Realizing the Dream

This morning I planted seedlings. The tiny turnips pushing their little green leaves toward the sky are a positive affirmation to my ever greening thumb. We have a very simple arrangement, these seedlings and I, wherein I provide food, water, and fertile soil and they provide me with food and a healthy serving of happiness and accomplishment. And as I tucked each turnip into it's new home of sandy loam I was reminded of another time and place where I sat in the same position, kneeling before a much more mature plant--my favorite plant--a tomato.

Here, I sat before a long row of towering tomato plants. Cherry, Beefsteak, Roma all lined up and happy as could be. My now dear friend and farming advisor, Heather R., had grown these beauties from seeds earlier in the season and they were paying her back for the love and attention lavished on them with sagging branches laden with ripe red and yellow fruits. The air was saturated with the very distinct and wonderful smell of tomato plants. I remember the pure happiness as I picked ripe tomatoes off the branches and put them in a basket at my side. Justin's mother, Kimi, had brought me here for my first visit to Heather's pastoral Green Acres Farm. Justin and I had just moved from San Luis Obispo to Auburn to start our life together and I was feeling lost and a little scared of the magnitude of our move. But being at Green Acres amongst the bees and butterflies that were diligently at work beside us, pollinating the new flowers so we could have another round of vegetables was the perfect medicine. The scent of these tomato plants struck a memory of home, of the beautiful garden my Poppy would grow every year. His tomatoes were the prized plants of the garden and we always had the beautiful fruit in the house. Being out in the sunshine amongst them doing the work he did every summer was a wonderful comfort, a sense of home.

Then there was this distinct feeling of wholeness that came over me, as if my heart knew all along what I needed to be doing with myself, but my head was too caught up in the belief that I should have a six-figure job in an office at a desk. And with that completeness came a sense of calm. I looked around and everything that I saw was like a jolt of recognition. Yes, here is the garden where I will live on organic wholesome fruit and veggies. Yes, there in the pasture are the goats that will provide the milk, cheese, and yogurt that I love so much. Aha, there are the chickens scratching and crooning at the ground in search of worm and bugs, they will provide eggs and meat. Yes this is the life for me.

Of course it took me a couple more years to get fully into the swing of farming and get the confidence to really go for it, but that day was such a confirmation of the path I should take that I've never looked back or felt the need to apologize for not having a desk job in some office. Yes I do have a day job, but it is a fun place that allows me to push our farm goals further.

So here I am now with a greenhouse full of seedlings: tomatoes (of course), peppers, eggplants, broccoli, lettuce, beets, and turnips. Up the hill there is a barnyard full of chickens laying eggs and three goats (two of which are pregnant), and a hut housing 50 meat chickens. Things are pretty great here right now and only getting better.

The Beautiful Life

Our farm is nothing fancy. We do what we can with the little space and the equipment we have. We don't have a big red picturesque barn with lazy barn cats lounging in the bales of hay. We've scrounged together a modest barn surrounded by wire fencing and t-posts. We did, however, splurge on a wonderful electric netting unit and a fence charger. The most wonderful thing this provides for our animals is safe mobility. I ordered the fence off of the Kencove website. They call it a feathernet because its electric wires create a small enough grid to keep the chickens or goats in and the predators out. It came with step-in posts that are easily pushed into whatever piece of ground we desire to put it in. In our heavily wooded property Justin and I can get this thing assembled in about half an hour mostly because we need to clear paths for the fence to go. If we find a place out in the open it takes about 10 minutes. Then the animals can roam around in a new pasture. Eating, scratching, sleeping, and pooping to their heart's content until it's time to move to the next space.

Joel Salatin, my guru of farming and animal husbandry, has really capitalized on the innovation of electric fencing. His idea is that the movement to new spaces every few days keeps them healthy. They stimulate the flora to grow with their hooves and claws and then leave the wonderful gift of their manure to feed the next flush of growth. It's such a wonderful system and it makes so much sense because we are improving the land with our animals while we feed them. Letting them do what they do best, the way nature intended.

This is why we named our farm Schone Vida, Beautiful Life. It is our guidepost to the way our farm shall be run forever. A holistic goal on which to base our management decisions. A reminder that if we are to succeed, our animals must be able to behave as naturally as possible. This means experiencing the sunshine and breeze while laying in the leaf duff or grass. Why does this matter? Because we, as farmers rely on these animals to support our lifestyle. Unhappy and sick animals do not perform to the best of their ability and they certainly do not produce the best meat, eggs, or milk. I have had the pleasure of tasting the difference and I have discovered that our beautiful life on the farm produces truly the most beautiful food.