Our First Official Logo!

We couldn't be happier with our logo. There is quite a bit of symbolism that may not be apparent. We wanted to lay it out for people to truly see who we are as an organization. 

1) Soil - Rarely if ever do you see soil in a farms logo. It is our primary focus and we felt it appropriate for people to have to look to the soil to find out who we are. 

2) The Farmer - Our farmer in fabulous flannel could be either a man or a woman. This is to represent the fact that Becca is often the one moving the animals during the day despite Danny being the farmer everyone recognizes. With the farmer facing away, it also implies this model can be replicated by other farmers. 

3) In the Shepherd's right hand is the staff. The shepherd's staff represents guiding his sheep, caring for them and defending them. Danny put down his M-16 A2 from the Marine Corps and picked up a new weapon in the fight against climate change: a staff. It is also biblically symbolic. Danny feels God has chosen him for this mission. Much like when Moses put down his sword and was given a lowly staff by God to free the people of Egypt, Danny wields the staff with a surety that God will get us through anything. 

4) In the Shepherd's left hand is the conductor's wand. This is to represent our mantra that each part of the farm is an instrument that plays a beautiful sound. It is the farmer's job to ensure each "instrument" is harmonizing well, adding to a greater whole. 

5) The sun - While this may seem obvious, notice how everything is pointing towards the sun. Everything we do is focused on keeping plants green and growing. The sun is also what dictates how we plant our fruit and nut trees. The sun is also symbolic of the Son, Jesus. Notice the position of the farmer's hands. The are out and lifted somewhat up as if in surrender towards the Son. Farming is the greatest act of faith I know. It is a terrifying, rewarding roller coaster of a challenge and God provides us what we need and only when we need it. I will write more blog posts on this subject later. Without the sun/Son, we have nothing. 

6) Nut Trees - Our farm celebrates large, mast producing trees. Many farmers fear planting trees so large in the pastures. When properly planted, they are a wonderful addition and add to the overall strength of the complex yet uncomplicated system. They produce a saleable crop, provide shade for the animals in the heat, and a wealth of habitat for the birds and insects that rely on them. The two nut trees pictured mostly represent Oak, Chinese and American Chestnut, Black Walnut, and Hickory. We also have quite a few hazelnut bushes. 

7) the Fruit trees - Our fruit trees are the main landscape feature in our pastures. They are the primary source of shade in our pastures and provide so much: pollen for bees, beautiful early Spring Picture opportunities, spaced out branches for birds to land, windfall fruit for our animals to eat, obviously fruit for people, eventually flavored wood chunks for grilling and smoking, shade for the sheep, potential income from the pruning that can be grafted onto new rootstock to make new trees, a potential habit for edible mushrooms like morels and wine caps and so much more. If you notice, the position of the fruit trees in relation to the sun means the grass is partially shaded. This is very important for not only the animals during the Summer, but also the grass itself. Our cool season pastures really grow well despite the heat because they get plenty of rest and shade that moves; keeping the soil cool while still providing the direct sunlight for the pasture to grow.

8) The large plant in the grass under the trees is supposed to be comfrey. Comfrey has a symbiotic relationship with the fruit trees in that comfrey helps fight grass which hurts the fruit tree. It also is a dynamic accumulator which is a fancy way of saying it soaks up extra certain minerals and makes them more bioavailable to other plants in the system. Comfrey is wonderful to graze but it can also be sold as an herb, fresh or dried. 

9) The Chicken- the chicken follows the cows as birds are the experts at being nature's janitors. Chickens help scratch apart cow manure piles or cow "patties" which keeps the fly population down. Chickens are naturally omnivores (so please never buy fancy eggs that say "from hens fed a vegetarian diet) and appreciate the bugs attracted to the other animals. You also get an egg and meat from them.

10) The cow- You may notice how little this cow is. Yes, the scale is somewhat off but that is somewhat intentional for a few reasons: a. smaller framed cows do better on grass and b. we didn't want our logo dominated by a single animal. Cows have dietary preferences that differ from sheep and pigs. Cows like tall grass. Their heavy weight makes pushing seed or plant biomass into the ground during dry weather easier. It is a challenge to manage that same affect in the Winter.

11) The sheep - Our specialty from the beginning has been sheep. We have planted pastures solely with sheep. We have improved soil with sheep. We have built a reputation on sheep. We keep ours out year round and can't imagine farming without them. They are very easy on new soil, on wet soil and our wild birds just adore sitting on our ewes' backs and being in with them. The lambs are always a hit and we feel a great deal of pride seeing someone who has sworn off trying lamb taste ours for the first time. 

12) Pigs- Pigs are a very self limiting enterprise so far. We constantly strive to acquire genetics that are hardy enough to farrow outside and gentle enough they don't destroy the pasture. Pigs are wonderful obviously for eating but also for cleaning up windfall fruit under the fruit trees, taking advantage of acorns and walnuts and hickory nuts where they fall, and for plugging holes in any of our ponds. The pork we sell is the dark meat, marbled perfection best cooked medium rare on the grill. 

13) The wildlife!! Since starting our farm on our own land just two years ago, we have seen a complete rejuvenation of the food chain from all the field mice and wild rabbits to the hawks above. Birds love our farm and that is nature's greatest compliment to us. What is good for the bird is good for the herd. Eventually, we would like to partner with the Cincinnati Zoo to help document our different species of wildlife that has taken refuge on our agricultural sanctuary. 

14) The circle itself. Everything we do and each piece of our puzzle is part of a greater whole. I think a lot of mankind, especially those who do not consider the envinronmental ramifications of their food choices, see themselves as outside the circle. Lately, as life becomes more and more convenient and busy, we care less and less about what is in the circle. Some of us take such an image and lament our very existence on this planet. I, for one, love the vision I have been given and I love the chance to help others. Yes, our planet is being trashed thoroughly but instead of accepting that fact, we must do what we can to respect and save the environment right in our own backyards, neighborhoods, communities and cities. Why support the fight against deforestation in other countries but take part in clear cutting our native woodlands to put in malls and parking lots. Why support earth day and then go to a festival or concert and throw all your trash on the ground. Envision ourselves in the circle and as stewards of the rest of the circle. Only then will our great grandchildren have a chance at a normal life.

     Overall, this logo speaks of the balance and harmony of our farm. People who farm based on this logo description will have an abundant and fruitful farm that will outproduce itself year after year while fighting climate change. 

We have finally begun our fundraiser!!!! Hopefully you can find us worthy of at least posting to your own facebook pages to let the world know what we are going to do. Hopefully we can bring awareness to the way people's food is processed now, bring hope to disabled children and their families, and help to renew Farmer as a worthwhile desired profession in our corner of the world.

Link:   Our Farm Fundraiser!!!!



If you have any suggestions or questions, please ask. I am so passionate about farming in an earth friendly way I find myself talking about it in every conversation I am in. In other words, I LOVE THIS STUFF!!! Ask away!

Raw Milk and the Freedom to Chose

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=498103576907552

Take a minute and watch the above video.

    In several states around the country, raw milk is illegal for sale and big agricultural is working very hard to spread that into other states.

Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund Raw Milk Map

From what I can gather about the above video, this farmer is being forced to dump out the entire "batch" of milk on his farm because he delivered part of that batch of raw milk to a purchasing consumer. I have several problems with this:

1. Who is to say that a knowing and willing consumer cannot purchase whatever food they would like to feed their family? People are still allowed to drink diet soda and smoke for crying out loud. 
2. The milk was still on his farm. It could have been used to feed his own family or even just give it to the hogs as slop! This country makes such a big deal about there not being enough food and how such a large portion of our agricultural production goes right back to feed our livestock due to our over-indulgence in meat.
3. There was never a lab test that popped positive for campylobactor or listeria or any disease causing bacteria.
4. Had he given the milk away, this wouldn't be an issue. It only matters when money is involved.

Dirty milk could pose a health risk and I do not dispute that. Dirty beef could as well but it is shoved down our throats like there is no tomorrow. But why is milk given this holy grail target status by the FDA? What does homogenization do? What does pasteurization do? Wait, who's in the Superbowl this year? I wonder when the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition comes out? Is Taylor Swift on her 20th or 21st boyfriend? ... And suddenly our food isn't as important...  Hence why it is so hard to get legislation passed to gain back our food freedom. I believe deep down congress will do as elected and be the voice of the people. It is great that thousands of people are concerned about their food but we really aren't going to get a government ear until millions are concerned. Now that I have your attention, let's go back to how we adulterate raw milk into a "safe" product.

Homogenization: forcing milk through a very very fine metal screen in order to break up the fat molecules. This helps the casein in milk bind with the much smaller fat cells and the casein helps keep the fat cells from floating to the top. In essence, the main reason for homogenization is to lengthen shelf life so that milk doesn't have to be rushed across the country overnight just so it won't spoil after a week or two of distributin among local stores. Homogenizing milk also enables farmers to blend milk from several cows into one large vat or tank which helps to standardize the color, taste and texture. The American consumer now prefers bland and consistent over flavorful and varied.

Pasteurization:  The heating up of milk to at least 1to varying degrees for various lengths of time; the lower the temperature the longer the time. This is done to potentially kill dangerous bacteria (most milk doesn't contain these dangers) in milk that could cause infections, sickness or even death. Doing so also kills enzymes in milk that would otherwise speed up the decomposition process resulting in rancid, rotten milk.

They both have very negative effects.

Homogenization: A lot of milk's proteins, amino acids, minerals and vitamins are attached to or contained in the fat cells. Homogenization destroys some of these minerals and vitamins. Our bodies recognize the natural form of milk and these larger fat cells. Broken down, these mini fat cells can then go directly into our blood stream through our stomach. They are turned into something our bodies don't recognize so the fats are either held in the stomach or just flushed out as garbage.

Pasteurization: While milk has less than a 1% chance to contain harmful bacteria, it has a 100% chance to contain beneficial bacteria and enzymes, vitamins and minerals. Lactase, the enzyme that helps digest the lactose in milk, is destroyed in pasteurization. Is it a wonder more and more people are becoming lactose-intolerant? We aren't giving ourselves a fighting chance to digest it if we don't have the enzyme that was supposed to accompany lactose... Vitamins and minerals are also destroyed  or depleted during the process.

And both lead to longer shelf life which means more and more time for unstable vitamins to break down...

Before this article gets any longer, I want to end it with my proposal.
Not everyone wants raw milk. That's fine. At least give people that do, the chance and freedom to do so. How can we make this legal you ask? I propose we have consumers who wish to purchase raw milk sign a hold harmless agreement/waiver effective for such a duration of time. This paper would be filed with the farmer and consumer. If the consumer ends up sick (because that is what the fear mongering around raw milk is all about), that farmer has the incentive to make absolutely sure that person understood the risks and signed that legal document holding the farmer harmless. It would also hold the consumer harmless if the FDA demands they seize your milk without a warrant like some almighty force without consequences. Now, could this open the door for lower standard farmers to not worry so much about cleanliness since they would be held harmless? Possibly but not likely.

     These deals would be done on a very personal level. The consumer has the chance to see the cows and production facilities. If the farmer refuses, I wouldn't sign the agreement as a consumer. It is in the small scale farmer's best interest to make sure his milk is the safest and best in town. His business lives and dies by word of mouth marketing. If Suzy Q gets very sick and goes around saying it was because of farmer Johnson's milk, his business takes a huge hit. If she has a legitimate claim, it should. Those checks and balances have been removed from our farmer consumer relationship in the ever growing industrial-agricultural "dependent" society.

    Let your voices be heard and they will hear you.

Feeding Tilapia

Looking down from above the rain barrel and through the glass

Many of you know we are currently raising Tilapia in two aquariums in our house. What you may not know is that we produce the majority of the largest ones' feed. And get this, it is much closer to their natural diet of plants. Duckweed and fairy moss are two of the fastest growing, yet smallest plants in the world. They have all kinds of benefits amongst being very easy to grow. The picture below shows the glass we placed on top of a rain barrel in an effort to grow through the "winter." I use that term loosely because admittedly, GA has a very very mild winter. Either way, the glass magnifies the suns rays as well as helps to keep heat in at night; it isn't air tight by any means, but it gets the job done.

A close up of the fair moss right after taking a scoop

Growing duckweed and fairy moss to feed the fish has dozens of benefits both for the fish and the farmer.

• The plants have roots that reach down about 1" at most. Those roots filter the water taking up excess nutrients. 
• Excess nutrients being removed means there is less decay in the water which means more oxygen is available. 
• They can be grown in very little amount of space. 
• They grow/multiple amazingly fast. 
• They are very nutritious for the fish.
•  They help regulate the temperature of the water by acting as a layer of insulation. 
• If left uncovered in the open or atop a pond, these tiny plants offer the perfect place for small creatures of flight such as honeybees (another very important farm creature) a place to land in order to drink safely. The same could be said about flies and mosquitoes but that is why I am very pro-dragonfly: the number one predator of mosquitoes. And so far, we only have seen dragonflies on the plants anyway.

 Each day I take one small aquarium net full of the plants and put them in with the fish.This gives the remaining plants a bit of room to spread out.

Close up right before taking a scoop to feed the fish

And in less than 24 hours... voila!  The rain barrel is jam-packed full of nutrient rich food! Yes, we have a rain barrel instead of something more volume efficient. The plants only need water 2" deep at most but the extra volume of water means the water temp will fluctuate less dramatically which is a concern of ours with this being outdoors. The tilapia, because of how much they eat, poop a lot. I use a gravel vacuum to get the majority of the big hunks out and dump it into a small surface opening. Those extra nutrients keep the plants growing. Note: Have stale, pure water is not a good growing environment for these tiny floating plants. While it isn't one big connected system, this is basically going to be our aquaponics set up minus the extra vegetables and salad greens. Man I can't wait to do this on a larger scale and teach other people this stuff!

Does the system really want new small scale farmers?

      So there it was, the perfect farm starter property. Yeah, it needed about $15,000 of work before it was move in ready, but with 23 acres of pasture plus a pond and a usable barn for a list price of 94,900, it was a great deal. All I had to do was get a loan...
 
      I spent 5 hours Tuesday on the phone with online banks, major banks, local banks, credit unions and military only banks. These are the reasons I was told I cannot get a farming loan for a primary residence mortgage through their specific insitutions:

•  Navy Fed- We don't do anything over 10 acres but it is waiverable. Oh, you're going to be farming on it, we don't do farm loans.
• USAA- We don't do farm loans.
• Ifreedomdirect- we don't do farm loans. You're going to have to call one of the local banks. See if you can get a cosigner for the loan to give them assurance there will be continued income after you get out of the military.
• NCB (a local bank) for farm loans, we don't do conventional or VA. They can only be 5/1 ARMs. Oh, you're getting out of the military in 9 months and won't have a gauge of your future income, sorry no can do.
• First State Bank (another local bank) Getting out in 9 months? Sorry, we can't help you.
• Wells Fargo We don't do farm loans.
• Bank of America. We can do farm loans. How much is the current mortgage you have now and what is the list price of the next property? Oh, we can't give you a mortgage for a primary residence of a farm if the purchase price is less than the current property's mortgage; it is seen as an investment property because it is downsizing. (This is where I went off on the guy explaining that my net worth is more than the list price of the property and how I have zero debt, 3 cars paid off blah blah blah) Wow, sounds like you have been listening to Dave Ramsey (In a completely joking manner as if it would have no bearing on the reliability of a borrower to pay back a loan). As a matter of fact, I am helping to lead one of his classes as we speak. Well, good luck to ya...
• Adams County Bank: we can't give you a mortgage because your current income will end in 9 months. "Well, what if I use a cosigner?" We won't cosign for mortgages if the cosigner isn't living with you.
• Farm Service Agency (a division of the USDA) We could only lend you a mortgage if you have 3 years farming experience. Me: "What constitutes farming experience?" Your taxes must show you had ownership or financial liability with some sort of agricultural product for the past 3 years.

          If you go to the Veteran's Administration page for guidance on VA loans, it specifically says they will back loans for farms as long as it is the service member's primary residence. Dear VA, tell that to all your military specific banks. And is it just me, or does it seem wrong that they can deny me a loan because I am in the military and know when my paychecks will stop? What other full time job could that be applied to? I may have to do my online fundraising in two steps: one very large one to help pay the mortgage in full and a small one to purchase livestock and equipment.

           In the meantime, we are going to have a yard sale, save as much as we flippin can, we have stopped adding to the kids college funds and our retirement (that was a couple years ago that we stopped), and we'll complete Financial Peace University.
   
          In the time since I wrote the last article, Morningland Dairy (having done honest business in Missouri for 30 years where NO ONE ever got sick from their cheeses) did end up having their 50,000 pounds of cheese disposed of despite zero appeals process and zero secondary testing or even their own primary testing. The state governor didn't want to get involved in the dispute between the state milk board and one small farmer! In South Carolina, the Federation of the American Farm Bureau is quietly working to ban the sale of raw milk in the state; one of few states remaining with the right to sell raw milk. WAKE UP AMERICA! Things aren't this difficult for the small farmer for no reason...If raw milk is SO DANGEROUS, why not just educate people to the POSSIBLE dangers. Why are cigarettes still sold by the billions???? Legal in every state... We know they are horrible for the body and contain these fun little things called toxins and this addicting substance called nicotine... Why do we have to sneak around to get our "raw milk fix" when cigarettes are legal?

        Pretty soon, we are going to see the opposite of what happened throughout the 1900s and all the highly skilled and informed people are just going to leave the country, tired of the infringements, corruption and socialism.
         
   

The Last Few Months

Sorry it has been so long since my last posting. Since last September, while I have been extremely busy with Marine related things, I have also been busy learning more about farming. visiting farms, experimenting etc.

Caden helping me pick and clean one of our harvests

Our very humble salad garden

    It was around my last post that we planted our fall salad garden comprised of spinach, arugula, bibb, and other lettuces. It has been extremely prolific as we planted it in a very mature and deep raised bed. The soil is comprised of 3 years of compost, rabbit manure and home to hundreds of night crawlers.  In addition, being in the part of the yard that gets the absolute least amount of sunlight, I put up radiant barrier insulation on the fence just to reflect more light onto the plants as the sun goes down. It has worked wonders. We have harvested 4 times now and usually get 11 stuffed gallon sized ziploc bags. It is ready for its 5th harvest and the broad leafed salads show no signs of slowing while the arugula is spent. The salad has a very peppery and nutty taste mostly thanks in part to the arugula. When bagged almost right away and put in the vegetable drawer of our fridge, the salad is lasting about 4 weeks! I have learned to not wash the salad before bagging as it leaves a filmy residue after about a week. Also, I can't plant the salad to close together or it becomes a thriving jungle sanctuary for bugs.


The picture to the right is our original ten tilapia. Most of them are between 5 and 6 inches I originally bought them thinking they were pure bred blue nile tilapia. Blue Nile are more desired because they have a lower water temperature tolerance around 55 degrees. 7 out of the ten adults are shades of pink and red which makes me think they are crossed with Mozambiques or Red Nile so their low temperate threshold should be moved up to 59 or 60 degrees.
In this picture they are 5 months old. They will be harvest size around 9 months and start reproducing at 7 months. We also bought 20 fry (baby fish) 2 months after buying these 10 and we have 17 left of them. The idea being I will using the two different "generations" of tilapia to breed to each other and thereby increase our gene pool resulting in faster growth and fewer deformities and health problems.

We have visited several farms to include Anne Bibb Ruble's farm and her beautiful Highland cattle. Highlands interest me because of their long hair coats and how winter hardy they are and hardy in general. Very parasite resistant and great grazers.

We have been starting to hone in on buying land and a house or just the land or renting the land. We are seriously looking at the West Union area of Adams County. And now, wanting a house and land, we have lowered our expectations of purchasing 50-100 acres to purchasing 20-50 acres. We have looked seriously at a few places and are looking at one now that is 23 acres, pasture, small barn, creek, and a bit run down 3 bed 1 bath old farmhouse.

Becca and I are currently enrolled in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. As I will be asking for friends and family to show they believe in me by asking directly and indirectly for their financial support, I want to prove that we are good with money. Progress so far: I am proud to say that other than our house we are completely debt free and we have a 6 month emergency fund and then some. We outright own our three vehicles and will be going down to just our van and the farm truck as we move up to Ohio. Even with all that, getting into farming, just being a small farm, in order to not take out any loans and outright buy your equipment, livestock, feed, fencing and shelter, it would cost about 80,000 even with buying used equipment. There are no grants available for someone like me because I haven't had it recorded on my taxes that I have been involved in any farm related enterprise and therefore I am not considered a beginning farmer or rancher. Those are the people who have been doing this for a minimum of 3 years (small livestock) to 5 years (large livestock). Makes sense, right?

The Interim...

The egg on the bottom left was our last fresh egg. The other two are the Eggland's best.

It pains me to say we have now sold all of our chickens and our ducks. We enter in to an interim period between suburban farmer and full time farmer. We are going to work on getting our backyard into something renters can easily handle and that will not bring us any lawsuits. We have used up all our own eggs... Store bought eggs are not the same at all... We bought some Eggland's best and even some "Cage Free Organic Eggs." I will go into it in much more detail but nothing compares to an egg laid in your own back yard by a chicken that actually saw sunlight and could clean itself in dirt and not feces.

    We do have 10 fingerling tilapia growing in our 20 gallon aquarium right now. We just revamped our garden to have a good sized fall salad garden with lettuces, spinach and carrots. Other than that, we are focusing our efforts on saving and raising money to buy the farm. In the meantime, we are working on skills useful for farm life. We are widening our cooking selections by trying new techniques and recipes. I made his and her scented soap last weekend and will work on building a cold frame soon. I will try to keep everyone informed on our progress about once a month amidst the farming and food related articles and posts.