Genuine Faux News of the Farm
Vol 5 Issue 4- April 2009
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Genuine Faux News of the Farm Vol 5 Issue 4- April 2009 |
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At one point in our history, there were numerous seed companies across the United States. Now, we are dominated by a few very large companies with some smaller ones trying to hang on. The story, of course, is far more complex than a quick editorial can explain. Some of the factors have to do with economies of scale, movement away from apprenticeships and inherited professions, and the development of hybrid seed. But, one factor seems to play out in all sorts of areas where humans are concerned - and that's the bandwagon syndrome. Actually, the bandwagon syndrome is not unique to humans. An over-abundance of a food source in nature tends to attract more of those who will consume the food. The consumers are often unable to curtail the level of consumption with the idea that they may need more of it later. Instead, they will eat until it is gone - there isn't saving something for later. Nature's response is that the resulting scarcity of food will cause the consuming population to either move on or die off to a level that can be provided for until the food source rejuvenates itself. Human beings tend to do some of the same things. If a good thing comes along, people tend to jump on the bandwagon until it is gone, or it has soured. What's worse, we struggle to accept the concept of moving on and we shouldn't accept the idea of 'dying off.' But, what makes this disappointing to me is the fact that humans, on the whole, are capable of managing their consumption so that a sustainable supply might be achieved of whatever it is we are talking about. If you wish, you can take this theme and apply it to the current woes with the economy. And, while I am tempted to do so, I'll leave it at this mention and let your imaginations run with it. Instead, we bring our focus back to seeds. I've noticed a tendency of market growers, row crop farmers and even backyard garden growers to gravitate to a relatively small set of seeds because they have name recognition and reported success. Every grower is succeptible to propaganda that claims outstanding results with a new cultivar. And, all of us desire to improve what we do. So, it becomes all too easy to move to the 'next big thing' in seeds and forget what we already have in hand. Case in point, I was amazed last season to learn that the vast majority of sweet corn growers were growing one of three varieties, even though there are many more available. Even more interesting to me was the fact that I heard these same names in other parts of the country. The most consistent reason cited for use of these types was their popularity ('everyone seems to be having success with this'). I'm all for learning from a wide range of sources - including other persons' experience and other farms' results. But, I thought the bottom line was your success, not trying to be like everyone else. Which means you can't discard what you have found from your own experience, nor should you be afraid to be different. |
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5 Issue 4- April 2009 The work force for our 2009 gardens is coming into view. We do have two persons interested in workshare positions and we still need to finalize those possibilities with them. However, our paid positions are determined for the year. We welcome back Denis Drolet and Lauren Kaiser for another year of weeding, planting, picking and other fun and frivolity. Kendrick Sommerfeldt will also be at the farm part time to provide us with boundless energy for a number of tasks. And, we welcome Brenda Kaiser, who will begin working with us part time in April. Brenda joins us with the possibility that she may develop her own CSA or garden business in the next year or so. Thus, we find ourselves looking to add persons who are on the wait list to give her the opportunity to learn the ropes while working with us. We are hopeful that we will be able to add some production of targetted crops that will grow well on her farm to enable us to make this happen. As always, we are grateful for the help we receive from these individuals and we look forward to a successful effort in 2009! Blogging Provides Insight to GFF Operations Rob & Tammy have maintained a blog since late December in an effort to keep CSA members and other interested parties up to date with farm happenings and other related thoughts. We have found it to be much faster to upload pictures and quick comments via the blog rather than maintaining some of our own pages to do the same thing. In particular, this tool provides Tammy with the opportunity to chime in more often if she would like. Since we are your personal farmers, we are exploring more ways to keep you informed of farm happenings. All the while, trying to maintain the balance between appropriate disclosure and TMI (too much information). So, please visit our blog and bookmark it. Provide us with comments to our posts if you wish, or simply enjoy what gets put out there. As the season progresses, we expect the picture to text ratio to increase. GFF Selling Plants at Farmers' Markets We plan to sell our vegetable plant starts at the Waverly Farmers' Market on Saturdays and Waterloo Hy-Vee Farmers' Market on Thursdays. At this time, we anticipate that we will attend through May and into early June, halting our attendance at the point we begin CSA deliveries. The first Waverly Market is May 2. We may not have plants available on that date (it is still a bit early to be putting them in anyway), so may not have a table that day. But, we expect to begin staffing a table on May 9 through the first Saturday in June. Waterloo begins on May 21 and we expect to attend three weeks there for plant sales.
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page 2 We'll be getting our first batch of chicks (chickens and turkeys - maybe ducks) this week. If you or someone you know wants to experience holding a baby chick, talk to us and the wish may be granted. Take care of two things at once and come to our first Tom Sawyer Day. The chicks will be a bit bigger by then, but still are pretty cute. Our once lovely perennial beds have been overrun. The move to do our CSA took the time away from them and they no longer look beautiful. In fact, they make both of us unhappy when we go to look at them since we once prized them greatly. We would like the opportunity to prize them once again and are looking to develop a new perennial bed. We are looking for volunteers with some perennial plant knowledge that might be willing to help with locating, lifting, splitting and removing weed roots from perennials in the old beds to facilitate the transplant. If you are interested, please let us know. It is possible this can be combined with the Tom Sawyer Day - but will take more than the four hour time period to complete. It is likely some cuttings/splits will be made available to take home as well! Our first Tom Sawyer Day is May 9 from 2pm to 6pm. Please let us know if you plan on attending as soon as you make the decision to attend. Knowledge of attendees helps us to plan the task list and the event so that it is a positive experience for all who wish to be involved. You do NOT need to let us know that you will NOT be attending. If you are interested in making this event into something that has food at the end of the event, please indicate your interest to make it into a work, then potluck, event. If we do not hear this from you, we will not prepare to make this happen. Check out our Tom Sawyer Day schedule and description on our website. Iris Fest is scheduled for May 30. The festival is scheduled around our peak iris bloom. While we no longer have as many iris as we used to, there should be some nice looking iris to view. If you are planning on attending, please let us know. There is no work expected at this gathering - it is a celebration day, plain and simple! We will have a gas grill going and you may bring what you wish for grilling. We run this as a potluck and as a family event. CSA members, honorary CSA members and other farm supporters are welcome to attend. For more information, check out our Festival Day schedule and description on our website. |
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| Vol 5 Issue 4- April 2009 With the calculated addition of another part time worker in April (see farm news) we have an opportunity to expand the CSA a bit more and include a number of the people on the wait list. For those of you who are on the wait list, you should expect to be contacted this week via email about this opportunity. We anticipate another twenty slots (standard or large) to be available. Details are still being worked out, however, we anticipate that we will add a Cedar Falls pickup on Monday with Brenda's help. Time and locations are yet to be confirmed, but we anticipate that Roots may be willing to allow us to set up there two nights a week. The reason for a different drop off date has to do with the logistics of picking crops and moving crops in one pickup truck. The Thursday pickup is full and we expect that the truck will be at full capacity when the bulkier crops come in. Further, many crops need to be picked three times a week to maintain production (cucumbers, summer squash, etc) and we have a 'long' period from Thursday's drop off until Monday. Based on prior year experience and the way the year has shaped up thus far, we anticipate a first delivery to occur during the second week of June (week of June 8). The last delivery (week 20) would then be the week of October 19. We will confirm these dates as we approach them. It is possible that we may start in the 'middle' of the first week depending on crop development. First CSA shares typically consist of lettuce, spinach, radish and herbs. If the asparagus have recovered from last year, you could see some of these. There may also be rhubarb, depending on the development of these plants. We will contact members if there is a change in these plans. Remember, Mother Nature has the final say and we simply have to adjust to work with her. Our returning CSA members will not need this reminder, but our new members may benefit from a quick summary with respect to our method of delivery. We do NOT provide you with prepacked boxes of produce. We ask you to come with reusable bags, baskets or boxes to place your produce into. We do have nice organic material bags with our logo for sale if you wish them ($8 to CSA members). And, we often bring extra cloth bags that can be loaned if you need them. If you have extra conference bags that you do not use, we can add them to the bag loan program for the CSA. Your produce will be placed on tables in crates by type of produce (all of the cucumbers together, lettuce together, etc). There will be a menu for each size of share. There will be a checklist for all expected members for the delivery date with their corresponding share size. You will be responsible for selecting items from the menu from each crate in the amount specified by the menu. You can trade with other CSA members and may ask if we have extra of items. Leftover produce will typically be donated to either the food shelf or women's shelter, depending on the day/location. |
page 3 Those who ordered the A to Z Cookbook by MACSAC or the Produce Storing book will receive their books during the week of the first CSA distribution. We ask that you be prepared to pay for these books at that time. The cookbooks are currently in our possession and the storing books are on order. If you wish to pick up your books sooner than the first CSA delivery, you can visit us at the farmers' markets when we do our plant sales. If we know you are coming, we will make sure we have your books and will happily make the transaction at that time. If you did not order one of these books but might like one, we have extra of each. It is likely that we may feature these at the farmers' markets while we are selling plants and may also feature them at the first few CSA pickups. Our first home ownership experience led us to a smaller community in Minnesota. Lake Crystal was and is typical of many towns its size, in that it is going through the struggles of wanting to maintain its identity, local business and schools while watching it turn slowly (or rapidly) into a 'bedroom' community for a larger population center. We lived a few blocks form the 'downtown' area which was home to a grocery, post office, pizza parlor, lumberyard and coop. We did our best to patronize the local businesses and maintain some involvement in our local community. We also had an older house that needed a good deal of work - which we strived to complete as the budding "do it yourselfers" we were becoming. The biggest problem was the fact that we only had a small car, big ideas and few acquaintances in the area we felt comfortable calling if we needed to move something. The result? The wheelbarrow wasn't so hard. It rolled nicely down mainstreet. However, we attracted additional attention since Tammy got INTO the wheelbarrow and Rob pushed the cart with her in it. And, when I say it rolled nicely down mainstreet, I mean we went down the MIDDLE of mainstreet. Hey, we watched for cars. The plywood to repair a section of the roof was a little more interesting. Tammy was at work and Rob was trying to finish the roof over the porch. Needing some sheeting for a bad spot of roof, Rob went four blocks to the lumberyard. Paid for a 3/4 inch sheet of ply and went to the back to pick it up. The yard manager was a little surprised when he saw no vehicle. I had him help me balance it over my head and I walked down the street to our home. Methinks we were building a reputation. The climax of these delivery episodes had to be the purchase of an antique buffet at a local auction. If you don't know, a buffet can be sizable and it will not fit in a Saturn sedan. But, we were able to balance it over the trunk of said vehicle. Tammy drove as slowly as she could while Rob ran behind, trying to keep the thing on the car. In Tammy's defense, the car was a manual transmission and we did establish that Rob could run 12 blocks and keep a buffet on the back of a small car's trunk. |
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