Life has a way of reminding you that things can always change if you just give it a moment. For that matter, I suspect you don’t even have to give it the benefit of a moment. Life just changes - and we can keep up with it or not.
After years of consistent writing (or blogging, if you would rather I called it that), I didn’t really consider the possibility that I might go through a bit of a writing drought. Typing out at least a few words several times a week had become a part of life. Even in the month prior to and after kidney surgery, I managed over forty entries of varying quality. So, imagine my surprise when I realized how much time had gone by without sending something out to all of you on the Genuine Faux Farm subscriber list!
On the other hand, I did see a fairly significant drop in writing when Tammy underwent Achilles surgery in 2022. But, it feels like I showed up more then than I have recently. Sure, Postal History Sunday is still plugging along, even if it has been a bit harder than usual. I haven’t even had much energy to re-release older blogs - which should tell you something.
Never fear, the Genuine Faux Farm blog is still alive and kicking. There were just things going on that required our time and energy. So, let’s get to a farm newsletter to let you all know what’s up!
Hip, Hip, Hooray!
No, this heading is not my joke. I will not lay claim to it. I also will not lay the blame at the feet of the people who were responsible. I refuse to allow them to bask in the glory of bad punning in the blog I write. I simply won’t stand for it. If there is punning to be had here, I shall be the punner.
It just so happens that the biggest GFF event for the month of August was Tammy’s hip replacement surgery. We are now about ten days out and things are progressing well. And now you all know much of the reason why writing has taken a backseat during the last several weeks. Caretaking is a thing - and it’s a thing that requires attention and energy.
Major surgeries like this are a big deal - don’t let anyone try to make you think otherwise. As the actual day approached, our world became laser focused on a very small subset of things. Anything outside of that focus might have received a curt nod as we walked by, but not much more. Otherwise, we were all about getting things done that had to be done prior to surgery and preparing for life after that surgery.
And, oh yeah, there was the constant presence of anticipation and worry. It didn’t matter that we were confident this was the right choice and that the procedure was well-known and has a good history of progress. It was (and is) still a big, life-changing event. And, as such, it filled up almost all of our fields of vision.
Now, we are finding that our horizons are broadening again as the recovery progress begins to fulfill the promise of health we were so hopeful would be the result.
Summer Harvest
In the two weeks prior to the surgery, Tammy and I worked hard to make sure that the farmers (yes - the two of us) were going to have good stores of fruit and veggies for the colder months. We froze broccoli, beans, tomato sauce and sweet corn. We froze blueberries and canned peaches. We even made a big batch of summer squash/zucchini stir-fry so we could freeze some for later use.
We’re probably not done with the processing for the year, but if we had to stop now, I think we would get along just fine. That’s important for us because the school year is approaching, butting itself up against Tammy’s recovery process in a way that doesn’t really encourage more freezing and canning.
The pear tree that has been on the farm for a bit over a dozen years finally produced a decent crop. In fact, it had more fruit than we could handle and we were able to make them available to our egg and veggie sales list. We’re looking forward to some Asian pears later this year and we believe a decent apple harvest is on the horizon.
Meanwhile, we’ve had a nice broccoli crop that has allowed us to take a couple of nice harvests to the Northeast Iowa Food Bank. Normally, we would have offered these to our list, but the timing - and our time - just haven’t allowed for it. The good news is that the Food Bank has made it clear that quality broccoli is not something they see often, so it is well needed and much appreciated. I think we can live with that.
The tomatoes and peppers are starting to approach peak and we expect we’ll offer some in the coming weeks. Some of our outside crops, like the squash and cucumbers, are getting a little desparate for rain - and we didn’t run drip line for all of it. It was a time crunch choice to not run some of that line and we’ll adapt with overhead irrigation if we must.
Over all, it’s been another odd year (isn’t every year a little bit odd in its own way?) for growing. Our high tunnel crops are doing what they usually do, so we’re fine there. But the outdoor crops are less robust than we typically see. Some of this has to do with the timing of planting and the rain cycles. Early wet weather discouraged deep root development which left the plants wanting during the more recent dry weather.
The other issue has been the type of weed pressure we (and many other growers) have experienced this year as we broke out of a drought in a big way. Foxtail and other grasses responded well and asserted themselves with a vengeance. Grass weeds are typically very competitive and can quickly establish and make it difficult for the annual crops we always hope to harvest.
Gratitude for Help and Poultry in Motion
Tammy and I swallowed our pride (out of necessity) and actually followed through with asking for a little help with some farm tasks. There has been weeding help, bean harvesting help and even help getting produce to the Food Bank. Every little bit of it is appreciated and valued. Rather than provide a long list of people here, I’ll just say “thank you” to everyone - you know who you are.
We are also aware that there are others who have offered and we have not (yet) taken up the offer. I suspect we are not done needing help just yet. So, be patient. It has nothing to do with not wanting your help specifically and more to do with finding moments where energy, need, and opportunity meet. And, if we find that we no longer need the help, that’s a good thing too because it means we are finding our way through things!
All of that said, we got all of our poultry - two laying hen flocks, a broiler chicken flock and the turkeys - into a holding pattern for the weeks immediately surrounding Tammy’s surgery. The idea was that we needed to get things were chores were as compact as possible AND easy to explain to someone else in case we needed coverage. Unfortunately, that sort of arrangement is not always the very best situation for the birds. Good enough, of course, but not optimal - which is what we prefer for the critters at the Genuine Faux Farm.
And now you know what’s next for “big things” at the farm in the near future. We’ve got to move away from the holding pattern with the birds and get them into the optimal situations we would prefer for them. We’ll start with the easier tasks of working with the hen flocks.
Most of the work to get the Summer Cottage ready for the older hen flock was completed a couple of weeks ago. We just have to set up the fences and move the hens out to visit Crazy Maurice, the farm’s Weeping Willow. Maurice is very much looking forward to this because he knows farmer visits increase markedly once that happens.
As an aside, it is nice to have a tree on the farm that actually seems to LIKE us.
The henlets are a “smaller” task because their situation needs adjusting, but it will not require much of a move. The bigger game here, however, is that we need to do work in the hen room AFTER the older flock is moved out and BEFORE we move the henlets in.
Perhaps the biggest project is getting the broilers out onto pasture. There are some equipment issues that need addressing to get this one done, which illustrates the “domino effect” that often happens at a small-scale, diversified farm like ours. If you want to knock down the “move the broilers” domino, you have to first knock down the domino labeled “prepare the pasture.” But, before you do that you need to push over the domino that says “fix the cutting deck.”
Of course, I’ve over-simplified the domino effect just so I could type fewer words. But, I think you all get the idea. We play dominoes at the Genuine Faux Farm with real farm tasks. Fun, isn’t it?
And a bit more before we go…
There is always a lot more going on than we share in our newsletters. But we do try to share enough to help those who read this understand how things on a small farm like ours work (or don’t work). It has less to do with our wanting attention and more to do with promoting understanding and connections to the land and to how local foods can be made to work. While we no longer focus on food sales like we once did, we are still very much involved - just in different ways than we once were.
Because we both now have jobs off-farm, we are no longer in a position where farm income is a primary driver for us. This allows us to keep our hand in growing food and donating much of it. We still sell eggs and poultry meat because the cost outlay is a good bit higher - but some sales allow us to be a bit freer with donations there as well.
But, we are not that far away from a time when our farm’s income was much more critical to us than it is now. And, we are aware of many people who do produce food for others and DO need that income to live.
Remember, raising quality food requires real attention and real effort from real people. They put their hearts and souls into producing quality food for real people to eat. Their dedication is worthy of your consistent and unwavering support. You can help them succeed by, of course, purchasing their products. But you can do even more by promoting and sharing their product to others. After all, it is not sustainable if a farm’s success lies only with your dollars. It takes a community - and you can be a vital part of it.
Thank you for reading and considering my words. Have a fine remainder of your day!
I wished I lived closer, would be happy to try and do the work on your cutting deck (depending on what it was) and even do the cutting. I have operated an incredible variety of tractors and other equipment over my lifetime - kinda scary.
VERY VERY glad to hear Tammy is recovering well - even with routine surgery, the possibility of picking up a "hospital infection" is always there, as are other unforeseen complications.
Take good care out there!! pb
1. Wishing Tammy a full and speedy recovery. Good for her for taking the leap and getting this problem addressed while still a youngster. And good for you for being the support person, Rob.
2. Always good to get a few details on the farm's workings. Helps us better appreciate all that goes into what goes into our bellies.