Farming in the shade

This isn't a recipe, to be honest. Recipes tell you how much of what to add, and when. I would really like to encourage to get beyond recipes. As a recipe-lover myself, I understand those of you who just want it to be easy and clear. Tidy and neat. Predictable. I get that. But sometimes you need to take a leap of faith when you're cooking. If you cook enough, you will get so that you feel comfortable with cooking. And that's when you can start to experiment. Enough philosophy. Here's something I made this past week. Nuña Stir-Fry Nuña beans, 1 cup dry (use more or less--this fed 3 people) Butter Salt Carrots Ramps Garlic Chives Dried Apricots Soy Sauce Here's what I did. I soaked the beans from mid-morning until just before suppertime. I drained the beans, and rinsed them several times. I heated the butter in a non-stick skillet, and put the drained beans in. I sautéed the beans for about 7 minutes. They whistle as they're cooking and then p...

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,  for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  --Lamentations 3:22-23

This past week we made a dash for the east side of the state, where our favorite wool mill is. We received a call about a week ago that our wool was finished. This HAS to be the fastest they have ever turned it around. We were amazed. A 6-7 hour trip is not undertaken during lambing season without some fear and trepidation (on my part, mostly). We knew we had a small break between the experienced ewes and the first-timers. So we took our chances. We left behind our competent farm hands--our son and my parents. None of these competent farm hands are wild about helping with difficult births, but we were hopeful that nothing would happen while we were gone. And we got lucky. This year we ordered some bulky and aran-weight yarn. And roving--quite a considerable amount of roving, in fact. We are very grateful that we didn't have any accidents on the trip. But we did joke that if we were rear-ended, we'd probably be well-cushioned against the impact. Here is most of the r...

The average person consumes 584 pounds of dairy products a year. Like snowflakes, no two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots. The average dairy cow produces 7 gallons of milk a day, 2,100 pounds of milk a month, and 46,000 glasses of milk a year. Cows are heribivores, so they only have teeth on the bottom. There are 350 squirts in a gallon of milk. Cows must give birth to a calf in order to produce milk. --from farmersfeedus.org

Things have settled down considerably around here, because the county drains did what they were supposed to do! Here's a picture of the one that runs right in front of our house. While the drains did what they were supposed to do, there were a couple of days when they were completely overwhelmed. During that time, our fields became holding ponds. Some of the roads became holding ponds, too. It's very important in floods like this to have some sort of plant matter (dead or alive--doesn't matter) in the fields. The plant cover helps to keep the valuable topsoil in place. We've worked hard to build up the soil, and we don't need it washing away. Here's an aerial view of one of our fields with live plant cover. You can see the ditches we put in the field leading to a holding area. Ideally, the water from the fields drain directly into the county drains and these holding areas (also known as fields) don't have to stand full of water. But t...

Last summer we were crying for rain. And now this. This is a nearby field, not ours, truthfully, but ours look about the same. We've had an average of 1/2" of rain each day in April. Well over three of those inches fell today, on top of already saturated soils. I would show you what happens in my basement when the soil is completely saturated and the ditches and fields are full of water. But I have nothing to complain about when I compare the little streams that trickle across the cement floor of my basement to the moats completely encompassing houses that I've seen on the TV screen. Sandbags are available at the local fire station for those who are trying to keep rivers and streams from coming in. Trusty sump pump, keep working tonight while I try to sleep, please. And have mercy, Lord, on those who are losing so much.

We usually let ewes begin lambing in the large pen, with the other expectant ewes. After the first lamb is born, The Farmer will let her care for it for a few minutes. Then he will go in and pick up the lamb (or lambs, if he's arrived after multiple births) and move slowly out of the large pen. In this case, the lamb is the bait that makes the ewe move, too. She is very concerned about her lamb, and will follow closely, calling out the whole time.  The ewe and her lamb(s) are placed in a small lambing pen, called a jug. I have no idea why they are called jugs. If anyone knows the origin of that term, I'd love to know. They are kept there for 1-3 days to ensure that they bond, and that the ewe is caring for her lambs well. No distractions. We set up a whole row of temporary jugs during lambing time. This is one of our hay storage areas, so we need to be sure that we've used most of this hay up before lambing begins. After their time in the lambing jugs, the ewe...

Whenever there are a few moments of free time, The Farmer sneaks away to the workshop. He's got a project going. A couple of years ago he and our son each made a kayak .  Now they've started two more. Strip built kayaks are a lot of fiddle work.  But boy, are they going to be beautiful when they're done!

Americans crave more information about food production: 69 percent of consumers think it's important to understand how their food is produced.  19 percent of people who visit farms feel better about the safety and quality of the food they eat.

Maybe some day we will spring for smart phones and keep all of our data in our pockets. Many farmers do. But for now, The Farmer's binder works well to keep track of Everything Sheep. And the large round bales are just the right height to work on. He records the dates of births, genders, family line, tag numbers and more. Each ewe has a page in the binder, so that we can easily see patterns (a single lamb, again?) and make decisions about whether a ewe will stay or go. If a ewe is not a good mother or has become too old to risk another pregnancy, she is sold. Some become food for people or for dogs. Others who still are able to carry lambs but only throw singles will be sold at an auction to become someone's pasture pet or lawn mower. Our farm is a business, and I don't believe we need to apologize for that. The reality of businesses is that they must turn a profit more often than not. And we can't determine if we are doing well unless we keep good records.

Last night as we were getting ready for bed, I heard some baa-ing. I mentioned it to The Farmer, and we listened together. Nothing. The Farmer had his heart set on sleep, and so we turned in. Near midnight, I heard it again. I brought the topic up again, but The Farmer's heart was still set on sleep. He is a volunteer firefighter and can leap straight out of bed and hit the ground running if his pager goes off. But that is about the only thing that gets his adrenaline flowing. I, on the other hand, sleep light. Sometimes what I hear is real, and sometimes it is real but never found out. A few times we've been very grateful for my ears. A few times we've ignored my ears and found out the next morning we probably shouldn't have. After some discussion, The Farmer got up. He found two lambs that had slipped out of the mingling pen and were up in the front of the barn. Their mamas were calling from further back in the barn, and the lambs were answering but not retur...

It's the time of year when we sell a few of our lambs to young people who want to show them at local county fairs. They're called "club lambs" because the kids are in 4H clubs.  Here are two that have been chosen, and are just waiting for transport. These lambs had only a short ride home, so the utility trailer works fine. A few times we've shipped club lambs home in the back of an SUV. We always sort of wonder how that turns out. =) Some of our kids have benefitted greatly from being in 4H and showing animals. The leaders of our kids' club are just the most wonderful people. It's a huge commitment, to be a 4H leader. Hats off to you, Pat, Linda and Arlan, for your years of hard work and dedication.

Just read an article (the second this week) about being faithful to the task at hand. I'd love to, but I've got what feels like 47,000 tasks at hand.  When The Farmer started with the beans, and indicated to me that this would mean going to farmers markets, I begged off. "This will be your thing, okay? I don't really want to take on any more." Fast forward to now, when we regularly attend two farmers markets, and are looking to add in a third. They're all on Saturday, and all in different cities. Guess who is going to market? We're winding down with homeschooling, but I want to finish well, and not sputter out like a lantern with a worn wick.  About four years ago, I started a part-time job. It has released some of the financial pressure that used to threaten to crush us. But at what cost? Even when I'm not AT work, I am thinking about it.  There is more, but I won't bore you with details. The truth is that the juggling of many...

It's been so long, I didn't recognize you! Last March was crazy warm. Warm enough to make all the fruit trees bud. And then we had repeated hard frosts after that, so that much of the fruit crop in Michigan was damaged or lost. This March has been its polar opposite (no pun intended). Lots of snow, grey skies, wintery winds. But now the sun is higher, and seems to peek out more. And the flowers are poking through the ground and showing promise. The horses lay out flat, soaking up the sun. The Farmer is making more phone calls. He's been out to the field where he hopes to plant oats soon. Too squishy yet. Needs ditching, but we can't even get the small tractor on the field to put ditches in. Soon, though. Soon.