2-2-10

NO AARON DIDN'T LOSE HIS NEW
GLASSES LIKE HE DID THE LAST TIME
HE WAS IN GEORGIA SO YOU BEST STEP OFF


PLANTING A CYPRUS GROVE











MUSICIAN IN THE MAKING




We came to River View Farm to learn to make a greenhouse. The plan was to lay the foundation today, and erect the structure over the next two days. However, last night it rained something awful, and so the ground was in no shape or form to lay the groundwork for the greenhouse. It rained so much in fact the ground will likely be wet for several days, and the greenhouse construction is now delayed until next week. This has changed our plans, and tonight is our last night at River View Farms.

But we did learn a few important skills during our short stay. This afternoon we planted 200 cyprus saplings, and hopefully in many years, there will be a healthy cyprus grove. We learned cyprus trees thrive in a wet, swampy soil. Or at least we were told such and consequently planted the saplings in a mucky mess. Our socks, shoes, pants, and hands were covered in gook by the end of the planting session. Those baby trees sure seemed happy though. And so did Wes and Charlotte's dog, who was leaping and having a grand ole' time in the water and mud while we planted. In classic canine fashion, he didn't help us with any of the work. We felt like old farm hands as we left the swamp and made our way back to the farm house. Caked in mud, we rode on the flatbed of Wes's truck as the dog leapt up and down in some sort of exuberant frenzy while the wind whipped our hair into some sort of non-exuberant frenzy.

Another valuable skill (or life lesson) we learned at River View Farm is that all 3-year olds get their way.

Today we pondered an interesting topic about the nature of organic farming. River View Farms is certified organic. They do the biodynamic preparations to make their compost, which they spread over their fields to grow healthy fruits and vegetables. Some of the manure they add to their compost however comes from Wes's brother's chicken operation. This chicken operation is not organic. The chickens are raised for Tyson and are hormone and chemical infested. Wes said he wouldn't touch those chickens with a ten foot pole. The feed those conventional chickens eat is laden with poison, and presumably their excrement has more than a trace of that poison still intact. It is perplexing that that chicken manure is added to compost, becomes soil, supplies nutrients to plants, and that those plants, which grow, are still considered organic. Does the process of compost making kill those chemicals? Even if it doesn't, it is presumably better to use the chicken waste to make compost than to dump it somewhere with hazardous consequences. But still we wonder, if organic farmers are doing this, what does "organic" even mean?