Draft Day at Lindig's Farm

Dave Lindig has a farm that he makes money on through agritourism. The farm grows sorghum, gourds, and pumpkins. It also has several species of poultry, a few calves, and a handful of goats (including two baby goats). Entry is $5 for adults, $3 for children. A variety of products are for sale on the farm, including cookies made with sorghum molasses, Jake's maple syrup, and pumpkins.

I visited Lindig's farm on Homestead and Draft Day -- a special event in which people were demonstrating plowing, tilling, and farming techniques using horses instead of tractors. Others were pressing sorghum with a mule-powered press, then boiling the juice to turn it into molasses.

At Draft Day, I talked with a fellow who bred mules. He told me about the relative advantages of mules over horses: mules live longer; mules are more agile on uneven ground; mules are easier to train; mules have sturdier legs than horses.

It was beautiful to watch the horses and mules plow the fields. There was a bond between the farmer and the horses -- an organic, loving, symbiotic relationship. The farmer and team worked close to the earth -- the farmer was literally a couple feet away from the ground, in the open air, not "protected" or isolated by the cabin of a big machine. It was such a contrast from the gigantic tractors, run by agribusiness farmers in air-conditioned cabins, rolling on huge tires over large acres of monocultures.

I left feeling like horses and mules were the clear path to a better future for sustainable agriculture.

Clock of the World

Perhaps one of my favorite songs performed at the Land Institute's 32nd Prairie Festival was "Clock of the World," by Krista Detor. She wrote it as part of the Darwin Song Project, a performance group at the 2009 Shrewsbury Folk Festival tasked with commemorating Charles Darwin's 200th birthday.

The lyrics of the chorus: "somewhere bells are ringing, somewhere someone's marrying, or a casket someone's carrying, a crowd somewhere is gathering; somewhere a bell is marking what is passing as sublime, like a clock of the world keeping perfect, holy time."

As Krista sings in the song, "Grace may find us yet."

Wilderness Plots: Songs and Stories

The 32nd Land Institute's Prairie Festival (Sept. 24-26, 2010) included a musical performance honoring prairie pioneers called the "Perennial Polyculture Suite." The musicians -- Krista Detor, Tim Grimm, Malcolm Dalgish, Tom Roznowski and Scott Russell Sanders -- performed selections from WTIU's PBS film Wilderness Plots: Songs and Stories of the Prairie, based on the book Wilderness Plots by Scott Russell Sanders.

Both the book and the video bring to life short stories about the settling of the American West. The live performance at the Prairie Festival included songs like "Rebecca Versailles," which is about a freed slave who found out, once she reached Indiana, that her children were not allowed to go to school with white kids. She was told that Indiana law forbid black children to be educated with white children, and she was advised to teach her children herself. But Rebecca Versailles, who was raised in slavery, did not know how to read or write.

Determined not to let her children go uneducated, Rebecca Versailles took the initiative to make pens and books that she then sold to the white school. The pens and books were of high quality, and eventually the school let her make them perched in the back of the school room. So the hard-working mother, while making the pens and books, quietly absorbed the lessons taught in school; and when she went home at night, she taught them to her own children. These children never took for granted the value of education, and when they grew up, they became teachers themselves -- teachers who vowed never to turn away someone who wanted to learn, no matter their race or creed.

Other songs from Wildnerness Plots are posted on youtube, such as "Wishing for More than I Dare Say."

Heterogeneous Wes

This past weekend I attended the 32nd annual Prairie Festival at the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas. It was inspirational beyond my expectations.

Key speakers included Wendell Berry, Scott Russell Sanders, Josh Farley, Sandra Steingraber, Kent Whealy, and of course Wes Jackson, founder of the Land Institute. All of the speakers were given standing ovations after their lectures. They are among the central heroes working towards the advancement of sustainable living through research and consciousness raising on land use issues. Their lectures are available on CD from the Land Institute.

There is much to say about the festival, but what impressed me the most was the humor that was ever-present despite the sobering overall picture that the lecturers laid out before us.

During the evenings and on Sunday morning (the last day of the festival), musicians performed and lightened the mood. Some songs were melancholy and contemplative, to be sure -- like a song about how the air will be bought and sold and the poor will be left breathless. But other songs were downright hilarious, like the tribute to Wes Jackson called "Heterogeneous Wes."

The song traces Wes' journey from genetics student to professor to founder of the Land Institute. It went something like this: "he studied biology, chemistry, genetics to boot, then he moved to Kansas to start the Land Institute." But the chorus was what I remember best. "Polyculture...(it's perrenial). Polyculture (it's incrennial)... Crop rotation, variation, a prairie plan; sustainable, perennial heterogeneous man!"

During the middle of the song, the musicians explained that "incrennial" is a new word that combines "incredible" with "perennial."

The key to getting the humor is understanding Wes' life's work: developing perennial grains to take the place of annuals like wheat and corn. One of the perennials that the Land Institute has developed through selective breeding is kernza, which was available for sale (in limited quantities) at the Festival.

As the Land Institute's website explains, the perennial polycultures they are developing will cut down on erosion, pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, fossil fuel use, pollution, and water use, protecting the soil -- arguably our most precious resource.

Because of Wes' work on perennials, Life magazine named him as one of 18 individuals it predicts will be among the most important Americans of the 20th century. Thank you, heterogeneous Wes!

To learn more about Wes Jackson, check out "Prairie Pioneer Seeks to Change the Way We Farm" by Richard Harris on All Things Considered, available at npr.org.

Badly Drawn Cow

Last night in my Forage and Crop Systems class, we were learning about different types of fences. Our professor showed us a cartoon-y picture illustrating how an electric fence works. I tried to copy it in my notebook... but I'm not very talented when it comes to drawing.

When I inspected my finished "copy" of the illustration, I burst out laughing. It was so horrible! A cow with a tiny head, short legs, huge body, and stumpy tail. :P

Here's hoping this badly drawn cow will get you to laugh, too.

Fencing and Wire Insulators

Today I learned that fencing wire is not attached directly to corner or end posts; instead, it is attached to an insulator, which is in turn attached to the fence post via another wire. Why?

An insulator is used as an intermediary between the wire and the fence post to keep electricity away from the post. This way, if the post gets wet, it doesn't drain electricity from the wire.

Here is a video of my classmate learning to attach the insulator to the fence-post wire. It's not as easy at one might think!

Wrapping and Snapping Fence Wires

During our fencing workshop today, we learned how to attach high-tensile wire to corner posts and line posts using insulators, strainers, crimps, and what I call "wire-weaving." We had to learn how to tie a specific kind of "knot" and wrap the wire around itself several times so that the insulators stay in place. It was hard at first, but we were quick to improve our "wire-wrapping" skills once we got the hang of it.

The trickiest part was actually cutting off the extraneous wire. Wire cutters are considered "cheating"; the "real way" to trim the wire is to snap it off manually.

A lot of people had trouble learning to snap off the end of the wire, but I picked it up quickly. My professor said, "somebody get a picture of this!" as I wrapped and snapped wire like a pro (or an advanced beginner). It was easier for me, I think, because the technique is very similar to the techniques in jewelry-making, something with which I've had a bit of practice.

Above is a video of my friend, Gretchen, learning to "wrap and snap" fencing wire.

Fencing and Crickets

Today I learned how to put up fence corners, ends, and braces. We dug holes 48" deep, put 8' treated wood poles in the holes, then marked off the height of the three high-tensile wires we'll put on the fence: 20" high, 30" high, and 40" high.

In addition to installing several poles, we learned how to do three different types of braces to hold the end and corner poles in place: the "deadman"; the "H" brace; and the diagonal brace. The "deadman" is just a stump of wood placed under the ground at the base of the pole; it's fairly easy to put in, but it only works well for 3-wire fences.

The "diagonal brace" is the next easiest to install. A log is used to "prop" up the end of the fence, with one end of the brace on the ground (on top of a concrete block), and the other end pushing against the side of the top of the pole.

The most difficult brace to build is the H-brace. You basically form a "H" shape with three logs. It looks like a generic fence that a kid would draw. But it's hard to build, because you have to dig holes for TWO posts, then slide a 10' or 12' log in between the posts and secure it with drilled holes and metal pins. Digging holes is hard work!

Complicating this whole process was my fear of crickets... crickets and grasshoppers were all over the pasture we were fencing. I confessed to a class-mate that I had a phobia of crickets and grasshoppers, and he thought it was hilarious. "I've never heard of someone being afraid of crickets and grasshoppers," he said. But he's a farm boy, so of course it seems ridiculous to him.

100 Mile Diet | Day 5

Today I ate rather well. I finished off my Swiss chard quiche for brunch; then I made pumpkin custard to add as an amendment to my pumpkin pie, which I felt didn't have enough flavor. I added lots of pumpkin pie spice to the custard -- maybe a bit too much. But the balance of spicy custard, as a topping on the milder pie, worked out quite nicely.

For dinner, I fried Shiitake mushrooms in homemade garlic-lemon mayonnaise. I combined the mushrooms with garlic-parsley potato salad and a steamed banana pepper stuff with leftover beef stew.

I made the mayonnaise with a fresh egg from Bluebird Gardens; olive oil (a trade item); garlic from Bluebird Gardens; and fresh-squeezed juice from organic lemons (another trade item, which I bought from Wal-Mart).

The garlic-parsley potato salad had potatoes and garlic from Bluebird Gardens. The parsley, which was grown at Lida Far near Frazee, I bought at the Detroit Lakes Farmer's Market.

Feral Cats

I am a cat-lover. The photo is of my Zoey, sleeping in the sun on the porch, using part of a broom and my flip-flop for support. When I see things like this, I melt.

When I moved to Fergus Falls, I learned that feral cats are a huge problem here. There are lots of them, and -- like all outdoor cats -- they are devastating to the songbird population.

On a class trip to Meadowfarm Foods, we saw a brochure for an organization called "Friends of Feral Cats." I was immediately interested, and it sparked a conversation between some of us. To my great surprise, a classmate -- who is vegetarian, does yoga, has pet cats, and seems quite liberal -- said she shoots feral cats whenever she sees them.

I can't begin to tell you how shocked I was when I learned that this practice is not uncommon -- shooting feral cats! Yes, they are a problem as a prolific invasive species... they kill birds... but they are still cute, adorable kitties, aren't they? Don't they at least deserve the same respect as cats in a shelter? I know in many shelters cats are killed, too, but I would guess much more humanely, with an injection. Shooting cats seems downright cruel and barbaric. But maybe I'm just a closed-minded city girl.

It poses a moral quandry. I could look at this habit from an anthropological perspective, remaining somewhat detached, open-minded, and observant... Or I could let my instincts guide me and try to "save" feral cats from such a horrible death. But what would happen to all those "saved" cats? Certainly, many would not be adoptable. Could they be humanely euthanized? If so, who would pay?

Like many people, for now I am trying not to think too much about these emotionally-disturbing moral issues... but it's weighing on me.

Cauliflower Update

Remember my post from this summer about the cauliflower I planted? I heard you are supposed to tie up the leaves, so I did that... But apparently I did it wrong, because my cauliflower died.

I tied the leaves too tightly together and suffocated my poor plant... When I opened up the leaves to check on it's progress, it was a decaying mess.

Rest in Peace, mon petit chou (fleure).

100 Mile Diet | Day 3

For brunch today, I had some Swiss chard quiche and some homemade pumpkin pie. The pumpkin came from Bluebird gardens. I cooked half of the pumpkin in boiling water on the stove-top; the other half I roasted in the oven. Boiling the pumpkin was by far faster, and I don't think there was any difference in the taste. My only regret on the pie was that I should have added more seasonings; I used twice as much pumpkin pie mix as called for in the recipe, but I should have quadrupled the amount. The quiche was good, too -- a little runny, but like the pie, it was made without a recipe by someone who doesn't have much experience in the kitchen.

For an early dinner, I had beef stew made with tomatoes, onions, garlic and carrots from Bluebird gardens; hominy from Native Harvest; and green beans from the Detroit Lakes Farmer's Market (more specifically, I got them from "Feel Good Farm"). It was pretty tasty. I also had some sweet squash, mashed with Cass Clay butter and local maple syrup; that wasn't as good. Maybe I'll try to make another pie and incorporate the leftovers into the filling.

Pumpkin pie again for dessert, and I'll be very satisfied. I've gotten used to cooking, and so today the diet doesn't seem so hard.

100-Mile Diet | Much Better with Practice

Day 3 of the 100-Mile diet, and I'm kind-of getting used to it. I've been cooking up a storm; in the past 24 hours, I've made: a pumpkin pie from scratch, a Swiss chard and onion quiche; mashed squash with maple syrup; a baked potato; and beef stew with hominy, tomatoes, carrots and green beans. I've also prepared an egg bake that is "sitting" in the fridge until it's ready to be cooked; it has Swiss chard, shiitake mushrooms, onions, and Bongard's marble jack cheese.

My egg bake also has Dakota bread from the Falls Baking Company, although that item was a bit of a stretch. The flour in the bread comes from Northern Minnesota, but they guessed their source was about 150 miles away. I felt like that was close-enough -- it was Minnesota flour, and the bread was baked 1/2 block from my house by a locally-owned bakery -- so I called it good and bought it to use in the egg bake.

For the pumpkin pie, I had to use pumpkin spice mix and baking mix (for the crust) -- two more trade items. The quiche also had a crust made from the baking mix.

The beef stew, however, is entirely local. It's pretty good, too -- despite having been made without a recipe by someone who can't really cook.

100-Mile Diet | Critical Caffeine

Oh caffeine, I now realize how wonderful you are!

Today I added a new trade item: Diet Pepsi. I wasn't going to do it, but I was so tired from not eating anything substantial, and I was being so indecisive about what to cook and how, that I capitulated to my craving for diet soda. And truly, it helped -- a lot.

I felt like I just couldn't do this 100-Mile diet without some caffeine, and since I had some cold cans of diet Pepsi in my fridge tempting me, I gave in. I opened a can. And it feels so good to have that back in the "allowed" category! Maybe now I can deal with eating only local food -- as long as I can have that one non-local beverage.

100-Mile Diet | Stress over "Special"

Since I've worked hard to procure all these local ingredients (or, harder than I usually do in buying food), I am finding I appreciate and value each item more.

Today I asked my boyfriend for advice on how to use my pound of local ground beef, and as we were discussing options, he said "don't waste good beef" on an untested recipe. The ground beef had become precious -- the opposite of a fungible commodity.

I feel like it's my duty to make the most of all my local ingredients, which is creating a lot of stress. I've been researching recipes that use only the local ingredients, and I have to be careful what I use when, since there are no more farmer's markets before the end of my diet-week. I can't just go to the grocery store and get more ingredients -- the grocery store hardly has anything that was locally grown. So unless I want to live on Bongard's cheese later this week, I need to ration my produce and use every item wisely.

The local foods are "special" -- not easily obtained, and often more expensive and harder to prepare than alternatives (consider canned pumpkin vs. a whole pumpkin purchased from a local pumpkin patch). Combined with the fact that I can't really cook, this is causing me a lot of stress about how to put it all together.

100-Mile Diet | Sources and Sacrifices

The Cass Clay dairy products I bought said they were from cows not treated with hormones (this was in the fine print), but nothing was mentioned about how the cows lived out their daily existence. I doubt they are on sustainable farms, grazing on diverse forage in a green pasture. They probably live inside, in a high-tech barn on an industrial dairy farm.

After visiting several sustainable farms in the Fergus Falls area, I have become extra sensitive to the origin of my food. I wonder, where is the farm? What does it look like? Are the cows outside year-round, or are they contained in pens filled with their feces?

I felt bad buying Cass Clay dairy products not knowing more about their source-farms. Eating locally should, ideally, bring me closer to the source of my food. But until I identify local farms from whom I can purchase products directly, in some ways I remain as disconnected as I was before.

I am happiest with my purchases from the vegetable farms that I toured in person, where I spent several hours talking with the farmer about his methods and philosophy. I loved cooking "Dallas' kale," which I didn't wash because I know he washes everything three times. I also like having two bunches of Swiss chard to compare: one from Ryan at Lida Farm, and one from Dallas' farm, Forest Glen. I think of the produce as "Ryan's" or "Dallas'," rather than as "just Swiss chard."

Tonight, I cooked Ryan's Swiss chard, mixed with Dallas' kale, in garlic from Mark Boen's farm -- possibly picked by my classmate, Andy, and sold to me by Mark's wife, Diane.

As I was eating my bowl of greens, I couldn't separate the food from the knowledge of where it was grown. Each ingredient (except the olive oil, my trade item) felt personal -- it had an emotional and intellectual significance.

That's what eating local should feel like.

Grocery Stores and Local Food

It is really difficult to discern, when visiting a conventional grocery store, the origin of the food for sale. Some items are marked "United States," or "Canada," but that's about it. It gives the impression that an apple is an apple, a steak is a steak, a carrot is a carrot -- where or how it was produced doesn't matter much. It made me wonder: do people genuinely not care, or has agribusiness and advertising made them believe it doesn't matter where food comes from?

I went to the two "regular" grocery stores in Fergus Falls -- SunMart and Service Foods -- in search of locally grown and produced edibles. In particular, I was on the look-out for local dairy products: Bongard's and Cass-Clay. Before coming to Fergus Falls, I had never heard of either; but to be fair, I haven't been a huge consumer of dairy products for nearly 20 years.

I have decided to abandon, temporarily, my gluten-free, dairy-free diet so that I can appreciate more fully the experience of "local eating." Hesitantly, I purchased Cass-Clay milk, half & half, and butter, along with a brick of Bongard's marble-jack cheese. Cass-Clay was one of the main brands of dairy products displayed at Service Foods; Service Foods was also where I found Bongard's cheese (SunMart does not carry it).

Browsing the very limited selection of food produced by local brands (Cass Clay, Bongard's, Barrel o' Fun), I couldn't help but dwell on what I was sacrificing to stick to the 100-mile diet. I was craving corn chips, but Barrel o' Fun didn't have "non-GMO" or "organic" on the label, so I passed them up. I stuck with the dairy products I usually avoid, daydreaming about making a pumpkin pie from scratch.

I don't know the recipe for pumpkin pie -- or rather I didn't have one with me in the store -- so I searched for canned pumpkin hoping there would be a recipe on the label. No such luck -- neither grocery store had canned pumpkin!

I asked an elderly woman next to me in the dairy case if pumpkin pie called for half & half or heavy cream, and she suggested "gourmet" half & half from Land o' Lakes, which she grabbed off the shelf for me. I politely took it, waited until she was gone, and then exchanged it for Cass Clay half & half.

When I got home, I looked up "pumpkin pie" in the Joy of Cooking, and it calls for heavy cream. Not wanting to go back to the store and buy even more dairy products, I've decided to figure out a way to make pumpkin pie with Cass Clay half & half.

100 Mile Diet | Day 2

This local-diet is turning out to be harder and more time-consuming that I thought. I spent the entire day today shopping for local foods, looking through cookbooks, researching recipes online, and preparing ingredients for nebulous dishes.

This morning I enjoyed a much better breakfast than yesterday: fried eggs and fried eggplant. Tonight, I cooked a huge bowl of kale and Swiss chard; so far, that's been my entire dinner. No protein, except for many some worms eaten by accident; as I was eating, I found a couple dead, fried worms in my bowl of cooked greens.

I am cooking hominy on the stove, boiling pumpkin pieces, and roasting half a pumpkin and a sweet potato squash in the oven. I am not really following a recipe and I don't know how long to cook any of these things... I'm planning to judge by intuition.

Another Shopping Binge and One Concession

After making my lunch of hominy and eggplant, I still felt very hungry -- even faint. So I decided to go buy more local food from Meadowfarm Foods and the Bluebird Gardens stand.

Usually I am a vegetarian, but I was so hungry, I decided this week I'd have to make some exceptions. I bought hamburger meat, locally grown and locally processed with no antibiotics or hormones. I also bought locally-made maple syrup and a head of garlic. This all added up to $14.60.

Still not satisfied, I went to the Bluebird Gardens stand by Kmart. I bought a half dozen ears of corn, another head of garlic, a dozen eggs, and a pumpkin which is supposed to work for pies. The total was $7. Quite a deal, I thought.

I fried some eggs as soon as I got home and put water on to boil for the corn. The eggs were so delicious -- better than any I can remember tasting. My corn on the cob was good too; I had two ears.

Protein is the key. Those eggs are a saving grace. But I still am having lots of cravings... I am seriously considering making chocolate one of my trade items.

100-Mile Diet Week | Inventory

I made a list of all the local edibles -- from the Farmer's Market, Bluebird Gardens, Native Harvest, and an Amish farm -- that exclusively represent my range of choices and ingredients for wood this week. I added to the list the trade items I've used so far: salt, sugar, olive oil, and lemon.

I'm not a natural cook -- I tend to graze throughout the day on a variety of individual food items eaten separately -- and so this diet poses a challenge. How do I transform a mound of local produce into enough satisfying meals for an entire week?

Keep in mind, my diet is limited to items that were grown, processed, packaged and sold within 100 miles of my apartment. That means homemade bread is off limits, unless I can find flour from grains that were grown, harvested, winnowed, and ground all within 100 miles.

So far, the only grains I have are wild rice and dried hominy. I have no sources of protein yet; I still have to investigate sources of local meat, eggs, and dairy. I have parsley and shiitake mushrooms for flavoring (yes, the mushrooms were produced within a hundred miles -- I saw the logs were they grew myself). For starches, I have two potatoes, an acorn squash, a spaghetti squash, and a sweet squash. For desert, I have watermelon. And then I have a ton of veggies: three bunches of kale, two bunches of Swiss chard, a bag of string beans, two regular cucumbers, two lemon cucumbers, and an eggplant. I bought a green tomato, too, but I ate that as soon as I got home to tide myself over while cooking lunch.

My task for this afternoon is to look examine my inventory carefully and plan out meals for the week.

First REALLY Local Meal

After getting back from the Farmer's Market in Detroit Lakes, I was starving. I wanted to do justice to my produce, though, and make a real meal instead of grazing a la carte, the way I usually do.

I took an onion and clove of garlic that I got a couple weeks ago from a local farm (Bluebird Gardens), grabbed olive oil from my cupboard, and decided to fry the hominy with onions and garlic. I fried the eggplant separately and put it on top.

The eggplant was delicious -- and I had purchased it for only 75 cents in Detroit Lakes! The hominy-onion mixture was not so good; the flavor was too overpowering. I thought it needed something acidic or tart, and I settled on adding lemon -- committing to that as my fourth trade item (10 trade items are allowed). It was a good choice; lemon juice significantly improved the dish.

100 Mile Diet Day 1 | Spending Binge

Breakfast was horrible: under-cooked hominy with a little homemade yogurt from my friend, Gretchen. I sweetened the yogurt with sugar (which I decided would be one of my ten allowed trade items). The hominy had been cooked with a little salt -- another trade item.

Hungry, I went to the Detroit Lakes Farmer's Market where I spent $31.25 on produce. Then, we went to an Amish farm where I spent an additional $6. For $37.25, I ended up with six big bags of locally-grown vegetables and two watermelons. Although the items felt expensive when I was forking over the cash, in perspective I realized I would be thrilled to get this amount of stuff for under $40 at Whole Foods. This loot, combined with hominy and wild rice from Native Harvest, will serve as my primary sustenance this week.

Countdown to 100 Mile Diet

Starting tomorrow (with breakfast) and for the next seven days, I have to limit my diet to foods grown, processed, and packaged within 100 miles of my apartment. Why? It's as assignment -- our whole class is doing it. And we're keeping a daily online diary of our local food experience, which I'm hoping will allow for some tips and consolation.

The philosophy behind the 100-mile diet is explained in a book and on the website, http://100milediet.org

The diet is supposedly inspired by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, who spent all of 2005 eating nothing but local foods.

I'm partially excited about the challenge, and partially anxious about having enough to eat. We're going shopping at the Detroit Lakes Farmer's Market tomorrow to stock up on locally-grown food, but part of our assignment is to scavenge for other local food sources by talking to neighbors, farmers, or surfing localdirt.com. It's not supposed to be as easy as one-stop shopping... It will take creativity, research, and initiative to scrounge up tasty local meals for an entire week.

The 7 days culminate with a pot-luck celebration, composed entirely of local foods (and local ingredients).

Tonight, I'm having a beer and making cookies... which tomorrow have to go in the freezer.

Welding and Wilderness

I started the day touring a conventional beef feeding lot, with the intention of identifying forage in the pastures that go unused by the fenced in cattle. It was raining, and our whole class got soaked wading in knee-high grasses while seeking out the elusive species of which we need samples.

This afternoon, I learned how to tie several knots, such as the reef knot, the clover hitch, and the sheet bend. Then, I got a quick lesson on welding and proceeded to weld rebar onto a metal rod that we were transforming into a coat hook. The professor offered to let me take the coat-rack to my apartment, since I welded much of it, but I declined -- so it will hang in our classroom.

After I got over my initial fear, it felt empowering to weld. I considered for about a minute looking for welding jobs in Fergus to finance my education.

I left class today with a jar of homemade yogurt and a crate of pears, which I assumed were grown locally and found out later came from Washington.

First Days in Fergus

I've been in Fergus Falls for 2 weeks now. Actually, I should say I've had my apartment for two weeks. I've probably spent just as much time in Minneapolis as I have in Fergus Falls lately.

I just completed my fifth day of class, and I'm amazed at how much I've learned. Today I drove a 4-stroke John Deer mower with a trailer attached; I practiced driving up and down hills, and "parking" the trailer by driving in reverse. This morning, I collected samples of several forage plants, including Kentucky bluegrass, alfalfa, timothy, sweet clover, smooth bromegrass, birdsfoot trefoil, and pea vetch. This afternoon, I learned about electric fencing and started designed an organizational system for a 12 foot trailer to hold the fencing supplies for the Sustainable Food Production program.

It was an odd feeling, passing by classrooms filled with students hunched over open textbooks while half-listening to the professor's Power Point presentation, while wearing rubber boots and carrying a bouquet of plants to press. Or walking by football practice to the back field where our class was sorting tools and fencing equipment, getting sunburned and eaten by mosquitoes.

This is not the kind of "school" I'm used to. It's so hands-on -- so practical. I feel like an idiot most of the time because I don't know the basics about farming or carpentry or mechanics, whereas most of my classmates do.

My book-learning has come in handy, though. Yesterday, when a grass-based beef farmer quizzed us about the source of all food, I provided the answer he was looking for: photosynthesis, the process by which plants turn sunlight into sugars.