I Heart Farms

Pee-Wee's Pig Adventure: Herding Pigs with Logan

"So, maybe you don't want to come for the actual pig-herding itself. That could be a fiasco." Those were the words of my friend, Jim Dunlop, who'd invited me out to TLC Ranch to photograph something most people will never witness in their lives: herding a large number of pigs from one pasture to another. With only the services of only two men and himself to accomplish the task.

"Jim, everyone wants to photograph a fiasco. Would you deny me that opportunity?"

He laughed and allowed that I had a point.

The next thing to consider was whether or not I should bring Logan. Bob said yes, emphatically: Logan is smart, well-behaved, and could be trusted to a Very Good Little Boy in these circumstances.

And so it was on Friday afternoon, shortly after Logan's nap, that we arrived at the ranch, already finding Jim standing at the bottom of the big hill, uselessly shaking buckets of feed and calling, "Pigs, pigs, pigs, pigs" to a drove of pigs that had no more interest in him than if he'd been made of cardboard. Those are the pigs, at right, ignoring Jim, who is farther down the hill and out of the frame.

Roxana Robinson on pigs, Michael Ruhlman on pigs and chefs

One of my favorite denizens of Readerville.com is Roxana Robinson, who writes so beautifully in the Gardening Lit thread. (I linked there to a post about her vegetable garden.) I begged her permission to reprint this little piece about pigs, which she graciously granted me.

She writes: More news from the rural countryside.

Guillermo Payet, LocalHarvest.org founder, injured

Pictured at left, Guillermo Payet and Logan, last summer.

This is very sad. While the prognosis for a full recovery is good, Guillermo was badly injured on Monday when a drunk driver hit him while he was out jogging with a friend.

The news from LocalHarvest.org is:

Dear Friends,

I am writing with sad but hopeful news. On Monday evening, while out jogging with a friend, Guillermo Payet was hurt in a hit and run accident involving a drunk driver. For those of you who are new to LocalHarvest, Guillermo is the site's founder, president, and champion. He is also a great man.

Guillermo was thrown to the pavement by the car, and hit his head. G. has spent the last few days in intensive care at the hospital in Santa Cruz. The good news is that his prognosis for a complete recovery is very good. He has great care and is in an excellent hospital.  Meanwhile, though, it will likely be some months before he is again running at full capacity.

Knowing that many of you are fond of Guillermo and will be saddened by his misfortune, I wanted to write and let you know how you can be kept abreast of his progress. I also wanted to let you know how you can help.

G's friends have set up a blog-style web site at http://www.gpayet.info. Since it's a blog, you will have to scroll to the bottom to get the original story. In terms of offering your support, there are three main things that would be most valuable. First, the LocalHarvest (LH)  site and its members mean the world to G. He has devoted his life to making LH work. He has committed everything to the idea of leveraging technology to support the family farmers of LocalHarvest. Hearing from you would be very meaningful to him.

You can send him electronic messages here: http://www.gpayet.info/?p=11. If you want to send a card, you could mail it to Guillermo Payet, 220-21st Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95062.

On behalf of Guillermo's family, thank you for sending Guillermo your good thoughts and your prayers for his full recovery. Thank you, too, for your patience over the next few months while Tere and I keep LocalHarvest growing until Guillermo returns.

Sincerely,
Erin Barnett

More below.

Eat Local Challenge: Alarming News

No photos today, just some alarming news from the farmers.

I was at the (insane) downtown market Santa Cruz yesterday, and the word is out: rain is having a devastating effect on the spring planting. Twenty-seven rainy days in March, and more already this month.

Farmer Joe Rubin says, "We'll have to toss our first plantings of tomato seedlings in the greenhouse: they're already starting to flower and we can't get them in the ground because it's too wet."

"It's too wet...we can't plant" is the litany of my farmer friends, and it's bad. Crops are being delayed, and the winter crops are running out.

When I told Joe about the Eat Local Challenge in May, he laughed grimly and said, "You'll be having a lot of bitter greens and six-month-old winter squash." May in particular is looking bleak: these farmers are really taking a bad hit.

A ripple effect can easily occur that will affect the entire country, as they look to California to provide them with produce.

Hey, Locavores, can we move the event to June? Otherwise, I think we'll be discouraged and uninspired, and we will suffer attrition in our ranks.

Meanwhile, at our house, we've got seven tomato plants in the ground, as well as cardoons and some carrots. None of those will be ready in May, but we've got a little garden started. And today the sun is out. I can see blue skies...but I don't know if they're smiling at me.

More later.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "The more we pour the big machines, the fuel, the pesticides, the herbicides, the fertilizer and chemicals into farming, the more we knock out the mechanism that made it all work in the first place." —David R. Brower

Thanks for visiting.

Where There's a Will: Growing Power

Finally! A story I've been eager to tell since I attended the Family Farm conference last month, about a two-acre farm in urban Milwaukee. Pictured above, tilapia at Growing Power. (I'm making the thumbnails smaller than usual so I can get in more photographs.)

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It's miraculous, really: fish fertilize the water. The water feeds the plants, The plants filter the water. The fish swim in the water. You can eat the fish (tilapia, yum), you can eat the plants. You can't eat the worms, who are also part of this equation, but they've got work to do. It is the innovative combination of composting, aquaponics/hydroponics, and vermiculture that has brought national attention to a very special spot in urban Milwaukee.

I had met farmer Will Allen at the Growing Power booth at the Family Farm Expo in Chicago a little less than a month ago. It was impossible to miss him: at six feet and seven inches, he towered over everyone in the room. One solid handshake from him, with a "come and visit us—it will change your life" later, and I found myself making plans to visit the Growing Power center in Milwaukee, where I coincidentally would be spending Saturday night before flying home late on Sunday.

A Whole New Life

A lot of you know that I've been struggling financially since taking on the responsibility of having our little grandson, Logan, here on a nearly full-time basis. Earlier this week, the Monsanto Corporation contacted me, offering me a near full-time position (30 hours/week) that they're creating, as a consultant.

I guess they've been watching my blog and are impressed with what they see: the actual e-mail I received (from the hilariously named Hugh Grant, CEO—I am not making that up!) said that they've "seen the light," and are interested in taking a completely new direction with products for sustainable living. After some serious thought, and some even more serious negotiations, I decided to accept the job. The six-figure income, benefits, and stock options won't hurt, and I am already consulting with some accountants and tax people about setting up some kind of endowment that will even further help sustainable agriculture on an international basis*. How's that for big news?

Read on.