As I ran in my woods the sun was just rising,
the air was already warm,
the sky light with anticipation.
As I ran in my woods the birds sang,
oblivious of me,
high in the treetops.
As I ran in my woods I read a map of footprints in the mud,
showing last night's visitors,
like a youtube channel.
As I ran in my woods I startled a raccoon,
he stopped drinking from his puddle,
and scurried halfway up his tree.
I stopped running to enjoy this brief,
and one-sided connection I felt,
with this other warm blooded mammal.
As I ran in my woods I felt webs brush and cling,
the feeling was unnerving,
but too small to slow me down.
As I ran in my woods I felt how little I have truly run in my life,
how my body ached for it,
how my body ached from it.
As I ran in my woods I knew my form was awkward,
as were my knee socks protecting me from tics,
it didn't matter. No one would see me.
As I ran in my woods I marveled at my namelessness,
Not Mama, wife, sister, daughter, friend,
Not Jew, hippie, farmer, girl.
As I ran through my woods the sun began to peek through the trees,
and leave tantalizing golden trails
that begged for faeries.
As I ran in my woods I began composing this poem,
words feeding on words,
and I listened,
knowing that one day,
I will run through my woods,
and be but footsteps on an empty path.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Shmarmers are Farming!
Today has been a real Farm day! We started out by milking the lovely goat. Then we came home and ate homemade maple nut granola with fresh goat milk. I can't remember loving a breakfast more. After some school work and art, we had lunch. Lunch's dessert was organic strawberries, nectarine and, you guessed it, more goat milk. Sooooo good!
And here's the main event, our garden plot finally got tilled! By this great old white bearded guy named Jim. Jim, you rocked it today!
Well now that that's done, it is WORK time! We marked off the 50ft by 60ft plot we'll be planting this summer and started making our rows. In more than 3 hours we got ONE row finished. We're picking out rocks and making mounds. And Oh My G-d my back is killing me!
Sarah Leah, our summer live-in sweat right along with me. Thank G-d!
Meanwhile Micah is cutting, cutting, cutting away at all the brush and trees along the fence line we hope to get up soon. I'm pretty sure he's covered head to toe in poison ivy, so I'll be avoiding him for the rest of the night.
It's alright. He's got great company.
Now it's dinner time, followed by books and then bed. But I'll probably go out and see if I can't plant my little row tonight so I can get a head start on tomorrow.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Goat Sitting
We Farm Shmarmers are doing something new. We're goat sitting! And a bit of poultry sitting too. It's so much fun. Here's the birds.
There's a great big mix of hens, roosters, ducks and turkeys. And boy do they make noise!
The kids were a little skittish at first. Mostly because of this guy...
Meet Popeye. Big boss around here. But really just a sweetheart full of air!
When we finish feeding them and letting out of their coops (three coops in all) we went to visit the goats. But first Micah stopped by the cutie ponies to give them some grass. They were grateful.
Here is Emma.
She is a sweetheart who loves a good scratch behind the ears. And here is her daughter, Ella.
They have the sweetest faces and always seem to be smiling.
And Doby is the milking nubian.
She is very tolerant of us as we learn the ropes.
When she's all done we give her a good rub of coconut oil and send her outside to enjoy the day.
The other girls come out and join her. But first Ella and Nisayah have a little playtime.
Look out!
And now we're done. The milk is so delicious! The kids can't get enough. It goes straight into everything from our granola to the coffee. It's great by the glass too. See you tomorrow ladies!
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
The Food We Eat
Here is my comprehensive guide to The Food We Eat
First we'll start with a little vocabulary lesson.
1. Conventionally Grown Food
These are foods grown and produced with the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Does that sound yummy? Would you pour yourself a glass of water with a dash of Roundup, Miracle Grow and Poison? Well, that's what your fruits and vegetables are covered in. Washing helps, but the junk is in the soil, so you can bet it's in your food too.
Cartoon credit http://www.wellsphere.com/wellpage/organic-verses-conventional-food
2. GMO
This stands for Genetically Modified Food. Sounds awesome already. The way these foods are made is by slicing foreign genes into the DNA of the seeds. The foreign genes can come from anything: viruses, animals, bacteria... This food is created in a laboratory. I think that is WRONG. The food can then do theseamazing creepy things like produce their own pesticide and withstand massive amounts of herbicides (meaning chemicals that should kill a plant) without dying. Here is a more comprehensive definition:
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/09/gmo-corn-rat-tumor
First we'll start with a little vocabulary lesson.
1. Conventionally Grown Food
These are foods grown and produced with the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Does that sound yummy? Would you pour yourself a glass of water with a dash of Roundup, Miracle Grow and Poison? Well, that's what your fruits and vegetables are covered in. Washing helps, but the junk is in the soil, so you can bet it's in your food too.
2. GMO
This stands for Genetically Modified Food. Sounds awesome already. The way these foods are made is by slicing foreign genes into the DNA of the seeds. The foreign genes can come from anything: viruses, animals, bacteria... This food is created in a laboratory. I think that is WRONG. The food can then do these
GMOs, or “genetically modified organisms,” are plants or animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria, viruses or other plants and animals. These experimental combinations of genes from different species cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.
Virtually all commercial GMOs are engineered to withstand direct application of herbicide and/or to produce an insecticide. Despite biotech industry promises, none of the GMO traits currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition, or any other consumer benefit.
Meanwhile, a growing body of evidence connects GMOs with health problems, environmental damage and violation of farmers’ and consumers’ rights.
GMOs have been banned around the world and on May 25th there was a worldwide march against their maker, Monsanto. Two million people, from South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the US joined together. They didn't do it for the exercise folks. GMOs are dangerous and have no place in our food or the environment.
3. Monsanto (aka They Who Should Not Be Named)
These are the evil corporate monsters who create our frankenfoods. I don't have enough time or patience to describe all the horrible things Monsanto does, so here's a quick list
- Uses us and our kids as guinea pigs in their laboratory food experiment
- Buys out government officials to make themselves immune from the law
- Patents their seeds
- Sells said seed at a ridiculous price to the farmer under a strict contract, while making false promises
- Sues farmers for seed saving
- Sues farmers from nearby GMO fields who's organic plants have wrongly been cross-pollinated with GMO plants and then saves their own harvested seeds
- Ruins crops worldwide causing mass suicide of farmers. (This is a must read article on that point http://www.realfarmacy.com/5-million-farmers-sue-monsanto-for-7-7-billion#mbCQp6IEL5Kveezt.01 )
- Writes their own bills that exempt them from all responsibility, and pays congress to pass them
- Only serves organic food in their own cafeteria
- Pretends these rats don't exist
And so much more...
4. CAFO
This stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation. What better way to raise animals than in a really small space, right? Then, it's easy to clean up after them and feed them and inject them with a disgusting amount of hormones and antibiotics. Did I mention the cows are fed chicken shit? And the chickens are fed diseased cow? And they're all fed mass amounts of GMO corn? The sanitation is beyond horrific. The animals live in a swamp of their own urine and feces. This causes major environmental hazards when it is disposed of. Here's a highly recommended blog that can tell you all about it: http://homesteadinganywhere.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/the-truth-about-cafos/
5. rBST or rGBH
This is a synthetic version of bovine growth hormone and is in non-organic milk. It has been tested and proved harmful and the FDA puts it's seal of approval on it (of course). It is a hormone used to stimulate more milk production in cows. Sounds great until you hear about the unreported hazards. Watch the video on this link to learn more about the health hazards and how it's been covered up.
Okay, now you know the basic lingo. So here are some more things to consider:
- Conventional and GMO farming lead to depleted soil, desertification of the land, polluted water supplies and more. They take large amount of fossil fuels to run their operations.
- GMOs are a major health risk: Most developed nations do not consider GMOs to be safe. In more than 60 countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all of the countries in the European Union, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMOs. In the U.S., the government has approved GMOs based on studies conducted by the same corporations that created them and profit from their sale. Increasingly, Americans are taking matters into their own hands and choosing to opt out of the GMO experiment. http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/
- Smaller, more diversified farms not only stop the degradation of the environment, but actually increases the health of the land.
- If you have ever considered buying a Prius, you should be a vegan instead. More pollution is released into the air by CAFOs than all the cars driven in one year, in the USA combined.
- Cows eat grass. Grass eats cow poop. Put the damn cows back in the pasture and you won't have any pollution problems, nor will you ever need another chemical fertilizer. Duh.
- This is an article about pigs literally dying of diarrhea, not too mention birth defects and sterility problems found in all animals fed GMOs, and how they healed after TWO DAYS of non-GMO feed: http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/organic/pigs-health-improved-o-gmo-free-diet/
- Our nation is in financial crisis and one reason is the incredible amount of money that gets spent on health care; individually and nationally. Millions of people are on disability. Chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, obesity... these are our modern day plagues that can often be linked to our diet. Perhaps if we were willing to spend a quarter of what we give to the doctor (really the health insurance agency) on the farmer, we could prevent a lot of crap that happens to our bodies.
- Do you eat? Then you should care! Stop thinking the problem will solve itself. It's mass ignorance that keeps evil corporate giants alive. They feed on it. Do some research on the internet. Read studies that aren't published by universities funded by evil giant corporations.
- Your wallet is a powerful weapon. There is a consumer tipping point on the mass market. And it has been calculated to be %5. DID YOU JUST READ THAT?! All it takes is %5 of consumers to make different choices at the supermarket and suddenly the market shifts!
- Don't freak out and put your family on a raw, organic kale diet, just because you read this.
If you buy non-organic vegetables, soak them in a sink full of cold water and vinegar. It will remove a lot of the waxes and residues that cover conventional food.
You can be more careful to avoid the major GMO foods flooding our food supply.
You can buy pasture raised meat.
You can buy organic when it's available.
Meet your local farmer. We're everywhere. And we are usually happy to tell you everything that goes into the food we produce, so you don't need to worry. And we can provide you with a CSA (Community supported agriculture. Weekly harvests get delivered right to your door!)
No credit needed. That's just me and my hubby, and our daughter.
Try to buy more raw ingredients and less packaged food. You'd be surprised by what your kids will eat. For instance, a stir-fry that has cabbage and beets can be called pink princess pasta. Cucumbers make great airplanes when cut in half and stuffed with salad.
Grow something. It's much easier than you think. And it can be done just about anywhere...
Stop asking the government to regulate the food market. Small farmers can't keep to the ridiculous standards that are necessary for the corporate giants. And we don't need to. We don't feed our animals feces. We keep healthy sanitation levels. We don't want sick animals. And if you don't believe us, just come and visit! Meet your meat. Or see if we wear hazmat suits when we work in our vegetable gardens.
It's not about the government protecting us. It's about waking up, educating ourselves and making informed decisions. Consumers have the power. All they need is the knowledge. Go out there and spread the word!
Your next meal is the revolution!
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Mamas and Mushrooms
Now what, you ask, do mamas and mushrooms have in common? We are all part of the Circle of Life. And now I will show you, in great detail, how we inoculated our mushroom logs on Mother's Day.
We begin with logs.
These are from our woods. There are some black cherry, maple and aspens. Micah cut them a few weeks ago. Now they are ready to go.
Next comes the drill. Micah rigged up a piece to his drill so that he could quickly insert the bit into the wood and it would only penetrate as deep as each spore.
Next we place our spores (here we're using oysters, shiitakes are next) into the holes.
Spores
Putting the spores in.
Hammering the spores in
Next comes the wax. It's GMO-free soy wax. And it is heated to a high temperature to keep everything sterile. The spores are sealed, as is the end of each log, to try and keep out competing fungi.
The wax heating in a crockpot
Dripping it on
And that is the whole process.
When the logs are done they look like this
All in all, I think Micah and I were more excited than the kids. They got bored...
And hungry...
And ended up watching a movie in the garage.
But I don't know how you can be bored when you are playing with fungi and have this view to look at...
I mean, fungi are absolutely fascinating. You're probably laughing at me right now and calling me a homesteading geek. That's ok. But if you are one of the billions of people who eat everyday, then fungi plays an important role in your life.
Here is an illustration of what happens to the dirt we farm
When we eat conventionally farmed food, we deplete our soil. No soil, no food. Soil is alive. Any farmer who knows what they're doing, farms soil, not crops. (I don't consider myself to be a farmer who knows what she's doing, yet. But I'll get there.) Build the soil, get more crops. Better soil, better crops. You get the idea. But farmers who treat the soil like nothing more than ground, lose the most important asset they have. And the craziest part is that, with good farming techniques, your soil should actually improve and grow from year to year. No depletion necessary. How? A healthy balance of carbon, nitrogen, air and water. Fungi in the soil are vitally important in breaking down the elements found in dirt and making them available for plants. Here is another example of the symbiotic relationship of plants and fungi:
Mycorrhizal fungi live within the roots of most plants in a mutually beneficial relationship (symbiosis). They help roots scavenge more nutrients and water from the soil in exchange for sugar to make the molecules they need to live and grow. These fungi extend long threads, called hyphae, outside the roots. The hyphae transport phosphorus and other nutrients into plant roots. Mycorrhizae also enable plants to use water more efficiently and resist pests. - http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/ar/archive/may01/fungi0501.htm
Okay, maybe you find this all boring. So I'll put it in the words of Joel Salatin. "More organisms live in one handful of healthy soil than there are people on the face of the Earth. How dare we treat the soil like dirt?"
Shavtiel playing in the dirt when he was three.
And that's just the microscopic stuff that helps grow all your food. The actual mushrooms you eat are so good for you, I can't even list all the great stuff they do. So here's an abbreviated list.
1. B vitamins are vital for turning food (carbohydrates) into fuel (glucose), which the body burns to produce energy. They also help the body metabolize fats and protein. Mushrooms contain loads of vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and vitamin B3 (niacin)
2. When it comes to antioxidants—the substances that help fight free radicals that are the result of oxidation in our body—we’re more likely to think of colourful vegetables than neutral-hued mushrooms. But a study at Penn State university showed that the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC)—a measure of a food’s total antioxidants—of crimini and portobello mushrooms were about the same as for red peppers.
3. A study done on mice and published by theAmerican Society for Nutrition found that white button mushrooms may promote immune function by increasing the production of antiviral and other proteins that are released by cells while they are trying to protect and repair the body’s tissues. A later study showed that these mushrooms promoted the maturation of immune system cells–called dendritic cells–from bone marrow. According to he researchers, this may help enhance the body’s immunity leading to better defence systems against invading microbes.
4. Many varieties of mushrooms contain good-for-your-bladder selenium and, like us, they produce vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Oyster mushrooms are a good source or iron. Plus, they're low in calories.
5. Mushrooms contain rich quantities of potassium that helps to reduce the blood pressure and keeps the heart healthy. Mushrooms contain mineral selenium, which along with vitamin E, helps to protect the body cells from the damage caused by free radicals. The cooper present in mushrooms helps to maintain the health of the cardiovascular system.
6. Provides roughage to the body. Although mushrooms contain high quantities of water, but about 10% of it
is fiber. Regular intake of mushrooms help to provide the body with the much needed roughage that helps to prevent problems like constipation. Thus it helps to support the smooth running of the digestive and excretory systems.
7. Niacin provides numerous benefits to the body. Most of the enzymatic functions in the body depend on the quantity of niacin taken in through various foods. These include the production of sex hormones like estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Niacin also helps to maintain the health and functioning of the nervous system and many other working parts of the human body. Mushrooms contain rich quantities of niacin that helps the body to produce energy from sugar and helps to make the skin healthy and glowing.
8. THEY TASTE REALLY GOOD! (Not scientific, but still true.)
Facts from http://benefitof.net/benefits-of-mushrooms/ and http://www.besthealthmag.ca/eat-well/nutrition/5-health-benefits-of-mushrooms?slide=1
Now remember, there's healthy mushroom obsession:
And unhealthy mushroom obsession:
If you think you've developed an unhealthy mushroom obsession, just come and visit us here on the farm. We'll have you inoculating fungi til you can't take it anymore. That'll clear you right up!
Happy Mother's Day!
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