The Prairie in July

Zinnie and I took a walk through the woods and prairie tonight to see what is growing mid-July this year.

The nettles are in full bloom - maybe it's a bit late to harvest them for pesto but I still intend to do so this week.

Another edible weed, wild parsnip, is in bloom and beginning to form seedheads. I must get out there this week in protective clothing and cut off those flowers to prevent them from expanding their territory next year.  If you brush up against the blooms in the sunshine and they are wet or you have sweaty skin, you will get a terrible blistery, painful rash that lasts forever. The root is edible, however -- this plant is ordinary parsnip gone feral.

After  five summers here, I am starting to know many of the wild plants that grow in our field.  This is fleabane, a tiny daisy-like flower that is at its peak bloom right now.

Huge drifts of fleabane on the south end of the prairie. I just  learned it is called fleabane because it deters fleas. With 3 dogs and 4 cats, I am happy to know that!

Blue vervain--I love this pretty flower, plus it  supposedly has many magical properties. It is the most potent protection against vampires, so I guess we shouldn't have to worry about them in our pasture.

Milkweed blossoms. I checked under the leaves of  several plants for Monarch caterpillars or eggs, but didn't find any. A few monarch butterflies  were fluttering around, however.

Wild cranberries in July -before they turn red.

One of the cool prairie grasses in bloom. I can't remember what this is called - it is about armpit tall.

The sumac spikes are beginning to turn red. We have acres of these.

I cannot describe how much I do NOT enjoy seeing these beautiful red sumac leaves in July! Summer has scarcely begun-- we  aren't ready to be reminded of fall yet.

Hobby Lobby!

Saturday's fortune cookie. Maybe my new collection should be cows!

Just to set the record straight, we don't really think of our farm as a "hobby farm." We are truly trying to make Squash Blossom Farm into a viable operation. It  requires way more than 40 hours per week work, which is the reason I left my (wonderful, rewarding and decently-compensated)  part-time job a year ago. Both Rog and I have heard our farm referred to as a "Hobby Farm" by several friends and colleagues recently, and we realize we are not quite a conventional farm, but there must be a more fitting phrase.

I looked up the definition of "hobby farm" and it was described as a farm where the principal income does not come from the farm and is a farm operated for leisure and pleasure.  It is very true that our main income dos not come from the farm; we absolutely need Rog's income` to cover the mortgage and college loans.  But that situation is probably the norm for most farms these days: last week on my radio show I interviewed a retired dairy farmer whose kids  all farm and he said that all of his sons' wives make more money working off the farm than their sons make dairying.  Nobody would ever call those hardworking dairy farmers "hobby farmers."

Although we find farm work pleasurable, we would not equate it with leisure.  Perhaps there are farms somewhere out there where the famers consider it a leisure pastime--farms with a couple of riding horses and a couple of sheep or chickens for pasture ornaments. I envision those farms as being perfectly manicured, with pretty fencing, probably with hired landscaping experts to do the gardening.  I don't personally know any of those farmers, but they might exist.

Maybe people think of our farm as a hobby farm because we are quite small and we have a bunch of micro-enterprises rather than focusing on just raising pigs, for instance, or corn and soybeans. Our farm income comes from  growing veggies for the  CSA; selling our own eggs, honey, vegetables, meat chickens, beef, and turkeys from the farm; selling antiques, vintage items,  and local artisan works in the farm store; selling our bread, baked goods and  farm products at the farmers market.   These enterprises support the farm, or at least are working toward supporting the farm, they are not hobbies.  

Or, maybe people think of us as a hobby farm because we recently became farmers at age 50, when some people are already thinking about retirement and we had no previous farming experience.  Part of our strategy is that the physical work of farming will help keep us fit, the ongoing learning will keep our minds sharp, and the  healthy, organic food we raise will keep us healthy. We take all aspects of the farm very seriously, especially the livestock.  My bedtime reading is devoted to books about raising cows, chickens, and better gardening techniques.  We are both amazed by and extremely proud of our healthy, happy animals and beautiful, delicious vegetables.

We agonize over the difficult decisions that are required to make our farm financially viable.  Although we treat our livestock almost like pets, we cannot afford to keep them as pets. Nothing is more difficult than harvesting a beloved steer, or our annual small flock of personable turkeys. Tears are shed and we then reconsider whether we should even raise livestock.  But animals are a vital part of the cycle in a permaculture farm, they bring us so much joy, and we have learned so much from them.  As farm animals go, they have probably hit the jackpot to be living on a farm like this rather than a feedlot. (Our neighbor Don reassured us, they have only have one bad day their entire life.) We hope that when our  customers eat our meat, they get extra nourishment and satisfaction from all the heart and soul that went into it.

Yesterday was a pretty typical Sunday.  After morning chores and coffee and a bit of mowing, Cadence and I went to a friend's farm to harvest cherries. When we got home, she and Israel climbed up the scaffolding and painted the house for the next 10 hours.  Rog applied the insulating layer to the clay pizza oven while I picked up three loads of hay.  Rog took short breaks from the pizza oven project to help me unload and stack each truckload of hay. We  moved a stack of crummy old haybales out of the barn and I used it to mulch over a section of the garden I weeded the day before.  I was sweaty and covered in hay dust and dirt, so took my second quick shower of the day and put on clean clothes before people began arriving at the farm. I opened up the store and Rog set up the  sound system for the live music. I made the pizza sauce and prepared ingredients while Rog built the fire in the clay oven  and cleaned up the patio dining area. I gave visitors mini tours of the farm and Rog got the musicians going,  then rolled out pizza crusts. After the music, we made delicious wood-fired pizzas with our  guests and enjoyed delightful conversation. Then, after everyone left, we cleaned up, I did the evening chores, Rog put away the music set up, I closed up the store for the week, Israel cleaned up the house-painting gear, and Cadence and I picked 18 pints of raspberries, accompanied by twinkling fireflies and voracious mosquitos.  It was a very pleasurable day, but not exactly leisurely. Leisurely would have included a nap in the hammock!

Our goal is to create a joyous life at the intersection of farming, art, music and community.  We thank our lucky stars every day that we have the opportunity pursue this dream! This farm is a passion, a dream, a work-in-progress, and  striving to be a viable enterprise.  We want to be an alternative kind of farm, a farmstead that hearkens back to our grandparents' way of farming, shares our abundance and the knowledge we gain, and is connected to the community. 

In fumbling around for an alternative phrase to "Hobby Farm" I  have finally come up with a description that sounds right to me:  Artisan Farm. We would be delighted if you called us an Artisan Farm!

The Saturday Projects

It's an industrious Saturday.  After a morning of plumbing, Rog has been packing the insulating layer of clay mixed with sawdust onto the clay oven all afternoon.

Cadence and Israel are meticulously scraping, patching and painting the house - working intrepidly at the top of the scaffolding. We found two deer-stand harnesses at a garage sale yesterday, so at least they have some safety gear now.

It was a rainy and rather cool morning, so I got inspired to make a shortbread using this fun ceramic cookie mould I found recently at a thrift store.

Very delicious!
I have been cleaning the  farm store all afternoon,  including polishing the wood floor, but no photos to prove it.

This was taken last evening, but berry-picking is next on the To Do list.  The raspberries are coming on strong now and it is a great crop!

Now, back to work...  

How to Be a Hot Dog With Relish

This morning after watering the  potted plants I put the hose in the fountain to fill it and went off to move the cows to the shady back yard. When I returned the water had overflowed onto the patio and Zinnie was having a great time playing in the puddles.

You don't usually think of collies as water dogs.

She also loves to  plop herself right into the duck pool- which is generally muddy, so I much prefer this.

This is why the fountain loses its water so fast!

Wordless Wednesday: A Perfect July Morning

Works in Progress

Rog and I have played with mud and clay all weekend. We made not one but two attempts at mudding the new bigger and better clay oven. The first attempt, using an innovative, experimental, time-saving construction strategy, failed structurally, so back to  the old tried and true method of using wet sand as the base. Rog found some wonderful clay at a house-construction site that the contractors were only too willing to let him haul away for our oven.
These are my farmer-hands, packing brick-shaped wads of mud to build the inside wall of the oven.

 Rog constructed the opposite side.

It was a sultry, hot weekend to be doing this project. Actually, sultry and hot to be doing anything at all.
Rog built the massive table that supports the oven from old barn beams he found on Craigslist (our go-to source for farm projects.) I hope we sited it in the best spot --this oven is not going anywhere now.

Nutmeg supervised from the shady spot  below the table.

The oven with its  inner coat of  mud complete. A thick insulating layer will be built over this.

Tonight Rog ascertained that the clay was dry and  hard enough to remove the sand from the inside.  Here it is emptied out, ready for the insulating layer. This oven is twice as big as our current wood-fired clay oven - we will be able to bake a dozen loaves of bread at a time.

When not up to my elbows in clay, I finally tackled a project I have been wanting to do ever since I was inspired by a mosaic idea I saw on Pinterest last winter/ This is the first one of a pair of  tall, narrow panels to flank the doors of the granary/farm store.   Old cups and mugs are cut in half and mortared in to become planter pockets.  I sawed large floor tiles and dishes into 1 1/2 inch square tiles.

The guard on the wet saw I was using did not allow enough space for me to cut the cups, so Rog cut them for me with his angle grinder. Happily, he did not  cut off any toes with this procedure.

Tonight we hung the panel along side the  door; tomorrow I will  plant the vessels (maybe with herbs? or succulents? or moss roses?)

Israel and Cadence are making major progress painting the house, even working on these hot, hot days, and doing a fantastic, meticulous job.  I am not sure how we are going to reach the peak, though.

Their band performed at a wedding Saturday, and after dropping off the equipment and the car, they walked home. They definitely add a dash of vibrancy and character to the village of Douglas!