Living Slowly

I had planned to have some work in progress photos to share, and while that could be lovely, I’ve honestly not had a lot of time to spare lately. My mother and father-in-law have come up from Peru for an extended visit, and while they are very helpful, it’s a busy season here on the homestead. Having two additional adults who need to eat their main meal around 1-2PM has shifted my entire daily schedule. Add to that other friends and family day-trip visits on account of the warm summer weather, and my routines are often disrupted. 

 

It would be easy to just throw my hands up and not continue to live intentionally. To just say, “Screw it, whatever,” and just live in a reaction mode. I find that to be counterproductive in reducing anxiety. I was speaking with my brother recently about our mother’s propensity for finding four-leaf clovers. My nephew and I both appear to have inherited the ability, and something he said to me struck me as being true for me too. He said that if he sets out looking specifically for four-leaf clovers, he doesn’t find them. Think about that for a moment, when he makes it his purpose to just look for them, he doesn’t find any. 

 

When we take the time to slow down while doing our daily chores or while spending time with family, if we relax our minds to be present in the moment, wherever we are, then we can see the four-leaf clovers amidst the hundreds of regular three-leafers. When I’m not so focused on getting from point A to point B, making a meal because it has to be done, bathing a baby because she has to be bathed, but I take the time to exist in that moment, on that day, on this trip around the sun, there is a richness of detail – the aroma of fresh ginger, the wet curls on my daughter’s head, the tiny veins on a clover leaf – that I would miss completely in my rush. 

 

How do you take time to live intentionally, to live slowly, each day? 

 

Urgent Breaking News!!! New Honey Bee Research

I was going to take the time to create a pretty post with photos I took in Peru, but I've decided to save that for later this week.   A friend alerted me to a recently published article that may have cracked the issue of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) wide open.  

The article is published on http://www.plosone.org, PLOS ONE is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal.  This means that if you care about this issue, you should read the article, save it, and share it. Simply use this link to access the original article: Save the Honey Bees!

See below for their freedom of use statement:

This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. 

The long and the short of this study and the authors' conclusions is that the synergistic effects of a variety of pesticides and fungicides (previously thought not to affect honey bees) are weakening the bees' resistance to the parasite Nosema ceranae.   This is bad news for honey bees but also really 
bad news for humanity.   If you don't know why it's truly bad news humans (ie for food production), 
check out the American Beekeeping Federation page on  Pollination Facts   Apples, broccoli, and 
almonds are only a few of the important crops that depend on honey bees for pollination, not to mention
the many crops and natural plants that feed other animals or prey of other animals in the food chain.

See below for the article in a snapshot.   Remember to read the actual article using the link above and 
SHARE it!!   Our lives and our children's lives just might depend on it.

Bee pollinating a cone flower at Shepherd's Flock Farm
Photo by K. A. Payne de Chavez

The article is: 


Crop Pollination Exposes Honey Bees to Pesticides Which AltersTheir Susceptibility to the Gut Pathogen Nosema ceranae
Jeffery S. Pettis, Elinor M. Lichtenberg, Michael Andree, Jennie Stitzinger, Robyn Rose,
Dennis vanEngelsdorp


The authors come from a variety of backgrounds and universities:

Jeffery S. Pettis
Bee Research Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, Maryland, United States of America

Elinor M. Lichtenberg, Jennie Stitzinger, Dennis vanEngelsdorp
Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland, United States of America

Michael Andree
Cooperative Extension Butte County, University of California, Oroville, California, United States of America

Robyn Rose
USDA-APHIS, Riverdale, Maryland, United States of America

[Dennis vanEngelsdorp is a PLOS ONE editor. All the other authors
have declared that they have no competing interests.]



Tidbits from the article include:

Recent research suggests that honey bee diets, parasites, diseases and pesticides interact to have stronger negative effects on managed honey bee colonies.

While fungicides are typically seen as fairly safe for honey bees, we found an increased probability of Nosema infection in bees that consumed pollen with a higher fungicide load. Our results highlight a need for research on sub-lethal effects of fungicides and other chemicals that bees placed in an agricultural setting are exposed to. 

Let it Rain

I named this blog last summer when we were praying and praying that it would rain.   This summer (as per normal in Ohio) the weather is completely different.   We had a massive rain storm yesterday.   Despite loads of water and high winds, we had no plant or animal casualties.   I took a short video for my husband to share with his family back home in Camana, Peru, where it generally does not rain like this.

Thankfully it didn't last too very long, and God sent us a special treat afterwards.   So if you've ever wondered what exactly is at the end of a rainbow, it's the Shepherd's Flock Farm entrance, that's what.

Shepherd’s Flock Farm Garden – Before and After

Part 1: Creating raised beds and planting

Kate Payne de Chavez

If you look back through the blog posts, you can see some photographs of work we did along the lake in early spring before we could really get out into the garden.   It was too cold and the ground was too tough for us to get out and plant our veggies, so we satisfied ourselves with cleaning up the winter’s debris and waiting for the daffodils to bloom.   It was our way of getting out of the house and back to the farm.  

We have quite a bit of work to do to get this place back to the level of early successes that Mama and Papi had a few years ago, so we’re working together as a team to draw up a plan.

In late April and early May the ground was finally soft and dry enough to work, so Jhan and I talked with Mama and Papi about what they wanted in terms of garden beds.   We decided on beds that were approximately 4’ x 10’ and 4’ x 12’ (with a few oddly shaped beds here and there; the garden isn't exactly rectangular due to a little stream bed/drainage ditch along one side).   The walkways are generally 3’ or 4’ wide to allow for a wheel barrow to make the journey from the beds to the gate and all the way down to the compost bin.   Jhan and I laid out a grid using butcher’s twine and garden flags, and Jhan and Papi went to work creating the permanent raised beds.   I emphasize the word permanent here, because my poor mother and father have laid out and created theoretically permanent raised beds several times in the past.   Life has a way of running off with our well-made plans, and weeds invade.   That is perhaps a story for another post.   In any event, here you can see the grid lines and Jhan working away on digging out walkways and piling the soil onto the raised beds  (Mama, aka Avis, aka Nana, is in the background tidying up the asparagus bed).

Once the beds were ready, we were more than ready to plant.   We planted lettuces, peas, and beans from seed.   We then went to Skipper’s Greenhouse (here in Carroll County at 2044 Canyon Rd SW) and bought a TON of plants: tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, basil, dill, thyme, peppers, and marigolds.   The raised beds are mulched with pine needles from the pine woods on the farm, and as much of the walkways as possible are mulched with wood chips from a local tree-trimming business.   Waste not, want not.         

Around May 25th we had a very late frost, so in these images you can see tarpaulins, crates, bits of pipe, and other random materials that Papi and Jhan used to quickly cover the plants when the frost warning was announced.    Of our 48 tomato plants, I believe we lost only about 6.   We were blessed to lose so few; many of the folks around us (including commercial farmers) had a significant amount of crop damage.   

Stay tuned for Part 2 to see some After pics with the current state of the garden.  

Take care, and God bless!   

Back to our regularly scheduled programming

We are officially going to the Carrollton Farmers' Market on a regular basis.   As of this past Saturday, Mom (aka Nana) and I were manning the booth with delicious veggies for all.   We took bunches of basil, thyme, and mint, broccoli heads and florets, Hungarian wax and jalapeño peppers, Elephant garlic, and green beans.   Though it wasn't as much as we'll be offering later on in the season, we were happy to see all our friends at the market!

We cut our herbs fresh the morning of market.   

This is our lakeside patch of wild Spearmint.

Papi dug the Elephant garlic about a week and a half ago. 

The bright green stems are a few stragglers we dug on Tuesday.

Here is our humble little stand at the market, 

complete with a scrapbook of images of the farm compliments of our friends Jim and Brenda

This was our view of the market from the booth.   

The positions are first come, first served.

Back at Shepherd's Flock Farm, Papi and Jhan have been catching up on mowing after two weeks of rain (Khalil "helps" drive the tractor).   We're also trying to clean out old canning jars to prepare for the MANY tomatoes to come!   

   

Papi and Khalil on the tractor mowing. 

Canning jars waiting for a final rinse in the sink.

We're hoping for LOTS of veggies to can come fall.

Mostly we're just trying to make progress and keep cool with this heatwave. 

Thanks for visiting us here at Shepherd's Flock Farm.   Next up will be pictures of the garden in full swing.   And next week stay tuned for more pics of our trip down to Peru.   Thanks, and God bless!

Square foot gardening...what a concept

As we're approaching the time for planting at Shepherd's Flock Farm (some would say, as we've allowed the time for planting peas to pass us by...), I've been reading just about everything I can get my hands on.   The year before last when we were still in Massachusetts, and I tried a method I'd read about online - Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening (SFG).

I rather liked the results, and even though we may not use exactly this method in the main garden, Papi has agreed to build us some sun boxes based on Mr. Bartholomew's plans.   Basically the boxes will be squared off without the normal angle one would cut in a regular cold frame.   We'll use the land itself to create the necessary ~45 degree angle.   Some old windows that Papi has squirreled away will serve as cover to warm the earth below and should give us a jump start on our seeds, especially salad greens.

For more information on Square Foot Gardening, you should check out Mr. Mel Bartholomew's blog for SFG beginners.     

Which garden philosophy do you follow?   What are your favorite tricks for arranging your plants?

Spring is in the air

A few pictures to warm you up on 

a cold, snowy day...

On Saturday, the weather was just perfect to finally be out in the yard starting to clean up the dead brush and debris from last fall, so we bundled up and all went to work.   The project for the day was the wild flower bed just below the promontory that Jhan made last summer (more on that later - I'm hoping it'll become my first masonry project).   

These "Ditch" Lilies, as Mama calls them, have just begun to pop up on the front bank by the lake.    I transplanted a couple of clumps of these lovely flowers to enable Jhan to reshape a portion of the bank.   We're hoping that with it a bit more level, it'll be easier to maintain this year.   

Let the war on the locust trees begin!

Here's Mama posing for a glamour shot, aka cutting weeds out of the wild flower beds by the lake.   In the background you can see a diaper box doubling as a waste bin, the little green fishing boat, and Jhan cleaning the bank just beyond it.

Jhan did not approve of this photograph, but I had to show him hard at work 

cleaning out the wild flower beds

Speaking of hard at work...   I'm not sure that it was ideal to allow little man to dig in the ashes, 

but he really did enjoy himself. 

Here are a couple of parting shots: 

A mama goose hard at work protecting her clutch of eggs, 

and little man's discarded mitten stuck up in the tree...   

12.27.2012 Post-Christmas Bliss

I suppose we were due for a good snow here in Carroll County, last winter being quite mild.   As of yesterday morning and well into the wee hours of this morning, we were hit with a serious snow storm.   We had nearly 20 hours of off and on snow and freezing rain with a touch of high winds for good measure.   Mom and Papi headed into town early yesterday morning before the worst of it started – Mom to her job at the Park and Papi to see about purchasing a generator (lest we should be without power due to ice and high winds).   I called the Park at about 10:30AM to see if I could convince Mom to come home early and avoid getting stuck off-farm, but no convincing was necessary.   Papi was already there to get her, and she was just finishing up an email.   The two headed south at around quarter to eleven only to get stuck on Town Hill and then stuck at the Western Grill.   Being wise on all things road related, Papi decided not to try Route 9 in their little car.   Our loveable neighbor Mr. Bill came to the rescue in their four-wheel drive vehicle despite being VERY under the weather with flu.    I ran out to say thanks when he got them home at around noon-thirty, and I sent home our little Christmas gift for him and for Ms. Tracy, la Reina Madre of Tracylandia.  

Rural Ohio being what it is, we are all still huddled up here at the Shepherd’s Flock for the foreseeable future.   Jhan has already been out (in pajamas and boots, no less) to shovel the kitchen steps and walkway, and Papi has been out to check the wood burner and is now happily tootling around the farm on the tractor shoveling the drive.   In a while here I’ll have to head out to clear off the car and see if it starts.   If the roads are clear, we’ll head up to the Grill to retrieve the folks’ car.   That may have to wait until late morning, as we’re expecting Mr. Richardson to stop by and see about hooking up the generator.   Gotta love being on farm-time.  

On the To Do list for today: washing up some dishes and maybe some laundry, splitting the log of Apple wood that Tracy and Bill brought me, and getting started on some wooden spoons with my new Christmas gift set of gouges.   We’ve got plenty of bread, so I probably shouldn’t make any more just now.   This snow storm has made me glad that we regularly stock up on the basics, though, and with the generator to run the wood burner’s pump and the furnace blowers, there’s hardly any reason to leave when the roads are too slick.   And with that being said, it’s time to run – the electrician is here about the generator.   Bye for now!