The Roots of Resilience

My thoughts are often a product of my current experiences - which should be a surprise to no one.  Of course the things we are going through in our lives right now will have a strong bearing on what we allow our brain to spend time on.

In the past few weeks I have been thinking long and hard about what it means to be resilient.  And, more specifically, what it means for me to be resilient - and what it means for me to support resilience in myself and others.  Certainly not a new topic for me, but given the context of a recent surgery, the process of recovery, and the amazing support from the various communities in which Tammy and I have connections, it has come back into prominence.

 

linocut created by Simone Adler - shown with permission 

Sense of Belonging Builds Resilience

One unlooked-for kindness was received on the day I returned home from the hospital.  But, before I tell you about that - let me give you some context.  

I have been a part of the PAN (Pesticide Action Network) community since last April with my job as Communications Associate.  I knew these were good people when I joined and I am happy to work with them.  I have worked at other places in the past and have also found plenty of good people, though there have been varying levels of quality if I were to describe the overall workplace community environment.

In short, my past experiences did not prepare me for what arrived in the mail on the day I came home from the hospital.  A packet was mailed from the PAN workplace community that included photos of pets - showing me how to relax and recover.  Photos of clouds, snow on mountains, gentle waves, and gardens.  Each with kind words encouraging me to do what I needed to do to heal.  This packet was appreciated very much.

Among the images shared in this packet was a linocut by Simone Adler, which is shown above.  I was already considering what makes us resilient and I was already thinking about the role communities play.  And, there I was staring at this piece of artwork.  

My work community, our families, our community of close friends, the farm community we've created over time, the school community Tammy is a part of, and the various other organization-based communities we are a part of all stood up to remind us that....

We belong.

Not only do we belong, but they value our membership in the community.  That's a good way to encourage both of us to persevere and be strong.  It is, in my mind, one of the ways communities build resilience.

Strong Communities Grow from Respect and Tolerance

Over time, I've learned that being part of a strong community has a great deal to do with the respect I show to others and the tolerance I exhibit for any difference from my own preferences and background.  I do not believe that a community is strong if everyone has the same characteristics, the same strengths and weaknesses, or the same likes and dislikes.   A diverse community (in all senses of the word "diverse") is one that encourages resilience because each of us can bring our strengths and knowledge forward to lift up another person's weakness or help them to learn something new.

And, when I just happen to be the person who is in need, I can lean on those who are feeling stronger or are in a better place at that moment.  If we were all the same, we would all struggle at the same time and no one would be able to help.  If we were all the same, we would not know how to help because we would all be strong at the same time.

Perhaps some people might wonder at my choice of the word "tolerance" because we have all known a person who has shown tolerance... but not respect.  But, I do choose that word and its pairing with "respect" deliberately.  Why?  Because I think respect and tolerance can lead to acceptance and growth, without necessarily giving up the things that make each person who they are. 

Bending, Not Breaking

Each member of a strong community has a responsibility to bend a little bit to make room for other members of that community.  This lends itself to resilience of both the whole and the individuals that make up that whole.  

Sometimes, we bend by going out of our way to help when someone is recovering from a surgery and can't manage all of the farm work.

Sometimes, we bend by accepting help graciously when we would rather be the ones doing the helping.

Sometimes, we bend by moving outside of our comfort zone of what we know and understand so we can show respect for another member of the community as they share what is important to them or about them.

Sometimes, we bend by realizing that our opinions and our beliefs may not work for someone else - and that doesn't make them any less valuable or any less worthy of our kindness, love, acceptance, and respect.

I liken the development of strong and resilient communities, populated with strong and resilient members, to the process of "hardening off" seedling plants.  Our young seedlings are initially protected from the winds, the heavy rains, and the wide temperature swings.  As they mature, we must expose them to all of the elements - toughening them up so they can thrive on our farm.  The process of hardening off encourages the growth of a strong root system - the basis of a healthy plant.

Perhaps, initially, we protect our fledgling communities and our children (and maybe ourselves when we enter a new group) from difficulties early on, just to get a start.  Then we need to increase exposure to the elements of the world, and in doing so we make ourselves, and our communities, stronger by bending in the wind, bowing as the rain pours down, and leaning on each other when things get tough.  These trials encourage the growth of roots that will lead our communities to thrive and the strength of our communities will permit the roots of resilience to grow.

The CSA Prep Dance - Look Back

As far as blogging goes, this one comes from quite a ways back (the blog started in December, 2008).   I find it instructive to see how we handled our daily CSA day routine at that time.  There are many similarities and many differences to things that go on even today.  I suppose the biggest difference is that we no longer do a CSA and our crop variety is much smaller than it was then.

The picture above is from September of 2010.  We have no digital pictures from 2009!

Perhaps this will still speak to people who take advantage of farmers market sales or CSA sales.  This is a version of what local growers do to put food on their tables for your use.  This is NOT a small thing.  Just think about it a little bit....  This one was published on September 28, 2009.

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

Tuesdays and Thursdays, in particular, are very full days that usually require motion for most of the day. For your enjoyment, we present to you the merry-go-round that is one of these days! *

6:00 Get up
6:10 Stretch, shower, wonder why the sun is not yet up
6:30 T typically will make biscuits, muffins, eggs, or some such thing - bless her!
6:30 Feed cats & fish
6:45 Feed & water ducks, hens, broiler chickens, turkeys
7:15 Figure out day's tasks - post on board for worker(s)
7:20 Determine pick amounts needed for distribution
7:30 Pack up flats with peppers, summer squash and zucchini picked yesterday afternoon
7:30 If Tues, send T on her way to school. If Thu - send her on her way about 10.
7:40 Gather potatoes, onions, garlic (already picked) for distribution
7:45 Locate scales, bags, market box, signs, etc for distribution day and get them to truck
8:00 Prep for worker arrival - set out tools, gather containers, set up tables, etc.
8:15 check tractor fuel, oil, etc.
8:30 Arrival of worker
8:45 Pick Lettuce - R (note to self - that knife is really sharp, check for all fingers every so often)
8:45 Pick beans - worker + Tammy?
8:55 Hydro-cool lettuce
9:10 Pick kale and/or chard
9:20 hydro-cool kale and/or chard (check again for fingers, they're getting numb in that water!)
9:30 pick beets and/or turnips
10:15 hydro-cool/wash beets/turnips
10:30 pick eggplant - one worker weighing/bagging beans
11:15 pick hot peppers/sweet peppers
11:30 worker lunch break
11:45 load flats into truck picked thus far
12:15 lunch break (hopefully)
12:45 pick tomatoes
1:00 worker returns - cleans beets/turnips, bundles kale/chard, packs lettuce (she's a really good worker!)
1:30 pick snack tomatoes
2:00 pick okra or basil or other items
2:25 uh oh - look at the time- roll carts back to truck as fast as possible
2:30 load truck up rest of the way, worker seems to have most everything ready to go. Play "tetris" and get it all in the truck.
2:45 Rapidly put away any tools, tractors, laundry, etc that we would be very disappointed in finding outside if a freak storm should arrive. Don't laugh, we learned from experience.
2:55 Run around and find anything that has not yet gone in the truck. Change into clean clothing. Oops, don't forget the eggs!
3:00 Get out of Dodge - try to make calculations for distribution amounts for produce that did not come out with desired numbers in the pick.
3:30-3:50 (depending on location) park the truck and try to set speed records for setup. (current record is 11 minutes - including pop up tent set up (3:27) , four tables, produce out and labeled)
3:30-6 or 4-6:30 - keep produce trays full, answer questions and watch people walk away with yummy produce.
6 or 6:30 - Determine produce to donate to Food Bank or Cedar Valley Friends of the Family.
6:10 or 6:40 - Pack up/reload truck
6:30 or 7:00 - Load ourselves into truck
Upon return - "Lock down" birds for the night (ducks, hens, broilers and turkeys) - hopefully everyone is where they are supposed to be - if not, we have more to do.
Take critical items out of the truck and put them away.
Close up buildings, make sure water sources are off, check mail, etc.
9:30 - play a game if we are both able to count the number of fingers being held up by the other person at this point.
10:20 Set alarm
10:30 We don't usually remember what happens at 10:30

* note - this schedule assumes a day that is generally well-organized. don't assume you'll catch us exactly on this schedule any given day! 

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

This schedule was written for a year (and time of year) where most of the work was done just by Rob.  Tammy would help when she was not at school.  So, yes, she worked (and still works) more than one job when we are doing farm things.  Our helper in September of 2009 worked only on CSA distribution days.  If I had not had that help...  Well, we did - and that's why we succeeded.

It is a good reminder to me what we used to do regularly on this farm to get produce to everyone.  If we want to re-enter the world of CSAs we're going to need to consider doing it differently, because I am not sure I am willing to go back to that schedule!

2020 Foresight - Farm Credit Program

We are beginning to get more inquiries regarding our CSA program and we though it would be a good idea to get a post out there that clarifies how you can get products form the Genuine Faux Farm in 2020.

 

Genuine Faux Farm is Dead!  Long Live Genuine Faux Farm!

 

First - in case you had not heard - we are no longer running the CSA model we have provided since 2005.  Instead, we have changed over to a pre-paid farm credit program.  This program provides you AND the farm more flexibility.  Credits can be applied to any product we produce, including veggies, fruits, eggs, poultry, starter plants, flowers and whatever else we might happen to have available. 

How Do You Purchase Credits?

• Credits purchased in $50 increments
• Maximum credit balance carried at any time is $200
• You can add more credits at any time ($50 at a time, cap at $200 at any given time).
• You can join us at any point during the season.
• Credits will expire 13 months after purchase (but we will help you get your value before that happens.
• Send payment by mail or via Paypal (contact us for details).

How Do You Use Credits?

• Delivery each week.
• Alternating locations between Waverly and Cedar Falls.
• Weekly email will list available product and provide instructions for delivery day.
• Place an order by responding to the email to reserve the items you want.
• A 'gentle reminder' email on the day of delivery will confirm orders received.
• Individual questions will be responded to at that time as well in separate correspondence.
• Come to the delivery point and pick up your products.
• We will maintain a ledger with your balance and mark off credits used once items have been delivered.

How Do I Pick Up My Produce?

With the ongoing pandemic, we have had to take additional steps to insure the safety of those for whom we provide food.  Please go to this blog post and you will see the steps we are taking.  We will continue to remind everyone about procedures in our weekly email and we will continue to make adjustments as we deem necessary for safety reasons.

 

Our primary pick up location in Cedar Falls is the West parking lot for Jorgensen Plaza.  Our secondary delivery point will be Hansen's Outlet.  Our primary pick up location in Waverly is St Andrew's Church and our secondary site will be at the Yogi Life Yoga and Cycling Studio.  Secondary delivery points will depend on demand and other factors.

 

Our current plan is to alternate weeks between Waverly and Cedar Falls.  You may come to any delivery point.  In other words, a Cedar Falls customer, if they are going to be in Waverly on delivery day, can certainly order and pick up product in Waverly.  The reverse is also true. 

 

 

 

Why Should You Join?

• Like the CSA program, this gives you the advantage of not having to pull out money at each delivery.
• We will give participants better pricing and opportunities than those who might prefer to 'pay as they go.'
• This program provides flexibility to allow you to participate when you are able to do so, regardless of travel schedule.
• Were you tired of receiving produce you really didn't want?  This program allows you to select what you want.
• Did you want more of one thing and less of another?  Farm credits allow you to order what you want from the things that we have available at any given week.
• Were there times you wanted to pick up in Cedar Falls rather than Waverly or vice versa?  Well, you can do that with the new program too.
• Are there times of the year when you are more interested in buying farm products and others when you are not?  Once again, you order as you go, using the credits to acquire what you want, when you want it.
• Did you like the old CSA program?  Well, good news, we can offer packages at each delivery for a certain number of farm credits.  If that is what you liked, then it will be similar - we'll just be counting credits.
• Just want eggs or chickens?  Starter plants?  Flowers? Well, guess what?  They're part of the program too!
• Would you like lower prices?  Members will receive items at last year's prices (which are remarkably similar to the past eight years).  Those who are not members can still purchase, but we will not guarantee the same price.

And The Most Important Reason to Join?

You will be supporting and receiving quality food items from your personal farmers.  Our reputation is solid and our products are top quality.  Our produce is certified organic and our poultry are pasture raised and non-GMO.

GFF 2020 Crops Revealed (First Draft)

The surveys are in and we have had additional time to research other outlets for product and lay out or initial farm plans for 2020.  There is still much more for us to figure out and plenty to share as we set up our 2020 growing season.  This post will focus on two things.

We Will Grow Food For You in 2020
We intend to raise veggies, poultry and some flowers in 2020.  Our products will be made available to you using pre-purchased credits.  Consider it a flexible CSA share that easily works around your travel schedule and allows you to spend your money on any of our products in whatever volume suits you.  We will flesh this out in future posts.

We can't quit - when would we get photo-ops like this one?

Our First Draft of Our 2020 Grow List
We have our first draft of the crops we intend to grow in 2020 and here they are!

Tier One - Yes, we're growing these!
When we put our survey out, we had already selected crops that we felt would be a sound basis for the 2020 season.  We selected these for several reasons.  In general, these are crops that typically either grow very well on our farm, are easy for us to sell and/or are crops we really enjoy raising.  In other words, if our situation forced us to grow only these vegetables, we think we could do fine.

********************IN**********************
asparagus, green beans, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, garlic, lettuce, onion, bell pepper, sweet pepper, curly kale, tomato, snack tomato, cherry tomato, butternut squash, tan acorn squash, zucchini, potato (red and blue flesh)

Also, not on the list, but going to happen at some level in 2020 - poultry (eggs and meat).  And, we do have various fruit (mulberry, black raspberry, raspberry, wild plum, apple) that depend entirely on the year and our inclination to harvest and offer.  These are perennial plants already on the farm, so they are harvested as opportunity allows.
********************IN**********************


We can talk about these more in a later post, but suffice it to say, this list has not changed, though the amounts of each are yet to be determined.  We do intend to grow a sizable amount of onions, lettuce, squash and tomatoes.  There will be varying amounts of the others.  Our broccoli and cauliflower, while they grow very well for us, will be cut down to about 40% of last year's plans to line up with the demand levels we are experiencing.  But, it seems wrong to give up on a crop that likes our farm and soil as much as they do.

Tier Two - We'll grow some of these.
Before I go too far here, we would like to remind all of you, but especially those of you who participated in the survey, that this is NOT a democracy.  It was a chance for you to convince us to change our minds and some of your voting did, in fact, influence us.  But, even if there was relatively strong voting for a particular crop, we may not have found it to be convincing enough to keep it on the grow list.  We are, of course, sorry if you are unhappy with these choices.  I suppose I could tell you we are growing them and then just inform you there was a crop failure later?  No?  Ok, let's take the high road here and unveil those that made the cut and those that did not.

1. We're good at these AND people want them

********************IN**********************

• Spinach selected by 75% respondents
• Snow Pea 56%
• Cucumber 56%
• Beets 52%

Spinach and peas were in question because they can be labor intensive with the harvest.  But, we are pretty good at growing these AND people seem to select them when we have them.  By reducing some of the other crops from our grow list, we should be able to absorb the additional labor to do these well.  Snap peas were separate from snow peas and received a slightly lower vote count.  We have space in our growing plan for one - snow peas it is.

Cucumbers are a special case.  They usually grow very well for us.  The problem has been finding homes for all of the cucumbers AND keeping them picked is also labor intensive.  Frost rarely kills these plants - it's the fact that we can't keep them picked, so they terminate with fruit that has gone to seed before the frost has a chance.  We also received feedback that we might be able to have a bit more of an outlet for our cucumbers beyond CSA members, that helps it get to the grow list.

Beets?  Well, there were some who wanted gold, some who wanted striped and some who wanted red.  We'll grow some beets because they help balance out our crop rotation and they can be stored.  A crop that stores allows us to take a lower demand and spread it out over time.  They are easier to clean than many root crops as well, so it suits our needs.

2. Never Mind

********************OUT**********************

• Buttercup squash 20%
• Tatsoi .04%
• Romanesco 12%
• Lima Beans .08%
• White flesh potatoes  28%

Rob loves limas, but if we're growing them, they belong to him and only him!  Bwa ha haaaaa!  We also love our buttercup squash, but they fail nearly every season.  There isn't enough interest to fight the battle, so we'll take the frustration off of our grow list.  Tatsoi grows just fine - but if no one wants it - and we do not need it to fill a share - then it is off the list.  Romanesco can be a bit testy some years and the seed costs more than most, so we're not crying here either.

The white fleshed potatoes have not been as happy with us since Rio Grande disappeared and became unavailable.  Again, we gain something by removing an item with insufficient support to encourage us to take on the struggle.  Maybe sometime in the future they could return.


3. We'll have that because there are other reasons to grow it

********************IN********************** 

• Basil 40%
• Herbs 24%

We love having basil as a companion crop and for pollinator attraction on our farm.  We'll be planting basil and it isn't so hard to pick a few stems when people want them.  If no one asks for them, we still grow them because they smell great!

The herbs fall into the same boat and many of them are perennial plants that are already established.  We'll have them.  What we should do, it seems, is offer them to people a bit more often.  Maybe it will work better to offer them and the people who love them can get all they want through the new program.  It's a different ballgame than when we felt we had to have a bundle for every share (not knowing who really wanted them and who knew what to do with them).  

4. We want to grow a few and if there are extra, you can have some

*****IN - ish, OUT - ish***** 

• Watermelon 12%
• Pie Pumpkin 16%
• Papricka pepper 16%
• Romano Beans 20%
• Roma tomatoes 32%
• Hot peppers 16%

These are probably mostly *OUT* for all intents and purposes.  If we have space and inclination, we'll plant some.  If time is short and something has to go, these will go or we will only plant enough plants to satisfy our own needs.  Most likely to survive in that instance are the Romano beans and the Papricka peppers. 

5. Reduced Availability

*************IN (reduced availability)************ 

• Eggplant 24%
• Yellow flesh potatoes 40%
• Melon 44%
• Napa Cabbage 42%
• Summer squash 24%
• Komatsuna 16%

The Minnesota Midget melons from the high tunnel are consistently good producers and they rarely go begging for attention, but the days of growing an additional 800=1600 row feet of melons are over.  We'll grow a few of our favorite field varieties in the field and share as they are available.  Summer squash have some other demand other than individuals in the CSA, but we don't see a reason to be pushing quite so many of them at people.   Komatsuna stays because it provides an opportunity for something green when there is very little else, but we won't push its season outside of that window as we have in the past.

Eggplant are an odd case.  Those who love them want a nice batch of them on a semi-regular basis.  It's not so hard to put 30 plants in the ground to cover that demand.  We also have heard that the longer "pintung' style eggplants are favored, so we will drop the larger Italian style purple eggplant from the grow list and stick with the variety people have said they prefer.

Then, there are the Napa cabbages (Chinese cabbage/Korean cabbage, etc).  They grow fairly well for us and they store for a long time in the cooler.  When you consider there is a devoted group of people who want Napas, you have to consider keeping them in.  In fact, this might be one crop that will increase over the past year's production numbers, but they are unlikely to reach the heights of three to four years ago.

Tier Three - Chopping Block List
We presented this list as those items we were inclined to drop unless we were swayed otherwise.  Items appeared here for various reasons including the possibility that our farm is not all that good at growing them.  Another option is that we felt as if the labor demanded for the crop in question was more than we could expend unless demand were much higher.

1. Okay, okay... we'll THINK about it.. Maybe someday, but not today 

********************OUT********************** 

• Brussels sprouts 28%
• Delicata squash 24%

We weren't overwhelmed by the responses here, so we aren't growing them next season.  For our production system, Brussels are a bit of a pain.  Not only that, when we did grow them, we were left with an awful lot that did not go to homes.  We can't eat that much Brussels sprouts.  Delicatas seem like we could grow them, except they just don't produce well enough for the space they take.  If the response were higher, we would investigate a way to improve production by trialing cultivars to see which ones like us the most.  But, it wasn't.  So, we won't!

2. Done thinking... just no

***********OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT************ 

•  Bunching onions, arugula, leeks, dinosaur kale, rutabega, spaghetti squash, okra, flat-leaf kale, pok choi, radish, turnip, mustard greens, parsnip, collard, daikon

None of these even came close enough to make us consider changing our minds.  Our apologies to those who did select them.  But, here is the interesting thing - EVERY veggie listed got at LEAST one vote.  The other interesting thing?  We HAVE grown every item on this list at some point during our career.  Some, like parsnips and rutabega, have been off for a while with no complaints that we know of.  Parsnips are hard to grow on our farm and rutabegas were hard to find homes for.  Each of the other items have been grown as recently as 2018/2019.  Some, like the radish and arugula, take more labor than we can afford to spend on them for the limited reward they might bring.  Others, like pok choi, bunching onions, flat-leaf kale, turnips and mustard greens, are useful for making sure we can provide CSA shares with enough quality items for the entire season.  We know they are not people's absolute favorite, but they gave us all something fresh during times of the year when other items just weren't available.  Leeks take forever to clean for sale/distribution.  Okra have given a rash to other harvesters other than Rob and Rob has too much else to harvest that is more popular.  Etc. etc.

In short, they all have good reasons for being off the grow-list.  

3. They might appear by accident

*************OUT, unless they aren't************ 

• cilantro
• parsley
• rhubarb
• swiss chard
• dry bean
• watermelon radish 
• turnip

Mostly out means they're still somewhat in.

It is possible that we will grow some cilantro or parsley as companion and habitat plants and they could show up as an offered 'herb' in the future.   We also use dry beans as a companion or to fix some nitrogen in the soil.  That will be the focus of those plants and any available dry beans will be a side effect of that.

We do have rhubarb plants, but they do not particularly love our soil.  If they recover this Spring and do well, we'll offer rhubarb.  If they die or do poorly?  Oh well.  They will then be entirely out.

We know we said "no" to turnips, but we have a BUNCH of seed.  Maybe we'll plant them out for a Fall batch.  If we do, we'll offer them.  They could be incorporated into a cover crop mix in the Fall where the main purpose is to cover the soil and prevent erosion.  The same might be said for the watermelon radish and Tammy likes to eat one or two of them in the Fall.  Once that seed is gone, we likely won't spend money for more.

We both prefer swiss chard to kale and we'll probably put a couple plants into a high tunnel for the late Fall.  If they exceed expectations, we can offer some.

4. The "Surprise!" group

***************IN - limited************** 

• Cabbage 20%
• Kohlrabi 16%

Both are not hard for us to grow.  Both store well.  Both can handle cooler weather.  Now, don't expect us to grow as much of these as we have in the past, but I expect we'll meet the anticipated demand we will have for them without an issue.

Gathering at the Gateway to Autumn

editorial note: The following was sent to our customer list via email midweek.  We realize there are others who are interested and are not in our email distribution stream.

 

Important GFF details follow and we would appreciate it if you read through this particular email so we can avoid the spread of misinformation and miscommunication between us and interested persons!  There are TWO items of importance here.

1. Gathering at the Gateway to Autumn at the Genuine Faux Farm

If you plan to attend, please RSVP so we can plan to have enough turkey for everyone.

Sunday, Sept 22. 

11:30 am - 3:00 pm

Food at 12:30 pm

Potluck event.  We will provide a roast turkey, buns and other items to make roast turkey sandwiches.  We would like attendees to bring items to supplement the meal.

We do have plates and tableware, though it would not hurt if you brought your own.  Please bring lawn chairs.

We are celebrating our 15th and final season of the GFF CSA program and we would be honored by your presence to help us close a chapter of our farm's life and consider options for our farm's future.

2. Final CSA Season.

We have apparently gotten some attention by stating that our Sunday Gathering will be celebrating our 15th and final season of the GFF CSA.  If we have not yet gotten your attention yet (or if we just got it recently), please give it to us now so we can be sure that everyone who receives these emails or reads this blog post understands what is happening.

 

The only certain things are:
1. We will not continue as we have with the program.  Numbers have continued to decline and the model doesn't seem to fit the farmers or our farm as it once did.
2  We must change if the farm is to survive.
3. We know that the uncertainty and diminished reach of local farmers markets is not a solution either.
4. We still want to operate the farm in some fashion, continuing to use our certified organic, sustainable methods to grow quality food, ideally for local consumption.

5. We do not wish to sever ties with those who have supported us.

6. We respect your input and welcome it.

7. Many options ARE on the table, including exiting farming entirely and taking a year off of CSA and returning in the future is also possible, though unlikely.

So, this does not necessarily mean that we are giving you a final 'good-bye.'  We are considering continuing to offer eggs, poultry and vegetables, but doing so as 'flash sales' and/or by using a credit system with those who might enjoy continuing to receive food products from us.  But, this is by no means certain.  After all, we still have the current season to deal with.

We appreciate your attention thus far and we'd love it if you would continue to give us your time for just a bit longer.  I apologize for length, but this is important to us and hopefully to you as well.

Why are we doing this?

You deserve to hear the 'why' of it.  You have been the farm's extended family and we would like to help you see where we are at.

First, we do love growing things and we believe we have developed a decent skill set and acquired a fine complement of tools to do the work.  We do not mind hard work.  We can tolerate setbacks.  We believe farms like ours are important.

But, we are also smart enough to realize when we are beating our heads against a wall that is only getting stronger.  Here is what we are fighting right now:

a. the climate is changing and our weather patterns are challenging 

Tammy and I have ideas about how we can change things on our farm so it can continue to produce.  But, we cannot do those things AND maintain a full CSA program.  We have to release some of the pressures of growing that the current CSA model creates so we can address these issues.  For example, we will need to create permanent raised areas on our farm to keep the roots of our crops out of the water table.  The list is long and will take some time to implement it all.

b. chemical misapplication and overuse is getting worse, not better

We see more and more evidence in our crops of growth inhibitors - agricultural chemicals that don't necessarily kill our plants, but they stunt their growth.  We continue to see a decline in pollinators and beneficial insects, despite increasing our flower plantings (among other things).  There might be some things we can do here as well.  But, again, it is difficult to find the time to make these changes if we are trying to grow enough product to maintain CSA shares.

 

c. it's getting harder to produce the volumes of quality produce that we are used to growing

We have the normal reasons to struggle.  Weather.  Weeds. Pests.  Diseases.  Time.  And our own human shortcomings.  We have always expected these challenges and we still believe we can address them with reasonable success.  But, when your zucchini crop struggles, you have to pay attention!  Look at a and b above and that gives clues as to some of the reasons.  The deck is stacked against consistency in successful vegetable crops in Iowa at this time.

d. the idea that local foods and organic foods are strong and getting stronger is old news and not accurate in Iowa

We were well-placed when we started because CSA and farmers market were growing in strength at the time.  In the past few years, the small segment of the population that believes local foods are important are being split between direct sales from local farms and items labeled local and organic at grocery stores and larger outlets.  Add to that a trend for less food preparation at home and the rise of national home-delivery food services and a willingness to accept the words 'local and organic' as accurate without verification and we have a problem.  In short, the small dedicated portion of the population hasn't grown all that much and they are dividing their attention between many more suitors. 

e. it is even less clear how a farm reaches customers than when we started

There was a time not long ago when the number of methods for reaching out to the public to promote something were fairly limited.  The advantage of that was that everyone (customers and purveyors alike) knew where to go.  That's not so clear anymore.  Yellow pages?  What's that?  

f. CSA is a difficult model to grow for in the first place

Simply put, you can't become an expert at every crop.  But, CSA tends to force you to TRY to do just that.  We still believe that diverse crops are a positive.  But, when you look at a through c above, it isn't possible to respond to those problems successfully with every crop.  At least it isn't for us - there just isn't enough of us to go around and make that happen.  Clearly, we need to cut our grow list in order to set ours up for the possibility of success.

g. Our adjustments over the last few years have failed and perhaps alienated some of you.

And for that, we apologize.  But, the Genuine Faux Farm CSA was once 120 members strong and is now sitting in the 40's for members  We had to consider and implement changes in hopes of regaining membership.  We missed on our adaptations and accept that, but it doesn't make sense to keep flailing about if the trends are consistent.

To be clear - this is not about blame.  It is about realities.  If what we do isn't working, we need to change.  So here we are.  Looking to change.

Would you be willing to help guide this change?

And, whether you are or not willing to do so - we still thank you ALL for supporting our farm in the past, present and, perhaps, the future.

Rob and Tammy Faux

Genuine Faux Farm

Tripoli, IA

2019 CSA and Farm Schedule

Welcome to our 2019 Genuine Faux Farm CSA blog post series!  We are placing these posts out on our blog as a reference to those who have signed up as well as an enticement to those who might be interested in joining us.

Here is the 2019 GFF Farm Share Schedule.  I, the Sandman, have spoken! (yet again)

Our first post in the series is an overview of the program that includes vegetable share options and pricing.  This post is intended to clarify our planned delivery dates.  Each of these dates are anticipated to have vegetables available - but please remember, the season starts slowly and builds as we go.  On the other hand, our farm is typically very good at extending into the Fall. 

Please note, circumstances may cause us to make a change, but we will do our best to communicate those changes as they occur.  Our delivery times will expand as the season goes on.  If you find these times to be difficult to manage, please communicate with us.  Our Event Calendar, is linked on our blog at the right and will get updated as the season progresses.

How the 2019 GFF CSA Works:
Think of the CSA season as having THREE parts:

Part I (April 25 - July 30) - Early season where members can use their credits for ALA Carte vegetable acquisitions for their farm share.  Note: we are willing to add new members at any point.

Part II (August 6 - November 21) - The "high season" for our farm where members will receive a share of produce harvested each delivery date.  There is no need to use the farm credits during this period UNLESS there is something extra you wish to acquire.


Part III (December to mid-January) - Post Thanksgiving where members can continue to use credits as they did in part I.

Our farm is inspected by the Inspector.  In case you wanted to know.

April Dates

• (PART I - CSA Members may begin to use credits NOW, but new members may still join)
• April 25 - Cedar Falls at Jorgensen Plaza 5:00-6:00 pm
• April 30 - Waverly at St Andrew's Church 5:00-6:00 pm

May Dates

• May 2 - Cedar Falls at Jorgensen Plaza
• May 7 - Waverly at St Andrew's
• May 8 - Wartburg Environmental Bio Class at GFF
• May 9 - Cedar Falls at Jorgensen Plaza
• May 14 - Waverly at St Andrew's
• May 16 - Cedar Falls at Jorgensen Plaza
• May 18 -  Genuine Faux Farm Tour Day - 1:00-4:00 pm
• May 21 - Waterloo Schools Kindergarteners at GFF
• May 21 - Waverly at St Andrew's (short delivery time expected)
• May 23 - Cedar Falls at Jorgensen Plaza
• May 28 - Waverly at St Andrew's
• May 30 - Cedar Falls at Jorgensen Plaza

June Dates

• June 4 - Waverly at St Andrew's
• June 6 - Cedar Falls at Jorgensen Plaza
• no deliveries expected week of Jun 10
• June 18 - Waverly at St Andrew's 
• June 20 - Cedar Falls at Jorgensen Plaza
• June 24 - Broiler Batch #1 to "The Park"
• June 25 - Waverly at St Andrew's
• June 27 - Cedar Falls at Jorgensen Plaza
• June 30 - Practical Farmers of Iowa SIP Participants at GFF

July Dates

• no deliveries week of July 1 (4th of July week)
• July 9 - Waverly at St Andrew's
• July 11 - Cedar Falls at Jorgensen Plaza
• July 16 - Waverly at St Andrew's
• July 18 - Cedar Falls at Jorgensen Plaza
• July 25 - Cedar Falls at Jorgensen Plaza
• July 29 - Broiler Batch #2 to "The Park"
• July 30 - Waverly at St Andrew's

 August Dates

• (PART II - traditional style CSA delivery portion of the CSA begins)
• August 6 - Waverly
• August 8 - Cedar Falls
• August 13 - Waverly
• August 15 - Cedar Falls
• August 20 - Waverly
• August 22 - Cedar Falls
• August 24 - SUMMER FESTIVAL at Genuine Faux Farm
• August 27 - Waverly
• August 29 - Cedar Falls

September Dates

• Sep 3 - Waverly
• Sep 5 - Cedar Falls
• Sep 6 - Broiler Batch #3 to "the Park"
• Sep 10 - Waverly
• Sep 12 - Cedar Falls
• Sep 17 - Waverly
• Sep 19 - Cedar Falls
• Sep 24 - Waverly
• Sep 26 - Cedar Falls

 October Dates

• Oct 1 - Waverly
• Oct 3 - Cedar Falls
• Oct 7 - Broiler Batch #4 to "the Park"
• Oct 8 - Waverly
• Oct 10 - Cedar Falls
• Oct 15 - Waverly
• Oct 17 - Cedar Falls
• Oct 22 - Waverly
• Oct 24 - Cedar Falls
• Oct 28 - Turks to "the Park" and the "Great Turkey Pickup"
• Oct 29 - Waverly
• Oct 31 - Cedar Falls

 November Dates

• Nov 5 - Waverly 
• Nov 7 - Cedar Falls
• Nov 12 - Waverly
• Nov 14 - Cedar Falls
• Nov 19 - Waverly
• Nov 21 - Cedar Falls
• Week of Nov 25 - Thanksgiving

December Dates

• (Part III - use up those credits!  We will likely still have plenty of produce!)
• to be announced

2019 CSA Overview

We have offered vegetable farm shares (CSA) since 2005 and we will be offering meat poultry shares laster in the year.  The sign up season for 2019 is open now!  We would be honored to be your personal farmers for the growing season.  We have plenty of room for you to join us.


Our blog will feature our CSA for the next several days - so stay tuned.

Why should Rob and Tammy Faux of the Genuine Faux Farm be your personal farmers?

• Experienced - our farm and CSA has been in operation since 2005 and we actively seek to improve how our farm performs each and every year.

  

  Sign up! I, the Sandman, have spoken.

• Responsive - you will see at least one of your farmers at every delivery and we are happy to converse with you about things you would like to see happen with your share and on the farm.
• Reliable - we grow a wide range of crops and varieties to provide our own version of crop insurance on your behalf.
• Responsible - we work to keep all three legs of our sustainable farm strong.  We strive to work with nature and we are active in the community - all while maintaining a reasonable bottom line.
• Accountable - we have maintained organic certification for our vegetable production since 2007 and we are pleased to answer any questions you might have about how we grow.
• Traceable - 97% of the produce you will receive is grown on our farm northwest of Tripoli, Iowa.  The remaining 3% is clearly labeled so you know who grows your food.  Jeff Sage grows heirloom sweet potatoes for our program.  Jeff also supplements our carrot offerings.  We grow the yellow and striped beets and he grows the red beets.  He also supplements our asparagus in the CSA if needed.
• Flexible - there are now many ways you can participate.  Take a look and see what fits you best.
• A Good Buy - in all years except 2012, we have provided our share holders with produce value that exceeds the share price by 20 to 40 percent.

Veggie CSA Options for 2019

Basic Package
includes 16 weeks of our traditional CSA delivery AND $100 of credit to spend on produce during any delivery week starting when produce is available and ending January 15, 2020. (most similar to our previous traditional CSA)
Price: $500

Souped Up Basic Package
make that $200 of credit to spend! (most similar to the Whole Enchilada)Price: $600

Trimmed Back Package
includes 8 weeks of our traditional CSA (every other week) AND $100 of credit to spend as above. (most similar to alternating week CSA)Price: $325

Souped Up But Trimmed Back Package
you might see a pattern here.  The Trimmed Back Package with $200 of credit.Price: $425

Western Homes / Eisenach Package
for our retiree population who might be finding it difficult to go through the produce like they used to includes 16 weeks of a scaled down share AND $100 of credit to spend on produce.Price: $260

Souped Up Western Homes / Eisenach Package
yes, there IS a pattern.  Eisenach special with $200 credit for producePrice: $360

The Details!
Credits are available for produce only.  Poultry products are separate.

Our ala carte deliveries will begin as soon as veggies start coming in (beginning April 25).  You may begin using your credits at this point.  You will have the option to reserve specific produce or wait and see what is available.  You won't have to pull out cash to buy it, we'll just mark the credits down in our book and away you go.  As CSA members you get $110 worth of produce credit for each $100 in credits purchased.

The traditional CSA delivery period will run from the week of August 6 to the week prior to Thanksgiving.  16 weeks.  If you want something extra, you can use your credits to get extra when we have it!  If you run out of credit, we'll let you add on as the season progresses.

Did you prefer the prescribed shares during the Summer?  Don't worry, we've got you covered.  As the produce comes in, we'll offer "package deals" to our CSA members that you can apply your credit towards.  It's the same thing, but you have flexibility for when those credits are used.

How will reserving produce work?  We will start with email reservation and eventually move to an online form that should be easy to access and use.  It will work much as our egg email reservations have worked in the past.  We will guarantee to have what is reserved and we will have the goal of bringing extra for walk-up purchases as well.

You can certainly share any of these packages with another person or family unit.  We ask that YOU figure out how you will split your share and we also ask that you give us contact information for all participants so we can make sure everyone gets farm announcements and is invited to farm activities such as the Summer Festival!

Pick Up Locations
Waverly:   St Andrew's Church parking lot on Tuesdays from 4:00-6:00pm.
Cedar Falls: Jorgensen Plaza in Cedar Falls, Thursdays, 4:00-6:00pm.
Tripoli: at the farm on Wednesdays or drop off at your location Tuesdays - depending upon arrangement.

How Do I Sign Up?
Send us an email at gff@genuinefauxfarm.com and tell us which share type you want and which delivery location you would prefer.

Want to Know More?
We welcome any questions you may have, please send them to our email address shown above.

Reasons for Optimism

I had a conversation this Winter with an individual who was very aware of our weather struggles last year and is also aware that changes will likely result in difficult conditions on a fairly frequent basis in the future.  After some discussion, they asked me, "So what makes you think this coming year will be any different from last year for you?"

The easy first answer is that we have to believe this coming growing season WILL be different than the last.  Otherwise, what would be the point of even trying?  Even if the weather gives us a similar level of challenge to last season, our farm WILL change how it does things in an effort to persevere regardless of those conditions.

In other words, if we focus on what we can control, rather than the things we cannot, there should be plenty of reason to be optimistic for the 2019 growing season.  Now that I have your interest, shall I give you some examples?

Vince Knows His Place
A full season with a tool that responds to a bottle neck in our labor stream.  That alone should be enough to provide a reason for optimism.  The power harrow (which we have named Vince) will be with us the entire season and that alone is reason for some celebration.

Our windows for soil preparation have always been on the smaller side, but they have gotten smaller over the past several years.  Vince gets rid of some extra steps and actually will result in less tillage (which is better for healthier soil) despite the fact that it is a bit of a beast.  In the past, we have found ourselves using a combination of tools to prepare beds for planting.  The tool depended on the crop, the location, the soil conditions and a few other variables.  In the end, while we didn't want to, we often found ourselves over-using Barty with his roto-tiller attachment.  That's not great for the soil, but if you get backed into a corner, you sometimes find yourself doing the less than optimal thing.

Here we are with the very first FULL growing season with Vince at the farm.  We have enough experience to now know how he works and what he is best at.  Knowing your tools and feeling confident about how best to use them is one good reason to feel some optimism.

Happier Plantlings
Last year featured a disastrous foray into a soil starting medium that caused us no end of problems.  The medium itself was probably fine in other circumstances, but it did not fit our operational procedures at all well.  The net result was that we had some poor quality plant starts for some of our key crops.  The onions, for example, just didn't put on bulk.  In fact, very few of the onions we started made it to harvest.  But, we were lucky enough to be able to pick up extras from our friends at Grinnell Heritage Farm last Spring.

The photo at left shows one of our onion beds just after it was weeded by our flex tine weeder.  The bed looks pretty clean and the plants look fine, even after they got beat up by the weeder.  We had a decent onion crop - even if we had half of the plants we were planning on putting in.  Many did not store as well as they normally did because of the late, wet conditions.  But, we still had high quality onions in reasonable numbers.  If this years starts are anywhere near our normal quality and conditions are the same or better than they were last season, those onions are going to be great!

Yes, I know it is dangerous to count chickens before they hatch, onion starts before they germinate and season results in March.  But, this blog post IS titled "Reasons for Optimism."  We need some optimism so we can get into this year with a good will to make our hopes reality.  This does not mean we fully expect everything to go exactly as we planned, nor does it mean our mental pictures of success will align perfectly with the reality that will be the 2019 growing season.  It would be foolish to expect the Winter time mental picture of perfection to be a daily reality for us in June (or pick a month).  We are realistic enough to have a picture of 'reasonable success' that resides super-imposed over both the 'perfect success' and 'imminent failure' that are in our mental files.

Raised (Bed) Expectations
There are other techniques we have used in the past that have had some success to combat very wet weather and we expect to use them even more going foward.

Last season, we raised the planting area for more of our crops than ever before.  However, if you will recall, we mentioned that planting bed preparation has been a labor bottleneck that we needed to address.  That leaves us in a bit of a quandry.  Many of our crops survived the wet simply because we DID raise the planting area.  So, you could argue that we're adding time back onto that bottleneck and we won't have made any real progress.

Well, argue all you want.  We're still going to raise all of the beds on our farm for next years crops.  You could argue some of our shorter season crops might not need it, but we can't predict when (or if) we will get excess rains that could cause us problems.  Heavy rain events are not just for Spring anymore, so we need to be prepared with all of our annual crops.  The great news is that Vince can help us with this by preparing the soil a bit more evenly for hilling.  And, our other processes have been adapted fairly well to these raised planting areas.  It should work out just fine!

Keeping Up With the Weeds
The last couple of wet seasons have shown us that we cannot keep up with the weeds with things the way we are.  We've got good cultivation tools now and we know how to use them.  But, if it stays too wet to use them, the weeds don't wait for you to cultivate.

We've been trying paper mulch (Weedguard Plus) at some level or another for several seasons now.  The product has shown marked improvement and we are getting better with adapting our systems to the use of paper mulch.

Last year, we focused on paper mulch in the field tomatoes and were were duly impressed with the results.  We have used straw mulch every season prior to this and found the amount of labor to be significantly less with the paper mulch.  In fact, our workers generally do not care for spreading the straw anyway, so they aren't crying about this change.

This season, we expect to go back to paper mulch in the vine crops since that was our Achilles last year when it came to keeping crops clean.  The tomatoes will get the same treatment as last year and the peppers will likely join them.  This is not to say that paper mulch solves all of the weed problems, nor is it without risks.  But, we think this is one of the correct responses we can provide that will result in a better season.

Better Blooms
There will be flowers.  Lots of them.

There will be zinnias.
There will be borage.
There will be sunflowers.
There will be marigolds.
There will be nasturtium.
There will be 4 O'Clocks.
There will be calendula.
There will be alyssum.
Lots and lots and lots of flowers.

How can you not have some optimism when you see flowers in your future?  Even last year, there were flowers.  Perhaps they weren't what we were hoping for when the season started, but they were present.  The zinnias bloomed until it got so wet that they drowned.  But, this year, they will be in raised beds.  That should help them.

And, our reasons for optimism are often linked.  If we increase the number of vegetable rows with paper mulch in them, there will be more time to keep the flowers weeded.  Yes, there is still a great deal of work involved, but we are talking about reasons for optimism, not reasons to ignore reality. 

When the Lettuce Was Good It Was Really Good
It felt like everything was a failure at times during the 2018 season.  But, that is actually a long ways from the truth.

Our CSA customers had a pretty good season until we got to the end of October.  We had to pull back from several potential sales to make sure they had product, but that's not the point.  The point is - we had some pretty darned nice produce last year.  It just wasn't what we wanted or needed.

The point here is that we still produced some quality veggies in a year that was among our most difficult.  If I can show you pictures like the one to the left from a year we both feel was a tremendous struggle, then imagine what a year with adjustments (and hopefully less weather extremes) could provide!

Another example of success in a difficult season would be the poultry.  The turkeys and broiler chickens were good sized and high quality all season long.  Other than our first broiler batch, we did not lose very many young birds.  Our laying hens continued to lay consistently all year long despite poor pasture conditions starting in September and cold weather this Winter. 

Despite 2018 being what it was, the Genuine Faux Farm produced some quality food for some wonderful people.  Now, the Genuine Faux Farm farmers have ideas about how to address some of the biggest issues that raised their heads during a difficult year.  They have more tools, even more experience and energy to make it happen.

Will some things go wrong?  Of course they will.  But, we intend on making MORE things go right.

Here's to a positive attitude going in to the 2019 growing season! 

GFF Retreat

The Genuine Faux Farm farmers (Rob and Tammy) needed to concentrate on where the farm is going for 2019, so they reserved a classroom and spent most of a day in that room trying to hammer all sorts of things out.  Some of this was simply an effort for the two of us to communicate our own priorities to each other rather than assuming the other person knew exactly what was going on in their partner's head. 

And the results are in:  We done good.

Since our farm would not exist without the support of many wonderful people who purchase local foods and select us to be their personal farmers, we felt it would not be too much to share some of the discussion and results of our 'retreat.' 

Big Questions/ Big Projects
Tammy was a little uncertain, at first, of where I was going with our first part of the day.  You see, I like to brainstorm and she does not.  I think that the word choice (brainstorm) was maybe an unfortunate one since the goal was really for us to see if our expectations and priorities for the year were fairly close together.

We started off by taking a few minutes have each of us write what we thought were the 'big questions' regarding the future of our farm.  We both wrote at the same time in hopes that we wouldn't influence each other.  We followed that up with the 'big projects' for the farm (and home) as we saw them. 

Some people might wonder what good this would do.  As Tammy pointed out, the lists got pretty overwhelming.  On the other hand, if these were all projects and questions that were on our minds, perhaps they were ALREADY overwhelming.  Giving them a name and finding out that we had the same names for many of them was a positive step.  We could at least move on to the difficult, but necessary, step of prioritization.

One result of this process is that we found out that we are on the same page.  This is not surprising because we do talk with each other about things and we did get to spend a sizable chunk of time together during the 'Farmer Break' in January. 

One thing that stood out for us was a desire to make significant progress on our old farmhouse.  As some of you know, the kitchen is already started.  But, having no kitchen is a good way to get really disgusted with a house fairly quickly.  So, that project needs to be finished.  There are also issues with insulation, the back entry, the stairs to the basement, the doors into the house, the siding on the house and some windows.  Oh... and we still have one electrical outlet for the entire upstairs.  It's not that we haven't done things to work on this house.  Since we got there we've put on a new roof, new heating, new windows (for most of the house), new electric service, a new well...  you get the picture.  It's an old farm house and it has had its needs.  The weather extremes have been highlighting some other problems and we realize we have to keep moving forward on the house.  After all, we would prefer to LIKE living here versus tolerate living here.

Another project that has been on our minds for years is the idea of adding solar power to the farm.  In a very real way, our farm matches perfectly with the months when solar production is at peak.  We use more power for seed starting and the walk-in cooler during the warmer, sunnier months.  We've taken steps to do this, but usually get stopped.  We're hoping that participation in a 'group buy' just might push us over the edge and into action this time around.

The number of building and repair projects on the farm are numerous at all times, but it seems as if we've had many come to a head recently.  The reality is that we may just be losing patience with the bubble gum and baling wire approach for some aspects of our farm.  Clearly, we can make do without some of these things.  We've been doing this farming thing since 2004 - so apparently we don't HAVE to do all of this.  But, if we want to farm beyond 2019, we believe that we need to make strides towards completing many of these projects.

Details, Details

Of course, we didn't stick with the bigger, more abstract stuff for long.  We worked to identify all of the things we needed to do this season in an effort to begin prioritizing and assigning tasks.  The scary thing about all of this is that these lists run around inside Rob's head all of the time.  Every once in a while, he needs to let them out so he can have room to think about things more objectively.

During these portions we worded together to come up with the list.  Several things popped up that had been forgotten.  Though, forgotten is probably the wrong word.  "Buried" is probably more appropriate.  We'd both let getting forks for the tractor bucket fall off our list last year UNTIL we needed them.  But, they'd fall off the list again UNTIL we needed them AGAIN.  I'm sure no one reading this has any idea of how that feels.  Oh... You do?  Ok, then.

We spent time on identifying our research projects, how we were going to handle labor this year, administrative tasks and...

Figuring Out the 2019 CSA Program
This was probably the thing that was preying on Tammy's mind the most.  We did not have time to finalize anything before we took time off from the farm in January.  That means we have to work quickly this month on what we think will be a program that will adapt to the way people are living now.  We spent some time discussing options and integrating ideas and we think we finally have a solid design. 

Now, we have to implement it AND we need YOU to join our program and make it a success.

Here's a preview.  Stay tuned for the grand unveiling!

About Our 2018 Promo Campaign

Welcome to 2018 and another year of the Genuine Faux Farm Community Supported Agriculture Program!

<insert clip of hundreds of fans cheering and clamoring for fresh produce>

Our theme for 2018 is "Paths to Produce" and we hope you will join us as we travel down the various pathways, both familiar and unexpected, that this growing season will bring to us.  If you use Facebook, you will find the hashtag #PathstoProduce2018 will bring up many of our posts on the subject.

The inspiration for this year's theme would be the photo shown at the right.  The pathway in the snow was created by our Farm Managers (the outdoor cats) as they find their way to different locations on our farm.  In the background, you will see the area that is to become our new washing station/packing area in 2018.

Tammy and I have been growing produce on this farm since 2004 and we officially started the Genuine Faux Farm in 2005.  We know that each season will bring its trials and its rewards and it is our job to negotiate these pathways to bring you delicious and fresh produce, eggs and poultry.  We have the experience to find our way with a good chance for success, but we still need one more thing if we are going to make this growing season a good one for the farm.

We need you.

We would like you to join us by participating in our farm shares.  If you want to see what options are available and the pricing of those options, we recommend you go to this page on our blog.  If you are interested in what you see, please send us an email and we will work with you to make your membership a reality.

About the Stamp:
The stamp that we have modified was created for United States postage in 1975 as part of the Bicentennial celebration.  At the time, the postage rate was 8 cents.

The stamp features Sybil Ludington on her ride to warn U.S. militia in the area about an impending attack by the British on Danbury, Connecticut.  Her ride covered about 40 miles on the night of April 26, 1777 and could be compared to similar rides that are known to have occurred that were taken by William Dawes, Jack Jouett and Paul Revere.  Sybil was sixteen years old at the time of her ride. 

Raining Cats and Dogs

It has been very dry at the farm since we had some very serious rain at the end of July.  At the point of those downpours, we were well ahead in terms of moisture for the year.  Now, we're probably at about the normal amount of rainfall for the year thus far (which tells you how far ahead we were).

I have to admit that I tend to prefer drier weather from a work perspective most of the time.  Obviously, if it gets so hot, dry and windy that all you do is water things, then it doesn't help.  But, drier this time of year on our farm, with our soil types and with the wetter start we had.. well, it's been okay for us.

For example, the field tomatoes tend to taste better if there is less rain during the ripening period.  The fruit also tend to hold a little better so we get nicer fruit.  On the other hand, crops like lettuce don't really want to get going because they apparently know the difference between irrigation and real rain.  Oh sure.  They'll grow and do decently.  But, give them a nice little soaker at about the point they are half-sized and you'll have some awesome lettuce!

West of the farm Sep 25 in the late afternoon.

As of this writing at 9:00 pm on September 25, the farm has received exactly 1 inch of rain for the day according to our weather station.  We can't complain since we did need it.

Bree, one of our Indoor Farm Supervisory Staff, has been complaining.  She is not particularly fond of thunder and we had a good bit of that earlier.  She found a rug in the kitchen that was near where her human was working and she hasn't left all evening (even when the human moves elsewhere).

The turkeys have not had much experience with thunderstorms.  In fact, I just realized that the last time we had serious thunder, they really didn't gobble because they were too young.  Apparently, they felt thunder required a response.  So, for each peal of thunder, they let loose with a "crowd gobble."  I, at least, found some humor in that.

Today's quick cloudbursts caused a bit of consternation in the turkey flock as well.  In this case, they did not crowd gobble.  Instead, there was a good deal of chirping and running around.   Sadly, they did not figure out that they could GO INSIDE if they wanted to get out of the rain.  Instead, they just ran around the pasture.  The farmer, on the other hand, did run for shelter.  Of course, by the time he got to said shelter, he was pretty wet.  So, maybe the turkeys have it right.  Get wet, stay wet - figure out how to enjoy it.

Want to learn more about turkeys on the farm?  Try this post!

Perhaps the most difficult thing about today's rain (and tonight's likely rain - and tomorrow morning's possible rain) is that it is Monday night.  We have shares to delivery in Waverly tomorrow.  That means we have harvesting to do.  And, that work is always more difficult after and during rain events.

Some of last week's share (thank you Cynthia for the photo)

Our farm shares have been very good this year (if we do say so ourselves) with good variety and excellent quality.  Plenty of quantity without being overwhelming for any one thing.  At least that's what we think!  And the produce is usually quite good looking as the above photo might suggest.

We're pleased to be able to do a good job for our customers.  Sometimes, things may not look this nice and as often as not, the reason is the timing of rain.

Summer squash fresh out of the field after/during a rain.

This may come as a surprise to some, but plants grow in the soil.  And, when it rains, the aforementioned soil becomes mud.  Some of that mud adheres to the fruit we harvest.  It's a thing.

Really.

But, we work to clean things up as best as we can given whatever time we have prior to leaving for deliveries.  And, more often than not, we get it all done.  But, on days when the rain persists and the weather throws us a fair amount of lightning a choice is sometimes made.  Do we opt to harvest something we can't get cleaned and offer it OR do we opt to not harvest it and not give that item at all for this delivery?

The choice always depends on a number of things (what else is already in the share?  will these things hold in the field ok?) and the decision is rarely taken without some thought.  But, in the end, we have an advantage with our delivery method.  Each item has its own tray and members can opt to take or not take each item.  If a little dirt offends, people can let it be.  Happily, our farm share members know how to clean produce - which means these items are usually taken.  They get it.  Sometimes the farmers need just a little bit of understanding and sometimes the summer squash need a few seconds of rinsing before they go into that grill packet you'll be having tonight for dinner!