Happy Summer Solstice!
It was great to see all of you at the CSA distribution last Wednesday. Not all of you knew but it was my birthday and I had a great time sharing the day and the fruits of some long, rainy spring months with you.
This major turning of the year when we celebrate the longest day of sunlight, and then start the half year journey back to Winter Solstice and the longest night, seems like a good time to update you on what’s happening with Calliope’s Table.
The gardens are loving the weather and have really started growing. The plants have been through rain, heat, wind, and not always at the right times. Next week you will see the first of the Swiss chard, more salad greens and peas, and probably some beet greens. In the next few weeks some of the summer staples like squash should start to appear as well. Thanks for your patience as the plants decide they are now finally ready to start flourishing.
One of the challenges in getting more produce sooner has been not having enough growing spaces ready at the right time, and not being able to jump on new spaces that were offered. I think I am finally figuring out what and how much I need in that area, and am already working on next season in that respect. I am going to start the “Got Grass?” campaign again soon to find and get ready a few more plots in the right places that will be either for winter crops or ready for early planting next Spring. If you know of spaces that might work please get in touch. The amazing garden space in Ladd’s Addition came to be farmed by me in just that way. Thanks again!
I will be looking for the collaborations with Sunroot Gardens and Otis’ Farm to yield some harvest for the new Hawthorne Farmer’s Market in the hopes of generating a few US dollars for things like rent, bike parts, and the occasional cup of coffee. This is a separate effort from the gardens that grow food for your CSA. While I intend to get you some of the produce from those collaborative efforts that I did not have space to grow on my own, produce from the few gardens where I am growing food for your CSA are not part of that farmer’s market joint effort.
Along those lines, the newly formed Portland Urban Farmers Co-op was/is an attempt to form an association of other urban farmers operating here in the greater Portland area. So far, just 3 farms are participating, Calliope’s Table, Sunroot Gardens, and Otis’ Farm. The intent in forming this organization was to share resources when it made sense, save some money when buying tools, seeds, and amendments, and collaborate on projects that were too big for any of us individually. Some of that has happened, and some is still trying to take shape. I’m looking for involvement from other local urban farmers for this to be the kind of association I am hoping for.
Through this association I was able to buy some amazing field hoes from Rogue Tool in Missouri for almost 50% off by buying through a group order. These hoes (one of which you can see in the movie, “The Real Dirt on Farmer John”, if you look closely) are made of recycled plow steel, which is better grade steel than we make in this country anymore. With care and good maintenance these hoes will likely outlast me, and represent money that will not have to be spent again.
I am becoming more and more focused on what works best for the farming and sustainably growing the most food, rather than embracing any ideal such as traveling or moving materials exclusively on bike, or digging all the plots by hand if I can borrow a rototiller and put gas in it to get a new garden going. When it comes to the ideals around the food, I will never waiver there. I will embrace and use techniques that are “beyond organic”, as Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms puts it. “Beyond Organic” is a term he coined when the authorities prevented him from using the word “organic” because his operation was not certified. Joel is one of the smartest, most successful farmers in the country, and his customers are happy to buy what he produces, some driving over 100 miles.
“Beyond organic” for me means I embrace the original intention of organic in that it means more than not using pesticides. It also means care of the soil and fair wages for the people that grow the food. While I’m not able to give fair wages even to myself yet, I am improving the soil in every plot I farm. If you take a taste of what passes for certified organic produce at your local grocery store, I think you will see that even as far as growing the food, some of that ideal has been abandoned. You will also not be able to convince me that those growers are giving their workers good wages and conditions, and I doubt the soil is being improved. One of the reasons I grow salad greens like you all received this past week is that I don’t know where I can buy greens for myself that taste like that except maybe another CSA.
The idea of investing in those hoes ($200) is that I can personally take out an entire lawn by myself if that ends up being the way it needs to happen. I was happy to prove this to myself this week, just one day short of being 53 years of age, when I did clear a decent sized area from some tall pasture grass and blackberry bushes at an amazing new space I am starting to prepare for later this season and into next year. I felt much like Jack LaLanne and the feats he regularly performs on his birthday.
The new farm is at the base of Mt. Scott on Johnson Creek and just a couple of blocks from the Springwater Corridor bike trail. There are more blackberries to clear this summer, and a former horse corral (with all that yummy manure just waiting for veggies to grow there) with very tall weeds that need to be prepared for winter crops. I have very high hopes for this space and envision this being the space I can finally have my own hoop house for greenhouse growing. Besides all that it is the closest thing I’ve found to being in the country since I got back from the Umpqua Valley this winter. Maybe we can plan to take a ride out there sometime this summer and check it out.
Oh, it’s also just a short bike ride from my new residence in the Outer SE in the Arleta/Mt. Scott neighborhood. That’s right, I’m living indoors again! I’m back sharing my apartment from last year with my awesome roomie Ann. It has made all the difference in my quality of life, which translates directly into my farming, and I’m now able to cook some of the bounty from the gardens in our own little cozy kitchen. Thanks to all of you who were so supportive during the past months while I worked to find my place in the city!
The new garden (at least new to me) in Ladd’s Addition is really starting to take shape. I have been getting more and more help from Ethan who some of you have met on the distribution days. So far there are over twenty zucchini bushes planted, nearly 30 tomato plants, and over 60 Giant Kohlrabi. We are planning to plant corn there in the front of the plot as has been done in past years, this Sunday, June 21 at 10:00am, if weather permits. This is planned to be a more intimate work party than you are used to seeing announced on the Portland Urban Farmers Co-op list. I’m only announcing this to the subscriber group and a few close allies to provide a chance for some of you to meet each other and chat a bit at a time other than Wednesday afternoons when it’s harder to linger and socialize. If you’d like to help us plant, or just come share the morning with us, the garden is on Locust, just across from the East Rose Garden in Ladd’s. Call me for directions if you need it. I’ll be leaving at around noon to do some picking for the first day of the Hawthorne Farmer’s Market, but you all can linger there as long as you’d like. Maybe I’ll also see some of you later at the market. We’re trying to make this a farmer’s market like the ones in days of old before excessive regulations changed the very intention of what a farmer’s market is all about.
Much of the food at the Ladd’s garden is intended to go straight to hungry people, bypassing organizations like the Oregon Food Bank which I believe is not as effective as it could be in feeding the hungry. One way this will happen is through a brand new effort in conjunction with SE Food Not Lawns. The Outer SE no longer has a Food Not Bombs serving, and we hear nothing from FNB about any intention to again serve this area, which has a very underserved population of homeless and underemployed people. My vision and intention in this area comes from a book that thinks anyone alive and breathing deserves to eat. I am one of three urban farmers in Outer SE that will be supporting this new effort to feed some hungry people. We’re still in the planning stages, but if you’d like to help, get in touch.
Finally, I have the new WordPress blog I’ve been longing for. I’ve moved all the blog history over and will be using this new space for weekly announcements about the CSA, and my occasional ranting about our industrial food system. I know many of you had trouble subscribing to the old blog, but if you will give another try at subscribing to this new one I think you will have better results. Just hit the RSS Feed icon on the far right side of the address bar in your browser. It’s an orange square with white curved lines. Subscribing to the blog will send you an alert when it is updated and I can use it to send you weekly news about the CSA.
My copy of The Mad Farmer Poems by Wendell Berry just arrived at the library and one of the poems seems so appropriate at this moment. I hope you like it.
Thanks for all you do! I love being your farmer!
Peace and peas,
Calliope
Don’t worry and fret about the crops. After you have done all you can for them, let them stand in the weather on their own.
If the crop of any one year was all, a man would have to cut his throat every time it hailed.
But the real products of any year’s work are the farmer’s mind and the cropland itself.
If he raises a good crop at the cost of belittling himself and diminishing the ground, he has gained nothing. He will have to begin over again next spring, worse off than before.
Let him receive the season’s increment into his mind. Let him work it into the soil.
The finest growth that farmland can produce is a careful farmer.
Make the human race a better head. Make the world a better piece of ground.
Prayers and Saying of The Mad Farmer
- Wendell Berry
