a discussion on organics

I had a visit last week at market from an Agronomist who used to work for Monsanto. She said that she doesn't like the company anymore, but she still wouldn't agree with me on some of my points regarding the benefits of organics and the issue of modern wheat varieties causing our modern dietary sensitivities. I have to truly wonder if she isn't still brainwashed by the company she claims not to respect any longer? Hmmm. Anyway, she went on arguing with me on my points regarding modern wheat varieties. Once she started losing that argument, she started in about certain studies she was aware of and whether or not organic agriculture has increased nutrition over conventional, chemical based farming.

I don't mind people disagreeing with me...when they're correct. One thing I cannot stand is uninformed or ignorant opinions. Opinions that lack common sense. Come at me with a point that makes sense and it is probably the right opinion. Here's an example of some of the criteria I use to form my opinions. Usually in the form of questions...so I'll pose some questions to you.

What makes more sense to you?

Organic agriculture is in fact more nutritious because the practice of organics involves the increased health of the soil...micronutrients and microbiology. OR...modern, chemical agriculture produces more nutritious food because it simply injects P, K and N in the form of petroleum based fertilizer and soil-sterilizing Ammonia? 

Which statement makes more sense to you?

Humans have de-evolved in the past 20 years to the point where many of us can no longer safely digest grains and certain nuts. OR

Certain grains and nuts have been biologically changed through intensive breeding practices and chemical and genetic intervention to the point where our bodies can no longer safely digest them?

Don't talk to me about the effectiveness and correctness of certain studies either. We are all aware that any study and almost any statistics can be manipulated to say what we desire them to say. Which study would an intelligent person, concerned about their health and family's well being choose to believe?

A study sponsored by a huge, multi-national corporation with a team of lawyers and scientists at their disposal? OR

A study sponsored by a relatively small University or industry based organization, likely regional, but certainly independent?

People are afraid to believe something other than what they already believe. I do not understand that fear. What if I am wrong about my views on the world? How would my world be negatively effected if somebody more intelligent than I came up to me and made a series of points that made me understand the errors of my ways? Wouldn't that be a good thing? Shouldn't we all wish for that sort of enlightenment? 

While I will always consider the source and choose to form my opinions based on common sense and independent studies, I will always seek out opposing viewpoints and have an open mind. By all means...give me an argument. Just don't be wrong about it.  Comments?

new tarp for the grain truck

Last Fall, the old roll-top tarp for the grain truck finally bit the dust. The springs had broken and the cables were slack. The tarp was ripped and the steel supporting rails inside the box were bent and misshapen.

 I was deliberating what to do and pricing out a replacement roll-tarp seemed to indicate that that wasn't going to happen any time soon. So, in the interest of trying to become profitable in 2011 I simply bought an old-fashioned truck tarp. The kind my grandfather used his entire life without complaint. All told I spent around $100 for the tarp and a few rubber tarp straps. I removed the steel rails and bent them back into shape by wedging them under the propane tank in the yard and lifting until the needed bend was put back in. 

So, now I have a new truck tarp. It is nowhere as convenient as the old roll type, but it keeps the rain and snow out of the box and will prevent precious grain from blowing away as I travel the highways. Bottom line is that it works and I will simply have to climb up onto the box to get it out of the way for loading grain. Perhaps I will have some time this summer to figure out some sort of system to more easily get it out of the way during loading? 

rye pancakes

I am the self-proclaimed King of Pancakes. I mean I adore pancakes and I make them all the time. Now that we are living in a house and are together again I will go back to my tradition of making pancakes or crepes at least once per weekend and usually twice. Sometimes we even have pancakes for supper mid-week. Over the years, I have perfected pancake recipes and cooking methods so that I get perfect hotcakes every time...light and fluffy golden brown.

This past week we milled a batch of rye flour for a customer and I had a bunch left over so I decided to try making rye pancakes and rye crepes. They turned out tremendous! Cindy said that they were the best pancakes she had ever eaten. We have never made pancakes out of rye before and I have never heard of them up until now. So, I present to you, in their world premiere...the Rye Pancake!

They taste different from a regular wheat pancake...a little nutty flavoured perhaps. Definitely more of rich, grain taste. They are not dark or heavily textured as Rye Bread is, on the contrary they are very light and fragile. Fully cooked, theysimply melt on the tongue drenched in buttery sweetness. You can see in the photo

 that the batter has a light colour, with little flecks of darkness that is purely rye.

The rye grain does not contain the protein and gluten of a wheat so the rye pancake does not fluff up as much as the wheat will. Still though they were light and fluffy enough and the complete opposite of chewy. Simply delightful.





My recipe is simple but I do it with feel instead of measuring cups and it doesn't need to be precise anyway.

1 cup of flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 egg (very important...keep the egg count low for pancakes)
1-2 cups milk
pinch of salt
2 tbsp of sugar

I mix the dry ingredients together and then add the wet. The final pancake product is determined by the thickness of your batter. A thicker batter will puff up and have a great degree of volume while the opposite is true of a thin batter. It should be thicker than runny crepe batter, but thinner than muffin batter. You can see in the picture what a perfect pancake batter looks like.

Cooking a thick pancake batter is a little trickier than thin. The heat should be medium to medium-high. Too high and the outside will burn and the inside will still be runny. Keeping the heat lower is better than too high. Take your time making pancakes. True gourmet pancakes take time, like all great food. I mean these are not common, ordinary griddle cakes!

Podcasting

I have recently discovered podcasts! I know I know...what took me so long. I am a farmer and I don't like change. But, like I said, I have discovered this wonderful form of media and I am enthralled with it. It has reminded me of a time long ago when families huddled around a giant radio in the living room for their evening entertainment. No different than families of today huddle around a TV I suppose, but there is indeed something different.

I missed being born in a time when the radio was THE thing to do in the living room, but I somehow associate this activity with a time when families meant more to each other and it was easier to be entertained. Now that I have sattelite radio in the truck I often tune in to the Classic Radio Programs from the middle part of last century and I am somehow taken back to a time I had never been. Well, now here I am smack-dab into the 21st century and I have re-discovered radio. I am especially fond of The Kootenay Co-op Radio Station based out of Nelson, BC, Canada. It is the perfect organic, hippy type thing that I like to hear. The music is ecclectic and varied and the talk programs are very captivating. My favorite program of them all is Deconstructing Dinner. You can subscribe via iTunes or a direct feed...couldn't be easier. Or you can simply listen to the radio station live over the internet.

If you are reading my blog on a regular basis and you have iTunes and you enjoy podcasts, give the Kootenay Co-op Radio program Deconstructing Dinner a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed. I especially liked the episodes on Canada's first Grain CSA called "The Local Grain Revolution". Wonderful stuff!

New Heritage Seeds Arrived!

This is the package that greeted me in the mail yesterday. I recently joined the Seed Sanctuary sponsored by Salt Spring Seeds. Dan sent the seeds to me very quickly after I joined and they look wonderful. Of course I had to open each package and have a look at the varieties. The purple barley is amazing and I really hope to be able to create a market for this grain. First though, I have to successfully grow it out into enough seed to plant commercially.

We will start with these small seed packets. I will prepare individual places in either the kitchen garden or the corral garden. These seeds will be planted in short compact rows to enable pollination. I will thresh these grains by hand or in the threshing box and then save them for next year. From the one pack of Red Fife...I am guestimating that I should end up with somewhere around 3 or 4 pounds of grain? That 4 pounds will translate into perhaps a bushel, that bushel will produce 15 bushels, that 15 bushels will produce around 200. So you can see that within 4 years of initial seeding, I will hopefully have enough to plant in a field of some reasonable size.

Getting Started With Organic Grains Part 1 of 2

I thought I would post just some basic information on my thought processes with getting started in organic grain farming. I am not a scientific man although I adore science and natural studies. My writings are simply based on experience and what I've learned from others. Please take what I say with a grain of salt and recognize that there are myriad methods to accomplish the same task.

Once I had a few essential pieces of farm equipment collected I could imagine getting started with our first organic crops.

Organic farming is basically easy but thing always pop up that throw your plans out the window. The first thing you need to do is figure out what you have for soil and what was planted previously on your land. Without chemicals, the soil needs to be free of weeds and have plenty of nitrogen for your first crop…wheat. The ideal piece of land to get started with is a field of alfalfa or other legumous hay crop. If you can obtain this land in fall and break it then all the better. I broke my land in spring and worked like a demon to get the soil down to a good fluffy seed bed. It was a clean alfalfa crop the previous year.

2nd year…the next crop to go in would be something like Barley or Oats or perhaps even another year of wheat if you had enough moisture and the weeds stayed down. Barley and Oats need a little less nitrogen to perform well. Oats is especially good at suppressing any weeds that may have gotten a little established in the first year.

3rd year…if you planted wheat or barley in the 2nd year you will want to plant oats this year

4th year…now you have a field that probably has a bit of a weed problem and is definitely down in fertility, at least from a nitrogen standpoint. The soil itself will be noticeable more healthy and manageable. This is the year to get control of the weeds. Depending on the problem you may be able to get away with seeding a buckwheat crop to harvest. Buckwheat can be planted extremely late so you can spend a leisurely spring of intermittent tillage that will upset the weed patterns already established in previous years. In goes the buckwheat and with any luck at all you will have a nice crop to harvest in the fall.

Another option for years 3 or 4 would be to plant a crop of Fall Rye after plowing down a legume like peas or beans/oats. That would re-establish the nitrogen and get a good kill on the weeds.

The 5th year and possibly 6th should be spent trying to find a way to get the nitrogen levels back up. Any kind of legume can be planted here…preferably something that can be cut once or twice in the year to really bugger up the weed's ideas of prospering.

This is an idea of what I do. With different areas, there will be different ways of doing things. The basics of organics is to build soil wealth, keep the weeds out and grow crops that people want to buy.

As you can see in these pictures our first tractor and equipment were not very fancy! It is funny to see where we were only a few short years ago. Our first field crop was potatoes! We still plant a few every year, but it is not what we love to do so we keep it small. Maybe with the upcoming farmers markets we will see a need to step up our potato operations.