Old 99 Farm, week of Oct 28 2018

Eggs on special this week, maybe next couple of weeks. Large size $5/dozen. The new flock of birds is setting lots of large and medium eggs, hardly any XL or Jumbos.

This week we have:
- kale, collards, carrots, cabbage
- beef: ground, stew and roasts
- chicken: roasting and stewing hens
- tomatoes, parsley, arugula
- potatoes, onions, garlic
- celeriac
- stone ground flour: wheat and spelt
- roast goose, butchered this month
- lard, rendered or minced
- apple cider pressed here, frozen
- blackberry cuttings, rooted

I was told this week during a discussion on climate change that we live in the sweet spot on the planet insofar as being sheltered from the impacts happening now.
For some idea of those impacts I suggest two blogs, Climate and Economy and Faster Than Expected

Did you hear yet that a far right populist candidate has won the Brazilian national election, and Steve Bannon, former White House advisor to D Trump, has been advising him.

Healthy eating
Ian and Cami

Old 99 Farm, week of Oct 21, 2018

This week we have:
- kale, collards, carrots, cabbage
- beef: ground, stew and roasts
- chicken: roasting and stewing hens on special two for one
- tomatoes, parsley, arugula
- potatoes, onions, garlic
- celeriac
- apple cider pressed here, frozen
- blackberry cuttings, rooted

For your garden we have mature (2018) composted cow manure, amended with basalt rock flour, gypsum and fungal inoculants. Get it on your garden now so it can work all winter under the snow(hoping we have some).

Your climate primers, because you’ve decided you want to be an informed citizen and resourceful parent for your kids.
For basic information about climate science, go here
For how to track your carbon footprint, go here
For an entertaining explanation of why population reduction has to be, go here

Health eating
Ian and Cami

Old 99 Farm week of Oct 12, 2018

This is Thursday evening, I’m reminding you we are open tomorrow from 4 to 6 for vegetables, eggs, meat. Still have tomatoes on the vine, kale, spinach, parsley, and root veg in storage.
I have active compost for sale now, biologically active and amended with trace minerals, by the bushel or bulk.

Ground beef on special, 20% off.
Have home made sweet apple cider from last weekend $8/gal.
We rendered lard as well, so there is still some available. Same price as unrendered.

Lots of climate news this week. There is an impromptu Climate Rally at Gore Park, east end on Saturday 1:30. Followed by important movie “Anthropocene: The Human Impact” showing nearby at 3pm at AGH Linc Alexander theatre. May still be tickets for that.

My friends Ken and Claire Dam are doing a home butchering event on Oct 27th and inviting anyone interested. Here’s what they say:

Hi all
We will be harvesting our two Tamworth pigs on October 27, 2018.
They have been raised outside, fed on an organic soy-free local feed.

We are certainly not experts on the process – so you will learning with us as we try our best to develop the skill of slaughtering a pig with proficiency, patience, and gratitude.
It would certainly be easier to just send them to the local abbatoir. But we value the experience of reviving old skills and reviving our deep connection with our food. Come learn with us.

Where: 2330 Concession 2 Rd W, Lynden, ON
When: Saturday, Oct 27. 8:00 am – finish
What: We will start with the kill. Followed by the scalding, and the somewhat labour intensive process of dehairing. Then we’ll eviscerate, split, and hang. Hopefully we’ll sample some of the offal – which is always best consumed fresh.

You don’t need to bring anything, other than perhaps some food or snacks for yourself. Dress appropriately.
If you want to see an example/model of the process we will be trying to follow, check out the “anatomy of thrift” videos by Farmstead Meatsmith here:
https://vimeo.com/39451071

Please confirm if you intend to come, so we can manage numbers. kenandclaire@gmail.com

Healthy eating
Ian and Cami

Cider Day Sat Oct 13

We’re going ahead with the annual cider day for family and friends of Old99.

You can rsvp here, or by reply to this email.

we’re going to have good weather it looks promising. I plan to have the cider wagon set up in the yard. Additional ‘hands-on’ activities will be putting straw up in the barn loft, making biochar and rendering lard. I will also do my usual climate dialogue wit the latest news and developments.
In that regard I send you this link. I could send almost any link bu this one is fresh interviews with breaking science, deftly crafted by canadian Alex Smith from BC on his RadioEcoshock program. I hope you can listen and/or read the blog notes

Old 99 farm, week of Oct 7 2018

We have tomatoes, kale, carrots, parsley, garlic, cabbage, potatoes, onions, collards, arugula and celariac this week. We have new beef in the freezer: burger and stew and a few roasts. Also chicken and eggs.

It was an important week for climate news: a new report from the IPCC on the difference between 1.5 and 2d C of warming. You can read about it here and here.

Healthy eating
Ian and Cami

2018 Climate Report from ECO issued Sept 25

I hope you could spare a minute to read my post about this on the Ontario Environmental Commissioner (Dianne Saxe) website.

I am writing in support of urgent action from government for the climate emergency. Cancelling the Cap-and-Trade bill is foolish short-term opportunism by the government in power. Stewart says they are only doing what they said they would do, but that is very selective. Finding the government accounts are in worse shape than reported is also grounds for revising even retracting campaign promises.
While it is true that 44 of 45 cap-and-trade plans world wide have not worked, it is because of political pressures to issue too many allowances at start up, downgrading the rules of engagement and manipulating the credit auctions to keep the price low.
But a rigorous plan is better than no plan at all. See analysis here.
There is no easy fix to the climate emergency. Even the 2018 Greenhouse Gas Progress Report, Climate Action in Ontario: What’s Next? lowballs the cost and impact of CO2e pollution. More on that later.
This could be the end of the ECO office, given current government priorities and ideology. I think it is therefore incumbent on Dianne Saxe to point out all the consequences of her politically nuanced report. Just a few examples:
- new nuclear plants but no cost for waste and decommissioning included,
- saying electricity generation has been decarbonized already (off coal but still on nat gas),
- major increase in bioenergy from wood considered decarbonized (it’s not, mainly due to timelag for replacement forest storage),
- industry emissions reduced by still-uninvented Carbon Capture Use and Storage technologies,
- makes least current cost the criteria for proposals (which discounts the future – they use 4%/pa) so lowballs cost by delaying outlays, and
- no recognition of drawdown potential for immediate net reductions from agriculture.

Ontario targets (per Paris) of 30% below 2005 and 70-90% by 2050 (COP22) are inadequate to stabilize below 2dC warming in any humanly relevant timeframe. For reference: Actual Ontario emissions 1990: 179Mt, 2005 205 Mt, 2016 161 Mt, targets 2030 143Mt, 2050 36Mt, all per year. (Ontario’s own target for 2030 in the 2016 Act was actually 113Mt/yr, about 20% steeper than Paris.)

You can comment too and it is important that many of us do. The Ontario govt has introduced Bill 4 to cancel Cap and Trade legislation, at great expense to the public Treasury and the Climate. We have till Oct 11 to comment.
The full report is here.
Webinar (1 hr) with Dianne Saxe Oct 1 signup is here.

Thanks for listening.

OLd 99 Farm, week of Sept 23 2018

We’re having a mild September, likely to continue well into October. Usual first hard frost over last 20 years is Oct 29th or later. We haven’t harvested the sweet potatoes yet, nor the celeriac. But tomatoes are being picked green to put in the cold cellar so the blight doesn’t get a start. Still have lots of tomatoes in the greenhouse as well as kale, arugula and spinach.

We have fresh beef starting this week: stew, ground, organs, eye of round roast and tenderloin.

I found a very useful site for people concerned with privacy and webbrowsing. I got stung a couple months back with a ‘ransomware’ attack, that I thought was genuine Microsoft tech service call. Had to reinstall OS and cost me $200. Wish I had this site then; it’s Privacy Badger.

Old 99 Farm, week of Sept 10 2018

Tomatoes, cabbage, onions, potatoes, chard, beans, peppers are all looking good. I’m amazed how well the tomatoes have lasted this year, and now I have lots of the yellow cherry size that are so popular.

I’ll have new ‘crop’ of activated compost in a month, amended with micronutrient mineral and biochar. Good to put on your garden and turn in, plant a covercrop on top is even better. Never leave your garden bare!

Around the farm I am discovering healthy saplings from my nut trees: Heartnut, English Walnut, Butternut. Often I can tell what they are from the nut shell still at the root. These are excellent shade trees, and the nuts are edible of course. I’ll dig and pot/wrap for you.

What’s up in the climate news? Try reading the blog, Faster Than Expected, for concise clips and nice pictures.

Old 99 Farm first week of Sept

I’m just putting this out on Friday afternoon to let you know we are here on Sunday for any orders. We have lots of tomatoes, cukes, baby chard, peppers, basil, potatoes, onions, garlic, even some zuchini!

Saturday we are at the Rise UP for Climate event at City Hall 1pm, and Locke Street Festival before and after that. Maybe you can join us!

I just got news that this is a global BIG deal: Hundreds of thousands expected to join global climate marches this weekend.

Protests against politicians’ failure to tackle the environmental crisis will take place in more than 90 countries.

See article in the Guardian

Hundreds of thousand of people in more than 90 countries are expected to take part in demonstrations this weekend to protest about the failure of politicians to tackle the global environmental crisis.

Organisers say more than 800 events – from marches to street theatre, acts of civil disobedience to mini festivals – will take place in towns and cities amid growing frustration at the lack of meaningful political action over the emerging climate breakdown.

WALK WITH US

MEET AT LOCKE ST. LIBRARY

HERKIMER AND LOCKE

11 am SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH (also 2 pm and 4 pm)

AND /OR

JOIN THE RISE UP CAMPAIGN

https://riseforclimate.org/

1 PM Saturday SEPTEMBER 8TH

CITY HALL HAMILTON

Nick Bryer from campaign group 350.org which is organising the event said: “Politicians are failing. They are still protecting the interests of the fossil fuel companies over the interests of people, despite mounting evidence of the devastation these companies and this system is causing the planet.”

He said the day of global demonstrations was about people around the world “rising up and demanding a different cause of action, a different future which puts people and a sustainable future before the interests of these huge corporations”.

One of the biggest protests is expected in Paris where up to 100,000 people are expected. Events in other European cities including Copenhagen, Brussels and Lisbon are also expected to attract tens of thousands of protesters.

The events come ahead of the Global Climate Action Summit that starts in San Fransisco next week and will see politicians and city leaders from around the world gather to discuss the climate crisis.

—
The real choice we all face is not what to buy, whether to fly or whether to have children but whether we are willing to commit to living ethically in a broken world, a world in which human beings are dependent for collective survival on a kind of ecological grace.

Old 99 Farm, week of Aug 25 2018

The Rise up for Climate public rally is at 1pm Sat Sept 8 at City Hall, not 7pm. Sorry bout that, please make a choice to stand up for emergency action to preserve a habitable climate in our lifetimes. Register your intent here

Here at the farm, we have tomatoes, Amish Paste, will texture of beefsteak type. Still ripening on the vines.

Cukes are doing well, as are beans, basil, arugula, potatoes, peppers, kale, spinach and beets.

My fav climate site this week is a 10 min doc on youtube, blending clips of leading spokespersons on the nature of the emergency. See coming disruption of the carbon bubble

I have collected my best of the best in this public folder on googledrive