Hello Friends! My blog is now being hosted by our new website! Follow this link to keep up with us on our journey into generalism!
http://www.thesundogfarm.com/?page_id=8
Peace and Love,
Darby
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The Heat is On.
Spring had sprung, summer had come, and now we're past the longest day of the year. It's pretty amazing how our farm has transformed from Spring crops to Summer crops in a slow, gradual turning over of beds. We've gone from greens and roots to beans and shoots in a matter of weeks. Our tomatoes are finally ripening and we'll soon be spending hours harvesting those delicious red/orange/yellow orbs. Our beans are just coming on, our Okra is podding, and our squash is out of control. Hot peppers are taking over what used to be a barren clay hilltop and our melons are slowly wandering down the hillside. While the heat of the day is so intense that it causes the leaves of our plants to wilt, it provides for some of the most abundant life I've ever experienced as a grower. Our Lima plants are upwards of eight feet tall and still haven't flowered!
Every morning I awake to the harmonious choir of animal voices. Our pastured chickens are growing what feels like a pound a day and our Buff Orpington Rooster has finally found his voice. He can be heard coaxing the sun from its sleepy hiding place and just as it descends slowly into the West. That has not always been the case for our little, Rooster friend. His name is Spring, he was intended to be a Hen, and it wasn't until he began beating up his roommates and making some of the most awful sounds you could imagine a chicken making that we discovered his hidden identity. When he was learning to crow, I would wake up to what sounded like a monster in the pasture. I found, however; that puberty isn't easy on anybody and now we have a beautiful Rooster who will surely be a beautiful meal for Elliot and I.
Our Jacob Sheep are gorgeous and stoic and are finally feeling at home. Valiant, the ram, has reached the age that he must be separated from the ewes and spends his days with his wether pal, Brewer. Their fleeces are a beautiful mix of black and white and I cannot wait to shear them in the coming spring. I will be spinning their wool and hopefully in addition to our vegetables and fruits I will be selling skeins of yarn and felted wonders.
My babies, the Nubian Goats I raised from bottles, are growing up too. They no longer endlessly search for milk or suckle at unsuspecting fingers. Elliot has the hardest time dealing with the goats. Any time he attempts to feed, clean, or change water, they are jumping on him, climbing on him, and nibbling his clothes, hair, and arms. When asked how he feels about incorporating livestock onto the farm, his response is, "I really like sheep."
But all parts of our farm are important and cherished by both of us (even the goats.) Biodiversity creates balance in nature and we treasure our opportunities to work symbiotically with plants and animals. The sheep and goats provide manure, clothing, milk, meat, cheese, soaps, and lotions. They are to be moved in a rotational grazing system together where their diversity will allow them to feed on different plants in the same pasture space for a more balanced mow down and renewal.
We are busy and tired, but lucky. Our physical exhaustion is met with a mental and spiritual inner peace. Our life is our farm and we hope that you join us at a market or visit us in Douglasville to try our beautiful creations. We are doing this because it is what we love to do and nothing tastes better or is better for you than love.
Every morning I awake to the harmonious choir of animal voices. Our pastured chickens are growing what feels like a pound a day and our Buff Orpington Rooster has finally found his voice. He can be heard coaxing the sun from its sleepy hiding place and just as it descends slowly into the West. That has not always been the case for our little, Rooster friend. His name is Spring, he was intended to be a Hen, and it wasn't until he began beating up his roommates and making some of the most awful sounds you could imagine a chicken making that we discovered his hidden identity. When he was learning to crow, I would wake up to what sounded like a monster in the pasture. I found, however; that puberty isn't easy on anybody and now we have a beautiful Rooster who will surely be a beautiful meal for Elliot and I.
Our Jacob Sheep are gorgeous and stoic and are finally feeling at home. Valiant, the ram, has reached the age that he must be separated from the ewes and spends his days with his wether pal, Brewer. Their fleeces are a beautiful mix of black and white and I cannot wait to shear them in the coming spring. I will be spinning their wool and hopefully in addition to our vegetables and fruits I will be selling skeins of yarn and felted wonders.
My babies, the Nubian Goats I raised from bottles, are growing up too. They no longer endlessly search for milk or suckle at unsuspecting fingers. Elliot has the hardest time dealing with the goats. Any time he attempts to feed, clean, or change water, they are jumping on him, climbing on him, and nibbling his clothes, hair, and arms. When asked how he feels about incorporating livestock onto the farm, his response is, "I really like sheep."
But all parts of our farm are important and cherished by both of us (even the goats.) Biodiversity creates balance in nature and we treasure our opportunities to work symbiotically with plants and animals. The sheep and goats provide manure, clothing, milk, meat, cheese, soaps, and lotions. They are to be moved in a rotational grazing system together where their diversity will allow them to feed on different plants in the same pasture space for a more balanced mow down and renewal.
We are busy and tired, but lucky. Our physical exhaustion is met with a mental and spiritual inner peace. Our life is our farm and we hope that you join us at a market or visit us in Douglasville to try our beautiful creations. We are doing this because it is what we love to do and nothing tastes better or is better for you than love.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The Sun Dog Farmers To Market
The rain dance that Elliot and I have been doing for the past few days has finally payed off. A cool, dampness took over our little part of the world this morning and our plants are thankful for the relief (and frankly, so am I.) The weather in Georgia has gone from Winter to Summer in a matter of days and it has taken all of us a little time to get used to (especially those of us who are accustomed to having snow on the ground in April.) Elliot on the other hand, much like our tomato plants, is thriving in the heat he was raised in and is taking my misery as revenge for the frigid weather I put him through in the North.
We have been putting long days of poop moving, dirt mounding, and re-potting in getting ready for the Farmers Market Season that is quickly and mercilessly approaching. Our plants are developing quickly and our fields are coming together with the aid of amendments and tilling in certain areas. Much of our work is done by hand and while our impact is small, it seems our muscles are destined to be large! There is nothing like sleep brought on by physical exhaustion and mental peace.
As the Sun Dog Farmers, we have our first Market this Weekend on Saturday at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market in the Buckhead area. We won't have much to show for ourselves yet (just some eggs and some honey) but we will have a hardy list of things to come. We are thankful for all the support we have had from friends so far and we can't wait to meet all of you Farmers Market shoppers! Following the Peachtree Road Market will be the first Crop Mob Atlanta Volunteer Meeting at the Market and I definitely look forward to meeting all you foodies who want to make a difference.
The Farmers Market really is something that all people should experience. From my journey I can't think of anything more enjoyable than connecting to the people who buy my food or buying food straight from the hands who pick it from the stem or pull it from the ground. The Sterile, plastic, frigid environment of the supermarket really disconnects people from the natural, organic, raw nature of growing. I see the Farmers Market as a great way to start re-establishing that connection. For many, the Supermarket is the only place they have ever seen food on display and the image of a strawberry on a plant or a potato in the ground is not a part of reality. The Farmers Market is a perfect place to reintroduce a self-insufficient culture back to the basics and teach them an old definition for where food comes from and what it means to be "clean."
We'll see ya'll in the city on Saturday. Feel free to give me a high five; I dig those.
We have been putting long days of poop moving, dirt mounding, and re-potting in getting ready for the Farmers Market Season that is quickly and mercilessly approaching. Our plants are developing quickly and our fields are coming together with the aid of amendments and tilling in certain areas. Much of our work is done by hand and while our impact is small, it seems our muscles are destined to be large! There is nothing like sleep brought on by physical exhaustion and mental peace.
As the Sun Dog Farmers, we have our first Market this Weekend on Saturday at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market in the Buckhead area. We won't have much to show for ourselves yet (just some eggs and some honey) but we will have a hardy list of things to come. We are thankful for all the support we have had from friends so far and we can't wait to meet all of you Farmers Market shoppers! Following the Peachtree Road Market will be the first Crop Mob Atlanta Volunteer Meeting at the Market and I definitely look forward to meeting all you foodies who want to make a difference.
The Farmers Market really is something that all people should experience. From my journey I can't think of anything more enjoyable than connecting to the people who buy my food or buying food straight from the hands who pick it from the stem or pull it from the ground. The Sterile, plastic, frigid environment of the supermarket really disconnects people from the natural, organic, raw nature of growing. I see the Farmers Market as a great way to start re-establishing that connection. For many, the Supermarket is the only place they have ever seen food on display and the image of a strawberry on a plant or a potato in the ground is not a part of reality. The Farmers Market is a perfect place to reintroduce a self-insufficient culture back to the basics and teach them an old definition for where food comes from and what it means to be "clean."
We'll see ya'll in the city on Saturday. Feel free to give me a high five; I dig those.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Farming Stinks! (And so do I.)
Things on the farm are finally bursting from the soils and germination mixes, just as the Spring blossoms are bursting from their respective trees, shrubs and wildflower stems. Our lives have been non-stop action since we moved our little family onto the plot and I have scarcely had a moment to reflect on it all.
We've had our Farmer's Market Meetings and made our commitments. Now it is time to convince our growing vegetation to fruit and prosper. We have done our best to think only positive thoughts, as we feel this will benefit and carry our little seedlings into this world. This has been more of a feat than it seems. As human beings we have evolved thinking cynically about things in the world. It is a defense mechanism. We don't trust uncertainty or people because a lack of trust can prevent danger. I've done my best to go against the grain of my mental lumber. The only way to do this, really, is to adopt a "go with the flow" attitude which is exceedingly difficult when the fate of so much of your livelihood is out of your personal control. When something happens on the farm (something doesn't germinate, something gets eaten, there is persistent rain for 200 years, one of the dogs runs through a newly seeded field to chase a wandering and unsuspecting chicken) we have to clear our minds of the newly formed obstacles and think of ways the problem will sort itself out or appreciate the way these little happenings alter the course of our journey.
We've made some additions to our family, our four Rhode Island Reds are now older sisters to our newest batch of day old chicks. Maybe the new babies will make them jealous and finally convince them to start laying eggs.
We have a Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Ameraucana, and a Golden Laced Wyandotte. These little mamas along with their older sisters will be our family birds. Elliot being the cook that he is will go through a lot of eggs during the week if they are available (hopefully to make me all the ice cream and pimento cheese sandwiches I can eat.) Our chickens will live (as the Rhode Island Reds already do) in chicken tractors and be moved across our dormant "No Till" fields at certain times so that we can make the most of their nutritious, nitrogen filled poop.
Speaking of poop, that has been the main word to describe my activities this week. Whether I am cleaning poop from a coop, spreading grass fed cow poop over a field, or mucking out a goat dairy stall and loading the poop filled hay onto a truck, my life has been very poop centered. One of the most natural ways to reestablish a nutrient base to a soil is animal waste. It is a cyclic system, where plants create energy from the sun and steal the nutrients they need to thrive from the soil. Animals eat the energy and some of the nutrients from the plants and the waste material from this activity comes out the other end in a nutrient dense form. On a pasture, this cycle can be seen very readily. As the cows move across a field, eating the vegetation as they go, they are also fertilizing the land with their waste. As long as they are moved often enough (and there are many other factors that determine how often they should move) the grass stays very green and grows relatively quickly. Because we don't want animals walking on our vegetables or browsing their fruiting bodies and vegetables, fruits, and herbs feed on nutrients differently, we bring manure in manually from these animal sources and spread them on our fields.
Each animal produces a different sort of manure due to their specific digestive systems which have evolved around the food they eat. We typically classify the manures in two different categories, Hot and Cold. A Hot manure is a manure that has a form of Nitrogen in it that is readily accessible to plants. You would not want to apply a Hot manure directly to a soil and put plants into it immediately, because the Nitrogen would be too available and would "burn" the plants. A cold manure is poop that has a form of nitrogen that is not easily accessible to the plants. It either has less of the nutrient, or it is in a form that takes time to break down. These manures can be applied directly and can begin fertilizing your plants and soil. Some Hot manures are cow and chicken, which need to be aged before applied to the field (or added to a composting system.) We got our grass fed cow poop long before we intended to apply it to our fields and our chickens forage over and deposit their goods on fields not in use. The goat poop we have been picking up, because it is cold, will be applied to fields directly where we intend on planting melons (and rabbit manure works in the same way.)
Where there is good poop to be found, you will probably find me moving it. The easiest way to get healthy, productive vegetation is to provide a nutrient rich, diverse soil. More on that later..
If I see you soon, sorry for the smell!
We've had our Farmer's Market Meetings and made our commitments. Now it is time to convince our growing vegetation to fruit and prosper. We have done our best to think only positive thoughts, as we feel this will benefit and carry our little seedlings into this world. This has been more of a feat than it seems. As human beings we have evolved thinking cynically about things in the world. It is a defense mechanism. We don't trust uncertainty or people because a lack of trust can prevent danger. I've done my best to go against the grain of my mental lumber. The only way to do this, really, is to adopt a "go with the flow" attitude which is exceedingly difficult when the fate of so much of your livelihood is out of your personal control. When something happens on the farm (something doesn't germinate, something gets eaten, there is persistent rain for 200 years, one of the dogs runs through a newly seeded field to chase a wandering and unsuspecting chicken) we have to clear our minds of the newly formed obstacles and think of ways the problem will sort itself out or appreciate the way these little happenings alter the course of our journey.
We've made some additions to our family, our four Rhode Island Reds are now older sisters to our newest batch of day old chicks. Maybe the new babies will make them jealous and finally convince them to start laying eggs.
We have a Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Ameraucana, and a Golden Laced Wyandotte. These little mamas along with their older sisters will be our family birds. Elliot being the cook that he is will go through a lot of eggs during the week if they are available (hopefully to make me all the ice cream and pimento cheese sandwiches I can eat.) Our chickens will live (as the Rhode Island Reds already do) in chicken tractors and be moved across our dormant "No Till" fields at certain times so that we can make the most of their nutritious, nitrogen filled poop.
Speaking of poop, that has been the main word to describe my activities this week. Whether I am cleaning poop from a coop, spreading grass fed cow poop over a field, or mucking out a goat dairy stall and loading the poop filled hay onto a truck, my life has been very poop centered. One of the most natural ways to reestablish a nutrient base to a soil is animal waste. It is a cyclic system, where plants create energy from the sun and steal the nutrients they need to thrive from the soil. Animals eat the energy and some of the nutrients from the plants and the waste material from this activity comes out the other end in a nutrient dense form. On a pasture, this cycle can be seen very readily. As the cows move across a field, eating the vegetation as they go, they are also fertilizing the land with their waste. As long as they are moved often enough (and there are many other factors that determine how often they should move) the grass stays very green and grows relatively quickly. Because we don't want animals walking on our vegetables or browsing their fruiting bodies and vegetables, fruits, and herbs feed on nutrients differently, we bring manure in manually from these animal sources and spread them on our fields.
Each animal produces a different sort of manure due to their specific digestive systems which have evolved around the food they eat. We typically classify the manures in two different categories, Hot and Cold. A Hot manure is a manure that has a form of Nitrogen in it that is readily accessible to plants. You would not want to apply a Hot manure directly to a soil and put plants into it immediately, because the Nitrogen would be too available and would "burn" the plants. A cold manure is poop that has a form of nitrogen that is not easily accessible to the plants. It either has less of the nutrient, or it is in a form that takes time to break down. These manures can be applied directly and can begin fertilizing your plants and soil. Some Hot manures are cow and chicken, which need to be aged before applied to the field (or added to a composting system.) We got our grass fed cow poop long before we intended to apply it to our fields and our chickens forage over and deposit their goods on fields not in use. The goat poop we have been picking up, because it is cold, will be applied to fields directly where we intend on planting melons (and rabbit manure works in the same way.)
Where there is good poop to be found, you will probably find me moving it. The easiest way to get healthy, productive vegetation is to provide a nutrient rich, diverse soil. More on that later..
If I see you soon, sorry for the smell!
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