Well, it's time to make those New Year plans and analyze what is going well and worth continuing.  It's the time that we look at every acre and see if we are doing what is best for that particular piece of land.

It's is this time of over-thinking that causes me to think about the value of land in general.  Some places in the world are so high-value that the real estate commands incredible prices.  These are the places where important decisions are made every day which affect millions of people. Places in these, usually urban settings, are recognized as the ultimate real estate purchase, a testimony to the owners' success.  

What does that have to do with a little mountain farm in Western North Carolina?  Only the word association game in my mind connects them.  High-value - best crops - best return - most nutrition per serving - grows well in our climate - heirloom variety... see where I go with this?  What is the best way to use our small acreage?  Why give animals so much room to walk around when we could pen them all up for cost and efficiency savings?  Why use organic treatments in our fields when we could use a cheaper and faster synthetic solution for bugs and disease?

Why even pursue a business with so much risk as to be heart-stopping?  Because of the high value of it all!  What farmers do daily seems pretty mundane, even unpleasant at times.  But when I think about the neighbors and families we serve, they strike me as being important - and the methods we use provide a different kind of produce and meat.  It reminds me how unique our opportunities are to keep the best and freshest and purest foods available in our own community.

So when I am checking my field maps and making plans and seed orders, it helps to recognize that even way out of the centers of power, where appraisers don't always see much than some bottomland, or hillsides, or timber, there might be something valuable.  In a way, it reminds me afresh of the entire feeling of doing the best with the role we have been given in this life.  Now that's a New Years ambition!  

Soli Deo Gloria!

Our seasonal adventure with the farming reality project, The FARMERS FILM has affected us all in unexpected ways.  Since the project is almost finished, there is quite a bit of publicity happening, and that makes one feel possibly more important than one really is.  I was reflecting on the images I used to have of “film stars” and decided there were some possible misconceptions.  So, here, with a good dose of sarcasm, are my lessons learned.

1)       For film stars, the day begins with makeup and wardrobe!

Not here.  Our days begin with the regular chores.  In the dark, cold, or precipitation.  From the footage, it looks like Wardrobe staff has not shown up in the last couple of decades.  The reality of our lives is that farming tends to wear away at ones good clothes, or our standards are different.  Call that personal style.

My style is reminiscent of those great fashion icons – Ma Kettle and Aunt Bee.  Since I come from a long line of dress-wearing, apron-covered women, I have embraced that style as well. (It was my childhood experience that behind a serious apron was a woman of substance.)  And as for makeup?  It just isn’t the style of our guys.

2)       Movie stars are surrounded by great gourmet food.  This is literally TRUE!  We are among the fortunate who are surrounded by gorgeous vegetables, the freshest of everything.  Steaks if we want ‘em!  We are missing those personal chefs, though.  Around here, if you want it, you have to cook it.  From scratch.  After you are done with work.  It’s still good – just a different reality.

3)      The camera adds ten pounds.  That’s a tricky one.  It could be the camera, the apron, or the great food.  Could be more than ten. Whatever.  Either way, some of us looked awesome and others just too “reality”.  I couldn’t tell if any extra poundage showed up on the pigs or cows.  The bull looked a little heavy.  One of us seemed to look way younger than our years.  (But he’s taken.)

4)      There is lots of DRAMA when you work in the film industry.  I think we were under-average on that part.  I know that it makes a show more interesting, so we considered having a real knock-down drag-out over some fictional produce tension.  But it really isn’t us.  No one gets overwrought here very often, and what we actually do is pretty repetitive.  Feed, pick, load, unload.  No marriages came apart, no insults were hurled, and no tempers flared.  The closest we came was when Frank was trying to ask me something with his earplugs still in from being on the tractor.  We weren’t filming, though, and only one surprised farm visitor witnessed our high-volume exchange. 

We won’t see the finished project for a couple more weeks yet.  And with the completion of filming comes some relief.  No longer will we hear each other say the phrase which was oft repeated this fall – “Oops, sorry, were you filming that?”

It's been several weeks now since we began participating in the FARMERS FILM project.  First, the folks producing it gave us a camera and told us to start filming our days.  They did that for 3 other farms as well.  The purpose?  To let folks see more of the real issues facing small, sustainable farms.  

As the weeks are passing, we have been forced to think hard about what is good and what is not-so-great about our farm endeavors.  We realize that the camera may truly add more than ten pounds (just kidding), and that much of what we do happens over and over and over.  

Since we are trying new things like raising pigs, we are putting ourselves out there somewhat, and letting others see what we are optimistic about.  After being told that they love "drama" we confessed that we try to live as "drama-free" lives as possible.  Once in a while something still gets us though, and a little of that footage made it in lately.  

So check out the webisodes (little samples) that have been showing up all fall at farmersfilm.com

and stay tuned.  In the end these will get to be longer episodes and let a pretty wide group of folks watch our failures and even better, our successes!

While we hurried off to market last Saturday, one of the donkeys - our jenny named Lou, was busy preparing to surprise us when we got home.  

She had spent all summer keeping us wondering if she was indeed expecting.  Her pasture-mate, Misty, had given birth to Junior, a jack, back in the spring and we sure hoped Lou would give birth too.  But the hot days drug on and she would hang out by the barn or just graze, and we couldn't be sure what was up.  Well, looks like she was able to keep a secret only so long - so we came home to see this little beauty.  And Lou is making a fine mother for little Lucy.  

We are sweating it out with the rest of the nation right now as we move into our final month of summer.

Days start as soon as we can see to do anything to try to get ahead of the humidity-heat combo that seems to build from about 9 am on to peak in late day.  Its easy to get lethargic and we keep telling each other to drink plenty of water.  But just when you aren't expecting it - something will happen to wake you up.  Today was like that.  

I started cutting some flowers early, then headed to start packing meat coolers for tomorrow's market.  Frank fed everything early.  Garrett started by picking tomatoes and moved on to other things.  At about two oclock I was taking some young friends to see the two-day-old chicks in the little brooder house.  We stepped inside the low-roofed little barn and they were anxious to hold a chick.  

We all got into the pen, and I was explaining how to hold them gently with two hands.  Suddenly, I heard a thud, saw something black, and thought for a minute that I had knocked something loose connected to the brooder lights.  Maybe an extension cord.  Then it moved.  My heart hit warp speed, and I told the kids to "let's take those chicks right outside.  Come on, don't worry."  Inside I was feeling like "run for your lives!"  Just kidding, but I did have the presence of mind to see if that invader had any telltale lumps meaning he had already swallowed one of the biddies.  

Seeing none, we did take our chicks outside and called for Garrett who was picking blueberries accross the hill.  He came and managed to run off the snake, but that will just mean we will face it again.  (Technically, that means Frank, Garrett, or anybody but me will, I hope.)

After that excitement, we decided to pick a blueberry ourselves, and sample my Dads grapes.  Everyone seemed to like that.  They still wanted to see  the barn, though, so we loaded up and went down the hill.  Once there, both kids were out of the car like a flash and running toward the open barn doors.  I said something like, "watch out, remember there could be a snake" at which point the oldest looked to his right while racing in, and said well, there is a skunk!"  

Now my kids say I can smell danger a mile away - but I certainly knew we were getting pretty close to a gigantic smell.  We all took a peek and fled, leaving skunk managment to Anthony and Garrett.  So much for an ordinary day - what are those anyway?

What would happen if someone asked to follow you around and film what it is you do each day (or have you do it) for the rest of the summer and fall?  Actually, someone asked during my childhood, and my parents - really my Mom - just politely said - No thanks.  Translation - NO WAY!  Mom was a tad busy already working full-time off the farm, and all her "spare" time went to caring for the old and young of us on the farm.

This year, someone new came and asked almost the same thing of me.  And with some convincing, I said ok.  Why?  Probably because I am usually looking at the glass as half full, at least at first.  But also because the point was to let folks get a little look at life on our and several other small farms as we finish this growing season.  Since less than 1% of families do any form of agriculture production, it is not that easy to experience these activities anymore.  Children have a hard time comprehending where food is really coming from - some adults do too.

The folks producing this have a website farmersfilm.com  We don't know how all this will turn out, but we are adding this to our list of adventures this year.  As if farming isn't enough.

Just a quick shot of some valuable farm workers here.  They may seem pretty tame, but try coming around in a coyote outfit - or a stray dog - and you will see some fancy footwork, be deafened by some braying, and most likely hurry back from whence you came.  The little guy on the left is really new.

What year was it that Spring Break became a right?  or Rite?  If it was announced during my childhood springs, we would have missed it while getting the tobacco and tomatoes in the ground.  Or just maybe my folks heard about it, and decided it was best all the way around that they keep that info to themselves. 

When I was a young wife, married to a young farmer to which every year seemed the "most important", it was hard to get him away at all in the spring.  His body might leave, but his mind stayed behind, thinking of all that was urgent.  Finally, other folks seem to be doing what we had to do, and are spending their time just at home - the economy forcing them to be creative and enjoy closer sorts of fun.  So in the spirit of the overused word - "Staycation" - here is how we passed a recent week.

Anthony worked on his tan.  Turns out that if you are really into that sort of thing, you can get a decent golden glow by taking care of the mowing and weedwhacking between the garden rows.  Add some cool shades and perhaps some music - lose the button-up shirt - and before you know it, you too have the look of a beach-goer.  (That one part is for men only: the girls here tan elsewhere - and sometimes the guys keep the shirt on to get a more farmer-friendly tan.)

Frank saw every sunrise and sunset!  Both early and late he made his ridgetop rounds and as it happened, every time someone needed a bucket of feed or water, the sun was coming or going.  

Shucks, who needs to wander down to the surf to take that in? And you can kinda combine it with a workout walking up and down hills.

Garrett, our vegetable grower, mostly took it easy.  As in, he easily finished planting the greens and potatoes, leeks, and even eagerly put out a few tomatoes.  Then all the guys shared the joy of putting down the plastic mulch in the sections that needed it.  At least it "looked easy" when one drove by and it was over.

As for me, I did a lot of shopping.  It takes someone to hunt and gather one more roll of this, box of that, and bundle of whatchamacallits, along with a few more bean seeds, plant food, and so on.  You can tell by looking that I don't get to the mall often, partly by choice, but partly because I don't want to make another run into town.  

I guess now that its past, I can see why people are more worn out after Spring Break than when it started.  

If you grow up here, it may come as a shock to find that the rest of the world thinks we sound....different.  Leaving home allowed me to meet people who sounded differently to my ears as well. Even word meanings changed.  

I met the most wonderful farm kids from Eastern North Carolina (that's Down East to them), who used terms like "carry" differently than my family.  For us, that meant to lift something up into your arms and take it with you.  They used it as in - "We carried Momma to the store, and then carried her to see her sister".  

Since I never witnessed anyone physically toting any Grannies into the grocery or elsewhere, I realized they meant what I said when I "took" someone somewhere.  So in that spirit, this week we carried some steers to the "processor".  

In today's society, it sounds better to refer to meats as being processed.  And the folks who do that for us, take real care to handle it as well as can be achieved.  So I can look forward to having ground beef and all the even more valued cuts.  As the demand has grown, I can't believe I ran out of simple ground beef! 

But more and more families are tightening their belts at the same time as they commit to buying from farmers they know who use thoughtful methods for raising their meat animals.  That means so much!!

I, too, try to keep the money I spend circulating through hands in our area.  And we love being a part of the few folks who are growing food to feed neighbors who do all the other jobs.  So this weekend, we are taking part in a day at the WNC Farmers Market off Brevard Road which features a chance to meet local farmers.  It's a start at getting more and more used to knowing who really grew something you ate.  

Oh, I will still be carrying home some peanuts and sweet potatoes when I go visit family down east, and I will be learning about making soup with a chicken's foot from new friends who came from "up north",

but I'll have plenty to eat all summer from things we grow right here.  (pronounced "rite heeyar")

What is a tried and true way to let someone know you like them?  Candy? Flowers? Notes, jewelry, homecooked meals?  Songs written just for the beloved?  But what about that old favorite...the henhouse?!

Yes, I know that last one is a little out of the ordinary.  Its just that if you know who you are dealing with, sometimes you have to adjust your idea of the perfect gift.  And Frank knows enough to tell what I really want by now.  

And he is gifted enough to make just about anything!  So this week, we transported the newest, most custom-built henhouse down the mountain from where he built it, to the lower hayfield where it will move each week, hens inside, to fresh pasture when they get up the next morning.  I was tickled to see the design, all his, including skylight panels to make sure they get long days, and roosts made from thin trees to help them feel comfortable all night. But the coolest thing is the little sliding doors into each nest so I can gather eggs (or any of us who want the ultra-fresh egg) from the outside!  As one who has made many a trip to the henhouse, I love this feature! 

Now Frank has deep roots in construction, and this was no real big deal - except for the care it involved. I am not sure he thought I even needed more laying hens.  Both of us have seen the benefits to our pastures from the broiler chickens, so that was my edge I think.  

Today, I got to get my new hens and move them in.  I think I speak for them when I say they LOVED their new digs.  Shouldn't be but a few weeks before they show their gratitiude on a daily basis.  

Now there's only a couple more things I can think of on my list of wants for the farm.  One of them gives milk.  And I have experience in taking care of them already.  I am afraid that Frank doesn't think I need that gift either. Anybody remember which anniversary is the one for giving a Jersey? We are bound to be getting close to that one.

Gotta go..... I owe someone a home-cooked meal.