who knew i'd ever be into doing it the hard way

This morning we got up at 4:30 and made donuts for Bill’s birthday! We fried them and then made all kinds of glazes from fresh berries, sugar, cocoa, nuts, etc. We all hid in the walk-in cooler and Stacey ran and got Bill, telling him there was a ‘time sensitive matter’. He opened the door and we yelled happy birthday at him – he looked stunned, laughed, and then shut the door on us. 

waiting in the walk-in, giddy with lack of oxygen

On Wednesday we went on a field trip to Hey Bailes Farm, located in Lorane – about an hour away from Horton. Hey Bailes is comparable to Horton in geography, size, and crops grown (they also make most of their income from salad mix), but at the other end of the spectrum in terms of philosophy and method. John, the owner, gave us a tour and was soon obvious that his farm’s aims are to: 1. make money, and 2. spend the least amount of time doing it. We were in complete shock when first of all we saw his apprentices harvesting radishes sitting plopped down in the row. Then he showed us his spinach, carrot, and salad beds, all of which were perfect, uniform rows without a single visible weed! John explained that he spent a few years tilling the beds before any weed went to seed and spread – which worked to basically ‘eliminate’ his weed problem! He said that his crew weeds for a few hours a week (compared to our few hours a day) to keep the little ones at bay, but as he put it “I don’t want to be breaking my fricken' back”. We asked him to pass that along to Bill… lol.

John with his salad harvester

 

The other major difference was in his harvesting methods. He uses a salad cutting machine to harvest the lettuces – something he said saves him a lot of time and money. He also uses a dozen or so greenhouses and other machines to plant, harvest and weed, which seems like not only a time saver, but a way to guarantee the productivity and consistency of a harvest. BUT… my thoughts were: By bringing so much machinery and ‘factory’ style practices into farming, you are necessarily missing out on a deeper connection to the earth and to your food. I have learned to appreciate the silence in the morning when the mist is so thick you can’t see the trees or mountains and it’s just you and your knife, each cut unique – I can’t imagine being in a situation following around machines like a machine myself that are doing the work I am perfectly capable of and enjoying doing. Not only that – but, what would happen if there was no fuel to operate the machines, or to fuel a factory that makes the machines? What is the value in creating more food (or anything for that matter) than one or a community can use or manage? It’s sad really because it made the whole process of farming seem just like everything else in this culture - honoring production and capitalism above all else – the very thing that propelled me into farming! It made me love Bill and Deborah even more - for having the awareness to run a farm as a business, without letting that be the reason for their work. It reminded me of my experience in acupuncture school at Tai Sophia where the motive was never ‘fixing’ a ‘patient’s’ ‘symptom’; healing was about creating a partnership that centered on growing in awareness together to create movement and change, using needles only to augment that. After a year at Tai Sophia I knew that I could never learn acupuncture anywhere else and I feel the same way being at Horton. Because this experience has been so in line with how I want to live my life I know the next chapter in my journey will have to be with a farm, garden, homestead, community, etc. that honors these same kinds of principles. My bar is getting’ high, yo.

sugar snap peas at dawn