Farming in the shade

This is the time of year that many veggie farmers are offering sign-ups for CSAs. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture (read more  here ), and this membership structure offers a win-win situation for both the farmer and the member. The farmer receives income at a traditionally low-income time of year from membership fees—money that can be used to purchase seeds or pay a greenhouse heating bill, or just keep the lights on and everyone fed and clothed until the next paycheck comes. And the member is assured that all summer long he/she will eat well, usually at a lower cost than he/she would have paid to buy all those veggies individually.  Our farm is quite different from most market farms. We don’t raise veggies, and what we do raise is available off and on for much of the year. We continue to go to the markets all winter, as weather and our energy levels allow. So we aren’t so much in need of a CSA model for timely income. But we look at our veggie farmer frien...

Meet Liesl (a.k.a. "weasel"). She is our daughter's cat, and makes herself at home in our home. She is wild and full of weirdness. But she also knows how to relax. I need to learn about relaxing. What do farmers do in the wintertime? Care for animals. Fill out applications for the upcoming market season. Order seed. Look back at the past year and plan for the next one. Struggle with the cold. Gather everything needed to have the taxes done. Catch up on website work. Relax. And maybe blog. 

Our Belted Galloway cattle (a.k.a. Oreo Cows) eat fresh, luscious grass in the spring, summer and fall. But come winter, the grass goes away. This is when we haul out the hay that we put up during the spring and summer.  The big round bales of hay are heavy, so The Farmer uses the skidsteer/bobcat to haul them out to the field. He takes off the net wrap so that the cattle can get to the chopped hay. Often he has cattle who want to help him and hurry him along with this part of the process. So you will occasionally hear him bellow (he has ear protection on, and doesn't realize how loud he is) "MOOOOOVE!" Whether the ground is bare or snow-covered, the cattle need feeding. After the net wrap is off the bale, he spreads it out a bit, so that all can get at it. So far, we have had three heifer calves this year. This mama cow is heading for the hay pile, and assuming that her new calf can keep up.

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...

One of the questions that I get asked a bit when I fish for blog topics is "What do farmers do in the wintertime?" I can't begin to answer for all farmers, but I can tell you some of the things we do in the wintertime.  First of all we rest a bit. We set an exhausting pace in the spring, summer and fall, and winter is a gift to us in some ways.  We continue to ship beans and wool near and far. We hand sort beans (taking out the splits and non-bean things like stones). We also continue with the farmers markets, though even they slow down in the winter (shorter days, every other week, etc.) We catch up on paperwork, and get things ready for the accountant who does our taxes.  We take time to learn new things and sometimes even network with other farmers. (Sorry for the blurry photo--this is my version of "taking notes".) We order nutrients and seed for the coming season. And we dream about and plan for summer projects. In some ways, ...

This past weekend was a doozy, as far as winter weather is concerned. Again, we USED to have winters like this, but haven't for ever so long. While he was out and about, The Farmer took some pictures with his phone to show the snow. Mostly this was at the request of the daughter who is away at college. She wanted to come home this weekend, but we advised her not to. You'll notice my mad photo editing skills, above. The red arrow directs your eyes to a four foot tall page wire fence, mostly covered. The yellow arrow directs your eyes to a four foot tall page wire fence, completely covered, except for the tops of the fence posts. The storage barn service door was essentially inaccessible. And two photos of the same drive. Above is before snow-blowing. And the same drive, after one pass with the snow blower. And this path leads from the barns up to the back of our house. The Farmer hand shoveled the last bit, closest to the house. And then he leaned h...

This is a winter like I remember from my childhood. Almost. SNOW! We haven't seen the grass since November. Fortunately the snow does melt a bit, or we'd be wading chest deep through the snow pack.  I love parts of winter. We slow down, a bit. The house feels less like Grand Central Station than in the frenzy of spring through fall. It's absolutely beautiful outdoors when the sun shines. I do not love other parts of winter. Things break more often when it's cold. In our part of the world, winter is a sunless time, a seemingly endless parade of grey days. I hate driving on icy roads. And it takes more work to care for the animals.  I am amused by all the hype surrounding (gasp) winter weather. The meteorologists are now calling normal winter weather "Winter Weather Advisories." And the storms are now named, probably so that we can feel like we're keeping up with the hurricane people.  What are your winter pros and cons? How are you farin...

Sunday night it was foggy--a deep, dense fog. Monday morning we awoke to a frosted world. I couldn't help but head outside with my camera. Even the dormant perennials (that I should have cut down in the fall) were beautiful. And the trees that need trimming. Even the yellowed plastic shield on the mercury vapor light was softened by the loveliness around it. About this time, I realized I wasn't taking completely realistic photos. I was only taking photos of the unusual beauty. So I snapped a shot of the 7' icicles hanging from the chicken coop. But even those were cool, in their own way. The beauty is there, if you look for it.