GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF FOOD PRODUCERS

Today, 20 November 2013, it came to my attention that the federal government is putting new regulations into effect that will change food production in America.  The government agency in question is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)  The law is known as the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

This information came to me as an article in a weekly free publication that the local newspaper publishes and distributes in the area for the purpose of holding together advertising fliers.  Let me assure you that I do not put much stock in what the local newspaper has to say.  I worked at that paper a few years back and honestly don't trust them.  However, this article got my attention.

My first reaction was a mix of anger and panic.  This reaction quickly shifted to my normal distrust of the newspaper, and my tendency to go to the source of any rumor.  As soon as evening chores were finished, I went to the computer and searched "food safety modernization act".  My search led to the FDA website, more specifically, www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/FSMA/default.htm.  I found that amendments are abundant further confusing the issue.  To try making some sense of the law and proposed rules, I clicked on "fact sheets" in the menu.  The fact sheets were helpful, though there is still plenty of room for confusion.

As with any federal law, there are a tremendous number of words, all in the vaguest  possible form of legalese, and very little usable information, all of which is open to interpretation.  I STRONGLY encourage you to search this law and read it carefully, if you are inclined to grow and sell veggies, even on a small scale.  It seems the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law by President Obama in January 2011 (though this is the first I had heard of it), giving the FDA more power to regulate food safety.  The rules, however appear to be still in the making.

Personally, I was shocked at the degree of control these proposed rules are expected to exert over how we grow food.  They deal with the quality of water for irrigation (including strict continuous testing of the water and treatment requirements if the water doesn't pass the test), when, how and what type of compost can be used as well as the sterility standards the compost must comply with, and even strict regulation of the plumbing requirements in farm buildings.  Also, it regulates how and when animals (wild and domestic) can be allowed in the growing area, which makes it far more difficult to use draft animals.  As a wildlife Biologist, I had to laugh at the concept of keeping wildlife away from the crop area.

On the surface, this doesn't seem to effect really small operations.  Upon closer examination, it becomes obvious that the rules will be phased in over a period of time to include even very small farms.

These new rules are being put in place in the name of "food safety".  I, like most people, am completely in favor of food safety.  That is why I read labels in the grocery store, wash and/or cook produce, and ask local growers how their produce is grown.  In short, the consumer should be informed and allowed to make their own decisions.  Keep in mind that the government agency making the rules in the name of food safety, is the FDA.  This is the same agency that continues to allow chemical food additives that are banned in most other countries and are well known to cause quite a number of major and even deadly illnesses including heart disease and cancer.  So what is the real reason for these new rules?

At the end of the day, this may change how things work here on Dave's farm.  In particular, the intended sales of surplus produce to help with the bills.  Fortunately, I was unable to find any reference to limiting me from growing what I eat or "giving" produce to friends and neighbors.  And if they choose to "give" me other things I need, that isn't regulated either.  At least not yet.

I strongly urge you to read this new law.  It is possible that you may interpret it differently than I did.  I also sincerely hope you will share your views with us on this situation.

(DF) BUILDING A GARDEN MY GRANDMOTHER'S WAY

All too often, I hear people talking about how they wish they could have a garden but their soil is not right.  They complain of rocks, clay, lack of organic material and any number of other drawbacks to their soil.  They never seem to consider "building" a garden, but instead, simply assume they can't have a garden.

My own garden suffers from these same afflictions.  It is rocky (nice chunks of white chert), high in clay, low in pH, and low in organics.  It is also infested with grass and weeds, and is a bit too shaded in the afternoon.  Because my garden is such, I can understand.  What I can not do is sympathize.

Though I have lived here at Dave's farm for quite a few years and grown quite a lot of vegetables during that time, my garden has never been all I would have hoped for.  The garden spot was used for veggies before my parents bought the property, during the time they lived here and after I bought it from them, but I still don't consider it a proper garden.

The reason my garden is not a garden, has nothing to do with the piece of ground.  That's right, NOTHING to do with the ground.  It is, in my opinion, completely due to the practices of the people using the ground.  The main method used for gardening this piece of ground has consisted of plowing, planting, tilling and harvesting.  Since I have lived here, I have added some compost and removed some rocks (though not enough of either), but I also neglected this piece of ground, leaving it untended and growing nothing but grass at various times over the years.

I have begun tilling up the ground in preparation for next spring (yes, it is my intention to turn this deficient piece of ground into a proper garden).  While tilling under grass and turning up rocks and clay, I found myself thinking of my Grandmother's garden, and her method of gardening.

The piece of ground my Grandmother gardened was bordered on two sides by cow pasture.  In this pasture, more rocks grew than grass.  What soil there was, consisted of little more than hard clay.  When my Grandparents moved to that property many years before, what became the garden was no different than the pasture across the fence.

My Grandmother, for many years, removed rocks as she worked the garden.  If she heard her hoe hit a rock, the rock was placed in a bucket which, when full, was carried out and dumped.  The rocks were continually replaced with compost, chicken manure or anything else that would make garden soil, including such things as snakes and opossums caught in the chicken house, and spoiled milk.

By the time I was old enough to remember, she was still burying small animals, digging in compost and carrying out rocks (by that time, the rocks were no bigger than small marbles).  Her garden produced like none other I've seen and the soil was the easiest worked.

Knowing the kind of garden she created and the rock pile she created it from, I can't complain about my garden soil, or sympathize with others who complain about theirs.  I can only attempt to follow my Grandmother's example and build a garden from the ground I have available, and encourage others to do likewise.

Garden soil, at least in this part of Oklahoma, doesn't usually just happen.  The only thing that just happens on this type of ground is rocks and trees.  Anything else has to be built, just as houses and barns have to be built because they don't just happen.  Building a proper garden is not easy or quick.  It takes years, hard work and a love of the earth and growing things.

May we all eventually build and enjoy gardens as productive and easily worked as my Grandmother's.  In return, we will eat well and have the satisfaction of knowing we will leave one piece of our earth better than we found it.

(DF) SNAKE!!!!!: an unwelcome guest in the hen nest

Before I get started, let me make it very clear that I do not really dislike snakes (at least in their own habitat).  I would also like to say that I am not an advocate for killing any creature (and yes that includes snakes, bugs and poison ivy) without a really good reason.  Considerations of scary or annoying or even dangerous don't qualify in my mind as good reasons.  For me personally, and each of us has the right and obligation to make such decisions for themselves, what qualifies as good reasons are few.  They include the need for food, an immediate threat to oneself or others, with others including not only other humans but any creature one is responsible for the survival of, such as domestic animals and pets that we have agreed to care for.  Sorry, that wasn't supposed to be a full essay, so now to what I was really saying.

Recently, I have noticed that the daily egg count has been less than stable.  Some days there will be six or seven and other days one or none at all, sometimes for a couple of days in a row.  With no sign of broken eggs or other evidence, my obvious suspicion was a snake.  My suspicions were right, and Sunday afternoon I surprised a large black rat snake (commonly known in this area as a chicken snake) in the hen nest, with bulges to show two eggs already swallowed and another on the way.  The nests have doors that open into the blacksmith shop so I don't have to open the chicken pen to gather eggs, making the variety of implements for dispatching the intruder somewhat considerable.  In seconds, the snake was dead and laying beside the path, still dripping egg from its mouth.

As I have already stated, there has to be a good reason for me to kill anything, and to kill one of these non-poisonous snakes is a particularly shameful loss around the farm.  Normally, their main food source is rats and mice, which everyone wants to keep under control for obvious reasons.  However, once they get started eating eggs, they don't stop.  And why should they?   Snakes aren't stupid and an egg is a wonderful source of protein, with the added benefit that it does not try to run away or put up a fight.  This is where the reason for killing the snake comes in.  Eggs are the reason for having the chickens in the first place and a threat to someone's food is a potential threat to that person because it takes away that nutrition.  As an added factor, if there are chicks present, they are just another snack to the hungry snake, and a large one like this particular individual of about five feet long can kill a full grown hen.

Yes, the good reason was really there, but such a total waste of a misguided predator.  Or was it a total waste?  I remember quite well how much my grandmother loved her chickens and how much she hated anything that was a threat to them.  She hated snakes in particular and would kill everyone she saw, no matter what kind.  She also believed it was a terrible sin to waste anything, even a dead snake.  To keep this sinful waste from happening, she would bury any snake she killed (or anything else that invaded her chicken house for that matter) in the garden.  Partly as a result of this practice, her garden soil was very rich and productive.  With that in mind, the snake in question is now in the compost pile under manure and bedding from the goat stall, where it will enrich the soil for next year's garden.  And egg production should be a bit more stable, at least until that blasted squirrel finds a way to get in the chicken pen, but that is another story.