innocence lost?
i have added a link on our homepage which will send you to our blog from when blogging wasn't even cool..
March 23, 2008
January 10, 2008
Small Town Serendipity
Just when small town living ceases to amaze me, it amazes me again.
Rich asks me the other night, “Guess what I have?”
Not used to playing the guessing game, I respond, “dunno, what?”
“Jeep Key” – what? Where’d you find it? I ask. We lost our spare car key about a month ago. Rich won’t admit this part but he was sure I was the one that lost the key. Sadly, they are 98 dollars to replace. Rich won’t admit this either, but 98 dollars for a key is ridiculous in this household. So I ask him where he found it and he tells me he went to the Pick N Save counter and said, “Hi, anyone find a single Jeep key?” (four weeks after it went missing.) And guess what? The gal hands him the key to our car. I ask Rich what makes him ask four weeks later and he admits he’s been asking around town for four weeks. Bizarre – only in a small town.
Then today the phone rings and it’s the mail carrier. He introduces himself and tells me his car is broken down in our driveway. (Which is pretty long so I wouldn’t know if it was there for a month.) Could he leave it there for a few hours? It just needs a starter. Oh, also, could I use your garage to replace the starter? It’ll only take an hour……..
Hmmm, I say, I don’t control that part of the farm. So Rich calls the guy back and says, sure come on over and fix your car in the shed. Use my tools. No need to run home and get a jack, have at it….I am a little surprised, it feels a little west side/south side to me but Rich tells me its actually country behavior. No way in hell would any of this had happened in the city. In fact, readers from the city can imagine their own version of the way this story would have played out…….
Rich asks me the other night, “Guess what I have?”
Not used to playing the guessing game, I respond, “dunno, what?”
“Jeep Key” – what? Where’d you find it? I ask. We lost our spare car key about a month ago. Rich won’t admit this part but he was sure I was the one that lost the key. Sadly, they are 98 dollars to replace. Rich won’t admit this either, but 98 dollars for a key is ridiculous in this household. So I ask him where he found it and he tells me he went to the Pick N Save counter and said, “Hi, anyone find a single Jeep key?” (four weeks after it went missing.) And guess what? The gal hands him the key to our car. I ask Rich what makes him ask four weeks later and he admits he’s been asking around town for four weeks. Bizarre – only in a small town.
Then today the phone rings and it’s the mail carrier. He introduces himself and tells me his car is broken down in our driveway. (Which is pretty long so I wouldn’t know if it was there for a month.) Could he leave it there for a few hours? It just needs a starter. Oh, also, could I use your garage to replace the starter? It’ll only take an hour……..
Hmmm, I say, I don’t control that part of the farm. So Rich calls the guy back and says, sure come on over and fix your car in the shed. Use my tools. No need to run home and get a jack, have at it….I am a little surprised, it feels a little west side/south side to me but Rich tells me its actually country behavior. No way in hell would any of this had happened in the city. In fact, readers from the city can imagine their own version of the way this story would have played out…….
December 26, 2007
Christmas
I was having dinner the other day at a fancy restaurant in Toronto. I was with a few people, we talked about Christmas. Everyone was talking about gifts. What gifts did you get your kids? What did you get your wife? Etc.
This conversation always makes me a little nervous, because I know they’re going to ask me. Which they did. My response was this: I have stopped shopping for gifts for my family and friends. Rich and I don’t really exchange gifts. I don’t put up a Christmas tree. No lights, no Christmas cards. Sorry. “Why?” they ask? Answering the part about the gifts I say, “I don’t want anything. I have no desire for anything special on Christmas day. Mostly, I just want stuff like warm socks.” Aghast; they were. DON’T WANT ANYTHING? Well, no, not really, not anything I can actually afford. I mean I’d like a skid loader and a Jacuzzi but that’s out of range this Christmas and probably for many to come.
So suddenly one day I realized I did want something and shouted at Rich, “I got it! A pasta maker.” ( customer told us how good pasta was with our eggs, but we'd never tried it.) Me wanting something meant Rich would get something and I knew what it was. Something he would have bought anyway, but so what, I could get it as a gift.
Later that day Rich searched Amazon and other sites for the right pasta maker, an Atlas brand, hand crank, made in Italy. Found, bought, to be delivered on Christmas Eve.
I searched REI for the best rated headlamp known to mankind so Rich could see what he’s doing at night when checking on the animals. I bought it. It arrived while I was away and he apparently tore the box open and used it that night so there wasn’t much excitement there.
Then we got really crazy with Christmas and two days before, we drove to the Whole Foods in Madison and filled up a cart. Coffee, cheese (not Wisconsin Munster I might add) Carrots, Chips, Catsup without high fructose corn syrup. It was like we were horse traders in a turn of the century open market. I was really scared when we got to the check out counter because I am not used to grocery bills. It was 100 bucks, and that included 5 lbs of coffee so I guess that wasn’t such a huge splurge.
Then today we got real kooky with the Christmas thing and decided to buy ourselves a pressure canner. So we could can meat. Oh, not really meat just soup stocks, but you can use it to can meat. Eeww. Off to WalMart because as I said when we were pulling in, “I hate Farm and Fleet more than WalMart so let’s start there.” No go, but there were mobs of people spending gift cards on useless crap so we had to leave. We got a pressure canner at Farm and Fleet and headed home.
So that is Christmas on the farm. The hens have doubled the amount of eggs they’re laying. The sheep are very pudgey like babies are gonna come in February. For the first time since April, there are no eating chickens on the farm. All in all – a good Christmas! Pretty much a stuff-free one.
This conversation always makes me a little nervous, because I know they’re going to ask me. Which they did. My response was this: I have stopped shopping for gifts for my family and friends. Rich and I don’t really exchange gifts. I don’t put up a Christmas tree. No lights, no Christmas cards. Sorry. “Why?” they ask? Answering the part about the gifts I say, “I don’t want anything. I have no desire for anything special on Christmas day. Mostly, I just want stuff like warm socks.” Aghast; they were. DON’T WANT ANYTHING? Well, no, not really, not anything I can actually afford. I mean I’d like a skid loader and a Jacuzzi but that’s out of range this Christmas and probably for many to come.
So suddenly one day I realized I did want something and shouted at Rich, “I got it! A pasta maker.” ( customer told us how good pasta was with our eggs, but we'd never tried it.) Me wanting something meant Rich would get something and I knew what it was. Something he would have bought anyway, but so what, I could get it as a gift.
Later that day Rich searched Amazon and other sites for the right pasta maker, an Atlas brand, hand crank, made in Italy. Found, bought, to be delivered on Christmas Eve.
I searched REI for the best rated headlamp known to mankind so Rich could see what he’s doing at night when checking on the animals. I bought it. It arrived while I was away and he apparently tore the box open and used it that night so there wasn’t much excitement there.
Then we got really crazy with Christmas and two days before, we drove to the Whole Foods in Madison and filled up a cart. Coffee, cheese (not Wisconsin Munster I might add) Carrots, Chips, Catsup without high fructose corn syrup. It was like we were horse traders in a turn of the century open market. I was really scared when we got to the check out counter because I am not used to grocery bills. It was 100 bucks, and that included 5 lbs of coffee so I guess that wasn’t such a huge splurge.
Then today we got real kooky with the Christmas thing and decided to buy ourselves a pressure canner. So we could can meat. Oh, not really meat just soup stocks, but you can use it to can meat. Eeww. Off to WalMart because as I said when we were pulling in, “I hate Farm and Fleet more than WalMart so let’s start there.” No go, but there were mobs of people spending gift cards on useless crap so we had to leave. We got a pressure canner at Farm and Fleet and headed home.
So that is Christmas on the farm. The hens have doubled the amount of eggs they’re laying. The sheep are very pudgey like babies are gonna come in February. For the first time since April, there are no eating chickens on the farm. All in all – a good Christmas! Pretty much a stuff-free one.
December 15, 2007
Let It Snow
Its rough going down on the farm. In the past two weeks we've gotten about 12 inches of snow. All that snow came right after an ice storm that dropped two inches of ice on every outdoor surface. Working here now is actually very hard. Tromping up and down hills in 12 inches of snow, with a two inch ice base, is very hard. It is steep and gets steeper every year after the annual spring mudslide. If the snow melts, we're in trouble. A river will run through.
When we first started farming, we were amazed at how much small farmers rely on the serendipity of others. Lots of farmers told us about things they'd been given - kitchen sinks, hoophouses, cars, vans - all kinds of stuff. We've not experienced that - but if anyone wants to send a snowmobile our way, that would be great. Some photos below. Cheers!
Here is the hill from the hens to the house.
The hens have hunkered down in their new home. We enclosed a part of our small barn. Good thing, because they were living in the hoophouse - it collapsed under the ice.
Here's the hoophouse:
On the bright side there are 200 cute baby hens in the brooder - they'll be laying eggs next year to keep up with the impossible demand.
September 25, 2007
Chuck, Jim, Pumpkins, Squash, Gourds and A Mercedes Benz
Jackie has taken a job. She’s working ‘off farm’ so to speak.
One day she walked up the hill to the growing field and said, “I quit, thanks for the opportunity…but I have to take a run at corporate America again. We need the money. It’s a great gig…gotta go, I’ll miss you all…Rich, Corey, Rufus… all of you! Its very sad, but I have to go.”
So the farm hands; Rich, Corey and Rufus, at that moment gathering potatoes from the ground intended for sale the very next day, with astounded looks on their faces, said in unison, “OH – Do you mean now? Or after we finish digging potatoes?”
So, back to the first person, off I went. And yes, I am working off farm now. Another long story for another day.
But today, I longed for the old days….when we got up in the morning and put on long boots and tromped out into the rain or snow or sleet to feed chickens or weed flowers. It was sort of sad. Today was a rainy, cloudy, windy day. The best and worst kind of day on a farm. Worst in the sense that it is pure torture to get things done. Best in the sense that you realize, ‘Hey – this is the worst it gets here………..” not so bad.
So off to work I go today. Into the secret bedroom called an office where I clack away at the computer all day taking with my co workers. All of them clack away from their homes too. Again – long story…..Its ok.
Rufus barks his howling WuuuuuF-Wuuuuuuf- Wo-o-o-o-o-F which really means, “someone’s in our driveway.” Rich ignores it but I know I’ve invited someone over that would like to sell me some pumpkins and squash to take to market. A neighbor. He grows organically. His name is Jim. It was Chuck when we were first introduced, and now I am confused about the whole deal. Regardless, he offers some great pumpkins and squash for us to take to market. Every now and then, someone comes with something good and they don’t want to haul off to market. So if its good – we take it one and bring it to our customers.
Anyhoo. Where was I going??? Oh…..So I am supposed to be working and I have decided I am on a coffee break. Jim/Chuck and I head up to the shed to sort out the good from the bad in his offerings. Rich leaves to head to the bank so we can pay our feed bill before it heads to collection…..kidding – close though…..
At the shed Jim and I sort through what he’s got. A pick up truck full of organically grown stuff. What can I sell for him? I start sorting, counting, we talk about how we can all make it selling our good stuff…how we can get out of our jobs. We talk about why we’re working. Why we’re not just farmers???????? There must be a way to do it.......... We’re all so close.
I tell Jim/Chuck I am not so sure I need to work. I feel like I am just working for stuff.
“ I bet you’ve had stuff before haven’t you?” he says, sort of intuitively,knowingly……..”Yes, We both worked, had good jobs, got stuff, had stuff, we don’t need it anymore.”
All the while we’re sorting through the truck. Good pumpkin, bad pumpkin, 32 squash, etc…….. and I am looking at my imaginary watch. I am in a hurry….because of the job thing. I have to get back to it. So we end our conversation abruptly but promise to get back to it. Soon……
On a side note a quote..........."I'd like to do a song of great social and political import" Janis Joplin
September 05, 2007
return of the blog
It's back. Mine's back. Rich's, which has gone untouched since January is not. This is the farm blog.
It has been a while. The whole gone vegan thing went south. Impossible, other than I still won't eat chicken if I don't know where it has come from. Speaking of eating...Is it wrong that I cooked a lamb shank for breakfast. Toiling away at the PC, I realized I'd defrosted one but not eaten it..So it was breakfast.
We're sold out of chicken. about 2000 this summer and we sold out. Oops. Guess we raise the number next year? Anyway, the blog is back.
June 03, 2007
Just A Seasonal Update ~ Eggs - Still Less Than a Gallon Of Gas
Been busy living the good life.
Let's focus on eggs for a minute. The Incredible Edible Egg. A potentially hazardous food that is highly governed by the department of agriculture, in particular, food safety. Earlier this year we discovered that in order to sell eggs, we need a food processing license.
To get one, you have to have a facility with a stainless sink, three bay of course, hot water, cold water, hand towels, a clean impervious surface on which to place your supplies. Walls that can be washed. A fridge reserved only for 'the EGG.' Floors clean as a whistle. Think laboratory. Think red tape.
We'd already commited to delivering eggs to Troy Community Gardens via their CSA, and we have regular customers of our own. We'd already ordered and raised about 75 hens. So we had no choice but to press on and get licensed.
We also sell meat, of course, so we decided to have a room built in our shed to house the food processing center and the freezers and coolers. We wanted to do this all along; to have a super clean place to keep everything. But the EGG put us over the top.
So eggs, which we sell for $3 per dozen, and raise about 30 dozen per week, about 26 weeks per year, will be profitable on this farm in about 2011.
Here's the detailed look at getting licensed:
The room - (don't ask how much we paid for the room - ouch - we'll just allocate a percentage)
$500
Sink $40
Fridge $400
Towel Dispesner $3
Hot Water Tank $250
Plumbing Supplies $100
Cooler, Etc. $50
Licensing Fee $78
Labels $30
_______________________
TOTAL $1451
That doesn't include the routine cost to maintain and feed and house the darling hens......Oh well - that's the egg business
...still cheaper than gas.
February 24, 2007
Closed til Spring
Uh - Wisconsin is closed now. We're preparing for 16 inches of snow. It has become alarmist. People are getting duct tape and plastic. Oh wait, that's for acts of terrorism...they're get Jimmy Dean Sausage and Chocolate pancakes on a stick in case they're stranded at home. The snow is coming down very hard.
The radio announcer has stopped playing music and is reading cancellations...very slowly, in a deep voice...as he always does; "Monroe FFA Pancake Breakfast, CANCELLED. Judy and Bob Smtih's 50th anniversary party, CANCELLED. 1st Trinity Lutheran Church Service and Bible Study, CANCELLED. Monroe versus Darlington Girls Basketball Game, CANCELLED." The list goes on and on.
We've enclosed all of our vehicles in our variety of dilapidated sheds. We're hunkered down. This better be good.
February 06, 2007
Holy %$*& It is cold out there
The last three days have been the kind of days that make you wonder why the entire population of the United States is not crammed into Florida and Arizona. The high temp yesterday was a whopping 1 degree. We don't live in Fargo for Peet's sake - this is southern Wisconsin where global warming has prevented day time temps from dropping below 32 degrees, and winters now go by with only a few inches of snow.
We've gotten very spoiled by El Nino and El Nina - whichever makes it warmer. For three solid days it has been below zero. Lambs have spent their nights in our basement. I get up and get two full sets of clothing. Two pair of pants. Five or six shirts. Two pair of socks (unless the really good ones we splurged on this year are clean, then its only one.) If there were a way to wear two pair of shoes, I would. And that's just to stay in the house.
To go outside one has to wear a sort of brownish spacesuit looking thing made by Carharrt or Walls. That's over the whole double outfit. I look so hot in triple layers. Totally hot.
So tomorrow, it is supposed to warm up to 12 degrees and be sunny. We are all very excited about this. Today, on top of the artic chill, mother nature dropped 5 inches of snow on us in just under 3 hours. My Jeep was very excited to ramble about, but the rest of us have had enough winter.
Wow - what happened to that tropical vacation anyway? This is punishment for it I am sure.
January 21, 2007
Mid January
I’ve been remiss in keeping this journal. Mostly my excuse, which is pretty lame, is that I was getting ready to go on a tropical vacation so that Rich could have some peace and quiet on the farm. He really likes the cold weather. So does Rufus. So I thought it would be really nice of me to leave for a week or 11 days or so. So they could have a little vacation from me, you know.
I don’t really know many people with a hotel, really I only know one so I packed my bags and headed to Belize. Actually a little island of the coast of Belize called Caye Caulker, to my friend Jim’s hotel The Iguana Reef Inn. You can also find a link to it on our website.
I hope Rich appreciates what I’ve done for him. It was a long plane ride to get here just so that Rich could be alone to enjoy his favorite times of the year; Winter and Lambing Season. And really to make a lambing season perfect, it has to drop below ten degrees for 7 consecutive days. So I left just in time. The sacrifices I make for my family.
So here I am tapping my fingers just waiting until I get to go home again. Killing time. Not much to do really. I tried to get sunburned, but I think I just got a little tan instead.
I’ve had to drink a lot to fit in too. The local people on this island like to drink a lot. I heard that Sunday is a day of rest here, meaning I don’t have to drink as much but I’m still going to have a bloody mary now to maintain party like a rock star my image. In fact, I am pretty certain my entries would be far more entertaining if I wrote them while drinking. I have some recall of a discussion last night at a bar where I described my personal goal this week of outdoing the “Box in The Box” video recently proliferated by Utube. This, sadly, led to a “Utube? what’s that?” conversation and it all went downhill from there.
There’s talk of a possible boat excursion for lazy people sometime this week. It’s like a snorkeling trip without snorkeling. The outing will be led by a guide that goes by the name of Creek, who has a son named River and may be wearing a leopard Speedo and speaking into a microphone. I don’t know if I actually heard that or made it up. I’ll report back later this week and let you know.
