Archive for the 'Miscellany' Category

new digs

Published
by
Steve
on November 29, 2008
in Lifestyle, Miscellany and farming
. 0 Comments

I’m all settled in to Sun Island Farm and my new digs.

the container

The picture above is where I’m living. It’s a shipping container that has been converted to a house. It’s 40 feet long by 8 feet wide and aside from being super-cozy, it has a surprising amount of room! The inside is essentially divided into three parts: the kitchen, living area and bedroom. It was a refrigerated shipping container, so it is insulated and holds the heat produced by the small, plug-in radiator. Cooking anything on the gas stove heats the place up too. There’s a utility/bathroom built on to the side of the container. It’s got the hot-water heater, a shower, bathroom sink and built-in composting toilet. It’s awesome!

I’ve even got a land-line and DSL so I can keep on doing freelance design in my spare time! I’m really happy with the setup!

Work here is going well so far. We’ve started in on putting up a deer fence. The first run of posts have been hoisted after clearing quite a bit of blackberry and scotch broom infestation. I think we’ll get quite a lot done in the next two weeks as well, before I head to Florida for a couple of weeks.

I am enjoying working with Joe and Celina and am getting to know their kids and various family and friends. Their farm is a bit smaller than Plum Forest, and is a little closer to the scale I can see myself starting out with. There are several apple trees on the farm and we’ve been harvesting quite a few apples. We’re going to do another cider pressing here pretty soon. They’ve got barrels and barrels of apples they’ve been storing. I think I’m going to try and make some hard cider this year with some of the produce. It seems fairly simple and I’ve really started to enjoy drinking cider. It’s so much more simple than beer … it’s just apples!

Joe’s also got the tractor, a BCS 853, I’ve been dreaming about for the last year since I first learned about two-wheel tractors at Erik’s farm Ytre Lygra. So, I’ll get to have some hands-on experience with one before I consider buying it! Joe has some great implements for it as well - the 26″ tiller, chipper/shredder, mower and mini-trencher. I think he’s thinking about the rotary plow as well.

BCS 853 with rotary plow

Joe’s 853 has the diesel engine, which is what I was considering as well. Right now the battery for electric start is gone, but it is really quite easy to pull-start. Not having a front-end loader would be a sacrifice, but I’ll have to get some experience building and turning a compost pile without one to know whether it would truly be a necessity or not. A tractor with a front-end loader would be something I could probably borrow from a neighbor, ideally.

Buy Nothing …

I successfully avoided buying anything on my fourth annual celebration of buy nothing Friday. Which, after listening to the various podcasts and news reports about the economy, is apparently the wrong thing to do in a lot of people’s opinions. Go buy buy buy, consume and do your part for the economy! Pah! So many people are going to simply dig themselves into a deeper hole buying things for xmas. I wish everyone would just subscribe to this idea: Buy Nothing Christmas. As someone who “doesn’t celebrate” Christmas because of my beliefs, I don’t even look at it from a religious perspective, from how the holiday has been completely distorted. But, there’s a great movie out now, produced by “Super-size Me” star Morgan Spurlock. It’s called “What Would Jesus Buy?” Check it out! Then re-think your holiday shopping, and damn the economy! It needs to be fixed in different, more sustainable ways.

I say I successfully avoided buying anything, because I came very close! I really want to get a couple more pairs of Carhartt Double-Front work dungarees and I don’t have a tea kettle! But I think I’ll try to support a local business or two, even though I won’t get it “on sale” or at a “doorbuster” good price. It will be worth it!

Peter Schiff

One last thing while I’m at it: This past week, NPR’s Planet Money had a guest on - Peter Schiff. I was floored hearing what he has to say! Not that I am an economist in any way, shape or form, but at least two years ago I was predicting that the housing market bubble was going to burst within a year. I even suggested to a friend to hold off on buying a house (she didn’t listen to me) until next year.

I also started down the road I’m on because I believe the way most Americans live - in debt and consuming a ridiculous amount of material goods, wasting energy in the process while driving their vehicles commuting crazy distances and eating food from they don’t know or seem to care from how many thousand miles away it came … ok, I’ll stop … What I’m getting at is Peter Schiff predicted the economic crash years ago, and everyone was laughing at him. My agreement with him is kinda shaking me up a bit, because it is becoming obvious to me now that I am economically more Libertarian than I realized. I guess part of that is realizing it means. It certainly does not mean I’m a Ron Paul supporter, all of a sudden. The only reason I say this is because Schiff himself hovers around economic libertarianism. And, I agree with everything I’ve heard him say. Especially what he’s saying about the economic “bailout” …

Another good turkey day

I spent Thanksgiving this year again at Robert’s house. This year his awesome girlfriend Amy joined us. We had a Plum Forest Farm chicken, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and pumpkin beer. I don’t have any pictures yet, and will post one or more when I do!

Obama wins!

Published
by
Steve
on November 5, 2008
in Miscellany
. 0 Comments

And what a hugely great day it was. So so so happy with the outcome! A landslide!

This is a new era! Goodbye neoconservative crooks and liars!

this point in time

Published
by
Steve
on October 13, 2008
in Miscellany
. 0 Comments

The winter squash are harvested, the storage onions are cured, the weather has turned and the season is winding down. My, has it been quite a growing season! And, quite a good year, as long as you haven’t been paying too much attention to the news …

I just read that Obama now has a double-digit lead in the polls. Not that he’s really and truly going to be able to do much for us. I certainly hope that he can, but I’m hopeless for the government anyway as no matter what anyone says - it’s a corrupt system. Obama is 10,000 % better than McCain, for sure. He’s still a politician, and corporate greed still has him in their pocket. I’m happy for him! :) Whoever you are, whatever party you support, I just hope you get out and VOTE!

If anyone is still unsure of why the global markets are tumbling, here’s a great primer on the base of the problem. And, if you have not listened to This American Life before, I highly recommend checking it out. They do some great stories. I know I have totally put checking my investment account off, and finally did this morning to great surprised gasps. Bloody hell! I wish I hadn’t done that. It’s bad. Really bad. Thanks Bush and Greenspan, the greedy fucking banks, realtors, mortgage brokers and the whole sub-prime mortgage industry fiasco. You’ve done us all a great service!

I realized this morning that I haven’t updated my blog in a month. And, a few things have happened. So here’s the update:

Pullman trip

My trip over the mountains and across the vast expanse of nothing that is Eastern Washington was a great one. The weather was awesome for the trip out. And was a bit crap on the way back. I had a wonderful time with Joel in Pullman. It was really great getting to spend some time with such a good friend. We ate really well, did some touring around the Pullman/Moscow area including some cider pressing, bike riding to an unknown reservoir for some swimming, buying a ton of veggies and fruit at the Moscow Farmer’s Market and even did some heavy-lifting for Joel’s new woodshop he’s going to set up in the basement of his apartment.

Chinook Pass

No November motorcycle trip

One thing the Pullman trip solidified was that I am definitely NOT doing a winter motorcycle trip down the west-coast. The long-distance riding was ok, in nice weather. But I would not knowing leave on a trip with the definite knowledge that the weather will be horrible for at least the first half of the trip. It’s still a trip I want to do, but it certainly is not a priority. Which reminds me … I need to contact all the wwoof hosts and let them know I’m not coming!

Not sure about Chicago

I haven’t bought airfare to Chicago. I’ve been having second thoughts, for obvious reasons. However it would be absolutely great to visit my cousin Jude and his family, as I don’t get to see them often enough. And, from my research into visiting Chicago, it sounds like a really great city. I’d venture to guess I’d really like the place. But I just don’t know. It’s a tough decision. Mainly because there are excellent things taking shape on the island and I want to pursue those. I’ve definitely grown to love the island and if I find what I’m looking for here, I would stay in a heartbeat.

Me and Farming

I essentially have a month left in my internship here at Plum Forest Farm. I’m having mixed feelings. Maybe I’m just ready for the season to be over and am looking forward to the restful winter. Maybe I realize it is a ton of work and am not prepared to do so much work for so little reward. Honestly, though, I absolutely looooove growing food. It is one of the best things one can do with their time and energy. But growing food and selling it to other people can be a bit of a bummer. And, my conclusion from this year, on this farm, using the methods we have been using - you can’t make a living doing this. Or I can’t see it happening, anyway.

poopy muck

I like the farm life, the farm setting, the people, the food, but I value my back more than any of that and can’t see sacrificing it now. When I have a full-on farm experience again, it will have to involve offloading as much manual labor onto a machine as appropriately possible. I.e. manual labor such as the things that are hugely taxing on spinal cords, bones and muscles like working the soil, hauling compost, etc. And, for sure using some sort of time-saving weed-suppressing agricultural plastics technology. Not that we never use machines. Obviously in the picture above I’m on a tractor. But it’s not the farm’s tractor, and there’s really no other way to scoop mucky cow shit or turn or build a compost pile weighing several tons. That tractor just needs to be utilized a bit more.

To cap off my internship, I’m going to the Washington Tilth Producers annual conference. I’ve even got a scholarship to go! It should be a great experience and I’m really looking forward to meeting some fellow farmers, seeing a bit of Bellingham and attending some great workshops.