At Home in Nature

We let our birds wander freely on our farm, but most of them decide to stay at home in the pen. Truck likes the pen a lot, but also likes his daily walks.

When you visit our farm, you'll be greeted by Truck the rooster. If you're a dog, kitty, coyote or a fox, he won't be polite. Truck also doesn't like vandals, as he literally slashed the pants off of one who tried to burgle us last year. Good rooster. But if you're a nice person or one of the other animals around here, he's very courteous and will escort you everywhere. He doesn't sing much, and is a bit of a loner, but makes sure to visit everyone on the farm during the day. He especially likes laundry time, and will watch the clothes dry in the wind with attention. But he likes meal time better.

Butterball is our newest alpaca friend here at the farm. He was a turkey, though, and had a lot of fight in him. We try to make fighters into lovers here at the farm, and the same way that you would help a human child with too much fight is the same way you help animals best. Interspecies love. A human child would react well to a puppy, or a kitten, or even a chicken or a goose. Or a cow. Or most other species. Some nature time, with the numerous birds and bugs. Most animals are the same way.

Louie the alpaca is now best friends with Wild Thing the goat, and Wild Thing (who was quite wild, and not afraid to gore a human from past mistreatment - though not so angry at other animals) and Louie tamed each other. Now they are even friendly to people. Butterball is becoming a horse lover, and he and our gelding are getting along swimmingly now, after just a couple of days! Butterball is totally changed, and will come up to people and even be caught.

Those with even more fight than Butterball need some hands on training with people. Mental challenge helps the animals, too, and learing how to come, stay, go back, turn left or right not only keeps them better behaved, but makes them very easy to care for. And, should our animals ever get out, they are quick to go back home. Roundups are no challenge here at the ranch, and they shouldn't be: say "go home!" and all the animals do.

A little love leads to more love, and more love leads to universal love. A little training and intelligence leads to greater understanding and peace. In both people and animals.

Let us tonight remember those in prison, both those who suffer for their crime, and those who are wrongty held to account for the crimes of others, or for those crimes which they had long ago suffered and atoned for.  Let us remember those in prison whose only crime was desiring democracy and human rights.  Let us remember their suffering with compassion, and encourage their families who are by their imprisonment bereft of their family's leadership and support.  Let us remember their discomfort and humbly thank the almighty God of justice who knows their pain more than we can.

Let us today remember our immigration law, a law whose inhospitality is a shame to our nation, placing those who seek our friendship and help in prison, or returning them to their torment far from the home of their hearts.  Let us remember the fear of our prisons compels even good citizens to acts of cowardice when their hearts would have them undertake righteous acts of goodness on behalf of their brothers and sisters.

Let us remember today that these are our prisons.  That we are a free people, a democratic people, a people of laws of our own making.  That we build these prisons with our own money, that we staff them with officers of our courts, undertaking the orders of our own Judges.  Let us today pray that when we ourselves are Judged, in the courts we made or before our own maker, we shall have greater mercy than we have bestowed upon our own condemned.  Let us remember the limits of human mercy, and stand in awe of that tremendous mercy we needlessly fear.

Tonight we pray, remember us, these wretched beggars, who ask for what we do not deserve, who fear that which loves us, and hates that which would do us homage.

On December 8, TwoInTents will leading a nature tour of the wild edible and medicinal plants of the I-70 Corridor in Bennett, Colorado. You can feed your family all year long with what nature provides; we always have enough. Please RSVP at 720-833-8795.

Hello from your favorite farm in Agate!

This week we are building up pens out of tires that were donated. This recycling puts tons of waste to productive use, and is sanctioned and encouraged by the EPA. While we do use loose tires, we have just recieved compressed "tire bales," each one weighing about 2,000 pounds. Luckily, the weather's been nice and warm. We are building two shelters inside every pen: one for large or medium sized quadrapeds, and one for birds (usually ducks and chickens). We mix different kinds of seeds in our fields because biodiversity results in greater health and production for our plants. The same is true for our animals. With our plants, biodiversity allows predators to live in our field, and defend our plants, their shelter-homes. It also improves soil microflora, allowing the microorganisms to keep each other in check and not cause disease. With our animals, the birds (who are free to roam, but usually stay at home - except for a few of them) help reduce insects and other pests in the pens, and in numerous other ways keep our quadrapeds safe and sound. In return, the larger quadrapeds keep our birds safer from hawks, feral cats, foxes and other predators, and our medium - sized quadrapeds keep the birds warm at night (a goat is a very warm body in the coop in winter, and produces more heat and better heat than an electric heat lamp or fire). Our animals are so happy at home that we can leave our gates open and our cattle do not even wander out the door: a safe, clean pen with plenty of high quality food and fresh water, adequate shelter and friends (of the same and other species) is a great place to be. Better than the vegetable gardens we plant right on the other side of the fence!

NEW THIS WEEK:
*** Turkey from Thomas Farms, also in Elbert County, a partner farm of Two In Tents. Their birds are naturally and compassionately raised by an ambitious young farmer, still in grade school. Choose white or dark meat to be added to your regular box! Or the whole bird. We are out of turkey right now, but highly suggest trying Thomas Farms turkey.
*** Goat and beef from Albrecht Ranch, also in Elbert County, a partner farm of Two In Tents. Their goat and beef is naturally and compassionately raised by an ambitious young farmer, just out of college. Choose your cut, or get quarters or halves or whole animals in your regular box. We are running low on goat and beef right now, but are proud to work with Albrecht Ranch while our animals do their best to grow up.

READY FOR THE COOK:
Mushroom stuffing - - - Inspired by seeing some beautiful wild oyster mushrooms dried on the tree while out on a walk (they were a little far gone, but the farm-raised articles are still good!). Includes portabello and oyster mushrooms (dry) with wheat and a delicious bean mix, seasoned with pine, cottonwood and rose hips.

Goat rib soup - - - Chevon in the pot with mushrooms, wheat and barley makes for a hearty dinner.

December rose hip tea - - - rose hips, pine needles and cottonwood. This will perk you up, a warm drink on a cold night.

~~~BEANS~~~
Anasazi
Black
Black eyed peas
Canellini
Cranberry
Fava
Jacob's Cattle
Kidney
Lentil
Mung
Pinto
Soldier Beans

~~~EGGS~~~
Next harvest estimated in Spring

~~~FRUIT~~~
Next harvest, estimated in Summer

~~~FLOWERS~~~
Winter bouquets

~~~GRAIN~~~
Barley
Oats
Sunflower
White Wheat

~~~MEAT~~~
Goat
Beef

~~~MEDICINAL HERBS AND TEAS~~~
Pine needles (delicious, nutritious, revitalizing!)
Rose Hips (delicious, vitamin C)
Thistle Root (supports liver)
Winter willow, aspen and poplar (antiinflamatory, powerful painkiller - use like aspirin)

~~~MUSHROOMS~~~
Dried portabello
Dried oyster

~~~VEGETABLES~~~
Mung bean sprouts (early harvest - warm winter!) - planted only upon demand
Coming soon: spinach! Just sprouting.

~~~WILD HARVESTS~~~
Dock Seed
Cottonwood

AGATE -- A new Fallowfield Art, Craft and Technology Guild is already planning five contests to assist in recruitment, with cash and other prizes. A fine arts competition using recycled materials, a culinary arts competition using pine needles, a motion picture competition for musicians, actors and other performance artists, an alpaca fiber competition for crafters and a dam designing competition for technological scientists. Contact Aaron Brachfeld at 303-335-9952 or brachfeldbrachfeld-AT-gmail-DOT-com for more information, or for an entry application. 

The FACT Guild is forming as part of the Brachfeld Corp.’s recycling efforts. “We seek to empower local artisans in ensuring that agricultural recycling efforts (which are encouraged by the laws of Colorado) are undertaken tastefully and beautifully,” explained Aaron Brachfeld, President of the Brachfeld Corp. “This way, the walls, pens, and numerous agricultural structures of participating farms and ranches may serve not only the economic and practical needs of agriculture, but serve to inspire greatness within the community. Recycling is a thing which must occur. It is undertaken for the benefit of nature and for the economy of the public which cannot afford fantastic trash bills. Agricultural industry can make better use of most trash than any other industry, transforming waste products into lower food prices, affordable medicine, inexpensive fuel, and quality clothing for the poor. We can no longer afford to throw away the greater part of our wealth and it is fitting that our community’s artists should direct this necessary effort.”

The first meeting of the Guild is scheduled for December 10 at the Brachfeld facility in Agate, Colorado, but a second meeting on December 17 will be held in the Denver area.

You can read more at http://twointents.blogspot.com/2011/11/contest-from-fallowfield-art-craft-and.html

Jethro Tull admired one of his neighbors who, not being able to afford horses or oxen or even a plow, took a shovel to the aisles of his cabbage field.A small field well tilled produces more profit than a large field poorly tilled, and organizing your land - whether it is as small as a patio or as large as several hundred acres - so that you can do your work well is important.This concept was inspirational to Henry Ford, the manufacturer, who made a new “mass production theory.”This theory was quickly applied to farming, through the development of tractors and large feed lots.

However, since Ford, a new “Assembly Line” theory has been developed by leaders such as Edward Demming.One practical application of Assembly Line Theory may be made to the keeping of animals.If animals are looked at as sources of manure for the fields (though they usually contribute more than that to the farm!), you would want to organize your fields to be as close to your pens as possible, organizing pens and fields against the same gate and against the same driveway.Instead of having large pastures and large fields which are easily worked by an expensive tractor designed to easily convey the manure from the pastures to the fields, an alternative is to have numerous small pens (with a handful of animals) and numerous small fields, easily worked by hand.

A further advantage is in disease control.If one pen gets an infection, it will not likely spread to another pen.Because manure may so easily and quickly moved from the pen to the field and turned into the aisles, pens stay cleaner: the same farmer who would need to take a wheel barrow 500 feet will have, in the course of 10 pen cleanings, traveled over 3/4 mile further than a farmer who has to only carry the manure 50 feet, saving 3-5 hours of work, long enough to clean a small pen some 6-10 times.While a farmer may need to make rounds to the animals over further distance, organizing the pens against a driveway in a line reduces this time: feed, water and other provisions are easily provided for along the line, and may even be stocked near to the area of manure production.

Tractors and other equipment are expensive, and while the costs don’t usually outweigh the benefits, the fields may be adapted to facilitate a tractor, with small pens located throughout a field and large connections between fields that can actually be cultivated as well, and if the farmer wishes to drive a truck to care for the animals, a dirt track can be maintained along the line of pens.A disadvantage to the system is that it requires many more hundreds of feet in walls and fences, and numerous more shelters, but if the farmer is using recycled materials, this results in no actual increase in cost and the line may be built easily.

A farm assembly line appears in many respects to resemble numerous microfarms, but coordinated to conserve waste.In most cases, assembly lines are very efficient with labor, so much so that robotics and other mechanization popular with mass production are less efficient than human hands.As Jethro Tull noticed, the cabbage farmer with the shovel was producing superior work and profit, but the shovel was not adapted to a large field.We see today that a city garden is more fruitful than some of the best farmland in the exurbs and rural lands.A farmer needs a large field, but organizing it to accommodate the shovel instead of the plow is smart work.

The system can be scaled back if labor is lacked, and when it is scaled up, a payrolled farm worker or a very used tractor, or an ox and plow may be acquired so that greater revenues are earned from their work than expended upon them.