An Open Letter to Uncle Loren

Over the past four years, since the very beginning of the farm, we have been helped by countless family members and friends. They have spent an incredible amount of time helping us get this dream off the ground and dealing with my crazy ideas and procrastinating ways. Our "farm angels" have helped us build a home, construct fences, move pigs around, fix equipment, find hay, make portable pens and buildings, and above all help us to survive the first four years without doing complete damage to our minds, bodies, and souls!

But, I want to take a moment today to send an open letter to my Uncle Loren. Some of you may know of him, but I'm convinced all of you should get to know him ... or someone like him. He is one of the many people that have helped out so much on this farm journey ...

When my feed auger wagon broke and my feeble attempts to fix it fell far short Uncle Loren showed up in the middle of the night to take it home to his shop to fix (after I called and said I was at my wits end). When the cattle had spent most of their time on the farm getting out of my horrible excuse for a fence Uncle Loren showed up with the equipment and the knowledge to get the fencing project started. When the pigs are boggling my mind he is always just a phone call away. When a tractor breaks down he has shown up with a loaner (sometimes a long-term loaner) to help me. When water lines and electrical lines needed to be run underground ... well ... you probably get the idea ...

My Uncle Loren has invested quite a bit of his time and himself into the farm. In fact just this week he spent almost two days building more fence, setting corner posts, smoothing ruts, and even moving and leveling a building that had been sitting haphazardly in the pasture for the past few months. When he left late Tuesday evening it hit me just how much he gives and how hard he works. The farm would not be where it is without the help of so many people! And, Uncle Loren is one of those people ...

Uncle Loren ... Thank you for the knowledge you share. Thank you for the work you give. Thank you for the time you so freely share with us. Thank you for the example that you are.

One of my many dreams is to have just a fraction of your farming knowledge. You remind me that farming is not just a set of physical movements, but rather an art. Uncle Loren ... you are an artist.

Sometimes ...

We are under our first "Winter Storm Watch" of the year. Even though it is December 19th and I shouldn't be surprised by this ... I can't say that I'm ready. So ... I have been hustling and hustling and hustling to get some things ready last minute before we have some snow falling on ground that isn't frozen (meaning it will be muddy!). Last minute is the way everything seems to work around here and sometimes it has me wondering why I'm even doing this. Luckily I was at my Uncle Loren's house a couple of nights ago to get some fencing supplies and I was reminded of why ...

I think part of the reason that I farm is because ... well just check out this picture ... because it kind of just runs in the family! I'm not completely sure who that is, but I know that it's one of my uncles and I know that is pigs being raised out side and doing what pigs do best! That is not the only reason that I farm though ... sometimes it is important to remember some of the side benefits of farming ...

You know ... benefits like having a goat so you can hook it up to a wagon and take rides around the farm. Now ... I just need to find a goat ... and a wagon!

(As always ... if you feel liking seeing my family up close you can always click on a picture to make it bigger. Trust me ... they are better looking in these pictures than these days ... kidding, kidding, kidding!)

The Tipping Point and Scaling Up

It is my experience that at some point in the life of a business or an organization things come to the tipping point ... the to the edge of a cliff. Once they are at that edge or tipping point there are a few things that can happen. Number one ... they can realize that they don't really like the direction they are going and either reboot or just plain pull the plug. Number two ... they can just stay the course that they are on and probably slowly fade over time because of attrition or lack of passion and excitement. Or, number three ... they can dive in even deeper and take things up a notch or two (of course that assumes things don't blow up in your face). Realize that I'm not organizational or business management expert, so those are just my non-technical observations.

The farm (Crooked Gap Farm) seems to have hit that tipping point or the edge of the cliff (depending on which mental image you would like to have). We started out with herd of Dexter cattle (a herd that was too big for my lack of expertise) and just six hogs on the farm the first year. From that point we have grown by adding enterprises, markets, and transforming our woodlot raised heritage breed pork into the centerpiece of our farm. Now we are at a point where I feel we either need to make some major steps to scale up the farm and the production or scale back down to a "hobby" level and produce enough food for us and a few others with the leftovers.

My pride says, "Let's kick it up a notch or ten and get going!"

My fear says, "You know it wouldn't be so bad to just have three pigs, a couple of cows, and a handful of chickens ... plus I wouldn't have to get up at 4:00 AM 26 weeks a year for the farmers market!"

My gut says, "I think we can do this ... maybe ... with some help ... I think ..."

Of course scaling up and jumping in even deeper means some changes and a different approach to many aspects of the farm ... all of that will take lots of thought and planning! I'll be taking some time over the next few posts to dig into the ideas ...

Do you have thoughts on scaling up small scale farms? I'd love to hear them!

Truck Farming

I can't tell you how many times people have said to me that they can't believe I am farming without a real pickup (it's even been said here on the blog). Since we began the farm I have been doing all of my farming with a somewhat trusty and clunky SUV. The great thing about the SUV was that I could haul lots of people or take the seats out and use it to take calves to the vet, haul buckets of corn, pick up feed from the feed store, and even take large round bales to the cows (that involved a couple of chains and I would not suggest trying it at home). I used the poor SUV to push things (the license plant is hanging on barely), to pull trees out of the timber (the better the tread on the tires the better off you are), and of course to pull the stock trailer to pick up and drop off countless pigs, sheep, cattle, and chickens.

But, last year I decided to step up into the pickup world ... I purchased a mini-sized Chevy S-10 with 4 cylinders and five speeds! It worked okay for piling full of coolers and driving to the farmers market, but for any sort of "truck" job it fails miserably. That is why when the rear-end on the no longer trusty SUV took a death blow this year at the end of summer I knew it was time to step up to a "real" truck ... one that had a bed you could fill up, one that could pull big things, and one that was big and loud and red!

There is just one thing though ... If I believed in luck I would have to say that I have bad luck when it comes to purchasing vehicles or just plain vehicles in general! So, even though I was excited to get a truck I was not excited about looking for one and buying one ... which is why it took two months. Finally after getting the feeling that my friends were tired of me borrowing theirs ... I landed on this beauty ...

Now I am a real farmer ... I have a big red truck that is loud and can pull lots of heavy things! It's not a new truck ... it's not a low mileage truck ... it has some rust covered up with paint ... and it has your typical bumps and bruises. But, it will be a nice addition to the farm and I know that my friends will appreciate me not borrowing theirs (really they have been a huge help though!).

Time For a New Boot

On September, 26th 2006 (wow ... almost exactly 6 years ago???) I wrote my second ever blog post. It is probably obvious from the post that I was pretty proud of the fact that I was able to wear out a pair of boots (even though it took about 10 years) ... it is also obvious that I didn't have a lot to write about! In case you are wondering I ended up trying a pair of Georgia Boots (they didn't workout) and ended up with a pair of Wolverine Boots (they were great). Now I've moved on to Red Wing Boots because I was able to get a great discount when I was working at the farm store.

But, just yesterday I purchased new boots ... errr ... a new boot. As you can see in the picture this is probably the most expensive boot I've ever purchased, but I'm very thankful to have a "boot" again on my right foot. I even get to wear a sock!!!

Honestly though, even though it is very very very painful to walk I am walking again and hopefully I can get to farming again. I realize not everyone has known about my wonderful achilles tendon tear, but I'm thankful for all that have been supporting through help and prayers. I still have a long ways to go and it's not like I can do much, but at least this is a literal "step in the right direction".

This is a Blog Post :: Not a Test

Lately it sure seems like “the beginning farmer” has become “the quitting farmer”. And although I did not quit farming, it is very much evident that I did quit writing. I spent the last week or so writing and re-writing a post explaining why I drifted away from the blog and sharing the farming experience, but after reading it over and over again I think it is just best that I say ... I quit blogging about the farm journey and now I would like to start again ... yes ... that seems much easier!

Crooked Gap Farm is rolling along much as it was last time I wrote (I think). We are still raising beef, lamb, pork, chicken, and laying hens ... and we are still selling direct to customers and friends through half/whole sales, the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market, the Iowa Food Coop, and random deliveries and on-farm sales. The hogs are still very much still the centerpiece of the farm and are living up to their definition as “mortgage lifters” (although we’ll see how that lasts with the current drought). 

The farm is also still very much in “beginning farmer” mode and I would be lying if I said that there were plenty of things that aren’t as far along as I would like them to be. It just seems like there is always an emergency that pops up and keeps us from doing the long-term projects that we would like to be accomplishing. But, I know for a fact that is just typical farm life and nothing special. 

So, here is a post on my blog ... the first in a very, very, very long time. I’m not making any promises on when or if there will be another blog post (I did just delete a folder of blog posts I had planned on putting up last time I said I would begin blogging). But, let me just say this ... I do want to write again ... I lost my drive to write and I would like to bring it back ... to share the farm.