The Safe Seed Pledge

Be a responsible gardener and always look for this pledge (or something similar) when purchasing your seeds.

Agriculture and seeds provide the basis upon which our lives depend. We must protect this foundation as a safe and genetically stable source for future generations. For the benefit of all farmers, gardeners and consumers who want an alternative, we pledge that we do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants. The mechanical transfer of genetic material outside of natural reproductive methods and between genera, families or kingdoms, poses great biological risks as well as economic, political, and cultural threats. We feel that genetically engineered varieties have been insufficiently tested prior to public release. More research and testing is necessary to further assess the potential risks of genetically engineered seeds. Further, we wish to support agricultural progress that leads to healthier soils, genetically diverse agricultural ecosystems and ultimately people and communities."

THE SAFE SEED INITIATIVE

The Council for Responsible Genetics

Getting to know us....

Since one of the touted benefits of buying local food is that you get to know your farmers, I thought would like to take this opportunity to present you with a thumbnail biography about the Farmer and myself. I have never done that before because it is very weird writing about yourself. If you read this blog regularly, you already know that growing things is a huge part of our life, so I am just going to write about non-farm stuff. Hope it turns out okay.

The Farmer

The Farmer was born in 1959 and grew up mostly in Charlotte. His dad was in law enforcement and his mom worked for the school system but they had both grown up in the farming community where we are presently located. His parents moved to Charlotte in the late 1950's but because their family ties remained strong, the Farmer spent lots of his weekends and most of his summers coming back to the farm where he spent much of his time helping his grandad and great-grandad work on the farm. He also spent a lot of time outdoors which is where he developed his great love and understanding of nature.

In Charlotte, his family lived outside the city limits, in a rural area where there were still several working farms. When he was about 12, he had a job, before school, at the dairy farm behind their house, feeding the cows as they were being milked. He had a great big bucket that he had to keep refilling at the silo and hauling back to the barn to keep the cows happy and calm. I think he might have also done some milking when he was a teenager.

After graduating high school, he attended college in North Carolina, where he played soccer (first ever freshman to start for his team...he was pretty good) and got a degree in Industrial Design and Engineering. He then spent 15 years or so working as an engineer for a design firm that made precision and micro instruments for industrial uses. Things like drill bits the size of a human hair and stuff like that. He also worked on projects for the auto and computer industry. Eventually, he left the field of engineering and headed West to pursue another life.

All of his life, the Farmer gravitated toward to the water, rivers, lakes or the oceans, which lead him to take up sailing at a young age and he remains a proficient big boat sailor to this day. His love of wind, water and waves, sparked an interest in a fledgling sport back in the early 80's called "windsurfing". Quickly mastering this sport, he spent several years with a corporate sponsorship on the windsurfing circuit. Kiteboarding came along in the 90's and the progression into that sport just came naturally. Today he continues to pursue these sports, whenever he can get time away from the farm to do so.

Gifted with an incredibly curious mind, the Farmer has many wide and varied interests that don't involve water. One area of particular interest to the Farmer is the study of Native American spiritualism and culture, particularly the Hopi. He plays guitar, dobro, banjo, percussion. He can build just about anything from the ground up and can make fire with a couple of sticks and a strip of leather. I'd have to say that The Farmer is pretty darned cool.

The Farmer's Wife (that's me)

I was born in Lincoln County more than a good while ago. I grew up a "town girl" but my maternal grandparents had acreage just outside of town and I spent most of my time there when I was a kid. They always had a huge garden and "put up" a lot of what the family ate during the year. They also raised their own beef and hogs. They didn't have any chickens because the neighbors had a huge chicken house and we used to go there and get eggs and chickens from them about once a week. I occasionally went down and helped feed and water the chickens. My favorite thing to do was to help with the biddies when they came out of the incubator (I must have been about 8-9 years old).

After graduating from high school, I went off to college, eventually got married, had kids, got divorced. Also did hard time (25 years) doing the 9-5 grind in the corporate snake pit. I came to my senses and got out and headed West, which is where I met The Farmer. We shared a love of nature.

THINKING ABOUT SIMPLE LIVING CONCEPTS

I have been kind of neglectful of the "simple living" part of this blog and I think that given the tighter belts that many people are experiencing right now, it is time I put up something about ways you can live better for less.

Anyone who has followed this blog for a while has read some of my descriptions of what it is like to live and work on an organic farm. We live a very simple and very modest lifestyle on this farm, by choice and by design, but we also enjoy lots of perks. It took me many years to understand the concept of want versus need but that I have a really good handle on that, I look at most everything in a totally different way that I used to. It is almost an unconscious reflex to weigh potential purchases and acquisitions by whether or not I truly "need" it or if I just "want" it.

Looking realistically at what is a necessity and what is a luxury helps us to be creative about using our limited resources for things we want or would like to have.

LOCA-RAVE

The media's labeling of things puts them into a box from which there is sometimes no escape. Sometimes this labeling doesn't even mean anything. Like when some catch phrase from television or some equally spurious source starts being used so much people stop questioning the origin or even the meaning.

Every year, yet another "think tank" (see what I mean?) comes out with an annual list of top new words or most overused words, it is always astounding to me that anyone even took the time to think about it in the first place. I know that in our modern culture there is always something new that might need a specialized description, but what is wrong with stringing together some of the old words that we have stuffed into the verbal broom closet and completely forgotten about.

In 2007, the Oxford dictionary word of the year was "locavore". While I am actually in the business of growing food for others and love the idea that more and more people are interested in what I do, I just don't like that word. It sounds pretentious to me, kind of like eating local food is something new. My grandmother lived during the time when if you didn't eat local food, you went hungry, simple as that. So, why do we need a new word (locavore) to describe something that existed for the entire history of mankind until less than 100 years ago? I don't get that at all.

And while I am on the subject, when did the market become "super"? (I got most of the following from a Wikipedia article on Supermarkets.)

The concept of a self-service grocery store was developed by Clarence Saunders. His first Piggly Wiggly store opened in Memphis, Tenn., in 1916. According to the Smithsonian, the first true supermarket in the United States was opened by a former Kroger employee, Michael J. Cullen, on August 4, 1930, inside a 6,000 square foot former garage in Jamaica, Queens, New York. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Hmmm? How about some more interesting factoids:

• Supermarkets, especially big box stores, have made the survival of the smaller family-run farm stands and neighborhood markets increasingly difficult.


• Supermarkets, in general, also tend to narrow the choices of fruits and vegetables by stocking only varieties with long storage lives, thus leading to medium-term extinction of the cultivation of other varieties. There are only about 80 varieties of vegetables being cultivated on factory farms in the US. 100 years ago, when everybody ate local produce, there were probably thousands because each state, region, even community that had favorites, etc. Thank goodness the interest in heirloom vegetables, fruits, etc. has kept some of these from obliteration.


• In the US, major-brand supermarkets often demand "slotting fees" from suppliers in exchange for premium shelf space and/or better positioning (such as at eye-level, on the checkout aisle or at a shelf's "end cap"). This extra supplier cost (up to $30,000 per brand for a chain for each individual SKU) may be reflected in the cost of the products offered. Some critics have questioned the ethical and legal propriety of slotting fee payments and their effect on smaller suppliers.

So, if you aren't shopping at your local farmer's market, why not?

THE ORGANIC ORACLE SPEAKS: ORGANIC IMPOSTORS

Unfortunately, anytime there is an economic demand for a product, impostors sometimes begin to spring up at an alarming rate. This is the situation that many small certified organic farmers are encountering with more and more regularity when trying to market their goods. At farmer's markets, roadside stands, buying clubs and other venues, there are unscrupulous growers who claim to be "almost organic" or to be using "organic methods".

Many times farmers have no real clear idea of the disservice they are doing to the concepts of organic farming when they misuse the term "organic". Many of them simply do not have access to or completely comprehend the organic standards of the National Organic Program. Some of them simply do not care.

Just because you didn't spray noxious chemical pesticides on your crops in no remote way makes you an organic grower, nor does it adhere to the organic method. This system of agriculture is a synergistic partnership between the grower, the environment, combined with a deep respect and philosophical understanding of what this partnership requires. Unfortunately, it has become a marketing scheme in the last decade, instead of the principled ideals that were originally conceived.

Part of the organic method requires the support and establishment of habitat for beneficial insects, birds and other helpful creatures. It is not about controlling nature but rather finding the balance between what nature creates and working within that creation. It requires strong faith in the perfect order of all things in nature and to work with and within the natural cycles that occur. The truest principles of organic farming are not about commerce, they are about a deep and abiding love of Mother Earth and about taking our earthly stewardship responsibilities very seriously. It's really not all about the money.

TO CERTIFY OR NOT TO CERTIFY, THAT IS THE QUESTION?

There is an exemption from certification for legitimate very small organic growers. These producers are allowed to call their products organic, provided that they meet the specifications for this exemption. Part of the onus of responsibility for these non-certified organic growers is to keep the exact same paperwork and follow the exact same rules that certitied growers use. Only then is the exemption legitimate.

Ergo, the requirements to legally label a product as organic (non-certified) by falling under this exemption category, is exactly the same as a certified grower. All they are exempt from is inspection and paying for certification, which incidentally is not expensive at all. This is another common argument for not being certified that is completely bogus...most certifiers have caps on what they can charge and the USDA offers financial assistance to help with the costs of certification.

Since the other most common argument against certification among these pseudo-organic growers is that the paperwork is too burdensome for them to bother with but that is also not true.The documentation required is, if anything, an extremely useful tool that helps a farmer track his progress and have a yearly record to refer back to when planning his growing seasons. It is no more involved that keeping track of how you are managing your business. To be successful, any well managed business must keep good records, so what it the difference?

(The link below will take you to brief outline lists some of the key points that make certification of a producer/product important to anyone who eats organic food.)

Certified versus Non-Certified

CONSUMER RESPONSIBILITY

So, the only way to be certain that you are, in fact, getting what you are paying for is to ask for the grower's certification or to question their methods. It is your right to know. Organic certification is your assurance that the grower has done his or her due dilligence in order to obtain that certification. Third party certifiers for the USDA inspect farms to make sure that they are following what amounts to the strictest food growing standards in the world today. If your grower falls under the small grower's exemption, he/she should be able to explain the regulations that cover his/her operation.

And the growers are not the only ones at fault with regard to misinformation about organics. A majority of consumers don't really know exactly what they are seeking when it comes to organics and so the waters are muddied even further. Lots of consumers are really looking for fresh, local produce, not truly organic produce and this lack of distinction between two very different products feeds the cult of misinformation about organics that abounds at farmer's markets, etc.

What the Future Holds for New Moon Farm

Wow! I thought it was time to post something important to our many loyal customers and blog followers, since I know that many of you might be curious as to what is happening with Dave and myself right now, in regards to the Farm. Since many of my readers knew us during Dave's original bout with renal cancer and were so supportive at that time, it seemed that it was important to let them know that Dave is now in the fight of his life.

Back in October of 2008, a rather large tumor was discovered when it caused him to have a compression fracture of one of his lumbar vertebra. It was painful and he had extensive surgery to repair the damage but the scans he had for this event revealed that the cancer was back in several spots and he had moved into Stage IV of this dreadful disease. Treatment options are extremely limited and with rather small rates of success for the ones that do exist. But, most of them were not available at all in 2005 when he was originally diagnosed and had his kidney removed, so at least we have some small glimmer of hope for a miracle and are thankful for that.

Throughout this ordeal of the last nearly 5 years, we have never wavered from our pledge to our friends and customers to provide them with the best and healthiest food we could possible grow. Even when he could hardly stand for the pain, he insisted that crops had to get into the ground and weeds had to be hoed. This year, we struggled but with the help of many wonderful and generous volunteers, we managed to have a pretty good season. Nothing like in the past, but satisfactory anyway.

One of the other reasons I am posting this is because we mostly know many of our followers through the Farm and the Farmer's markets we have attended over the last 10 years. Some of them we have seen in recent years, but some of them not at all but the occasional email lets me know they still follow the blog and check out the website. Everybody expresses their concern but nobody ever asks the hard questions, so I thought I would answer them anyway.

Because of the seriousness of Dave's illness, there is always the possibility that we will no longer be able to operate New Moon Farm Organics. That is the reality of it. I think that a personal explanation is in order. Rumor always swirls around events that are not explained adequately and I simply do not want any misinformation about our Farm to be out there in the world. Once those kinds of things hit the air, it is hard to call them back. No matter whether there is a shred of truth or not, people sometimes choose to believe what they hear without ever checking the facts and I want them out there. (I am sure that there was plenty of speculation about why we stopped coming to Charlotte Farmer's Market, when the simple fact is that we have a much better and more lucrative market, 15 minutes from the Farm. Simple as that.) If, and I do stress IF, we are no longer able to continue farming, it will be the absolute last resort we have and it will be because of Dave's health. No other reason.

What 2010 holds is anybody's guess but we plan on pressing ahead with doing the thing we love best....growing things and going to our farmer's market. We are looking to that end for 2010, also and will be making some adjustments to how we do things to accommodate the situation. I am neither as strong and agile or as intuitive about growing things as Dave, but I can hold my own. I am looking forward to getting into a couple of new areas, which we have not been able squeeze in for the last few years. By reducing the size of our CSA to a manageable number and time frame, I foresee that it will be a good year in 2010. The first segment of CSA will be just for spring and I am looking forward to meeting a whole new crop of families to provide with awesome food! There are a couple of dedicated folks that have expressed an interest in helping out for the entire season next year and I hope that comes to fruition. And we will again be offering our "Hands Across the Table" work for food program in 2010.

Blessings and gratitude to each and every one of our customers. You have all been a part of our success over the last 10 years and we want everyone to know how much we have appreciated all the support we received over the years. Come see us at the Davidson Farmer's Market this summer. We'd love to see you!

Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to all!

Suzanne and Dave
New Moon Farm Organics

Wrote this a while back and never published it...may still be relevant

The title of this blog is "Simply Sustainable - My Life on an Organic Farm". It mostly talks about the ups and downs of living and working as a farmer. But I wasn't always a farmer. In fact, my previous incarnation was about as far from farmer as you can get. I worked in the financial services industry for over 25 years....securities and commodity brokerage, to be specific.

My epiphany that maybe that industry wasn't where I needed to be came to me back in 1992 and it took me two years to shake myself loose from it and "retire" from my long career there. I have never looked back, although sometimes I do miss the money. Of course, that only lasts for about 30 seconds because my old life always flashes before my eyes and brings me back to reality because the truth of it is that I am not sure that I would have survived another year in that business, much less the 15 years since my departure.


That previous life does, however, give me a unique perspective on the present state of the economy, the stock market and the rest of the world. It gave the the courage to change things in my life and not to accept the status quo. Purposely, I have distanced myself from the reality that most people live in daily (9 to 5 job, big mortgage payment, credit card debt, etc.). It may seem that I gave up a lot, by today's standards of success, to get to the place I am in my present life. The money, the house, the car, the travel abroad...none of it really ended up meaning much after all, once it was gone. For a while, it was kind of like an out of body experience, but when I settled back down to earth, it was all good. Don't get me wrong. I am grateful for the opportunities I had to visit other places in the world. I am glad that I had the experience of living the so-called "good life", because it gave me a reference point. I think of the life that I live now as the "sweet life" and so much better than good.

Like anybody else, my life is far from perfect. But it is what makes me happy and makes my life relevant. I have truly never been happier, in my adult life. My work has meaning to me and I know that I am doing something good for myself, for other people and for my little corner of the world.

Of course, I would not be honest if I didn't give a lot of credit to the people around me who have supported and loved me no matter how radical or strange my choices may have seemed to them. And I certainly could not have reached this level of satisfaction in my life without having my best friend by my side every step of the way. Sometimes, there are people who come into you life that have such a profound effect. If you have the wisdom and openess to accept what they bring to you, it can change your life forever.

I don't want to sound cliche, because I truly believe what I am about to say, but there is no other way to say it. Opening yourself up to the endless possibilities of the Universe is the most important step anyone can take to having their best life ever. We are only given one life at a time to live, so make this one count. In the end, it really is all about the journey.

Incredible Photography to See

Anyone who has followed this blog for a while knows that I am nutty about my beneficial insects and reluctantly enamored of even the not so beneficial ones. As I am out in the field, I get to observe up close, a tiny universe that many people never get to see. The life and activity in, under, around and between growing plants is a wonder to behold and I am in awe of it. Getting down and dirty has a whole different meaning for me that lots of folks although once in a while, I find someone who shares my wonderment.

This photo gallery (link follows), which I ran across this morning looking for something else, belongs to an epic talent. His pictures show the incredible beauty of these humble creatures that we most often take for granted. ( Yes, we all know that butterflies are beautiful but then they were always showoffs.) These pictures are sublime in their power. Take a look and you'll see what I mean.

Thomas Shahan Photography

If you click on the individual thumbnails, there is commentary and more pictures that follow each one.

Farm Daze

This has been about the most hectic week I have spent in quite a while. Last Saturday, we had our last CSA pick up of the season (we go on for a really long time), as well as our regular winter Farmer's Market in Davidson. That means I got to pick all day Friday and it was COLD! I have to get down on my knees to pick lettuce and other baby sized greens, and since the ground was still wet from the rain just a couple of days prior, I was damp and muddy in no time. Only thing that kept that day from being totally miserable is that the greens I was picking were so beautiful, it was easy to focus on them and kind of meditate my way thru this chore.

Because we were trying to get the last CSA pick up arranged at a time that everyone could have some stuff for Thanksgiving from the Farm, I scheduled the last pick up for the Tuesday groups to be on Monday, to accommodate travelers, etc. That means I had to pick on Sunday, which I don't ordinarily do, but this time it was necessary. Problem was that it rained most of the day and it was only about 50 degrees. I nearly froze!!! Hypothermia is possible in 50 degree water and I might has well have been in that situation. Once I was done and came into the house, it took me hours to warm up, even with a wool blankie tucked around my feet and some serious Chai Tea.

On Monday, I went out twice to do CSA pick ups, one in Huntersville and one in Charlotte, so Tuesday was mostly an all day thing. I left my house around 8 am and got in for the night around 7 pm. It was misty, moisty, not so cold so I was able to sit in my car, waiting on members to pick up and read the better part of a Belva Plain novel. I don't ordinarily read that kind of novel, but it was the only thing I had in the car with me, since I forgot my bookbag in my rush to get out the door Monday morning.

Tuesday, I spend the entire day (8am until 7pm, again...) at doctor's appointments with The Farmer. PET scans, CT, MRI and then on to the doctor to have them read and to talk about how things are going with The Farmer's cancer treatment. Some problems showed up and we have to go back next week for another indepth consult and more tests.

On Wednesday, I marketed, cleaned up some and worked on prep for Thanksgiving dinner. Mostly I ended up running errands because I forget how hectic things get off the Farm sometimes, especially around holidays and it took 4 times as long to do everything from go to the bank to picking up chicken feed. It was nice, too, in a way, because everybody was friendly and wanted to chat instead of the usual blank faced stares and/or non-committal comments I often notice. I am not really down with Thanksgiving in the spirit it was created but I do love it when my fellow citizens of the planet are imbued with the holiday spirit. Seems like they are a little kinder, a little more thoughtful and a little more aware of other people. Although it sounds cliche, of course, I wish it could be like this 24/7, 365(6). Maybe the world wouldn't be in such a state.

Thursday was the holiday so that doesn't need much discussion. It was nice to be with the family and the dinner was excellent. Wish everybody could have been there, but we'll get the rest of them at Christmas.

Friday, The Farmer has a nosebleed that started Thursday night and wouldn't stop, so we spent most of yesterday (it is Saturday as I am typing this)in the emergency room at the local hospital. The nosebleed thing is not related to the cancer or its treatment in anyway, but is just adds a lot of misery to an already uncomfortable situation. The poor doctor on call at the ER was alone, except for the nursing staff, and he was running ragged. Kudos to him for being the doctor who worked yesterday. There had been two relative serious auto accidents earlier in the a.m. and he had dealt with that as well as the usual "day after eating bad food" customers in the ER (remember, not everybody is a good cook) as well as some people who were just plain sick.

Anyway, we got the nosebleed taken care of and have an appt. to get more treatment on that on Monday, so I am hoping that the rest of today and tomorrow proves to be a little more restful because besides taking The Farmer to the ENT on Monday, I have a meeting at 1pm, and getting my windshield replaced on my car in the afternoon. I neglected to mention that on Monday last, while sitting and waiting on my CSA members, a big truck flew by and popped a big rock onto my windshield and it cracked all over...can't be repaired, has to be replaced.

So, that was my week last week...thought it would be good to let you all know that life on the Farm is not always as peaceful and idyllic as it might seem, although if you notice from this post, all the chaos happened off the Farm....

Simply Thankful

What a life! Every day I thank the stars that I am able to live this life I have. Even when adversity is thrown my way, I always have something to be thankful for. I sincerely wish that everyone could experience this way of living.

I go to bed when I am tired and get up when I am ready. I almost never fail to fall asleep soon as my head hits the pillow. Stress happens, but not anything that I can't handle. The time clock I punch is regulated by sunrise and sunset. I breath clean country air (except for when the neighboring dairy farm cleans their barn or the manure guys bring a load in...but that just smells like reality to me). I drink water from a well that is 400+ feet deep and it comes up cold and sweet, like God intended. You can't get water like that in a bottle. I eat mostly organic food that I mostly grow myself. I preserve summer harvests to enjoy in the cold of winter, although we usually have something growing year round! When it is time for dinner, I take my picking basket and head outside to peruse the "aisles" of my personal grocery. I can bake my own bread, make my own apple butter or strawberry jam to go with it. I hang my clothes outside on a line and they come in smelling like sunshine and fresh air, instead of fabric softener. I live with someone whom I love more than words, who makes me laugh and treats me like a princess.

I don't need much in the way of material goods which is a good thing, because I don't have a lot of that anymore. Yet I feel richer than any king because after 25 years of chasing success in a career that was took too much of my life away from me and my family, I finally realized that you really can't buy happiness. One key to realy happiness is having someone in your life who compliments you in such a way that it allows you to be secure in your relationship, to have complete trust in that other person, which in turn allows you the freedom to become "all that you can be".I don't personally know too many people who actually have that in their lives and because I do, it is one of the things that I am most and truly thankful for. I know that I am a very lucky person in that regard and never, never take it for granted in any way. I love you, honey.

I also love my parents, my brother, my kids, my grandkids, my inlaws (past and present), my friends and am thankful for each and everyone of them. I feel blessed to have been given a rare and special childhood, one from which I have not a single bad memory. Thanks, Mom and Dad. I am thankful that I was lucky enough to have had all my grandparents alive until I was well into adulthood and that I have wonderful memories from each of them.

I am thankful that I have intelligence, compassion, strength and talents. I use them as wisely as I can and try to make my world a better place so that my grandchildren will inherit a world as beautiful as the one I did.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Someone asked me recently how many staff members we have here at the Farm this year. I didn't mean to, because it seemed rude after the fact, but I actually laughed out loud. Staff? How many? Well, let me see, 90% of the time, there is the Farmer and there is me. And this year, the Farmer's time has been cut dramatically, due to illness.

This has been a long and ardous year for us here at the Farm. Without the Farmer at the helm much of the time, many of his duties have fallen to me and I will be the first to admit that I am, depending on the task, about 30-50% as good at almost everything that entails. I always appreciated how much he did and how hard he worked, but now that appreciation is 10-fold. However, much of the time this year, it has just been me. I do all the picking, prepping, packing, going to markets. Planting, weeding, etc., I get my share of those chores, too.

While the Farmer has been out of commission much of the time this year, we have had volunteers come out to help on many occasions...and believe me, I am thankful and more grateful than I can express for their help. We couldn't have done many things this year without them. In fact let me take a moment to thank them.

THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

THE REST OF THE STORY....


If you have ever grown anything organically...food plants, flowers, etc....than you know that it is a constant dance between man and nature, trying to find that comfortable balance where the chaos is reduced to a level you can live with. Trying to control Mother Nature is an exercise in futillity, so the best you can do is to try to go with the flow. Unless you are using noxious chemicals and implements of destruction that rape, pillage and plunder the land (if you don't get the implication there, I am talking about conventional farming methods....), the best you can hope for is that your dance will be a classic ballet, instead of a frenzied Cossack dance.


Nature is one of the strongest forces in the universe, is in a constant state of flux and always searching for balance. When man attempts to control that force, be it organically or artificially*, it creates a situation in which chaos is invited to the dance. You open even a small void and a horde of things are standing in the wings waiting for the change to fill that void...kind of like the ambitious understudy standing in the winge, waiting for the prima ballerina to break her leg. (I am really enjoying this dance metaphor...totally fits.) Insects, weeds, birds, deer, groundhogs, the neighbor's unleashed dog, disease, fungi, viruses, bacteria, chemical reactions and natural decay....living things and inert substances...everything just waiting for their chance to step into the opening.

Trying to figure out the best and most effective way to deal with problems, without compromising principles, is something that we deal with on a daily basis. Vigilence is generally the best option and keeping an eye on things is never ending. Averting situations before they occur is preferable to having to find a solution once a problem arises. That serves us well here.

*Of course this is my personal opinion but it is based in fact and on my own experience. I consider conventional farming methods to be "artificial". Before the first seed hits the ground, the soil is assaulted with machinery and chemicals that destroy rather then build anything useful. Herbicides and fungicides are applied because the monocultural systems that are prevalent in conventional farming are so unnatural that even more artificial means are required to control weeds, disease, etc. Some (many?) crops are now planted with seeds that are not even natural in origin, which is another entire soapbox subject. Organisms that belong in the dirt are destroyed and trace minerals are leached from the soil, until it is as inert as sand. Because anything the even resembles something life giving has been depleted from this dead soil, food crops have to be pumped up with water and fed with artificial and chemical fertilizers. Give me my organic methods any day of the week. That'd just be my opinion....

The Farmer's Story - An update on New Moon Farm

Hello to everyone who reads my blog. I am very sorry that I have not posted anything in so very long, but posting here has been toward the bottom of the priorities list. For those of you who know us personally, you know about the journey we are presently on. It is a long and rocky one, fraught with twists and turns that sometimes make even simple things a bit difficult. For those of you who do not know us personally, I am going to talk about things here at the Farm via this blog entry.

THE FARMER'S STORY

New Moon Farm is, and has always been, a labor of love for the two of us. Together, we are the beating heart of this farm, but the Farmer is its true "soul". Without him, we could never have achieved anything close to what we have at this farm. His creativity, intuition and knowledge about the nature of living things has provided the cornerstone of what we do here. This has been a hard year for the Farm, because the Farmer has not been 100% for almost a year now. We have been pressing forward with all things organic, but it has been a rocky road for us both.

New Moon Farm was originally established in 1999, with our intention to homestead and live as simply, organically and self-sufficiently as possible as our main goals. Since that original plan took shape, the Farm has evolved and grown in many positive ways. We expanded the number of acres we farm from 7 to 17 (out of 30), became certified organic in 2004 and established and operated a CSA since 2003. In 2005, the Farmer was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma and at that time, he had the "bad" kidney removed and after three months was pronounced cancer free and fit to farm! He never even missed planting season because the surgery was in January and we didn't start planting until April, after he was released from his doctor's care.

In October of 2008, however, things changed. The cancer returned and caused a spinal injury that has been both debilitating and extremely painful. Since February of this year, the Farmer has been battling this cancer. In the four years since his original diagnosis, there have been many forward steps in treatments but like with so many cancer treatments, sometimes it is worse that the disease. If you have missed seeing him at markets this year, and wondered why, that is the reason. He is spiritually and mentally mostly unchanged, but the physical limitations brought on by this disease have been dramatic and challenging. Obviously, the Farm continues on....maybe not as efficiently as previously, with the Farmer at the helm, but it does continue.

(This year, we have had many wonderful volunteers come to help out at the farm and we thank them for their caring and for the time that they shared with us. I hope they went away with a little more knowledge and a feeling of knowing that they made a difference in our lives. Thanks to them all.)

Many of you who know us are already aware that this Farm and the life we lead is something that we consider a "calling". We were drawn to this life by our strong commitment to actively doing something to make our lives and the world around us a better place. Even though we have only physically impacted a 30 acre parcel of land, I like to think that we have inspired and encouraged other people we come into contact with to do the same with their little corners of the planet and that is all good. There is a deep spirituality to what we do, a connection to the Universe that is hard to describe but it is the most fulfilling and happy part of my life so far and that is saying a lot. Even with the seriousness of the Farmer's illness, we still plan to continue what we do, although we may have to make some minor adjustments along the way.

Thank you again for reading my blog and hope to see you all around at the markets next year. Once the cold weather sets in, I plan on cranking up this blog, as well as my new one on living simply and organically. Watch here for announcement on when that one is launched.

Where the heck is the summer going???

I can't believe it is already August. Where the heck did the time get to? We are now at the half way (just about) point for our CSA/Farmer's Market circuit and so far it has been a pretty good run. I am facing most of August without any volunteers coming out to help, so I might have to drum up some new ones. ; )

There are many, many muskmelons in the patch right now, just about a week from ripening. From that point forward, we should have melons of different types over the next 4-6 weeks. There are a couple of interesting heirlooms that many people in this area have never seen before and that should be fun. One of them looks like it has warts all over it, but the plants don't much like heat and are very finicky. A couple of years ago I grew this one and out of my whole row, I got one edible melon....so we'll see how that goes this season. I have varieties like Noir de Carmes, Delice d'Table, Canoe, Cane Creek, Emerald Gem, Pepo, Sakata's Sweet, Haogen, Amarillo Oro, Hale's Jumbo and Sugar Baby. There may be a couple more, but I'd have to go get the log book to say for sure about anything else.

Sweet potatoes are vining now and the butternut squash are starting to turn. Those are like fall staples and some of our most popular veggies. The okra is just now coming into its season and I should be picking it weekly now. Eggplant, likewise. Cukes, limas, yellow wax beans and basil are all about a week or two from harvest. Yellow squash is on its way out for now but will put in a brief fall appearance in September sometime. The zukes and patty pans will be in the mix for the next rotation of squash. It sometimes seems like squash are invading the Universe around here, but with the way our summer heat can blast they are one of the veggies you can usually count on. Not always true, though. Last year, we only harvested about 2 bushels off the entire 200 plant squash patch and then the squash bugs sent them belly up in a matter of a 7-10 days.

Grape tomatoes continue to produce but the earlier season tomatoes are starting to poop out a bit.The late patch is looking good. Unfortunately, some of the more exotic heirlooms are looking a little piqued so I don't know if I will get more than a smattering of any of those. I noticed that some of the peppers are blooming again, but with the heat returning, I think we may not see the biggest harvest of those until later in this month. The corn is most likely done for now, but the late patch is looking healthy and hearty, so we should have one more harvest before the end of September. Field peas should come in by the end of the month or possibly the first week of September. There are several interesting heirlooms planted and I hope they make enough to have at least two rounds of those.

It is that time of the season to start planting for fall and we have several things already up and growing. I planted 14 rows of sugar snap peas and they are all popping up now. Most of the fall greens are really fast growing, so we won't plant those for another couple of weeks. When nighttime temps fall a little, that is the time to get those in the ground. Exception to that is kale, collards, beets and carrots. I will be prepping beds for roots later this week, as well as lettuce. I will plant my final annual herbs this week, also.

Hope everybody is enjoying the weather this summer. It has been a welcome change from last summer. We have missed most of the rain that has occurred around us and continue to have to use the irrigation well, but overall, it has been a great year to be a farmer!!

It has been a really long time since I posting anything interesting here. I apologize to my handful of faithful followers for that. This is the busiest time of year for us and frankly, when I come in at night I am not full of interesting or meaningful things to type. Plus, usually by the time I get to sit down, I immediately fall asleep.
I watched exactly 4 minutes and 44 seconds of Valkyrie last night and it was the third time, so I am sending it back to Netflix today....I give up. I would say that I thought it was the movie, but I did the same thing with the last three movies I tried to watch.

We no longer have television, by the way. When the switch to HD came, we decided that we weren't buying into that whole thing and just didn't get the converter box. Frankly, we didn't watch that much anyway. Mostly used it to watch DVD's, etc. Our television is so old it doesn't even have stereo speakers, so most DVDs are not even that much fun to watch because the sound is always terrible. Dolby THX doesn't sound great in monaural mode.....

Anyway, my mom thought we would miss television, so she very kindly bought us the converter and lo! and behold! we still got no reception, even with the outside antenna. So, that settled it. The television has been unplugged since analog finally died back in June. I haven't missed it for a second. However, I must confess that we DO watch somethings on HULU, etc. I love being able to pick and choose when, what, etc. I watch.
AND the DVD player in my computer is waaaaaaay better than the one with the TV, the speakers rock (we listen to a lot of streaming music on the 'puter) and my monitor is almost as big as the television (I have this huge 26 inch flat panel and the television as 27 inches...). but enough about that. I was making a point anyway about how living simply doesn't have to be dictated by what everybody else is doing (HDTV was my example for this).

Things at the Farm have been really busy this year. The Farmer was out of commission for at least 3 1/2 months and he is still intermittently out (his cancer treatment takes it out of him sometimes) so we have had a wonderful bastion of voluteers who have helped us keep the Farm running this season. I am doing only three farmer's markets and a very small CSA this year because we knew what we could manage on a minimal scale and so far it has worked out pretty well. Have met some incredible people and made some great friends through the volunteer network! We could not have done it without any of them and we have only praise and thanks for them all. Of course, we could still use anybody that wants to put in a day's hard work in the dirt.
Email me at suzanne@organicnc.com if you are interested.

Right now, we have a whole bunch of wonderful things coming up. Since we were about a month late getting things in the ground this year (that was because of all the spring rain....), now we have things coming in at a later time of year and will have things much later than usual...things like okra, eggplant, peppers, cukes and melons, in particular. And we have a late crop of tomatoes that look like they are going to be very productive. We always have butternuts and sweet taters in the fall, along with greens, lettuces, etc. but this year, we should have some summer veggies lasting well into September and possibly even October if the weather stays as warm as late as it has in the last several years. We are setting broccoli, cabbage, etc. out in the next week, so overall it should be a very good fall season this year. There has been a whole lot of rain all around us this summer, so we have had to use the irrigation system more than we would have liked but that is just the nature of farming. I have stood on our front porch and literally watched it rain at the bottom of the hill but nary a drop at our house. Since I can't control the weather, I try not to think much about it, but sometimes you can't help but wonder why.

The chickens have given me nothing but a headache this summer. They are eating me out of house and home and I am basically getting about 2 dozen eggs per week....we have a predator getting in the henhouse, breaking and stealing eggs. Luckily, the hens are not being harmed, but some days every egg in the house is broken before I can get in to gather them. Very frustrating. I think I am going to have to sell off the barred rocks and the black sex-link hens and just keep the Delawares. But the upside is that I learned a WHOLE lot about chickens since last year and I am thankful for the experience.


I hope to be getting back to post here more regularly in the future. Check back and see how I am doing.

Farmer Dave's Blog about his illness

If you want to get updates on The Farmer's health, visit

http://farmerdavesblog.blogspot.com/

STATE OF THE FARM ADDRESS MAY, 2009

For those of you who follow this blog, I apologize for not posting in so long. It is crazy at the Farm these days, and not just in the fields. Some days I feel like I am being pulled by both arms, both legs and the top of my head. We are still dealing with The Farmer's illness, which is one of the harder things to deal with at the present time. I have a separate blog for updates on his illness, so I won't post a bunch of stuff about that here. I want to talk about the Farm for a change, so here we go.

THE FIELDS

Things are going well in the field, albiet slowly. Without The Farmer's strong and able hands, we are kind of like the Keystone Kops somedays, but mostly we are getting things done. We have two incredible people working with us this year (Brooks and Benjamin, take a bow) and they are so much help, it is like having a huge weight lifted from our shoulders. They aren't here everyday but put in double time when they are. It is such a blessing to have them and I thank the Universe for sending them every day.

Right now, we have so many things that are on the verge of something big, I can hardly contain myself. Green beans, edamame, corn, tomatoes, tomatoes and more tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash!!!
We got our greenhouse finished this winter and it has made a tremendous difference for us because we have been able to get plants ready to put out at the times we used to plant seeds. Of course, we still are sticklers for everything being in the proper season, but we are now on the early edge of those seasons, instead of the tail end. The butternut squash went into the ground this week, and the okra will be in soon. I had to search for yellow wax bean seeds (most of the seed houses had very limited quantities this year for some reason) and I now have those in hand, so we will be planting them soom.
The green beans we plant are varied, from flat Italians to heirloom cornfield beans this year. Cornfield beans are called that because they were traditionally planted at the base of a corn stalk and allowed to climb the stalk, thereby getting two crops planted in the same space. We are going to try that this year but I understand that timing is everything (if corn is too small beans will pull down the plant, if corn is too big it will shield beans from sun....) so we'll see how that turns out.
I will be planting melons and cukes in flats this week, so that they will be ready to plant out in a couple of weeks. They grow incredible fast in controlled conditions and this way I can make sure that my specialty melons have a fair chance at making something. I hate to buy expensive, exotic seeds and them have them rot in the ground befor they come up, which happens sometimes. I have things like Crane melons and Charentais, something called a Toad Melon(because of the skin, I gather)
We have Moon and Stars Watermelons and our old favorite, Sugar Baby. We will be growing Armenian Cukes this year, which are really a weird melon that looks and tastes like a cuke but with less seeds and no "burping".

THE MARKETS

This year we are trying to be at three markets in our area, as well has having a small farm stand at here at our location. We have been open to the public in the past but it never worked out too well, so I am having a little bit of trepidation about that but I hope that it works out okay. We have invited other local farmers to bring stuff over and participate so that should be loads of fun!

We are in Davidson on Saturdays and will be in Charlotte on Saturdays, starting in mid-June. We are at the Huntersville market on Tuesdays and here at the Farm on Wednesdays, so that is a pretty full schedule. Of course, a number of years ago, I tried doing a market every day but Sunday and that didn't work out so well....but it did give me A LOT of diverse experience.

You can stop the rain dancing now...

All of those rain dances I did out back, must have worked. Everything here at the Farm is so green and growing right now, you can almost see it happening before your eyes.

We will be picking strawberries for market this weekend. They are wonderful, as usual, this year. Might be a little gritty, though, because we don't have the mulch finished yet. Oh well, maybe that will be a deterrent to people eating them unwashed. That drives me crazy, by the way. Strawberries grow in dirt and sit on the ground, there is gonna be some dirt on the berries. Organic dirt isn't sterile...

I see that happening all the time at farmer's markets. People will buy some fruit and immediately start eating it while strolling the market. While I am a firm believer in the fact that being exposed to things makes your body become resistant to them, eating fruit that has pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and who knows what all else on them, just doesn't seem prudent to me. And I didn't mention all the handling they may have had to get to the table at those markets....

My hens are laying like crazy right now, but everytime it cools off, they do too, meaning that they slow down their laying a bit. It is okay, though, all those eggs go to much good usage.

In some of my previous posts, , I mentioned that we were having some issues with the Farmer's back that has now it has become an even bigger issue. Four years ago, he was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma. If that sounds like a big scary disease, it is. No question. It strikes like a cobra that has to be killed in one blow. With RCC, that blow is the removal of the kidney, where the tumor originates. If it hasn't moved on to other parts of the body, you are pronounced cured and sent home, told to get a CT scan once a year and have a nice life.

Sometimes it doesn't come back, only that rarely happens. This is a hard disease to fight. The problem is that it doesn't respond to normal chemo. Radiation as most people know it, has little effect on this cancer, but there are some cutting edge techniques being used not that may render the old info obsolete. There has been some real progress and some profound breakthroughs made in the treatment of this cancer over the last four years, provided you are able to obtain these treatments. While there is no "cure" there are at least some life extending options available now that were only experimental in 2005. Biggest problem with them, though, is that the possible side effects are pretty intense and QOL can be considerably affected by them. Plus, there are other stumbling blocks to the newer treatments, particularly cost, location and availability.

This is one insidious cancer, because it is always lurking in the background of your life, waiting to rise again from the ashes. But, unlike the mythical Phoenix, it has a much more sinister purpose and it usually comes back with a vengeance. So, you have to decide how you are going to live your life...sitting in the house waiting for the ax to fall or live your life like there is no tomorrow...always in the moment and looking forward to the next. Luckily for us, we chose the latter.

The last four years have been up and down for us but we have never waivered from our mission of growing the healthiest food we possibly could and to get it to the people in our community. Our committment to our brothers and sisters under Mother Earth has always been at the forefront of everything we do. We live our own lives with that committment to excellent stewardship always at the forefront (by example is always the best way to teach) and try to never waiver from our goals of sustainability, self-sufficiency and simplicity. In some ways, that has made us outsiders, not quite fitting into the flow of what is happening around us.

Sometimes it almost seems like people are hinting to us that we should apologize for how we live and I can't imagine why. Our life here is one of relative peace and harmony and if that sounds hippyish, that is because it is. There was nothing wrong with those lofty ideals that so many had in the 1960's and early 70's, just with the means to the end and so it didn't stick. Humans are pack animals and we are hardwired on some levels to always try to fit in, which usually means taking the path of least resistance. Ergo, the old hippies became wealthy opening health food stores and record companies. Personally, I became a financial advisor and spent 25 years on that rat wheel before I could get off and save myself.

Finding ourselves in this present position, that of knowing basically nothing about what the future holds, has left us bruised and battered but underneath all that, we know how strong our bond is and know that we will deal with it as best we can. Hopefully, our best will result in only positive things and we will continue along the path we have chosen. Love really is the answer and we have that in spades.

During the next several weeks and months there is a lot of work to be done both at the Farm and to fight this illness, so I may not get to post here at this blog very often. I may be wrong about the postings, though, because I find this is a good place to vent, let out feelings, etc. especially since this blog is about my life on an organic farm and this is all part of that life.
Namaste

Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Whew! This spring has been one wild weather ride after another. So far, I have covered, uncovered, sprayed with water, shaded, opened and closed doors (on the greenhouse) and put up barriers to keep the wind from blowing seedlings out of their little pots. And that was just last week. But all kidding aside, this has been one of the springs that we usually have around here. I guess with the last couple of years of drought we forgot what a real spring season in this area can be like. At least it is warming up now. APril 14th was the last average date to frost here in our zone, so keep your fingers crossed that the average is the norm this year.

EXCITING NEW ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT 2009 SEASON

I am excited and pleased to announce that the Farmer and I have decided that we are going to be open to the public this year. Granted, it will only be for one day per week, but it will be all day and mid-week on Wednesdays. Hours will be from 9am until 5 pm, starting June 3rd, with hours to be extended for July and August, maybe even into September. The last open day will be October 28th. We chose Wednesday because we are very limited as to when we can be here all day, due to the rest of our market schedule.

This is also kind of an experiment and if it works out, we will expand for next year. I admit that we have resisted doing this in the last several years because frankly, the last time we tried to have a produce stand at the Farm it didn't work out so well but I am optomistic that things will be different this time around.

Also, we are adding Wednesday at the Farm as a CSA pick up location, for those folks that live
too far from Charlotte, Davidson or Huntersville. It appears that there is a lot of interest in Salisbury, Statesville, China Grove, etc. and this location will be much more convenient for them, especially with the extended hours. I wish we could have extended hours at the other market locations where CSA picks up but we are bound by the constraints of those market hours.

The Farmer is still recovering from his back surgery. It has been nearly 7 weeks and while he is still experiencing some pain and weakness, overall he is making progress. He had 3 weeks of radiation treatments and that took a toll on his energy level and general well being, but that is over now and he is getting a little better every day. We don't start the next round of treatment for another 3 weeks and so are trying to enjoy this break. The therapies he will be undergoing are extremely hard on the body and we have our fingers crossed that he will have minimal side effects. But, like everything else, it is a "wait and see" scenario. His doctor is an expert in the particular type of rare carcinoma that the Farmer has and we feel very blessed to have been accepted as patients. Also, the incredible outpouring of volunteers, coming out to help on the Farm has been wonderful and we are thankful for them everyday. Things are going pretty well, although we are slightly behind in planting...although that is due to all the rain we have been having lately. Hope it dries out soon...my chickens are starting to get webbed feet.

Latest information about CSA

(Our website is still in limbo because of the new server switch, so here is the latest on CSA.)

Charlotte CSA pick up is completely full.

Huntersville CSA pick up has room for about 5 more members.

Davidson CSA pick up has room for about 4 more members.

Possibly adding a CSA pick up at THE FARM on a weekday but no decision on that yet. Check back here this weekend for more detailed information about that.

Thanks!

Affirmation and validation is always a sweet reward for hard work and dedication, especially when what you are doing is something slightly controversial. Take what I do for a living....I grow organic, heirloom vegetables, which I sell at farmer's markets. It always made perfect sense to me that anything that hadn't been too hybridized had to be better than something that had been tinkered with until it barely resembled the original, even if much of the differences were at a molecular level. It seemed that if something had been bred for long storage, firmness, and the ability to be picked earlier and greener and later being "tricked" into ripening by the application of hexane gas (tomatoes, for example), well, there was something not quite copasetic about that. And then there is the whole GMO argument....

I grew up eating homegrown organic veggies and I know what they are supposed to taste like. I am old enough that everything my gran grew when I was a kid is now considered an heirloom, so I know from whence I speak..... So, let me leave this alone before I go off on a rant about this subject. Hate to say “I told you so” but I told you so.....

Affirmation and validation is always a sweet reward for hard work and dedication, especially when what you are doing is something slightly controversial. Take what I do for a living....I grow organic, heirloom vegetables, which I sell at farmer's markets. It always made perfect sense to me that anything that hadn't been too hybridized had to be better than something that had been tinkered with until it barely resembled the original, even if much of the differences were at a molecular level. It seemed that if something had been bred for long storage, firmness, and the ability to be picked earlier and greener and later being "tricked" into ripening by the application of hexane gas (tomatoes, for example), well, there was something not quite copasetic about that. And then there is the whole GMO argument....

I grew up eating homegrown organic veggies and I know what they are supposed to taste like. I am old enough that everything my gran grew when I was a kid is now considered an heirloom, so I know from whence I speak..... So, let me leave this alone before I go off on a rant about this subject and say that you should please check out the article titled at the link listed below. Hate to say “I told you so” but I told you so.....

Eating Your Veggies: Not As Good For You?

Declining Fruit and Vegetable Nutrient Composition: What Is the Evidence?
By Donald R. Davis Journal of HortScience; February 2009, 5 pp.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090219/hl_time/08599188014500

Most recent news from New Moon Farm Organic

In my previous post, I mentioned that we were having some issues with the Farmer's back and now it has become an even bigger issue. Four years ago, he was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma. If that sounds like a big scary disease, it is. No question. It strikes like a cobra that has to be killed in one blow. With RCC, that blow is the removal of the kidney, where the tumor originates. If it hasn't moved on to other parts of the body, you are pronounced cured and sent home, told to get a CT scan once a year and have a nice life.

Sometimes it doesn't come back, only that rarely happens. This is a hard disease to fight. The problem is that it doesn't respond to normal chemo and radiation has very little if any affect on it. Thank goodness there has been some real progress and some profound breakthroughs made in the treatment of this cancer over the last four years, provided you are able to obtain these treatments. There are a lot of stumbling blocks, particularly cost, location and availability.

This is one insidious cancer, because it is always lurking in the background of your life, waiting to rise again from the ashes. But, unlike the mythical Phoenix, it has a much more sinister purpose and it usually comes back with a vengeance. So, you have to decide how you are going to live your life...sitting in the house waiting for the ax to fall or live your life like there is no tomorrow...always in the moment and looking forward to the next. Luckily for us, we chose the latter.

The last four years have been up and down for us but we have never waivered from our mission of growing the healthiest food we possibly could and to get it to the people in our community. Our committment to our brothers and sisters under Mother Earth has always been at the forefront of everything we do. We live our own lives with that committment to excellent stewardship always at the forefront (by example is always the best way to teach) and try to never waiver from our goals of sustainability, self-sufficiency and simplicity. In some ways, that has made us outsiders, not quite fitting into the flow of what is happening around us.

Sometimes it almost seems like people are hinting to us that we should apologize for how we live and I can't imagine why. Our life here is one of relative peace and harmony and if that sounds hippyish, that is because it is. There was nothing wrong with those lofty ideals that so many had in the 1960's and early 70's, just with the means to the end and so it didn't stick. Humans are pack animals and we are hardwired on some levels to always try to fit in, which usually means taking the path of least resistance. Ergo, the old hippies became wealthy opening health food stores and record companies. Personally, I became a financial advisor and spent 25 years on that rat wheel before I could get off and save myself.

Finding ourselves in this present position, that of knowing basically nothing about what the future holds, has left us bruised and battered but underneath all that, we know how strong our bond is and know that we will deal with it as best we can. Hopefully, our best will result in only positive things and we will continue along the path we have chosen. Love really is the answer and we have that in spades.

I don't imagine I will be posting very frequently here at this blog for a while. During the next several weeks and months there is a lot of work to be done both at the Farm and to fight this illness. I may be wrong about the postings, though, because I find this is a good place to vent, let out feelings, etc. especially since this blog is about my life on an organic farm and this is all part of that life.

Namaste

IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT MY BLOG
The Farmer is presently hospitalized and having back surgery, so I am suspending the blog temporarily. We have been preoccupied with this for a while not (hence the lack of postings) so bear with me and I should be back on line when he gets home from the hospital next week, since we will be sticking close to the house until he is ambulatory again. Thanks.

The Farm Where I Live

Article from 2007 that is still relevant today

The following is an article I posted in 2007 about comparison shopping between being in a CSA and shopping for organic food at the supermarket. Because I didn't have time to do this in 2008, I dredged up the figures from the year before because the principles are the same. Our CSA structure changed for 2008 and we included delivery, so the reference to our CSA is out of date, but the gist of this info is basically the same. Check it out.

Good argument for LOCAL FOOD!!!!
New Moon Farm Comparison Shopping for Organic Produce
July 26, 2007

Recently, there was an article on Yahoo! Money (it is a series about how to manage your money) on how to save money on organic produce. Joining a CSA was one of the 5 ways mentioned. After reading the article, I decided to do a little research of my own. Since I rarely buy organic produce in supermarkets (definite perk of being an organic farmer), I took a trip around to my local groceries that stock organic produce to see what it was selling for there. Since I had some errands to run anyway this week over near the Walmart, Target and Bloom stores, I took a quick survey of their prices for what was received in our CSA share this week for a comparison. Keep in mind that NONE of the produce in the store survey was locally grown.

Here is what I found:
At Target
Two 4 inch long Zuchinni $3.99 (6 oz)
Two 6 inch long Slicing Cukes $3.99
3 small Tomatoes (Hothouse tomatoes, not homegrown heirlooms) $4.99 I weighed these with the plastic clamshell pkg included and it still weighed less 1 lb -- 12 ounces was the pkg wgt. The label said they were a product of Minnesota, go figure.
10 oz. pkg. Grape Tomatoes $3.49
2 Green Bell Peppers $4.99 (If you got the pack with a red and green one, the price was $5.99) Did not have Eggplant available

At Bloom
2 Med. Yellow Squash $3.99 (not quite 1#)
1 dry pt. Grape Tomatoes $3.49 (The dry pt weighed around 8-10 oz)
2 small Green Peppers $3.99
Did not have Tomatoes, Cukes or Eggplant

Harris Teeter was too far to go to and I don't have many other choices in this area.
Food Lion has some packaged organics on occasion but nothing fresh this week but then Bloom is Food Lion anyway. I went into Walmart but it scared me and I ran away....not really, but their organic produce choice was so limited and looked so bad, I just left the store without recording the price info.

Here is what our Tuesday CSA group received this week, priced using the previous supermarket prices:
24 ounces of Grape Tomatoes $8.28
Two cukes $3.99
3 lbs Heirloom Tomatoes $14.97
1.5 lb Squash/Zuchinni/Patties $5.99 (If I were to use the zuchinni price of $10+/lb i/o the yellow squash price of $3.99/lb, the value is $15 for 1.5# of squash)
1 Green Pepper $2.00
1 Italian Eggplant $2.99 (this is our price and the price at Diamond Organics)
1/2 lb Asian Eggplant $1.50 (ditto on this price)
CSA members paid $20 for this weekly share.
Total value for what they received, using supermarket prices: $39.72 sans 6% sales tax. (that adds $2.38 for a total of $42.10)


Our produce is grown under the exact same USDA standards for certified organic produce as ANY of the produce in stores. In fact, we generally grow ours over and above what is required. CSA member's produce was less than 24 hours from the field when they received it and didn't travel 3000 miles to get to you, so the nutritional value is probably double or triple what the store's produce would be. AND they saved $19.72 over what this produce would have cost at the store before any sales tax was added.

This is a Blue Jay. There are about 20 of these in the pecan tree outside my kitchen window this morning.

This is a Red-bellied Woodpecker. There are also several of these in the pecan tree outside my kitchen window this morning.

Early morning musings....

The title of this blog is "Simply Sustainable - My Life on an Organic Farm". It mostly talks about the ups and downs of living and working as a farmer. But I wasn't always a farmer. In fact, my previous incarnation was about as far from farmer as you can get. I worked in the financial services industry for over 25 years....securities and commodity brokerage, to be specific.

My epiphany that maybe that industry wasn't where I needed to be came to me back in 1992 and it took me two years to shake myself loose from it and "retire" from my long career there. I have never looked back, although sometimes I do miss the money. Of course, that only lasts for about 30 seconds because my old life always flashes before my eyes and brings me back to reality because the truth of it is that I am not sure that I would have survived another year in that business, much less the 13 years since my departure.


That previous life does, however, give me a unique perspective on the present state of the economy, the stock market and the rest of the world . These corporate meltdowns that have been occurring on an almost weekly basis only surprise me in that I wonder how the companies managed to keep it from happening long before now. The latest scandals about the govenor of Illinois and the 50 billion dollar fund that is collapsing are just more dominoes falling, as far as I can see.


I have distanced myself from the reality that most people live in daily (9 to 5 job, big mortgage payment, credit card debt, etc.) on purpose. I gave up a lot by today's standards of success to get to the place I am in my present life. The money, the house, the car, the travel abroad...none of it really ended up meaning much after all, once it was gone. For a while, it was kind of like an out of body experience, but when I settled back down to earth, it was all good.

These days, like anybody else, my life is far from perfect. But it is so much closer than the majority of people that I know. I have truly never been happier in my adult life. My work has meaning to me and I know that I am doing something good for myself, for other people and for my little corner of the world.

Of course, I would not be honest if I didn't give a lot of credit to the people around me who have supported and loved me no matter how radical or strange my choices may have seemed to them. And I certainly could not have reached this level of satisfaction in my life without having my best friend by my side every step of the way. Sometimes, there are people who come into you life that have a profound effect and if you have the wisdom and openess to accept what they bring to you, it can change your life forever.

I don't want to sound cliche, because I truly belive this and there is no other way to say it. Opening yourself up to the endless possibilities of the Universe is the most important step anyone can take to having their best life ever. We are only given one life at a time to live, so make this one count. In the end, it really is all about the journey.

LATEST AMAZING CHICKEN STORY

The new year came in with a nice surprise today and I have a wonderful chicken story to tell (regular readers know I am all about the chicken thing...).

We had lunch with The Farmer's Mom today. It was the traditional New Year's meal of greens, peas, etc. so hopefully we covered all the bases for the coming year. I am not too sure what the incredible chocolate cake we had for desert bodes for but if it is half as good as the cake, I can't wait!!!

After we finished, we came home to wait for the person who is buying our used van to come by and we were sitting on the sofa talking about it. All of a sudden, I noticed a shadow outside the front window. We have a porch with rockers across the front of our little house and the shadow appeared to be someone rocking in one of the chairs. I thought it might be the van buyer so I got up to look out the window and there was one of our hens sitting on the back of the chair.

The shades were down and she was turning her head back and forth trying to see in. When I opened the door and she saw me, she started clucking and squawking like she had just laid an egg (they do that, you know). I thought she was just doing something "chickeny" so I went back in the house. After I shut the door, she raised the volume on the clucking about 3 notches and started to peck on the window, so I went back outside to see if I could figure out what the problem was.

I should explain that this is the tamest hen we have out of the whole flock of over 100. She also lays one egg a day in one of several old baskets on the porch. I originally kept some of my garden tools in them and when I noticed this little black hen setting in one of them every day, I took the tools out and left the basket for her. The porch wraps around and the basket is usually in the back corner where it is protected from the elements, but it was VERY windy yesterday and it had blown off and I hadn't noticed it.

As crazy as it seemed, I thought maybe that was what she wanted, so I picked up the basket, along with a box and another basket that had blown off, too and put them down on the table for a minute to see if I could put it somewhere where it wouldn't blow off again. Almost as soon as I put her basket down on the table (not the usual spot, mind you) she stopped all the clucking, hopped down from the chair and came running over to me. She jumped up on the table, looked over the basket and hopped in and started settling down to lay her egg. Within 10 minutes, she was cradling her newly laid egg and in another 15 minutes, left and went back to her scratching under the big boxwood by the side of the house.

Her protector is one of the young Delaware roosters and he was there, too, in the bush, watching us. I say protector because he is young and not very "savvy" when it comes to the ladies, so he is kind of odd man out in the rooster club. But he really likes this little black hen because she doesn't peck him all the time like the other hens do (the roosters mostly ignore him because he has trouble crowing...sounds like he has a perpetual frog in his throat). When she got into the basket, he came and stood over her while she laid her egg.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to add that there was a cat sleeping on the table beside the baskets that never moved during the entire process. I have seen this hen get into her basket with a kitten sleeping in it before, so that part didn't really surprise me. Of course, that kitten is deaf and never hears her coming. He generally doesn't hang around once she gets in because she takes up most of the basket and she doesn't like to share. I have never seen her peck him, though, she just pushes him out with her preparations. He just gets up and leaves on his own.

Pictures of the Little Black Hen follow this post.

 
 
 
 

Pictures to accompany Amazing Chicken Story

The Little Black Hen, checking out the basket while the roo looks on.

There is a cat sleeping on the other side of the box. I am not totally sure what the rooster is doing with his foot up there, except maybe trying to look cool...
Settled in and down to business.

See the egg in the left corner, just under her feathers....