Another day of canning. Got the pot of spaghetti sauce on right now. Still have to get the farm entry for the county fair in, that is next on my list. Have to do the home-school paper work as well. Busy day and just found more tomatoes on the freezer...salsa anyone?
So here is what it’s all about. For one year we will make our lives a bit more public in order to share what is it is like living on a small family farm in rural America. You will share in our real world, uncensored. You will see how we do what we do, how we live, how we make ends meet or not, what we eat, what we raise, in general how we live. You can ask us questions, we reply back in the blog.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Always waiting and always fighting
The world can be a rough place for a little farm like mine. No one really seems to understand that farming is a choice and a sacrifice. Each day I awake up with an over whelming desire not to leave the safety and comfort of my bed. Yet each day I pray my morning prayer, and rouse myself to the task. Some days are lovely, others not so much. Some days I feel as though the world is against me and the farm. Endlessly my little farm in the middle of no where is under constant fire.
This week I must deal with the NAEC, the electric company in our area and their killing my Organic status. I had a long talk the other day with a person I know who works for him. I expressed to him how my heart was truly broken over this event. I did not blame him, I just wanted to understand what happened. At one point I expressed to him that if one of his workers had found a gold nugget on my right away if they would take it. He said, no of course not, well my soil my plants and my trees are my gold. That he understood.
My next conquest was with the Fish and wildlife people who explained to me that any animal found in the wild is under their charge. I explained that my entire farm has animals found in the wild, my goats come Africa, my ducks from Mexico, etc . The nice man went on to explain that that they were only interested in quail at the moment. I took a deep breath, expressing that my quail did not look like wild cortunix quail; I had been told in February of this year that as long as they did not look like the wild cortunix, we would be fine. So now I have to work on having cortunix quail re-qualified as farm animals. Their reason for the need for a permit was simple to them, they flat out told me that want access to peoples farms and that this was a way to do that, and also that these birds could make the wild quail sick. I asked him if he was kidding on the making the wild birds sick. Any domestic bird could make any other bird sick, I agree with this, but than why do I not need a permit for pigeons? Pigeons carry disease I expressed. He explained that no one raised them for food or to sell. REALLY! I dropped it at this point, realizing that this is a man behind a desk who has most likely never seen a live bird. I have to call back tomorrow and talk to the biologist in charge of this.
Some of you nice people might remember that just two years ago I was fighting them over the Muscovy ducks that they willy nilly added to the migratory bird list. They banned them, and at a time when so many people relied on them for food. Thank Goodness they came to their senses. Now we can raise our muscovy ducks in peace.
The gardens are coming along, I am doing a ton of canning. We are also still working on getting of grid, I hope to have our first solar panels here soon. Being a non-subsidized farm is not easy, but it is rewarding.
Love you all...Be Blessed
This week I must deal with the NAEC, the electric company in our area and their killing my Organic status. I had a long talk the other day with a person I know who works for him. I expressed to him how my heart was truly broken over this event. I did not blame him, I just wanted to understand what happened. At one point I expressed to him that if one of his workers had found a gold nugget on my right away if they would take it. He said, no of course not, well my soil my plants and my trees are my gold. That he understood.
My next conquest was with the Fish and wildlife people who explained to me that any animal found in the wild is under their charge. I explained that my entire farm has animals found in the wild, my goats come Africa, my ducks from Mexico, etc . The nice man went on to explain that that they were only interested in quail at the moment. I took a deep breath, expressing that my quail did not look like wild cortunix quail; I had been told in February of this year that as long as they did not look like the wild cortunix, we would be fine. So now I have to work on having cortunix quail re-qualified as farm animals. Their reason for the need for a permit was simple to them, they flat out told me that want access to peoples farms and that this was a way to do that, and also that these birds could make the wild quail sick. I asked him if he was kidding on the making the wild birds sick. Any domestic bird could make any other bird sick, I agree with this, but than why do I not need a permit for pigeons? Pigeons carry disease I expressed. He explained that no one raised them for food or to sell. REALLY! I dropped it at this point, realizing that this is a man behind a desk who has most likely never seen a live bird. I have to call back tomorrow and talk to the biologist in charge of this.
Some of you nice people might remember that just two years ago I was fighting them over the Muscovy ducks that they willy nilly added to the migratory bird list. They banned them, and at a time when so many people relied on them for food. Thank Goodness they came to their senses. Now we can raise our muscovy ducks in peace.
The gardens are coming along, I am doing a ton of canning. We are also still working on getting of grid, I hope to have our first solar panels here soon. Being a non-subsidized farm is not easy, but it is rewarding.
Love you all...Be Blessed
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