The Beginning Farmer

I realize that often I am behind the times (sometimes I am really behind), but one of the cool things that has come out of the Des Moines Register article is all of the encouragement that have come from people all over the state. We have had neighbors stop by to chat, people have sent encouraging e-mails, and just recently we received a magazine in the mail (actually it came awhile ago, but we have neglected checking our farm mail) called the, “Small Farmer’s Journal“.

This was a publication that I had never heard of, but after flipping though just a few pages I knew it was one that I would like despite the fact that it is geared towards horse farming. The magazine has neat pictures, great articles about horses and faming with them, interesting stuff on crop rotations, and so much more.

I also thought it was cool that the particular issue that we received had a reprint of a 1934 bulletin from the, “Division of Farm Management and Costs, Bureau of Agricultural Economics”. The article is titled, “Planning a Subsistence Homestead: or Growing a Better Life”. It had interesting information on setting up a homestead, gardens, and livestock areas. I thought it was pretty cool that some of their 2 and 4 acre layouts were very similar to the layouts that we have come up with for our “homestead” area of the farm.

Check out the link above if you are interested in learning more about this magazine, or let me know if you already have enjoyed it (remember I’m probably a little behind on this one).

Here is a neat picture that my wife took out at the farm today. If you frequent her blog you will notice it showed up there as well, but since I was a little to busy to be snapping pictures today we are going to have a duplicate. Anyways, I think this is a pretty cool picture because of the things going on in the picture … and just out of the picture. Here is what was going on:

• You can see Bobby supervising off on the left … He and his wife stopped by just to check it out and see what was going on.
• Cal is handing a piece of sheet rock up to Doug (he started this whole deal with the help) and Steve on the scaffolding.
• There are various wires running up and down the walls thanks to Bob (and my wife).
• You can see that we have some food on the platforms in the foreground so that everybody has enough energy.
• The walls and the insulation are up thanks to my father-in-law along with a few others (Ken, Dave, etc.).
• And, I’m over on the right trying to figure out what needs to be wired up for our doorbell (I skipped the fire alarms and am going to seek advice on those).

Now, what you don’t see in the picture is this…

• Tim helping with various prep work, including moving 100 pieces of sheetrock out of the way
• Paul and Al are over working on putting up sheet rock on the walls.
• Charlie and Dave are getting another piece ready to be put up.
• And, the rain is coming down outside making the roads a muddy mess for guys that baby their vehicles! They really are sacrificing a ton to help us out.

It took us a little while to get going this morning (getting things set up, fixing an electrical problem, and remembering all of the steps), but once we got going I’m very excited about the progress we made in such a short time. It will be neat to see what we get done tomorrow!

I found this video yesterday and thought it was pretty humorous. Apparently it is from “Tex” Avery (Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, and more) and was created in 1954. Of course it is a comical look at what the farm of the future will look like, but I think it does prove a point. We still haven’t been able to cross a chicken with an ostrich or a cow with a kangaroo, but we have done as much as we can to genetically modify our livestock and crops. The question then becomes what will that do for the “farm of the future” now?

Enjoy the video below and let me know your thoughts on the question I posed above.

P.S. For some reason the sound pops in and out on my computer, hopefully you have better luck

I’m not so much swamped with paper work as this cartoon image shows, although I do have plenty of “desk work” that needs to be done at the church. But, we are swamped with all of the building work that has been going on out at the farm … which is a good thing! I feel like we have made some good progress the past couple of days and I’m really getting excited (and anxious to move out there). But, since we have been so swamped I am having less and less time to blog. With that in mind I really encourage you to check out my wife’s blog today. She has a great building update post.

Also, if you want to see what else I’m blogging about don’t forget to check me out at the Epi-Log. I put up a post three times a week over there on a wide-range of farming and semi-farming related topics.

Four years ago Becca and I spent two years working at Cono Christian Boarding School in the corn fields north of Cedar Rapids, IA. Even though we were only there for two years and were completely ready to move on when we left it is an experience/occupation that I will never regret. We learned so much while we lived and worked on the campus of the boarding school (we had a boys dorm in our basement that I was in charge of), but I believe one of the biggest things that we were taught while living there was what real community looks like.

Frequently we long for the intense community that we were able to experience while we lived and worked with our friends in such close proximety (even though the thought of working at the school again doesn’t thrill us). During the school year at Cono we at dinner and supper together with the students and staff most nights, spent time working together on work crews, enjoyed free time together on the soccer field or around the state, and supported each other through many … many … many difficult things! It really was community at it’s finest, and possibly a glimpse of what life may have been like in some areas a hundred years ago or more.

But, I say all that only to say that recently we have experienced the wonders of community. Eariler this week while I was working in my office at the church a member stopped in and began asking about the progress of our house. I gave him a quick run down of the progress we had made and what we were hoping to accomplish in the coming days … well, it didn’t take him long to realize that we weren’t going to have much done by the time we needed to move in (Sept. 26th).

To make a long story short … yesterday he gathered up a crew of men from the church to go out to our place and checkout what needed to be done. Then they sort of made up a “Help Ethan, Becca, and the Kids Out” plan and are hoping to have way more done on the house by move in day than we could ever have imagined. Somebody mentioned that we can call it an old fashinoned barn raising (expect this barn is our house)!

This is a blessing beyond our belief and comprehession and we are so thankful for such a wonderful community. Hopefully I can share some updated building progress pictures soon with quite a bit more work done!

For the past couple of months I have been reading the book, “Harris on the Pig: Practical Hints for the Pig Farmer“, by Joseph Harris. I have really enjoyed everything I have read, but the first eleven chapters or so didn’t really lend themselves to the chapter reports that I have commonly done with other books. That is partially because they were really just historical perspective/informational chapters and partially because this book was originally published in 1883. Some (I’m not really sure who, but I’m sure they exist) would think that the age of this book disqualifies it as an important book to read for the beginning farmer, but I think the age of the book totally qualifies it and practically makes it a “must read”.

One of the things I enjoy most about this book is the real opportunity to learn from the farmers who have come before us and succeeded. Much of the first eleven chapters deals with the historical aspects of where pigs came from, different breeds of the time, and what constituted a nicely formed pig at the time. Of course what consumers desire today is different that over a hundred years ago, but the basic principles still can apply … and they probably should apply in many cases.

Also, I have really enjoyed reading about the various breeds of the time that Mr. Harris wrote the book and the origins of those breeds. Since he was a contemporary to many of the breeders building up some of the breeds we know today, or he at least was able to contact people that knew other people, he is able to provide an interesting perspective of what was popular and fashionable at the time. It is also really neat to read the words of a man who was very passionate about pigs and their breeding.

Event though the book may seem outdated and the writing style may be different than some are used to I think anyone interested in raising pigs, already raising pigs, or even with an interest in agricultural history should check out this book. Hopefully in the days to come I’ll have time to highlight some of the other cool things from what I have read so far … but, for now I’ll just have to leave it at this short introduction.

I hope that I can soon update you on some building progress … because we have so crazy and pretty cool stuff going on!

Well, it must not be frozen all of the time, because I just ran across an article about the growing number of direct marketing farms in Alaska. I encourage you to read the article titled, “Despite Alaska’s Challenges, New Farmers Take Root,” from the Christian Science Monitor (this is not an endorsement of them…). I don’t have much time to blog about it today because youth group is starting and we have some interesting developments going on with our building project, but do read the article when you have a spare moment because it is pretty cool (pun intended).

Yesterday was Labor Day. That means a day for America’s workers to take some time off from the daily grind and enjoy one last blast of summer. But, it also means that the annual Chariton Farm Machinery Auction is happening. That is where I spent part of my day along with my dad yesterday. Just imagine two auctioneer trucks across from each other, hundreds of people, and thousands of pieces of used and new machinery. That is what yesterday was like … oh, and it was about 90º! It was a pretty good day, but I could have done without the heat.

I would say that it was a pretty successful day for me at the auction. In fact I don’t think I will need to go to many more auctions really looking for equipment … now I can just go for recreational purposes and to pick up the deals. I’ll give you a short run down of what I came home with…

• One thing I wanted to get today was a 3-point brush cutter. Luckily they had about 20 plus to choose from. I was there at about 6:45 (15 minutes before the start time) and picked out the few that I was interested in. I ended up buying the second one that they sold (about five minutes in). It is just a small Howse mower similar to the one pictured above. I’m happy to have it and I’m happy with the price.
• The next thing I bought wasn’t actually for me. My dad wasn’t able to make it bright and early because he had further to drive so he had me on the lookout for a heavy-duty post hole auger for the John Deere 4020. These were a bit more pricey, but then there was one that hadn’t been repainted that I bid on and won. Hopefully it works…
• After that I bid on a few disks (one thing on my list I didn’t get) until I bought a $50 post hole auger for me. It is a pretty light duty piece of equipment, but if it works it should go well with the Farmall 450 (and save my back).
• Finally, as they were getting to the end of the line (about 90 minutes into the sale) for the three-point equipment I bought the last two-bottom three-point plow there. It wasn’t the bargin that I was hoping for, but it was one that I had picked out as my top two. This will come in handy with the garden from time to time and will be nice to have around if it is needed.
• But, that is not all! After watching for about another 90 minutes and watching my dad buy a flarebox wagon I purchased something that I didn’t intend on buying. There was a little single axle hog/sheep trailer sitting in the line. It appeared to have a decent axle and a stout oak slat floor so I thought I might bid on it. This piece of equipment would come in handy soon when I needed to take a few pigs to the processor. Luckily not to many people are looking for a glorifed hog panel/flatbed trailer to haul 5 or 6 hogs/sheep. It went for a nice price and now I can hold off on buying a stock trailer for a little while. In the mean time I can borrow my dad’s trailer when I need to move cattle!

It is always a good idea to have a list of things you want/need instead of going to the auction and getting swept up in the moment. But, in the case of a LARGE machinery consignment auction like this it is always a little different. Usually when you go to a sale you know that there are a couple of particular things that you want, but at a big consignment sale like this one you may not know about all of the things until the day of the sale. Now, if I just can fix the flat tire I got on the truck on the way home I’m good to go!

Hopefully everyone is getting the chance to spend some time with family this Labor Day. As for me, I will be meeting my dad for the granddaddy of machinery auctions bright and early tomorrow morning.

I did find this great video on YouTube that I thought I would share with you in honor of Labor Day. As you may know the first national Labor Day was in 1884 and was to be a day off for the workers of the country. Of course there is never a complete “day off” for the farmer, although there are slower times. The video below (I’m thankful for the family that put it together) shows some of the farm progress from 1938 – 1958. I hope you enjoy it…