOW

At least I have some consistency with myself over time.  Happily, I think I can identify MORE key things about vegetable (and poultry) farming than I did in the 2009 blog.  I am afraid if I tried to do a post on that, it would start to look more like a book and less like a blog.

It is comforting to see that some of my observations then STILL align with my observations since that time.  It is true - as far as I can tell - that each season will have its own, unique challenges.  This holds true even if some of those challenges follow a theme we have seen before.  And, it is actually possible that I believe the 2nd item (what works for some may not work for others) even more than I did then.  Every farm has its set of assets and liabilities, strengths and weaknesses, and the goals rarely match precisely from one operation to another.

As to the third part - that was in reference to much of the rest of that blog in 2009.

THEN

We are certainly capable of expanding our season.  But, the question may not be "can we?" and it may be better to ask "should we?"

We could invest in a high tunnel (unheated greenhouse) and work hard to expand our season on both ends. It would cost money to do this - but I suspect we could find a way to get it funded. We've never put up a greenhouse - but we can get help and we're not helpless - we can figure it out. We've never grown things this way before - but again - there are plenty of resources and we have plenty of knowledge to start us out. So what stops us?

A shortage of resources? Yes, time and money are part of the equation. But, the real resource that isn't currently available for this project is personal energy to make it happen. People tend to forget what season extension implies for the grower in terms of workload. For an additional X weeks of the year, we will have to be planting/tending/harvesting/distributing. Right now, we need the time away from the growing season to accomplish other necessary things in our lives!

NOW

My - how things have changed - and stayed the same.

For those who do not know GFF history, we actually put up our first high tunnel in 2010 (just one year later) and our second high tunnel went up in 2015.  We did end up creating extended Fall and Spring CSA seasons and, at our peak, we delivered fresh produce for as many as 38 weeks of the year.

Many of the things we cite above turned out to be entirely true.  The pressure of producing something to deliver to individuals for three-quarters of the year with a farm share program WAS pretty high.  And, of course, we had sales for eggs, poultry and any remaining storage crops during the rest of the season.  There was no off-button.  

And that might explain why we did not push the edges of the season very hard over the last couple of years.  While I admit to missing a few things myself - I appreciate having a break from the continuous stress and strain of growing, harvesting, cleaning, packing, promoting and delivering.

Does that mean I am willing to give up the high tunnels?  Not at all.  I actually enjoy growing in the high tunnels.  We're just using them differently now - and it fits our new farm realities.  Perhaps we'll spend a blog on that one next week?

THEN

We've done Fall planting to over-winter crops before with reasonable success. The hardest part was finding the time and energy to put these things in with proper timing.  Things are not always so simple as 'just do it'....the list of things to 'just do' is often too long for that logic.

NOW

This is where I was just amazed how much more perspective I have gained since the time I wrote the 2009 blog  And, I am equally pleased (or dismayed) by some of the consistency my former self has with my present self.  I guess it depends on whether I am feeling self-critical or self-supporting in a given moment.

During the years that we had Spring and Fall season extensions for our CSA, we had no choice but to implement a Fall planting schedule.  And, to be perfectly honest, it rarely followed the planned schedule because we had to adhere to the "we have a little time right now and the conditions are ok for it" approach.

In the end, seed is one of the cheapest inputs you have for a farm like ours.  So, if you throw in a few batches that don't produce, the loss is not necessarily all that bad as long as you don't also throw lots of labor at a failed crop too.  We almost subscribed to a "keep throwing seeds into the ground and see what you get out of it" approach some years.

Why did it end up that way?  

Well, remember that I told you every farm has different resources, assets and liabilities.  And, let's also recall that every season is different.  

On our farm, we usually have a labor resource issue in the Fall.  Tammy goes back to teaching and our seasonal workers leave.  The labor force goes down to one (Rob) with weekend or evening help from Tammy and occasional others volunteering or being hired for a specific task.  We just never did get to a point where we felt we were able to hire someone for the whole year - nor was it easy to find such a person.

So, this past Fall we did not put anything in for an over-Wintered crop.  Instead, we're looking to get early starts in the high tunnels and go from there.  We do miss our over-wintered spinach, so that might return this Fall.  But, other than that?  

Ask me again in the Fall.

THEN

We favored direct seeding until last year - when we had germination problems in the fields. Transplants may cost a bit more in terms of resources, but the success rate is far higher. So, the returns, in the end, are likely to be more consistent. It is far easier to keep a row clean with plants that are already established to the transplant stage.

NOW

Over time, we settled on which crops seemed to work best on our farm with transplants and which ones were better with a direct seeding.  But, the basics I wrote in 2009 turned out to be only partially true.

In the end, direct seeding or transplanting depends on each crop type.  And, sometimes it even makes a difference which succession of that crop we were looking at.  It even made a difference a couple of times when we planted inside the high tunnels versus in the fields.  

We still often have trouble with germination of seed planted directly into the soil that may be a result of a number of possible issues.  There are the normal things that we typically try to account for with our basic knowledge, such as soil temperature and moisture levels.  If we fail to pay attention to those things and still plant, then poor germination is due to our mistake.  Then, there are things that are a bit more beyond our control, such as residual pesticides from drifted applications and inconsistent seed quality from suppliers.  

One thing remains true from 2009, a row of transplants gets a head start on the weeds in that row - which makes it easier for us to cultivate.  And, we have more cultivation options when we transplant than we do with some direct seeding options. 

THEN

I've never been accused of failing to plan - at least where gardening is concerned. Up until now, our plans have been good, but not good enough to make the necessary improvisation that occurs each year any easier.  So, we're going to have a written week-by-week plan of intended tasks/goals.

I've heard from other experienced growers that this sort of planning is important -and I believe them. But, since I haven't tried to do this explicit planning before, it will be difficult.

Stay tuned and find out how we do with these changes! 

NOW

Ah.  How naive I was (and still am).  I am still waiting for the year that I actually complete an entire week by week growing plan.  I am also wondering when I will find a year when the week by week plan I devise doesn't have to get scrapped by the time we get into May.

I suspect that the former (my inability to do a full season's plan) actually comes from the latter (knowledge that it won't last into May).  The problem has been that season variability thing along with every other uncertainty you can name.  So, rather than getting too hung up on which week something will happen, we have "critical timelines" of tasks that depend on each other.  If something on a critical timeline can't get done, we know we may have to make the decision to scrap EVERYTHING ELSE on that timeline for the season.  

I've also moved to date ranges rather than growing season weeks.  For example, I know that field planted snow peas do very well if we get them in the ground during the last week of April until about May 10.  It makes no sense to push it earlier until data tells me I should do so and it means I should just give up on snow peas in the field if conditions never line up for planting during this date range.

It's a matter of knowing that planning is important - and so is flexibility.  It is also a matter of identifying when you should give up on a particular crop, project or process.  If you don't know those things, then a weekly schedule won't save you anyway.

And there you are - the farmer taking a moment to consider his former self's thoughts.  There's something you don't read every day!  Have a good one!

Reading Rainbow

I am not a "90s Kid," so I did not grow up listening to Lavar Burton on Reading Rainbow.  But, I do remember seeing a couple of the episode when they first aired (for whatever reason) and I recognized the same value in that show that I remember getting from Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street.  The tone was always welcoming.  You felt like you were valued and that learning was possible and positive.

So, as we were all traversing the earlier stages of the pandemic and looking for ways to deal with the isolation and worry that came with it, Burton was among those talented people who stepped up.  Lavar started reading to us all, kids and adults alike.  And, if you are someone who listens to podcasts, Burton has a whole host of short fiction available.

My motivation for this blog is like so many things I do - there is no ONE motivation for it.  But, of course, part of it is the fact that we are riding a new wave of the pandemic, and I am looking for things that might bring comfort.  And, one of those things is finding people who do things that have that feel of kindness that we, as humans, so often crave, but often fail to have fulfilled.

Being read to is, in my mind, an act of kindness.  And Lavar Burton's history of reading and being part of a show that let children know they were valuable and capable certainly doesn't hurt my opinion of him either.

So, here is an act that I hope is also a kindness to others.  I recommend "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu.  I read this short piece of literature some time ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It is extremely well written and is a beautiful story.  You can take this link and have Lavar read it to you (you may have to scroll down a little to see the proper podcast).

Let yourself sit still for a short while and have someone read to you and share the gift of kindness.

Whales, Water, Waimea

One of the things Tammy put on her list of "want tos" for our recent trip to Kaua'i was to see Humpback Whales.  While neither of us is inclined to spend time bobbing around in a small boat in hopes that a whale will come by, we both knew that if we spent some time looking - and being patient - that we would give ourselves as much, or more, opportunity to see a whale or two from shore.

(note: I do realize the various whale tours have knowledge about the patterns of the whales in the area - so don't take this as a knock on the service they provide.)

 
We rented a studio apartment in a house that the owners had split into three residences.  One was theirs, one was for their daughter's family, and the third is rented to people like ourselves.  Part of the attraction was that we could view the Pacific Ocean from that apartment - whenever we wanted to look at it.

And, sure enough, Tammy got her wish on the first day there - whale's spouting not too far off shore.  That alone might have been enough.  But, a few days later we got more of a show.  Feel free to click on the photos to see a larger version.

Scientists are finding that Humpbacks may actually use the slapping noises they make with their pectoral fins and tails as a method of communicating with other whales.  And, we were able to see the pectoral slapping more than once during our stay.

An adult whale's pectoral fin can be anywhere from twelve to fifteen feet in length.  And the pectoral slap is just one of several ways whales are known to break the surface of the water.  From the human perspective, I suspect we all think the most spectacular event would be a full "breach" where the whale's entire body exits the water and then comes crashing back into the ocean.  Experts believe that these may be the equivalent to a long-distance call, telling other whales their location.

Tammy watched and took photos while a whale (or whales) approached a boat not far off-shore.  The boat remained still, even when the whale came extremely close.  According to this site, captains on Kaua'i (and perhaps elsewhere) call this a "whale mugging."  A boat that is approached by a whale is required by law to remain still when a whale approaches and can only resume movement until the whale has moved on.

This happens fairly often as Humpbacks are curious and like to check things out.  I wonder if it is possible that some of the slapping is attempted communication with OR about the boat itself?  Until I acquire a whale to English dictionary, I can only guess.

Tammy could not be certain, but she felt that there were probably more than one whale involved in this series.  Perhaps an adult and a calf.  We'll likely never know for certain, but Tammy did get her wish to observe Humpbacks during our visit.

To make the whole thing just that much more amazing, the Waimea Canyon is only around ten miles away from the spot where whales slap the water and tell each other about boats floating on the Pacific.  No whales here and much less water.

And just as wonderful.

Why Do Local Foods Seem Invisible?

We have found, over the years, that one of the best ways for a grower to learn about how local foods work (or fail to work) is to go somewhere else and try to be a local foods customer for a little while.  Of course, this makes the assumption that the grower actually is able to get AWAY from the farm and that they are also able to afford taking that time away.  I recognize these are both insurmountable obstacles for some who farm to produce food for local consumption.

Happily, we have had the ability to make these trips and we have made the time away from the farm a priority - if only to provide ourselves with a needed balance in our lives.  So, when we do go, we do our best to stay some place where we can prepare many of our own meals.  Then, we try to source as much as we can through local growers, attending farmers markets, or looking for ways to order direct from the farm.  If we find locally owned food establishments that also source from local producers, we also try to patronize those locations.

But, if you aren't familiar with the area and/or you aren't already committed to digging to find these sources of food, they can be practically invisible.

Sunshine Market at Hanapepe

Before I go much further with this, let me just say that I am not criticizing those who are certainly doing their best to try to promote locals foods.  What I hope to do is share observations that I have as a potential customer from the perspective of being a grower who is also fully aware of the difficulties growers have in reaching their customers.

In fact, the biggest issue I can see (and have experienced) from the grower's side of the equation is the simple lack of resources to make local foods visible.

Hale Puna Market in Waimea

Simply acquiring and/or creating a good sign or two can actually be a sizable expense for smaller markets and small-scale growers.  And the problem goes beyond that.  These signs typically must be portable and easily stored for any grower that has multiple delivery sites.  It is rare that a local farmers market or a other local food business is able to secure a permanent location for a sign that is actually large enough to grab the attention of people who are typically ensconced in their cars and trucks.

It gets even harder when you realize you need to have signs in multiple locations to handle all of the potential entry points for customers.  Then, you have to consider the traffic sources where you hope to grab people's attentions and direct them to the sales location itself.  If a small farmers' market (for example) wanted to become visible, it could easily require ten to twenty larger sized signs - some of which should be permanent in nature to remind customers of the dates and times the market is open.

Oh... and let's not forget.  Someone has to put up and take down these signs every time there is a market.  Who typically does that?  It is normally one of the vendors - unless a market is large (and fortunate) enough to have an individual who is the market manager and does not double as a vendor.

I can tell you, from experience, that we are aware of how important signage can be.  We are also fully aware that if you manage to create and stage all of the signs effectively, but don't have the time to stock your tables with product - it will fail anyway.  So, in our case, we usually made sure to have the product first and then tried to wedge the sign part into our routine as best we could.

The second issue with visibility is figuring out how and where you should be promoting your products. 

In the present day there is a WIDE range of opportunities for a small-scale grower to promote their own business.  There is social media and the web.  You can speak to community groups and schools and churches and ...  whomever will listen.  You can attend local foods fairs and dinners.  You can sign up to be included on lists for farmers markets, CSAs, food hubs and other local foods.

In fact, there are so many locations and opportunities that you could wear yourself out trying to cover them all - and keep them maintained and updated from year to year.

I suppose it is great that there are all of these opportunities - possibly more than I can count and definitely more than I could locate each year before the growing season started in earnest.

So, think about it.  If it is difficult for a grower - who should be focusing on producing great food - to keep track of all of the promotion options available to them... what does it look like to a potential customer?

Well, let me tell you what it looks like.  A couple of recent visits found us scouring the web and social media for information on locals foods in two different locations.  In one case, we found as many as TEN different sites listing the farmers market locations and times for the area.  TEN!  That sounds great, doesn't it?

Not so.  None of the sites agreed on which farmers' markets were open given pandemic restrictions.  Many of the sites only included a subset of the markets that were likely being held.  It was common for a single market to have conflicting times, dates and even locations from one website/social media site to the next.  None of these sites included any information newer than a couple months prior to the date we viewed the information - not even the social media pages.

And lets not get into the issue with trying to figure out WHICH social media platform to go to in the first place.

Local foods often become invisible while they are still in full view because there is rarely, if ever, a single, authoritative location where a person can go to get information.  The growers are left to expend whatever time and energy they can trying to judge the best locations to make sure information is up to date and then HOPE that the customer runs into the correct location.

Then, after only a few years, the landscape changes.  A new social media site attracts more people and an old stand-by falls out of favor.  What does the grower do now?

It's a recipe for disaster and invisibility.

You see, Tammy and I were not deterred by the varied information and missing details when we wanted to be local foods customers at these different locations.  We still found a way to patronize people who worked hard to produce quality local foods.  But, even we were a bit frustrated by the process.  What do you think MOST people would do in our place?

Correct.  They would say "heck with it" and just go to the big chain grocery store and leave it at that.

And the tragedy of it all was that there were tables full of quality produce at some markets we located and too few customers.  Other markets were much smaller than they once were, having suffered from the vicious cycle that haunts this sort of marketing.  Customers don't come consistently.  Vendors scale down how much they bring or leave the market or simply leave the profession.  Now there is less at the market and people who decide to give it a try don't find enough of what they want - so they don't come back.  And the market continues to shrink.

If we want local foods to thrive, then we need people to make commitments to make the invisible visible again.

If someone gets a grant to fund a new website that will promote local growers, then they need to commit to maintaining AND promoting that site for years.  That includes regular check ins with each market and each vendor to be sure that the content is up to date and correct.  And, when I say "check-in" I mean there needs to be more than an email that invites a person to visit their profile and update it every January.  

If there is a city/county/state government promotion site for markets and local foods, it needs to be maintained actively rather than passively.  Local chambers of commerce sites can't expect vendors and markets to behave just like another business either.  Typically local foods vendors will not be attending the golf outings for local entrepreneurs and a grower usually does not have someone hired to just handle promotions and marketing.

And if someone wants to volunteer to help at the farmers market, they need to commit to volunteering consistently.  If you want to make the claim that you support local foods, you need to do it continuously - not only when it is convenient for you.  Just as the local foods producer must commit to doing what they do on a daily basis to bring quality, tasty food to their communities.

Until we commit to solving these problems, I am afraid that local foods will continue to be invisible to all but the fortunate few who are in the know.  And those few are not enough to keep local foods going.