Tag: farmer notes

That fast, we are at the beginning round of 12 more moons!  The dark month of December was all the darker due to continued storms and thus, very few nights were clear enough to see the moon whether full or new!  Truth to tell, December delivered a lot of moisture right on the coattails of a wet November and our snowpack is in very good shape as we begin this new year.  I love the silence and comfort of full snow banks and pure white fields.  However, as I pointed out in last year’s notes, this sort of snow is hard on many other creatures.

Birds like the chickadee we might associate with joy for a white and quiet landscape, wherein their ‘chickadee-dee-dee’ cadence sounds more cheery and poignant.  Owls of the night sanctify the depth of winter, and one snowy day I saw the most perfect little northern pygmy owl along a brushy, unfrozen seep.  A deep winters’ landscape can be so quiet, one’s own breathing can seem disruptive.  Let alone the sound of squeaky footsteps… 

The fields are snug, the holidays have come and gone, and the new year of work has begun here at Bluebird Grain Farms as we enter our 20th year.  Twenty years…  As the younger generation exclaims: Really!?  It has gone that fast and we have learned so much.  We’ve met a vast host of customers over these years, and look forward to continuing to serve them while  welcoming many new customers.  

We took a week here at the Farm to regroup following the holiday buzz, and have streamlined a few of our systems even further.  We’ve added a couple new and energetic staff members as we plan for a busy year ahead doing the same thing we have always done: Delivering top-quality, organic whole grains and flours grown with deep care, and custom milled on a weekly basis.  

With our recently certified Regenerative food processing facility, as well as a number of our Regen certified products, we now offer not only the USDA organic certification, but a Regenerative certification as well.  We feel confident that true and certified Regenerative crops will play a very large role in the future of agriculture, and consequently, our climate.  And the Regenified certification is as comprehensive and thorough as any.  The goal is not only to protect our precious soils, but to improve them.  These have always been our main beliefs at Bluebird.  We do not go through sometimes expensive, time consuming certification processes just to add another label on our brand.  We do it because we believe.  As always, we welcome feedback.  

We’ve had our hands full with all this new snow while just keeping the Farm cleared for operations!  Storm cycles are a double edged sword.  While they add twice the work to operations, they bring beautiful moisture for our semi-desert landscape, and this is critical for it to thrive.  I always am willing to put up with the greater work load for the overall gain.

Farm Bill update: Another extension has been passed, to the tune of 10 billion USD in farm aid.  The majority of this aid will go to three crops: Corn, soy, sugar.  None of which will be certified organic, Regenerative, or otherwise.  Diabetes anyone?  The incoming administration mentions not being in support of this extension?  Obviously, there will be a lot to do on any actual Farm Bill – now two years overdue.  The most recent extension ends March 14.

Meanwhile, please know that although there are few subsidies for organic crops, our inventory is very strong going into the new year and we will not be running out of our grains anytime soon.  Although we think of the holidays as the eating season, really, it is just the beginning of the eating season!  Hearty soups and fresh breads warm the soul during these deep winter months.  So, please enjoy.  We love the thought of our goods leaving our Farm directly for your table.  Let’s hope field- to- plate never goes out of style.

Up next: The full “Wolf Moon” !

And the holiday season has begun! This is hard to believe yet as I write this on Thanksgiving weekend I’m quite aware the year is nearing the end-zone and next up is the “Big One”. Like many, I actually enjoy Thanksgiving as much as Christmas. More so, in some ways. No matter, the joy and thankfulness of both sanctify this darker and quieter time of year I love. November.

Blessed and glorious November that, once again, delivered. Big time, giving us the nice, steady rains I’d so hoped for, as these rains softened and opened the soil. Then before the ground could freeze, we received a substantial dollop of first-snow to the tune a foot or so, with more that followed. The snow itself had a lot of moisture in it, as temps stayed barely below freezing. Now we have pliant, soft ground under a beautiful winters’ quilt and this starts a great moisture profile for the next growing season. Thank you, November. My favorite month and perhaps one of the most reliable, like any old friend.

Now the chickadees chime in and the nuthatch crawl up and down the porch beams and winter seems to be settling in as the calendar turns to this final month. It was another fulfilling year here at Bluebird as we still worked out some adjustments and made more efficiencies within our new digs that are already over two years old! Many of you may have noticed that the quality and consistency of our products have remained good as ever. As is our promise, we are just doing more of what we feel we do best: Offering quality foods and punctual service.

Punctual as we can be on our end, that is. Many might have noticed the poor ole’ postal service has been struggling as of late, as have a few other freight companies. We can’t always predict these sorts of things. If you are planning holiday orders please consider giving both us, and you some extra ordering time! We love putting together gifts for so many, but we want to make sure they get to where they are going on time! There are lots of empty spaces out there, still. That isn’t a bad thing.

Thinking of empty spaces, the night skies have been quiet around here lately. If it hasn’t been raining or snowing, there have been some crisp stars and a waning moon. However, I’ve not heard the owls as of late, and the coyotes come and go like usual. To step out and stroll before bed this time of year is a lesson in listening. Deep listening can lead to reflection, particularly when the only sound is one’s own rustling. I remain amazed by Nature.

I am more amazed by Nature all the time, I should say. The sudden and heavy snow is beautiful in my mind, but not all creatures feel this. Most, actually, feel undo stress. Walking up our driveway the other evening several deer were using the roadway and were not anxious to bound out across the snowy fields. I saw where both partridge and quail had moved toward the crabapple tree at the edge of our yard where they’d been scratching away for fruit. Up on the hill above our place, I noticed small partridge tracks weaving among the bunchgrass tips that barely poked above the snow. Not much to eat there, but something at least. Being ground feeders, these poor little birds were having to make fast adjustments. Likely too fast for all to survive. Some silence is lovely; some eerie I suppose. Nature. Resilience. Easy for me to say beautiful.

This time of year we think of Peace on Earth if for some reason we’ve not been thinking about Peace the rest of the year? It is always my wish. And I wish that all of you have had a nice Thanksgiving gathering, and look forward to Christmas as do I. I hope we can all take some quieter moments and think about what we can do for others.

I appreciate all that you customers do for us here at Bluebird as we enter our 20th year! Couldn’t have done it without so many of you and we are most grateful. Here is to your health. Here is to many more years together. More so than ever, we truly do rely on one another.

Merry, Merry and I’ll be in touch with you next year!

Your Farmer, Sam

I simply can not get enough of fall.  This fall’s weather has been as pleasant as any, perhaps even too pleasant.  We did not receive the moisture I’d hoped for in October, though the final couple days promised storms.  Still, it would be hard not to have liked the endless fine, cool nights; the mild, sun-dappled days.  This was true most of last month.  The latter leaving songbirds stuck around, well, pretty late!  Now, the greatest month of all is upon us! Summer birds have left, darkening clouds gather, and badly needed moisture is coming in November –  the month of “worsted gray…”

Autumn in the northern prairie couldn’t have been more classic as I made my way through Montana to the Schmaltz Family Farm in North Dakota.  Then north from there to O’Canada.  I’m not a big fan of driving around much, sometimes even just to town!  However, if locked and loaded for a road trip, yee-haw!  The drive from here to ‘there’ is stunning as one travels  along some of Montana’s fine rivers: The Clark Fork; the Madison; the YELLOWSTONE, and on to the wide open prairie.  Western North America has to be one of the prettiest and most varied places on this Earth. 

As always, my visit with the Schmaltz Family was rewarding on many fronts.  We exchanged deeper conversations about food, farming and places.  I got to see how inventive, hard working and successful they have been with their full-scale regenerative farming practices.  Their success isn’t so surprising – since they’ve been at it a dozen or more years now – but these restorative systems are very impressive.  Their crop yields show for themselves, however, it is the noticeable quality that speaks the loudest.  This quality and consistency come only after a great deal of investment and belief in a system that is constantly improving both soils and the food from these soils.  Schmaltz’s farm is now working for itself in this sense.  Still, the critical decision making and planning is all Kent and Blaine.  This is a very involved process, and one that requires having a variety of scenarios since – like with all farming – things often do not go as “planned”!  Gosh it was fun to see, and I couldn’t be more grateful for our relationship.  Oh, we got some solid pheasant hunting in, too!  Much to Clyde’s delight.

Fall is always a busy season at the Bluebird mill as the eating season kicks into full swing.  October was a bit busier than the past few months, and we anticipate November being busier yet.  Soup, bread, yummy side dishes; ‘ tis the season for firelight and hearty foods as the countryside begins to quiet and soon winter’s blanket will settle in.  Our lean, and sometimes mean (not really!) crew here at the Farm are eager to serve up all the good grains and flours for your cozy kitchens.  Brad Baylie who grows our soft Sonora white wheat in Connell, Washington brought in another solid crop for us this year.  This versatile soft flour works great for pie crusts as well as other goodies.

It is hard not to think about politics this time of year.  For those of us who voted early we are left to fret.  Once again, things I often fret over never even get onto the political platforms: Environment, education, proactive health care.  These issues are all relevant in many ways, and tied closely to the Farm Bill.  Two years has passed since the last Bill expired and there still is no renewal of a new Farm Bill.  Reelection campaigns are apparently far too important for any issues to actually be resolved during this time.  Meanwhile – daily it seems – I learn of more and more (millions) of chickens continuing to be destroyed.  More recently, right here in the good ole’ Northwest.  And at the same time, an even more potent version of Round-Up (Glyphosate) has hit the market.  This proves that not only is animal husbandry in steady decline, but private enterprise is alive and functioning  – for better or worse – throughout the election season. 

In related news, there continues to be growing concern over the use of glyphosate as a desiccant.  This has prompted many cereal grains and pulse buyers to restrict purchases of crops where this pattern of burn-down pre-harvest remains.  Truth to tell, up in Manitoba where I just was, some pea processors no longer will take sprayed down peas, and oat and barley producers have been told not to use the glyphosate for harvest any more as well.   Now this is some good news!

We have so much to thank the Earth for.  I am glad to see small inroads being made as an effort to better care of it, and as people once did not all that long ago.  She is our Mother, after all, and somehow continues to give us great, great bounty.

Soon, winters’ chickadees will return, the owls’ nighttime voices will deepen, and coyotes are already talking about the growing darkness during the new moon.  Next up, November’s full moon known as the Beaver Moon.  And after, my favorite holiday at the close of the month!  Plenty to be grateful for, indeed.  Please gather ‘round, hold tight, and give thanks together for another year’s food from our always giving Mother.

Cheers,

Farmer Sam

In step, October arrived with the first autumn frosts after a final week of September that hosted several 80 degree days.  We are far enough north here in the Methow where seasons can be prolonged, as well as shift overnight.  A couple frosty mornings and that fast, one is grateful for the woodpile, breads, soups, hot cereals and whatever other foods or drinks that might keep you cozy. Oh, do I love it.  Love September – love October all the more.  Those of you long-time readers of my notes know too well, perhaps, my affinity for fall and the colder months in general.  Bring it on!

Yes, I will miss the summer birds, sights and sounds.  I won’t miss the heat so much, or the dryness plus, new birds have already begun to arrive.  The hummingbirds held out until very late last month – in part because it stayed so warm I suspect.  We still have bluebirds that fledged here in our yard.  However, I noticed around 6 o’clock last evening they are now sharing the birdbath with a flush of gathering robins, as well as chipping sparrows and the last of the flycatchers.  I may have heard the last of the nighttime poorwills, yet I still hear a meadowlark.  As the landscape changes in hues of purple, maroon and gold, raptors soar the winds while the Sandhill cranes have already passed through. Soon there will be flocks of geese and with all this, we sure hope for fall moisture… and a lot of it.

Despite the bizarre 2 inch rain storm we received late August, we’ve scarcely had a drop of moisture since.  We wish for nice, sustained fall rains before the ground freezes and/or it snows.  The rewards of a good snowpack are better realized if the ground is soaked first, and softened and pliant so that spring melt can more easily go into the profile and not run off.  October can be good for these rains, particularly as we get into the latter part of the month.  I have faith. Then, of course, comes the mighty month of November – my most favorite of all!

Here at the beginning of October the cool nights and warm afternoons are not lost on me.  Nor lost on our huge cover crop of winter peas that has thrived and grown up through all the left-behind einkorn straw.  I charged up our pivot irrigation for the first time since June, and applied a dose of cold-pressed fish and beneficial microbes to kick-start the decomposition of that straw while energizing the peas.  It seems as if we can see them growing by the day.  And the resident Canada geese sure are enjoying them.  The field gets the benefit of all this recycling and we have fun observing each day.

Fall orders are picking up and our cleaning line, milling and packing lines are seeing a jump in hours.  Good stuff.  This temperate weather is easier on our lean crew, and our processing equipment.  Ambient atmosphere plays a big part in how grains both clean, and how grains mill into whole grain flour.  Although environmental conditions can add to the challenges of custom milling, these are good challenges, and they keep us tuned into our craft.  Bluebird is located in a good, low humidity climate that is ideal for custom milling. Many of you realize this in the consistency and quality of our products.  These autumn days only enhance this process.

Meanwhile, as of October 1st we hit the second year mark of no renewal of the Farm Bill.  This has become yet another partisan issue with so much at stake.  The one side pushes the importance of the Bill on a variety of levels, not the least of which is the SNAP program.  Another side wants to guarantee continued payouts to the wealthiest farms.  Both sides seem to support continued “biofuel” production which largely means ethanol.  There is no heavier resource dependent crop than corn, and here our government supports the use of this heavily subsidized crop as a gas additive that makes our engines less efficient?? Like with so many things, there is a lot left in the middle of the Farm Bill – a bill that is foreign to so many East of the Mississippi who pay the majority of it.  Likely the bill will get another extension.  Each time this happens it not only costs taxpayers more, but kicks the main issue down the road.  Don’t expect anything to change until after November 5th.  Who knows what will happen thereafter?

Speaking of subsidies, I get to head to the northern prairie this month!  To visit our good friends the Schmaltz family on their recently certified regenerative farm where they farm in complete cycle with Nature and accept no subsidies.  I so enjoy visiting their amazing 5000 acre organic farm, which is surrounded by many very large tax-supported farms.  This does not keep me from loving the autumn prairie.  For a few days I’m going further north into Manitoba – a place I’ve never been.  I look forward to this journey through some of the major small grains production areas of North America.  Every time I take a road trip across parts of our vast country, I learn so much and have more appreciation each time for how fortunate we are here in North America.  We have a major luxury of so many natural resources; we just need to work harder to protect them.

With Halloween up-coming, try not to get spooked by the heavy rhetoric that comes on an election year.  Try and keep things in perspective, hard as that may be at times.  Most of us want peace and want everyone to get the chance to thrive in a respectful manner- no matter where they are from.

Cheers to Fall,

Farmer Sam

 

school kids looking at soil health, Bluebird

Sam talks with with the Chelan Middle School agricultural class about soil health during a recent fieldtrip to Bluebird Grain Farms.

 

Most years I find myself sighing in relief when the mellow month of September finally rolls around, bringing with it the cooling nights and shorter days as summer’s growing season winds down.  Indeed, September is the busiest harvest month when one considers the various fruits, grains, and vegetables that are gleaned here under clear, mild eastern Washington skies.  However, aside from the first week or so of August, most of last month felt like September!  Truth to tell, a couple nights were down in the 40’s and a very unusual rain fell that left 2 inches of moisture across the countryside.  Never before had this amount of precipitation been recorded here in the valley not just for the date, but for the entire month of August!

Dawn; I now hear chickadees again, robins, bluebirds, but hummingbirds seem to be staying on longer than years past?  Chickadees generally are a sign of autumn.  Hummingbirds are often gone by September.  June this year was May; July was August; August was September.  What all this means and how  September will shake out, I’ve no idea.  Beautiful…? 

Even though all of our Bluebird crops are harvested, we will still take the clear, hot weather as it will likely be the last for the year.  As I noted in August notes, our harvest right here at Bluebird was earlier than ever as I harvested the einkorn in late July.  The standing straw left behind had the understory of winter peas clinging tight and I’d considered rolling the Gleaner back out, then harvesting them.  However, I would have done so simply to clean up the seed for planting as our fall cover.  Instead, I hooked up the heavy off-set disk and in two passes, knocked all the stalks flat and spread the peas about in the process.  This was the first tillage I’d done to this field since spring of 2023.

By knocking out the peas and turning down the straw, my hope was to have a nice environment for the peas to germinate up through the mulched field.  Better, perhaps, than if I’d tried to direct drill them into the standing straw.  When the bizarre rain came I knew we’d soon know what sort of cover crop we’d have.  Here on the first of this month I’m pleased to report we’ve a wonderful, mulched in crop of winter peas and volunteer einkorn!  To which I will apply a good dose of cold pressed liquid fish fertilizer and composting microbes.  This will speed up the digestion process of the straw.  My goal is to have one big biological, soil feeding combination of available goodies come next spring.  It may be the largest amount of organic matter I’ve ever had to try and convert to soil.  This could be interesting.   Stay tuned. 

Farm partner Brad Bailie in Connell, Washington took off a very nice crop of einkorn last month and as soon as we run the last couple loads of 2023 crop, we will be fresh into 2024 einkorn.  The Schmaltz family just finished emmer harvest  and they have their first Certified Regenified regenerative crop in the bins!  We will be taking that in for hulling and grading at our recently  Certified Regenified Bluebird facility here in Winthrop.  Yes, one more “certification”.  This regenerative certification is one that we feel is now legitimate and we believe in it.  Even the USDA is beginning to put pressure on producers and processors to substantiate their claims on a variety of sales pitches such as “No antibiotics”, “Free Range”, and yes “Rengerative.”  We want you to be confident that we are who we say we are.  A 100% certified organic, and now certified regenerative facility using certified crops.  That’s a lot of certs!

That said, our grain cleaning line was a bit quiet last month.  This can happen in the depths of summer.  Commodity prices themselves have been at a low for the past 10 years, and this can sometimes have an effect even on our small market of specialty grains.  Right now between inflationary costs of operations, a strong US dollar and lower farm gate price-points, those growing under the subsidized system are reminded that Price support and Insurance support is how  they are kept in business some years.  This tax-based funding source is common for most non-organic US farms, however, even these farms remain at risk because here a full year since the last Farm Bill expired.  The expired bill has been on a one year extension which, in turn, is now due to expire.  The House version is still hung up on the House floor.  Good thing for some farms that another support mechanism remains alive and well.  This month the 39th annual Farm Aid concert takes place on the autumn equinox in New York State.  To date, Farm Aid has raised $80 million for family farms in this country.  Go Willie and Company!

Here at Bluebird where we have no price safety net, we’ve kept our prices the same as we try to do no matter how the tides rise and fall around us.  This isn’t always easy, but it seems to be a good way to maintain long-term relationships.  We are fortunate to have such a large repeat customers base.  Thank you.  It was nice to meet some of you at our Labor Day weekend open house.  Brooke and I enjoyed our time with several folks we’d never met before, but that had been buying our products in some cases, for years now! 

Schools are back in session country-wide.  With this comes our local school’s Classroom in Bloom annual party in support and celebration of the amazing garden we have here on school grounds just across the road from Bluebird.  This year marks the 20th anniversary!  CIB helps feed the local students fresh and frozen produce throughout the school year, as they reap the rewards of their very own labor.  CIB is one of the gems of our little valley and I’m proud of all those involved.  I hope to see some of you at the party.

I hope you enjoy the late summer as nights lengthen and deepening shadows flow across the landscape to the easy sound of gathering birds, happy cicadas, and the flutter of just- fading aspen.  September is perhaps the mellowest month of all.  And I love it. 

 

Yours,

Farmer Sam

May oh May… a more delightful May than this years’ I can’t imagine.  A few days in the 70’s and  80’s; a few valley rain showers and snow squalls in the mountains; wind and calm, then temps in the 30’s as we leave the month behind.  Quite the variety of weather, alright.  That is what makes Spring here so fun.  Lest I forget the birds!  Chats and buntings; swallows and wrens; orioles and tanagers…  Truth to tell, I could sit all day and watch and listen.

Alas, that would not be of much help to our wonderful crew here at Bluebird Grain Farms.  They’ve been working hard at keeping our systems running smoothly, and shipping out orders nationwide from our little valley.  Our supply of organic grain remains solid as we enter the last quarter before harvest, and we are having a good year entering the final month of the 2024’s front half.  Nothing makes me happier than to hear good things about our grains and flours from a whole host of different customers.  The real kudos go out to all of you who take an interest in food, how it is grown and where it comes from.  Thank you!

All of this year’s crops are planted and growing right along.  The northern prairies have received nice rains, our partners report.  The earlier planted crops here in the Columbia Basin at Brad’s Lenwood Farms are a foot tall now, and cover crops at our own farm are beginning to stretch up toward the gathering daylight.  Wow.  Can we be just 3 weeks from Summer Solstice!  Plants really kick into gear come this time of the year.  Let the sweet, rich juices of June flow.  

Yes, we could use more rain here.  In the past, the month of June often delivered.  The longer we get into the summer months without excessive heat, the longer we can hold off drought if the days are just cooler and cloudier.  Once crops reach a certain growth stage – grain knee high – then the plants themselves harbor moisture and protect the soils.  This is one reason we love the ancient wheats because they grow so tall, and create a shade effect that preserves moisture in their roots.  This function is not dissimilar to trees, albeit on a much smaller scale.  Soil preservation, high organic matter, nutritious food – these are just some of reasons to celebrate the wheats that once were.  

But we’ve brought them back!  We have been touting these qualities for nearly 20 years now and it is exciting to see continued  interest and rising popularity of these time-tested grains.  Their attributes and versatility both agronomically and culinarily continue to engage and teach us as years go by.  I’m guessing this does not change anytime soon.  To quote William Faulkner: “The past is never dead, it’s not even past.”

Our job hasn’t changed either, and that is seeing to it that all of you get these ancient grains freshly delivered on a consistent basis.  This is one way we can improve on our food systems that still remain flawed.  Currently, the FDA and USDA continue to try and sort out the recent Avian Flu mess that is a self-fulfilled prophecy, of sorts, as I mentioned last month.  Feeding our animals the wrong diet – turning herbivores into carnivores – is not sustainable.  Over 4 million laying hens alone have been destroyed and disposed of…  How?  Where?  Will the dairy herds be next?  Yuck.

In related news, remember the Farm Bill?  The last one expired in September of 2023.  I mentioned in last fall’s Notes how we would not see a new bill before the end of the year.  The question is now: Will we see one before the end of this year?  In a lot of ways this delay may be a good thing since it has morphed into a piece of broken and partisen farming legislation.   However, very crucial programs such as SNAP still hang in the balance.  Not so good.

We enjoyed a nice Memorial weekend granary tour here at the Farm.  It is always engaging for Brooke and myself to see new faces, meet new people, have new discussions and teach and learn all at once.  During the whole weekend I kept in mind what the past “holiday” really is about and that is to honor and memorialize those who made the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation of ours.  Yes, it is a great country.  Democracy is far, far from perfect and remains a constant work in progress.  However, I’ll still take it every day.

Here’s to health, decency and peace for the coming summer.

Yours,

Farmer Sam