ENDANGERED FARMERS.

This past weekend, farmer Bren Smith penned an op ed for the New York Times titled, "Don't Let Your Children Grow up to be Farmers," and I cannot tell you how accurately it describes us and every farmer we know.The premise of the article is neatly summed up in the second paragraph with "The dirty secret of the food movement is that the much celebrated small-scale farmer isn't making a living." It goes on to state that negative $1,453 was the median income last year for farmers. Ouch.The reasons for this are myriad, but if we want the food movement to continue––for local food, grown with well-meaning hands to still be available––something has to change. Something big. In the article Bren makes an interesting point, that it is time for farmers to start shaping their own agenda. He goes on to say we need "loan forgiveness for college grads who pursue agriculture; programs to turn farmers from tenants into landowners; guaranteed affordable health care; and shifting subsidies from factory farms to family farms." But farmers, who make up such a small percentage of the population, can't do it alone. They need, and I cannot overstate this, their shareholder's help.You hear often that small farmers make up less than one percent of the farming population. Most farmers are conventional farmers. But that percentage is skewed, because it does not take into account CSA and market customers who, at least for the season in which they are participating, are in some ways farmer's themselves. Our friend Brent once said of the Bugtussle CSA that he and his wife can't farm––be it time or knowhow, they cannot grow the food they want to eat––thus they hire farmers to grow their food for them. And have for over ten years. They are investors, partial-owners or shareholders––however you would like to label them––but they depend on the success of Bugtussle in order to get the food they desire. So they, too, and every market shopper like them, have vested interest in the success of their small farm and should be counted in that percentage. With that in mind, for every small farmer who runs a CSA or who has regular market customers, they should know there are tens, if not hundreds of families in it with them. That percentage suddenly doesn't look so small.But the farmers need those shareholders to step up now––now before it gets to be too out of hand. Farmers need grant writers and lobbyists. The new agrarians need political allies, if not their own political party. Moreover, the country needs to create an environment in which young people would want to become small farmers––would feel the support. Because the world needs small farmers. They need them to protect wildlife, to increase habitat, to improve land and air quality, to prevent erosion, and to offer chemical-free, healthful food to those who want it. But they can't do it alone, and they can't do it for negative money. Farming has to be able to support a family, but right now it barely supports itself. If we want to keep small farms from extinction then, everyone has to acknowledge that we are all farmers, and do everything possible to keep ourselves, our farms, afloat.- Jesse

TEN REASONS WHY I COULD NEVER BE PRESIDENT.

Sometimes I realize that—beyond the obvious reasons, like not old enough, no college degree, nor ambition to do so—I would make a pretty terrible presidential candidate. And not because I can't make the vague speeches or engage in the political gibberish required, but because of what I feel, and would no doubt blurt out, that this country needs moving forward. But for the sake of entertainment, let's imagine what my candidacy, or more appropriately, the candidacy of my ideal president, might look like:1. I would absolutely, unequivocally, unabashedly, raise taxes. Especially, or perhaps exclusively, on the rich. These taxes would go towards eight month subsidized maternity leave for women, midwife coverage in healthcare (saving the system an average of $5,000-$10,000 per birth and the lives of thousands of moms and babies each year), free weekly cooking classes in every city, etc. (etc. = yet to be determined, but totally good stuff, I promise).2. I would encourage excessive spending over excessive savings. i.e. for every dollar over one million a citizen keeps in the bank, they would be taxed ten percent yearly. Thirty percent for every dollar over one billion. Hopefully, everyone would be encouraged to invest the rest in their local economy, in charities or in farmers––we need it.3. I would label GMO's––big labels––and legalize raw milk, hemp and indeed, marijuana––three things farmers could really use to grow.4. I would remove all subsidies for banks, oil companies, Big Ag, etc., and reallocate them to pay off the college debts of young entrepreneurs in farming, renewable energy, and conservation. Large corporations would just have to be happy with their already billions of dollars in revenue. Sorry.5. I would reward innovation in power. Anyone who has the background and a good idea for using renewable resources to power the world could be eligible for government funding, compliments of the aforementioned taxes on the grotesquely wealthy.6. I would invest heavily in finding coal- and natural gas-producing regions alternative incomes that were not coal or natural gas. Fracking would be outlawed and made to wear a dunce cap for the rest of History Class.7. I would outlaw watering, chemically fertilizing or chemically weeding lawns (you can see my votes dwindling, right?).8. Kitties for everyone. Puppies, too. Some might get a baby monkey (Some logistical issues with this one, but gets a few votes back).9. I would give tax breaks to people who use the humanure system. Also, I would push to get "humanure" put in the dictionary.10. I would outlaw plastic grocery bags, take soda pop out of food stamps, and demand federally-funded radio ads, TV spots and billboards all over the country that say "Just eat fresh food, cook most of it yourself, don't drink your calories, exercise, and you will lose weight! Promise." Or something to that effect.Okay, I've got way more than ten, but I'll stop there. That doesn't stop you, however, from telling me why you could never be President. So, what perfectly reasonable ideas would cause the country to not vote for you?- Jesse.

CANNING ON THE GRILL.

I really love canning. I do. I love preserving our own food. But the thing is, I also hate canning. It falls in the middle of the summer, and we cook with wood....which means, standing over a wood stove for hours on end in already 100 degree weather.This year, we experimented with canning outside, on the grill. It was, indeed, hot. And it still took all day. But I would say it was pretty successful, and we didn't heat up the cabin in the process! Best of all, the grill was still so hot when we were done that we baked brownies as a reward for all our hard work.How do you can your tomatoes?- Hannah.

OFF GUARD FARMING.

My parents came to visit on Wednesday and I could tell when they left that the drought was concerning them. That is probably why they called on Thursday and asked us what we would do if it didn't rain again soon.The drought, it should be said, is a concern. On Monday I noticed our quarter acre of sweet potatoes wilting. Our late summer and winter squash, too. I knew that if we didn't indeed get rain for another (blazing hot) week, we would have to do something.But our options are limited. Hannah and I can haul water in five gallon buckets from the creek for our small plot, and have been. But for the big gardens, we would have to find a way to irrigate––watering a quarter acre of anything by hand is a day-long joke.We would do what we could, though, but inevitably some would be lost. In fact, it's possible we could lose so much that our fall share––a third of our income––would have to be cancelled. In an already tough year without chanterelle mushrooms and with the loss of forty turkeys (also known as $4,000), it would be crippling. But that's farming, and that's what I had to tell my parents. That we would inevitably be fine–-we have enough potatoes to make it through the winter––but yes, our income would be smashed to pieces.I'm sure they exist, but I can't really think of another job that demands seven days a week of work and does not guarantee you anything in return (maybe real-estate, but the payoff is larger). Of course, you can force farming to guarantee you things––through irrigation for example––and you can learn to be smart about how you plant and handle your moisture throughout the year. Yet some years it's just bound to catch you off guard. 2014 has been that year for us. In other jobs when you learn a lesson, you learn it, apply it and move on. In farming, you have to wait until the Spring to apply what the previous Summer taught you.Then it rained on Thursday night and I called my parents the next day to tell them we got an inch, we're hoping for more, but that inch will get us through the week. Farming off-the-grid as we do is immaculate in its level of difficulty. The stress hits you from all sides and sometimes it even manifests itself in wilting sweet potatoes. But this isn't a job just about money. This is a job about feeding people and healing the planet. It's a job about health and life and a million other things I will probably never see nor understand. So I try to keep that in mind when I'm caught off guard and feeling bewildered. I try to keep in mind that no matter what happens we'll survive and every year our farm and community will be that much healthier. Explaining this to your parents, however, is not always easy to do.- Jesse.