Category: Words from Tristan

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Judge Tristan Klesick??

Last week, I attended the American Farm Bureau (AFB) National Conference which was held in Seattle. The AFB hasn’t held its national conference in Seattle since the 1950s.  Normally I wouldn’t head off to an AFB convention, but it was so close to home that I decided to go.  It didn’t hurt either that the local agricultural bank I work with asked me to come and be a judge at one of the AFB contests.

I served as a judge for the Young Farmer and Rancher Discussion Meet.  Essentially, these are the future leaders of American Agriculture and they are competing in a mock policy meeting. The goal is for the participants to demonstrate their abilities to communicate and build consensus around a certain question that is asked of the group. Each group is made up of four to five participants.  This is a big deal and the winner has had to win their state competition and then has to compete with the best from every other state at the national convention.  The winner takes home a brand new Dodge 4×4 pick up. Needless to say, there were some motivated participants.

The question my group was asked to debate was (paraphrased):  We know that the American food supply is the safest in the world, but how do we get that message out to the public?

This was a pretty loaded question and the participants (three men and one woman) discussed it for about 40 minutes. Afterwards, I was ushered off to a “secret” room to tally my scores and turn in my evaluations. 

Sadly, I do not necessarily agree with the presupposition that America’s food supply is the safest in the world.  I certainly do not believe that our system produces the healthiest food in the world.  Our entire focus as a nation has been to direct national farm policy towards cheap grain and, consequently, cheap and empty calories. And because of this national policy we have created an industrial farm model that doesn’t value quality, nutrition or variety, but values quantity and control of our food supply.  And I, personally, believe that this focus has weakened the safety of our food supply and the quality of our food supply to the point that it drastically impacts our educational systems and health care industries in America. 

I would contend that if American farmers were producing healthy food we wouldn’t have a national healthcare crisis and we would not have children “bouncing off the walls” from being fed a high sugar and overly processed food diet.

Thankfully, the organic farmer has stood up and said, “We are going to grow food that is filled with health and nutrition!”  It is not easy to farm organically, it takes more labor and applying minerals and compost to our fields cost more money. But, if we are going to have a healthy food supply, the soil has to have the nutrients available to grow and raise the healthiest fruits and vegetables Americans and everyone else in this world deserve to eat.

Tristan

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'09 in the Books

 

It was this time last year that our farm and faming neighbors were hunkering down and sand bagging like crazy.  The January ’09 flood was a record event.  Flooding is a fairly normal event during the winter, but last January was the perfect storm.  We had snow melting, huge amounts of rain and really high tides.  As you can imagine, I am glad that the January ’09 flood is put to rest. 

It is ironic how over time disasters take on their own personality and eventually are referred to as the ’51 flood or the ‘9o flood.  Farmers are already referring to the January ’09 flood as the ’09 flood.  I have been in more than one meeting where an old timer has stood up and referenced the ’51 flood.  I have never seen pictures of the ’51 flood, until recently. I knew that it was a big flood to have so burned the memory of into the farmers pysche 50 years later.  But when I saw the aerial photographs, I finally understood.  That flood wiped out the City of Stanwood. May we never see water like that again.

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Off and Running

This is the famous time of the New Year’s Resolutions.  We save up all of our energy, build up all the muster we have, to make the big push to change something.  If we could only apply all the time we spend waiting to implement the change to the actual change, most of us would be more successful than less in our new habits.  

The crux of the issue boils down to motivation and accountability.  Some would throw in desire, but I have all the desire I need to start anything, but I really need that motivation that comes from accountability to succeed.  “The experts” say it takes 91 days to change a habit.  I think they are right.  It takes 91 days to make the new habit an old habit.

But if we are going to make it to 91 days, we need a plan with some measurable goals.  But don’t spend too much time thinking about your plan. We love to plan in this country, the shelves are filled with dust covered intentions. You already know what areas you want to improve, pick one and get started! 

So if you need to eat healthier, make a plan to eat a salad every day or bring a lunch to work 3 days per week.  You might decide to walk for 30 minutes, rain or shine, 3 0r 4 days a week.  These are measurable goals that will eventually lead to the bigger goal of losing weight or increasing your stamina or whatever. 

So let’s get started!  Most of us already have a mental plan, the plan needs shoe leather.  I can’t resist one farmer comment at this time, “it is hard to get the field plowed, if you never put the plow in the field.”  So let’s put the plow in the field.  Plowing isn’t always easy and it isn’t always pretty, but if you don’t start plowing, you can’t plant and if you don’t plant you can’t harvest (your goals).

Now tell a spouse, a friend, your farmer (smile) about your goals and ask them to motivate and encourage and hold you accountable on your new venture.  Just get going. You can’t harvest your goals, until you plow the field.

Happy Plowing!

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Egg Production – Part 2

Researchers are apparently going to research whether chickens are happy in cages or not?  Sadly, I think that Benjamin Franklin was right when he said, “nothing is more uncommon than common sense.” I have raised chickens and they do like to keep close quarters, but only when they are Roosting (sleeping), not all the time.  I also know that chickens love being chickens. They are created to scratch and eat bugs. 

So we, the tax payers, are going to pay a researcher at some university to study if the chickens are really happy in cages or not!  I can save us a lot of money and answer the question.  The answer is quite obvious, the chicken is not happy.  Sadly, the research is not about chickens, it is about egg production.  If we respected the design and nature of a chicken, it would be easy to conclude  they are not happy.  Chickens wouldn’t choose to live in a cage with 9 other birds, never seeing the light of day, never being able to stretch their wings and never scratching for some delicious bug!  Organic and cage free chickens get to live more like they were created.

Join the good food revolution, vote with your dollars.

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The Year in Review

 Supporting Local Farms  Since the inception of our home delivery business in1999, we have always focused on purchasing our fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers first. Every week, I call my farmer friends to find out what they currently have available that I can add to our boxes. If I need to find more produce, I then source it from farms outside our area. This year, however, was a great year for local food! As your personal farmer, I really appreciate your dedication to the local farm community. With your box of good purchases this last year, you have blessed several local farm families:

Rents Due Ranch, Skagit Harmony Farm, Ralph’s Greenhouse, Motherflight Farms, Hedlund Farms, Cascadian Farms, Blue Heron Farms,  CJ’s Grassfed Beef, Munks Farm, Anselmo’s Organic Gardens, Paul and Janice Madden Orchards, Ponderosa Orchards, Goose Tail Orchards, River Valley Organics, Filaree Farms, and of course, the Klesick Family Farm.

 Helping Local People  Another core principle at Klesick Family Farm is to give back to our community. Last year, with your help, the Klesick Family Farm delivered 463 boxes of good to the Stanwood and Snohomish food banks. That is $11,000.00 of quality organic fruits and vegetables. There is no way our farm could meet this need without your help. This is one of the most satisfying aspects of our business. I love meeting local needs with local resources! Thank you for partnering with us to meet this local need. If you would like to join us to help provide quality organic produce to local food banks, visit the “How To Help” page of our new website.

Thanks for a great 2009!

Looking forward to next year!!!!

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Egg Production – Part 1

Something happened along the way that has changed agriculture from farming to food production.  It is a subtle shift, but nonetheless profound and impactful.  Farmers have always been interested in increased production and efficiencies.  Farming is like all other business, you have to have a profit to stay in business or in the language of today “sustainable.”

Let’s take egg production as an example.  94% plus or minus, as quoted in a recent Capital Press article, comes from chickens that live in a 24 inch by 25.5 inch cage that contains 9 chickens.  Doesn’t that seem a bit crowded? Somewhere in the past a researcher or farmer or both discovered that chickens can produce eggs in close confinement, never seeing the light of day. It doesn’t really matter if the chickens see the light of day because they are destined for the stew pot at some massive soup manufacturer in 24 months anyway. 

But why does the egg producing industry (I have purposely shifted from using term farming) choose small cages?  It is simple, it’s more efficient.  The closer the birds are in proximity to each other, the easier it is to harvest eggs, feed them, clean up after their messes and ultimately catch them when it is time to butcher.  Pretty straight forward and the consumers are letting the egg producers continue on with this production model simply because they are buying the eggs raised that way.

So why should the Egg producers change their manufacturing (farming?) practices?

What is going to cause the industry to change?  Profits!!! If the consumers choose to only buy eggs from chickens that are cage free or Organic then the egg producing companies will change their practices.  Pretty strait forward, it really is that simple.

Join the good food revolution, vote with your dollars.

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Let the good food movement roll on!

This last week, I came across a couple of good articles at Rodale Institute that I wanted to share with you.

Lupus, other autoimmune diseases linked to insecticide exposure

A recent study shows that women who use insecticides are at elevated risk for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The results of the yet unpublished study were presented October 2009 at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in Philadelphia, PA.

The study of 75,000 women shows that those who spray insecticides at least six times per year have almost two and a half times the risk of developing lupus and rheumatoid arthritis versus those who do not use insecticides. The risk doubles if insecticides were used in the home for 20 years or more.

“Our new results provide support for the idea that environmental factors may increase susceptibility or trigger the development of autoimmune diseases in some individuals,” said Dr. Christine G. Parks, PhD. She is an epidemiologist with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C., one of the lead researchers who analyzed data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Observational

“The findings are fairly compelling” because they show the greater and longer the exposure, the greater the risk,” said Darcy Majka, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University, who also analyzed the WHI data. Full story: Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog

 

Herbicide-resistant pigweeds stop combines, make national TV

Cotton and soybean farmers in eastern Arkansas are interviewed in an ABC News story highlighting the potential harvest disruption caused by weeds that chemicals cannot kill. The reporter says that more than 1 million acres may be affected by the problem, long predicted by farmers and weed scientists who advocate for non-chemical weed management.

One farmer interviewed said he had spent $500,000 spraying chemicals this year, and lost the battle against pigweed. The resistant, persistent plant pest forms a hard, fibrous stalk that can be as thick as a baseball bat. A veteran extension agent says he has never seen such a weed threat.

While the coverage focuses on the current-year crisis—and highlights the fallacy of depending on herbicides for  long-term sustainability—glyphosate (the active ingredient in many widely used herbicides) has been losing its impact for years, as our background story illustrates. Full story: ABC News

Science initially came to the rescue to help farmers control  insects and weeds and now that their chemicals are no longer effective or are even causing autoimmune diseases, America is going to go running back to these companies to solve the problem they helped to create.  It sure looks like the fox (aka chemical companies) has the keys to the hen house (aka USDA).  This kind of information speaks loudly for the importance of Organic Agriculture.

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It's November and… 11/17/09

Flooding is something that valley farmers contend with.  We get use to it, sort of, we work around it and sometimes in it, and mostly, hope that the river decides to stay within its banks.  This first flood of the year appears to be mostly benign and for that I am thankful.  I am also thankful that last March, Joelle and I made a choice to move our processing and packing facility off our farm and up to a high spot in Warm Beach.  That choice has provided a significant amount of peace in our lives.  We loved having our operation on the farm, but we had out grown our facilities and needed more space for, both, the actual farming operation and the home delivery business.

In the past we would have two flood fights, as they are called, on our hands.  One, getting our farm equipment, barns and house ready for the River, and two, getting our home delivery business situated and potentially moved to a temporary location. 

I am thankful today that we are only getting our farm prepared for the flood and I am really thankful that it appears to be a minor flood.

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Local farmland: How important is it? 11/06/09

As a farmer, I tend to interact with a lot of other farmers.  We see each other at various meetings and driving between fields.  As a rule farmers tend to be pretty stable folk, we recognize that no matter who is President  of America or Snohomish County Executive we are going to have to plow the fields or milk the cows.  The very nature of farming requires us to be more deliberate. We prune in February, plow in the spring, weed all summer and harvest when the crop is ready. 

Way back in the 50’s, 60’s or even as recent as the 70’s, there never was any doubt that a child or neighbor would take over the farm and keep farming.  Times have changed!  The Average age of farmers is now 57 years old.  And a lot farmland is controlled by this group of farmers and for the most part there aren’t children in the picture to carry on the farm.  Even more troubling is the recent survey of farmers, over the last 10 years, where the number of farmers under 25 years old decreased by 35% and the number of farmers over 75 increased by 25%. Why is this an issue for America, for Snohomish County? It is important because most farmers are older than younger (average 57 years old), they are looking towards retirement and “exploring” their options for the land they own. 

The options at retirement are really limited at this time:

1.  Stop farming, sell the equipment and keep the land to rent to other farmers. (best for society)

2.  Stop farming, sell the equipment and keep the land and not rent it to other farmers. (okay for society)

3.  Stop farming, sell the equipment and the land. (okay for society)

4.  Stop farming, sell the equipment and build houses on the land. (best for the farmer)

5.  Farm till you die and let someone else deal with the issue. (not a solution)

This group controls thousands of acres of farmland in Snohomish County and America and the pressure to develop is going to increase, exponentially, as they look towards retirement.  I suspect that if we, society collectively, do not propose a good alternative to development for these farmers they will become developers by necessity. 

I am working on some ideas that will encourage farmer’s to not develop their land and ensure that there will be land locally to farm for many generations to come.  This is a complex issue and is deeply rooted in property rights and land use issues. 

But right now you, as consumers of the Klesick family farm, are making a huge impact on this issue.  Your support, your purchases send a clear and encouraging message to local farmers.  Keep eating locally and it helps your local farmland remain in farming.

 

Thanks

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Contending with the Elements 10/20/09

Did you feel that crispness last week and then that shift to warm wet weather?  It was about this time of year in 2003 when the Stillaguamish River introduced itself to my family with a significant flood.  Which is the one reason, I rarely grow crops in the winter, because the Stillaguamish River can make itself “known” pretty much anytime from this point on and it is so disheartening to have your vegetable crops flooded.  So right now we are busy putting in cover crops and harvesting the remainder of the winter squash.

I woke up Monday last week with a sort of unexplained uneasiness.  I saw that it was colder than expected and a fairly thick blanket of frost covered the ground and, consequently, our winter squash crops.  Normally, winter squash can handle a frost and we have had a few light ones prior to this one, but the intensity of the cold made this one a little too close for comfort.  I checked on the squash, it was “cold”, we let it thaw (what else could I do, anyway) and everything worked out for the best.  I was thankful for the warming trend and have wasted no time harvesting and storing the crop in our barn.  Now, neither, old man Jack Frost or its friend the Mighty Stilly will be able to lay “claim” to this year’s harvest.