Appreciate Your Local Farmers

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
                                                             -Robert A. Heinlein

How many people do you know that are really good at their job? I mean REALLY good. Often they've studied for years and dedicated both large amounts of money and time in accomplishing their goals of being top in their field. Generally speaking there's nothing wrong with finding out what you're good at and where your talents lie and then magnifying them. It's more efficient to have people do what they're good at for the benefit of society. You have the land and ability to raise animals, I like to raise vegetables, our friend Joe is good at healing people, and we all trade between ourselves and it works out. That's what makes communities, villages and whole societies work.   

The problems come when we have a society of people SO specialized that they have either an un-marketable skill or they are lacking the basic skills for everyday living. People who cannot clean a home, cook or take care of themselves. I don't mean the elderly or infirm, I'm talking about the computer programmer who understands the inner workings of everything digital who can't cook a baked potato in his microwave for 5 minutes. Or the researcher who can split atoms and never remember to by toilet paper for his apartment. If we're a society that thinks these things are important then we support them by paying large wages that allow them to hire people to run their lives for them as assistants and house keepers. They concentrate on the brain work and someone else keeps their home running smoothly. And that's where we're at right now. A small number of highly specialized people and an army of workers.

But wouldn't it be better for us as individuals if, in addition to our chosen profession, we had some other useful skills? What if there was a hurricane and we needed to board up our own windows and turn off the power because nobody was available to help us? What if we could use our gardening skills to help out a neighbour by trimming her trees and lawn? I'm not saying we have to be all things to all people, but developing some useful skills is never a waste of time. Even a brain surgeon can learn to grow herbs on his kitchen window sill.

Farmers are a great example of this. I would say that in the course of a year the average Canadian farmer does the following jobs to one degree or another:

mechanic
electrician
plumber
doctor
vet
therapist
structural engineer
bookkeeper
maid
cook
chauffer
wrangler
etc etc etc

Farmers can do a lot with bale twine, nails and a hammer, and the ingenuity that's born of necessity. Why? Because some love it, and because farmers are busy and independent people by nature I would say. They will for sure call the vet when it's needed and the electrician if it's a tricky job but otherwise they're pretty good at knowing what they can fix and what is above their level of understanding. They'll often give it a shot and aren't afraid to get underneath something to see if it's an obvious problem they can solve themselves.

People still often think of farmers as 60 year old white haired men sitting on tractors, leaning on fences, wearing coveralls, chewing stalks of hay and acting a little slow mentally but nothing could be further from the truth. They tend to be a practical and well rounded bunch of people who also know who is good at what so they can ask for help if needed. Farmers are almost a community within a community. Sure some are specialized producers of only one crop but many, especially small scale farmers are reasonably good at many different things both on and off the farm. They make good neighbours and are often willing to lend a hand.

Farmers deserve respect. Sure, their tractor driving down the road might make you 2 minutes late getting somewhere, they may believe that a good roll of duct tape is worth it's weight in gold, they may use electrical tape for a band-aid (if they use them at all). But they work hard to feed us and to provide many of the products we use every day. So if you get a chance this coming year, stop at a road side stand or farmers market and tell them how much you appreciate them.  I know that I for one would appreciate it  :)     

Dirk Becker's Fight and Grass Farms of Nova Scotia

Dirk Becker and Nicole Shaw's fight to keep their "Urban Farm" has attracted media attention the world over and I've posted about it several times before as I've met Dirk and believe in the principle of what he's doing, to fight for the right to keep his livelihood and grow food in an 'urban' (that's debatable) area on his acreage. While I believe in the rule of law in most cases, I truly believe that this is one worth fighting mostly because if the back handed way that Dirk and Nicole have been dealt with by their local gov't. It's not really any wonder that an activist would then turn around and fight back is it? I'm amazed that he and Nicole didn't take up arms sooner. All the City of Lantzville has done is make folk heroes out of Dirk and Nicole and bring more attention to their cause. The City (a lot of Lantzville is actually rural and not paved) and mayor in particular look like a bunch of bullies. Here are a couple of videos I thought you might find interesting.

The reason I'm still writing about this issue even though we're now 7000km away is that this is a problem that affects everyone in Canada and in the developed world in general. Don't think it happens in Nova Scotia? Steve and I are constantly dismayed and shake our heads when we drive around the beautiful Annapolis Valley at the hundreds of 'grass farms'. That's what we call the rural houses that are surrounded by acres of neatly trimmed lawn and nothing else. No fence, hay fields, sheep, or anything resembling a vegetable garden. Just one small house and 3 acres of grass. There's a nice house on the way to Berwick that I swear has 12 acres of grass all beautifully cross mowed and not an animal in sight. People buy the houses and then sit back to enjoy the peace and quiet of the country, riding the mower for a couple of hours a week and that's fine but what about those of us who want to grow food and can't afford rural property that's suitable for agriculture because of the property prices being driven up by people from the city buying it and then not using it wisely.? What happened to understanding that we are stewards of the land? Isn't there some sort of balance? Don't we recognize where we're heading as a society? Sadly, the answers to these questions and others about our consumerism is mostly 'no' , we don't get it. For the majority of people things like 'Peak Oil' and 'Peak Water' are just topics for discussion amongst us cranks and conspiracy theorists. As long as WalMart has shelves filled with stuff and the grocery store is full of cans and veggies they feel secure and smug in their own little world and think that life will always be like this. They simply don't understand that something like 'peak phosphorous' means commercial growers won't have unlimited fertilizer for their crops so yields will decrease and prices will go up. That affects everyone. We all eat. Well, those of us who can afford it.

We're biased of course because we've experienced this personally when living on Vancouver Island and so we're living here in Nova Scotia now where land is still more affordable so we can provide a better life for our kids and grandchildren. And we love the people here too.

Well, that's my mini rant for today. Watch the videos and comment.

Qualicum Beach Farmers Market

Today is Market day in Qualicum Beach and so until noon you can see vendors selling their goods and shoppers having a nice time interacting with the sources of their foods. It's a fun and festive atmosphere every Saturday from 9-12 downtown on 1st Ave E just off Memorial.





Here's Ravenstone Farm Charcuterie. They make the best sausages and bacon! Plus they're very friendly. Here they are enjoying a 5 second break between customers. Hi Declan and Trevor! They own the farm we're currently staying at and are super nice people. They make I think about 15 varieties of sausage and Trevor seems to introduce a new one fairly regularly as a weekly special. Everything from Bangers to Chorizo and Mediterranean to Italian. Yummy on the grill, in the oven or even in soup!



Kate did the Shoots with Roots program from Milner Gardens. They had a little booth where you could use recycled materials like cardboard and newspaper to make your own flower press. I'll do up a whole article about that later. She decorated it and thought is was super cool!



Lunch was soup made from our Farmers Market haul of scallions (I'm not kidding they were 28 inches long) green cabbage, red peppers, Romano sausage from Ravenstone, onion and potatoes. And garlic, salt and pepper of course. The sausage was chicken, and tasted very nice. I cooked it first so I could try it out as I've never had it before. After I stir fried the veggies for a few minutes we added water and seasonings to finish cooking the soup and I used the last of the bread from "Bread and Honey" ( a great little place for lunch in Parksville) to make multi-grain croutons for the top of each bowl of soup. it was delicious

Saving Money on Fruits and Vegetables

This blog is read by a variety of people world wide. Both urban and rural. So how to write about saving money on veggies and things when we get them so differently? I'll just cover both topics because let's face it...even farmers in Canada like oranges and bananas and there's no hope of growing either.

Urban shopping is nearly always limited to 2 sources for produce, supermarket or farmers market. And the prices at a farmers market can be expensive. While I think the quality and whole system is better with buying direct from a farmer it just doesn't work for some people. So how do you save money on store bought produce? I know you're thinking "but I already check out the flyers and shop sales" but what about buying in bulk? No hear me out...I'm not talking about buying 40lbs of bananas and then having to either eat them all or be left with a gooey mess in the box. While our family can eat that many bananas and we often shopped at the wholesalers by ourselves, it doesn't work for most people. A much better way of doing this is to get together with a few families and friends and split things up. So if a case of bananas is $20. And you split them between 3 families and lets say 2 couples, each group would end up with a percentage of the box and a percentage of the bill. Maybe families get 25% each and the couples get 12.5% each. Can you eat 10 lbs of bananas? 5 lbs? So long as you agree and it's fair, you can work it out any way you like. We used to sell produce shares based either on a half or full share and then the entire crop for the week was just divided up accordingly. People then get what they pay for.

How can this work for you? Almost all wholesalers will sell to individuals, did you know that? The proviso is that you often have to pick it up, order a minimum quantity, and buy full cases. A local wholesaler here on Vancouver Island will sell you a minimum order of $150 but deliver it. Sound like a lot of fruit and veggies? It can be but of course if you divide it up suddenly it's much more manageable. And it's almost a festive air when you get together to divide up the spoils or pick up your shares.
I would recommend that someone be in charge of both picking things up and dividing them too. Then all everyone else has to do is pick up. You can make this as regulated or relaxed as works for you.

And this works very well for people who like to do canning or making jam because you can order extra cases of what you want over and above your regular veggies. Fruits in season can sometimes be picked up very cheaply indeed if the wholesaler gets over stocked.

The drawbacks....not everyone likes the same veggies (I HATE celery). One person does more work than the rest and has to be compensated somehow. You will get a little bit of spoiled or bruised produce occasionally and need something to do with it like compost or feed to the chickens.

Advantages....save money, try new veggies, share recipes within your group, eat more seasonal vegetables, share something great with your community.


SO....Rural Veggies

Grow Your Own!! Jeepers, how hard is it to plant some peas? Ok, Ok, I know that even we don't grow everything we want. We still get things wholesale but it's less of a regular thing. And we stick to what we're good at and then trade with our neighbours for the other stuff we want. Right now we obviously have no produce and it's driving me a bit nuts actually. So we are going to trade some wheat for rhubarb. Something we already have extra of...for something we want. Same goes for meats. If you raise pigs, farm B raises chickens and farm X raises cows, why not come to a deal and share your meat. There is something great about trading too...the sense of community and reliance is enhanced and you'll be a much happier farmer.

A way to sell your crops reliably is to sell shares in your garden. It's called Community Supported Agriculture. I've written about it before and there's a lot of info available on the web, but the basic principle is that you plan and successively plant enough vegetables to have a weekly harvest of a certain size. You divide each weeks harvest up between share holders. You get the customers for your crops and the money upfront, they get produce, everyone's happy.

Saturday Night and I Ain't Got Nobody....

Yep. It's Saturday night and Stephen is out at John and Nic's doing some more work on their bus. It's looking pretty spiffy thanks to all the hard work John has put into it. Steve's been doing a lot of the hidden stuff like water tanks, electrical and plumbing. Thankless jobs but very necessary.

As far as our own little family goes, we're good. Spent some time picking the hay out of last years alpaca fibre (Yes, that's how we spell it in Canada) ready to get it sent to the mill for cleaning and spinning. I just don't have enough time to get it done this year by hand and I still need to repair my spinning wheel anyways. I guess I still have to knit the wool and make felt slippers by myself so that's still handmade a little.

On my way back from dropping Christopher off at work and before taking the girls to swimming lessons I had a chance to pop by the local farmers market in Qualicum. There was a nice selection of plants, crafts, fresh produce, meats, breads and treats. I did indulge in a fresh croissant which receives high marks but his french bread was a bit bland and not as crusty as I'd like. Great sausages from Ravenstone Farm. I got bangers, canadian, sicilian, and Loukanika to try and I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. The last sausages I got from them were awesome grilled on the BBQ. And some honey for my honey, creamed of course. Which I can guarantee he'll eat with peanut butter on toast when he comes home later. This being his preferred snack since childhood for breakfast or bedtime. 1kg jar of honey cost me $13. Bread $4. Sausages averaged about $5.50 for a pack of 4 large sausages. I also bought kohlrabi, green onions and some rhubarb.

I managed to get my yard tidied up, the inside of the kids trailer is almost cleaned but still have to finish dishes, vacuum, and put away all their clean laundry. I sorted fibre as mentioned previously, sorted out a couple of boxes from the storage locker and will donate more stuff to the SOS which runs a huge local thrift store. Also washed and dried 2 loads of laundry including some more blankets off Kate's bed. I took 2 more off and she still had 3 left! My goodness, who needs so many blankets? You'd think we were making her sleep on an ice ledge in the Arctic!

Today's weather was nice and sunny, 22 degrees C with 5-10km wind from the west. Great for working outside. Tomorrow should be more of the same. Great because John and Nicole are coming with the girls for a BBQ and to check out our place. Gotta run. It's after midnight and I have to get up early in the morning to clean, drive Chris, write a talk with Meghan, and then get food ready for when John and Nicole come over after church.

Goodnight!