Acts of hope

Farming and gardening is perhaps ALWAYS an act of hope. We weeded our family garden this weekend.

Farming and gardening is perhaps ALWAYS an act of hope. We weeded our family garden this weekend.

This weekend, we acted in hope. We transplanted 33 blueberry plants in the middle of summer, on what was expected to be a very hot day. Perhaps not a recommended time of year for transplanting perennials, but where we had originally planted the blueberries just wasn’t working. They weren’t near enough other perennials to tend or water properly. Before Casey dug them up on Saturday morning, they were in the midst of a field more or less by themselves, meaning that to water them would be less simple than in other spots. And, so, we moved them, planting them at the edge of our home orchard, where we hope that proximity to our house will allow us to give them the attention they need to flourish.

We gave our transplnated blueberries plenty of water. So far they are still alive!

We gave our transplanted blueberries plenty of water. So far they are still alive!

You see, this is our third attempt at blueberries. They are, as a farmer friend has put it, especially sensitive plants. Other crops can survive minor blips in tending in a year or two — blueberries, not so much. Our first large blueberry planting succumbed to our lack of care in 2012, our year of “everything-happening-all-at-once” (the year we expanded our acreage, started milking cows, had a second baby, and dealt with a cancer diagnosis and surgery … !). We planted another, smaller, planting the next year, but as I explained above, the location turned out to not be ideal. And, so, we move them in mid-summer — taking care to prepare each hole with love — and we hope.

It felt like a fitting exercise in hope after a week of experiencing a higher than normal level of general anxiety here in the Northwest. That earthquake article I mentioned in last week’s newsletter has “shaken” up a lot of folks living in our fine region. The language choices and descriptions were fairly extreme and represented quite a doomsday scenario. Some respond by sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring it completely; others can feel shut down by fear. Perhaps neither is especially useful.

I find probability predictions based on historical instances to be problematic, and here’s why: if we look at history, whether it be ancient geologic or more recent political history, it is full of devastation. And much of the devastation seems to come in cycles — empires rise; empires fall. Plagues wipe out whole generations. The last century brought plenty more devastation in these cycles: world wars, terrorism, deadly hurricanes, and more.

History teaches us this: bad stuff happens. All kinds of bad stuff. And, yes, it will happen again. We can be sure of that, unfortunately. Realistically, much of it will be hard to predict too. And even the predictable things (such as hurricanes) will still find many people unprepared for survival. Alas. And sadly.

Perhaps, more to the point — we will all die. We will! In the year 2015, I think this still surprises us with its reality. We hope that we can die a timely, easy death; but death itself is unavoidable. As is the death of our dearest loved ones. Again, oh, how we long for timeliness in all of those passings. The more we love, the more we hope. But we will die — in an earthquake, from cancer, in a car accident, from old age. We will.

So, how then do we live? Do we let this knowledge crumple us with its huge weight? Do we spend all our energy trying to make life as safe as possible — perhaps to the risk of missing out on great joys and pleasures?

I thought about these Big Question as we planted blueberries because it reminded me of one of my favorite quotes: Martin Luther said, “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” I love the deep sense of hope that is implicit in this statement, because of course planting an apple tree is not just an investment in the next day, or the next weeks — it is an investment in future years and decades.

If you think about it, spring itself embodies this hope. Just as each human will die, each year the earth itself goes through a cycle of death. And, yet, spring comes again. The apples blossom and set fruit, even though fall will come. Martin Luther was buoyed by his Christian faith, which told him that we are called to be “light” in the world — to be life. Can light and life exist without hope? Martin Luther would say no, that to him faith and hope were one. I find the same message in spring, in these plants that grow, flower, set fruit, and make seeds, year in and year out.

Casey rigged up a solar charged from our electric fencing with an inverter so we can use it to power small things like a radio, cell phone charger, etc. A good start on the preparation project!

Casey rigged up a solar charger from our electric fencing with an inverter so we can use it to power small things like a radio, cell phone charger, etc. A good start on the preparation project!

I should add that a few more items got added to our ‘to do’ lists this week as well. In addition to taking care of our usual summer farm work (and transplanting blueberry plants), Casey and I are also brainstorming what realistic measures our farm and family should take for surviving any kind of unexpected disaster that might come our way. We’re putting together bags of supplies to keep in our vehicles and pondering water supplies for animals should the grid go down for weeks or months at a time. I am sure that Martin Luther would agree that being practical is also part of being alive in this world. As one seismic expert said in a forum I was reading: “Be prepared, but don’t be paranoid.”

Many different faith and philosophical traditions address similar question of course. How to live is of course The Big Question of Humanity. I love hearing how different voices answer the question. Many years ago in a wonderful high school course, a teacher introduced me to this Buddhist parable, which I come back to regularly:

A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

As always, these are questions worth grappling over a lifetime — philosophers have been pondering them for centuries, so I certainly can’t find an answer during one blueberry planting session. But I feel thankful that I can listen to these people, many of whom had seen many more trials than I, and hear hope expressed. Hope for the moment at hand, for love, for a richness of experience now, regardless of what awaits us tomorrow or the next day.

I have also observed in these wise writers and in people in my own immediate life that those I admire most often have also weathered the most trials. The people in whom I see a depth of sympathy, patience, understanding and love have earned those traits through very hard work indeed — intentional work of growing through pain rather than shutting down. These people remind me of the world around us, where growth happens even in the darkest parts of the year, where the cold stimulates the seeds for next season.

I hope I haven’t at all sugar-coated trials or devastation. Because, oh, I acknowledge the challenges and of course want so badly to avoid them in my own lifetime. Don’t we all? But I work very hard personally to not let fear or the future (or possible regrets from the past) bog me down. I work on this every. single. day. I work to appreciate these children of ours in this sweet vibrant moment, knowing that they will never be this age or this person again. I work to appreciate the farm we do have rather than pining for the one that has only ever existed in our imaginations. And, when reading dire predictions of future earthquakes, I work to enjoy these calm moments now — to enjoy the ease of a hot shower and electricity. These are luxuries that I want to be appreciative of either way.

I do encourage all our readers who may be feeling fear now to join me in working to embrace this life we are living today. I think this is hard and valuable work worth doing. I also simultaneously encourage others to prepare for disasters in simple ways. At the very least, you can buy premade emergency bags to keep in your car (here’s an example of one). It’s a simple investment that could bring some peace of mind.

Now, let’s hope that our gentle attention will help our blueberries take to their new home! Because future blueberries outside my door certainly gives me hope! Enjoy this week’s vegetables!

Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla

P.S. This weekend, Casey also pulled out his latent science super powers and spent a few hours reading the original research articles cited in The New Yorker earthquake article. According to his reading, the situation is much less dire than the headlines suggest. The return interval for the Big Earthquakes in our region is 550 years rather than 300 years. So. There you go. It won’t stop us from preparing, but perhaps we can still enjoy yurt camping at the beach.

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Two reminders:

  • The next CSA payment is due by next Thursday, July 30. I emailed CSA statements this Monday to folks who still have a balance due. Please let me know if you have any questions about our records of your account activity. You can mail us checks: Oakhill Organics, P.O. Box 1698, McMinnville OR 97128; or you can bring them to pick-up. Thank you!
  • Our next CSA event is coming in a few weeks — we’ll host a farm potluck out here on Saturday, August 15. More details in coming newsletters!

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Still taking pork orders! Well, those four hogs we slaughtered last week were claimed very quickly at our summer sale price! We continued receiving orders, so we are going to schedule another round of hogs for slaughter. If you’d like to get in on the low summer price, let us know by the end of this week! For this sale, we’re charging $3.90 lb for hanging weight — price includes processing costs. Whole hogs are averaging 80-90 lbs hanging weight. We can take payments (with full price being paid by October 1).

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Meet this week’s vegetables: So much to choose from this week! Yay, summer!

  • Apples — These are more of the Lodi apples — our first apple of the season. It’s tart and perfect for cooking. We’ve been making a very simple baked apple dish with these lately — just chop up the apples (peels still on) and stir up with good things like cinnamon, butter, honey, and maybe some flour (wheat or almond). Bake until soft and yummy! It’s especially delicious with cream over the top.
  • Plums — So many plums! I’m amazed at how much we are still enjoying these plums. The kids eat plums for a snack at least once/day.
  • Tomatoes
  • Green & yellow beans
  • Peppers — We’ll have both green and hot peppers. In case you forget which is which, the green peppers will be … green. No surprise there! The hot peppers will be purple and small. These are a variety we love called “Czech Black.” When they are ripe, they turn red and get nicely hot. When purple they are mildly hot.
  • Cucumbers
  • Chard
  • Cabbage — We’ve been eating ever so much cabbage lately — sometimes as slaw (so simple and satisfying when it is hot out!) and sometimes cooked up with other summer veggies like beans, squash and tomatoes. I made a yummy curry dish earlier this week with all those vegetables, plus lots of tumeric, butter, coconut oil and raisins. It was so filling (and delicious topped with goat cheese!).
  • Beets
  • Carrots
  • New potatoes — Home fries continue to be the kids’ favorite way to eat potatoes. Which is great, because it’s so easy and quick to do! I just peel and chop into smaller chunks. Then I pan fry with liberal amounts of butter (a single layer works best) until crispy on the outside and soft inside.
  • Summer squash & zucchini
  • Eggs!

And this week’s extra goodies from the farm:

  • Eggs — $6/dozen ~ So many eggs! We have so many, wonderful delicious eggs!
  • Walnuts — $5/lb
  • Lamb — We’ve got lots of fun cuts of lamb in the freezer. Prices vary.
  • Goat — However, we are almost out of goat! Prices for remaining cuts vary.
  • Pork — Ditto for the pork — almost out! Get it while it lasts!
  • Beef bones — Ditto for the bones — almost out! Get them while they last!
  • Bratwurst — And, ditto again for the Brats! We’ll be taking more animals to slaughter soon to restock, but let’s clean out what we’ve got left!
  • Ground beef — Meanwhile, we still have plenty of ground beef. Yum yum! $7 for 1/lb packages
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