Worm Fans and Farming Again

Busy day on the bartblog wire. Here’s my afternoon and evening:

1. Intended to plant a tree with Mesa. Checked two local nurseries, neither had any trees. (wtf?)
2. Picked up two used ice cream barrels that will soon become part of my rain water collection system. They still have some melted ice cream in them, if you’re interested. Free tastes for all.
3. Sent out my second red wiggler starter pack.  This one is headed for Brookings, SD. A friend of mine who works at SDSU came out with her husband today to see my operation, and went home with a bucket of composting worms for their fancy shmancy new hi-tech worm bin. Pictures are coming soon.
4. The girls and I (and Bailey) headed out to the farm for more calf tagging. Hope’s addiction to calving is really escalating out of control…I’ve put in about 8 hours of chasing and wrestling those cute little suckers in the past seven days–I’d say I’m damn near a farmer again. I’m also much slower than I used to be.

(taken with a grainy cell phone)

Store Wars

OK, I know not every bartblog fan will appreciate the message of this video. No matter what you think about chemicals and such on your food, this video is just plain fun. Check it out if you have 5 minutes and want to laugh. It’s worth it.

I’m not even going to say I want to push this message (I love organic practices, and believe LOCAL is just as important. There are some sketchy details out there that get overlooked by slapping a “USDA Organic” seal on things…more in another post I guess…).

I love the farm I grew up on (and the guys running it), and think the ag system needs bunches of change if it will sustain humans for generations to come. I also get how hard it is to make that jump. Anytime I’m knocking chemical farming, I’m never pointing a finger at anyone, I’m pointing it at everyone. We’re ALL part fo the problem…

Weed-Chopping Cousins (plus losing the battle with wind)

Charlie in his oats.
(photo by Sam Hurst for Gourmet.com)

The Madville Times reports (Mrs. Madville Times too) that the Johnsons from Orland Township are featured in a new story on Gourmet.com about their 30-year experiment with totally organic farming. Not your quaint little vegetable farm either. Charlie and Alan farm 2,400 acres (divided into 60-plus fields) in Lake County, SD, planting and harvesting 5 different crops on a 6-year rotation.

The Johnsons are my cousins. Mary (Bartmann) Johnson, Charlie and Alan’s Mom, came to America from Essentho, Germany (where my great-grandpa was born) as a teenager with the help of my grandparents. Charlie and my Dad are friends, cousins and successful farmers–and their passions for the work are carried through in very different ways. I remember “walking beans” to chop those sunflowers, thistles and cockleburrs in the dawn hours of July mornings as a kids, though. That was before “Round-up Ready” was for real. Or… Maybe, just maybe, it was another way