6 weird things about us

Our friend Rich of Mossback Farm ‘tagged’ us-apparently we need to now share 6 weird things about ourselves. (For those of you who don’t visit blog-land regularly, this is what is called a ‘meme’-kind of like an internet chain letter.) Anyhow, since this is a farm blog rather than a personal one, we’ll share 6 weird things about Oakhill Organics and its farmers (that’s us!):

1. We didn’t decide to be farmers until relatively recently: late in 2003, when we met farmers from Wisconsin and realized just how cool and real a farming life can be.

2. We hate to weed. Hate it. (And we don’t really hate anything.) As I like to say, “Weeding is the only activity on a farm that doesn’t directly earn you income.” Thus, our first purchase for our farm, even before we knew where we would farm, was an Allis-Chalmers cultivating tractor.

3. Before we started farming, we didn’t eat many vegetables at all, let alone any of the less mainstream ones. We had to learn how to cook and enjoy many of the vegetables we now grow. Some that we weren’t sure we liked at first and now love: kale, cabbage, arugula, turnips, fennel bulb, summer squash, eggplant, radishes, beets, parsnips, kohlrabi, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and winter squash. Can you believe that? It’s hard to even remember that old us, since we are so vegetable-lovers now.

4. There’s only two of us. Maybe that isn’t weird, but we’re not sure how many people realize that-all the food we sell is grown by us, and we do all the work, from sowing to harvesting. (In the high summer, we get about half a day’s worth of work each week from CSA members, but most of the time it’s just us.)

5. The other day we entertained our most ultimate farm nerd selves and made a ‘rotational matrix’-a spreadsheet chart thing-y detailing 16 different factors we consider in our crop rotation and how they relate to each crop. Examples of factors: nitrogen use, length of time in field, irrigation method, etc. Very nerdy. That’s the kind of farmers we are-over-analytical and proficient in computer software like Excel. But we enjoy it. We have many, many Excel files for our farm.

6. We’re not vegetarians. I guess people assume that we are because we grow vegetables, but we eat pretty much everything. Our preferences in food are drawn on different lines than meat/non-meat. Although we don’t prohibit anything (especially if it’s served to us), we strive to eat locally and seasonally above all else. Casey calls us ‘local-vores.’ And, yes, that includes things like chicken and beef.

I hope that was ‘weird’ enough to satisfy the critics! To continue the farm blog theme, I tag Courie of Double Rabbit Farm (our internet pal who is farming in Minnesota).

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2 Responses to 6 weird things about us

  1. rich says:

    Plenty weird…and well described. Back to the housebuilding!

  2. Courie says:

    Well, glad I took a snowday to come read that I’ve been tagged! I’m off to consider my weirdness, visit our blog soon!!

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