Claire Poem

I found this in Claire's writing book. Date 10/28/10.

Pick pumpkin in the field.
Use a knife to carve a pumpkin.
My pumpkin is scary.
Pumpkin pie is good.
Keep the seeds for next year.
I can carve pumpkin.
Now it is time for Halloween.

Ashland Kuhler

Amish Water-Circulating Milk Cooler

*Heavy 304 Stainless Steel Construction
*Silver Soldered to meet inspection and added strangth
*Long-Life - fow friction bearing
*Brass ball-valves - easy flow control
*Fast cooling - low water consumption
*Operates on low water pressure - 10'drop is sufficient
*NEEDS NO ELECTRICITY or other power sources
*Cut-off 5/8" water hose connects easily to nipple

Sold in kit form with brush and 1" dial thermometer.
Guaranteed 1-year against parts or workmanship and or full refund if not satisfied.

$155/each.

Schenectady Greenmarket

Marge from Argyle Cheese Farmere rang to see if I would fill in her space at Schenectady Greenmarket on Sundays. It is a hike and I have to figure out who will milk the goats, but we agreed to do it. The market is new and is well run. I have also decided to do only Producer Only markets. We will bring:
Fromage Blanc
Quark
Triple Cream Quark
Fresh Mozzarella
Fresh Mozz curd
Feta
Dunlop curd
Yoghurt
Labneh (Greek Yoghurt)
flavored bits of this and that
As the market progresses, I'll bring a tomme and some other aged cheeses.

We are not certifying the cheese side, only the cow dairy. We switched from ProCert to Baystate Organic Certifiers and to make it easier, we are doing it this way.

Come see us at the Market!

World's Top 10 Seed Companies

Company - 2007 seed sales (US$ millions) - % of global proprietary seed
market

1.Monsanto (US) - $4,964m - 23%
2.DuPont (US) - $3,300m - 15%
3.Syngenta (Switzerland) - $2,018m - 9%
4.Groupe Limagrain (France) - $1,226m - 6%
5.Land O' Lakes (US) - $917m - 4%
6.KWS AG (Germany) - $702m - 3%
7.Bayer Crop Science (Germany) - $524m - 2%
8.Sakata (Japan) - $396m - <2%
9.DLF-Trifolium (Denmark) - $391m - <2%
10.Takii (Japan) - $347m - <2%
Top 10 Total - $14,785m - 67% [of global proprietary seed market]
Source: ETC Group

.....................................
People in the world are going to become more and more hungry. Look at what corporate greed is doing to banks. The U.S. government has no desire to do anything with corporate greed in the agricultural sector. Milk prices are tanking on the conventional market and they are putting all of us on 1 year contracts with the organic market. You don't think they are going to try to hose the organic dairy people next?

Here you go Obama. Want to change something? Start with the bedrock of society...agriculture and make it a more sustainable system. Like a seed is quality soil, it grows healthy...

Mom School

Mom School is what Claire calls being homeschooled. Here are photos of her study area and a field trip with Grammy Rice and Dad (and me) to MOST in Syracuse. She is doing a lot better and just finished her first reader and is taking her 3rd ATS Math test! We are plugging along in reading and her list of words she confidently reads is skyrocketing now that Mrs. Hagan is not in charge.

Two great things she did recently are:
1. Ask to read a book and then do it on her own!
2. Do science charts on her own. Asking people questions and making charts to recod data and then translating data! Woohoo.

Planning

Everyone who dreams is a planner. Some are better at dreaming than others. Some are just as unrealisting in their dreams as they are in real-life planning.

Last night I had this odd dream that we moved the whole farm operation somewhere artic. You know, where the day is night this time of year. It was oddly realistic, down to the chill going through my central NY winter garb and the small wood stove centric houses, many abandoned... We were up there with our cows and trying to figure out how to graze them like raindeer on the lichen and moss.

With the Smokey House plan I waited until the last minute to follow through on the financials plans. Could not get ahold of "my man" and I had to do them on the fly. I like to hire this out. I am a planner, but took way more science and ag classes than business. I felt slightly fooling, but went ahead with the usual confidence. The thing is we CAN make that work and I don't like people knowing everything about me or my business. We adapt to meet the need and I cannot tell you in concrete fact what I will be doing in 6 months time anymore.

Erin goes in for a heart cath. Monday. She is totally positive something absolutely negative is going to happen. The problem is that there is no plan for the bad thing that can happen. No written by lawyer plan. She is also banking on an insurance plan to bail the kids out if something does happen to her. The thing is that there is no plan. No written plan.

I've worked in the rare breeds world for a time now. I've seen grand ambitions presented before. I've worked on rescue plans after they fail. I sometimes think that if people say your plan is crazy or not totally sane, it is time to evaluate this plan to see if they see something you do not. Ask questions. Make more plans.

Now to finish the strategic plan for the Kerry cattle project and the more ambitious Heritage Cow project.

Happy Halloween from Claire

Flower Parts

Claire has this teacher that has labeled her as "behind" because I homeschooled her last year. I know she has a hard time with phonics and learning how to read. Kinda why I looked into a school. I was clear with that. She is having a hard time consistently understanding how sounds go together. One day she gets it, one day she cannot remember what "a" or "e" or some blend sounds like.

I felt a "professional" can help me teach her skills to "get" it consistently. Instead, I get that she is a "failure". That is Claire's term. I am constantly trying to come up with things to show her she is not a failure and that she is a smart girl, a beautiful girl and that all of the things about Claire are unique and special.

She is not stupid and I cannot say I did anything of a disservice to her. When I tried all I could with my resources, I enrolled her in school. Now that this has happened, I've found more resources and am getting results at home with her. The teacher prefers to send her home with assessments that have a failing mark and tell me that she is not capable of learning because I homeschooled her... Can it be that Claire does not hear the teacher, or understand her or get a certain accent? Can it be something about a student distracting her? I don't know, I am trying to keep a business and household together here, not there...

Claire is excellent in math and science though.

This is a scan of a drawing she did of the parts of a flower. The key is she did of the parts of a flower. Yah, she has two of them spelled wrong, but it comes out of a college text book that she and I found when she asked me what the stamen and other flower parts were called. Now,tell me she is dumb or behind? I don't get why she is able to do the work here and will not for the teacher there? The whole point of first, second and third grade is to seek improvement and completion of the basics of learning, not develop test anxiety.

I am dissapointed with this whole "school" process and I have no idea what to do. The thing is that if we leave, we are letting this teacher win too. She gets to keep the students that will succeed in her program. Woohoo. I am learning that 100% pass of tests has less to do with encouraging a full learning experience and more to do with pushing kids out of a program that does not fit into a mold. The irony is that she can and is still trying to blame it on me...

My instinct is to pull her out and homeschool again. Dave, to enroll her in the podunk local elementary school that caused a lot of the problems in the first place.

leaves are changing

...and blowing...

I had a wonderful time at Argyle Cheese Farmer in Argyle, NY this weekend. Made cheese with Val Bines as expert cheese technologist and "the girls". The words for the week were "flocculation" (a perennial cheese workshop favorite) and "quiescence".

We made a bid on a farm in Hebron. Apparently they feel that the markets are not dropping like the rest of the world. Confidence is nice. I wish it would spread through the rest of the world right now. Maybe our farm will sell then... A wet farm with nothing fancy for soils and a derelict barn (we were hoping to call home?)... They countered with double our offer. Our offer was not bad either. Funny, they actually want us to buy the whole deal, but it brings the farm back over $300,000. This farm acquisition project in this county is odd. In one farm they want a balloon payment in 5 years on a $350,000 farm. In one they up the price by $50,000 in the two weeks from our calling for an appointment to our coming to the showing, without a call. This was with a burn and bulldoze house project.. I hear it takes a year to find a perfect place in this county, but this is absurd.

I dislike the schools out here in central New York with a passion. They are condescending to parents and they offer nothing creative or encouraging to the children. The whole thing used to be about making it fun to learn, not giving a first grader test anxiety or expecting parents to do the brunt of the teaching. Why not homeschool again? I am so disappointed in a paid tuition school too. We pay taxes to a regional school for nothing and then a tuition for a system that is not any better, but in other ways.

It is an easy thing to get discouraged. There are a few of us out here who have worked hard to get people "into" the concept of buying local food. With the economy turning the way it did, and so fast... all of this work was for nothing. This cheap at all costs, almost determined to be poor mentality is too much to bear. I am so sad to see us leave,but Ineed to be around a group of people that appreciate good food made locally...

We also need to be near my mom and David's family. It often takes moving far away to appreciate where you come from, right?

Autumn

The word autumn always seems so solemn. Fall to flippant. It is natures way of easing us into the deep freeze. Fair enough. I just wish there were another word to describe how this time of year makes me feel.

Claire finally passed her spelling test! Woohoo. No to get her to consistently remember the kindergarten words so that the teacher believes me when I say she knows more than she lets on... So much for the easy life...

Dave and I found Claire talking to her chickens again. She brought down one of her play chairs and was sitting there with the one hen that survived the Belle attack. It was sweet and reminded us that Claire does have a sweet side to her. She is a good kid.

We are going to look at another round of properties in the Washington County area again. I need closure on all of this, but it is hard to look at farms. People want estate prices now. You cannot afford much of anything and expect to be a non-trustfund or other income farmer east of the Hudson river. I think that is what is making Dave and I the most anxious. We want to be in an area that is now estate agriculture. We knew that, but I think denial helped us cope until now.

Well, Claire is out of time out and I have to get back to help finish chores.

Patrick

I know Marcia wants me to post something about Claire. Sorry. Today it is all about Patrick. I have to pick him up from Kelly Meats. He should be in little vacuum sealed packages, frozen, ready for the grill.

We raise our own meat on the farm. We name the animals and treat them well. They do have a purpose. He is a nice veal calf. Ayrshire cattle make a nice pink veal with a lovely flavored meat. I like them more than Holstein veal. This one was fattened on a brood cow. A kerry one, Maxine.

Thoughts While Driving

My mom is going to be ok for now. At least the lymph is not cancerous. Only, she does have sarcoidosis. I am only scratching the surface of that condition. It is one more thing to research, to worry, to figure out. I just don't care for the lack of balance thing. I am terrified that she will go upstairs at work (granite stairs) and fall down or something. I am 3-4 hours away.

I came home after getting notes home from teacher. You know I do not care for this lack of communication thing I get here in CNY. Kinda like this job where they said, "there is your desk, your files...good luck..." What does that mean? Are you trying to set me up for failure?

Basically Claire is having test anxiety and teacher anxiety and apparently she feels she can blame it on my homeschooling Claire. I am sorry, but the teacher had her change her hadwritting (that she was taught in nursery, pre-K and my K program). She gave her different words. She asked them to start spelling and basically offered no transition, no interaction with parents at this "Open house" where we are to sit and listen to her theories on education adn then watch another parent take over the situation. No follow through with us...

After paying $4000, this woman feels that with 8 kids in class, she does not have time for my daughter and that I am doing a disservice to my child by not letting her stay back in school! There are 21 kids in that class. Claire did her work for us. I did not get to talk to her. She told me her view point and that was final. I am not a happy person. I am a very unhappy person. I do not want this woman to ruin my daughter. Claire feels she "didn't win". How do I explain to Claire (for her to believe me) that it is ok and that it was not a race. She did not have to "win", only do her best.

I did not sleep. I have faint spells and I think I'm either allergic or getting a rash...

What to do with the cheese business this fall? I'm thinking just yoghurt and milk for pasteurized and raw milk for cheese. That or sell and move to civilization and start up in 2 years again.

Being dissapointed sucks.

I have to drive to MI for conference next weekend. 10 hours 22 minutes. I'll have time to sort out my thoughts I think... I wish I had my Gale dog. She would understand and come with me to listen. I miss that dog soooo much today. It is strange to miss her again. She has been gone for 4 years. Stinks to loose your soul mate.

First Day of School!!!!!

Woohoo! Claire goes off to St. Mary's School today. She is excited. She will tell us later today if she still loves St. Mary's. The uniform makes her look way cute. She giggled and hugged me when I told her I wrote that.

Here she is!

September Already

Yup, the leaves are changing. You don't need the fan on at night and Claire starts school tomorrow.

Dave had a conversation with the Manhattan boys yesterday. They wanted us to beg them to buy the farm. We don't need to. They wanted us to sell them a fully outfitted farm, fully staffed and all. They wanted the cheese plant, a CSA staff, logistics, etc. All for $295,000. Basically, after 2 post-visit phone calls, these guys are morons. Yup. Not as smart as they want to think they are. The failed the first rule of business.

KNOW WHAT YOU ARE BUYING.

Don't insult the seller and don't keep insisting that you know what you are doing. Also remember, we all deal cash in agriculture. It does not make a difference if you pay cash or not. We are still talking about depreciable expenses and we will still claim all of the money. We also use an attorney and we will be buying another piece of land. The biggest thing, we own the farm outright. We aren't selling because we own too much. We own all of this.

OK. What is this talk of buying and selling?

Well. It is not secret that Dave and I want to get a little closer to family. My mom is alone in MA and her health is not as great (for someone who is still 39years old). Ken and Marcia are too far for Claire to visit regularly and we want to be closer to them as well. It has been a hard year for us. There are responsibilities 4 hours away in one direction and we are here.

The thing is we don't HAVE to move. We do like this farm. We do have great customers and friends here. WE want someone who will continue what we are doing. I like to see completion (rather than closure) on this whole local food thing in central NY.

The farm has been cleaned up a lot. The house is starting to get all of the cosmetic stuff done to it. Structurally it is great now. The barn has had a lot done and will continue to get a lot done to it. The deal shipping milk to Hood has been fine. The cheese business does offer an on-farm income to me. It also stabilizes the milk price for the dairy. We have rented land that is next door (and one field 6 miles away). You can also buy that land if you want to.

One theory is to drop back to 8-12 cows seasonally. Make 6-7000# of raw aged cheese and do veg. for the rest of the acreage. You can make a very nice income that way. It is also a great lifestyle. Kinda like the model Orb Weaver has in VT. I really like that model. It is also quite a sustainable one, without working the person into the ground.

I don't know. I think one of the biggest reservations about these guys from Manhattan was not that they do not understand dairy farming, the dairy industry or any of that. It was that they only saw that you get money up front (probably $850) for a CSA and that the wetlands were a liability. A liability! They are an asset to the watershed. They also provide wetland habitat to wood ducks, wetland species of plants and are where you grow cedar. The CSA is also a relationship between community and farmer. They missed that. F&^$ hated the flies and the whole thing about the farm, constantly asking if Tom's half starved cows were "happy". They have no intentions of being a farmer. They missed the crucial thing about linking the consumer and food. They were just about the money. The irony is that they don't know how to make it farming. They don't want to farm. They don't care about the environment of their consumers getting the best food.

We are still hare and will still keep producing food for sale. If it sells, it sells. If not. We are here and happy to make food. We also will not talk about honest people interested in being a part of the food shed in CNY and our farm on the blog if they are interested. These guys just missed the whole picture and it made me loose sleep because they don't care about the upstate farm economy, the environment or the crucial link between farmer and consumer. THey sell organic milk into NYC and only see it as a commodity and not getting their consumer a food product that they believe in. M*$$ though organic was a joke. That rotted dirt.

Biodiversity vs. Human Greed

Calf. Farmers Use Guns, Poisin to Safeguard Crops

By TRACIE CONE, Associated Press Writer
18 minutes ago



FRESNO, Calif. - Farmers in "America's Salad Bowl" are turning into hunters — stalking wild pigs, rabbits and deer — to keep E. coli and other harmful bacteria out of their fields.

It's part of an intense effort to prevent another disaster like the 2006 spinach contamination that killed three people, sickened 200 and cost the industry $80 million in lost sales.

The exact source of the contamination was never discovered, but scientists suspect that cattle, feral pigs, or other wildlife may have spread the E. coli by defecating near crops.

The pressure to safeguard crops comes from the companies that buy fresh greens. In response, some farmers are taking gun-safety classes to learn how to shoot animals that could carry the bacteria. Others are uprooting native trees and plants and erecting fences to make their land inhospitable to wildlife.

Spinach grower Bob Martin has even poisoned ponds with copper sulfate to kill frogs that might get caught in harvesting machinery or carry salmonella on their webbed feet.

Produce buyers "got us by the short hairs," said Martin, one of few growers who would talk publicly about how he is protecting his crop.

But some officials have questioned whether such drastic measures are necessary based on limited evidence.

"We're trying to talk now with the companies, buyers, retailers, wholesalers to bring things back into balance," said Scott Horsfall, executive director of the Leafy Greens Handlers Marketing Board, which oversees new farming standards drawn up after the 2006 E. coli contamination. "There's a real pressure out there on growers that goes beyond what the science justifies."

Concern over contamination is most pronounced in the Salinas River Valley, where valuable farmland and sensitive wildlife have coexisted for centuries. The lush valley, described in John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" and nicknamed "America's Salad Bowl," grows 60 percent of the nation's lettuce.

The nonprofit Resource Conservation District of Monterey County, which works with landowners to sustain wildlife habitat, surveyed 181 leafy greens growers who manage more than 140,000 acres. The survey showed that more than 30,000 acres had been affected by trapping, poisoning, fencing or removal of natural habitat.

The survey also indicated that 32 percent of respondents were convinced by corporate food-safety auditors to remove non-crop vegetation. More than 47 percent had been asked to "remove" wildlife, and 40.7 percent of those surveyed complied.

Growers, packers and shippers adopted new food-safety standards last year for farms, including a requirement that farmers establish 30-foot buffers between their fields and grazing land for cattle, which are known carriers of E. coli.

The standards acknowledged that wildlife could also carry the bacteria, but they had no requirement for buffers between wildlife habitat and fields.

"I think there's a little brinksmanship going on," said Hank Giclas of Western Growers, who was part of the committee who wrote the standards. He worries that processors are exceeding the rules to gain a sales advantage without good science.

Going beyond the guidelines "without going through a review process is something companies have the right to do, but it would be better if they'd go through the program," he said.

Smaller growers argue that stricter guidelines aren't warranted for farmers growing fresh bunched greens. They say the problem is primarily with cut greens that are bagged, which allows bacteria to multiply if temperatures rise.

Industry representatives defend their above-and-beyond restrictions.

Fresh Express, with 41 percent of the bagged greens market, demands a mile between farm fields and feedlots for cattle instead of the agreement's recommended 400 feet. The company also requires that a field intruded on by a wild pig be kept idle for two years.

Barbara Hines, a spokeswoman for Fresh Express, which processes 40 million pounds of salad each month, said the company's tighter regulations are "generally valued" by its retail customers, which include grocers such as Safeway, Vons and Harris-Teeter.

Earthbound Farms also exceeds regulations in many areas, especially in seed and water testing and its one-mile requirement between farms and feedlots. But the company views fencing and removal of natural habitat as a counterintuitive last resort.

Habitat is what animals want. "If you remove it, they will go into the field," said Will Daniels, Earthbound's vice president of quality, food safety and organic integrity.

Fresh Express has funded a $2 million study into methods of potential E. coli transmission. Results are due next month.

The Western Institute for Food Safety and Security is conducting a separate study funded by the federal government. It plans to analyze carcasses and anal swabs from 7,000 birds, wild pigs, cattle and other animals collected by state officials. Hunters are being asked to turn in deer colons for the research.

Officials are also collecting 13,000 soil, water and plant samples in the hope that the study will rule out wildlife as risks and ease buyers' fears.

"We have two extraordinary resources in this area: wildlife and our agricultural community," said Terry Palmassno, a senior wildlife biologist at the California Department of Fish and Game. "It's our position that you don't need to destroy one in order to save the other, and that's what we're working on doing."

head ache

I refinished the floor in the livingroom/dining room. I painted the exterior doors to the house, some trim associated with the doors and a side porch off the cut&wrap room. I have a head ache. I am not sure if it is a chemical sensitivity issue related to the house projects, or because I am allergic to a mold that is at it's peak in Aug-September in the north east region of the states. Our Dr.'s office has a fairly unorganized lady now and not only is she taking her time to get Dave his prescriptions (you know the kind that you have to pick up and they want you to call in, but you are either too early or too late to call it in...). She kinda didn't tell me the truth about getting it signed off on and I am still in pain. I hope she has a head ache tomorrow. Actually for three days like me, so she can develop a more caring personality. I liked the staff there last year. Way more professional than this new lot.

I have done squat for processing. Yoghurt and that is it. I have to work on fluid milk and feta tomorrow.

I will only make the Skaneateles f. market this week. State Fair week and I am not sure if this is worth my time, but it will have to do. My head hurts...

The boys from the milk delivery business in NYC tried to say that I did not give them all of the information regarding the sale of the farm and business and that I insulted them. Kinda funny considering the listing that they found it on said everything they thought I did not tell them and they were the ones to say they did not know anything about a dairy farm and needed assistance and resources to do this project right. I just sent them the links to be able to get a feasibility project done, like they asked. He basically parroted Dave and I on their plans... I don't care at this point. We are making money here and they can buy it at our price or get a farm in St. Lawrence county... I'll be nice because I truely want someone to succeed, but I am not giving anything away that I do not have to because they did not read or listen to what I had to say. It is not my fault and I know as much as they do that this is all about Union Square and the other Greenmarkets and that is it.

Dave finally admitted that cheese has done it's part in providing an on-farm income to me like our business plan stated. It has played a significant role in the over all farm profitability. It takes a lot to get him to admit that what I do is a contribution to the greater whole. From what I hear, it is not uncommon for male farmers to have this idea that the support system that farm wives give them means little compared to what they do. It is a sad deal and for some women a lonely deal. I've logged in 90+ hours a week on a common work week just like him. I may not do all of the milking, but I was the one to do dishes, laundry, shopping for school, homeschool Claire, make yoghurt, do sales calls, ring the Dr, pharmacy, grain companies regarding chick starter, arranged to get rid of whey, fed us and all of the farm help and mascots that came about. I have also started, done or finished chores while he gets hay in. I also do all of the organic and inspection paperwork, accounting, and other things...

I have a head ache and I think it is mold.

Thoughts on a Better Food Policy and our Health

Ten points to better health
1. Know what you're eating. Find out where it comes from and what's in it. Think about what's in season now - what's ripe, not just fresh. A lot of these foods will turn out to be local.
2. Get cooking. And try making things from scratch. You'll save money and rediscover skills you forgot you had.
3. Plant something. It could be an herb pot on your kitchen counter or, if you have space at home, a small kitchen garden, or a communal plot in your neighborhood that you tend with family and friends. (The Victory Garden on Civic Center Plaza is a landscape of ideas, staffed by experts who can guide your hands to the soil.)
4. Pack a bag lunch.
5. Drink tap water. It's healthier for you, and it's free.
6. Learn about and celebrate the food traditions your family still possesses. These are like seeds, long stored and just waiting to be planted.
7. Invite someone to share a meal. Strengthen the bonds of friendship and community by cooking and eating together.
8. Learn about endangered foods and how we can bring them back to our tables.
9. Conserve, compost and recycle.
10. Vote with your fork.

Healthy Food and Agriculture Declaration, orchestrated by Roots of Change as a response to the farm bill
http://fooddeclaration.org/

Quark

Quark is a fresh lactic cheese. Consumed in quantities in Germany, Holland and eastern Europe. I normally drain it in brick hoops, but I tried to make 3 batches of cheese last Tuesday and had to hang the Quark. Made a consistency like cream cheese. Quite lovely actually, but a little thicker.

Green Hills Farmers Market

Here are some of the other vendors at Green Hills Farmers Market on S.Salina Street on Wednesdays 3-7 pm. I'm the one with cheese. I didn't take my own photo...

Inside Our Dairy Barn