Archive for the 'Miscellany' Category

second farmer’s market

Published
by
Steve
on June 22, 2008
in Miscellany, Travel and farming
. 1 Comment

Yesterday was Plum Forest Farm’s second farmer’s market. And, I’m happy to report it was better than the first - for me and for Plum Forest Farm. Not that the first one was awful or really in any way “bad.” After reading the first market post again, I think it is easy to come away from it negatively. The first market was a good learning experience. This market was just better!

Aside from better sales, Rob shared with me the nifty method of keeping a running tally in my head of what a customer is buying, rather than trying to add everything up when they are done picking out their produce. It worked wonders! Duh. Sometimes I am so slow on the uptake. Doing this reduced my sucky math stress to nil! There were also fewer people browsing and more people buying.

garlic scapes

We were in a different and better spot at the market yesterday too. I didn’t think about until just now how our location might have affected sales. We were at the end of a table next to Seabreeze Farm on our right and Lavender Sisters on the left, closer to the sidewalk entrance of the market pavilion. On our side of the pavilion, anyway, we were the first and only produce vendor, I think. We ended up selling out of almost everything. Which, here’s the list of what we had:

  • Artichokes
  • Bok choi
  • Cauliflower
  • Kale
  • Salad mix
  • Garlic scapes
  • Patte D’Oie salad (pronounced pot dwah, a mix of beet greens and spinach)

The only item we didn’t sell completely was cauliflower. Of which, all the prettiest heads sold and only the floret pieces we chunked off from uglier overall heads didn’t sell. And they were pieces of cauliflower that even I wouldn’t buy, so it’s not a surprise they didn’t go. I was sort of surprised, though, because last week our cauliflower was the second thing to sell out (right after broccoli).

After the first market Rob mentioned the idea that our sales would hopefully be higher this week because people would remember us from the week before and might be more inclined to buy from us again, or buy for the first time if they didn’t last week. I think this idea, coupled with our location probably helped a lot.

All this farming and going to market stuff got me thinking yesterday about my experience at La Chalaguere in France. I went to the archives to see what I wrote and found that I really didn’t post much of anything to my blog. And, for as much as I think about the place and enjoyed my time there so much, it’s too bad that I didn’t share more about it!

Mainly why I was thinking about La Chalaguere is that this time a year ago I was there! It is satisfying to me to know that this time last year, what I’m doing now is what I hoped I would be doing at this time this year. The main things that are different this year versus this time last year is the scale/size of the farm, the location, the relative success at the farmer’s market, and the lack of a secret affair with a french farm girl … all of which I miss! :) A neat similar thing about Plum Forest, though, is Rob speaks fairly good French and we grow quite a few French varieties of vegetables.

Anyhow … I’m not sure what else to post right now. I’m on the verge of writing a huge long rambling post, but I’ll save you from that. Today is Sunday and it’s gray and cool out and it’s a great day to just do nothin. There isn’t anything I have to do. Maybe a few things I feel like I should do. Definitely a thing or two I wish were easier to do (like see Dana). But I don’t think I’ll get to any of them! Maybe I’ll call my siblings and mom …

end of the day update: After thinking so much about La Chalaguere, I decided it was time to just call them! I fired up Skype and rang. I got to talk to Granville and Stella, but unfortunately missed Cia by just half and hour. It was really good to talk to them!

My education continues

Published
by
Steve
on June 7, 2008
in Miscellany
. 2 Comments

Friday, I had my first experience processing an animal for food.

Prompted by the Omnivore’s Dilemma, both the book and my own realizations, slaughtering a chicken is an essential step for me and I think a pretty huge life lesson. And, Michael (wwoofer) had asked Rob about slaughtering chickens. We had too many roosters and they were stressing out the egg-laying hens, so we all agreed we’d learn how to slaughter a chicken.

eviscerating

My thought is that everyone who eats chicken needs to experience this process at least once. Everyone should at least know how their food is raised (whether it’s meat or veg) and ideally where their food comes from. See all the steps it goes through between farm and plate. We’ve been so far removed from the process, most people are completely unaware what makes a chicken a chicken - how they live and die, and how they are treated in both.

I think if we all were willing to make this commitment to knowing and doing this, commonly referred to as “eating locally” or “buying local”, it would solve a lot more problems than most people realize. Actually, solving isn’t really the right term, a lot of the problems we face right now wouldn’t exist, so there simply wouldn’t be as many issues in general and therefore less to solve. Problems like high food* and energy prices, loss of farmland and farmers, poor health and nutrition, a completely non-secure food system, etc. Problems that everyone is facing (whether they realize it or not!) and that people in positions to do something about those problems (i.e. politicians, you, me, everyone else) are largely ignoring this idea that would revolutionize and thoroughly reconstruct our economy.

None of this is my original idea. And, at the moment it is prominently in my thoughts because I attended a talk last Wednesday by Joel Salatin on this very thing. He’s much more in-tune and practicing this idea than I am.

So getting back to the chicken slaughtering … having been a vegetarian for years, being on this farm is changing my views on what I eat. Partially because doing physical labor like this, I didn’t feel like I was getting what I needed nutritionally from the vegetarian diet I was eating. And, I just had a huge craving and need to eat meat again. For sure, there may have been things I could have altered in my veggie diet to increase my protein and calorie intake.

However, from my farm perspective, to have the experience I want to have here - what really started to change my mind is how important animals are to the small, sustainable organic farm. Animals like chickens and cows are pretty much economically vital to a farm - if they are managed right. If they are, the farm is pretty much self-sustaining. The animals not only nourish the farmer, they nourish the land. Chickens eat pests (bugs, worms, etc.) and scratch out weeds in the pasture and fertilize with their droppings. Cows are hugely beneficial to grass pasture (cows naturally should ONLY eat grass!) if their grazing is managed right, and their manure is invaluable. I haven’t taken the step of eating beef again, and I won’t be slaughtering a cow anytime soon, but if/when one of the beef cattle are ready from Plum Forest, I will definitely nourish myself with the meat.

Anyhow … we’re planning on making a great batch of chili tonight, using one of the Plum Forest Farm chickens. I’m looking forward to it!

I realize a lot of the food and politics related thing I post or will post probably turn some folks off. And that’s too bad. I’d rather people comment and ask questions and educate themselves and turn what they might see as negative into positive learning! I’m certainly not depressed by the reality of things, but am driven to live a different and better life for myself and the planet. I just hope that if nothing else, if anyone actually reads this they will at least think about how they are living and eating and change at least a little something for the better if they realize the habit and unconsciousness of it all!

* I will say this: food prices in typical supermarkets have historically been ridiculously low due to goverment subsidies to large-scale, unsustainable monoculture industrial farms. Look into the “true cost” of food and you’ll find what people think are “high” organic food prices is really closer to the truth.

SeaTac Airport to Vashon Island via public transport

Published
by
Steve
on May 17, 2008
in Miscellany
. 0 Comments

Useful information, indeed. My mom is planning a trip to come visit me on the farm! Others are encouraged to do so as well!!! ;)

Here’s how to get from Seatac Airport to Vashon via bus in three easy steps:

1) After you pick up your bag(s), follow the signs in the airport to where the busses pick up. It is at the far end of the terminal past baggage claim #1. http://www.portseattle.org/about/maps/ground.shtml

2) You want to catch the route 560 bus heading to West Seattle from Bay 2. One leaves every half-hour on weekdays and it’s a 20-30 minute bus ride. Here’s the schedule to plan ahead: http://www.soundtransit.org/x7225.xml Scroll down to where the schedule reads “BELLEVUE to WEST SEATTLE via SEA-TAC” to find the right times. If anything, the busses run a bit late … but they always run sooner or later. While getting on the bus and paying your fare, tell the bus driver you want to get off at the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal. Most of the time they smile and say “sure, I’ll let you know” when you ask them this. Sometimes they grunt and barely nod their heads in acknowledgment. Sometimes the drivers announce the stops and sometimes not, so it’s at least good to ask them this just in case. (Maybe it will prod them to announce the stops if they wouldn’t otherwise.) Have $2.50 (exact change) ready for bus fare.

3) When you get to the ferry terminal, walk down to the terminal building and buy a ticket either from the self-service machines or from an attendant at the window (if on duty). Get on the ferry! Washington State Ferries schedule of sailing times.

If/when you know your exact flight time, you can plan your bus trip using this Metro Transit’s sorta excellent Trip Planner.

I can meet you at the Vashon ferry terminal if you want, as the bus on Vashon isn’t lined up very well with the Fauntleroy ferry. Sometimes it’s an hour between when the ferry docks at Vashon until the next bus. Pretty stupid! I’m not sure what the deal with that is. Here’s a link that will take you to the trip planner to get all the way from the airport to just a corner away (less than a mile) from the farm!