Farmgirl at Large

I fired up my computer specifically to share a delightful story.  And then I came across a link to something that made me mad and sick to my stomach.  First, the angering story, then the fun one, so as to end on an up note.

Generally, I try to be very rational and thoughtful about what I post on contentious issues.  I don’t want to spew venom and bitterness, if I poke at something I want to do it carefully, with a specific purpose.  Today, tho, I need to just be ill about Organic Standards. http://inthesetimes.com/article/6330/the_cruel_irony_of_organic_standards/ This is why I will not be certified organic.  This is why I cannot support certified organic standards.  I know we, as consumers, need shorthand for how things are done and raised, and there must be standards and universally accepted definitions.  But the 100% ban on antibiotics is STUPID.  My folks didn’t throw me away when I got strep throat and I was treated with drugs.  It makes me sick, and I’m tearing up as I type this.  That beautiful heifer was a GIFT FROM GOD. If you don’t care for that language, how ’bout a gift from her momma, the cow?  And we FAILED HER.  I don’t like failure, I don’t like suffering, I don’t enjoy hearing about pain that was inflicted maliciously.  I feel we fail the animals, the farmers, the consumers, and the food web at large when something like that happens, AND THAT MAKES ME ANGRY.  REALLY FUCKING ANGRY.  Failure on that level is a conspiracy of stupidity, with a committee of stupid, with an oversight committee of best intentions and ignorance.

I try to be fair, but today, we’re just going to roll with; That article clearly showed why I choose not to be certified organic, and reasons I am concerned about the system at large. There are good people over on that side of the fence, and I am concerned for them and for the animals under their care.

Now, for something completely different.

My momma is a fabulous human.  She said something adorable this morning, and I wanted to share it.  I have five sheep.  Ma asked me where my sheep were.  I said, “Erm? Ma, where are my sheep?”  And she said, “I went to see lock the cows in yesterday, and as I looked out there, just before you can clearly see where the critters are, I saw one on the wrong side of the wire.  And then I realized I d0n’t have any cows that are that white.  There were your five sheep, just chillin’. ”  My ma said my sheep were chillin’!  And she even got pictures on her phone!  The pics weren’t good enough to put here, tho I tried.  My sheep ran away from the building site and are following the cows.  They had been hanging out at the building site on Tuesday, when we got FOUR INCHES of rain.  I remember clearly because I wanted to mention that sheep look really funny in the rain, and if you thought it was bad when your dog shivered the water out of her coat, you haven’t seen ANYTHING on a sheep with soaked wool do the same thing.  They were just laying in the rain, and every once in a while they would shake their heads, and water would go every where.  Pretty funny.

I’ve been ill, and need to nap so I can have my head on straight to work with my critters.  I’ll be less mad when I rest.  I generally try to sleep first, then post, but I’m still going to post this one as I’ve written it here.  Won’t apologize for my position, but will say a preemptive apology if I stepped on toes.

I’m getting better about the paperwork thing, even tho it’s electronic, but man, hearding the information I need around my brain, my desk (aka my spare room, spread over the bed) my ma’s desk, my computer, my phone and the stuff stored in the Cloud, it’s no wonder I look like a dork!  I need to buckle down and get more organized about my contacts and such.

I’m starting right now.  I started an Excel spread sheet to try to keep it together.

There’s no hope for my head, tho.

Anyone running a business knows paperwork is a part of it, but it’s a struggle for me to know when to push to get the paper stuff done, and when I need to push to get outside.  I’ll get it right sometime, but don’t ever think that farmers do nothing for bookwork but balance the check book.  And the organic guys that need to track everything!  Bah, humbug!  Right now, I need the info on what my hay tested out at, and that’s online… so here I go, fishing for info.  Then, I inventory what I have, arrange for more hay to be tested, then estimate what I need for winter, call my Little Bro back and negotiate pricing that is fair for us both… all before milking.  I’m glad I was up at 6.

I wish I was able to jot down more things during the course of my day.  So many times I make a mental note to remember something, so I can write about it here, and when I get to the end of my day… I wanna sleep, and I’ve forgotten, and … the way I have tried to pull things together hasn’t been working, so I will try something different, because I want to post more.

I do like talking about the farm.  Today I forgot a step in the barn, and it resulted in more milk for the pigs.  AND I HAVE A NEW BABY CALF!  I shall try for pictures tomorrow.  It’s utterly bizarre to me to have a little calf at this stage.  It seems like a toy, or a plaything, because I know it’ll be the only one, and there is just one, and it’s the “wrong” time of the year for calves.  Many folk plan to have calves thru-out the year, or a fall bump of calves, but it is outside my head.  It’s like fresh strawberries in December.  Like Christmas music in May.  Picnic foods and flags at Halloween.  But she is cute!

It went well.  I pulled a going on 15 hour day today… haven’t had to do that in a while, and it looks like the next few days will be more of the same.  However, I’m getting grass cut, which will turn into hay, and like Pa says, every 5 bales I make is another day in winter the cows are fed!  It feels good, like after I’ve canned tomatoes.

Please order pork, if you have any intention of doing so.  I need to account for the critters.  Thanks!

Picture of my sheep and chickens.

Starting to harvest pork tomorrow.  Please call if you would like some!

just hanging in the shade

when you are taking pictures of the chicken sitting on the sheep, and a different chicken perches on your butt.  True story.  Pictures of the sheep and chicken tomorrow.

The wife, Kristine, I believe, goes crazy from the flatness of the plains.

I’ve been crazy lately.

Trying to figure out if I can afford to keep farming.  Oddly enough, it was in the realm of mental and emotional energy I was taking stock.  Financially, as of now, (knock on wood) I’m paying my bills.

I think I can do it.  I think I can pull it together to make it happen.  But it is utterly true that farming is not for the delicate, fragile flowers of this world.  I’m one small human.  Sometimes it’s overwhelming.  But  I can take but one step at a time, regardless if the journey is one hundred steps, or two.  I can bring water to my fuzzy butts.  I can milk my cows.  I can pay my bills.  I can get up in the morning, and can go to bed at night.  That is enough. Surely, that is enough.  It must be.  It is what I have.

Dear Anybody Who Is Reading This,

If you want any orders of chicken, beef or pork, please put your order in now!  The pigs and beef are only about a month from being ready, and I’d like to get things settled before the day they go this year.  I’ve just ordered more chickens, too, and I’d love to have places for them to go.

Thanks!

Inga

Until I started my own business, and was thinking with an “adult” head about the dairy farm I grew up on, I never realized how much paperwork and meetings and record keeping was truly necessary.  I had to take time to post that I think I was just part of one of the most productive meetings in my career here at Springside Farm.  I met with my folks, and it went really well!  I was not looking forward to this meeting, but in 40 minutes, we knocked out more specifics than I thought we could have, and did it effectively, efficiently, and respectfully.  Which I would not have thought would happen given some tension that had come up.  I’m truly floored.  I love how people can rise above and just CLICK and make things happen and work.  I’m really damn lucky.  My folks are awesome, and can be totally professional when needed.

This is the first day of the second half of the year.  The first six months have kinda kicked my ass, personally.  On the farm, things have been fairly good, but I think my folks and I are going to bring our “A” game to the second half of the year.  This will be good.  And next year?  Look for us to kick ass and take names right out of the starting gate.  (Tho a little voice inside my head says to not talk too smart, cuz then you come across more issues.  However, given certain constraints, that we all are alive and in a similar state of health, and exterior conditions remain similar, we will Rock This Joint.)

Some day I will sit down and write about The Things That Trip Me and end in annoyance and disaster.  But today I will just be thankful and hopeful and energized.  Yeah!