Research

Today I was doing resarch on a piece of property we are looking at purchasing
and I found a nifty resoure and thought I'd pass it along. We were told by the
owners of the property we are currenty looking at, that they were class 1 soils
so I did a search for soil types and found some very informative websites that
provide data on soil types. The first one is by the Natural Resources Conservation
service at: http://soils.usda.gov/technical/handbook/contents/part622.html
on the top bar they have several catagorys and I clicked on the "Soil survey" tab
and on the top there is a link to another website by the USDA it is the official USDA soil information as viewable maps and tables for more than 2300 soil surveys.
this is the link: http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/HomePage.htm

On the top of the page there is a green button to the left and you click on it
and it take you to a map of the united states you can click on the state of intrest
and can even select a specific county. A map of the area if intrest will come up but to display specific soil class info you have to use the aoi tool at the top bar to select a smaller area. The map will then display the specific soil type to your area and has a list of the soil types displayed on the map that can be opened up and viewed. The ony note is that • Web Soil Survey is unavailable nightly between 1:00 AM and 5:00 AM Eastern time for soil survey data updates.
• Web Soil Survey may be unavailable on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 8:00 PM and 10:30 PM Eastern time for scheduled maintenance and software updates.
• Web Soil Survey may also be unavailable the third weekend of each month, and the second Sunday of each month, for scheduled maintenance.
• It may also be necessary from time to time to bring Web Soil Survey down for unscheduled maintenance.

Happy soil hunting!!

New year, New plans

Well, what can I say?? I havent posted for a while but not for the lack of
stuff going on... Let's just say that things did'nt work out between myself
and Denny Hunt. and not for a lack of trying. Let's just say we had a
" operations" difference of opion. So we have parted ways...

On a brighter note


We are still looking at ways to get on a farm, but after looking at real estate
in california, we decided to look elsewere. I grew up in oregon so that is where
we are looking now. Sothern Oregon has good land prices and good marketing potential
It would be close (3 hr dr) to my dad's place in Drain so we potentially would have more opportunities to visit him and Darcy has friends in the Medford area.

Holy Cow, I'm In Hog Heaven !! Part 2

After some deliberating, I decided to call Marc Felton at Felton Acres in Sebastopol. (See his blog at
( http://feltonacres.blogspot.com/ ) I had contacted Marc about the same as my first contact with Denny and felt obligated to visit him as well. Denny and I spent about a hour at Marc’s place. After finishing up with his Photographer, Marc Graciously showed us around his farm and spoke with us in great detail about his poultry operation and the learning curve he had and was very candid about the mistakes he made. He also let us pet his yearling pigs and also showed us his goats. Thanks Marc !!
As Denny drove toward Gleason Ranch we meandered through the valley’s and Hills of Bodega hwy towards Bodega, Ca We made a quick stop in Freestone to try to get a quick bite to eat at Gerald’s Paella but it was packed, so we continued on. About 15 minutes later, We found the entrance to Gleason Ranch a
Inconspicuous, unassuming farm that has been in the Gleason family for about a hundred years. Nancy Prebilich Wasn’t there, but both her parents were there and a cousin building a new door frame for their
Hog barn. At first, they were not friendly, and understandably so, as we were strangers who just showed up unannounced ! After a quick phone call to Nancy, she assured them we were ok and then they warmed up and also graciously showed us around their farm.

Gleanson Farm currently raises naturally raised, beef , Swine and Poultry. Like Marc they showed us their
Brooder, their sow barn, and the movable chicken tractors. I’m always impressed when a family sticks togheter and keeps a Farm running and changes with the times to keep itself profitable.

Denny and I left with the hopefulness that we (I) would be making many more trips to the
Gleason Ranch at Least as invited guests and Possibly as partners.

As we drove back to Denny’s place, I got to see more of the bodega/ Valley Ford area, I am already
Falling in love with this area. Then Denny had a idea, First he called his mom again and then he
Called Nancy Prebilich to invite her to a dinner at his mom’s place in his honor as it was his early
Birthday party. Nancy accepted and we went back to Denny’s place to change into cleaner
Clothes and to meet up with Denny’s wife Jennifer who had just came back from a northern California dog show with Tina, one of their border collies. We then headed to his mom’s

When we showed up, Denny’s sister, niece had already showed up and as we were walking up to the house, Nancy Prebilich showed up. We had many lively conversations, but the one that enthralled me the
Most was Nancy’s story of how she sacrificed her life to come and help save her Family’s Farm. Doubly
Impressed !! I left that evening with the hopefulness that I will soon be raising Poultry

The Next morning I left, after having a brief conversation with Jennifer I left with the promise that I would be back soon and then sped off to go back to work.

Thanks for a great Weekend Denny and Jennifer.!!

Holy Cow, I'm In Hog Heaven !!

Last weekend I went to Cotai, CA to do some Family history research and what a weekend !!

Prior to my trip, I noticed on Facebook my cousins had posted some comments
that gave me information that finally gave me enough info to justify a trip
up there but just for added sucess I decided to see if I could find someone
near where I believed my grandfather had his dairy farm. Enter Denny and
Jenifer Hunt at blankity blank Potatoes & Produce.(http://sites.google.com/a/blankityblank.biz/http-www-blankityblank-biz/news)

I e-mailed Denny to ask if he or anyone he knew anything about my great-grand Father, My Grandfather or other family members who had lived around the area.

He told me that he would ask his mother, but it was ok to come up and he
would take some time out of his schedule to visit with me. In addition to the
e-mail,I attached two photos of my Great GrandFather. Later, he told me that
he printed out the pictures and showed his mom and she rememberd him.

Once I arrived thinks started happening fast and furoious, turns out that his
mother knew my great-Grandfather well enough (even though she was only
nine) that she used to yell out when he went by in his horse drawn waggon
"hello old Charle Bean" and sometimes he would give her and other neighborhood children rides on his wagon as horse drawn waggons were becoming more rare and motorized forms of transportation were becoming more common.

For the balance of Saturday, we talked and talked and talked.... you get the idea.

Let's just say, that not much farmwork got done that day. by late afternoon he invited me to stay the night as it was getting dark and I was not real crazy about driving back to the bay area at night, but I had signed up for overtime at
work and needed to go back on Sunday morning. As the day progressed he
decided to call another farm that he knew that was rasing pastured poultry
as I had expressed a desire to get back into farming and my delima.

I spoke with Nancy Prebilich (of Gleason Ranch)for about a hour on the phone.

As I went to sleep I could hardly believe the events of the day but little would
I know of what would tranpire the next day.

When I woke up on sunday morning I discovered to my surpries that the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day, contrary to the weather forcast of just a
few days prior. Then Denny discussed the possibility of going out to
Gleason Ranch and checking it out first hand. Denny admited that even though
he knew Nancy, He had never visited their Ranch and had a desire to do so.
After much deliberating and agonizing, I decided to call and cancel my overtime.

After eating breakfast I called Nancy but to no avail. Even so, we were dertimined and after looking on google maps and a few phone calls to friends later, we were farily confinant that Denny coud find the Geason Ranch.

More Later.....

Seed Companies Owned by Monsanto

this is a repost of a article I found on a Facebook group
thought it to be relvelant to all my readers....

Seed Companies & their Relationships w/Monsanto 2008/8/14 Diane Dodge FYI from Nick DeMarsh: Here is an interesting post on Seed companies supplied by monsanto. If you think it is relevant please pass it on to the growing food and justice listserve. Recently on a gardening forum in which I participate, a list of various seed companies now owned by Monsanto was posted. I was so shocked to discover Territorial Seeds on the list that I immediately wrote to them to ask if it was true... As it turns out, while Territorial continues to be owned privately, by Tom & Julie Johns, one of their seed suppliers, Seminis, is in fact owned by Monsanto. Over the course of my correspondence with staff from Territorial, they provided me with a list of the seeds currently purchased by Seminis, which I have attached. And I was told that the owners are 'considering' whether or not to continue using Seminis as a vendor. I'm sending this information out in the hopes that *you'll* consider writing to Territorial Seeds to request they terminate their relationship with Seminis, as well as expressing support for them as a company you'd continue to buy seeds from in the future. I can't express enough how important it is for those of us who are dedicated to food security, and the ongoing availability of good, local, organic produce, to do whatever we can to prevent Monsanto from colonizing our primary sources of seed. Toward that end, I'm also posting the list of companies owned by Monsanto for your review, in case you find others whose seeds you've bought.

* Territorial Seeds
* Totally Tomato
* Vermont Bean Seed Co.
* Burpee
* Cook's Garden
* Johnny's Seeds
* Earl May Seed
* Gardens Alive
* Lindenberg Seeds
* Mountain Valley Seed
* Park Seed
* T&T Seeds
* Tomato Growers Supply
* Willhite Seed Co.
* Nichol's
* Rupp
* Osborne
* Snow
* Stokes
* Jungs
* R.H. Shumway
* The Vermont Bean Seed Company
* Seeds for the World
* Seymour's Selected Seeds
* HPS * Roots and Rhizomes
* McClure and Zimmerman Quality Bulb Brokers
* Spring Hill Nurseries
* Breck's Bulbs
* Audubon Workshop
* Flower of the Month Club
* Wayside Gardens
* Park Bulbs
* Park's Countryside Garden

And one final thing: here's a link to another seed company, Fedco, who posted information on their website about their own decision to forgo using Seminis any longer once they had been purchased by Monsanto: http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/monsanto.htm

Fedco Seeds - The Monsanto Debate/Monsanto Buys Seminis

Here's the info for contacting Territorial Seeds:
Territorial Seed Company
Attn: Tom & Julie Johns
PO Box 158
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
Phone Orders: 800-626-0866
Fax Orders: 888-657-3131
Customer Service/Gardening Questions: 541-942-9547
Territorial Seed Company Store
20 Palmer Ave Cottage Grove, OR 97424
Phone: 541-942-0510 Customer Service
Email info@territorialseed.com

As always, please feel free to pass this information on freely - our power is in our numbers! Thanks, Julianne It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places--and there are so many--where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous- victory. Samir Adil President, Iraq Freedom Congress

Kitsap Community Agriculture Alliance Meeting

Last Night was the monthly meeting of Kitsap county's Community Agriculture Alliance Monthly Meeting that is usually held on the second Tuesday each month.

This Months theme was how CSA's ( community supported Agriculture) filled an important niche in the Local food web.

Jim Freeman (http://www.buylocalfoodinkitsap.org/) Moderated the meeting was attended by many Local Farmers like myself and few interested citizens/consumers.

Nikki Johanson of (http://www.pheasantfields.com/) and Marilyn Holt of Abundantly Green Farm ( http://holtcapital.com/abundantlygreen/) were the Main Speakers.

Also in attendance were: Shannon Harkness; Red Barn farm (http://www.redbarnfresh.com/) Paul Gregroy farm; Jerry Darnell (WSU instructor and Protien Farmer) Jay Pope; Rob Storie of All one family Farm (http://www.allonefamilyfarm.com/) Cheif Jeff as well as other guests.

Nikki and Marilyn spent many long hours putting a PowerPoint Presentation together with the help of Shannon Harkness but alas the Projection equipment where the meetings are usually held on the first floor were out of order so we all moved up from the first floor to the fourth floor. but alas, it was not to be arg! no laptop. So, Nikki and Marilyn winged it.

Nikki went first and spoke about the pro's, con's and pitfalls of CSA'S. She related several humorous stories about some unfortunate happenings when CSA members visit. One little girl of a CSA member left with less hair than she showed up with due to a hair eating goat. Another child of a CSA member left in a full body suit made up of several large garbage bags due to the child wallowing in the mud. She also explained that operating a successful CSA means spending time educating consumers on how to eat seasonally and often provides Recipes to members. She recommended that anyone wanting to start a CSA read the book " Sharing the Harvest by
Elizabeth Hendrson",

Marilyn Holt said that it took them a while to figure out what to grow so as not to compete with local stores. She admonished that we need to be respectful and aware of the ebbs and flows of nature and expressed that no two growing seasons are going to be the same even though you may grow the same crop year after year in the same soil.

Both Nikki and Marilyn bemoaned the fact that in the last few years the normal weather patterns are changing and related on how they were scrambling in May to fend off frost!!

Marilyn stated that only 3% of Kitsap county's food is grown locally and there is a greater demand than is currently produced and more small Local farmers like ourselves are needed.

They also advised that if you are considering a CSA to start out small maybe say 5-10 members to get the hang of it and sell the remainder at a Local farmers market.

When I asked both Marilyn and Nikki what they thought was the most important step someone who was considering starting a CSA both agreed that Volunteering at a Local CSA Farm for one season at least to get a working idea if it is for them or not.

Getting Ready

Hello and welcome to Beanstock Farm's new Blog.

We hope you come back often to see how our new ventue gets off the ground.