Dumb bus buyer

Ok so I am a rookie farmer but today I was also a "Dumb bus buyer wannabe".  Two months ago I was commissioned to acquire a 14 passenger bus for our new center in Reston.  I was pressed to buy a spanking new AB but $48,000 is a daunting price tag.  I was introduced to the website of a business near Philadelphia that had numerous used AB's (Activity Bus) with low mileage and significantly less in price.  I put off making that drive for weeks and then things got busy and I started farming and it simply had not happened.  The tractor dilemma gave me new motivation as I reasoned that if I bought a good used AB and saved upwards of $20,000 I could use the savings to purchase a new tractor that has become my most recent obsession.  It is sad isn't it.  10 years ago I was sweating a 57 T-bird and a Mazda RX8 and now I lust for a Kubota 7040.  What has happened to me!!!

I digress.  With resolve I committed to drive to Philly this morning and get the bus I should have purchased already.  I brought my transportation director with me so that we could bring that new/used baby home.  I learned however...that some websites out there can be a little misleading.  Kinda like the dating services where the picture of the prospect fails to accurately represent the real deal.  Instead of hundreds of busses to choose from, as depicted on his website, the guy had three. He struck me as more than a little skeevy and I returned empty handed.  Poor Tommy my trip mate, he was confined in my wife's mini-van with me for over 5 hours.  Half of which I spent apologizing for wasting his time and mine.  Fortunately I was home by 12:30 from Philly and still had time to clean up Mountainside after our wonderful Springfest and help Josh fertilize a few rows of crops.  

The forecast is for 5 inches of rain over the next 2 days so things may get a little bogged down, but the irrigation lines are laid (not that we will be needing irrigation any time soon) and we are getting ready to actually plant.  Thanks to Josh and Jose for helping put down plastic at the end of the day.

Last thing for now...two of our after school programs are coming to work with Josh and me...Josh and I... in May.

This will be our first test to see if we can get kids as excited about growing things as we are.  I truly believe we can make that happen, and the parents of these children are truly lucky their after school program can provided their kids with such unique opportunities.

The Eve of Springfest

OK, since we are on the eve of our 5th annual Springfest the focus has not been exclusively on getting seeds into the ground.  Today we had tree plantings from Landscape Enterprises.  I had the pleasure of driving my mom back to Gettysburg to my sister Barbs, and tractor problems continue to cause headaches.  I am lusting for a new Kubota 7040 but for some strange reason I am getting pushback from some of the other decision makers.

I did get a chance to help Josh sink 10 posts for our deer fencing but that was about it.  With the tractor on the fritz and the day waning away we opted to finish the day at Southern States, (my new favorite store) to pick up some buckwheat, lime and a replacement post because I broke one because I was too lazy to get off the tractor and pull it away from the fork lift and tried to shake it off and snapped it in two.  Good thing the post was only 9 bucks.  It is so weird that I am excited to buy this stuff.  By the way for those of you not in the know' the buckwheat is going to serve as a cover crop to help introduce more nutrients into the soil.  Dang I am getting smarter by the day.

I met with Rebecca from the USDA to go over our application for a high tunnel grant and was told we should know if we will be eligible for a contract within a month.  Hopefully we will be putting up the high tunnel during the first few weeks of summer camp.  Oh yes our campers are absolutely going to know what is going on behind the tent locker rooms.

So what is Josh going to be demonstrating at Springfest? Not quite sure but we at Bar-T are experts at winging it and looking good while we do.  

post Easter Weekend

So Easter Saturday was spent "prettifying" the house for the Easter family feed.  Flower plantings, tree planting, bush plantings and several runs for feast food consumed the day. After my son Drew gave an amazing talk at church, we enjoyed the Easter Sunday dinner with tons of family and happy nieces and nephews riding on 4 wheelers and eating far too many sweets.  Dang life is good.  Needless to say there was no time for farming.

A wonderful private school in Washington, D.C. The Maret Academy sent their 8th graders to Mountainside this morning for lessons on renewable energy.  That meant that I was at N+S Rentals at 7 am to pick up the roto-tiller for the back of the tractor before the students arrived.  We spent almost as much time loading and unloading the tiller from my trailer as we did turning the soil.  After I taught 3 rotations of 8th graders about how electricity is generated and the fragility of the power grid, and the need to rethink how we consume and produce energy, I took time during their lunch break to till a few rows.  I am so getting in to this farming thing.  Now if only we can manage to get some vegetables to actually grow.

It was truly a gorgeous day and it is such a blessing to be able to be outside as a job.  Josh finished the day ordering irrigation lines that will arrive at the end of the week.

We have allowed the Urbana little league to use our baseball fields for practice during the week.  At days end, I was riding with Nancy on the 4 wheeler back to the house when I noticed Mark (Our education director) attempting to spread recently delivered infield clay on the upper infield.  30 small mounds of sandy clay being spread by a hand rake is back breaking and very time consuming.  But... when you have the right tools....and I do... I had Nancy take me back to the tractor and put the tractor rake on the 3 point hitch.  I was able to do in 30 minutes what would have taken 6 hand rakers hours and hours to complete.  And the field looks great.

Since my truck had the big trailer loaded with the tiller to return I opted to drive the tractor across the field back to my house.  To me that was such a statement on how lucky I am.  To me, at 57, I can't think of a better way to commute to work.

That is me on the tractor

 

today I actually fixed something

I know that it is essential for any farmer to be able to keep going even when the equipment does not.  Part botanist and full time handy man comes with the territory if anything is going to get done.

Today Josh was digging post holes when the tractor in his words "crapped out".  When I arrived on the scene the first thing I noticed was that the gas gauge was showing full even though the tractor had been running for over 4 hours.  So the gauge is a liar...lets get some diesel and get back to work right?  It is never that easy.  As an owner of a ford 2810 diesel for the past 15 years I have run out of fuel many times and has resulted in vapor lock.  In the past I have always relied on Jose to bleed the injectors because he was there.  Not today and not until Monday.

A call to New Holland in Frederick and some descriptions on where the fuel injectors were and I was determined

to try to get it running all on my own.  You have to understand I have never fixed a true mechanical problem on a motorized vehicle in my life.  UNTIL TODAY! Trial and error, trial and error and over two hours of persistence along with jumper cables and sure enough that baby is running like a champ!  OK so the afternoon of post hole digging was lost but we are back in business tomorrow.  I even have the hands to prove it.

Sunny but still cold

So here is a question.  Do farmers care about tractor size the way boat owners do?  I have fretted that my Kubota 25 horse power was not going to get the job done so I traded up to a 35 horse power New Holland with a good friend.  After dodging paintballs from 10 to noon I found a substitute Zombie paintball target for the spring break kids and headed to Walkersville to pick up the bigger tractor.  By days end Josh was turning soil and prepping for the tiller that we will be renting on Monday.

Seeds should be arriving tomorrow or Monday.  The hope is to get some planting done in time for our  Spring Festival next weekend.  One thing that separates my farm from almost any other on the planet. I have 350 happy, playful children around all summer.  Today the kids were here during spring break and in two months they will be here when school lets out.  I must have the most perfect setup in the world and the campers will be participating and learning about farming without realizing they are being taught

.  This is going to be fun.

Spring break at the farm

In addition to becoming a farmer, my wife and I run a successful childcare business.  Actually many wonderful people run our successful childcare business and I keep tabs on the goings on.

Today I needed to serve as a Zombie paintball target for our after school kids during our Spring Break event at our summer camp and fledgling farm.  Even with padding those things can sting.  Fortunately our marks children were not exactly snipers so the hits were few and far between.

Josh placed orders for beets, melons, pak choi, from Baker Creek.  Beans, sweet corn, sugar snap peas, squash, watermelons, radishes winter and summer squash from Johnny's Seeds.  The tomatoes will probably come in trays since we are already late in planting seeds.  Pumpkins hopefully will emerge from the unclaimed pumpkins we allowed to rot in the fields after our fall festival last October.  I am getting hungry already.  We have to build our irrigation system which was partially installed several years ago and includes a 1600 gallon cistern that was set up to collect rainwater off our pool house roof.  Now to see if everything still works.

Tomorrow I  will be digging post holes with our tractor mounted post hole digger or serving as a zombie paintball target on day two our our spring break.  The question is, which job can I pass off and which is more desirable?  The tasks of a camp owner, farmer, environmentalist are very diverse.  

Day two in the process

2 inches of rain, a 30 degree drop in temperature, and wet snow tonight means that nothing is going to happen in the field for a day or two (or three).  Imagine that! Inclement weather when you are getting ready to plant.  Has that ever happened in the history of agriculture?  So what do you do?  My 25 year old manager calls them "Administrative Days." Seed ordering, introductions to our friends at the USDA, soil conservation, and a request for a nutrient management plan.  Hopefully we will be able to work the soil by the week's end if the fields dry out sufficiently.

We are taking stock of the equipment we have and determining the items we will need to purchase and rent.  My Kubota tractor is going to be inadequate for the long term and a good friend has a 35 horsepower tractor that is overkill for his needs.  A swap may be in the making.

The deer fencing will wait until the 30 rows of vegetables can be tilled and turned and seeded.  Our goal will be to have some of the planting commence early next week.  We are hosting a Spring Festival on the 26th of April and we want to have something to show and share with our visitors.  I am already beginning to realize that patience and perseverance are required attributes in the agriculture business.

Today, at 57 years old, I Became a Farmer

I have been running summer camps in Maryland for children since 1984.  In 2002 I purchased a wonderful 115-acre farm and started yet another great ACA-accredited summer camp.  The old farmstead was rundown and had been neglected for decades.  As we spruced the place up to prepare for children, I realized that there was potential for environmental restoration and saw the need to minimize the human footprint on this land.  A 10 KW windmill and 15 KW of solar panels soon followed and have shown mixed results over time.  Within the first 6 years of ownership came an opportunity to engage in a wetland restoration and the installation of a 9-acre riparian buffer to protect the local water shed.  All of this was made possible with the assistance of grant opportunities through soil conservation and the department of public works.

I found myself becoming a champion of environmental land stewardship and the farm is emerging as a demonstration site for best land practices.  I am an uneducated environmentalist, but I am learning.

Agricultural sustainability and healthy food production has become the next step in the progression of this facility.  Today, I hired a wonderful young man as my farm manager. At age 25 he will serve as my mentor and I, at 57, am his student.

First on the agenda is deer fencing and a quick trip to Southern States to buy 62 ten-foot posts, 990 feet of galvanized fencing, and chicken wire to keep rabbits and other critters away from the vegetables.

Tomorrow we will review the vegetables to be planted and in the soil in the coming weeks.  We will hoop houses and install a 96-foot tunnel greenhouse this Summer.

The goal is to grow crops profitably and to teach our campers, students from the surrounding counties, and community members about the importance of taking care of our land and minimizing our footprint on it.  Our successes and failures will follow.