Fresh Connections – The Parfitt Way Blog

Joel Salatin – High Priest of the Pasture; Saturday June 2, at 2pm at the BPA Theatre

What first caught my attention was the listing of earthworms as one of the principles of Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm. Standing proudly with Transparency, Individuality, and Community – earthworm enhancement is a guiding and defining value leading to the success of game-changing farmer and prolific author Joel Salatin. Describing himself as a Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist-lunatic-farmer, Joel has been featured in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, and the documentary films Food, Inc. and Fresh. Joel came to farming as part of an extended family of innovative, full-time and part-time farmers. As far back as 1961, 9 years before the first Earth Day, Joel’s father saw the wisdom of grass farming, controlled grazing, and composting. That foundation is a keystone of Joel’s success, both as a farmer and a highly respected public figure in the food movement of today.

A closer look at the guiding principles listed on Polyface Farm’s website gives us some insight into what drives Joel’s life and success. Transparency is critical to Joel’s belief that trust between farmer and consumer can only be achieved through a practice of “no trade secrets, no locked doors and every corner being camera-accessible”. Individuality – siting a direct link between honoring the “pig-ness” of the pig (the cow-ness of the cow, etc.) and the health of our society, the farm is operated with a great deal of respect for the animals by providing them with a habitat that honors their unique physiological distinctiveness and needs. The value of Community dictates that the farm’s products are never shipped. Operating on the idea that we should all eat locally, Joel abides by his belief that we should only eat food that requires less than 4 hours travel time from the farm to our kitchen. Following Nature’s Template means that natural patterns provide the “best practices” manual for farming. Long before mad cow disease made the news, Polyface farms fed their cows appropriately as herbivores, not omnivores. And our old friend Earthworms: prioritizing soil health means stimulating soil biota means earthworm enhancement.

The New York Times has referred to Joel Salatin as the “High Priest of the Pasture”. Joel’s passion goes far beyond the health benefits of eating wholesome local foods. He believes strongly that his way of thinking on a large scale would change the strongholds of economic, political and social power, evidenced by the following quote from Treehugger.com: “Just imagine if people began discovering their kitchens again, and if the average household instead of popping irradiated, amalgamated, prostituted, reconstituted, adulterated, modified, and artificially flavored, extruded bar coded, un-pronounceable things into the microwave, actually prepared whole foods for all-down-together family meals…if we quit feeding cows corn….70 percent of the world’s arable land could return to perennial prairie polycultures building soil and sequestering carbon, that would completely destroy the power of the grain cartel, the multi-national corporations and petroleum usage.” (Joel is rather fond of modifiers in his sentences.)

Bottom line – it seems the cure for much of what ails us and the world – truly is a happy cow.

Don’t miss your chance to hear Joel speak at the Bainbridge Performing Arts Theater on Saturday, June 2. Tickets are $22/adults and $12/students with ID.

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND – On May 30, 2012 WSU Kitsap Small Farms Team in cooperation with the Kitsap County Conservation Tillage Program and the Kitsap Conservation District will host an educational farm walk showcasing environmentally friendly horse farming at IOS Farm on Bainbridge Island. This event features low-impact management techniques including effective manure and mud management, water catchment and cisterns, and no-till pasture renovation., Regardless of the size of their budget or farm, participants will take away ideas to implement benefitting both their wallet and the environment.

“Conservation planning protects and supports the natural resources that sustain your farming operation,” says Diane Fish, WSU Kitsap Small Farms Team educator. “By implementing just one or two of these practices you can go a long way to decreasing the environmental footprint of your farm. We just want to get people thinking about what they can do on their farm!”

IOS Ranch is a seven-acre horse boarding facility that sets an example of conservation planning with their manure management system, water cisterns for irrigation and run-off control and pasture management. Walk and learn about these techniques and see a pasture renovation demonstration using the no-till drill.

WSU has been contracted by Kitsap County to administer the federal stimulus funded Kitsap County Conservation Tillage Program. This event will be the first time to see the no-till drill in action. “Kitsap County is pleased to make this tool available and to partner with WSU to introduce conservation tillage practices for our local farming community,” says Kitsap County Commissioner Charlotte Garrido.

The IOS Ranch farm walk is May 30, 2012 from 6:00 – 8:00pm and is $10 per person or $15 per family. Pre-registration is requested. You can register online at http://kitsap.wsu.edu/ or by mail at WSU Kitsap Extension, 345-6th Ave, Suite 550, Bremerton, WA 98337-1874. For more information on the farm walk please contact Shannon Harkness at Shannon.harkness@wsu.edu or Diane Fish at dfish@wsu.edu or by phone at 360-337-7026.

Please join us to watch the highly acclaimed documentary, “Fresh, the Movie” featuring Michael Pollan, Joel Salatin and other leaders in the movement toward healthy, local food. Discussion following. Learn about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and how you can support our local farmers and enjoy delicious locally-grown food. Tickets are available at Pegasus Coffee House. The showing will be at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art Auditorium.

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From: Diane Fish, WSU Kitsap Extension, 360-337-7026, dfish@wsu.edu

Local Farmers learn how to slaughter and process farm-grown poultry in Poultry 201 class.

KINGSTON – Kitsap County farmers will learn how to slaughter and process farm-grown chickens and turkeys in a WSDA Special Poultry Permit facility and market their product to local consumers at the hands-on “Poultry 201” class to be held at Kingston Farm on Saturday, October 22, 2011.

Demand for locally raised chicken and turkeys have farmers eager for how-to information on raising and processing birds for local sale. Pastured broilers and heritage turkeys represent a rapidly growing niche market with opportunities for local farmers to capitalize on the locavore movement. However, farm processing needs to be done in a safe and approved manner to ensure a high quality product for local consumers.

“Raising and selling pastured poultry represent an ideal start-up enterprise for small and beginning farmers or an additional income stream for existing farmers.” according to Arno Bergstrom, Director of WSU Kitsap Extension. “The demand for locally grown, pastured poultry is growing. This class represents an ideal chance for farmers to see how to process poultry and set up a Washington State Department of Agriculture inspected facility on their farm!”

The WSU Kitsap Extension Small Farms Team, in conjunction with the Kitsap Poultry Growers Cooperative, offers Poultry 201 to bring farmers accurate information on how to butcher and process pastured poultry and set up a Washington State Department of Agriculture Special Poultry Permit facility to compliance with state regulations for on-farm slaughter and processing. Marketing of locally grown poultry will also be discussed.

Poultry 201 will take place from 9:00 AM to Noon on October 23, 2010 at Kingston Farm, 37691 Lindvog Rd. NE, Kingston, WA. The class is $35 per person or $60 per household and pre-registration is suggested. Registration is available online at http://county.wsu.edu/kitsap/ or at the workshop. For information about Poultry 201 and to register please contact Diane Fish of the WSU Kitsap Extension Small Farms Team at 360.337.7026 or dfish@wsu.edu.

About WSU Kitsap Extension Small Farms Team:

The Small Farms Team provides farmers with research-based information and assistance on sustainable farming, animal husbandry, farm business planning and marketing. Learn more at: http://kitsap.wsu.edu/ag/index.htm

Charles Schafer instructs us on the fun of Bee Keeping

We know Charles Schafer better as the pub’s illustrious garden maintenance man extraordinaire. However, we recently visited him at home where he was gracious enough to show us one of his bee hives. My Dad, youngest son and I spent a really enjoyable hour or so checking out one of Charles’ honey bee hive. Suiting up in beekeeper’s whites, we got to see first hand how the hive was constructed and what the bees were doing inside. An amazing site.

If you would like more information about bee keeping you can visit the State’s Beekeeper’s Association website to be a wealth of information http://www.wasba.org/

We’ve been getting lots of comments on our clam chowder at the pub. Folks have appreciated not only the flavor, but the uniqueness of getting whole, in the shell clams in the popular dish. To add to that uniqueness, the clams we use are produced locally and sustainably.

Doesn’t that make it even better?

Thankfully, our recent partnership with Baywater Shellfish allows for the Pub and Pegasus to confirm our commitment to local fresh food. The clams in our steamers and chowder are grown on the west side of Hood Canal, less than 25 miles away from our restaurant.

Baywater Shellfish is a family business. In 1990, then graduate student Joth Davis and his wife Karen found their own slice of paradise near Thorndyke Bay. The road down to the beach where the shellfish thrive is riddled with ruts and shrouded in overgrown vegetation. Remnants of an ancient homestead pepper the property and as the beach gets closer, it feels like slipping into a different world. The air feels fresher, time seems to slow down. Eagles nest in the trees above, coyotes and cougars leave footprints in the sand, black bears occasionally make an appearance. Preserving this pristine place and making little impact on the environment around it were priorities when the family found the land and continue to be today.

Davis, a fisheries biologist, immediately put into practice sustainable techniques for growing shellfish. Everything is done by hand. No chemicals are used. The bags for the clams are recycled.

The rows of clam bags are revealed with the outgoing tide. Manila clams are grown from seed (which are produced locally at the Taylor Quilcene Hatchery) in bags placed into the substrate. It takes two years for the clams to grow, and when they’re ready, the bags are plucked from the muck and placed on shin high racks, where the water flows over them. With the rise and fall of the tides, the clams clean themselves out. When they’ve flushed all the sand out, they’re ready to go to market.

In addition to their availability at our establishments, Baywater Shellfish are sold at the Bainbridge Island Farmer’s market every other week during the market’s season.

We’re pleased to have a positive relationship with a company as dedicated to our community as we are. And, of course, we’re grateful that they provide the key ingredient to our unique clam chowder.

The first day of May 2011 dawns frosty and clear skies with light ground fog.  Mt. Rainier visible prominently to the east dominating the horizon covered nearly entirely in snow presents an entirely white promontory majestically overseeing the lands below.  I do wish I could report a warmer beginning to May Day as frost tips all the grasses and fencing.  Promises of a warm afternoon present a welcome alternative to the days dawning.  Slowly the drying of the fields can begin with some warm sunshine and the stream corridor can even more slowly reduce flood levels and get back within its banks.  Springtime finally begins to get a foothold and start the movement to summer and our dry season.  Not any too soon for us here on the ranch.

Chores start the day shortly after sunrise.  Back to the ranch house to thaw-out and get breakfast.  We stayed in the house for a bit today to let the outside air warm a touch and let the horses finish their hay before heading out, me to saddle my cowpony, Bucks, and Mark to the gator with supplies for use at the corral in the back and dogs tied in.  The day’s planned cattle tasks started by moving all the cows with young calves up to the corral from a bottomland pasture quarter of a mile distant for sorting into two herds for spring breeding that prepares for winter calving 2012.  Mounted on Bucks we headed to the pastureland and push the cattle ahead of us, 25 cows, 7 yearling heifers and 24 calves, to the corral system next to the barn.  Then out again to bring up the finishing yearlings (10) and slaughter cows (4) for separation and distribution into new grazing/feeding fields.  I desired the slaughter cows go to a barn pen for hay and barnyard grazing awaiting more aggressive Spring forage growth elsewhere before returning to pasture, while turning out the finishing yearlings to lush green grazing.

The sorting of cattle went smoothly but is not a fast chore with each cow needing ear tag reading and proper herd placement (in the correct corral pen).  Then the calves must be sorted next to stay with their mother in the breeding herds, an even more arduous task as the young stock jump about and dart away at every opportunity, not knowing what’s going on by we people walking about among them in the corral pens.  Cows and calves reunited properly leaves the heifers to be bred for the first time to be added to the proper herd.  Each of these yearlings first requires ear tag replacement from calf tag to cow tag.  So these girls are run through the chute and squeeze for this necessary herd identification task.  Not hard, but time consuming job.  Some heifers need a nose clip to hold them necessarily still for the removal of the calf tag and placement of the shiny new cow ID tag.  No daughter of bull Wrangler will go in his breeding herd, but in younger bull #55’s group of females, each bull getting 16 head total to breed.  I record the numbers carefully in the herd file.

The bulls are moved in with their cows next, one bull/one herd at a time.  The necessity of keeping the bulls at least two fences apart, well respected.  The boys, you see, are anxious, eager and jumping for joy, quite literally, to get in with the girls!  The younger bull gave some terrific cavorts in the process of being moved from the mare-foal paddock just to the east of the ranch house where he’d been wintering, to the main lane to join his herd girls and babies.  Amazing how quickly and agile Bucks can move sideways and backward when avoiding a snorting, charging bull!  The bulls and their herds moved easily from the corral system to pasture once united.  No real problems getting these cattle put out.

Mark and I decided then to get the feeder calves (26 head of 8 month old recently weaned calves) off the reach of Muck Creek to the east of the bridge, a good half mile of stream reach.  They needed booster vaccinations and new pasture.  A June 20, 2010 calf among them, she’s old enough to be coming in season, so I couldn’t have her next to bulls, needs separating.  As it turned out the feeder calves were freaked out by Bucks, something I’d not anticipated.  Bucks and I ended up having to ride the entire reach to the east line fence pushing some ahead of me, through swampy overflow, flooding and all.  Then at the east line fence area, Mark on the south side of the creek in the gator, the calves proceeded to charge, leap and scramble through the mud, flood and streambed to from the north bank area to the south.  One can never trust moving calves to be a straightforward or predictable endeavor!  Bucks and I were left with no calves and so we followed by fording the rain swollen stream too.  Horse and rider, we then proceeded to move the herd of 26 calves to the west where we wanted them, the entire half mile plus of the creek pasture.  However, I believe, Bucks, decided he wished to give the calves a good run for demonstrating their already crazy behavior previously and was belligerent the entire way as we rode along behind the calves.  All the time, you understand, my restraining him properly, he became most annoyed.  Bucks’ frustration meant he spent nearly the entire ride bucking here and there for the complete generous half mile distance.  Not really trying to unseat me, you realize, but saying, “Let’s get these monster little cattle a good chase!”  Whoa!  And so we bantered the whole way.  Mark was most amused as he drove behind or next to me in the gator.

Bucks and I managed to “cut-out” the older heifer in the Oak Mott Watering Pen, we needed to accomplish.  Sorted out, we moved her to a holding place in a watering lane pen and ran the remaining feeder calves in an adjacent small field.  That part of the work was perfect.

Back up to the corral system to finish putting out those fat finishing yearlings and slaughter cows out to separate pastures.  The two finishing steers and one pregnant cow grazing in the front pasture needed bringing in to the corral system too.  As I loped across the field between the ranch house and the road, my hay dealer, Daryl, drove by, empty, undoubtedly heading over the pass again for hay.  He gave a big blast of his Kenworth diesel’s horn and Bucks acknowledged this salute with a nice buck.  Daryl will give me heck for this next time he sees me!

So by 2PM and lunchtime, all were placed, well, and happy.  Bucks returned to his paddock for a good roll in the dirt, Mark and I in the house for a bite.  Tomorrow we will booster vaccinate those weaning age feeder calves before moving them to a larger lush pasture for grazing and growing.  After lunch we must get to some fencing repair before nightfall.  Later that evening as we checked the herds, the young bull had as many as 4 ready females!  What a show that presented!  He’ll not settle them all!  The other older bull had one heifer he was following about.  So the business of spring begins on the Camas Prairie Ranch.

The West Sound Small Farms Expo takes place on Saturday, March 5, 2011 at the Olympic College Campus, Bremerton, WA. Cost for the Expo is $55 ($25 youth) and includes lunch. Check-in begins at 8:00am and workshops run until 4:00pm. Online registration and workshop information is available on the WSU Kitsap Extension website at http://kitsap.wsu.edu/. Sponsor and vendor information is also available. This is the first of its kind in Kitsap! Please attend.

Summer Twins at the Camas Prarie Ranch

Becky Weed, our beef rancher and supplier sends along this note:

Meant to send these along a month ago!  The picture was taken on the 27^th of August when the Harlow Cattle Company twins were just over a week old and back with the summer calving herd.  The cow is a huge girl making her small, undoubtedly delivered early, twins appear even smaller than they are.  Both continue to do well, now at 6 weeks of age.