Another Glorious Autumn

Looking back over my posts, I detect a complaining tone – about how weather has a negative impact on our crops. But hey, that is only half of the story: after all, weather is also responsible for us having any kind of crop. Further, I like to be appreciative of good times. This is one of those times.

The heading of this post indicates “Another…”. I am referring to the fact that we had a wonderful fall last year. I reported rather dismal crop yields last year – BUT at least we had a crop; in large part due to having warm fall weather, that allowed the crops to mature – at least enough for a decent harvest.

This year we had another challenging spring; due to wet weather, we could not get our crops planted in a timely manner. So the crops were late and I wondered if they would mature (mostly the sorghum) before frost. I could not help projecting: we had a great fall last year – could it happen again this year, 2 years in a row?. Then, we had drought conditions in August: it stunted the beans and put the sorghum crop on hold (delaying maturing). However, we are now having another great fall – unseasonably warm weather. We are harvesting the sorghum before it is fully mature because it is very labor intensive: we now have a lot of visitor help as well as labor exchangers from our sister communities – Twin Oaks & Acorn in Virginia and East Wind in southern Missouri (and because we are already at the average date of the first killing frost).

At this time, we are about half way through the sorghum harvest (2 weeks into it), but I can tell already that we will have an “average” harvest – due to deliciously warm fall weather.

Thank you Gaia, nature spirits, & the Mysterious Ones for two consecutive glorious autumns!

Small Windows

My reference to windows in this context is a limited time period in the weather allowing for specific farm work; currently, I mean a break in the rainy weather – enough time for the soils to dry so that we can till and plant our field crops.

About 2 months ago, my post read A More Normal Spring – indicating that after 3 years of wet springs, we were having  normal spring weather – ie, the absence of small windows; that turned out to be premature. It is being another incredibly wet spring – with small windows.

In an average year (actually, I’m not sure there is such a thing anymore), all of our spring crops would be planted by now: sorghum, field corn, popcorn, corn for seed for SESE (Southern Exposure Seed Exchange), soybeans, pinto & black beans. Right now only about half of our sorghum crop is planted – and none of the others. Earlier this spring, we had windows when we could have planted these crops but it was too cool for us organic producers. A week ago, we had a 3 day window in which to work down the green manure crop & weeds, and plant. We transplanted/planted about half of our sorghum crop; we could have planted more, but the weather was once again cool and the green manure crop was not all dead yet – so we decided not to plant more. Was it the right choice?

It is still too early to tell – why? Since we practice organic methods, we depend on good soil conditions for seed germination and weed control. In seasons of small windows, we are at a distinct disadvantage compared to our conventional neighbors; eg, in that last 3 day window, they finished all their planting: their seeds are treated with fungicides so that if the weather turns cool, the seeds will not rot and/or be picked apart by fungi. Further, they don’t have green manure crops and so what if there are still weeds in the field when they plant? They will be taken care of by an herbicide spray later. In our case, non-treated  seed germination depends on how wet and/or warm the soils are; eg. even though I planted the sorghum seed a week ago, and some plants have poked above the ground, I am still not sure that the germination will be consistent enough for a crop – or that the crop will not be totally swamped with weeds.

For me, small windows are  similar to niche markets: we often have to make snap decisions with little/no info to guide us. We don’t know until much later whether they were good decisions – depending on weather or changes in the marketplace. How to make these decisions? by the seat of your pants? consult your favorite oracle? prayer? At various times, I’ve done all of these. I have no definitive answers/results.

Small windows in agriculture make for stress. Oh well, I am trying to embrace small windows – I assume there is some kind of lesson to be learned here. Here’s to more lessons in life!

Honey Bees – an Update

FYI: for background of my/our experience with honey bees at Sandhill, see http://www.sandhillfarm.org/beekeeping1.php

In my experience as a farmer, it is with honey bees, that I am most humbled. A prime example is this post.

Here is what I wrote May 1:

My last post on bees – only 7 months ago – was very positive and optimistic. To recap, I was very encouraged/optimistic about our bees last fall. They appeared more vibrant and healthy than in many years. We fantasized about the year ahead: we would build up our colony numbers and have a normal honey harvest.

THEN – this winter, we lost more than half of our colonies (11 out of 20) and currently, several more are struggling for survival. How could this happen? I’ve been keeping bees for 30 years – how could I have totally misjudged this situation?

I don’t have an answer; naturally, I have theories/possible explanations:

1. It’s really the mite problem all over again: for about the last 20 years, the varroa mites have been the main challenge to honey bees in this country – they compromise the immune system of the bees, who are then susceptible to various opportunistic diseases.

2. It’s due to a new class of agricultural chemicals: systemic seed treatments; some beekeepers believe that a new class of systemic seed treatments (eg on corn and other crops) have a devastating effect on honey bees. How so? The theory is that the systemic nature of the seed treatments expresses itself in the entire plant including the pollen – which is collected by bees to feed their brood. The effect of this pollen compromises the development of the immune system and health of the bees. Further, the effect  may not be noted for 6 months or more since the pollen is stored in the hive until it is needed – which may not be until the following spring.

The symptoms described by beekeepers due to #2 above match what we have been experiencing with our hives. I noted this a year ago – but then I could not imagine how seed treatments could influence the bees (see explanation in #2 above). According to the movie, The Vanishing of the Honey Bee, beekeepers in Europe first noted the connection between the new chemicals and effects on their bees and then put pressure on governments to the point where these systemic seed treatments have been banned in France, Germany, & Italy.

NOW:

forward to May 22:  I have a totally different assessment of our bees; for those of you who are beekeepers, this may not be surprising. The energy of a beehive can be totally different from week to week – depending on the queen, weather, nectar/pollen availability, etc. Now the hives are radically different – the bees are vibrant, alive, and bustling. The energy is palpably different – they are purposeful, busy, and hum with a contented sound.

What happened? It’s a wonderment. Some factors: some of the new queens were finally able to go on their mating flights (good weather) and the populations built up. It seems they need a critical mass to make it all work right. And there are a lot of flowers out now: cherry trees, black locust trees, clover, etc. They love being busy.

Part of it is the natural cycle of bees: at this time of year, there is lots of honey & pollen, queens lay thousands of eggs a day, thousands bees hatch every day: workers to gather nectar, pollen, feed brood, etc. more bees, etc etc. all to say, that this is the time of exploding bee populations when the mites simply can’t keep up (that happens later – in August, when the mite population catches up when the bees start sizing down, getting ready for winter.)

Today June 11: the bees continue to do well. We had the bees make some queens and we started new hives with those virgin queens. These queens have now mated and are heading up energetic new hives (all is right in the bee world – for now).

I am in love with the bees again.

Humbleness in Agriculture

For me, acknowledging what I don’t know is as important as what I think I do know. I am now 65 and except for a 10 year hiatus in/with academia, have been involved in agriculture all my life. For the last 15 years I have also been an organic inspector, which has brought me into contact with many organic farmers and processors of organic foods.

I figger I am now officially a senior – even though retirement is not in any of my plans. In one of my paradigms, my senior status indicates that I am now an “elder” – with connotations of experience & wisdom. Some days I relate to both those terms. This post is about times when I don’t.

I have been sharing this experience recently with my friend Dan, who has a 500 tree apple orchard. Although Dan is about a decade younger, we both note that the longer we live, the less we know for sure. Here is the crux: after decades of experience – when we thought we would be experts in our field, we find there are very few things that are always true.

So what’s the problem? First off, we appreciate how much we do know: we no longer have the angst of being new to the basics: soil fertility, plant growth, etc; but even those are incredibly complicated and what seems obvious one year is totally contraindicated the next (or several years later). It doesn’t seem fair: really, I was paying attention to the weather, the health of the plants/crops, and nurtured them the best I could – yet the outcome was totally different; eg, usually, the sorghum we grow from transplants is healthier and more productive than the ones we direct seed in the field, but in 2010 – it was exactly the opposite. So what is the lesson here? That really I don’t know – after all? Humbleness? OK, I got it.

Another prime example is my experience with honey bees – see next post (forthcoming).

Fortunately, Dan and I also share a lively sense of humor. We laugh at ourselves: at how we – the experts – find ourselves guessing at what happened last year and what to do next. Further, laughing at ourselves is more fun when we do it together.

Sometimes, I feel frustrated that I don’t have more definitive answers when folks ask my opinion and about my experience; and yet, perhaps that is part of the wisdom: the absence of definitiveness when dealing with life – soil, plants, critters, etc. It also relates back to my earlier posts re Spirit in Agriculture: a reminder to celebrate the mystery in agriculture. Perhaps that is the wisdom.

A Normal Spring

In the agricultural life, every season is special & unique. Spring is a time of new beginnings – nature wakes up from resting during the winter and we humans get excited by swelling buds on the trees, new shoots of grass, crocuses flowering, etc.(at Sandhill, it heralds the beginning of the maple sap season – usually mid February),

It’s amazing how easily we take the seasons for granted – it’s simply the natural flow of life. However, the last three years we have had incredibly wet springs with below normal temperatures – making it very challenging to get crops planted in the fields and even in our gardens. I noted that last year, it was hard to be excited by spring – the constant waiting became depressing. In short, spring was mostly not joyous.

This year we are having a more normal spring: average temperatures and rainfall which means that so far we have been planting crops in a timely fashion. It is still too early to be planting most of our field crops but we are on schedule in planting the vegetable crops. This year we started a new venture – planting produce to sell on a larger scale and that planting is in the normal range. Our peach, cherry, and pear trees are in full bloom; the apricots are finished, and the apples are just beginning.

t is noteworthy how uplifting I find this situation. Perhaps I had not fully realized how much the cold/wet springs had affected me – although I do remember us talking about it last year. In my role as an organic inspector, I had also noted that I had never seen organic farmers more depressed about the weather preventing them from timely planting of annual crops.

I note that this is still early in the season – hopefully, I am not jinxing us by writing about it; in fact yesterday & today it is rainy and cold.

BUT – at this time, we feel uplifted by having a “normal” spring. I am not taking it for granted – I am celebrating and once again, joyous for this season!

Vipassana – revisited

I blogged about my Vipassana experience 2 years ago – this is an update.

For the first year I meditate for about 30 to 45 minutes daily – in the morning (it is the only time I can meditate – after that, the inner dialog is too distracting). Gradually I skip some mornings  and meditate for shorter periods of time: I am wondering if my practice will peter out and die? Then, last summer I am going through some health challenges – GI issues. It occurs to me that in my meditation practice (which includes a body scan to feel the energy in various parts of the body), I should be able to detect where/what the problem in my GI tract is. With this as a focus during my meditation, I sense that my colon is blocked in a particular place. I massage the area – which feels good but does not alleviate the symptoms. My doctor is recommending a colonoscopy; I decide to go ahead with it and indeed, he finds an obstruction. To explore the nature of the obstruction, a MRI is recommended – I go ahead with it and the MRI confirms it: the guess is that my colon is twisted or otherwise blocked. Is it the same area I identified during my meditation? It’s not conclusive, but my gut (ha!) feeling is that I identified the area/obstruction correctly; however, I am now on the western medicine tract and a barium enema is next. Surprisingly, it indicates no obstructions – now the guess is that the enema straightened out the obstruction. My GI tract improves – although very slowly.

Back to Vipassana: I now meditate regularly and currently, I miss only once or twice a week. Why the change? Is it because of all these medical procedures? It certainly appears to be a significant factor: the intense physical experience of the various medical procedures has made the body scanning of the Vipassana practice feel more relevant. On the other hand, it’s hard to sort out all the variables – eg, the mediation practice is such an integral part of my morning routine: I get up before anyone else does, make coffee, make a fire, empty the dish rack, then sit down to a cup of coffee in the dark – and FEEL myself: in the dark, with my brew, wake up to a new day, and then meditate. It feels so right.

I still wonder exactly what benefits I derive from my meditation and/or my morning routine. Why do I meditate more regularly some times than others? Mostly, I feel that something is lacking – when I don’t do the practice. But what exactly is it? I can’t really verbalize it.

I wonder whether I would be meditating now if I had not experienced the GI issues; in any case, I am happy to be back in my practice (and my GI tract feels much healthier).

Spirit in Agriculture – Part 4

This is where it all comes together – right? Nope, it’ a work in progress – or I could say that my spiritual practice is constantly evolving. Some concluding thoughts:

I am as eclectic as ever. I am in awe of all the life forms and spirits that contribute to agriculture (& life) on our farm. I wish I could more actively communicate with the plants and spirits – mostly, I try to listen. When the weather feels unfriendly, it is challenging. I find it difficult to feel in synch with spirit when instead of experiencing abundance from nature, we have to fight for what we get.

Spirituality: when I came to the communities movement in the late 1970s, the word “spiritual” was not a welcome word. We were still rebelling against religion and to us, spiritual described groups that had an exalted or charismatic leader (eg ashrams). We were egalitarian and distrusted leaders of any kind; however, I have always been drawn to spiritual experiences – I gradually reclaimed that word for myself and declared myself to be spiritual – but not religious.

Wu-wu – a word/concept some folks use to refer to some of the ideas I am expressing here. In my experience, people use it to refer to: the spirit/non physical world, issues they feel uncomfortable with and/or can’t be proved. It is often used dismissively as in “that’s too wuwu for me”. I am actually proud of my wuwu-ness. Simply put, I’d rather not limit myself to the physical realm – some of my greatest experiences are in the wuwu field. I welcome more wuwu in my life.

With reference to where I started this topic: re spirit in agriculture or spirits out there –  I note that currently most of my activity relates to spirit/energy in farming – I am less active in trying to contact nature spirits.

Spirit in Agriculture – Part 3

At Sandhill, I keep searching for my path. I yearn to create my own way of interacting with spirit – but the models I know about are from traditional societies, they are not from my culture. People in my circle here are in tune with there being spirit/energies in agriculture – often expressed as: please have good thoughts and vibes when working in the garden and no tobacco smoking around our food. We put positive energy into growing our food, preserving it, cooking & eating it. We hold hands in a circle before dinner to appreciate/celebrate the energy that went into the food that we are about to eat.

I work mostly with field crops – using a tractor and equipment – on a very small scale; we grow our own grains, beans, and some crops to sell – eg sorghum. I take to heart the old adage: “the best fertilizer is the footprint of the farmer” which I take to mean being in touch with the soil and plants. It is easy to relate to putting good energy into growing crops – but what about nature spirits taking care of plants? I believe they are there – but how to communicate?

My searching leads me to an Acres conference, where non physical energies in farming are generally acknowledged – but how do they work? How to augment/increase the positive energy? I recall one presenter at the conference describing his experience of communicating via non physical channels – it inspires me to try something similar. While planting that year’s sorghum crop, I concentrate really hard on sending my positive vibes into the seeds as they go into the ground. When I finish the field, I realize that the mechanism on one of the two row planter was plugged – no seeds were actually planted in that row. I ended up replanting most of the field; the lesson I take from this is that good vibes (no matter how strong) do not replace common sense and keeping machinery functioning properly.

I want be more active – to welcome and celebrate spirits in my farming practices. I try the biodynamic (BD) model: it appears close to embodying my ideals – and it comes complete with a practice. There is making the preparations, stirring them, and then applying them. I like the symbolism: each of the preparations (preps) consists of a vegetative matter (eg, dandelion flowers, oak bark, etc) inside an animal sheath (male deer bladder, cow horn, etc), which is then incubated (in shamanic terms – it is charged with energy/power). There is ritual: making the preps and stirring them in water – first in one direction until a deep vortex forms, then reversing directions, creating chaos until a new vortex forms – for a full hour. Then I spread it on the ground, on plants, or on a compost pile – depending on the individual prep.

Does it work? Some BD practitioners do experiments that indicate positive (even fantastic) results. I am not scientifically inclined: I make the preps and apply them – but I do not see dramatic results. To me, it’s like asking: does prayer work? It depends on your belief system. I do note that when I do the BD preps, I feel good – like I am doing something positive and raising the spiritual energy on the farm. And yet I have this nagging doubt – is this a personal head trip? Am I doing this for the earth & the spirits? Or for me? Does it matter?

Part of what I like about BD is the transformation of something physical to non physical: the matter (prep) is infused with energy/power (like a shaman charging an amulet). A quarter cup of prep is stirred in 3 gallons of water for an hour and is enough to treat an acre: this small amount of matter cannot possibly make a physical difference in the soil. Further, I like the BD way of looking at the farm as a living organism (similar to Gaia). It fosters a reverent attitude – that we are stewards of the earth.

However, my BD practice is still erratic: I rarely make any of the preps myself anymore – I buy them; I do some stirring and apply them every year – but not to all the crops. Is it laziness or not quite the right fit?

On a tangential note, in the early 1980s I start going to a regional mens gathering. I resonate with the spirituality I experience in the radical faerie culture here. In general, it is related to pagan/wiccan traditions, but then they adapt it to our current culture. We create our own rituals – our own experiences shape the way we relate to the divine, the mystical, and the spirit world. While this does not pertain to agriculture, it is my ideal model – to create my own symbols and ritual that express how I experience and communicate with the spirit(s) in agriculture.

Spirit in Agriculture – Part 2

I spend the next 9 years in academia and left wing politics; gradually, I grow tired of all the head/mental stuff – not enough physical, heart, and/or spirit. I’m also in a small radical action group: again, it’s all head. Two of us in the group decide to experiment with trying to live our politics/values in daily life – we leave academia to establish a commune – in Guatemala.  There I read The Magic of Findhorn and it blows my paradigm apart: what? nature spirits taking care of trees, plants, etc? My African memories come back – I remember how folks communed with spirits constantly.

 

Here in the rainforest of Guatemala, I live in the midst of trees: I talk to them and hug them. I try to feel the presence of nature spirits and sometimes I do – how to describe it? a sense of an other, a sacredness. Then I realize that I’m going through a paradigm shift:  I feel fundamentally different about the natural world – it is so much more complex than I ever imagined. There are all these physical life forms: bacteria & fungi, earthworms, mammals, etc. and then the spirits. How do they interact? What is my place in all this?

 

I read about paganism: how we humans have interacted with the spirit world through the ages and in various cultures. I now see fairies in a new light – perhaps they are real after all; and I remember the shamans in Africa – the intermediaries between humans and spirits. And I remember that FEELING – that in some way I was connecting to my primal roots.

 

So how do I manifest this new way of seeing the world? I now believe in spirits – so what? What has changed? I want some physical manifestation of how I am different. I vacillate: some days I feel it’s all in my head; at other times, I’m blissed out by my new understanding of reality.

 

The commune we are attempting to establish in Guatemala is not coming together: we are lonely and decide to go back to the mother culture. I’ve been gone for three year – how will I fit in?

 

I decide to join Sandhill farm/community; it is close to my twin dreams: an agricultural base with a communal setting (although there are only 3 folks here). What about spirit? That seems a private/individual matter here – so I don’t talk about it. Another dilemma: at Sandhill, we farm with tractors and machinery – do/can spirits coexist with this technology?

Spirit in Agriculture (and Life)

Part 1

By spirit I refer to the non physical: thoughts, prayers, forces, energies, etc – but is spirit inside or outside? singular or plural? To illustrate: does spirit refer to: A) life force/energy in nature – eg Gaia (the notion that the earth is a living organism); and/or B) individual spirits – eg fairies and/or spirits that take care of trees, plants, rivers, etc? In my world, folks generally readily agree to A, but there is a wide divergence with reference to B.

A further clarification: there are different agricultural paradigms. The conventional one is the NPK approach (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), characterized by: an analysis of what nutrients a crop requires for optimal production, a soil test of what is already there, and then one can make up the difference with fertility inputs. It is a mechanistic/industrial model: inputs & outputs. In the sustainable/organic paradigm, agriculture is seen as a complex interaction among humans and various life forms – both physical and non. With reference to the above, this paradigm generally includes A – but not B.

I note that I am hesitant writing about spirit/spirituality (I’ve been working on this post for weeks – and have ambivalent feelings). I finally decide to write not analytically – but rather to share my experience with this topic. Here goes…

I grow up on a farm in a Mennonite community in Canada. In my Mennonite history class in high school, we are taught that our people have been and are innovative farmers – but there is no instruction of agricultural principles or practices. There is definitely no mention of spirit (except for the Holy Spirit – in church). It seems we are expected to absorb how to farm by doing the work – we have “chores” to do from an early age.

In school, I love reading to learn about different cultures and I do not expect to stay on the farm. I head for the city, but after 2 years in Mennonite Bible College, I am ready for something new. I go on a Junior Year Abroad program to the University of Nigeria in West Africa. One of my courses is on Traditional Religions of West Africa, taught by a Nigerian catholic priest. He takes us on trips to see witch doctors (now known as shamans – a good example of changing paradigms). Although I am very christian, I like these guys – they are colorful characters and respected in their villages. It dawns on me that they are the spiritual leaders in the community – a link between the physical and the spirit world. I note that everyone (even the christian students at the University) wear amulets, which have been charged with power by a shaman. While visiting students in their homes, I become aware that in this culture, spirits are very real – for example, they are given food and drink at the beginning of every meal. Fertility rituals, as in blessing the soil and crops, are performed every year – but what really impresses me is how spirits are an integral part of daily life.

When I return home, the memory fades – and so does my christian paradigm. I don’t know how to incorporate spirits into this paradigm. For the next decade, I flounder through a nihilistic phase…