Twelve

 

It's December.  And like so many other Decembers, those who write get tempted to review how the year has gone up to this point.  It sometimes feels as if we discount December as a month where nothing can happen in it because we're too busy looking back.

And so, in protest against our tendency to do just that, I decided to do something different and look back to years prior to 2023. 

I'm such a rebel.

Actually, my motivation has come from recent efforts to do some much needed organizing.  You see, I have reached a critical mass of unorganized files - both on the computer and in the farm office.  The symptoms are increased grumblings and rising frustration as I attempt to find something that I KNOW I have and want to locate so I can complete a project.

So, in an effort to clean out files and pictures I no longer need, I spent some time perusing pictures that were fairly well organized from over a decade ago.

Yeah, that's not terribly effective if I am truly dedicated to achieving my goal.  But, it did result in motivation to write.  So, it can't be all bad, can it?

In any event, I came across these images in June of 2011.  Our farm had (and still has) a nice granary that sits pretty close to the center of the farm.  But, like nearly every other building on the farm, the roof had not been maintained and we were needing to make the choice - fix the roof or watch the building slowly come down.

These pictures reveal so many things that I might not have fully recognized in 2011.  But, now that I have the distance time gives, I can view things from a much broader perspective.  

Upon our arrival at the farm in 2004, there were seven buildings.  Among them was a large barn with a milking parlor added on and a farrowing building.  Both of those buildings are down.  The barn still needs to be cleaned up, but the other building has been gone for some time.  Otherwise, the house, truck barn, Poultry Pavilion and the granary have all gotten new roofing.

And all of them have undergone significant changes.

The granary had a cupola that, while it looked neat, was the center of most of the degradation of the building.  If we had been "made of money" we might have done things differently.  But, as it was, we had to figure out a balance that was affordable and effective.  So, the cupola came down and the roof went on.

The granary has undergone other changes, like two new doors, one on each end.  But, we have never quite managed to gather enough resources (including motivation) to push through and do all of the things we thought we might do with it one day.

Of course, some of those dreams were products of needs and desires from twelve years ago.  Things aren't the same now, so some of those dreams are no longer relevant.  But, the granary still stands.  And that, in itself, is an accomplishment.  Things could have gone very differently than they did.  But they didn't - and that's why it can be important to take the time to look back and reflect.

In the moment in time that this work was being done, we were desperately doing our best to plant, harvest, weed and do all that we did every June for many years on the farm.  Our hands were "on the plow" and our heads were down as we worked to make the season a success.

But, twelve years later, I looked at some of the blog posts and I have a different view.

Yes, we put a new roof on the granary and that building is still up and it is still useful to us.

And....

• Our peer mentorship with Blue Gate Farm, Scattergood Friends School Farm and Grinnell Heritage Farm officially started in 2011.
• Rob played his last baseball game that year.
• We reframed both the west and east sides of the Truck Barn which, ironically is now in need of some similar attention today.
• Tammy (and I to a lesser extent) helped to bring the Waverly Community Gardens from idea to reality in 2011.
• 2011 was the year we started taking scaling up our equipment seriously (probably in part because we had some peer support - see the first item in this list).  this was the year we added a BCS walk-behind tractor the farm too!

After I wrote a post on 2010, I figured that was about as pivotal as we could get for our farm.  Then, I look at this list - knowing there was much more going on - and I see things that are every bit as important.

For example, where would we be if we had not started on our journey with our farm friends?   

Well, things would be different now, that's for certain.  And I don't think things would be better either.

Charge!

 

In yesterday's blog entry, I was bemoaning what feels like increased pressure from the various varmints that give us fits at the Genuine Faux Farm.   When I write things like that I try to maintain either a philosophical side or a humorous side to the whole thing because - well - what else can I do?

That, my friends, was a rhetorical question.  I do not require an answer, so let's leave it at that.

But, since it is MY rhetorical question, I can provide you with a bit of an answer anyway (writer's privilege!).

The picture above shows most of our solar chargers that we use to power the poultry netting fences that we use around the farm.  Like so many other things on the farm this year, we're finding that the last couple of years have put us in a less than optimal position.  Batteries need replacing, there are some shorts in a few of these that need to be repaired and the gator clips on others are needing to be replaced.  So, we've got them all in one place so we can "Frankenstein" some into working pieces for our farm.

You see, ever since we got some motivational help in June, things on the farm HAVE improved for us.  Tammy and I were just reminding each other of the things we did just today on the farm that would have taken a week (or not gotten done at all) just three weeks ago.  We've even managed four back to back days with some serious physical labor and we're still standing.

Though we did have a little bit of a laugh at the bottom of the stairs again.  But, yes, the trip up the stairs was ever so much easier this time around.

The problem is this - we're getting things in the ground.  We're getting the cultivation done.  We're getting the weeding done.  We're even getting irrigation and fences set up.  But, if the chargers for those fences don't work... deer and other varmints visit anyway, which is very frustrating.

The other issue is trying to figure out where to put fences.  These deer have decided they like being around the house.  That means potted plants are....

Wait?!  Where did the potted plants go?  I found the pots....

and some dirt....

ARG!

And so, we keep working to change things up in hopes that we can protect some of our crops, some of our flowers, some of our chickens...    Losses are a part of the game of farming and its the way the world works.  We can give up or we can charge up our batteries and work for other solutions that might solve the problem.

For now, we've decided to charge.

Hurdles

It's a symptom and it's a normal occurrence.  The belt on the mower deck was ready to give out.

The normal occurrence part is easy to explain.  Every year, especially in the Spring, we go through a series of problems with the various tools we use to work at the Genuine Faux Farm.  After a few months of storage during the coldest months, we start taking all of the hand tools, motorized equipment and implements out for use.

Sometimes we are able to give each tool a thorough once over and we can perform basic maintenance.  Usually, when we do that, we discover several things that need attention.  More often than I like to admit, we get pushed into using equipment before we can do the full inspection, so we uncover the things that need attention with a bit more drama.

This time around, the issue was actually the result of some chicken wire not being where it was supposed to be.  The mower deck found it for us (of course) and that probably resulted in the belt problem.  This sort of thing happens and you have to address it.

The issue?  I made it into a bigger problem in my head than it deserved to be.  It's a symptom of our state of mind.  When you're feeling overwhelmed, little things become big things.  Or maybe there are so many little things they become a big thing when they are considered as a group.

Suddenly, the whole FARM is a problem.  NOTHING works.  EVERYTHING is broken.  NONE of the crops are going to get planted.  We'll NEVER get caught up.

Of course, none of that is entirely true, but there was a grain of truth in each that we could build on if we were so inclined.

It didn't matter if it was entirely true.  Taking the deck off and replacing the belt FELT like a big deal.  And sometimes that's why there is a battle to make progress in the first place.  It's not entirely about reality.  It's about perception.

One of my favorite improvements over the years is this tool wall in the Truck Barn at our farm (thanks Dad!).  Seeders, shovels, wheel hoes, loppers and all kinds of things can be found here.  And, the tool wall works best if you follow through with putting the tools away once you are done with them.

We have found that it is difficult to put tools on the tool wall if you put a table and other hard to move stuff in FRONT of that wall.

This has been one of the symptoms that comes along with our move to more off-farm work.  You have less time, so you set a few things in bad places "temporarily."  Then, you reach over that stuff to get a few tools so you can do a little work in a spare moment.  After that, you realize you have to run to do something for your non-farm job and you can't easily get to the tool wall.

You all know what happens next.  

You set those tools down somewhere convenient with the words, "I'll put that away later."

The mismanaged tool wall and the mower deck are two symptoms of how we've been feeling this Spring.  It is really not that difficult a task to take some time and rearrange things so the tool wall is accessible again.  Changing the belt on the deck is something I've done before, so it's not the biggest mystery either.  Yet, we've let them grow into these giant hurdles in our minds that prevent us from getting much of anything done.

The good news?  We've continued to use the momentum our farm friends helped us find and the deck is repaired and the tool wall is, once again, accessible.  We still have a long list of things we want and/or need to do.  But, we are making some progress - as opposed to no progress.

We've managed to change our perception of how the farm is doing, which means we're doing much better - thank you very much.  And we expect there will now be some successes amidst the inevitable failures.  That's normal.  And we can live well with that.

Easy Decisions

There is a certain level of stress that comes with options.  If you are given no choice, then you just go about doing whatever it is you have to do.  Perhaps you'll grumble about it, but you won't worry too much in the process. But when you can select from a smorgasbord of options, there is an inherent worry that builds the more you consider the relative value each selection might bring with it.

Some options might be very good for you but leave you feeling uninspired.  Other options are exciting and enticing but are definitely a bad idea for your future health.  Then there are all of the gradations in between and the little twists and extra bells and whistles that can be added on top of it all.  Trying to figure out the best solution is probably impossible.  Yet we still let the pressure build as we try to figure it out.

And I was just talking about figuring out what to take from the buffet line for a meal.

I think you get the point.  Sometimes it is easier to accept what is placed in front of you and just decide what goes in your mouth and what does not.  Yes or no can be hard enough sometimes.

Well, we've got a few simple choices to make on the farm this year.  One of which has to do with whether or not we need to get some late winter food to our bees.  The answer for two of the hives is "no."  Why?  Well, there is no reason to feed a hive that has no living bees left in it.  So, it's pretty simple.  The next task for those two hives is to clean them up and prepare for some new bees this spring.  Though, I suppose we have choices there too - do we try to get those hives going again or not?

Interestingly enough, one of the hives still has bees and we did provide them with some additional food.  This was the hive we fully expected to die out as it was the weakest of the three entering the cold months.  Nonetheless, there they were, buzzing as we checked on them during a warmer, calm moment on the farm recently.  I really was expecting to find nobody home and then I'd just start cleaning that one up.

I guess not.  And I really hope they'll still be with us once the dandelions are in bloom.

Another "easy decision" has to do with the lean-to on the Poultry Pavilion.  There was a time not that long ago that we were thinking we might try to rehab the existing framework and just use that.  But, the rapid deterioration over the past couple years made the decision easier.

The best rehab will be to take the old lean-to down and put up new.

It's always amazing how much easier things get once it becomes clear that there is really one choice.  Well, I suppose we have a couple of choices here if I wanted to get persnickety.  We could ignore it and let it come down on its own OR we could help it to come down.  And, yes, we can make choices about timing too.  But once we took the whole series of options away that had to do with shoring up block walls and replacing this, that and the other thing... it got much easier.  And suddenly I find I have more energy for it than I did when there were so many roads we could travel.

It's a fascinating thing - how we react in moments when we either have a paucity or plethora of choices.  For example, I had a whole BUNCH of excellent words I could have used instead of "paucity or plethora."  I agonized for a whole thirty seconds considering those choices before coming up with that selection.  

And you know what?  I actually relished making that choice.  Certainly there was some low-grade pressure involved in the process.  But the task of exploring, considering and choosing was, on the whole, a good thing.  As I think on it, I think I would also have preferred to have more choices to make with respect to living bees too.  I find that I can accept and even appreciate some of the pressures that come with more menu options.

Most of the time.

But I am happy that we aren't going to try to fix that old lean-to.  Sometimes easy decisions that are pushed on you can be a good thing too.

Poultry Pavilion Facelift

 

The Poultry Pavilion was originally, many years ago, one of those long, open-front, machine sheds that was fairly common throughout the Midwestern farm landscape.  By the time we arrived at the farm in 2004, a pit had been dug in front of the machine shed and a lean-to attached so that the building could serve as a hog finishing/confinement facility.

Needless to say, we did not want hogs confined at our farm, so we asked that the hogs be removed (and they were - eventually) and we slowly, over many years, adapted the building to work with the Genuine Faux Farm's needs.   

The building now touts a room for turkeys and a room for hens.  In both cases, the rooms open up to pasture on the north side of the building (you are seeing the south side in these pictures).  Eventually, a brooder room was put together next to the hen room.  Most of the material used was reclaimed lumber, windows and doors from other parts of the farm.  In other words, it's not the prettiest bit of construction one has ever seen in the world.

But it works.  We've had multiple flocks of birds started as chicks or housed as part of a flock in this building over time with a reasonable amount of success.  We had the main roof replaced when a windstorm decided the old one wasn't good enough any more.  We added access to electricity at some point several years ago and we finally got that pit filled in last year.

For those who don't know, filling that pit was a BIG deal.  This cement lined hole was about 120 feet long, 8 feet wide and 8 to 9 feet deep.  It was perpetually filled with water and our anxiety regarding walking over it was increasing as the cement slats that covered it deteriorated.

Things have settled a bit since we had it filled, so we need to add a bit more fill.  But it is difficult to complain much about now that neither of us is worried about walking (and working) out there as much as we had been.  And we have a solid surface to begin addressing the lean-to itself - which has fallen into disrepair (of course).

We actually have a vision for this project that will start with the eastern-most fifty feet of the structure.  You see we've been getting tired of the extra work starting seedlings in our farmhouse's basement creates for us.  So the plan is to tear down the existing lean-to.  Or at least help it with the process it seems intent on doing all on its own.  Then, for this section at least, we'll frame out an area for a seed starting greenhouse.  

As with all projects that work with an existing structure, the list of issues and considerations is longer than we might like.  But, this seems like the right idea for our farm right now.  We will start with this section and then consider what to do with the remaining seventy feet after we figure out all of the issues for the first fifty feet.

It won't get done to do us much good for the 2023 season.  But, maybe it will make some of the growing on the farm more doable in the future?  Stay tuned - we'll report as progress is made.  But, be patient, it's a bit cold out there to do much with it right now.

Chewing Gum and Baling Wire

Generations of farmers have been known for the ability to innovate so they can fix a thing that is broken so that it holds together long enough to get a job done.  Anyone who has farmed has worked with a tool that was held together with "chewing gum and baling wire" or "spit and a prayer."  And, for that matter, everyone who has farmed has probably come up with their own "farm hack" to adapt a tool or fix something that has broken.

Here are a few items we employ to deal with all sorts of situations on the farm.  If you have worked on a farm you're either going to laugh because you've been there/done that or you'll sneer and claim you have got by with less or have a better solution.  Frankly, I can live with that!

 A few resources I am not talking about this time around.

The T-Post

As far as I am concerned, it is hard for a farm like ours to have too many t-posts.  Of course, the primary function of a t-post is to hold up a fence.  And, if you have livestock or poultry, fencing is a critical part of the operation.  But, did you know the t-post has numerous other functions?

The most obvious uses are pretty close to fencing.  Staking up a tree, holding up some cattle panels etc.  But, a good, solid t-post can be used as a lever to help move a large rock or break something loose from the frozen ground.  We've used t-posts to help us put our mobile high tunnels back on their tracks.  

And, let's not forget that the t-post sitting by the side of a field can be pressed into service to break out the dirt clod that formed between disks on a harrow.  

And, like many other things with some rigidity and heft - it can always serve as a hammer... sort of.  For that matter, is there a raccoon in the hen room?  T-posts aren't the best piece of armament a farmer can have in that situation, but it can be pressed into service.

As a side note: T-posts are not recommended for use as a mulch.  Grasses, in particular, always find a way to grow around them and will eventually obscure your t-post mulch project.  Then, one day, you will forget about the project and try to mow down that tall patch of grass.  

Yeah.  Not a good solution.

Bungee Cords

Bungee cords or straps are all-purpose fasteners around our farm.

Door latch stopped working?  Bungee to the rescue!  Need to hold that tarp down?  Bungees!  Load on the trailer piled a bit too high?  Use those bungees to help hold it all on there!  Mailbox knocked off of the post?  Use bungees to put it back on there until you can get around to a better solution!  Want to keep that chicken from flying out of the pasture?  

Ok.  Maybe bungees aren't the answer for everything.

And, of course, they almost work too well and we don't get around to fixing that latch or the mailbox.... until the bungee finally breaks. But, you all know what to do when that happens?

Grab another bungee!

Lengths of Metal Pipe

A good piece of solid metal pipe can be an excellent "persuader" on the farm. Like a t-post, they can serve as an impromptu hammer or cudgel (you could use the word shillelagh if you are Irish - or if you just like the word).  But, even better, they can provide leverage for that lug nut that just will not turn on the hay rack's wheel.  You can get leverage to get a balky top-link on a tractor to turn and you can always let your pet elephant use a piece of pipe as a straw.

What, you don't have a pet elephant?  Why not?

Need to run a hose across an area where you know you're going to need to drive the tractor several times while the hose is being used?  Run the hose through the sturdy pipe to protect the hose in the area where the tractor has to go.  Ok - this is a good solution, but if the hose is longer I often forgo this because it takes a while to run the hose through the pipe.  Instead I .. uh... just drive over the hose.  

Yeah, Rob, good solution.  Pfffft.

Old Boards and Wood Blocks

Sometimes when I want to clean up some of the outbuildings, I look briefly at all of the odd pieces of wood that I have decided to hold on to.  It's kind of like most people and cardboard boxes.  How many of you have a closet that has a pile of boxes that you haven't recycled because... well, because it's a GOOD box!

Scrap wood has many uses on our farm.  

Scrap or old lumber has provided us walkways when we get so much rain that every path is pure mud.  We regularly use wood blocks to hold something up off the ground and we wedge a piece of wood onto the mower deck to hold the blade in place when we tighten or loosen them.  

Is the ladder or scaffold off level?  Wood blocks to the rescue!  Need to keep that item off of the wet cement floor in the garage?  Well, these wood blocks can get things off of that for a time!  Wood blocks can hold a door open (and closed).  They can be used to make you a couple inches taller when you need to stand in one place and do some work on a surface that is a bit too high for you.  You can tack up a scrap of wood to close up a hole that a raccoon or mink might get through in the hen room.  Or, if you need a temporary bit of extra shelter for the broilers from a particularly cold wind, you can manage to slap something together with scrap or repurposed lumber that will help.

You can even build a fire if you want one.  

Lost When On the Road

After working at the Genuine Faux Farm for as many years as I have now, I find that I often feel a bit lost when I am on the road and visiting some other location.  I can't tell you how many times I've thought, "I'll go grab that piece of pipe I keep in the corner of the Truck Barn and we can fix this..."  Then, I realize I am many miles away from the farm and the Truck Barn... and my precious piece of pipe!

The real winner was the time I thought I could go to Chumley, our pickup, and grab a bungee out of the back to help someone out at a farmers market.... when I was on the island of Kauai...  No, I had not succeeded in driving my truck there.  So, never mind.

So, if you look in the back of a farmer's truck and you see wood, bungees, pieces of pipe and a t-post - you know they're prepared for all sorts of things.  

It might not be pretty.

But, it will probably work - for a while.

Daylight Savings Solutions

When it comes to the controversy that is Daylight Savings Time and the bi-annual shift between Standard and Daylight time, we are a split household.  My opinion is that we should just pick a time (Daylight or Standard) and stick to it.  Tammy's is that she sees a benefit to to each.  She likes the sun to be up well prior to her 9 AM classes in December.  So, she's got a point there.  If we were to choose Daylight Savings time for the whole year, the latest sunrise would be about 8:40 AM (with official "dawn" being about a half-hour earlier).

And, I guess there is the "issue" of dawn arriving at 4AM in June if we stick with Standard time. 

It's only because the switch between Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time seems to mess with me and my own internal time clock so much that she might be willing to agree to stick with one or the other.  And, in case you hadn't heard, the Iowa House just passed a bill to keep Iowa in the Daylight Savings Time slot.

Now, before you get all excited (whether you support this idea or not) - Iowa can pass the law and have it signed by the governor.  But, until the Federal government approves the option for states to make this move - it isn't going to happen.  So, yeah.  There isn't likely going to be a whole bunch of states going willy-nilly in all sorts of directions.  

But think of the fun we could have here!

Option 1: Give the night shift the daylight

All of those fine people who get stuck with the "graveyard shift" deserve a break.  How about we simply switch around AM and PM?  Now the night time hours would be the sunlit hours!

All of those folks who have had to deal with working without the benefit of the sun will suddenly be able to step out during break and catch a few rays.  Isn't it time the rest of us learned what it is like to work our shifts during the hours when the sun is shining on the other side of the earth?

Option 2: Ease the shock of the time change with incremental time changes

One of the reasons I struggle with the time change so much is that we make this big, one-hour shift all at once.  Let's EASE into it a little.

Starting March 1st, we should add one minute to the time each day until, after 60 days, we've reached the one hour mark.  Ha ha!  Now we're where we want to be for the longest days of the year.  Then, we subtract one minute each day for sixty days in the Fall!

I can't see any difficulties with this proposal - can you?  

Option 3: Provide an opt-out policy

Let's let everyone PICK whether they want to participate in either Daylight Savings or Standard Time.  If the time switch really bugs a person, they can sign a personal "opt-out" form.

We can then have two segments of the population that reside in the same area in two different time zones.  Think of the fun we could have with this!

That office meeting that happens every week is now going to have to have two meeting times published if you want everyone to attend.  However, this could also be a way to split things up and give everyone more opportunity!  The high school varsity baseball teams could have a game at 7pm for the DST'ers and a 7pm game for the ST'ers.  Twice as many kids get to play!!  Though I suspect there may be some issues with the use of the ball diamond.

Option 4: Go half-way

Do you have some of the complaints Tammy has regarding sticking with either Daylight Savings or Standard Time?  

The solution is obvious - let's just move it all to a spot in between the two!  The easy solution is to pick the half-way mark, moving 30 minutes forward from Standard and staying there with no further changes.

Or, we can be a bit more innovative!

Let's have everyone vote for which of the two times they like better.  Then, based on the vote we move the time.  For example, if 66% vote for Daylight Savings and 33% for Standard, we just move 40 minutes forward from Standard.

See?!? Everyone got a say in the matter AND we're able to make a numerically supported compromise! 

Option 5: Spice it up and let every state just pick a time measuring method

Hey!  Why don't we do what we seem to like to do with so much of our governing in the United States?  Let's let every state pick how they want to do things.  Surely that will make everyone happy.  I mean, doesn't this approach ALWAYS make everyone happy?

No?

Huh.

Option 6: Go back to sundials

As an introvert, I actually like the idea of sundials.  

First, if it is a really cloudy day, you have to cancel all of your scheduled meetings because NOBODY will know what time it is.  And, second, you can really mess with peoples' sense of time during the night-time hours.  Only those folks who work the night shift will know what's going on.  The rest of us - well, maybe not so much.

Option 7: Use the "Farmer Time" method

To be perfectly clear - I've learned to rely more on the arrival and existence of daylight to tell me when to do things on the farm.  Sometimes the construct that is time zones just gets in my way.

Sun's up?  Time to get up and let the animals out, give them food and water, and just start "doing stuff."  Sun's going down?  Time to put the animals away, put the equipment away, and perhaps do something that is not farm-related for a while.

If you don't want to work the same hours as a farmer, the solution is simple.  Make a calendar that tells you how many hours and minutes of daylight you have each day - then slice off chucks of it for work and for play.  You can either count from the point the sun is at its highest or you can count from dawn or dusk - you pick. 

Works great - unless you live in Alaska.  If you're waiting on sunset to tell you it is time to get to work in the winter months, you may have a problem - and you'll NEVER quit working int he summer months.  

I guess you could figure out this hibernation thing other critters do.

Option 8: Time zone trials

Are you the kind of person who really hates to buy something before you actually have tried it?  If so, you might like this idea!

Let's allow communities a chance to test drive different time zones to see which one fits best!  It could also be a great way to travel without physically leaving where you are.  Want to visit London? Just shift to Greenwich Mean Time for a while!  Or maybe you just had a REALLY GOOD day - you could switch to a time zone that's a few hours earlier and extend that day a bit!

What do you mean that wouldn't work?

Option 9: How about a lottery?

It seems to me that an inordinate number of people like to gamble on all sorts of things - why not gamble on the time zone approach that your locality will be using?

To make this even more realistic, let's first take a poll to find out what the most popular choices would be.  Then, we need to set things up so those choices are LESS likely to be selected.

The basic idea is that only a couple of REALLY lucky people will be happy with the solution.  Everyone else.... loses.

Option 10: Use the sands of time.

We can learn to appreciate or come to despise the sands of time if only we all started carrying an hourglass around instead of watches or phones.  Obviously, it has to be a big enough hourglass for each person to be able to keep track of time for the entire day.  I realize this is something like the idea of having everyone set their own time zone - but I wanted to offer up this option because I just learned....

the largest hourglass is reported to be in Budapest, Hungary.  It measures one year of time and weighs 60 tons.  Happily, an hourglass for one day would be a bit smaller than that.  In fact, you can get a 4-hour hourglass and it is "only" 18 inches tall.  I realize this would not be a perfectly linear equation, but that puts a daylong hourglass somewhere in  the range of six-feet tall.

I hope these things would come with wheels - and turning them over for the new day might be a bit of a production.  That big, Hungary hourglass takes four people hauling on cables 45 minutes to get it turned for the new year.

Option 11: Move the people with the time

Well, if most people don't like the time change, I have another idea that would NOT require that we make ANY changes to our current system of cycling between Daylight Savings and Standard Time.  Keep all of that the same.

Instead, we should make people move from time zone to time zone so they do not have to adjust their clocks - they just have to adjust to a new home and new location.  

I suppose there might be an issue when we start pushing people on either coast into the ocean, but we all have to make sacrifices if we want to solve this problem.

Solving the worlds problems, one at a time

It turns out that, according to this poll, only 28% of people in the United States actually favor this swapping back and forth between Daylight Savings and Standard Time.  On the other hand, they can't agree on which way we should go.  While 40% prefer that we stick with Standard Time, 31% would prefer to stay with Daylight Savings.

Clearly, this is a difficult situation that calls for my unique style of problem solving.  See how quickly and easily I came up with eleven, count them, ELEVEN solutions for this very knotty and clearly divisive problem.

Now that I've provided the world with this service, which problem should I tackle next?  

If you have ideas - put them in the comments, I'll get right on it!

It's Easy - Except, um, For That

There are times in your life when you aren't going to be there to do that thing that you always do.  And, when that happens, you have to find someone else who is willing to do that thing.  It's at that moment that you realize, you and the things you do just aren't normal.

These feelings of being abnormal are exceptionally strong if you happen to run a small-scale, diversified farm.  In the first place, if you are this type of farmer, it's actually outside YOUR norm to be away from the farm at the moment the chores (or some other farm task) needs to be done.  But when you are going to be away, as we were when we took a breather in July, you find yourself having to explain to someone else exactly what it is you MUST do every day - and how to do it.

The must do actually isn't so difficult because, if we are like any other person who does this sort of thing, we work extra hard leading up to the moment we will be away so the "must do" list is as short as it can possibly be.  It's actually the "how to do" part that makes us wonder what people think of us AFTER we give the full explanation.

Case in point:

Farmer:  Ok, you need to feed the chickens in the morning.  

Kind Helper Person: Sure, I can do that.  Doesn't seem hard.

F: No. No, it isn't all that hard.  But, let's run out and I'll show you where everything is.

KHP: Ok.  Sounds good.

**** F and KHP both head towards the granary ****

F: Alright.  The food bin is in the granary.  The hard part is going to be opening the roll up door on the granary.

KHP: Ooooookay?

F: Yes.  The door has a latch here.  But, that latch won't release unless you push the door down there first.  You see, the cement is uneven here and you need push down to remove some of the tension on the latch.  Let me show you once.

**** F easily opens the door successfully and then closes it.  ****

F: Ok, you try it.

**** KHP reaches for door ****

F: Um, before you do that, I should warn you.  Don't let go of that rope when you open the door.

KHP: Oh.  Yeah, I guess I saw you holding on to it.

F: Yes.  You need to hold it firmly.  This is a roll-up door and if it gets away from you it will shoot up to the top and slam into the roll.  That could be bad.

KHP: Bad?

F: Yup.  I suppose it could jump off of the mount up there and come crashing down on your head.

Concerned KHP: On...my... head.

F: Oh, don't worry too much about it.  That's never happened since we've been here.  Well, there was that one guy, but that doesn't really count.  Just hold on to the rope and don't let it get away from you.

Very CKHP: Sure.... hold on to the rope....

F: Well, I mean.  If it SHOULD get away from you, step quickly away from the door in case it DOES jump off of the mount.  

VERY VCKHP:  I'm not sure I should do this.

F: Ok.  Look.  It's safe.  You just need to slow it down a little.  Even if it slips out of your hands a bit, it won't have enough momentum to hop out.... I think.   Anyway, you'll be fine.

All of this could be very amusing to the farmers if they didn't REALLY NEED someone to provide the help.  And, so far, no one has been crushed by a falling roll-up door, even if they did let it get away from them.  And, if they did, none of them have had the courage to report that this has actually happened.

Now - wait until I tell them they should not stand where they are because they could fall through the floor. 

Still Humble Pie

Welcome to Throwback Thursday on the Genuine Faux Farm blog!   This is the day of the week where Rob finds an older post from years past and updates, adds, or otherwise modifies what was written and then shares the new and improved version again!  This one comes from August 27, 2017 and references events from that year, but I've added a bit to it as well.  Enjoy!

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Tammy and I have been working the Genuine Faux Farm since 2005, so it's not like we're novices.  Yet, we still make mistakes and things still go wrong.  We still have problems that give us grief and we still don't necessarily like sharing them publicly.  

Yet, here I am, putting these things on the blog, illustrating our failures - why is that?

The biggest reason I have for recording the opposite of success is to enforce some level of reflection so we can try to avoid the same situation in the future.  If you don't think about the causes and reasons for the problem, how can you address them effectively?  The answer to that question is that you can't. 

But, why share them publicly in a blog? Especially for a second time in a throwback post?

First, I highly doubt that enough people read this blog to require a media tour to explain why things went wrong to the general public.  Those who do read this blog are genuinely supportive and/or are interested in learning.  And second, there is no better learning situation than when failure is encountered.  And, we are all about learning here.

And finally, I want to make the point that our farm plan has always been built to absorb failures.  To paraphrase another farmer I respect very much, "If you don't have some failures each season, you aren't trying hard enough."

Everyone Who Farms Has Done This (and will probably do it again)

Don't leave rolls of barbed wire, chunks of fencing, fence posts and other such things near paths or other areas where grass and other growing things will cover them.

Yeah, yeah.  I hear you.

Arrrrg!

There are very few people who have mowed on a farm that can say they have never mowed over something that fowled up the blades.  In fact, I'll bet that the few people who can say that didn't do a whole lot of mowing on a farm.  Simply put, farms have a lot going on.  You set things down 'just for a second' because you only have two hands.  You'll come back and get that after you do this thing or that thing.  You run over it with the mower two months later.

After you swear a little bit, you then swear that you will NEVER let that happen ever again.  

Then, one day sometime later, you find that you have too many things to do and too little time to do it all in.  You only have two hands or only so much room in the tractor bucket.  You set something down so you can pick it up later...

If You're Going to Deviate From the Plan...

When we plan for our season we usually have 'alternative plans' in place for those foreseeable situations that might come up.  But, I can tell you this much - as soon as you get a spur of the moment thought that follows the format of "Huh, I'll just do this instead of..." you'd better take another moment or three to think through it.

Huh, I'll just change the spacing in this field because the plan doesn't look right... ya, right.

As always, there is more to the picture than the heading shows.  And, this post isn't really about all of the details that led to sad chleome flowers in the middle of weeds.  My point is that, while it is good to be able to make adjustments, you should make sure to think through those adjustments.  The worst mistakes we have made on the farm were the result of a rushed decision.

Let's be perfectly clear here.  Every season is filled with numerous quick decisions that MUST be made to move from day to day on the farm.  That is simply part of diversified farming and much of those decisions come about within the larger plan for the season. What I am talking about here is making alterations to the plan on the fly that don't actually NEED to be made.

For example...  If it has rained and rained and rained for days and one area of a field won't dry out, you may have to make a quick adjustment to how you plant things or remove or reduce a crop or two on the season's grow list.  But, if you just look at a field and say, "Hey... I think I'll just change the row spacing for this field," DON'T DO IT!

Remember, you're the same person who just mowed over that roll of woven wire fencing you set down a few weeks ago.  Your judgement in this moment has been found to be wanting.  Trust your former self that put the plan down on paper in January.

You'll be glad you did.

Note: for those who want to know what happened to that row of chleome - it got tilled under soon after that photo was taken.  Oh well.

It Doesn't Count If You Answer the Quiz Question Correctly

It sure doesn't hurt to have a nice pool of knowledge at your disposal for whatever work you may do.  But, darn it, if you don't apply what you know, it doesn't really help does it?

This one frustrates me because we have known for many years that bush beans (especially green beans) usually keep potato beetles out of potatoes well enough that you don't need to worry about the population getting out of hand and destroying your potato crop.  We know this to be true and we plan to execute an intercropping plan every season.  We may modify the plan every so often, but it's there.

So, how is it possible that we did not get it done in 2017? 

First, let me assure you that we didn't lose our crop.  Some varieties did poorly because of potato beetles, but we still got some decent taters.  But, I'm still asking the question - how did we let this happen?

The reality is, we didn't just let it happen.  On a highly diversified, small-scale farm there are limited resources for a very diverse number of crops.  Weather events, equipment failures, or labor shortages can set a subset of crops back simply because the resources were not available to deal with that crop AND all of the others that need something done 'right now.'  Hard choices have to be made and the beans in the taters didn't happen in time to prevent the potato beetle flush that we had to deal with this particular year.  In this case, it made the difference between an outstanding crop and a barely passable one. 

On the plus side, it encouraged me to exercise my "poetry skills" that are exhibited in the photo of the chalkdoor shown above.  And now you are all saying, please do better with your intercropping every season from here on!

Sometimes, It's Not About You

The weather doesn't provide the growing degree days for a crop to reach maturity during the planned period of production.  The sun doesn't come out for ten days straight.  The state of Iowa is so full of herbicides flying all over the place that things don't germinate consistently.  The woodchuck figures out how to get into a coldframe and eats your melon starts.  Excessive rain floods your high tunnel and rots out carrots and beans.  It's just part of what we deal with and it's a big reason why the diversity on our farm is so important.

Eden is missing some beans here....

The excessive rains in July, 2017, resulted in standing water in Eden (our smaller high tunnel).  Green beans do not care for that sort of situation so our formerly healthy plants all had to be pulled.  The good news?  We had already harvested a pound per row foot from these plantings.  The bad news?  We usually get three pounds per foot by the end of the season from rows like these.

But, as I mentioned, the diversity of our crops and the diversity built into our plan tends to result in an overall 'win' for the farm.  For example, we were able to harvest from some of the green beans in our east fields since the loss of these bean plants in Eden.  And, in another week or so the beans in Valhalla started producing - so hurrah for succession planting.  We'll be just fine, thank you.  But, it would have been nice to have the easier road to our harvest goals with beans happily producing in Eden.

Mad Scientist?

We experiment on the farm frequently because we know there is always more to learn and we recognize that experiential learning is very effective.

I'd say there was some seed in that straw mulch, wouldn't you?

Our sprawling cucumber vines always result in some weed issues later in the life of the crop.  We've considered (and even tried) paper mulch, but you can't walk on that to harvest.  We've considered trellising (and tried it), but there's a labor timing issue that just doesn't work on our farm.  This year, we trialed putting some straw mulch between two rows and you can see the result above. 

Apparently, the straw had a lot of seed in it.  We had to find the time to pull the voluntarily seeded 'weeds' and that succession of cucumbers finished with an average harvest.  But, this experiment was NOT repeated.

Let's just say that the scientist who thought up this trial sure was mad when he had to go out and pull all of the weeds we inadvertently planted.

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And there you have it!  A look at some things that didn't go quite as we wanted on the farm in 2017.  Obviously, we dealt with each of them in whatever way we felt best with the time and resources we had available to us.  The most difficult part about them was avoiding making our failures our focus for the season.  Plenty of things went well in 2017.  But, we're human.  It seems like it takes only one failure to obscure ten successes. 

But at least we won't get a big head.

The Whole Picture

One of the things I have always wanted to accomplish with our blog was to give an honest portrayal of what life is like on a small-scale, diversified farm.  I feel this is especially important because I have noticed that most small farms promote their products using light-hearted and positive themes.  The only time you see the negative is when a major disaster occurs.

You do not typically hear about the day to day challenges.  Why?  Well, I suspect most people do not want to buy brutal honesty and farmers like us know that.  We suspect you would rather see the smiling farmer holding out a bunch of carrots or some other product for you to enjoy.

Pictures like the one above, showing smiling volunteers holding tomatoes at our farm are what we (and so many other small farms) push out front to encourage buyers to continue to patronize us.  It's even better if you can show children.

Or, perhaps, baby animals

There is no dishonesty in showing any of these photos and then using them to promote the Genuine Faux Farm.  They were all taken here.  The smiles on the peoples' faces are not "photoshopped on."  Those are our turklets in the photo shown above.  These are real life moments.

And they do, in fact, show some of the truth that is our farm.  But when things like the dirty, cracked hands holding the turklets show up for public viewing, they are not the focus of the picture and most people will not even notice them.

But, like everything else in the world, smiling people, happy children and baby animals are only part of what makes up an honest and complete story.  That full story includes days when the farmers work hard while no one watches.  As they work, they deal with broken equipment, human error, pests, difficult weather, life and death, and dirty, cracked hands.

It's all part of the package.

Speaking of packages.  One of the unexpected "downers" we experienced recently was the arrival of our 250 broiler chicks on July 1st.  To set the stage, we planned to raise two sets of 250 broiler (meat) chickens this year.  The first batch was due to go to "the Park" on the night of July 1st and early morning of July 2.  We also received the second batch of chicks early on July 1st.  You can tell that it was going to be a long couple of days by that description.

When we went to pick them up, the postal worker said they were glad to see them go because the box "smelled."  Usually, they are just glad to see them go because they are "noisy."

Having a postal worker say the boxes smelled is NEVER a good thing to hear.

Yes, twenty-seven chicks had died in the box in transit to our farm, and others were weak and unlikely to survive.  This is part of the reality that we deal with as a part of what we do.  Not every baby animal is healthy.  And, each delivery of poultry, equipment, supplies and seeds to the farm brings promise and, sometimes, disappointment.

Later that same evening, as I was looking to put the hens away for the night, I noticed there was still a bird out by the feeder.  But, it looked kind of odd - mostly because it wasn't moving.  It turns out that this particular bird somehow got wedged into a corner of the feeder and it had effectively been strangled.  Just another reminder that accidents happen - sometimes a chicken makes a costly error.

As I walked by Middle Earth (one of our growing plots) on the way to close up Valhalla, I noticed a big puddle that shouldn't have been there.  Our irrigation sprung a nice leak that neither of us caught during the day.  It's not the end of the world, nor is it a horrible thing to fix.  Oh, and, by the way, we got some wire accidentally wrapped around the mower blade and the rot under the pass-through door on the truck barn has made it known that we need to fix it because the door won't close.   

This is just an illustration of how things can stack up quickly.

Then there is all of that time in between that is neither happy nor sad.  The moments that are not necessarily outstanding in any respect.  Sometimes it feels like a bit of a slog and other times there is comfort in the constancy of the work.  It's more the fact that it happens each and every day - because it just needs to get done.

This makes up the whole picture of what it is like to run a small-scale, diversified farm.  For every moment where I happily (and rapidly) harvest 30 pounds of quality lettuce and feel pride in our efforts, there are others where I drop a tray of seedlings or notice that the germination rate for another tray is very poor.  And for each of those positive and negative moments, there are all of those other instances where I put seed into trays, water seedling trays, transplant seedlings, irrigate lettuce and cultivate lettuce - just doing the things to help the lettuce to stay alive and grow.

The true picture of our farm and its farmers never was that single instant where Tammy or I smiled as we pulled out a beautiful head of Bunte Forellenschus (or two) for you and your family to enjoy.  Behind the smiles there exists a complex picture of failure, success, constancy and persistence.  Does that mean we aren't pleased that we can provide someone with healthy, quality food?  Of course not! 

Our smile might be as a result of a combination of things.  Relief that we have managed to bring this product successfully to its destination.  Pride in our efforts to produce something that looks and tastes good.  Genuine pleasure that someone is interested enough in what we have grown that they are arranging to purchase from us.  And the smile might also be one way to hide some of the things that aren't going so well at the farm at any given point in time.

The whole picture is never all that simple.  And that's part of the beauty of it all.

Chewing Gum and Baling Wire

Generations of farmers have been known for the ability to innovate so they can fix a thing that is broken so that it holds together long enough to get a job done.  Anyone who has farmed has worked with a tool that was held together with "chewing gum and baling wire" or "spit and a prayer."  And, for that matter, everyone who has farmed has probably come up with their own "farm hack" to adapt a tool or fix something that has broken.

Here are a few items we employ to deal with all sorts of situations on the farm.  If you have worked on a farm you're either going to laugh because you've been there/done that or you'll sneer and claim you have got by with less or have a better solution.  Frankly, I can live with that!

 A few resources I am not talking about this time around.

The T-Post

As far as I am concerned, it is hard for a farm like ours to have too many t-posts.  Of course, the primary function of a t-post is to hold up a fence.  And, if you have livestock or poultry, fencing is a critical part of the operation.  But, did you know the t-post has numerous other functions?

The most obvious uses are pretty close to fencing.  Staking up a tree, holding up some cattle panels etc.  But, a good, solid t-post can be used as a lever to help move a large rock or break something loose from the frozen ground.  We've used t-posts to help us put our mobile high tunnels back on their tracks.  

And, let's not forget that the t-post sitting by the side of a field can be pressed into service to break out the dirt clod that formed between disks on a harrow.  

And, like many other things with some rigidity and heft - it can always serve as a hammer... sort of.  For that matter, is there a raccoon in the hen room?  T-posts aren't the best piece of armament a farmer can have in that situation, but it can be pressed into service.

As a side note: T-posts are not recommended for use as a mulch.  Grasses, in particular, always find a way to grow around them and will eventually obscure your t-post mulch project.  Then, one day, you will forget about the project and try to mow down that tall patch of grass.  

Yeah.  Not a good solution.

Bungee Cords

Bungee cords or straps are all-purpose fasteners around our farm.

Door latch stopped working?  Bungee to the rescue!  Need to hold that tarp down?  Bungees!  Load on the trailer piled a bit too high?  Use those bungees to help hold it all on there!  Mailbox knocked off of the post?  Use bungees to put it back on there until you can get around to a better solution!  Want to keep that chicken from flying out of the pasture?  

Ok.  Maybe bungees aren't the answer for everything.

And, of course, they almost work too well and we don't get around to fixing that latch or the mailbox.... until the bungee finally breaks. But, you all know what to do when that happens?

Grab another bungee!

Lengths of Metal Pipe

A good piece of solid metal pipe can be an excellent "persuader" on the farm. Like a t-post, they can serve as an impromptu hammer or cudgel (you could use the word shillelagh if you are Irish - or if you just like the word).  But, even better, they can provide leverage for that lug nut that just will not turn on the hay rack's wheel.  You can get leverage to get a balky top-link on a tractor to turn and you can always let your pet elephant use a piece of pipe as a straw.

What, you don't have a pet elephant?  Why not?

Need to run a hose across an area where you know you're going to need to drive the tractor several times while the hose is being used?  Run the hose through the sturdy pipe to protect the hose in the area where the tractor has to go.  Ok - this is a good solution, but if the hose is longer I often forgo this because it takes a while to run the hose through the pipe.  Instead I .. uh... just drive over the hose.  

Yeah, Rob, good solution.  Pfffft.

Old Boards and Wood Blocks

Sometimes when I want to clean up some of the outbuildings, I look briefly at all of the odd pieces of wood that I have decided to hold on to.  It's kind of like most people and cardboard boxes.  How many of you have a closet that has a pile of boxes that you haven't recycled because... well, because it's a GOOD box!

Scrap wood has many uses on our farm.  

Scrap or old lumber has provided us walkways when we get so much rain that every path is pure mud.  We regularly use wood blocks to hold something up off the ground and we wedge a piece of wood onto the mower deck to hold the blade in place when we tighten or loosen them.  

Is the ladder or scaffold off level?  Wood blocks to the rescue!  Need to keep that item off of the wet cement floor in the garage?  Well, these wood blocks can get things off of that for a time!  Wood blocks can hold a door open (and closed).  They can be used to make you a couple inches taller when you need to stand in one place and do some work on a surface that is a bit too high for you.  You can tack up a scrap of wood to close up a hole that a raccoon or mink might get through in the hen room.  Or, if you need a temporary bit of extra shelter for the broilers from a particularly cold wind, you can manage to slap something together with scrap or repurposed lumber that will help.

You can even build a fire if you want one.  

Lost When On the Road

After working at the Genuine Faux Farm for as many years as I have now, I find that I often feel a bit lost when I am on the road and visiting some other location.  I can't tell you how many times I've thought, "I'll go grab that piece of pipe I keep in the corner of the Truck Barn and we can fix this..."  Then, I realize I am many miles away from the farm and the Truck Barn... and my precious piece of pipe!

The real winner was the time I thought I could go to Chumley, our pickup, and grab a bungee out of the back to help someone out at a farmers market.... when I was on the island of Kauai...  No, I had not succeeded in driving my truck there.  So, never mind.

So, if you look in the back of a farmer's truck and you see wood, bungees, pieces of pipe and a t-post - you know they're prepared for all sorts of things.  

It might not be pretty.

But, it will probably work - for a while.

Unintentional

We have had a series of light snows on the farm, which means there have been more opportunities to take some pictures of the farm when the 'sins' of our human existence can be covered by white powder.  That actually got me to thinking - which is a dangerous pastime.

The area surrounding the old barn draws my attention frequently when I am out with the camera.  There are several reasons for that, I am sure.  After all, it is/was a pretty big building.  It does standout and provide contrast to other things around it.  There is still some beauty and grace evident there as well.  And, of course, there are many memories - some of them ours, and some that belong to others who were at this farm before us.

Barns like this are a symbol of a time and a place that some still remember and many (even if they have never experienced a barn on a working farm) still glorify with a rich tapestry of stories.  One of the stories this barn tells is one of regret.  I regret that we could not find a way to restore and maintain this building.  But, the reality is this.  It was too big and too far gone when we moved here.  The price was simply going to be too high and we had choices to make.  So, I regret, but I don't regret our choices.  

And now, with the largest part of the building down, we begin looking at how we we salvage the space.  As I do that, I recognize all of the wildness that has crept in over the past several years as we have taken our focus elsewhere on the farm.  There are numerous 'scrub' trees that have taken hold.  It's almost a wild place.

And that wasn't exactly intentional.

If you take a look to the South of the barn and out towards the road, you can see some "intentional."  We inherited two mature ash trees with the farm.  We were aware fairly early on that they would likely succumb, some day, to the Emerald Ash Borer.  So, we added some other trees to that area.  Some were evergreens - to catch some of the road dust.  We also decided to leave the ash trees up for now, even though it is unlikely they will recover after this past season.

We are seeing some rewards.  The woodpeckers have never been happier on our farm.  They love the ash trees and they love the brush by the barn, flying from one to the other.  We even have a Red-Bellied Woodpecker pair that has decided to over-Winter at the Genuine Faux Farm.  That would be a first for us. 

The Cardinals, Chickadees, Goldfinches, Juncos and Nuthatches appear to like the area around the barn as well.  We did not actually intend for the barn area to become what it is now.  But, the unintentionally created wildlife preserve does not displease us as much as you might think.

Yes.  I would like to salvage some wood and clean the area up a bit.  Yes.  I would like to have a newer building to house some of our equipment.  And... yes.  I like having an area that is inviting to these birds and other interesting critters.

So, before you criticize our seeming lack of initiative with respect to the barn, maybe you should consider that the unintentional may have a value you don't see right away - and maybe we have discovered it?  Either way, we welcome these Winter birds and we enjoy hearing them chirp and seeing them flit from branch to branch.  

Hey little birds.  Glad you like it.

Sunpuddles, Casa Verde and Lentils

The Indoor Farm Supervisors (Bree and Hobnob) have taken to seeking out and enjoying the sun puddles that spread out more in the farmhouse than they do any other time of year.  It just so happens that one of the prime sun puddle locations is within sight of the desk where I write our farm blog (and do my PAN work).

This is Bree's favorite location - right now.  Since she is a cat, the favorite location moves from time to time on a schedule that is dictated by factors I can not quite decipher.  My suspicion is that she likes this location so she can sense the moment that it looks like I am preparing to leave the desk for a while.  She can sense that the moment of my departure is nearing - so she will hop down from her comfy location and ask to sit on my lap while I work.  

It's always hard to put a purring cat down - so I end up staying longer than I often intend.  

Such is the power of a cat.

It doesn't seem all that long ago that we put Casa Verde together and got the plastic to cover it.  Well, about a year and a half later and the plastic blew off.  Alas.  

It's not like losing the plastic on a high tunnel - that's for sure.  But, it is still a little annoying.  We're looking at putting something a bit more permanent on it this time.

Unfortunately, it really isn't made for that kind of covering - but we'll make it work somehow.  I think it is really just the fact that we expected a little more use time before we had to do additional work to our little greenhouse.  Again, such is the life on a small farm.

Then there are the fields in the East part of the farm.

We tried to put in a patchwork of cover crops in early September.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much rainfall prior to things getting cooler.  The net result is some of the covers did not germinate well.  Those that did - did not get all that big.  But, we got some coverage out of them.

The annual ryegrass did extremely well, as it usually does for us.  The clover wanted more water than it got, but we did see some germination.  I suspect we'll get more in the early spring months.  The buckwheat got nipped by a frost pretty early - but it germinated fine (that was a big section of the bare dirt just being the patchy green stuff).  The vetch and the millet weren't so happy about things.  In one case, I think the seed I used was no longer viable.  In the other - it would have been better if I drilled them in rather than broadcast them.

What?  You don't understand?  Ha ha! Time to learn something new!

If you wanted to seed a bare patch in your lawn, you might be instructed to spread seed over the surface and maybe rake the seed in a bit.  Essentially, you are broadcasting seed over the surface of the soil.  If the seed gets buried too deeply, it will not germinate well.  So, annual ryegrass loves being broadcast over the surface.  We then take our flextine cultivator to essentially 'rake' the seed in a little.

The coverage we got was pretty good (see below).

We we talk about 'drilling' seed, we are looking to put the seed beneath the soil surface a certain depth.  Normally larger seeds, like lentils or vetch, might prefer to be drilled into the soil at their optimum depth.  For example, if you were planting green beans in your garden, you might push each seed into the soil to about the depth of your first knuckle on your finger.  If you just threw them onto the ground, there might be germination, but the young seedling would probably desiccate and die without some soil coverage.

Well, we've had plenty of success with broadcasting buckwheat, annual ryegrass, millet and other cover crops.  We don't have a seeder to drill in multiple rows of cover crop at once either.  So - the most efficient method for us is to broadcast.  If it is a larger seed, we are more aggressive with our 'raking them in.'

Anyway, the lentils were a pleasant surprise. They have been a bit damaged by the colder weather - I should have gotten a picture earlier when they were happier.  But, you get what you get sometimes!

As far as the "not enough moisture" for the cover crops thing.  I think we can be excused for not finding the energy to put some overhead irrigation on them to encourage germination and growth.  After all, we've been swimming in moisture each of the last three fall seasons.  We're used to the problem of soils being too wet to plant.  We aren't sure how to handle the too dry thing any more...

Have a fine weekend everyone!