Farming in the shade

The first beans have been harvested. Don’t get too excited—these are southern peas that we grew in the garden to have (hopefully) enough seed to plant in the field in a year or two. They’re a black heirloom variety. We hand-pulled them and they will dry on a tarp for a few days. The truth is the rest of the beans are still very green, and the fields have standing water in spots. We’ve had a fair amount of rain over the last couple of weeks. We didn’t track it or add it up, as sometimes we just don’t want to know. More rain is predicted for the next few days. Again, don’t ask us for details, as we are trying not to look at the forecast too closely. At this point we don’t know if we will get a harvest. We hope so. Stay tuned! And if you are the praying sort, we’d appreciate prayers for some warm, dry weather, to finish off the beans and keep them from standing in the water. In the meantime, we will have lamb brats back in stock in the on-farm store Wednesday...

We have spent the last few days planting beans as fast as we can. We put the last of the beans in the ground just before the 4th of July, and with this hot weather, some of those planted first are already poking their little heads out of the soil. We are so grateful! Here are the varieties we planted: Arikara Yellow Black Turtle Calypso Dapple Grey Green Flageolet Hidatsa Red Hutterite Soup  Jacob's Cattle Jacob's Cattle Gold Lina Cisco Bird Egg Marrow Painted Lady Pinto Spanish Tolosana Tiger Eye Valentine Yellow Indian Woman Zebra And we planted a few experiments--a couple of new bean varieties, as well as some lentils and southern peas.  We have been haying as fast as we can, in between pop-up rain showers and equipment failures. The hay is very coarse, but it's hay! It feels very good to be working again, instead of just waiting and worrying. 

A year (or more) ago a customer/friend from the Sweetwater Market eagerly thrust a book into my hands. She said, "You will like this book. Here, read this chapter on beans." So, while I should have been paying attention to my customers, I was surreptitiously devouring Chapter 9, titled "How to Live Well." I was hooked both by the writing style and the author's approach to cooking. I have assembled meals (for better or worse) for most of my adult life. But you could hardly call it cooking. Growing up I spurned my mother's offers to teach me the ways of the kitchen. (Sorry, Mom. I really was a pain.) And that lack, along with my careful approach to most of life, has made me stay in the shallow part of the pool--the place with predictable results. 1 cup of this + 1 pinch of that = something that would fill bellies. I came home from market that day and placed the book on my  PaperBack Swap  wish list. I use PaperBack Swap as a way to slow down my acquisiti...

I've taken a long hiatus from blogging, and so I'll do my best to catch up, without making you feel like you're drinking from a firehose. Speaking of firehoses (and by extension, water)... After a long dry spell during the summer, the weather changed. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights. At least it seemed that way. Here's a photo that shows the results: We were able to harvest the field of beans that was planted on sandy soil. These beans were harvested before the bulk of the rains came.  Unfortunately, the field that was heavier clay soil we were not able to harvest. If you dig under the snow, you'll probably find frozen, sprouted beans. Ten varieties of beans.  Needless to say, we are not all that happy about this. It has changed our farmers market display, to be sure! The beans are a big part of our annual income. These things happen, but maybe you can understand a bit more why I haven't been eager to blog. After all, if you don't ...

We need to make another hard decision. It seems like farming is full of guessing and second-guessing. And here we are at another crossroads where the "right answer" (if there is one) is not clear. The interesting weather we experienced over the summer meant that the beans we planted on the clay field did not germinate well, and/or were choked out by weeds that could handle the concrete-like clay soil better than the beans. We have a field of weeds with a few beans scattered through them. Black Calypso, Black Turtle, Black Valentine, Hutterite Soup, Jacob's Cattle, Jacob's Cattle Gold, Marrow, Pinto, October, and Tiger Eye. Many of our (and our customer's) favorites. The combine cannot handle the grassy weeds. In fact, it is on the edge of breaking again. We know there are hardly any beans out there. The choices we have are clear: try the combine and suffer the consequences of it breaking right before we need it to harvest corn and potentially losing that...

Winter is a time for us to rest a little, to catch up on paperwork, to plan, and to fix/improve things. But this winter our to-do list of projects is two pages long. The projects on those two pages may be six months' worth of work, and I'm sure we haven't thought of everything.  The Farmer's current project is a gravity table we bought as a pile of parts. We already use a fanning mill to remove sticks and weed seeds and other unwanted debris from the beans. The gravity table will help us to remove more of the not-quite-perfect beans, and cut down on our hand sorting.  The gravity table (above right) needs a large industrial fan to operate. The fan was not included in the pile of parts. For months we stalked Craigslist, until we found a fan large enough to do the job and inexpensive enough for us to afford. It involved a road trip to a factory district in Chicago, and we are grateful for our friend Glenn's help with getting the fan (above left) home. The...

The bean harvest of 2014 was not great. So last summer we rotated between three farmers markets, and didn't have too much trouble moving the small quantity of beans we needed to market. The bean harvest of last fall, however, was much better. We continued to rotate between three markets all winter long (some of them outside!). But early this summer, we realized that we needed to work a little harder to move all these beans. We added two new markets to the mix, and now we need a Franklin Planner (an old-fashioned kind of scheduling app that uses paper and a pen) to keep us knowing where we are coming or going. With the great help of our parents, we cover five markets. The Holland market is an every Saturday market. The Fulton Street market (GR) is an every other Saturday market, as is Sweetwater Local Foods market in Norton Shores. New to the mix this year are Kalamazoo (every other Saturday) and South Haven (as often as we can get there--generally every other Saturday and mo...

At some point in the harvesting process we need to determine the moisture content of the beans. If they are too "wet" (high in moisture), they will spoil in storage. We often test as we are harvesting, in an effort to determine if we should continue harvesting, or wait for another day.  This blog post shows a post-harvest test. We already ran these Hidatsa Red beans over the fanning mill to remove most of the non-bean debris.  This is a tool that tests the moisture of common grains. There is a setting for corn, wheat, soybeans and more. But there is no setting for Hidatsa Red beans. Since they are close in size to soybeans, we use that setting. These beans test at 17.1% moisture. Slightly higher than we'd like, but beans that are slightly high in moisture will finish drying out in the storage bin in a matter of a few days. For beans that are not similar in size and shape to soybeans, we test the moisture level in the oven. We also doublecheck our fanc...

We use an antique fanning mill or seed cleaner to take out most of the non-bean stuff that is harvested along with the beans: stems, bits of bean pods, stones, split beans, and weed seeds. We remove the beans from the combine in buckets and then pour them one by one into the fanning mill hopper.  The beans move along two screens with different sized holes. These screens shake back and forth to both move the beans along and allow some of the debris to fall through the holes. Different beans require screens with different sized holes. The junk comes out the side of the fanning mill. And the beans come up a small conveyor and into a large wooden box. While there is still some cleaning to do, this process takes out much of the unwanted stuff. These Hidatsa Red Beans are now ready for the next step.

Here we are at the final step of harvesting the beans. We've pulled them, shaken the dirt off and put them in nice long windrows, and left them to dry for several days. Now it's time to actually harvest them. The special edible bean head that attaches to the combine lifts the beans up and pulls them into the machine, where the plants and the beans are separated. Everything except the bean is ejected out of the back of the combine.  It's such an important job that close supervision is needed from our sheepdog, Brinkley. She's watching for any wildlife that may be flushed out of the field during harvest. Here's a short video showing the actual harvesting process.  More on the cleaning process soon.

After the beans are pulled (mechanically!), we hook up to the windrower/shaker and drive over the field one more time. This has to be done with heavy dew, or the dry pods shatter and the beans fall out. Early morning is best for this part, as with the pulling.  The windrower picks up each individual row (which is actually two rows piled together) and shakes them a bit. This dislodges some of the dirt attached to the roots of the bean plant. The bean plants are carried up and over the top of the windrower. The same thing is happening on the other side, so we are actually shaking and windrowing two combined rows at the same time. Once the beans travel up and over the top, they are carried to one side by a conveyor belt and deposited in a single row in on the right side, behind the windrower/shaker. Here they are left to dry for a few days, until they are ready to combine. Again, so much easier than pulling by hand and carrying them to a haywagon.

These first few pictures were taken the very first time we used our new bean puller. If it doesn't look brand spanking new, just keep in mind that when I use the term "new" it mostly means "new-to-us". The bean puller pulls four rows at a time, laying the two center rows together into one, and laying the outside two rows further outward. When you make another pass going the other direction, those two outside rows merge with other outside rows. So each time you make a pass, you're pulling four rows and ending up with two windrows. Here's a closeup of the equipment. Yes, there are some weeds. I don't know how that happens. Here are two rows laying together after being pulled. And this is another field on another day. The green is mostly weeds, but you can see the dry bean pods laying neatly with the weeds in rows. The bean pulling must be done early in the morning, while there is still heavy dew. Otherwise the dry bean pods shat...

The past few years we've pulled the heirloom dry beans by hand. Last year, when the harvest was thin but the work was still just as hard, we agreed that there had to be a better way. So all year we've been watching for specialized edible bean harvesting equipment. Earlier this year we found an edible bean head that fits on our existing combine.  The other bits of needed equipment seemed more difficult to find. We'd find a bean puller, but it was designed to mount to a John Deere tractor, and not a Massey Ferguson or Kubota. Or we'd find one that was ridiculously overpriced or completely falling apart.  Finally, just as we feared we'd be hand-pulling again, we found a puller on the other side of the state. Our friend (and soil consultant) Joe went to look at it and purchase it for us. He then delivered it to us, along with his own bean shaker/windrower, which he is loaning to us. So grateful for his help and experience and generosity. This is eq...

Earlier this summer we got ready to ship out our corn. Corn has been primarily a cash crop for us, and we typically store it in one or more of our large bins. These bins are connected to our grain leg (the vertical system you see in this picture), which makes loading and unloading grain MUCH easier for us.  Here a couple of the guys are getting the unloading auger ready. Note the makeshift scaffolding. This is the inside of the bin as the corn is unloaded. There is a door in the bottom of the bin that the grain falls into--you can tell about where the door is in the picture below. Here is the truck as we are loading it. The corn is sold to a company that will use it for organic feed for animals. The bins are designed to hold one type of grain at a time. But this summer we changed the inside of one of our bins to allow for storage of many different kinds of beans. We started with the walls of a much smaller bin to form the center. We screwed metal C-channel...

We've been busy! We planted some of the beans later than we would have liked this year (due to a wet spring and some slow shipping of bean seed). But we are happy to report that the beans are coming along nicely for the most part. The Yellow Indian Woman beans just after they popped out of the ground...  And Black Valentine in blossom... These are Jacob's Cattle with blossoms and small beans forming. We could use a bit of rain right now. The beans are doing well, but one of the fields is a heavier soil (clay) and is baked to nearly concrete stage with the heat and dry weather. The weeds are somewhat under control, thanks to starting with clean fields, cultivating regularly, and LOTS of hard hand-weeding by the family. We are hopeful...

All of the corn has been planted, and has come up. The Farmer is busy cultivating, in between rain showers. Most of the dry beans have been planted. Some needed replanting. We tell people that these are endangered species beans because they are hard to grow. We sometime forget the truth of what we tell people. We have three or four more varieties to plant, but we can't catch a break with the rain (and we are waiting for some seed to be shipped to us). It is getting late to plant them, and I confess to worrying a bit. Because I know that worrying doesn't actually accomplish anything, I will try to be grateful for what is up and doing well. Farming gives us lots of good practice in trusting God.

Sometimes you just want something hearty in the deep, dark cold of winter. Soak and cook Jacob's Cattle beans. Yes, you can use another kind. When they are fully cooked, drain and discard all but 1 cup of broth. Chop carrots and cook in saucepan. Drain. Chop veggies. Yes you can vary these, based on what you have on hand. Cook bacon in pan (use your imagination for this--someone forgot to take a photo). Remove bacon from pan, reserving some bacon grease in pan. Sauté veggies in bacon grease until soft. Combine all ingredients together and place in a slow cooker for a couple of hours just to combine flavors. Winter Bean Stew: 1/2 pound Jacob's Cattle Beans, cooked 1/4 pound bacon, cooked 1 small onion, chopped 1 bell pepper, chopped 2 stalks celery, chopped 3 carrots, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 3 tsp. rubbed sage 2 tsp. salt Cook beans in saucepan following directions on bag; drain, reserving 1 cup broth. Cook ca...

It's been nearly a month since I last blogged. Perhaps you were too busy with family gatherings and holiday celebrations to notice my bloggy neglect. I certainly was too busy to notice... This blog post is just a reminder that we have open farm shop hours each Friday afternoon from 1 - 4 pm. Our farm is located at 13275 Blair Street, Holland, MI 49424. Feel free to drive out if you need a fresh infusion of wool or beans in your life.  In addition to farm shop hours, you can find us at farmers markets (yes, even in the winter!). To the best of our knowledge, our market schedule is as follows: Jan. 10 - Fulton Street , Sweetwater Jan. 17 - Holland Pop-Up Winter Market, Sweetwater Jan. 24 - Fulton Street Jan. 31 - Holland, Sweetwater Feb. 7 - Fulton Street Feb. 14 - Holland, Sweetwater Feb. 21 - Fulton Street Feb. 28 - Holland, Sweetwater Mar. 7 - Shearing Day at Shady Side Farm (more about that later) For more up to date information about markets and other ...

It doesn't look like much from the picture. But we are oh-so-proud. (Search "barn renovation" in the search bar on the left side of the blog home page for the whole process.) Our little shop offers a place to buy our farm-fresh dry beans, wool roving and yarn, and handcrafted items made by our family: mittens, scarves, rugs, socks, quilts and more. At this point, we are only open Fridays from 1 - 4 pm, or by appointment. Today is our soft opening, and perhaps we'll have something more organized soon. We are located at 13275 Blair Street in Holland, MI. The shop is in the red/white barn to the northeast of the house. It's a lovely day--feel free to drive out!

After hand-pulling the beans , we use the newly-repaired combine  to remove the beans from the plants. This is what the beans look like after some time on the wagons, drying. The time on the wagon ranges from a few minutes to a few days, depending on how dry they are as we pull them. After the combine was repaired, the guys fashioned a wooden box that they mounted on the front of the combine. Typically, when the combine is driven through the field, it has a "head" that helps to pull the plants in. We took the head off, and parked the combine. It's a lot more work to hand-pull and hand-feed the plants into the combine. But this has not been a great year for the beans, and we want to take extra care to get every bean we can. The combine separates the beans (seen falling into a tote inside the combine hopper below)... ...from the rest of the plant. The waste comes out of the back of the combine. This will be used for sheep bedding and/or composting. So ...