Pony camp, horse blues, and reflections on farming in America. 

JULY 2000

Quote of the month:

"I begin with the proposition that eating is an agricultural act. Eating ends the annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and birth. Most eaters, however, are no longer aware that this is true. They think of food as agricultural product, perhaps, but they do not think of themselves as participants in agriculture. They think of themselves as 'consumers.' "

- Wendell Berry

Our new sign went up today, July 12, 2000. We’ve had lots of good comments.

Both the Root Connection Farm and Famai Chang’s operation (our other leasee) are in full production now. Every time I walk through things change--tomato plants grow even bigger, whole sections are harvested and replanted, squashes are going crazy.

The first week of Pony Camp, July 11-14, has gone very well. The kids (10 kids, 5 ponies) have gone home happy each day. They learned some riding skills, learned about pony care and tack, did some crafts, and spent time with some of the other animals. 

Saturday at the FARM: Avantika Nirupama helped with the July 1 Saturday at the FARM–-signed up to come back August 5. Janet DeCoriolus came for an hour on July 1 for orientation, will be back August 28. Debbie Johnson and her two daughters volunteered July 8 and 29. Ruth Boronski and Chris Dubois and her two sons came July 15. Britta Grant Fisher came the 22nd.

Dawn’s sister-in-law volunteered to paint the bunkhouse interior. The previous owner put up drywall-–never painted it. The kids and I got the walls patched and sanded some (July 19). Dawn and Cyd finished in time for the second week of pony camp. Andrew put in window trim and baseboard after painting. The building is wired with lights and heater, two outlets, but not connected to utilities yet. Exterior needs painting-- volunteers?

My brother Craig visited from Olympia on July 3-–a long-time backyard gardener there. He was particularly impressed with Claire’s onions and leeks this year. Also squash is well ahead of his, while corn and beans are about the same.

The Ranch well stopped working early eve of July 4. Repair team came out the next day-–the water bladder in the pressure tank was shot. Since the pressure tank wasn’t working properly, we blew a capacitor in the regulator box. New tank and electric work later ($940), things are working fine. We also added a device to shut down the well when it runs dry. Pumping a dry well is very hard on the pump, so the $140 is fairly cheap insurance. The well will continue to flow all year, but in late summer, it is possible to pump out water faster than it is replenished. 

Some have wondered why I’m watering the compost piles. Active composting requires three things: air, water, and the proper balance of carbon and nitrogen. The soil microbes, bugs, and worms find their own way in, if we invite them by providing their needs. We stick perforated pipe into the pile to deliver oxygen to the middle of the pile. Periodic turning also gives things a boost. Manure and urine are rich in nitrogen, wood shavings are high in carbon--the two give a reasonable balance (could add grass clippings to raise the nitrogen). The bacteria and fungi that do the composting (and provide the heat) need a film of water to thrive. I try to keep the interior moist, but not dripping wet.

Did some painting to seal the treated wood in the greenhouse.

Animals

Dawn brought in 18 newly hatched chicks. She found them by her drive at home. Probably one of her free-range chickens was killed, leaving the chicks.

We had three baby guinea pigs born July 7 and another 3 July 27. We did not plan for these and had separate male and female cages, but the adults figured out how to get from one to the other.

Goats moved to new pen July 5. They enjoy the room. I enjoy watching them climb up on the platforms. Added a shade shelter in one corner--I used batten board and lath for sort of a Mexican/tropical effect.

Moved the baby goat Phoenix and mom to the goat yard. To make sure she gets her food among the crowd of bigger goats, I built a box only she can enter with a trap door lid.

Built a second chicken tractor, set up under the apple trees at the entrance. Filled it with the chickens due to go into the greenhouse. They have adjusted quickly to their new home, enthusiastically scratching at the dirt.

Horses: Flash came back from his pasture vacation with an infected wound to his shoulder, he’s recovering fine. The horses have had a continuing series of aches, pains and wounds this summer. Shadow wounded a foot, which got infected--treatment involved getting him to stand with his foot in a bucket every day. Harley stepped in a hole and hurt a tendon-–a long, slow recovery. Poor Geronimo suddenly swelled up with water so much he couldn’t walk. Turned out to be a bad reaction to a shampoo containing iodine. He’s OK now. This is not to mention various cuts, bites, eye scrapes, infected insect bites and the like. As much as I enjoy having them around, I’m glad the horses are Dawn’s and Claire’s to deal with. I’ll stick with chickens and goats, thank you very much.

I’m sitting on my parents’ back porch in Mansfield, Ohio, admiring my Dad’s garden and my brother Jim’s and his wife Kelly’s next door. Mom cares for the houseplants. I am especially taken by the huge, majestic trees-–chestnut, hickory, and locust-–and I wish I could be around in seventy years to see the trees we plan to plant this spring.

After a year-and-a-half with FARM, I travel with new eyes. There was cloud cover on most of the flight from Cincinnati from Seattle, but, as always, I was struck by the vast amount of land in the US. Driving north from the Cincinnati airport (which is in Kentucky) through the rolling terrain patch-worked with woodlots, fields and farmsteads, I saw many fields-–mostly of corn and soybeans-–most easily as big or bigger than our total 70 acres. It's easy to understand why some wonder why we are working so hard and investing so much in our little corner.

Some of the answers have come on this trip. One is the abandoned barns and farmhouses I spotted in those green fields. Most conventional farmers are forced by economics to farm larger and larger areas to stay ahead, as machinery, seed, and chemical prices continue to rise and commodity prices continue to stagnate or even fall. 

Driving north to Mansfield, I was tickled to hear farm news on the radio-–but once again the interview centered on how a third bad year would force many out of farming. Each year’s profits go to paying off last year’s debt, much carried by the seed and chemical companies, and unsecured except by the farmer’s promise to sell out before he drained all the equity from the operation.

Of course, the success and expansion of the many Amish farmers in the area is a good local example that stewardship of the land can lead to a productive farm. 

Arriving at my parents’ house, I was refreshed by my 84-year-old Dad’s eagerness to show off his "small" garden-–potatoes, several varieties of tomatoes, two kinds of green beans, sun flowers, beets, cabbages, a volunteer gourd, several kinds of raspberries, a pear and an apple tree, not to mention all the ornamental trees, bushes and trees he has planted since they moved next to Jim four years ago. 

Dad has my brother Jim to help with the heavy work. I’m hoping our Pea Patch will develop a community where folks like my Dad can continue gardening and raising their own favorite vegetables. I know his garden is an important part of his life, and keeps him active and interested each day.

Kelly has an interesting project raising Monarch butterflies. She grows tropical milkweed and other butterfly attracting plants in her gardens, collects the eggs and raises the caterpillars to butterflies indoors. She bands each with a tiny barcode. One of her banded Monarchs reached Mexico. Maybe a project we could adopt here?

My brother Jim manages a large public display greenhouse and some of the surrounding gardens at Kingwood Center, a large public garden in Mansfield. We talked about operations stuff-–utilities, summer help, liability issues, and the expensive maintenance that is never noticed unless neglected. 

Traveling the next leg of the trip on a two lane road due east to pick up highway 77, we pass through a different kind of farming country. The farms and fields are smaller, with more frequent livestock. It’s odd to see the occasional oil pump in a field-–a bit extra income for the farmer. We see 6 or 8 Amish buggies heading into the nearest town. You can tell the Amish farms-–no power or phone lines, smaller fields, with horse and cow pastures close to the barn, hay in small mounds throughout the field. The tiny towns we pass through are well kept up. We pass lots of home businesses, restaurants, craft and gift shops, and small manufacturers-–signs that many earn their livings other than farming.

As we drive south on 77 the hills grow bigger and we see more pastures and hay fields. Here the farmers do strip cropping-–narrow bands of corn and soybeans across the hills to slow soil erosion. Approaching the Ohio River, the farms are mostly pasture and hay. Crossing into West Virginia, we can see little farming, some signs of lumbering. It’s not until we pass mostly through WV, between the Appalachia and Blue Ridge ranges, before the trees clear enough for us to see the farms. This is cattle and horse country-–more pasture and hay fields.

Carol’s brother Ken Farrar and his wife Helen Knight are both psychologists who moved to the Lexington area to move to the country (from Norfolk). They bought a 22-acre parcel with a house and a barn, and have been relying on neighbors to get them through their almost total lack of homesteading knowledge and skills.

It’s interesting to contemplate the differences between their 22-acre parcel and our two 22-acre parcels. Theirs is very steep-–the view from the house at the top is outstanding-–and rocky. Probably best used for pasture, although there are signs that sweet potatoes and beans were grown there. After hours of work on fence repair, they leased about 2/3 as cow pasture to a neighbo-–for $20/acre, the going rate! Their biggest battle-–after fixing the fences and repairing the drive to fix and prevent washout-–is keeping the land from returning to forest. One of the biggest benefits of leasing out as pasture is keeping the brush down. We talked a lot about raising goats.

Ken reintroduced me to the writings of Wendell Berry ("What are people for?" and other books of essays) who has written on building a connection to and stewardship of a place, and on the damage done to local places and economies due to the increasing trend of concentration of farming in fewer and fewer hands.

Mailing address: 13651 Redmond-Woodinville Rd, Redmond, WA 98052

Farm is located at: 15410 NE 124th St. (corner of NE 124th St. & the Woodinville-Redmond Rd.), Redmond

425-869-9777

farmllc@yahoo.com 

 2005 Farm Acquisition Research Management, LLC