Greenjeans Farm

As a farmer, there is nothing I like better than rolling around in the dirt.My knees are always dirty and I am constantly cleaning my nails.I have better things to do than remembering to take my shoes off before I come in the house.I fully expect to mop the floor and turn around to see muddy paw prints within five minutes.More than one time, I’ve stepped on a slug inside my house that has come in by way of the bottom of the kitchen door in his nocturnal wanderings.Our dogs jump up on the furniture.It never fails to rain right after I wash the windows, or our neighbor decides to plow in a windstorm.Our son Joey has a thing about leaving his nose print on the bathroom mirror just for fun (and because he is 15), and our water is so hard that it turns the sinks yellow.

This is not to say we are slobs, we vacuum, sweep and dust every day.Dishes are done, counters clean, Zud has become my best friend.I have just ceased getting angry that dirt happens.

It took me a long time to get here.Growing up with my mother for a mother, bless her heart, the quintessential 50’s housewife. Cleanliness and order were the most important things a home could have. I used to get in trouble if I put my hands on the wood work. In my mothers kitchen there were two huge picture windows that looked out on the neighborhood and Mount Rainer in the background, if you ever drew with your finger on a steamy window in my mother’s kitchen you were grounded for a month. Our dog Tiker was never allowed in the living room. Naturally I took these values into my adult life.

Four children later and who knows how many dogs and cats we’ve had, I can honestly say I’ve learned to live with dirt.We live on a farm for Pete’s sake!There is not a single stainless steel or granite surface in our kitchen and the counters are tile, with grout that has to be cleaned.To me, giving a whole day over to cleaning is like meditation.When you clean your windows first, it gives you a totally different outlook.

The other day Jeff and I cleaned house together.I agreed to wash windows, which of course leads to washing my paperweight collection and everything glass in the house!Though I just wanted to go out and play in the garden, something drew me to cleaning windows.

As I cleaned I noticed how many things I knocked over.Things I brought home from my mothers house after she was dying.Snuff bottles and carved eggs on little stands that she used to get upset about my children playing with. Things that reminded me of her.

We got to the end of the whole house cleaning experience and I noticed that though it was Jeff’s job to clean the rooms while I cleaned windows the dining room had not been cleaned.I had a fit!

He stood with me in our dining room and said in a low soft voice, “Toni lets take everything out of this room, clean it and then put it back.”I looked at him like what are you nuts?He then said, “ I don’t even like to go in this room, It’s your mothers room, and you are turning into your mother.”I opened my eyes and I saw the shadow boxes I had taken from Moms house and the shelve.Propped against the wall since last July when she died.And all the Chinese goo gaws that she absolutely loved.Filling up my dining room so there was no room to walk no room to grow.I don’t love Chinese goo gaws and I have a very small house.

We took the shelves to storage and the goo gaws went into boxes for another generation to find.

There is a framed postcard in our bathroom that greets me each morning on the shelf where I keep my make up brushes.It portrays a 1950ish beautiful blonde woman ala Lana Turner in full make up and the caption on the bottom is “Frugal is such an ugly word.”There is also a framed postcard on another shelf in our bathroom that portrays a 1950ish beautiful red headed housewife type and the caption on the bottom is “My Garden Kicks Ass”.

These two postcards totally explain my relationship with frugality.On one hand thinking frugal is a pain, on the other hand it can be greatly rewarding and a heck of a lot of fun.The fact that I chose to place these two in our bathroom is beyond me.I guess I think of the bathroom as a place of reflection!And I am definitely a split personality.

There is the me who wants to be able to live in the Pottery Barn Catalogue.And there is the other me who looks at the pictures in thePottery Barn Catalogue and can figure out how to get the same look and feel at a fraction of the price!That spurs me on to other frugal adventures.It would be wonderful to be able to hire people to decorate your home, or landscape your property, or if dogs and cats and mud and dust and fly’s didn’t exist!And yet it is rewarding to be able to plant with abandon and make things grow and have a beautiful multi colored frog visit you in the bathroom while you are brushing your teeth.  And to not have to pay $300 for a slip cover that your dog is going to destroy in a matter of months. 

I long for an all white living room, I always have.If I ever lived by myself I would have one, it would also have a view of city lights and ever changing floral themes in the room.But I liveon a working farm with the people I love, so I won’t attempt an all white living room any time soon and if I ever get there I think it would be initially satisfying, but really lonely. You are never going to get alot of people that want to live in an all white house.  And hey, I can always go to my all white living room in my head and the people I love know not to bother me when I’m there!

Visiting second hand and consignment stores rather than “antique” shops.Making new friends, finding friends who have saved what they tore out of their homes and are willing to give you that wood that is just laying around, or the clawfoot tub that didn’t fit in the new bathroom. Or trading a tent for a mattress!Buying that fabulous three door refrigerator that is marked down by 50% because there is a scratch on the side that no one will see.These are the things that make frugal fun.Trading plants and recipes with a neighbor.Buying a side of organic beef that two families can share!Now that is fun!That is participating in your life, being conscious of what you are doing!

There are a lot of people who think they are entitled, either because of education or their “place” in society, what ever they think that is.But none of us should think that it’s not work, getting up everyday, hitting the ground running.Here and there you slam your head against a wall or fall down and brush yourself off and hit the ground running the next day!The only rule should be it is never at the expense of another.

I am not sure what this whole ramble means, except that I am leading up to taking a sledge hammer to my 7 foot living room ceiling.Honey get the tarps out and catch on to the vision!

I read an interesting article yesterday, I found it on the get rich slowly site. http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/This tugged at my heart!We've all been around this block,and living there at one time or another or now.Thank God for the blessings we have and the ability to raise our heads up to look at the sky!

An opinion from my son Nick who is a law student at Gonzaga:

I've got two you probably won't like:

Being poor is a cyclical problem resulting from generations of parents who have not properly pushed their children, taken care of their children and themselves, and demanded that there children get proper educations.  

Being poor is giving up on yourself and your children because one is (1) incapable of figuring out how to succeed because no one has ever shown them or demanded it of them, (2) being physically or mentally disabled without proper care and in such a way as to limit development, and (3) so used to being given the tools to barely survive by the state that one is not interested in working towards achieving a better life.

I am not quite a republican yet, but I don't care about the symptoms of poverty, but I care about the causes.  I have worked with and for some of the poorest people in Spokane County and the problem is three-fold: 

Not enough opportunity for growth and development.  Poorer populations see a world where other people receive opportunities they do not, and they give up.  They become satisfied with subsidized housing as long as there TV has HBO.  Then they have kids who grow up in an environment that enforces, every day, a declaration: you can not achieve what you want. 

Systematic exploitation of poor communities.   Ever since there were poor people and rich people the rich have determined new and innovative ways to screw the poor to take every last penny they have.  Examples of this are sub prime mortgages, rent to own furniture, and check cashing places.

Acceptance.  This is kind of related to the first one.  When poor people see they don't have anything, they get used to it and stop trying.  The difference is the responsibility for the first one, to a certain extent, rests with all of us.  This one, however, rests squarely on the shoulders of the poor communities themselves.  It is a generational problem and with each generation of SSDI and subsidized housing children learn, don't go to school or work, chill out at home, drink booze, watch TV, and don't worry about it.  Because if you try, you will just be disappointed.  

The point I am trying to make is if all the people who pointed out the symptoms of poverty spent that energy trying to fix it, even on the smallest of scales, we all good contribute to a better world.  The systems are in place to help.

<and I climb off my soapbox>

My Answer:

I totally agree with you.  It’s the “why try” mentality which is caused by generations of getting slapped down, and being expected to be stupid, and having the person make the fast buck on your back.  It is sitting in your living room because it is the most safe place you can be with your tv.   It is the (not so) “funny” joke at the expense of a childs self esteem when you should be building children up “OH Look you got a B”  “How the hell did that happen?”.  How did the abnormal become the norm?   It is all of us not being able to reach out a neighborly hand.  NOT a “helping hand”, but a caring neighborly hand. It’s buying a pair of  new basketball shoes for a kid who cannot afford them, no big deal and that kid takes that gift into the rest of her life. A freakin plate of Christmas cookies!  A bag of tomatoes.  Sticks that turn into roses!!    

Also being poor is being so self absorbed that you cannot enjoy the sun in your face.  And that has nothing to do with money.  Being poor is living within your self and not being able to experience the world or a bird, Laughing,  or a funny look on a dogs face or hearing the  unbridled laughter of children  or even the ducks across the street which is my most treasured music in the world.  Those are the poorest people of all.

I have one picture of you kids that I hold dear to my heart.  It was your high school graduation  day.  That is probably the most poor time we have ever had.  You were there in slacks and a nice shirt and tie and sunglasses.  Your brother Christian in jeans and a tee shirt.  Your sister in my old boots which at the time were the only shoes she had and a pair of who knows who’s boxers and a tank top, and Joey just enjoying a sunny day on the patio!  You are all (except Joey) standing there with your fingers down your throats like this sucks!  Look at you now. (two lawyers, an Ag Business major, and a 15 year old who is on track for college!)       

SOOOOOO I’m starting here with a commitment. We have produce, lots!  We have 4 paid subscriptions so far this year (we are actually at a profit so far, seeds and trees and all.  All we need for GJ is another load of Spy Rock and maybe some more potting soil!   ) We have plenty to share and feed us too.  Nobody should have to choose between paying a bill and eating and yet it happens all around us all the time.  I’m actively looking for people in that spot.  Not for self gratification, but because I can help.  I would certainly want some one to help me if I were in that position and people have when we were in that position.    You know I love to teach people about what we do here.   Our neighbors!  I am sure I will get a couple of wonderful recipes or growing tips out of the whole thing, and probably make a couple of friends!  We always have seed I have started that I do not plant because of room or variety constraints, so people can have them for their own garden if they wish.  It’s no fun to have all this and not share further than we already do!  And I’m not talking adopt a family, I’m talking having an open door (heart).   Open heart is going to become my new hobby.  Attitude of Gratitude.  Great, your mom is going to become a door knocker.  “Hey I have food, do you want some?” 

Love,

Mom

This year at Greenjeans Farm we are going to conduct a commitment!We will give away a share for every share we sell.We know there are families in our area who have to choose sometimes between paying a bill and food.No one should have to have that worry.We are asking Potter Valley residents to connect us with people who would benefit from our commitment!No strings.

We just want to GROW.At Greenjeans Farm we grow organically, we are not certified because the paper work is ridiculous and would take up valuable moon and family time, but organic is all I would feed my family. Or any one else that grazed our farm.It is ridiculousto think that we have to sell the concept of healthy earth to people.As opposed to what?It has to be fast.Fast food for people who care about what they eat!

What about the concept of well thought out local food?You start it in August, November,January, February, March and its ready to go April through November?We plant year round here and there is always something ready.Even though Jeff hates turnips!I love them.The winter crops are my faves!And I’m telling ya, turnip jam is good!

Greenjeans Farm and CSA becomes the NWF 113,581 Certified Wildlife Habitat

The National Wildlife Federation has announced that Greenjeans Farm & CSA located in Potter Valley is now recognized and an official Certified Wildlife Habitat site.Greenjeans Farm attracts a variety of birds, frogs, and other wildlife, while helping to protect the local environment.

The Wildlife Habitat certification program began in 1973 and since has certified over 110,000 habitats nationwide, including the special 100,000^th certification of the U.S. Botanic Garden’s National Garden in Washington, D.C. at the base of our nation’s Capitol.

The majority of Certified Wildlife Habitat sites represent the personal commitment of individuals and families to provide important refuge for wildlife near their homes, but NWF has also certified more than 3100 schools and hundreds of business and community sites.The average habitat is between one half and one third acre, but certified sites can vary from urban balconies to thousand-acre farms.

Any habitat enthusiast can create a certified habitat and learn the rewards of gardening for wildlife.NWF teaches the importance of environmental stewardship by providing guidelines for making landscapes more hospitable to wildlife.In order to become certified, a property must provide the four basic elements that all wildlife need:food, water, cover and places to raise young; and must employ sustainable practices.Habitat restoration is critical in urban and suburban settings where commercial and residential development encroaches on natural wildlife areas, limiting the availability of resources wildlife need to survive and thrive.In addition to providing for wildlife, certified habitats conserve our natural resources by reducing or eliminating the need for fertilizers, pesticides, and/or irrigation water, which ultimately protects the air, soil and water throughout our communities.

Jeff Adams, owner of Greenjeans Farm sums it up:“Seven years ago we moved to this abandoned piece of land envisioning a Farm, the soil was sog in winter and hard packed clay in summer and the only wildlife we entertained were Ticks,ants,earwigs,flies and gnats from the vineyard across the street.By using Organic practices, building and feeding our soil first, and using no pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, we have enabled a rich and varied environment in which many birds, bees, butterflies, frogs, bats and other animals grow and flourish.The bird that eats a couple of our plums, cherries or raspberries also eats thousand of bugs that are trying to get to the vegetable garden!We have a couple of covey of quail that live in the blackberry bushes at the bottom of the property. And many finches and hummingbirds of all colors.We have bats that from time to time fly into the bedroom at night if we leave the door open but they also eat something like three times their weight in bugs a night. The toads like to eat the slugs and they are very comical popping out in the strangest places!And it is not unusual to have a brightly colored tree frog jump out of the sink overflow drain while you are brushing your teeth in the morning if you leave the bathroom window open! They take care of everything BUT the weeds!The real reward is when you are working in the field and you hear the wooosh wooosh of giant wings and look up to see an eagle or a giant red tail hawk coming right atyou and then you watch it soar over your head and high into the sky and dive down to catch a fish in the pond across the street”

Creating habitats not only helps wildlife, it can help reduce global warming, pollution and save energy costs as well.Burning fossil fuels to heat and cool our homes and maintain our lawns releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming.Strategically located trees and other native vegetation can insulate our homes for heat, cold and wind, reducing our heating and cooling needs and thus our carbon emissions.Wildlife friendly native plants don’t need constant maintenance from gas guzzling lawn mowers or fertilizers that require fossil fuels to manufacture and often leave harmful chemical salt residue.An additional benefit is that plants actually absorb carbon dioxide, helping to further reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.All of this adds up to increased areas available for wildlife and a better quality of life for all.

Habitats can also produce an added value to your home.A beautiful, living landscape is an acctractive element to many potential home buyers looking to share their homes with Mother Nature.

The mission of the National Wildlife Federation is to inspire Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future.

Yesterday it was my birthday, hung one more year on the line.We planted willows and hazelnuts Thank you my wonderful work friends for your generous gift certificate to Oak Valley!Today I planted lots of herbs and flowers in the greenhouse and more chives and walla walla onions! I also took the pruning cuttings from the willows and stuck them into the ground to see if they would grow.So we might have about 8 willow trees!It is cold and there is a promise of rain.First from the southwest and now from the north!Could be the perfect storm! This would be great as it has been way too dry.I am into experimenting this year and planted some of the broccoli starts out in the garden to see what they’ll do this early.I also planted poppies outside, it will be beautiful in a few weeks if they go! We have daffodils and robins so anything goes!

By the time I was done it was freezing cold and I didn’t have to ask Jeff to build a fire.I came in the house and started reading seed catalogues for things I have yet to purchase, (potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins).Territorial Seed is great and has a really comprehensive catalogue, but Peaceful Valley is just as organic and cheaper.I went with Peaceful Valley.They just seem a little bit more real and a little less yuppie.44 dollars for what I wanted to order as opposed to 150 dollars at Territorial.But without the two of them, I would be hard pressed as an organic farmer.

It’s early February and I can’t wait to get out to the greenhouses! Today is damp and foggy and cold.I am eyeing the packets of herbs and flower seeds on the kitchen counter anxiously.

Jeff has the habit of inventorying our food which drives me CRAZY. Nobody owns food! He knows I would give it all away in a hot minute.But as usual with Jeff, there is a method to his madness.We put a lot of food by in the late summer and fall and always complain about not having enough room to stuff another thing in the freezer or the pantries. How great is that? Even after the CSA season is over, there is always excess.There are also things I would never give to a subscriber, unless I knew them very well and explained it to them first.(Corn with worms (don’t use that part), over ripe peas that we didn’t get to in time. (good soup stuff)) We throw nothing away. And we totally use it.I’d rather eat an organic worm or a starchy pea.Truth be told we will let a huge zuchinni fly from time to time.If we throw it, it goes to our neighbors cows who enjoy a delicious treat! And treat us with some thankful moo’s.We take over the top vegetables to Plowshares, and there still always seems to be an abundance!

By the end of winter after Christmas and the first property tax payment, when we are feeling very small and poor, Jeff always knows exactly how many bags of corn or peas or cauliflower or broccoli, onions, marinara sauce we have in the freezer. He does all this in his head!On the days we have to pay PG&E for our winter “Got to put up Christmas lights” sins.I come home to a hearty healthy meal from our farm!These are the days that make me feel grateful for our life! I am perfectly happy to be the day job partner in this farm if I can have a corn soup made with a little broth and rice or barley that warms my body and my soul in front of a good ol’ fire.If we have some meat to add in it is a plus, and we have herbs to flavor it. But a good loaf of bread is great with it.We both reville in the taste and the fact that we grew this food!I can pull out a bag of black berries from early august and make a pie in January and it tastes like August!

Life is great, and made to share!

Went to the grocery store today to buy a couple of things for dinner.I got in line in the ten items or less linefeeling good that my purchase was less than ten items and bruised that that I only had 20 dollars to spend.January is a tough time for our farm and our bank account!

There was a woman in front of me that I noticed had two frozen pot pies, a loaf of bread, and envelope and a newspaper.She was waiting for her daughter to come back into line that she had sent for something else.The ten or less line is always very urgent and I actually enjoy going through it, because some people are so weird about fast, and I like to make comments that screw around with their heads.Her daughter came back with a gallon of non fat milk and she was looking at it like it wasa twelve pack of coke to one of my kids.The clerk rang it up and she was two dollars short.I could feel her fear and her pain as she paid her cash, (like 15 dollars and then told the clerk to put the 2 dollars on her ATM, I know she was sweating whether it would go through or not. I know that she knew how much a gallon of milk meant to her daughter at that point.It worked for her, but I tell ya I was ready to give her my 20 and walk out of the store with nothing.I actually regret I did not give her one of our cards.Andhope that I see her again sometime.

I pruned the orchards last week.I picked up most of it, but left some in my wake.It has been an extremely nice January this year.Warm afternoons and sunny skies.The grass is growing and Jeff decided to mow last week.

He picked up a few of my stray trimmings to get them out of the way and stuck them in the metal arbor in back.I noticed them this morning and went AHA! Soon the arbor in the rose garden was covered and shored up with cherry branches and the finch sock was full and the finches were happy with plenty of perching places.I had a yellow and black arbor and it was great!

One thing farmers know how to do like nobody else, is reach out to each other.

I remember the first year we lived here in Potter, during the fall and winter we made the house livable, we had our first greenhouse (a growhouse sent from heaven which blew away in the storm the next year (another story)) and our first Christmas, and then we borrowed our friends Barbara and Skip’s tractor to plow up the area where the garden was going to go.This was in March and we just couldn’t wait to get it all ready.

Well March in Potter Valley is not exactly the best time of the year to decide to plow.The Tractor got stuck, really stuck in the wet soggy ground.I remember looking out the window and watching Jeff standing in the field waving his arms up and down out of frustration like he was doing jumping jacks.I put on my rain boots and we tried the ol’ stick a board under the tire trick.It didn’t work.We stood and stared at each other trying to fathom how the heck were going to get that thing out, and how the heck we were going to pay for any damage we may have done to it.Suddenly, like the cavalry arriving our other neighbors came up the driveway with their tractors and ATV’s and chains!It seems they’d been watching with just a little amusement the scene at Greenjeans, and decided to help us out of our misery.At the same time Barbara was driving into our driveway to see how we were doing with the tractor!The neighbors got it out and Jeff drove it back to Skip and Barb’s.Everyone got pickles and jam for their efforts and I will never forget the outflow of neighborliness for the newbees.

I think this year will be much like that year.Many of us are feeling a pinch, but with each other’s help we will get through it! I hope to be one of the "calvary" neighbors, but you never know... No matter how hard you have it, you just have to look out your window!

I did a smart thing earlier this year and managed it in a very dumb way.I transferred my banking accounts to paperless reporting via the internet.I patted myself on the back for not wasting all that paper and helping to reduce both ours and the banks carbon footprint, marveled at the way you can categorize your expenses right on line and print off the neat little reports, and went on my merry way.Each month I received an email from the bank reminding me my paperless statement was available on line.“That’s nice”, I would think to myself, “it’s ready”.It really wasn’t necessary to do anything, I’m paperless right?And I can check my account on line anytime I want….. My little three ring binder where I would usually put my statements and check copies stood empty all year save for the first statement and the pretty reports I put in it.

Then day before yesterday I sat down to do my taxes. Pretty straight forward here, income from my day job and Jeff’s part time endeavors and the farm.Expenses tracked via statements, check stubs and receipts.I quickly realized I had no statements saved or printed, no pretty reports, no categorization.Eight hours, a stiff neck, a good ol’ excel spread sheet and a bottle of wine later I had captured the year, completely run out of black ink in my printer, and our taxes were 99% done! This year I will remember the stiff neck and the entirely wasted day and send myself little annoying reminders regarding due diligence.

The interesting thing that happened as a result of all this is I categorized not only the expenses for the farm, but every expense we had over the past year.Some 1200+ transactions.I am not much of a budgeter and we tend to live feast or famine, we are very frugal and always live well, but I’m into effortless these days and preparing for worst case, and let’s face it, when you are a farmer, some months are better than others.Please indulge my feeble attempt to explain my utter disregard for saving money for a rainy day here.

I took the total of every expense and divided it by twelve to get our average monthly expense. (I would love to say I always knew these figures in the back of my brain, but that would be a lie) I then compared the expense against our average monthly income after taxes insurance and house payment.I then added in our projected refund from our taxes and portioned that out on a monthly basis.Sure we will soon have money in our savings, but over the course of the year that will go out and not come back in.We were still 200 dollars a month short!At this point I panicked!I can’t demand a raise!I am lucky to still be working!I could sell 20 more CSA shares….. but where would the time come from?Jeff could get a full time job, but who would take care of the farm?And there goes the CSA!We could give it all up and move into town into one of those “Bank owned houses” that are now selling for about ¾ of what they are worth, totally not an option.

So I sat in my wine induced eureka moment and thought of ways to shave it off the expense.

I looked at the phone bill, and realized we don’t really NEED call waiting or caller ID or long distance for that matter. And we have a good ol’ fashioned answering machine.We all have cell phones which combined are cheaper than our ATT bill.However being in a rural area we do need basic local service for internet.-75.00.

Our electric bill has been the bane of our life for the entire time we have lived here.We heat our home with wood, but somehow our electric bill is always huge.We do have a hot tub that we enjoy most mornings and we do not wish to give that up.We have to run 2 freezers and refers to preserve and keep the harvest.I have given up fighting with PG&E and am going to put us on an automatic payment plan that averages your expense over the course of so many years.-25at least.

Then I had to look at our grocery bill.We love to eat, and eat for fun and enjoyment!It is our entertainment, we don’t get out much.Jeff is a fabulous cook and I am a fabulous eater and a food junkie.Food to us is wealth.And our expenses show it. Food is the bulk of our expense other than our house payment.I made the commitment to myself to save 400 dollars a month on food BANG, just saved it.I know there is room in there, and we have all the veggies and fruit that we need from the summer, that is as long as we keep the PG&E going to keep the freezers running.Thus the Toni and Jeff challenge.Oh yeah baby, there will be more to say on this topic!

From the Wikipedia Encyclopedia:

A pesticide is a substance or mixture of substances used to kill a pest.^[1] A pesticide may be a chemical substance, biological agent (such as a virus or bacteria), antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest. Pests include insects, plant pathogens, weeds, molluscs, birds, mammals, fish, nematodes (roundworms) and microbes that compete with humans for food, destroy property, spread or are a vector for disease or cause a nuisance. Although there are benefits to the use of pesticides, there are also drawbacks, such as potential toxicity to humans and other animals.

I don’t know about you, but as an organic farmer I do not list birds, mammals, fish, worms, microbes or most insects as pests.  I gladly welcome them to our farm, in fact we worry when they are not present.  That would mean that their would be no good bugs and birds to eat the bad bugs, no worms to enrich the soil, no fish or frogs to eat the flies and misquitoes.  I have yet to feel the rife competition for food, and there is very little property destruction caused by those nasty little microbes.  If pests include mammals as it does in that definition, does that not mean humans too?  Oh great, lets kill each other so we don’t compete with ourselves for food!  AND lets get those little suckers while they are young! 

I have just read an article in the Seattle P.I., regarding a study of the levels of pesticides in the system of 21 children in Mercer Island Washington.

“The peer-reviewed study found that the urine and saliva of children eating a variety of conventional foods from area groceries contained biological markers of organophosphates, the family of pesticides spawned by the creation of nerve gas agents in World War II.

When the same children ate organic fruits, vegetables and juices, signs of pesticides were not found.

"The transformation is extremely rapid," said Chensheng Lu, the principal author of the study published online in the current issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.

"Once you switch from conventional food to organic, the pesticides (malathion and chlorpyrifos) that we can measure in the urine disappears. The level returns immediately when you go back to the conventional diets," said Lu, a professor at Emory University's School of Public Health and a leading authority on pesticides and children.

Within eight to 36 hours of the children switching to organic food, the pesticides were no longer detected in the testing.”

Nuff said?  You would think!  “Well chalk one up for the cause!”, I thought to myself,  “Yet another study with the same findings”.  I then went on to read the comments.  Some 40+ comments!  Some stating the article was a “non-story”, not unlike global warming.  Some of the comments stated that Organic food is just too expensive, and is not an alternative since the yields are so low.  There was a lot of talk about washing and peeling being a viable cure to the situation. 

Hmmm….. If organic yields are so low, why is there always a time each year that even after the 20 CSA bushel baskets have been filled some 30 times over the course of the season, I fall in a heap on the kitchen floor and declare if I see one more basket of fruit or vegetables that need to be processed I’ll go into a coma.  And I don’t know about you, but I haven’t peeled a vegetable for over 20 years, conventionally or organically grown! There are vitamins, fiber and most importantly flavor in that skin!  Peeling a vegetable would be like eating a boneless skinless Chicken breast from a chicken that was grown in a cage and fed antibiotics all of its life, what’s the point? (but that’s another story).   Most of all as a farmer I enjoy watching the quail walking across the yards, and the crazy Killdeer that lay eggs in the vegetable garden and then act like they are having a heart attack if you come near their nest.  I love the beautiful colored spiders that take residence in the rose garden.  And I even love the toad families that hide in the rocks and come out at night to eat those nasty little slugs. There’s something exciting about going out before light and feeling having the bat that eats it’s weight in insects each day whiz over your head.  Call me crazy, but I think it’s sweet that my husband has named the tree frog that sneaks in through the open window and visits the overflow drain of our bathroom sink from time to time.  Sure, sometimes there’s a worm in a tomato or an ear of corn.  And a pesky little earwig or two hiding in the cabbage, but you know?  They wash right off, and they haven’t been treated with “pesticides spawned the creation of nerve gas agents in World War II”, so it really doesn’t matter if you eat them anyway! 

My mother died last July.  97 years old, She was a total radical,feminist.  Yesterday my sister and brother in law and niece let her ashes go in Commencment Bay in Tacoma!  It was a touching and funny thing.  She blew back at them.  Just like mom.  She would rather stay on the beach!  They ran like hell! 

In our family, we have a way of being ourselves.  It is both disturbing and comforting.  Most of all we know it is love unbrideled.  You don't have to earn it or keep it. You might have to deal with it  and make your choices, but  It is just there, always.   and ready for more! 

The free radical farmer

In chemistry, radicals (often referred to as free radicals) are atomic or molecular species with unpaired electrons on an otherwise open shell configuration. These unpaired electrons are usually highly reactive, so radicals are likely to take part in chemical reactions. Radicals play an important role in combustion, atmospheric chemistry, polymerization, plasma chemistry, biochemistry, and many other chemical processes, including human physiology.

Growing up in the 60’, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s had its up’s and downs, but it taught us to guard that open shell configuration.  We were a different generation who were taught to look at life from different perspectives.  Most of us  ( the baby boomers ) were born in the affluent and kind 40’s and 50’s. We lived in neighborhoods and our mothers wore dresses and pearls while they pushed a vacuum or we wished they would have.  Then something odd happened.  Some of our mothers were not content to just push a vacuum, and were certainly not content living in one.  Television had opened up their eyes to a world outside of children and husbands and home keeping.  There were women who knew that they were equal to men they could do the same things men did,  There were people of color who dared to believe they were equal to anyone else in this world.  There were people unafraid to sit in the front of the bus and drink from the same water fountain, walk out the door to be independent; people who fought to be educated, and to be valued on an equal basis. These people saw that there were plenty of places in the world to be beside the place someone else had put you in.

Radical thinking? Radical behavior?  You bet.  Open configuration? Yep!  Highly reactive?  Absolutely!    It’s the free radicals that cause change.    From there on you know the story; free thinking, free speech, free love, free to be you and me yada yada.   There was a sense of exploration and activity that held progress as the standard.  Both good and bad progress.  As long as it progressed Unfortunately all of this progress involved production.  Everyone had the right to have everything all the time.  A chicken in every pot, a tv in every room.  Freedom and Justice for all.  Unfortunately, everyone and all things being equal brought on a certain twisted sense of entitlement.  The shopper entitled to that fresh strawberry in the middle of winter.  The multitude of clothing we put on our backs and electronics we use and dispose of when the next new thing comes along.  Made in far away countries under who knows what conditions. And as usual people, male and female, all colors and religions thought of ways to take advantage of this brave new world. 

We started as a nation of farmers.  We were many people from many different countries including our own trying to make their way. A self sufficient lot who brought what we knew here. 

Over the years through science and chemistry we have learned ways to manipulate nature to do our bidding.  Super plants and hybrids, pest resistant species, genetically modified organisms. 

Sprays and powders that would kill any bug in the world,we soon found, were also killing us.  All the while living in the horn of plenty of the world and actually eating what we wrought.  Every family was entitled to a salad of iceburg lettuce and cardboard tomatoes with a big glob of ranch dressing to get their serving of veggies in, no matter if it was the dead of winter.  Meat treated with antibiotics to assure that there was enough for every plate.  Eggs laid by hens that never saw the sunlight and never left their cage in the interest of production.  No matter that the nutritional value of those veggies and meat and eggs had gone out the door long before they hit the table. The vegetables had to be picked before they were naturally ripened to facilitate packing for the long trip ahead often thousands of miles to show up in the supermarket to be waxed down and sprayed down to showcase their pale beauty.

The planes, boats, trucks and trains that brought this bounty to our tables used gallons and gallons of gas and diesel.  The fumes made the air grey; the air made our lungs grey, which in turn made our skin grey.  We no longer were a vibrant melting pot of traditions and taste and color, we became a nation of grey. Yet we went on happily enjoying our four food groups  basically eating our pesticides and cardboard and making sure to take our multi vitamins and work out at the gym.

It is frightening that every new born child born in the United States has traces of over 200 types of pesticide in their blood.  It is ridiculous that by eating 10% of our food locally and organically grown, we could just as well be taking 2 million cars off the road.    It is crazy that we recognize global warming, mark the symptoms, and do so little to slow or reverse the progress, not wanting to upset the economic machine, or our way of life in too radical a manner.   It is death to think that the United State senate would vote down a bill that deals with alternate energy, because there are no provisions for the oil and coal companies in the bill.

This is the story of the Free Radical Farmer.  This is a story about turning your head and realizing that you already have what really works to grow and be healthy.  It all starts with the soil.