A Traditional Farm Life
By Shasta Hamilton
Greetings from Enterprise, dear friends! The children are on a “field trip” this morning—in our front yard-- watching Tommy Walters of Walters Farrier Service shoe a couple of our horses, so I have a few minutes to come begin my weekly letter to you, my dear readers.
Our boys continue to make progress tweaking their draft forecart to fit their needs. This week’s project in their Grandpa’s shop was to mount a utility drag blade on the back of the forecart. This gives them the ability to clean pens and level ground with draft horse power. They tried it out for the first time Tuesday evening and reported it worked exactly as it was supposed to—which is always a nice bonus.
Thursday evening found our oldest son disking the garden with Tom and Jerry, another first for the new forecart. The thick layer of straw mulch left on the garden from last fall combined with semi-frozen ground made things a little difficult, but the experience was an excellent educational opportunity providing the building blocks for a new skill.
We’ve been utilizing the Abilene Public Library’s inter-library loan service recently, gaining access to draft horse farming and specialty gardening books that would otherwise be hard for us to get a hold of.
Yesterday my husband brought home a treasure I can’t wait to start reading: An original 1917 edition of “Corn Among the Indians of the Upper Missouri” by George F. Will and George E. Hyde. (My bookworm’s bean brain will digest it and bore you with the details in a future column.)
This nearly 100 year-old gem was borrowed from the University of Kansas library. I’m grateful for the free inter-library service our local libraries provide and encourage you to make use of it, too.
For the moment, I’m back to the future absorbing “The Resilient Farm and Homestead: An Innovative Permaculture and Whole Systems Design Approach” by Ben Falk.
While I won’t claim to completely understand this complex conceptual framework of environmentally-friendly gardening and farming tailored to one’s particular ecosystem, I like the idea of planning the use of our own 11 acres in a way that works with the water features, mature trees, and earthworks we already have. “The Whole Systems Design Approach” is particularly of interest for me as I plan future perennial plantings of fruit, nuts, berries, and herbs on our own homestead.
I’m amused by a unique kind or irony as I read this book. It’s infused with very modern environmentalist concerns which are leading a whole new generation of folks back to what my husband Michael and I term the “traditional farm,” an idyllic place where garden vegetables, fruit and nut trees, and medicinal herbs provide year-round nourishment and medicine for the family, and animals provide food and fiber and well as serve as rotational grazers bringing fertility back to the land.
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While Dickinson County, Kansas is a world away from the Green River Mountains of Vermont, I’m still able to learn from the theory behind some of the techniques. It appears to me that the permaculture principles of “regeneration” and “resilience” are only a modern repackaging of something our pioneer forefathers lived every day of their lives: “Regeneration involves seeing things as they could be, while resiliency requires dealing with things as they are” (Falk, page 1).
Regardless of the underlying reasons bringing folks back to “the traditional farm” today, it’s encouraging to see the commitment they are making to develop their land with future generations in mind. (After all, it takes many years for fruit and nut trees to mature and bear to their full potential.) Everything old is new again, dear readers. It just goes to show there is nothing new under the sun!
No matter what century we live in, it is always a good practice to have a vision for the future while living with the realities of the present time, actively working toward a better future.
Sloppy Joes are a favorite meal around here—past, present, and future. It had been awhile since we had this sweet and tangy treat, so we all dug in with reckless abandon, making us “The Sloppy Hamiltons”!
Sloppy Joes
3 lb. ground beeef
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 medium green pepper, chopped
2 cans (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 cup catsup
1 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup quick cooking oatmeal
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup yellow mustard
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1. Brown ground beef with onion and green pepper.
2. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until thick and bubbly. (The oats will completely disintegrate and serve to thicken the mixture.)
3. Serve on buns, homemade bread, or rice for the gluten-free. Yield: 12-16 servings.
Copyright © 2016 by Shasta Hamilton
Shasta is a fifth generation rural Kansan now residing in Enterprise, Kansas. She and her husband own and operate The Buggy Stop Home-Style Kitchen with their six home-schooled children. You can reach The Buggy Stop by calling (785) 200-6385 or visit them on the web at www.thebuggystoprestaurant.com .
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