Trying to Be Flexible

The flex tine cultivator has been sitting in one spot for a few months, since I last used it, and it needs to get moved to its winter storage location.  There are some things we need to do to prepare the hen room for colder weather, like acquire new heaters for the water and put the plastic cover over the sides to cut the wind and keep some heat in.  And we still need to finish the end of season work in the high tunnels.

The Thanksgiving "break" on our farm is often a good time to do this work - but it's often a better time to be disappointed that we didn't complete these things BEFORE it got chilly enough to make the work uncomfortable.

Now, if there is sunshine, the high tunnels will be pretty nice to work in.  So, I don't want to complain about that too much.  But, I still need to organize the garage so the car can get into it.  Already Tammy has had to deal with frosted windows in the morning more times than I want to admit.  

Unfortunately, the garage is not a "warm" place to work anymore.  And there will be things I will look at and sadly recognize that I won't get those things done AGAIN this year.  The same thing will happen in the truck barn.. and the Poultry Pavilion.. and pretty much everywhere else I walk on the farm.

This is a cycle we go through every year.  It's probably a cycle that many of you who read the blog can recognize.  We spend so much time just navigating our lives that all of the grand plans that we expect to accomplish throughout a day, week, month, season or year, seem to get pushed aside.  Only the regret that they weren't realized remain.

Ok, regret and a solid resolve that we will do better next time.

You could try to tell me that we should adjust our goals to fit reality - but that won't work.  Part of the issue is that, when you are a steward of a small-scale farm, there are things that need to get done and no one else is going to do them.  But, in reality, the issue is big enough and complex enough that a simple paragraph or three doesn't even begin to cover it.

So, I find myself trying to model myself after the flex tine cultivator (the first image).  The heavy, but flexible tines bounce over the soil, disturbing it enough to uproot small weeds.  It bounces over and around tougher objects, like rocks or bigger plants.  I need to bounce around some of these bigger obstacles to continue to move forward and make things better.

And that's what soothes me when I am discontented with progress.  We are making progress, continually.  We just don't always have the huge visual or obvious improvements that we crave.  And, yes, we don't get to it all.  But, we're still moving forward.  

I just need to be flexible enough to accept that.

Long Days

It's true.  The daylight hours are getting to be fewer each day as we enter the month of August.  It's also true - the days can be plenty long when you have a small-scale, diversified farm to go along with an off-farm job for each farmer and a life we'd like to live in addition to all of that!

Tuesday turned into a very long day after Monday was a very long day.  But both were long for different reasons.

Monday's long day started because we wanted to prepare for the arrival of some contractors at the farm to help jump-start a farmhouse project.  As many of you know, the kitchen area is often the center of the house.  So, it's a pretty big project when you need to shut it all down and move stuff out of the way when it involves the kitchen area.

The good news?  We were pretty well prepared for their arrival and the project we asked them to do was completed (up to the point we hired them to work).  The true completion of the project is up to us, of course.

Tuesday's long day started with Tammy heading out to try out some kayaking very early.  Rob tried to get out and do some farm work during the cool hours, only to be diverted by evidence that rats were predating on our broiler chicks.  After doing what I could do on that front, I had to drive to pick up feed for our poultry - and we were off and running.

The day ended after the sun was going down and we were moving the chicks into different containers that we hope will be "rat proof."   We're also hoping to find some rats in snap traps in the morning instead of dead chicks.

And that is the anatomy of a truly LONG day at the farm.  Start it with dead chicks and rats and end it with live, safe, chicks and very tired farmers.

Stress Dreams

As I took a few moments to identify potential "throwback" posts for Thursdays, I ran into this one from June of 2020.   As is usually the case, I run these throwbacks through another edit, and sometimes I update them. 

Everyone has a "favorite" set of stress dreams that come to visit when things are feeling a bit out of control.  The most common one I've heard other people share is being somewhere with a bunch of people and suddenly realizing that you are naked.  A close second is the one where you realize that there is a class that you were supposed to be attending, but somehow you have missed all of the classes and today is the final (there are several variations of this one, but the gist is the same).

All the way back when this blog was 'new' I shared a stress dream featuring our turkeys (among other things).  I can actually still visualize that one and it still makes me shake my head with both sympathy and amusement.

For me, the two most common themes that appear when I am stressed and dreaming are:

1.  the impending storm
2.  being responsible for teaching others and having things go wrong so that people eventually leave/disappear or stop listening

I have had the first stress dream semi-frequently for most of my life.  Once we started farming, this really became my 'go to' stress dream because I really do have a concern for and strong connections with the weather.  Typically these dreams start going bad by featuring a tornado.  But, my tired brain doesn't know restraint.  By the time I notice there is not just one, but three or more tornadoes, I get a clue that it IS just a dream and I wake up.

I even caught myself saying out loud, "you can't fool me -  you're just a dream."  Happily, Tammy is a sound sleeper most of the time, so I don't think she caught that one.

 

The second dream used to occur frequently when I was teaching college courses.  It would often feature markers that wouldn't write, uncontrolled distractions that pulled attention away from everyone or... most horribly... my own lack of focus as I try to figure out exactly WHAT was so important that I tell everyone in the first place.  

 

These are usually a bit harder to identify because my brain is a bit more creative AND restrained at the same time.  It selects events that are plausible (and perhaps have evened happened in waking hours) and these dreams usually last until I get so frustrated that I wake up out of spite.

My newest stress dream featured lettuce.

Yep.  Lettuce.

I was having all kinds of trouble with the lettuce crop.  I planted the wrong seed.  I planted the right lettuce seed, but they turned into zinnias.  Then, I kept stepping on the lettuce plants as I reached down to harvest them.  And, of course, there was the scene(s) where I just couldn't find them.

I know I planted those around here SOMEWHERE!

The deer ate them.  The rabbits ate them.  The slugs ate them.  Some men drove up in an unmarked van, ripped them out of the ground... and ate them.  They didn't pay for them either.

The nerve.

But, I woke up at the point where I realized the lettuce I was about to harvest was shrinking or growing backwards towards seedling stage.  I've got to hand it to my brain, this was one of the more entertaining stress dreams I've had in a while.  I seem to recall recognizing it for what it was well before I woke up all the way.  In fact, I think there was a thought somewhere along the lines of ..

"Wow!  I wonder what I'll dream up next!"

Here's hoping that, if you must have a stress dream, it will be at least half as entertaining as this one was.  Have a great day everyone!

Give and Take

At one point in time, I helped college students learn Computer Science both as an adjunct professor and a full-time professor at various locations.  I was fond of quoting the opening character, a traveling tinker or salesman, portrayed by Robin Williams in Disney's version of Aladdin.  The character tries to sell a device that will "save money, time and space - and also make julienne fries!"

I used that as a hook to try and get them to remember that in computing, there is often give and take between time and space.   Often, to get something to run faster (save time) you have to use more memory or storage (space).  Or, if memory/storage is tough to come by, you might have to pay with less speed.  The trick is to know what you are working with so you can find the optimal balance of speed and storage.

In everything we do, there is give and take - because we don't get to do things with infinite resources at our disposal.  We have to make choices.

For example - should we pursue excellence in one thing or competence in a diversity of things?

Expert vs Jack (or Jill) of Many Trades?  Which would you pick?

I started thinking about this after gathering with family for Thanksgiving.  My brother's children had taken an interest in learning chess and had a new "Wizard Chess" set that they wanted to play.  It is known in my family that I had been good at chess at one point in time, so I was involved at some level.  But, it brought back the memory of my uncle teaching me how to play chess during a similar family gathering.  

Of course, I lost badly because I was just learning how pieces moved.  But after getting a taste of it, I found myself playing frequently with friends and reading books about the game.  

When the next family gathering came - some months later - we played again and I won.

How did that happen?  For that matter, how do such things happen on a fairly regular basis?  I suspect we all have some ideas.  My uncle, being an adult, with all of the things going on in his life, had probably not played or maybe hadn't even thought about chess since the day he taught me the basics.  On the other hand, I, a kid, had much less calling for my attention.  

I had time and could afford to expend the brain space on chess.  With the privilege of childhood, I could concentrate on chess to the exclusion of other things with minimal consequences.  I suppose I could have made a choice at that time to really pursue chess and see how far I could get.  While I have no illusions that I would be a top competitor at the grandmaster level, I suspect I could have seen some success until I started running into those who had more aptitude and access to training.  The biggest difference is having the opportunity and then the willingness to invest significant time and energy to the task.  According to one site I found about chess, it can easily take ten years or more of play to achieve the level of grandmaster.

And there it is.  Give and take.  How much success in chess was I going to be happy with and what cost in terms of time and personal space was I willing to pay to get there?  If it turned out that I didn't have much aptitude, it would take even more dedication to try to get to my goal - assuming I could get there at all.

This is where most of us live.  We all have different levels of competency for so many things because our resources are limited.  And there are so many more things in which we have NO competency because we have not expended any effort.

So, here I am.  A Jack of Many Trades amongst a whole host of Jacks (and Jills) who have a wide range of competence in so many things.  Now, I need to learn to stop apologizing that I have shortcomings in some areas - because none of us has unlimited resources.

Land stewards are strong, still need support

The following was originally published in Pesticide Action Network's Ground Truth blog on September 9, 2022.

Many people like to glorify the efforts of small-scale, diversified producers of quality food.  They like to point to the willingness of these growers to work with, rather than against, nature.  Some, myself included, believe that this sort of farming, using many of the principles of agroecology, is a key component for building a healthier, more just world.  

But, let me tell you a secret — this kind of farming isn’t simple and it isn’t easy.  There are times when even the most dedicated individual will question themselves and their vocation.

There are stewards in this world

A recent conversation with a respected colleague reminded me of the strength of those who work with the land and the continuous struggle they must face to steward their small-scale, diversified farms. 

People who try to raise food in this way are a rare breed that work incredibly hard to put their ideals into action.  They also do this difficult work so they can earn a reasonable living.  But, they stick with their operations because they love and believe in what they do.

The work requires a broad range of skills, with tasks ranging from marketing and story-telling in the effort to sell product, to horticulture (cultivating plants), entomology (studying insects), and small-engine repair.  There are many points each season when the job is all-encompassing.  The rare moments in time when a grower feels as if they are "caught up" don't last more than a couple of minutes.  One blink and the farm once again can feel like it is on the brink of disaster.

And that's how the best of us feel much of the time on our farms. The burden that stewards of the land feel is heavy. And you wouldn't know it by looking at us ​​— unless you are also one of us.

Yet, despite the weight of the tasks in front of them, there are even more people who are called to be stewards of the land who are not given the opportunity to do so.  There could be so many more of us if they were given the chance to join.  But access to land, start-up capital, and systemic barriers often stand in the way.

A thousand cuts inflicted each season

In my opinion, there is probably no worse time to be a diversified produce and poultry farm in Iowa than mid-May to mid-June, when herbicides are liberally applied, though we also struggle through the pesticide spraying season in late July and early August.  The excessive use of pesticides put our crops at risk, make us concerned our health and for our workers' health, and raise worries about food safety.

I realize most people are enamored with the beauty of spring and the promise of a summer of fun.  After almost two decades of doing this sort of farming, I don’t see it this way.  I see this part of the season as the time where I feel like I am dying a death inflicted by a thousand cuts.

I guess the saying implies that they are "tiny" cuts — but I can tell you they come in all shapes and sizes.  I looked at my daily farm notes for one week in early June from a few years back and I noticed the following events occurred in this short period of time:

• a windstorm flattened some of our lettuce and peppers.
• a woodchuck ate 15 trays of broccoli and cauliflower plants due to be planted that week.
• another storm dropped four inches of rain on already saturated soil, making it impossible to do any field work.
• the gnats were so bad that we had to cover ourselves completely, even in temperatures in the high 80s to low 90s.
• we discovered that the raccoons were teaching their young to pick off members of our hen flock by creeping through a hole in the fence.
• someone missed watering four trays of squash transplants and they did not recover
• we did not notice a leak in the irrigation inside a high tunnel until a small pond had developed on one end
• a key tractor implement broke while we were trying to complete work before it rained

I think that's enough for you to get the point.

My colleague and friend shared their frustrations regarding the crops they were working so hard to nurture.  

"I must be stupid or a complete failure.  I've been doing this long enough, you would think I could find a way to deal with these problems."

For a second, my heart broke — even if it didn't look like it.  I heard what this person was saying, and I recognized words I had spoken to myself.  And I can tell you that I have often taken these failures (big and small) to heart because it was so very important to me to fulfill my obligations to our customers, to the land, to those who work at the farm, and to all of the other folks who try to grow as we do.  All of that responsibility just makes each little cut bleed a little bit more.

A thousand cuts.  A thousand tiny cuts will make the most dedicated, intelligent, skilled, and capable person wonder — "Why am I still trying to do this?"

We can all benefit from support

This is why I keep pushing the idea that we need to do better at supporting farms and growers who follow the principles of agroecology.

If we like the idea of working with, rather than against nature.  If we prefer to have more and diverse people on the land, working on a smaller-scale that is responsive to the needs of the community.  If we see value in food that is grown locally or regionally.  If we want food that is raised with fewer chemicals and we want growers who hold on to the highest ethics when it comes to treating workers well, being stewards for the land, and being caretakers for a healthier future.

If we want all of this…

Then we've got to stop adding our own small slices to the ten thousand cuts these people suffer so frequently as they try to do the work that they love.  On the land that they care for.  For the good people they so willingly serve.

 

Now, I'm going to share another secret.

Stewards are already quite resilient

Our farm survived that "week of horrors" that illustrated all of the things that can go wrong on a farm like ours.  My friend was also able to move forward and will, once again, look back on a reasonably successful season at the end of the year.  Stewards of the land often need the full season to get the perspective necessary to get a clearer view.  

After all, we DID sign up for those kinds of problems when we took on the job of running our respective farms. Yes, it does get annoying when we lose a crop to rabbits (or some other critter) AGAIN.  And, yes, we wonder how we could let it happen once more.  Surely we must be too dumb to figure it out.  

This is normal frustration speaking.  We're human and this is how it feels during that moment.  

We also know that our farms are much more complex than "guard against rabbits" and sometimes the most successful strategies for that particular task are not practical for the moment in time that we are in.  

Until the rabbits make us pay too much and we adjust.

The real issues are the additional injuries that could be prevented if our local, regional, national and global communities were willing to provide remedy.

We need to stop supporting corporate farming and chemical-based agriculture.  If there were more of us out there doing this small-scale/diverse farming thing, we'd have that much more support to get through the rough times.  And, we need to remove the possibility of chemical trespass from the list of things that can go wrong on our farms.  

We need to be sure those who work on these small farms have appropriate health care and appropriate resources, such as capital for necessary tools and clean water and quality land.  We need to adopt size-appropriate regulations that don't define "small business" as anyone under $40 million in sales.

And we need to put these small-scale, diversified producers back in the front of the line when it comes to supplying people with the foods that they eat.

Despite My Negligence

We expect a great deal of ourselves at the Genuine Faux Farm.  That, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing.  But, when life gets more complicated, it can become a problem.  Neither of us is all that good at saying no.  But, we have managed that every once in a while with some success.

What I, in particular, am not good at is letting things go.  Or, maybe I let things go simply because there is no way for me to actually get it all done.  That is probably not the healthiest way to "let it go" because there is a great deal of guilt and/or disappointment that tends to come along with it.

Despite my negligence, the clematis on the farm bloomed for us again this season.  Currently, the Jackmanii are doing a nice job with their big purple blooms.  A few weeks ago, our other clematis graced us with their presence.  All of this, even though we have not cleaned up those perennials beds like we told ourselves we would finally manage to do.

Thank goodness for the resilience of these plants.  We have some nice daylilies poking up through the weeds with many flower stalks and some have already begun the bloom season.

Maybe some things do better if we am negligent, because some of the things we have actually stayed on top of aren't always turning out all that well.

I thought Tammy had done a nice job of putting some flowers in to pots that could be on our back deck this year.  And we both worked to get indoor plants outdoors for the summer - putting them in the same area around the back deck.

I've been making sure they stay watered and we've both been "dead-heading" flowers so we can have more blooms.

Sadly, some deer have now decided those plants are on the "hit list," with the kicker being Monday morning when I went out to find that the deer came up ON the back deck, kicked pots around and munched on various plants.  

Let's just say they really like every part of a spider plant.  Yes, that includes the roots.

Things like this are upsetting anytime they happen.  That's certain.  But, when you are feeling like you are not doing a particularly good job at much of anything, this can be a bit of a downer. 

Still - despite my negligence the birds still sing in the trees and the bees still buzz from flower to flower at the Genuine Faux Farm. 

Time Management

Flow charting is something I really took a liking to when I was studying for my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and Mathematics.  I remember that, not long after I graduated, I created a flow chart that looked very much like this at my job with an insurance company in Madison, Wisconsin.  You see, one of the things some of us did to stay sane at that job was to share funny and/or creative things with each other.

So, imagine my surprise (well, not really) when I saw this graphic floating around in social media.  

No, I am not trying to say that I am the original author because I am pretty sure I worded things differently.  And I seem to recall that my version was a bit more complex with more silliness than what you see here.  The point is that this is a concept that has been with us for some time.  Many of us have a difficult time saying "no" and many of us have a difficult time being honest with ourselves about what we are capable of doing in the time we actually have available.

So, I was thinking about recreating the flowchart I created way back when and sharing that with everyone.  Surely I have time to do that.  Right?

Full Moon, Full Plates

The full moon worked its way through the clouds Monday evening until it finally freed itself from their grasp.  Although, every so often, a wisp or two of cloud would try to latch on and drag the moon back down to the horizon.  I knew their effort was doomed to fail because I've seen this play before.  The moon always finds its way, somehow, across the sky from East to West - even when we're not watching.  It's not until the moon has completed its journey across the sky that it willingly allows itself to float back down, until it feels called to make the circuit again.

I was more aware of the drama taking place in our early night-time skies than I might be other nights because Tammy and I were still outside doing some farm tasks at a time when the sun had clearly gone to bed and the moon was taking the place of prominence in the skies of our world.  This is the way things are when you must deal with animals on the farm - you can't always do what you need to do in the light of day.

Monday night's task was to move the adult laying hens from the Poultry Pavilion to the portable hen house we call the "Summer Cottage."  You can see the shed-like building on wheels in the middle left of the picture shown above.  

Much of the preparation for this move occurred earlier in the day or over the weekend.  The destination pasture was cleaned up and area that would have the electric netting was mowed short enough so it would not short out the fencing and render it useless.  The charger was tested, straw was put into the Summer Cottage and we did various other things that always seem to need doing before the birds are actually moved.

We then wait until dusk to transport the birds from one home to the other.  The hens come back to their room to roost and the farmers walk in and grab them - two to four at a time - and carry them from one building to the other.  Hens are much easier to catch when they are sleepy.  Even after a little disturbance, it does not take them long to roost again and make it fairly simple for one of us to catch and move them.

Except for a few birds.  There are always a few birds that defy the process and make it very tempting for both farmers to utter some choice words.  

Words like... SOUP...  CHICKEN SOUP...  

For some reason those words never have the desired effect, so we just keep doing what we have to so we can corner the last of the birds and get them in the Summer Cottage.

Once all of the birds (except one who escaped our grasp, but may not have escaped the raccoons later that night) were in the portable building, the farmers towed the Summer Cottage to the prepared pasture.  Once the tractor was out of the way, we set up the electric netting (fencing) and connected the charger.

Now the farmers can nod at the moon one more time before they, too, head for their house - hopefully to roost after taking a nice shower.  A job completed by moonlight - or completed enough - the rest can wait until the sun has swapped places with the moon.

June Farm Report

It seems like the time is right to update everyone about what's going on at the Genuine Faux Farm.  So, let's give it a go and see where it lands.

Things Break - Of Course

Every Spring we go through the process of accepting that things are going to break and that there is really never a good time for them to break.  This year, at least, the pressure to produce at the farm is lower than it has been in years when Rob's primary job was the farm.  But, someone needs to tell Rob and Tammy that the pressure is lower because neither of them actually seems to have bought into that program.

At present, Barty (our BCS walk-behind tractor) is in the shop.  We really could have used him before the last batch of rain.  But, we didn't have him available so some things didn't get done.  That's the way it is sometimes.  Rather than list the litany of breakage on the farm, I thought I would instead give myself a "shout out" that I am really not as bad at mechanical stuff as I profess to be.  I've managed to trouble shoot a few problems and come up with solutions in the past few weeks despite the my inner dialogue that tells me I don't know what I am doing.

There is something to building a positive narrative that makes you more willing to tackle problems.  Maybe I should apply that philosophy a bit more often?

Speaking of breaks.  Last Spring and early Summer was Rob's turn to be broken and unable to do farm work.  This year, it is Tammy's turn.  If anyone has noticed Tammy hobbling around for the past year, the news there is that there is a significant problem with her heal and the Achilles tendon.  After a recent trip to a new foot doctor (who prefers not to do surgery), it was pronounced that surgery was actually a really good idea - if only to prevent an emergency surgery if that tendon were to let go on its own.

Progress on Big Projects

There were three big projects we identified over the Winter that were needing to be budgeted so we could get extra help to complete them.  The first of which was to finally get that pit filled in front of the Poultry Pavilion so we could prevent the building from falling apart, begin work on restoring the lean-to on the front and actually walk safely in that area.  As we have mentioned in a prior farm blog report, that work is complete (mostly).  As we all foretold, there has been some settling of the fill and we continue to work to address that on our own.  

The sidewalk from the back of the farmhouse has been completed for some time and the outdoor Farm Supervisory Crew LOVE it.  They have decided that both the sidewalk and the back deck are great places to await the expected presence of farmers - whether they are returning to or leaving the house.  Unfortunately for the farmers, the Farm Supervisory Crew have decided it is OUR responsibility to avoid them if they are in our way and we are carry a heavy load of anything rather than their responsibility to get out of the way.  Here's hoping that can change without a traumatic event.

The third "big" project is to deal with the two large, dead, ash trees that stand prominently on our property.  While we like keeping habitat for woodpeckers, we do not like the fact that branches come down semi-frequently in the wind.  And, the trees don't even look to see if a farmer is nearby when they do it.  Our intent is to leave the main trunks up to a certain height for habitat, but take the rest and chip it up so we can use it as wood mulch.

These were the "big" projects where we hired someone to help because the tools and expertise they possess were well worth paying for.  Maybe we'll talk about the other "big" projects that only involve the farmers in the future.  Although, you could guess one such project - doing the finish work for each of the big projects listed here.  It's just a reality of things.  The big projects aren't actually complete as of now, they need the farmers to do all of the surrounding things that always need doing once a "big project" is completed.

Quick Crop and Poultry Report

As we've mentioned before, this has been a slow start to this year.  Part of the issue is that, with both of us working "off-farm" we can't pick and choose our moments to do work.  Unfortunately, the weather has not cooperated.  The best times to work have been at moments when neither of us is free to do that work.  Even so, we have about three hundred broccoli and about 100 other brassica in the ground as well as about 400 feet of squash and pumpkins.  

The garlic is looking pretty good, if a tad bit behind schedule for this year (like many other perennial crops).  We're just about done harvesting asparagus for the year.  It, too, had started very late - about two and half weeks later than usual.  But we're still going to adhere to our normal schedule for halting harvest to give the plants the full period to rejuvenate for next year.  Who knows?  They may start two weeks early next Spring.

We're still looking to get other crops into the ground.  To do that, Rob took some vacation time this week - and it decided to rain and equipment decided to break.  However, we did manage to get the broilers out on pasture and the hens are soon to be moved to the Summer Cottage.  The turklets are also scheduled to arrive this week.

I guess we'll need to give you another farm report after the weekend, because I suspect there will be plenty of change.

Man with the Plan?

Every so often, we get asked a question about what we do on our farm that makes me think a little harder after the conversation is over.  The question that got me going this time was presented by an individual that may have only been trying to encourage conversation rather than a deep philosophical exploration.  In any event, what this person got was probably what was wanted; a short, pleasant conversation that may have only scratched the surface of what could have been said.  What I got was a headache afterwards as I tried to figure it out for myself...

The Question:

What would you say is the most important task for you on the farm?

Whoa!  Are you sure the farmer is up for this one?

Whether I was right to do so or not, I immediately discarded a whole host of tasks on the farm that are critical items.  These are the daily farm chores that really need to be done.  Inspector (shown above when he was a kitten) might argue that feeding the cats should be at the top of my list.  And, in reality, it is at the top of our list every day along with feed the chickens and turkeys, water plants, get water to birds, open and close high tunnels, etc etc.  But, in the grand scheme of the farm, none of these is inherently more important than any other.

I suppose I could say planting, harvesting, weeding or any other crop specific task, but while they are all also critical, they aren't the most important by themselves.  Equipment maintenance?  Record keeping?  Habitat management for beneficials?   Weather monitoring?  Sales?  Building repairs?  Mental health?  Creating really good playlists to work by?  Being able to NOT scratch where it itches? 

Planning Wins the Day?

It actually didn't take me long to conclude during the conversation that planning was actually the most important task I perform on the farm.  And I can tell you right now that I have not been planning in 2022 as much as I have in prior years.  

It used to be that I would create a VAP (Very Ambitious Plan), which was a bullet point "to-do" list.  I did not always write one out formally, especially when there is a large and very specific project that would dominate the day.  For example, I do not think I wrote anything specific out when we built a high tunnel.  But, anytime there are more workers on the farm than myself, there needs to be a plan that I can convey.  But, I haven't had any additional workers on the farm yet this year, so...

The Chalk Door - just one way to tell everyone what's up at the farm.

There was often so much going on at the farm during a typical June day that the process of planning could be a project all by itself.  For example, our June 19 VAP from a few years ago had over 50 items on it.  Item one was "morning chores."  I only say this to point out that the list did not include a separate item for each daily task (such as scoop the litter box...).  

With some of Tammy's family visiting (and wanting to be involved) the plan involved eight different people in some way, shape or form.  A good plan is one that keeps everyone as busy as the want to be (if they are visiting) or need to be (if they are part of the crew).  The plan also needs to consider resource availability.  After all, the lawn tractor can't be two places at once.  Or, at least, that seems to be the case on our farm - even if we try REALLY hard to put it two places at once.

The Plan Within the Plan

Planning for a single day usually has a basis within the plan for the week (or for some series of days).  I can tell you that we have a plan every week, and that would be true.  But, it is more likely that our plan covers three to five days with any accuracy.  It seems that I cannot predict how things will go well enough for any of our weekly plans to be terribly accurate towards the end of that week.  Essentially, the weekly plan occurs whenever the prior weekly plan is completely unhelpful for the upcoming daily plans. 

You might ask why we can't adhere to our weekly plans better (or why Rob can't manage to plan better so the weekly plan works).  Go ahead.  You can ask.  But, you know I'm going to answer even if you don't!

I'll give one example and that should be sufficient to explain how this can happen. The forecast called for a very low chance of less than a half inch of rain on Monday of a given week a few years ago.  The rest of the week was supposed to be dry with seasonal temperatures.  Instead, we got three to four inches of rain over a couple of days.  Suddenly, the plan that called for prepping seed beds and numerous other things that need somewhat drier soil was entirely out of the question.

In short, things happen.  Weather can alter what you can do.  Equipment breaks.  We will discover tasks that must be done NOW even if we didn't plan to do them "now."  Blackflies and Buffalo Gnats can get so thick that we have to run screaming into shelter every hour or so to stay sane (I wish I were joking about this one).  Some items take longer than anticipated.  Others don't work out the way we planned and they have to be deferred until we solve another problem.  It's just the way it works.

So, just imagine how the entire season's growing plan must look when we compare to what actually happened at the end of the year?

Failure of Plans and the Need for Contingency Plans

You've got to figure that we probably spend some time with contingency plans since there are so many uncertainties in the first place.  And, you would be correct.  We do create contingency plans.  Most of our 'formal' contingency plans are created as a part of our season plan.  On the other hand, our daily VAP usually includes contingency items on it should conditions prevent something else from being done.  In other words, each VAP has more on it than we can hope to complete simply because we need items on our radar should we need to make a change.

Surprise Lilies are actually pretty predictable, as far as surprises go

If there are even chances of rain or dry weather, we often create separate plans for the actual weather conditions.  For that matter, if there is some sort of variable that could influence what we do, we'll try to account for it.  But, no matter how hard we try - we can still find ourselves in 'unplanned territory.'

When Contingency Plans Fail

After letting myself think about the original question as I wrote this post, I have to amend my answer to say that adapting is actually the most important task I perform on the farm. 

There is a practical limit to how much time one can plan without actually performing the tasks in those plans.  There is also no such thing as a perfect plan.  It's a matter of coming up with a set of plans that will be good enough most of the time. Then, WHEN (not if) they fail, you simply do your best to adjust and make the best of it.  After all, when plans A, B and C are off the table:

Rob: "It's time for plan D."
Crew Member: "What's plan D?"
Rob: "There is no plan D.  So, let's do this..."

The Secret Life of a Farmer

The gate is open right now, even though it is normally latched.  You see, the farmers typically keep that gate shut, just in case things should get out that they don't want the rest of you to see.

This is a reality for many small-scale growers who focus on direct to consumer sales.  You see, we're aware that what sells our product are smiling farmers, smiling kids, calves, chicks and kittens.  Well arranged bouquets of produce and flowers with an upbeat message entreating you to come and pick up your share of the bounty are what seem to get some response for the effort.

This is just a gentle reminder to all of you who do patronize local farms for food that there are real people who are doing difficult jobs behind the beautiful pictures and positive messaging you see in social media (and wherever else you connect with these farmers).  

Now, before you get all worried.  I'm not talking about Tammy and I.  We're always unhappy, grumpy, and unsmiling and you know that.  But, as the Genuine Faux Farm moves further away from direct to consumer production, we feel we have a bit more freedom to remind those who read our blog that those fine people you do patronize - they're much more complex than the image they put in front of you in hopes that it will get you to buy their product.

Just to make the point, I want you to look at the photo above.  It was taken on a nice, sunny day.  Very little wind.  Beautiful blue skies.  

So, what draws your attention here?  The sky?  The green and growing things?  Do the interesting items in the foreground make you wonder what they might be used for?  Maybe you'll notice some fall colors in the background trees?

Guess what I see?

Well, I do see the green and blue and I can actually make myself believe that I feel the sun and a very light breeze. If you know me, or have read the blog, you know that I appreciate what nature offers us.

But, I also see no less than 14 different things I need to do on the farm over the next couple of weeks.  And, I suspect there are a couple I am not remembering at the moment.  A picture like this can introduce a bit of discontent if I'm not ready for it!

When a small-scale grower looks around their farm, they cannot escape the running tally of things that need doing - because that is what they do.  And, they do it as they also take the time to recognize and appreciate the beauty and wonder of our world.  It's the secret life of the farmer - one that builds us up and tears us down all at the same time.

And, you wonder why this farmer goes to talk to Crazy Maurice, the Weeping Willow?

Look, this is not always an easy balancing act that is going on here.  Even this photo reminds me of a half dozen other things I need to address at some point.  But, it's just a picture of a few trees and our turkey and hen pastures.

So, what exactly do I want all of those who patronize local farmers to do?  Ask your local farmer to rant and rave for a while so they might feel better?  Offer a shoulder for them to cry on?  Tell them they're lying because no one can be as happy as they seem to be on their Twitter, Facebook or Instagram pages?

Of course not.

I am asking you all to do the same thing I ask every time I take on the local foods topic.  Consistently and faithfully support your local producers.  Do it when it's not always convenient.  Be kind and patient with them, recognizing that they are walking a tightrope between joy and sorrow.  Contentedness and stress.

And maybe, you can give them permission to open up that gate once in a while - and share the secret, full life of a farmer.

Report Card

Last year, I took a moment at the mid-year point and once the year was completed to provide a public "report card" for how the Genuine Faux Farm and its farmers fared in their coursework for the year.  I saw it as a way to stay in touch with those who were interested and keep them informed as to what Tammy and I are trying to do as we meander through the past couple seasons and transition how the farm works.

Several people responded positively to our efforts to "grade" ourselves, so I thought I would do it again for 2021.  Yes, I realize the term is not over.  But, when it comes to this sort of report card, you just do it when you feel like it.  And if you don't feel like it?  You don't do it, I guess!

Advanced Pollinator Support

This just might be our favorite "course" on the farm.  And, to be perfectly honest, the fact that we are reducing the time spent on direct to consumer sales and simplifying our grow list has provided us with more breathing room to do work in this area.  I will also admit that we double-dipped and took two related classes where some of the work overlapped (see below). 

Bird traffic on the farm was good.  We had a small bump in our farm's bumblebee population (yay!).  But, butterflies were much less common (sigh).  We got lots of sunflowers, zinnias, borage, marigolds, basil, cosmos, calendula and other flowers into the ground this year.  We did what we could to keep the clover blooming.  There were plenty of asters in the fall and we had food for the pollinators for much of the season.

The pumpkins showed us that there was plenty of pollinators present by the heavier production levels.

But - we can always do better!  A-

Domestic Bees on the Farm

This is the class that has some overlap with the prior one.  Providing a nice habitat and plenty of food for native pollinators is part of what needs to happen with our domestic friends as well.

Like so many things we have done on this farm, we learn and we gain confidence.  That is true with our bees.   I suspect Tammy might agree that we are no longer beginners and we might be approaching a intermediate level of competency.  All I know is we have some mighty tasty honey at our house and the bees like our vine crops (and vine crops like our bees).

Simply because I can't help myself, I am giving us a B for the course.

Reduction in Labor Hours II

We took the first course in the series last season and we found ourselves taking the second in a series this year.  Once again, it was pretty much just the two of us, with periodic volunteer work from some kind and wonderful people.

Apparently, the second class in this series adds certain complicating factors - like the removal of a kidney - to make homework that much more difficult.  The other half of the course focused on what happens when you "don't wanna" or you get the "motivation blues."  

Overall, we did ok, but while I think Tammy did a fine job this year, I'm afraid I brought the grade for the two of us down.  Yep, this is one of those classes that had work in teams and the better students get pulled down by the goof offs like Rob!  

B- for the year - the same grade we got in the first iteration of the course.

Remedial Vegetable Crops for Recovering CSA Farmers

Here you go!  This is a special topics course that was built almost entirely for our farm.  When you have grown vegetable crops for a CSA farmshare program for years, you need to really think hard about doing things differently once you move away from that model.

We set some very specific goals for the project required in this class.  We wanted to be sure that we put some of our own desires for vegetables at the top of our priority list so we wouldn't find ourselves with a very limited set of options in our own pantry this coming winter.  And, of course, we had to try to figure out the proper number of crops to grow and the scale for each.

There were outright successes, such as the sweet corn, and failures (but what else is new?).  These sorts of things rarely resolve in one season, so we're going to call this a two-year course and give a mid-term grade of a B- for this one.

Giving Through Writing 

In the current reality for Rob, the farmer, it has become apparent that he is also very much, Rob, the writer.  So, it turns out that this class must be a perpetual one?

This year's writing has been odd.  Some of the best writing I think I've ever produced occurred in the first four months of the year.  And, of course, that darned kidney thing came up and upped the difficulty level.  The reality is that the world continues to change.  Perhaps the benefit of blog writing consistently is not the same as it was either (both for the writer and the reader).

I think the facilitator of this course needed to do a better job of outlining the goals for the class. I give a C if only because I didn't have the same focus as I did last year.

Living with Medical Challenges 101

Here it is, the course no one really wants to take, yet we all get to do it at one level or another.  To be perfectly honest, both of us did our best to try to skip classes, but for some reason, the coursework still followed us around.  Because neither of us wanted to take the course in the first place, we reject the whole concept of a grade!  Hahaaa!

Farm Goals for Experienced Farmers

Here is something that, frankly, might be a good course to actually have in the world.  It would certainly need to be a peer-mentoring type of course if it were going to work because that's where you can get the best support for this sort of thing.  

Since 2019, Tammy and I have been undertaking the process of re-envisioning or re-imagining the Genuine Faux Farm - looking for its new place in the world and in our lives.  I realize that makes it sound like we haven't been involved in this process pretty much every year since it started.  In fact, we have always had conversations about where the farm is going next.

The difference has to do with the bolder decisions and bigger changes.  Up until 2019, we pretty much trotted out modified versions of the same thing each season.  The overall goals remaining largely intact each time.  Now, we are processing much bigger changes - and sometimes the things that are slowest to adapt are the hearts of the people who are closest to it. 

Because this class will exist for as long as we farm in any capacity, we can only give it one grade: Incomplete

That last grade is actually the most accurate of all of them.  We are still enrolled in the school of pollinator support and we do our writing homework nearly every day.  The Genuine Faux Farm is still an integral part of our lives and our identities - and it is likely that it will never completely go away, even if we leave the farm some day in the future.  

I think I can be content to accept an incomplete grade for all of this - and I look forward to improving in the future.  Just so I can receive another incomplete.

It's a plan.  See you next term!

Everything is Priority One

Here's a throwback post from November of 2013.  I took the time to do a little editing/adding, but I found this a healthy thing to do.  Since we no longer do the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farmshares things ARE different on the farm.  We still have to prioritize, but I have to admit that things are far less... well, just take a look.

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

 You know everyone, I've been thinking.

***together now***
A dangerous pastime...
I know.

A constant task on our farm is the act of prioritization.  In fact, I suspect everyone will agree that many choices we all make every day is simply the act of prioritizing.

You have five minutes before you must get to a meeting.  Do you 

1. take out the trash, 
2. fix your lunch for after the meeting  
3. don't do anything else and leave now 
4. read the next chapter in your book because there is a cat in your lap.

Would you dare offend this cat?

Once the choice is made, you've effectively set some priorities for the moment (and some of the moments thereafter) in your life.  

Note: If you choose option #4, you likely have decided that the consequences of removing a cat are greater than those of the other choices.  So, your priority is to maintain peace with the feline and you'll accept the consequences that might follow with respect to not having lunch, leaving the trash in the house a bit longer, and dealing with potentially unhappy persons you were supposed to meet.

Setting Priorities on the Farm

Decision making and priority setting is a continuous process for us at the farm.  We have long term priority setting, mid-term priority setting, short-term priority setting and "oh crap - we have to do all of these right now or else" priority setting.

An example of the last type of priority setting follows.  We have, of course, simplified it somewhat, but we think it makes the point.

Real Life Scenario:   

There are four workers on the farm, including Rob and Tammy.  It is a Thursday in late July.  We must leave to deliver produce in Cedar Falls by 3pm.  It is currently 9am.  Animal chores are done.  Greens are picked and hydrocooling, green beans are picked, but not bagged and little else has been picked.  Forecast is for possible storms and we can see the dark clouds on the horizon. 

The easy part : 

We have a lot to pick for 65 Farm Share CSA members.  It usually takes everything four people can do to pick, clean, pack and prep for the trip on a normal day without storms coming.  So, anything else on the farm is already lower priority.  This can be harsh on days like this if there are things that really NEED to get done before the rain.  Planting the next batch of green beans, cultivating the onions before the soil gets gummed up, etc.  And, because these priority one items cannot exceed the priority one picking items, we may find ourselves a week or so behind on them if it rains enough.  But, that's just the way it goes.

It looks like we might have 90 minutes before some stormy weather.  The underlying priority-one issue is the safety of all workers.  There is lightning in this storm, so we will be pulling everyone in until it passes.  Once it passes, we might have another 90 minute block before we have to pack and leave.  Remember, it is likely that things will be muddy at that time, so that will play into our choices.

What do you do?

• Pick the cucumbers?
• Pick the summer squash and zucchini?
• Pick the tomatoes?
• Pick the broccoli?
• Pick carrots?
• Clean and pack the greens that are hydrocooling?
• Bag the green beans? 
• Throw up your hands and go watch a re-run of Gilligan's Island?
  

Does the summer squash make the cut?

Or do we cut some broccoli?

All of you who decided to bag the green beans lose.  Go to the end of the line.  We can do that when it is raining.

If you chose to pack the greens, you might actually be right.  But, why?  Isn't that the same argument as the green beans?  First, you do not want the greens to soak too long in the water and they are in the water right now.  Second, our packing area is outside.  Third, one of the workers isn't comfortable with harvesting, but likes cleaning and packing the veg.  Ok, we have one winner.  After all, we've harvested this already.  Failure to finish the preparation results in wasting a crop already in hand for the delivery.  Not a good idea.

What do we do with the other three people?

Cucumbers, summer squash and zucchini need to be picked 2 to 3 times a week.  If we keep them picked, they keep producing.  If we fail to keep them picked, we end up with giant fruit that no one wants.  And, the production levels go down for future harvest.  It's still early in the season, so we can't afford to let these go at this time.  If we pick these after the rain, they're going to be muddy, so we have to spend some time cleaning OR give people produce with some mud on it.

Broccoli sets heads that hold for a limited period of time.  The next scheduled pick will be for Tuesday's shares.  A quick look tells us that we'll have about 70 heads of broccoli that will bolt if we don't pick them in the next three days.  We haven't had much for tomatoes so far and members of the CSA desperately want some.  Harvesting from wet tomato plants can spread disease.  If it were later in the season, we might figure it is not a big problem.  But, the tomatoes are just thinking about getting going here. And, the carrots require the most time to clean.  If we pick them before the rain, they will be easier to clean because they won't have mud clinging to them.  And, we could clean them while it is raining. 

Time is running out.

So What Did We Do?

We eliminated the broccoli from consideration before the rain.  It will pick the same before or after the storm (assuming the storm doesn't have lots of wind and it blows all the plants over).  We will zip out with our lettuce knives and pick the broccoli right after the storm passes through.  Yes, we'll be walking in some mud while we pick, but that's true for all our options.  It's a priority one that isn't priority one in the morning.

We eliminate the tomatoes entirely for the day.  It is sad, but there really aren't that many ready to go.  It would take too long to run the whole field in order to locate enough for everyone to get a couple of tomatoes.  If we must, we'll pick over the weekend and make tomato sauce.  There will be more tomatoes ripening the following week and beyond.  And, the only one of the three workers who picks tomatoes is Rob.   In other words, it is an inefficient use of time.  We are hoping to provide farm share members the best return for the picking time available.

Carrots....hm.  Well, carrots will hold until next week.  Frankly, they should have been priority one yesterday (they were, but that's another story with another set of choices).  But, we could use the rain to do some of the cleaning.  And, if it rains a lot for several days, it may be awhile before we want to work with them.  With the rain coming, we would have 3 people who could concentrate on cleaning and prepping them.  It sounds pretty appealing.  We have two broadforks, so we could have two people working on it to get about 75 pounds dug before the rain.

Then, there is summer squash, zucchini and cucumber.  We need increments of about 70 of each (to simplify matters).  Increments less than that leave us with ugly numbers that are hard to split with our farm share holders.

One worker cleaning and packing greens.  Tammy and another worker digging carrots.  Rob runs out and grabs as many groups of 65 of the zucchini, summer squash and cucumbers as he can, watching the progress of the storm and shifting so that each crop is visited and number needs for the CSA are met.

Uh oh.  We forgot the kohlrabi.

Ok, we got to them too.

Purposely Blind

There are places on the farm that are, simply put, not all that pretty.  In fact, there are places at the Genuine Faux Farm where both farmers are intentionally blind.  

Because opening our eyes and really seeing isn't going to make us feel all that good about the current state of some things.

 Case in point, I present the Poultry Pavilion.

This might be one of the least flattering pictures I could take of that particular building.  And I took it mostly because I was just trying something different with the camera.

And here is a picture from a similar orientation in 2005.

 I suppose it looks more attractive because it is a black and white photo.

What you are seeing above is an image of a building that had, up until 2004, been used as a hog finishing confinement building.  It looks clean because part of the condition of our purchasing the farm was that the building have the pigs removed and be cleaned/power-washed out.

The building actually has a longer history than that.  In its first life, it was simply an open-front machine shed.  The section you are viewing in both of these pictures is the lean-to that was put in so there could be a covered manure pit as part of the confinement building.

Over the years, we have closed off areas of the machine shed portion for a brooder room, a hen room and a turkey room.  We've even put a new roof (out of necessity) on the main part.  But, the lean-to has, frankly, long been a thorn in our sides.  And it hasn't gotten better over the years.

This is where our reality is.  We've put a fair amount of effort over the years to make this building work for us and our farm.  And, it still does.  But, there is always only so many resources available.  Whether it is time, money or energy, something always puts things like the long lean-to on the Poultry Pavilion on the "temporarily and purposely blind to it" list.  

It's symbolic of life, I suppose.  We can't address every little ramshackle building that resides within ourselves.  So, we can only sigh as we walk by it every so often and make the perpetual vow...

Someday...

Signpost Tasks

I took a very quick trip into town to get some fuel for the tractor when I happened to hear a "state-wide" forecast mention sunny skies for the entire state.  As I gazed out the windshield, my eyes saw low clouds covering the sun and I recognized a bit of fog as well.

I shrugged with only a little bit of amusement.  Giving a forecast for an area as big as "Iowa" is a losing proposition at best, so there was no reason to be upset by it.  Anyway, I had some work to do in the office.  So, upon returning to the farm, I got right to it.

Then I looked outside at midday.

Suddenly, I was very glad I had some midday chores to do because they were OUTSIDE!  And this time, I took the camera along.  It's not every day the skies are this blue.

The side effect of blue skies and Rob walking around to do chores with a camera is that - hey presto! - he suddenly has more fodder for writing about the farm.  It's my understanding that some people see this as a good thing - and those that don't see it as a good thing won't read the blog anyway, so their opinion doesn't matter in this particular case.

Sign Post Tasks

Maybe Tammy and I are unique in this regard, but I suspect we are not.  We both have a tendency to let certain tasks build up in our minds to the point that they seem to house all of the tension and stress that comes with all of the things we are responsible for doing.  They become symbolic of all the things we aren't getting to, even if that's giving these particular tasks too much credit.

Often, these tasks that take on the mantle as a "sign post task" are often irregular in their occurrence or have some component of newness or uncertainty about them that makes us a little uncomfortable.  Essentially, we then glom onto the discomfort and grow it up until it is unreasonably large.  But, the reality is that it is only a reflection of the enormity of ALL of our tasks, concerns, and uncertainties rolled together.

One such task that has received this treatment is the maintenance of our three beehives on the farm.  The bees are Tammy's project.  That doesn't mean I won't do what I can to help, but it does mean that I do my best to not get in the way or step on her toes.  And, of course, she now knows more about bee care than I do anyway!  

In any event, beekeeping is still relatively new to us, which means there is some uncertainty.  It's not that we aren't fairly knowledgeable - it's that we are not confident and we lack sufficient experience to be as confident as we need to.  That's a perfect situation for the project of preparing the bees for winter to become a signpost task!

The good news?  Tammy was able to get assistance from Mark Rippe (Blueridge Orchard in Denver, IA).  The required tasks moved forward and Tammy's confidence was given a boost with a little extra guidance from someone who was more confident and experienced with bees.

Valuable Blocks of Time

Many projects on the farm are difficult to do in small chunks of time.  For example, harvesting pumpkins and winter squash just requires too much set up for us to spend fifteen minutes here and twenty minutes there until the harvest is complete.

Don't get me wrong, the harvest of squash is not an inherently difficult task and we certainly have plenty of experience and confidence that we can do what we need to do.  It's just that we need to be able to identify a block of time that is large enough to make the task happen.

When you have lots of things on your "to do" list, it can be difficult to find sections of your day that are long enough.

So, what happens yet again?  These simpler, but potentially time restrictive tasks become signpost tasks.  This year it was actually a bigger deal because we had sunflowers and corn laying on our squash crops due to the windstorm in August.  Add that difficulty and suddenly the task seems pretty big.

The good news?  We actually got this signpost task done a few weekends ago and... it was a BIG RELIEF.  Which is the case for all signpost tasks on the farm.

Stopper Out of the Bottle

Once a signpost task is completed, it is a bit like letting a stopper out of a bottle.  Get it out of the way and a bunch of other tasks start to pour out and get done.

Sometimes these tasks that we let get bigger than they've a right to be can incapacitate us, make us struggle to make forward progress.  But, once we get them out of the way, there is more energy to get things done.

Until the next signpost task lodges itself in our brains.