Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Sorghum Syrup: Better than Molasses

The past two days have found the farmees at Homestead Heritage, a community of one hundred or so families on over five hundred acres of land about five miles from the Farm.

This week is Homestead's annual sorghum harvest, and Monday they will celebrate with a festival open to the public. The Farm volunteers and interns had a chance to participate in different facets of the harvest from cutting to cooking.

Normally many farmees like to wear sandals and shorts, as noticed by our fearless leader D. Cole, but for this day we donned long sleeved shirts, pants, boots, gloves, and hats. Samson, in a mustard yellow western shirt and crumpled cowboy hat looked like a 1920s cowboy straight out of a tintype. Kris Hiew even came by to participate in the fun.

Sorghum is very much like sugar cane, and the processes of harvesting, pressing, and cooking are similar. Tuesday we loaded onto two large wagons pulled by Belgium draft horses and mules. Down in the sorghum fields, Kurt taught us how to strip and cut the canes. We did not actually cut the stalks because they had gotten a bit ahead of themselves the day before. However, we picked up piles of cane by the arm full. These stalks were seven to ten feet tall, monsters. Chewing on an end of the cane produced a sweet snack while working.

Hauling the sorghum from field to drop off, we each took turns driving the team of horses, or mules, navigating tight squeezes, turns, and the occasional passerby.

Wednesday the Homesteaders started pressing by 4:30 am, we Farmers (the non-professional type), slept until chore time, worked a little around the grounds, then headed to the sorghum at 10.

The press is beautiful. Fire Engine Red. Operated by a single work animal walking in circles to turn the cogs. The boys fed cane into the mill, cleaned the mill, hauled the spent canes, and scooped the poop. The girls (minus Jocelyne who could not tear herself away from the magnificent animals) worked with the Homestead women cleaning the copper cooking vat.

From the outside, the Homestead men and women, and even children, look similar to each other in dress and demeanor. It took a while to find a conversation between us Farm women and them Homestead women; we look so different from the outside. Once someone mentioned milking though, the conversation kept steady from dairy goats, dairy cows, small scale livestock, livestock diseases, sewing, cheese making, yogurt making tips, hair braiding ideas, and family background. These women and teenage girls know more about this life than I do, but what little knowledge about a simple or self-sufficient life that we knew, the ice was broken never to be resealed. I don't know how the Farm men fared with the Homestead men, but my respect and like for these families has more than doubled from their hospitality to complete outsiders.

Quote heard more than once..... "I even like sorghum better than molasses." Challenge to you to find and try some. I've heard it is tasty on anything; maybe a biscuit, or toast, or even oatmeal.

Cheers and "gits!"

Melyssa

Friday, August 22, 2008

Whats the Haps

In lieu of story-telling, you might be wondering...."hey what's the haps out there at the farm?"

The nitty-gritty, 411, scoop, or in Nicholas Grant's (Farm CSA intern) words "Haps":


Saturday's farm stand will feature a Melonpalooza. Come out and enjoy farm melon tastings and garden tours.

Last night's movie in the park, hosted by the city of Waco, was slightly thwarted by the heavy rainstorm 2 hours before. Peter and Kristine made a beautiful display of fair trade education, chocolate covered frozen bananas, zucchini brownies, iced coffee, and iced tea (all made with fiar trade and organic products). Since we have many many banana left over, we will be sealing them until Farm Day. So make sure you come.

Next Saturday night will be our first ever Farm Fundraising Dinner. Chris Becker, our chef in waiting, received his stylish chef's jacket today in the mail. Everyone is prepped and still curious about how to be suave and professional. Hopefully we will have picture and an update of the dinner, featuring Wanaka: the bountiful heifer turned beef.

The dairy goat, moms and kids are back out in pasture thanks to the abundance of rain the past week which brought new life into the previously foraged sorghum sudan fields.

Big Mama, the oldest, most ornery goat, turned in her badge a few weeks ago. She made a nice sausage.

About a month and a half ago a friend of the Coles generously donated young Boer goats. Although their horns are a tricky nuisance (they get stuck in the fences everyday), we will enjoy some delicious meat sometime in the future.

A welcome to our first new volunteer in two months. Seth Horton moved from North Carolina; he jumped right in to work Monday morning.


Gracie was quarantined earlier this week, so she has a lonely bleat. Thankfully she gets to join her milking sisters very soon.

A generous businessman in town is leasing-donating a plot of land to the farm to set up an urban garden on Elm Street in Waco. The ground is not broken yet, but we are very excited to move further into the city to bring green things.

The duplex is scheduled to be sheetrocked and drywalled early next week. Hopefully the Coles and Hesses can move in sometime September.

Turkeys are coming in a month or two. Farm talk is already circulating about the hideous facial features of the previous year's turkeys.

Sadly enough, one of the most beloved interns moved away last Saturday to McAllen, Texas where he will be working with John Gardner, a former farmee, gardening at a school and probably doing many other unforeseeable things. We partied and said our goodbyes to Will Summers. The dorm is not the same; neither is the farm. This is how things go here though; people leave, people come, animals leave (slightly a more violent process), animals come (a much more sentimental process), the land changes every day, every season, every year. The constant is in change. Ah, the beautiful irony.

Cheers and shimmies and shakes,

Melyssa


Caption: Will holding the honey frame, surrounded by bees, during the honey harvest.
Photo by: Amanda Becker.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Climatize the Body

Most Texans are well aware right now of the heat. Most Texans, however, choose to escape that heat with air conditioned homes, cold cars, and shopping malls. Here at the farm we work from 9-12:30 then half work after lunch into the evening and the other half seek shelter in the fanned buildings (notice I did not say air-conditioned buildings). Being here, working outside, and not having the luxury of moving in and out of air conditioning my body has become acclimated.

A while ago my friend suggested that I read a book called Better Off, by Eric Brende. It is a recent book about a man and his wife’s journey into the land of the pseudo-amish to try life without modern technology for one year (This man had been studying at MIT previously). I personally loved the book and getting into the thoughts of an educated, modern man leaving modern-day amenities. It also stirred longings for experiencing different adventures with someone else (and so I continued reading about people going on adventures with their significant others-walking across America, traveling the world on nothing, ect) but that is another beast to tackle.

In this book, Eric related a story about working in beginning summer heat. He and his wife repositioned their bed for maximum air flow from the window, sat outside in the evening for the breeze, welcomed sweat as internal conditioners. One two-week period of time they took a driving trip back to civilization to find their next home. When they returned, Eric told how the heat was unbearable to him. He was working with the other men and experienced sever heat sickness, but the other men were hardly affected. In researching why he became so sick, he found information about the body’s ability to acclimate. We know from science that the seasons and temperatures that our immediate environments go through change gradually for the most part. The other men in the area had been working outside in the summer while the heat increased, while Eric was driving around staying in hotels. When he returned, their bodies had adjusted but his had not.

I think about this practically now. The temperatures are ranging from 100 to 106 depending on the day, and time of day. We are sweating inside and outside of buildings. I know it is hot, believe me-it gets me, but my body has had a chance to acclimate over the past two months because I am for the most part without air conditioning (except 7 hours at nighttime from the window unit). However, I can sit in a room that is 95 degrees with minimal air flow and hardly notice it. Even the sweat on my own body is largely unnoticed. It is normal.

Last night, a storm blew in. It sprinkled twice last night, and cloud cover lasted the entire day, and the sky finally dropped a river onto the ground after lunch. I may be used to the heat and sun, but the breeze, rain, and shade have never been so welcomed and a source of relief. The rain must stop though; otherwise, the plants would drown and stop their photosynthesizing.

Metaphorical Analogy: Seasons and times. Dry, hot, scorching, shadow, sunny, cloud, drizzle, humidity, cool breeze, frigid air, sunny, dry, wet, numb cold, warm sun, cool air, hot, dry, humid, scorching, shadow…..each is not an evil in itself. At least not when compared to the everchanging cycle of seasons and times. Instead of thinking of the metaphorical “season” of life as a large chunk of spring-summer-autumn-winter, I am beginning to notice the smaller seasonal moments. How in each season there is hot and cool, dry and wet….each has some difficulty and benefit. The sun makes the plants grow but dries out the ground. The rain feeds the plants but shields their leaves from the sun. The sun and rain exist in every season really.

It’s all about perspective.

“Besides being complicated, reality, in my experience, is usually odd. It is not neat, not obvious, not what you expect…Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Now I must run off to doctor my spotty poison ivy.

Cheers and itches,

Melyssa

Money Maker

This is a great rap video about a treadle pump. http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/business_of_good/particulars.shtml#moneymaker

Sunday, August 3, 2008

WHEN STEWARDS BECOME OWNERS

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.

Our world today is far from what we desire it to be. As I sat reflecting on what is happening today in our world and how we treat what is in our possession what comes to my mind is that instead of stewardship we have become masters of what the creator kept us in charge off.

We have “colonized” resources to an extent that we possess the power to determine who gets what and who should not receive anything. After doing all that we then turn around to ask questions as to why some other people lack certain resource or are suffering.

God in His own wisdom know what the inhabitants of a world that He decided to make will need at any point in time. As a result of that foreknowledge He provided what will be enough for all. However, the irony is that a majority of our world are not getting what they should have or need and a few are having more than they need.

The question then is why? Because stewards of what God has provided have become owners of what He has provided. Indeed, the excess you are about to throw away was actually meant for a neighbor who is struggling and if possible crying allowed that he/she is actually interested but you have pretended not to hear or notice the neighbor’s cries and struggles.

Our hearts have even become such hardened that we no longer even think about what is happening to our next door neighbor and all we are concern about is “me” “I” “mine” individualistic life. If God did not have in mind a good atmosphere of fellowship and a united and loving community he would never had talked about multiplication.

I am not going to talk about how Christians who are supposed to know better and behave differently are contributing to this situation of inequality in this write up but watch out for it soon.

I am just trying to give us a reminder that God put us in this world and by the position of where we come from, or are located, or have access to, He has placed us to be stewards of his provision for our world and He expects us to diligently watch over them as well as see to it that those that are for others which we have the privilege to watch over will be shared with them.

Be blessed as you reflect, criticize and pick up some thoughts.

Samson Abukari

Saturday, August 2, 2008

King of the (Sawdust) Mountain

Recommended Reading:
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Trash,
by Heather Rogers
http://www.gonetomorrow.org/

Compost Toilet
: A toilet system which treats human waste by composting. A bulking agent (in our case-sawdust) is added to the waste after each use to consolidate the waste and aid the composting process. After many months, the sawdusted waste can be shoveled out and finished in the sun. This end-product can be a soil-additive rich in beneficial bacteria. As opposed to expensive, water-wasting plumbing systems and waste-treatment centers, composting human waste can be a beneficial, responsible, yet smelly way, to handle waste.

Anecdote: The farm employs the hardy services of four composting toilets; a bin of some sort sits next to each toilet filled with sawdust as the bulking agent. In the girl's dorm, we have a small trash can that must be refilled with sawdust every few days or so. In the Education Building, the box can go for a week or two before needing to be refilled. Who's job is the sawdust refilling? That depends: in the dorm, whoever scoops the last dust has the responsibility. In the ed. building, no one really knows: a volunteer from town? a chore? an apartment dweller? the pregnant office manager?

We have eight giant barrels filled with sawdust on porches. Refilling trash cans and large boxes should be as easy as scooping form the big barrel. Last Thursday, after dorm and ed. building sawdust containers had been empty for about two days, we finally figured out together that there was no sawdust in the barrels. It is tricky. Each person thinks someone else is taking care of the empty bins because the job never gets assigned to just one person. The stench of each toilet finally became too nose-scrunching.

Friday after lunch, W-J-D-R-and myself loaded all eight barrels into the farm truck and trailer and headed north to the Pallet place. On the side of I-35, there is this barn-type building with wooden pallets stacked inside and all around. A few mechanized contraptions whiz and whir, but nothing was actually being done. What exactly does the Pallet place do? Recycle old pallets? Store old pallets? Resell old pallets? Make new pallets? Nobody knows.

We drove across grass and weeds, around the side of the building, nobody giving us a second glance, and parked next to a giant mound of sawdust. Assembly-line style, we pitchforked sawdust clumps, scooped sawdust into buckets, dumped buckets in barrels, and began again. Was the heat index 105 yesterday? It is possible. Imagine 3:00 p.m. scorching sun, no wind, sawdust flying and sticking to skin, and repetitious scooping, passing, pitching. (saving grace was the watering hole for swimming when we returned)

After loading all barrels, W cautiously drove us back to the farm where we wheeled the barrels back into position for future use. Remember earlier, I mentioned that the stench had gotten nearly unbearable in some of the toilets? Imagine fresh waste, without being covered by sawdust (because no one noticed it was gone) stacked up for a day or two by 15 or so people. Waste turns into heaps of waste that must be knocked down and spread out in the holding containers. Oh yeah, I'm not kidding.

I found the short handled hoe (dubbed a dubious name from former T), kneeled down over the trap door, and scraped the heap down as flat as possible. Up close and personal. The heat was intense from the fermenting, composting sludge. The ammonia burned my eyes. Determined to not be deterred, because I knew some of the waste was my own, I viciously hacked at the mountain. W poured more sawdust into the toilet to help with the more freshlies. I kept thinking, one day this is going to be safe compost and give plants and micro-organisms food and life----keep hoeing!

You know, who's going to do the dirty work? Whether it is kitchen waste (we've had our share of maggots in the kitchen compost or rank smells from fermented produce), toxic waste, or human waste, someone will be processing or handling it. Turn of the century affluent U.S. citizens placed cleanliness next to godliness, and women campaigned through poor districts of cities advocating for trash pick up and all wastes removal to clean up to "souls" of the inhabitants. They saw crime and immorality as inexorably linked with physical dirtiness of any kind. Honestly, when does clearing out all trash, waste, bacteria, unused items make a person more moral, righteous, or holy? Ask W-he is pro-biotic. The only problem with removing trash and waste from your sight, is that it is just moving into someone else's site (i.e. treatment plants, landfills, incinerators: all operated by a person on some level). Besides, psychologically we tend to consume more when our trash and waste are invisible than when they are visible. Sending your waste, rubbish, trash for someone else to touch and dispose of (or just dump in a hole in the ground) does not make it go away. When I throw things away, I like to remember every bit of trash that I have every sent off, and also to remember that it is most likely sitting somewhere still.

Reduce: You probably don't really need it. Buy from bulk bins if possible (it's cheaper usually and the packaging really is the worst waste. If you can't stomach or zonefully compost your human waste, try flushing less. Use both sides of paper when printing or writing

Reuse: Compost your kitchen scraps! It makes great fertilizer. Reuse glass bottles, plastic bottles for storage containers or drinking containers. . Make your own paper from used paper. After raking up leaves and grass, use them as mulch instead of tossing out.

Only after those options are gone...Recycle: Even if you feel good about yourself for recycling, remember that you are still creating demand for virgin resources to be processed into products by buying them in the first place.

A Good Resource for what goes on in the trash world and how we got where we are.
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Trash,
by Heather Rogers
http://www.gonetomorrow.org/

Cheers and Serious Winks,
Melyssa