Farm Beginnings: Chipping Mulch

Farm Beginnings is the chronicle of a city girl starting to farm. Last installment Corinna spoke of clearing the land of trees. Today she speaks to chipping your own mulch. I learned the difference between “gym fit” and “farm fit” this weekend. I am barely gym fit and I am nowhere near farm fit.

Imagine a pile of twisted laundry - except that it is made out of various logs and twigs, heavy, full of splinters, and 9 feet high and 12 feet wide. Imagine dismantling that pile in order to hoist the heavy wood to a machine that is fearsome in the Fargo sense of the word.

The machine grabs with its dual rotating jaws the edges of 10 inch wide logs, small twigs, or entire cedar trees. The log that we were barely able to manuever is devoured like a teenage boy inhaling a piece of pizza. Oh and make sure to get out of the way - as the log enters the mouth of the machine, it will twist and move, so any branches that are still attached will whack you on the way in if you stand too close.

Let me take a step back and explain this more completely.

I like mulch. It retains moisture in the soil as it decomposes. You can plant potatoes and make a mound of mulch and easily dig them out in a few months.

Mulch also means you don’t have to weed as often. And if you really want to splurge, you can find cocoa shell mulch (perhaps for a herb garden), and your garden will smell like chocolate when it rains.

It struck me as crazy to go out and purchase mulch when we have a huge pile of brush from clearing the land that we could chip and turn into mulch. So I rented a 6 inch wood chipper delivered to the land on Saturday morning, to be picked up on Monday.

Up drives this truck with a yellow machine on the back. The delivery man gets out, takes a look at our small pile of brush in the woods, and a look at the HUGE pile of brush in the middle of the field. “Too bad they didn’t put this small pile on the big pile in the field. That way you could burn all of it.”

“I asked them not to.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to mulch as much as I can.”

“Really?”

“Yes, that is why I ordered the wood chipper.”

(Truth is, as they say, stranger than fiction.)

The bemused gentleman looks with a renewed eye at the smaller pile of brush. “Hmmm, this is the 6 inch chipper. I could run back and get the 12 inch one? That would eat through the pile in no time.”

“Sounds good, and in the meantime we will start laying out the wood.” My husband smiles at me.

Lesson number one from wood chipping, always get the biggest machine you can. Lesson number two, “laying out the wood” is easier said than done.

Writing this, I feel naive but I did not grok how difficult it would be to untangle 12 foot branches and logs, piled willy nilly on top of each other. We tugged, we pulled, we lifted, we strained, we grunted, we heaved, and eventually the pile started to feel more manageable.

I have 32 bruises on my legs from tripping over sticks, falling into the pile as the wood moved, or carrying logs and running into other logs. I am grateful it was cool enough that I had several layers of clothing on, or it may have been much worse.

After laying out the wood, one feeds it into the machine. As I mentioned above this is a loud, fearsome, powerful, intimidating machine that takes the heavy wood and moves it like a piece of cotton fluff. Here is a little sample (watch the volume on your computer).

After two days of this task - here are my conclusions.

1. The best wood for chips are the actual logs, not the brush/twigs. Therefore there is a diminishing return on labor to feed in the smaller stuff.
2. Not counting our labor, we spent $600 on the machine (including delivery and fuel) for the weekend. We ended up with perhaps 10-12 cubic yards of mulch. In Rhinebeck, NY the village will deliver to mulch to me for $20 and each cubic yard is $20 - 11 yards at those prices would be $240.
3. The proffered option of burning the big pile looks more and more attractive after this weekend of doings.

Live and learn, and the bruises are fading.

Here is the post on RealTimeFarms.com

Farm Beginnings: Clearing the land of trees

Farm Beginnings is the chronicle of a city girl pulled into farming. Last installment Corinna spoke of the why that brought her to farming. Today she speaks to clearing the land of trees.

“I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees... which you seem to be chopping as fast as you please.” That is how I am feeling this week.

It is difficult to watch majestic sturdy creations crashing down and portioned up. I am disturbing the habitat of birds, furry nocturnal creatures, and the soil - all so I can indulge in my self-sufficient quest and live more in “harmony” with the land. Beautiful bird nests used to swaying 55 feet in the air are catapulted into brush piles.

To this I answer - the trees must be repurposed to good use. That is my pledge to the dryads of the forest.

Dryads, I promise to turn your former oaken homes into floors. Not as dramatic as feeling the sun and moving in the wind, creaking against the bark and striving against the pull of gravity, but at least you will be useful and still on the same land.

(The willowy maidens seem nonplussed...) But what about the pink hued cedars, the clover shaped shaggy barked cousins nearby?

How about closets for the milled large ones and fence posts for the smaller ones?

And the smaller oaks, those too adolescent for flooring?

We can inoculate you with fungus plugs, you will house shitake or oyster mushrooms. That way we can start farming this spring. Those that are too big we will split into logs to keep our new home warm in the winter.

What about the brush that is too small for even mushrooms?

That we shall mulch.

But you have no idea how to use a chainsaw or a wood chipper.

I will learn.

The dryads flit away - perhaps mulch is an unwelcome word to tree nymphs. However to me, mulch is the crux of beginning this farm on the right foot. Every farming conference I have attended lately has been dorking about the importance of soil health.

Mulch is my first step.

Pondering, Corinna

Here is the post on Real Time Farms.

Farm Beginnings

I envision this series might be a long lived one. I am embarking on a project that to some people on this planet might seem ridiculous (because they are already doing it and they grew up doing it), to some absurd (because they would rather not be doing it), and to some dirty (because, well, there will be dirt). We are starting a farm.

Chronological seems like the best way to start this story. I grew up in a city. Not just any city. I grew up six blocks from the Capitol (OL) Building in Washington DC. My father loved, and still loves, the ability to walk to the corner store for last minute ingredients - so do I. I started taking public transportation home from school, seven miles away, when I was nine years old: bus, metro, bus, walk. School finished by 3:15 and if I was able to time it correctly I would be home by 4:05 (Unless I took the bus all the way home to do my math homework, struggling to hold the pencil still over bouncing potholes. In that case, I would be home by 4:30.)

In other words, I am a city girl. I love cities, I love walking around cities, I love the energy of the cities and the beauty and the smells and the humanity all piled on top of each other, jostling, stretching, striving.

What the frak (thank you BattleStar Galactica) am I doing starting a farm?

The short answer I am going to borrow from Shannon Brines, of Brines Farm in Ann Arbor. I asked him in December 2009 about his decision to start a farm and my memory tells me his answer was along the line of “time to put my money where my mouth is.”

The long answer is this. I have always been an eater: good food, cooking, being around kitchens, fun ingredients, etc - bring it on. My grandparents had a wonderful home in Massachusetts with lots of plants, grubs, bare feet days, and summer warmth. In 2006, I started rethinking career - do I want to be in charge, do I want to sit at a desk all day, do I want to live and contribute according to what makes my heart sing and my soul flutter, do I want to feel creative and useful? Yes. Do I want to know where my food comes from? Yes.

We started off in Ann Arbor, MI with chickens and a vegetable garden. I love keeping chickens, they smell good (I am not kidding, I like to bury my nose in their warm down - they smell like life), the eggs are amazing, killing them is not too horrible, and they are fun to spy on while dust bathing. Vegetable gardens are an exercise in hope and miracles every year - a connection with the seasons and the adamah (humus) that makes up our adam-ness (human-ness). (Thank you Fred Bahnson at TEDxManhattan 2013).

But there never seemed to be enough room in our tidy back garden. And wouldn’t it be fun to try our hand at goats, or pigs, or growing nut trees, or an orchard?

It was also appealing to be self-sufficient and hone our useful skills, not just continue practicing my consuming skills, but to dive into the nitty gritty homo sapiens survival skills. Finally, there are the niggling doomsday reasons: what if oil goes to $200/barrel and the price of bread goes to $20, etc? When we moved back to the East Coast - this was our chance.

Step #1 - find land. I feel very privileged and lucky to have access to resources that made this a very painless process - some of our land was used for hay, some for a woodlot, and some was just overgrown with poison ivy and pin oaks.

Step #2 - live on the land.

That is where we catch up to the present day. We are in the process of navigating the living part. In order to build a house - we need to clear some trees from the overgrown area. However, I feel a bit like the Lorax - which is what I will address next time.

Giggling as a Greenhorn,

(Here is a little snippet of who I am - from a few summers ago when I was managing the Westside Farmers Market in Ann Arbor. Hopefully it will make you giggle too.)

Here is the post on the Real Time Farms blog!

Making Nut Milk

I would have loved to have been in the marketing room when they started discussing what in the world they were going to call the liquid that is discharged when soaked nuts are ground in water... Because nut juice, well, really doesn’t work. Yet, as they probably knew, nut milk is not milk. Milk is “a fluid secreted by the mammary glands of females for the nourishment of their young.”* Nut milk more closely aligns with the idea of a cider, “an unfermented drink made by crushing fruit,” because you grind the nuts and press out the liquid. Nut milk is only milky in that it is white and opaque. Though, for those of us who choose not to drink a tall glass of cow milk, nut milk (unlike cider) does fulfill many of the same functions (coffee companion, cereal splasher, etc) as milk. So we will let the nomenclature nickname stand.

By the time I was a teenager, we had rice milk in the house. One could get soy milk latte’s at Starbucks. In the past 15 years more and more milks have hit the market: almond, hemp, coconut, hazelnut, oat, carob, 7 grain. Eden Organic has a rice AND soymilk beverage. Dream has coconut and almond and chia, rice and quinoa, or almond and cashew and hazelnut. Do you want your milk unsweetened, vanilla, chocolate, low sodium, original? How about a single serving package certified Non-GMO? How about a french vanilla nut creamer for your coffee?

Inspired by all of the options on the market I started feeling the urge to make my own nut milk (exacerbated by a recycling container overflowing with almond milk boxes). The only caveat to this story is you need a Vitamix. But once that is in hand, all you need is your imagination and a little forethought (you need to start the night before).

I have included a few official recipes below from Eagle Loft Kitchen because I am more of the eyeball type of cook.

Grab some raw nuts: brazils, walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts. I haven’t tried peanuts yet, don’t know if the flavor would be too intense. I would love to make almond milk but finding raw almonds can be tricky. As of 2007 all almonds are pasteurized in the US. I have not yet been able to bring myself to order raw almonds from Spain from nuts.com, but I am sure I will eventually. 

Soak raw nuts overnight in 4 times more water than nuts. Rinse them off in the AM till the water runs clear. Add anywhere from 2 to 4 times more water than nuts to the mixer. (the less water the more the milk becomes a milkshake) Add nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, fruit, maple syrup, honey, etc according to taste. Throw the switch!

I have been pouring the milk off the top of the residue and then throwing the residue into the compost pile. You could strain the liquid if you prefer not to chew on your milk. 

And voila! Nut juice!

Happy Milking! Corinna

(Here is the post on Real Time Farms!)

Thank you Eagle Loft Kitchen for these ideas as well...

Almond Milk 1 cup raw almonds 4 cups water + more for soaking 2 Medjool dates, pitted 1 tsp vanilla

1. Soak almonds in enough water to cover for 4 hours or overnight. Then drain and rinse almonds well.
2. Measure 4 cups fresh water into the Vitamix (using the handy measurements on the side of the pitcher). Add the almonds, dates and vanilla.
3. Secure the lid and start the Vitamix on low, increasing the speed slowly up to 10 and then flip the high power switch. Process until well blended, 1 minute or more.
4. Strain the milk through a nut milk bag, or 2-3 layers of cheesecloth in a wire sieve (the nut milk bag is SO much easier), for 30 minutes. Squeeze excess milk out of bag (or gently press residue in sieve) then pour milk into a container with lid (I use a 1 litre/quart mason jar). Store milk in the fridge for up to 5 days. Shake well before serving.
5. Almond residue (what is left in your nut bag or sieve) can be discarded, but I store mine for a few days in the fridge to use in recipes such as Zucchini Bread. It can also be used as a facial scrub!

Cashew Milk 1 cup raw cashews 4 cups water + more for soaking 1 Tbsp agave syrup pinch sea salt

1. Soak cashews in enough water to cover for 4 hours or overnight. Then drain and rinse cashews well.
2. Measure 4 cups fresh water into the Vitamix (using the handy measurements on the side of the pitcher). Add the cashews, agave and salt.
3. Secure the lid and start the Vitamix on low, increasing the speed slowly up to 10 and then flip the high power switch. Process until well blended, 1 minute or more.
4. To decrease foam, turn off high power switch and slowly turn dial lower. A funnel should form in the middle. Decrease speed until funnel almost disappears, then hold at that speed for 15 seconds. Decrease again until funnel almost disappears and hold for another 15 seconds. Slowly decrease speed to 1, then turn off.
5. Cashew milk does not need straining. Simply pour milk into a container with lid (I use a 1 litre/quart mason jar). Store milk in the fridge for up to 5 days. Shake well before serving.

Rice Milk 1/2 cup cooked brown rice 2 cups water 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup

1. Measure 2 cups fresh water into the Vitamix (using the handy measurements on the side of the pitcher). Add the rice and maple syrup.
2. Secure the lid and start the Vitamix on low, increasing the speed slowly up to 10 and then flip the high power switch. Process until well blended, 1 minute or more.
3. To decrease foam, turn off high power switch and slowly turn dial lower. A funnel should form in the middle. Decrease speed until funnel almost disappears, then hold at that speed for 15 seconds. Decrease again until funnel almost disappears and hold for another 15 seconds. Slowly decrease speed to 1, then turn off.
4. Rice milk does not need straining. Simply pour milk into a container with lid (I use a 500mL/1 pint mason jar). Store milk in the fridge for up to 4 days. Shake well before serving.

* Never too early to read the words mammary glands.

Here is the post on the Real Time Farms blog!