AgriCulture: Smothered and Covered

Smothered And Covered

Hey everyone, Troy here.

In a previous bulletin, I threw in a slight dig about people who put up their Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving. It wasn’t mean-spirited, but I did note that they were a distinct category of people, and that I was not among their ranks. Well, I’m eating those words now, as I’m sure they were much better prepared than we were for the two feet of snow that smothered us on the first day of December. Luckily Victoria and I caught an early train back to the farm on Sunday, so that we could scramble around for a few hours, dropping heaters into all of the water tanks and digging out the barn doors so they wouldn’t freeze shut overnight.

I thought that Fall would be able to hang on just a little while longer, at least in time for us to finish up the trench we need to dig to electrify our barn. But as our electrician said while deflecting my apologies, “Nothing happens gradually anymore.”

I don’t know about you all, but I’ve been feeling the same way lately. It feels like most things nowadays are characterized by rapid changes and dramatic extremes. One day Obama is president, and suddenly it’s somebody really different. Did they just ban plastic straws overnight? Since when have I been a farmer? Is fall no longer a season? Is this a pattern, or am I just an aging curmudgeon? Both can be true.

The thing about sudden, dramatic changes is that, in reality, they are not sudden at all. An earthquake is the sudden release of tension that builds over hundreds or thousands of years. The larger the magnitude of the earthquake, the longer the tension has been building under the surface. When a snowfall suddenly causes the fencing of your chicken yard to collapse, you might discover that the cause was actually the fence posts slowly rotting underground over many years. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria did not cause World War I, it was caused by a complex web of alliances combined with rising imperialism and nationalism throughout Europe. Two of these are metaphors, and one is not. Actually, they’re all metaphors. Wait, never mind… none of them are.

All this is to say, the fact that I had to drag hay to the barn in two feet of snow on two sleds is not the fault of my lack of preparation for a clearly forecasted snowstorm. Rather, it probably had something to do with many thousands of other things that have been building and changing gradually over a very long period of time. It wasn’t my fault! Geology and history absolve me.

WHAT’S AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Tiny hot matchbox peppers, $5.00 a string, dried and quite decorative.
Acorn squash, $2/each
Decorative Tennessee Dancing Gourds, 4 for $1
Cheese Pumpkins, $2/lb, 5 to 8ish pounds

EGGS: $5/doz

MEATS: We keep some on hand, but it helps to order ahead in case we need to retrieve from our stash in the big commercial freezer

GEESE: One remaining, about 8.5 lbs. $10/lb.

ROASTING CHICKENS – Nice fat Freedom Rangers, frozen, largish (4 to 7 lbs, a few smaller), $6/lb.

LAMB: Riblets $8/lb, small and larger leg roasts $14/lb,

PORK: Loin pork chops, $12/lb (2 to a pack, btwn 1 and 1.5 lbs), Jowl (roughly 2 to 3 lbs each), $12/lb,
Spare ribs and country ribs $7/lb
baby back ribs $8/lb
fresh ham roasts (2 to 3 lbs), $12/lb
smoked bacon, $12/lb

FARM PICKUPS:

Email us your order at [email protected], and let us know when you’d like to pick up your order. It will be put out for you on the side screened porch of the farmhouse (110 Lasher Ave., Germantown) in a bag. You can leave cash or a check in the now famous pineapple on the porch table. Regular pickup times are Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., other days by arrangement. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to call at 518-537-3815 or email.