To Members and Friends of Jubilee Farm, here is the newsletter of July 14, 2005:

In this update:
1. Tractor Show this weekend
2. Sustainable Ag in the news: subsidize organic farmers?
3. Biodiesel in the news
4. Goats/ moveable pigs/mobile chickens
5. Julie says, BYOS—which sounds a lot like “boss” (“Bring your own scissors.”)
6. Farm Chatter (Combine)

1. Tractor Show this weekend
We’ve all probably sensed the presence and preparations of the NW Vintage Iron Club’s annual Antique Tractor and Machinery show that will be held here at the farm this Saturday and Sunday from nine to five. I hope that many of you can attend, and I want to tell you a little about the show. But first, let’s get the “warnings” out of the way.

The “warning” is partially for those of you who pick up on Friday, but especially for those of you who pick up on Saturday. On Friday, the Club will be setting up for the show. Their activity will be especially noticeable in the later afternoon as they assemble tents and set up tables. But Friday pick-up will go on as usual. We’ll be here, and your produce will be available.

On Saturday, the show will be going on. But we’ll be here for you at the regular hours. You’ll have to park with the Tractor Show parking across the street. You will enter the farm through the show entry, but they are expecting members to be arriving; just tell them you are a member of the farm and are here to pick up produce.

Most of you know about the show. This is, I guess, the fifth or sixth (or maybe more?) year they’ve been here. They have all their tractors and machinery displayed, and they are more than happy to answer any questions you may have (like, “what is it?, or “what does it do?”). They really enjoy talking to people who don’t have a background in tractors, and are informative, enthusiastic, and easy to talk to.

Mid-day (at noon or 1:00) they have a parade in which all the tractors participate and are announced. There are also some interactive displays, a toy-tractor sand-box that is always a hit with the kids, and, of course, continuous hay rides. They ask for a nominal donation, though no one checks to see if you made one or not, and no one is turned away. Lest you think they’re out to make money, I can tell you that each year at Christmas, the Club donates more to needy families than they take in at the show. They are a great bunch of people, and I’m pleased to have them call our farm their “home.”

2. Sustainable Ag in the news: subsidize organic farmers?
In the Seattle Times on the 4 th of July there was an article about Oregon’s Representative Earl Blumenauer who is suggesting that some of the billions of dollars in subsidies that are paid annually to corporate mega-farms be funneled to small, local, organic farmers.

You might think I’d be please to hear about this sort of talk, and in one sense I am. But I’m not supportive of it. I appreciate it because it brings to our attention the fact that large corporately owned factory farms that practice mono-cropping and complete herbicide/pesticide/synthetic fertilizer farming—that these farmers are subsidized to the tune of about 20 billion dollars a year.

I find it unconscionable that this goes on, but as we all know, big business has powerful lobbies in Washington DC. What really hurts is that the money paid in subsidies to these corporate farms drives the price of their products down to where small farmers, who do not get these subsidies, can’t compete. How could anyone compete with people who can sell their produce at less than the cost of production because they are subsidized by the government? Is it any wonder that the last fifty years has seen the demise of the family farm? Concomitant with this demise has been the creation of myth that large farms can produce more food or are better for the economy than small farms.

3. Biodiesel in the news
Also in the news this week was a report on the first Seattle bio-diesel plant that is having trouble keeping up with demand! This is great news, as the bio-diesel we’ve gotten the last few years has had to come from the mid-west. Growers of soybeans in Eastern Washington are being sought for local production. I’m so pleased to see this happening, and sense that freedom from oil dependency is going to happen. If my little 89 Mazda (that I bought for four grand eight years) ago ever dies, I’m hoping to be able to get a diesel car—maybe a VW--and take another step toward total petroleum liberation.

4. Goats/ moveable pigs/mobile chickens
Here’s an animal report. The goats are gone. It seems sudden, no doubt, to most of you. But Wendy and I have been discussing the goat situation for a long time. We like the goats, but we’ve been feeling like they are inconsistent with what we do here at the farm. That’s because we just can’t seem to find a function for them. They are cute, of course, and we’ve got nothing against “cuteness.” But we also feel that each component of the farm should be sustainable, and as the ones who end up spending the time and money (especially the time) on goats, we feel they are not sustainable. This concern has become more acute as we have added so many more chickens, not to mention the cows, to the farm. As we watch the pigs working through our cover-cropped area (and bind weed!), and as we (well, and “I”—Wendy doesn’t eat meat) eat the great pork produced last year from our “working pigs,” we are planning ways to increase the number of pigs we keep annually.

So that’s the way we’ve been feeling about the goats for a long time. But we didn’t want to just sell the goats. So we were very pleased when one of our members asked if she could “borrow” them for a while to provide company for her milking goat. After a little discussion, and after Wendy and I reflected on our concerns about the sustainability of the goats, we decided the time was right and the situation was definitely an acceptable one. So we did it. They are off to a good home, and after another four hours of taking down their pen, we will have a little more time for the many other critters we have here.

There are, of course, some deeply philosophical questions that underlie the whole issue of the domestication of animals. How do we justify domestication? When you think about pets, the question is not simple. I won’t pretend to have given it the amount of thought and study it deserves, but it seems off hand that the question “who benefits from domestication?” is pertinent. It would be hard to argue without a generous measure of anthropomorphic thinking that the pet is the beneficiary. It’s possible, but how could we ever know whether a domesticated animal is really “happier” or “better off” than those in the wild? If people are the beneficiaries, is it right to basically imprison an animal for our pleasure? Wendy and I recently took a kitten from one of the feral cats in the barn (she had five kittens altogether). Can we say our cat’s life is “better” than its’ siblings who still are roaming the loafing shed? Does the pleasure we feel warrant our action?

I think that on farms this conundrum has traditionally been avoided by following the principle that animals are domesticated to serve people. But escaping one horn of a dilemma leaves one open to the other: can one justify the utilitarian treatment of animals for the “benefit” of humans? This is a tough one too. It seems to me to be less capricious than to use animals for our “pleasure,” (sadists too find “pleasure” in their pursuits), but does “functionality,” even if we treat the animals humanely, justify “enslavement”? At this point the argument inevitably becomes ontological. But the outcome of the discussion is by no means clear. If you posit an ontological distinction between humans and animals, then perhaps the enslavement can be justified. But is such an ontological distinction tenable? If you deny such a distinction, then, again, it’s not clear how to decide. A Darwinian reading might seem to support the use of animals for the benefit of humans, but it turns out that many Darwinian expositors deny this conclusion, and base their denial on evolutionary (rather than ontological) grounds.

It gets worse. If we eat meat, or eggs, or drink milk, or use most soaps, cosmetics (the list goes on), then aren’t we “committed” (if we wish to be consistent) to accepting the argument that animals can be used by people for the benefit of people? Maybe the answer is that we don’t need to be consistent. But can any of us fathom the intellectual, economic, social, and ethical anarchy that would arise in a society that denies the need for consistency?

This is a brief outline of some of the issues; and as I said, I don’t have the “answer.” The interesting thing about ethical issues, though, is that ultimately we all have to act. And like it or not, our actions end up being either random (and incoherent), or they are the explicit rendering of an underlying belief system. My actions are reflective of the belief in the existence of an ontological distinction between animals and humans. If someone complains that this belief lacks empirical justification, I will counter with the observation that belief in the efficacy of empirical justification also lacks empirical justification, which seems to me (and to most people to think about it) to be logically unavoidable: the world in which we live seems (to me) to lack a hermeneutical Archimedean point that exists beyond reasonable doubt.

So, the goats are gone. The pigs are not. But they have moved. They are on bindweed patrol, out behind where the goats used to be. It’s too early to tell how they are really doing on the bindweed. I move their pen each day, and they eagerly—greedily!—dive into bindweed, wheat heads and whatever. And when I move them the next day, there is nothing left. They are also rooting, which will be an essential component of them getting the bindweed (if they do). We’ll just have to watch and see if the nasty little tentacles of bindweed re-emerge in the area the pigs have been through. One thing’s for sure, the pigs are really turning into little “porkers” between the wheat heads, vetch, and bindweed. So even if the bindweed survives, not all is lost.

The chickens are also not gone, just moved. The flock of 134 three-month-olds has been moved to the Egg Mobile (of Carnation Parade fame!). Right now the Egg Mobile is across the street from the barn, but we’re planning on moving it over by the strawberries before the tractor show. The smallest chicks—the ones most of you saw hatching in our first week--are still in the old goat house.

The move of the older chicks to the Egg Mobile which was already inhabited by 50 older-yet Plymouth Barred Rocks seems to be going ok. We were concerned that the chicks might get beaten up by the older birds, but that hasn’t happened. I think having all that nice green grass to graze in keeps everyone happy. But it doesn’t teach the younger chicks that they need to go up the gangplank each night and roost in their “Palace on wheels.” Wendy and I are in charge of that. Tonight is night five of this pedagogical miracle. No, we don’t have to squat down, flap imaginary wings, and cluck while we try to waddle up the gangplank. But we do have to somehow encourage them all up. The first night we got there a little too late. All 50 Barred Rocks were up, and all 134 babies were under the trailer. We were tired, and just snatched them and chucked them into the Palace (aka “Egg Mobile”); we were hoping that after they saw how nice the accommodations are, the next night they’d all toddle right up the gangplank to get there.

The next night (night two) we came a little earlier. All the Barred Rocks were again in the Palace. And “no,” the smaller chicks did not “toddle on up”--they all were still on the ground. This time for an hour we tried to entice the babies up the boardwalk. Remember that it’s getting dark, and the bugs are swarming everywhere. For me the mosquitoes aren’t too bad. With Wendy around, the original “mosquito magnet,” there’s little chance of me getting bitten; but it’s not so good for Wendy! After the hour was up we had coaxed about two-thirds of them into the Palace, and Wendy said it was time to give up—we snatched and chucked what was left. We laughed together as we took each chick firmly in hand and “walked” it up the gangplank!

Night three. Joy of joys, when we got to the Palace, about 25 of the chicks were inside, on their own! Better yet, about two-thirds of the rest went up easily. We had about 10 that were recalcitrant, but we remain convinced that contrary to popular opinion, chickens are not (totally!) incorrigible!

5. Julie says, “Bring your scissors.”
This is just a reminder that if you plan to cut flowers, chives, sorrel, and other things as they become available, you need to remember to bring your own scissors. We also don’t have enough vases to supply everyone with vases to take your flowers home, so try to remember to bring containers to bring your flowers home.

6. Farm Chatter
I’ve been asked numerous times in the last few days how the farm has faired through this wet, wet spring. Actually, things are doing pretty well. The additional degrees of temperature we get here in the valley helps a lot. Last week we went to Lynnwood for dinner and left the farm at 82 degrees to find 67 degrees in Lynnwood. That’s a big difference in temperature.

There have been a couple of problems. One is that this has been the best year I’ve ever seen for the survival of cabbage loopers. This is the larvae form of the white moth that you see flying everywhere during the day. They lay their eggs on the leaves of brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower) and the eggs produce little green larvae that are exactly the color of broccoli. Most years they aren’t too bad, but this year their survival rate has been very high.

I also notice that the corn is off to a slower than usual start. It is starting to take a growth spurt, but we really could use the warm weather that continues to be forecast for “next week.” It’s hard to say with the melons. Obviously they like hot weather. But they are blossoming like crazy, and I see the bees working them very hard.

The other thing that has done very well in this cooler, wetter weather is the weeds! We’ve tried to stay on top of them, but without those hot, sunny afternoons our weeding and cultivating effectiveness drops. On the other hand, not having to move irrigation pipes has given us more afternoons to weed, so maybe that equals out.

You might have noticed that the winter wheat is getting close to harvest time. It would be nice to do the combining this Saturday at the Tractor Show, and if we can, we will. If we are able to combine it (remember that last year I bought a 1930’s John Deere Combine that is in the loafing shed behind the hay wagon), we could end up with wheat that we could grind into flour. But all this is a little “iffy,” as this is new territory for us.

My son David returned from Alaska where he has been fishing on my long-time running partner’s boat this season. It’s encouraging that Bristol Bay had a pretty good return of Sockeye this year—the best since I quit fishing five years ago. David is now going to work on the farm until he goes back to UPS in August. That will be good. Right now it’s just Wendy and me, Jacob and Francisco holding down the fort. It will be helpful to have another pair of young, agile, and strong hands on the farm. David has taken an interest in farming, and seems to have farming proclivities. By the way, some of you have asked about Laura. For those who are new, Laura is my daughter (two years younger than Julie) who has worked many years on the farm. Last year she finished nursing school, and is now working in the Emergency room at Saint Frances Hospital in Federal Way. She misses the farm, and some day, some way, I’m sure she will end up combining her nursing and agricultural skills. That may sound like a stretch, but Laura’s a travel bug, and third-world countries are in great need of both these abilities—her months in Ghana earlier this year demonstrated that.

Wendy’s daughter Shawna has also gets out from time to time to help out. She lives in Tacoma (as do my four kids) and is working this summer at a restaurant to help pay for her education at UPS (great school, huge tuition!). I was thrilled to learn that Shawna is taking philosophy course this Fall. She teetering dangerously in the direction of a Psychology major (i.e. she’s already claimed it), but I’m sure once she gets a taste of Philo Sophia she’ll be claiming a new major!

Farmer Erick