Hot Off The Haywire

What's In A Name?

If you've ever wondered why companies give certain names to certain products, I think I know the answer to at least the reason for one product - the brushhog. There's a reason they didn't call it a brushgoat, or a brushsheep, or even a brushcow, and that reason is efficiency.

I was harvesting some green beans from our second planting, just looking around the farm, when it struck me as to how truely efficient pigs are at removing vegetation (the same thing the name brushhog is trying convey in it's meaning). I grabbed the camera and took this photo: (this shot is looking south towards their grazing paddock you can see in the distance)

and remembered how lush and full this field was in clover back in the fall. To get a true sense of what I'm saying, go back and look at the video Milking Machine as this is pretty much looking at the same angle as the photo. Man, I walked over that field and there's not a speck of vegetation anywhere. A little light tilling to level the ground and this baby's ready for plastic mulch for next year's garden.

So now I know what the companies were trying to convey by naming their implements brushhogs. Just a little quickie off the haywire. Thanks for reading!

Pork & Greens 

You're So Sixy - Rachael Manchester

Rare breed. We use that term with the livestock we raise, but can it also be used to describe humans? In the case of Rachael Manchester and her partner Seth Dazy, I say absolutely. Rachael and Seth are certainly following their own path, a call to unify themselves with nature that few of us would answer.

Rachael and Seth live on a portion of Three Springs Farms, owned by Mike Appel and Emily Oakley, and have truely gone back to living much as our ancestors might have 200 years ago. They live in a tepee during the cooler months and a simple lean-to during the hotter months of summer. They have neither electricity or running water. Their shower is the creek that runs through the property, and their kitchen is a simple propane stove or coals from a fire. No phones, computers, ipods, TV, no heat, nor AC - man, that's amazing. I really admire (and find fascinating as well) the life these two are trying to lead, and I wanted to get them on for a few questions. Seth couldn't make it, but I got Rachael in front of the camera and this is what she had to say:

 

 

Besides being our customers, Rachael helps Mike and Emily run their booth on Saturdays during the busy season, and Seth is the delivery driver for the Tulsa drop-off point of the Oklahoma Food Coop. Their goal is to own their own place someday, and with their grit and determination I'm quite certain they'll realize their dreams.

Rachael, who has something very European about her, and Seth, who reminds me of Lane Staley, the late lead singer of Alice In Chains, are really, really cool people so if you run into them at the market give them some Cherry Street love. Thanks for reading and watching!

A special thanks to Don "Juan" Drury for the camera work!

Pork & Greens

Farm Fodder - Page 13

Wouldn't you know it, the evil number 13 has struck again. This is the 13th edition of "Farm Fodder" and the freezer in the trailer went out today. Man, when it rains it pours. First the generator stolen and now this. I did replace the generator yesterday and had a Haitian witchdoctor over to cast an anti-theft spell on it.   (Actually I bolted it down and padlocked it, but that's no more guarantee than the witchdoctor)

At the farm the some vegetables are doing excellent, like these melons which should be ready in a week or so:

and some are getting hammered by insects, especially the summer and winter squash plants. Years are assigned to different species, like "year of the monkey", but this year will be known as "year of the vine borer". I've talked with several other farmers that are having the same problem. For some reason they're out in force this year.

At the market we'll have sweet corn, green beans, cherry tomatoes, various squashes and cucumbers, a smattering of okra, and the first few tomatoes, like these beefsteaks:

In New Pork City we had Natalie Mikles and Cory Young from the Tulsa World out at the farm today and no, they don't do the police blotter report! They came to do a feature about the farm after Natalie heard about us from one of her family members that shops at the Cherry Street market. I Got a shot of them here:

We turned the youngest pigs into the spring grazing paddock after it was mowed to keep the Johnson Grass from seeding. Here's a short video of them:

 

 

At the market we're going to start grilling our new breakfast sausage dawgs from 7:00 to around 8:00 or 8:30 and then start grilling the brats and chorizo dawgs. We picked pork up from the butcher today so we'll be loaded to the gills with our products - everything except salami and shaved ham which we were going to pick up tomorrow, but with the freezer gone bad we'll be replacing that tomorrow along with everything else that needs to be done, so it may be next week for those two.

Thanks for reading, and come try a breakfast dawg tomorrow!

Pork & Greens

Farm Fodder - Page 12

Wherever it's hotter on the planet than right here in Oklahoma, I pity those dudes. Man, it was so hot today harvesting that the sun was heating the rubber muck boots I wear so hot that they were actually burning the tops of my feet. Had to take them off and change to sneakers.

Anyway, we got the first bit of sweet corn harvested as you can see here:

The sweet corn has been dissappointing because of all the re-planting after the varmits ate the seed. Alot of the ears didn't get properly germinated resulting in spotty kernels, and of course the ear worms are in abundance from all the moisture. The cherry tomatoes are also starting to really produce as well. We're growing a mix of red and yellow grape that are really tasty. If I didn't eat so many of them while harvesting we'd even have more than this:

At the market we'll also have cabbage, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, butternut squash, green beans, and a handful of the first okra. We may have melons by next market, as a few are already starting to get at the turning stage.

In Porklahoma the pigs are starting to take really long siestas to escape the heat. From about 9:00 am to dark the place looks like a ghost town. Maybell's doing an excellent job with her purebred litter despite the brutal heat and humidity. Here's a shot of her piglets giving her the daily back massage:

At the market pickings will be slim since the butcher's bacon machine broke. He doesn't expect to get it fixed until Tuesday, but hopefully we'll have lots for the Brookside market. We're also out of ribs, boneless chops, and possibly brat dawgs. I haven't had time to load the freezer yet, but I think the Coop delivery yesterday wiped us out on alot of products. We took pigs to the butcher Monday, so we'll be loaded next week.

We'll still have the grill fired up, so thanks for reading and stop by and see us tomorrow!

Pork & Greens

You're So Sixy - Jacqueline Smith

Sweetness. Walter Peyton's not the only one that could go by that moniker, and if you had to only use one word to describe Jackie to someone that had never met her, sweetness would be the first word that popped in my mind. She seems like the kind of person that would stop their car in order to move a turtle out of the middle of the street ( but that's just my perception) and she possesses a very gentle and kind spirit that makes you like her instantly.

Jackie's studying to get her horticulture degree, and she's just returned from a month long trip to Japan and Thailand with some of her classmates. Besides helping me, she also works at Elote Cafe which is a really cool place to eat downtown on Boston. 

It's rare these days to see someone Jackie's age so involved and interested in both cooking and growing sustainably produced local foods, which is highly commendable in my book.

I wanted to get her on here because long before she started helping me run the booth she was a customer at the Cherry Street market, and also because I mention her quite alot here on the blog, so I thought you might like to see what she has to say:

Jackie and her husband Judah (a roadie for the band Three Doors Down - how cool is that?) are the kind of folks that make the farmers' markets such unique and interesting places. She has been an enormous help to me running my booth while I'm grilling, and I'm both honored and thankful to look at her and Judah not as customers or booth helpers, but as friends.

( A special thanks to Katelyn Cealka for the videoing and realizing the radio was really, really loud! )

Pork & Greens 

Farm Fodder - Page 11

The harvest load is definitely on the increase at the farm, and is really going to grow over the next few weeks. We've got some butternut squash harvested and the first okra is coming on, but there won't be enough to bring to market until the next Saturday. The sweet corn must be close to being harvestable because the racoons have started harvesting it. They're going right by the traps and straight to the corn. Well, at least it must be a good variety. (attempt at humor to keep from going postal on those bascked mastards)

Cucumbers are starting to really produce, and the cherry tomatoes are beginning to ripen. The green bean bushes have gone absolutely wild, so we'll be loaded for sure. My favorites, the watermelons, are setting fruit like crazy as well. Here's one of our Moon  & Stars yellow flesh melons that we grew from seed saved last year:

and here's the new watermelon we're so excited to try out, the Orangeglo melon:

New Pork City had some new additions this past week. Maybell, our herd Large Black sow, had her second litter. She farrowed 10 purebred piglets, but one didn't make it. She's doing a great job nursing despite the heat and ultra high humidity. We'll save one of her boar piglets to take Roscoe's spot as the herd Large Black boar.  Here's a short video of her piglets:

 

 

It was really cloudy when I took that, so the light wasn't the best. We had a group visit at the farm today. Julia Laughlin from OSU-OKC brought her horticulture class to see how we raise the vegetables and pigs, and we had a really good visit. She's got some pretty sharp and interesting students in her class. Here's a shot of the group:

At the market Saturday we'll have our shaved ham finally available, plus all the other pork products. Our butcher's tumbler broke down on him so he couldn't run the bacon. This means if you want pepper bacon come early, because we only have 3 or 4 on hand. We do have plenty of regular bacon though.

We're interviewing Susan Forman this week for our "You're So Sixy" segment, and I'm looking forward to that, and we'll have the grill fired up for dawgs. Jackie Smith is back from her studies abroad trip, so she'll be back running the booth this Saturday. I want to give a special thanks to Kat Conrad for filling in while Jackie was overseas. She was a big help, and I couldn't have done it without her. Come see us, and thanks for reading!

Pork & Greens

Ellie

Change. It's as inevitable as the rising and setting of the sun, but it's not always welcome, in fact it can be most unwelcome, depending on the circumstances. Let me explain.

My daughter Savanna, who is seven years old, holds a very special place in my heart. When she was just a little tot she developed something called septic hip, and though it's very common in children it requires surgery and anesthesia and all the worry and anxiety that go along with hospital stays. One of the most heart wrenching things in my life was seeing my little baby being wheeled into an operating room. Her surgery went well and she was back to normal in a couple of days, but the experience left me (and my wife as well) very protective of her, probably too much in some ways.

Not long afterwards Savanna got a little stuffed elephant for a present that she decided to name Ellie. At night, instead of reading a bedtime story I would lay on Savanna's bed with her and I would become Ellie. Holding the toy and using my best female voice imitation, we would talk about foreign places, do math problems, do dance moves, make up rhymes, and always tell each other what we were going to dream about, usually some exotic trip to a foreign land. Ellie became a part of the family, and a nightly ritual as soon as my wife had tucked Savanna in, for no sooner did my wife clear the bedroom door I'd hear "daddy" and in I would go and Savanna would hand me Ellie and we we're off on another adventure.

A couple of nights ago, after Savanna had called me, I went and got on the bed with her, but something was different, and you could feel the difference but not immediately understand why or where it had come from. I asked her where Ellie was, and she pointed to the chair in her room, and then she pulled out a little stuffed monkey from under her sheets. I asked her why Ellie was in the chair, and she said she had asked her mom if she had to sleep with Ellie every night and her mom said she could sleep with whatever she wanted to. She said she wanted me to be the monkey, but we both knew it wasn't the same, like baby boomers trying to reinvent their youth, the suit just doesn't fit the same anymore.

The change had a surprisingly profound effect on me, because, you see, it dawned on me that my little girl was growing up. Putting Ellie in the chair wasn't just a change in sleep toys, it was a first timid step at independence. The slow seperation of a child from the protectiveness of her parents had begun. The nightly ritual begun so many years before was over in an instant, the special bond played out in nightly bedtime adventures now a lost treasure that can only be found in remembrance.

It made me think of some lyrics you're probably familiar with,

Time makes you bolder,

Children grow older,

And I'm growing older too.

from the song Landslide.

And that's why the change was so unwelcome, because as I look back on it now I know those precious moments we spent each night are gone, replaced with mixed feelings of joy at seeing a daughter come of age and sadness at knowing her innocence of youth is soon to be exposed to the darker and harsher sides of life. And also knowing that I won't be able to protect her or shield her from those very things, knowing that she has to experience them on her own, knowing she has to grow up just as all of us do. Man, I miss Ellie.

Pork & Greens

Farm Fodder - Page 10

Man, if it the heat this week is a sign of things to come in July and August, then Katy bar the door, cause I ain't going outside no more! The only thing faster than the rise in temperature is the growth of bermuda grass in our lawn. Twice a week mowing is getting old quick.  Plus, the AC unit in our trailer that is used to keep the vegetables cool has bitten the dust, so all in all, this week hasn't been buckets of fun.

In the garden, the rain and heat have all the summer crops looking good. We've got "Sunshine" kubocha winter squash the size of small pumpkins already:

And the melons are getting about the size of an apple. This variety is called "Iroquois" and is a large melon that has a beautiful, sweet orange flesh:

At the market we'll have cabbage, summer squash, green and yellow zucchini, cucumbers, a few carrots, and the first pint or two of cherry tomatoes - they're just starting to turn.

On Wallow Street, we we weaned Perk & Twiggy's pigs, and then grouped them with Geez & Myfoot's pigs. This shot was taken this morning after the torrential downpour that dumped 3 inches of rain in a few hours:

At the market we'll have most of pork products, with the exception of ribs that are sold out. Several of the specialty sausages are in short supply, so come early to make sure we have what you want. We took 4 more pigs to the butcher Tuesday, so we'll be loaded next week. The grill will be fired up as well, and we're hoping to get some locally produced poppy seed buns from Luna Bread.

 Come see us, and we really appreciate you supporting us and all the local Oklahoma farmers. Thanks for reading!

Pork & Greens