A Raw Milk, Hungry Cat Story

I was checking out my former paper the [Gary] Post-Tribune and found onetime Farmboy Carrol Vertrees musing about the raw milk of his childhood. I've read loads of raw milk stories, but the tidbit about Carrol's milking expertise is a new one for me:

I was adept, udderly adept, being able to squirt milk into a cat's mouth from more than 10 feet. It took practice, though.

No doubt it took practice...for the cat too I imagine.

Scaring Up Some Farmgirl Creativity

Just came across this Scarecronie photo from Farmgirl Cyn. She posted this in March:



Love it. Not sure what the neighbors around my new urban dwelling would think, but we'll see if this idea catches on at The Farm.

Sprouts Up

Word is that the beans are already sprouting in the big field after the first big rain after planting.

No photos yet, but check Hoosier Outsider's Flickr site for more pix of The Farm and field progress.

My favorite is this shot of The Lane. It's the quickest way to the river. Just watch out for the tire-flattening, sneaker piercing thorns.

Planting, Fertilizing, Flint Hunting

There's so much activity, it's hard to keep up, even virtually. But I'll take a stab at a summary of the last few days...

Hoosier Outsider writes that the artifact hunters haven't had much luck on "flint ridge" because the fields haven't actually been plowed, just disked enough for no-till planting of soybeans:

Here's the final sweep with the bean planter in the big field:



A fertile delivery to the garden...with dog Suzie overwhelmed from all the activity:

N.C. Paper Creates Food & Farm News Section

I'm thrilled to be able to provide a first-hand account of the recent Slow Food Picnic at Chapel Hill Creamery.

I don't know whether Slow Food guru Carlo Petrini actually took in some delectable slow Southern BBQ (that's one thing I sure miss about the South), but the editor of the Carborro Citizen says there was plenty to be had. He also notes that his paper has created a new Food & Farm section of its Web site...an excellent idea.

I'll add Land & Table to my links and try to keep up with the new site.

[Photo of a Maurice's mustard-based BBQ sandwich from The Travelling Hungry Boy.]

Ready for Beans...

While the fields were in the final prep stages before planting, we hear neighbors were roasting a hog. I had to settle for salmon patties and salad. Can't wait to see the fields for ourselves.

Cleaning Up the Fields

Thanks to Hoosier Outsider, we get a glimpse, long distance, of the fields being prepped for planting...

Notice the first two pix: one taken at 12:30 the next
at 3:00 - he had done a lot more than just clean off
the group of trees in center:





Third is what it looks like after digging out trees,
pushing and pulling the loader over the ground to
smooth it, and pushing stems into piles at side of
field:



Finally, pushing it up into piles. The operator said
he had a sore ass, a very bumpy ride:



Sore indeed after all that...Thanks much Hoosier Outsider for the pix.

Farm-to-Fork Picnic

Chefs will break bread next week with innovative farmers...part of a the Slow Food Movement started by Carlo Petrini. He'll be making an appearance at the exclusive, sold out "picnic" near Chapel Hill.

Petrini, who trumpets slow food over fast, you-get-what-you-pay-for fast food, is traveling all over the country hawking his new book. According to the Carrboro Citizen, this is Petrini's first trip to the South.

I wonder if he'll take in some real slow food...slow cooked, mouth-watering Southern BBQ.

Hooray! Tractors in the Big Field

It's a sight I haven't seen since I was a kid. Way back then, when the farmers would plow, we'd hustle down to the fields...especially after a light rain...and try our luck finding arrowheads or other flint artifacts.

I haven't heard of any finds so far, but I'm sure it won't be long.

From Cattle to Caviar

Farmers who diversify their land earn more than twice as much income as farmers who don't. That's one of the lines that jumped out at me in a recent Orlando Sentinel article "Farmers Find New Cash Crops."

Then there's this question: What's Florida's largest cash crop? I'd have answered citrus. But the right answer is greenhouse plants.

Among those farmers introduced in the piece is Gene Evans who is using Epcot Center technology to try to raise sturgeon and their delectable caviar on a portion of his farm. The rest of his 1,700 acres support corn, timber and cattle.

But what's really fascinating about the Evans experiment is that he's attempting a "zero waste" water recycling operation...in which overflow can be used to irrigate the cornfields...that in turn are meant to produce food for the cattle.

I'm intrigued. Skeptical. But intrigued.

Raw Milk Pros and Cons

I've been loosely following raw milk developments in the states and am still intrigued by the idea, so I thought it was worth noting a couple stories...one positive, one negative.

On the positive, Michigan gave the green light for limited raw milk deliveries, according to the Ann Arbor News. The decision comes after food safety officials seized equipment from Farmer Richard Hebron, who was making deliveries from his cow/herd share operation.

On the negative, Illinois recently issued a warning about contaminated raw milk from the Brian and Barbara Hill dairy farm in Maple Park, according to the Aurora Beacon News. The warning came after routine testing of the milk found salmonella.

These scares don't seem to be deterring those who firmly believe in the health benefits of raw milk, as the Gainsville Sun notes in a story about the pasteurized v. unpasteurized debate.

Longing for a Good Buzz

Hoosier Outsider is hardly the only one openly lamenting the sudden disappearance of bees...At least not anymore. The Chicago Tribune editors get it. They published an editorial on Friday, which starts:

If you haven't watched the dance of bees, either in the hive or on clover or in the air, then you may not understand why they are so important. If we needed a perfect model for a society, we would find it in the hive. Not for us, mind you, because we are individuals, but for bees, because they all seem to fit together so well. Each exists for the greater good, the drones and soldiers, the queen, the persistent workers.

The editorial goes on to note the crucial role bees play in our everyday lives..."every third bite of food we take is there because the work of a bee."

Colony Collapse Disorder, mites, unknown virus...whatever the cause of the disappearance, the Trib notes, as did Hoosier Outsider, that "a summer without bees is unthinkable."

Missing Bees

Because I’m still reeling from my move to, ironically and wonderfully, a more urban area, I’m going to rely on Hoosier Outsider for today’s post. Here are his recent thoughts (with “Endangered” photo) on our disappearing pollinators:

[G]ot a lot of pix of farms and farming since the weather changed this week but this one is at the top of concern, or the bottom of my heart - how to imagine a world (our country) without bees?

Do you know where we can get honeybees? At least twice I've been hit with 10-20 yellowjackets so I know I can handle some stings - I'd settle for African bees if I could get them. Today's news that I can't get standard bees is deeply disturbing but I'm not giving up - maybe because I don't have all the bad news yet.

We have other pollinators here, thank God, but it doesn't answer our questions about the feasibility of crops like strawberries or lavender which we've been thinking of.

Prices of bees and equipment have doubled since November 2006. Honey soon will.

For me, it’s the bees I miss. I've seen two this spring. I can remember when there were hundreds if not thousands in our front yard. I could never have imagined I'd be so desperate for a vision of a livable world. I could care a lot less if not for these kids and grandkids.

The war becomes a distracting irrelevancy more and more each day.