It's been well over a month since I placed an entry here. The reason, of course, is that we have been working around the clock (literally on some days) to get everything planted this season. It is part of the job that Susan and I accept. However, we both enjoyed a day off this week, and the prospects for having at least one day off per week look pretty promising until late fall. I even had a chance to ride my bike last night for a couple of hours. For those that know me, biking is one my passions, and I was ecstatic last evening because I had the opportunity to ride. It's funny how one appreciates an experience more completely when one the experience becomes novel again.

Susan and I can hardly believe the turn our life has taken over the past couple of years. The organic CSA has grown substantially over the past couple of years, and with it, we have had to undergo some growing pains. For example, when we added several drop-off locations this year to make it easier for people to get their shares, we needed to find a way to organize the baskets that are destined for different drop-off sites. Things were shaky our first week, but we have our system down now.

To ensure that we have vegetables throughout the season, we need to manage our succession plantings very carefully. This means that we track our items from seed, transplant dates, and growing season length to name a few considerations. While we seem to possess the level of organization necessary to do this, we have experienced some interesting events that we have had to address. Fortunately, to date, we have managed most of the unforeseen events that have happened. For example, a mob of Asian beetles decided to feast upon our tomato plants while we were starting them under grow lights indoors in march. They literally decimated about 100 plants. Fortunately, we were able to replant them and get them to the high tunnels outdoors, and last week, we transplanted about 600 tomato plants.

Similarly, a ground squirrel found our squash and melon seeds in the pots outdoors in the high tunnels to be a tasty spring treat. For those that know me, you already know that I could not kill the animal, and because the squirrel may be a mother with babies, I could not even live-trap it because the babies may starve. That leaves us with few options. The squirrel ate about 150 -200 plants. It set us back a few weeks. We are still trying to catch some of the squash up.

Then, of course, there are the trials of equipment breakdowns. One night, I planted until 3:00 am, only to find the next day that the planter did not plant consistently for about two hours. I had to go back the next day and replant about one third of that field. I am happy to say that the aforementioned field is doing well. Of course this would not have happened if we would not have started farming human-consumption row crops. However, the events that have led us to organic farming on a larger scale have been serendipitous, and we feel that this is an important part of our mission.

Last year at this time, if you would have told me that I would be farming 40 acres, I would have fallen over laughing. I have a lot of experience gardening, even gardening large plots. Gardening or farming for a CSA or the farmer's markets is pretty much the same thing as gardening, only more of it. Our five or so acres dedicated to the CSA and market are very manageable. Farming larger acreage, requires different skills—skills that, in case I did not mention it, I do not inherently possess. That does not include the fact that I had no idea on what land we would grow these kinds of crops on.

As a rule, I don't let small obstacles like this stop me from doing something that I set my mind to. The problem was, I hadn't set my mind to this at all. It just happened. First, Dan Boutelle and Ann Bausum appeared in our lives and they were interested in having someone grow organic food on their land. At first, I thought that I would work with a local farmer, Robert (Bob) Damm, to see if he and I could grow organic food together on this land. My hope was to show other farmers that we could grow organic crops in Rock County. Dan and Ann were very supportive of this idea, and without them, we would not be engaged in this endeavor.

Unfortunately for us, Bob decided that he wanted to stay retired. He is a very knowledgeable and helpful person, and he offered to help me get started. He helped us find the appropriate equipment like planters, discs, rotary hoes, and a combine. While I did not have the knowledge, at least I had a mentor willing to show us what we needed to know to undertake this project.

While we were getting ready for spring, we had another serendipitous encounter with Dr. Kathryn Brown. Dr. Brown. approached us looking for someone to organically farm some of her land. She has been instrumental in pushing me over the edge into farming. Her land is within sight of our farm, and we just finished planting it this past Sunday. Interestingly, our paths had crossed about 15 years earlier. We are very thankful for this opportunity presented to us through our encounters with Dan, Ann, Bob, and Dr. Brown, but what are we doing with this opportunity?

The answer is grow food for people to eat that is safe and local. It's hard to deny that times are getting difficult. Diesel fuel is close to $5/gallon, and its direct impact on food prices will be felt this summer and fall. To further exacerbate the problem, rising demand for food from developing nations like China and India where their expanding middle class wants the same standard of living that middle and upper class US citizens have enjoyed since after WWII, are driving up the demand for food, and it doesn't take a market economist to see that prices are going to be going up. This year alone, input costs like fertilizers, both conventional and organic are triple what they were last year. Factor in the insanity of growing fuel instead of food, and we have the makings of “The Perfect Storm” for food prices soaring out of control in the next year. Clearly the global mass-production of food system is broken and we will all pay, starting with our lower class. Our only answer is to get back to basics and start eating more locally.

While weeding our potatoes today I started doing some math in my head (this could be scary, but what else can one do while weeding a half acre of potatoes). An acre can produce enough food to feed one person fairly well on a vegetarian diet for a year. Even if the average diet were less dependent upon meat, we could accomplish a large portion of a goal to eat locally, if enough people decided to farm on a small scale and if people were willing to pay for their food what it is worth (more on this in a minute). I believe that there is something in the neighborhood of 150,000 people in Rock County. Assuming that there were approximately 3750 farmers willing to farm 40 acres or 1875 farmers who would organically farm 80 acres, we could produce enough food locally to feed our people. Of course, this kind of farming does not have to be confined by geopolitical borders, I am just using Rock County as an example.

Rock County has over 720 square miles of land. Where could the food be grown? Take a look around you. Most of the fields that you see are producing either corn for ethanol, corn for high fructose corn syrup, or grain for feedlots. Forgetting all of the problems with feedlots, and simply looking at the math of production, it takes nearly 10 acres of land to produce the meat required to meet the caloric requirements of a human for a year! That is a ten fold difference from a vegetarian diet. Also, not all meats are created equally. Chicken has a better land use ratio than beef an pork. However, that is not even the worst of it. Most of the meat produced in this area is also shipped out to processing plants across the globe where some form of food/industrial product is created. How insane is that? Farmers will grow local food if consumers demand it. However, consumers need to be prepared to pay for the real price of food.

Mass-production food is heavily subsidized. Many large industrial operations are large simply due to the incentives offered to large production facilities. When you notice that the prices at your local farmer's market are slightly higher than your local grocery store, do not assume that it is because your local farmer is looking to cash in on the local eating craze. What you are seeing is the actual and honest prices of producing food. There are many factors at work here, too many to address today, but suffice it to say that we are paying for our food elsewhere—taxes, wars, and health care costs to name but a few.

Where else can we grow locally? Look around again. How many lawns to you see in your neighborhood where fertilizer and water are applied so that we can spend hours using gasoline mowers to cut it so that is does not get too long. I once knew a man from Laos who expressed his amazement at how many people simply killed the food in their yards. In fact, the concept of a lawn puzzled him most. He could not figure out why everyone did not have a garden. Most lawns are between 1/5 to 1 acre in size. During WWII, everyone was encouraged to grow “freedom gardens” because food was in short supply. One of the first steps that we can do is grow our own gardens. That is as local as your food can get.

Over the next few weeks, I will post suggestions for managing a garden at home, and how to minimize labor spent in the garden. We all can make a difference and be proactive with our food choices. I have attempted to offer some food for thought (pun intended). We can make a difference locally, if we choose as a community to do so. It will require some thought and a lot of organization, but those of us in southern Wisconsin can set an example, if we choose. We are always presented with choices. Susan and I have chosen to produce local food, and you have chosen to buy local food. That is an excellent start. There is still a lot we all can do if we are to address the issues before us surrounding food and food production. Consider the lyrics of the Rush song, Freewill: “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” What do you choose to do about the impending food crisis? Susan and I must answer that question as well.