Whaddya know....I finally decide to take a trip out to Arizona to see what all the fuss is about with these horses and find myself sandwiched between a Californian and Mexican biohazard.
Is this a result of the consolidation and concentration of pigs into 10,000 head units (esp. North Carolina)? Factory farming having deadly side effects? I cant believe it. Check out the link.
Wednesday 29 April 2009
Monday 20 April 2009
hello all
i am greatly enjoying time off. my brain has officially shut down and i am in a beautiful place and the sun is shining. I have bought my first home, a 10 ft x 10 ft wall tent and will be moving to the farm in just over one week. i am excited and as good as the break has been i am so ready to get dirty, plant some seeds make some cheese and milk some goats/sheep.
funny story:
yesterday i was hunting for morel mushrooms with some friends in the woods. as i was face to face (literally, crawling) with the soil through the under story of the forest, looking at all the lovely critters and marveling at decomposing leafs, i began to think on fungi. (fitting, because i was looking for fungi) the mystery of it and the beauty of all mushrooms especally the morel! i then started wondering what roll gnomes may play in the mysterious growth habits of mushrooms....... when to my surprise every other crawl on my belly through the forest reveled yet another morel! larger than the last!!! so of course, i thanked the gnomes and continued to be amazed by the beauty and size of the mushrooms i was being gifted by said gnomes.... of course they would be gifting me what i sought out of appreciation for me recognizing their roll in the fungi world!
after 2 hours of crawling in the leaf litter i was called to lunch. i was so excited so show everyone how skilled i was and tell them my secret! (gnome appreciation) and suggest they try it too. my friend Dan was the first to tell me, all the mushrooms i had painfully and tediously gathered were false morels. he dumped them out onto the ground an showed me the difference so i wouldn't be fooled again.
Fooled i was. and you know i could almost hear all of the little gnomes laughing hysterically.
tricky bastards.
all the best of love and luck to all.
watch out for gnomes, bulls and pigs on your placements
erin
funny story:
yesterday i was hunting for morel mushrooms with some friends in the woods. as i was face to face (literally, crawling) with the soil through the under story of the forest, looking at all the lovely critters and marveling at decomposing leafs, i began to think on fungi. (fitting, because i was looking for fungi) the mystery of it and the beauty of all mushrooms especally the morel! i then started wondering what roll gnomes may play in the mysterious growth habits of mushrooms....... when to my surprise every other crawl on my belly through the forest reveled yet another morel! larger than the last!!! so of course, i thanked the gnomes and continued to be amazed by the beauty and size of the mushrooms i was being gifted by said gnomes.... of course they would be gifting me what i sought out of appreciation for me recognizing their roll in the fungi world!
after 2 hours of crawling in the leaf litter i was called to lunch. i was so excited so show everyone how skilled i was and tell them my secret! (gnome appreciation) and suggest they try it too. my friend Dan was the first to tell me, all the mushrooms i had painfully and tediously gathered were false morels. he dumped them out onto the ground an showed me the difference so i wouldn't be fooled again.
Fooled i was. and you know i could almost hear all of the little gnomes laughing hysterically.
tricky bastards.
all the best of love and luck to all.
watch out for gnomes, bulls and pigs on your placements
erin
Charlie's song
Hi everybody,
Nice to read from all of you... I am currently in Plawhatch and will be till the end of this week - don't know how I'll ever be able to leave, really... But there you go, crash course in milking, looking after the animals, feeding, fencing, counting eggs... Calving ! There were 4 birthes last night, including twins !! Oh how nice to be out there and part of life, it's hard to imagine ever sitting in a classroom again. Moving to Cherry Gardens next Saturday to immerse myself into vegetable life.
Graduates, as promised, here is your song ! Lyrics by Charlie Wannop (where are you by the way, Charlie, it would be good to hear from you !), melody as in the original song, chords G-G-C-G-G-D7-G and more G. Enjoy !
"Last year's students had a farm"
Young Katrina had a farm - E I E I Oh
And on that farm she had a cow - E I E I Oh
With a great diet here and no vet bills there
Here a calf, there a calf, profits everywhere
Young Katrina...
Mid Mac Phil he had a farm - E I E I Oh
And on that farm he had some preps - E I E I Oh
With a 501 to a 507
A bit of Maye Bruce and a shot of 08
Mid Mac Phil...
Banker Bob he had a farm - E I E I Oh
And on that farm he had.. a HORSE ??? - E I E I Oh
With mini dairies here and a garden there
Another job elsewhere and a stress-free life
Banker Bob...
Young Mac Adam had a community farm - E I E I Oh
And on this farm he had some thoughts - E I E I Oh
With a rain gun here and a garden there
Here a house, there a house, people everywhere
Young Mac Adam...
Our Erin had a CSA farm - E I E I Oh
And on that farm she had some veg - E I E I Oh
With courses here and boxes there
Here a yurt, there a yurt, happiness everywhere oh
Our Erin...
Mr Kristoff had a farm - E I E I Oh
And on this farm he had some goats - E I E I Oh
With cheeses here and cheeses there
Here a veggie plot, there a goat - oh hell !
Mr Kristoff...
Old McHall he had a farm - E I E I Oh
And on this farm he had a scheme - E I E I Oh
With boxes here and boxes there
Here a profit, there a loss, everywhere a balance
Old McHall...
Old McJeff he had a plan - E I E I Oh
And with this plan he had some fun - E I E I Oh
Tree crops here and ducklings there
Here a pond, there some duck pooh aaaaarghhhhhhh !
Old McJeff...
Mac Kaela had a farm - E I E I Oh
And on that farm she had some grain - E I E I Oh
With tractors here and tractors there
Here a hen, there a cow, loads of work everywhere
Mac Kaela...
Well all these students got a farm - E I E I Oh
And we all hope they get some fun - E I E I Oh
With hard work here and enough money there
Here a laugh, there a giggle and lots of love everywhere...
...May all these students have a farm ! E I E I Ooooooooooooooooooh.
ANd BLESSINGS on YOUR JOurNeys !!!
Love,
Marie
Nice to read from all of you... I am currently in Plawhatch and will be till the end of this week - don't know how I'll ever be able to leave, really... But there you go, crash course in milking, looking after the animals, feeding, fencing, counting eggs... Calving ! There were 4 birthes last night, including twins !! Oh how nice to be out there and part of life, it's hard to imagine ever sitting in a classroom again. Moving to Cherry Gardens next Saturday to immerse myself into vegetable life.
Graduates, as promised, here is your song ! Lyrics by Charlie Wannop (where are you by the way, Charlie, it would be good to hear from you !), melody as in the original song, chords G-G-C-G-G-D7-G and more G. Enjoy !
"Last year's students had a farm"
Young Katrina had a farm - E I E I Oh
And on that farm she had a cow - E I E I Oh
With a great diet here and no vet bills there
Here a calf, there a calf, profits everywhere
Young Katrina...
Mid Mac Phil he had a farm - E I E I Oh
And on that farm he had some preps - E I E I Oh
With a 501 to a 507
A bit of Maye Bruce and a shot of 08
Mid Mac Phil...
Banker Bob he had a farm - E I E I Oh
And on that farm he had.. a HORSE ??? - E I E I Oh
With mini dairies here and a garden there
Another job elsewhere and a stress-free life
Banker Bob...
Young Mac Adam had a community farm - E I E I Oh
And on this farm he had some thoughts - E I E I Oh
With a rain gun here and a garden there
Here a house, there a house, people everywhere
Young Mac Adam...
Our Erin had a CSA farm - E I E I Oh
And on that farm she had some veg - E I E I Oh
With courses here and boxes there
Here a yurt, there a yurt, happiness everywhere oh
Our Erin...
Mr Kristoff had a farm - E I E I Oh
And on this farm he had some goats - E I E I Oh
With cheeses here and cheeses there
Here a veggie plot, there a goat - oh hell !
Mr Kristoff...
Old McHall he had a farm - E I E I Oh
And on this farm he had a scheme - E I E I Oh
With boxes here and boxes there
Here a profit, there a loss, everywhere a balance
Old McHall...
Old McJeff he had a plan - E I E I Oh
And with this plan he had some fun - E I E I Oh
Tree crops here and ducklings there
Here a pond, there some duck pooh aaaaarghhhhhhh !
Old McJeff...
Mac Kaela had a farm - E I E I Oh
And on that farm she had some grain - E I E I Oh
With tractors here and tractors there
Here a hen, there a cow, loads of work everywhere
Mac Kaela...
Well all these students got a farm - E I E I Oh
And we all hope they get some fun - E I E I Oh
With hard work here and enough money there
Here a laugh, there a giggle and lots of love everywhere...
...May all these students have a farm ! E I E I Ooooooooooooooooooh.
ANd BLESSINGS on YOUR JOurNeys !!!
Love,
Marie
Sunday 19 April 2009
Be afraid, be very etc.....
War on terror (downgraded to central Asian excursions), war on want (huh?), war on drugs (failed miserably), war on poverty (5/10, could do better). War on food, coming to a field near you, soon.
Saturday 18 April 2009
Tescno go all hippy (even screw tops!)
Tescno (see link) have adopted the famous Maria Thun wine tasting calendar. I think its progress.
My agricultural involvement has extended to equine waste management and ditch digging so far this summer (and a couple of evenings lambing, ah, sweet). I hope at least to plant my newly constructed raised bed. I am also hoping, under the law of sod, that by doing so will accelerate the sale of our house. We looked at a farm house (surrounded by farmland but unconnected, in the modern English countryside way) that was very overpriced but with many facilities that would be useful (like fields, farm machinery and other accommodation units). We made them a cheeky offer and are waiting a reply. Otherwise we will keep hunting, hopeful that more unemployed City types (boo) will be looking to rent out their estates to err, unemployed City types, with BD diploma. Off to Waitrose then.
My agricultural involvement has extended to equine waste management and ditch digging so far this summer (and a couple of evenings lambing, ah, sweet). I hope at least to plant my newly constructed raised bed. I am also hoping, under the law of sod, that by doing so will accelerate the sale of our house. We looked at a farm house (surrounded by farmland but unconnected, in the modern English countryside way) that was very overpriced but with many facilities that would be useful (like fields, farm machinery and other accommodation units). We made them a cheeky offer and are waiting a reply. Otherwise we will keep hunting, hopeful that more unemployed City types (boo) will be looking to rent out their estates to err, unemployed City types, with BD diploma. Off to Waitrose then.
Friday 17 April 2009
peat cutters
So folks chapter 1 of my Irish adventure has come suddenly to a close. It seems that I did not take the apocalypse seriously enough, or dig fast enough as part of their 10 hour/7 day a week working schedule (the father/fuhrer there is building a tower for a windmill, which is to serve likewise for defensive purposes), to be an acceptable helper on the Belgian family's survivalist farm that I came here to work on. So.. I have now been relocated to the closest organic enterprise, which is clearly the real reason that I came here for. It was nonetheless most worthwhile to have seen the setup that the first place had: they grow lots of exotic, particularly Andean crops (the idea being that when the collapse happens and the ransackers come, they will not be able to recognise many of the edible crops - they even eat guinea pigs!), lots of perennial crops, 2 polytunnels, cows (4), sheep(30), goats(7), pigs(4), hens(30), ducks(30), geese(15), turkeys(5), pigeons, guinea pigs, ferrets, dogs and honey bees. And building lots of new things. Some work ethic. But somewhat too much an atmosphere of doom and gloom to say the least. They are neo-Darwinists/Dawkinsists to top it all off. I got a bit bored by these things quite fast, which didn't help. Actually not afraid of death, which they clearly are. Anyway I am now working for guess what a Dutchman who is growing organic (but he doesn't certify due to getting crap from bureaucrats) who is a most helpful teacher. So I suspect that I shall remain here for some time. Over/out.
a.
a.
Sunday 5 April 2009
BD on Radio4
Radio4 Food Programme visits Camphill Larchfield Community village, due for broadcast next Sunday 12.30pm.
Saturday 4 April 2009
Congratulations
Hey...congratulations Arjen & Margaretha. Fantastic news, we'll put the date in the diary.
Above is link to piece by Charlie's favourite author Joel Salatin (Everything I do is Illegal, amoungst others). It was writtin in '04 but worth a read and a reminder of why the esoteric perspective and the common sense approach are essential components of agriculture and life.
Above is link to piece by Charlie's favourite author Joel Salatin (Everything I do is Illegal, amoungst others). It was writtin in '04 but worth a read and a reminder of why the esoteric perspective and the common sense approach are essential components of agriculture and life.
Hi All,
Firstly a big congratulations Arjen to you and Margaretha and wishing you every happiness for the future. I was going to say peace but it will probably be noisy...
As far as placement goes I am being kept very busy and it is varied. The most scary aspect is that I am introduced as the biodynamic expert and they keep asking for advice. On the plus side, after a week I have realised that compared to almost all of them we BD1 ers do have quite an amount of BD knowledge squirreled away. There is a beautiful walled garden, amazing labs, many hectares of land and tea/coffee whenever you want. But hours are long - 9-6pm with half hour for lunch. The farm manager here is very supportive and will include me in various meetings. Next Monday I have a BD spray strategy meeting for the vineyard, then need to do an onsite assessment of trials set up last week in the walled garden. The afternoon will be an induction to the rapid compost method used here (they also have a large more traditional compost area that took me 1 and half hours to temperature probe the numerous windrows last week). I should be doing 2 days a week with the stockmen - that is even longer hours - they start at 7. - lambing hasn't started yet. I think de-thistling a field by hand and helping to transport buffalo and finishing the stags bladder preps are also next weeks agenda.
Hope you are all well - post news when you can. I'll try and take some pictures....in my free time!!
love
Margie
Firstly a big congratulations Arjen to you and Margaretha and wishing you every happiness for the future. I was going to say peace but it will probably be noisy...
As far as placement goes I am being kept very busy and it is varied. The most scary aspect is that I am introduced as the biodynamic expert and they keep asking for advice. On the plus side, after a week I have realised that compared to almost all of them we BD1 ers do have quite an amount of BD knowledge squirreled away. There is a beautiful walled garden, amazing labs, many hectares of land and tea/coffee whenever you want. But hours are long - 9-6pm with half hour for lunch. The farm manager here is very supportive and will include me in various meetings. Next Monday I have a BD spray strategy meeting for the vineyard, then need to do an onsite assessment of trials set up last week in the walled garden. The afternoon will be an induction to the rapid compost method used here (they also have a large more traditional compost area that took me 1 and half hours to temperature probe the numerous windrows last week). I should be doing 2 days a week with the stockmen - that is even longer hours - they start at 7. - lambing hasn't started yet. I think de-thistling a field by hand and helping to transport buffalo and finishing the stags bladder preps are also next weeks agenda.
Hope you are all well - post news when you can. I'll try and take some pictures....in my free time!!
love
Margie
Friday 3 April 2009
A wedding and a baby...
Hello boppers,
I miss you all terribly but still... life goes on so I marked your market garden projects. Most were pretty good and I will send you an individual email with more details (but not today). I have just come back from Holland to drop off Ramon at his granny's, and I had a look at the biggest Dutch flower auction in Aalsmeer: pretty impressive stuff there. Then a good time in a big big horticulture shop and when I left without money but with my hands full of tools I went to Keukenhof, the biggest spring flower park in the world. They're open for just 2 months per year but the rest of the year they spend planting 7 million bulbs in different themes every year, quite impressive stuff again.
Now the big news: Margaretha and me are getting married! If you are around the 7th August please feel welcome to attend: our priest will be Werner Wecker!
And in November we will have a baby...
Well, if this isn't good news for a first post on the blog this year then I don't know what is. Enjoy your placements and have a look at the pictures that Begoña took during the graduation which you can find if you click on the link on the top right hand of the page.
Love from Arjen
I miss you all terribly but still... life goes on so I marked your market garden projects. Most were pretty good and I will send you an individual email with more details (but not today). I have just come back from Holland to drop off Ramon at his granny's, and I had a look at the biggest Dutch flower auction in Aalsmeer: pretty impressive stuff there. Then a good time in a big big horticulture shop and when I left without money but with my hands full of tools I went to Keukenhof, the biggest spring flower park in the world. They're open for just 2 months per year but the rest of the year they spend planting 7 million bulbs in different themes every year, quite impressive stuff again.
Now the big news: Margaretha and me are getting married! If you are around the 7th August please feel welcome to attend: our priest will be Werner Wecker!
And in November we will have a baby...
Well, if this isn't good news for a first post on the blog this year then I don't know what is. Enjoy your placements and have a look at the pictures that Begoña took during the graduation which you can find if you click on the link on the top right hand of the page.
Love from Arjen
Thursday 2 April 2009
Hollidays
Hi everybody,
Graduates, where have you all gone ?
I'm enjoying much longed for hollidays in the beautiful plain of Lorraine... and never seem to get enough sleep :)
Where is everybody, how are you doing on this first week of placement ?
Lots of love,
Marie
Graduates, where have you all gone ?
I'm enjoying much longed for hollidays in the beautiful plain of Lorraine... and never seem to get enough sleep :)
Where is everybody, how are you doing on this first week of placement ?
Lots of love,
Marie
Wednesday 1 April 2009
Lambs Galore
Seems I missed most of the action, only about 50 sheep left to lamb, mainly singles. The barn was a delight last night with the central aisle full of leaping, exploring lambs, dashing hurriedly from one end to the other. Two good strong lambs born on my watch but there were four requiring much manual intervention; placing on teat, stomach tubing and the like, at least one of which didn't make it to this evening. Grumpy, sleepy farmers and apprentices abound as we enter the 4th week of lambing. David was so tired he didn't even notice that the tractor had been removed from the workshop and parked in River field in the middle of the night as an April fool's joke!
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