A Canadian Conversation

My article in The Chautauqua from the 16 March - 

I'm writing this looking out over the freshly white fields, as more snow falls, happy that I don't have to drive anywhere today and even happier to see some moisture hitting the ground.

It wasn't until I lived in Singapore – 1 degree north of the equator – that I realized how much we Canadians talk about the weather. When you live somewhere that has very little fluctuation in temperature, there suddenly seems to be very little to talk about in the elevator. Now I am not only living in Canada, where the weather provides an easy conversation to 'break-the-ice' but I am back on the farm. That means the weather is a factor in almost every decision you make: what work you do today depends on today's weather, tomorrow's forecast and the almanac's prediction for the year ahead.

After Christmas we took our honeymoon in Nicaragua and visited a few farms there. They were talking about the fact that there dry season was (at that time) about a month and a half late. They were pleased because in the same way we stockpile feed (for us and the animals) over the winter, they stockpile to get through the dry season. It made us start to think about the year ahead of us, back home. So there we were – overlooking Lake Nicaragua, eating our breakfast of rice and beans – checking weather back home, reviewing the moisture falls from the very dry fall and winter (so far) and thinking about what we need to do this spring. Despite the rainfalls we received in 2010 and 2011, the dry fall and little snow this winter had us thinking about moisture.

Last summer we covered the garden in mulch: a variety of cardboards, black plastic, wood chips and straw mean that there is not a bare patch of ground, so any moisture that was there before the dry winds came was protected and the spring melt should be held in. (Thank goodness for this snow – there might actually BE a spring melt). We are trying to grow our garden with minimal tilling and we are still figuring out ways to work through the mulch we've already laid – but if that work upfront means less watering and less weeding later on, I am up for it.

We also have the materials for a water catchment system off the quonset. That was one of last year's projects that didn't seem to make the priority list. It's on the priority list for this year, though. If the rains come and we don't need to water the garden, I am sure the ducks and geese will appreciate the bigger pond to swim in.

While the weather is something we can feel at the mercy of in Canada (no ones figured out how to control it yet, although I am sure Monsanto is trying...) the changing seasons and the variation is a constant reminder of the ecosystems that we are a small part in and connects us to the natural cycles that abound. Plus it gives you an easy topic to use to fill in the time while you wait for your coffee.

Substantiate, Re-Iterate, Effectuate

Substantiate, Re-Iterate, Effectuate

Ken Eshpeter, June 2004

I sat down to contemplate

Just how I might articulate

A growing need to enunciate

My concern for our community.

Our system tries to obliterate

Our original sense to co-operate

We no longer seem to appreciate

Our instinct to live together.

The forces work to authenticate

Expanding trends to dissociate

There's an invisible sword to amputate

Us all from one another.

Consumption fails to satiate

Our internal urge to accumulate

Big business likes to manipulate

Our sense of needs and wants.

Religion prays to perpetuate

The myth that individuals communicate

Perhaps they should re-evaluate

Their relationship with God.

Government wants to abdicate

Its role to help adjudicate

I sense it would 'incorporate'

All things that one could need.

Let's hope we don't exonerate

Instead let's hope we educate

Or surely we'll exacerbate

Our chance to make things right.

_____________

Ken was one of our speakers in the ReLearning Community Series that I helped put on this winter in the Town of Viking.  He is a local farmer  - come community arts leader - come train conductor.  He recently sent me an email putting forth these simple questions:


 "I have a question for you. If someone  robbed you on the street you would know immediately that you had been wronged and you would try to seek restitution. Why is it that in the rural area we allow, even encourage, big soulless box stores to come into a community knowing that there sole intent is to steal away retail businesses and therefore jobs and livelihoods from legitimate small business owners who contribute to the community in many ways. Why is this type of theft tolerated? Should we not be launching class action suits as a rural area affected to such an extent? When is theft, theft?"

Newspaper article on TK Ranch

In 1956 Tom Biggs moved from New York to Alberta and began TK Ranch on some of the flattest land and in the most brittle environment in Alberta, 26km south of Coronation.  Being new to the area and new to farming may have been what kept him open to different ways of working on the land.  Together with his wife Mary (Hallett), Tom became known for using alternative ways of managing the land in order to enhance the grasslands and biodiversity of the place - as well as to raise a quality herd of cattle.  

The love and respect for the prairie that Tom and Mary held was carried into the next generation and now TK Ranch is under the stewardship of their son, Dylan, his wife, Colleen, and their four daughters.  Last year TK Ranch received one of their greatest honours yet - they were given the National Prairie Conservation Award at the 9th Prairie Conservation and Endangered Species Conference in Winnipeg, MB.  The Prairie Conservation Award is granted to a deserving recipient from each of the three prairie provinces once every three years in recognition of significant long-term contributions to native habitat or species at risk conservation.  For Dylan this award was extra-special because it was an acknowledgement and recognition of the hard work and deep message that his parents stood for.  As he directs you to look at Mary’s extraordinary paintings that hang in around the house, Dylan recalls the love and respect and value for the native prairie that his parents gave him.  “Mom’s heart and life was the prairie.”

For Colleen, this award was also an opportunity to take a look around.  With their focus on their own land and ensuring that TK Ranch Natural Meats continues to make it in front of their customers, they’d lost some sight of what was happening immediately around them.  With only 4% of the Northern Fescue grasslands left in the world - and with more understanding developing everyday about the value of these grasslands for species and also in maintaining healthy water systems - TK Ranch starts to seem more like an island for natural habitat than a ranch.  Yet, Colleen reminds us “that the reason these ecosystems remain intact are because people and families have been farming there for generations.”

TK Ranch is a vertically integrated operation which means that Dylan works with the cattle from birth until slaughter and then when the meat is ready and processed, Colleen and their oldest daughter, Jocelyn, take over.  They are marketing, taking and filling orders, and even doing their own deliveries to customers in Edmonton and Calgary.  In June 2008 they invested in their own refrigerated truck because of challenges with contract delivery and also higher freight rates.  While it adds to the work, it also means they get to connect directly with customers and can offer a more reasonable delivery service that both TK Ranch and their customers could afford.  With the cattle operation, direct marketing of their meats, plus sheep, chicken, pigs and horses to care for - conservation on the TK Ranch is not a passive activity but is integrated into how they work with the land and animals.    It is not a fully hands-off affair, in fact it is one of the busiest places you might visit, with the whole family involved.  Even Tom, at the age of 81, is still involved helping fill meat orders or to move cows.

The next steps for the Ranch are always tied to their customers.  Most direct marketing operations last only 10-14 months, while TK Ranch Natural Meats has been going for 16 years.  From the early days when most of their meat was sold into hotels and restaurants to today where they retail in many health food stores that at one time would have never even sold meat, it has been about building awareness in the consumer and learning beside the consumer as well.  The interest in natural meat started with many questions about the use of hormones and antibiotics in beef production and soon led to a desire for grass-fed and -finished beef.  The Biggs’ now meet the demands of consumers who want all of that and have added care for animal welfare and the  environment.  Their customers are people who are educating themselves and asking a lot of questions.  They may still be a smaller group but there are enough of them to keep the phone ringing off the hook.  Which means that working with other producers is also becoming important for TK Ranch.  To get bigger would only lead to compromising the quality that lies in the way they produce their meat and would make a busy operation even harder to manage.  So they are constantly looking for other farm families to collaborate with and include in their meat program.  The protocols they follow are high but they are willing to mentor and coach interested parties to meet them.  As the Biggs’ act more and more as an advocate for the discerning consumer and as a mentor to the farmers who want to succeed environmentally as well as financially, perhaps we will see a new role for TK Ranch come to play:  a hub for creating collaboration between family farms and farm-friendly consumers.

For now, they are busy enough raising their family, their livestock and caring for the ecosystem that they all depend on.  

The Prairie Grassroots Activists

Last week we went to the two day Western Canadian Grazing Conference held in Vermilion, Alberta.  I am used to attending a conference or 5 a year and this was not much different in format:  name tags, keynote speakers, workshop sessions presented by experts equipped with slides, networking over lunch and in the coffee breaks, trade fair of the sponsors wanting to tell you more about their product or organisation.  What made this different was the topics and the slides - very little mention of the words "strategic" or "framework" or any other corporate/academic buzzwords.  And the slides were of big horizons, deep rooted grasses, healthy animals with the odd number thrown in.  And of course - each of them introduced us to their wives, husbands, children, family. 


These are the GRASSROOTS activists who are focussed on working with nature - the prairie ecosystems that they are a part of.  They are seeking ways to live sustainably - environmentally, economically, socially - and to repair the damage that has been done by the learning curve we have been going through in becoming part of this land.  I was impressed by the approach I heard multiple times: I don't listen to what people tell me can or can't do - I find out myself what will work for me, on my place.  That's the spirit of the independent scientist that we've lost in many parts of our lives.  Wisdom and motivation was passed on as we listened to talks about sheep and cow bonding; diversity of the grasses and health of the soil being the key to raising animals; and in questioning the profit-motive that assumes more production leads to more profit - flipping the thought and putting forth "What level should I produce to make a profit?" and finding that balance as the conditions change.  And these men and women were all here - living in the Canadian Prairies - they aren't coming in from other countries telling us what they do 'over there' - they are here, they are the activists that are taking care of OUR grassroots.


It was excellent to hear Dr. Sauchyn speak about the impacts of climate change on the Prairies; Wendy Holm addressing the crisis that farming is facing while bringing a sense of possibility and change; and Don Campbell who mixed perfectly the philosophic and the practical showing us the grass he's grown and the land he's restored on his own family farm.


As a backdrop to part of his presentation - Don projected this poem up behind him.  It summed up and spoke to the best of presentations and conversations from those two days.

I am the basis of all wealth, the heritage of the wise, the thrifty and the prudent.

I am the poor person's joy and comfort, the rich person's prize, the right hand of capital, the silent partner of thousands of successful people.

I am the solace of the widow, the comfort of old age, the cornerstone of security against misfortune and want. I am handed down through generations as a possession of great value.

I am the choicest fruit of labour, the safest collateral and yet I am humble. I stand before every person bidding them to know me for what I am and asking them to possess me.

I am quietly growing in value through countless days. Though I might seem dormant, my worth increases, never failing, never ceasing. Time is my aid and the ever increasing population adds to my gain. I defy fire and the elements, for they cannot destroy me.

My possessors learn to believe in me and invariably they become envied by those who have passed me by. While all other things wither and decay, I alone survive. The centuries find me younger, always increasing in strength.

All oil and minerals come from me. I am the producer of food, building materials and the home to every living thing. I serve as the foundation for homes, factories, banks and stores.

I have not been produced for millions of years, yet I am so common that thousands, unthinking and unknowingly, pass me by.

Who am I?

I am land

Getting REALLY close to the source of my food

This past weekend was a bit surreal - in the midst of the hard work, the puzzling over 'what next' and the buzz of people around us offering their help - I would pause and almost burst out laughing, astonished at where I was and what I was doing.  


I grew up on a mixed farm and was around when we would butcher a cow, seeing only parts of the process and really only ever helping out with the meat wrapping inside our house.  This weekend I witnessed and helped out in (almost) the whole process of butchering a steer.  I wasn't there when it was killed but arrived soon after, with my Dad who was willing to coach us through the skinning and cleaning of the carcass.  


It was V's first time doing this as well and his first step in his venture of raising and providing baby beef to local consumers, the local consumers at this time being his family.  The idea of baby beef is that the calf is born in the spring, butchered in the summer and lives a life rich in grass and milk: no need for grains or supplements to bulk it up or get it through the winter.  It is natural, young beef - lean and tender.  Key to this is also that it lives a no-stress life: no feedlots, no getting on trailers and being shipped to auction or even to a slaughter house.  It is born, lives and dies all on the native prairies grass.  


We let the carcass hang over night and then the next day began the process of cutting and wrapping.  With a little help from a couple of V's family members (whom I don't think had actually ever done this before, either) and a book - as well as a couple calls to my parents - we began.  When the suggestion was made (around 4pm) that we could some of it today and the rest tomorrow, my face showed my opinion clearly: "no way!"  It wasn't bad work - but it was not something I wanted to drag into a 3 day process.  Although when I heard the concern in my Mom's voice when I said we were about a quarter done (after working for a couple hours) I thought we may need to call them in as reinforcements.  Luckily - V's Dad had the same idea, he made a call to a local neighbour who hunts a lot and in a couple hours later we had we being guided by the 'pros':  4 gents in camouflage arrived to help out, they'd been delayed because they had to finish gutting out the deer they had shot earlier.  


With their help - we finished up around 10 and by midnight (after all the cleaning was done) fell into bed, exhausted but feeling fulfilled and accomplished.  All that remained to do was grind the hamburger (which you do later, after it has frozen a bit) and to divide out the packages among the family.


Now some of you would know me as a fairly strict vegetarian but that was driven by the mistrust I felt for the food I was finding in the grocery stores and restaurants, in our mainstream way of raising and growing food.  And for that time in my life and with what was around me - being vegetarian and sticking to a label that was a bit more black/white made it easier for me to make choices and to also communicate to other my choices.  In reality - it was never was that black/white.  So I am embracing the grey as a beautiful shade to paint with and am finding out that most people 'get it' and accept it.  At least the people who matter to me and that I am around a lot.  


So this is where my food journey has taken me - I have learned about the delights of local food in Italy, have been an avid label reader and discerning shopper in the Netherlands, have sung the praises of the organic veg and fruit I could get delivered to my doorstep in Singapore, have sampled local delights like fresh caught and grilled fish in Laos, and now I am getting even closer to my food in Canada:  working my way to become producer as well as consumer and enjoying the sense of fulfilment it brings to me and to those around me.  


As an aside note: I really didn't know if I would be able to handle doing this... but wasn't really turned off during the process.  Yet I still gag when it comes to taking out the compost or feeding the chickens scraps... I can't figure that out.  

The Land Institute and searching for Wes Jackson

For about a week at the end of October, V. and I took at road trip through the midwest of the USA (Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana).  There were several highlights of the trip with one of them being a stopover in Salina, Kansas and visiting the Land Institute.
I guess I heard about Wes Jackson and the Land Institute sometime about 2 years ago with their work and ideas become more exciting to me the closer to the Prairie land I get.  They are working to develop an agricultural system that builds the ecological resilience of the prairie while providing a grain yield comparable to the current annual crops that are grown across the North America prairies - at the expense of the ecosystems.  
We weren't sure when we'd arrive so didn't get a chance to book a guided tour however the Institute is open access for people to walk around and guide themselves.  I did ring the doorbell of the main building to let them know we were there... and with the hopes that Wes Jackson would answer the door.  :)  He didn't...  but that didn't stop me from peering at every person I saw on site to see if it might be him.  The pictures below are some highlights.  Added now to my list of things to do before I am 40:  attend the Land Institute's annual Prairie Festival.
(Photos from the whole trip can be viewed here.)

The original Land Institute

The new Land Institute

NOT Wes Jackson :(... but a really friendly fellow