Paintin' Place

   Wow, where did I go? Well, I've been working on paperwork...a lot. That is another farm story though for another day. Besides paperwork, we've been sprucing up the house a bit. Every year I work on "re-doing" one room in the house. So, far I've repapered, painted, or worked on minor woodwork in every room. It's great exercise. And, since we work sun-up to sun-down during the planting season (Feb. to Nov.), winter is for in house repairs. Unfortunately, in some ways, our winter season gets smaller and smaller every year as planning crops, planting seedlings in the basement, and boiling maple syrup gets bigger and bigger.

   This year we decided to work on our small bathroom. Over the years it has had a board in the floor slowly rotting away so we lifted the linoleum, dug out the rotting board and nails, replaced with a new board, and glued the linoleum back down. Then we took a look at the walls and realized they needed a paint job. We chose a nice tan color and I set about taping, rollering paint, and doing the brush touch up. Now the room looks pretty good. Unfortunately the beautifully painted walls make the cabinets look old and ratty. Ah, well now the cabinets need painted...

   Isn't that usually the way of repairs? You get one thing started and it leads to another to another and to another. I really enjoy working on buildings, painting, drywalling, and just fix it stuff. I'm pretty okay with plumbing also. Finding the time to enjoy this hobby is the hard part for me.

   Our farm has 19 buildings plus the big farm house. We had someone ask one time what we do with all of the buildings...another farm story I suppose. But, all of them are in use in some way or another. Instead of paying Grandma rent, we trade the work on the upkeep of the farm. Every year a building, or two or three or more, are needing some work. Sometimes we hire this out, but a lot of the time we do it ourselves. We have jacked up buildings to replace the sills, straightened buildings that were falling over by pulling them back into shape, and rebuilt failing walls. We've also built a couple of buildings (including the chicken house). Then there is the ever present need of paint.

   My most recent work of restoring a building is my little "Honey House". Someday I plan this to be a small workshop for me and a small area for our garden items. We moved the building to the farm a few years ago by jacking it up and placing it on a trailer, driving it about 20 miles to the farm, and setting it on new sills. Last year I was able to get it mostly straightened (it was crooked due to a bad wind storm the first year here), put in a new ash floor, and start work on cutting window spaces in the back wall. It is definitely a work in progress. Why is it called "Honey House"? Originally we were going to use it to process our honey. But, then I realized that my "honey" (Marty) paid to move it for me. Great guy, so I named it for him!

The Season of the Ditch Divers

This is definitely the season for ditch diving. And, it is NOT a laughing matter!
   Living on a country road that has a slight curve in it can sometimes be exciting. It can also be somewhat scary during wet weather and snowy ice weather. We are seeing the latter of the two right now. With another 2 inches of snow yesterday and a potential blizzard on the way, we are beginning to expect this to be a ditch diving year.
   The weather today was beautiful, a balmy 34 degrees. I walked around with my coat unzipped and without my gloves. It was great weather for getting our orders together to deliver tomorrow. Horrible weather for going to the woods to get firewood. And, apparently even more horrible for driving. It got very slushy by about 10am. We heard the snow plow backup beeping noise this morning and looked out the window to see one large plow in the ditch almost on its side, and another two plows hooked up trying to get it out. We aren't sure how he got there, but they sure couldn't get him loose. They finally called in the big boys with the semi-tow truck and got the plow pulled out.
   Later on we decided to head to Bloomington (Illinois) which is about 40 minutes drive to the south. The roads were very slushy so we carefully wound our way through the better country roads and onto the highway. Thankfully Marty is an excellent driver and we made it there and back just fine. However, about 10 minutes after getting home..."schreeeee!" then "whoomp!" then "zzzipt, zippt". We looked out to see an SUV in the front ditch.
   Since this is nothing new - we averaged one new mailbox per year from 2000-2005 - we walked out and calmly asked if the guy was okay. He was but was not going anywhere fast. Marty hooked up the tractor to his front end and pulled him out. He was thankful for us saving him the tow truck expense. We were more thankful he wasn't hurt.
   We have had a couple of very close calls in the past years. One huge truck, a heavy duty Mack construction truck, slid off the road on a rainy day and slammed into our front tree. It hit so hard that the engine was totalled and the drive shaft was shoved out the back. The two guys lived, but it scared all four of us nearly to death. We called the ambulance just in case. And, to this day when we see them in the grocery store, they still say "all I could see was that tree coming straight at me...straight at me".
   Another time we had a younger teenage girl, new driver, go off the road in rainy weather. She went all the way through the front yard, missing a dozen huge trees and our large historic stone marker. Talk about frightening! Her grandmother told us later that the girl didn't drive for months afterward.
   So, I suppose the word is - be careful on the country roads! Their pavements aren't made the same, they have drop offs on the sides and gravel that can catch you, and ours aren't allowed to be salted (only sanded). The snow plow workers do their best to keep the snow off, but the country roads get drifts even with a light wind. And, the mailboxes and trees - they can come straight at you if you aren't careful. Don't be a ditch diver!

A Winter Day in the Life of a Farm Cat





    She works in the basement at night, catching those pesky little mice. It helps keep the mice from nipping off the little plants that are coming up. Occasionally she jumps too hard on a pipe or crashes something over, but she is busy doing her night job. Then toward daylight, all tuckered out, she crashes for some well earned sleep on her blanket on the work bench. 

Spunky Brewster, farm cat,
before the big snow



   When everyone begins moving around upstairs, she grabs a nibble of cat food and then screams to be let outside. It's time to do chores! Racing outside into the snow, she catches little somethings and jumps and twirls, showing off her agility (something her inside cat brother doesn't possess). Off to the chicken house! The door is opened and she jumps at the chickens, trying to scare them! They look at her, bored, and then look away. They know that she isn't allowed to hurt them and she is just playing. Having grown up with them, and having the chickens bigger than her, has made her cautious about being too close to them.

   At the duck house she waits for their water dish to be filled and takes the first drink. She doesn't like drinking after the ducks...duck spit, yuck. The ducks clamber out of their house, sliding like penguins across the snow, scooping the wheat berries into their bills and sucking them down. They wait patiently until she is done drinking and then they take over the water bowl, slurping and clacking happily. She doensn't pay them any attention as it's time to continue chores.

   Off to the small barn! She races away, running fast then screeching to a halt to check out some little something in the snow, then racing away again. She is non-stop, keeping her energy at top level and her prowess as a hunter on high alert. In the small barn she scouts for mice, looking into empty crates, jumping up on the grain bins to check behind them. No mice can get by her - the fearless hunter! But, she sees none. She waits until the hay is collected from inside the barn and tossed to the cows outside, then she races away to the big barn.
   At the big barn is a great scratching post. She climbs up and down and all around it. Then she walks over to visit the pigs, jumping into their pens and walking around like the lion queen. She likes the big  boar and chats with him, even though he is ignoring her and grunting for food. She doesn't like the little pigs as they are always screaming for their vittles. When she jumps out, her damp feet stick to the wire fencing for a moment, freezing on it temporarily. It's still very cold out!
   Inside the barn she visits with the woolies (sheep) while they are fed and their door to the outside is slid open. She balances on the wood fence, showing her skills to the wooly girls. They try to sniff cat toes as the toes walk by. Done with the sheep chores and the animals are all done.
   The rest of the morning is spent in the semi-warm barn, hunting for mice. When nap time comes, there is a nice cozy hole she has made in the hay. She snuggles in and curls up for a few hours until evening chores. Then in the evening the chores are reversed again. She races from the barn through the barnyard snow and back up to the house where she waits to be let in. Then back down the stairs to become the "monster under the stairs" and to hunt at night. Ah, a full day at the farm for the farm cat!

Firewood for heat

   It is 5 degrees outside and blizzard conditions. I have to say I am very thankful for our firewood! It is work, but I think of it in a different way. Instead of spending eight hours working in a store or office to make money to pay for my propane or electric heat, I spend eight hours working in the woods cutting and loading firewood. It is more enjoyable to me to be out in the woods, especially on a beautiful winter day (not today).
   We wish that we could have a better source of energy to use, something better for the environment such as solar power. But, until we can figure that out and afford the costs involved in setting it up, we rely on firewood to heat our huge farm house. We hook up our largest tractor, an Allis Chalmers D15, to an old truck bed on two wheels that serves as our wagon. We take two chainsaws just in case we get one stuck in a pinch while sawing. A pinch is when the tree moves a little and pinches the blade of the saw. It takes talent to know when to cut on top, from below, avoid a pinch, avoid the tree rolling, and etc. Marty is our chainsaw operator. He has been cutting firewood for over 30 years and is very good at it.
   I'm the loader, or I sometimes think of myself as the pack mule. I load the wood into the wagon while he is cutting. It is physical work to be sure, but it is great exercise. We have some simple rules we follow to keep us safe. We wear ear protection all the time, are always aware of where the other person is, fell trees with two people around, don't pick up pieces that are too heavy but cut them smaller, and don't take off our coats and get chilled when it is too cold. We take a second saw in case of pinching, keep the tractor out of the way of where we fell trees, and we watch the tops carefully. The second person helps watch the tops. Sometimes the dry tree branches will break out as it is falling and we are careful that the chainsaw operator doesn't get bonked on the head.
   We only take trees that are already dead. There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all we love living trees. Second, the dead tree is already dry so we don't have to wait weeks or months before burning it. Sometimes we will "ring" an undesirable tree. That means we will cut a ring around it through the cambium layer, about an inch or so deep. This is also called "girdling". It will kill the tree after a while as it cuts off the flow of sap going from the roots to the branches. Undesirable trees for us are locusts. They have thorns and are very prolific, coming up and shading out better trees such as maples (for syrup), oak and walnut (for furniture). Usually a girdled tree will be ready the next winter for harvesting for firewood.
   Our favorite firewood is red elm. It is nice because the bark peels off and it is pretty uniform around, easy to carry and stack. It doesn't leave a lot of ash in the firebox, burning clean. And, it burns hot so provides good heat. The elms are susceptible to a disease that kills them when they are smaller so there are usually quite a few dead ones every year. We also like ash, oak (although we don't have much of this), walnut, locust, and maple. We save all the smaller branches from the tops for the maple syrup making, as the evaporator uses wood to heat the pans and boil the sap into syrup. We try to save the nicest size logs of walnut, maple and cherry for furniture making. We use nice size logs of ash to cut 2x4 wood for building repair (although it is very hard to pound nails into!).
   Firewood is a great renewable resource for us, keeps us fit and healthy, and provides hours of enjoyment. And...it heats twice. Once when you cut it and load it, and again when you enjoy the heat in the house!

Farming in Winter

   It is really winter now! We have about six inches of snow on the ground. The animals are doing good and staying bedded down in their straw. The chickens won't set foot outside in the snow, but I opened their door today so they could get some sun anyway. The cat is loving the snow, burying her face in it and trying to find the mice underneath. Chore time has gotten a bit longer as we have to trudge through the snow carrying the water buckets and hay. We also took time to wipe the snow off of the pig tarps so the pigs wouldn't get the smart idea of climbing on top of the tarps. Sammy the big boar is the bright one that would think of that to get out!

   During our tours and programs in the warmer months, people ask us what we do in the winter. I guess it seems a strange question to me sometimes, but I suppose I can see why it would be confusing to some. Nothing is growing, right? Well, we do still have the greens, beets, carrots, and onions in the hoophouses this year. We harvested some today for orders. And, we will be able to continue to plant in there all through the winter as long as the ground isn't completely frozen.

   As for the rest of our time...there is A LOT to do! This is the time of year that we buckle down and do a pile of paperwork that has been put off all year. We plan our next year's seasons based on how we did this year, totalling figures, and researching new crops. We also sit with our seed catalogs and write up our dream orders, then cut them in third for the realistic order. Our dreams for the next year are always bigger than our daylight hours! We also work on the inside of the house, painting, plumbing, and fix it stuff. And, we are still filling orders every week for corn meal, wheat berries, whole wheat flour, sorghum flour, and turnips.

   We also go around the state giving talks to other farmer groups, for seminars, and educational talks to non-farmer groups. That leads me to talk about the Spence Farm Foundation, a not-for-profit founded in 2005 that teaches about sustainable farming. We volunteer, along with a great group of other folks, to provide the educational programs for the Foundation. We host talks and programs in the winter also, including maple syrup making, building soils, organic gardening, and other farmer and consumer training. You can check out their website at http://www.spencefarmfoundation.org/. There will be some updates on the calendar soon and also updates to the website, so keep checking to see how the organization is growing!

   Other work we do during the winter includes cleaning seed for planting the next season. We save some of our heirloom seed for that purpose, growing heirloom plants so we can save the seed. We also research new equipment, plan new buildings (1830's cabin project is underway for Spence Farm Foundation), and work on our existing equipment and buildings. We are creating a washing station in the small barn to wash our vegetables in an enclosed area next year.

   In a couple more weeks I will begin planting in the basement. I have shelves set up with lighting and heat tables. I start hundreds of tomatoes, peppers, cabbages, leeks, and all kinds of varieties of plants in plant trays that have small compartments for each plant. I reuse some soil from the year before and also use some of the compost we created two years ago. Some of the plants will be transplanted into the hoophouses in February and some will be transplanted into the fields in April, May and June. The planting downstairs is time consuming as is the watering and care taking, but I love going down there on freezing days and seeing the little plants sprouting up. It is like having an early spring!

   That's just some of what we do in the winter. There is a lot more, but that gives you an idea. Farmers keep farming all winter if they are growing the kind of produce and foods like we are. Keeps life interesting all winter!

Going Away

   It is great to be able to visit farms in other areas of the state and nation. Today we are in southern Illinois for a short farmer conference in Carbondale, Illinois, hosted by an organization called FoodWorks (eatsouternillinois.org). We've enjoyed going to restaurants and cafe's that feature local food from farmers within a 100 mile radius. Tonight we will be able to meet a large number of farmers who are getting together to learn more about cooperative work that will benefit them all. It is exciting for us to see how other farms operate and to talk to other farmers who also grow food. It is always inspiring! We see a lot of great ideas that could help on our farm, including new equipment and planting ideas. We love looking at the cultural differences in agricultural buildings (barns, cribs, etc.). This part of our "farm research" is really a lot of fun!

   But, you might be wondering who takes care of the farm when we are away. Farms, the kind with animals, unfortunately don't take care of themselves. So, we don't often get a "vacation" of a week or two. Usually we are able to take a couple days off at a time. Will, our son and partner in the farm, is working at the meat locker this winter. He has agreed to take care of the animals while we are gone for three days.

   Our animals are very easy to take care of. We usually just open the doors for the poultry in the morning and then after they go in, in the evening, we close the door. In the winter we give them a scoop of grain (wheat, barley or oats) and keep their water dishes filled. If it gets freezing cold, I have heaters that their water containers sit on to keep them from freezing. Water is most important thing to have for all of the animals.

   Each cage of pigs and the two sheep are given a "brick" of hay (about 4" thick piece of a square hay bale) in the morning and again in the evening. They have rubber water dishes so if the water freezes we can break the ice out without breaking the dish. They get new water morn and eve and sometimes we will give the pigs a treat of apples, squash, wheat, or turnips. The sheep don't like treats but love their hay. The cows have a water tank that we fill with about 30 gallons of water and then put a water heater in it to keep the ice from forming. They also get hay, but usually it is a bale a day for the two of them.

   Other than that, we make sure the tarps stay on the pigs cages, the doors to the poultry houses are open for the poultry to get in out of the cold if they want, and the sheep can come in the barn if the weather is bad. The cows have a shelter they can get into if the weather is too icy. Most of the animals like the cold weather, but the chickens don't like to walk on snow. The ducks love the snow and go belly flopping on the snow. They also like skating on the ice!

   All in all, we find that farm animals can be easy to take care of all year round. We don't have a lot of animals, don't have to buy our own feed, and most of them can stay outside in all kinds of weather. Housing can be pretty minimal for the hearty breeds and for poultry also. If you are interested in getting livestock, do some research to find the heartiest breeds and it will make your life a lot easier. And, if you are wanting to have them in a town or city, research the requirements of your town. You might be surprised to find that you can have your own eggs, meat or milk even though you live in an urban area.

Winter has finally arrived

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
   The weather is cold! In the 30's during the day and the frost is settling in. We are working at getting all of the animals hunkered down to stay warm. This pigs are lined up in the barn yard in their cages with straw bales around them. The cows will be brought in from the field to the front barn yard this weekend. More straw was added in the chicken house and duck house. The sheep love the cold weather and want to go out every day no matter how cold it is. And, we are working on getting more firewood brought up.
   Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and is very unappreciated by many people. I notice some stores put out product for Halloween and then go right into Christmas, skipping Thanksgiving completely. I, however, am extremely thankful for so much in my life, that I can't imagine skipping Thanksgiving day. I live in a beautiful place, have fantastic family and friends, get to do the things I love in life, and am healthy. There are a lot more things I am thankful for, too many to list. And, I try to be very aware of all I am thankful for every day of the year, not just on one special day. Thanksgiving Day, however, means people all across the nation recognizing the need to give thanks. I'm thankful for this special day for that reason!
   Thanksgiving this year was a "traditional" day for us...with "traditional" food that is. Some years we have had five or six different kinds of soup, or quail, or mexican, or whatever fancy strikes the cook (Marty). This year we were given a very nice turkey from a farmer friend and paired it with all the traditional foods, such as stuffing (or "dressing" depending on your background), mashed potatoes, sweet potato fries, pies of all sorts (including pumpkin), and on and on. Marty brined the turkey in a mix of salt, sugar, sage, and water overnight. Everything was delicious. And, we are still eating it!
   We also had the traditional Thanksgiving day festivities of Sam the big pig getting out and then having to be put in the barn on "lock down". And, then there was our last little turkey...Gimpy. She walked around and chipped at the cat and enjoyed being a Free turkey.
   Here's an interesting question I was asked on Thursday...do turkey hens gobble? Ours never have. They typically make a chip chip noise. Our tom turkey, before he died, would gobble and it sounded like he was laughing at us. But, our hens haven't. Our turkeys are Narragansette turkeys, a heritage breed. I'm hoping to get some more poults (baby turkeys) this year so Gimpy won't be alone.
   Gimpy likes to chip at Spunky, the cat, until it drives the cat nuts. Then Spunky will chase Gimpy and both will get in trouble for teasing each other. We aren't worried about Spunky catching the chickens or turkey as she grew up with them all. When she was little, they were much bigger than her, so she has a good respect for them.
   Something else I was asked...where does the wax for rutabagas come from and when during their harvest or shipping is it sprayed on? Good question. I understood it is a parafin, but I could be wrong. And, since it is used to keep them from drying out, I would think they would be sprayed soon after washed coming out of the field. I could be wrong about that also. It would be a good question to ask the big rutabaga growers. I'm glad that we can grow our own or have neighbors we can get them from, or even at the farmers market. That way we don't have to be concerned about the wax, what it is made from, and if it is safe for us. I suggest every one try to find a farmer market, local farmer, or...ask your grocery to see if they can get "unwaxed" rutabaga. That might start a trend toward them carrying them.
   And, here is something else fun about rutabaga. Two days after my Baga blog, I found a book in a used bookstore. It is titled "Rootabaga Stories" by Carl Sandburg and copyright in 1922. It is more of a children's book. The titles of the short stories are funny...such as "Five stories about the Potato Face Blind Man" and "Two stories about corn fairies, blue foxes, flongboos, and happenings that happened in the United States and Canada". Say what? I thought it would be some light reading this winter!
   That's the news for now.

Sunday on the Farm

   I tell people that I'm retired. After all...I am doing what I love, don't have to go to a "job" where I have a "boss", and don't make much money. But, on a farm, every day has some work involved. The great thing about being a farmer is that I get to do work that doesn't feel like Work. If you have a passion for something, "work" isn't a four letter word!

   So Sunday is another work day really. But, it is pretty quite today. The hunters bagged their deer the last two days so we haven't heard much blasting going on this morning. I started a batch of homemade bread (using the oatmeal bread recipe from Tasha Tudor's Cookbook...great!) and it will rise on the radiators all day before baking this afternoon. We will go get some firewood from a pile of left over sawn wood (see the picture to the right), staying out of our own woods until after the hunting weekend is over. And, we'll do chores of course, as the animals are our partners on the farm so we take care of them and then they'll take care of us.

   Marty likes to cook and we've declared Sundays this winter as cooking days. He tries out new recipes and tries to use all the great food we were able to "put up" this year. We still have apples in our walk-in cooler. I'm hoping we can get out the old apple press today and make some apple juice to have for the upcoming holidays. I would also like to try a preserved apple ring recipe. This is like the old fashioned candy apple rings but without the red food coloring. (We stay away from preservatives, food colorings, and fake sugars.)

   It is still fairly warmish out (60 degrees), although more windy lately. We attempted to burn our six acre re-created prairie plot yesterday. It would've been the first time we burned it in fall, usually we reserve the burn for March. But, we were interested to see how it would change the prairie. Different plants like fire at different times of the year. Some of the flowers will do better with a fall burn, some with a spring burn. We also were wondering if a fall burn would remove some of the weedy plants that are coming in. But...no luck! We had a good southeast wind, but the plants might have too much moisture in the stems still. Or the humidity might've been too high. Whatever the reason, it didn't want to burn. So, we'll try again later this winter if the weather permits.

   And, for those of you who are wondering about what I'm holding in the profile photo. That is Yote (Yo-tee). Yote is a coyote. Last year I heard the chickens squawking and carrying on in the front yard so went to investigate. And, there was Yote. He had a hurt leg, was very hungry and weak, and was very tired. I was able to very carefully pick him up and take him to the house. You might notice that I am holding the scruff of his neck. I wouldn't suggest just anyone picking up a wild animal. I was lucky enough to have some training when I worked at a Natural History Museum in Alabama and when I worked at Birdsong Nature Center in Georgia. So, we gave him a little food, called the vet, and she suggested a rehabilitation place for wild animals in Hudson, Illinois (about 40 minutes drive). And, that is where he went...to be fixed up and put back into the wild.

   Some ask why we didn't kill him...and don't coyotes get our animals? Well...no. Very simply, we have never lost livestock to coyotes. We have coyotes around, but they usually stay away from the house area. The poultry and sheep are in their houses at night, and the pigs aren't bothered by the coyotes. Therefore, since they don't pose a threat, and they are a natural part of the life cycle, we let them be. They tend to eat rabbits and mice more than anything else. And, if they get a deer that would be okay. We sometimes have up to 80 deer eating our alfalfa so they could use some winnowing out. But, that is the story of Yote the Coyote.

   I hope you are able to enjoy some good home cooked food for the holidays, maybe something from a friendly farmer you might know. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Baga Lady

     I can never forget the "Baga Lady" at this time of year. When I started my first little garden venture here on the farm, I had a small farm stand along the road. I sold all kinds of produce from it, as well as little quilts and handmade candles and other farm related products. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.

One day a lady showed up and was amazed that I had rutabaga for sale. She loved the stuff and told me they ate it all the time when she was growing up. She raved about it and told wonderful stories of how her mom fixed the "bagas" for them. It was really fun to talk to her about something so endearing in her childhood, something that seemed very strange and unique to me and also very everyday. There was quite a connection for her, and then to me...and food had done it!

     The next year I decided not to have the little stand as we were taking produce into Dave's Supermarket in Fairbury, IL. Dave's is a fantastic place, family owned and very community friendly. (check them out at davessupermarket.com). I took in some rutabaga and thought nothing of it. Next thing I know I'm getting fan mail! Someone sent a nice postcard saying how much they love the fact that our rutabaga didn't have wax on it. Wow...I never thought about it before! But, you pretty much can't find rutabaga in the grocery store without a wax covering. A few days after that I saw the "Baga Lady" in Dave's and she told me how happy she was that I brought the "bagas" in so she could still get them from someone she knew.

     I happen to love rutabaga cooked in the oven like home fries (although I don't like them raw). Here's how we do it...slice off the outer hard layer, then slice the softer inner section into pieces about 1/4" thick. I like to slice them to look like home fries, kind of wedge shape. Then we put them in a bowl with a little olive oil, just enough to coat them, and stir them around until they are well coated. Put them on a cookie sheet and then place them in the oven at about 400 degrees. When they start to brown a little, we turn them over. I just keep an eye on them until they are soft and cooked, but also a little crisp around the edges. Yummy!

     This is the best time of year for the rutabaga harvesting. We have harvested a couple of hundred pounds this season and should've planted more. The cold frosty weather in the fall causes the sugars to concentrate in the root part of the plant and they become sweeter (most root crops are like this). So...if you can find Bagas from a friendly farmer, or a friendly grocery store...enjoy!!

P.S. Here is a picture of our hoophouses (without the doors on yet). We were able to purchase them through a USDA program/grant. They are unheated and the ends can be taken off or rolled up in the hot weather. Inside we have mustard and other greens, cilantro, beets, carrots, turnips, garlic, and onions. We'll be able to grow some crops in them all winter and during the rest of the year create a longer heat season for our heat loving peppers.

A day on the farm

     No day on Spence Farm is "normal". People ask us what a day is like and it is really hard to say for sure. Every day is different. Most days we get up and get the "inside chores" done. That includes feeding the inside cat (Petie Parker, aka Spidey Cat) and putting the part-time outside cat (Spunky Brewster) outside. Spunky catches basement mice for us at night, especially when I have plantings under the grow lights. We get our breakfast, check our emails, spend time writing blogs or whatever, and then do the "outside chores".
     The Outside Chores consist of opening the chicken house door, opening the duck house door and giving them water, opening the Big Barn door for Gimpy the turkey, and leading Hannah and Ginny our Jacob sheep out to their pasture. The sheep are spoiled and so go into a stall in the barn at night.
     Then...right now...there are three pig cages. One has Swee (mama or "sow") and her latest batch of babies ('the babies'). Another has 'the little kids' which were born in March this year. There are three gilts (girls) and a boy (boar). The boy is to go live at another farm soon. The third cage has Sam. Sam is our big daddy ("boar"). He is about 200 pounds and just like a very large muscular dog. He loves his belly rubbed and loves Spunky. We move the 6' x 10' pig cages to the next available green area, give them water, and sometimes a treat of apples or squash or wheat berries. The last chore is the cows. We have Surprise (see her mug shot on the farm website at http://www.thespencefarm.com/) and her daughter Dini (short for Houdini as she used to get out all the time.) I call Dini "Devil Dini" because she is getting her horns and looks a little devilish, not to mention her personality fits it. We check their water and about every three days move their electric fence area so they have new food to eat. They are eating our corn stocks and some alfalfa right now.
     We don't feed any of our animals in the conventional way of "feeds" containing a lot of grains. We try to keep them on pasture as long as we can and then feed mostly hay in the winter. The poultry will get some of our own grains (wheat, barley or oats maybe) and sometimes left over apples as a treat when it is very cold and the bugs and grass are gone. But, we let them "free range" (walk all over the place) and feed themselves what they know to be healthy for themselves. Feeding the hay and pasture and our own grains cuts the feed costs dramatically.
     Chores are done again in the evening. But, in between that time all kinds of other things are happening. Today we are watering inside the hoophouses, having about a hundred high school Agriculture students out for tours, and harvesting more turnips (never ending it seems!). We are also working on discing up the ground where our spring wheat and alfalfa will be planted.
     A disc is a contraption that we pull with our big tractor. It has round discs on it that slice into the ground and help chop up the existing grass or other cover crops. We don't want to till the ground until we are ready to put in a crop because we don't want the ground to erode or blow away and lose all the nutrients. We try to keep some kind of crop on it until we need to plant. However, we are discing some areas lightly now to break them up. The existing crop will be killed during the winter and the tilling easier in the spring. That way if the spring is a wet one (usually the case) we won't have to disc and can just till when we get a dry window of time.
     I suppose this blog will be able to give a better idea of how the seasons change what we do on the farm and how every day can be different and exciting. Keep checking back to see what is new!

Harvest Day

Today is a Tuesday, which means we are working at bringing in our harvests to fill our weekly orders. We grow produce for a number of restaurants in Chicago, Champaign, Bloomington, and Peoria, Illinois. This week we have piles of turnips. No...I mean piles! We harvested about 600 pounds of just two out of four kinds of turnips yesterday. There are white hakurei, yellow, purple top, and purples.
One of my jobs is to package up the corn meal, wheat flours, and wheat berries. Wheat berries are the wheat seeds and make a wonderful cold or warm salad when cooked. I'll try to work on getting some recipes together for those of you who might be interested. The corn meal is from a very rare white corn that we grow. It is called Iroquois White and makes a delicious corn meal. We roast it over an oak fire, shell it off the cobs, and then mill it. I do have a great recipe for the corn meal. The recipe is adapted from Tasha Tudor's Cookbook with our corn meal substituted for the regular yellow kind and our whole wheat flour substituted for the white flour.
If you are interested in the interesting history of our Iroquois White corn project, you can check it out on our webiste. And, please be patient with my internet skills...I'm working on updating our websites for both the farm and the not-for-profit Spence Farm Foundation. It might take a little while, but I think I'm getting the slow hang of it!
Check back again, I'll try to get more pictures and recipes, etc. coming soon!

dragged into the 21st century!

Well, this is it! Here I am on the internet (not dial up anymore) and posting my first BLOG. It is amazing that I've come this far. Farms used to be so easy...just growing and enjoying the weather and animals and plants. But, now I am encountering the new style of farming. New and advanced, faster than ever, connected to everyone at the touch of a button. (Well, only if they are "friended" I'm told.) But, this is the farming of the future and I want to make sure that our very special farm will be there for everyone to enjoy.
I wanted to start a blog so that people can read about what our farm is really like. It is so different than other farms. It has old buildings, lots of nature, and is unique in dozens of ways. So...welcome to my little snippets about farm life. I'll try to keep you up to date as best I can with what is happening on the farm seasonally, daily life experiences, and anything I can think of to help connect you to farm life. I hope you find it interesting, educational, and a fabulous connection to the land, to the animals, to the plants, and to farms in general.
Thanks for joining me!