sadly my time at everdale has come to a close. yesterday i arrived back in Ottawa to organize my life and get things going. i feel pretty lost and heartbroken at the moment. i miss the farm and everyone there so much. my life in Ottawa is pretty ridiculous. i opened my closet and i have so many clothes. i have so much STUFF. i need to pare down to the basics.
with everything I've learnt this summer i feel pretty unstoppable. i feel like my dreams are achievable, i just need to figure out how to get from here to there. i want to have a small off grid strawbale cabin with solar/wind power. i want to grow all my own food. i want to bake and preserve. i want goats and chickens. i want a supportive network around me of like minded people without living on a commune.
people keep asking me if i intend to farm and a keep saying "no" because i just want to farm for myself but then i think about how ridiculously happy farming makes me and maybe i should farm for a living. humans aren't meant to work in an office doing menial tasks that have no direct results. as Cam, on of the everdale interns said, there is direct truth in the tasks we do as farmers. when vegetables are active so are we, weeding and harvesting. when they are dormant we curl up by the fire and plan for next season. if farming is in the cards for me than a proper internship is probably a good idea, otherwise I'm not sure.
stay tuned,
(farmer?) liz
Showing posts with label farming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farming. Show all posts
9/26/2007
9/12/2007
Ruminations
Every week in the Everdale newsletter "Gifts from the Field" a different apprentice writes a reflection. they asked me to do one this week even though I'm not an intern. here's what a wrote:
When I arrived here at the beginning of July I never expected to be sitting here over 2 months later. My name is Liz Charles and I am one of the many volunteers that have made their way to Everdale this season. Unlike the others I never left. I decided to come to Everdale for 2 reasons. Firstly, because I had finished my degree in Environmental Studies and spent 4 years talking about organic farming and food without having any practical knowledge. My second reason is that I am striving to live a sustainable life and to be as self sufficient as possible. The hands on education in organic farming as well as sustainable living that Everdale offers to its interns and volunteers seemed like the perfect match. My time at Everdale has helped me connect with my food, the environment, and my community. Being able to see food go from seed to table is so amazing and makes every bite even more delicious because of all the hard work that went into it. I am truly grateful for every meal. Being able to see how a farm can give back to the environment and enrich the soil and water rather than devastate it is also a wonderful thing to witness. Most importantly I’ve found a group of people here, with the staff, interns and volunteers at Everdale, that are truly committed to sustainable living and are not only inspiring me but are also amazing friends and co-workers. If someone a few months ago had told me that the happiest day in my life I would be covered in mud, fish emulsion, baking in the hot sun after 10 hours of work I never would have believed them. Thanks to my time here I am so excited about my future, knowing that sustainable living is not only better for the planet, but also makes me unbelievably happy. ~Farmer Liz
When I arrived here at the beginning of July I never expected to be sitting here over 2 months later. My name is Liz Charles and I am one of the many volunteers that have made their way to Everdale this season. Unlike the others I never left. I decided to come to Everdale for 2 reasons. Firstly, because I had finished my degree in Environmental Studies and spent 4 years talking about organic farming and food without having any practical knowledge. My second reason is that I am striving to live a sustainable life and to be as self sufficient as possible. The hands on education in organic farming as well as sustainable living that Everdale offers to its interns and volunteers seemed like the perfect match. My time at Everdale has helped me connect with my food, the environment, and my community. Being able to see food go from seed to table is so amazing and makes every bite even more delicious because of all the hard work that went into it. I am truly grateful for every meal. Being able to see how a farm can give back to the environment and enrich the soil and water rather than devastate it is also a wonderful thing to witness. Most importantly I’ve found a group of people here, with the staff, interns and volunteers at Everdale, that are truly committed to sustainable living and are not only inspiring me but are also amazing friends and co-workers. If someone a few months ago had told me that the happiest day in my life I would be covered in mud, fish emulsion, baking in the hot sun after 10 hours of work I never would have believed them. Thanks to my time here I am so excited about my future, knowing that sustainable living is not only better for the planet, but also makes me unbelievably happy. ~Farmer Liz
9/02/2007
On Death and Dying
So one of the folks who lives here had some people up for the long weekend. one of their dogs got to one of the chickens that had escaped the coop. in short i watched a chicken die, it squirmed and shook violently and looked like it was in a lot of pain before she closed her eyes and went limp. then i carried her limp, warm body down to the forest to bury her. i wish i had an axe to put her out of her misery but there was nothing i could do but watch her die. it wasn't sad or disgusting it was just life... or rather death. all i know is that if i were a chicken i would rather die quick and relatively painlessly by the hand, or rather axe, of the farmer that cared for me than by a dog or weasel or some other sort of long drawn out death. i hope i'm here when we cull the hens. i hope i get to kill some chickens, but do so with all the love and respect that these birds deserve. i hope their death is swift and kind.
8/26/2007
The Farmer in the Grocery Store
Yesterday a bunch of us went into Georgetown and had to run into the grocery store to get some bitters so we could make Manhattan's (hey farmers like fancy drinks too!). Anyway it was my first time being in a really huge obnoxious grocery store in months. We started looking at the produce, the conventional produce was all shipped in from the states even though it was mostly in season here, and the produce was so ugly. The beets were cracked and dry and shriveled, the garlic wasn't processed properly and was all split at the top (probably due to mechanization), our organic produce was even comparable in price with a lot of the conventional produce. The organic produce looked better but ours was still cheaper. Thats because we don't sell to a distributer, we retail our own food and skip the middle man. I hope next season to find a CSA near Ottawa so i can get local, organic, well priced food and that i can support my local farmer. it would even be better if I could find a CSA that would allow me to work a day a week in exchange for a share. I'm also hoping to get a community garden plot in Ottawa to start growing my own. This winter I will begin planning my bio-intensive garden and probably making many tripped to Lee Valley!
8/11/2007
Meat Eating As Environmental Activism?
I admit it. I am an ex-vegetarian. For 8 years i was a vegetarian, 3 of those years I was vegan. Now i eat meat. Some folks think this is because i gave up on my politics or sold out. the truth is that meat makes sense to me. in my attempt to eat local food i began to realize how stupid it was to be eating highly processed soy from Asia, when i could be eating sustainably, ethically raised meat from nearby farms. here are some of the arguments for vegetarianism as an ecologically friendly choice and my rebuttals. these are taken from goveg.com a PETA site. these are similar arguments to the ones i used to make as a vegetarian.
We feed more than 70 percent of the grains and cereals we grow to farmed animals, and almost all of those calories go into simply keeping the animals alive, not making them grow. Only a small fraction of the calories consumed by farmed animals are actually converted into the meat that people eat.
this is in industrial factory farming where cows are fed grain they aren't naturally supposed to eat, because it is cheaper and faster to fatten cows in feedlots on corn than to allow them to roam free and be fed by the pasture. in sustainably raised beef cows eat only grass and hay, something humans can't eat given that we don't have 4 stomachs. sustainably raised meat maximized land use, not takes away from it, because it stores energy grown in grass, in meat so humans can benefit from said stored energy.
Farmed animals produce about 130 times as much excrement as the entire human population of the United States, and since factory farms don't have sewage treatment systems as our cities and towns do, this concentrated slop ends up polluting our water, destroying our topsoil, and contaminating our air
again, this is a problem with industrial factory farming. on small scale, environmentally mindful farms, waste is not waste, its part of the system. often chickens are pastured along side the cows. the chickens eat the pathogens in the manure and essentially make it clean and help turn it into compost. the compost then goes into the pasture and fertilizes the grass that the cows will eat. the manure is also composted to go on farmers fields.
Vast tracts of land are needed to grow crops to feed the billions of animals we raise for food each year. According to scientists at the Smithsonian Institute, the equivalent of seven football fields of land is bulldozed every minute, much of it to create more room for farmed animals.
if everyone was a vegetarian we would have to start trucking in vegetables from all over the world (not that we don't already but in a perfect food system we wouldn't have to). massive areas of land are inhospitable to vegetables because they are too hilly or arid or have poor soil etc, are prefect for raising livestock. why do you think certain cultures have high meat diets? because their climate is suited to raising livestock and not produce. if these areas were used exclusively for livestock it wouldn't be wasting land, it would be putting it to its best advantage instead of throwing chemical fertilizers/herbicides/pesticides on it to force vegetable production.
i agree with this critique of industrial farming but there is another way. there are farms that aren't evil, there are farmers that truly care for their livestock and provide the best life possible for them. there are farms that are virtually entire ecosystems, not monocultures. i believe eating free range, pasture fed animals in moderation is a great act and I'm proud of my decision to eat this way.
i don't mean to knock vegetarians. i know what a sacrifice it is and applaud those who are trying to make the world a better place. i just urge people to think critically. westerns eat far too much factory farmed meat and maybe, because of vegetarians, we aren't in a total crisis because they balance out the equation.
xo,
the compassionate carnivore
We feed more than 70 percent of the grains and cereals we grow to farmed animals, and almost all of those calories go into simply keeping the animals alive, not making them grow. Only a small fraction of the calories consumed by farmed animals are actually converted into the meat that people eat.
this is in industrial factory farming where cows are fed grain they aren't naturally supposed to eat, because it is cheaper and faster to fatten cows in feedlots on corn than to allow them to roam free and be fed by the pasture. in sustainably raised beef cows eat only grass and hay, something humans can't eat given that we don't have 4 stomachs. sustainably raised meat maximized land use, not takes away from it, because it stores energy grown in grass, in meat so humans can benefit from said stored energy.
Farmed animals produce about 130 times as much excrement as the entire human population of the United States, and since factory farms don't have sewage treatment systems as our cities and towns do, this concentrated slop ends up polluting our water, destroying our topsoil, and contaminating our air
again, this is a problem with industrial factory farming. on small scale, environmentally mindful farms, waste is not waste, its part of the system. often chickens are pastured along side the cows. the chickens eat the pathogens in the manure and essentially make it clean and help turn it into compost. the compost then goes into the pasture and fertilizes the grass that the cows will eat. the manure is also composted to go on farmers fields.
Vast tracts of land are needed to grow crops to feed the billions of animals we raise for food each year. According to scientists at the Smithsonian Institute, the equivalent of seven football fields of land is bulldozed every minute, much of it to create more room for farmed animals.
if everyone was a vegetarian we would have to start trucking in vegetables from all over the world (not that we don't already but in a perfect food system we wouldn't have to). massive areas of land are inhospitable to vegetables because they are too hilly or arid or have poor soil etc, are prefect for raising livestock. why do you think certain cultures have high meat diets? because their climate is suited to raising livestock and not produce. if these areas were used exclusively for livestock it wouldn't be wasting land, it would be putting it to its best advantage instead of throwing chemical fertilizers/herbicides/pesticides on it to force vegetable production.
i agree with this critique of industrial farming but there is another way. there are farms that aren't evil, there are farmers that truly care for their livestock and provide the best life possible for them. there are farms that are virtually entire ecosystems, not monocultures. i believe eating free range, pasture fed animals in moderation is a great act and I'm proud of my decision to eat this way.
i don't mean to knock vegetarians. i know what a sacrifice it is and applaud those who are trying to make the world a better place. i just urge people to think critically. westerns eat far too much factory farmed meat and maybe, because of vegetarians, we aren't in a total crisis because they balance out the equation.
xo,
the compassionate carnivore
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