Jumping on the Bandwagon

The LOCAL food movement is getting a whole lot of coverage of late. A whole lot. As a LOCAL producer, you would think that I would find that particularly encouraging and exciting. You might think that the sheer publicity would grant a host of new opportunities. Well…

Any time there is a trend; there is an opportunity to make money on that trend. If you jump in at just the right moment and ride the wave, you can make a bundle. It is human nature to want to succeed, to be in with the popular crowd. There is a great temptation for everyone and his brother to “jump on the bandwagon”, riding the wave of popular culture to a nice payday. Since we’re in this for the long haul, the Boss and I view riding the wave and "jumping on the bandwagon" with a fair amount of caution.

Right now, food, particularly LOCAL food is a very hot topic. There are more Farmers Markets in the US than any other time in history. The term CSA has become a part of conversation, whereas ten years ago, the term had to be explained. (In our part of the world, the letters still stood for the Confederate States of America.) There are buyers clubs and on-line co-ops, there are pick-your-own farms and cow shares. The choices can be mind-boggling. Most of the time, the visionary plan is idealistic and tempting; the logistics and hard practicalities overlooked and neglected by a short-sightedness particular to the human race. As a consumer, it would behoove you to educate yourself prior to jumping on ANY bandwagon!

We have been involved in food production for a LONG time. We’ve seen trends come and go, we’ve seen farm enterprises start up, only to fold after a short period of time. We’ve seen some farms evolve into empires, while others hold a steady course. We’ve done a fair bit of change ourselves. We try to stay current on the happenings and trends so that we can continue to be a viable entity in our chosen field. We have been keeping an eye on the possible changes.

On-line buying clubs seem to be the latest trend. We recently attended a meeting about one such start-up enterprise in our area. While it has been suggested that this is NOT to replace the Market, it has also been stated that the “market is not the best way to get fresh produce to the customer”. I took serious issue with that comment. The idea behind this new marketing idea is that a group of producers pool their products, place them in an on-line store, get a pick-ticket at the end of the week, load their product on a truck, and collect an on-line payment for said goods. No fuss, no muss.

Seriously? No contact with the customer except through “on-line ratings”? What happened to community…or connected-ness…or KNOW YOUR FARMER?

One of the reasons the Boss and I got out of restaurant sales years ago was the lack of interaction with the customers and their loyalties. By selling directly to the end-consumer at the Market, we get instant feedback. We get to hear when our products are outstanding, and can correct it if they are not. If there are questions about our practices or operation, we can answer them directly. We are not some producer profile on some website…we are real! Our knowledge of our products is there for the asking.

As a vendor, I do not wish to give up my autonomy, and the relationships it has taken years to build. Some of our customers have been with us since our early market days. There are customers who have come to our home…had coffee…done the “farm tour thing”, seen our children grow and fly the nest. There are customers we have seen get married, have children…and we have seen their children grow. Our customers tell us of problems in their life, knowing they will get comfort and prayers. We have made special deliveries, reserved things knowing customer preference, and we go out of our way to make them happy. Our customers were there for us when we faced the most horrifying situation we have faced as parents, showing deep concern and offering comfort when others did not. In short, our customers are our friends… perhaps our family. The same can be said for the vendors with whom we spend a portion of every week. Nope, cyber-space can never replace that!

Community will be lost if we embrace every single social media aspect of our modern world. "On-line" is great in some regards, but at the same time, there are new and myriad opportunities for scam and heart-ache, and the very real possibility that we will lose touch completely with the source of food and the folks who provide it. It is very hard to KNOW YOUR FARMER, KNOW YOUR FOOD through a computer screen.

It seems to me that current, successful vendors should have been consulted prior to the introduction of this new venture, particularly if their participation was desired. I wouldn’t begin to suggest that the Boss and I are the authorities. There are others from whom we are still learning. But, many of us possess a working knowledge of farming, harvesting, sales and logistics that could have been invaluable. Our knowledge of Valley roads and topography could have spared a great deal of frustration. For instance, straight roads and direct routes are few and far between in this county, and it can take nearly a half an hour to go less than 10 miles. That fact alone will make the pickup route a real interesting trip.

Our history alone at the Market would indicate that we have expertise to share. We have done the Market for 15 years. We operate without operating loans and huge debt. Our daughters were raised on our farm, learning skills that serve them well in their current occupations. We rarely take any produce home, and were able to develop a winter market for our “off season” goods to keep ourselves in positive cash flow year-round. We are able to give to those less fortunate that ourselves. Yes, I would consider us successful and a fount of valuable knowledge.

The logistics of this new enterprise could boggle the mind. The plan is to have over 200 customers buying on-line and picking up downtown after work. Yikes! On a personal note, we know what it is like to have 30 to 40 people picking up our winter products in a short period of time and it can get hectic…but, 200? Wow! This project needs some serious re-thinking. That logistical issue is just the tip of the iceberg. Obviously, the promoter of this idea has never neither farmed nor harvested produce. There are many things to consider when determining harvest and production schedules. Products with differing handling requirements could cause a logistical nightmare, not to mention the distinct possibility of spoilage and food borne illness.

I do not wish this new venture any ill and it is not my intention to dismiss all new thinking. No, we need visionaries and pioneers in the world to move things forward. But, it IS my contention that there are a lot of people that are realizing there is money to be made with food. No longer interested in producing the food (that’s HARD work!) these folk have the cyber-knowledge to market the products in new and interesting ways. …for a price.

There are whole web-site design companies, CSA software companies, farmers’ market software companies, and on-line grocery sites. Offering the farmers the opportunity of new and expanded markets, the hope of easy sales can be appealing. A little research and thought reveal that these companies are not offering these services out of the goodness of their hearts. No, there is money to be made…maybe LOTS of money. I might also add that these ventures don’t always measure up to their initial expectations. The Boss and I have offered “off season sales” for a number of years at a level that would match, or possibly surpass, one enterprise that is held up as an example. Our growth has come slowly, incrementally as the direct result of building relationships.

With each step away from the direct marketing of a farm’s products, that farm sees a little less of each dollar earned. By taking those steps, the farmer begins to find himself becoming somewhat of a commodity and no longer an independent producer. This can be a costly mistake on the part of the farmer. Farm identity and reputation is lost, never to be regained. To those of us who make our living by direct marketing….DIRECT is the key word here. The strength of this term cannot be re-defined or overlooked in light of the siren song of cyber-space’s easy access and the lure of effortless sales.

Without direct customer contact, producers become commodity brokers, and the relationships we have worked so hard to build, the hope that our customers value us and our products will be lost forever. Farmers are no longer autonomous and eventually the bottom-line will become the deciding factor and any progress that may have been made to bring back to the value of the family farm will be lost. Every move we as farmers take away from direct marketing will cause us to come just a little closer to becoming the very thing we say we stand in stark contrast to…the industrial farm.

From the consumer’s point of view, any perceived convenience replaces the sense of community that buying from the farm (instead of the grocery) was originally intended to create. There is no longer an opportunity to KNOW YOUR FARMER, KNOW YOUR FOOD. That bag or box of food might as well come from the local grocery, the not so local grocery, or a slow boat from China for all the intents and purposes. There is no guarantee that what you imagine you will receive will indeed be reality. A producer profile can never replace the accountability of face-to face transactions. The connection to the producer will be lost forever in cyber-world.

There is also no need to re-invent the wheel as it were. The models and opportunities already exist. If one feels it necessary to take responsibility for their food supply, then the best option is to grow your own. As this is not feasible for many, due to limiting factors, be they logistic, economic or lack of knowledge or ability, then buying directly from the producer is the next best thing. My mantra remains…KNOW YOUR FARMER, KNOW YOUR FOOD.

To my mind, the farmers’ market model is indeed the best way to do this. There are numerous farmers all gathered in one place at one time with a wide variety of items. The consumers have the ability to pick and choose any option. No driving around the countryside, no membership fees or accepting what someone else chooses for you, along with a chance to ask questions and socialize seems ideal solution. If the producer is indeed the seller, as is the case with our Market, you have built-in accountability. While some might question the convenience of a Saturday market, I would direct them to the various weekday markets throughout the Valley and remind them that the Market is open for FIVE hours every Saturday morning. This year there will be a Wednesday market open at the same location for another FIVE hours every week during the season.

For the farmer, direct marketing at the Farmers’ Market is an opportunity to realize every penny of that hard-earned dollar. No paying for someone else, who has no vested interest, to market your wares, no concerns that you have somehow been misrepresented or misunderstood. There is no need to have your products marked up by 20% (!) in order to pay for marketing and delivery. Instant feedback from consumers and a chance to see what other farmers are growing are helpful assets in maintaining your business.

So, while all the attention to local food is flattering, and may be helpful in some ways, all those new and improved ideas are not necessarily a good thing. It is getting to the point where there are too many marketing options and not enough products to market. We’ll stay off the bandwagon and look for YOU at the Market.

I will say it again…KNOW YOUR FARMER…KNOW YOUR FOOD!

To that end, the Boss and I will be downtown every week…April to Thanksgiving, selling our home-grown, hand-picked, LOCAL, delicious, nutritious farm products. Got questions? Ask us! …IN PERSON…

or by email, text or even Facebook…(for your convenience)

We’re not just a picture on a producer profile page…we’re the real deal!

Baa, Baa Black Sheep

We don’t have any white fluffy lambs like you see in nursery rhyme books. No Mary and her little lambs with fleece as white as snow…

Our lambs are born black, or somewhat speckled, because they are Suffolks. That is just a characteristic of the breed. Over time, their wool fades to a creamy shade of white. Sometimes, right after shearing…right after a big rain…they actually glow with whiteness. It is an unusually beautiful sight, the bright white against the green, green grass. This doesn’t last long, as the lanolin in the wool attracts dust and dirt and most of the time they look pretty grungy.



When the lambs are first born, they are slimy and wet, weak and fragile. Although, a healthy lamb should begin attempting to stand and making an effort to look for that first crucial meal within minutes of birth. That is always astounding. It never ceases to amaze me that those little black alien-like creatures so quickly become healthy, thriving, robust lambs.

I do my best to be there when the ewes lamb. Often, some type of intervention is needed. It may be re-positioning the lamb or actually pulling it out. Then, once the lamb hits the ground, the birth sack must be removed from the face, or the lamb will smother. Most of the time, this happens naturally; although, there are times that human action is critical. Any wind can chill a lamb to the point of death very quickly. My job as a shepherd is to keep that from happening. Shelter from the weather must be provided.

So, there I am…sometimes sitting on the ground…waiting…assisting the birth. OB glove in my pocket, ready to cover my hand and arm to do any internal exam, towels at the ready, my box of vet supplies somewhere relatively handy. None of the sheep are bothered by my presence; I spend so much time in the barn that I am an accepted part of the flock. That’s just part of being a shepherd. I have a shepherd-friend who has slept in the barn with her large flock during lambing season. The mama sheep are used to me and often lick my face or chew on my hair very much as they treat their young. By assisting in the cleaning of the lambs, I assure my acceptance, and avert any potential problems. All the rubbing and cleaning not only dries the gooey, soggy newborn, it also stimulates their internal organs so that their gut begins to work properly. This is essential to survival. The Boss provides the muscle that “assisting in lambing” demands.

Once we have established that all the lambs from a ewe have indeed been born, we “jug” the new family. A jug is a small pen designed to promote mothering on. This forces the mother and offspring to adjust to one another and allows the young lambs some security from the larger animals. It is also equipped with a heatlamp to provide a little warmth during cold winter nights. While “jugging”, we clip their umbilical cords and dip in iodine. This causes the umbilicus to dry, preventing the possibility of infection. There is a definite downside to being born in a barn…lots of germs. Mama sheep gets a little pampering with alfalfa hay and plenty of feed. The lambs are monitored for healthy reactions and given a selenium shot. Since our geographic area is deficient in this mineral, supplementation aids in healthy growth.

Before turning the new family out with the flock, the lambs are given an eartag (the number allows us to track the animal), a shot to prevent tetanus and infection, and their tails are banded. This causes the tail to fall off after a period of time, preventing the issue of fly-strike and infection due to the filth held close to the body by a long tail. While the tail-banding sounds gross, the alternative is possible death. (Personally, I choose gross over death any day)

At this point, Mama Sheep is more than ready to join the rest of the flock.
She resumes eating grass hay and feed with the rest, intermittently checking on her offspring. The very young lambs spend much of their time sleeping, eating…and looking for their mother.

Within three days of release from the jug, the lambs are cavorting through the barn yard with all the older lambs. We have lambs leaping, jumping,
dancing, climbing, exploring and bleating. They form small gangs and bother the sleeping ewes with their climbing,
butting and other shenanigans. The barn cats are a constant source of investigation…much to the cats’ annoyance. The barn is a loud and raucous place. We find it a constant source of wonder and amusement.

It isn’t too long before the lambs realize that the feeders hold goodies, and they are vying for their own place at feeding time. Forget that! Those big mamas are going to claim their own place…out of the way….young ‘uns! That’s when we set up the creep pen so they have constant access to food to accommodate their constantly growing appetites.

No longer “little black aliens”…these healthy lambs can gain up to a pound a day at the early stages of their life.

Wow…and they’re just over a week old!

There Goes the Neighborhood

I’ve suspected that they were out there for some time now.

I could hear the distant yipping on cold winter nights as I walked to the barn during lambing season. It’s an eerie sound that does nothing to encourage any sense of security for those in my care.

Earlier this week, the yipping seemed closer, much closer. The dogs heard it as well and began to patrol in earnest, pawing earth and barking at the sound. There was nothing to see as I peered into the darkness.

On our daily walk, the Boss and I generally venture a good way down Mishbarn Road. He contends it’s a boring walk, but we see neighbors and the occasional natural wonder. We get a chance to talk and exercise that is not just a part of our workday.

The road crew recently graded the sides of the road in places. I have absolutely no idea as to what the purpose of this project could have been, but it kept the dogs occupied during the day for a while as they barked and patrolled in response to all the equipment beeping down the road.

The freshly graded roadsides revealed a great number of things. There was the culvert that ran down the road that we had never seen, lots of ancient trash, some huge boulders, and…

Coyote tracks!



There they were, bold as day, perfectly formed in the newly graded roadside. Oddly enough, they were spotted in the area I would have indicated as the source of the sound I heard the night before. Not too close to the farm, but closer than they had been spotted previously. Thankfully, they were headed toward the mountain and not this direction.

Coyotes are one addition to the neighborhood that any shepherd NEVER wants to see!

...and We're DONE!

That project we started back in August is finally finished. We can review the results and survey the outcome. Now is the time to critique ourselves and our choices. Finally!

Lambing season 2012 is officially over. Twenty-one healthy lambs. 11 of those arriving in under 48 hours. The final count… 14 ewe lambs and …7 ram lambs. That is a weird ratio that might warrant investigation, but... Everyone that is on the ground is healthy and growing vigorously. Yay! SUCCESS! Ironically, the losses this year, while both tragic and significant, were not on a par with last year. Nor, might I add, are our totals. I suppose it all evens out.

This year was not our biggest year…but, in a way…it might have been our best year. There were lots of very large single lambs that should grow out well. The new genetics added a good deal of length to the lambs. But, I suppose the true results remain to be seen when we get the lambchop crop back from the processors.

It takes a long time to get from the planning stage to the actual lambchops. It takes almost a year to go from thinking about lambchops to actually EATING them. A lot of blood, sweat and tears go into that crop as well. We put a lot of effort into our farm work and we truly hope that it is evident in all our products. We are touched by the customers who tell us how much they appreciate us!

Now, it is time to get on to the next project. That would be starting the brassica crop. This week, we will seed 700 or so broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage for the early season crop. Then, we will start gearing up for Market season. The lambchop crop will be a matter of maintenance now that they have all finally arrived. The workload hasn’t really decreased, just changed in focus and intensity.

The barn has been the focus of my life for the past three weeks. Daytime checks, nighttime checks, assisting births, locating the “lost” babies for the somewhat frazzled new mothers, vaccinations and feedings left little time for anything else.

So now, it’s time to clean out the jug pens, wash all the lambing supplies (and probably my coveralls), and clean the kitchen floor one more time. (Every trip to and from the barn brings in a little more hay.) It’s been wild, it’s been fun, it’s been tragic, and it WILL be profitable.

However, all those nocturnal trips to the barn took their toll…

I really, really need a nap!

Hoarfrost and Icefog

When your occupation requires you to be outside at all hours, you get to experience some of the wonders of nature otherwise overlooked.

The aurora borealis, shooting stars and wild lightning shows are but a few of the sights we have seen in the night sky. Rainbows and sundogs are part of the daytime show. Snowstorms and icestorms are beautiful in their own way, but also cause untold difficulties.

This morning, we encountered what may well be my favorite weather phenomenon. Hoarfrost! When I looked out in the dim light of early morning, my first thought was that it must have snowed lightly in the night.

When the overnight temperatures and humidity are at just the right ratio, the ice crystals grow upward in weird and random designs. Everything is transformed into a lacy fairy world of delicate whiteness. The combination of ice and fog give a mysterious feel to the entire farm. The photo ops were amazing, so it took the Boss and I much longer to do chores than usual this morning.

I was rather disappointed that the fog we experienced this morning was just fog. “Ice fog” sounds more interesting and wintry. However, since we are not within the Arctic Circle and this morning’s temperature was well above 14*, I will have to settle for “just plain fog”.

Apparently, it was a very localized phenomenon. My mid-morning trip to town revealed the frost-line several miles down the road and those I spoke to in town had no knowledge of ice and fog.

The hoarfrost is unusual and weirdly beautiful, but also short-lived. By lunchtime, it was but a memory. The misty whiteness of early morning gave way to the brilliant blue sky of a beautiful mid-winter day.

The Last One

Waiting…waiting…waiting…

I am waiting for the last ewe to drop her lamb(s). I am just waiting. Apparently, she is just waiting too.

When I calculate lamb dates, I use a little wheel where you line up the breeding date, and it automatically tells you the date of the impending birth. This system works well, although it does calculate on the short side, so we’re generally checking a couple of days early. That’s okay…better safe than sorry.

But, since this ewe is the last one, I’m kinda done with the project. You know, I’m tired and would like to sleep through the night again. That is, if I can remember how. I would like to clean up the jug pens in the barn and move on to other projects. I would like to turn the flock out in the field again, instead of keeping them in the barnlot.

However, "Agnes" is not cooperating.

Yesterday, I felt certain it would be the day. She hung off by herself, looking rather uncomfortable. However, all my nocturnal check revealed was a big, fat ewe chewing her cud, looking rather uncomfortable.

I’m not overly concerned that anything is amiss. She is definitely bred, and it will definitely happen at some point. However, the memories of last year are still a little to vivid.

Last year, this was the ewe to have “Baby Ug”. She was the last one last year, too. Check out the story...
Homestead Hill Farm: Baby UG

The anticipation of all that screaming when the barn is already so loud and I am already SO tired is slightly more than I can bear.

Although some interesting suggestions as to the induction of her labor have been made…I suppose we will just continue to wait…

…and wait…

…and wait.

It's a LONG Story

Meet Habeebibeebi…
(that's A in the background)

This story will do nothing to promote my “serious farmer” image. But, you know what? That’s okay…because this shows our human side. We’re not always all about growing, selling and making ends meet…no, sometimes we just need a good laugh. But, I’m getting ahead of myself…

For her last year of sheep showing, back in 2009, A got in her mind that she had to show a “speck”. A speck is nothing but a cross-bred sheep that has, well, yes, SPECKLES. She purchased a lamb from a friend who is in the club lamb (the name given lambs bred to show) business and proceeded to raise her and train her in preparation of State Fair. She named the lamb for some country singer, Shania Twain, I believe. It was a beautiful name. The Boss and I couldn’t quite understand the appeal. This was one ugly sheep! Our opinions were unwarranted, the sheep actually finished third at the fair, much to A’s delight. Proof positive that a sheep show is NOT a beauty pageant!

When the fair was over, A found herself losing interest in the sheep. She was working full-time, pursuing a relationship with “her man”, and testing her wings as a grown-up. It was time to move on to other things for a while. Rather than sell them at the stockyard, we bought out her sheep stock.

I don’ t remember the exact point in time that it happened, but at some point The Boss said, “you know…that sheep looks like a camel!” She did/does indeed. Unlike the rest of the flock’s dramatic black faces against their white wool, this one was/is a sable brown color with little white specks down her neck. She doesn’t fit in with the rest of the flock, and sometimes they act as if they don’t like her at all. Definitely the odd sheep out, she is frequently seen standing along the wall, reaching her thin nose through the slats to eat the hay that is out of reach of the other sheep. Occasionally she stands on top the feeder, towering over the other sheep, furthering her camel persona.

Not too long after the camel remark, we were watching an episode of M*A*S*H. It just happened to be the one where Klinger had an invisible camel that he called “Habeebi”. Ahhhh…You know what happened! From that point onward, she became “Habeebi” and when the Boss wanted her to go somewhere, he would coax, “Habeebi….brrrrrrt…brrrrrt…” just like Klinger did with his “camel”. It sounds so silly that we both get tickled and any irritation of the moment fades away. Well, okay, I do sometimes do the “eye-roll thing”, but that makes HIM laugh.

Last season, we bred her for the first time, and she proved to be an excellent mother and worthy addition to the farm. While she’ll never win a beauty pageant, she is a productive ewe. She’s here for the long haul.

When Habeebi had her lamb last week, the first thing I heard myself say was “Habeebi had her baby….” Of course, Habeebi’s baby slowly became Habeebi’s beebi…and progressed (or would that be digressed?) to Habeebibeebi.

I must admit, the girls are right; it IS one of our sillier moments. But, it makes us laugh, it draws us together, and it causes us to focus on the positive things that are going on at the barn, despite the times when things go so desperately wrong.

To focus on the positive is a very important thing on the farm. It’s all too easy to get discouraged when things go wrong, money is tight, and the future seems uncertain.

However, that is not possible as long as we have Habeebi and Habeebibeebi in the barn.

We’re laughing too hard!