Written to Stop the Clocks by Oasis
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.
- Albert Einstein
This week's blog post will be my 51st, taking me into my second year of blogging. In the previous year, 1,908 people visited the Fazenda Alfheim blogspot. These 1,908 absolute unique visitors generated 4,883 visits (Benchmark: 203 (+2,305.42%)) from 61 countries/territories, 8,530 pageviews (Benchmark: 370 (+2,205.41%)) and spent an average of 0:02:55 on the site (Benchmark: 00:00:13 (+1,277.43%)). In terms of trending, in September 2008 an average of 97 absolute unique visitors read the blog vs. 184 in June 2009, 198 in July and 188 in August. As a rule, the blog averages in excess of 100 visits per week. To paraphrase Joe Friday from Dragnet fame: "Just the facts, ma'am."
Far more than any numerical significance, the blog has helped us maintain contact with family and friends...and to make new friends. Most recently, Lone used the blog as a calling card of sorts to set up visits at two biodynamic farms in UK, Tablehurst and Plaw Hatch Community Farm in Forest Row, East Sussex, and Grange Village in Newnham-on-Severn. On these visits, Lone and Esben were graciously hosted by Ellie at Tablehurst and David Herman at the Grange.
Tablehurst's hog production consists of 15 sows and two boars, Duroc and Large White. They feed their hogs field beans (own production), oats, wheat, barley and whey from the cheese production at Plaw Hatch Community Farm.
At Tablehurst they do not give the piglets iron injections or drops, but instead a shovelful of soil is placed in the pen where they root. We do not use iron injections or drops, either, since the iron content of our soil is very high. As a result, our piglets acquire what they need simply by rooting.
Different to Alfheim, the hogs at Tablehurst spend the winter months inside and the summer months outside. This is done to conserve the soil. Land used for pigs one year becomes cropland the next.
The hogs are castrated at seven days and slaughtered at 70-80 kg dead weight.
By contrast at the Grange, where they raise Gloucestershire Old Spots, they do not castrate their shoats, but instead eat them before they begin producing hormones (5-6 months and approx. 100 kg).
The Grange also produces goat cheese, and while visiting Lone became completely enamored with the goats. While I agree the goats are very cute, I suspect Lone's interest was stimulated by what she described as the best goat cheese she had ever tasted. Once a Hobbit...
The Grange also has a vegetable garden that is to die for...hopefully we can emulate their success in this area, and we took a huge step to that end this past Saturday by finishing the poultry-proof vegetable garden fencing.
Back at Fazenda Alfheim, Clair cleaned pasture 1 using the Husqvarna 236R brushcutter. Amazing! Pasture 1 (to the right of the dividing fence) looks like a golf course when compared to pasture 2 (on the left), which Clair will clean this week. I made the decision this weekend to ask the Saturday fencing crew to help us reseed the cleaned pastures with calopogônio, capim aruanã and soja perene. This as a supplement to the feces distribution method currently in place. In choosing this route it is my hope that we can significantly speed up the reform of our pastures...and also take advantage of the onset of Spring. In addition to an increase in rain, the temperature is heating up...32˚ Celsius on Sunday...glorious!
The new worker's house is progressing nicely and should be completed on Saturday, October 3rd, se Deus quiser (Portuguese for 7-9-13!), according to Marcos.
Finally, in addition to two biodynamic farm visits, Lone and Esben also managed to pop over to Leicester to visit Johannes and Pelle. During their visit, they visited the school where Johannes teaches, New College Leicester, and also helped Pelle move into his dorm room for year 2 at university.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Lone lands in London
Written to Life Ain't Worth Livin' by J.W. Warren
It is not legal (in Nebraska) for a tavern owner to serve beer unless a nice kettle of soup is also brewing.
- Real Funny Dumb Laws in the United States
Lone boarded a non-stop TAM flight to UK last night, and I just confirmed that she landed safely in London, was picked up by Esben and the two have already returned to Cirencester, where Esben studies.
As mentioned in last week's blog post, Lone will be away until late October. In the meantime, both Fazenda Alfheim and I will try to make do without our better half. In addition, of course, to visiting our boys in UK and her family and friends in Denmark, Lone has scheduled four visits to organic and/or biodynamic farms, two each in UK and Denmark, a couple of which produce hogs. One of the farms Lone will visit, Doves Farm, is a true pioneer of the organic movement. Amazingly, this visit came about while we were relaxing at Emmanuel Rengade's pousada. As it turned out, one of the guests, Lucy, knows the family that owns and runs Doves Farm, and she helped Lone set up a visit. Talk about synchronicity!
While Lone is away, we will begin, among other priorities, a systematic process of cleaning the pastures with our newly acquired Husqvarna 236R brushcutter. Clair loves it, but has found that using it is very demanding physically. As a result, we have agreed that he should limit this work to one pasture per week, i.e. two-three mornings per week. By comparison, this same work would take at least three times longer if he were limited to using a scythe.
In the afternoons, Clair will reseed Hog Haven, which the hogs laid bare before being moved to Hogwood, with another of our new tools. Thankfully, Hog Hill, our third giant pig pen, has recovered nicely since we first had it plowed with oxen and planted sunflowers back in March. Since then the vegetation has regenerated, and even though it is not as dense as Hogwood, it will nonetheless make an attractive scampering ground for our new gilts, who, despite their diminutive size, display an almost proportionally impressive ability to clear vegetation as their parents.
In sum, then, the grandparents, as the first generation of hogs are known, reside in Hogwood, while the next generation of producers will reside on Hog Hill. While all of this residing is taking place, we will reseed Hog Haven in preparation for a new group of gilts, or alternatively as a surplus area if Hogwood or Hog Hill should require a period of fallow. It is worth noting that Hogwood is comprised of three separate areas, each approx. one to one and one-half hectares, while Hog Hill is comprised of two separate areas, each approx. one hectare. The hogs will be rotated within these areas according to their rate of habitat destruction. After reseeding Hog Haven with milheto, soja perene and calopogônio, we will add a fence in the middle in order to create two separate areas à la Hog Hill, each approx. one hectare. As discussed in an earlier blog post, we are currently seeding our existing pastures with calopogônio, capim aruanã and soja perene, all of which we mix into the mineral salt that the horses and cows consume (distribution by feces).
And speaking of horses and cows, we discovered this weekend, much to our horror, that our gentle, old horses possess a nasty streak when it comes to sharing mineral salt with their bovine compadres. In brief, they shoo the cattle away and eat all of the mineral salt immediately. As a result, we decided to place the cattle on pasture 5, for example, while leaving the horses on pasture 4. When the cattle are moved, as they are daily, to pasture 6, 7, 8 etc., the horses are subsequently moved to pasture 5, 6, 7 etc. Hopefully in this way the cattle will get their daily requirement of mineral salt, approx. 100 gr per cow.
In other farm news, Sandra, our duck, has produced nine very cute ducklings, and the Saturday fencers have almost completed fencing the large field in front of our house. This will become Lone's new and improved vegetable garden, with a chicken-wire fence to keep out inquisitive poultry. This new garden is just under one hectare -plenty of room to grow bounteous quantities of Danish potatoes to accompany Alfheim's homemade chicken.
Finally, our new hand grain grinder arrived on Friday. While we were unable to assemble it for a test grind during the weekend, it certainly was not for lack of interest. Once properly assembled, we will have an easier time grinding organic corn for the chicks and ducklings.
It is not legal (in Nebraska) for a tavern owner to serve beer unless a nice kettle of soup is also brewing.
- Real Funny Dumb Laws in the United States
Lone boarded a non-stop TAM flight to UK last night, and I just confirmed that she landed safely in London, was picked up by Esben and the two have already returned to Cirencester, where Esben studies.
As mentioned in last week's blog post, Lone will be away until late October. In the meantime, both Fazenda Alfheim and I will try to make do without our better half. In addition, of course, to visiting our boys in UK and her family and friends in Denmark, Lone has scheduled four visits to organic and/or biodynamic farms, two each in UK and Denmark, a couple of which produce hogs. One of the farms Lone will visit, Doves Farm, is a true pioneer of the organic movement. Amazingly, this visit came about while we were relaxing at Emmanuel Rengade's pousada. As it turned out, one of the guests, Lucy, knows the family that owns and runs Doves Farm, and she helped Lone set up a visit. Talk about synchronicity!
While Lone is away, we will begin, among other priorities, a systematic process of cleaning the pastures with our newly acquired Husqvarna 236R brushcutter. Clair loves it, but has found that using it is very demanding physically. As a result, we have agreed that he should limit this work to one pasture per week, i.e. two-three mornings per week. By comparison, this same work would take at least three times longer if he were limited to using a scythe.
In the afternoons, Clair will reseed Hog Haven, which the hogs laid bare before being moved to Hogwood, with another of our new tools. Thankfully, Hog Hill, our third giant pig pen, has recovered nicely since we first had it plowed with oxen and planted sunflowers back in March. Since then the vegetation has regenerated, and even though it is not as dense as Hogwood, it will nonetheless make an attractive scampering ground for our new gilts, who, despite their diminutive size, display an almost proportionally impressive ability to clear vegetation as their parents.
In sum, then, the grandparents, as the first generation of hogs are known, reside in Hogwood, while the next generation of producers will reside on Hog Hill. While all of this residing is taking place, we will reseed Hog Haven in preparation for a new group of gilts, or alternatively as a surplus area if Hogwood or Hog Hill should require a period of fallow. It is worth noting that Hogwood is comprised of three separate areas, each approx. one to one and one-half hectares, while Hog Hill is comprised of two separate areas, each approx. one hectare. The hogs will be rotated within these areas according to their rate of habitat destruction. After reseeding Hog Haven with milheto, soja perene and calopogônio, we will add a fence in the middle in order to create two separate areas à la Hog Hill, each approx. one hectare. As discussed in an earlier blog post, we are currently seeding our existing pastures with calopogônio, capim aruanã and soja perene, all of which we mix into the mineral salt that the horses and cows consume (distribution by feces).
And speaking of horses and cows, we discovered this weekend, much to our horror, that our gentle, old horses possess a nasty streak when it comes to sharing mineral salt with their bovine compadres. In brief, they shoo the cattle away and eat all of the mineral salt immediately. As a result, we decided to place the cattle on pasture 5, for example, while leaving the horses on pasture 4. When the cattle are moved, as they are daily, to pasture 6, 7, 8 etc., the horses are subsequently moved to pasture 5, 6, 7 etc. Hopefully in this way the cattle will get their daily requirement of mineral salt, approx. 100 gr per cow.
In other farm news, Sandra, our duck, has produced nine very cute ducklings, and the Saturday fencers have almost completed fencing the large field in front of our house. This will become Lone's new and improved vegetable garden, with a chicken-wire fence to keep out inquisitive poultry. This new garden is just under one hectare -plenty of room to grow bounteous quantities of Danish potatoes to accompany Alfheim's homemade chicken.
Finally, our new hand grain grinder arrived on Friday. While we were unable to assemble it for a test grind during the weekend, it certainly was not for lack of interest. Once properly assembled, we will have an easier time grinding organic corn for the chicks and ducklings.
Monday, September 14, 2009
An unwontedly festive evening
Written to I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got by Sinead O'Connor
The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.
- Charles de Gaulle
It has been 14 days since I last published a blog post. Between then and now, Lone and I enjoyed a much-needed three-day weekend at Fazenda Alfheim, which included a morning of piglet castration (more on that later), and last weekend at Pousada Picinguaba. The latter is owned by our good friends, Emmanuel Rengade and his wife, Filipa. Relaxing does not begin to describe our two days by the shore. Likewise, post-card perfect falls far short when describing the views from the pousada. Our visit to Picinguaba was extra special because on Friday morning Sr. Roberto, currently one of our contract fencers and soon-to-be Fazenda Alfheim's third full-time employee, with an assist from Clair, slaughtered our very first piglets. These were then cooked to perfection by Beto, Emmanuel's chef, who studied in Paris for three years, and shared with the pousada's guests. Beto actually deboned one of the piglets in its entirety...without breaking a single bone. He then marinated, stuffed and sewed the piglet whole before cooking it. Simply amazing! Equally amazing was the taste. Needless to say I am biased, but without a doubt it was the best pork I have ever eaten -comparable even to the finest Brazilian beef. It quite literally melted in our mouths. And as if all of this were not sufficiently marvelous, Joseph Keller, a professional photographer from New York, who was in town taking pictures of the pousada for Emmanuel, provided parents and piglets with a most honorable pictorial send-off. Truly an unwontedly festive evening!
As mentioned earlier, prior to participating in the good life, we had the unenviable task of castrating 22 piglets (on Saturday, September 5th). Thankfully, with the help of Sr. Roberto, Clair and Rosana -and a good deal of preparation by Lone and me to secure the proper equipment and homeopathic medicine- it turned out to be a straightforward affair. While I am pretty sure the affected piglets harbor another, less-positive view, what is certain is that the whole affair took less than two hours. Straightforward or not, and for what I hope are obvious reasons, I chose not to take any photos.
The fortnight's other major happening was the grand opening of Hogwood, Fazenda Alfheim's new four hectare (approx. 10 acres) pig pen. Amazingly, Lone, Clair and Rosana managed to coax the hogs from Hog Haven to Hogwood in less than one-half hour...this compared with the two-day battle we engaged in when moving the hogs 8 months ago. Maybe they had an inkling of the paradise that awaited them...or maybe not. In any event there can be little doubt about how much they are enjoying their new digs (no pun intended).
Finally, Lone will be leaving for Europe (UK and Denmark) for a month-long visit on Sunday. She is certainly thrilled, but equally certain Fazenda Alfheim will be emptier in her absence.
The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.
- Charles de Gaulle
It has been 14 days since I last published a blog post. Between then and now, Lone and I enjoyed a much-needed three-day weekend at Fazenda Alfheim, which included a morning of piglet castration (more on that later), and last weekend at Pousada Picinguaba. The latter is owned by our good friends, Emmanuel Rengade and his wife, Filipa. Relaxing does not begin to describe our two days by the shore. Likewise, post-card perfect falls far short when describing the views from the pousada. Our visit to Picinguaba was extra special because on Friday morning Sr. Roberto, currently one of our contract fencers and soon-to-be Fazenda Alfheim's third full-time employee, with an assist from Clair, slaughtered our very first piglets. These were then cooked to perfection by Beto, Emmanuel's chef, who studied in Paris for three years, and shared with the pousada's guests. Beto actually deboned one of the piglets in its entirety...without breaking a single bone. He then marinated, stuffed and sewed the piglet whole before cooking it. Simply amazing! Equally amazing was the taste. Needless to say I am biased, but without a doubt it was the best pork I have ever eaten -comparable even to the finest Brazilian beef. It quite literally melted in our mouths. And as if all of this were not sufficiently marvelous, Joseph Keller, a professional photographer from New York, who was in town taking pictures of the pousada for Emmanuel, provided parents and piglets with a most honorable pictorial send-off. Truly an unwontedly festive evening!
As mentioned earlier, prior to participating in the good life, we had the unenviable task of castrating 22 piglets (on Saturday, September 5th). Thankfully, with the help of Sr. Roberto, Clair and Rosana -and a good deal of preparation by Lone and me to secure the proper equipment and homeopathic medicine- it turned out to be a straightforward affair. While I am pretty sure the affected piglets harbor another, less-positive view, what is certain is that the whole affair took less than two hours. Straightforward or not, and for what I hope are obvious reasons, I chose not to take any photos.
The fortnight's other major happening was the grand opening of Hogwood, Fazenda Alfheim's new four hectare (approx. 10 acres) pig pen. Amazingly, Lone, Clair and Rosana managed to coax the hogs from Hog Haven to Hogwood in less than one-half hour...this compared with the two-day battle we engaged in when moving the hogs 8 months ago. Maybe they had an inkling of the paradise that awaited them...or maybe not. In any event there can be little doubt about how much they are enjoying their new digs (no pun intended).
Finally, Lone will be leaving for Europe (UK and Denmark) for a month-long visit on Sunday. She is certainly thrilled, but equally certain Fazenda Alfheim will be emptier in her absence.
Monday, August 31, 2009
A day in the life
Written to Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin
You've got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you're not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice.
- Steven D. Woodhull
In last week's blog post, Holy holon, Batman!, I wrote that Lone and I had settled on our initial business plan. We have also recently established a schedule of chores, and subsequently fallen into a daily work routine. In brief, the day is divided into four parts, driven by the requirements of our ever-growing menagerie:
Mornings
It was also a plus that he purchased our two largest male shoats because we have not yet castrated any of our piglets...preferring to wait until after the full moon on September 4th. This is done to reduce the bleeding. While a generally accepted principle in biodynamic farming, it surprised us to no end when Clair rather than Lone or me insisted on waiting for the moon to wane. The general wisdom of our decision has been reinforced by everyone with whom we spoke about castration in Vargem Grande -noteworthy that the alternative and the traditional views dovetail so clearly.
Late afternoons
Evenings
You've got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you're not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice.
- Steven D. Woodhull
In last week's blog post, Holy holon, Batman!, I wrote that Lone and I had settled on our initial business plan. We have also recently established a schedule of chores, and subsequently fallen into a daily work routine. In brief, the day is divided into four parts, driven by the requirements of our ever-growing menagerie:
Mornings
- Let the chickens out of their houses and feed them. First we feed the smaller birds crushed organic corn, then whole kernels to the larger birds. The sequencing is important: the larger birds have to be kept in their house until the smaller birds have had their fill...after all, the larger birds are higher in the food chain.
- Feed the dogs and cats.
- Feed the hogs. In addition to the vegetation that they consume inside their pens, we supplement their diet with approx. 1.8 kg of organic corn per hog per day, again whole kernels. By soaking the kernels in a 50%/50% mix of organic milk and ent water, we improve nutrient uptake without having to go to the trouble of crushing large quantities of corn. It is not long ago that we changed from feeding the hogs twice daily, at 10:00 and 16:00, to feeding them once daily, at 12:00. This seems to work much better; hogs generally like to sleep later than other farm animals, and this practice also forces the hogs to forage prior to receiving their first meal. As feeding the hogs is without doubt the most physically demanding farm animal activity at Alfheim, it is extra nice to have it done and dusted before lunch, after which ones energy level drops noticeably. The piglets are treated somewhat differently: we feed them at 10:00 as their tiny tummies and hyper-metabolisms do not seem to lend themselves as well to a single, midday feeding. This, however, is only a temporary measure while they are growing most rapidly. While our hogs' growth rates are currently probably somewhat slower, I expect that by the time we fully implement our plan to supplement their ration of organic corn with copious quantities of organic milk and eggs, we will achieve similar or more rapid growth rates to those described below:
After three to five weeks, pigs are weaned (removed from their mother). After reaching an age of eight or nine weeks, by which time the pigs weigh an average of 23 kg (50 pounds), the pigs are moved to another area for growing until they reach roughly 54 kg (120 pounds); finally, they are finished (fattened or fed in preparation for slaughter) until they've reached the marketable weight of 100 - 113 kg (220 - 250 pounds) -at between five and six months. On average, then, hogs gain almost one kg per day every day of their existence. Remarkable!Also of hogworthy note, we sold three of our largest shoats on Sunday to the individual who we hope will be coming to work for us in mid-October...7-9-13. He has agreed to join us in principle, but my many years of hiring people has taught me that the period of greatest risk of buyer's remorse occurs between signature and the start of a new job. Moreover, given the fact that the individual in question will be the second employee, Clair was the first, to leave the local patrão to work at Alfheim, a reaction of some sort is to be expected. That said, he brought six family members with him to choose the shoats, a very positive sign, and Lone, not surprisingly, bonded instantly with his mother, another plus.
It was also a plus that he purchased our two largest male shoats because we have not yet castrated any of our piglets...preferring to wait until after the full moon on September 4th. This is done to reduce the bleeding. While a generally accepted principle in biodynamic farming, it surprised us to no end when Clair rather than Lone or me insisted on waiting for the moon to wane. The general wisdom of our decision has been reinforced by everyone with whom we spoke about castration in Vargem Grande -noteworthy that the alternative and the traditional views dovetail so clearly.
Late afternoons
- By changing the hogs' feeding time, our late afternoons now involve nothing more than moving the cattle, which we do every day at 16:00. I am already convinced that I can see a difference in the pastures from this daily rotation, though, to be fair, Lone is less certain. She chalks it up to the coming of spring. What is indisputable is the fact that the cattle are now as easy to move as checkers...a gentle nudge and they move where they are supposed to. In most cases it is possible to migrate them from pasture x to pasture y solo.
Evenings
- Feed the dogs and close the chicken houses, preferably with the chickens inside. For the most part this latter task is pretty simple...the chickens begin roosting at dusk. Dan, the drake, and the other two ducks, on the other hand, loiter outside the hen house as long as possible, like smokers congregating outside an office building...probably because as the lone floor dwellers in the hen house, their early arrival only increases their chances of being shit on.
- Feeding the dogs is also pretty simple...it certainly requires no reminder: Muninn usually begins chewing on the metal kitchen door in such a demonstrative fashion as to leave little doubt about what our priorities should be, and Negão does his part, too, whipping both Muninn and Layla into a frenzy. Once fed, though, all three dogs instantly quiet down.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Holy holon, Batman!
Written to Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1 by T.s.monk and Thelonious Monk
Thank God, I have my work, but instead of earning money by it, I need money to be able to work; that is the difficulty. I think there are no signs in my work that indicate that I shall fail. And I am not a person who works slowly or tamely. Drawing becomes a passion with me, and I throw myself into it more and more. I do not have great plans for the future; if for a moment I feel rising within me the desire for a life without care, for prosperity, each time I go fondly back to the trouble and the cares, to a life full of hardship, and think: It is better so; I learn more from it, and make progress. This is not the road on which one perishes. I only hope the trouble and the cares will not become unbearable, and I have confidence I shall succeed in earning enough to keep myself, not in luxury, but as one who eats his bread in the sweat of his brow.
- Vincent van Gogh quotes
After much study and discussion, Lone and I have settled on our initial business plan, or perhaps more accurately our proposed revenue streams. This is a process that has evolved significantly since we purchased Fazenda Alfheim in May 2008. We, too, feel that there are no signs in our work that indicate that we shall fail, but we are also clear that the path will not be without trouble.
In order to achieve our goals, financial and other, we have borrowed heavily from the revolutionary work done at Polyface Farms, Joel Salatin's beyond organic farm in Virginia. Specifically, we have recently been focusing on the following two principles, in particular:
In terms of INDIVIDUALITY, hopefully we have already established a pattern of honoring the pigness of the pig etc.
Additionally, we have developed our own holons, derived from the Greek word holos, meaning whole, and the suffix on, suggesting a particle. As defined by Michael Pollan, a holon is:
Similarly, the broiler chickens will rotate through our pastures with our cattle and sheep (still in planning), cleaning up parasites and fertilizing the pasture with their high-nitrogen droppings. They will also get 10-20% of their diet from the grass.
The milk cattle will produce approx. 200-300 liters of milk daily, a plan that seems somewhat counter-intuitive when one considers that 'The price of raw milk paid to farmers has dropped to its lowest level in 40 years.' While this is not the case in Brazil, it is still worrying that in US 4,600 dairy farms that have been closing each year for the past two decades and that the number of dairy farmers has declined from 648,000 in 1970 to 60,000 today. Lone and I tend to look at this trend somewhat differently: initially, milk is an easy way to pay our fixed costs and represents a raw material which can be transformed into a number of value-added products as we evolve as farmers. A similar logic applies to our hogs: initially we will sell live piglets, low value-add, but over time we have the option of choosing to develop more niche products, e.g. Prosciutto di Parma or Parma ham.
Lone's capim limão, which we hope to productize at a later date, will be used to demarcate all of the hog areas and act as a natural repellent.
Finally, Flora the sow has recovered so well that she will shortly be returned to the hog area, where we have recently removed the last of the piglets. During her R&R in our makeshift MASH unit, Flora formed a real bond with Chica, another of the smallish piglets that has been at hospital to bulk up.
Thank God, I have my work, but instead of earning money by it, I need money to be able to work; that is the difficulty. I think there are no signs in my work that indicate that I shall fail. And I am not a person who works slowly or tamely. Drawing becomes a passion with me, and I throw myself into it more and more. I do not have great plans for the future; if for a moment I feel rising within me the desire for a life without care, for prosperity, each time I go fondly back to the trouble and the cares, to a life full of hardship, and think: It is better so; I learn more from it, and make progress. This is not the road on which one perishes. I only hope the trouble and the cares will not become unbearable, and I have confidence I shall succeed in earning enough to keep myself, not in luxury, but as one who eats his bread in the sweat of his brow.
- Vincent van Gogh quotes
After much study and discussion, Lone and I have settled on our initial business plan, or perhaps more accurately our proposed revenue streams. This is a process that has evolved significantly since we purchased Fazenda Alfheim in May 2008. We, too, feel that there are no signs in our work that indicate that we shall fail, but we are also clear that the path will not be without trouble.
In order to achieve our goals, financial and other, we have borrowed heavily from the revolutionary work done at Polyface Farms, Joel Salatin's beyond organic farm in Virginia. Specifically, we have recently been focusing on the following two principles, in particular:
GRASS-BASED: Pastured livestock and poultry, moved frequently to new "salad bars," offer landscape healing and nutritional superiority.As regards GRASS-BASED, we recently purchased a cocktail of capim-tanzânia (Panicum maximum cv. Tanzânia) and soja perene to sow in our existing pastures in order to enhance their carrying capacity. This cocktail consists of three parts capim-tanzânia and one part soja perene. The method of application is interesting, too: we will mix the cocktail into the mineral salt that our cattle consume, and they will do the work of distributing the seeds via their feces. As mentioned in Alfheim au naturale, we have already begun the process of moving our cattle frequently, though there is still much work to be done before we can say that we are offering them a salad bar.
INDIVIDUALITY: Plants and animals should be provided a habitat that allows them to express their physiological distinctiveness. Respecting and honoring the pigness of the pig is a foundation for societal health.
In terms of INDIVIDUALITY, hopefully we have already established a pattern of honoring the pigness of the pig etc.
Additionally, we have developed our own holons, derived from the Greek word holos, meaning whole, and the suffix on, suggesting a particle. As defined by Michael Pollan, a holon is:
an entity that from one perspective appears a self-contained whole, and from another a dependant part. A body organ like the liver is a holon …Our holons will consist of milk cattle and egg laying hens, which produce milk and eggs for the hogs as well as broiler chickens, which help to clean up parasites in the hog areas.
Similarly, the broiler chickens will rotate through our pastures with our cattle and sheep (still in planning), cleaning up parasites and fertilizing the pasture with their high-nitrogen droppings. They will also get 10-20% of their diet from the grass.
The milk cattle will produce approx. 200-300 liters of milk daily, a plan that seems somewhat counter-intuitive when one considers that 'The price of raw milk paid to farmers has dropped to its lowest level in 40 years.' While this is not the case in Brazil, it is still worrying that in US 4,600 dairy farms that have been closing each year for the past two decades and that the number of dairy farmers has declined from 648,000 in 1970 to 60,000 today. Lone and I tend to look at this trend somewhat differently: initially, milk is an easy way to pay our fixed costs and represents a raw material which can be transformed into a number of value-added products as we evolve as farmers. A similar logic applies to our hogs: initially we will sell live piglets, low value-add, but over time we have the option of choosing to develop more niche products, e.g. Prosciutto di Parma or Parma ham.
Lone's capim limão, which we hope to productize at a later date, will be used to demarcate all of the hog areas and act as a natural repellent.
Finally, Flora the sow has recovered so well that she will shortly be returned to the hog area, where we have recently removed the last of the piglets. During her R&R in our makeshift MASH unit, Flora formed a real bond with Chica, another of the smallish piglets that has been at hospital to bulk up.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Close to home and on top of the world
Written to Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix
In the mountains, the shortest way is from peak to peak: but for that you must have long legs.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
This week at Fazenda Alfheim was characterized by more of the same: more fence posts dug down, more construction on the new house, more clearing of the lake etc. As regards the latter, Clair and Pelle braved nature's wrath -or at the very least the wrath of some very ornery wasps- in an effort to tame definitively our emerging lake...with an assist of sorts from Muninn.
Under the heading of taking advantage of that which is close to home, our good friend, Emmanuel Rengade, invited me to trek the Trilha do Corcovado in the Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar - Núcleo Santa Virgínia, 2.5 km from Vargem Grande and 9.5 km from Fazenda Alfheim, together with his friend, Nando (Fernando). When I left Berkeley, California, many, many years ago, I always regretted the fact that I never visited the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, which was located across the street from campus. Similarly, I wish I had taken a flight on the the London Eye during the five plus years we lived just outside of London. I am not entirely sure why it is that we are generally so poor at taking advantage of the riches closest to home, but this seems to be a fairly universal failing.
In an effort to redress this failing, I resolved to accept Emmanuel's invite and get to know one of the most stunning 18 km in all of Brazil. And stunning it is, but also with a grau de dificuldade alto -as clearly evidenced by the spent faces (1, 2) of my partners in crime. Three hours to the top, where the views are figuratively and literally heavenly (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), and three hours back to the base...broken up by a lunch that, for my part, consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fresh fruit, followed by a one plus hour nap. The trail is incredibly well-maintained, passing alongside the crystalline Rio Grande river for approx. 16 of the 18 km. Our guide, João, was most competent. Worth checking out the 33 pics on the Paraitinga Tourismo website. It is also worth noting that the Núcleo Santa Virgínia offers two other trekking options: the 5.6 km Trilha da Piraptinga and the 8 km Trilha do Poço do Pito, both of which are classified as grau de dificuldade leve.
Finally, on our return to Alfheim, Lone had prepared a wonderful dinner consisting of copious quantities of organic fraldinha (bottom sirloin), my all-time favorite red meat, Alfheim's own garden-fresh, mixed green salad with a mustard dressing (using an exquisite mustard from Provence Pousada & Restaurante) and Lone's freshly baked havrebrød or oat bread and goibada or guava-based variation on Jamie Oliver's apple pie. All in all a pretty incredible Saturday.
In the mountains, the shortest way is from peak to peak: but for that you must have long legs.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
This week at Fazenda Alfheim was characterized by more of the same: more fence posts dug down, more construction on the new house, more clearing of the lake etc. As regards the latter, Clair and Pelle braved nature's wrath -or at the very least the wrath of some very ornery wasps- in an effort to tame definitively our emerging lake...with an assist of sorts from Muninn.
Under the heading of taking advantage of that which is close to home, our good friend, Emmanuel Rengade, invited me to trek the Trilha do Corcovado in the Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar - Núcleo Santa Virgínia, 2.5 km from Vargem Grande and 9.5 km from Fazenda Alfheim, together with his friend, Nando (Fernando). When I left Berkeley, California, many, many years ago, I always regretted the fact that I never visited the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, which was located across the street from campus. Similarly, I wish I had taken a flight on the the London Eye during the five plus years we lived just outside of London. I am not entirely sure why it is that we are generally so poor at taking advantage of the riches closest to home, but this seems to be a fairly universal failing.
In an effort to redress this failing, I resolved to accept Emmanuel's invite and get to know one of the most stunning 18 km in all of Brazil. And stunning it is, but also with a grau de dificuldade alto -as clearly evidenced by the spent faces (1, 2) of my partners in crime. Three hours to the top, where the views are figuratively and literally heavenly (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), and three hours back to the base...broken up by a lunch that, for my part, consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fresh fruit, followed by a one plus hour nap. The trail is incredibly well-maintained, passing alongside the crystalline Rio Grande river for approx. 16 of the 18 km. Our guide, João, was most competent. Worth checking out the 33 pics on the Paraitinga Tourismo website. It is also worth noting that the Núcleo Santa Virgínia offers two other trekking options: the 5.6 km Trilha da Piraptinga and the 8 km Trilha do Poço do Pito, both of which are classified as grau de dificuldade leve.
Finally, on our return to Alfheim, Lone had prepared a wonderful dinner consisting of copious quantities of organic fraldinha (bottom sirloin), my all-time favorite red meat, Alfheim's own garden-fresh, mixed green salad with a mustard dressing (using an exquisite mustard from Provence Pousada & Restaurante) and Lone's freshly baked havrebrød or oat bread and goibada or guava-based variation on Jamie Oliver's apple pie. All in all a pretty incredible Saturday.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Lone's no longer latent lake
Written to Recapturing the Banjo by Otis Taylor
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore. . . .
I hear it in the deep heart's core.”
- William Butler Yeats
In last week's blog post, I neglected to mention that Gtec Topografia e Geoprocessamento completed the first draft of the topographical survey of Fazenda Alfheim that we commissioned back in June. The survey, a requirement of the organic certification process, is essentially a resource mapping of our property, outlining its borders and elevations and the location of key natural resources, e.g. forests, pastures, orchards, lakes, rivers and streams. All in all, a terrific planning resource...and the quality of the Gtech team's work has been top-notch. I mentioned that this was the first draft, and indeed the Gtech team will visit Fazenda Alfheim a second time in a month or so to finalize the mapping exercise, including mapping all of the pastures and digitalizing their locations. As well as making it easier for us to visualize and plan our work, this last touch will allow us to size all of the pastures, helping us to determine their carrying capacity.
In addition to facilitating our planning, the mapping exercise uncovered an unexpected treasure: a lake on our property, located just behind the fruit orchard. As it has been officially registered on an earlier, official aerial photo, we are free to clear the reeds etc. (Pelle seen here doing his best Matthew McConaughey impersonation) and utilize this newly discovered pearl for either leisure or fish farming, a common practice in the region. Not sure what the final outcome will be, but this decision represents what is known as a luxury problem: to swim or to fish...to fish or to swim. Sweet!
An equally festive discovery was made by an army of leaf-cutter ants, as they uncovered the corn flour in our kitchen. They even cut small 'leaves' out of the flour's plastic bag. As frustrating as this is, one cannot help but marvel at their drive and work ethic.
Equally admirable is the progress that Marcos and his crew continue to make week in and week out on the new house. With the exception of the porch, the roof has been raised. This will allow the team to begin other tasks at Alfheim and to return to the house whenever -without the fear of being interrupted by the rains.
Some of you may have noticed that over the past several weeks the blog photos have tended to be somewhat washed out. This is a combination of the winter light, which is extremely sharp (most of the photos are taken before 09:00), and my dropping our Nikon D80 from a highish altitude. I will probably have to purchase a replacement while Lone delivers it to a dealer in UK, when she travels back to visit the boys and her family and friends in Denmark for a month in late September. If anyone knows of a dealer here in Brazil, give me a holler. 7-9-13 that what ails our camera can be fixed.
With the construction of the new house taking shape so nicely, Rosana and Lone have agreed to a color scheme for all of the houses, yellow for the outside walls and gray for the windows and doors. The two of them began repainting Clair's and Rosana's house this week. While the initial results are quite nice, a second coat will undeniably be required.
Homem-Aranha or Spiderman man returned to Alfheim with Marcos this week to construct the septic tank and a gray-water filtering system for the new house, a gray-water filtering system for Clair's and Rosana's house and three water troughs for Hogwood. In order to avoid using a pump, Spidey had to tap the spring that Lone and Clair recently discovered -to raise its level to a point higher than that of the new house, the same spring which forced us to move the fencing for Hogwood and subsequently the location of the new worker's house. Quite an engineering feat.
On the hog front, we appear to have found buyers for all of the piglets that we do not want to keep. Going price, R$55.00 - R$65.00 (€21.09 - €24.92 or $29.82 - $35.24), somewhat cheaper for the smaller piglets (< 11 kg) and/or buyers from Vargem Grande, the latter in an effort to try and build a local market. At R$50.00 a piglet, our net profit margin is 49%, so no complaints, but we will need to sell a certain volume, at least 50 piglets per month, to make an absolute dent in our monthly expenses. Our target is to reach this initial level of critical mass by Q2 2010, at which time we should have eggs and milk enough to provide all of the hogs' protein requirements, approx. 10-15 liters of cow's milk and 40-80 eggs per day.
Prior to signing off, I wanted to send a shout-out to our very good friends, John Tomizuka and Paula Zandomeni, the newly-proud parents of beautiful twins. Should one or both of you become overwhelmed at any point, take a look at what this mother has to deal with on a daily basis.
Finally, under the heading of 57 channels and nothing on, TV has come to Fazenda Alfheim via Sky. Lone and I had mixed feelings about this decision, but ultimately decided that in the absence of Internet connectivity on our fazenda, for now at any rate, we needed to avoid mimicking the characters from The Throwback, by Tom Sharpe, which you should read if you haven't, but only if you are prepared to laugh until you cry. A marvelous author, the funniest writing IMHO. Whatever our misgivings, I will be only too glad to stay up late watching NBA basketball come November. Go Lakers!
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore. . . .
I hear it in the deep heart's core.”
- William Butler Yeats
In last week's blog post, I neglected to mention that Gtec Topografia e Geoprocessamento completed the first draft of the topographical survey of Fazenda Alfheim that we commissioned back in June. The survey, a requirement of the organic certification process, is essentially a resource mapping of our property, outlining its borders and elevations and the location of key natural resources, e.g. forests, pastures, orchards, lakes, rivers and streams. All in all, a terrific planning resource...and the quality of the Gtech team's work has been top-notch. I mentioned that this was the first draft, and indeed the Gtech team will visit Fazenda Alfheim a second time in a month or so to finalize the mapping exercise, including mapping all of the pastures and digitalizing their locations. As well as making it easier for us to visualize and plan our work, this last touch will allow us to size all of the pastures, helping us to determine their carrying capacity.
In addition to facilitating our planning, the mapping exercise uncovered an unexpected treasure: a lake on our property, located just behind the fruit orchard. As it has been officially registered on an earlier, official aerial photo, we are free to clear the reeds etc. (Pelle seen here doing his best Matthew McConaughey impersonation) and utilize this newly discovered pearl for either leisure or fish farming, a common practice in the region. Not sure what the final outcome will be, but this decision represents what is known as a luxury problem: to swim or to fish...to fish or to swim. Sweet!
An equally festive discovery was made by an army of leaf-cutter ants, as they uncovered the corn flour in our kitchen. They even cut small 'leaves' out of the flour's plastic bag. As frustrating as this is, one cannot help but marvel at their drive and work ethic.
Equally admirable is the progress that Marcos and his crew continue to make week in and week out on the new house. With the exception of the porch, the roof has been raised. This will allow the team to begin other tasks at Alfheim and to return to the house whenever -without the fear of being interrupted by the rains.
Some of you may have noticed that over the past several weeks the blog photos have tended to be somewhat washed out. This is a combination of the winter light, which is extremely sharp (most of the photos are taken before 09:00), and my dropping our Nikon D80 from a highish altitude. I will probably have to purchase a replacement while Lone delivers it to a dealer in UK, when she travels back to visit the boys and her family and friends in Denmark for a month in late September. If anyone knows of a dealer here in Brazil, give me a holler. 7-9-13 that what ails our camera can be fixed.
With the construction of the new house taking shape so nicely, Rosana and Lone have agreed to a color scheme for all of the houses, yellow for the outside walls and gray for the windows and doors. The two of them began repainting Clair's and Rosana's house this week. While the initial results are quite nice, a second coat will undeniably be required.
Homem-Aranha or Spiderman man returned to Alfheim with Marcos this week to construct the septic tank and a gray-water filtering system for the new house, a gray-water filtering system for Clair's and Rosana's house and three water troughs for Hogwood. In order to avoid using a pump, Spidey had to tap the spring that Lone and Clair recently discovered -to raise its level to a point higher than that of the new house, the same spring which forced us to move the fencing for Hogwood and subsequently the location of the new worker's house. Quite an engineering feat.
On the hog front, we appear to have found buyers for all of the piglets that we do not want to keep. Going price, R$55.00 - R$65.00 (€21.09 - €24.92 or $29.82 - $35.24), somewhat cheaper for the smaller piglets (< 11 kg) and/or buyers from Vargem Grande, the latter in an effort to try and build a local market. At R$50.00 a piglet, our net profit margin is 49%, so no complaints, but we will need to sell a certain volume, at least 50 piglets per month, to make an absolute dent in our monthly expenses. Our target is to reach this initial level of critical mass by Q2 2010, at which time we should have eggs and milk enough to provide all of the hogs' protein requirements, approx. 10-15 liters of cow's milk and 40-80 eggs per day.
Prior to signing off, I wanted to send a shout-out to our very good friends, John Tomizuka and Paula Zandomeni, the newly-proud parents of beautiful twins. Should one or both of you become overwhelmed at any point, take a look at what this mother has to deal with on a daily basis.
Finally, under the heading of 57 channels and nothing on, TV has come to Fazenda Alfheim via Sky. Lone and I had mixed feelings about this decision, but ultimately decided that in the absence of Internet connectivity on our fazenda, for now at any rate, we needed to avoid mimicking the characters from The Throwback, by Tom Sharpe, which you should read if you haven't, but only if you are prepared to laugh until you cry. A marvelous author, the funniest writing IMHO. Whatever our misgivings, I will be only too glad to stay up late watching NBA basketball come November. Go Lakers!
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