GRO4US

Last Saturday I attended a viewing of FRESH, a documentary about the state of the local farmer. Since then I’ve been pondering what I saw. FRESH very much echoes what I believe, but how I communicate that to others is the issue. FRESH is a tough film to sum up.

Review

The film begins at the bottom and works its way up. The start is the hardest part: you see the cruelty of the system to the animals, the cruelty of the system to the farmers, and the cruelty of the system to the environment. This early illustration shows how the players in this lethal game are the big industrial food distributors, and the pawns are the consumers and the farmers. If one of the big players decides not to renew their contract with a farmer, then that farmer is left with tens of thousands of dollars in high maintenance infrastructure to pay for—with money they did not earn from the stock they sold.

Supposedly the EPA protects us, but how do you safeguard against the manure-lagoons that result from industrial-grade systems? If you observe animals in their wild state you will quickly see that large herds, that are unsustainable in a given area, move frequently so as to have fresh food. This leaves their waste behind to nourish the avians that feed off the insects and the maggots, and replenishes the ground that was just grazed. In the CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation, paradigm all the animals are crowded together so closely they’ve little moving room. Worse yet, the animals are never moved from the given area and these toxic manure lagoons form; these are lakes of dung and urine that never occur in natural environments. Seventy percent of all the grain produced by the United States to, supposedly, “feed the world” goes to these organizations to cheaply feed their animals. Herbivores such as cattle cannot handle grain because they are meant to digest grass, and grain is too concentrated in energy. And, no matter what they say, it is never safe to feed corpses of animals to an herbivore!

The middle of the film shows the difference between the CAFOs, such as Tyson or Con-Agra, and the local, unconventional farmer is that one cares about the animals, plants, and their local environment. I’ll leave you to guess which of these actually cares.

This part of the film even addresses the myth that all farms are dirty, stinky, and need to be kept away from where people live. As I watch the various scenes showing the unconventional farmers, I am constantly impressed by the greenery that I see compared to the dead and predominantly man-made landscape of the CAFO. Even the fields recently grazed by a herd of cattle aren’t messy, because they were moved recently and the poultry were let in. I’d rather eat happy animals that were able to express their nature, than the denatured, adulterated, bloated, pre-treated (with antibiotics) “meat” the CAFO produces.

The last part of the film concludes by showing examples of farmers who have either made the change, or have come from strange backgrounds. Strangest of all, to me, is a man named Will who came from a corporate background to go back to farming; in a mere three acres he produces so much food that it astounds people. One man nearly died because a boar stabbed him with a tusk, because the subsequent infection was already antibiotic resistant. That man exterminated his whole herd of pigs and started fresh, and within that first year saved $14,000 just by not needing veterinary visits.

By and large, FRESH is encouraging. It outlines the problems of today and shows the solutions of yesterday, that which came before the industrial method, and explains very well why you cannot industrialize everything.

Conclusion

If you get the opportunity to see a screening, please do so. FRESH is a wake-up-call that needs to be sounded to a world already wounded by industrialism. The local farmer is safe and trustworthy, and if you do get sick you simply have to go back and complain. Since when have you talked to the CEO of Tyson over getting sick on their products?

If FRESH isn’t available in your area, think about hosting a screening of it; for small gatherings it is only $20, and is very much a good tool to show that what is in the grocery store isn’t necessarily better for you.

One plant that is positively thriving in my soil is the cucumber. I chose to grow Boston Pickling cucumbers, a variety from back in the 1880’s. This is one cucumber which I do enjoy, in spite of my dislike for cucumbers.

Here are a few tips and tricks I’ve learned with them during this season.

Trick: Rub Ends, No Soapy Flavor

Sometimes cucumbers taste soapy near its ends; it can be a bad enough taste to slow even the most cucumber-loving vegan. But the trick to get rid of this problem is simplest of all: cut the ends off, one by one, and rub them in a circular pattern. You know you’ve got it right when the cut seam begins to look soapy—so lather up, rinse, discard, then enjoy.  Thanks to my mom for this one.

Tip: “Careful with the water, pal.”

Cucumbers are 95% water. That’s a lot! But, how much water should you give during the bearing cycle of the plant?

I’ve found that the plant will take almost as much water as you will give it. But, depending upon your variety you may not want to drench it with a half-gallon daily. Instead, try giving about a quarter gallon daily and observe the results. If your cucumber is no longer mostly round, and is like a triangle with bulging sides, you’re giving a little too much water; if it is very skinny or oddly shaped, try adding a little more water. I’ve found it to be quite hit-and-miss in getting the optimum growing size, but still gives decent “cukes” in the meantime.

Tip: Pick Early, Pick Often

The objective of a fruiting plant is to produce a mature fruit, once that is done the seeds can propagate the plant. In other words, its job is done when it produces a mature fruit. This is pretty common, but well exemplified in the cucumber. Find the size that tastes best to you and pick it; when in doubt, pick it; when near maturity, pick it. The production of fruits will accelerate as the plant tries to reach its goal.

Last year I made a token attempt at gardening around this time of the year, or a little later. Yes, I know that isn’t the time to make a garden but we were starting even smaller than this year. That year’s work wasn’t much success at all. But this year we’ve got a bed with potential problems, which I decided to use as extra space.

It didn’t work.

Cucumbers and zucchini are large plants that take 3′ x 3′ worth of space each—neither of which I like. Because I wasn’t sure how this bed’s soil conditions were, it caused severe blossom-end rot that prevented any harvest of big beef tomatoes, I figured it could serve as a backup bed. So, I planted two rows of carrots, none of which sprouted, and two zucchini plants; I started some cucumbers in planters and then moved them out to the same bed.

The result was a dismal failure of slow death from pH imbalance. The plants paled, wouldn’t grow, and produced nary a blossom.

Or so I thought.

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I know little about both gardening and plants. What I do know I have learned from books, from experience, and from mistakes. That knowledge hasn’t covered most the signs of maturity among my plants; some were obvious, such as the wax bean. The intricacies of lettuce have been harder to learn than it has been to grow.

Anyone can grow lettuce. Throw out some seeds, lightly water at dawn and dusk, wait two or three weeks, and presto! you have baby lettuce. But, now what? Like many, I harvested individual leaves early, before the lettuce qualified as a “head”. This leaf lettuce only amounted to a single serving at first picking, but that picking stimulated rapid growth. For the past month I’ve had nice heads of lettuce in my garden that provide biweekly salads.

Yet, last week I noticed that my lettuce aged almost over night. I looked a little closer and found the signs that I’d missed, so that I will harvest my heads in time from now on.

Maybe one day I won’t commit these mistakes as frequently.

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Afternoon everyone! Today is the day in which you get to see my little garden. It’s making great progress and food, and by next year may double in size. This is my garden, two beds of 30″ width and about 10′ in length. For a full gallery of pictures, scroll to the bottom of this post.

Wide shot of my garden.

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Tilling is a traditional part of both gardening and farming, but how helpful is it? After reading my books on gardening, especially Weedless Gardening, I’ve found a number of tidbits that contradict this habit.

To till, or not to till—that is the question.

1. Sowing Weeds

Did you know that there are 140 weed seeds, if not more, in a pound of dirt? Some even call this amount a “conservative estimate.” Farmers often till their fields at night to combat germination of these seeds, but grasses and large-seeded broadleaf seeds sprout well at any time of day. It only takes a breath of air to awaken these seeds! If you till at night be sure that you don’t have any light at all: small-seeded annual plants can germinate in moonlight or even the light from a flashlight.

But what about existing weeds, you ask? The trouble with existing weeds is that they’ve got roots, and all plant energy is stored in the roots—that is why you can hack a bush or tree to pieces and watch it regrow within months. These roots are chopped up when you till; being chopped sends what is left of a plant into a sprouting tizzy. This is why you cannot get rid of dandy-lions without getting that cursed taproot. I admit that you may kill a lot of weeds this way and add to your organic matter a little, but it is still counter intuitive.

But this is hardly the worst.

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