Seconds

The Barn Swallow chicks are showing their faces much more prominently over the last couple of days in the granary.  Their space is getting a bit crowded and I suspect they will find themselves fledging very soon.  This is the second brood of the summer at the farm, which is fairly typical for the Barn Swallows that call the Genuine Faux Farm home for the warmer months.  What isn't typical is the fairly large number of chicks.  We usually see four, sometimes three, but very rarely five.

According to Audubon, Barn Swallows can have as lay as many as seven eggs in a brood, with the potential for seven chicks.  After seeing the jostling in this nest, I have no idea how seven little birds would have any hope of staying in the nest.

If you look closely, you might notice that the size of the chicks vary, with the smallest at the back left.  I didn't have time to research it, but I can speculate that there could be two reasons for this.  One, many birds do not lay all of their eggs at the same time.  If they are anything like our chickens, they might lay one egg a day over a period of five or six days to form the brood.  Between the age difference and the fact that the chicks compete with each other for food from the parents... there are good reasons for some looking more fit than others.

Barn Swallow eggs hatch about two weeks after they are laid and the chicks are ready to leave the next about three weeks later.  That's pretty darned quick, so it stands to reason that even 24 hours could result in a huge difference in the development of a young bird.  It won't be long before we have large numbers of birds wheeling about our farm again before they all head South.

Anyway, since our second group of Barn Swallow chicks are looking at flying soon, that got me to noticing some other Summer "seconds" on the farm.

Clematis flowers are typically a feature in May or June at the farm.  After they drop the petals from their Spring/early Summer bloom, the plants seem to fade into the background of the perennial garden.  The leaves are green, but not terribly eye catching.  And the plants store up energy for next year's bloom.

Well, things were so dry early in the year that this particular clematis plant must have felt a bit cheated and it still had a bloom left to give.  It just didn't feel that it had enough energy and water until August to push this one open.  So, it's a "second" bloom.  

Just one flower.  Unexpected and unlooked for.  But I took notice of it and I gave it the attention it deserved.

I do hope that the plant has a better year next year so it can get its business done in the time it would prefer.  But I don't mind seeing a flower out of season either.

 

Here is a different kind of "second."  Surprise Lilies (or Naked Ladies) are a different kind of plant.  They send up thick bunches of leaves in the late Spring to early Summer, but they do not flower.  Instead, the leaves die back and there is little to no evidence of the plant in July.

Until....

August arrives and these plants send up stalks with these delicate lily flowers.  Surprise!

It's a second growth that comes after you think the plant has done its bit for the year.  It's a wonderful reminder that there are so many ways in this world where plants, animals... and even people... can be successful.  It isn't required that all of the other flowers understand this kind of success either.

 

We have noticed that some of our bushes as giving us some half-hearted blooms now as well.  The Mock Orange opened a single, lonely flower at the top of a stem.  The Wiegala have a few flowers here and there that the Japanese Beetles love to turn into ragged messes soon after they open.  And, some of the clover we mowed down to encourage a second bloom about four to six weeks ago are now showing us a new bloom that the bumblebees and honeybees are taking notice of.

Spring may be the time for firsts, but don't ignore the "seconds" that August brings us.  They are often less noticeable because there is so much more green growth in our landscape now than there is when leaves are just opening on trees and plants are just pushing up out of the ground.  

Take a moment to search for the unexpected and to enjoy the chicks in the nest before they learn to fly on their own.  And you can take that last statement whatever way you want, because second meanings have value too.

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.

Two Worlds

A common question that has been posed to Farmer Rob over the past year and a half is something along the lines of "How are things going with the balance between your PAN job and the farm?"  It's a pretty good question and it is probably worth figuring out a better answer than, "well, you know... it can be pretty difficult sometimes, but I'm doing okay."

Hours in the Day

Apparently it is true what they say about the hours in a day.  There are never enough for you to get everything done ESPECIALLY if you are trying to make a small, diversified farm work.  

So, what happens when another job enters the picture and demands thirty plus hours each week from you?  

Well, you just don't get it all done.  The weeds get out of hand and special projects don't get started.  A broken tool cripples you more than it should.  And, you start getting this odd feeling....

The one where you ask yourself, "I thought I said I was done working for the day.  So, why am I out here working so hard right now?"  Lately, the result has been to just take some of the lumps we will take with things not getting done at the farm.  Yeah, I suppose I could go back to working the super long hours to try to keep up.  I've done it before and I could do it again.  

But, the farm is one of those things that will take the hours in the day... every one of them.... if you let it.  Farm work is never done because there is always more to do.

Once a Farmer...

The other oddity I've been dealing with is that I am programmed to respond to certain things as a farmer - even if I am not in a "farmer setting."  Case in point, a recent batch of severe weather that popped up this month.

I often have meetings through the middle of the day for my PAN job.  These meetings are online, of course, so I am usually inside the house for them.  But, I still find myself taking looks out the window so I can check the conditions.  It's a lot harder than it is when I am outside, but I do still have some responsibilities that require my attention if the weather should turn.  One of the most pressing of these is to close the high tunnels if it looks like strong winds are possible.

I glanced outside at the beginning of one meeting (about 1:10 PM) and felt like I might need to be paying some attention.  Just for the sake of getting more information, I checked the radar and I saw the image above. 

There wasn't anything too scary in the radar image.  But, I've seen skies like that before and I was pretty sure we were going to get something.  So, what followed was a meeting where Farmer Rob was straddling his two worlds as best he could.  One eye on the meeting so he could be a positive participant and the other looking out the window.

Apparently, I still have a decent weather sense.  I found myself excusing myself from the meeting a bit prior to the scheduled end and dashed outside to close up high tunnels and grab some things that would have become all too willing to be projectiles if there were strong enough winds.

The good news is that Tammy was actually at home this time as well, so we were able to get everything dealt with AND get inside before the storm hit.  The radar from 2:25PM is shown above.  The white dot in the red area is approximately the location of our farm.

Hey!  You Still Haven't Answered the Question!

That's true.  I haven't.  And maybe that's because I am still trying to figure out the answer for myself.

Most of the fields look pretty bad right now because we just haven't been able to keep going after the weeds.  But, despite that we've been able to get over 175 pounds of broccoli to the food bank.  Our tomatoes are producing well.  We've had our own sweet corn for the first time since ... since who knows when?  The early potato crop has been fantastic. 

And, of course, we keep the poultry fed, watered and we deal with all of the other things we have to do to keep them healthy and happy.

You see, it's all of those hours we're missing. Both ours that are now taken by other things and the hours we used to get from people who would work on our farm with us.  I don't know what made me think we could figure out all of the critical adjustments we would need to make to still farm AND do it in a fraction of the available labor hours.

And yet, our own freezer has the best diversity of veggies stored up for the Winter than we've had for a decade because we made that a priority after we actually RAN OUT of our own veggies this past Winter.  Let's just say we both found that to be a bit offensive (something that had NOT happened since even before we started the farm).

Then again, our farm buildings are more disorganized than they ever have been and the areas around our buildings have not been cleaned up.  Simply put, there is a host of farm maintenance and upkeep items that are falling by the wayside.  And while that happens, we still walk by giant sunflowers as they smile down at us.  Some snapdragons nod as we walk by and the celosia are bigger than they have a right to be.  Marigolds peak out from underneath broccoli leaves and there are some butternut squash that just might be seven or eight pounds in weight.

If you've been following us and our adventures as we travel through life on the Genuine Faux Farm you might be tempted to say, "Huh.  So, it sounds like this is just like every other year since you got there.  There are some good things and some bad things.  There are things you are getting done and things you aren't.  It's just that some of things that are getting done are different and some of the things that aren't are different."

Yes.  I think you're right.  

So I must be doing fine and always hope to do better.  Thanks for asking.

Clover, Sunflowers and Mulberries

The "lawn" looks pretty ragged in places if you are used to a perfectly trimmed and manicured grass surface.  But, that is usually on purpose at our farm.  Usually.

Well, if the lawn mower has an issue, there might be another reason.  

I know we have mentioned it before, but we do try to rotate letting areas that have some strong red clover presence grow while the clover is in peak bloom.  It has little to do with our wanting things to look nice (though I do like clover flowers) and more to do with providing food for some of our pollinator workers.

A Black Swallowtail illustrated for us exactly how happy it was that we allow clover to bloom at the Genuine Faux Farm by posing for a farmer who had a camera.

If you need a "better" reason than we like to support wild pollinators and other critters on our farm with clover, I suppose you might understand if you saw how happy our honey bees are to have all of the clover here - that should help with honey production.  But, why does it always have to be an economic reason or for a direct benefit to us?  

I doesn't, actually.  Yet, it still feels, for some odd reason, that we have to justify some of the things we do.  In my mind this is backwards.  I think those who feel they need to have a monocrop lawn that gets mowed every week in a cross-hatch pattern need to come up with a better justification for all of the effort and chemicals they put into that whole process of killing every other plant other than one precious grass variety (which is probably not native to the area and it likely needs special treatment that nature won't provide).

I'm trying to keep the bee and butterfly populations healthy and you are.... ?

I understand what it means to want to make the place you live look nice.  But, who are you trying to make it look nice for?   Do you actually enjoy your lawn?  After all, it is your home - it should look nice to you.  It really doesn't matter what a passer-by who maybe sees your lawn once in their life might think.

If you do like the perfect single-grass type lawn and really enjoy the process of making it happen, then maybe you have your reason.  If you just think you have to do it because...  well, just because... then you don't have a reason.  Either way, we can agree to disagree if you feel strongly about the topic.

We grow sunflowers at the farm.  

In fact, this season, we have more row feet of sunflowers than I think we've had any other season.  They went in at just the right time and they're looking pretty good right now.  And, happily, they didn't all get flattened in the storms we had about ten days ago.

We both like the way they look and they seem to have the power to make us smile a little inside as we take a look at them.  On a rare occasion you might also see us smile on the outside too when we approach these flowers in full bloom.

We noticed a different type of bee covered in sunflower pollen a few days ago.  Nearly every open sunflower bloom had at least one of these bees on them, sometimes a flower would have two or three bees.  These were not our honey bees (those were off visiting the clover and the zinnias).  But, these wild bees were still quite welcome.  

Maybe we'll save some of these seeds and see what sort of sunflowers come back.  There are many varieties out there, so I am sure we'll get some sort of cross-pollinated flower.  But, it might be fun just to see what happens.

The small birds love our rows of sunflowers.  In fact, one row of sunflowers is next to sweet corn, which is next to winter squash... which is next to borage.  There is some bird activity there.  But, it's the sunflower, zinnia, winter squash, borage mix that really gets the activity.  Already, the Goldfinches are telling us they are looking forward to a Winter feast of sunflower seeds that we will leave for them.

Our farm also has a number of mulberry trees/bushes.  Like most Iowa farms, we don't have to plant mulberries - they just show up.  Some folks call them 'junk' trees and expend a great deal of energy in eradicating them.  

Us?  Well, we don't mind them.  But, we also do not stop ourselves from removing one if a mulberry wants to grow somewhere we don't want it... like near the foundation of a building.  Otherwise, they provide habitat and food for the wildlife.  For that matter, we can eat the berries too if we wish.  In fact, we had been known to harvest them some years for our CSA members.

This year has been a bit strange for mulberries.  We had an early batch of fruit and now we are having a second flush.  Apparently, the roller-coaster temperatures encouraged two blooms and some of the first bloom got pollinated and did not drop with the cold cycle.  I don't think we've seen that particular thing happen on our farm before.

I have noticed that the Orioles seem to appreciate our mulberries and it isn't surprising to find a Catbird or the Brown Thrashers hanging around them.  Part of me actually wishes a mulberry would plant itself near our hen pasture.  I suspect the hens might enjoy picking up some of the berries as they hit the ground.

There you have it - musings for Wednesday!  Have a great day everyone!

Evening Song

I took the camera around the farm as the sun was going down a few days ago.  The broilers were still on the farm, so I had to do the pre-chore task of putting their food inside their buildings to encourage them to go in for the night.

Sometimes when I do these rounds, I am a bit too early to just close the birds and high tunnels up, so rather than go back to the house and go inside, I might meander around the farm a bit.  As I walk, I listen to the sounds of the evening, or feel the breeze, or observe the clouds.

On this particular day, I was able to take some photos of what I was seeing.  Some of them turned out to be pretty good pictures.  The one above falls into that category.

In the foreground is one of our small, "Iowa" peaches.  It's more of a bush than a tree, really.  Behind it is a tree that is on the border of our property.  We did not plant it - it is a volunteer - and we considered removing it because it is likely a bit too close to the edge.

But, it is in an area where we don't have much for bushes.  And, more important, Mr. Bunting likes to sit in that tree in the evening and sing his evening song.   If you look closely at that tree, you can see Mr. Bunting at the top right.  No, he would not let me get much closer, so this is what we've got for photo evidence.

This same tree allowed us to spot our first Scarlet Tanager on the farm last year.  It's a favored evening spot for one of this year's Indigo Buntings.  

Now, I am inclined to leave that tree unless the neighbor complains - and I'll go there to listen to the birds as they give their evening concerts.

Longest

It's been a pretty sparse week for blogs on the Genuine Faux Farm blog and I actually have a pretty good reason for it.

June is filled with days with the most daylight hours.  If you don't need further explanation, then you have either worked on a farm like ours or you have enough familiarity with what we do here that the mention is good enough.

With the long string of hot days with strong sunshine, we've been getting up fairly early to try and do as much of our outdoor work as we can before it gets to the hottest part of the day.  Of course, our poultry like to be let out of their buildings early, it is important to get high tunnels open to prevent them from heating up too much, and if it is a moving day for the broilers (every other day) it is best to get their buildings moved as soon as possible.

On the other end of the day, we need to close everything up.  But, since the days have been warm, the poultry aren't too anxious to go inside.  After all, the temps are finally nice and the brutal sun is not baking them.  They want to hang out until the last drops of daylight fade away.  They don't really care if the farmers are pretty tired and just want to finish chores so they can clean and then catch some sleep.

Mid-June is also the point in time when the turklets make their appearance on the farm (Thursday).  The prelude to their arrival requires a thorough cleaning of the brooder room, feeders and waterers.  We often realize the day before that there are some supplies we need (including turkey starter food -which is much higher in protein).  Or, if we realized we needed these things earlier, we still end up going and getting them in the days just prior to their arrival.

We usually get a call around 6:20 AM from the post office telling us they want the noisy little creatures taken away and getting turkeys situated becomes the top priority..... um... after all of the other top priority things get completed.  Normal June day.

In any event, this has been a bit of a week for us.  Lots of balls in the air and we're trying hard to not let any of them fall.  On top of that, we're starting to figure out adjustments for the lack of rain.  While some folks reported rain in the area, we only had a rumor of it. 

Well, ok, the weather station claims we got .01" of rain.  Our sum total for June so far? 

.02"

So, we got half of our rain for the month so far in yesterdays little display.  We saw more lightning than anything from this thing.  Since I am writing this the day prior to its publishing, it is possible we'll get something overnight.  But, I'm not counting on it.

To make our long story less long - we're a little tired right now.  It's a combination of working in heat, which we've noticed has a cumulative effect on us and the confluence of lots of things needing attention at the same time.  But, the biggest issue is just the fact that the days are LONG.

That's ok.  Longer days just mean there is more time to enjoy living.  Maybe not so much time to write a blog - but plenty of time to live.

Have a good day today!

Can't Get Much Nicer

It has been a while since we have gotten any real rain at the farm.  After the last several years of excessive rain and continuous puddle season, we are actually... sort of... enjoying the dry.  That tells you how wet we've been when we actually are kind of enjoying a drought.  I will admit that a nice soaking rain would be welcomed at the farm, but we're still nervous about even hoping about rain too hard.  The last time we did that, it didn't stop... for like, three years.

So, how do you know it is a drought?  The scattered rain showers for your area look like the cloud at the top (just to the right of the high tunnel).  Yep, that was last night's rain shower.  We did a tad bit better in the morning with some real thunder and maybe five hundredths of an inch of rain.

As we enter the month of September, we bid farewell to summertime.  Yes, it is true that we are bound to have some more hot, sunny days with a good bit of humidity.  But, it is also true that we will again see lows in the 40s (probably early this morning) and the watch for the first frost will officially begin on the farm (our guess is officially Sept 26/27 this year).

Just this past week, we had some pretty serious heat and humidity.  Granted, people who live in Florida and Alabama laugh at us for our brief forays into that type of weather - but it was pretty difficult to work hard in it for an extended period of time.  There is a good reason for the 'siesta' model of doing things sometimes.   Apparently the "Iowa approach" is to just fight your way through it and then pay the next day when you overdo it.

Anyway, after the last batch of hot, things cooled down quite a bit.  We had light winds, beautiful blue skies and not too many gnats and mosquitoes to put a damper on things.  The impending full moon lights our way as we do chores and the air has that nice, soft feel that happens only on nights like these.  

You see, we really enjoy evenings like this because we ARE outside frequently.  We must go out and do chores every morning and every evening - regardless of the weather and in spite of biting insects or muddy grounds.  We recognize there is beauty in all sorts of weather during all times of the year.  But, we also realize nights like these... they do not happen all that often.  Even more important, nights like these don't often happen when we aren't so bone tired that we just can't build up the gumption to enjoy them.

Yes, we DO enjoy nice evenings AS we are doing our chores.  I am making a fine distinction here.  The difference I am trying to highlight is that we rarely stop and sit for a while to simply absorb how beautiful it all is.  That's the difference.  We hope you will also find a way to enjoy evenings like these too.

Tapped

 

 

What would you do if the Genuine Faux Farm blog had nothing posted on any given day?

You would go about your day and do what you do - minus maybe a couple of moments that some few of you use to read the blog.   

Today was very nearly such a day.  And, in fact, some of you might argue that today IS that day.  After all - a post with a giant tomato at the top that is published nearly two hours after most of our posts have been published on a nearly daily basis.  How in the world can this qualify?  How will the world cope with my tardy and imperfect offering?

It will cope the same way it copes on the days an on-time and slightly less imperfect offering from yours truly shows up here.  It's amazing how many things have more than one sharp edge to them.  It is both re-assuring and disconcerting that the appearance of a daily blog from one farmer in northeast Iowa is really not that important in the grand scheme.

On the other hand, a nice one and a half pound Gold Medal tomato from Eden's (one of our high tunnels) plants IS something of consequence.  We put a single Gold Medal plant into the high tunnel because we both love this variety.  It is one of the sweetest tomatoes and is excellent for sandwiches.  Because of the large size of the fruit, there tend to be very few of them per plant, which is part of the reason we do not typically put this particular variety into the high tunnel.  But, this year, we committed to growing nearly all of our tomatoes in the high tunnel after realizing our outdoor tomatoes were just going to be unable to fight through dicamba issues.

So there it is - the most perfect Gold Medal tomato we have seen in a few years.  Celebrate the tomato... and celebrate a daily blog from the Genuine Faux Farm.

Then go about your day.  I hope it is a good one.

Almost the Way We Want It

We are still adjusting our expectations for this season because we are still learning what the new normal for our farm is going to be with the host of changes we have undergone in the past year. 

One of the things that we are having the most difficulty with is the new normal for how much farm work we can accomplish. The new normal sees a significant chunk of available farm-time going to the poultry.  Why?  Because once you have live animals on the farm, you have to care for the live animals on the farm.  The net result is that we can't keep up with as much of the fields as we would prefer - and if you add additional projects to the mix?  Never mind!

Even so, we are managing to get some things to work, thanks to a little help once in a while (thank you Brenda & Nicole).  The southwest field is actually looking pretty good and we're trying to decide if we have the ability to put some new successions of veggies out there or not.

The sunflowers on the north edge of that field are just hitting their stride.  The coneflowers and the oregano are all in bloom.  The Queen Anne's Lace (not our favorite, but it's there) is everywhere we haven't mowed.  And, the clover has been a good place for bees.

The particularly nice thing about this is we can look out our bedroom window (2nd floor) and see all of this. 

Ok, it is only nice if you manage to keep things cleaned up so things like the giant ragweed and Canadian thistle don't take over.  Since we look that way often, it would be a distinct 'downer' if we had to see yet another failure to maintain the fields out our bedroom window.

Believe me, this has happened to us before and it really does have an impact on our attitudes.  So, we are grateful that this field is looking pretty good right now. 

The South side of the field is in very good shape, thanks to a nice weeding in the past week.  The purslane was really covering the ground and outpacing the peppers and eggplant.  The funny thing about purslane is that one plant can cover a pretty large area of ground.  So, it doesn't take much to have a good sized pile of weeds after a weeding (note the lower center of the picture below).

You might notice that the center does not have much other than some borage and one bold sunflower.  We've recently harvested the garlic (which is now curing) and the peas have finished their run.  We're trying to get the gumption to move the straw mulch and do an end of season planting here.

The North edge has our first succession of summer squash and zucchini, followed by more borage and our field melons.  The sunflowers anchor the North edge.

We are not terribly happy with how the melons are doing, but the zucchini and summer squash are doing fine.  While the borage blew over in a windstorm, they continue to bloom well and the bees absolutely love them!

Speaking of bees, we actually harvested a little bit of honey from our hives (for ourselves).  We have done this once before (less intentionally) and are thrilled with the taste and quality.  The honey bees are not on our farm to produce honey for sale or human consumption. They are here to help pollinate our veggies and flowers.  We prefer to leave most of the honey to them so they can survive for future years on our farm. 

I think we can say that the southwest field is almost the way we like it to be.  There is certainly lots of cover for beneficial wildlife.  Most of the crops are healthy - even if they are not absolutely busting out at record levels.  We certainly could work to get the next batch of crops in and we could always do a bit more weeding. 

There is a diversity of plants in the field, there is significant pollinator activity and the produce we have harvested thus far has been tasty.

We will call this one a win.

Sun-kissed

The sunflowers are starting to show off on the farm now.  They are so bold and proud, holding their heads up above everything else in the field.  Kind of like the tall kid in the back who never did get to sit in the front row because he would block everyone else's view of the movie.

Sunflowers make me think of people, past and present, who don't tend to put themselves out in front of others as if they were important.  And, yet, there they are, standing head and shoulders above everyone else simply because of who they are.  A person of integrity who comports themselves with calm, comforting dignity.

Sunflowers can be larger than life.  Their stems are tough and thick - seemingly indestructible.

Until they fall in a windstorm.  Or are beaten by hail.

It's at that moment I remember that those strong, resilient and quietly competent people are human too.  They can struggle and they can fall.  And it should be you and me who need to be ready to pick them up when they need it. 

photo by B Zenk July 2020

And maybe, just maybe, we'll have our turn to be the sunflower.

Redefining Productive

The realization is finally hitting home.  I have to accept that a productive week for me is not the same as it once was. The days of the Very Ambitious Plan - at least as they were at the point I wrote the VAP blog - are over.  We have now entered the period of our lives where we have the Varying Amounts of Ambition Plan (VAAP).

the garlic came in this past week!

Garlic Harvest 2020
The new normal for us at the farm was very clearly outlined during our 2020 garlic harvest process and results.  We knew Sophie enjoyed garlic harvest, so Tammy asked if she (and any of her siblings) wanted to participate in the harvest (in a proper, physically distanced and safe way).  As a result, we had help from Max and Sophie with the harvest, bundling and hanging and Victoria came out and helped us harvest AND clean containers.  Their help was greatly appreciated and the work went well - thank you to all!

But, the differences from prior years were pretty obvious.
1. This was only the third time this year we had outside help working on the farm.
2. I was not involved in the garlic harvest at all.  It was all Tammy, Victoria, Max and Sophie.

Well, ok.  I did help with some clean-up and put away once our helpers left.  But, that's about it.

Once again, lots of Queen Anne's Lace at the farm

Adjusting Farm Productivity Expectations
Over the past fifteen, or so, years, we would have all hands involved in the garlic harvest.  Typically, we would have three workers in addition to the two of us pulling in somewhere from 3000-3500 heads of garlic.  The process would include pulling, counting, bundling and hanging them all up so they could cure.  This year, we had a smaller crop (just over 2000 head) as we had planned.

hosta flowers

Having other people on the farm to help with the work simply high-lighted how different everything is for us now.  You see, in Summers past, we normally had people working with us on the farm four to six days of the week.  If you don't think the presence of workers have an impact on how motivated we were to keep moving with our farm work, then you need to reconsider.  It was important to me, especially, that I be out and visible while others were working for us.  Even if I wasn't right there working on the same job, I felt that I needed to provide an example and be available.  I never wanted anyone to think I would ask them to do anything I wouldn't do.  And, there were numerous things I took upon myself because I didn't feel I should ask anyone else to do it.

In other words, the farm and the farm tasks took over and other things were picked up as we were able to do them.  It meant that we made a great deal of progress on a whole host of farm things.  There was, of course, always more to do and it always felt like we could never catch up.

But, the sheer volume of tasks we could check off of our lists was amazing.  And, if you added the daily chore lists and other little things we didn't bother putting on those lists?   Sometimes even I was impressed.

Now here we are in 2020.  We have from 70 to 80 person hours of labor per week missing from our resources when you consider that we have no workers for the farm this year.  Then you can subtract 32 hours a week of my own labor hours.  It's clear that we need to continue to adjust our expectations as we run out of time to do what we think we need to do.

Recognizing Other Productivity

Both Tammy and I have been far more productive on other fronts than we have been on the farm this year so far.  This is not to say that we are not working on the farm.  We certainly are.  We just need to remember what working on the farm meant even just one year ago.  That is the standard we still use to compare this years work productivity - and it is not a fair comparison.

Not fair.  But, it's the only comparison we've got right now.

As a result, I think we're both deeply disappointed in how far behind we are and how little it seems we have accomplished.

We are deeply disappointed even though we are both very aware that Tammy's work as an educator for Wartburg College is taking much more of her time and energy than it has in past Summers.  We are still upset by our lack of farm achievement despite the fact that Rob has been successful in adapting to his new job with the Pesticide Action Network.

So, we are trying very hard to recognize the new kinds of productivity that are part of the landscape at the Genuine Faux Farm.  This includes a great deal more reading, researching and writing on my part.  Perhaps if we both do a better job of giving ourselves credit for the things we are accomplishing, we might feel less like our ambitions have been highly variable this year.

But, this is hard.  We didn't get some crops planted that we fully intended on planting this season.  This is, in my mind, an out and out failure on my part.  Sure.  Sure.  There were weather issues and other things that made it difficult.  But, I simply didn't find a way to do it, like I have every other season.  And, I have yet to give enough weight to accomplishments of other sorts to balance the failures in farm tasks that were, frankly, inevitable when we decided not to find farm workers for the season and when we decided I would take this PAN job. 

Redefining Productive
If you were to read every blog post we have ever written for this blog and be asked to boil the content down into some common themes, I think one such theme would be the struggle with defining success in challenging situations.  It is no secret that Tammy and I set high bars for ourselves.  It is no secret that we are both capable.  It is no secret that we both fail to reach our own standards frequently.

Part of the battle is learning to identify what goals are attainable and to adjust when situations change.  My personal battle right now is to give fair value to accomplishments that have nothing to do with our potato crop... or the necessary repairs on a high tunnel.... or the conditions of our fields.

In the past two weeks I have published two articles for the Pesticide Action Network that have been well received.  One focused on the value and the plight of pollinators.  The other is a response to the proposed de-regulation of a new Genetically Engineered (GE) corn seed.  I also produced the Iowa Newsletter for PAN this past week.  I need to remind myself that these pieces require more research and fact checking than anything I write for this blog because I am not only speaking for myself there.  It doesn't fly to just take a bunch of pictures of flowers and throw them together and call it a blog post - though I still see value in that - just look at yesterday's post on our blog!

I was involved in our pollinator match fund drive campaign as well.  A campaign that has done quite well thus far.  And, yes, there is still time to donate, even though we have met our matching funds amount!

The real accomplishment, with this new job, has been for me to become a useful part of an effective team.  It's something that is difficult for me to measure.  It's not the same as looking at your year to date harvest numbers for green beans.  It is far more nebulous than looking at the records and seeing you have delivered 600 CSA shares over a period of a few months.

And yes, Tammy has an equally impressive set of accomplishments for the past couple of weeks.  But, like me, many of them don't have an immediately identifiable tangible result that we can point to.  I can tell you, however, that she has done some amazing things and I am proud of her.

And, that, my friends, is why we are working at redefining what productivity is at the Genuine Faux Farm.  We are doing it because what we are accomplishing is different than it was, not less than it was.

Ree-chard!

We have had a pretty good year for birds on the farm and we are certainly hopeful that it will continue.  Of course, we are about to enter the season where fields around us will be sprayed with insecticides and fungicides and we know full well that it does not help our local bird populations.

That said, I didn't want this post to be entirely about that.  While I do want you to care about the over use and improper use of agricultural chemicals, I would rather you understand the value of some of the things that are threatened when we don't recognize that pesticides are dangerous tools that require extreme caution.

One of our pleasant surprises this year has been the contingent of Dickcissels that have decided our farm is a good place to nest this year.  We realize that we have had Dickcissels other years on the farm.  But, unlike many birds, Dickcissels do not go back to the same nesting sites year after year.  Depending on weather and available food, they may opt for one site over another each season.

This year, the Genuine Faux Farm is a good place for Ree-chard!  Yes, we call them "Richard," but we try to make it sound like a French pronunciation.  And, just in case my former college French professor every reads this.. No, my very bad American accent had not improved.  So, yes, it is true that it does not actually sound very French when I say it.

Click on the picture to see a larger version!

Reechard is not terribly shy, but he does like his physical distancing!  We have identified at least three male Dickcissels that reside on the farm and they love to find the tallest part of our younger trees or bushes so they can make their song heard.  The Youtube video below provides you with the song we hear most of the time when they find these prominent perches.

If you go to the Audubon Online Field Guide for the Dickcissel, you will find that they provide a quick sample of each of the several songs our friend(s) named Reechard will sing for us.  Just take the link I have provided and scroll down and look at the bottom left where it says "songs and calls."  Song #1 is what we hear most of the time.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, as always, has additional information for bird identification, including photos and videos.  If you would like to learn more about any bird, we highly recommend their site.  Allow yourself to dig around a bit and I think you'll be surprised by how much you find there. 

And, just another note regarding our friends named Reechard.  We had some stormy weather pass through today.  We noticed that their songs stopped just prior to the point that we started noticing lightning.  We're pretty good at recognizing when the weather is going to turn, but they just might have a leg up on us.

And, yes, we did get everything closed up and inside before we got completely soaked.  Let's just say we were 'lightly soaked' and call it a day. Have a good Friday everyone!

Heat Index Wear and Tear

We are thankful that we have not had to deal with many days with heat indices in the upper 90s and 100s at the farm so far this season.  It is not so much that we cannot stand working in the warmer temperatures.  It's the fact that, when you do, it makes it difficult to do other things - like write a blog post.  Pushing a wheel hoe for an hour or two in the heat doesn't always leave you with much energy for a mental exercise.

The other issue is some fall-out from our house siding project.  The ancient A/C unit was taken out, with the intent that we would work to replace it with a more efficient cooling unit.  Well, we haven't been able to get the replacement as of this moment.  So, while we don't really want to cool our house much, it is helpful to take some of the edge off at night so we can sleep better.

I knew when I started that the streak of daily posts was going to come to an end at some point and I was pretty certain it would be at the point that these sorts of days started popping up.  Perhaps I will surprise myself and adapt so that I still have the energy to do my jobs and write daily blogs.  Perhaps not.  But, it is more likely that we'll try to move to a realistic (and still ambitious) three post a week schedule.

This blitz has been a good thing for me as it has encouraged me to hone writing skills that I now employ for PAN and it also has served as a proving ground for some ideas and concepts I can use with that new job.  I also think there are some people who have appreciated seeing these posts as well. 

The silly thing about all of this is - here's a post for today.  The streak is actually unbroken (even if it is later in the day).  Maybe we're not done yet?  Let's see how this all shakes out now, shall we?

Not An Iris

This is an iris.  The rest of the pictures are NOT iris.  And now you know.

Iris season started late for us and it was over way too soon, as far as we are concerned.  But, we are being reminded that there are so many other flowers that deserve our attention at the farm.  So, before the daylilies start, we thought we would take a moment this Sunday and recognize some of the other blooms that are gracing us with their presence right now.

We also thought our dads might enjoy seeing the flowers we have at the farms.  I know that the tradition is that moms like the flowers.  But, let's give our dads some credit for knowing what is beautiful in the world too.

Shasta Daisies

Clover

Petunias

Gazinias

Gerbera Daisies

Geranium

Climbing Rose

Weigala

Mock Orange

Happy Father's Day!

Crazy Maurice - His Two Cents Worth

 Hello everyone!

My name is Maurice and I am the resident weeping willow tree at the Genuine Faux Farm.  I have had more opportunities this year than in years past to interact with my farmers and they asked if I was willing to write a blog post.

I have always wanted to write and both farmers (the Pretty Lady and the Fuzzy Guy with the Red Top) are so polite when they come out to visit that I couldn't say no.  The Fuzzy Guy with the Red Top helped me figure out how I should share my thoughts.  He brought two round, copper disks and buried them at the base of my trunk.  He said I could now give my "two-cents worth" whenever I wanted. 

You might be a bit surprised to learn that a tree, such as myself, is perfectly able to read and write.  But, when you put down roots like trees do, you tend to be a home-body.  So, of course, I spend lots of time observing, considering and composing my own thoughts about all that I see.  I started converting my own words to English when the farmers were kind enough to lend me some reading material so I could teach myself.

I am not certain WHY they left me what they did, but I saw it enough that I have it memorized:  "Helpful Hints: Read the directions before assembly.  This seeder comes partially assembled.."   I can still tell them anything they might need to know about the Earthway Seeder.  But, they do seem to have that well-enough in hand.

Maurice's baby picture

 I arrived on the farm in 2014.  Maybe you can see me in the picture above?  You can't?  Well, I was pretty small.  The Fuzzy Guy with the Red Top told me he thinks they have some better pictures somewhere, but he couldn't find them right away. 


I don't remember much when I was that little, but I do know that the area around me has changed as I've grown.  For one, I have more friends than I did back then.  The picture at the left shows you my friend Blaise the Maple (at right).  He joined me in this section of the farm the same season I arrived.  Blaise tends to be pretty ostentatious, but I still manage to get along with him just fine.  He's already talking about the color he intends to throw at the farmers this Fall.  Ya, whatever, Blaise.

I have other tree friends that have arrived in subsequent years.  Minnie the Mighty Oak is one of the newest arrivals.  She doesn't say much, but I understand.  Things are pretty overwhelming when you're a sapling.  I don't mind Hansel and Gretel (the Austrian Pines), but I have a harder time communicating with the conifers.  They just don't get the whole dropping leaves thing that we deciduous trees do.  On the other hand, every field seems to have a ... a... what do you call someone who doesn't seem to fit in?  Well, I would call that someone the Locust tree we have out here?  That tree doesn't seem to have any pride.  I don't know.  I just don't get it.  But, I'll try to be accepting and supportive. 

The farmers asked if I would help them keep an eye on a bunch of feathery critters this year. At first, I thought they meant the butterflies that I enjoy seeing float on by.  Sometimes, they will roost in my branches.  I'm not sure I like that so much because it tickles a little bit.

They explained that these things called "chickens" were a bit closer in style to Mr. Bunting.  I actually enjoyed Mr and Mrs Bunting.  Very nice neighbors, even if they were a little quick to judge themselves.  Apparently, they had tried to nest closer to the farmers' abode and found it a bit too busy for their tastes.  I told them that I wished the farmers would come visit me more often.  I wonder if they let the farmers know that I wanted company because they came up with this "chicken proposal thing" soon thereafter.

They moved this rolly red building out into the area near me, put up a fence that tickles when I touch it with a stray leaf or two and then moved in these noisy, busy little creatures.  I really am not sure what the farmers see in them.  But, their presence has encouraged the farmers to visit more often - sometimes as much as four times in a day!

As I said, I like the farmers.  They know how to phrase a nice complement that we trees like to hear.  The chickens, ON THE OTHER HAND...

"That's my spot, get out of my spot!  That's MY spot! Get OUT of my spot!"
"I'm laying an egg!  I'm laying an EGG! I'm laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaying an EGGGGGG!"
"Give me food!  I want more food! You call that food?!?  I want food!"

They can be so rude and annoying at times.  But, once I learned to stop listening to what they were saying, I started realizing exactly how amusing they are.  I especially found it funny watching them trying to figure out how to get out of their building without getting wet - even though our entire field was a giant puddle!  Ha ha ha!  I know what's so funny about "wet chickens" and I also have no idea what could possibly be madder than a wet hen.

Pretty Lady put the food holder for the chickens under my branches for a while.  She was so nice about it, asking me if it was ok with me.  They left the feeder there until the rains stopped.  I did my best to keep the food dry just bit longer - but that was A LOT of rain.  While the food was there, I learned that hens like to gossip while they eat.  Actually, I didn't know what gossip was until the Fuzzy Guy explained it to me.  I felt much better when he let me know that nearly all of their gossip isn't based on fact.  In other words, they are nothing like a seeder manual. 

There is so much more that I would love to give my "two-cents worth" on in the future.  It might be fun to write about the dancing swallows or the snake in the Goldenrod.  I've also observed that the dragonflies are not particular about much of anything, even which direction they want to fly at any given moment.  I think I LIKE this blog writing thing!  I'll tell Pretty Lady and Fuzzy Guy.  I bet they'll let me do more in the future!