Thursday, December 10, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
December 20th Winter Solstice Celebration
On December 20th you are invited to celebrate Winter Solstice with us at the new farm house. We are hosting a full day open house (11AM- 6PM) at Swallows Nest (1702 Church Street). We will have mulled cider and a pot of soup with biscuits for everyone. We invite you to come whenever you wish. We will go out for walks, enjoy story telling by Nicole's mother, listen to music, and just have the opportunity to be together. Please let me know if you'll be coming and feel free to bring others along too.
the view...
out my window is looking chilly. Since being away I have a large stack of papers to sort out on my desk. Bills to pay, taxes to file, and notices from school to read. One of today's tasks.
I woke up this morning worried about frozen water. Even though I know better, I am still a reactive person. I don't get the preventative stuff done and then I wake up worrying about if the water hose is ruined because of freezing. Everything is fine. Maybe some day I will establish a routine that boosts preventative measures. Josh is usually always looking out for that stuff, but I still feel worried because I haven't participated and then don't know. The greenhouse was set for 7 degrees last night, that is as cold as the thermostat in the greenhouse will go. The plants in there are fine at 0 degrees.
Last night I handed the chair position of the federation of agriculture in Kings County. Now I am ready to focus in on and farm and the Ag Land Review Committee for the winter.
Enjoy your day!
I woke up this morning worried about frozen water. Even though I know better, I am still a reactive person. I don't get the preventative stuff done and then I wake up worrying about if the water hose is ruined because of freezing. Everything is fine. Maybe some day I will establish a routine that boosts preventative measures. Josh is usually always looking out for that stuff, but I still feel worried because I haven't participated and then don't know. The greenhouse was set for 7 degrees last night, that is as cold as the thermostat in the greenhouse will go. The plants in there are fine at 0 degrees.
Last night I handed the chair position of the federation of agriculture in Kings County. Now I am ready to focus in on and farm and the Ag Land Review Committee for the winter.
Enjoy your day!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Monday Dec 6th
Here it is 10:31PM. I am catching up on the emails, the dishes are done and now it is time to write tomorrows newsletter. Ahhh, I will do it in the AM. I wanted to give the final report on our conference.
On Saturday morning I heard a presentation from a woman who owns a grain farm outside of New York (with her husband). She gave a great presentation on how to prepare and use grains and also her experience with self sufficiency. The local grocery store in their town closed down. At that point she and her family took on the challenge to feed themselves. I am all excited now to get a grain mill for the kitchen counter. The description of the corn meal muffins made with freshly ground corn meal sounded wonderful. I will post her list of food items needed for a year for a family of 4.
Overall the conference was a very good experience. I am glad we went. As with all things there were some contradictions. The focus wass about eco agriculture, treating the soil with respect and be conscious of our impact. But then our meals were offered in mountains of plastic (hotel service). And, in all of the places in the USA we were at - the airports there was no recycling or compost. Hard to really understand that things are so different just a few hours away. At our local organic conference, ACORN, there is great effort taken to ensure that the food is organic and that there is minimal waste. This conference was offered without meals, so it was up to us. It is hard to be thinking about great food - the production of it and then not have access to eating it. Anyway - all in all it was nice. Josh and I walked along the Mississippi river on Saturday afternoon. It looks like it is a lovely place in the summer. Many of the river boats were still in the water.
Night for now......
On Saturday morning I heard a presentation from a woman who owns a grain farm outside of New York (with her husband). She gave a great presentation on how to prepare and use grains and also her experience with self sufficiency. The local grocery store in their town closed down. At that point she and her family took on the challenge to feed themselves. I am all excited now to get a grain mill for the kitchen counter. The description of the corn meal muffins made with freshly ground corn meal sounded wonderful. I will post her list of food items needed for a year for a family of 4.
Overall the conference was a very good experience. I am glad we went. As with all things there were some contradictions. The focus wass about eco agriculture, treating the soil with respect and be conscious of our impact. But then our meals were offered in mountains of plastic (hotel service). And, in all of the places in the USA we were at - the airports there was no recycling or compost. Hard to really understand that things are so different just a few hours away. At our local organic conference, ACORN, there is great effort taken to ensure that the food is organic and that there is minimal waste. This conference was offered without meals, so it was up to us. It is hard to be thinking about great food - the production of it and then not have access to eating it. Anyway - all in all it was nice. Josh and I walked along the Mississippi river on Saturday afternoon. It looks like it is a lovely place in the summer. Many of the river boats were still in the water.
Night for now......
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Sitting in a room
I am currently sitting in a room with about 300 people. We are listening to a presentation on the science of the gut, "The primary importance of the gut in all healing". We just finished watching the noontime film, Dirt. It you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. I am actually thinking that it would be great to get the film into our communities, maybe via the schools as a family film night. We have watched, at noon, Fresh, Food Inc and Dirt. Throughout and at the end of these films I have felt tearful. The strong emotions of feeling helpless and empowered all at the same time.
Obviously I am not learning much right now as I am typing. I will sign off now to take in some of this science. It think that overall the point is, eat probiotics, raw milk and of course a great diet filled with fresh veggies, whole grains....but I will keep you posted.
Thinking of you all!
P
Obviously I am not learning much right now as I am typing. I will sign off now to take in some of this science. It think that overall the point is, eat probiotics, raw milk and of course a great diet filled with fresh veggies, whole grains....but I will keep you posted.
Thinking of you all!
P
Friday, December 4, 2009
Last night Message - Raw Milk Raw Food
Last night was a reminder and a call to move forward. That we as farmers are societies health care. That we must continue to grow healthy nutritious food and we must work hard and differently in the marketplace to connect with consumers building relationships between ourselves & consumers that is based on health for the consumers and health for the farmers. He says that we, Farmers are the only ones that can do anything about. Go out there and provide people with excellent nutritious food, help them learn how to eat it, and this will keep them out of the depths of the health care system.
He spoke about how the FAA has a mandate to prevent disasters in the aviation world. They have multiple check points, multiple tests, years and years of preventative action before people are able to board an aircraft. And when there is an accident, the FAA researches until they find the error and work to correct it to further prevent such an incident from occurring again. He compared this degree of prevention to that of the FDA. That the FDA which operates on a reactive basis. Providing lists of drugs to cover-up, or fix a problem with the human body. There is no mention or recognition that by eating healthy raw foods we could prevent most of the health aliments that occur in our society.
Of course there was much more, but basically he called on us to not get discouraged, that this is a grass roots movement that we as farmers must carry out. We must do our work to correct the health of our nation.
He spoke about how the FAA has a mandate to prevent disasters in the aviation world. They have multiple check points, multiple tests, years and years of preventative action before people are able to board an aircraft. And when there is an accident, the FAA researches until they find the error and work to correct it to further prevent such an incident from occurring again. He compared this degree of prevention to that of the FDA. That the FDA which operates on a reactive basis. Providing lists of drugs to cover-up, or fix a problem with the human body. There is no mention or recognition that by eating healthy raw foods we could prevent most of the health aliments that occur in our society.
Of course there was much more, but basically he called on us to not get discouraged, that this is a grass roots movement that we as farmers must carry out. We must do our work to correct the health of our nation.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Day one - Acres Conference
The first part of the day was organized for visiting the trade show. It is quite a large trade show with lots of booths promoting kelp products. There is also a large book sale available with a lot of the ACRES recognized books. We watched the film Fresh. It is a film with a message about choosing fresh food. Michael Pollen was in the film along with the farmer he follows in his book, Omnivores Dilemma, Mr. Nayor. It was worth watching.
We both took in 30 minutes of "Pigs on Pasture" with Dr. W. Winter. He raises Berkshire pigs on pasture. He talked about a lot of things but kept coming back to his pigs and the methods he uses to raise them.
Josh went to "Back to the Key Principles when the Eco Input isn't enough" by Gary Zimmer. Josh took in that he needs to make sure his Magnesium and Boron are plentiful as they are important minerals for plant health.
I tried to participate in a session on Fertilizer needs and costs, but I couldn't stick with so I went to the trade show and talked to the people at the biodynamics booth and then joined back up with Josh for the "Advanced Soil Ecology and the Soil Food Web" session.
Now we are on our way out for dinner and then back for the evening lecture on "Taking Back the American Food Chain".
We both took in 30 minutes of "Pigs on Pasture" with Dr. W. Winter. He raises Berkshire pigs on pasture. He talked about a lot of things but kept coming back to his pigs and the methods he uses to raise them.
Josh went to "Back to the Key Principles when the Eco Input isn't enough" by Gary Zimmer. Josh took in that he needs to make sure his Magnesium and Boron are plentiful as they are important minerals for plant health.
I tried to participate in a session on Fertilizer needs and costs, but I couldn't stick with so I went to the trade show and talked to the people at the biodynamics booth and then joined back up with Josh for the "Advanced Soil Ecology and the Soil Food Web" session.
Now we are on our way out for dinner and then back for the evening lecture on "Taking Back the American Food Chain".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)