Greenjeans Farm

Best summer ever.  NO MO Football!  I have a man home for a couple of months  ( Schools OUT!) with lot’s of energy and our garden has never looked or produced better!   Best of all when I get home from grocery shopping on Thursday, there is someone here to bring the bags in and put it all away! 

I always moan and groan in the fall because of the football energy in our house  Practice every night  August till November almost and Saturdays and Sundays on the road!  And yes I will miss it, but I like the new stuff already!  10 years is enough.  Football is for watching on TV.  On Sundays, when you can call an early day and cook stuff.   Like football snacks!    

I woke up this morning and thought about death, and about how inevitable it is.I thought about never laughing with my husband Jeff in the morning or talking to the dogs and cats, having that first cup of coffee, or brushing my teeth or washing my face again. I thought about our children and their unique personalities and humor and the love that surrounds our family like a force field.I think I am fortunate to have so much in my life.I’m sure our spirits will all go into another place when we die, but I am very happy in this place!

This scared me, so I started to cook!Hey, when in doubt, live.And when in life, eat!I think that is behind this compulsion of mine to grow things.What is more connected to life than food!Maybe wine!When you cook there is concentration, abandon, artistry, industry, creativity and in the end you get to eat it and it becomes a part of who you are! How many other things in your life can you eat!

Happy 2011!

It’s hard to believe that nine years have come and gone since Greenjeans became Greenjeans!Each year has presented its challenges, and victories both large and small.We moved to this house and spent our first few weeks wading through waist high grass and tearing out ceilings.

We’ve met great neighbors and friends and enjoyed our customers! When we first broke ground, we couldn’t break it!Then there were the years of building the soil and finding more water. All the while painting and planning and building and knocking out walls.The year the guys from the football team stole our sign, and one of them brought it back to us.The year the portable greenhouses blew into the neighbors field!The year the green house collapsed on me.The year we built the two new greenhouses!Planting fruit trees waiting for that first sweet harvest.Meeting the frogs and birds and creatures that call our house home.Literally frogs in the bathroom!Standing in the garden and looking up to see a flock of geese flying so low they make you want to duck!Listening to the ducks telling jokes to each other.As Jeff calls it “Quaking each other up!” .Canning and freezing and canning some more!It just keeps getting better.And it doesn’t get any better than this.

This year our CSA will once again be in full operation.We’ll be offering vegetable starts in April and lot’s of ornamentals for your own gardens.We expect a great year and hope that you will join us on the journey!

Toni

“We wake up in the morning - old hat, think nothing of it.We might even grumble at the early hour, or the cold floor, or the rain.But what a miracle that we have another day at hand!We have another opportunity filled experience to embrace.Where is our gratitude?Start the day with gratitude, and feel that gratitude lift us above any seemingly annoying little non-issues to appreciate all that we have, and all that we are.”

-Lissa Coffey

I have been practicing a couple of disciplines this new year, so far…..I am not really great at discipline, as anyone who knows me knows!Each morning I get up and the first thing I am trying to put in my mind is gratitude!No negativity or worry.Just what makes me happy to get up this morning?What about today makes me grateful, gives me strength and makes today more special than yesterday?It might be as simple as “It’s not still Monday!”Or “I get to plant radishes!” Or I’m going to sing those Ipod songs in the car all day while I have to drive!Or I found these fabulous Dinner plate Dahlias!Cheap!What ever it is, it is meant to cherish and enjoy!Hell, I am the kind of person that can even enjoy dirty fingernails! And I love the smell of manure mixed with dirt!

Today it was the rain!How fresh everything smelled!I could see the rain feeding the roses I planted on Saturday with the stinky egg shells and coffee grounds I saved, and the buds swelling on the fruit trees in the waxing moon!Also knowing because of the humidity I don’t have to water the green houses until day after tomorrow gave a welcome break.

And when it comes right down to it, we have soup made from our weekendmeat splurge and biscuits and butter and milk and left over key lime pie!Life doesn’t get much better than this!

Tommorrow it is the plants.They are my real focus this year…..

I have had an epiphany.We don’t have to grow food to feed other people! I have a great job. We do the farm because we use it, and we like to share. There is great joy in that!My next year is dedicated to sharing with who I want to.No currency involved.

We do not have to offer ourselves up to the eyes of others.My feelings are hurt from a bad review of our farm.I could go on and on defending Greenjeans, but what would that accomplish?We are who we are.Killer garlic and basil and tomatoes and peas and melons and potatoes and herbs and just about everything you could ever think of eating.

What I do know is the hours Jeff and I spend in the garden.I know the hours Jeff and I spend at harvest.I know the sweet peach and the fragrant melon and the basil from hell the tomato that is so sweet you just have to go OOOOOOOO.The greenbeans and peas and dried beans that populate our soups in the winter and the sweet, sweet corn that works really well with cream and bacon and butter and sour cream.

I’m thinking when you go to real food you go to real life.I don’t have to share with people who are in cyberspace.They will be there forever while I am working in my greenhouse.

September is almost gone, I am staring at a bushel basket of basil, a bushel basket of tomatoes, a bushel basket of beans, a bushel basket of crooked neck squash and thinking I would rather write tonight.The wee hours of the morning are better spent on putting things up when it’s 100 degrees at 2pm.It’s cool and quiet then, with nobody running in and out of the kitchen.I have a reverence for food, and if I can’t give it my whole attention I would just as soon give it away or leave it out in the garden.

My mother’s family was a German/ Irish bunch.And my fathers family French / Norwegian!At the Hellwig’s and Weller’s there was always cabbage, root vegetables, potatoes and roasts, good substantial meals.At the Sorensen’s and DeSelle’s, you could bet on fresh fruit and cream and wonderful roasted things with delicate herbs.I loved it all.From the Raspberries and cream my Pa DeSelle used to feed me for breakfast, to the wilted cabbage and wonderful spice cookies Aunt Memo used to make us.All my relatives were either directly from or one generation away from Europe.AND I had an Italian Uncle Frank who was my best uncle!They all came to the United States to make a life and they all ended up on the west coast!

There was always someone cooking up a mess of beans.There was always someone putting up a batch of jam or jelly.There was ALWAYS someone trying to make me try yams in a way that would not make me throw up!

Then there were the neighbors, Hispanic, Eastern European, Texans! As kids we used to run around to each others houses eating our way through the day, until the street lights came on and our mothers started calling us home.Summer was always the best time for food.In my book it beat out Thanksgiving!Everybody had the same stuff on Thanksgiving!

It dawned on me the other day, I’m getting old!It’s probably already dawned on me, but I’m getting so old, I probably forgot that it dawned on me!

I am in good physical shape and healthy.I try to manage my vices, but thoroughly enjoy them!I simply cannot imagine getting old and NOT enjoying it. I’m almost on the back side of the 50’s.It’s easy to keep your body in shape and your muscles toned when you are a farmer. And I truly like getting up at 3 or 4 and going to bed by 7 or 8.My husband is full time farm and men always grow old gracefully, I have a day job so we can do this, but there is always something physical you can do here that stretches your body and your mind at the same time.

The problem is the FACE!!!!! When you look in the mirror and try to stretch your face back toward your ears and you don’t have enough fingers to pull back all the places- that is a tell tale sign.It makes me wish I would not have scoffed at sunscreen as a teen, or thought that baby oil would give me a great tan. I grew up in Washington State, but we were all still trying to “be California girls”. Gallons of Noxema, which I don’t think they even sell anymore, and then Vaseline, ICCCCCCCCCK.Trying to pull back all the places just makes you look like an alien, so plastic surgery is out.Botox is not an option because I use my face to communicate!I still keep looking for and spending money for that dewy fresh moisturizer that will take 10 to 20 years off my appearance, when I really think it comes down to olive oil. I think about gaining 5 or 10 pounds, but wonder how I would get it from my butt to my face!

I placate myself by telling myself that I have smile lines and they are a part of my personality.True I do smile and laugh a lot, but sometimes I look at some of those lines and think, “I’ll tell people those are smile lines….”In my heart I know that some of those lines are “worry” lines, and some of those lines are “putting up with things I hated lines”.Spent way too much time doing that!

The fun thing about all this, is I really do not care!My face is like a fly I can swat at.It bugs me I can’t look like my 24 year old daughter, but she is beautiful.I couldn’t look like Christy Brinkley either!It keeps coming back, but it’s not important enough for me to stop everything else in my life.

There is nothing I hate about my life anymore and age has given me the ability to put “things” in perspective.I am grateful for an almost grown family.I am happy where I am in this place that grounds us and feeds us each day, not just our bodies, but our souls.I’m madly in a love relationship for 20 years now, with a fabulous man who is my best friend and love of my life.I can get up in the morning and NOT do my hair, and NOT wear makeup and go outside and feel good because it’s cool and damp and yesterday was so darn hot.I can wear what ever I want, or what ever I don’t want.You only have to spiff up for company, or work or if we’re going somewhere.I am finally, the beautiful me, and I have wrinkles on my face!

It’s almost like riding a bike for the first time, or driving your first car!

You can bet I will be one of those little old ladies with no filters in the end.Probably scaring children showing them how I can pull my face back with all my fingers!

“Happiness isn’t having what you want, but wanting what you have.” This is our family motto.These words are in a frame in my kitchen above my stove and have been since my children were toddlers reminding me and them to be happy every day for the people and things that bless and add to our lives.

In the summer months it seems like I spend my days in the kitchen.Cutting, Chopping, Canning, freezing, drying, sweating, more canning.My husband Jeff harvests and drops baskets in the kitchen and putting it up is my responsibility.There are times when I wilt to the floor when a new basket hits the door, but I have that farmer mentality; “do it now, it’s ripe, it’s at it’s peak, what else could I possibly do with a tomato, basil, corn, a cabbage?”Later on in December and January I thank myself for doing something with that tomato, basil, corn, cabbage.We make the best Marinara on the west coast! And Jeff makes the best spaghetti ever!And then he makes Chicken with the sauce!And there is nothing like homemade red or green tomato catsup or relish. And then I have my friend Barbara call me to let me know that her sourdough starter is ready and she wants to share!Good I’m doing spaghetti on Sunday!Another neighbor has a bottle of wine, and another wants to do sausage! Another has Abolone that she wants to trade for beets!(go figure)I am famous for cherry and peach wine!Tastes great on a January night in front of a fire!These are the things your life is made of.It’s the cookies at Christmas and the caramel apples at Halloween.These are the things you take to your grave!

Some of the happiest moments come in the most odd times and carry you through your day if you open yourself up to the world around you.It can be as simple as getting up before sunrise, grabbing a cup of coffee and listening to the frogs and crickets and then as the sun starts to come over the hills the birds and roosters and cow symphony.A flash of a smile from a teenager that “used to be your baby”.How rare!Having a real baby wave at you in the grocery store, then turning down another aisle and having an old woman wave at you from the motorized cart and ask for some help grabbing some garlic! How could a life be better?

All I’m saying is live in the moment you are in.It is a whole lot better than regrets or what if’s.No worries about what you want because it will happen if you live in your moment.

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!

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!

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 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!