As a émigré from New York City to the South, I find myself, (and remarkably so), immersed in my fourth year of creating and building a working organic farm. Truly, the changes from the inception are startling. I thoroughly enjoy the end of my workday, a prelude to a delicious dinner sourced from my farm, followed by moseying to the porch to take in all the sites and sounds. It’s amazing!
Starting from an anemic array of vegetables, there are now pigs, chickens, goats, horses, bees, cows, dogs and cats – some fifty animals in all, and an abundance of vegetables and fruits make up my world. They dictate when I wake in the morning, and when I need to be back at night (got to close up the chicken coop, turn off the fan in the barn, turn on lights, close gates and pastures, and turn off irrigation). Making dinner plans can be nearly impossible: “Would you like to eat early so I can get back and do my evening chores, or would you rather go out later, after my evening chores are done?” Personally, the latter idea really doesn’t work that well for me, as the rooster starts his best imitation of Pavarotti at 4:30 AM – his way of letting me know he’s sure it’s time for me to get up. It would be nice if my windows were closed to mute the crowing,…but I don’t use A/C, so the windows are open, c’est la vie..
What’s truly amazing about the farm and all of the various animals are what they do and how they do it. I’ll expound, but before I do, I’m going to head in a different-but-related direction.
Prior to farming, I never thought much about the spiritual nature of life. I was a city guy: a shopping center developer working with Lowe’s and Wal-Mart. Business was very good and the financial remuneration pretty darn good — until it wasn’t. Life was based on the number of deals in the hopper; the differences amongst people defined by ethnicity. Religion was a rarely discussed issue.
In relocating to the South, ethnicity takes a back seat to the innumerable conversations relating to religion. It’s a bit daunting and a flash point for the many divergent ideas on the subject. Now for me, this is where farming comes in.
One “flash point” that can be argued for time eternal is the “Big Bang Theory” vs. ”Divine Providence”. Now I’m not about to wade into that discussion, but as a former “city guy”, I want to share what I’ve learned on the farm.
So it goes like this: horses: one of the early predecessors of the tractor. They can be used to pull a plow, to till, haul and any number of laborious tasks. For fuel, the horses eat the pasture grasses, and in doing so keep them mowed. As an additional contribution, they’ll also water and fertilize the pastures. Now the horses tend to eat the grasses down, and therein lies the potential for weeds. Well, there’s always the potential for weeds. The original weed eater would be the goat. Another wonderful invention! Just grow weeds, grass and brush and viola, you have goat feed. For being fed and taking care of their part of farm maintenance, the goats are more then happy to produce milk, cheese or meat. Not so bad. Now a few cows and/or sheep will add to pasture grass maintenance and also be happy to contribute milk, cheese or meat (your choice).
Now after a bit of this going on day after day, week after week, the pasture(s) can get a bit worn out. The soils get compacted, and then the weeds start to take over the grasses and then you have what they call a “situation”. What to do? You call the Pasture Busters. Sort of like Ghost Busters but not quite — well maybe. We are talking pigs here. Nature’s awesome plowing machine. Those pigs love eating all the weeds throughout the pastures, and even more fun for them is using their snouts to turn over the soils. Man oh man can they plow! Oh and while they’re merrily chomping and plowing, they’re also seeing to it they fertilize as well. I might add, all this plowing and flipping of the soil breaks the parasite cycles as well — a very important aspect of raising healthy, natural, grass fed animals. No need for chemical based controls this way.
Alas, not all is perfect with the pigs. Yes they have plowed the fields and rendered them weed and parasite-free and yes, they also make a fine contribution to the meat supply. But truth be told, they make a mess. What to do? Bring in the chickens!
Chickens are wonderful! They go through pastures scraping and scratching through all the soil and manure; spreading and breaking it down while they dine on the bugs and parasites. So using their talents, they trail behind the rest of the farm animals from pasture to pasture cleaning and smoothing things out. And as a fringe benefit – eggs or meat!
So let’s do a recap: horses pull farm equipment assisting the farmer in working his farm and deriving their fuel from pasture grasses. Goats eat the grasses and weeds that the horses, sheep, and cows don’t like — assisting in pasture sustainability and health, with the side benefit of producing food. Pigs plow up over-grazed pastures, restoring vitality and breaking parasite cycles and yes, produce food. Last but not least, the chickens are the clean-up crew andwouldn’t ya know it –also produce food.
Hmmm. It’s odd, but it’s almost as if there’s some plan at work. Like the synergy of the farm animals and their separate, but complimentary tasks, aren’t just random. Could it be?
Just sayin’.
