Miolea Organic Farm

This is the first year and time that we have created a farmer’s market.  "We," are four producers who met each other last year at a Farmer's Market run by a profiteer.  The market board consists of one fruit grower, two vegetable people, one baker and a beef person.  We added a fifth producer in order to avoid ties when voting on issues, procedures and so forth.

Born out of frustration and our mistreatment at the benefit of the first market owner, our market took shape.  As I said, the peasant farmers rose up against the wealthy landowner and started our own market on public property.  For being the first year of the market, we have done some remarkable things.  In our State, it usually takes two years to get a Farmer’s Market certified by our Department of Agriculture.  Because of our diligence, organizational structure, consistency and promotion the market was granted certified status as of August 16.  All of us that organized this market are thrilled, not only does it allow us to accept Women, Infant and Children (WIC) coupons but senior coupons as well.  It is a coveted prize because the State markets and advertises certified farmer's markets in all of its publications and we are allowed to submit grant proposals and marketing proposals for funding requests

This journey has not been without some bumpy spots, bad feelings and controversy.  When our small group setout finding a place for the new market, we also discussed being a producers only market and what that meant.  Knowing what we all were growing and how some of us are still getting various fruit trees going we would not be able to meet all the needs of the buying public.  As a board, we decided to allow vendors to bring in local fruits and vegetables sourced by local farms in the area.  As long as local farmers supplied those fruits and vegetables brought in, it was allowed.  Meaning someone could bring peaches, apples and other things that take years too establish on your farm, from local farms already established.  The caveat was that the public would be notified and you had to source the food by farm name and contact.  All we wanted was a sign that said these peaches came from X local orchard or farm.

What we started getting was vendors going to vegetable and fruit auctions and bringing them in and selling them at reduced prices, the infamous Huckster that I have mentioned before.  When you have a growing year like we have had in Western Maryland it tries your patience, resolve, energy, financial stability, sanity and confidence.  We had infestations of the Marmarated Stink Bug and the Rough Stink Bug.  We had the greatest number of days over 95 degrees, the longest periods of no rain and some of the warmest temperatures at night that one can not help but question the validity of anti-global warming arguments.

We have been growing tomatoes and peppers organically for twenty-two years.  In all that time, we have never faced what we have this year with the bugs, blossom end rot and just plain looks of the tomatoes.  We planted four varieties totaling one hundred and twenty plants.  We have had four customers for the last five years that have bought bushels of Roma’s for canning.  We had to call them and tell them that we would not be able to fill their orders.  We pointed them elsewhere but I do not think the people we sent them to have had any better success.

So, it has been a hard growing season, even the big organic people in our area were having problems but, that is farming.  Some years are good, some are bad and then some are very bad.  We all take that risk going into this business.  I have said it before, I heard once that there is no mercy on a farm; I think that there is there is just no mercy for the farmer.

Week after week, we go to the market with the things that have survived the onslaught of nature and try to put on a good face, despite our dismay.  When you look across the isle and you see that there are hucksters passing themselves and there wares off as a local farmer a primal instinct emerges from within me and I find that my wife is talking me back off of the nuclear reaction I am about to have.  The WIC program specifically states that you can only accept WIC for what you produce, period, yet the same hucksters do not follow that regulation either.  Okay, I am Polly-Anna but integrity is part of the program. 

We want this to be a producer’s only market because the community deserves to have fresh, healthy, safe, locally sourced food.  That is how the market is advertised and that is how the by-laws were written.  We are addressing the situation and we will take care of the hucksters.  There are plenty of farmer's markets to attend if you are a huckster, not all of the markets are certified and most are not "producers only".  It is really too late in the season now but next year the hammer is coming down on those that do not meet the standards that the rest of us locals hold ourselves to.

In the mean time, we continue to encourage each other, discuss the latest news on stink bugs, irrigation techniques and other issues we face as producers.  The market foot traffic has increased, our landlord, if you will, has requested that we commit to a long term agreement, coupled that with certified status and we really have nothing to complain about.   

Buy Local: If the fruit and vegetables look too perfect then chances are you are dealing with a huckster or are in a grocery store.

There are things we grow that are not the best looking when compared to local conventional farms and definitely not the Industrial Food Complex.So when we take our heirloom tomatoes to the market we have to really sell them (convince the consumer that the taste is better then the look).

Then something magical happens, we get a repeat customer that by-pass all the beautiful looking, perfectly round, no blemish tomatoes and stops at the stand to not only buy ours but proceed to tell us how wonderful the tomato tasted.I cannot help but say, “Thank you,” and then tell them, “That is the taste your grandparents had when they were growing up”.

Sometimes, I get a quizzical look so I will explain genetic engineering and chemical usage and adulterations, which conspired to make the common tomato transportable and last longer.I will explain how they pick green tomatoes to ship across the country and while in transit spray the tomatoes with ethylene to turn them from green to red.Notice I did not say ripen them. I said it turns the tomato from green to red.Pick one of those tomatoes up and give it a gentle squeeze, oh heck squeeze hard.You will not hurt it.Pick up a tomato out of your garden and try the same thing.You will see, feel and smell the difference.Then there are the trace amounts of ethylene that stay on the tomato and you got a green hard sphere that is perfectly red.

I know I should not, but I do take it personally when I hear how ugly the tomato looks and the person does not stay long enough for me to sell the tomatoe's virtues.I will watch the consumer go over to a huckster and by the perfect looking tomato they can get their hands on.Some one said, “There is no accounting for taste,” at the time I thought it was because the pink house was painted pink.However, then again the same applies to the human palette.

We just keep hoping that more people learn so we can make enough money to cover our expenses.We will still treat the land as the precious resource it is and relish our chance to nurture it back to health and make a little dent in reversing the Industrial Food Complex (IFC) deplorable use of all of our scarce resources.

I know all that has been written about the egg recall, the one thing that struck me was a picture I saw.I wanted to use the photograph, that a news agency published, of the man behind the egg farms .There he was coming out of his office with his crisp white shirt, smartly tied necktie, sharp lines on his pants, shinny shoes and clean hands and fingernails.Then I wanted to put a picture of myself or any other local farmer against his.The caption would capture what I have been writing about the IFC for years.  From whom would you want to buy your food?The man in the suit or the man or woman holding food raised for the family and community.

In the mean time we will keep growing healthy, organic fruits, vegetables, eggs and maybe chicken meat.

Buy Local:You are the ones that can make a difference

This growing season has been brutal in our part of the country.  Nevertheless, I knew we were in for a problem back in the winter.  Over the course of my life, when inquiring about a problem, situation, function, example, question or any other unknown or known occurrence, I have heard in essence the same meaning, repeatedly, when talking to experts or professionals in their field.  It is not always the same words and there are different phrases used when the person is describing their perspective or knowledge.  However, the out come is always the same they are genuinely stymied and do not know the answer.

It has been phrases like, "I've never seen that before," or "This is the first time I have heard of that," or "It has never done that before," or "In all my years this is the first time (fill in the blank)," or "No, I have not come across that before,".  It is not complex things, I do not deal with things of unearthly origin or advanced technological solutions.  At work or at home or growing I have heard these comments in different situations.

Sometimes we joke about my ability to be in a place when something completely bizarre happens.  One of my colleagues long ago tagged me as “Schleprock” a character on the Flintstone’s. I'm not saying this is always the case because, I consider my life to be very blessed and I have been able to do good things that help family and community.  But, there is that other side, a small side, but it is a part firmly in place. 

We had a soil professional on the property; he spent his entire life in the farming community and learning about soils.  I took him to the end of the high-tunnel where we had so much trouble putting in the footers (see This is no Easy Project).  I picked up a piece of the soil and gave it to him to examine.  He looks at it, rubs it between his fingers and says, "Huh, I have never seen this before.  It looks like it has been fired or was part of a building".You figure the odds, out of fifteen acres; I was able to select an area that may be on top of an out-building used in the 1800's or earlier.  

This brings me back to my point on this summer’s drought.When the two water tanks arrived, I made sure to have them placed and hooked up for the early spring rain.  The reason we got them was that in past years we would lose water after the two three thousand tanks filled but the rains kept coming.Then there was a part of me that thought, "With my luck we'll have a drought this year".   

I know there is no correlation between me buying water tanks and the rain not coming, but it does not surprise me.  I am use to people being surprised when I ask for explanations and they should know the answer but it is the first time they have encounter the problem or situation that I am in.  I am an optimist, heavily cloaked in a thick layer of pessimism.

It came as no surprise the first time I bought water this summer that it rained the next day.  It did not rain enough, but the fact that it rained at all was surprising.  It was not predicted and it was a quick moving front.That was all the rain we got for the next nineteen days.  That is until I bought another four thousand gallons of water.  It sprinkled while the water was being pumped from the truck to the tanks but it was not enough to make the grass wet.I could not help but still see the irony however, slight.

Things are coming in slow, everyone is complaining and we are doing our best.  The corn is failing and the chickens are down sixty percent in laying capacity.Each year growing has seemed to have unique characteristics or personality and this season is turning out to be just brutal.

Buy Local - From a farmer supporting your community, health and environment

It is Monday night at 7:30 pm we are to take our spent layers to be processed Tuesday morning.  We will take the processed chicken to the soup kitchen with a big sign informing them that these birds need to be stewed in order to tenderize the meat, so that patrons can eat them.

What the note will not impart is the emotional and therefore physical and mental toll that their demise has caused us.  I have no appetite or motivation.  We have taken off of work this week in order to take the chickens up, celebrate two birthdays one 50 years and one 80 years. 

So we have planned how we will get the birds in the cage and take them. We have selected the second flock and the rooster from flock four.  We are taking eight chickens up to be processed.  It has been awhile since I've had such a low point but I am emotionally drained and morally conflicted.  Growing up in the city, decisions never had a life or death outcome.  Who you would pick to field your side of a team was the biggest decision I had to make.  Now we had to select those chickens that needed to be culled and their life ended.

I know hundreds of thousands if not millions of people process or get their chickens processed but, we have fought off this decision for six years.  The anguish associated with it has been painfully documented on this forum.  We are not profitable enough to keep spent layers for their natural life.  As much as we tried, we are operating in the red when it comes to our layers.  The business side of this is very plain, the emotional and anthropomorphized association is stronger yet intellect has to rule over emotions in this equation.

Say what you will, think what you will; we have gotten too emotionally close to these birds.  We need to temper or navigate a better relationship but make sure we stay as a humane farm, and at the same time keep the hearts we had when we first started in animal husbandry.

It is 6:45 am, Tuesday morning and we are gathering strength to go out and pack the birds up.  I can not take flock one.  There are three left of the original six and they lay about a dozen eggs a week, but more importantly when you approach any of these chickens they kind of squat down and let you pick them up.  They trust us enough to stop what they are doing and position themselves to be easily scooped up in your arms.  I cannot take these birds when they show so much trust and security in us like that.  I am not going to easily pick them up, put them in a cage and send them off to their demise.  I just cannot do it.

I have been fighting tears, depression, and low motivation and down rite malaise.  Like everything on a farm we must learn how to be stewards, humane and sustainable.  Last night we discussed stopping the practice of using chickens in our nutrient and pest management practices and let the rest of the flocks run their course.  We will have to see after today how that discussion plays out.  For now I have to get going in order to make our appointment in Pennsylvania.

We got the birds and placed them in the carrier.  The hardest one was the youngest rooster.  He was chosen because he was an unknown.  The current rooster is predictable, not aggressive and crows loudly so having people on the farm with a rooster that does not attack is a good thing.

The drive out was okay, I still have know appetite and I'm in this daze almost like I'm in my body but I don't have control of my body.  I'm an automaton, driving a package to be delivered and I need to wait to take the package to the soup kitchen.   

We get there and we do not know what to do, "take the cage around to the dock," an Amish woman in full length dress and bonnet tells us. I walk it around and there are about ten cages with various birds in them.  I place our cage down and I wait.  A young Amish man comes out, he's blood spattered from head to toe and he asks me about them.  I can't really hear him, I just tell him we need them processed for the soup kitchen.  

I think he might have asked it we wanted any of the innards.  I said just the chickens please and that was it he was gone.  I walked back to the truck and we placed the cooler in the front of the store. We walked outside found a shaded place to sit and started reading my bug book.  As time slowly ticket by I was painfully aware of every sound coming from the back of the building.  Time past and they called us, "Your cooler is very dirty, do you have bags or do you want us to put them in anyway".

We thought they would bag them for us but they didn't.  Luckily I had brought bags with us that I had intended to use in order to leave them at the soup kitchen. We placed them in the bags, threw some ice on top and took the cooler out to the truck.

I'm sorry to be cliché but it was surreal, I only knew what I was suppose to say, which was either "yes, no, you have to ask my wife".   Then the woman said something that woke me up.  She said "all of these chickens were sick", "What do you mean sick?" I asked.  "They stunk inside and their livers were diseased.  There still good for soup though" she added at the end.

It was at those words that my mood, outlook responsibilities and culpability in their demise came full circle.  They were sick.  By divine intervention we forced ourselves to make an emotionally steeped decision to the benefit of the birds and to the people they will feed.  The deed has been done and lessons have been learned.  

Some farmer I make, it is what it is, you can take the boy out of the city but so far the city has not come out of the boy.

You never stop learning, I guess that's the good thing, but why does the learning process have to be so expensive?  For instance, it took six years of different mistakes before we got great corn, the one quote we got was from a repeat customer. The quote was "This is the best corn we've ever eaten".  My first thought was "Damn, they are old as dirt, they've had to of eaten a ton of corn in their life time!"   Then a wave of heat flushed my skin, and I was embarrassed.  Not for the thought, that was pretty funny, but for how that comment made me feel emotionally.  I was stunned, I felt victory, I felt sick to my stomach, but then it all led to a deep humbleness.  All this happened in a few seconds, but I managed to say, "Thank you, that was very kind."  We actually heard that a couple times, each time humbling and reaffirming.  

The corn happened because we strengthened our defenses.  We had chicken wire all round the bed and it was buried.  Then we had problems with birds, ground hogs, raccoon and deer.  After years of fighting the flora and the fauna we opted for a couple of high tech approaches and low tech as well.

For the birds, we used what's called a Bird-X eye scare.  Hang a couple up and they will help scare the birds away.  Something we found to work at night was a little solar powered flashing red light.  Deer see it and think it is the eyes of a predator.  It needs to be moved so the deer don't get used to it, but it does work in the dark.  Deer, however, graze in the morning and early evening as well as night. Then there is deer netting.  We've used it in various ways with great success in keeping the rest of the deer and other critters out.  When used with wire hoops you can keep a wide space to protect the crop. We will on occasion lay two or three layers in an area to make sure the vegetable is secure.  I think "an ounce of prevention is more things to sell at the market" or something close to that (it is hot and I can't be held accountable for every quote....).

Buy Local: If you don't then who will?  

Please allow me to vent.  We participated in three farmers markets last year and in one we dealt with a market owner that was a complete moron, oh wait that was just a thought.   

We had a market owner last year that just didn't get it.  They demanded cash from vendors, refused to give receipts for IRS purposes and arbitrarily changed rules in the middle of the market season to suit their own agenda and cash flow needs.  They even got a grant from the County to promote this market but that wasn't enough.

Okay, so I'm Polly-Anna but when you try to grow vegetables and fruits for a living to have to deal with someone like this just takes the wind out of your sails.   At first we thought they were new and this was the first year having a market.  They do have a good location and we have been waiting for a market to open in this area.

When we called they said farmers are free.  Great we thought.  Then August rolled around and they came up to us demanding ten dollars cash.  I said they told us farmers were free.  The answer was "no, that was just for July".  When my wife talked to them on the phone it was "farmers are free", not farmers are free for July.  They saw how good things were going and wanted to get in on the action.

Ten dollars wasn't a big deal as much as the demand for cash and the refusal to give receipts.  Add to that the B.S. excuses they gave us for not giving receipts or being unable to take checks.  I swear if my wife wasn't there I probably would have created a scene that wouldn't have been pleasant for anyone.

Besides, I'm always amazed at how my wife, who is a demure, diminutive woman but can slice a person to pieces and make it look clean.  When it comes to dealing with the kind of miscreant that we did she is a shark.  I won't go into details but I had to chuckle at the verbal and no-verbal ques coming from them.  The owner was stepping back away from her and basically blabbing any answer that came to mind.  She was just asking legitimate questions, questions that would have taken me a week to get to.  But she's small and looks like she'd be push over which is a mistake if you try and the owner did try.  It usually takes the person by surprise when my wife goes on the offensive and the next thing they know flop sweat is foarming on their brow and they are wondering how to get away.  I almost felt sorry for them, okay I didn't, I really enjoyed watching them earn the ten dollars.

This year is the winner.  We've been going to farmers markets for over seven seasons.  Never have we had so much trouble combined like we've had in this market.  It’s gotten so bad that a group of us have setup another market down the road just to avoid this market.  The kicker to all of it this year was they wanted to charge a large application fee.  Then it was by invitation only and rent was raised a 100 percent.

Okay, so I am Polly-Anna.  We're in it for the health not the wealth.   So the peasants rose up against the wealthy land owner and we started our own market.  All the money collected, for rent, goes into a central account to be used for advertising and other expenses in the market.  The market is producers only market and people that are using sustainable practises.

The market opened this past weekend and although it was the first day of a new market there seems to be promise.  There was a lot of buzz; the opening was covered in the local paper and signs were posted in the community.  Besides selling local foods, flowers, baked goods and hand made crafts, we will have a pet adoption agency and be donating leftovers to area food pantries.  It’s a group of vendors that are stewards of the land and somewhat community activists.  Farmer’s and artisans’ setting up a market for the community with the community involved.  This feels good, it just feels right.

Buy Local- From a farmer you know and trust.  Their effort is well worth yours.

Why did the goverment of Mexico outlaw ALL GM (genetically modified) foods, especially corn?  Then only to discover that strains of GMO corn have made their way into the corn fields of Mexican farmers.  They Mexican government had the foresight to see that what represents their national pride, their heritage should not be tinkered with.  The Mexican government simply wanted to keep what is there mainstay as pure as possible.  Corn is their way of life always has been.  Maize was discovered in Mexico from the teosinte genus.  Go to www.hulu.com and search for the "Future of Food", it is a documentary that discusses corn and its origin.  You will also find that GMO is not as safe as the IFC pretends.

This documentary on how genetic engineering was accomplished, how seeds are patented and then used as a big stick to force farmers into the herbicide ready club was the fore bearer of Food Inc.,  We are at a cross roads in our concepts of food, where you see grass root efforts like the slow food, buy local food, and support local farms movements spawn because of this.  We have groups like Ark of Taste which is a movement to bring back heritage breeds from pigs, cows and chickens to tomatoes and everything else that has been genetically modified to fit the needs of the profit motive not that of the taste of the consumer. 

GMO is part of the larger picture of food safety.  From my stand point trace amounts of nasty chemicals on the food, or pathogens that cause recall after recall year after year is a real concern.  Why? because consumers are losing their lives.  What got us growing organic food over twenty years ago was that we were eating more vegetables to get healthy but I kept hearing about trace amounts of chemicals being on what I was ingesting.  Not only that but vegetables were being imported from country's that used herbicides and insecticides that were ban in the U.S.

So, if I was ingesting trace amounts then why isn't that a problem?  According to scientific findings the trace amount of chemicals on the fruit or vegetable isn't concenrated enough to cause harm.  Okay, didn't science tell us that thalimide was safe, PCB's, DIOXIN, Agent Orange, Declomicin or (fill in the blank). 

I know there are people that spend their life's pursuit in the sciences and I have the greatest admiration for them.  To often the means of a few outweigh the detriment of the masses (think my old friend Atrazine).  Our history is littered with examples, current and past.

But my most base of all arguments is taste, the simple fact of taste.  Remember taste, remember when tomatoes tasted like sweet, soft, watery spheres of nirvana.  It has been said the reason organic fruits and vegetables taste better is that they have to struggle to get nutrients out of the ground.  Unlike conventional veggies that have ready supplies sprayed on them.  I've learned that which does not kill you serves to make you stronger.  In an organic plant that is basically the same concept.  When a plant is attacked by a predator the plant releases its own sent that attracks bugs that are predators of the bug eating its leaves.  This is how the plant has evolved and survived.  Evolution is why heritage and heirloom species taste so much better.  We all have been told nothing good ever comes from something easy, so too with the plant world.  The plant grows stronger and has a better taste then the plant that was sprayed with synthetic fertilizers and insecticides. 

I trust my taste buds, I know what is on my plants, I know that the more we allow large corporations to genetically modify food the greater susceptibility we all face from unknown genetic mutation and greater risk of bacterial out breaks caused by an increase in antibiotic resistant pathogens. 

We are in control of our own destiny, that of the earth's scarce resources and our future generations.  If we all don't start talking more about the negative affects the IFC has on all of these then it is our own fault.

Buy Local - From a local farm; Their effort is well worth yours.

We've lost more chickens in these past two months then we have in any other contiguous 60 day period.  I guess we are lucky though, we almost got to three years before having to deal with our first large casualty loss. Fortunately, we know why, we know how and we are trying our best to reverse the course.

We've lost eight productive layers, two to a combination of age and sub-freezing temperatures (I know your asking, how they can be old and be productive egg layers? But, they were and that’s the cool thing about RIR.  They lay prolifically the first two years, as do most chickens, but then they start to decline as do most chickens, but not as fast.  So, instead of getting an egg a day, you get an egg every other day or every three days.  They just keep laying.)  

We were told that the kind of hawks we have need a nice glide path to get to their prey.  So with that in mind we try to place the pen with as many obstacles around the radius as possible. Within a week we lost six of the youngest because they got to be too free range.  We have landscaping such that we can provide between one-hundred and eighty and two-hundred and seventy degrees of tree cover for the hen houses and fencing. 

For three years that has worked.  This past winter though we got over six feet of snow, although it melted within three weeks the third flock got use to having no fence.  Now they just fly over the net and really roam free and it is a problem on two levels, safety and nutrient management.   Safety hit home Saturday morning.  We were heading out to plant and I saw a large clump of feathers.  By the time we got to the production garden we saw three more piles of feathers.  Before closing them up that night we took count and came up two short.   The next three days four more were picked off by a family of hawks.  They weren't getting the chickens in the pen, they were picking off hens that were roaming free.

We put up seven foot deer netting around the pen in an effort to keep them in.  We knew they could fly but clearing a seven foot fence, we thought was out of the question.  That worked for less than twenty-four hours.  Much to our amazement they flew up to the top of the netting balanced themselves, then flew away from the pen.  If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I just stood there slack jawed.  We were left with cutting their wings.  They are not debeaked and they looked like they enjoyed the little flights they took so the decision was not made lightly.  Then again when it comes to death the feathers can be sacrificed.  For the most part the hens tend to stick inside the pen.  There were at least nine so now we are down to three.  If we could keep the three in thew pen that would be great.

The other problem, but slight when compared, is keeping them concentrated in one area to maximize their soil nutrient potential.  We rely on them to provide the right amount of nutrients per square foot of space they occupy.  If they are roaming all over the place they are fertilizing all over the place.  When contained, they are on grass for a couple of days then moved to fresh grass.  Because the root system is not deep when the chickens get moved onto new grasses they eat the rye and hairy vetch and tear the ground apart scratching and digging.  We are left with fine loamy soil that is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potash.

There are those three that just refuse to stay and we’ve marked them as the “Three Stooges”.  Each time they get out we would clip there wings and put them back.  After about three days of this we decided on behavioral conditioning.  If they flew out they got put in the barn stall with food and water.  We kept them there for a couple days and then put them back with the flock.  Our hope was to get them to dislike the barn and want to stay outside.

First day back outside they lasted maybe an hour in the pen.  Even though we have a lot of RIR we’ve only clipped the wings of three birds, so they are kind of easy to tell apart from the others.  The first one came out, she got her wing clipped a little more and placed in the barn.  Then we found another out of the pen by the strawberries.  We did the same thing, clipped a little bit more of the feathers and placed her in the barn stall.  A bit later as I was working in the barn the third stooge showed up.  I kid you not; I heard the clucking, turned around to see the last one inside walking to the stall.  I opened the stall door and she just walked in and joined Mo and Larry.  So much for behavioral conditioning and trying to change them. 

So by losing eight birds our egg production has dropped an average of six eggs a day.  Every two days we lose a dozen eggs, which hurts.  However, to date it seems our effort in protecting the birds is paying off.  We have not lost any more hens but you never really know until you count them at night and close the door.  Of course we still have three that are potential hawk food but we are trying our darnedest to stop that from happening.

BUY LOCAL: from a local farm, their effort is well worth yours

I was on a local NPR affiliate, on the "Farm to Fork" movement taking place.  It is part of the whole buy local, support family farms and sustainable farm practices effort happening all across North and South America and European countries.  We were in studio because I had written to the local paper in response to an article about local farm produce prices. 

During a break in the show a question was asked about the general demographics of our customers.  At the farm we’ve found consumers to be in two groups:  those that want to buy local and those that look solely at the price.  In other words you get people who buy food for its nutritional value, freshness and safety.  Then there are those that buy based on what they perceive as a fair amount for the commodity.  From what we have observed this attitude cuts a cross socio-economic and educational lines. 

I’ve gotten price grumblings from people who I know make over $100K a year and from people that work in some of the lowest paying jobs.  A couple of years ago, we were selling certified organic tomatoes, two for a dollar.  Closing time came and we were packing up when this man stopped by our truck.  He was in a brand new convertible Cadillac.  He was a gray haired gentleman with gold chains around his neck, gold rings on his fingers and a diamond pinky ring.  I had a bag of six tomatoes and he asked "how much?” I wanted to get rid of them so I said “two bucks”.  He then said "how bout one-fifty".  I took the bag back from him and said have a nice day.   Okay, stop right now.  Fight your urge to write me to say the ability to haggle goes back to early homosapiens, I understand that.  From a market farmers view point in order to grow and produce fruits and vegetables there is no haggling.   

Capitalism and sustainable farming are two beliefs that are not mutually exclusive.  As a person that grows fruits and, vegetables and raises animals in such a way that it benefits the environment, there is no bargaining for us.  I don't try to cut corners in order to benefit the cash-flow of the enterprise.   When it comes to being a humane farm there is no wiggle room.  Growing organic fruits, vegetables and eggs is not a negotiable process. 

We set prices based on national databases, local supermarket prices and what costs we have incurred.  The sad truth is, as farmers we all face this behavior at the market, which brings me to education.  The more we can educate consumers about the benefits of sustainable farming practices to them, their children, and their children’s children the more they understand why long term support of local sustainable agriculture is needed. 

The cost to fix the environment from documented damage being done, using industrial farm practices, never gets added into the price of the product the Industrial Food Complex (IFC) sells to us.  But think about it?  Who steps in to say, wait a minute male bass are starting to exhibit female tendencies? Who does pay for the cleanup of the coastal waterways and our tributaries?    I’m not saying that the IFC are the only polluters but they are at least part of the problem (think Endocrine Disruptors and atrazine). 

The cost of environmental sustainability is in the price of the food organic farmers sell.  We are not poisoning the soil and water table but just the opposite.  We are benefiting nature by adding to the poly-culture that Mother Nature intended.  If I can get a person on the farm and give them a tour they get to see the benefits that sustainable practices bring.  It is that simple, they see what you are talking about, they get to look at the poly-culture all around them and understand how green manure and resting, replenishes soils and nutrients.  They will also complain about the amount of bugs flying around their heads.  But, they’ll see the birds, the bees and other wildlife and we’ll explain these are good things.  That this is Mother Nature’s way of telling us what we are doing is benefiting the ecology. 

At the radio station, I knew what the person was getting at, with the question, that people of means and education would be the ones wanting the safest, healthiest and freshest food at their disposal.  Being educated, they would know about CAFO’s and the Industrial Food Complex’s profit driven decision making that puts the food supply and our natural environment in danger.  So the more affluent and well educated would be more inclined to purchase from a local farmer regardless of cost.

It's not quite like that entirely.  More people are becoming aware of what is at risk (and its them they find out) when food borne illness breaks out.  I think because of the frequency of events more people are questioning safety which drives them to make safer choices.  Have we had a recall from a local butcher or local fruit and vegetable farms?

We encourage people to taste the difference.  The best way is the blind taste tests.  With all things being equal, people will gravitate towards what tastes best to them.  What tastes better, a store bought tomato or one from your garden or a local farm?  You can’t taste vitamin content or micro nutrients or the fact that there are trace residues of carcinogenic chemicals.  The only thing you know is what your palate tells you.  One food is going to taste better than the other and that food happens to be the safest for you to eat and for us to grow and the earth to produce. 

Buy Local: From a farmer that you visited, know and can trust

Food science is going nano; believe it or not we as consumers are now facing another menacing aspect of the adulteration of whole foods.  The FDA has a classification known as GRAS or Generally Recognized As Safe.  They have a list of chemicals and ingredients that are known to be safe and are classified as such.  What nanotechnology is doing is taking and combing elements from the "Periodic Table" to make new substances that can prolong the life of fruits and vegetables or make ketchup come out easier or cake mix pour without lumping.

Because they are using elements deemed safe then the theory is the bi-product would be safe.  So something like nano-titanium dioxide under GRAS would be considered safe.  Andrew Schneider writing for AOL Science reported that "One of the few ingestion studies recently completed was a two-year-long examination of nano-titanium dioxide at UCLA, which showed that the compound caused DNA and chromosome damage after lab animals drank large quantities of the particles in their water."

Yet the IFC is trying to get or might already have this in our food supply.  Why?  Because, it allows the food to have a longer shelf life.  Longer shelf life means a longer time in which to sell the product.  Are we going to have another tobacco fight on our hands?  Where after hundreds of thousands of deaths someone will finally find the memo that states how dangerous this stuff is and how it should not be used.

Nanocoating is being developed in Asia and is sprayed on foods to help them last longer.  The only problem is that it has not been tested at all for possible side affects or adverse reactions to humans.  As complicated as the human body is, shouldn't someone test what these things can do to our organs or cells or what the heck how about the double-helix?  The British House of Lords conducted a study and found the technology is already in salad dressings, diet drinks, sauces, boxed cakes and so on. So it is already in foods in United Kingdom.  Do you believe its not here now?   I urge you to follow the link above and read Andrew Schneider's three part article to really get the full picture.

In the mean time BUY LOCAL- Support a local farm to support your health 

It seems that each fall the farm house experiences a different plague of insects.  They find their way thru cracks and openings missed by caulking and created by the year’s weather.  We've had repeats don't get me wrong like flies and lady bugs but this years invader takes all prizes.  When you live in a brick house that is over a hundred and seventy years old there are bound to be some unseen hard to reach openings.  For the insect population however, it is not so hard to find.

The second year we lived on the farm we had a ton of flies that summer.  We hadn't added animals yet and we never figured out why, but we did.  I got the brilliant idea at the farm store to purchase a fly bag,” Guaranteed to trap 50,000 flies".  Which in fact is hard to tell because I was not about to open it up and count, once it got full.  What stunned us though were the words missing on the bag itself.  They said “bag holds 50,000 flies,"  okay lets say that is true.  But, it should have said  "bag holds 50,000 flies out of the 200,000 flies it attracts".   But it didn’t and we learned the hard way.  To add insult to injury we hung the bag fifty feet from the house.  We didn't realize our mistake until one night when we were getting ready for bed.

We had our first fire of the season that night in the down stairs kitchen.  The flue of the kitchen fireplace runs up through the master bedroom, inside the house, and out the roof.  Apparently during the early part of the fall the flies that didn't go into the trap worked they way into the bricks of the chimney.  When the chimney started to get hot they started to work their way out.  Not outside out but out and into the master bedroom.  It was disgusting, just a nightmare of flies buzzing around and landing everywhere.  We had piles and piles of dead flies by the attic windows.

Sleeping in the room that night was out of the question. We did find where the flies were getting in to the master bedroom and it was the intersection of the roof line and chimney.  That night I sealed the inside and it seemed to stop the influx.  Of course what was already in the house was something straight out of a horror movie.  The next day was spent vacuuming the inside and caulking the outside and eventually we got the whole house pointed up.

But each fall seems to bring some pest or another the worst of which has to be this falls marmorated brown stink bug.   According to Penn State they were found in Allentown in 1998 and come from China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.  They are called stink bugs because of their defense mechanism.  Which much like a skunk is used when they are frightened or get crushed.  It is not a pleasant smell and although it is a small bug the smell far exceeds the size of the carrier.  They are considered a "cat facing" insect.  Meaning when they attack vegetable plants the resulting damage creates cat facing on the vegetable.  They have no known predators so we are left with lures and traps to control their presence.

Usually by this time in the winter what has come in has died off.  Not these bugs, they just keep multiplying.  From what we’ve learned we have to wait until spring, when the bugs work their way outside, in order to caulk and seal openings.  Caulking now will just keep them inside.  Although they are small when they fly the sound of there wings is distinct and loud.   You hear them flying by and they land with a thud.  It is like they haven’t quite figured out how to land gracefully.    

Yet each year we endure, my wife gets the vacuum and I just pass through the house with a paper bag and fill it with ones that I see.  In the mean time we start to plan for 2010’s garden and figure out what we are going to add to our existing stock of fruits.  This summer will be the summer of caulking, filling cracks and sealing crevasses’ and closing all the nooks and crannies we can find. So my wife still refers to our house as luxury camping and I can’t argue any different.  

Buy Local - From a farmer you know and trust, not a chain profiting off the concept

I feel like Burl Ives as the snowman when he opens up Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  The storms that blew in the past couple of weeks were of mythic proportions.  Snow plows were called back in and drifts got as high as six feet.   I’ve read some stories on here that made me cringe with what people have had to do in order to keep livestock alive and somewhat comfortable up north and mid-west. 

You have to understand in Maryland snow is somewhat of a novelty.  It happens occasionally and sometimes we might get a whopping six inches, which will take us days to get out from.  But, for the most part we have mild winters.  This year however, has proven the exception is sometimes the rule.

It started in September, when my wife read a long range ACCU-Weather forecast.  According to the document, Maryland was in for one of its worst winters in recent history.  “Should we stock up on dry goods,” I asked skeptically.   Only to be subjected to an evil stare.  “Okay, smarty, but we’ll have to see what comes of it”.  Famous last words and just two mere weeks ago (in August) we were looking forward to winter.

Those were the good old days, not only have we gotten snow falls but the number of snow falls have increased this year along with the total amount.  It started in November and has not let up.  So the big two and a half foot snow fall that came in February hit us pretty hard.  We had a hard time walking out to the barn.  What usually takes a minute took forty-five minutes to dig our way to the building.  Once we made it to the barn we had to dig the front and back barn doors open.  When I got the tractor started (I had already put the snowplow on) I let it warm up and assessed the situation.

We had already setup the electric and run cables to all the chicken houses.  We had purchased outside junction boxes to plug extension cords in and then run lines to the houses.   We have a forty-six horse power John Deere tractor, which has served us well for the past nine years.  Never in that time did I experience what I was about to face.  The tractor has four-wheel drive and slip differential.  It is equipped for this type of work.  Just not the height of snow we got.  By the time the second blizzard hit the tractor was used more as a battering ram then a snow plow.  I would have taken the blow off and put the bucket on but we couldn’t find the bucket buried under the snow.

I spent a total of fifteen hours on that tractor in the combined snow falls in those seven days.  I was bounced and jostled and at times looked like I was riding a bucking bronco.  My saving grace was the seat belt and roll bar.  By the end of each day the aches and pains made it seem like I was boxing.  Every joint and muscle tissue was screaming at me.

The morning after the first blizzard I pulled the tractor out of the barn and went were the snow would let me.  I couldn’t put the plow down because the tractor would quickly come to a stop from the snow.  I drove where the snow was lowest and tried to get to the driveway and the house.  Try to picture this; we have roughly forty tillable acres of land.  Now on that forty acres of land and under three feet of snow is a little four inch by four inch square that has three electrical outlets.   These outlets serve the hen houses, keeping the water from freezing and providing heat in the sub-freezing temperatures.  

Most of you already know where this is heading and yes out of forty acres covered in three feet of snow I was able to find the electrical junction box with the back tire of the tractor.  It gets better, as I was putting the tractor away for the day I decided to plow around the back of the barn. Hoping I could eliminate the slope that almost tipped the tractor over I started moving snow.  I don’t think of these things until it is too late, but we had power running from the barn to the electrical junction box.  What damage I did to the box paled in comparison to how I plowed the electric cord in half.  After seeing the orange cord lying in a field of white I realized what I did.  Sitting on the tractor after about nine hours of playing bucking bronco, I now had to string new electric to a new junction box, under three feet of snow.  Good thing I ran over the junction box with the tractor and compact the snow into a brick.  Anyone could have followed the cord through soft fluffy snow.  I just can’t win, worse yet I’m standing in sub-freezing temperatures steam pouring out the top of my hat.

I had to trace from the break to the smashed junction box.  All in all it took me another hour to get electricity back to the houses.  By the end of the first day I was exhausted, my poor wife didn’t fair any better.  She shoveled around the houses trying to give the birds some room to roam.  I know technically they are free range, but are they really if all they have is snow to walk on? 

By the time the second storm hit and dropped another two feet of snow we hadn’t really recovered from the first.  We had drifts as high as five feet in some places and other areas looked like they were never touched.  As I was walking out to the barn that evening I fell and when I fell I was completely covered in snow and I couldn’t get up.  No problem, last I looked my wife was coming behind, I thought, so I can use her to get up.  I turned back and didn’t see anything because of the snow.  I stuck my hand up and waved, lifted up on my knees I could see just over the snow edge.  No one was coming and I couldn’t see her anywhere.  Trying my best was not making it.  I would start to get up only to have my low center of gravity work against me.   I was closer to the barn and decided to crawl there.  I had a thought, “I am not calling 911 to have someone come and pick me up.” 

I started crawling towards the barn door, as I got close I felt a large block of compacted snow from the first blizzard.  I lifted myself up and triumphantly rose to my feet and raised my arms in the typical Rocky pose.  I turned around to see my wife staring at me with a look I’ve seen many times.  I was completely covered in snow and what facial features were showing was covered too.  I explained my glee at not having to call the fire department and in her inimitable fashion she patted me on the back and asked if I was ready to continue.  “I had a near death experience,” I explained to her, shouldn’t I be allowed to go back inside and collect myself first?  After a brief chuckle we both headed back to barn to redo everything we had done the day before. 

 We had some damage but not much and did lose one chicken so we got away pretty lucky compared to others.  Snows have melted and I have seen the first peak of strawberry plant coming out of the burlap covering.  I’m starting to get a stronger feeling of anticipation and I’m getting ready to hook the tiller up.  The plans have been set and communicated to our customers.

We’ll hold interviews this coming weekend and decide who will make up this years team.  The days are getting longer and the chickens a little harder to get in at night.  But it seems that things are once again starting to fall into place.

Support Local Agriculture – Find a local farm around you and go take a visit.  Someone will be grateful to see you!!

There was a study recently linking Atrazine to the castration and feminization of frogs in test labs.  Atrazine is used primarially in weed control applications by industrial farms and other large operations.  The San Fransico Chronicle wrote about the affects that Atrizine is having on the environment.  The study was conducted at UC Berkley and is being published in the "Proceddings of the National Academy of Sciences".

As you would expect the maker of the weed suprresant is fighting the study and pointing to every flaw they can find.  Interestingly, the author of the study worked for the maker years before but was dismissed when his findings showed Atrazine to be a possible endocrine disruptor.  Remember our feminized bass, they are a prime example of what an endocrine disruptor can do. 

The endocrine system regulates hormones like testostorone and estrogen.  Any wonder the frogs are becoming feminized and worse castrated by levels of Atrazine?  I can't make this stuff up, yet we sit blindly by while trace amounts of chemicals are allowed in our food supply.  Relying on scientific data that at best is funded from special interests.

Am I missing something, is it that we'll die off and be replaced by other spenders and that is why killing us to make a profit is okay.  I know the Supreme Court rules for the Corporations not for the individuals.  Look at their decisions over years.  The majority of decisions are against the common man.  Why would we expect the FDA to crack down on the use of endocrine disruptors.  Things have to get out of control like Thalidimide, DDT, Bisphenol A (plastsic containers) and Phthalates(cosmetics),  before we are protected from those that seek profit no matter the outcome.

If this is happening to the frogs then what is happening to the humans that have to work around the stuff and ingest trace amounts.  Besides that what is the shelf life of this stuff?  My bet is you just can't wash it away.  If you could then it wouldn't be affective in the rain and you can't have that.  It has to be able to withstand water in order to be affective in the field right?.

Twenty years ago we started growing organic because I didn't like all the chemicals being used.  Relatively speaking it was benign back then compared to what todays consumers are facing.  God help us all, because no one in charge seems to care enough to stop the chemical jugrnuat.

Buy Local- Save a frog, a bass and your own environment by doing so