Snow and post-harvest musings
Wednesday evening, October 28, 2009. The pregnant moon found a hole in the clouds as Max & I trudged up from the barn in deep twilight. Clearing would give credence to the overnight forecast lows in the 20s. On the other hand, there is an 80% chance of more snow tonight. So take your pick. We awoke this morning to 6″ new snow on the orchards; our first of the season, and it continued to flurry most of the day. The Wilson boys and I were grateful for work indoors in the barn although it was pretty darn chilly for gripping tools and pounding nails. The present tasks are to complete the ceiling in the first floor (and other details) in preparation for blowing-in cellulose insulation tomorrow. The wind still blows through missing windows and doors — but all in due course.
At least we now have a space tempered from the elements for a myriad of farm tasks. As our readers know, we were grateful for the cool space in which to pack our peaches and apples. We also crushed and fermented a half-bin of our pinot munier and chambourcin grapes to make our ‘09 vintage wine. We were, in fact, returning to the house from pressing these grapes when tonight’s moon peered over my shoulder, 78% full. We had just pressed 70 gallons of wine into a barrel and carboys.
First snow denotes the return of winter. October, even late October, seems early for winter around here. True, the snow-level has been creeping down the slopes of Mt Lamborn and the high peaks are well-blanketed. And, we’ve had a few cold nights, two of which gave rise to the urgent need to pick the grapes before they were truly ready. With help from our neighbors we managed to pick over six tons of grapes in three days and the chemistry of the juice turned out to be just fine. We were pleased with this yield for our first commercial wine-grape harvest. Still, I’m unprepared for winter. My fire wood supply is meager, there’s holes to be dug and trellis repairs to be affected before the ground freezes. The trees and vines, though, appreciate a little snow on the ground and if this melts off, as we expect, it’ll help to moisten the soil going into winter. An all-too-brief Indian Summer enabled us to almost complete the roof on the barn and siding on the East gable end. Windows are due to be delivered next week. And, since I am building the doors, I’d better get moving on that part of the project.
A highlight of our post-harvest season was a four-day visit from nine Colorado College students who camped in the orchard and helped us take-in bird netting from the grapes and muck out silt from the pond. They also helped a friend put his farm to bed for the winter.
So, with snow, cold, and shortened daylight, we wind down the season. And I have time to write and reflect. Another harbinger of the coming months of hibernation is the filling of our freezers and shelves of preserves. Last Friday I picked-up our annual side of locally-grown, grass-finished beef from our friend, neighbor, and rancher, Cynthia Houseweart (see princessbeef.com), for the freezer. This yearly occasion is a social event as well as nutritional one. Parked haphazardly in the shade of cottonwoods, cars and pickups clog the ranch driveway. We’re supposed to load our flats of paper-wrapped frozen beef cuts and get them expeditiously to our home freezer. But there’s Shirley and Bill and Margaret and Philip and Pam and Steve; folks we haven’t seen since last year’s pick-up or, at least, since the irrigation water was turned-on back in the Spring, all picking-up theirs. And we finally have a little time to visit with one another; to compare stories on the crop-year just past.
Along with meat, Cynthia customarily hands-out literature intended to remind us that the benefits of local, organic, healthy, nutritious food outweighs the modest additional cost. We, of course, don’t need to be coached on this. This year’s handout was a reprint from the Aug 31, 2009 Time magazine. The sustainable ag conversation has gone mainstream. The author went to lengths to underscore the hidden costs of “cheap” food and to reinforce the value of food that’s raised in harmony with the natural world.
While I applaud the message and its significance, I want to echo the complaint of our friend, John Cooley, the organic potato farmer: Why should the crops we raise, and their cost, be compared in any way with what conventional ag produces? Why indeed? Ecological farmers cherish and nurture our soils as the first essential of healthy food. We build soil health and support the intricate web of organisms in the soil using compost, cover crops, and natural fertilizers. Healthy, well-fed soils produce healthy plants which produce healthy, nutritious, and delicious food which is our passion and our mission. Industrial ag regards the soil as expendable: kill the life in it along with the weeds and pests, degrade it, mine it, erode it, and when it can no longer provide what the plants need, then apply synthetic fertilizers. We control pests by supporting a balanced agricultural ecology so that bugs, birds, and the plants themselves are able to combat bad bugs. I could go on: we support local businesses, a vibrant rural community while industrial ag trades in a national, even global arena.
Really, there is no comparison in the nutritional value of the food produced sustainably vs industrially just as there is no comparison in the way its produced. There is no separation. Wouldn’t you rather feed your family food that builds and supports their health and development? Wouldn’t you rather support vibrant local communities and open, agricultural landscapes? For all these values, to spend a little more at your local farm stand, farmers market, or locally-oriented grocery, is a small price to pay. Especially when you understand that, on average, we spend the smallest share of our disposable income on food of any developed economy and that it’s close to half what US families spent in the 1960s. Let’s put our money where our mouth (and health) is!