Let Me "Tell" You

Let me tell you about life on the farm, behind the wheel, and inbetween the minds of an old farmer and a young apprentice.

Here are a few pictures to accompany this telling. The llama [midground] is a guard llama, kept to stall coyotes and other predators from a hunted meal. The second or third day Dan, my boss, and I both turned our ears to the piercing cry of a hawk. Its wingspan spread out to eight, maybe nine feet, as it soared close over the ground above us toward the herd of about fifty ewes. "Looking for lamb!" my boss exclaimed. The farm neighboring us has a few lamb milling about their herd. I can see why, by the size of them, a hawk would even think of flying away with one. That herd has a guard llama too, but I wouldn't doubt the audacity of a hungry hawk.

Driving through the Willamette valley yesterday morning I saw Mt Hood rising up out of the morning mist and frost. With hands on the wheel I flipped out my image capturer and held it to give you some sense of this awesome picture. The lens, however, couldn't reach anything beyond a hundred yards. You can see that I need a nice photographer to follow me along and improve the quality of my cell phone pictures. I took what I thought would be a nice shot of an overhead canadian geese "v" that turned out to be a faint dark brown line against an even more muddled grey sky.

These are the two dogs that have become my loving companions on the farm. Bridgette is the corgy who has a kind of "what did I do?" stare, though in this picture you can see she's looking proud to be in her fifteenth year! Magical is the brown/blue eyed dog of many colors that came from near the ocean. "Maggie", as my boss calls him, warmed up to me right away and I love the forthrightness of his look. I can never really tell what's going on with him and when I try and figure it out he jumps and romps playfully. Dan wanted to train him to help herd sheep, but he is not too obedient and Dan's discipline didn't quite work right. He shows interest when we are herding the sheep, but his wild at heart and sometimes indifference to Dan was too hard to work with. This is why there are plans for a new sheep dog...

Who knew eggs had to be washed? Don't they come out as clean as you see them in the carton? When I came in the other day to a list of tasks my boss had left me--I found this to be the most notable of all. The processes that are hidden from us, as consumers! There are no packages, that I recall, which claim their eggs to be hand washed! I didn't know what I was paying for! Though I would definitely prefer cleaning these eggs raised in a chicken tractor pasture to those raised in a factory like setting. Washing the grass and grit from these beautifully crafted shells was one of those experiences that brought me into partnership with the ages of farmers who had done this before and are still doing it today. Their hands taking a break from the rough work of the day. Drawing the warm water and carefully scrubbing with a hand-knit rag. Egg after egg in meditative succession. Listening to President Barack Obama's speech today was especially powerful and meaningful beyond a thousand television images as the radio bounced and bounded with President Obama's words behind me. The large white ones you see are duck eggs. The ducks are always cavorting around the pasture, quacking to their hearts content, reminding me of my little roommates, Asher and Jaia, and washing themselves in the little kiddie pool. Their behavior is very fun to watch.

Watching is something I take very much to heart here. I don't like the idea of getting paid for watching, but observation can be your best teacher. Even the book I picked up from my boss' office emphasizes this point and I will never forget Mark Shepard's* words that echo through me to this day. "No farmer spends enough time looking, observing, and watching their farm. Every day, for two hours, I romp through my land to see everything I possibly can about what is working and what is not. I do this so that I know what my farm is telling me instead of from some well-meaning extension agent, sales person, or anyone else who pretends to know what is best about my farm.
Especially for someone like me, who is new to the farm. I have noticed that ewes do, indeed, ram each other, a behavior I thought was only observable in rams. You should see these ewes crowd each other on the way to feed! I was advised to be wary of them and make sure the gate was closed before putting their hay and food pellets down. Upon opening the gate they rush the feeders and force others out of the way if they can, especially the grain which they are crazy for. The grain supplies most of their protein during these winter months, protein that they would be normally getting from grass.

You can see, in the picture to the right, the effect sheep have on grass that cannot quite grow as well as during the warmer months. Some of this is due to their being on it since they were moved to winter pasture. It probably wouldn't look quite as bad and I would be interested in knowing what effect the sheep would have if given access to paddocks under a technique I've been reading about called, "controlled grazing". My boss practices this during the warmer months and has used it to increase his grazing time during the year. Who knows, as years progress, the 'grazier' becomes more comfortable with the process he/she may refine his/er technique.

*Mark Shepard raises hazelnuts and black walnuts from a permacultural perspective in Southern Wisconsin. Two fellow Cornercopia farmer's, Courtney Tchida and Eric Vagsnes, and I went to piggyback a Land Stewardship Farm Beginnings tour of his place. He was known for not having a web page and yet being just as well known by name and reputation. He is truly an inspiration and was working on a cider mill when we went to visit in the summer of 2005.