Cigarette

Cigarette Smoking Farmer came with his 18-wheeler truck today and parked it on our property. And lit a cigarette.
Todd became emotional and rushed out to remedy the situation.
A hostile exchange was made.
Todd went out to buy him a replacement part.

Roundup

The saga of the Roundup tank continues.  To recap:  The farmer next to us (let’s call him Cigarette Smoking Farmer) has parked his 18-wheel truck and tank of Roundup on our property for weeks.  He finally moved the truck but left the tank.  It has now been nearly an entire month of looking at this thing, watching weeds grow around it and under it-- a feat of extraordinary tolerance for an organic farmer. 
Today:  The story goes that Todd was coming back from a manure run on his tractor and “became emotional.” He decided to “remedy the situation” by hitching the tank to the tractor and dragging it across our property line onto Cigarette Smoking Farmer’s soybeans.  Todd’s emotional remedy “accidentally” broke a piece of the sprayer. 
The war is on.

Illegal Parking

The farmer renting the land next to us has parked his 18-wheel truck on a strip of our property.  It has sat there for a week.  This compacts our soil and throws Todd into a rage.    Hoisted on the truck is a tank of Roundup, the most popular herbicide out here.  Most of the corn and soybeans are “Roundup ready” which means they, thanks to scientists, have the genes to resist effects of this chemical.  The effects, of course, meaning plant destruction.  I forget how roundup actually works and will ask Todd to tell me the story later, after he has cooled off from this latest infringement (the parking of the truck).

Last year this same farmer who is probably a really nice guy was spraying chemicals very close to us on a windy day, so we confronted him and snapped photos of the label on the tank, the photos I included here above and below.  Todd has had more pleasant encounters with him since, but we don’t think it has erased his image of us as crazy angry people.  Oh well!
The truth is that our crops are not Roundup ready.   And other chemicals he might be spraying are toxic to breathe. 

Farmers who spray are legally counseled to play nice by not spraying when there is a certain amount of wind.  We have the supposed advantage in court if anything were to happen to our crops but this not something we’d like to test.

Two more complaints:

• Certified organic farmers, by law, have to sacrifice tillable ground to form a 25-ft buffer between them and the land of toxic chemicals.
• While conventional farmers receive money every year in subsidies, organic farmers have to pay a third-party certifier every year to continue claiming organic,

Three heartening thoughts:

• More people are lobbying government on behalf of small organic farmers.
• More consumers are buying organic produce from their small, local farms.
• Merle did not kill the chicken she had in her mouth today.

Happily clad in a new apron today,
Julia

Drizzly Rain

We spent a quiet day in the drizzly rain on the Fourth, harvesting for Sunday.  Luckily it was cool and drizzly all day—could harvest all our lettuce and greens before dinner and sparklers.  Usually harvest day ends in exhaustion and a rush to harvest all before the sun goes down.  I think I’ve mentioned before that greens cannot be picked in the heat of the midday sun.  An inconvenient truth. 

Despite drizzly rain this weekend, we could still use a few more inches.  We harvested broccoli yesterday for CSA members and next week look forward to our first potatoes!  We are finding them all over the garden, a result of our dog’s help during planting.

Japanese beetles, the grossest bug of all, are showing their ugly heads.  So are hornworms and parsley worms.  Todd is picking most of them off and, after a silent and respectful nod towards their place in the universe, squashing them with his fingers.

We are officially disconnected from the television and are fine.
Julia