Farm Land Security

I spend a lot of my time shooting pictures of farm sights, sometimes out my car windows or the sun roof while driving. I see great sights that are so momentary, you just have to catch them on the fly or forget it.



It is haying season on the plateau. The grass hay isn't the most nutritious grass hay in the world but it gets the farmers by if it is mixed with grains or better quality hay from over the mountains. This used to be big time dairy country but a lot of dairies in the area have closed up shop. The price of hay was up so high last year and the price of milk so low that well, you can only rob Peter to pay Paul so much. This year a couple of dairies in the area, my neighbors for example, bid to be bought out. The dairymen create a pool of money to buy people out and the result? Cows are put down;land is leased out. The neighbor looks like he bought a new boat but I hear a lot of tears are still being shed. Farms are labors of love and they are big long term projects that take constant attention; they are the place the family comes together to celebrate holidays, the livlihood, a deep connection with nature.

I met a couple of dairymen this past week. They both chased me down in their pickups at different times to find out why I was taking pictures of their land. Turns out that someone wrote a letter to the editor complaining about the smell that comes with fertilizing the hay fields with liquid cow manure. It's a decent sustainability practice. Good for me I'm on their side because boy howdy, I would not want to be on the wrong side of that fence. You know what though? It does smell and maybe there is a solution that would suit both the dairy farmers and the residents well. These manure lagoons have only been around for about 10 years. Innovation opportunity there? Is there a sustainable farming strategy that could work better? Maybe.



I asked one of the dairymen if I could do a "day in the life" documentary of a dairy farmer. He said that every day is different and he expected I would not want to see him do a day of work in his office. I said well, maybe I would. How about two "a day in the life" documentaries, one in the office the other in the field? He said maybe he would. He never knows what he is going to be doing day to day because he is always interrupted by emergencies. Could be that what you think you are going to get done one day doesn't get done for 10 days because this or that thing needs repairing or maybe a cow is sick and needs tlc or maybe a gun to the head.

I've seen the dairyman working since we talked and I really have to wonder if I can possibly keep up with him for a day. Can I stand the heat and the smells? Can I not be too darn sappy about the animals? I'm going to give it a try. If I can spend a night chasing bad guys with the Seattle Canine Unit I can sure spend a day with a dairyman; as long as I'm not the bad guy being chased!

Moving on

I've been driving by a beautiful old farm house and property for the past year as I make the 5 mile drive between my house and where my horse Abby lives over at Devlin Farm.

There is a house for sale on the same road that would make a great headquarters for Pacific Ethnographic Research Center and home for my family so I've been taking that route and putting the "that's my house" wishful thinking whammy on the house day after day. Stranger things have happened in my life believe me; I know miracles happen. About a month ago a for sale sign went up on the old farm house and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

On the way back from bandaging Abby's leg I decided I'd just stop in at the old farm house, see how it felt to drive in to to the place, get a feel for what it might feel like it if were my home. I knocked on the door, no one home. Just as I was about to look around a bit the owner drove up. I introduced myself and told him I had been admiring his beautiful farm, could I take a look around? SURE. He was happy to show me around the place, glad for the company, glad to show off his life's work.

The farm was so clean and neat and tidy I thought maybe he was Scandanavian like my mom and grandfather, both on-board with the keep it neat way of life. Nope. German, from Pennsylvania, Amish country. The place was as clean as a light house; inside and out. He showed me his wife's pantry, still full of mason jars, a few canned fruits and jelly's here and there on the shelves. He gave me a jar of crab apple jelly dated 1998. Is jam still good after 10 years? He said his wife used to have the pantry lined with food she preserved for the winter.

I asked him, "it must be hard to take care of all of this by yourself." So much sadness came out in the "that's sure true." He was most certainly missing her still. Later I learned that his wife passed on 9 years ago.

He showed me the old barn. He used to run 15 beef cows during the winter months and 24 during the summer. He had one 5 acre pasture and one 4 that he would switch them between. An electric fence divided the two; that was gone now. He pointed out the two barn doors the cows used to come in and out, one from the pasture, the other from a holding pen. He told me they could get in the barn in the Winter when the weather was really bad. It does get cold and very windy here. Showed me pictures of them later. "My steer", he said. Nice.

He had replaced the original foundation for the barn; it was built on old logs that were rotting as a result of poorly functioning gutters. What a huge job that must have been and it was done among friends. They raised the barn, rebuilt the foundation with cement and cinder blocks. The old garage was build for model T's; he parked his car in it i 1974 and half of it stuck out the back of the building. He laughed. Then built himself a deluxe two car garage. So much history, so much labor of love gone into the place. "It must be hard to leave?" "You know it!"

We walked the orchard and he showed me the apple trees and filberts. He wasn't getting any meat in the filberts at first and discovered he needed a male tree. That was something he lived and learned about; how do you tell the sex of a tree? About one tree he said, "that is the best tasting apple in the world right there, they are so sweet and the apples are small and they fit real nice in a kid's lunch pail." Talk about SWEET!

Later we walked by a huge Rhubarb plant and he offered me some. Taught me how to break the stem off at a 45 degree angle so as not to tear up the roots. Hacked the leaves off with one swift swing of a knife and left the huge leaves to decompose on the grass; he'll chop them into mulch with the lawn mower later.

He also showed me the interior of the house. It had the cozy feel of old farm house. It was really quiet though, felt too quiet, made me understand how he could think of leaving it. I asked, "What are you going to do with yourself?" He said "I really don't know, I've been thinking about it."

As I was about to leave I asked him if there was anything I could do to help him. "Oh no." I gave him my card and said I'd be back at apple picking time; and I will. I hope he'll still be there.

Biodynamic Field Day in Review

I spent the day reviewing video I shot at Biodynamic Field Day, an educational event sponsored by Washington State University. I can't wait to do the editing and share some of the clips. I have to do some troubleshooting at the Apple Store and have a Final Cut Pro training session, again. I captured a few stunning images and some usable footage of the great information and thoughts that were shared through out the day.


Here are some reflections on the the day inspired by watching the video:

Barry Lia demonstrated how to stir the biodynamic preparations into vats of water to make solutions using a ritualistic stirring practice. You mix the preparation by stirring a vat of water using a long stick. You stir in one direction until you create a vortex in the water that reaches to the bottom of the vat and you keep stirring and keep stirring and keep stirring for several minutes. Then, you "break the water" by moving the stick perpendicular to the flow of the water. It's quite lovely to observe and hear and is a physical workout. What captivated me was the sound associated with the stirring and the fact that so many of the students wanted to try it. You can hear/see an example of this stirring on the contacts page of my website (here); I'll post another clip of it when I edit the four hours of footage I shot. Don't even try to see the video unless you have a high-speed Internet connection and even then, you have to be patient...but it is worth it, I think.  

The digging of the horns was an exotic new experience for all of us in the crowd. I wonder about how the first person thought to fill cow horns with manure, bury them, dig them up months later, harvest the manure from the horns, recognize the it is in a transformed state, then, make a solution from it and apply it to dirt or crops.  (There is a picture of the digging of the horns in the slideshow of Biodynamic Field day in the right column of this blog.) 

I'm passionate about the aesthetic experience and beauty of farm scenes and realize that I'm as interested in a purely visual ethnography as I am in the ethnography of farming lifestyles. Documenting changes in farm life over time through pictures. Yep. There is so much change. Farms scenes change over minute and long periods of time, from moment-to-moment as the light changes, from day-to-day as crops grow, from season-to-season as crops grow from seed to maturity and decay, as rivers rise and flood the land and recede, year-to-year as crops are rotated and from generation to generation as farm lands change hands. And that's all we see in our lifetimes. What we don't see are the inter-generational changes except in stories and photographs, drawings and paintings.

Intellectual integrity of farmers - assume no lack of education, intellectual maturity, creative talent and fortitude among farmers. They are orchestra conductors conducting a piece of improvisational music that lasts for years.

Spirituality in farming - people working together is a beautiful thing no matter what the circumstance, nature, beautiful of course but when collective work and nature join forces, human passion and work are directed to the preservation of life and and you see a collective outpouring of love and care for  dirt, plants, animals and earth now and forever into the future, that work and the aesthetic experience of living and observing it, can and does for some, be spiritual. It was this sprirtual aspect of biodynamic farming that several of the "students" came to learn about and experience. Biodynamic Field Day did not disappoint in this regard.  Come back another day for video that will show you what I mean.

It's the Bloody 4th!

It's been a hot fire crackin' 4th of July here in Emumclaw. Independence Day USA. Bombs and I mean big booming bombs have been going off in the distance for days and their frequency is increasing by the minute. The first one we heard a couple of weeks ago scared my son and I; every last one scares my dog.

I admit to feeling just a tad sad that my son isn't with me today and that friends and family are gathering a four hour drive south. But all is well here; well except for the fact that I'm lonely as heck and Willow just escaped out the front door and is hunting birds in the pasture. I can hear her tags jingling; can't see her though.

The baby chicks are fine; there of six survived. Hoppy and Honey (our grown up laying hens)are enjoying their new coup, the garden is watered, the cats are fat and lazy, the kitten is surviving her ordeal, house is clean and ready for guests and Abby's leg is cleaned and bandaged. Yep, I'm keeping things alive here, for now. Feeling pretty good about that.

Having a few minutes to spare this afternoon and feeling deserving after the dreaded vacuuming I took advantage of a creative leap and designed a new drink that I call The Bloody 4th! Hang on, I'm feeling a bit parched and I need to refresh my memory on how to make it.

OK, here is how you make The Bloody 4th

Fill a chilled glass with ice cubes (I started with a big glass, my second is much smaller)
Add Organic Blood Orange Italian Soda (fill glass 2/3 full)
Add Bombay Saphire London Dry Gin (pour to your taste)
Add fresh lime (a big squeeze of juice)
Float two thin slices of lime
Add one crushed spearmint leaf
Drip homemade Redcurrant sauce on top (just a little to sweeten things up)
Stir gently with one (red) chopstick and leave it in the drink
Garnish with 2 fresh spearmint leaves

Voila! It's the Bloody 4th! Nothing like red, white and blue. It's a post modern drink, a mash up of local and long distance ingredients both grown here and purchased over at the Safeway. Pretty isnt' it? And tres refreshing too.


Willow is lusting after Hoppy and Honey


C'est moi with the kitty Zola found and brought home at 3 weeks old, we call her Luna


This is Abby, my horse and my friend, she has an infected tendon poor gal; she got her ritual 4th of July bath today, the 25th at least and is doing better day by day.