Tony & Shanna's Farm Life 2009

2009-12-06T10:41:00.000-08:00

Its been nearly a month now since we arrived here at the little brick home perched above the Cortez sea. And now its nearing our time to make moves again, re-enter society, create our tomorrows, and say goodbye to this small peace of tranquility.
Time has served us well here, in that it hasn't been present. Without societies usual gauges of time like the incessant alarm clock, deadlines, paydays, bill due dates, weekends and favorite television programs-- time has a way of wafting by at a cloud like pace. Slowly, saturatingly, marinating your mind in a delicate content. Mmm tasty food for the soul.

We've come to love that pace in all of its boring, unproductive, unstimulated glory. Like watching the desert change colors and texture with the sun slowly waning behind distant mountains as a mangy, old, Mexican dog keeps good company in the dirt between constant bouts of ecstatic scratching. Or like working on an impulsive painting throughout the shadows of the day until the creative juice simply fades or an unquenchable thirst for a cheap watered down lager pulls you away. Or like awaking in silence without any outside disturbance to find the sun just about to pierce over the quiet, undulating morning sea. Or like cuddling up on the porch swing in the crisp night air picking out constelations in between shooting stars. Or like doing yoga in the morning light for as long as ones heart desires. Or like giving reasonless, long, loving hugs to one another at any point of day simply to say "hi".

Its been so nice to have this time and space for exactly such things. In this double latte, double fisted world we've created, it is a blessing beyond words to be able to go to a place that holds such stillness and calm. It is in this calm that we have the opportunity to re-meet our true selves, where we are at, whats going on inside, and thus nourish in the ways necessary to give us strength, clarity and love. An immense thank you to RadDad for being so open and trusting with his home down here. We have enjoyed as thoroughly as possible and already look forward to the next trip.

So back to some subjective version of reality we go. Full of responsibilities, schedules and a host of other obscenities seemingly mandatory these days. But as we do what we must do to live, we try not to forget to live well. After all, what is the point then.
We hope that this little scribble finds all of you living well.
Love and Light to all.
Tony y Shanna

Baja Mexico

2009-11-20T11:51:00.000-08:00

The trip down from Mendocino was lovely with many stops in various places for seeing friends and family. Being in one spot for any length of time can really put the itch on hitting the highway. I have spent perhaps too much of my young life systematically avoiding too much restraint and responsibilities for exactly this need to get out, get away, come to, breathe.
And I know its been said by many whimsical, bendy, philosophic type that one can achieve all of this from the comforts or discomforts of the lotus position and a meditative mind. But Ive yet to transcend, and thank god. A life without the capacity to refresh, revive, recalibrate in far reaching places is for me no life at all. And how ridiculously over privileged we are for any such demand. But demand it I do with as much ornery indignation as any other white knuckled, blinded zealot...because it is nourishment for the soul. How one chooses to feed ones soul is a matter of ones own, but as the air we breathe, and the earth we grow, and the water we drink, it is a necessity.
So here we sit, in the vast and empty quietude of the most barren corner of the Sonoran Desert, looking out over the calmest of clear blue seas. Allowing her ebb and flow to take us in to our own quiet rhythms, reflecting the past, deliberating the future, and being incredibly present with the peace and solitude of today...soul food. Cucina Abierto.

Saying Goodbye to the Farm

2009-10-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

The westward winds send the walnut leaves dancing melodically through the air, smoke billows from our cottage chimney in the early morning hours as the cozy heat motivates us to stay in bed just a while longer, and the sunlight wanes low in the southern sky giving a softened hue to our beautiful surroundings as we button up the garden with the final plantings of winter cover crops. Fall is here, and with that we say goodbye to the furtive growth of previous months both within us and in the garden, as well to our tenure here on the farm.

Its been roughly six months since we arrived here looking forward to the wonderful experience, opportunity and challenge in front of us. We came here with very little familiarity in the art of cultivation. We leave here with a firm understanding, capacity and undying love for growing food. Obviously this is but one facet of the many things we have fallen in love with through our time here...the daily communion with the nurturing land we lived upon, the perfectly evolved, egoless animal friends who made us smile nearly every day, as well as the wonderful connections, laughs, fights, tears and all other moments of growth with the good folks around us. It has been nothing less than a complete experience...and what more could one ask for.

Needless to say, this past six months has been an accelerated full immersion learning process not only in the realm of our relationships with the land, but also too for our relationship together. Spending nearly each and every moment together, living together, working together, playing together has challenged every fiber of our connecting thread...and I'm so happy to say it has only strengthened it. I think life handed us a daunting test...and we passed...adding armor and will to the roads ahead...furthering our love and friendship into ever deepening layers.

And we look ahead with only one step revealing itself at any given time. How we often wish we could clear the fog above and see the entirety of the staircase...but what an utterly easy and growthless bore that would be. We understand and honor fully the great process of things, giving time and experience to accrue the necessary tools to continue forth more brightly than before to the next step.

So to all who have been a part of this wonderful journey with us, who have followed our story, and who have given love and support...we thank you with all our hearts. You are all such an integral part of this masterpiece of life. Shine on.

Love Tony & Shanna

P.S. We will continue posting blogs of our trip to Mexico and onward.

September's Abundance

2009-09-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

It seems its been awhile.

We often forget about time in the traditional sense of it around here. I find a great satisfaction in keeping track of the days only by our Saturday Farmers Market. The days have been reliably hot and the nights expectedly cool, the preferred comfort zone for our pampered plants. As the calendar officially reminds us of falls arrival, the garden reminds us in its own subtle ways. The scraggly tiered vines of the melon beds are cleared away, the tall brown stalks of corn rustle their brittle leaves in the afternoon breeze, the basil plants fight our efforts to keep from flowering despite our insistence for prolonged pesto indulgence, deserving their complete life cycle like all else, and the winter squash rally in growth to such ridiculous size as to cause concern as to how in the hell to cook it. Shannna also prepares for the coming winter months and the ailments that ensue with turning her beloved herbs into wonderful homemade medicinals (yes, the legal ones) keeping our health and mojo at optimum levels.

Its a time of transition as beds of summer loving plants are replaced with those that will thrive through fall and some of the hardier specimens even over winter such as our new beds of brassicas...This is one of our favorite aspects of this area...year round growing conditions.

And as the season cycles carry out their transitions, Shanna and I find ourselves faced with our own. As our informal tenure is coming to a close here on the farm we look forward to ponder the various prospects of the future. We count our blessings every day that they all remain incredibly good prospects. Life has been good to us and we only hope it feels the same of us. With that, we both know that wherever we end up next will be the right place, because we are there together.I know...fluffy, sappy, romanticism...you're just jealous...so there!

Its not all introverted, melodramatic decision making though...its been an incredibly social month for us with many good friends visiting that included a very merry unbirthday to us...some bicep blasting workouts of apple cider pressing (notice the sheer power of muscle and focus here)...as well as some large scale canning efforts giving us loads of awesome food through the colder months ahead. We also made a trip to Tahoe for re-calibration with more friends, nature and the often elusive act of fun. It seems when one spends enough time hunched over a spade or on bended knees scratching in the dirt, ones muscles often forget how to bend the neck and back up and outward to the macro world around us... Tahoe is always great for that as its level of beauty is on such a ridiculously large scale that it leaves you in an outward stooper of awe.

Its getting slow around town with the hordes of weekend warrior winos becoming less, making for a mellow wake-n-bake like pace around town...on second thought, its probably not just the lack of tourists responsible for this. The off season of any tourist destination can seem hard on the pockets but heaven on the soul for the hard working residents. Luckily, we work for free so we don't have to worry about that. We are rich in other ways, better ways...imagine if the preferred currency for global trade were tomatoes and green beans...we would be rich and those fed chairman and executive officers wouldn't look like such wretched, soulless zombies. Perhaps they'll consider it when they realize no amount of soy sauce can make their money edible.

Anyways, its been a fun ride with more learning than my neuron receptors will probably be able to handle. Maybe its just a part of turning thirty but it seems that for every new thing I learn, something else gets forgotten. Limited RAM on the older models, I guess. But its the current stuff that matters most. The world is a whirlwind of madness right now and its up to us to build us's and better ways of doing things and break the chains of the collective comatose.
Rise and Shine beautiful people.

AUGUST

2009-08-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

August is the month when one sits back and leisurely enjoys the abundance of the hard work of previous months...for a moment. Then its time to plot and plan for autumns crop. Never in our life have we enjoyed food so much. To eat an ear of sweet corn right from the stalk is something comparable to...well actually nothing in this world...it is far superior to anything else that you could possibly conceive. Except for, perhaps, the satiating, sensual blessing that is my bread. Those bestowed with such a glorious opportunity to sample such magnificence are considered those in absolute high karmic standing. Actually, I'm just learning...but its going great.

Abundance is everywhere as the apple and pear trees bow low with their burden of such production, ensuring in their nature a good chance of reproduction. So too, the wild and invasive blackberry brambles teem with layer after layer of fat, shiny rotund berries waiting for any form of life to pluck them away, ushering them to distant lands to continue their innate and covert plan to conquer the planet...so be it, I could die happy with a mouthful of wild blackberries. Our grape awning is getting quite laden with lovely clusters too, making for a shady afternoon lounge spot for “Us and Gus-Gus” the farm cat (Inquire for band name copy write).

We've had a few guest appearances from some non late summer veggies this month, such as brussel sprouts and artichoke , thanks in part to an experimental, mad scientist approach to growing food...thus defeating the dusty novels of conventional wisdom asserting otherwise. We like to learn from experiential mistakes...and learn we do.

Shanna has found her talents in seed saving from some of our tactfully expired plants, giving us enough seeds to cover California in mustard greens and cilantro. As well, her recent botany course and a slew of new herbal books written in latin which double as cinder blocks has turned our house into some kinda plant science experimentation lab. Im just glad she is not into taxidermy.

Speaking of my beloved, we just celebrated the mark of her third decade on planet Earth. And what a better planet this is with her among us...those who know her well know this as fact. We went camping for a few nights along the Mendo Coast with some lovely canoeing on Big River and some rare fine dining to boot. Yup...my girl loves to camp, explore nature and eat awesome food...I'm a lucky boy.

Life is good if you make it so.

Love to all...come for a visit.

PS...This is what happens when youre a naughty chicken!

Ecology Action Mini-Farm Tour

2009-08-07T13:49:00.000-07:00

We recently had the pleasure of visiting the Ecology Action Mini-Farm of John Jeavons in Willits, California. This mini-farm is set up as an educational resource teaching people the sustainable practices of having a closed system farm. Whereby one grows all of their food, makes all of their own compost, and builds (rather than depletes) their soil. Jeavons has grown food for the last 37 years and has traveled the world teaching people how to not only feed themselves cheaply and efficiently, but also with being good stewards to our planet. The rate at which we are depleting soil around the planet is incredible- due to having huge agribusiness and non-local production of most of our food needs. Even gardeners who do not use their own compost are depleting someone else's resources.

Ecology Action has created a way to grow food called the Grow Biointensive. There are 8 important aspects of this method:
1)Deep soil preparation- called the double dig method. Which involves aerating the soil two feet down so that healthy soil organisms- like fungi, bacteria, and worms to name a few- can move in and begin creating a healthy soil environment for plants to grow.
2)Composting- using broken down kitchen waste, garden trimmings and other organic matter to provide nutrition to the soil, rather than depleting it.
3)Close plant spacing- creating a “mini-climate” for plants which helps retain moisture, protects valuable microbiotic life, retards weeds growth and facilitates higher yields.
4)Companion planting- some plants grow well, if not better, together. Using this knowledge to create a healthier garden space. This also includes planting certain flowers to attract beneficial insects to the garden.
5)Carbon-efficient crops- planting approx. 60% of the crop to be seed or grain crop, which also produces much needed carbonaceous material for the compost pile. Some examples are wheat, oats, corn, sorghum, fava beans, filberts, sunflowers.
6)Calorie-efficient crops- planting approx. 30% of the crop to yield high calorie crops- such as potatoes, sweet potatoes,leeks, garlic, beans, onions.
The last 10% will be vegetables to provide most of the vitamin and mineral content (and taste!!) of the food.
7)The use of open-pollinated seeds- the use of seeds that have been used for centuries that preserve the worlds genetic diversity.
8)A whole garden system- it is important to know that one should use the whole system to make this work. If someone grows this high of yields without composting or deep soil preparation the soil can be rapidly depleted- which is no good for anyone.

Growing food is fun. And so wonderful for your health and family. It was really cool to be inspired to do more good things for this planet. I don't know if we'll do all of it, but we sure can incorporate a lot of it into our future food growing plans. We both feel that there may be a time in the not so distant future when we have to grow our own food. Let's all plant victory gardens!!! Who could possibly be unhappy when you set foot into a beautiful garden bursting with delicious food. For more info you can buy How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons or visit www.bountifulgardens.org.

I also took a class on solar cooking. Did you know that you can cook just about anything in a solar cooker??? Rice, cookies, vegetables, bread, purify water, canning... you name it. And, it is powered for free, by the sun!!! It just takes a little pre- thought and a little extra time. Nothing crazy!! And...the food tastes so much better because it is cooked at lower temps (200-250 degrees) for longer and it hasn't oxidized. I can't wait!! I'm getting all the solar cooking things I need for my birthday from Tony. Let's eat!!! And feel damn good about it!

Growing, Growing, Growing

2009-07-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

Here we are one month into summer and WOW it is amazing to see how much everything is growing!!! Most of the plants have a life cycle from 3-5 months- so, you could say that they are in the prime of their lives, living it up, reproducing like mad and beind quite prolific.

The corn which was planted only two months ago is already 7 feet tall.

The broccoli and squash plants fill our bellies with daily nutrition and tastiness.

The melons have exploded with growth, crawling this way and that claiming space for their fruit- which almost doubles in size by the day. It is such a pleasure to watch the bounty of life.

Currently in the garden, our main job is care taking- making sure the weeds are under control (ha, ha) and providing extra nutrition for the plants. During the growth (leaf) phase of the plant we feed them fish emulsion or composted steer manure, which are high in nitrogen. During the flower and fruit phase of the plants we have been feeding them either vegan compost tea or handfuls of our own compost which are high in potassium, phosphorus and many other minerals. This provides an added boost for our producing plants. Keeping the soil and the plants happy. Also, when the plants and soil are in super health it helps deter molds and bugs and dieases from the plants.

We are proud to say that we have just had our largest harvest for the farmer's market- kale, chard, broccoli, summer squash, red cabbage, red and yellow potatoes, beets carrots, basil and cilantro. Yum! So much great food.

In the cool shade behind the Gro-Dome we are growing lettuce in individual pots. We ran out of room to plant in the garden and also, the summer heat can be a bit oppressive for tender greens such as lettuce. We did have the deer like our lettuce just as much as ourselves, but we moved them higher and now they are safe. So much to learn. Tony's next project is placing a fence around our start area to assure maximum safety of our young plants.

With the help of our friends Erin and Sam, we bagan the starts for the fall/ winter garden. We've got cauliflower, kale, cabbage, arugula, boccoli and spinach on the way.

It hasn't been all work. While the veggies grow, grow, grow we have been having fun baking with Jaxson and exploring our Northern Coast surroundings.

It has been such a good time out here discovering and observing our natural world. We feel so blessed to be so close to the cycle of life and all of it's bounty! Love to all!!!

Summer Begins

2009-06-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

Its been a fruitful few weeks with spring reluctantly letting go of its moody ways for the reliable long warm days of summer. The summer solstice marked the longest day of the year...it also happened to be my 30th birthday. The insanely long daylight hours offered much time for reflection on 30 times around the sun. Within the dizziness one tries to formulate a timeline of such a swath of life and only comes up with imprints...impressions from the collective. So be it...life is here...now...and i suppose we can only grab onto the fact that all will change...necessarily, thank God. So what wisdom gained from making it this far down the road? Only that talk is cheap, experience is everywhere, and application is everything. Grow, grow, grow says the undercurrent of the living...and perhaps we have come to a point in our species development to know in what way...perhaps. I'm glad to know this way, to know what matters.

The farm has been filled with the excitement of summers growth. We are seeing everything reaching for the skies in a fast, furious race to reproduce. As a result of this new blast of growth, we are finally enjoying an abundance of food directly from the garden!

Broccoli is making a late but prolific appearance.

So too, our potato patch has been giving us beautiful young taters to get creative within the kitchen.

Shanna has been very busy with her new favorite pastime of canning and preserving, as well as turning milk into delightful home made yogurt and cheese. Among some of her recent accomplishments have been peach salsa, peach butter, apricot frozen yogurt, and dried apricots...which we will enjoy for months to come.

Shanna and I were also blessed with an appearance from three of our favorite friends from Tahoe which was a ton of fun. We look forward to more visits from our sierra lovelees. NewMoon represent!

My small but beautiful family also made it out to usher in my 30th. I love them all so much and it was truly a special occasion to have them on the farm, seeing whats important to me.
A couple trips to the coast

as well as a local vineyard rounded out a great visit.

Now its time to slather on the sunscreen and get back to work.
Love to all.

A Month of Growth

2009-06-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

We've now been here a month and i cant help but wonder where the time has gone. Perhaps the old saying should be revised to “time flies when you work on a farm.” Its good work...and its hard work...and most often its good hard work. Sometimes its a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it.

Its incredible how much growth has occurred in the gardens in the past two weeks.

We are just seeing our first delectable heads of broccoli and squash coming through

and we just harvested our first onions and garlic of the season...

The potato field is thriving and just received its final installment of planting thanks in most par tto our newest addition to the farm, David Dutton.

Corn transplants have gone in and are off to the races as much of the grass family is this time of year
.

As well, we've had an absolute abundance of various lettuces and greens being sold at the farmers market and donated to the local food banks which is a big part of our mission out here...feed ourselves, feed the community
.

Its not all work though...we had a great visit with Shanna's mom Melody,

as well as an amazing trip to the coast for a healthy dose of negative ions...

Coastal flowers are popping right now which kept Shanna quite happy.

Beyond that weve had some lovely time with our favorite farmhand, Jackson...which often includes funky monkey dance sessions
and the always popular funny-face face offs...
and other critical matters of mind and body.

We do spend quite a bit of at home time researching various aspects of growing good food...,

cooking good food...

and eating good food...
.

Its a simple, gratifying life but someone has to do it.
Love to all.

Planting Planting Planting

2009-05-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

The second week has been of beautiful, warm, work filled days. As the temperatures have found their state of perfection hovering in the 70's and 80's, both plants and gardeners rejoice. Plants in a show of rapid root and leaf development and gardeners in a gleeful studious observation of everything in the universe still happening just as it should.

We have kept very busy getting transplants from the Gro-Dome out to the beds, setting water lines, building trellises, as well as keeping it all going by planting more seed starts in the Dome. Everyday we anxiously search the beds for any signs of new sprouts poking through the rich earth. Both Shanna and I have really taken to the daily chores of making a big food garden happen well. We especially enjoy the early Saturday morning of harvesting the many various greens currently prolific for the local farmers market . Both greens and healthy starts make up the majority of our early season selection at the market. As spring warms into the long days of summer we will see the bounty of selection grow.

We have also been putting in a lot of time and love into the more domestic tasks of getting our little farm house feng shui'd the way we like, as well as making a ton of home made food. Its been so good learning to make things normally too busy for. Bread baking has quickly become my favorite with, among some casualties, some absolute winners. Shanna is becoming quite the Indian food chef too. Other staples along with an endless amount of greens from the garden and beautiful rich eggs from the hens keep us well fed.

Despite the absolute quietude and isolation of living out in the sticks we are finding the constant company of the farm animals superior. Tasha, the farm dog, accompanies us in just about every thing we do. She's very young and full of so much energy and necessarily must be a part of all facets and happenings around the property. The sheep received their annual sheering this week which i think coupled with spring, has made the herd a bit friskier...the boys especially have been squaring off for the rights to the booty...which are conveniently displayed in the following picture. The baby ewe is getting bigger by the day and has to be, and i don't use this word often, the cutest damn thing ever.
It seems too that no matter what we're busy doing through out the days there are always a chicken or two hanging around voicing their curiosity of things. Its obvious these chickens live a ridiculously good life and you can taste it...in their eggs.

With things really beginning to move into full swing out here we anticipate and look forward to another lovely week of playing in the dirt, watching and nurturing life as it becomes a part of this natural world and benefiting from a symbiotic relationship with it. We all have a thing or two to learn from such observations as we so often forget we are one and the same with this great life force. Wish all of you a lovely week. Be well.

Oh yeah...for anyone who wants to call us we have an actual land line now!!! 707-895-2435

Tony & Shanna

The First Week

2009-05-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

Well, the first week has come and gone and what a week it was.

Spring is in full swing in northern California which means plenty of work in the gardens.

Beds are being prepared...

Starts from the GrowDome are making there way out to the gardens...
spring greens are flourishing...,

Beneficial flower beds are going in(thats our little casa in the background)...

the sheep and cattle are enjoying the gluttenous conditions of the tall spring grasses
and the chickens are fully occupied in the unending search for bugs and providing us with beautiful, delicious eggs.

We are all excited to work with and see the unfolding evolution of our food crops this season. There is so much much to learn and we are enjoying every step of the process. Learning as we grow...and growing as we learn. More to come!