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.

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¢.

This year has been like a bee sting to the eye (see left).

It’s not worth sugarcoating…it’s been a hard year of farming.  I’ve slowly come to realize this year that it may not be in our best interest to continue farming commercially.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the challenges that farming presents, but it’s been driven home to me that my family and (unfortunately) paying the bills have to take precedence.  I could sacrifice time with family and be a better farmer, but I just don’t want to do that.  In past years, I’ve been able to take a lot of my time off from work to augment farming time, but that can’t happen to the same extent this year because of the load I’m facing at work.   At the end of the day, I need to pay the bills.

You might ask why I don’t just make the jump and make my job farming…Trust me, I’ve thought about it.  I see a path to making it profitable enough that we could subsist on it, but the biggest stumbling block I keep hitting would be affordable health insurance for my family. I can’t bring myself to cut the cord.

For now, I’m a bad farmer.  I’m letting the weeds win this year so that I can enjoy my family like most middle class Americans do.  I refuse to feel guilty about that, though it does pain me some every task I miss.

What this probably means for next year is that we will be doing far less farm wise.  No Farmers Market.  At most 1/2 the garlic (and only one festival).  Growing for ourselves.  I want to spend these years off from farming getting better at it at a smaller scale.  Then, when I can come back to it, I can come back full force.

A friend of mine decided to stop farming for other people this year. He cited frustration with not being able to live up to what he knew he could do (ie the advice above) because of time constraints.  He’s happier now.  I’m not sure I’d be.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately.  When my wife and I started our gardenthis year, I went into it with a great deal of trepidation.  Work has been crazy and giving our 2 year old the attention he wants/deserves is a full time job in itself.  We planted 600 feet of potatoes (among other things) anyways.  Up until this weekend, my fears felt very well founded.  The weeds were on the cusp of winning, and we just felt overwhelmed. That situation has mostly changed and tonight I make my final push to get the weeds within a comfortable zone (dead).  Also due to the weather many of those original potatoes didn’t come up.  We’ve filled in the blanks and are now going to have a hell of a time sorting out what’s what at harvest. It’s a strange but satisfying victory.

Farming has taught me a number of things that I think are much better advice than the above.

• Diversification is the best defense against failure.
• If you feel like you’re failing at something, figure out how to change the outcome and get on it! If you can’t change the outcome, don’t worry too much.
• You don’t know what your limits are until you’ve exceeded them.

So…I’m back to that familiar place.  How much do I scale back next year?  Do I scale back next year?  The real trick will be sticking to the decision next season when it’s time to plant.

Crossposted at patentlypre.posterous.com

We’ve had a fine winter.  All the garlic is resting under a blanket of snow and ice.  It’s been nice.

That said, we’re ready for the Spring to rear it’s ever-loving beautiful head. The unending puches of snow/sleet/ice need to stop and cede ground to the grass and inevitable mud.  I can’t wait for MUD!  I’m actually hoping I see some of it this weekend when I go out to do some work on the blueberries.

I think 2011 will be another good year!  I’m just ready for it to actually start.

I don’t think I could sum it up any better than that….so I won’t.

Thank you to everyone who patronized us this year.  We’ve still got pumpkins and  squash out at the stand, but beyond that we’re about done.  We’ll be able to make at least one more farmer’s market as well.

The other note for you out of towners is regarding shipping.  Basically the price of shipping is built into the cost of the garlic over 10 pounds.  Before that each pound of garlic brings down your shipping cost. It’s complicated, but it works.

Any questions…ask.

I sometimes forget that building an internet presence means maintaining an internet presence.  What I’m referring to is the fact that I need to update the store portion of the site.  The garlic harvest is, in fact, in and it’s time to start taking orders.  Part of that process is making sure I have enough set aside for the two garlic festivals that we’ll be attending as well as enough to sell online.

Last year, I didn’t really get a handle on it until very late in the year.

This year, I’ve had a couple of inquiries locally that referenced our page and asked if we were sold out.  Not yet!

So, as soon as I finish this post, I’m off

to update that.

In the meantime, I need to remind folks that we’ll be attending both the 15th Annual Southern Vermont Garlic & Herb Festival in Bennington, VT Sept 4th and 5th and the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival in Saugerties, NY on Sept 25th and 26th.

If you can make either of these events, they’re both a great time and you won’t leave either without eating a lot of garlic.  We hope to see you at either!

Completely unrelated hazy pic. The garlic field from 4-20

Today I planted a 300 foot row of onions  (all the gory details are here).  You may ask…what is he thinking. Yeah, I don’t know.  Last year was, to a degree, a failure (with a fair amount of success mixed in).  I didn’t really know what it would mean to have a little one running around, and despite all of the public pronouncements about scaling back, I probably planted as much as I did other years.  The primary difference this past year was that we didn’t engage our friends for help and also lost Kathleen as a dedicated farmhand altogether.  She’s a great mom, and I have no doubt that we will involve our little guy in the fun as soon as this summer.  Still, there will probably be only one person working at a time.

The best way to approach all of this may be to build resolutions, so here goes.

• Spend more time with family.
• Work smarter, not harder
• Get ahead of the weeds.
• Trick Engage friends for help.
• Be generous with those friends.
• Constantly re-evaluate what is working, what isn’t.
• Put up a hoop house.

One thing I’m excited about this year is that the projects on tap for this year should get the infrastructure to a point where I’m going to stop worrying about things falling down.  That’s not to say that things won’t fall down.  They will.  And that’s ok.

And now on to the 2nd meaning of spring.

Late last fall, something went wrong with the throttle on my Allis Chalmers D17.  A slight pull on the throttle bar on the steering column opened up the carb all the way and resulted in a red lined engine.  NOT GOOD.  Well, I stopped by the house of Sam, a fellow member of the Milton Grange, yesterday to look at his old D17 and he asked if I had the spring.  Now…this is definitely not stock or even something that Allis Chalmers ever intended, but this little spring provides just enough resistance to keep things from getting out of hand.

My theory is that the fundamental design of the governor isn’t all that good and this compensates for that.  Sam stated that the spring had been there as long as he could remember.  Works for me!  So SPRING!!!!