CSA member Kimberley Healey sent in this blog about getting kids to eat vegetables:
http://greatbigvegchallenge.blogspot.com/
Thursday, July 10, 2008
How are Fuel Prices Affecting Farmers?
I wrote this article last week for the Oregon State Extension Small Farms newsletter and thought I'd share it here:
We are all feeling the dramatic rise in the cost of fuel over the past few months. For the first time in years, Americans are changing their driving habits to reflect the ever increasing expense of filling up their gas tanks. Fuel prices are affecting most businesses, whether from increased expenses or decreased consumer spending, or both. So how has the rise in fuel affected small farmers? On a positive note, small, local farms are beginning to be more competitive with larger farms that truck or ship their produce across the country and world, and are more reliant of mechanization. Consumers increasingly understand the significance of supporting small farms in an effort to maintain local food security. Most farmers who sell their produce at the Rogue Valley Growers markets this year sell out routinely and can’t seem to bring enough of their products to market. At the Siskiyou Coop, we expanded our CSA membership and filled up. All of this seems to bode well for the small farmer…
But here is the bad news: the cost of farming has risen just as sharply as fuel prices. Not only is driving to distribution points and filling tractor tanks dramatically more expensive, but the cost of almost all inputs have also skyrocketed. From irrigation parts to fertilizer to animal feed, prices have doubled or tripled since last year. Nitrogen fertilizer, for example, is manufactured by natural gas, so an increase in natural gas prices has a direct and rapid effect on farmers and ranchers. Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District’s Randy White, who has also been a rancher most of his life, noted that “even the price of twine has gone up!” White also commented that “with the cost of fertilizing my pastures tripled and the cost of feeding my cows in the winter doubled, I have to ask myself how long I want to stay in this business.” White Oak Farm’s Taylor Starr reports that the bottom line is that he is making less money this season. For small farmers, many of whom are struggling to stay in business, the increase in costs could be make or break. Josh Cohen of Barking Moon Farm explained that it is difficult to raise prices enough to accurately reflect costs without making customers balk and walk away. Consumer education about the costs of farming is an important piece of the puzzle.
So how do we make farming, such a vital part of our economy, landscape and very survival, financially sustainable?
Some farmers, like Chris Jagger of Blue Fox Farm, have used innovation to make their farms more fuel efficient. Chris uses a solar-powered electric cultivating tractor on his farm, and encourages other farmers to follow his lead. For information on converting an Allis Chalmers cultivating “G” tractor to an electric vehicle, check out this website http://www.flyingbeet.com/electricg/. Nationwide, a number of farmers are now switching over to animal power by modifying their equipment. While the training of animals to pull equipment can be initially time-consuming, the long term savings in fuel costs can be dramatic.
Necessity may not only be the mother of invention, but also the mother of collaboration. Here at the Siskiyou Sustainable Cooperative, we distribute our produce collectively, thus making more efficient use of equipment and fuel. In the OSU Extension Small Farms program, we are working to develop local markets for grains, hops and other products, so that producers and consumers will have less distance to travel. Farmers have a greater incentive to share equipment and other supplies, and reuse or salvage any items they can. While it may be a precarious time for small farms, there is an ever greater need for locally produced food and fiber.
We are all feeling the dramatic rise in the cost of fuel over the past few months. For the first time in years, Americans are changing their driving habits to reflect the ever increasing expense of filling up their gas tanks. Fuel prices are affecting most businesses, whether from increased expenses or decreased consumer spending, or both. So how has the rise in fuel affected small farmers? On a positive note, small, local farms are beginning to be more competitive with larger farms that truck or ship their produce across the country and world, and are more reliant of mechanization. Consumers increasingly understand the significance of supporting small farms in an effort to maintain local food security. Most farmers who sell their produce at the Rogue Valley Growers markets this year sell out routinely and can’t seem to bring enough of their products to market. At the Siskiyou Coop, we expanded our CSA membership and filled up. All of this seems to bode well for the small farmer…
But here is the bad news: the cost of farming has risen just as sharply as fuel prices. Not only is driving to distribution points and filling tractor tanks dramatically more expensive, but the cost of almost all inputs have also skyrocketed. From irrigation parts to fertilizer to animal feed, prices have doubled or tripled since last year. Nitrogen fertilizer, for example, is manufactured by natural gas, so an increase in natural gas prices has a direct and rapid effect on farmers and ranchers. Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District’s Randy White, who has also been a rancher most of his life, noted that “even the price of twine has gone up!” White also commented that “with the cost of fertilizing my pastures tripled and the cost of feeding my cows in the winter doubled, I have to ask myself how long I want to stay in this business.” White Oak Farm’s Taylor Starr reports that the bottom line is that he is making less money this season. For small farmers, many of whom are struggling to stay in business, the increase in costs could be make or break. Josh Cohen of Barking Moon Farm explained that it is difficult to raise prices enough to accurately reflect costs without making customers balk and walk away. Consumer education about the costs of farming is an important piece of the puzzle.
So how do we make farming, such a vital part of our economy, landscape and very survival, financially sustainable?
Some farmers, like Chris Jagger of Blue Fox Farm, have used innovation to make their farms more fuel efficient. Chris uses a solar-powered electric cultivating tractor on his farm, and encourages other farmers to follow his lead. For information on converting an Allis Chalmers cultivating “G” tractor to an electric vehicle, check out this website http://www.flyingbeet.com/electricg/. Nationwide, a number of farmers are now switching over to animal power by modifying their equipment. While the training of animals to pull equipment can be initially time-consuming, the long term savings in fuel costs can be dramatic.
Necessity may not only be the mother of invention, but also the mother of collaboration. Here at the Siskiyou Sustainable Cooperative, we distribute our produce collectively, thus making more efficient use of equipment and fuel. In the OSU Extension Small Farms program, we are working to develop local markets for grains, hops and other products, so that producers and consumers will have less distance to travel. Farmers have a greater incentive to share equipment and other supplies, and reuse or salvage any items they can. While it may be a precarious time for small farms, there is an ever greater need for locally produced food and fiber.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Using Beneficial Insects
This week for the first time ever, we released beneficial insects into our fields. Tom and I had been noticing quite a lot of aphids on our kale seed crop (we are growing about 50 pounds of kale seed for a seed company in Maine) and considered our options: apply compost tea to give the plants a boost, spray all 1200 plants with soapy water to get rid of the pests, or cross our fingers and hope that the aphids would not affect seed yield too much. A friend of ours who is a budding entomologist is visiting and suggested we introduce a beneficial insect into the field.
The next day, I visited Natural Pests of the Garden, a store in Medford that sells beneficial insects, and bought 3,000 lacewing eggs. Green lacewing adults are about 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, and are yellowish-green with golden eyes and large, delicate netted wings. The Lacewing lays her eggs on foliage. The eggs are oval, pale green in color, and are attached to the end of a hair-like stem, which hatch just a few days after laying. The tiny larvae that emerges has a voracious appetite and will feed on aphids, small worms, insect eggs, mites, thrips, immature whitefly, and other insects. Our 5 year old son Sam was thrilled to discover the lacewing eggs had hatched yesterday, and now we are reveling in the sight of the larvae feeding on aphids.
Beneficial insects are just one part of an integrated pest management program (IPM) used on organic farms. Here at Wolf Gulch, we rotate the fields in which the same crop is planted, keep all our plants healthy with adequate nutrition and irrigation, manually remove problem insects when necessary, and occasionally use an organic pest control product, like diatomaceous earth, which helps control cucumber beetle populations.
We are excited to observe the impact of the introduced lacewings in our kale crop.
The next day, I visited Natural Pests of the Garden, a store in Medford that sells beneficial insects, and bought 3,000 lacewing eggs. Green lacewing adults are about 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, and are yellowish-green with golden eyes and large, delicate netted wings. The Lacewing lays her eggs on foliage. The eggs are oval, pale green in color, and are attached to the end of a hair-like stem, which hatch just a few days after laying. The tiny larvae that emerges has a voracious appetite and will feed on aphids, small worms, insect eggs, mites, thrips, immature whitefly, and other insects. Our 5 year old son Sam was thrilled to discover the lacewing eggs had hatched yesterday, and now we are reveling in the sight of the larvae feeding on aphids.
Beneficial insects are just one part of an integrated pest management program (IPM) used on organic farms. Here at Wolf Gulch, we rotate the fields in which the same crop is planted, keep all our plants healthy with adequate nutrition and irrigation, manually remove problem insects when necessary, and occasionally use an organic pest control product, like diatomaceous earth, which helps control cucumber beetle populations.
We are excited to observe the impact of the introduced lacewings in our kale crop.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Storing Your Greens
CSA member Kelli Schapfer posted a question about the best way to store your greens. Here's my response:
Greens store best when they are dry and in a cold, humid environment. Farmers wash greens in cold water right after harvest to get the field heat out of them. We keep them refrigerated until they are dropped off at your pickup point. If greens are warm when you received them, you may want to submerge them in cold water. Then dry them thoroughly, put them in a plastic bag with a paper towel, and refrigerate. If you have a crisper in your fridge, keep them there. If the greens are cool when you receive them, you can skip the cold water submersion. The important thing is to make sure greens are dry when you store them- otherwise they will tend to get slimy. The plastic bag with paper towels are not necessary, but will maximize the freshness of your greens.
Thanks for the question, Kelli.
Greens store best when they are dry and in a cold, humid environment. Farmers wash greens in cold water right after harvest to get the field heat out of them. We keep them refrigerated until they are dropped off at your pickup point. If greens are warm when you received them, you may want to submerge them in cold water. Then dry them thoroughly, put them in a plastic bag with a paper towel, and refrigerate. If you have a crisper in your fridge, keep them there. If the greens are cool when you receive them, you can skip the cold water submersion. The important thing is to make sure greens are dry when you store them- otherwise they will tend to get slimy. The plastic bag with paper towels are not necessary, but will maximize the freshness of your greens.
Thanks for the question, Kelli.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
NY Times Article on Green Garlic and Garlic Scapes
CSA member Margaret Keip just sent me this great article on garlic:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/dining/18appe.html?ex=1214452800&en=8fb60d40433246ac&ei=5070&emc=eta1.
Check it out!
Thanks, Margaret.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/dining/18appe.html?ex=1214452800&en=8fb60d40433246ac&ei=5070&emc=eta1.
Check it out!
Thanks, Margaret.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Eat More Greens!
SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, July 26th- Farm Day at Wolf Gulch Farm: Details to Follow
I hope you all are enjoying the contents of your first box. We are glad to have the first delivery behind us, as there are always a few mishaps with droppoints, share sizes, extra items, etc. We wait by the phone the first Thursday afternoon of CSA deliveries to find out how much damage control is necessary. Apologies to those of you at the receiving end of my organizational blunders...The weeks beyond should be much smoother. As always though, send an email or call if you are missing an item.
Anyway... your box! Did you notice how much green stuff is in there? I have discovered an easy and delicious way to eat lots of kale, spinach, lettuce, chard, and other leafy vegetables this spring, and hope you all will experiment with the many ways to make GREEN SMOOTHIES. Here in the Rogue Valley, we have an excellent resource for green smoothie making: the Boutenka family. Victoria Boutenka has written a number of books on the health benefits of drinking green smoothies, like Green Smoothie Revolution and Green for Life. Here is their website if you want to read more: http://www.rawfamily.com/index.htm. To be honest, I have not read a lot about it; I just know that greens are good for me, and though I live on an organic farm, I sometimes struggle to get them down. The gist of the green smoothie is to blend a handful of greens with some water or juice, some fruit, a natural sweetener, and ice (if you want it cold.) If you have any experiences with or thoughts about green smoothies, please post a response to this.
So why were there so many greens in your box this week? Greens love cool weather and have thus thrived so far this season. Many of the other spring crops that develop roots or pods (radishes, peas, carrots) have been growing more slowly than usual. Not only have daytime temperatures been cooler, but the nighttime lows have been well below average. The plants have been focusing their energy on leaf growth through photosynthesis, rather than root or flower growth. Most of the summer crops are far behind...
I must admit that I cringe a little when the boxes are full of so many greens. I know a few of you have mentioned in past evaluations that you just don't know what to do with all the chard and kale. Tom and I co-manage this cooperative CSA effort, and spend the season negotiating with eachother from either sides of a fine line. Since Tom coordinates the crop production plans and works more closely with all the farmers, he leans toward the belief that CSAs exist to support local agriculture. I, on the otherhand, do most of the CSA marketing, interface with members, and write the recipe page and blog, so I lean toward the belief that CSAs exist to bring high quality, varied produce to local people. There is overlap in our beliefs, but our realms of responsibility naturally incline us to be slightly different. I think the Siskiyou Cooperative CSA as a whole (farmers and members) benefit from our perspectives. We do occasionally buy produce from other local, organic farmers who are not members of the Siskiyou cooperative in an attempt to get a little more variety in a box. This week, for example, the small shares will be receiving fava beans from Whistling Duck Farm. As a whole,though, we try to keep your CSA dollars within the Coop, since we are the farmers that planned to feed you. I'd love to hear feedback from any of you on this topic, so please send in a post. In the meatime, stay cool and hydrated- with a green smoothie!
I hope you all are enjoying the contents of your first box. We are glad to have the first delivery behind us, as there are always a few mishaps with droppoints, share sizes, extra items, etc. We wait by the phone the first Thursday afternoon of CSA deliveries to find out how much damage control is necessary. Apologies to those of you at the receiving end of my organizational blunders...The weeks beyond should be much smoother. As always though, send an email or call if you are missing an item.
Anyway... your box! Did you notice how much green stuff is in there? I have discovered an easy and delicious way to eat lots of kale, spinach, lettuce, chard, and other leafy vegetables this spring, and hope you all will experiment with the many ways to make GREEN SMOOTHIES. Here in the Rogue Valley, we have an excellent resource for green smoothie making: the Boutenka family. Victoria Boutenka has written a number of books on the health benefits of drinking green smoothies, like Green Smoothie Revolution and Green for Life. Here is their website if you want to read more: http://www.rawfamily.com/index.htm. To be honest, I have not read a lot about it; I just know that greens are good for me, and though I live on an organic farm, I sometimes struggle to get them down. The gist of the green smoothie is to blend a handful of greens with some water or juice, some fruit, a natural sweetener, and ice (if you want it cold.) If you have any experiences with or thoughts about green smoothies, please post a response to this.
So why were there so many greens in your box this week? Greens love cool weather and have thus thrived so far this season. Many of the other spring crops that develop roots or pods (radishes, peas, carrots) have been growing more slowly than usual. Not only have daytime temperatures been cooler, but the nighttime lows have been well below average. The plants have been focusing their energy on leaf growth through photosynthesis, rather than root or flower growth. Most of the summer crops are far behind...
I must admit that I cringe a little when the boxes are full of so many greens. I know a few of you have mentioned in past evaluations that you just don't know what to do with all the chard and kale. Tom and I co-manage this cooperative CSA effort, and spend the season negotiating with eachother from either sides of a fine line. Since Tom coordinates the crop production plans and works more closely with all the farmers, he leans toward the belief that CSAs exist to support local agriculture. I, on the otherhand, do most of the CSA marketing, interface with members, and write the recipe page and blog, so I lean toward the belief that CSAs exist to bring high quality, varied produce to local people. There is overlap in our beliefs, but our realms of responsibility naturally incline us to be slightly different. I think the Siskiyou Cooperative CSA as a whole (farmers and members) benefit from our perspectives. We do occasionally buy produce from other local, organic farmers who are not members of the Siskiyou cooperative in an attempt to get a little more variety in a box. This week, for example, the small shares will be receiving fava beans from Whistling Duck Farm. As a whole,though, we try to keep your CSA dollars within the Coop, since we are the farmers that planned to feed you. I'd love to hear feedback from any of you on this topic, so please send in a post. In the meatime, stay cool and hydrated- with a green smoothie!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Spring Farm Day
Last Saturday, May 10th, about 200 people came out to the 4th annual Boones Farm Spring Farm Day. We hold these events so that people can have direct contact with local agriculture and put a face to the farmers who grow their food. Eight of the Siskiyou Coop farmers and about forty of our CSA members, plus lots of neighbors, friends and people interested in joining the CSA program got a chance to tour Boones Farm, try out some Siskiyou Coop products, listen to live music and meet this year's crop of goat kids. Some lucky visitors, like Danika McVarish of Jacksonville, actually left Boones Farm with her very own goat kid. The weather was perfect for a day out on the farm- sunny with temperatures in the mid-70s.
Thanks to Boones Farm for providing the venue and goat chevre, Jo Ferneau of Full Bloom Farm and Bakery for baking fresh bread for the event, Tim Franklin of Yale Creek Ranch for his ground beef that was featured in the chili, and Melissa and Josh of Barking Moon for harvesting 7 pounds of salad mix on Saturday morning for the event. The next farm day of the season will be held in July, exact date and farm location TBA.
Thanks to Boones Farm for providing the venue and goat chevre, Jo Ferneau of Full Bloom Farm and Bakery for baking fresh bread for the event, Tim Franklin of Yale Creek Ranch for his ground beef that was featured in the chili, and Melissa and Josh of Barking Moon for harvesting 7 pounds of salad mix on Saturday morning for the event. The next farm day of the season will be held in July, exact date and farm location TBA.
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