A Day in the Life: Liveblogging Weekend Duty

Hello faithful reader(s?). You're in for a real treat today as we'll be liveblogging all the insanely interesting activities that go on at the farm today. So grab a bite to eat, something warm to drink, snuggle up to a loved one and keep hitting that refresh button boys and girls!

6:30 AM - According to the internets it was 24 degrees when Susan and I were heading up the road to milk this morning and according to ye olde green house thermometer the low in this neck of the woods was 21 degrees over night - either way you shake it that's cold for both two legged and four legged creatures. We got five half gallons from the ladies this morning who were pretty happy to come stand inside for a bit . . .

I noticed that the local HEB is now selling goats milk - pasteurized of course, for $3.50 a quart, and lets face it undoubtedly from goats of a dubious nature. Whereas our milk comes from goats that are wholesome, good and kind, will only cost you $4.50 for a half gallon - that's TWO quarts, Dale - and on top of that you get all the crazy cool benefits of drinking raw milk - none of that pasteurization hocus pocus for us my friends. (Goat picture courtesy of Will "The Size of My Sunglasses Suggests There is Something Wrong with My Retina" Summers)

8:00 AM - Brrrr - it was cold out there last night - lots of frozen water dishes and hoses this morning but all the animals seemed to have been tucked in nice and cozy and were up moving around this morning just fine. After milking we got the cows fed, let the chickens out, fed and watered the rabbits and put the dry goats - i.e., a goat that is not being milked but in this case a catch all phrase for actual dry goats, wethers, a few kids and one lonely jenny - out in the back pasture, the twenty or so acres of our farm that strictly speaking aren't under cultivation - bada boom, bada bing - time for breakfast. (Animal photos courtesy of Will "The Thrill" Summers)


10:00 AM - The village store and farm stand are open for business so if you're in the neighborhood stop by for some fresh carrots, swiss chard, free-range eggs, fair trade coffee, and crazy good times.



10:20 AM - Susan and I just ran up to the garden to take the row cover off of the lettuce and swiss chard that had been covered up by Kris, Jessica and company yesterday to guard against the hard freeze we got. These crops are pretty winter hardy but these are some fairly new beds that are still getting established so we want to be extra careful with them. Here are your before and after shots:


And that my friend is the tender love and care that your local farmers give to provide you with fresh delicious produce all the year long.

11:45 AM - Let us speak of composting toilets my friends. Nay, do not turn away, do not avert your eyes, nor turn up your nose but let us be frank about the disposal of our poop. I bring the subject up on this fine winters morning because I just performed the ritual peak-knocking, not to be confused with privy-tipping, in our composting toilet here in the Carl F. Ryther Education Building and as is often the case when this deed is done the pros vs. cons of the composting toilet system were on my mind. And as usual despite the unseemly task of knocking the peak and the almost quarterly task of emptying the toilet reservoir (and believe me we are not blind to the complications of the composting toilet system) it is still hard to justify our conventional method of waste disposal which essentially boils down to using potable water to move our poop from one spot over to another spot - especially in light of the fact that almost 45% of residential water usage is tied up in this process while we live in a world where almost 2 billion people do not have access to potable water. (Photos omitted at the suggestion of my wife.)

12:30 PM - Lunch time for woman, man and beast alike. The dairy goats have been confined to the barn for the past few weeks eating some of the hay that we baled earlier this summer - its good stuff, nice sorghum sudan grass hay - but its no comparison to grazing on fresh pasture. Ideally we would like to have a seamless transition from summer to winter pasture so that our dairy goats are on a constant diet of fresh forage - remember boys and girls the better your pasture the better your animal the better your milk, the better your meat, the better your ________ (fill in the blank here). Unfortunately the weather conspired against us this year so that we had a few weeks there where we didn't have any fresh pasture for grazing - not ideal but a good reminder for us that there are some things you just can't manipulate, or rather farming as we do there are some things you choose not to manipulate. Those in the livestock business like to think that they are raising animals but in reality they are growing grass and those who produce the best products are the ones who put the most energy into growing the best forage. So, all that to say that our goats were extremely happy this week to get back out onto fresh pasture - even if it is only for half a day at the moment. So, here they are standing in a beautiful field of winter oats, clover and rye - delicious, I, on the other hand, plan on enjoying an equally delicious plate of leftover pasta - a little cream, fresh parmesan, white wine and mushroom sauce - that's just the way we roll Saturday's here at the farm - Bon appétit! (that's from Susan)

2:00 PM - Speaking of Susan, she's been hard at work this afternoon setting the Village Store to rights - checking inventory, balancing the books, seeing how the rest of us have messed things up in the short period of time in which she was away visiting family, you know, the usual.

2:45 PM - FYI - we have a lot of eggs for sale at the moment. Many of our usual customers are out and about visiting family so our usually bare egg cupboard is relatively full at the moment; which means you should come on by and pick up a dozen or two of our farm fresh, free-range eggs - they are only $3 a dozen. If you've never tried farm fresh, free-range eggs and your go-to egg is in fact a run of the mill supermarket egg then I weep for you my friend, I put my face in my hands and I quietly weep for you. There is no comparison. None. If you don't believe me come on down, buy a dozen and try them out. Many is the person who has recently eloquently opined on the virtues of these little oval globes of culinary delight but here are a few sentences from Michael Pollan's Omnivores Dilemna in which he talks to Joel Salatin about his eggs:

As it is, artisanal producers like Joel compete on quality, which, oddly enough, is still a somewhat novel idea when it comes to food. "When someone drives up to the farm in a BMW and asks me why our eggs cost more, well, first I try not to get mad," said Joel. "Frankly, any city person who doesn't think I deserve a white-collar salary as a farmer doesn't deserve my special food. Let them eat E. coli. But I don't say that. Instead I take him outside and point at his car. 'Sir, you clearly understand quality and are willing to pay for it. Well, food is no different: You get what you pay for.'

"Why is it that we exempt food, of all things, from that rule? Industrial agriculture, because it depends on standardization, has bombarded us with the message that all pork is pork, all chicken is chicken, eggs eggs, even though we all know that can't really be true. But it's downright un-American to suggest that one egg might be nutritionally superior to another." Joel recited the slogan of his local supermarket chain: "'We pile it high and sell it cheap.' What other business would ever sell its products that way?"

Try 'em you'll like 'em


3:15 PM - Electricity. Its been frustrating us today - fence not staying hot, bulbs in mobile chicken coops not staying lit. You know the sort of thing.

4:15 PM - About time to head up the road for the afternoon milking. Should be good times. We'll get the ladies milked, tuck in all the rest of the animals and head back down for a nice bowl of fresh tomato soup that we've been promised. They better not be toying with us - soup is a serious matter.


5:50 PM - Those shadows you see there are the hallmark of another day coming to a close here at the farm. We got another four bottles of milk - once again, loyal readers, good pasture = good product. The crops are covered again as we may get another freeze tonight and all the friendly beasts have a little extra food to tide them over through the chill of the night. There's somebody in the kitchen making soup and somebody else is making biscuits - you can get a lot done during the day if you know fresh soup and biscuits are waiting for you at the end. We'll sit around and eat a little supper and then play a little Ninja Burger, that's right I said Ninja Burger - and then get up in the morning and do it all over again. Night friends.

The first official day of Winter, and my first official entry on the blog.

Good morning everyone! This is my first update to the WHRI blog, a fairly grave, intimidating undertaking and I am, to be quite, quite honest, a little nervous about it. If my entry is subpar it will most probably just be deleted and none will be the wiser. So never fear. My hope is, however, that this will be a stunning, life changing read for you, oh dear faithful internet supporter of the farm.

Firstly, it has been a busy week with lots of hard work getting your turkeys ready for you. Delicious, farmy turkeys. If you missed out this year mark it down somewhere for next year so that you can experience the gloriforous wonder that is a farm raised turkey.

To replace the turkeys (or just because that is the way it is) we are preparing for the arrival of some new, freshly hatched chicks to coming sometime in the next week while we are all away for the holidays (Ideal Poultry does not have ideal timing apparently). We are looking forward to the increase in our egg production.

Here is a picture of a giant rabbit.

Apparantly they are breeding them in Germany to ship to North Korea to help combat hunger there. I am going to go on the record here and say that I am heartily against genetically modified foods, no matter how many people they would feed. Just the other day we were watching a film about this. What was it called? I will have to ask someone and get back to you. The farm is full of great resources like films about genetically modified food. Ask questions. Like I just did. The movie is called "The Future of Food" and it was scary and enlightening. I suggest watching it.

What else?
-Ellie

I found something else. Jocelyne says there are four half gallons of goats milk if anyone who is not on our regular milk rotation would be interested purchasing some. I will be sitting here, behind a table full of vegetables, for hours, waiting for you to come buy some milk.

Pastured Turkeys = Yummy Delicious Christmas Goodness

There is still time to reserve a WHRI raised, pastured turkey for your Christmas celebration and meal. We only have a few birds left unclaimed so give us a call ASAP! Take a look at our flyer for more info and details.

Fall Workshops: Hunger 101

The second of our fall workshops shifts gears slightly from gathering together to eat to thinking about those who often do not have enough to eat - and if you think that the two aren't somehow related then you definitely need to plan on attending this workshop to find out just how intertwined we all are these days. These are the kinds of things that the indefatigable Katie Cook will be addressing in this workshop we've entitled: Hunger 101. Why are people hungry? How did we get to this point? What's being done about it? What could be done? What can I do? In a season and time of the year when many of us have so much to be thankful for these are the kinds of questions we need to be reminded to ask and Katie is a wonderful guide.

Katie has spent a good part of her adult life thinking, writing and advocating about these issues and in her role at Seeds of Hope Publishers has acquired not only a good bit of wisdom on the topic but a humility that encourages both learning and action. So sign up now and join us on November 29th for an evening of prayerful learning, discussion and seeking together hope for the hungry.

You know the routine: click the flyer or give us a call for more details or to register.

Fall Workshops: Simply In Season at the Farm

We've got some really exciting workshops coming up this fall (which despite the STILL warm weather will be here in a few weeks, trust us it really will!) that we wanted to make everyone aware of.

The first is a great opportunity to get involved in local food production, and even better its involvement on the delicious end of local food production - i.e. gathered around a table and eating some delicious freshly prepared local cuisine. Every Tuesday in November we'll be hosting an evening of dining on and talking about local, seasonal food. We've got four wonderful local chefs and foodies lined up to facilitate and host each evening and they're going to be sharing lots of great little tips and secrets about eating local and why they think it is important. Included in the cost of the workshop will be four wonderful farm fresh meals, a copy of the Simply in Season cookbook, and four evenings of great fellowship and discussion. Be sure and sign up early because space is limited and treat yourself to a little taste of fall!

Click the flyer below or give us a call for more details or to reserve your spot! (CSA members take note - you get a great discount on this wonderful workshop, so be sure and take advantage!)

Teacher/Educator Newsletter: Autumn 2007

Greetings to all teachers and educators! I’m sure that this newsletter finds you all busily preparing for the beginning of another new school year. Things are busy around the World Hunger Relief Farm too as we are preparing for our fall crops and looking forward to having many of you out to the the farm for a visit. Once a quarter we’ll be keeping you up to date on special events happening at the farm which your classes might want to participate in, as well as passing along resources that we think might be helpful in your classrooms. Feel free to pass this newsletter link along to others that might be interested – all of us here at the World Hunger Relief Farm are looking forward to partnering with you once again this year in educating our children! Here are a few things of interest already:

Fall Farm Tours – Reserve Your Date Now!

It’s hard to believe but we are already taking reservations for farm tours this fall! As usual we are able to design a unique hands on experience for your class that connects directly to your curriculum and TEKS requirements – give us a call to set things up!


Fall Farm Day:

It still seems way too hot to be thinking about autumn but its just around the corner despite what the thermometer says and that means we’re already planning for our annual Fall Farm Day. This years date is October 27th and as usual it will be packed with good food, live music, guest speakers, educational activities, farm tours and lots, lots more. We’ll keep you posted as the day draws near but mark your calendars now!

Going on around the farm . . . .

The bizarrely wet days of July are long behind us and we’ve finally moved into the inevitable summer heat that we’re all used to. That hasn’t stopped us from getting our new vegetable garden beds prepped and putting our first transplants and seeds in the ground for our fall crops. Our dairy goats and laying hens are doing as well as they can in the heat and while it always means our milk and egg production drops a bit we’re keeping them watered and cool. For the second year in a row we'll be offering pastured turkeys for sale at Thanksgiving and Christmas - the little poults arrived last week and are already growing up fast. After a hugely successful summer honey harvest we’re contemplating the possibility of a fall harvest as well, although the bees aren't as excited about the possibility as we are! Our education garden is finally getting some attention after the rush and busyness of summer harvest and we’re steadily getting things ready for welcoming out our first school groups. So, all that to say, that things around the farm are busy as usual!

New Curriculum on the Way!:

We’re really excited to announce that one of our long time goals is finally coming to fruition as a recently awarded grant has made it possible for us to hire some local educators to write curriculum for our local education programs. We’ll be telling you lots more about the curriculum as it gets nearer to completion so keep your eyes open for this exciting resource!


Heifer International for Educators:

I recently had the opportunity to attend Heifer International’s Teacher Training weekend. It was a great time of learning and dialog with other educators who are excited about educating children, youth and adults. If you aren't familiar with Heifer and their mission you will definitely want to check out the wealth of education resources available on their website.

Blessings on the beginning of the school year!

Matt Hess
Education Director

Friends of the Farm Newsletter - Autumn 2007

Dear Friend of the Farm,

Greetings from the Farm! Hopefully this newsletter finds you all doing well and weathering the last (hopefully!) of the summer heat. We had a couple of weeks to catch our breath but now we’re busily preparing for the upcoming Fall CSA, autumn school tours, pecan harvest and Fall Farm Day – in short we’re getting busy and we need your help! As usual I’m sending along this newsletter to those of you who have volunteered at the farm before as well as those of you who have expressed interest in doing so in the future. Listed below are a few opportunities for helping out that we have on the horizon as well as a few events World Hunger Relief is going to be involved in that we thought you might find interesting. Please give us a call or shoot us an email if you would like to lend a hand with one of the items below, or just show up and we'll put you to work! Feel free to pass this newsletter along to others that might be interested – all of us here at the World Hunger Relief Farm are looking forward to seeing you soon!

Matt Hess
Education Director

Fall Farm Day:

It still seems way too hot to be thinking about autumn but it’s just around the corner despite what the thermometer says and that means we’re already planning for our Fall Farm Day. This year's date is October 27th and as usual it will be packed with good food, live music, guest speakers, educational activities, farm tours and lots more! We’ll be needing lots of help leading up to the big day and even more help the day of the event so start thinking now about how you’d like to help out. We’ll keep you posted as the day draws near but mark your calendars now!

Farm and Food Leader’s Training:

We’re really excited about this opportunity for learning and conversation coming up in a couple of weeks on September 20-21 at Carver Park Baptist Church. In conjunction with the Texas Organic Farmer’s and Gardener’s Association (TOFGA) we’re co-hosting a two-day workshop designed to expand grassroots leadership around the state on current issues relating to food and farm policies. Multiple groups, facilitated by TOFGA are working to build a network of leaders who are informed and equipped to better communicate about farm and food policies in their communities. There is going to be an exciting group of participants and speakers from a wide variety of sectors and a little something for everyone to learn. For more information check out the detailed schedule on TOFGA's website, download a PDF flyer or give us a call at the farm.

Volunteer Training:

Coming up on Saturday October 6th we’ll be hosting a volunteer training day here at the World Hunger Relief Farm. Many of you have expressed an interest in helping out with our educational tours and activities like LOTOS and this is your chance to learn the ropes! We’ll be making a day out of it starting at 9:00 AM and ending with a LOTOS meal of our own in the afternoon. If you would like to participate in all or part of this fun day of learning and fellowship please give us a call or shoot us an email and let us know!

Hunger Awareness Training:

On Friday, September 28th, from 3-5 PM, McLennan County Hunger Coalition will be sponsoring a workshop hosted by University Baptist Church designed to educate church and community leaders in McLennan County around issues of hunger both domestically and internationally so that they may in turn educate and empower others. The training is free and open to all, folks from the farm will be helping out so be sure to spread the word and be there if you can, it should be a great time of learning and dialogue. (Download a PDF flyer here).

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

I noticed that Allison was reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Delimna and it reminded me to pass on another article from the New York Times, written by Pollan, from a couple of weeks ago that while very long is very much worth reading. Pollan is a good writer (also highly recommended are The Botany of Desire, Second Nature, and A Place of My Own) and those of you who have read Omnivore's Delimna will recognize and appreciate a return to a common theme, while those of you who haven't read it will hopefully be intrigued enough to do so. Here's a paragraph towards the end that I really liked, just to give you a sample:

Cook. And if you can, plant a garden. To take part in the intricate and endlessly interesting processes of providing for our sustenance is the surest way to escape the culture of fast food and the values implicit in it: that food should be cheap and easy; that food is fuel and not communion. The culture of the kitchen, as embodied in those enduring traditions we call cuisines, contains more wisdom about diet and health than you are apt to find in any nutrition journal or journalism. Plus, the food you grow yourself contributes to your health long before you sit down to eat it. So you might want to think about putting down this article now and picking up a spatula or hoe.

Trees, Property Rights and Soil Conservation

Well, for the inaugural post on the WHRI blog here is an article from the New York Times last week that gets pretty close to summing up a lot of what we're about around here. Its got it all - sustainable agricultural practices, conservation of soil, recovery of soil fertility, nitrogen fixing (thats right, I said nitrogen fixing!), ecological balance, the tenuous balance of rural development, civil rights, etc., etc., etc. Definitely worth a read. What I find interesting in this piece, as in others of its nature is how a return to "balance" in an ecological system is often the harbringer of "prosperity." Or if you were to phrase it in somewhat more spiritual language - creation functions as it was created to function when it is allowed to function as it was created.