Slip and Slide!

Here's a photo of some freshly made beds that we put in just before it started raining. The first step in preparing the beds is to put down compost and organic fertilizers. Jeff then uses the rototiller to mix the amendments into the soil. Next, irrigation is installed, which simply involves laying out lines of drip irrigation. Finally, we lay the plastic mulch. The beds shown here will be used for tomatoes. The red plastic mulch is used specifically for tomatoes and serves numerous functions. In addition to warming the soil, preserving soil moisture, and practically eliminating weeds, the red color bounces red light back at the growing plants, which in turn stimulates a natural hormone in the plants that increases the production of blossoms and therefore fruit. I always think that the plastic looks like a giant slip and slide and I'm super tempted to take a running start and see how far I can slide. Self control gets the better of me, though, and I'm able to practice restraint. Good thing, too, because Jeff might fire me if I went around sliding on and destroying our fresh beds.

Redlight-Greenlight Farming

Ready, set, farm! Oh wait, stop farming. It's raining again. Or is it getting sunny? Uh-oh, that'd be hail...not sun. Getting started in the spring reminds me of the playground game, red light-green light. Just when it seems like warmer and drier weather is here to stay, it rains more and the temperature drops. With volatile weather patterns such as these, accomplishing anything on the farm requires a lot of anticipation, planning, and the ability to change our plans on a dime. If the weather is nice enough, we have to pick up the pace and go crazy preparing beds and planting. But if it happens to be a rainy day, or a series of rainy days, then we just have to wait for suitable work weather to return. You might be thinking to yourself, "Geez, they're kind of wimpy. They won't work in the rain? Are they afraid of getting wet and muddy or something?" That is not the case! I personally enjoy being outside in the rain and, if it made sense, we would probably work regardless of the weather. Many times we do work in the rain; we pick in the rain, care for chickens in the rain, sell at markets in the rain, even weed in the rain. The problem with wet weather is that it makes the soil unworkable. It's hard to make wet and muddy soil the ideal consistency for planting and plants don't really like being planted into flooded conditions. Fortunately, a couple days of thunder showers doesn't set us back at all; it just changes the focus temporarily. Instead of digging and shoveling and planting, we tend the greenhouse, plant seeds, pay bills, run those errands we've been avoiding, and even use spare moments to catch up with family and friends. I imagine that some people would go crazy having a life dictated by the weather...but I like it. I feel like the weather gives me a structure and a flow to my days and weeks and years.

These days dotted with rain showers, quickly passing clouds, and a quick wind remind me of Hawaii. The soil is warmer, so the rain feels warmer too. The showers, followed by brilliant blue sky, feel cleansing and purifying more than depressing and restricting. So, with the feeling of Hawaii, I wish you Aloha 'Aina, which means love of the land. I hope you can find a way to feel connected to the season we're in right now. Maybe the next time there's a rain shower, go walk around the block or get your kids to dance in the rain. Then, when the sun follows and the heat eventually comes, enjoy that too...and eat lots and lots of juicy, ripe, Redwood Empire Farm tomatoes.

A Friday in the Life...

It's 9:30 pm on Friday night and we've been getting ready for tomorrow's farmers market all day. I just finished my jobs for the day, but Jeff is still out with his headlamp on washing arugula and making sure the greenhouse and chickens are tucked in for the night. If my estimate is correct, he'll come inside around 10:00 pm, get cleaned up, and then we'll find a late dinner. Not every work day extends quite this late, but days before we go to market, especially in the spring, tend to be long and tiring. Spring is the season for bunched greens, arugula, lettuce, roots, and other veggies that require a bit more tender loving care. We want everything we sell to be absolutely fresh, so that means we pick as close to when we go to market as possible. Fridays, therefore, always seem like a race to get as much done as possible.

So what's a typical spring Friday like? I'll walk you through what we did today, but I have to warn you, you might want to sit down and put your feet up or else you might get tired just thinking about it.

7:00am Rise and Shine
Some farmers like to wake up before the sun and start working, but if we can avoid it, we let the sun rise before us. Around 7:00, the goats and chickens start talking and that usually wakes me up. I always hope the morning barnyard noises don't disturb the neighbors too badly. We drink our coffee and Jeff goes out to feed the chickens, goats, open the greenhouse to let in the fresh air, and survey the farm. I usually take care of any housework or laundry that needs doing. I know, it's an old-fashioned division of labor, but it works for us.

9:30 Friday Swim
So much of what we do is physical and can take a serious toll on the back. We've gotten in the habit of swimming laps a few times a week, which has done really great things for our backs and overall physical resiliency. Jeff and I both are pretty attached to the endorphins we get from exercise, so swimming before a long day's work does wonders for settling the mind and calming the body.

11:00 Picking Begins
Time to bend over and start cutting those greens! Today's picking list included the first kales, chard, collards, arugula, and lettuce. Anyone who drove by the farm would see our butts in the air as we picked as quickly as possible. We get a good number of friendly honks, which leads us to debate who the honk was intended for. We both think we have more "fans" than the other. For the next few hours, I mark the passing time by the chime of the bell at the neighboring elementary school. Before I know it, school's out and the traffic picks up. More honks.

4:00 Lunch, Coffee Break and Chicken Food
I'll admit it, we drink a lot of coffee. If I tried to deny it, there'd probably be an army of people who would stand up and blow the whistle on us because we can always be seen out around town getting coffee. I'm actually okay with my coffee consumption...a hard working girl deserves at least once vice. And believe me, I don't drink nearly as much coffee as when I actually worked in a coffee shop. Alright, back to the schedule. So we went to get a coffee and buy more food for the "meat birds" (as we like to call them). Those chickens eat more than you could imagine - and definitely not by force. They are Hungry Hunters, foraging the land for grasses and bugs, and enjoying their share of nutrient dense organic chicken feed. While at the feed store, we run into a handful of people we know.

3:45 Back to Work
Jeff gets to work picking beets. I start planting broccoli and beets into beds that Jeff prepared just before it rained a couple of days ago. In addition to preparing for and going to the farmers market tomorrow, we're also trying to get as much planting accomplished before it rains again this week. After a while, Jeff joins me in the planting.

6:00 Visited by the Management
Jeff's Aunt and Grandmother, out for a stroll around the garden, come to inspect our work and marvel at our flexibility. These gals hold us to a high standard and, you can be sure, wouldn't let us get away with anything funny! We definitely have the most qualified on-site inspection team of any farm I know.

7:00 Finished Planting...Finally!
We're finally finished planting. I'm starving, so I go find some food. Jeff finishes the planting job by covering the babies with floating row cover.

7:45 Egg Prep
Finished with dinner. Time to wash and label eggs. Now that I have a printer and can print labels, this goes much faster than when I had to hand write each label.

8:15 Time to Wash
We head back outside into the dark to finish preparing for tomorrow's market. I clean beets and Jeff washes and dries the arugula.

9:00 Finally Finished
Finished with my final job, I finally get to go inside and take a shower. Jeff hasn't finished with the arugula and his final farm tasks, though, so he's still out working.

9:30 The Present
Clean and warm, I sit down to write my blog and wait for Jeff.


So there you have it, my day. In my book, it's not so bad at all, but it is long and it'll seem even longer when the alarm goes off at 6:00 tomorrow morning.

No! That can't possibly be a farm!

Quick, tell me what a working farm looks like! It's not as easy a question as it seems. Most folks would say that a farm is a big, open, sanitary looking thing, with trucks, equipment, probably some silos, and a couple of portopotties. We, as a society, have gotten used to the picture of the modern factory farm - all chrome, hydraulic, sanitary and toxic. Often, the vision of a modern farm doesn't even include humans. I know that I've always been amazed when driving through the Sacramento Valley and Delta at how I never see any people working in the fields. So, now that folks are accustomed to the image of an industrial farm, they sometimes don't even recognize true farms when they see them.

I started thinking about the image of a farm this weekend at our Open House. The Open House, by the way, was incredible. Thank you so much to everyone who came out and took our super, exciting, self-guided tour. We thought the day was so fun that we've both found ourselves taking the self-guided tour as we've been working around the farm. Ok, back to the intended topic... More than a few people told me that they had driven by the farm many times and never noticed that there was a farm there. Likewise, last summer, at the roadside stand, people would stop and ask where the farm was. When I would tell them that they were on the farm, they hardly believed me. I'd have to walk 10 feet over to where the squash was growing and physically pick a zucchini to convince them.

I think the reason people don't think our farm looks like a farm is because it's so wild and alive. The farm, especially right now, is bursting with life and activity. The cover crop is waist high, bugs are everywhere, bees are flying, and the ground is soggy and saturated, which, to us, looks like fertility, health, and promise for the coming year. If we asked a conventional farmer to walk around the farm, however, they would probably have a nervous breakdown. All they would see would be weeds and bugs everywhere...and weeds and bugs are not tolerated on factory farms.

A lot of Jeff's farming methodology hinges on treating the farm like its own ecosystem. From the aquifer running below the ground to the birds flying in the sky, all things on the farm are connected and alive. Everything connected to the farm must be healthy for the farm to be fruitful (even the farmers). A good sign that things are healthy is the presence of weeds and bugs. After all, weeds are simply plants that we have decided are undesirable or a scourge. But if you have a diverse and bountiful selection of weeds on your land, it means your soil is strong. If a weed can grow well, so can a veggie (in theory). Likewise, if you have a lot of bugs, it means you have a lot of bug food, which is another symptom of a healthy ecosystem. Furthermore, if your ecosystem is strong, you'll also have an incredible number of good bugs that will control the bad bugs. Right now, the farm is overrun with some of the biggest lady bugs I've ever seen. These girls are getting fat and happy while standing guard against any potentially pesky pests. Sure, sometimes a really healthy farm gets to be a pain because I have to battle weeds and every raccoon in the area is attracted to our tasty chickens, but I'd take this any day over the alternative.

So,the moral of this story is to keep your eyes open as you make your way through the world - you never know where you might find a farm or something else similarly spectacular.

Soak up the sun!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010:

I hope that everyone is having a chance to soak up some of this amazing sun we're getting. Seventy degrees feels just about perfect to me right now and I'm pretty sure that all the plants on the farm agree with me, too. Now that the weather is cooperating, it's time for us to kick our motors into overdrive and start really working. Jeff has been going nonstop trying to ready the farm for some quality tractor driving, which gets us one step closer to planting all those peak season crops we love. Tractor driving is one of Jeff's absolute favorite activities. His tractor is a hand-me-down that was built in the 1940s, but despite its age, it's a sturdy beast of a machine that gets the job done with gusto. Even though Jeff is quite a skilled tractor driver, occasionally there are instances of "tractor blight," which happens when the tractor accidentally takes out a tree or something else that happens to be in the way. I'm always a little nervous that I might be a victim of "tractor blight," so keep your fingers crossed that myself and all the fruit trees survive.

Another important bit of news is the upcoming Spring Open House. This Sunday, March 21st, we are having an Open House here at the farm from 11-4. You can do a self-guided tour, ask us any questions about growing and the farm that you may have, sign up for the CSA, order pastured chickens, or just hang out for a bit. The weather should be phenomenal, so come out and keep us company!

For those who haven't been here, the farm is located at: 55 Middle Rincon Rd
Santa Rosa, CA 95409. If you turn off of Hwy 12 onto Middle Rincon Rd, the farm is immediately on your left (just down from 7-11). Go ahead and park in the gravel parking lot and you'll see our set up. Feel free to bring friends, family, and kids. We just ask you leave your doggies at home because our free ranging chickens sometimes are too tempting for even the tamest puppies to resist.

Here's a classic picture of Jeff doing some tractor driving. It's obvious how much he hates it...yeah right!

Happy Daylight Savings Day!

Sunday, March 14, 2010:

It's that time of year again. We have officially sprung forward and now get to enjoy an extra hour of daylight at the end of our days. For most, this is a serious cause for celebration. Having daylight until at least 7 pm makes life after work much more feasible and, for us farmers who would rather work later than wake up earlier, gives us more time for work during the day.

There are lots of stories floating around about why daylight savings was originally adopted. Some say it had something to do with saving energy during World War 1. Others say it was for the farmers, although I'm not sure why. All these confusing explanations prompted me to do a bit of research about where daylights savings really comes from and why it was implemented in the first place.

Apparently, the practice of adjusting formal timekeeping to match the sun has been done in some capacity since ancient times. Roman water clocks had different scales for keeping time depending on the month and other cultures divided their time differently depending on the season. Modern daylight savings wasn't introduced until World War I, when Germany, its allies, and its occupied zones were the first to adopt the practice as a way of conserving coal.

In America, the movement towards standardized daylight savings began in 1883. Prior to that time, towns, counties, states, etc. set their own time, which led to an often confusing and jumbled system of time across the nation. The rise of the intercontinental railroad made it necessary for there to be some consistent agreement time that held true across the country (the train will arrive at 3:00 pm...wait...whose 3:00 pm?). So, in 1883, the United States railroad industry established time zones as we now know them with set time within each zone. Congress signed the railroad time zones into law in 1918 and made the Interstate Commerce Commission responsible for overseeing the time zones and any future adjustments that might be needed. The 1918 time zone law also called for the observance of daylight savings time nationwide, which was timely considering much of Europe adopted daylight savings in 1916. The daylight savings portion of the 1918 law was repealed in 1919, leaving specific daylight savings practices up to individual states. Finally, after years of states operating according to their own time, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966, which standardized the start and end dates of daylight savings, but allowed individual states to refrain from the practice if they so chose. As of now, all states except for Arizona and Hawaii spring forward in spring and fall back in fall.

So there's the real deal about daylight savings. Although formal daylight savings was born out of the need for consistent time by which to run the railroad and a need to conserve coal during war time, daylight savings has really been done in some capacity or other forever. Practically speaking, daylight savings makes a whole lot of sense. More daylight during the hours when most of us are awake gives more time for outdoor activity, conserves energy, and has even been shown to decrease traffic accidents and crime. From what I read, the only group who doesn't benefit from daylight savings, interestingly enough, is farmers because they lose daylight in the morning when they typically start their work days. I know I'm not qualified to speak on behalf of the greater farming community, but I don't really mind swapping an hour of light from the morning to the evening. If we are so busy that we have to start work early, it's going to be dark no matter what. Working in the dark just goes with the territory.

Farming Lingo

Friday, March 12, 2010:

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm ready for the rain to stop and for it to warm up. Correction: I'm really, really, really ready for the rain to stop and for it to warm up. I love how much rain we've had this year and I highly enjoy the restful cool of winter, but for pete's sake, I really want to stop having to wear five layers of clothes and rain boots every day! Not to mention how much the plants would enjoy decent temperatures and steady sunshine! I know I should be patient. Spring and summer will be here soon enough, and fall and winter again after that. Time passes faster than I can keep up with...especially when we're farming.

I've been noticing lately that talk of organic farming, ranching, gardening, and eating is all over the place. Celebrities tout their dedication to the earth, politicians lead with environmental policy, the color green is synonymous with coolness and trendiness - green really is the new black. With the barrage of information about unconventional farming methods (unconventional being organic...isn't that ironic), it's easy to get lost and not know exactly what everyone's talking about. There is a whole language used when talking about agriculture, specifically farming, and it's nothing to be embarrassed about if you don't know what "green manure" is, for example. These confusing and muddy waters of farming lingo have motivated me to periodically define and illustrate any obscure terminology.

Today's Term: Cover Crop (noun, verb)

Cover crop is any crop grown with the express purpose of strengthening the soil. Cover crop can be comprised of any number of plants that have benefits for soil fertility, weed suppression, water conservation, erosion prevention, and beneficial insect attraction. Cover crops are typically grown during the land's resting period during crop rotation. Once the cover crop reaches maturity, it is tilled back into the land (at this point, it's called green manure), returning the beneficial nutrients back into the ground.

Cover cropping is a big part of Jeff's growing system. Areas that have been used heavily over the past year(s) spend the winter growing a cover crop, which will reinvigorate them for summer planting. Cover crop also helps boost the growth of lush pasture, through which we move our pastured chickens. Not only do the chickens get to feed on all the organic nutrients of the cover crop, but the chickens then add their own fertility to the soil, making the areas phenomenal for planting.

So, that is cover cropping. Now go teach someone what you learned!

Jeff in his cover crop. It's getting tall!

Moving Day for the Chickens

Still Sunday, March 7, 2010:

I can't feel my arms. Actually, I can feel them and what I feel is a dull ache with an occasional jab of pain. I started the day with sore arms thanks to an awesome yoga class on Friday at Three Dog Yoga , but then it came time to move the movable chicken pen out of the swampy bottom pasture and onto drier land so that the meat birds have a nice, dry place to call home. Now, moving the movable chicken pen is not as easy as the name "movable chicken pen" implies. It's kind of like getting a massive airplane to fly...a lot has to happen to get it into the air. Thanks to Jeff's crafty engineering, careful 2x4 placement, and a whole lot of huffing, puffing, and pulling by us, we were able to move the pen and get the chickens nicely situated in their new abode.

These chickens are so healthy and strong, it's incredible. I have never seen chickens take to pasture like these ones have...they can swallow blades of grass whole and immediately start picking at the ground looking for tasty morsels. From this point on, the chickens will stay in the movable pen, which will be moved every day to guarantee that they always have fresh, clean grass. It really doesn't get any better than that.

Here are the chickens in their movable pen. You can see how much room they have to move around.

Here's the pen from a little bit farther away. The grass/pasture that the pen will move through is at least a foot tall and full of nutrients, bugs, and other natural goodies for the chickens to feast on. Real food makes the chickens taste AMAZING!

Spring is springing!

Sunday, March 7, 2010:

Is it just me or does it really feel like spring is on the way? The first glimpses of spring in Santa Rosa always remind me of a colorful and chipper Disney cartoon. Trees are blooming everywhere (much to the chagrin of allergy sufferers), birds are chirping and singing, the moist ground is so active with new growth that it practically radiates heat, and the angle of the sun is finally such that things are brighter and more clear.

Days like today are perfect for getting lost for awhile in Annadel Park. I have had a long and storied history with Annadel and there are days when I can hear the park calling to me. My older brother, Ross, first introduced me to the park when I was thirteen years old. It was Christmas day and Ross decided it was high time that I take up trail running. I was athletic, but running was not my choice activity. Not surprisingly, I was completely intimidated by the prospect of going running with my brother - his athletic abilities dwarfed most anybody's, especially mine as a gawky thirteen year old. Despite my terror, we set out for our run up Schultz Trail, which, back then, was a much rougher and more desolate part of the park than it even is today. I think I made it about ten minutes before the pain of my burning muscles caused me to dissolve into tears and sit down in the middle of the trail. Like any good older brother, Ross first tried to motivate me with tough love. He tried the "no pain no gain" line and the "pain is only temporary" mantra, too. Eventually he convinced me to at least start walking again and, soon enough, I was trotting along in my big brother's footsteps. Since that first run, I have spent many hours in Annadel and have fallen in love with running. Being able to put on my running shoes and set out into our little bit of local wilderness is one of the things that I find grounding, peaceful, and just plain fun.

It's a good thing that my brother dragged me with him all those years ago, because Annadel was actually the first step in my introduction to the farm. When I graduated from college in 2004, I moved back to Sonoma County and started running a lot in Annadel. I helped myself navigate the first couple years of adjusting to adulthood by trying to get lost in the park and seeing how far I could go. One day, in the winter of 2006, I was deep in the park and running on one of my favorite narrow single track trails. I had my headphones in and my music blaring, when I heard something coming behind me. Instinctively, I jumped off the trail (probably not very gracefully) just in time to avoid being hit by this crazy guy on a single speed mountain bike. I looked up in time to catch a glimpse of him and he flashed me a big, beaming smile before he continued racing down the trail. To be honest, I didn't put much thought into the encounter. It wasn't the first time I had nearly collided with a mountain biker and it wasn't to be the last - but there was something about that big smile that stuck with me.

You've probably already figured out the sappy conclusion to my story...but for those of you who haven't...the mountain biker was Jeff and that day in Annadel was the first crossing of our paths that would lead to where we are now. So in some distant and twisty way, we can all thank Annadel for the farm as it is now and all that it is becoming. Thank you, Annadel!

What's a CSA?

Thursday, March 4, 2010:

I'm sure everyone has heard the acronym CSA countless times, but I have a sneaking suspicion that more than one person out there isn't exactly sure what it means. So, what is a CSA, anyway? It's not a stupid question!

CSA stands for "community supported agriculture." The idea is that individuals invest in local farms by buying shares of the farm. In return for their financial investment, CSA members receive regular installments of the farm's products. That, in a nutshell, is the CSA concept.

When CSAs were first devised, they were quite a bit different than they are now. In those days, a group of people got together, pooled their money, bought a farm, and hired a farmer to grow them food. They then took shares of what the farm produced for the year. Although they all hoped the farm would have have a bountiful year and that their financial investments would yield an abundance of fantastic produce, they accepted that things could happen that would affect the farm's production. For example, the farmer might have to fight against unfavorable weather the entire season and be unable to produce tomatoes, peppers, and melons during the summer. If that happened, folks would make do and accept whatever was able to grow despite the bad weather.

Nowadays, most CSAs are designed to limit the risk that the members take when buying shares of the farm. Some farms reserve the right to supplement what they grow with produce from other farms in order to guarantee that CSA members are always satisfied. Also, a lot of farms don't require members to commit to the whole season and accept payment for tangible quantities of food, as opposed to requiring them to make a more ideological commitment to the farm. Most CSAs are unique and have their own particular structures - every CSA I have researched is a little bit different. In my opinion, this ability to adapt the CSA model to fit the individual farm is what makes CSAs so great.

Jeff and I decided to start a CSA because we want to make our food as accessible to people as possible. Some people can't make it to the farmer's market or the roadside stand, but know that they want to guarantee their supply of fresh, locally grown fruits and veggies. For them, the CSA is the perfect option. We designed our CSA in such a way that members pay a certain amount up front, which helps us fund the annual start-up costs of the farm (seeds, compost, tools, drip-tape, etc). Once we are able to start actually packing CSA boxes, our members will then pay for their share of the farm's produce monthly. Not only does the CSA provide us with another outlet through which we can feed people in our community, but it also gives us confidence that there are people all ready to eat everything that we grow, which allows us to grow larger quantities of a more diverse selection of produce. We don't need to worry about selling every tomato at the farmer's market, because we have a group of people who have already committed to eating tomatoes (and whatever else we are growing at the time) each week.

I also love the community-building aspect of the CSA. I think it's so exciting to be responsible for growing the fruits and veggies that are going to be eaten every week by people in my town. Our CSA members believe in us and, in return, will be treated like royalty. They will get first dibs on the best heirloom tomatoes, juicy, sweet peppers, and crunchy, satisfying cucumbers. Our CSA kids will always be welcome to come see the goats or chickens, because we really do think of ourselves as being their farm.

If you want to know more about our CSA, go to our website at www.redwoodempirefarm.com/csa.html. For more on CSAs in general, check out www.localharvest.org, which is a great site that includes a comprehensive database of CSAs around the country.

Not So Little Peepers...

Monday, March 1, 2010:

The chicks are two and a half weeks old and they are not so tiny anymore. You can see that they're already developing wings, something that doesn't happen until most chickens are twice this old. The chicks are still living inside in their brooder, but they are eating grass and bugs already and loving it. They're scheduled to go out into their movable pen on Wednesday. Once they move outside, they really start to grow fast. I'll be sure to post some pictures of them within a couple days of the move...it's impressive to see the changes.