Rutkowski Farm

Happy 2012!  It’s a new year and that means it’s time to assess everything and adjust accordingly.  How to assess 2011…

Well…it was a tough year.  The weather seldom cooperates, but 2011 was especially ugly.  It started out wet, dried out for a few weeks and then stayed wet into 2012.  The pests and weeds loved 2011.  Me…not so much. That’s where I stop complaining because there are folks that were wiped out with the likes of Irene and Lee.  I can’t compare my problems to theirs in any reasonable way.

There were other things that happened that I never bothered to chronicle here.  The Allis-Chalmers D17 died on it’s last scheduled trip out to the field in late October.  We were finally able to get it towed back in on January 6th.  In the process I got minor frostbite on two of my toes, but that’s a different story…

I spent some more time and I learned a LOT about how the cylinders fire in an internal combustion engine, as well as how carburetion works.  I won’t say I understand it fully, but after a lot of struggling I did get the tractor started.  I need to spend some more time fiddling to get it running well, but I think I understand what I need to do.  Time will bear that out.

So what’s on tap for 2012. It’s looking like we’re going to be doing less actual farming and more getting the farm in working order.

• We are NOT doing the Ballston Spa Farmer’s Market this year.  Our garden is going to be a great deal smaller and really just for us.  If it looks like we’ll have excess, we’ll have to find takers/sell in front of the farm stand.
• Our garlic is in the ground, so we will be doing a festival as long as these poor fall/winter conditions haven’t done us in.
• We’ll probably do pumpkins because we like doing pumpkins.
• Ditto with butternut squash.
• Assuming we can get picking help, we will be selling our blueberries from the front of the stand/by pre-order.  More details on that as we figure it out.

Here’s my laundry list of goals for cleanup/sprucing

• Clean out farm stand.
• Clean out garage.
• Fix barn foundation.
• Paint garage.

Will all of this happen?  Probably not.  I have goals for my own house as well and those have to happen.

Among all of the things I do, I’m also the current Vice President for the Milton Grange #685. As I talked about in a previous post, the damage caused by Irene and Lee to farmers in Northeast has been, in many cases, devastating.  Kathleen and I have donated some money to the NOFA-VT emergency fund as a percentage of our sales from the Bennington Garlic Fest, but we also hoped we could make an impact closer to home as well.  Well here it is.  The Milton Grange is teaming up with the Greenfield Grange to host a Wine/Cheese/Cracker tasting.  Here are all the details:

The Milton Grange #685 in collaboration with the Greenfield Grange #807 will be hosting a Wine Tasting at the Saratoga Winery on Saturday November 12th at 7pm to benefit the Schoharie County Community Action Program in the wake of Irene and Lee. The funds will be earmarked for farm recovery.

We will have cheese from Willow Marsh Farm and Crackers from Saratoga Crackers.  If you haven’t tried either of these, then you don’t know what you’re missing.  Amazing stuff.

We hope to see a lot of you there!

You can contact Shana at 518-744-3834 or via email at gfldgrange807@hotmail.com to purchase tickets.  Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.

The title of this post is redundant.  I’ve come to realize for the short time I’ve been doing this that there is no such thing as farming without adaptation.  I’ve also come to realize that the reason I love to farm is BECAUSE of all of the seemingly impossible challenges thrown my way.  In any given year, the nature of those challenges can change drastically, so what worked last season probably won’t be applicable next season.  It might, however, be applicable in 3 or 4 years.

As it stands right now, my current challenge is finding a field in which I can plant my garlic. There’s plenty of ground, but the overriding trouble is that none of it is dry enough to plow. I did have a field plowed for the garlic, but when I went out there after our last 2.5 inch rainfall, the field was porridge. With another 1″+ forecast for Wednesday into Thursday, I’m basically stuck. Another fun fact according to this precipitation map, we’re somewhere between 8-12″ over for the last 90 days. That includes Irene and Lee…Also note that we’re not as bad off as others.

With all of that said, I can’t and won’t complain about it (you can read some previous posts for some of that bellyaching). This is simply a challenge, and I’m going to meet it. If it means that I’m on my hands and knees planting garlic in mid-November through a thin layer of frost in a field that I didn’t prepare properly, then so be it.

Like the saying goes…come hell or high water.  We’ve got the high water and I’m gonna give it hell.

It’s that time again! Kathleen and I will be in Saugerties this coming weekend (24th and 25th) selling garlic at the 2011 Hudson Valley Garlic Festival. We’re in the same booth space as last year (B95) and we hope to see you there!

We brought more variety packs this year due to their popularity over the last two years. Unfortunately, we had some spring flooding that affected our Ukrainian Red, so it only appears in the variety packs.  In any case, we’ve got plenty of garlic to sell!

Keep your fingers crossed for perfect weather. Right now it looks that way!!

The image to the left is an image of flood damage at Gildrien Farm in Middlebury, VT courtesy of Hurricane Irene.  This storm has wreaked havoc on a good deal of Vermont, the Catskills and Schoharie County in New York.

Most farmers are prepared for some spring flooding, but for most, that’s not the time of year when there’s “money in the ground”. For vegetable farmers, there was a lot to lose right now. For a farmer who needs to bring in that crop of corn to feed their cows for the winter, this is absolutely devastating. Organic farmers who had the river rise up and swamp their fields also have to contend with the problem as to what was in that river when it flowed over top. That field probably can’t be certified organic again for at least 3 years.

Farming is not an easy life. I say this with the full distance of being a part-timer with relatively little on the line. I only make enough money farming to pay for the farming. My bills are paid by my 9 to 5. I also say this knowing full well that deep down, I really want farm life, warts and all. And even though my farm got off easy, Irene makes me think twice about that want.

What it really does though, is to make me want to figure out a way to help the farmers who have been kicked in the teeth by this thing. The truth is that farmers are a resilient lot. That comes from a life that is full of uncertainty and risks.  Most (probably not all) will be back next year bent, but not beaten.

Kathleen and I are going to be going to the Bennington Garlic Festival this weekend. We’ve decided to donate 5% of our sales to the NOFA-VT Farmer Emergency Fund. When Saugerties rolls around at the end of the month, we’ll be looking for a more NY centric version of the same thing.  This is a small gesture, but we hope that some of you can make a donation as well and make it a bigger gesture.

Beyond giving money, do your best to patronize your local farmer.

Farms are the ultimate security for a community.  I have no doubt that some of the communities that are currently cut off from the rest of the world in Vermont are finding out how important it is to have a local food source.

My 2¢.