Poor Millie. She sat in the patio door and looked at us while we were feasting. Robert felt sorry for her. He cut the meat off of his Porterhouse bone and took her the bone so she could feast with us. It's a dog's life, you know. :)
Well, it's over. In many ways it's the worst day of the year as the inspector comes out and analyzes everything that we are doing here on our farm, SEEDS OF HONOR. If he/she puts too many red marks on her report, we get a letter from our certifying agency, INTERNATIONAL CERTIFICATION SERVICES, saying that we had better shape up or they'll pull our certification. This has never happened to us.
If that would ever happen to a farmer, he no longer can claim to be a certified organic farmer. This hurts big time as most buyers will not buy your crops unless you have the paperwork proving that you have been inspected by a reputable inspecting firm. So far, we only know of one farmer who didn't pass his inspection and that was because he planted GM corn in one of his fields on his 3rd year. How very sad that made us as he was so close to getting the premiums for his 3 years of transitioning away from chemical use. Instead of working with the agency, he just gave up on organics which made us even more sad. I guess that old saying is true, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."
Over the years, we've gotten a few "B" report cards but nothing that a little more attention to paperwork won't fix. It was that way today but we also got much praise for the cleanliness of our fields. Liz, the inspector we got today, said that our fields are very clean compared to a lot of organic fields. She praised our heavy use of alfalfa to squeeze out the noxious weeds which plague all farmers to some degree. Yes, chemical farmers have problems with noxious weeds too--just ask them. :)
I really liked Liz and wished that she lived closer. She's from up in the Carrington area. Being we had a 30 mile drive to our fields by Hazelton, I went along to visit with her. Liz understands that all plants (people and animals too) have their own frequency. I mentioned BodyTalk and she thought it was cool as she understands that microbes all have frequencies too and that they can be killed by strengthening the body to fight against their frequency. I told her about Radionics as she has a section of ground that she's in charge of and wants to take care of weeds without toxic chemicals too.
Liz shared with us about bio dynamic farming. She said to goggle it and study what the rest of the world already knows about nurturing the soil naturally. Liz said that in Germany ALL farming is done bio dynamically which builds the soil to produce healthy plants which makes a healthy populace. It's so interesting to learn that God IS working all around the world to bring healing to His people--we just don't hear about it. Thanks, Liz, for broadening our horizons once again. :)
After Liz left, Jacob and I hopped in the van and headed for Napoleon to pick up longer bolts for the swing set. We all know that tomorrow Robert will be back hauling again and we want to "Use" his strength and know-how as much as possible. We also needed some orange and yellow paint for the seats as we decided to do the colors of the rainbow.
Scottie, in Napoleon Cenex, is a gem beyond measure. He is such an awesome handy man. We watched him mix up the paint and, on the way home Jacob said to me, "I think that Scottie is their biggest asset in there." Isn't that great coming out of a 13-year-old boy?
Well, we got home, after searching Napoleon for a 7th bolt, and Robert located one down in Kintyre. GOOD GRIEF. Jacob and I jumped in the van AGAIN and drove the 1 1/2 miles down to the Titan dealer in Kintyre and got the last missing bolt. That makes 3 trips in the van that I took this afternoon--it just isn't done. I'm a home body. :)
So, after I delivered the paint to Cora so that she could finish painting the seats and the bolts to the guys, I headed out to the garden for some beets. My plan was to make a special feast in honor of our inspection being over and it was a success. The beets were wonderful (the first this year) plus I grilled Porterhouse and T-Bone steaks on the grill. We always save the porterhouse steaks for special occasions and passing our organic inspection is something to celebrate. We also had fresh lacto-fermented bread and chocolate, zucchini cake, so it was definitely a feast.
Well, I need to go wash up the calf bottles for chores so I don't have time to post the pictures of the swing set, but I'll do so tomorrow. Suffice it to say that the swing set is currently laying across the driveway, thus blocking it, so I'm sure it'll be a late night. Robert needs to get out of here in the morning with the truck so that thing has to go in the holes TONIGHT. You can check Cora's post from this morning to see all of the wonderful pictures she's taken so far.
Out to the barn,
Dawn
If that would ever happen to a farmer, he no longer can claim to be a certified organic farmer. This hurts big time as most buyers will not buy your crops unless you have the paperwork proving that you have been inspected by a reputable inspecting firm. So far, we only know of one farmer who didn't pass his inspection and that was because he planted GM corn in one of his fields on his 3rd year. How very sad that made us as he was so close to getting the premiums for his 3 years of transitioning away from chemical use. Instead of working with the agency, he just gave up on organics which made us even more sad. I guess that old saying is true, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."
Over the years, we've gotten a few "B" report cards but nothing that a little more attention to paperwork won't fix. It was that way today but we also got much praise for the cleanliness of our fields. Liz, the inspector we got today, said that our fields are very clean compared to a lot of organic fields. She praised our heavy use of alfalfa to squeeze out the noxious weeds which plague all farmers to some degree. Yes, chemical farmers have problems with noxious weeds too--just ask them. :)
I really liked Liz and wished that she lived closer. She's from up in the Carrington area. Being we had a 30 mile drive to our fields by Hazelton, I went along to visit with her. Liz understands that all plants (people and animals too) have their own frequency. I mentioned BodyTalk and she thought it was cool as she understands that microbes all have frequencies too and that they can be killed by strengthening the body to fight against their frequency. I told her about Radionics as she has a section of ground that she's in charge of and wants to take care of weeds without toxic chemicals too.
Liz shared with us about bio dynamic farming. She said to goggle it and study what the rest of the world already knows about nurturing the soil naturally. Liz said that in Germany ALL farming is done bio dynamically which builds the soil to produce healthy plants which makes a healthy populace. It's so interesting to learn that God IS working all around the world to bring healing to His people--we just don't hear about it. Thanks, Liz, for broadening our horizons once again. :)
After Liz left, Jacob and I hopped in the van and headed for Napoleon to pick up longer bolts for the swing set. We all know that tomorrow Robert will be back hauling again and we want to "Use" his strength and know-how as much as possible. We also needed some orange and yellow paint for the seats as we decided to do the colors of the rainbow.
Scottie, in Napoleon Cenex, is a gem beyond measure. He is such an awesome handy man. We watched him mix up the paint and, on the way home Jacob said to me, "I think that Scottie is their biggest asset in there." Isn't that great coming out of a 13-year-old boy?
Well, we got home, after searching Napoleon for a 7th bolt, and Robert located one down in Kintyre. GOOD GRIEF. Jacob and I jumped in the van AGAIN and drove the 1 1/2 miles down to the Titan dealer in Kintyre and got the last missing bolt. That makes 3 trips in the van that I took this afternoon--it just isn't done. I'm a home body. :)
So, after I delivered the paint to Cora so that she could finish painting the seats and the bolts to the guys, I headed out to the garden for some beets. My plan was to make a special feast in honor of our inspection being over and it was a success. The beets were wonderful (the first this year) plus I grilled Porterhouse and T-Bone steaks on the grill. We always save the porterhouse steaks for special occasions and passing our organic inspection is something to celebrate. We also had fresh lacto-fermented bread and chocolate, zucchini cake, so it was definitely a feast.
Well, I need to go wash up the calf bottles for chores so I don't have time to post the pictures of the swing set, but I'll do so tomorrow. Suffice it to say that the swing set is currently laying across the driveway, thus blocking it, so I'm sure it'll be a late night. Robert needs to get out of here in the morning with the truck so that thing has to go in the holes TONIGHT. You can check Cora's post from this morning to see all of the wonderful pictures she's taken so far.
Out to the barn,
Dawn
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