Ethan Book is a southern Iowa farmer/podcaster (thebeginningfarmer.com) who reflected, this Christmas week, on the top five failures and successes of his 2015 farming year. I like the concept, which prodded a bit of reflection on our own experiences this year at Taproot Garden. I do, however, want to change the vocabulary a bit -- partly because I am yet too much of a novice to speak with any credibility about successes and failures, and partly because on this Christmas Eve I rather have gifts on my mind.
So, with apologies to the casual reader more accustomed to stories and the occasional poignant thought than this reflective accounting, and who have my honest permission to stop reading now and return again next week for a more usual blog, here are the top five gifts I have received from the farmstead this year.
1. The Chickens survived the winter. That may not sound like much, but last winter was our first in the company of these beautiful ladies, and I was none too confident. I have observed that many chicken keepers manage their flocks spring through autumn, and then butcher them for meat as winter settles in, starting over again with a new flock in the spring. I completely understand the motivation. Chicken keeping in the winter is not for the faint of heart, adding as it does an extra layer of hassle to the care, beginning with the simple maintenance of food and water in frigid temperatures. I came to the conclusion last winter that work gloves simply aren't made that are warm enough to keep fingers functional while hauling, filling and gathering in the grimmer days of winter. And then, when snow falls, accumulations must be shoveled and straw spread so that the girls have some space to move about and get a modicum of fresh air sans frostbite. All that said, we survived -- the chickens, and me. In fact, the flock continued to grow with the addition of a second, albeit slightly smaller, coop from Murray's Hen Hoops in Missouri that now, as this present winter descends, itself has reached capacity. Along the way, we have developed a nice little clientele for the eggs which helps keep the girls in premium organic feed to which they have grown accustomed. And I am not only relieved; I am grateful.
2. We completed one year of “Organic Ministry: Cultivating Soil and Soul.”
A couple of years ago a friend forwarded to me information about a farm-based clergy renewal program developed by a Lutheran pastor in Indiana in partnership with a local counseling center. Captivated by what I subsequently learned about the program, I queried the possible interest of the local counseling center on whose Board I once served. They shared my interest, and after a period of development, refinement and recruitment, we launched the program in March with 8 clergy from around the state. On the first Monday of each month, the group gathered at Taproot Garden for breakfast, worship, light farm work, lunch, personal retreat and facilitated discussion of ministry and reading assignments through the lenses of metaphors inspired by our setting and the husbandry it involves. It remains to be seen whether there will be adequate registrations to support a second class, but this first one was a nourishing and satisfying joy -- at least for me, but I sensed for all those participating as well.
3. The Solar system was completed and is generating.
Prompted by a wild imagination and the persistent desire to be kinder to and more sustainable for the planet, we began the installation of a photo-voltaic solar system just after Thanksgiving 2014. Holiday travels and some shipping delays pushed completion of the project back to February 2015. Since then, our ground-mounted 26 panels have been drinking in the sunlight -- some days more than others, but generally enough to supply our household needs. One of our favorite moments each month is opening our electric bill and seeing a balance due of $8.50 -- essentially the cost of the meter and taxes.
4. Greenhouse seeding was a larger success. Each year since moving to the farm, we have nestled seeds into seed cell trays in late winter and nurtured them under lights in the greenhouse -- with acceptable but hardly celebratory results. This year we adopted a couple of changes we hoped would be improvements. Instead of using those typical cell trays, we bought a special tool and made our own soil blocks from the compost/potting soil we purchase from Wisconsin. The result is a 2-inch cube that rather looks like a soil brownie. With the help of the Organic Ministry participants, we made close to 2000 of these blocks that were nestled together into trays, each hosting one or another variety of seed. Additionally, having learned that soil temperature is a more critical factor than air temperature in the germination of seeds, I added warming cables beneath the seed trays. Equipped with their own thermostat, the cables warm up anytime the soil temperature drops below a certain level. The result of these two innovations was that virtually every seed sprouted -- an efficacy rate more than tripling previous results. In fact, we had so many tomato plants beyond the 130 or so that we planted in our own garden that we donated almost as many to a nonprofit community garden for refugees in Des Moines.
5. The harvest was a bounty. Development of seedlings, of course, is hardly the objective. It is merely the first in a series of means headed toward a desired end. The end, in this case, is harvest. Did we actually produce anything of value? Moreso than ever before, the answer is a surprising “yes”. To be sure, the mild temperatures and the seemingly scheduled rain showers helped. I choose to believe the soil development practices we have put in place have contributed as well. Certainly the extra hand power contributed by the Organic Ministry group didn't hurt either. In the end, even after sharing the fruits with the class members and neighbors; even after canning and fermenting and dehydrating various parts, we still ended up buying an additional freezer to preserve the abundance. Meanwhile, all of this was accomplished under the newly acquired umbrella of being “Certified Naturally Grown” covering both the garden produce and the eggs.
All of which is to say that it has been a good year on the farm. Whatever gifts we have given, we have received beyond even our most outlandish imagination. We are humbled, but now that the tools are put away (except those necessary for tending the chickens through this winter) more than anything we are grateful.
Grateful, and of course hopeful. Who knows what 2016 might have in store?
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