Sights for Sore Eyes

Every month of the year on the farm has some aspect of transition from one thing to another.  You see, I noticed a pattern in our monthly newsletters that we have been putting out in this blog since early 2017.  Most of those newsletters starts with some opening that references the prior month and the new, upcoming month.  I have a tendency to highlight each month as some sort of transition and, on reflection, it's just a reminder that running a diversified farm, such as ours, means that we are in constant transition.

The garlic is IN!  Color the farmers happy.

The period from late October until Thanksgiving may be one of the most jarring transitions we have to experience.  This is especially true if the weather decides to jump past November into mid-December.

But, that's not exactly the point I am trying to make.

First, there are some very real, very solid deadlines that have to be met.  One of those deadlines is solid in a very real sense.  It's called frozen ground and frozen water!  Once the ground freezes, you have a pretty difficult time planting garlic.  Pulling out stakes or putting in stakes become much more difficult.  Hoses that have been out for use need to be drained or you are stuck with hoses that WILL snap if you try to move them.  Poultry that are out in the field need to be moved in so that you can keep their water unfrozen.

You can mulch garlic once the ground freezes, but planting it is pretty difficult.  It's also much more difficult to spread compost after it freezes.  So, the fact that we actually got our garlic in, composted and mulched in OCTOBER is a pretty big deal for us.  

A recent farm visitor took notice that our garlic was in.

That's a second point about this time of year.  We always have major projects that need doing.  If you ask me to define "major" I'll point to the following criteria:
1. The number of hours that project alone will require
2. The number of DAYLIGHT hours the project will require (we've got fewer of those right now!)
3. The complexity of the task.
4. The amount of stress the farmers feel UNTIL the project is completed
5. The size of the impact to our farm should we fail to complete the project by the "deadline."
6. The observable change to the farm once it is completed.

The garlic planting process clearly qualifies.  We had five different people involved over parts of two days.  The process included finishing trimming the garlic, splitting out the cloves, harrowing the field, raising the planting beds and doing a quick till in the planting area.  Once that was done we were planting the garlic, putting compost on the garlic and mulching the garlic.  But, the best way to measure the project is to assess how the farmers feel about life on the farm AFTER the project is done.

Ya, this farm isn't so bad after all.  Kind of like it, actually.  Why?  'Cuz, the garlic is in.  And compost is on.  And mulch is on.  Life is good.

Approaching the sunset of 2018.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about projects like this one is the potential for a complete reversal of attitude about that particular part of the farm.  The plot that now holds our garlic was the same one that had potatoes and beans this year.  Let's just say that this was NOT our happy place for 2018.  To be more specific, we purchased more pounds of seed potatoes than we harvested from the field.  Ya, lots of rain tends to make potatoes rot.  And, beans don't like it much either.

Suddenly, that particular field is a sight for sore eyes.  I actually like to go look at it.  Apparently this was a successful VIP (Visual Improvement Project).  Successful enough that I'm more willing to take moment to greet Bald Eagles in the Oak trees and observe the brilliant sunsets that sometimes occur this time of year in Iowa.