Rolling with the punches

My last couple of posts have been somewhat political and a little bit 'ranty' so I thought I would revert back to a farm focused update. The problem with that is whenever I'm talking about the farm at the moment, I'm using my whiny voice. It's not like me to abandon my eternal optimism but I've been wavering of late. Do you ever feel like you can't catch a break? Well that's where I'm at right now. Everyday brings a new challenge at the moment. I won't give you all the details, it'd take too long, but ever since we moved here, things have been breaking down and giving up. Dishwashers, washing machines, tumble dryers, ovens, hot water tanks; if it's electrical, it's given up and died. If it's breakable, it's broken...windows, roof tiles, pipe work, poly, etc. And, as for our main source of water, it's not only broken down but now it's filter is knackered. Yes, the well requires another $4000 worth of investment. Don't get me wrong, these things are minor in comparison. I wrote earlier this year about friends of the farm who had lost family members. No amount of challenges compares to loosing a parent and every time a tire blows our or we have to pull a replacement window out of a skip, I think of our friends' pain and swallow a big dose of perspective. But still, a rest from the onslaught would be nice.

What I need to do is refocus on the positives so I'm going to use this space to update you on all the farm projects that have evolved since the beginning and let you in on some of the stuff planned for 2015.

Chickingham Palace. Oh what a triumph. Originally built for 3 chickens, extended with a view to house 20, it's now too small for our ever growing flock of 60 chickens. A new coop is underway and the palace will become the chick nursery. The new coop is of course built from reclaimed materials because we are still broke. However, we have over a year of lessons in chicken care to enable better planning and design. The new digs will allow a larger laying flock as well as some meat birds. 

The original Chickingham Palace being extended

The new coop under construction

The Duck Pond. The hole with an island that we dug out last Christmas with a borrowed excavator was bone dry all summer. The rains are back now and our pond is full much to the relief of our ducks and the wild ducks that are squatting there. They have a lovely duck house built from a raised truck cap which they totally ignore and flatly refuse to use. However, there are more ducks coming and hopefully some breeding will happen in the spring. Ian has plans to dig it deeper and create an oasis of mini ponds, waterfalls and rain water harvesting but we'll see.... 

Breaking ground on the duck pond last Christmas

The ducks enjoying the return of the water

The ignored duck house

The Poly Tunnel. Remember how smug we were about the poly tunnel we built for $100? Yeah, it's not big enough either. It's big but we grew so much in there last year that we need more space. So the foundations for the extension are done, the beds are built, materials for a rocket mass heater are being salvaged, including 500 refractory bricks from a heritage house during a huge storm last weekend.

Building the foundations for the poly tunnel

 

The finished product

The Tree House. Don't be misled by the title. This is not the tree house any of us imagined; except for Ian of course. It's not a child's play place but will be a fully equipped rental property. The boasting point of this project is that it's built completely from others peoples junk. As of now, the structure is up, glazing is in, stairs and handrail are built and it's covered in tyvek and we haven't spent a cent on it. We've managed to barter a deal for roofing which involves pork and eggs. We've just paid $200 for reclaimed cedar cladding for the outside walls. We have about 70% of the furnishing we need & just have to work on a composting toilet for it. Hopefully it'll be finished by April....maybe.

Tree House under construction

The pig pen is finished except for roof tiles. The half that the pigs don't use has had many different purposes from chick hatchery to rabbit hutch. Currently it's at full capacity with our four big pigs in the main half, the baby piglets in a quarter and four rabbits in the remaining quarter. The rabbits were outside until the whether turned so we set them up in there with tubes to run through. Fun fun fun for them. The excitement with the pig project is that we now have a potential Mommy and Daddy pig for the farm and will be able to breed our own line of heritage pigs. Just need to finish fencing the front field. Posts are up but not concreted in yet. The darn pigs keep using the posts for scratching themselves and knocking them over. Pests!

The latest piglets

Rabbit Town

The Fruit Cage has been built, collapsed, and built again. The structure is reclaimed wood and the netting was the safety netting originally used for the construction of the new roof on BC Place Stadium. Despite the trials and tribulations of that project, it has been a real asset. The cage acts as a physical control that aids us with organic farming methods. The produce was abundant in there this summer and it has provided a safe haven for the chickens.

The collapse of the fruit cafe, February 2014

 

Produce in the fruit cage this summer

The old barn had a face lift and has been used for everything from parties to veggie sorting to feed storage. Currently it's a mess & stuffed full of building materials but there is a concrete pad on the north side where we're planning another extension that will be used as storage and give us back our party barn. We thought we'd created adequate space when we lovingly added the workshop to the barn but as usual, it wasn't enough.

The barn all dressed up for Jessica's birthday party

The Gazebo & fire pit have been my favourite part if the farm. It's the social gathering place and the 'relax in the shade' place. Another sustainable building success with the reclaimed wood frame, pallet benches and gravel base that was on it's way to landfill before we intervened.

The herb spiral was created from a cottonwood tree that we cut down. A great growing area. There is also a new salad bed in a shady area of the farm so salad can thrive outdoors during the hot summers.

Pipe & Electrical Work. I know that sounds dull but there were no outbuildings here and therefore no power anywhere. There was one cable hanging between the house and the barn. We dug trenches all over the property and sunk cables around the property to get power to the above listed project. That was some task in the middle of last winter! No wonder the washing machine gave up.

Rescued Food project. We've secured several sources of food waste that are suitable for animal feed. This both excites and dismays me. I'm delighted that we have a food source for our animals but dismayed at the amount of food waste that exists. The work involved is quite significant too. We haul 2 tonnes of spent grain from a brewery a week in Ian's 13 year old, battered, Ford F150 truck. We are waiting for the truck to go on strike any day now...or it'll just snap in two.

Not bad for 16 months work, and don't forget we actually ran the farm too, and that grew at a rate than none of us had anticipated. We will go into next year with a loyal (I hope) client base of over 20 families.

Some days I feel like I've had enough. Some days I'm so wet or cold or tired or fed up that I think I must have lost my mind embarking on this lifestyle. Everyday, I look at my bank balance and wince a little. The well breaking down in the summer almost broke us financially. We would never have been able to replace it without the support and donations from all of you, but there was still a lot of personal money that went into and as we approach Christmas with a very small budget, I realize that we'll be feeling the backlash for a while longer.

I occasionally find myself questioning, if there's a point where you let go and walk away? If there is, we're not there in spite of the almost daily assault on our resolve. We're just too excited about 2015. I can't wait to see the tree house finished, that will allow us to open our farm to visitors. We are chomping at the bit to get started on the rocket mass heaters. How exciting to be able to build a sustainable heating system and people are contacting me wanting to know more and hoping be involved with the build. I'm already itching to get my hands in the soil and start planting again in January. Unlike this time last year, we actually have a plan that will provide us with some structure and staff on the farm. And, to add to all that excitement, I've been recognized as 'Laurica Farm' in public on more than one occasion! How cool is that?! So apparently, there's too much happening for me to throw in the towel yet. I've got my rock star, farmer status to flaunt around a little longer.

x

Fighting the Man

This blog is meant to follow our personal transition into farming life, but I feel a rant coming on. As usual I'm not going to apologise for venting in this forum. I feel justified because I'm sharing what I have learned about agriculture and what is happening right now is impacting me, my farm, my family and my livelihood as well as making me mad!

Yesterday was a big day for the farming industry. The effects of 'Big Ag' are a major part of the discourse between small farmers and homesteaders right now. First of all, Avian Flu was discovered at two big factory farms, a turkey barn in Abbotsford and a chicken farm in Chilliwack. On the same day, beef was recalled due to a discovery of E-coli.

I've learned a lot about food security and ethical farming since transitioning to this lifestyle. Some of it I've had to learn as part of making an informed choice about our farming practices, some of it I've discovered completely by accident, some of it I wish I didn't know. So, let me take the time to explain why these issues arising now are a big concern to me, and to you.

I'm going to start with the Avian Flu. 11,000 birds have already been culled at the two affected farms. The outbreak is the fourth in the Fraser Valley since 2005.

In 2009, an outbreak of avian flu in the same region led to the quarantine of several farms. In 2004, an H7-type flu transformed into a highly contagious strain. Farm after farm was quarantined until finally about 15 million birds — almost the entire valley poultry population — were destroyed. 

Wait, what? How come so many birds culled? Our friend Leona of My Healthy Green Family wrote this yesterday:

"Everyone with poultry, even the smallest farms like mine, had to allow for the authorities to come on their property and let them gas all the healthy birds as a precautionary measure. Pets, or not. I remember hearing of a little old lady who cried when they killed her pet peacock. Why? Because these massive egg factories where chickens live in cages and are debeaked so they don't peck each other to death, are a perfect breeding place for a flu. Now, I am totally blowing this out of proportion since it is only 2 farms at this point and no one is saying this will have to be done again. But I am worried.... and disgusted."

Not only are birds culled, but you are not allowed to keep hatching eggs, not even from healthy birds. So farmers cannot even replace lost birds. It takes an incredibly long time for the population to recover.

Let's just think about the emotional impact. Imagine you have to tell my 7 year old daughter, Jessica, that all her chickens and ducks have to be killed because someone else's birds got sick. I may be casting aspersions here but I doubt the owners of those big factory barns will be shedding tears like the children of small farmers....unless it's over their profits. And let's think about economics for a moment. It's not the big factory farms with their $2 a dozen eggs, their millions of anti-biotic fuelled birds, their GMO & soy laden feed, and their government subsidies that will be hurting. It's the people like me. The average cost of a young laying hen is $20. I have 60. Even if there were hens available after a cull, my budget would not stretch to that.

I, like many small farmers and homesteaders, treat our animals with the utmost respect. Our birds have 'luxury' homes, pasture to free range on, homemade chicken feed, warmth and protection, and here we are potentially bearing the brunt of the people whose values are at the opposite end of the spectrum to ours. Whose benefit is the factory farm for? Not yours, as consumers, not mine as an ethical farmer, not any ones as global citizens on a planet that is being drained of it's resources. Listen to this short clip of from UK Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall touch on the issues: Objections to Factory Farming 

Moving on to the massive beef recall (yes, another one in Canada).  All meat from a plant is recalled because of practices of mass meat production and distribution. Parts of many cows, not just one cow, are in a single package of ground beef. Cows that aren't even from the same farm, they are from all over the place. The current beef recall due to e-coli is from Walmart. Not local. No one knows where the meat was even raised. This makes controlling disease that comes from factory farms almost impossible without mass culls. If our meat were traceable, disease would have minimal causalities.

I'm continuously thinking about making good food choices, but how can I make a real and tangible difference? There are groups that fight Big Ag & factory farms, and while I support them, I am of the belief that we cannot fight corporate greed and I am saddened that we have to fight our own governments to protect our health and environment. I believe the only way we can effect any positive change is to educate ourselves as consumers and vote with our money. I get that what I've just said may feel like a big challenge. Busy lifestyles often dictate the need for convenience, thus feeding the problem. So, I'm reflecting on the changes I've made as I've transitioned from Suburban Consumer to Sustainable Food Advocate. I've come up with a list of things to do and changes that can be easily made make. I don't expect everyone to live like me, but I think it's reasonable to expect everyone to get informed. Have a look through. Maybe you can just choose one thing to do to make a difference? 

• Get to know your local Farmer. Shake their hand and meet them face to face. If they're wearing any sort of breathing apparatus or HAZMAT clothing, walk away. Generally, small farmers like to be transparent. I love it when consumers take an interest in their food and come and ask me questions and hold me accountable for my claims. On the opposite end of the scale, transparency & accountability are often dirty words in Big Ag. If a farmer won't let you see their produce, you probably don't want to eat it.

"Smaller diversified farms employ more people and use less land and water and produce more foods," says Norberg-Hodge. She explains that localization also shortens the distance between consumers and producers, which helps the environment and also ensures that you do not eat produce that is pretty much dead traveling such insane distances".

• Invest in a CSA box. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It's good for local farmers, small businesses, the environment and for you. You pay in advance for a box of seasonal produce, each farm is different so look into the terms and choose whichever suits you. You will get better value & fresher produce. Not only that but you have healthy food in your fridge that you have paid for and you have to use. You will learn to cook more recipes from scratch and experience a variety of healthy food. Often, your farmer will be happy to share ideas, recipes and suggestions on using or preserving your vegetables.
• 

• Buy your meat from a local farm. Invest in quarter, half or a whole animal (chicken, beef, pork, lamb, etc). Don't want an entire side of beef to yourself? Share with a neighbour. As well as superior taste, choosing pasture raised meat is the ethical choice.  Trust me, I've seen pigs and chickens from factory farms and it's changed my perception. If I couldn't raise my own animals or buy from a local farmer, I would go vegetarian. Not only that, but many small farmers go to extreme lengths to rescue food that would otherwise be destined for landfill. We spend many hours reclaiming food and sharing it with other family farms. And before you quibble over the price, let me assure you that you will not find quality meat in the grocery store at a comparative price. But by choosing local farms, you'll be choosing:
  

• Create cooperatives. Work with your friends and neighbours to create buying clubs and cooperatives. If you have friends that bake, get together and buy organic flour from a local mill in bulk. You'll all enjoy financial savings. My friend Janessa makes her own bread from a bulk buy scheme. She calculated that a loaf of her bread costs under $5 a loaf: it's 1 1/2 times the size of a store loaf, it's totally organic and loaded with healthy extras (steelcut oats, grains, flax, etc). Or you could create a growing club with some neighbours. Choose one item to grow; Sally could grow lettuce, ask Bob to grown tomatoes, Jill to can get some herbs going and Paul can start on some edible flowers. Share your variety of produce for fresh salad all summer. As people see you doing it, they will want to be part of it. Soon you'll have beans, zucchinis, cucumbers and much more. Take back control of your food and your spending. Here's an article on creating a buying group and some more good advice here on things to start making yourself. Doing this will save you money and strengthen you're community. You'll probably be eating healthier too. If you needed any more convincing, there's strong evidence that gardening makes you happier and combats depression.
• 

• Boycott! Ok, I don't want to sound over dramatic. You don't have to stop buying everything you are used to. Choose one big company that you don't like based on any reason that aligns with your personal values. They may operate unethically, have links to Monsanto, use GMO's.... I started with Nestle many years ago because I was fed up with my hard earned cash funding unethical companies, check out this Wiki page on the original Nestle Boycott. I then moved on to stop buying anything by Kraft, which was the best thing I ever did for our diet. When you shun big companies, you often find better products. For example, no Kraft meant no Philadelphia and now we buy a local cream cheese that is organic and has probiotics. Don't worry about choosing a company, there are many to choose from in this link to get you started!

"Industrial agriculture and our globalized food system is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, up to 50 percent if proper account is taken of emissions from land use change and deforestation, most of which are due to agriculture, and for food-related transport, processing, storage and consumption," writes 

 ISIS (Institute of Science in Society).

Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg, there are problems on a global scale. Just today I've read an article about the UN calling for an end to industrialized farming. I've attached some links at the bottom for further reading. It's time to take back control! There has to be a food revolution. So step away from your Round-Up ready corn and step onto your local farm....but not until we've got rid of Big Ag's Avian Flu!

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/dec/02/12-paths-to-strengthening-food-security-and-nutrition-in-an-unstable-world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdp6IAedWKo

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/organicfarmingblog/the-advantages-of-polyculture-vs-monoculture

http://www.permaculture.co.uk/videos/can-permaculture-replace-industrial-agricultural-farming-methods

http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/08086.pdf

http://www.sustainabletable.org/869/impacts-of-industrial-agriculture

The Death Debate

This may be a little too morbid for some of you but I am experiencing emotions about death that I feel I should record and remember. After all, in choosing to raise animals in pursuit of a sustainable lifestyle, death is a big and regular part of our existence now.

Last night, we took John, George, Paul and Ringo, our first four heritage pigs, to the slaughter house. I haven't slept all night thinking about them. It's not that they are going off for meat, strangely I've made peace with that, they were always here for that reason. I hate the experience of the slaughter house. I'm going to describe it in some detail, not because I want to turn you all vegetarian but because, in order to be connected with your food, you should be aware of what happens.

Our friend and local farmer, Brian arrived at 4pm yesterday with his truck and trailer. As did our farming neighbours from Glorious Organics, to help us load.

We had eight pigs in our field, the four Beatles for whom it was D-day and four members of Fleetwood Mac who have a little longer for this world. The first challenge was separating them. I'd kept the pigs hungry all day, depriving them of their usual breakfast of granola and brew mash in anticipation that we might have to entice them with food. The separation went quite well, we ended up with Fleetwood Mac and Ringo in a separate section of the field. At this point, Stevie Nicks bit poor Ringo on the snout and made him bleed. Some goodbye!

George and Paul were the first two pigs to follow the granola trail up to the trailer and with a little coaxing, they were loaded without too much trouble.  They have always been the most placid and trusting of the Beatles. Then we set John in our sights. John is the most anti-social of the bunch and as a result, led us a merry dance. No amount of granola was working so I had to crack out the big guns...out came the (beef) wieners. Not even wieners convinced him to cooperate and he really was being obnoxious & challenging. Ian found a roll of green netting and six of the guys were able to use it to herd him into the trailer.

Next was Ringo. He's always been a bit of a jerk but after getting his nose bitten he was happy to remove himself from the little pigs and with our new herding net, we got him on without too much hassle.

We've experience the slaughter house before and what I'm about to write is not a reflection on Johnstons' who operate the facility. It is what it is. A concrete barn with metal pens. Depressing but spotlessly clean and well set up for it's purpose. We unloaded each pigs and had to push and shove each pig into his own pen. Yes, they challenged us and barged us about and yes, I hated it. They were far from their lush green field and luxury pig mansion where they sleep cuddled up in one big pig pile. However, there was part of the barn next to us that had hundreds of pigs crammed in from a factory farm. These pigs seemed unconcerned with their predicament, probably because they had lived their entire lives in a similar facility and under the same cramped conditions.

Then we left them. Strangely, this was easier to do than to write about. This is the part though that has kept me awake all night. The point you walk away is the moment you relinquish control. I have known those pigs so well for the last six month. They had a schedule that meant at any time of the day, I knew where they were in the field and what they were doing. Let's say that you had visited the pigs at 2pm during the summer. I knew they would have been under the salmonberry bush, where they had created a labyrinth of 'rooms' and corridors and they would be napping. But now, the last 18 hours of their lives is unknown to me and I don't even want to think about that time before slaughter.

I'm annoyed by the bureaucracy that makes this process essential. The laws are very restrictive around animal slaughter. I get that there has to be measures in place to protect the consumer. However, there are people around the world eating animals they have slaughtered themselves. Surely, it is better for the animals (and apparently me) if the animals experience a quick and respectful death without fear, complete before they even know what is happening.

I was told about a lady who does all her own slaughtering and butchering on site and will come and teach you. I know my limitations and I'm not there yet. I'm not hardened to this lifestyle yet and I don't want to kill my own animals. But would I have someone come here and do it? Yes. Would I watch? Yes. I am willing to accept complete accountability for raising meat animals. Recently, we took some of our roosters to a facility that is licensed to kill poultry, but just for the owners consumption. They charge $2-$3 a bird and for that price, it really isn't worth trying it yourself. It's fairly horrific to be there, it is an open facility and you see everything. But, if my birds felt any fear, it was for no more than four seconds. I know because I watched and I was in control right to the end. I would much rather grapple with a horror that I have watched than this feeling of unknowing.

In the interest of my own sanity, I must tease some positives out of this. Firstly, our community gathered around us again. The guys from Glorious Organics came down to help us load. Maybe because when I told them we were loading the pigs into the trailer, I suggested I could end up face down in the mud. Perhaps the lure of this potential comic moment was too much to resist? Our Pig Farmer friend Brian came to help us transport the pigs and guide us. But mostly, however distressing I'm finding this right now, the Beatles were better off than their factory farmed neighbours. To live for months in a dirty, crammed, concrete barn, where they just get hosed off as a sanitary measure is not, in my opinion, a life worth dying for. Our pigs enjoyed freedom, pasture, organic food, sunshine, mud holes and tummy rubs. That is how we should honour meat animals and it is some consolation to know that every person who buys pork from local farmers, is not supporting the factory farming industry. They are making a decision that is right for animal welfare, local economy, the environment and sustainability. Through my tears, I still believe it is the ethical choice.

This will get easier, won't it?

Births, deaths and challenges

This post is long overdue and I want to start by concluding the well saga. There will never be enough time, words or blogging opportunities to fully encapsulate the emotional roller coaster of this episode. So I'll be brief in telling you that the well has been drilled, there is a new pump in and it is all working beautifully.  I don't really know how to talk about the funding of the project, I'm still in awe and not sure I have fully processed.  The well has been made possible by family, friends and the kindness of strangers.  We have received donations from $3 to several thousands of dollars; every donation equally meaningful regardless of the dollar amount.  Some donations came from family and friends both in Canada and back in the UK.  Some from local businesses.  Some from the community. Some from those that had benefited from the farm. And all from kind hearted people who see the value of what is happening here, who share our values and who have demonstrated humanity.  The experience has been emotional and humbling.  I recently read a quote that said "You have never really lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you".  We can never repay you, the people who gave money, time, resources, support and kind words.  But we can continue to 'pay it forward' and use the farm to benefit others. The birth of the new well has meant the birth of a new attitude here at the farm.  We always wanted to be a farm that did some community work but now we see the land as a community asset that farms. We are in talks with a number of organizations to ensure that we can continue with work that will support and educate.

In other news from the farm, we have experienced our first losses of livestock. One planned and some not.  We took our ram to the slaughter house two weeks ago.  This felt like a milestone in our farming journey. We've completed a full cycle with some of our animals now.  From newborn babies through to taking a meat animal for butchering. I was surprisingly calm about taking the ram. Of course, I felt some sadness, despite my love-hate relationship with that particular sheep.  Leaving him at the slaughter house with all the other anonymous animals made me reflect on this entire process.  I had to focus on our values being about how an animal lives that is important. Ultimately, they all die the same way. All the sheep, pigs, cows that were being delivered to that place on that night had different experiences of life but they were all herded into their waiting pens in the same manner. I think you have to be fairly 'cold' about it. We fulfilled our objectives by letting the ram live as close to how nature intended as possible. He had the added benefits of fresh vegetables on a daily basis and protection from non-human predators. It might surprise you to learn that the only regret I had was that we had to take him to that slaughter house. I would have preferred to have done the deed here at the farm and spared him any stress and fear he may have experienced that last night.  But it's done now and, from an animal welfare view, we feel ok about it.

Ram-a-lamb

We've had some unexpected deaths. We had to kill our first chicken yesterday. That was hard. I won't share the grizzly details with you but it saddened all of us. Little Jessica was upset but surprisingly mature about it. She demonstrated an understanding of showing a sick animal mercy. It made me feel like we had done our job as farming parents.

The farm acquired seven new chickens on Friday night. We lost one of those this morning and I feel responsible. The ducks have a temporary paddling pool while the pond is dry. The chicken hopped onto the side for a drink and fell in. Unable to get out, she drown. If I had placed some rocks or something on the bottom of the pool, she may have been able to get out. The two deaths so close together certainly hurt us.

This morning we found Bantam chicks hatching. Surprise! The bantams are just pets for Jessica. There are two hens and a tiny rooster. They've been hiding their eggs under the coop and a broody Ameracauna chicken took charge of them. We found one chick on the floor this morning and one just hatching. Sadly, Momma hen did not show any interest in her new acquisitions. We moved them into the chick nursery with a surrogate Australorp hen and are working hard to keep them alive. They are hanging on to life by a very fragile thread at the moment.  Although it's not a good time of the year for chicks to hatch, if we can keep them going it will be a lovely reward to balance out some of the the harder losses.

The first Bantam chick, just a few minutes old and hanging on to life in our living room!

With the birth of the new well and new chicks, we should be feeling a bit of a high. But just one year of farming has taught me that the punches keep coming and the fight goes on. As I type this, I have flu like symptoms, a rash across my lower back and pain down one side. Please excuse the self-diagnosis but I've experienced these symptoms before...when I had shingles.

Next week, Ian is going away with work for three months. He'll be home at weekends but as autumn approaches, I find myself faced with the prospect of a long farming winter alone. We will, of course, continue to get up and fight back. The farm is worth it. The lifestyle, although sometimes exhausting, is worth it. I've posted some photos below to remind myself of that. So, I'm off to put on my best farm grimace, a plaid shirt and my boots.  No time for melancholy here!

Kids enjoying hands-on experiences of farm animals

Relaxing by the fire after a hard day

Pig Selfies!

Free range animals!

Pig snuggles

Driving a tractor is always awesome!

Oh yeah!

Good looking neighbours

Sunrise

Playing rounders with friends and family

Barn dinners

Addressing your concerns

Our campaign is live and I've been blown away by the support.  It is extremely humbling to expose yourself in this way and your generosity is breathtaking.  Not just on the campaign site but by the local farmers who have delivered tanks of water for us.  Our neighbour who is helping us to temporarily hook into one of his wells to water the back field.  To the elderly lady who drove to our farm from Abbotsford to hand me $3 which is what she could afford.  I didn't want to accept her money but she insisted and my heart broke.

On the flip side of that is the hate mail following the aricle in The Province newspaper.  Yes, that's right, people have taken the time from their day to both comment on the article and send e-mails to my personal inbox.  Being a kind of "live and let live" type of girl, I was surprised. I had thought that not everyone would want to support the campaign but I hadn't considered this would happen.  To be honest, I didn't care until my friend texted me to say she was upset by what she was reading, and upsetting my friends evoked a reaction.

However, I'm not angry or upset by these comments but it has made me think about peoples legitimate concerns about donating to this kind of campaign.  Some of the comments, although not eloquent and presented with a degree of vitriol, raise valid points which I feel I need to speak to.  Not because I think I can convert the haters or enter into a game of oneupmanship, that's not my bag.  I'm writing this to my customers, the genuine supporters and most of all, my family and friends who are upset by the comments.

So here goes:

"Wow. I was a single female trying to keep my farm after a divorce. It was 5 acres. I had to replace well pump. It never cost that much. Still a very hard time trying to hang on to my farm. I did it for years. I had no financial help. I could never ask other people for help. Five acres in Aldergrove is worth a lot of money. I ended up having to sell after many years of struggling. It was not other people's jobs to help with my finances. Just my opinion".

I'm not sure what the point is here.  She didn't ask for help and lost her farm so we should do the same?  I am amazed that we live in a society that has forums like indiegogo and kickstarter.  We hear so many criticisms of the world we live in and yet there are strangers who will love somebody elses ideas or work and support them.  It's astounding.  I'm not going to apologise for utilizing this platform.  I've supported campaigns and now I've launched one myself.

I have a very difficult time feeling sorry for these people.  My father was a fresh new immigrant many years ago when he came to Canada. ..he worked his ass off for many years and never once asked for a hand out. ..he never lived beyond his means.  Time for this family to consider some major downsizing.  Canadians are nice people but most of us aren't stupid enough to pay for someone else's dreams. 

To be honest, I'm not really sure how the immigrant thing is relevant. Canada is our forever home.  Would it be different if we were third generation Canadian?  We don't feel like we are asking for a hand out.  We feel like we are asking for an investment from our community after we have invested so much into the community. For sure, we could give up and move our family to a condo.  I had a call today from a developer who had read our story and made me an offer for the farm.  And that's the risk.  We work hard as environmental stewards here and take our time to educate people who come here.  We strive to promote environmental awareness in the elementary school children who have their (free) garden here, that I tend and fund.  We paid for our own dream and we're asking for help to enable us to maintain our status as a community farm. If we go, what happens to the land?  It's unlikely that it will be anything good given that the vulchers are circling already.

Are we supposed to pay for it?

Errr, no.  Support the campaign or don't.  This is not a heist and you will not be hurt if you don't pay up. Anyone who would like to see copies of the quotes for the new well, please send me an e-mail and I will forward it to you.

Now for my personal favourite, received by e-mail:

"I watched the video you fat b#*ch.  Why don't you eat a few less burgers and then you can afford to pay for your own S#*T.  F#*k off back to where you came from.  Hope the plane crashes on the way home".

I'm sorry but that made me laugh out loud.

Look, here's the thing, let's wrap it up.  Even the best piece of journalism in the world can't encapsulate every angle of every story.   We are a farm, we're not making money from farming, that's not our agenda. We make quality, organic food accessible.  It's hugely under priced.  We don't take a wage.  We think in terms of acres not hours or money.  We love this lifestyle and we work harder than we ever have before. We not claiming we're any worse off or harder working than anyone else and we're not asking for sympathy. This farm is our dream but it's also a valuable community hub working with schools and non profits and sometimes just people who have no where else to go during holidays.  I extend a warm invitation to anyone who has an opinion, positive or negative, come and visit us and make sure it's an informed opinion.

Well well well, we need you.

Good things and bad things have happened at the farm this last week or so.

The good things include a lot of new customers joining our farm family.  We have taken on a new delivery route to the White Rock and South Surrey area.  This, combined with our existing delivery route, Ian's work colleagues and supplying Webbs Holiday Acres takes us to full capacity.  We have around 16 regular delivery customers which is fantastic.  Not only is our client base increasing but in the middle of the growing season, we have been thrilled by the quality and range of our produce.  I have to say, I didn't expect this.  As you know, we didn't really ever have a plan, everything that has happened as happened organically.  And that's exciting, and somehow seems appropriate for this venture.

Last time I wrote a blog post about feeling overwhelmed, you came to my rescue.  A few people showed up here ready to weed, plant and harvest.  It amazed me, and Ian and I learned something.  We learned the value of asking for help.  We needed you and you came.  A couple of hours of your time makes a massive difference to us, and you volunteers are more than happy to reap your rewards in the form of produce.  That was definitely the highlight of the last few weeks.

Today, I'm embracing this lesson and doing something that usually sits uncomfortable with me.  I'm asking for your help again.  All of you.

We have faced a lot of challenges on this farm in the last year.  Some have broken the bank but none have broken our spirit.  Mostly, we have faced the ups and downs with good humour.  This week, that resolve is being tested.

Our well pump died.  The poor thing was put in 40 years ago and really only meant to service the house. We added a huge irrigation system to it's workload.  It tried.  It battled.  It groaned.  But now it's resigned.  So, a mere $7000 to our already exhausted credit and we have a new pump, not sure how we are going to pay for it but hey, we'll get by with our optimism.

The saga deepens.  New well pump and still no water.  The prognosis is bleak.  We have a well drilling company coming tomorrow to clean the existing well at a cost of $250 per hour.  It will probably take 10 hours.  However, we will probably have to drill a new well.  Estimated cost: $10,000.  Within a week, we've been assaulted by $20,000 worth of essential costs.

We're not crying yet though.  Permaculture has taught us to focus on solutions as opposed to problems.  We have tested the limits of our creativity and commitment when it comes to keeping the produce watered in 30 degree heat.  You would laugh if you saw the tank of water in the back of our truck with the old pump in it and rigged up to the electrics that is attached to a make shift sprinkler system.  Really, even we are laughing about it.  You'd probably roll your eyes at us walking around with our watering can and buckets in the dark trying to hydrate the abundance of tomato plants.  And you'd certainly chortle of us trying to sparsely utilize the rain water we've harvested in barrels to water the animals.  Oh and we never let a drop of water go down a drain in the house.  It's caught in pots and taken outside to a plant.  Anything non essential on the farm is going without and dying (RIP rose bush).  The peas that were coming to the end have been pulled out prematurely to conserve our resources.  It's operation survival here.

That is not what is hurting us though.  Physical challenges and hardships are like a hobby to us now. Whatever.  It's the financial aspect that's terrifying me.  I don't want to sound over dramatic by this could be the thing that ends the dream.  And so, I'm shamelessly using this forum to ask for your help.  You've followed our journey through this blog, you know our story, you know what we've achieved here and you know what our goals are. You've already invested in us emotionally, I know that because you tell me.  You message me about enjoying the produce.  You call me to ask if you can come and visit.  You offer me feedback about the blog.  And I know I have no right to ask for more, but if you can help us raise awareness and generate support, you can keep Laurica Farm going.

I've launched a crowd funding campaign.  Click here.  Anything you can do, either financially or to promote our cause is hugely appreciated.

I'm going to end this post here because I hate this!  Forgive us for putting the Laurica Farms future in your hands.  We are forever in your debt.