Community Supported Agriculture

Community Supported Agriculture, also known as CSA has been around for over 20 years. Most people have heard of the concept, though few people participate. I’m sure there would be more participants if there were more CSA farmers, but presently this area has only a few small scale farmers providing the service.

The way it works is that a farmer estimates how many people their acreage can reliably feed leaving room for a little extra non CSA market crops. The farmer will then sell a predetermined number of shares to customers. These customers will invest around $250 to $500 in the farm early in the year. Some may even buy fractions of shares. This gives the farmer money to start their year purchasing seeds and contracting work that needs to be done and or fixing or adding infrastructure. Once the crops start coming in the farmer makes up a box of produce for each investor either every week or every two weeks through out the growing season. Each box will have a variety of what is grown by the farmer so one would never get an entire box of one item.

As with all investments there is risk of a major crop failure resulting in little or lesser pay-back. Cold wet summers like the one we just had was difficult on farmers, but they were still able to get their products out.

Farmers don’t just live all year on the sales of their shares. They make their income from selling at farmers markets. So it is a delicate balance to make sure the investors get their moneys worth while having enough to sell at market without over or underproducing.

Breaking down the cost of membership each box ends up costing around $20, which is just about what one would pay for a comparable volume from a supermarket. The two advantages are that you are supporting local agriculture and that your produce is fresher and has more nutrients than store bought foods. Most supermarket produce was picked long before it was naturally ripened and then it was shipped from who knows where, usually a thousand miles away and often times from South America.

If you would like more information on CSAs in your area, here is a national web site where you can search for a supplier near you. Please visit this link and do a local search. http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

The Punishment

I can’t believe how many people I see still driving while yacking on the phone. Both Washing and Oregon made this illegal, but people are still too lazy to pull over for their non emergent conversations.

Maybe the fine isn’t high enough. Maybe a remedy is to not only raise the fine but make offenders exchange their phones for something that looks like the early cell phones. Or better yet...

New Fangled...

One thing you can count on with this blog is occasionally hearing stories of “back in the day.” I was thinking today about how things have changed with mechanical issues while I was clearing yet another Check Engine warning in the truck with my code reader. There is apparently something the matter with my power steering sensor. I clear it and turn the light off and wait a month for it to turn on again.

Most young people don’t learn how to work on their cars these days. They are too complex and you get specialty tooled to death. There was a time when one could change the oil, plugs, wires, belts, filters, points, condenser and rotor cap in a half hour. It now takes me a half hour just to remove all the crap that is in the way just so I can see where the spark plugs are. Then I have to use all sorts of extensions to unseat them.

I get dizzy just looking at my serpentine belt. For changing the oil one needs to remove or get ready to pour oil on a skid plate that will drip for weeks. I do save time with the electronic ignition, but…

Am I Late?

Sometimes I have to check my archives to see if I’m on schedule. August is always a busy month for me.

I had my first ripe tomato this week, which is a week later than my first BLT last year. I just bought my annual package of bacon so I’ll get on that tonight.

I’m right about on schedule to pick black berries. I was picking them around the end of August last year. My blackberries ripen later than most in the area.

I’m going to start making zucchini bread this weekend. I usually make around 20 loaves and freeze them to use through out the year.

I am late for my annual trip to the transfer station. It’s time for a dump run and I’m sure I have a full load.

Invasive Gardening

As kids we all heard the story of Johnny Chapman also known as Johnny apple seed. The legend that has been made up about his is mostly untrue, but it was a terrific legend. In reality he was a nursery man that was fond of barter and the people in the mid west loved him because he brought to them the possibility of making home made alcohol.

Some thirty odd years ago my brother had a fascination with sun flowers. He’d grow them and harvest the seeds. Amazing was how each seed looked totally different from the next. It was as though they had a unique bar coding system.

Eventually we got to the point where we thought it would be a lot of fun to plant sunflowers every where we went. Any open to the public planter or decorative flower garden got seeded. Most got weeded out, but some grew in gardens that were untended.

We were delighted to see them growing in a small bed outside the gate house of a county park. There were other places where they sprouted along roadsides, but we never got the results we were after which was a sun flower infestation in our home town.

I wonder if any of those roadside plants survive today or if all the seeds were poisoned or eaten by birds and chip monks. If any of you are ever in Northern New Jersey and see a sun flower growing in an odd place, please let me know.

While the Sun Shines

I’m sure everyone has heard the term, “make hay while the sun shines.” It is pretty important the hay is cut, rowed, dried and baled when conditions are warm and dry.

There are other things that go well with warm and dry weather. I really like a warm day to do roofing. The shingles are easier to cut and they seal really well.

I always keep an eye on the weather and schedule doing laundry accordingly. It has gotten to the point where we rarely use our drier. Even during the winter the majority of the drying is done on the line. Sometimes we need to finish a load in the drier, but we’ve generally had good fortune if we set the laundry out early. You can generally tell when the clothes are dry on the line. They hang differently and flutter in a gentle wind.

Tuesday was a hot day here; not by the standards of the rest of the country, but hot for here. There was also a breeze. I did a load of laundry around Noon and when it was finished I started hanging the heavy things on the line first; towels and jeans. We have a fifty-foot line on a pulley. By the time I hung the socks, the final items, I could see the first towel I hung fluttering in the breeze. I stepped off the porch and walked to the end of the line and was surprised to see the first towel I’d hung was already nearly dry.

One thing I’m really pleased about is how much lower our electric bill is since we started line drying.

Still The Champion

Another traditional revelry around a camp fire is Jiffy Pop. Everyone I talk to tells me of their Jiffy Pop failures. Last year or two years ago I posted an article my Jiffy Pop success. I was put to the challenge again last weekend.

The fire seemed just right to me as I removed the paper lid. The error I made was shaking to container too much because the foil domed out at least half way before the first kernel popped. I was on the spot. I couldn’t fail and watch my successful Jiffy Pop standings go down the drain. I relaxed and let the fire do its work. Soon the first kernel popped, then another and then another and then the popping started.

The dome stretched to the limits of its design and I removed it. The pop corn was exquisite and perfectly done. It was more than enough for three people to feast on and better yet there were very few, maybe three unpopped kernels.

In the end I walked away still titled the Jiffy Pop Champion of Northrup Creek.

Somemores

I just got back from another weekend of camping. As with real life, camping life adds a new dimension in cutting corners to make it all a little easier. Each time we learn what can be done to make things easier the next time we go out. Each time we go out we bring less food, but there are always the absolute essentials; makings for somemores and Jiffy Pop.

Around our camp fire we had one traditional somemore maker and one camping corner cutter. Our friend started by bringing out her Hershey bars, graham crackers and marshmallows and she went to work flaming her marshmallow on the end of a long stick. At the same time the corner cutter brought out chocolate covered graham crackers.

I know some of you traditionalists don’t like the idea of the cut corner, but it really is pretty good. With the traditional somemore there is too much graham cracker and too much chocolate, but with chocolate covered grahams there seems to be a better balance of tastes.

I encourage all who haven’t sat around a camp fire this summer to do so before the rains return. Let me know your somemore stories.

Melville

Following up on yesterday's post I'd like to give you an example of Herman Melville's writing, least you've forgotten what it was like. The following paragraph in modern times would be summed up by saying there was a painting of a whale in the room.

Melville stated it by saying:
"But what most puzzled and confounded you was a long, limber, portentous, black mass of something hovering in the centre of the picture over three blue, dim, perpendicular lines floating in a nameless yeast. A boggy, soggy, squitchy picture truly, enough to drive a nervous man distracted. Yet was there a sort of indefinite, half-attained, unimaginable sublimity about it that fairly froze you to it, till you involuntarily took an oath with yourself to find out what that marvellous painting meant. Ever and anon a bright, but, alas, deceptive idea would dart you through.- It's the Black Sea in a midnight gale.- It's the unnatural combat of the four primal elements.- It's a blasted heath.- It's a Hyperborean winter scene.- It's the breaking-up of the icebound stream of Time. But last all these fancies yielded to that one portentous something in the picture's midst. That once found out, and all the rest were plain. But stop; does it not bear a faint resemblance to a gigantic fish? even the great leviathan himself?"

It was when I read this in Chapter three that I knew I was going to love this book.

The Quiet

There are many good things about getting away from all the technology where communication is instant and where toasters, ovens, microwave ovens and coffee pots beep at you and their digital clocks blaze and flash 24 hours a day.

One benefit is time takes on a new meaning and means you do things when it seems natural to do them. You eat when hungry not when a clock says it's dinner time. For me it is also more conducive to reading. It's really cool when things are so unhurried where one can read a more difficult book.

At home I'm lucky if my attention span will allow me to read ten pages, but without distractions I can plow through hundreds of pages with little difficulty and high retention. Right now I'm reading Moby-Dick. This volume requires an attention span.

I think everyone knows the story, but I think few people have ever read this book, just like most people think that they have seen the John Waters film Pink Flamingos, but when they do see it they realize that they haven't.

When I was in grade school our library was a small room and all the kids would rush to pull the largest books off the shelves to make themselves look like they were capable of reading a big book. Books like Kon Tiki and Moby-Dick were two books that flew off the shelves to be returned the next week unread.

It takes a better than average understanding of the lexicographical history of our language in order to comprehend most of Melville's works. Quiet goes a long way in helping ones concentration and retention with works such as this. More on Melville tomorrow.

Where Have All The Flavors Gone?

Yesterday's post reminded me of how few varieties of soda there is available these days. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, soda is also known as Pop of Fizzy Water... But I digress...

If you go down the "soda" isle in your local grocery store you will generally only see a few flavors: cola, lemon-lime, root beer, orange, Pepper/Pibbs, dew, club and something that is red. The soda isle may seem long and full but this is only because these flavors are present along with their generic or no calorie substitutes.

If you are in a better store you may be able to find ginger ale or grape soda and some expensive custom brands. But what I miss is seeing are flavors such as black cherry, birch beer, cream, lemon, and sasparilla. When I was a kid just about every soda isle housed these varieties and most were available in several different brands.

A few years ago I missed birch beer so much I ordered a case of it from the east coast. Though shipping 24 12-ounce bottles was prohibitive it was a taste I wanted to have again. I still have six bottles left.

Drinking

I'm a light weight when it comes to drinking. One drink or beer and I feel stuffed. Oddly in the heat of last weekend a friend visited and brought a selections of Mike's Hard Lemonade in a cooler of ice. It must have been the heat because by mid afternoon I already had two ice cold beers and when she offered me a Mike's I reluctantly accepted the offer.

The first time I tried Mike's I wasn't all that pleased. To me it was a novelty in the order of Zima. However this time the one I tried was the Black Cherry flavor one. I don't know if it was how hot it was outside or how cold the drink was or a combination of the carbonation and the flavor, but I was transported to my childhood where one could find black cherry soda nearly everywhere. This stuff was great. I'm going to need to try it again when it's cooler just so I can see if this stuff was really that good or if I was delirious and just caught up in the heat of the day.

QUIET !!!

Maybe I'm spoiled by normally being the only one at the horse camp we usually go to. Maybe I'm just getting old and tweaky, but I've noticed people getting louder. I've noticed this while camping last week. The horse campers were mostly quiet other than their dogs and their dog related shouts, but there was a large group of people camping in the non horse campground that was noisy from 9am-11pm. It seemed as though they were unable to communicate without shouting. And they were unable to camp without sharing their music with others. It wasn't angry shouting or even drunk shouting; they were just noisy. There were campers closer to us who were able to converse and we could not hear them other than an occasional emphasized word or a laugh.

Even at home I rarely ever hear any of my neighbors talking, but one home across the street is a shouting establishment. Maybe it's because they have kids, but I doubt it because one of my neighbors that live closer to me have two young children and I never hear a peep out of them.

Is it cultural or economic? Do people of a certain heritage shout more? Do people of lesser economic advantage shout more? I don't know but we are all listening.

Three Dog Nights

I can understand people having a dog. Well not really, but lets say I do understand it or at least I'm not opposed to it. I understand when people have two dogs because they feel that dogs need a companion other than us. An extra animal so they can do things where people will be confused about who to blame for the pile of crap on the rug. But with this understanding I draw the line at two dogs. Last weekend when we went camping there was one other horse camper there with three dogs. They stayed only a day because shortly after two other horse campers showed up with three dogs each. While out riding the first campers dog of Rottweiler decent broke out of their motor home, by ripping out a screen and ran around barking so as to unwelcome the other six dog posse that arrived.

Though the owners of to total of nine dogs seemed to be nice on the surface, they had no clue about leash laws.

Now here's a little hint for people that have three dogs and insist on taking them places other than their home. Other people don't enjoy your dogs barking and yapping. I know the dog owners can no longer hear this miserable sound, but it is really annoying, especially when you let Rover out to take a leak in the middle of the night and Rover needs to let the world know he is out.

Another thing that is annoying is when you are too lazy to walk your dog on a leash, but rather let it out to roam and then have to bark your own shrill voice to get the dog back home.

I know you love your dogs, but please love them more and don't share them with those of us that don't bring them camping. You are aware enough to keep your horses from roaming around unattended, so why can't you do the same with your dogs?

Guilt With Less Guilt

I’m feeling less guilty about this blog. I admit that I knew I would be going away last weekend, and I considered not posting for a couple days. I almost did it, too, but somehow some ideas popped into my head before I left. Blogger makes it easy where I can set my stuff up to post every morning at 4am as I have been doing for years now. Normally I try to keep five days ahead so in the event I don’t feel like positing; something will be there for the dedicated readers who look forward to read what I put up over their morning coffee while they take their anti depressants. Strange coupling, coffee, antidepressants and Astoria Rust, but it seems to work for many of you.

We got home Sunday afternoon, and I logged in to reply to the readers that have been kind enough to comment over the last few days, but I went no further to have a post ready for yesterday morning. Though I hadn’t written anything I had some ideas of things I wanted to write, but I felt it a good idea to sleep on it and write when ever the hell I got up on Monday. I wrote about the heat and how I can no longer handle the heat. I don’t know how the rest of you in other parts of the country cope with it.

Being in a place with neither WiFi nor cell service for several days does tend to quiet ones mind. Rather than jumping in front of a computer every time my mind has a spark, I instead make a list of things that come to mind. It is a physical list adorned by poor penmanship. My list only consisted of four things upon my return: Camping with Dogs, Hillbillies, Horse Flies and Herman Melville. Topics of which will be featured here in the near future. Don’t groan; I’ll make it work.

Heat

I don't do well in the heat. It used to be when I lived on the East Coast I'd never hold back on those hot and humid days. I'd still cycle 30 miles a day even in the most extreme heat.

I spent this weekend in the heat. We took the horses camping and one finds out quickly the unpleasantness of the heat. Aside from the constant of feeling warm and sweaty, the heat brings out some of the more aggressive horse flies. Fortunately shaded areas provides much needed relief from the heat and the insects. The funny thing is when you ride into an open area to cross a logging road, the horse flies were there to great you and stuck with you until you reentered the shade.

It was so refreshing to come home. The temperature seemed to go down by two degrees every ten miles of the trip home. We went from ninety to sixty-four degrees. I was so glad to see the marine layer heading in our direction over the hills to the west of us.

Confession

Maybe I'm getting old or maybe I'm just becoming more and more pedestrian, but I can no longer tolerate craft brewed beer. It's all so bitter to me these days. I'm not a big beer drinker, but I've found that sometimes drinking it is a nice ritual.

Normally I purchased anything that was made with honey, so to support the honey industry, but even those beers are too bitter. I've been through the gamut of lagers, hefferveisen, ales, porters, stouts and so on and none of them taste good to me anymore.

So I'm at the grocery store the other day and I notice PBR in cans. I've seen PBR offered at local eateries such as the High Wheeler and I figured it's worth a try and it wasn't all that bad. I admit that it is better if ice cold, but I could actually drink all 12 ounces of it. It lacked some of the body that I preferred, but it wasn't bitter. I think I'll try some other national brands as time goes on just to see if there is a perfect fit for me out there somewhere.

It's Not This Bad, Yet

A few years back a friend was telling me she wanted to paint the trim on her house white. I advised against it stating that she should paint it green because in this climate white paint turns green in little time. She took my advice.

This rule should also go for horse trailers. I have a white horse trailer that turns green over the winter. It would be OK to have a white trailer if I could store it out of the rain, but my under cover space is limited.

So yesterday I got out the ladder and began scrubbing. Sever hours later I had a white horse trailer again, but now the color that bothers me is the rust that was under all the green. There is little doubt you’ll be hearing of the exploits of the body work and painting that will soon ensue. I need to get on it before it starts looking like the one in the photo above.

Another thing I thought after the fact of was the product, 30 seconds outdoor cleaner. I wonder if that would have made the job easier.

Happy Birthday Auntie

I Still Want It.

I always find it sad seeing an old tractor or piece of farm equipment rusting in disuse. There are folks like me that would love to have a tractor or a manure spreader. New tractors cost tens of thousands of dollars, but these old machines were built with primitive technology where a back yard mechanic with set of wrenches and perhaps a welding torch could bring a tractor back to life.

I realize that many of the tractors I see are far beyond repair and would cost more than a new modern tractor; yet they still taunt me.

Visionary Wanted

I am a registered voter. I am registered independent so I get all the mailings from both sides. I am one of the swing voters. The parties can pretty much count on their sheep voting for the party of which they are registered, so I am really worth courting.

I’ve been seeing commercials from Dudley and Kitzhaber who are both running for Governor. Dudley is a former NBA Basketball player who only recently registered to vote. Kitzhaber is a former two-term Governor of this State that as far as I remember his only accomplishment was starting the Oregon Health Plan.

Both candidate’s ads say the same thing, they want to bring jobs back to Oregon, but neither are stating how they are going to do this. Politicians always boast that they have a plan, but never tell us what their plan is. Here’s the deal, I’m not voting for either of you unless I see a detailed plan. I don’t think anyone is excited by either of you. We don’t want a governor that is a party sycophant. We want a visionary leader. Go out on a limb and you’ll get my vote.

12 Year Old Guitarest

This kid, Andreas Varady is amazing.Check Him Out

A Sign of August

The doves have returned to the Lewis and Clark Valley. We rarely see them the rest of the year, but they come for one specific food source; cascara berries.

In years past I'd observe them while sitting on my porch. A substantial bird, they would land on a branch and their weight would move the branch downward a couple feet. They would eat the berries and then fly to the next berried branch; snapping the branch they were on upward, and sending downward the neighboring branch they landed on for their next harvest.

I was walking with my brother through a small grove of cascaras yesterday. Though many of the berries weren't ripe yet the doves were still eating them. I guess they have a schedule to keep even though our cold, damp summer didn't ripen the berries on their normal schedule.

It is a late year for berries. Some of my black berries are still in bloom and others have ripe berries on the ends of their clusters. It's time to find my bucket with the neck strap.

Another One Done Gone

I was saddened when I found a dead hen in the coop Thursday morning. It was one of the Wayendottes. She was dead in a corner. I removed her and the other chickens voiced their concern.

I studied her corpse in detail. There was no blood and no signs of predation. Her comb looked good and her feathers looked good as well. She seemed perfectly healthy during the previous evening when I locked the flock in for the night.

I look at every hen every day. When I lock them in their yard in the evenings I count them. There is Blue, four Reds, four Buffs, four Barred Rocks, four Black Stars and now only two Wyandottes. I watch how they walk, how they eat, how they respond to me and to one another. A sick chicken would stand out.

I suppose it was just a case of sudden death, but I’m looking at the other chickens for signs of sickness. They all seem just fine.

Our chickens were all hatched last year on August 4th. This is the second Wyandotte we’ve lost this year. The first was stepped on by my horse. I do realize that we will need to add new chickens to the flock since our hens will become less productive as they age. But maybe I could get used to having five or six chickens instead of twenty.

The Irish Summer

This is probably the strangest summer I’ve ever seen. I think we’ve had three warm days in late June, but since then I can’t recall when I’ve seen a blue sky. Every morning everything is wet with mist. Then by mid day most every thing is dry, but the sky remains clouded until the mist returns in the evening. Most days are around 60 to 70 degrees. I feel bad for the rest of the country that has had a miserable hot summer, but the climate that we have here is perfect for me. Remember I moved here for the gloom.

This odd summer is preventing the garden from growing, but the weeds are doing well. Normally I never have to cut the lawn from mid July through September because it is dry and brown, but we’ve been cutting and need to cut it again. Everything is green, even the pastures. There is even moss growing on my truck.

Ag Cash

Another thing I love about ag people is that we barter and trade and exchange all sorts of stuff. There is an older woman I know that needed some help fixing some erosion problems so I went over and made some forms and poured concrete. I also replaced a faucet near her barn. In turn she told me I could have all of the T posts that she had in a shed. There are around 70 of them and considering new ones sell for around $6 each, this was a real deal for me. Now I can fence a couple more acres as pasture. If I get a few more I could fence all ten acres and let the horses roam.

Ghosts

Columbia Critter sent ma a link to this blog where they take an old photo from World War II and fuse it in with the modern photo in the same location. Really spooky.The Ghosts of WW II

Again, The Fair is Fair

I’ve been writing about the County Fair for several years now and I’m out of ideas on how to make the Fair a better event. I may be statistically off but it seems to me that it has become more and more lack-luster as the years go on with only regular Fair-goers attending. It appears the bleeding has stopped and it seems there are nearly or probably as many vendors as last year. There are lots of animals, though there are far fewer horse stalls occupied. One entire barn is unused and Posse is using and empty stalls take up a third of another barn.

It seems to me the less expensive it is to visit the fair the more people will attend. Washington County Fair is not charging for parking or admission this year. That is bold, but I bet more people attend. If you want more booths at the Fair, maybe make it really inexpensive for non-profit organizations to attend. Last year an indoor booth went for around $300. One vendor I spoke with didn’t start making a profit until late Saturday afternoon with only two hours to go.

I doubt the County Fair Grounds are breaking even either. It’s tough all over. So if you have some time support our Fair. Parking is free and admission is $6. The only way to make the Fair better is one person at a time.

InFarmation

There is a great new monthly get-together on the North Coast for those who have an interest in agriculture. It is called InFarmation and it is a chance for farmers and ag people to meet one another and to see specific presentations on each of our fields with plenty of time for questions and answers.

It’s pretty casual and so far we all meet at 6:00PM for food and conversation and the presentations start at 7PM. This is a movable feast. Each month the location changes from the Blue Scorcher in Astoria and then it meet the following month in Wheeler and then it goes to Cannon Beach and starts again in Astoria. The schedule has been that we meet on the last Thursday of the month.

The Blue Scorcher has been holding Salons for a couple of years now, with agricultural topics such as Draft Horses, with Christopher Patton and Equine Massage therapist, Jessamyn Grace West. Then Caren Black had a presentation on keeping chickens, but the first official designation of InFarmation started two months ago with a presentation by Master Gardner power hitters, Larkin Stentz, Ann Goldeen, Linda Brim and Teresa Retzlaff. It was a presentation on what and how to grow things here in our climate. The July session was on beekeeping with Nehalem beekeeper, Terry Fullan.

Possible future topics include goat keeping, vermiculture, spinning wool, baking bread, barter. I’ll keep the readers here posted on the dates, locations and topics of upcoming talks.

Sick Day XXXVI

I’m sick of women that are more into their boobs then men are. What’s the obsession? Are you so insecure that you find it necessary to constantly expose your cleavage for all to either leer at or avoid looking at all together? It’s not as sexy as you think. Please keep your udders to yourself.

Hawk Lake, Quebec

This post is one that I hope will get comments long after it is posted. I am looking for anyone that has any memories of visiting Hawk Lake, Quebec, in the town of Mulgrave-et-Derry. I’d like to hear from anyone that knew the family of Ralph Yank. This is where I used to spend my summers when I was a kid. I now live 3000 miles away and I doubt I’ll ever travel back there, but I do have fond memories.

I did correspond with a Yank relative a few years back and learned a lot, but I’m sure there are people such as myself that visited the lake back when there were only ten houses on it, four of which belonged to Ralph. Drop me a line and share some photos if you can. Even if this post is years old, the replies still go to my email address and I’ll get back to you quickly.