by Peggy Alaniz

Dan: What’s here now is not what I would like to have, that’s for sure. We’re about to buy cows, we’ll have four cows to start. I’ve got seven goats and sheep now and chickens. We’ll need a fair amount more, but it’s not so much about the numbers. What I’m aiming for is to have as many animals as we can feed ourselves on the land.

The animals do a lot of the land management, in a way they’re the workers that are clearing the land. We get the benefit of their manure, but also their activity itself on the land opens up the opportunities for something new, things don’t get too thick and established. I think that it’s really critical to bring animal husbandry and crop farming back together again. Out of convenience, the organic farmers I know that started 30, 40 years ago, they right away said, ‘We can’t do both because it’s just too difficult, so we’re going to eliminate the animals.’ Here in the spring, I brought them [the animals] through, and they ate down our cover crop in each of the fields. We’ve got a few beds where the goats and the sheep are right now that we prepped in the spring but never planted. So, the weeds are this tall by now, and I can just turn them [the goats] into a few beds at a time. It’s more about the work [the animals] do and managing their activity so that it fits into the system and relieves us of some labor. I have to spend a little extra time with the animals, moving their temporary fencing and things like that, but they do better work at weeding and clearing a space than what I could do. Plus, they do it just for room and board. (Laughter) The animals get to be animals, they get to move around, they get to exhibit all their instinctive activity. And we get the benefit of their work.

San: If you don’t till, how do you plant?

Dan: A lot of folks still want the convenience of a clean bed on the surface. So, some of the implements came to use what’s called vertical tillage rather than turning the soil up. Think of the implement just being turned 90 degrees and the tips of it are all that ever enters the soil. There’s a history here of some innovative practices, making and adapting tools. We’ve been doing the same. We’ve made a thing that’s a bunch of disks that basically just cuts into the surface of the soil shallowly without turning the soil. Then that little bit of disturbance gives us the chance to clean up the surface of the soil enough that we can still use push seeders, or any of the convenient types of seeding.

San: Is this about the size of the farm that you want it to be?

Dan: That’s a good question. I think that the better model going forward is not limited to a vegetable CSA. I think that part of it becomes limiting where then there’s this pressure to grow more vegetables because that’s what we’re selling. The kind of activity that I’ve been describing, it’s not exactly even accurate to say there’s less productivity. There’s less vegetable field space, but there’s an abundance of activity of all kinds. It’s more a question of diversification in terms of the products. There are animal products, there’s plenty of vegetables coming out of the fields, but there’s also a variety of medicinal plants and other kinds of plants that are going on all around.

What we’re looking at now is not just what does it take to get produce out of the fields, but instead, what does it take to take care of a piece of land in such a way that we get something in return in the form of produce? In this case we’re saying, we value taking care of the land and each other in a different way.

“We’ve had our chrysalis year, and this is the learning-how-tofly year.”

—Karen Chalmer

Karen Chalmer offered a summation of the Farm’s history, present, and future when she said, “We’ve had our chrysalis year, and this is the learning-how-to-fly year. There’s going to be a lot of learning. Thirty years of Annie and Paul was pretty darn wonderful. And yet we know things now that they didn’t know. I learned this great song just the week before all of this came down, (Sings) “You do the best you can until you know, better. And when you know better, do better.” So, we’re trying to learn to do better.

Tea Time with Peggy

Think Spring! Think White Tea

By Peggy A. Alaniz

I admit it, winter is not my favorite season. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think it’s pretty in December and part of January, but by February I am over it. I want spring. I want to plant pretty flowers and watch the new leaves come out on the trees. It’s also white tea season.

Legend has it that tea was first discovered in 2727 B.C. when the Chinese Emperor, Shen Nung, sat under a tea tree and some leaves fell into his cup of hot water. I sincerely believe that this discovery occurred in the spring when some of the new young buds and leaves fell from the camellia sinensis plant. White tea is after all referred to as emperor’s tea. It is also the least processed of the true teas. White tea is made of new young leaves and buds. It is only harvested for a few weeks in the early spring. It is called white tea because it is dried instead of rolled, crushed, or oxidized. It also contains the highest amounts of caffeine and antioxidants. Drinking a daily cup of white tea has been attributed to improved cholesterol, improved overall heart health, as well as aiding in weight loss. The only way to describe the flavor of white tea is pleasant and refreshing. It pairs well with light fruit flavors such as apricot or peach, possibly even apple. You would want to avoid sharp citrus flavors because the delicate flavor of the tea would be lost. The tea steeps quickly, even in loose leaf form, and can even steep in cold water. If you are not typically a tea drinker, you should try it at least once! White tea is smooth in taste with no bitter notes to it. Traditionally there are five types of white tea. They are: • Bai Hao Yin Zhen or silver needle

• Bai Mu Dan or white peony • Gongmei or Tribute Eyebrow • Shou Mei or Noble long-life eyebrow • Dai Bai Cha

Silver needle is the most expensive and is composed of only the buds. White peony is a combination of the bud and the top two leaves. Tribute Eyebrow is a lower grade of white tea made from the young leaves. Noble Long-Life Eyebrow is a combination of both the buds and leaves. However, it is harvested much later than silver needle and is slightly oxidized. Dai Bai Cha is white tea that has been withered, slightly dried, and rolled. This tea also tends to be greener in color. My suggestion is to try the silver needle or the white peony to have the most refined experience with the least amount of processing. They are both beautiful teas that you can find a truly Zen moment with.

For an alternative to drinking it hot, I would suggest an iced white tea fuzzy.

Iced White Tea fuzzy 1 cup of white tea ½ cup of ice ½ shot of peach liqueur so as not to overpower the white tea. For a non-alcohol version use peach juice. Drink and enjoy! Peggy Alaniz is a graduate of The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University of Boulder, Colorado. She has taught Writing at Jackson and Baker College. While attending Naropa University she worked at Celestial Seasonings Tea company. In her free time, she writes poetry, studies reiki, and karate. A lifelong tea enthusiast she continues to study tea, herbs, and tisanes.