Good Food is Everybody's Business
With the beginning of the 2014 Summer CSA session, Jubilee Farm unveiled its new kitchen space including triple wash sinks, stainless steel counter tops, and tools like food processors and knives for shredding and cutting. Members can now get hands-on coaching and food preparation advice on pick-up days from Terrie, Jubilee’s resident food guru. No more wondering, “What do I do with THAT?”
With fewer sheep to care for there was more time to spend gardening, and despite an overabundance of rain, by June things were pretty much under control. I took time to sit down and enjoy a beautiful day and write my observations of early June.
The continuing saga of Poohbah, the Snow Queen: we took her to visit our vet. At 63 pounds she definitely needed to gain weight before we could have her spayed. We set out to fatten her up, along with giving her medication for the Valley Fever. $148 for the first 100 pills! She was taking 1½ pills per day. By the time the refill was needed our vet had located a less expensive source – in the $90 range. Eventually she found a source for under $50!
Following the loss of Red Rover, Lisa had been encouraging me to start looking for a new guard animal. However, I was still depressed at the death of the little alpaca, who had entered our lives for a charmed period that ended badly. I was reluctant to pursue the search for a replacement. Then one day Lisa emailed that I should look at “Pet-Finders.com,” as there was a dog there that I should see.
Farmers in the Snoqualmie Valley share a common awareness that although they have the potential to supply a great deal of the nearly insatiable demand for local and organic food, the future of farming in the valley is dismal. Why? The answer, in a single word, is flooding.
A new year, and we were hoping for better things. I knew I should start the process of looking for new guardian animal for the sheep, but my heart was not in it. A little time needed to pass after we lost Sheba, but I got back in the daily routines.
Many women in farming have had to develop their own production techniques, their own farming methods, and even their own animal breeds and bloodlines. And in the US, we’ve seen women become experts, teaching other young women to farm, and leading the food movement in small livestock production equal to or even beyond the contribution of academics with little or no field experience. We highlight four women farmers raising small livestock (one of whom has retired after 44 years of sheep farming) to recognize the commitments they have made to what is essentially “women’s work” – that is, small ruminant husbandry.
What a year for weather! January started off with a nasty storm of freezing rain, and our patio and driveway were a glare of ice. By the middle of February and shearing day, we got our winter in earnest. All summer we had plenty of moisture and in September we were hit by torrential rains, including 19″ of rain in a single night!
