Brad’s Take

Sharon Astyk makes a compelling argument that local food production can be safe and wholesome.

The cost, though, is prohibitive. Regulations regard every operation as if they are selling into the mainstream, national exposure of industrial agriculture.

Consider the hamburger, a chunk of meat taken from the ground up parts of perhaps 1,000 different cows, or maybe just one. The point is that the meat industry takes all the pieces and blends them together, so that meat from grass-fed young animals won’t taste one way, and retired (old) dairy cows and bulls (tasting of their stronger hormones) won’t taste another. Blend them all, and the taste stays consistent, hiding the healthier taste and quality into the mix.

Or milk. Milk is gathered from the cow, mixed into the daily gathering’s tank, gathered into the bulk transport, gathered into the processing plant vats. Each gathering from transport, from farm, from cow, must be clean and safe, in order for the bulk tank to be safe, and then for each container filled from that tank to be safe.

When Joe down the road milks his cow, and pours it into a quart jar with his name and date, you need the cow to be healthy, and Joe to work cleanly. And that is it. If Joe makes a mistake, maybe 20 people will be affected; if Joe were selling to a big dairy association (they won’t take Joe’s milk if he has less than a hundred cows), his mistake could affect thousands of households. It economically affordable to be extra sure the big, bulk processing inputs are all regulated and mistake-free (or almost).

Joe and his cow, and the folk that prefer the taste of non-watered milk from Joe’s cow, should be allowed to buy what they want. Even if it doesn’t have enough water added to make it USDA-compliant so-called “whole” milk.

My thought has been to limit regulations to those selling 10,000 servings per year. That would place a fairly reasonable definition of “small producer” on the books.

A local supplier selling their own products, under their label, means that tracking problems back to the source gets quite simple. Different regulations should apply when your products aren’t mixed in with someone else’s products. The tomatoes in a bin labeled “Brad’s Tomatoes” should have different regulations than the bin labeled “Product of Chile”. (I have nothing against Chile or other places, and I am happy to have their fruits when they are available.)

If I sell Sharon a bushel of, say, loofa (if I can get the dang fruit to grow nearly as well as the vine), and it keeps that “Brad’s Garden” identifier right to the sale to the customer, so the customer can call and complain to me or identify me to the county health or doctor or whoever needs problems reported to – that satisfies, and should set that bushel aside from, public health concerns. Because at that point, the exposure isn’t “the public” to “the product” – it is “my community” exposed to “Brad’s Garden”. And that is a personal, entirely different kind of relationship.

Just one for-instance. Try suing Brad’s Garden for $10. I go out of business. And anything I might have been growing is lost to the community. If I should be shut down, then everyone (but me) wins. Should someone think twice about cost to the community, before suing? I think so. Especially if any problem could be corrected in person.

This kind of approach would pose a problem for a roadside stand or grocer that wants to lump the last of apples from Brad’s Garden with the apples from two neighbors into a remnants bin. Maybe.

So my big plans for the garden are still more plans than plantings.

The starts for the watermelon (8 of 9 seeds) were about 4-5″, and straining with roots wanting more dirt than the starting cell. But the luffa (loofah) – 3 of 9 seeds – was what got me motivated. The first start was starting to throw a creeping vine, about 12″. The 2nd and 3rd seeds popped out of the dirt nearly two weeks later, and I lost one of those two while “hardening off” the flat. That gave me three hills (three starts each) of watermelon, and one of the luffa with two starts.

I tried disking up the garden space. An offset disk, 15 feet wide, is a heavy piece of machinery, not well suited to preparing a 25 by 50 foot space. That is, I used up the space under the disk, 4 to 8 feet, off the east side, getting the disk into the dirt and started tearing off sod. Then it worked fairly well, to the 50 foot end of what I wanted tore up. I made a couple of passes, last Monday, and much of the sod died off over the following few days. Except the east part, where I had set my sights on putting the Watermelon, and, in the northeast 6×10 spot, popcorn. I hacked it up some, weedeated the prairie grass a bunch, gathered compost.

I want to start a compost pile, really I do. But for now – I went into the pony’s yard, and scraped up some of the decade-old piles where hay bales had been set, and ancient layers of favorite spots for droppings. With the wheelbarrow full of clods and dirt, I screened out fines with a 2 foot square section of half-inch mesh hardware cloth. The big pieces, and any grubs I spotted, entertained the chickens something awesome. You would have thought they were getting tickets to Ironman 2 (or maybe Letters to Juliet, depending). A few buckets of screenings and the next day all there is is a bit of loose dirt (compost) waiting to be scraped up and re-screened – or maybe fill in some holes in the chicken pen.

I am jealous of my neighbor, Jim. Jim has a nice, big 15 by 50 foot oval space where an above ground swimming pool was taken out. Leaving a nice, deep bed of sand. Sand will be much easier to hoe than my heavy clay prairie sod.

For each of the four hills I dumped a bucket of the clods where I wanted the hill, then a bucket of screened compost. Next I combined peat moss and vermiculite with some of the fines, and made a bit of nest for each start on the top of the hill. I found a kitchen butter knife works pretty well to lift starts out of the starting cells, and used an old butter knife for the watermelon and luffa. For the watermelons I tried to set one of the biggest three starts in each of the hills. Then the water hose and start wetting down the hills. This turned out to be a bit time consuming, trying to get all that peat moss and vermiculite saturated the first time. It seems that using materials intended to absorb water, for some reason, means that they, um, absorb more water than I expected.

I am working on sod and dirt condition for putting down peppers and tomatoes. They would do better in the sun than under my grow light. I managed to find homes for most of my starts, but the remaining list still seems daunting. I wanted to try four Poblano/Anzo peppers, but somehow ended up with some of the seriously hot peppers – that I don’t care for – three Jalapenos and a Hungarian Yellow Hot. I suppose those last four might just get “lost”, I haven’t decided.

Of the sweet peppers, I gave away another of the Sweet Chocolate and a Red Cheese yesterday. That leaves me six of each. Maybe I can open a road-side stand or something. There are four Purple Beauty starts, and then I “rescued” some distressed peppers at TSC – two “Better Belle” and two yellow peppers. The color variety interested me, and the green bell peppers (how did I forget to order seed?) are the only ones I have actually used to cook.

Most of my starts, and all of the tomatoes and except the last four rescues, have been heritage varieties. Open pollinated. I could keep seeds on the peppers, except they cross pollinate when different strains are grown within 500 feet of one another. The tomatoes should make good seed-keepers, and won’t be propagating the tomato blight of last year that so many people got using commercially started plants.

So, I figure a garden might be nice. I like popcorn, I plan a patch of that, maybe 6×10. I like a nice bell pepper in the crock pot, so a few would be handy. A couple of tomatoes seem like they would go well in the crock pot, too. And beans. Lots of beans. I forget why, I think for combining with vienna sausage or hot dogs. Maybe some ground beef and peppers for a version of chili without chili powder (I consider “spicy” is when I add brown sugar to the oatmeal).

So I got to ordering seed. I have a box. Some say to start the seeds early. I built a bracket for an old card table; it holds a 13 watt flourescent under-counter light fixture, with an 18 inch grow light, about 17 inches above the table. The table sets in front of an east-facing windows.

Lowe’s had some jiffy planting setups. I picked up a three-pack of trays with 72 little plug cells each, and another with five of the cardboard plug 10-packs.

I figured if I needed to thin things, I should plant the beefsteak tomatoes (millingtonseed.com) and black cherry tomatoes (Baker Creek Nursery, rareseeds.com) two to a plug, then replant if both seeds sprouted. Almost all did. I figured, if everyone is buying tomatoes at $3 and $4 at Lowes, I can sell a bunch at the flea market and make up the cost of the Lowe’s expedition for planting stuff. Greenfield’s nursery opened a hut behind Payless Shoes here in Ponca City. $2.50 for four plants. I sold 48 plants at $0.50 each, gave away a couple dozen. I have six beefsteak plants about 3-4 inches (I sold and gave away the bigger plants, it just seemed right), and three Black Cherry (I wanted to keep four, but, well). So I didn’t make a bunch, and the starting planters didn’t cost much.

The peppers were interesting. I ordered Red Cheese (Baker Creek Nursery, rareseeds.com) and Purple Beauty. They stuck in a packet of Sweet Chocolate peppers. The Sweet Chocolate germinated 100%, quickly, and matured faster than the other peppers; they look exciting. In my excitement, though, I forgot to order Bell peppers – so I picked up a distressed pair at TSC. I am looking forward to these peppers, for me and maybe some to sell. We’ll see.

I have been reading about some good Brussel’s Sprouts, so I got some. And feeding cabbage and broccoli to the chickens seems to make sense. Supposedly I can feed Mangel-Wurzel (a beet plant) to the pony. We’ll see – I have been feeding beet pulp shreds for years.

Now, if I can manage to covert historic-grade prairie sod to garden soil bed. .

Radishes, carrots, potatoes. Easy – scratch some dirt, plant some seeds, watch the soil that it doesn’t dry out, watch the drainage so water doesn’t stand when it rains. Pull the weeds.

Pulling weeds is simpler if the ground is kept looser – hoeing cuts off some weed roots (you don’t hoe where your crop roots grow). And pulling weeds is more effective if you pull when the weeds are small – once a week might do, more often is better. Weeds are much more problem on soil that has not been a garden long.

Keep the weeds; compost them. You need to keep trimmings, even kitchen scraps for compost, too. Because when you harvest in your garden, the veggies and fruit you take, take from the soil. Working the ground takes minerals, takes fiber – compost helps keep the soil healthy, ready to grow more of what you want. Which is why it is better to get the weeds early – they rob your plants of less moisture from the soil, less nutrients from the soil, shade out the sunlight that makes your plants grow less- if they are enriching your compost pile sooner in the weed’s life.

Tomatoes. Learn to grow tomatoes, and many years you get a nice return. The more attention you pay to growing tomatoes, the better, most years, the harvest.

Beans. Beans are a great source of protein, many types dry well, and are easy (and cheap) to store for long periods of time. Great fiber, beans can be the center of meatless meals, if meat becomes difficult to come by (i.e., no refrigeration if the electricity is off, and you don’t have an Amish or RV ammonia-cycle freezer/refrigerator).

Peas. Peas are easy, shelling peas for fresh use is a time-honored family affair, easy and pleasant to share with a parent or child. Peas cook well, can be canned for storage, or dried.

Squash, gourds, melons, pickles, cucumbers,pumpkins. These gentle vines can be a bit irritating on the skin to handle. Give them lots of room – plant a few seeds in hills several feet apart. The good thing is that most cover the ground well – keep the weeds down as they start growing, and when they cover the ground they shade the soil so densely that weeds won’t be a problem. But separate species – these vines will inter-pollinate, and you lose the distinctive characteristics. Separate as widely as you can, species from species. Pumpkins here, squash there, watermelons over there, and the ButterNut squash out in the corn field.

Lettuce, cabbage – for garnish, cabbage fresh or kimchi or cooked or pickled provides vitamin C.

Bok Choi, rutabaga, yams, beets, celery, bell and other peppers, horseradish, rhubarb, these all grow in gardens, in various regions.

What about tobacco? Tobacco is grown in fields in South Carolina. Most people know that. It grows in Turkey, too, I guess. But what about your garden? The price of $4-15 a carton today makes me wonder why people aren’t growing the stuff in their garden.

Especially since tobacco has a long history of uses in healing – antiseptic, drawing infection, and other uses. Prepare and store tobacco for smoking in a pipe, for rolling in cigars – or if you have the papers even rolling in a cigarette recall the old-time ‘plug’ of solid-rolled tobacco? Manage the moisture when storing to keep the virtues of the tobacco intact. If nothing else, growing tobacco will leave you something to trade to those looking for an version of it.

Celery grows. In gardens. I found if you stick the heart of a stalk of celery in a glass, it will throw roots – and mature in a window box. Maybe a living room scented with growing celery isn’t the first thought that comes to mind, but like an aquarium or bird cage, adds an air of life, of shared space. And celery is very good, for dipping or spreading with peanut butter, cheese, refried beans – or honey butter.

Isn’t it Marigolds that you can plant around your garden? – and keep out many insect pests?

The old song ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ that Melanie recorded some years ago, the lady that gave us, “I’ve got a brand new pair of roller skates/You’ve got a brand new key”. The song includes a line about ‘Farmer, farmer, put away the DDT. Leave the spots on the apples, but leave me the birds and the bees.” DDT was a nasty pesticide, and many in use today have to be handled correctly – all of them kill or maim *something*, including hopefully the targeted pest. But the issue was only partly about spots on apples – yes, an unblemished apple sells quicker, usually, outside a Farmer’s Market. But what about an apple with a worm? Or a bell pepper or cucumber or tomato? The cost to plant and till the soil is the same – so what about the 1/4 to 3/4 of the crop that withers or is consumed by weeds or insects – when the cost in labor and materials to raise a crop falls short of the return in food or sales, it gets stupid to plant the crop. Thus, for many crops, pesticides will be with us. Learn about this class of poisons, how and when to use them, what they mean about cleaning or using treated plants or animals. Choose wisely.

Right now, ‘fertilizer’ is something in a bag that Wal-Mart and Ace Hardware and the local garden center sells. Steer manure? Expect the local farmer to have some, but not in bags, not dried, and sterilized, and prepared. It still works well. Even sheep, and goat, and horse, and other livestock droppings. Maybe you can work out a deal – rake a pasture regularly, keep part of the droppings that would otherwise sour and kill the grass underneath it, gather a part and scatter the rest. Help keep down parasites and benefit the pasture, while gather some useful .. fertilizer. Throw the result on your compost pile, and biologic away!

Soil amendments include adjusting the pH of the soil – whether it is acid or alkaline (excess acid or deficit acid ions, compare to an even-steven balance of 7.0) – and mineral content. Potash, lime, and other materials occasionally come available.

And some plants change the soil around them. Legumes, such as beans and soybeans, alfalfa, enrich the nitrogen content of the soil they grow in. A walnut tree can amend base soil – note this is *not* a quick solution! Your county extension office or garden center can help you plan soil enrichment and amendment. You may want different soil balances for different crops. Some things prefer partial sun – plant in the shade of leafier, taller plants. Some like more acidity, others less.

Some garden products are perennials – trees, for instance. Strawberries. Rhubarb. Asparagus – be prepared to sow a bit of salt with the cuttings for asparagus.

Plan your garden. Lay out on paper, the amount of space for each packet or handful of seeds. Calculate the row spacing – some things need to be close, others can be, still others – cucumbers, tomatoes – need lots of space for one or three plants. When you plan, allow for when things mature. Today, we can read on the packet this one comes in in 45 days, that in 65. Try to plant time-wise, to stagger the crop – perhaps a row of lettuce is planted a bit each week, so that fresh lettuce matures over several weeks or months. Tomatoes will be good fresh – but you will want to them to be mostly ready to can all at the same time. Peas are nice fresh, and you can stagger the planting to extend when they will be ready to eat.

Sweet corn comes to mind with ‘fresh from the garden’. Corn, sweet or field corn (also called ‘dent’ corn) takes a lot of resource for the yield. If you have the space, then by all means, corn is a very good crop. Especially if you want a few rows of corn to space out some melon or pickle patches, or something you need to shade. Dent corn can provide livestock feed, corn meal, and wild bird seed.

And wild birds can be part of your post-Peak Oil program to manage insect pests, both garden pests and general people-type pests.

Did you know, with planning, that parts of your garden can be weeded by geese? Once the plants begin maturing, the geese look for newly-germinated plants – weeds. Quite efficient. And geese can be easy to keep, and pretty good for watch animals – it is *tough* to sneak up on a couple of geese.

You will want to consider fencing for your garden – to manage neighbor kids, and to control the theft of food by rabbits, squirrels, and other four-foot raiders and destroyers.

And maybe most important of all you can grow in a garden – is personal satisfaction, and a wholesome place to raise children, re-train adults, etc. “He who plants a seed and waits, believes in God.” My mother tacked that up in the kitchen, back home.