Dropstone Farms

…but Mighty God King [You may safely assume that all links contain swears and off-color humor] a blog that’s primarily about comic books, jokes about bad science fiction and an unhealthy obsession with Rex the Wonder Dog has published a short essay on sustainable agriculture and responsible meat consumption.

My dog did this just the other day. (Stolen from Mighty God King with respect.)

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We got an email off a farming list the other day stating that a nearby greenhouse owner was moving and she was having a greenhouse sale of all the now-superfluous equipment. So I fired the truck up and went to see if I could find a bargain. I managed to pick up:

• A 55-gallon compost tumbler
• A smallish garden cart
• Six greenhouse table tops
• 12 brackets for building tables from 2×4s
• A hula hoe
• 12 large seed-starting trays
• Six tomato cages
• A mess of domes
• A billion seed flats
• A mess of small seed-starting trays

All for the princely sum of $87. I am awfully pleased with myself. In the spirit of giving back to the gardening , I offer up the following jpg.

Sources close to the Obama administration assure me that this is Tom Vilsack's own farm in Iowa.

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It’s time that we had a very important talk. I haven’t noticed any of the other farm/chicken bloggers I read talking about this, though of course I may have missed it, but I think it’s very important to have open communication with each other about certain topics, and to be willing to educate others.

When a young pullet is growing up and becoming a hen, her body sends her lots of confusing signals. Especially when she is isolated from young boy chickens, like many of our laying flocks are, sometimes her body will betray her into responding in ways she didn’t intend, to things that you & I might not consider appropriate. For example, when you go to pick her up to say hello, or if you lean over her to fill the feeder or to open the nest box, her confused pubescent body and teeny-tiny brain may interpret this as an amorously dominant gesture, to which she should respond.

Her instinctive response to this, then, is to crouch down, stick her butt up in the air (for easy access, you know), and hold her wings a little bit away from her body (to give you an easy way to grab on and stay on). It’s quite thoughtful of her, really, to be so accommodating of you, though it can also be somewhat awkward.

In any case, this sort of behavior is how you know that your little girls are all grown up, and, however confused they may be about your role in their lives, they are now aware of their role as layers.

It’s also how you finally know, for sure, that Mr. Klassy is not a rooster. The not-crowing was a clue; the tiny eggs were a questionable clue but could have been from a duck unhappy with the cold weather; the fact that the hens didn’t ever accept him as lord and master was a huge clue. But as soon as I saw Klassy crouch and stick her butt in the air, I sighed, and went inside to email SJ. She & kids came out yesterday, and we had a delicious lunch and a walk to the beach, and now Klassy has gone back from whence he came. We have plenty of room for a tiny hen here, of course, but since the only reason he left Seattle was noise regulations, and since all the other hens here pick on her, and since she is pretty social with people, I think she will be happier with some kids to cuddle with, and a flock that will actually let her get some food occasionally without having to sneak around.

I forgot to take a video, but here is someone else’s video of another little Polish hen making what are apparently standard Polish hen noises, like Klassy makes — tiny little cooing chuckles. Klassy is a very sweet little bird and we will miss her, but I bet she will not miss our flock of hoodlums.

Mr. Klassy is ready for his closeup, originally uploaded by laurenipsum.

So long, little Klassy! We wish you a long life with many kale stems.

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Since it’s apparently politics week on our blog, it’s time to talk about the troubling rumors floating around the internets about the relationship between the awesome and lovable Territorial Seed Company and the generally deplorable Monsanto. Long story short, one of Territorial’s suppliers, Seminis, was assimilated purchased by Monsanto. This does not (repeat NOT) mean that Territorial itself was bought by Monsanto, or that Territorial has become evil, or anything of the sort.

In fact, they’ve been all manner of helpful in answering the questions of garden blogger and Internet-buddy of ours, Sinfonian, and helping Sinfonian and the garden blogger community avoid the Bad Seeds (WARNING: Australian Goth-Punk Content).

Seriously, I swear that this is their actual logo. No lie.

The basic deal is that the following seed varieties may come from a Monsanto-owned source.The full list of seeds possibly sourced from Monstano by Territorial Seed has been thoughtfully posted by Sinfonian.

There are only 51 varieties listed which is small relative to the total number available in Territorials catalog so it’s not the end of the world. It’s not great either, though.

Sinfonian went on to explain that he’d received further email from the Product Development Director at Territorial which he paraphrased as “For instance, Yellow Pear, since it is open pollinated, they produce their seed on their own farms. It was listed on their Monsanto list because they MAY buy from Seminis, if demand exceeds their supply.” Fair enough. I’d rather get Territorial-bred seeds because they share a climate and a symphylan problem with me and, as a result, I can count on their seeds to perform better than other providers.

But, and here’s a big but, this nasty incident has rather forcefully reminded me of the fact that local food production is precarious and that it’s dangerous to really on suppliers that can be taken away by interests that would clearly like to see us go away. As a result, I’m going to ramp up our efforts to start saving our own seed and working with groups like the Metafilter Seed Exchange and Seed Savers Exchange.

And on further note, Seed Savers Exchange is not the same organization as Seeds of Change who are a brand/subsidiary of of Mars Incorporated. Oddly, finding this information out required a mess of digging around in various business databases and the fine print of corporate websites. Huh.

An oldie but goody!

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Garth and I have a few different possible opportunities for expanded farming right now, of which we have been discussing the pros and cons at length. But they all have one thing in common: if we expand beyond the tiny (for a farm) plot we have now, it will be way too much work for just one person, but not enough to support us both if I were to stop working off-farm. And even if it were enough income, there is no way that we could make enough on farming to cover our health insurance costs. It’s frustrating, because my community and my country and my personal ethics and ultimate goals are telling me that this thing I want is possible, except this one fundamental piece.

So this is timely: The Ethicurean: For healthy food and soil, we need affordable health care for farmers.

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I’m not really one for resolutions, but I did get a nice Moleskine calendar notebook with room to write some basic notes on each day. I’m hoping to take notes each day about what went on — what was planted, what was harvested, how many eggs, etc. I forgot to do it the past couple of days but today I noted down 2 duck eggs and one chicken egg when Garth went out in the morning, and two more when I put them to bed when we got home from Seattle. Also, Stripes and one of the reds have bald butts for some reason; their butt fuzz has apparently fallen out. But today I noticed that Stripes’ butt fuzz feathers are coming back, so I wrote that down too. (Red was facing the wrong direction on the perch and I didn’t want to crawl around in the dark and freak the ducks out. I’ll check her butt tomorrow.)

Anyway, I don’t figure I’ll transfer the daily notes here, but on the other hand it may provide a handy outline for quick weekly updates, or ideas for bigger posts, etc.

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