December Genuine Faux Farm News

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

What's up at the farm?

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

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

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

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

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

Avoiding the temptation of the Status Quo

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

Except.

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

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

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

Seed Savers and Jorgensen Plaza for the win in 2022

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

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

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

Remaining 2021 Schedule

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

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

November Genuine Faux Farm News

It feels like it has been a while since I wrote an honest to goodness newsletter that simply focused on our farm (the Genuine Faux Farm) and all that is going on with us here.  Of course, you can probably piece some things together from any number of our (almost daily) posts because we can't escape it - the farm is a huge piece of who we (Rob and Tammy Faux) are.

The daylight hours are getting shorter and the sunrises and sunsets are at their peak - or maybe that's because we're taking the time to notice them?  There is still more than enough for us to do outside and on the farm, but the increasing hours of darkness gives us the opportunity to do more contemplation, reflection, and planning.

2021 Farm Season Coming to a Close

At least from the perspective of 2021 farm sales, the Genuine Faux Farm is in the final stretch for 2021.  By the time this blog post goes live, we will have delivered all or most of our turkeys.  Our stores of vegetables that we have available for sale consist only of storage crops at this point.  And, there will be only three more delivery/sales dates for eggs and veggies this year (two in November and one in December).

From our perspective, this is an excellent position to be in.  Yes, I suppose it would be nice to have such an abundance that we would have stores to keep selling through the winter months.  But, this year, in particular, it is best for us to get things moved and leave the winter sales to other growers until the next growing season.

How Did the Season Go?

I'll probably go into more detail in other blogs.  But, in general, I think Tammy and I should come away from this season with some level of satisfaction.  We threaded the needle between keeping the farm going, doing well in each of our jobs, and navigating various health issues - all while doing our best to maintain a healthy personal balance.

This is not to say that there were not challenges, foremost of which was Rob's kidney surgery in April.  There were times when jobs were overwhelming, the farm wasn't getting the attention it needed, and our lives were out of balance.  Some of our growing areas got away from us (in terms of weeds) and we'll pay for that in the future.  And, there were a number of projects that just did not get done.

Even so, one very important goal was that, this year, we would be certain to fill our freezer and cupboards with a diverse supply of our own farm veggies for our consumption during the colder part of the year.  It seems that somewhere along the line, we forgot that one of the basic rules of a small-scale, diversified farmstead was to feed the farmers.  But, this year we've got beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, kale and even some melon in our freezers.  Rob even got his wish and we've been eating some buttercup squash this fall!

We set some lofty goals in terms of seed production for Seed Savers, planning on growing out cucumbers, green beans and bell peppers.  Sadly, the cucumbers were taken out by a very late hard frost and green beans were lost to a myriad of issues, including the August windstorm that stripped the pods off of the remaining plants.  That left us with the peppers, happily growing in the high tunnels.  We're still processing the seed, but I think we'll meet that part of our contract at least!

We are also beginning to see some rewards in growing and selling product for bulk sales rather than continuing to rely on direct to consumer marketing.  This is a key component that is necessary if we are going to continue to farm and hold down jobs off of the farm.

To sum it all up.  There have been plenty of hiccups, but the prognosis for future success is good.  

What's Currently Going On at the Farm?

We are taking our cues from the honeybees and we're hoping to plow through a long list of things on our "to do list" before Thanksgiving.  For those who do not understand the context of that particular "deadline," if you want to call it that, Thanksgiving is about the time we expect the ground to freeze at the Genuine Faux Farm.  It's not that you can't do farm things after that - of course you can (and we do).  But, how you do things changes dramatically.

The presence of poultry on the farm is down to a flock of about 55 hens and a rooster.  There are no other poultry currently on the farm.  The Farm Supervisors (cats) are around, as always, but they are looking for cozy places to lounge and where the sun puddles reside.  The farmers need to get next year's garlic crop into the ground and they need to finish pulling in hoses and all of the irrigation that gets put out every year.  We are also cleaning up all of the portable fences, buildings, feeders and waterers.  If we are lucky, we'll find a warmish day to get the power washer going so we can clean all of those things and the large batch of veggie containers that need attention as well.

Just yesterday, we managed do do some cleaning and re-organizing so we could get all of our remaining produce into the walk-in cooler, which is soon to be the walk-in warmer - to keep our storage crops from freezing.  Rob even managed to pull in the Golden Beets and the last gasp of bell peppers.  A little bit of oregano was the last thing harvested prior to calling it a day.

There are doors and windows that need mending before the snow flies and a few issues with electrical in outbuildings that need to be addressed before we have to deal with frozen waterers in the hen room.  We're still processing seeds for Seed Savers and we're putting in a few new trees (we lost several in the August storm).

If we can manage it, it would be nice to put in a few crops to over-winter in the high tunnels and ideally Eden would get moved to its west position fairly soon (we'll see).  We're still trying to move equipment that does not fit our farm anymore and other tools really could use some maintenance before it gets too cold.

And, of course, we are starting to plan for the future.

The Future of the Genuine Faux Farm - 2022 Version

As is normally the case, Tammy and I have already had numerous conversations about how we intend to handle the coming year at the Genuine Faux Farm.  As is usually the case, we can't predict the future and none of this is written in stone.  But, we do have a pretty good idea of things that we expect will be in our plans for at least the coming season.

The biggest change will be in our poultry operation.  We will continue to raise turkeys, but our broiler (meat) chicken operation will be downsized significantly.  It is true that we have put together a good system and we do this well.  But, when you raise birds, you must care for birds every, single day.  There is no day off and there is no option.

We found that with both of us working off farm, most of the available time for farm work was consumed by caring for the poultry.  And, neither of us is that fond of raising meat chickens.  Yes, we prefer to eat chicken that we raise.  Yes, we have appreciated the support we have gotten from Jorgensen Plaza the last couple of years to make it easier to raise the birds knowing there was a consistent monthly sale.  But, we weren't getting to do farm things we both like better.

That is an important realization and we are going to address it.

Instead of raising 500-600 broilers next year, we'll likely raise 101 - focusing first on what we and our families will consume.  The rest we raise will be offered to those who have faithfully ordered from us in the past.  Then, that will be it for the year.  One flock and only one flock - and more time to do some farm things we want to do.  And, possibly more opportunities to leave the farm if we want to during the summer months.

We will try some seed crops again.  We will raise vegetables again, focusing on a subset of crops with the idea that they will primarily be marketed as bulk sales.  The egg laying flock has been reduced in response to the lower demand - and - well, if you wash 30,000 or so eggs a year for well over ten years, you don't like to see unsold eggs in your refrigerators!

And there you are.  The Genuine Faux Farm is a constant.  Always changing - always learning and adjusting as we go.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a fine week.

Farm News - December 2020

We certainly got out of the habit of the monthly farm newsletter on the blog - but that is partly because we got into the habit of posting something nearly every day since April.  But, it is clearly time to give an update of what is going on at the Genuine Faux Farm.

Put on your hat and your gloves.  Make sure you are dressed warmly and have proper footwear.  Make sure you are clear of the tractor, keep your toes out from under the implements and don't have loose clothing dangling near the power take off.  And please, please.. when I ask you to weed the beans, don't PULL the BEANS!

What is Still Available from GFF in 2020?

It is December.  We did not plant a late Fall/Winter crop in our high tunnels this year (for a whole host of reasons), so our offerings will be simple.  Sorry - we only have pictures of lettuce.

We will have eggs.  We will have broiler chickens (frozen).  And we still have garlic.  There may be a smattering of golden beets and an odd item or two.  The key here are the eggs.  Our current laying flock is consistently providing 5 to 5 1/2 dozen eggs each day.  They may slow a little in the colder weather, but they will produce -which means they need to get moved - hence our motivation to make sales!

We are also hoping to pull out our inventory of cookbooks, bags and maybe t-shirts?  We have to find them first.  Then we would like to offer them so they get used!  Maybe making interesting and useful Christmas gifts?

Our anticipated deliveries for December are as follows:

• Dec 9 (Wed) - Waverly and Cedar Falls
• Dec 22 (Tues) - Waverly and Cedar Falls

Farm Retreat / Foresight 2021

We keep pushing the farm retreat back as our other duties continue to eat up available time and energy.  But, that has not stopped us from doing some research and having good conversations between the two of us.  Again, nothing is finalized, but we want to keep people informed of where the wind appears to be blowing - if only so you can give us feedback if you wish.

Goals for 2021

1. Simplify our production and sales plans to account for many fewer labor hours.
2. Increase the percentage of 'enterprises' on our farm that are successful by identifying those we are best at, those we like the most and limiting ourselves to a subset of ONLY those enterprises.
3. Recommit the Genuine Faux Farm to a set of core values and do our best to make sure our farm enterprises reflect those values.

Core Values

Diversity and Environmental Health

It seems a bit odd that we want to recommit to diversity by simplifying our crops and we are not saying that we did not like the diversity we worked hard to maintain in prior years.  What we are saying is that there are many ways to achieve healthy diversity on the farm and we just need to pursue it differently because life at the Genuine Faux Farm is changing, like it or not.

Connect People to Nature and Where Food Comes From

Once again, there are many other ways to make this connection other than direct sales via a CSA or farmers' markets or farm credits.  We are still committed to this principle, we are just likely to change how we are going to go about it.

Address Food Insecurity

While we have done what we could for this in the past, we may actually have an opportunity to do more here than we have in the past.  The consistent paycheck that comes from Rob's employment actually gives us the flexibility to rely less on farm sales - we may be more able than ever to pass product on at low (or no) sales prices to address local food insecurity issues.

Maintain a Healthy Balance

We have really made adjustments over the past two years to find a balance between hard work, service to others, and our own health and well-being.  So, when a call comes that help is needed - we are among those who are ready to answer that call.  But, also - we want to live lives that are open to awe and willing to express gratitude.

Veggies 2021

Valhalla and Eden - the High Tunnels

The high tunnels are the most valuable growing ground we have and we intend to use them in 2021.  The question, of course, is how?

If 2021 is anything like 2020, we expect that the two of us will do 95% of the work on the farm.  And, yes, we both expect to be employed by someone other than our farm (Wartburg for Tammy and PAN for Rob) in 2021.  We are pretty certain we can manage a fairly complex and interesting (to us) growing plan for two high tunnels and their surroundings.  On the other hand, the other 5 acres of growing area we have?  That has to stay simple or we will fail.

We are considering using one of our high tunnels to grow out some pepper seeds for Seed Savers.  The plus side there is that we only harvest when the fruit are ripe for seed production and otherwise concentrate on growing them out healthy while looking for any off-types that we should remove.  Otherwise, we will maintain variety in the high tunnels - in part because we want to feed ourselves (of course), in part because we think it is the healthiest way to raise produce in a high tunnel.

What will we grow?  Well, that depends on... everything.  Including how we intend on disposing of the produce.  But, it is a sure bet that we will have lettuce, spinach, green beans and tomatoes in some volume.

Fields in 2021

Well, we do have about 1800 garlic planted and we have our asparagus patches (including a new one started this year).  So, we have to maintain those.  Otherwise, the most likely field crops for 2021 are green beans for seed to sell to Seed Savers and... well, we're not sure.

The most likely candidates include winter squash, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and potatoes.  We may grow out some cucumbers or melons for seed crops (Seed Savers again).

And, of course, there will be intercropped flowers and herbs.  As you know, we do that to support pollinators and other beneficial critters.

And, where will it go?

This is the hardest part for us.  But, we are fairly certain that we are moving completely away from the weekly individual sales models.  There simply are not enough hours in the day for us to do our jobs, grow the produce, care for the animals AND handle sales promotion, tracking, packing and delivery.  It is hard to admit that we have limits and even harder to step away from something we have done since 2004 in some fashion or another.

At present our plan for disposition of the veggie crops are as follows:

• certain crops for seed production
• key crops for bulk sales
• donation of crops to the food bank
• trade for volunteer labor with willing individuals
• minimum order amounts of key crops to individuals who wish to can/freeze - for example 20-30 lbs of tomatoes.

Poultry 2021

We liked how our 2020 poultry plan worked out for the most part.  Yes, there were issues at times - but that will be true for every year and every plan.  Our plan for 2021?  Do that again, with minor modifications... depending...

What does that mean?  

Laying Flock

Well, we have a laying flock that we are actually really enjoying.  This has got to be the nicest tempered and easiest to deal with flock of hens we have EVER had.  And, they are producing pretty well.  At the very least we will see them through to next Fall.  At the most, we will order a similar number of chicks to be delivered in the Spring (assuming the postal service still delivers).

Broiler Chickens

Time to be brutally honest here.  If we rely only on sales direct to the consumer, we drop the broiler chickens except for a small batch for our own use.  Why?  Well, of the 450-500 birds we processed this year, 350-400 will go to one place - Jorgensen Plaza.  So, as long as Jorgensen Plaza can weather the pandemic and continue with their orders in 2021, we can consider raising broilers.  If not them, some other larger contract would be necessary for us to continue.

If we get the larger contract, then we're also willing to have additional birds available for direct to consumer sales.  If we don't, maybe it is time to move on.

Turkeys

We like our turkeys - most of the time.  If there is an order of preference, it would be hens, turkeys and then broilers.  But, again, turkeys are a sizable investment on our part that can really be troublesome if we can't get them sold.  Of the seventy turkeys raised in 2020, forty-five were sold to two purchasers.

Once again, if we can secure those two larger sales, it makes sense to do what we did this past year.  If not?  Well, we'll see.  But, I could see us just running a 25 turkey flock and going from there if that's what must be done.  It would be easier in some ways, but probably inefficient given the scale of what we do.

Modifications to the Process

Let's assume we will raise poultry as we did this past season.  If that is the case, there will be some projects to improve our efficiency.  First, we will look to build or acquire a trailer that will make transport of our poultry to the processor easier on us.  Hopefully resulting in fewer trips and less lifting of heavy cages (100+ lbs) up to shoulder level.  We don't mind exercise, but we do mind potential injury.  We are also looking at a permanent fence for the turkey pasture, a water trailer and a back up feed bin.  Frankly, if we get one of those, it had better be that transportation trailer with the fence running a close second.

And, where will the poultry go?

Again, this is all in the planning phases.  If you read the above, you know that the larger purchases we have had in place for the past couple of years are critical.  We are likely to make individual sales of broilers or turkeys because we can limit the number of sale and delivery points for each of those to keep the labor in that area down.

It's the eggs we're trying to get a handle on.  One option on the table is to continue with direct sales on an every other week basis as we typically do in the winter months.  Another option is to get the egg handler's license and sell most of our eggs at one time to one location.  The latter is made difficult because the state has really put a hold on that process because of the pandemic.  Either way, the reality is that we must keep the labor requirement for sales low if we are to be successful.

And - Everything Else?

If you have read our blogs and/or if you have paid any attention to the Genuine Faux Farm over the years, you know we set high goals for ourselves.  And - there is always too much - or so it seems.  Even so, we seem to be able report a fair amount of progress every single season.  That is great.  

But, we recognize that we need to address the high rate of failure that comes with a hyper-diverse operation such as ours.  Our spirits have worn down a bit and we need to manage failure differently than we once did - at least for a little while.

Our plan to handle this is to simplify the farming operation (which is in progress based on what we show above) and to address some long term projects that need to move forward to help us address our new method of failure management. 

And that, as they say, is something for another day -and another blog!

Be well everyone!

GFF May Newsletter

We got out of the habit of putting our monthly newsletters out last season.  We admit that part of the decline of the newsletter had to do with the stress of trying to figure out how we were going to handle changes to the farm itself.  The other reason - well, we just weren't feeling that format anymore.  There were some good things and then there were other things that just felt like we needed to get out from under.

Now watch - we'll end up doing the same song and dance anyway.  We can be kind of silly.

And we miss you all too!  At least we can say 'hi' from a distance!

Weekly Challenges
Tammy had the interesting idea that we might be able to create 'Weekly Challenges' for those who are part of our Farm Credits program.  The first was admittedly 'stolen' from our good friends at Blue Gate Farm - asking if people would enjoy creating a sign so we know who they are when they drive up.  True, we do tend to know people by sight.  But, it seemed like fun - and apparently, some people thought so as well!

Our second weekly challenge has been addressed in this blog before, but if you do not remember it, please read #6 in our news shown below.

The GFF News is put out each week in our email newsletter that announces what we have available.  We thought we would share some of it here so others can also see what is going on.  Perhaps you would like to join us?

THE GFF NEWS

1. Upcoming Delivery Schedule

• Apr 30 - Cedar Falls, Jorgensen Plaza and Hansen's Outlet
• May 6 - Waverly, St Andrew's Church & Yogi Life 
• May 14 - Cedar Falls, Jorgensen Plaza and Hansen's Outlet 
• May 20 - Waverly, St Andrew's Church & Yogi Life

 2. Crop & Poultry Report

The spinach is 10-14 days from first harvest!  We're not too pleased with beet/carrot germination so we are replanting. It doesn't mean we won't get any from first planting - it just means we are disappointed in them and we've given them a stern talking to - do you think that will get them to go?  The first batch of lettuce is going into the ground and looking good.  The garlic looks great.  Scapes in June and bulb harvest in July.  We just got our first (tiny) harvest of asparagus.  It usually takes 7-10 days after that to have much to sell.  We've got a huge seeding session coming up.  All of the chicks look great.  We've started on our first swale (ditch).  It's a long process, but we think it will be worth the effort.

3. New blog material for you

One of the things Rob has felt compelled to do is to write a bit more in hopes that it might help others in some fashion during the current pandemic.  Here are some of the newest posts:

• There are two posts that speak directly to how our farm is faring.  The first is a farm check-in and the second addresses how the farmers are doing.
• If you like animals, cats are featured in this one and bees in this one.
• Oh... and flowers are in this one.
• We took a virtual walk on the beach and we recognized the value of tears.
•  One blog looks at the COVID-19 pandemic and offers some useful suggestions for things we can do to help others.
• And we have one titled This is the Title, Read the Content - who knows what will happen there?

4. 2020 Pre-Paid Farm Credit Program

We will run the system in $50 increments.  In other words, you can purchase a minimum of $50 of farm credit at a time.  We will cap the maximum amount of credit at $200 and you can refill your farm credits at any point.

Like the CSA program, this gives you the advantage of not having to pull out money at each delivery.  Instead, we will have a ledger with tracking for your current credit balance.  This also provides us with some working capital to start the season.  Also, like the CSA program, we will give participants better pricing and opportunities than those who might prefer to 'pay as they go.'

A major difference this year is that farm credits can be used for ANY farm product the Genuine Faux Farm offers.  If you buy farm credits, you can apply them to purchasing meat chickens, vegetables, eggs or any other thing we offer this year.

Want to sign up by mail?

Genuine Faux Farm

2345 150th Street

Tripoli, IA 50676

make checks to GFF or the Genuine Faux Farm

Want to use Paypal?

You may send cash to gff at genuinefauxfarm dot com

We are accepting purchases of credits now and throughout the season.

5. Rob's New Job

New jobs often come with 'new job trainings.'  Just such a thing occurred Wednesday - hence the delay in our weekly email.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.  The other reason?  We did not get up at our normal time this AM, which shortened our day a bit.  That, in itself, is another story (for another time).

Rob's job as Communications Associate in Iowa for Pesticide Action Network is showing some real promise at this time.  We will fill all of you in on what it entails in next week's email or in a blog post (or both).

6. Being Kind Challenge - Pay Someone for No Services Received

Tammy and I are blessed to be able to say that we have income at this time.  Other people are not as fortunate.  We agreed to write checks and send them to people who have provided us with services in the past, but are unable to do so given the pandemic situation.  For example, we get hair cuts (even if it doesn't look like Rob does that often) and we do go to a massage therapist so our farmer bodies can keep moving.  These checks are meant to pay them as if they had provided us with these services that we had budgeted for anyway.  We made it clear we expected no compensation as far as future services were concerned.  And, we intend to return to them for service once things are clear to do so once again.

We challenge you - if you are able - to do the same.  I bet everyone who receives this email can think of someone who is self-employed or has a service-based job who won't easily be able to make up for the lost income.  If you happen to be one of those persons, we hope people will identify you and pass this kindness on.

7. Thank you!

And, speaking of kindnesses.  We received in the mail, some gift certificates to Rudy's that were greatly appreciated.  Thank you! 

We have also received a number of kind and encouraging notes along with payments for the 'Farm Credits' program.  These are appreciated and they do help us keep going on tough days.

We also are honored by your willingness to follow our instructions for deliveries.  We are grateful for the help as we try to do our best to protect ourselves and others.

8. Farm Credit Balances

We are half-way through the process of getting it all up to date.  The plan is to create a Google sheet with balances to be updated weekly.  Each person with credits will be given a unique ID so you can reference the table and view your balance.  We will protect your information by not housing any of your personal information there.  It will simply be a code and information about your farm credits balance.

We would like to focus on getting some things done outside this weekend, but we also hope to complete this task prior to next week's delivery.  Thank you for your patience.

9. Carrots

Grinnell Heritage Farm tells us they have more carrots.  We just need to find time to go get them.  Stay patient and we'll see what we can manage.

10. Do You Need Help?

Perhaps we can help in some small way.  If you are stuck at home and you need something we can pick up for you as a part of our delivery process, let us know.  We could swing by Meyer Pharmacy or Fareway in Waverly if you need it.  We can pick up some milk and cheese at Hansen's.  It's a small thing we might be able to do to help. 

11. Books available for others

Tammy and I both love to read.  It has been our tendency to take books we don't expect to re-read or re-re-reread to the library so others can enjoy them.  Things are different right now, so we will be putting a list out in the blog of books we are willing to pass on to others.  We have culled a couple dozen books so far and will finish that project up tomorrow!  yay!

12. Covid-19 steps and logic.

Please notice that we are asking you to let us put your order into your trunk or in the tailgate of your vehicle.  Also notice that we do not want to take money or checks from you at the delivery.  Please pay by mail or paypal.

If you want our products please purchase a minimum $50 in farm credits.  The $50 increment requires minimal commitment on your part and insures you our best prices for our product.  It's easy and you get some good food - what's not to like?

Why are we being so cautious with our deliveries?  Please remember that WE are the most likely vector to transfer Covid-19 during this process.  If person A hands me money and I hand them change, etc and then I hand person B eggs and garlic, I can transfer something from person A to anyone else that follows.  We'll wash hands and not touch our face, etc.  But, we don't want to unwittingly pass something on to you when this is REALLY NOT ALL THAT HARD for all of us to do.  In fact, it is quite easy to do.  So, let's make it work!

If you would like to chat for a while, please respect our expanded personal space.  We still like all of you and don't want you to be 'socially distant' along with the physical distance.  Believe us when we say that we also feel the strain of disconnection, but we are more than willing to continue with these restrictions for as long as is necessary.

Be well!
   Rob and Tammy

April Weather Report

Highest Recorded	Month of April	Lowest Recorded
79	Temperature	18
98%	Humidity	23%
30.32	Barometer	29.48
1.35"	Rainfall
42 mph NE *	Wind Gust

* Our wind gauge is suspect once winds exceed 25 mph.  Gusts in the area were recorded up to 60 mph at the time this occurred.

Highest Recorded	Year to Date	Lowest Recorded
79	Temperature	-17
99%	Humidity	23%
30.86	Barometer	29.18
5.44"	Rainfall
42 mph NE *	Wind Gust

Solar Report

Month	Power Generated
January	0.487 MWh
February	1.476 MWh
March	1.433 MWh
April	1.881 MWh

September Newsletter

Welcome to September
An amazing thing happened on the way to the Poultry Pavilion Saturday morning.  I realized that tomorrow would be September the first.  (Yes, I write the newsletter the day before it is posted.  Shocked, you are!)  Once I had that realization, I also remembered that Tammy and I had made some fairly important decisions about how we were going to go about business this year during our "official" farm retreat in February.  One of the things we agreed on was a time frame for making some decisions about how the Genuine Faux Farm would proceed (and whether it would proceed) in the future.  This installment of the Genuine Faux Farm newsletter will address this topic as well as many others, so hang on to your hats (and read on)!

Schedule Changes
Our schedule has been on the blog for a while and you can go to the original blog post here.  Once I am done with the newsletter I will update that post with the correct dates for a few things.  But, we'll get right down to it here as well!

• Broiler flock #3 goes to "the Park" on September 9.  There are some nice big birds in this flock and they are looking VERY tasty.  See below for more on them.
• The November 5 pickup in Waverly needs to be moved to November 6 (Wednesday) due to a scheduling conflict.
• The August Summer Festival was cancelled due to lack of interest on the parts of the farmers as much as anything.  We simply did not have the energy to promote it and then set it up.  We may talk about that more in a bit as well!
• Add in our first (and last?) Gathering at the Gateway to Autumn at the Genuine Faux Farm scheduled for September 22.  This will be a potluck that will also feature GFF turkey (we will roast a bird we have in our freezer from last year's flock).  The meal will be at 12:30pm and the event will start at 11:30am.  This is going to be a family friendly, low-key event and we would like all of our CSA members, past and present, to come share a meal with us.  The invitation includes all farm supporters, poultry purchasers, family and friends.

Broilers enjoy the apple trees for shade and the occasional windfall apple

Crop Roller-coaster
It certainly would not be September without a reference to how crops are doing so far this year.  Per the norm, some things are doing well and others are doing... uh... not as well.  Thus far, we have been pleased with the green beans and romano beans this season.  The beets have been good and the early lettuce was excellent.  The high tunnel melons have been a real treat as well.  We've had some gorgeous basil and the carrots are in pretty good shape (the earlier crops).

On the flip side, we are looking at poor vine crop production in general.  The late start, wet soils and likely exposure to other issues have done them no favors.  Add in some weed issues for some of the crops and there you are.  To be clear, the weed issues followed after many of the other issues.  They were already doing poorly and we just couldn't find the energy to spend to rescue things that were clearly doing poorly to begin with.  Evidence is provided by the summer squash and zucchini.  We've weeded, watered, etc etc... and the production is still way below what it should be.

Onions enjoy music, apparently...

After late starts and false starts, we've had some lovely broccoli and the cauliflower is coming along nicely for a mid-September crop.  The onions have been good, but not spectacular (we always hope for spectacular, but good is, well... good).  In fact, we still have 400 row feet of onions to pull in that are just now about ready.  The tomatoes in the high tunnels look very good and the peppers in the high tunnels have already been producing.  The field tomatoes and peppers... not so much.  And, the potatoes are always a mystery until we dig them all.  We're winding up for a batch of short season Fall/Winter crops in hopes that we can finish strong.

Broiler Chickens
We have about 300 broiler chickens in two flocks at the farm at this very moment.  Flock #3 goes to the park on September 9 (as you see above) but we still have a significant portion of flock #2 in our freezers right now.

Allow me to let you in on a secret.... shhh...  don't tell anyone.  We can't put flock #3 in our freezers if they are already full with flock #2.  So, we're putting the word out that we have lots of tasty chickens still available.  We have kept the price at $3.50 per pound for eight (or more?) years and we feel the quality has actually been improving as we continue to make advances in how we care for our flocks.  You actually have two opportunities here.  You could order some birds to pick up on September 9 so you could receive them unfrozen.  Or, you could opt for the already frozen birds.  They all taste good, so why not contact us and order some?

Farm Retreat Goal Check
Tammy and I set a number of fairly specific sign-posts for us to gauge how we were doing this year and to help us decide what we are doing going forward with the Genuine Faux Farm.  We agreed that we would assess where we were at during the August/September period of the season.  This is a dangerous time to assess because Tammy is starting the semester at Wartburg and Rob is now looking at a Fall work period with no other farm workers other than when Tammy is home.  But, it is also a realistic time for us to consider where we are at so we can balance it against the optimism that February often holds with respect to the farm.

One major theme was that we needed to make progress on projects that make our farm house a farm home.  The good news is that we now have a functioning, but not quite complete, kitchen in the farm house now.  We are now up to FOUR plugs in the upstairs floor (up from one) and the project to repair the stair to the basement and create a safer entry to the house is underway.  And, the solar array is now producing electricity!  In order to support all of these projects, we have (finally) completed the refinancing process of our mortgage - a project in and of itself.

The farm part of the Genuine Faux Farm has not been neglected either, with the creation of Casa Verde, among other things.  We increased the number of row feet we have using paper mulch and we re-introduced grass mulch to our repertoire (part of the reason for the green bean resurgence).  However, we have had some major setbacks this year as well.  The wet soils pushed us back four or more weeks for most of our planting.  An illness that prevented sleep in July (yes, it felt like all of July to me) set us back even further.  And, we are becoming more and more convinced that there is an accumulated buildup of herbicides, fungicides and pesticides in rural Iowa that are manifesting themselves on our farm.  That, in itself, is worth a future bit of blogging.

Potatoes and beans with some grass mulch to try and control the weeds

From a sales perspective, our CSA program is down again this year.  At its peak, the Genuine Faux Farm CSA delivered 120 shares per week.  We now deliver 40.  We attribute that, in part, to trends that have been obvious since 2016.   Some of the issue is likely our own fault for changing the program so dramatically this year.  But, we do not regret the changes because we do believe it made for a better product for our customers given the special conditions of this growing season after record precipitation levels.  Many people are warming to the 'credits' addition to our program and some have taken full advantage to stock up on their favorite veggies.  Also on the plus side, the simplification of our growing list has also helped us this season, which tells us that we might be moving in the right direction there.

On the other hand, we have increased sales to other entities (Jorgensen Plaza kitchens, East Bremer Diner, Farm Shed) - which was a part of our plan for the year.  However, we are still struggling to get more consistency with these and we need to add others.  In short, it is still unclear as to whether we can rely on these sales for the income needed to continue with the farm as it is right now.  Broiler chicken sales are also down this year - a year where we actually added a fourth flock of broilers because we anticipated a possible increase in demand.

To be perfectly blunt.  Our farm has not made any money the last couple of years.  My (Rob's) salary for his work on the farm consists of the amount that is our profit.  For that matter, Tammy also does not get paid for her work on the farm.  As unwise as it might sound, we do not pay a salary to myself and include it as an expense for a number of reasons that could ALSO be its own blog post.  The changes implemented this season have been, in part, an attempt to address the situation. 

So, what does all of this mean?  Well, we'll get to that.  But first..

Gathering at the Gateway to Autumn
September 22 starting at 11:30 am.
We would like to invite all CSA members, farm crew, poultry buyers and farm friends and family to join us for a potluck lunch at the farm where our contribution to the feast will be a roast turkey raised at the farm.  This gathering will be similar to our Summer Festival in that it brings us together to enjoy some food and each other's company.  It differs in that it focuses on the middle of the day rather than the end of the day.  At present, we are keeping the event low key so we can focus on making contact with those who are able to attend.

Why do this?
Well, did you know that this has been our FIFTEENTH season running a CSA at the Genuine Faux Farm?  It seems like a good time to request your presence to celebrate this with us and give us a chance to thank all of your for your support over the years that we have operated our farm share program.

Thanksgiving Turkeys Available Again This Year
Somehow the turkeys managed to avoid being mentioned until the bottom of the newsletter.  Don't tell them, they like to be first on the list for every VAP we create.

We will have turkeys available again this year and we will keep the price the same as it has been for several years now as well.  To make it up to the turkeys, we will create their OWN blog post to give details.  But, we want you to consider getting your Holiday turkey from the Genuine Faux Farm this year.

2020 Visions
Our vision for the Genuine Faux Farm in 2020 and beyond has to consider the realities of growing where we live and finding a market that will take what we grow.  We certainly have the right to change anything we say here as we learn more.  After all, Winter is usually the season for reflection and planning.  However, there are a few things that are now clear to us.

No such thing as a straight path forward, so let's just find what looks like a good one.

1. The CSA is dead.  Long live the CSA?
The 15th season of our CSA program will be our last with the CSA program as it has been.  Does that mean that we will not make produce, chickens, turkeys and eggs available to the fine people we have served in the past?  No.  We realize that the Genuine Faux Farm is unlikely to survive if we completely forsake sales direct to you, the consumer.  We value you and we NEED you for this farm to continue.  But, the burden of support has been falling to a smaller and smaller group for several years and we need to adjust.  It's a question of how we will do things more than anything.

We would like to know how YOU would like us to continue to serve you?  The only certain things are:

1. We will not continue as we have with the program.
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.

2. Increasing Other Direct Sales
We have always had some opportunities to sell to local entities such as restaurants, retirement villages, schools and daycare facilities.  However, the CSA has always gotten first priority for our growing lists and our harvests.  With the decline of the CSA, we have been pursuing more of these opportunities, but they carry their own uncertainties.  It's always safer for a farm business to have a diverse outlet for its product.

3. Re-assessing Poultry
It is still too early to determine what sort of adjustments should occur with the chickens and turkeys.  We make adjustments on the farm every season, so that is not earth-shattering.  The question is whether we make larger or smaller adjustments here.

4. Adjusting for Reduced Labor Hours
Neither of us has been allergic to hard work or long days.  However, it is clear to both of us that our tolerance for it has declined.  We have to find a way to control the number of hours we labor on the farm.  There are many ways to address this, of course, and we will explore them.  The good news is that we have improved in so many ways over fifteen years that we think this is certainly possible.  In fact, we have put many things in place over the years to improve our farm as a workplace for ourselves (and, likely, others).  We are, in particular, concerned with adjusting the work-load so Tammy doesn't have to essentially work two full-time jobs (teaching and farming).

5. Continuing to "Go Big" with Adjustments
One of the themes of our Farm Retreat in February was that we were at a point where some things needed to show significant progress or change.  In other words, it is still time for us to "Go Big or Go Home."  Since the farm IS our home, I guess we have to 'go big.'  If our farm is going to be our home, we need to continue to make repairs to that home so we aren't wasting so much time on emergency fixes or 'work-arounds' just to get our everyday living done.  And, if our farm business is going to continue, we have to make some major adjustments that will reduce stress and improve efficiency.  If we fail, so be it.  But, we intend to succeed.  We're just not always sure what that success will look like in the end.

August Faux Newsletter

Some of you may have noticed that we failed to put out an August newsletter in a timely fashion.  So, here is a fake newsletter to make up for it.  Well, actually, it's just a few pictures that represent some goings on at our farm that we thought we'd share.  That qualifies as a newsletter doesn't it?  It doesn't? 

Well, we're going to do it anyway.  So there!

Mini-Poof at the Farm (again)
It feels like we've had more wind gusts that have caused us issues this year than we have most years.  That is not to say that we have had more severe weather than usual.  It's more the fact that we've had more visible consequences this year than we usually do. 

Guess where this building WAS before the wind?

 The latest burst hit the farm sometime between 2 am and 4 am this morning (Aug 18).  Tammy woke up to raindrops hitting her face. 

*** pause for dramatic effect ***

Yes, she woke up because rain was being driven through our open window, across the room and into her face.  This is good because we had a few windows open that needed closing.  But, this was not the gust in question.  That came just after she got the windows closed.  Let's just say that the whole house shuddered when this one hit.  We do get winds that make the house move about a half dozen times per year, so it isn't a completely new experience.

In any event, the little sweet corn patch we planted for ourselves is completely down.  That's just a reminder of one of the reasons why we don't put much effort into growing sweet corn.  A section of our maturing broccoli got rolled over.  They should be ok with a couple of exceptions.  And, a chicken building got moved a bit.

The last item was the most concerning since we had just gotten our youngest batch of broiler chickens out to their portable building.  These buildings are meant to move, but they are usually moved with Rosie the tractor during the day when Rob and Tammy are around to herd the birds out of the way so it can be safely moved.  The good news is that there does not appear to be any real damage to the building and the birds seem to be fine.  Now, with 150 little birds that like to stay next to each other, you can't be completely certain - so we'll keep our eyes open for problems the next couple of days.

In the end, the damage is light and we can handle it. 

Horizontal Surface = Good Place to Nap
Our two Outdoor Farm Supervisors have been working extra-hard lately, which means they have been getting into some serious napping!

What?  You wanted to use this lawn tractor?  No, you don't.

 Just this morning, Tammy used the lawn tractor for a few minutes to help with some of the AM chores.  She parked it with the intention of coming back to it so she could do more.  The picture above is what she found.

Keep in mind that the period of time between parking and returning was probably not much more than 15 minutes.  And we still don't know how Soup would think that mower deck is a comfortable place to nap.

A good skritching is cause for a good nap.

 Inspector followed Rob into the granary while he went to load up some feed for one of the flocks on the farm.  He requested attention and Rob gave it to him in the form of a good, solid skritching.  After taking food to birds, Rob came back and found Inspector sleeping on the feed bin (seen above).  Apparently, that skritching wore Inspector out.  The sad thing?  Rob was not allowed to take a nap as well.

Anxious to Get It Running
And so, you have this big, beautiful solar array sitting on your property.  It took years of planning and then weeks of scrambling to do what it took to get it there.  It is collecting the sun, but that energy is going no where.  Why?

Well, it is all part of the process.  Alliant still needs to install the two-way meter and hook this system into the grid.  They have a period of time during which this is supposed to happen, so we are trying to be patient.  But, shucks, we have some very sunny days and we really would like to use some renewable energy on the farm!

We'll keep everyone posted as things progress.

July Newsletter

The Wall
There are stages in every growing season that I think most growers and many other folk will recognize.  At the Genuine Faux Farm, we have a couple occurrences of hitting the proverbial "wall."  One of them typically happens around the 4th of July when we realize that we've put in a year's worth of effort and we still have a few years' worth of effort to go until the season is completed.  Exaggeration?  Perhaps - but when you are talking about how we feel, I am not sure it matters whether it is an exaggeration or not.

This 'wall' might have something to do with the ridiculous push we had to put on just to plant everything and now we find ourselves needing to cram in three weeks of cultivation and weeding into two - assuming the weather allows it to happen.  We will not bore you with the litany of things we have on our 'to do' lists (also known as VAPs at the Genuine Faux Farm), but we assure you there is a fine variety of mental and physical tasks for each of us to do.

What makes it harder is that there are at least a couple of unforeseen circumstances every month that complicate our farm lives.  You could argue that they are not entirely 'unforeseen' because we have come to expect that we will experience them.  But, we have yet to read the entire manual on the crystal ball we picked up this Winter to help with that problem.

One of our most recent 'additions of flavor' to the farm is the not so neat little storm that backed in from the Northeast just as people were arriving for a PFI gathering at our farm.  Apparently, the Poultry Pavilion roof has decided that we are giving far too much attention to the other parts of our farm right now.  In a desperate attempt to gain our attention, the metal on the roof threatened to go flying around the farm.  Happily, the grounding wire for the lightning rods held on and the sheets of metal merely flapped around merrily in the 60+ mph winds.

Well, add that one to the VAP.

Weather Wythards
A typical Iowa June at the farm this year.  It was warm, it was cool.  It was wet and it was... less wet.  There was wind and calm and there were gnats!  At least the buffalo gnats have come no where close to last year's silliness.

June's Report
High Temp: 95
High Heat Index: 119
Low Temp: 48
Windchill (believe it or not): 46
Rain: 5.58"  (average: 4.96")


Year Report
High Temp: 95
Highest Heat Index: 119
Low Temp: -29
Lowest Windchill: -53
Rain: 17.3"
Wind: 60+ mph from NE
Barometer Range: 29.14 - 30.90
Snow: you know, we lost count.  It was a lot.


Veggie Variety of the Month -Pablo lettuce
This one seems a little odd for a selection, even to me.  Why?  Well, we have not harvested that much Pablo so far this year.  But, the few we did harvest were absolutely beautiful and had the great taste we grow this variety for.

Pablo is best known to us as a decent Summer lettuce as it falls into the Batavian class of lettuces.  We are very hopeful that Pablo will pick up where some of our cooler season lettuces are leaving off!  So, there you have it, we listed a veggie variety in hopes that it will come through for us.  But, that isn't so different than last month's selection of  snow peas.  Speaking of which, the peas didn't start producing until July 1.  I guess it is going to be a very short pea harvest this year.  Sure hope I didn't jinx the Pablo lettuces!


Song of the Month
Been a while since I've listened - really listened - to some U2.  How about One Tree Hill for this month's song?

CSA Openings Abound - And CSA Phase I has Begun!
We still have plenty of space in our CSA program, so we would welcome new and returning members at any point this month.  We could certainly still add people throughout the season, but we'd really rather start with you on board now!

We will enter Phase II of the CSA season when we enter the month of August.  Until then, current members are able to use their CSA "credit dollars" to purchase early season veggies.  Things like lettuce, turnips, peas and the first of the cucumbers!

Farm News and Announcements 
We were mentioning unexpected challenges in the introduction.  The picture below shows a plug that decided to have a problem in the Poultry Pavilion earlier this season.  Happily, the circuit breaker did its job and were able to trace down the problem.  The temporary fix, in that case, was to take out the plug and just wire through it for the time being.  We'll put a new plug in later.

Another photo from earlier in the season that deserved to be featured earlier is this one from Tammy's phone.  The eave on the portable building for the henlet flock is open.  When the henlets were smaller than they are now, they thought it was supposed to be the ultimate roost.  It was mildly amusing to look up and see these sleepy little birds looking down at us.

Speaking of little birds, it is amazing that we've actually had the turklets on the farm for a couple of weeks now.  Tammy did manage to get a couple of pictures on the day of their arrival at the farm.  They are much bigger now, but still quite small.  The great news is that they appear to have the normal turkey 'curiosity' that amuses us sometimes.  Unless they get out of the pasture and we have to look for them in the dark.  That is NOT amusing - at least not to the farmers.



The farm house kitchen project continues to progress one step at a time.  As we have mentioned before, we try to set aside one day a week to make some progress (usually Sundays).  The dry wall has been taped, sanded, top-coated and now painted.

Next up- cabinets!

 One of the things that happens when we hit the wall?  The farmer doesn't quite get enough gumption to go out and take pictures of the fields.  We have a few we can show, such as this one from July 5.

As you might notice, we've hilled a bed of potatoes and mulched a couple beds of beans.  We are also experimenting with grass mulch on one of the potato beds.  Here is hoping that we have success.  Sadly, we couldn't get the beans in on time again this season, so the Colorado Potato Beetles are causing us some fits again this year.  The two beds with minimal problems?  They are adjacent to the one bed of beans we got in on time!

And finally - East Bremer Diner is trying out purchasing some veggies from the Genuine Faux Farm.  It may not be much, but we've got to start somewhere!

The Born & Raised Burger at East Bremer Diner - July Special

We were able to sell the Diner an assortment of heirloom lettuces to put on this burger that features a bun made by the nearby bakery, wagu beef from Hansen's Dairy in Hudsen and cheese curds from Hansen's as well.  If you are inclined to visit the Diner, please consider going and supporting them, Hansen's and us by asking for a Born & Raised Burger during the month of July.  We've tested it and it tastes extremely good!  Success here can lead to more collaboration later!

June Newsletter

Roller Coaster
As I worked my way down the row planting onion starts into soil that was really too wet to have worked  but I worked it anyway) I had plenty of time to muse on things related to life, the farm and life on the farm.  If you wonder where we come up with some of the things that show up in our blog, consider the fact that some of our tasks are repetitive and may take a while to complete.  The brain needs to go somewhere and it is often a wonder where the farmer's brain wanders.  See!  I got to use 'wander' and 'wonder' in the same sentence.  Now I am happy.

This time around I was reflecting on the number of "mood swings" I had gone through up to the point that I started putting in the onion plants.  The soil conditions, as I stated, were not what I normally prefer for tilling - which put me into a bit of a funk.  Prior to that, I was noticing some things germinating in Valhalla (our larger high tunnel) and I was feeling pretty optimistic that we can get things going.  Before that, I was feeling pretty grumpy about another important tool breaking (no worries, we figured out a good fix later on) which was just after the relative high point that came from building a temporary shelf for more seedlings in Casa Verde (see prior post).  Sometimes the highs and lows are less specific and more philosophical or general in nature.  Other times, the specific event is merely a symptom of a bigger worry (how do we handle weather extremes or spray drift) or more encompassing joys (the iris are blooming, isn't it cool how seeds sprout?).

But, the main point I am trying to make is that I find myself swinging from end of the spectrum multiple times a day - every day - on the farm.  One moment, I am telling myself this is the LAST TIME I will go through this @$^$% and the next I am thinking we'll finally manage to achieve certain goals we set for ourselves every year and that it's great that we can do what we do.

Which brings me to planting the onions.  It's a longer task.  It could be a tedious task.  But it is steady.  And, I usually don't have new highs and lows being placed in front of me for a period of time.  I can process and level it all out.  Does it work?  Sometimes.  The trick is to avoid getting stuck down at the level of the most recent low and digging it in deeper.  Frankly, I don't usually have a problem with getting overly happy with things on the farm because there is always something that isn't done or isn't going right to temper that particular feeling.  But, each onion placed in the ground represents a mini-success that has potential.  After a couple thousand mini-successes, it isn't so hard to balance out some of those failures or problems.

Grow onions!  Grow!

Weather Wythards
A cool, wet May.  We'll let Mark Schnackenberg's blog summarize if you are inclined to read it.

May's Report
High Temp: 88
Low Temp: 31
Rain: 6.03"

It's not the rain numbers southern Iowa received and we sure feel for them and the struggles this has caused.  But, we still ran a couple of inches above the 'normal' levels for the month.  Broken record time - it isn't helping to dry out the soil enough to work.  All I can say is that our plan to backload the 2019 growing season that we created in February is looking positively brilliant at this point - even if we STILL need to get things in the ground if we want longer season crops. We won't look brilliant if we never get anything to grow.  But, maybe that becomes the 'right' solution for the given situation?  We shall see - but for now the plan is to get it planted and have some quality produce.

Year Report
High Temp: 88
Low Temp: -29
Lowest Windchill: -53
Rain: 11.72"
Wind: 49+ mph from SW
Barometer Range: 29.14 - 30.90
Snow: you know, we lost count.  It was a lot.


Veggie Variety of the Month - Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow Peas
At the rate of growth the snow peas have experienced thus far, it is safe for us to say that we do not expect them until the end of the month and into July this season.  The plants are a couple of inches of high, but they look healthy enough.

We favor snow peas and sometimes will plant snap peas, but we no longer plant shelling peas.  Among them is the fact that many of our customers don't want to spend time shelling peas and we certainly do not have time to shell peas for them.  One of our long time favorite snow peas has been the Oregon Sugar Pod variety. 

We preferred the original strain of Oregon Sugar Pod on our farm, but a new strain was developed that was a little bit shorter and supposedly had more mildew resistance.  Even though these are shorter, it is still important to provide some trellising to keep the pea pods off the ground and make harvest easier.

What we particularly like about Oregon Sugar Pod is that they maintain a good eating quality even when the peas get a little bigger in the pod.  Some varieties start to get stringy and lose some of their eating quality once the seed starts to get a bit bigger.  We like Oregon Sugar Pod II in stir fries or in lightly steamed.  They are fine eaten raw as well, but we usually prefer Blizzard for the raw snacking.

Here's to a late, but hopefully glorious, pea harvest in 2019.

Song of the Month

A little Over the Rhine for June.  Seems like a good choice - Betting on the Muse.  It has been interesting listening to the musical development of this group over an extended period of time.  While I am not always in the mood for their music, I am always appreciative their skill and quality.  Just good art.

CSA Openings Abound - And CSA Phase I has Begun!
We still have plenty of space in our CSA program, so we would welcome new and returning members at any point this month.  We could certainly still add people throughout the season, but we'd really rather start with you on board now!

We have entered Phase I of the CSA season where current members are able to use their CSA "credit dollars" to purchase early season veggies.  Things like lettuce, spinach, rhubarb and yummy asparagus!  Scroll down and look at some of our informational posts on the blog!


Farm News and Announcements 
We start with onions and we continue with onions.  Our onions are started from seed and were looking pretty good in their tubs and trays.  Once transplanted they go through a bit of a transition focusing on root growth until they start again on the tops.  As a result, they often look a bit rough for a week or so.  Once they start looking good again, we cultivate them with the flex tine weeder - which tends to beat them up pretty good.  But, after that first weeding, they have a real chance to look good - until we cultivate again!  After that we can usually pretty much let them do their thing without being mean to them.

Valhalla as of June 3

We did manage to plant all 7 planned beds, even if some of them were planted much later than we wanted.  The later plantings may not size up as we would prefer, but even half-sized onions are fine.  The trick now is keeping them weeded so they have that chance to fill out and be tasty for us.  And that is why we use the flex tine weeder, even though it beats the plants up.  Seven beds, each 200 feet long with four rows of onions in each would be impossible to weed by hand - so we use a cultivator that has worked for us.  So far, four beds have had their first cultivation and three haven't been in the ground long enough to cultivate.  Ideally, I might have liked to have given the onions a little more time, but the weeds weren't being patient.

Valhalla is our larger and newer high tunnel.  It resides on ground that is a bit higher because we dug out two ditches (one on either side) and used the soil to raise the center a little bit.  As a result, this is one of the dry locations on the farm - though you can hit water if you dig down a foot and a half.  The building moves between two positions, so we're altering our plan to use the higher ground.  

The things you see (and don't see) in the picture above are getting a start in the building until we move the building in the next week.  Once moved, we'll put the Summer planned crops for Valhalla into it.  What you don't see here (yet) are (from left to right) potatoes, green beans, beets, carrots, peas, carrots.  And what you do see (continuing from left to right) lettuce, lettuce, flowers and zucchini.  The flowers are placed in this position in an effort to attract pollinators to the zucchini flowers.

 We have a new building for our broiler chickens that gets moved every other day (with exceptions in bad weather, etc).  The birds are allowed to be in a fenced in area around the building during the day, but we get them to go in at night to protect them from owls.  Needless to say, the birds are hard on the grasses and clovers - but that' why you move it every other day.  You can see from the picture above how things recover over time.

Speaking of broilers - flock #1 goes to "The Park" June 24!  If you want broiler chicken from this batch, now is a good time to reserve them.

An interesting observation that is not new to us, but always a bit shocking when we see it each year.  The grass IS always greener where the building has been - at least after the building has moved on and things have recovered.

We have dubbed this field/plot on our farm "Middle Earth."  If you like Tolkein, then you likely get the reference.  But, the reason for the name is far more mundane and simple than a "Lord of the Rings" reference.  It's a tillable spot pretty much in the center of our farm.  This is its second year in service and its job this year is to grow peas and cukes - so we can mind them for you.

And here are two sights that have been pretty normal around here over the past month.  A gravel road that can be difficult to travel when it is wet and....  more wetness heading for the farm.  For those that know gravel, you can see that it has been recently graded.  This is only the second time the county has been able to service our road since they stopped plowing for snow.  It's been a rough Spring for many.  We appreciate what the road crews do and realize that many who live in the country may be thinking many uncharitable thoughts about them this year.  It's time to extend a little grace folks.  The weather has been truly exceptional.  Record-breaking even.  We're all trying to adjust and deal.

Have a great June!
Rob & Tammy