Join Us

To Anyone Thinking of Joining 

Our Weekly Veggie Subscription Service (CSA) This Year:

Please Join Us.

Check out Last Week's Post for Details.

A few photos to entice you:

Call or Text
(Three Six Zero) 904- Four 321

Rick

Summer CSA

New Veggies are stretching from their dreams.

Come See us on Saturday 4/26 at the Clark Home and Garden Fair. Besides us there will be lots of plant starts, other farm vendors, socially and ecologically minded organizations and hands on demos for living a healthy happy life.
CSA:  Our weekly veggie subscription service is starting in June. Give me a call if you want to sign up. Not sure if you want to join a CSA? Here are the benefits of our CSA:

• Reasonable Cost. Only $350.00 ($325 for Legacy/Kaiser employees at Salmon Creek) That's half of many CSAs. We  wanted to provide veggies at a cheaper rate than you'd pay if  buying them individually at the markets.
• Focused on individual member needs. Our CSA will only have 10. Being small is part of our business plan. So we will know you as people we care about individually. Which means if there's something you want more of or less of we will try our best to accommodate.
• Easy Delivery. We will deliver to both Salmon Creek Markets. You can pick it up from our cooler on the farm near Battle Ground. Or we can deliver for an extra charge.
• Good Mix of basics like potatoes, beets, lettuce, summer squash, onions etc. And we'll provide a few fun and tasty veggies that you may just be getting acquainted with, like: fairy eggplant, personal sized cabbage, glass gem popcorn. We won't overwhelm you with things that you are unfamiliar with or won't use easily.
• Our Greatest benefit: Food grown with integrity and love...We'll never spray your food with artificial herbicides or pesticides. More than that, our soil is rich and alive. We grow everything with diversity in mind, mixing the plant habitats and providing companion planting. Something else which we feel makes an infinite difference in the vitality of your food: We work in the garden with a contemplative and prayerful attitude, with reverence for the earth and her creatures.
• Weekly Farm blog with current veggies and berries that are ripe, recipes, farm events and market specials.

 A Few Specifics of or CSA Delivery Service:

1. Season runs at least twelve weeks, starting sometime in late June. Most seasons have run somewhat longer.
2. Boxes come weekly, about a bushel. Think orange crate size box.
3. We request a full payment up front by May 15th. In special circumstances we will do a month by month service or work on other payment options/plans. 
4. Being a Moon Bear member affords you the chance to visit and be a part of your farm. Come out and see us. Help us if you want, or not. We have occasional member potlucks and other farm events (writing groups and poetry gathering) which are free to members.

Contact us soon. We have seven spots open. We love doing this for a living. It's not just work, it's joy.

First Lettuce for 2014

See You In the Garden,
Rick
(Three Six Zero) 904-Four Three Two One
moonbearsfarm@yahoo.com 



(c) Rick Sievers, April 2014 

Untruths and Food Security

Tomatoes come in all shapes and colors.

Hello Moon Bears!

Farm Update: 

The bee hedge is laid out and ready for planting on 4/22. It is a five hundred feet long with stakes for trees set six feet apart in three rows.

We're taking reservations for the Summer Moon Bear CSA. Only $300 if you let us know by May 1. More after May 1. That's 12 bushels of fresh, fun, flavorful food through the growing season. Email us.

Onions, lettuce, chard, spinach, rhubarb and garlic are all making their spring time appearances in loam.

And now for the Moon Bear diatribe:

Something to consider: 

Here are some untruths that the dominant paradigm has literally fed to us about agriculture:

You cannot produce much worthwhile if you’re small:  We are only 2.86 acres, with a production area of 1.25 acres. We are registered as a farm. Last year we produced about 350 bushels of fresh, tasty food. A bushel is about the size of an orange crate. All around us are acres and acres (miles and miles) of nicely mowed grass. What if we, as a society, reclaimed that land for both agriculture and wild areas? Next time you drive through the outskirts of town look at all the green wasteland used mainly as a personal buffer to stay separate from one’s neighbors. Or think even broader. While in town look at all the lawns and median strips. What if these produced food?

Micro farms in the US are mainly a hobby of the rich and idealistic: Nothing wrong with being rich or idealistic. I would like to be both. For me, micro farming is a way to be a positive influence in the political-social arenas. It’s a way to provide a needed service. It’s a way to pay the bills. It’s a way to be part of the local community. What can be ungrounded about working with the earth, producing food and meeting with the public? Isn’t America built on independence and security through hard work? Perhaps the old idea of food security coming partially through producing one’s own food needs to be revived.

You have to be against something to be for something. I see this in how people garden and live and vote. Most define themselves as being against _____ or not like ______. You fill in the blank. This us and them mentality also manifests itself in the agricultural system. As a farmer I can be against weeds and pests and competitors… right? Being reactive to bugs and weeds has led to genetically modified corn that contains Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) and remnants of glyophospahate. And we end up eating these substances unwittingly, all in the name of “combating” weeds and bugs. Also, what kind of psychic energy is in our food when it is produced with the attitude of killing all that lays in the path of the crops? . What are we FOR? And how does this manifest in our everyday choices? We're all on this little planet together.

Organic is costlier. The hidden, societal, environmental costs of chemical based, factory style farming are astronomical for the planet and the health of the people. We sell for the same price as the local big chains, sometimes less. The soil is a living community of organisms not a factory for producing perfect looking food.

Machines out produce humans:  Perhaps in quantity, but not in quality. Did you know that most baby carrots are simply large carrots cut in into pieces in a factory and then shaped to look like small carrots? Some are soaked in sugar. Many have spent weeks in storage. They look nice in the plastic wrapped colorful packaging. And you pay a premium for a lie. What about the farmer that grows genuine carrots of the small variety and pulls them the morning of the sale? Who produces the real product?

Farmers market vendors are all the rage and they are making decent money. Yes, it’s nice to be admired as a small farmer. And customers are so appreciative and friendly and wise. Thank you. But market vendors reach only about 2% of the population. Almost all local market vendors I know have another person in the household that supplements the farm with a regular job. And almost all I know are on the margins of financial sustainability.

Thank you for reading.

See you in the Garden.

Rick

(c) Rick Sievers, moon Bear Produce, March 2014

The Bees are Coming!

Hello Moon Bears,

We are in the process of enhancing our land to be even more bee friendly. We're planting a 500 foot long bee hedge, consisting of over 250 native shrubs and trees. The hedge will be 15 feet wide and encompass our production area. Our hope is that this will bolster the health and vitality of both native bees and honey bees. As you know, our pollinators are in deep distress. Our little farm wants to be a pollinator sanctuary, free of pesticides and full of nectar. Eventually we plan on maintaining hives. As it is, wild honey bees and natives already flock (swarm) to our garden.

We need your help! We're looking for 4 to 6 helpers in the Portland Vancouver area. On Saturday, March 22, 2014 from 9:00 until 12:30, we are having an open house for those that can help us plant this hedge. The work will be simple and require only minimal lifting, consisting of putting the plant in the hole, staking and placing a protection tube around the base. Be prepared for mud... rubber boots are a necessary form of apparel on the farm. Also bring gloves if you have them.

Here are the particulars:

Community Bee Hedge Planting.

We need 4-6 volunteers. 

Please RSVP

March 22, 2014

9:00 AM until 12:30 PM

At the Art Farm East of Battle Battle Ground, WA

Be prepared for inclement weather.

Refreshments provided.

And lots of smiles and gratitude.

To reserve a spot and for questions contact Rick at

moonbearsfarm@yahoo.com 

 ~~~~

 The Moon Bear CSA 

Also, we are now taking reservations for our fantastic, fresh, fun Moon Bear Weekly Box of Veggie Subscription Service. Also called a CSA. We will deliver a weekly box of organically, lovingly grown veggies in the Summer season for 12-14 weeks. And it's only $325.00 if you reserve by May 1 ($350 after). Let us know if you're interested. We'll be glad to give you a tour and to answer any questions you may have at moonbearsfarm@yahoo.com 

Thanks,

Rick

 

Shallow vs. Deep Organic

Tree Frog early morning sun bathing on the summer rhubarb.

Moon Bear is attending the Washington State Farmer’s Market Association (WSFMA) convention this weekend in Vancouver. I was asked to bring promotional materials for the entry display. I asked myself: “What could I promote that would be of interest to my customers?”  I remembered how one question comes up all the time when I sell at the Salmon Creek Farmer’s Market: “Are you an organic farmer?”

The simple answer is “YES, most definitely.” And most people are satisfied with that. Then I saw that customers asked the same question to every produce vendor. It seems that nearly every farmer says Yes, just like me. And I wondered what it really means to call yourself “Organic”? Technically, the law says that I can say I’m organic without certification if I make under 5,000 dollars a year in sales of produce and I follow the law re. organic standards. But that’s the easy answer, and really a cop out. 

What does organic mean? Is it being “Certified Organic”? Yes, partly. And being certified is a Huge step above the agri-industrial complex’s idea of pseudo-food. But there are many variables on the spectrum of being organic.  If a customer asks more, I say that “I am not certified organic, (yet) but I grow in the organic method.” Then I say that being an organic producer means more about how I treat the land and beings on my farm. Looking around the market I wonder how many farmers fudge the truth or actually believe they’re organic when they are not?

All I can say is “Come out to our farm. See how we care for the land and plants and bugs and animals.” We’re a business. But we are also stewards of our particular patch of Earth. Being deeply organic is not just about never using forbidden synthetic fertilizers and other crop inputs. It’s about co-creating with the living soil and diverse plant population. It’s science, art and lifestyle.

Native bees are Important Pollinators

I want to educate the consumer about organic, starting with not just believing the label or the farmer’s proclamation that they are organic. 

It’s not just about what the farmer does Not do in the production of food. It is also about their proactive stance in building up the vitality of their farm. Healthy soil and habits equals healthier plants and tastier food.

So when someone tells you that they produce organically, think about shallow vs. deep farming practices. Think twice when someone reflexively says “Yes, I grow organically.” 

I encourage you to ask the farmer some hard questions:

-What does the term organic mean to the farmer? 

-How does their practice build the diverse fecundity of the soil while protecting the watershed and the creatures on the land?

-Is the farmer willing to show you the farm and her/his agricultural practices? 

-Is the soil alive?

-Is the food grown in a vital, conscious manner? 

Here’s a basic list of what I consider to be the differences between shallow and deep work with the earth.

Shallow Organic Farming:

- Reacts to issues in the garden such as pest infestation and soil infertility.

- Mimics the agri-industrial complex by using synthetic substitute fertilizers and pesticides as palliative measures.

 

- Views the land solely as a resource for crop production, akin to a factory.

 

- Manages the land, crops and inputs with a mindset of maximum production.

- Uses a one size fits all approach to soil fertility.

- Uses mono cultures and hybridized seed sources.

- Book learning. A mindset of “this is the way we’ve always done it.”

- Grows same plants in same place every year.

- Works and plans alone.

Deep Organic Farming:

- Works with the soil by observation and study to support a living, diverse and fertile ecosystem. Views pests as messengers instead of foes.

- Is proactive and nurturing in the stewardship of the living earth. Uses fertility inputs directly from the land when at all possible, such as green manures and homemade compost.

- Views land a co-creator and teacher. See the larger view of the entire farm ecosystem. Creates a vision statement for your farm.

- Leaves room for wild areas. Creates pollinator habitat. Rotate cover crops. Allows areas to go fallow for a season. Creates a business plan.

- Considers what you are growing and what the particular crop needs for maximum health.

- Diversifies. Plants more than one species when possible. Companion and multi-story planting.

- Learns from the plants and the soil. What do the weeds and pests and health of the crops tell you?

- Has a crop production and rotation plan and sticks to it.

- Allows community to infiltrate the structure of the farm and soil with gratitude and shared vision and good honest work.  

Thanks,

See you at the markets this summer.

Rick

(c) Copyright Rick Sievers, January 2014, All Rights Reserved