Mary waters our nursery one morning this week, where space is filling up fast.
Years ago I was living and working in Africa. I spent months traveling in the Ivory Coast and got confident, and perhaps a bit too cocky. I was wandering on the outskirts of a busy marketplace; I was fascinated by people of all ages tearing apart engines, cars, for recycling and making things. I wandered deep into the operation, without permission or a guide or translator, fascinated by my own instincts of curiosity.
And then somthing happened. I only understand enough to know it's linked to the political history of the country; someone got a bad vibe from me, a white person with a big camera. Before I knew it, people and hands were on me. Understandably angry. I was the cause and center of an angry mob. It was bad; I was shoved and pushed. And then all of a sudden, in a rare moment I had a flash of instinct. I smiled. I started madly shaking hands -- everyone's hand I could find. There was an instant change of the mood. The mob disappated; I was invited deeper in. Whatever cultural virus and anger I had incited, I also somehow dissipated and converted into something else. The world sometimes just works just like that. And, sometimes it doesn't.
What a month it's been. We are writing to check in, to reassure you, and to let you know that we are here. Thank you all for your phone call, texts and emails, we are still getting to some of them.
First, the good news. Our farm is going to be bursting with produce in about 3-4 weeks. It's exciting. It's a warm spring, quite an amazing weather contrast from last year, when we still had snowbanks along our high tunnels on this week. The big investments we've done with silage tarps and minimal tillage systems are really starting to pay off, as arugula and carrots pop up though smooth meds with drastically fewer weeds than past springs. When unloading feather meal, micronutrients, alfalfa meal and other goodies to grow nutrient dense veggies and watching our supplies for the coming months stack up here, it feels good. We are ready to support you, and although I had long conversations this week with some of our restaurants this week -- and their outlooks haven't been great, we haven't changed our growing plan. We still stand by our advice from a few newsletters back….don’t panic. We are still planning on growing LOT of food, and we will find ways to get it to you, safely.
The safety measures at our farmstore have been working; you all being respectful, and we are grateful for that. If you visit you’ll most always be the only customer a given time, and we’ve appreciated watching people naturally and patiently wait for the person ahead of them to finish, when we occasionally have 2 cars at once.
And now the news. The news that we can't quite escape, even at Ace or Massa or Don's or one the phone with our suppliers that help make our farm, and our greater food system work. It's summed up best by my friend Jessica Washkowiak, who runs Field to Fork with her partner.
Food safety and human safety is the thing we should all be thinking about. Money is just an object and it will come and go. Your health, heart and hands is all you really have. During the flu of 1918 eventually distance was the only way to slow it. It took many years. I feel people are nervous and will distance for a long time and for as long as they feel comfortable. So even if this passes in a few weeks many people will feel scared and are not going to put themselves in crowded social situations… the days of beautiful high produce displays with free choice at markets are probably insensitive for a little while. We feel lucky technology is on our side and can offer lots of options through the internet. … Everything is so uncertain right now and communities of the globe have been through this before and will be able to get through this again and be better prepared for the future ahead. Stay strong, stay health, stay home. Grow for life! Return of the Small Farm! Small Organic Farms Will Change The World and I believe this.
So, how are we all really doing? It's okay to be scared. We are too. When talking to my Aunt Sandee (in North Carolina) this past week, she asked,
"What do I do, Noah? Am I to blame? I mean, weeks ago, in one day I hugged like 25 people."
Her words brought tears to my eyes, made my voice crack while I was attempting to weed one of our tunnels with Mary. It wasn't working. We all need the Aunt Sandees, the big huggers of the world, in full force. It’s odd to adjust to showing care by keeping distance.
But, there are a lot of things that are working, including the 20-100' away air-hug gestures many of you send us from the farmstore doors. The chickens never stop working, 20-22 dozen eggs per day, even if they can be a bit of a mob. One of our favorite seeds suppliers, Johnny's Select Seeds, temporarily shutoff sales to home gardeners so market gardeners like us wouldn't be disrupted. Everyone from chicken feed suppliers to local growers, have been on calls strategizing about how we make our farms stronger, resilient, and keep your food safe. Some of our favorite welders in town have been making things that we can't easily get or ship in, and that's perfectly fine, and even better for us. The news and stories from overseas and large California farms is grim, regaurding the outbreak of the virus, and mostly, there's just not enough data.
And, there are also a lot of businesses that might be off course. Every day online marketing platforms call or email us, trying to convince us to get on one new marketing platform or another. I think many of them have it wrong; our food is real and doesn’t have to be one large virtual online marketplace. We are not yet sure exactly what methods we’ll use to create safe no-contact ordering and pickup options for eggs and veggies, but we’re mulling it over and trust that some firing inspiration will strike—some equivalent of the smiling and hand-shaking—will rise up as the right and fitting response to a suddenly changing situation.
We believe that while the time of hugging well come back; we are preparing for how we get though and help everyone get what they need unit then. Right now, although our memberships are full for the season, we've decided to open up about 15-20 more, so if you want the best deal on whatever you'd like, you can signup on our website. That will make us 100 feedbags strong and help us get all those last supplies in so we can hunker down and focus on doing what you help us do. Those of you already on the waitlist will be hearing from us shortly—you are in.
Amidst the turmoil and uncertainty, we really place our faith in you, our community. We’ve had additional interest in farm memberships. We’ve had so many of you take an extra moment to express your appreciation for us and our farming colleagues. Thank you. And if you need a little faith in your community, know that so far we have had far more offers from volunteers to deliver farm goods to people at home, than we have had requests for deliveries!
We do have a major gap with our particular farm washing, packing and cooler storage space. We’ve been at capacity for a couple of years now and are constantly strategizing about whether or not it’s responsible (or even ethical) to build a warehouse space for additional packing and large cooler space, or if we should wait. It’s complicated, and we are saving most of that discussion along with egg prices too. And don’t worry, we still have great egg production, and even though we do need to raise our price at some point, we are waiting until everyone is on more secure financial footing.
Farms can become the centerpieces of our community. Some of the first farm member farms involved farmers deeply embedded in communities of support. There is an almost forgotten history of the first farm membership (Community Supported Agriculture Farms) in the United States literally passing around a hat to provide enough income for farms to make a decent living wage and cover costs. And there are examples from all over the world coming into our social media these days. Even the city of Missoula is shouting and banging together pots and pans at dusk. It’s our own virtual mob, but a good one. Maybe like a flock of chickens. And it has more power than we can imagine.
When Mary looked over this newsletter (we often take turns with the writing), she reminded me that in ecology, there’s another type of mobbing. We see it all the time in the air above our fields as we work in the summer: a group of smaller birds like swallows or starlings will work together to swoop and pester a larger, threatening bird of prey like a hawk until it leaves. We try not to take sides in those aerial conflicts, but there’s something about the image of collective and cooperative action against a danger that feels hopeful. So, as much as we are scared, we are so excited to have the best season of eating, storing food, and building a healthy community. Thanks for all of the well wishes.
We are with you,
Noah, Mary, SweetRoot
The Week in Photos
Both our crew cabins got new, buried power lines from the resident farm electrician (me) with his journeywoman (Mary). The 6 gauge buried cable was actually donated to the farm from some of Mary’s family. It made the whole project much more affordable. Along with this, buried power went to our yurt and sauna too — quite an upgrade for us and it means more planting space for perenials. The power upgrade too means that heaters are now inside both the crew cabins!
We aren’t sure what we’d do without a neighbor with a forklift. Mary used to be the forklift expert here, but when the delivery driver of this tote of composted organic chicken manure complimented me, well, I think I’ve got the title now.
There is big experiment going on with our chickens. When pasture and cover crop run a bit short, we are supplement with organic alfalfa— almost 3 tons of it on this 3/4 of an acre series of paddocks. While this strategy is more expensive then some other approaches, it means extra flavor and nutrition in eggs and healthier soil in the long term. Our chickens, in their 3 mobile barns, will be moved in about a week.