It has been awhile since I have taken a breath. Over the course of the past year life has changed drastically. The short of it is I have a new boss that asked me to make his school like my lawn. Consequently I have expanded that idea to include the other schools in the district. A student construction crew and I have blasted in 10 school gardens since late winter. I have mounds of soil and cedar at my school. We have started a school wide composting system. The future is looking bright.
On the home front we are cruising along. I will add some pictures soon describing the changes since I am down to about 25 sq feet of grass left on my lot. Ducks have been raised and consumed. Taters, garlic and onions put up and eaten. Cabbage fermented and consumed. Cucumbers, okra, peppers, tomats, and beans pickled, some still left. Chickens are clucking at an illegal rate.
Spring is on us. I planted the garlic in a new way which I thought would bite me as the fall turned into winter. I dug an 8' to 10' deep trench. Forked it and added a layer of recently hot compost. Buried at about 6', backfilled to a slight mound and mulched with about 3 inches of leaves. While others were talking about their garlic poking up in the end of November, my rows were shootless. The end of winter was the same. I pulled back the leaves on warm day and said a mix of insulting and encouraging words. Once the sun hit that ground, the garlic blasted up faster than any others I have seen to this date. My theory is that my cloves spent the whole winter building their root system in preparation for the spring. When I took those leaves off, they took the hint and used that foundation to blast off. I used this method in Shelby County at West Middle were the same results are present. All together it will be a stinky year with Music, Susanville, Elephant, Hot Polish, some type of italian and a random clove here or there.
The most exciting situation right now, besides my girlfriend (sorry, saw that one coming back to bite me in the ass), are the people around me tearing up their yards, getting chickens, baking bread, getting excited about fermented produce, understanding compost and having amazing ideas that never even crossed my mind. I do not claim to be the genesis of this on Ellison Ave or at the Creek but I really enjoy being a person that others come to for answers, conversation, advice and to tell their stories. I often feel like an outcast and strange because at bars and with new people I don't particularly get excited with conversations revolving around sports, music, facebook, day-to-day stuff, television shows. The reason behind this is that I don't care. As this sustainable community grows, I can go for a whole evening talking about stuff that I care about. For some reason when I wrote that I felt selfish. Screw it. Let's talk about legumes.
Getting back to the homestead. New things on the property that I am stoked about:
1) Planted Jersey Knight Asparagus Crowns. Coolest alien looking plant ever. Already popping out. Had so fight my problems with commitment but bit the bullet.
2) Planted Sunchokes aka. Jerusalem Artichoke. Will never get rid of them now. More commitment.
3) Experimenting with high nitrogen chicken manure/heavy carbon mixtures for planting. Trying to jump start without burning.
4) Buff Orphingtons on the horizon. Straight run with meat bird run.
5) Rain garden with "trash sculpture" (thanks Fouts) water catchment system.
6) More and more perennials.
7) Taking over more yards.
Alright, don't want to over do it the first time back. Plant your peas. Taters? Greens. Onions. Strawberries. Brassicas.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
"Farmer Joe will know" - Carson
It has been a busy past month culminating in today. The title above is the phrase which allowed my last month...well my last two years to emerge into a new stage. Carson, a 4 year-old spectacled boy with a mop of whispy blonde hair, tags along with his brothers whenever they come over to help. Today, Carson's brothers and mom were working on one side of Larry's (deceased neighbor) lawn as I trimmed the other. Their lawn-mower crapped out, and the mom huffed in defeat as she pulled frantically at the mower's pull cord. All four stopped and looked over to me. Carson turned to his mom and squeaked in his 4 year-old words " Don't worry mom, farmer Joe will know what to do."
Immediatley I puffed up, tipped my hat and strolled over in my duck boots. I let up the gas handle and pulled the cord twice to clear it out. With the gas handle down I gave it a pull. The mower roared to life as they beamed in admiration. As I walked away I saw Carson nodding knowingly to his mom.
Like most things that are worth having impact, it takes time for them to process and reveal their layers. Carson's words are such as thing and were timed perfectly with a major expanse of my ego. To explain this situation I am adding the link to the article from LEO Weekly about urban agriculture where Christian Walsh was kind enough to include me.
I woke up this morning with the taste of pipe smoke and good bourbon in my mouth and the grogginess of inadequate sleep on my face. It was going to be a tough one. The shower, coffee, ride to school and turning on my computer was all a blur until I checked the LEO website and saw one of my chickens proudly spreading its wings with a blurry me in the background. Instantly the day became 100 times better even with the terrible taste in my mouth. Over the course of reading scripted test instructions to the students, I couldn't help to think how freaking awesome my chickens and I are. Self-centered and egotistical. Relative norms with my personality.
My head grew until Carson uttered those words. He brought me back down to earth. I am not sure of the full impact of his words yet but he reminded me that all of recognition and production is the result of the knowledge I have been given by others. The structure of my life, physically and mentally has been contructed by my friends, family and, in Carson's case, my neighbors. He also reminded me that the focus of this word is not fame or recognition but the constant struggle to produce something positive in a community and in the lives of others. Thank you Carson
Immediatley I puffed up, tipped my hat and strolled over in my duck boots. I let up the gas handle and pulled the cord twice to clear it out. With the gas handle down I gave it a pull. The mower roared to life as they beamed in admiration. As I walked away I saw Carson nodding knowingly to his mom.
Like most things that are worth having impact, it takes time for them to process and reveal their layers. Carson's words are such as thing and were timed perfectly with a major expanse of my ego. To explain this situation I am adding the link to the article from LEO Weekly about urban agriculture where Christian Walsh was kind enough to include me.
I woke up this morning with the taste of pipe smoke and good bourbon in my mouth and the grogginess of inadequate sleep on my face. It was going to be a tough one. The shower, coffee, ride to school and turning on my computer was all a blur until I checked the LEO website and saw one of my chickens proudly spreading its wings with a blurry me in the background. Instantly the day became 100 times better even with the terrible taste in my mouth. Over the course of reading scripted test instructions to the students, I couldn't help to think how freaking awesome my chickens and I are. Self-centered and egotistical. Relative norms with my personality.
My head grew until Carson uttered those words. He brought me back down to earth. I am not sure of the full impact of his words yet but he reminded me that all of recognition and production is the result of the knowledge I have been given by others. The structure of my life, physically and mentally has been contructed by my friends, family and, in Carson's case, my neighbors. He also reminded me that the focus of this word is not fame or recognition but the constant struggle to produce something positive in a community and in the lives of others. Thank you Carson
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Ducks in the pond, sparrows in the rear
Radishes are 2 to 5 inches tall in the front two beds. Potatoes are emerging from all mounds. 25 cabbages, 9 red, 9 Stoneheads and 7 Round Dutch are planted in the back and front including random pots and one in a hanging basket. All 80 onion sets are in.
On the poultry front. Three of the Barred Rock Hens have been sent away with the Doctor. Bless their little hearts for the trials they will face. I have lost patience with the Indian Runners and their negative disposition so I purchased two Pekin ducklings as meat birds. They can get up to 8 pounds in 7 weeks. Hot damn. They will be around until the winter or nexxt spring depending on their disposition.
Life is cruising along between the homestead, the farm and school. We went on a worm hunt to stock the garden and were extremely successful. One of the students was scratching and sniffing a bunch of white stuff on the tires and plants today while hollering at me to explain what the mysterious substance was. Before I could answer, another student yelled out "bird crap" and ended the scratching and sniffing. Good times.
Pat planted an 18 spot egg carton each of cabbage and kohlrabi. He also started about 8 other varieties of plants including tomats, winter and summer squash, gourds and herbs. They are in the hothouse. We open the windows every morning but they still got pretty dang warm at night. The hot house will be moved to the back of the property and the former area will be converted into a fire pit/bio-char center that will be emptied into the compost at the end of the summer.
The pond is becoming a bastion of productivity. In its overflow area I have planted Stinging Nettles for tea. The two pots with cattail roots I sunk have sprouted. Two goldfish of the original 16 I placed in their survived without food or coddling (Franzen selection). I was pretty content with that population but Pat believed that the invasive monster carp needed a go figuring if it can take over the Ohio river, it can handle no attention in the pond. What makes me feel somewhat alright about it is that there is no way for them to find their way into the wild waterways.
On Tuesday night I had the priviledge of seeing Jeff Corwin the interviewee at the KY Author's Forum. It was interesting to see the perspective of a famous conservationalist and amazing to hear an educator speak without regard to the political correctness which governs my every move in the public school system. What stood out in my mind was the concept of the "lost generation" that the author and audience were talking about in reference to the current children who have no connection to nature. I agree that this generation, with whom I spend a massive amount of time, are "lost." The problem is that what makes these children lost is a massive amount of the current American culture. It is like having an arm with a tumor in it. We can live with it and possibly get sicker. We can try to treat the tumor. Or we can cut off the arm and risk bleeding to death. To me, we do not have medicine strong enough or chemo that wouldn't damage the whole to fix the tumor. I don't think that we would survive an amputation. At the same time, I would hate living with this tumor as it grows and consumes more of the whole.
Since preventative health-care seems to be forefront in the political agenda, or at least I am told, it seems logical that we should study where this "lost" generation developed so we can fix the initial issues before the problems emerge. I feel like I am lost sometimes as I try to re-learn some of the skills I know my ancestors of even 3 generations ago not only mastered but personalized such as wine and beer making, fermenting saurkraut and growing food just to name a few. It infuriates me to no end that 2 generations of following mainstream American culture allowed this information to be lost. I do not believe it is the individual's fault based on the infinite good nature of my grandfather Franzen and my mother, but believe it was the start of the tumor misdirecting the nutrients and bloodflow to feed its growth. Somewhere along the line some unknown cultural carcinogens entered the system. It might have been sloth in disguise. The past wan't easy. Many women were trapped at home doing things they didn't enjoy. Many people were dealt rough hands from lives of toil. When we traded those in for sliced bread, we most likely had no idea of the consequences. Maybe it was greed. The desire for more might have led to the materialization of an entire existence that shunned heritage and the past. In my own life I am trying to fight this tumor. I am trying to make my life an experiment to locate these carcinogens but at the same time I am reminded of this tumor daily and cannot fully remove myself being part of the body. Maybe our culture is regenerative. Maybe it will take generations. Maybe we are too far consumed by the sickness to persist.
On the poultry front. Three of the Barred Rock Hens have been sent away with the Doctor. Bless their little hearts for the trials they will face. I have lost patience with the Indian Runners and their negative disposition so I purchased two Pekin ducklings as meat birds. They can get up to 8 pounds in 7 weeks. Hot damn. They will be around until the winter or nexxt spring depending on their disposition.
Life is cruising along between the homestead, the farm and school. We went on a worm hunt to stock the garden and were extremely successful. One of the students was scratching and sniffing a bunch of white stuff on the tires and plants today while hollering at me to explain what the mysterious substance was. Before I could answer, another student yelled out "bird crap" and ended the scratching and sniffing. Good times.
Pat planted an 18 spot egg carton each of cabbage and kohlrabi. He also started about 8 other varieties of plants including tomats, winter and summer squash, gourds and herbs. They are in the hothouse. We open the windows every morning but they still got pretty dang warm at night. The hot house will be moved to the back of the property and the former area will be converted into a fire pit/bio-char center that will be emptied into the compost at the end of the summer.
The pond is becoming a bastion of productivity. In its overflow area I have planted Stinging Nettles for tea. The two pots with cattail roots I sunk have sprouted. Two goldfish of the original 16 I placed in their survived without food or coddling (Franzen selection). I was pretty content with that population but Pat believed that the invasive monster carp needed a go figuring if it can take over the Ohio river, it can handle no attention in the pond. What makes me feel somewhat alright about it is that there is no way for them to find their way into the wild waterways.
On Tuesday night I had the priviledge of seeing Jeff Corwin the interviewee at the KY Author's Forum. It was interesting to see the perspective of a famous conservationalist and amazing to hear an educator speak without regard to the political correctness which governs my every move in the public school system. What stood out in my mind was the concept of the "lost generation" that the author and audience were talking about in reference to the current children who have no connection to nature. I agree that this generation, with whom I spend a massive amount of time, are "lost." The problem is that what makes these children lost is a massive amount of the current American culture. It is like having an arm with a tumor in it. We can live with it and possibly get sicker. We can try to treat the tumor. Or we can cut off the arm and risk bleeding to death. To me, we do not have medicine strong enough or chemo that wouldn't damage the whole to fix the tumor. I don't think that we would survive an amputation. At the same time, I would hate living with this tumor as it grows and consumes more of the whole.
Since preventative health-care seems to be forefront in the political agenda, or at least I am told, it seems logical that we should study where this "lost" generation developed so we can fix the initial issues before the problems emerge. I feel like I am lost sometimes as I try to re-learn some of the skills I know my ancestors of even 3 generations ago not only mastered but personalized such as wine and beer making, fermenting saurkraut and growing food just to name a few. It infuriates me to no end that 2 generations of following mainstream American culture allowed this information to be lost. I do not believe it is the individual's fault based on the infinite good nature of my grandfather Franzen and my mother, but believe it was the start of the tumor misdirecting the nutrients and bloodflow to feed its growth. Somewhere along the line some unknown cultural carcinogens entered the system. It might have been sloth in disguise. The past wan't easy. Many women were trapped at home doing things they didn't enjoy. Many people were dealt rough hands from lives of toil. When we traded those in for sliced bread, we most likely had no idea of the consequences. Maybe it was greed. The desire for more might have led to the materialization of an entire existence that shunned heritage and the past. In my own life I am trying to fight this tumor. I am trying to make my life an experiment to locate these carcinogens but at the same time I am reminded of this tumor daily and cannot fully remove myself being part of the body. Maybe our culture is regenerative. Maybe it will take generations. Maybe we are too far consumed by the sickness to persist.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
A porch in PA
Back at home with the folks. Cooper the big black dog lifts his head up every time a car rolls past, sighing when it zooms past the drive. I have been spending my time converting an old metal shed into a turkey and chicken house and sinking steel posts into the backyard between the wooden posts we set during the winter break.
At the homestead in Louisville, the ducks and chickens are taken care of. When I left the rows of radishes were coming up. By the time I get home they will be ready for thinning. Last Wednesday I night I decided to do some night potato planting under a semi-full moon like I was instructed by some old timers. I am excited to see if it makes any difference. Either way it gives me an excuse to be in my garden at night so I don't look like that much of a maniac during the other nights.
Looking forward to last frost.
At the homestead in Louisville, the ducks and chickens are taken care of. When I left the rows of radishes were coming up. By the time I get home they will be ready for thinning. Last Wednesday I night I decided to do some night potato planting under a semi-full moon like I was instructed by some old timers. I am excited to see if it makes any difference. Either way it gives me an excuse to be in my garden at night so I don't look like that much of a maniac during the other nights.
Looking forward to last frost.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
A Spring Blur
Life has seemed like an agricultural jig-saw puzzle that involves 12 year-olds, 6 temperamental Barred Rock chicks, and an intimidated amount of acreage. None the less, the homestead is going full steam.
This past weekend the two front beds have been sown with radishes to serve as a timer for the first frost. When they mature in 25-30 days, I will know it will be good to go ahead with my more sensitive crops. In the front bed I reinstalled the drip irrigation line and cleaned the collection system. For the front I have also ordered 50 strawberry plants and 5 blackberry plants to be split between here and the school garden.
In the back raised bed I have hilled 5 lbs of Kennebec and Red Pontiac potatoes in a staggered pattern. In the diagonal between the hills I have planted white and yellow onion sets. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to plant the other 5 lbs in the 2nd half of the raised bed.
The chickens are cruising along and might be featured on the cover of LEO weekly. This past weekend, Christian Walsh from LEO weekly came by to visit the homestead for an article focused on the 15,000 Farmer movement in Louisville. We had some good conversations and ate some extremely local eggs. The chickens showed off like usual, hopping up to greet Christian and coo.
One thing I am worried about is not starting any plants yet. I have not had the time or consistent schedule to feel comfortable starting plants. Plus I am heading to PA for Easter which I think would be the kiss of death for young seedlings. It will turn out.
A question I have been thinking about a lot is the concept of being a "purist." By "purist" I mean not using any synthetic or chemical fertilizers or pesticides. The reason this question is forefront in my mind is that one of my friends and mentors has decided to use a chemical fertilizer on his tomato starts. I asked him why his was making this decision, and he answered demonstrating that he had thought this over for a good while. He rationalized that since they were young, the chemical fertilizers would not taint the fruits while providing a boost to the early growth of the plant. He also seemed to question why he should hold to the "purist" standard if he was not trying to market and sell the produce. I can see his point of view and am still trying to distill my true feelings on the matter. My initial response is this though. Once you start using, where and when do you say no. If the chemical fertilizer makes the tomato plants grow faster, why not try to try it on other plants in that family? The other reaction was the question mark of what the chemical fertilizers actually do to the pant. Research has shown that chemical fertilizers and pesticides decrease the amount of polyphenols the plant produces which protects them and add to the unmeasured nutritional value of the food. How would these fertilizers effect the life and health of the plant? Maybe a "purist" perspective would be denying some of the major advances in science that have been developed in agriculture? Is there a healthy balance? I am not sure but I do know I love burying my hand in a warm pile of compost and a jug of blue liquid comes with a warning label.
This past weekend the two front beds have been sown with radishes to serve as a timer for the first frost. When they mature in 25-30 days, I will know it will be good to go ahead with my more sensitive crops. In the front bed I reinstalled the drip irrigation line and cleaned the collection system. For the front I have also ordered 50 strawberry plants and 5 blackberry plants to be split between here and the school garden.
In the back raised bed I have hilled 5 lbs of Kennebec and Red Pontiac potatoes in a staggered pattern. In the diagonal between the hills I have planted white and yellow onion sets. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to plant the other 5 lbs in the 2nd half of the raised bed.
The chickens are cruising along and might be featured on the cover of LEO weekly. This past weekend, Christian Walsh from LEO weekly came by to visit the homestead for an article focused on the 15,000 Farmer movement in Louisville. We had some good conversations and ate some extremely local eggs. The chickens showed off like usual, hopping up to greet Christian and coo.
One thing I am worried about is not starting any plants yet. I have not had the time or consistent schedule to feel comfortable starting plants. Plus I am heading to PA for Easter which I think would be the kiss of death for young seedlings. It will turn out.
A question I have been thinking about a lot is the concept of being a "purist." By "purist" I mean not using any synthetic or chemical fertilizers or pesticides. The reason this question is forefront in my mind is that one of my friends and mentors has decided to use a chemical fertilizer on his tomato starts. I asked him why his was making this decision, and he answered demonstrating that he had thought this over for a good while. He rationalized that since they were young, the chemical fertilizers would not taint the fruits while providing a boost to the early growth of the plant. He also seemed to question why he should hold to the "purist" standard if he was not trying to market and sell the produce. I can see his point of view and am still trying to distill my true feelings on the matter. My initial response is this though. Once you start using, where and when do you say no. If the chemical fertilizer makes the tomato plants grow faster, why not try to try it on other plants in that family? The other reaction was the question mark of what the chemical fertilizers actually do to the pant. Research has shown that chemical fertilizers and pesticides decrease the amount of polyphenols the plant produces which protects them and add to the unmeasured nutritional value of the food. How would these fertilizers effect the life and health of the plant? Maybe a "purist" perspective would be denying some of the major advances in science that have been developed in agriculture? Is there a healthy balance? I am not sure but I do know I love burying my hand in a warm pile of compost and a jug of blue liquid comes with a warning label.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Spring is in the Air
The doldrums have ended. A never ending world of projects have emerged, and I am sore from my first go around. Over the past two weeks, I have been over loaded by my three agricultural projects of home, school and farm. Each will be split off into a separate journal to keep this devoted to just the homestead.
1
In the past two months since my last posting I have made some progress on constructions fronts. On one of the 1/4 inch snow days I built an entire duck house in my garage without thinking of how to get it out. It wasn't until my friend Adam (6 ft 5 in) helped me take it out the sliding garage door, into the alley and up over the fence that I could put it in the yard. As seen above painted in Cosmic Blue, it is gorgeous and shelters two Indian Runner ducks. I purchased them a week ago, and they are still adjusting to their new surroundings. Hopefully they will be able to serve as free range slug assassins but when I let them out one hid in the corner and the other just hung out with the chickens. We have a little training to do but I am hopeful.
2
The three White Rock hens in the back are doing great and consistently produced 19-21 eggs a week. I am waiting for them to molt and take a break. The only issue I ran into was my fault. I cleared the left-overs (3 cartons) from a huge rich breakfast at a local restaurant and tossed it all in. When I returned it was all gone and one of the chickens had massive diarrhea which was doubly a problem since it was 5 degrees. So her feathers and butt wouldn't freeze, I brought her inside, thawed her out and wiped her chicken butt. We chilled for a couple of hours, me drinking bourbon and her squirting disgusting chicken fecal juice in my kitchen. I thoroughly learned to be more careful of the quantities of weird supplements to feed, especially in cold weather. I have been trying to figure out a way to replicate that learning situation with my kids at school in regards with forms of government instead of the feed supplement lesson but anyway I look at it I would get fired.
3
About three weeks ago I had the honor of running my mouth at the Kentucky School Garden Network annual meeting. It was amazing to be in a room with so many people with similar visions. Something that confused me was that few of the people seemed to be concerned with the financial restraints of the projects. Most of the participants were teachers in their late 30's or 40's and those outside the educational system looking in. Of those people, what seemed to be lacking was the critical mass to get the ball rolling at more than a moderate speed. It is hard to go alone on these projects, and I sympathize with these people but if I could borrow from an often quoted movie I have never watched all the way through "If you build it, they will come." Every beach starts with one grain of sand. Be that first grain thrower and plant some tomatoes or flowers. Make people ask questions and force them to see the power of growing. I believe that growing food is deep in each of our hearts, or instinctual heritage since the Neolithic Revolution if you want to be more of a hard scientist, we just need to peel back the layers of PSPs, X-Boxes and Television to get to the deeper need to connect with the real world. Once we make that connection with people, you will have a ball rolling with such momentum that few barriers can stop.
4
4
Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farms in Swoope, VA, came and spoke at the Clifton Center on Friday night. I refer to him loosely as my "hero." As a person he combines the two attributes that I value in myself and am constantly trying to strengthen: storytelling and creativity. He excels in both of these areas. With storytelling, he is able to rope in an audience as he weaves country humor and agricultural stories together with libertarian ideology. His timing and presentation is on target as he expounds the critical situation of the American food system and culture. I took 3 pages of notes on a 40 minute lecture even after reading the majority of the literature he has written. It was an awesome experience to put all of the pieces together. My experience was put into perspective when a few friends brought up some valid points about underlying sexism and unrealistic demands on the system, the latter I had noticed myself in the Q and A session.
The second attribute, creativity, is used in this context as the ability to see multiple perspectives of an item or situation and create something efficient and effectual. I like to refer to this as MacGyver Critical Thinking. In reading about Mr. Salatin, you find this creativity in creating his animal shelters and mobiles, his intensive management grazing system and his perspectives on marketing and sales. To me, this creativity is what makes agriculture fun as you constantly try to solve problems with the plants, to build new shelters and developing a more sustainable system. I wish that I could pass this type of critical thinking onto the children in my classroom but can't get much farther than the idea of smashing old kitchen appliances on the floor and telling them to make something awesome when I think of how many students I have in a classroom and what would be deemed acceptable. I might be on the cusp with the appliances too.
5
The seeds have been ordered. I debated where to order them from based on organics, price, locality, quantity and variety. I ended up selling out and ordering from Burgess, the cheapest, rationalizing that I would give away more vegetables and feel better because I paid less for the seeds. You can rationalize anything when you only argue with yourself. I have saved a massive amount and variety of seeds from last year which left me with these newbies for this year:
Horseradish Root
Summer Squash Variety Pack
Butternut Squash
Heirloom Tomato Mix
Kentucky Wonder Bean
Grand Duke Kohlrabi (thanks for the introduction friends from Portland)
30 White Onion Sets
30 Yellow Onion Sets
Luffa Gourd
Hales Best Melon (Cantaloupe)
Flat Dutch Cabbage
Blackeyed Peas (with the hopes to make my mom's awesome soup with all local ingredients)
Meanwhile the garlic is blasting, brussel sprouts are budding, kale and matsoi tatsoi leafing and blackberries itching to send out new canes.
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