Each year we get a thaw in January. That’s just how it is. We will surely have another bitter cold spell followed by a few big snows but we get a breather almost every January. We can get snow all the way up to May, frost as late as May 10. This week is just a breather.
Click image for source.
After that we have snow in the forecast. In fact, yesterday they were suggesting 5-8″ of snow on Thursday. But things change.
Things do change.
The cows are back on pasture and they are happy about it. The ground is frozen and it’s hard to drive posts so Julie has been building each day’s fence around noon when things have thawed out a little. So far so good. Please don’t think I’m kidding when I say Julie runs the farm.
Julie runs the farm. I just work here.
I did build the next strip on the 18th and I’ll have a post about that soon.
This is also a good time to check on my bees. I don’t write much about bees. I’m more of a bee owner than a bee keeper.
This was an odd week. I have included a book by Wodehouse I have been reading here and there in my free time for the last three weeks. I know that doesn’t meet the book-in-a-week theme but I include it for sake of completion.
Once again, I did some reading about gaming. Why would I include this on a family farm blog? I’m glad you asked.
I wrote about this recently but in short, I have these kid…things. Children. Small adults…just add water. They share my house. They eat my food. They help kill chickens. They beg Julie to play Minecraft on a daily basis. Now, it’s a fun game. Let’s not misunderstand. But why do I make it a point to play WITH my kids? Because I want to meet my children where they are. That’s why we play board games. That’s why we watch Star Wars and Shaun the Sheep together. Some of this is building common culture in our family but mostly it’s making an effort to be with my kids with the hope that my investment in them will be repaid. If I play Minecraft this week, maybe I can make a connection that will make a difference in morale on a long, hard day. I hope that makes sense.
One final note before I begin, I’m not having a hard time reading a single book in a week. That’s no big deal…as long as I’m somewhat selective about the book (nothing by Dumas!). The trouble I’m having is that I tend to do all of my reading on Friday and Saturday. I tend to procrastinate…then I have to force-feed myself some of these books in short order. It’s like being in college again. I didn’t like college. In fact, I didn’t learn to enjoy reading until after college. I’m worried I’m returning to some bad habits here. If you choose to do this, try to spread your reading out over several days. Doing it this way makes my head hurt on Sundays.
Cottage Economy has proven to be more than a match for me. I am shocked. Mr. Cobbett enumerates his paragraphs and thank God. I read paragraph 5 and stopped to read it aloud to Julie. Then we discussed. Then I read paragraph 6 and stopped again. Rinse and repeat. I could be justified in writing whole blog posts on just paragraphs in this book…though maybe not on this blog…
Anyway, I’ll review what I have muddled through and pick up the rest next week.
What is the book about? Let’s let him say it. This is most of paragraph 16.
I propose to treat of brewing Beer, making Bread, keeping Cows and Pigs, rearing Poultry, and of other matters; and to show, that, while, from a very small piece of ground a large part of the food of a considerable family may be raised, the very act of raising it will be the best possible foundation of education of the children of the labourer; that it will teach them a great number of useful things, add greatly to their value when they go forth from their father’s home, make them start in life with all possible advantages, and give them the best chance of leading happy lives. And is it not much more rational for parents to […to do this stufff…] than to leave them to prowl about the lanes and commons, or to mope at the heels of some crafty, sleekheaded pretend saint, who while he extracts the last penny from their pockets, bids them be contented with their misery, and promises them, in exchange for their pence, everlasting glory in the world to come? It is upon the hungry and the wretched that the fanatic works. The dejected and forlorn are his pray. As an ailing carcass engenders vermin, a pauperized community engenders teachers of fanaticism, the very foundation of whose doctrines is, that we are to care nothing about this world, and all our labours and exertions are in vain.
Is it a classic? Yes. No doubt.
Will you read it again? Yes. Portions of it anyway. 10% of the book is given to the detail on brewing beer. I tend to think more modern writers have done a better job of presenting this information with current materials, weights and measures.
Does it belong on your bookshelf? Yeah, I think so.
Can you relate a favorite passage?
In the introduction there was a paragraph I found myself returning to again and again. This is, I think, in line with the quote I read in the Bob Kleberg book about the definition of social justice: “the process of giving everyone an equal opportunity to become unequal.” There is inequality. That’s how it is. I can’t go surfing this morning. Not fair. But feeling sorry for yourself because the other person has more is bad for all of society.
Let it be understood, however, that by poverty, I mean real want, a real insufficiency of food and raiment and lodging necessary to health and decency; and not that imaginary poverty, of which some persons complain. The man who, by his own and his family’s labour, can provide a sufficiency of food and raiment, and a comfortable dwelling place, is not a poor man. There must be different ranks and degrees in every civil society, and, indeed, so it is even amongst the savage tribes. There must be different degrees of wealth; some must have more than others; and the richest must be a great deal richer than the least rich. But it is necessary to the very existence of a people, that nine out of ten should live wholly by the sweat of their brow; and, is it not degrading to human nature, that all the nine-tenths should be called poor; and, what is still worse, call themselves poor and be contented in that degraded state?
But why stop there? Later he is talking about education. He has already established that 9 out of 10 have to live by the sweat of their brow so children should be given a thorough education in how to work. Education should not stop there but it also shouldn’t start with books. I’ll let him tell you from paragraph 12. I’ll just write the whole thing out. I am tempted to add emphasis but I think you’ll get it.
Understand me clearly here, however, for it is the duty of parents to give, if they are able, book-learning to their children, having first taken care to make them capable of earning their living by bodily labour. When that object has been secured, the other may, if the ability remain, be attended to. But I am wholly against children wasting their time in the idleness of what is called education; and particularly in schools over which the parents have no control, and where nothing is taught but the rudiments of servility, pauperism and slavery.
Ho. Ly. Cow. From 1821 no less!
Who should read this book? The first part of the book should be required reading.
The last 10 or 15 years have been a good time to pick up home brewing as a hobby. If that’s your bag, the second chapter of this book is for you. I skimmed. We have made our own hard cider but I don’t see brewing beer on my horizon any time soon.
Take home messages: How about this? Tea has no useful strength. Men who want to be strong, vigorous and vibrant – the sort of men needed by Britain to maintain the empire – should drink beer. Tea will only keep you awake at night. It is of no use, being corrosive, gnawing and poisonous. Working folk should breakfast upon Bread, Bacon and Beer! Besides, who can afford for their wife to spend two hours each day making tea when you could just drink a beer?
Little children, that do not work, should not have beer.
I should say not. I encourage the reader to read Ben Franklin’s autobiography to see what he had to say about the drinking of beer some decades earlier in Britain. (Just search the link for the first instance of “beer” and read on.) Cobbett is encouraging economy but Franklin shows how it’s done, saying the beer brewers provide beer to workers on credit, workers buy beer desiring strength but really it’s just a drain on their finances. Franklin is (by his own account) stronger and wealthier than all because he eats bread and drinks water. That’s right. And, though Cobbett condemns Americans for drinking liver-burning and palsy-producing spirits…well, who wears the empire pants now?
Maybe that’s not a take-home message. Let’s do this one next week when I finish the book. Just wait till you read what he thinks about the evil potato!
What is the book about? Mayhem. The aristocracy. Show pumpkins. Show pigs. Love interests.
Is it a classic? Heck yeah! Everything Wodehouse. Even the books about cricket (And I can’t begin to understand cricket).
Will you read it again? Yes but not right away. Too much other Wodehouse to read.
Does it belong on your bookshelf? Wodehouse gets his own bookshelf.
Can you relate a favorite passage? This is tricky. Wodehouse weaves jokes through his writing. Since this book is all short stories I am really having a hard time pulling one specific passage out. It just loses too much context. My favorite story is Pig-Hoo-o-o-o-ey. Let me summarize the beginning. Lord Emsworth’s pig keeper goes to jail just prior to the pig show. Empress (the sow) stops eating and Emsworth is very concerned. At the same time his niece (Angela) breaks her engagement with one man and picks up with another. Multiple characters come to Emsworth to discuss the problems with the female pronoun (her, the girl, etc.) Emsworth always assumes the conversation concerns the pig rather than his niece. The jilted fiancee appeals to Lord Emsworth.
‘I say, I’ve just ridden over to see if there was anything I could do about this fearful business.’
‘Uncommonly kind and thoughtful of you, my dear fellow,’ said Lord Emsworth, touched. ‘I fear things look very black.’
It’s an absolute mystery to me.’
‘To me, too.’
‘I mean to say, she was all right last week.’
‘She was all right as late as the day before yesterday.’
‘Seemed quite cheery and chirpy and all that.’
‘Entirely so.’
‘And then this happens – out of a blue sky, as you might say.’
‘Exactly. It is insoluble. We have done everything possible to tempt her appetite.’
‘Her appetite? Is Angela ill?’
You see where this is going. Emsworth’s character fits this role perfectly…being consistently absent-minded in each book. His first concern is his garden but after that he worries about the pig. Interpersonal problems seem to resolve themselves so…
Who should read this book? Anybody with a little free time, a sense of humor and a desire for an increased vocabulary.
Take home messages: I don’t know. Wodehouse’s characters are often not the most intelligent but they are generally caring and honest. Maybe that’s the most important thing. Harvest comes in due season…you reap what you sow.
What is the book about? The birth and rise of Minecraft…written as a biography of Marcus Perrson.
Is it a classic? No. I don’t think so. Portions were very interesting though. I spent a surprising amount of time discussing it with Julie on our way to a family outing this weekend.
Will you read it again? Probably not. The kids won’t read it either. Too many things I don’t want to explain.
Does it belong on your bookshelf? No.
Can you relate a favorite passage? This is from Chapter 8. It’s not breaking new ground here but this triggered some thought:
The conclusion was obvious: game players have different brains than others. The question then becomes: What causes what? No one knows if gaming makes the striatum grow or if a congenitally larger striatum makes one more inclined to play. It’s clear that certain personality traits seem to be more common among those who play a lot. They seek immediate rewards for their efforts and make decisions more quickly than others. If it could be proved that games make the brain’s enjoyment center grow then it’s logical that these characteristics are strengthened by a lot of gaming. If that’s the case, then gaming may make us more active and give us quicker reactions, but it might also lead us to tend to choose short-term rewards rather than working long-term toward something greater.
Well, maybe. I have been playing video games my whole life. My kids want to know why I am so good at Super Mario games. Well, I’ve been playing Super Mario for 30 years in one form or another. Am I a gamer? Yes. But I can still work toward long-term goals. As can the gamer who created Minecraft…the subject of the book. I mean, I don’t think the author has thought about what he is saying. But it still gave me something to chew on.
In chapter 9:
Jakob and Markus found themselves at the same crossroads that most people with entrepreneurial dreams encounter at some point in their lives. On the one hand: a secure work life, with a permanent job and a monthly salary. On the other hand: a rare opportunity to realize a dream.
There was also detail about Jeb’s initial inclusion in Minecraft development. The product belonged to Markus. Nobody worked on it but Markus. Not that it was protected, that’s just how it was. Jeb took a look at some code and spent a Christmas vacation adding a feature so players could dye sheep’s wool…even while still on the sheep. It was a little risky but Markus embraced it and promoted the programmer. I think it is cool that Markus poured his life into a project but still was free and open enough to embrace a contribution honored the spirit of the game.
Who should read this book?
Last week I read another book about Minecraft. This one got a little further into the details Markus Perrson’s personal life, his family and his motivations. Each book has its strong points. Though this book was written prior to the other one I feel this is the book that should be read…if one were inclined to read a book about Minecraft.
Take home messages: You know that thing you think you should do? That book you should write? That blog you should start? That spreadsheet you have been meaning to design? That car you need to fix? That thing you haven’t done because everybody says it’s stupid? That thing you haven’t done because you don’t think it really matters?
It matters.
Don’t quit your job though. Make time in your day to do whatever your thing is. I know you don’t have time. That’s why I said “MAKE” time. There will come a time when you succeed out of your job. You won’t have an alternative. That’s your goal. Today is the day. Get started.
Favorite Blog Post of the Week
This week Matron wrote part two of a series about capturing and utilizing winter livestock bedding. I think both parts of this series are great. Just great. I look forward to a third.
In short, how much time does she spend on bedding? How much bedding does she use? What does she do with it all? Find the answers in the cleverly-named Peeing Forward Part II.
Favorite Podcast of the Week
I don’t know if podcasts will be a regular feature of my weekly (ahem…) reading journal or not but to round off my media consumption for the week, The Survival Podcast had a great episode on Thursday. Let me caution you that this is not an episode I will listen to with my children. He drops every word but F.
So let me give you the gist. The American dream is not a house. The American dream is a productive home. An asset, not a liability. A place that increases our wealth and well-being, not just a place to store our stuff. He also hits on an important idea, that we can strengthen our relationships by enduring hardship together…a concept we believe in strongly.
Just to open the window into our library, the following books arrived Friday:
Why these books? My kids are into Minecraft so I’m into Minecraft. As far as they want to go. They picked up the ball…now we run together. At some point they will move on. So will I. Believe me when I say we are doing more than playing a game here. Much more. I’ll give you an example. To build a dome with blocks you have to have a base diameter that is an odd number. What is a diameter? Why does it have to be odd?
I plan to read and work through the Java programming book this week. If you want to make it in tech you have to constantly learn new stuff. That’s just how it is. Otherwise the industry will leave you behind. There is nothing new about Java but it is new to me. I’m adding to my skill set…in large part to help my kids as they work through the same book on their way to making Minecraft mods.
I’m sure I’ll flip through the other books as well.
I am also working through so TSQL puzzles from this site as I work to train a co-worker. The most interesting part is the HUGE number of valid ways you can solve any problem. What do I do for a living? How do I pay for the farm? I tell my children I solve Sudoku puzzles all day…not far from the truth as I have no idea what kinds of issues I’ll have to solve each day…many of which are quite puzzling. But anybody else who asks gets told, “I work on a computer like a UPS guy works on a truck. I can’t fix your home PC.” I hate fixing people’s home computers. Hate. Like lasers-Shooting-Out-Of-My-Eyes-just-before-my-head-explodes hatred. “No, I don’t want to update your anti-virus. Oh, you have both Norton AND McAfee. Wow. It appears an unknown gremlin has used your browser to visit a number of sites which indicate said gremlin has certain tastes…that I’m not judging and really don’t want to know about…but I suspect those sites have a lot to do with the problems we are seeing. The gremlin also managed to install seven different toolbars in Internet Explorer. Couldn’t you just save your budget spreadsheet to Google Docs or OneDrive or Dropbox and sync your cat pictures to one of any of the online photo whatsits? Then we could just wipe and start fresh every third week.”
Anyway, this week I plan to read something related to farming besides finishing Cottage Economy. I haven’t decided what yet but I’ll keep you up to date. I’m leaning toward Native and Adapted Cattle by Kelley, though I appear to have the only copy.
Please give me some feedback on this post. I read a lot. Like, a lot, lot. I like to share with my readers when I find a book that helps a farmer out. But I also like to be entertained so I include links to movies and music. Fun books too. Please let me know if there are questions I can answer for you or if you have any suggestions to help make this format more meaningful.
Also, let me know if you are doing any of the reading with me. Would it be better if I published some sort of schedule or is it OK that I shoot from the hip?
Click here to see all entries in my reading journal.
I am the seventh. Mom pointed that out to me as we were chatting recently. I am the seventh generation on this farm. We often hear discussion about Seven Generation Sustainability and we should think about how we will impact people 140 years into the future. But we can’t begin to imagine the world ten years from now, let alone 140 years from now.
From mom’s blog, “William was born in Virginia on Dec.12, in either 1798 or 1800.” In my case 140 years only goes back 5 generations to when great grandpa Charlie was born. (Charlie is second from the right in the back next to his brother Tom who, in that picture, looks EXACTLY like my grandpa Tom. Maybe less shoulder than grandpa.)
Think about what this all means. That mink I caught in my chicken house a few years back? William, John, William or Charlie’s chickens may have terrorized by that mink’s ancestor.
That hedge tree I hate and plan to cut? It’s ancestor may have been purposefully planted here by William.
Charlie built the white barn 100 years ago. Did he expect it to last this long? Dick built my house. Grandpa built ponds, corrals, loading chutes, more barns. What will I leave?
Patria.
The Fatherland.
Do you know anyone who has as strong of a connection to the land as me? Not even the King ranch! Not only did they own it, most of my mother’s fathers are buried here. We have carved rocks to prove it.
Patria. Patriot. Patriotic. My 60 acres, ’tis of thee.
Will we still be here on the fatherland in seven generations?
I don’t know.
I can’t know.
I’m not even sure it’s important.
But I’ll tell you this – and I say this from the perspective of someone who is almost as deeply rooted as any American can be – I don’t think William bought a farm to fix his descendants in one place for all of time. In fact, though we modern folk read Laura Ingalls Wilder and swoon, I don’t think William saw the farm as anything other than a means to an end.
Let’s revisit Illinois in 1834. Illinois is a state but there is more land available on the continent than there are people to settle it. Europe is pouring itself into the US. Jefferson wrote quite a bit about the lack of opportunity for private land ownership in France and those who could were leaving their father’s rocks and hopping on a boat. So, while owning the means of production is important – and it is – the specific land we are currently parked on is less so. For some reason William, born in Virginia, moved to Kentucky then on to Illinois. My understanding is they were frozen out the first winter, returned to Kentucky and came back again. So they had some mobility and some tenacity.
Somewhere along the line prior to William the Chism family left Scotland and changed the spelling of their name. I met a man from Scotland recently and he joked with mom and dad that the Chism clan are midland Scots…I think he meant that to be a somewhat derogatory joke but it went over my head. And it doesn’t matter because I’m not Scottish. Nor am I German. Or Irish. Or whatever. But the point is my ancestors left their PATRIA! And why? Why did they abandon the rocks that marked the graves of their fathers? Because their prospects looked better elsewhere. What dead father wants to make his children suffer in proximity of said rocks?
So what is this farm? If we assume, and I think we can, that this farm represented a measure of hope, a feeling of place and the means of production for a family relocating from Kentucky…then what were William’s thoughts about me? …about the farm?I have no idea. William died long before I was born and I am not aware of his journals but I have to believe his thinking was not dissimilar to my own.
I have an attachment to my farm. I live in my grandma’s house. We put our dishes in cabinets she built. Our wood stove is in an addition built by a cousin of my grandpa’s. The house was built by a great-great uncle. We watch TV in a room built by my father. Most of the family is buried 200 yards from my back door. As a child I rode grandpa’s three-wheeler all over the farm. My cousin Kate and I ran down the hill and played in the creek (downstream from the hog floor…in retrospect, yuk). I remember the one time she touched the electric fence well. I have been in this house every Christmas of my life but one. I have an emotional attachment to my farm. I owe the bank a bunch of money for my farm…so I have a legal attachment too.
My farm is a place, not a purpose. The chickens, cows, pigs and manure are just the means. Land forces us to work hard and save money but the children are our wealth. The children are the ends…even when covered in silly string.
If William Chism had time to wonder about the seventh generation, I have to believe his thoughts were less about farmland and more about family. Would there be a seventh generation? Not just generations formed by boys and girls doing what boys and girls do but intentional families. Julie and I are intentional about family. Our parents are intentional about family. My grandma and grandpa Chism were intentional about family. Aunt Marian was intentional about her family…even if we weren’t her kids. Mom has memories of her intentional grandmother. My dad’s grandmother lived with us for a while when I was a kid (hilarious!). The culture of our family is not an accident and while it is true that there wouldn’t be Christmas memories in this house if Uncle Dick or a grandma Chism or grandpa’s cousin or my dad hadn’t built it, the house is the least important part of that list.
In some recent writing I have focused more on my kids and less on my business and that is entirely on purpose. I have an amazing and challenging job in town…a job that I don’t plan to leave any time soon. In fact, I like my job so much that I do it on my vacation time. The Chris Jordan you see on this blog is hardly Chris Jordan at all…but then again it is. The real Chris Jordan is absolutely fascinated by farming, that’s true. So much so that he journals what he is learning on an almost daily basis.
But the real Chris Jordan is even more fascinated by his wife and children. And as he lists his hopes for 140 years from now the well-being of his family rank far above his hopes for the well-being of the farmland he lives on.
My ancestors once moved out of Scotland. My children or grandchildren may move away from the farm…or even the US. That’s how it is.
We may not have the farm in another 140 years. But will there still be a family? Will our family culture persist? Or will there just be children?
Spring is here. I know it doesn’t look like it but it is. Really. No, really. Not on a calendar but on a to-do list.
Let’s take a quick look at the year, shall we? Julie and I have been meaning to do this but…you know…it’s hard to find the time. This list is incomplete but not inaccurate. Again, it’s less of a calendar and more of us being aware of what’s coming next.
Today (Monday, Jan 12)
Ordered layer feed (cause we need it this week)
Ordered pig feed (cause we’ll need it soon)
Ordered chick starter (cause it won’t be long).
Ordered broilers and turkey poults for the coming year
Called my pig guy. May get a few gilts for breeding. I always threaten that. Maybe this time…
Called my trencher guy to have him put a hydrant next to the brooder and save Julie’s back. Maybe even put it in the brooder.
Cut the trees in the yellow house barn lot, especially the sumac trees growing against the barns.
Read
Try to put on a layer of fat. Long days are coming. Lunch at breakfast, supper at bedtime.
Order more sawdust
Rent a chipper or have a big, big fire. Several big, big fires.
Haul scrap iron (I’m dreaming here)
Sell the pigs I’ll get in February.
Sell 75% of broilers we will get in February.
Overseed pastures with clover mix. Probably mix in some cool-season plants too.
Jan. 31 or Feb. 1
Start planting greenhouse. Yeah. Potatoes even.
Pigs arrive. Vacation ends.
Feb 6
Build new chicken house. We plan to build one similar to the new house from last summer…except shaped like a train caboose…because why not?
Feb 14
Valentine’s Day
Put bedding in brooder, turn on heat lamps to get things warmed up.
Tap maple trees
Feb. 18
Chicks arrive. Prayers begin in earnest. Vacation really ends.
March
Goslings arrive (need to get these ordered ASAP!).
Pullets arrive (need to get these ordered ASAP!).
Hatch a few duck eggs.
Fill chicken tractors (7th or 14th? Depends on weather).
Order more chick starter.
Plant potatoes outside.
April
Grass starts growing
Calving starts. There are no more vacations.
Butchering chickens begins. Please let it be warm. Please let the buffalo gnats be gone.
Get serious about outdoor gardens. Cole and root crops mostly.
Repair post rot in south side of bar while the barn is mostly empty.
May
Broadcast cowpea, sorghum and sunflower on the pasture. Maybe crimson clover too.
Pullets go into chicken tractors as broilers leave
First cutting hay to the barn
Flora will freshen. So much for vacation time.
Plant post-frost garden.
Scrape up every drop of manure I can find into heaps to be spread next month.
Pigs leave the farm.
June
Wash and pack a metric ton of eggs…somehow.
Sell a metric ton of eggs…somehow.
Cut hay.
Spread manure where hay was cut.
Buy 200 bales of straw.
New pigs arrive! I love pigs. I can’t wait. I really can’t. They are just the best. Little piggies!
July
Turkey poults arrive. They should be raised with broilers. May have to drive to Iowa to get the chicks and poults because I don’t trust the postal service in July.
Cut hay.
Bull arrives. Need to use a different bull this year. Maybe get a roan shorthorn? I kinda like the red ones as they seem to slick out better. I’ve been thinking about devon…
Order more sawdust
Order a load of firewood from the sawmill. That stuff is surprisingly awesome.
August
Pray for rain.
Chicken tractors filled with broilers and turkey poults. The goal is to have turkeys that dress out at 20 pounds and at least 50 broilers that dress out above 8 pounds. Oh yeah.
Butcher geese. Maybe.
Cut hay.
Keep the cows cool. I may change things up and start bringing the cows back to the barn around 11am to loaf during the day, putting them back on pasture in the evening. We’ll see.
September
Cut hay?
Sell the majority of the broilers that will be butchered in October. Hopefully cooling weather will get people thinking about cooking again.
Keep the cows cool.
October
Butcher broilers early in the month. Trying to beat the first frost.
Butcher turkeys ’cause if I don’t we’ll have to cut them in half to fit them in the oven.
Pigs leave the farm. Good riddance! 300 pound nuisances…all of them.
November
Stop milking the cow. Thank God. Swear it off forever. Just buy the dang milk from Steve.
Sprint the cows across the alfalfa field. Well, stretch, not sprint. Get it used up before frost knocks the leaves to the ground. Just make it happen.
December
Eat.
Sleep
Read books
Hang with the fam.
Keep grazing pasture.
There are all kinds of details missing from that but at least I got started. Do you have anything like this? It’s a little like a grazing chart. If you really fill out a full grazing chart you make room for weddings and vacations as you plan toward your goals. Might be something to think about including.
Kari has been asking for a post about marketing. I have to do this two ways and both are more conceptual than concrete. (I may offer more concrete examples another time but I think that subject is already saturated.) First we’ll discuss Marketing for Business then Marketing for Sustainability. You’ll see how those two ideas differ as we go but there is one thing in common: You have to meet your customers where they are.
Marketing for Business
Customers won’t come find you. They won’t magically appear at your farm gate and they won’t make immediate and radical changes to their buying habits. It seems easier to convince someone to change religions than to convince them to change diets. You have to find them where they are. Offer them something that looks like their concept of food but is superior in every way.
But sometimes…just sometimes…someone will go through some sort of crisis. They may join a gym or read a book about Paleo or something and suddenly they have stopped buying donuts. With all that disposable income and the encouragement of their newfound literature and peer support groups they will begin to ask, “Where can I buy a whole chicken and what do I do with it? What is a deep freezer? How do I cook with an oven?” They will ask friends at they gym, friends at work, friends at church. Somebody knows somebody. That somebody may know you. And that’s the best way…word of mouth. But you have to start somewhere. I have gotten years of business from customers and, later, their friends by initially giving away a single dozen eggs. There are times when we are swamped with eggs and we don’t know what to do with them all. So we give eggs away. At this point we throw a free dozen into a customer’s order if they will promise to pass a second free dozen to a friend. That normally results in a new customer…if you have dotted your i’s.
I don’t know who took this picture. No idea. I just know the orange eggs are mine.
How do you dot the i in an egg? People don’t talk about ordinary products. Ordinary products are just too ordinary. You have to bring the WOW! to get word of mouth. Soon you’ll see pictures of your food on FB or Instagram. Customers will text you pictures of your eggs frying next to “Free-Range, Organic Brown eggs from the store” and will express wonder at how pale the competitor’s egg is. But the truth is that store egg is not your competition. In fact you don’t have competition. If those are eggs then you produce something else. Same with chicken. Same with pork. Same with beef. That product you have is so superior to what people are used to…it’s like you are producing something else. Not a commodity, real food. Real quality. And people will talk about it.
Three years ago our van was stolen (and 5 dozen eggs in a nice small cooler!). I searched for its replacement on CraigsList. We took the whole family on the test drive with the owner. As I merged on to Lindbergh he said, “So…what do you do?”
“I am a computer guy. But we have a farm and raise chickens, turkeys, goats and pigs on pasture.”
Fast forward a few minutes.
“Chris, that was the most interesting test drive I have ever been on. I’m sold. How can I buy your product?”
Three years later he is still buying from us. He has given eggs to friends, neighbors and co-workers. He buys and smokes chickens and turkeys. He makes soup with our spent layers. He buys pigs and splits them with neighbors. He builds my customer base every time he changes jobs. We can count on him to spread the word. In a way, he is a partner in our growing business and has become a friend. And he’s not the only enthusiastic customer we have.
Several times he has pulled me aside and said, “Chris, I bought a chicken from X or from Y but they aren’t the same.” Heck, he continues to buy our eggs even though he belongs to a CSA that includes eggs. He says ours are better.
So, it’s all about the quality.
But if it’s all about quality it is also all about the price. Keep in mind there are alternatives on the market and remember cost has nothing to do with price. Cost is important to you, the producer. Prices are set by the market. Customers have price expectations. They expect to pay more for quality but you can’t be too far out of line. Consumers are price sensitive and allowing for that puts you in position to meet them where they are…to at least get within waving distance.
That said, there is a theory that if you’re having trouble moving product you should raise your prices. If nothing else the higher price gives your product a psychological advantage. Also, I can tell you from experience, customers are thankful when you lower prices and hateful when you raise them. Try to start at the high end of what the market will bear. We started too low (cause we didn’t add up our costs and allow a margin).
We make quality products and charge what customers indicate are reasonable prices. We rely on word of mouth and give out free samples in times of surplus. If you can do that while operating efficiently your business will grow. That’s all there is to it. Give away a few eggs to get the door open. Then sell a chicken to get your foot in the door. Then, before you know it, you are in the kitchen and, later, selling beef, pork, lamb and chicken to the whole neighborhood.
As long as you can keep up with the workload.
Marketing for Sustainability
What will happen to the farm when I’m gone? My labor? My dreams? My herds and flocks, the trees I planted…who will care for them? Who will continue the work here? I fear the vision is becoming hazy. Where I used to feel invincible I am often intimidated by the staggering amount of work ahead of me. Our dream (a dream I have in common with my ancestors) needs an injection of fresh blood. Youth. Energy! I am a steward, not an owner. I await the next steward.
We will never be sustainable unless new generations stand up and take the reins at regular intervals. That takes serious marketing success or they will all move away. The farm will be sold and, worse, spent. I need my children to buy into the dream, to share our vision and to move things forward. So let’s share some vision.
You know what I want? I want to spread manure on the pastures to build up future fertility so we have more nutritious, more drought-resistant forages, healthier cows that breed back every year and a beautiful place to spend our lives together. I want birds and ponds and fish and frogs and snakes and ducks. I want blueberries and gooseberries and raspberries and dewberries and strawberries. I want hazelnuts and walnuts and hickory nuts. I want cows and pigs and chickens and foxes and raccoons…well, maybe not raccoons. I want painted buildings in good repair full of feed and bedding. I want a beautiful, welcoming farm that family and friends can visit to feel refreshed. I want an efficient, smaller home with an open floor plan that is easy to heat, easy to cool, easy to clean and comfortable to entertain in and I want the house filled with our children and their children and laughter and games and food and lots and lots and lots of books.
How do I get there?
I go where my customers are now. I meet their needs where they are. Right now.
My kids are playing Minecraft right now. Even if they aren’t actually playing the game I promise at least two of them are sitting with graph paper and designing the castles they will build next time they can play. The others are reading library books either on the couch near the fire or on the couch in the front room near the electric heater. What books? I don’t know. They read so fast it’s almost impossible for me to even keep track…but I still try. My two older kids usually read at least a book each day (the library limits us to 70 books at a time…per card, BTW).
So that’s where my sustainability customers are.
Now, I could leave my kids there. They would be entertained, I could get some work done…or do some reading…or take a nap. But did Julie and I have kids so we could keep the computer busy all day? They aren’t an accidental by-product of recreational activity! No. We had kids because WE WANTED KIDS!
We wanted to be asked “Why?” questions and we wanted to clean up messes and we wanted to spend decades growing with and learning about them. What are they like? Who are they on the inside? What do they like to eat? What are they interested in doing?
You know what they are interested in doing? Right now they are interested in a specific game. So I am also interested in that game.
Why?
Because that’s how marketing works. If your customers want to play golf you play golf. If they want dinner, you go to dinner. If they want to build floating castles in the sky out of emeralds you go to your crafting table and make a pickaxe.
I need to build real connections with my customer base. This is more than just appreciation for the quality food at a reasonable price. This is me inspiring my children to achieve more than I can.
I’m taking the first step. I’m giving. Reaching out. I can’t wait for them to come to me…they might out of a sense of obligation but obligation doesn’t inspire vision.
But let’s say none of my children want anything to do with the farm as adults. OK. Let’s say that. It hurts me but we can pretend. Then what? Then I go to plan B: Grandchildren, nieces and nephews. It worked for my grandma. But what if I had no siblings and no children of my own? Then what? Then it’s incumbent on me to go out and find a protege. To mentor someone. To pass on our vision and continue the dream.
I have to go to them. I have to give away the best eggs in the world. I have to be generous with my time. I have to go short on sleep to go long on parenting. I have to read what they are reading and play what they are playing and continuously build connections over the decades. I have to make time to serve the people who matter the most and wash their feet. (I don’t know that I’ve every heard Jesus used as a sales example but it applies. The idea is that He came to us.)
Saturday my 10 year old son was wearing jeans with holes in the knees…under which he was wearing long johns with holes in the knees. “Dude, your knees have to be cold. Go change and bring me those pants.”
He said, “Old clothes are just more comfortable.” He changed but returned wearing jeans with a smaller hole. I asked Julie to get some iron-on patches while she was out.
20 years ago I raised open gilts on the hog lot for a nearby producer. He also kept a vasectomized boar with them so they could AI more easily later. My job was to call when the feeders ran low, give a shot if needed and scrape the floors clean. I did all that but I also played with the piggies. One warm winter day I had my coat unzipped as I scraped the floor. One of the girls gave an affectionate tug to the sleeve of my coat…so affectionate she pulled it right off me. Good thing I had it unzipped or I would have gone down. Off she ran, dragging my winter work coat through the manure. Thanks piggy.
So I bought a new Carhartt coat. 20 years ago. For years it would stand in the corner by itself. They take forever to break in. This time I bought a quilted coat instead of a blanket-lined one. I’m still not sure I like the lining. But I can tell you this, it’s warm and comfortable. Even with holes in the wrists, along the bottom edge and all along the zipper.
I don’t think there is any magic to Carhartt. Their zippers seem to hold up but I suspect a real farmer can’t make a coat last for 20 years. Just a computer guy who wears his coat for about an hour or two each day in the winter. Julie bought one around 1996 and finally had to swap it out two years ago.
But I want my wife and children to look nice. We don’t have all the money in the world but surely we can wear long johns that don’t have holes worn in the knees. But my coat? I don’t know. It is comfortable.
This was a busy week. Hopefully we saw our low temperatures for the year. It’s hard to keep bedding under the cows, feed in the cows and water available to the cows. Much easier when they are on pasture. To make things harder I was introduced to Minecraft this week. That is, quite possibly, the greatest PG-rated time waster ever! I had to scramble to get any reading done. More in a minute.
I wanted to make a quick note about ebooks. I tend to read on my phone about half the time. When I have a paper book in my hand I also keep a pencil in hand (or mouth) to underline passages that impact me. I also scribble notes in the margins. I can highlight in an ebook and it’s easy to look through sections of a book I have highlighted but somehow…I…don’t. When I review an ebook I have read I tend to have many fewer notes than when I read a physical book. Sometimes, though, I think that is appropriate. Sometimes a book is a meal. Sometimes it’s just a cup of coffee.
What is the book about?
A change from city businessman to man in the business of farming. He wrote about stacking products and staggering harvest windows 100 years before permaculture was a word…cause he read about it from even older books. He even calls himself a book farmer.
Is it a classic?
Anything people still read and discuss 150 years later is, necessarily, a classic. However, this could have been written last week. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting somebody who yearns for life in the country…making an honest living growing and selling small fruits and this book bore fruit all those years ago.
Will you read it again? Quite probably. And soon. In fact, I think it’s worthy of a chapter-by-chapter reflection. Or maybe a topic by topic reflection.
Does it belong on your bookshelf?
This was one of those books that I knew about, had heard a thing or two about but never made the slightest attempt to read. One of Julie’s uncles gave it to me for Christmas…a very thoughtful gift. It will remain on my shelf both because I enjoyed it and plan to study it further and because I wish to honor Julie’s uncle Tim.
Can you relate a favorite passage?
Just one?
In chapter 2 he makes a long series of arguments to persuade the reader that land ownership is desirable. As you read here, remember he is violently opposed to debt. His argument includes this quotable quote:
Wheat grows and corn ripens though all the banks in the world may break, for seed-time and harvest is one of the divine promises to man, never to be broken, because of its divine origin. They grew and ripened before banks were invented, and will continue to do so when banks and railroad bonds shall have become obsolete.
He finishes his argument with this: It’s hard for the kids to sell it.
When all other guards give way, early memories of parental attachment to these ancestral acres, or tender reminiscences of childhood, will come in to stay the spoliation of the homestead, and make even the prodigal pause before giving up this portion of his inheritance.
Chapter 3 has one worthy of mention also. The world is full of prognostications even today. In the Old Testament, prophets who got it wrong got killed. Today the world is flooded with news of impending doom from all directions and there are no consequences for the Chicken Little prophets. I assume there were no consequences for fear-driven business advisers in the 1840’s either.
Twenty years ago nurserymen were advised to close up their sales and abandon their businesses, as they could soon have no customers for trees – everybody was supplied. But trees have continued to be planted from that day to this, and where hundreds were sold twenty years ago, thousands are disposed of now. Old-established nurseries have been planted. The nursery business has grown to a magnitude truly gigantic, because the market for fruit has been annually growing larger, and no business enlarges itself unless it is proved to be profitable.
Well, I might argue that last point. In an era of free money there is a lot of capital misallocation. But that’s a different book for a different day. Some of that free money gets thrown at projects that would, otherwise, not be funded then the money evaporates. Pets.com comes to mind.
At any rate, the future is unknown, business is risky and that’s why owners typically take home a higher percentage than employees. It’s their neck on the line. Everybody says there is no need for more trees but you, the risk taker, go ahead and pot up another batch. Will they sell? Will you sleep until they do?
Chapter 21 has a great quote about a man who started small, the need to start small and the strength that gives for growth. Of course, the gentleman in question, as many of the author’s mentors did, used manures to the greatest advantage. Put that poop to work!
His great success removed all doubt and disarmed all opposition. But even his was not achieved without unremitting industry and intelligent application of the mind. Neither his hands nor the manure did every thing. But manure lay at the foundation of the edifice: without it he would have toiled in vain to build up an ample fortune from the humblest of beginnings.
The final chapter is concerned with where to buy land; East vs. West. He is, obviously, in favor of buying in the east where the major population centers were. Land is more expensive but you can sell product for a higher price. Let’s just let him say it.
If my example be worth imitating, land should be obtained within cheap and daily access to any one of the great cities. If within reach of two, as mine is, all the better, as the location thus secures the choice of two markets.
…and later…
But choose as he may, locate as he will, he must not, as he hopes to succeed in growing the smaller fruits to profit, locate himself out of reach of a daily cash market. New York and Philadelphia may be likened to two huge bags of gold, always filled…
Who should read this book?
I think you should. You. Yes, you. If nothing else, this book will expand your vocabulary.
Take home messages: Several themes stand out to me:
Avoid debt…banks are evil. Old Testament stuff. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes…dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria!
Rely on your spouse as your teammate
Stagger production windows into high income produce
Plant the whole farm off the bat
Stack multiple crops in the same area (like Stefan Sobkowiak(you should buy that!))
Make an investment in fertility. He bought the farm for $1,000. Over the next two years he spent $200 each year to buy manure…40% of the farm value in manure. And you wonder why I spend so much time writing about manure…
What is this book game about?
It’s an open world sandbox. Completely open. You can build, destroy, hunt, explore…just a sandbox. No missions. No quests. Just go. Do. If you want you can just build huge glass castles and breed rabbits. Whatever. I’m a 38 year old child. This game is a dream. It requires a certain level of genius to make a calculator out of Minecraft blocks though.
Is it a classic? At 60 million copies sold? Yes. And for good reason. This game will inspire and direct gaming for years to come. It comes in at third place for game sales across all platforms following Tetris and Wii Sports. (Wii Sports? Seriously? I, like, literally can’t even.)
Will you read play it again?
Again and again. For a while anyway. I’m sure it will get old but it’s right up there with my favorite game of all time, X-Com UFO Defense. Oh, gosh! Imagine an alien invasion Minecraft world! Instead of zombies you could fight aliens! Instead of abandoned mines you could discover alien bases! If only I was a better programmer.
Does it belong on your bookshelf computer?
Obviously I think so. It’s PG. It’s appropriate for all ages. It’s a hoot. Why did I wait so long? Why was I born in 1976 instead of 2010? Why don’t I go out and buy 4 more computers so the kids and I can all play together? I mean, seriously! I could hook that up for about the price of a cow!
Can you relate a favorite passage or experience?
Favorite passage?
/kill @e[type=Creeper]
The best experience is easily repeatable. I mined out a bunch of materials, suited up in armor, grabbed a couple of swords and a few stacks of torches and ladders and explored the abandoned mine I found. I should clarify, if your character dies in game it’s not a huge deal. Your stuff stays where you died until you either return to pick it up or the garbage collector routine sweeps it up for you. But you don’t want to die. So my kids are gathered around as we light up the darkness. We hear zombies moaning somewhere around us. A giant spider hisses. Then…suddenly from deep in the darkness a skeleton starts firing arrows at me. I don’t know where I can step because the ground is uneven. I don’t know where the enemies are. My kids are screaming, the younger two run out of the room acting scared and being goofy, I fall in a hole, zombies fall on me while I hack and slash and….we all have a blast. Seriously. Most fun I have had gaming in years.
Who should read this book play this game?
Anybody who wants to have fun. I think this game opens a world of possibilities for my kids. Really. If there is one skill I would have my kids learn right now it would be OO programming. I don’t know what is coming next but I do know that right now, if they want a job that is in demand, something they can do that pays well with pleasant working conditions, something they could do right here at home to supplement farm income, I would encourage them to become software developers. That requires a solid foundation in math. I can say that over and over. I can tell my kids they need to know math. But if I show them something like this…if I show them the formulas involved in creating a landscape out of blocks and persisting that data…maybe then they will begin to pay attention. Or at least start asking me questions. There is a pretty high-energy video that asks “Is Minecraft is the ultimate educational tool?”
Take home messages:
This really might be a paradigm shift in gaming. The Legend of Zelda was absolutely revolutionary in 1986. This is SO MUCH COOLER. I’m not supposed to be doing anything and I want to do everything. But I can’t. There isn’t time. But we (kids and I) can have a lot of fun, can learn about PC specs, networking, programming and how to kill creepers before they explode. When the kids who are playing this now learn to create their own games, look out!
What is this book about? It’s history and biography of the staff at a small indie game studio.
Is it a classic? I really don’t think so.
Will you read it again? I really don’t think so. My kids might though there was one bad word in a narration about trying to meet public expectations.
Does it belong on your bookshelf? No.
Can you relate a favorite passage? Long story. I have known about Minecraft for a few years now and it is something I have avoided because I though it was just some kid thing. But it’s not. It’s built for the community. The developers are very responsive to the demands of the player community. The game was originally released in a very, very pre-release form. This allowed the developer (mainly Markus) to focus on features the community wanted the most. There are several passages that discuss this, comparing Minecraft to another game, Scrolls, that the company was developing at the time the book was being written. In fact, the book may be not-so-subtle advertising for that other game. Anyway…
Rather than bludgeon you with direct quotes spanning the entire book and repeating what I said above I want to talk about how it relates to me. I am really tuba-playing band nerd turned computer guy and father who pretends to be a farmer pretending to write about farming. I have pretended so well that I’m 40-50% of the way finished with a book on raising and selling a few pigs. Just a few pigs…done the way(s) we do it. But I seem to be stuck. Not exactly writer’s block but something like that. I don’t know what level of detail to include at certain points. I suppose I could follow the model used for Minecraft and release a discounted pre-release version of the book and rely on reader feedback to form the final version complete with free updates.
So I guess that makes my book review a not-so-subtle advertisement for a book I’m pretending to write.
Also, the book follows the company. The team. The people. That’s the focus. Markus Persson created an incredible game and did so at just the right time. But behind the scenes, Markus Persson also found an incredible group of people and was incredibly generous with them, building employee loyalty, making work fun and making it financially rewarding. That’s not luck…but it’s not to say that luck didn’t come into play.
One other thing struck me. I have had to sign contracts that say the company owns my creative works for the duration of my employment. I have also benefited greatly from my network of colleagues and my professional reputation. The following quotes tie those two ideas together.
We [Online photo service company] had a problem that needed solving and someone who knew Markus from a forum was aware that he had worked with that type of programming before.
…but actually hiring him was not easy…
It took almost a year to lure Markus from King.com to Jalbum, and the main reason he eventually accepted was that he wanted to work more on Minecraft. That’s was why a programming job was preferable to game developing at King, who also had rules against employees making games outside of work – especially if you charged for the game.
King lost a talented employee because they believe a lie. They believe ideas are scarce and valuable. Ideas are not scarce. Ideas are worthless. Everybody has ideas. But very few lock themselves in their home every evening for years to create something of their own. Ideas for projects are common. Finished projects are rare. Talented employees who can finish projects are gold. King screwed up. It looks like Mojang handles this differently but I only have one quote to back it up.
In the new premises, Mojang would come to have more workstations than employees, the thought being that other indie developers could use those empty seats.
I can’t even imagine. Data security? Code security? Network security? But they seem to believe making resources available to talented people is beneficial to all…so…they do it. Maybe they cultivate talent that way. What does it cost them? What does it benefit them?
How can I implement a similar sense of openness and support in our home? On our farm?
Finally, each person at Mojang carries a lot of responsibility. There aren’t big teams of people working together toward a common goal, there are individuals with individual assignments. I’m sure they bounce ideas off of each other and support each other but…
This way of working not only means that each person at Mojang have a lot of work on his or her hands; it’s also up to them to get it done. There is no one to hide behind. …People are working quietly and are persistently studying their computer screens. Diligence was the word coming to mind.
I can certainly rely on my kids to complete specific tasks. But this is, I think, more. These people are all passionate about their job. If Markus wrote Minecraft in the right place at the right time, these people are also in the right place at the right time…at the right company. I need to ensure that my kids feel similarly. I need my kids to feel rewarded and inspired. I need my kids to feel the impact of their work financially, ecologically and in our community. How do I do that? Mojang uses twitter to get feedback from millions of gamers. I don’t have that marketing reach…but still I have to make them believe. Why else would they pour their heart and soul into the work?
…creates positive peer pressure. If you stand up in front of a group and tell them what you are going to do, then you also have an obligation to the group to deliver. I think that’s the best form of organization you can create as a manager, to get the team to organize themselves and set their own goals.
That’s why I announce publicly that I’m going to finish a book each week and report on it here. So how can I cast vision into my children? How can I help them see the tremendous amount of work there is to do here, prevent them from feeling overwhelmed by breaking it down into smaller parts and encourage them to stand in front of the family and take ownership of it?
Ask me again in a few years.
Who should read this book? I guess people like me. I have always played video games and it’s pretty cool to see through a foggy window into that world. It’s so different than the simple financial or health utility programs I have been involved with. Gamers are harder to please than the SEC and are extremely fickle. These people handle it well.
Take home messages: I enjoyed reading this book though I really only gave it about 4 hours. It’s light reading…details on the people behind a game I am having fun playing. I found the most value in their unwavering openness, honesty and hard work. They appear to have a lot of fun working together but they do work together. They are inspired. They share a common vision. They reap the rewards. As I mentioned, I seek application of that here at home.
You have to know I read a TON of blog posts throughout the week. I’ll leave out the blogs about the SQL Server OPENROWSET() function to retrieve data from XML files. That’s pretty cool but doesn’t compare to cow manure.
The most personally challenging post I read this week was by my friend at SailorsSmallFarm. I didn’t comment on her blog post which is somewhat unusual, especially since she was kind enough to mention me in her post (What does “skookum” mean? Apparently it’s Chinook for “neato”). I wanted to reply to her closing question but I couldn’t find the right words.
So now, I just need to make it happen, and then…how am I going to get the pig’s paddock to be multi-functional?
I tend to be a problem solver but I think sometimes I just need to be supportive. That’s what Julie says anyway. Maybe what she needs is what she has…plus a few nut and berry plants…plus some reassurance from a friend 2200 miles away. Cause that would be cool. So…”Right on SSF. Things are looking great! You have been working hard and it shows. I can’t wait to see what you do next!”
I have started reading Cottage Economy and a couple of others I’ll report on next week. Until then, please give me some feedback on this post. I read a lot. Like, a lot, lot. Especially in the winter. I like to share with my readers when I find a book that helps a farmer out. But I also like to be entertained so I include links to movies and music and, apparently, video games. Fun books too. Please let me know if there are questions I can answer for you or if you have any suggestions to help make this format more meaningful. Would pictures of the books help?
Try singing the title. Try singing the title to the tune of a Beatles song. Too much of a stretch? Oh well.
Cows are still locked in the barn as we are expecting freezing rain/ice starting around noon on Sunday. They have backed way off on the severity of the forecast but I prefer to err on the side of caution. The cows, however, are ready to be back on pasture. They have been getting all the alfalfa hay they want as well as some salted grass/clover mix they seem to like. I put them out on grass in a small corner of fence near the barn today and they were happy cows! I don’t really know if the grass is fresh or tasty or what but the cows went bananas for it. Twoey decided to look up for a second just in case I was up to something. (3M2…2…Twoey. You understand if you have a few animals around.)
While my cows were busy gently eating grass I closed them out of the feedlot. That gave me a chance to break the ice out of the water tubs and refill them, move the hay ring around a fresh bale of hay, leaving the remainder of the bale for the cows to munch on, lay on or whatever. Mostly what is left of the old bale is hay they rejected so it should be pulled aside and composted but they later seemed to enjoy rubbing their polls on it and munching a little bit here and there so…whatever.
I also decided bed the dickens out of the barn. We started, again, with six loads of sawdust. When I say “we” I mean dad and I. He ran the tractor for me. With the loader tractor we did as much work in about 4 hours as we would have done with a wheelbarrow in about four Saturdays.
The jack barn is full of round bales of straw that are at least 20 years old. They have been burrowed into by all sorts of critters and aren’t bales anymore, just piles in roundish shapes. I even saw a coyote bedding down in there last winter. Dad and I started hauling out load after load of straw from there.
At some point is appropriate for the reader to ask, “Chris, isn’t that an awful lot of bedding?”
Yeah, I guess it is. But let’s talk about bedding here for a minute. Each year I buy two truckloads of sawdust (totaling $270 tops) and 100 bales of straw (totaling $150). So for less than $500 I get all the bedding I need for cows, pigs, brooders, greenhouses, horses, composting toilets…you get the idea.
“So, Chris, haven’t you put an awful lot of money into bedding this barn down?”:
Proportionally speaking? Yes. So let’s talk about that a little bit. Why am I bedding the cows so deeply? (Horses too for that matter…) I’m doing it because I want dry, clean, warm livestock what don’t have to smell the ammonia they produce. I’m also doing it because I want to add value to my straw and sawdust.
That’s right. I said it. And I’ll say it again. Poopy sawdust is worth more than clean sawdust. Just ask my pastures next summer! Leaving the straw sitting unused in the barn shows that I misallocated capital in acquiring that material. Actually using that material for its intended purpose is…well…what you’re supposed to do…and the faster I turn that inventory the better! Why buy the straw if you’re not going to use it?
But wait! There’s more! The more manure I can pack into this bedding the better. So why am I building it up so much? Why am I stacking it so deep? I mean, if I’m not careful the cows will be rubbing their backs on the beams. So please don’t be concerned that I’m being wasteful with my bedding. I’m not. The cows have a thick, fluffy bed/toilet but there is more.
The reason I’m putting so much down is because I’m building additional capacity into our bedding so I can keep my pigs here in a few months. By mixing pig manure into my cow bedding I’ll broaden the nutrient spectrum of my future compost while also aerating it by way of pig noses…adding even more value to the straw and sawdust. And by the time we are finished with the pigs in the barn we will also be finished brooding chicks in the spring so I’ll have that spectrum of fertility to add to the mix. Top that off with a little dose of lime and we have a winner.
So…to sum it up…my cows like eating grass and I like to shovel manure. And today would have been awful if dad hadn’t shown up to help. The end.
“Your cow will freeze before you reach the first marker!”
“I thought they smelled bad on the outside.”
I like to make a note of weather extremes. Right now we should be facing our coldest weather of the year and sure enough we have a wind chill of -21 today (-29C for the rest of the world). That’s pretty cold. All schools are cancelled and the cows are in the barn and we aren’t going anywhere. Feel free to make the conversion from Fahrenheit to Celsius in the image below.
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Full moon right now. Mornings are clear, bright and cold. Did I mention it’s cold? It’s cold.
The main layer flock are in an unheated hoop house. That’s really not a bad place to spend the day. Usually we see a cat or two hanging in a nest box. The cows are in the barn. There are no pigs on the farm. We have a roaring fire going in the stove. The only things left out in the cold are the few remaining elderly layers. We will give them some extra fluffy bedding for the eggmobile and that’s that. They tend to stay close to the house and out of the wind. They need to go into a nice, warm soup pot.
It’s cold. Cold! The wind pinches your nose like an annoying uncle and won’t let go. I don’t like it. I hope that’s clear. I always wish for winter when I’m putting up hay in August. It seems so much easier to stay warm than to stay cool. But now I’m dreaming of a hot summer. The kind of heat you can’t even escape from in the pond.
The biggest problem we have is keeping water in front of the cows. I broke a hose a couple of nights ago. Since then I actually bought a new short hose! and we are keeping it with us at the house, carrying it back and forth. In our coats. It’s every bit as awesome as it sounds.
Julie cried this morning. She couldn’t get the chicken house door open. She thought she broke the spigot getting water for the chickens (she didn’t). She hurt her back carrying a bale of straw she shouldn’t have been carrying (ongoing injury). We think she’s coming down with something…she has been achy and slugginsh for a day or so. And tired. She cried. I hate it when she cries. I hate it when she cries and I’m late for work. Things are OK now though. Should be above freezing on Sunday bringing 1-3″ of ice pellets. Can’t wait. I hope she spends today on the couch by the wood stove.
Just a quick note, Aunt Marian said if we see -10 after Christmas we won’t have a peach crop. Actually, Aunt Marian said that her mother said…
Our cows must think we are room service. They didn’t even get up yesterday when Julie added a bale of straw. Things are pretty comfy in the barn. Air can blow through as the building is not tight but the wind is slowed considerably. That’s a good thing for getting rid of ammonia but the better way to deal with ammonia is to capture it in carbon. Further, the deep bedding, once it builds mass, becomes a living, composting entity of its own. We started with the sawdust. 6 buckets of oak sawdust.
I spread that evenly over about half of the barn. Why only half? Because the barn is huge and the herd is small. We used corral panels later to cut the cows off from the rest of the building. I could either bed the whole thing or have my bedding twice as deep. We topped off the sawdust with four square bales of straw. Each day we add a bale of straw, more if needed.
It is interesting how quickly that first layer of bedding gets soiled or otherwise worked into the barn floor. We add bedding every day for several days until, finally, we seem to reach some critical mass and the bedding needs taper off considerably. The calves are at that point now except in front of their feeder. That sees such heavy traffic there is no hope for it. If the cows stay here for long the bedding will build up to a nice, thick layer. I think they will only be here for the week though.
There really isn’t much for the cows to do these days. They get up and eat. They lay down and chew their cud. They walk to the water tanks. They lay down and chew their cud. I put a little kelp and a little salt in the feed bunk but otherwise, that’s the life of the cow hotel.
There is a round bale of alfalfa available at all times and we offer grass/clover square bales twice each day. They really seem to want the grass. We feed them outdoors because that’s the current setup. I have the bunks. The cows are there. No big whoop.
I have to say, this isn’t really any easier or necessarily harder than having the cows on pasture. I have a little less walking and water is easier to manage but I’m have to bring the feed to them stored feed and bedding. The cows are, I think, better off. We’re in for a few days of cold weather and it’s far below what we want to subject our pet milk cows to. The shorthorns don’t seem to care either way but I don’t want to split the herd so here we are.
No pictures of manure today. You can bet I looked at it though. It looked nice…as far as manure goes anyway.
Chism Heritage Farm 