Week of January 4, 2010 : Seeds

(Here is a file photo of Xtra Tender 277A. To a grower, the name 277 makes perfect sense. The "2" indicates Bi-Color and "77" indicates a relative maturity of 77 days. The name clearly answers the questions "What am I growing?" and "How long will it take?" Although I will admit a name like "Honey and Cream" has more market appeal).

The first seed purchase for the upcoming market season is complete! Sweet corn!

In my youth, my parents would purchase sweet corn from various road side stands and excitedly discuss the nuances of tenderness, sweetness and flavor. I could not detect these nuances so I could not share the excitement; my conclusion was simply it is better than city chicken.

Now I can detect these nuances, and I can share the excitement. But even more exciting, though, is accepting and answering the challenge to be the grower.

I want to be the person who grows the sweet corn that is the single purpose for driving out to the market!

The first step, last step and every step in between is researching, learning and honing my growing skills. It actually is quite a challenge both mental and physical to grow a premium crop on any scale.

There are so many natural challenges such as weather and wildlife; think about it , if corn is tasty to you, it is also tasty to deer and racoons. Most people do not know that the corn stalks are as sweet as the kernels.

And those insidious corn borers and ear worms.

And there are plenty of challenges even after the perfect ear has been harvested; this is a competitive market segment.

Defeating the challenges while besting your competitors, all while satisfying organic growing practices? Yeah it gets hard.

But that gets us right back to where we started: I want to be the person who answers these challenges, I want to be the person who grows the good stuff.

The cycle continues with this seed purchase. This summer, parents will pack up their surly kids and drive to market, hopefully to buy my sweet corn.

Week of Dec 21 2009 : Ethics

(Here is the most recent creature to visit the valley, an Eastern Timberwolf. Also roaming out there is a black cat, named Corn Kitty because last summer it patrolled our sweet corn fields. C.K. does not run too fast on 3 and 1/2 legs but so far has managed to evade E.T.).

A recent timber wolf sighting made me ponder the ethics associated with agriculture and responsible land stewardship. For example, we are all familiar with the genetically modified organisms debate. Should humans introduce artificial traits into the food supply? But the ethics associated with a wolf fall into a grayer area.

The valley has everything an animal could need or want. The river provides water. The hills provide a shady respite on summer days. The tall trees provide a forest. The open fields provide green forage. And the varying combinations of these features make the valley an inviting place to animals including us humans.

And agriculture and responsible land stewardship only increase the appeal. Two summers ago my sorghum sudan grass cover crop attracted a female ring necked pheasant. Last summer my buckwheat was home to 3 wood chucks. But what happens when a predator accepts the invitation?

A wolf may not sound so bad. He probably would not be interested in vegetable crops but would prey on my enemies. Wood chucks. Raccoons. Canadian Geese. The wolf would help me solve many problems and not introduce any more. Except maybe personal safety.

A single male wolf will not be single for long. First a den, then a mate, then the pups. Suddenly there is a pack with aggressive hunting techniques. Humans are an unlikely but possible target.

Now I am forced to think very critically about responsible land stewardship. Stewardship is good, but it too must be balanced. So what are our obligations to a predator?

Week of December 14, 2009 : Tracking Deere!

(Here Nathaniel leads the Deere tracking expedition. The group has spotted the elusive 2440 with its winter coat. 60hp makes for great sleigh rides. Dad, can I bring it home?)

It is so nice to have Deere in the orchard. My favorite season is fall when the Deere pull trailers full of overflowing apple crates. Hopefully Nathaniel will cherish his toddlerhood memories.

When I was his age, I had a pedal tractor. My dad gave me a trailer for it. Soon after, I was in the hauling business.

I hauled everything everywhere. The older and stronger I got, the harder I could pedal and the heavier I could haul.

I hauled buckets of water to fill my frog pond. I hauled dirt to build mypitcher's mound. Finally, one day, when I was hauling building supplies to my fort, the tractor broke. The rear axle snapped in half.

Well I had a problem. A loaded up trailer and a busted down tractor.

I thought the tractor was forever broken, wood rotting in a rusting trailer. No fort.

I cried until my dad came home. He quickly assessed the situation. He picked me up with one hand, picked up the tractor parts with the other, and walked us to the garage. He calmly explained the situation to me.

Its OK, little buddy, we can fix this.

With that, he strapped welding goggles on me, handed me the striker, and asked me to light up the welding torch.

He fixed the tractor, the trailer was rescued, the wood delivered and the fort built.

It seems each day I find another life lesson hidden in that memory.

Week of December 7 2009 : YES

(Here is the "63 day" Fiesta broccoli. Seeded May 30. Harvested Oct 24. Abducted by aliens?).

People who plan enjoy safety. People who improvise enjoy adventure. This is the first lesson I learned while reading a book named "Improv Wisdom".

Another important lesson I learned is always answer YES. Answering yes eliminates roadblocks to adventure.

While planning Pheasant Valley 2.0, we considered if we should skip the season. The reason for this hesitation? As the prime market season arrives, so will Baby 2.0

But honoring our yay-sayer attitude, YES, we are participating in the upcoming market season. Of course farming rewards those who plan well. But this year will also demand that we improvise well.

Planning alone will not resolve competing time lines. Just as babies have very definite needs at very definite points in time, so do the fields. Bottles. Weeds. Diapers. Insects. Now.

So planning skills will determine the over all schedule but improvisation skills will get the moment to moment tasks done.

One necessary concession, though, was to minimize (hmm, let's say focus) the produce selection.

Of course we are growing sweet corn. Our fields are part of a legendary sweet corn field and I want to chance to resume that legendary, large scale production. Until I get that chance, though, I am honing my skills on a smaller scale.

The rest of the line up, perhaps typical, will be so fresh and healthy!

Beans and peas, peppers and tomatoes.

Edamame.

Summer squash green and yellow zuchinni; winter squash blue hubbard and acorn.

Cantaloupes and watermelons.

Broccoli, cabbage and kale.

Now its time to listen to the cold winds howl, page through the supply catalogs and envision the seeds, the vegetables and the satisfied customers!

Week of November 30 2009 : 2.0 Upgrade

Here, Nathaniel (wearing the red hat, on the red sled, in the red trailer) inspects the cover crop: 65% winter rye, 30% hairy vetch and 5% tillage radish.

Pheasant Valley 1.0 was a success. At the beginning of the 2009 market season we had seed packets and empty seed trays. By the end of the season we had authentic market space and repeat customers.

A lot of work took us from seeds packets to repeat customers. Some experiences reinforced our expectations (like weed control) but other experiences were somewhat unexpected and certainly more gratifying.

I expect people to buy food to eat it. But sometimes eating takes on additional significance.

One of our customers liked our Roma tomatoes enough to purchase 10 quarts spread among three purchases. During the summer, she was already thinking ahead, thinking about the holiday season and sharing special meals with family.

She used those tomatoes as ingredients for a sauce recipe that would be served during Thanksgiving meal. Knowing my tomatoes were chosen to be on their table is very gratifying.

The operational aspects of farming motivated me to get involved in market farming. But the direct customer contact motivates me to make Pheasant Valley 2.0 a bigger success.

Blue Birds got chomped.

Each day I scout the fields. Its rewarding to walk around and admire nature. This is a picture of a frog nestled in a corn stalk. But the surprises are not always good.

The blue birds were working on their second brood. The first brood was reasonably successful. Five eggs were laid, four hatched, and three survived fledging. The second brood was off to a great start too. Four eggs were laid and four hatched. Oddly the male blue bird mysteriously disappeared after the hatchings. After ten days without a visual I accepted the worst. But with the female and four healthy little ones the future seemed bright.

Today on my tour the male was on the fence singing a song. This wasnt the courting song or the mating song or the build the nest woman song or the feed my children song. This was certianly a new song almost sad. But he was singing from the highest branch on the largest apple tree and he followed mama all around the orchard. Odd behavior particularly since neither bird approached the nest. Those nestlings must be hungry?

Lets just say the suspect has paws and claws. Muddy paws and sharp claws. Upon close inspection two nestlings were buried under the ransacked nest. Very weak but alive. The wrecked nest was fashioned into a less wrecked nest; not as neat as the original but at least it had a deep cup. Two frail nestlings were placed back into the nest. I also tucked in a few wishes too.

Within five minutes both mama and papa were on the scene. Papa was singing a different song, this time less sad more confused while mama scrounged for juicy bugs. So there is hope.

The lesson here is education and preparation. Next time I lack the time to learn something or the motivation to be prepared, I will think of the horror my little blue birds endured. Nature is nature and cannot be defeated but with education and preparation at least we can improve the odds.

Whoa.

Today was a good day. Each day when I return home from work, my son is waiting for me (with mom) for his daily tour. We talk and walk around the garden. We check out the blue bird house, we scout the cover crop, monitor the apples then swing around the corn field. This is the fun part. I stand him on the ground and he looks at the corn. Normally he looks down, but with each passing day he looks down a little less. For a few days he looked ahead. Then he started looking up. Today was the first time he looked way up. Although he cannot talk, his eyes said WHOA. The corn looks good and hopefully I can raise a son as well as I can raise sweet corn.