My Home Depot Story

On a couple occasions I have been known to browse tumblr. When browsing I often look at #feminist posts as I personally identify as a feminist myself and think that it is important to listen (or read) other peoples’ stories. More than once, although not many more, I have read the story of a woman going into a home depot, or store like it, and having employees assume that she had no idea what she was doing when she was fully capable find, buy and put to use everything she needed. In one story a man whom everyone assumed knew exactly what he was doing, in fact, desperately needed help and had never built anything before in his life.

(Quick Side Note: I’m down the road less than a mile from a kids camp and I think they just put a rooster up to a megaphone to wake everyone up…either that or that was the LOUDEST ROOSTER EVER!!! And I know how loud roosters can be.)

Anyway, back to home depot.

After today, I have a home depot story of my own, albeit a little different from these stories.

I went in looking to get some wood to make a clothes line, for my new found trailer living J and one that I am now very proud of and will be making a how-to post for. I had gone in with most of a plan but was wondering the lumber aisle looking at all the different sizes and lengths and seeing what they had so I could pick the perfect materials. I was in no rush so I meandered my way back and forth. While I was looking at the pressure treated ten foot 4x4s, a store employee (male) came up and politely asked if I needed any help, as I’m sure he would do to any customer staring blankly at a pile of wood.

I pondered for a moment thinking, Do I need help? What are all the things I need and do I know where they all are? After just a couple seconds I looked at him and said “No, thank you.”

He smiled, replied “Alright.” And kept walking. That was all.

I finished looking around, grabbed everything I needed, two 4x4s, one 2x4, a 2x2 along with some hook 

screws and command hooks (to hang my animal calendar!) and made my way to the check-out line.

I was helped by a different employee, this time a woman and I was thinking to myself, How great is this? No one assumed I needed more than I let on and now I’m being helped by a woman working the lumber section! Last time I was there I was helped by a trans person, Go home depot!

But it was the friendly check-out counter conversation that ruined it all for me. She was probably just trying to be nice and make a connection, as many people do when working retail, but I wish she had done it another way. She took a look at what I had (not as though she could have avoided it while scanning everything) and told me “A piece of advice: Always try to get someone else to do it for you.” All while donning this ‘you know what I mean’ smile.

My first thought was, No way! This is my project, I want to do this all on my own, ain’t nobody else doing it for me. And I should have just let that role right off my tongue, but for some reason I didn’t. I tried to play it off with “Oh, haha, I don’t think I can pull that off this time.” The inner conflict avoider is strong in me.

She followed that up with “Yeah, but it’s still good advice.” Very matter of fact. She wasn’t asking my opinion of her advice, she was just letting me know that she was right. I smiled and walked out with my newly purchased lumber.

I wish I had stayed. I wish I had said something. That is terrible advice! For everyone! I mean, if there is something you need done and you legitimately are unable to do it yourself, that’s one thing. Actually, that’s not even in the same ballpark because that is just asking for help, which I don’t think pertains to what she was saying at all. What she meant was, never do something that you can coax someone else into doing for you. So I wish I had stayed and asked her a couple of questions.

Who exactly should I be getting to do these things for me? A family member? A friend? A big strong, good looking man? A stranger? By the 'you know what I mean' smile she had given me, I had at the time assumed the big strong man. But why would that be the go-to person? Because they are so willing to prove just how strong and manly they are? Well that is making a very large assumption about a great many people right there. It is perpetuating all of the expectations that we put on men and women that are completely stupid. 

And how exactly should I be getting this strong man to do these things for me? With my womanly wiles? (another assumption I made from that face she made) So I am supposed to get myself all dolled up and pretend to be completely helpless, a real life damsel in distress, to trigger his need to prove he can do it, just so I don't have to? Well that is messed up on a few levels. If I were to simply ask someone, knowing full well that I am completely capable and not trying to hide it, to do things for me, why would they? Even if they were a good friend, there is no reason for them to because I wouldn't be acting very friendly towards them.

Next I would have liked to ask her what, exactly, should I be asking this strong man to do for me? Since I had some lumber and screws on my cart, I made another assumption. I assumed that she made the comment because of what I was buying meaning that she had projects in mind that require lumber and screws and possibly hammers and saws and screwdrivers, you know, the manly tools. 

Lastly, why, exactly would I ask anyone to do something for me that I am fully capable of doing myself? Because I don't want to do it? But I do want to do it! I love that kind of stuff, taking pieces of wood or other materials and creating something useful out of them, it's the best! Am I getting them to do things for me because I can? Well that's a messed up reason. Maybe I can, but I think I shouldn't. 

People should take responsibility into their own hands. If they need something done, they should do it themselves! If for nothing else, for some learning experience so next time you'll know how. Maybe then you can help someone else (help, not do it for them). And if you don't know how to do something or really aren't able to do it yourself without difficulty, asking for help is a great thing! Maybe you do something once and realize that it is just not for you, sure you can do it but it's the biggest drag since a zombies left foot. Asking for help is great then too. I would now like to stress the difference between asking someone to help you do something and asking them to do it for you.

I was talking about this to my partner and he made the comment that sexism against women exists in a lot of ways because it is pushed on to women by other women. I realize that I made an assumption or two about her and what she said and I tried to highlight what those assumptions were, but she made an assumption or two about me as well. She assumed that because I am a woman walking around home depot with some lumber and screws, there is a project that needs to be done and I would rather find a way to weasel out of physical labor and put that on someone else than do it myself. She was wrong. I feel good about myself when I am lifting lumber and using tools, I get joy out of physical labor and working hard, I try to find new ways to put my hands to work in the dirt every day. Not all women are this way, because we're all just people and not all people are that way.

People should really quit assuming they know anything about anyone and find new ways to make 30 second connections over a check-out counter. Maybe with a question: "Do you have a project for these?"

What Can You Do?

So I have written a couple of blog posts now on permaculture and I wanted to write one more on what the farm I work at can do to become more sustainable by following some permaculture practices.

This farm is a little different in the way that the land we use is not ours. We lease the land year to year so putting permanent structures is not a real option right now. It is also a bit different because the person who does own the land is putting it up for sale. He has another business that is doing well and is no longer interested in running the extra property. So the owners of the farm I work at are trying to find a way to purchase all the land so that they can create a real farm that they can do with whatever they like. If that all works out the way they hope, then I will have a lot more suggestions that, at the moment, just don't make sense.

The one thing that we could start doing right away is moving towards no-till practices. I talked in the first permaculture post about how turning the soil is harmful to the ecosystem in a few different ways. The reason that most farmers still till today is because farmers don't know how to do it any other way. We have been taught the benefits and reasons for tilling because it has been the practice for generations, but if you want to know the benefits of no-till you have to really do research on your own and then take a risk at putting it into practice instead of using the old tried and true. Also in our particular situation because we run a community farm with lots of different people on tiny plots, we're not the only ones who need to turn a new leaf, we'd have to ask every person that leases a Mini Farm from us to use our same practices. That is another risk to take in a business, but maybe we'd only stick to no-till for our u-pick veggies.

There is also the practice of planting different kinds of plants together that are complementary (such as beans corn and squash) and help each other grow better, but at a u-pick our costumers would probably like to know what is planted where without the confusion of many different kinds of plants all strewn in together. Before I started farming I didn't know how to tell many plants apart, which ones are leaks and which ones are onions and which ones are garlic? I can't expect customers to know the difference if we plant them all in one thing together (I still don't think I could tell those three apart if they were all mixed up). It is a lot easier on everyone to have rows with a single kind of plant to each row, so with our current business model it's not very plausible.

The rest really relies on perennial plants and trees which is not currently realistic because we only lease the land year to year, there is a serious risk of lots of flooding (sometimes up to eight feet like last March) in the winters and now that it is up for sale, we may have to find a new spot all together. Fingers crossed that the farm owners can find a way to purchase the land and then create their dream farm which is a vision I truly believe in. Until that happens, permaculture may just have to wait a little while.

What we can do is provide information on it to anyone who comes to the farm. One Mini Farm family is doing their best to practice permaculture in their 300sq ft plot and it is a wonderful looking plot! It would be great if we could spread the knowledge to anyone who wanted it while offering a tiny plot to get started and try it out.

Some day everyone will farm no-till because we won't know how to do it any other way, so that is what we have to start teaching.

Take a Look Around

It's been a while since my last blog... sorry. I do have at least have a good reason for part of that time! I went to live at the farm for a week as a test run for this summer. This time I didn't have a bike or anything to go to the local coffee shop where there is internet so I had no internet for a whole week. That was actually really nice! I get distracted with silly things in the internet way too easily, so having a complete break from it was quite welcome. The rest of that time was just me being stressed about school and moving, and generally just being really sucky about doing what I told myself I would do.

Today I want to talk about those permaculture lectures I have been watching. It's the last week of the quarter so I want to wrap it up with something that they keep coming back to almost every week. There are so many different topics covered but there seemed to be one overarching theme that was touched on all the time. That was observation. Permaculture follows how nature does things on it's own, so all of your questions can be answered by observing nature.You can obviously learn a lot from reading about it (most of what I know about nature is from all my class work over the past four years) but that can't tell you everything. Every piece of land is different and needs to be examined before work should really begin.

They said that one of the most important things to do when you begin a permaculture farm is to watch the land for a whole year before doing anything. See what it does in all four seasons, when it rains and snows, where water pools and flows, where the wind comes from, how strong it is, if there are wind barrier hills or trees, what kind of plants are growing, where the land is in a recovery succession. There are so many different aspects that need be looked at to know what is needed to help that land become healthier and productive. Sitting still and watching the land for a year is something that people usually don't do. It takes a lot of time, time we may not have. I know I have a lot of ideas for my farm and the last thing I will want to do is wait even longer before I can get started on them. But the benefits from observing the land really are great.

The lectures are broken into a few different categories: Fundamentals, Design and Patterns, Climate and Soils, Water and Aquaculture. For each of these, observation plays a huge role. Many of these observations will take a lot of time, but some can be done quickly. Patterns are often simply observable if you know where to look. Patterns usually refer to the physical shape of something like the dome of a hill or cave, the shapes of tree branches, or the stacking hexagons of a bee hive. You can observe these by simply walking around in nature and looking. Then by taking note of their different functions you can use those patterns purposefully. Domes function as strong structures and can be put to use in buildings and cellars. Branching patterns are used for collection and distribution, this concept can be used for irrigation or pathways. Bee hives are great at packing things together and this pattern can be used for storage or anything where a lot of stuff needs to fit in a small space.

Climate and Soils takes a little more time observing. You need to take note of what the weather does in every season, when it rains and when it is dry, when the temperatures change and when the storms come. It helps to do a little research on the climate in your area, but climates all over are changing and it is important to know exactly how they are changing if you are going to design your farm in the most efficient way. Soils can be observed in a few ways. Simply picking up a handful to see what the composition is, whether it is mostly clay, sand, or loam can be helpful but also taking a close look at what is growing there right now. Are they water loving plants, or plants that need drainage? Are they early succession weeds or late succession forest trees? I also think sending your soil in to be tested for specific nutrients that are available is a good idea.

All of these things play in to the design of a farm. All of these things must be observed first to know where everything should be planted and built. The trees should be placed where they can block the wind best, the water catchment system should be built where the water can best be collected and then distributed, dams should be made in the gullies and every plant should be put in spots that are best for them. If we really observe, we can design a farm where nature does most of the work for us.

When Hoop Houses Go Awry

Remember those super awesome hoop houses that I mentioned a couple posts ago? The ones that we slaved away on from dawn til dusk for four days straight? The ones that looked so good because of my partner's great design? Those? They collapsed...

There was a slight flaw in the design because we wanted to use all pvc piping to save on money. Basically, there was a little spot where water could collect from rain and as it collected the water weighed down the pipes creating a larger spot to hold water... The one pictured here ^ was the worst. We used a different size plastic and the ends were able to lift up to create deeper pools so it was pulled all the way to the ground. Some pipes were just bent a bit, but there were eight that were snapped in two.

You can see how it made a big water bucket here ^

And so a new project began. We had to figure out a way to stop water from pooling without getting rid of the pipes that were collecting the water in the first place because of how much support they gave to the whole structure. What we really needed was a way to stop the pvc from bending so that only a small amount of water could collect before rolling off. It was a really good thing that our first idea worked so that we didn't spend any extra money on something that was useless.

What we did was buy posts for every other domed pipe so that it would be stopped from sinking any lower and making that water shelf. We also made little platforms to keep the posts from sinking into the ground. Then we got pvc connectors and cemented the broken pieces back together. Now they look better than ever and are even stronger! Now we know for next year and wont make that same mistake again.

So beautiful :)

It has rained a couple times since the fix and they have stood up great!

What is Permaculture?

So the plan was to write three blog posts about permaculture for my class, one in April, one in May and one to bring it to an end in June. Well I started writing and realized that there was way too much awesome stuff to cram into only three posts. The first one was on soil, which I am really interested in because there is just so much I didn't know (and much more I still don't)! But I realize that I didn't introduce permaculture at all. So this post will be a quick introduction to what permaculture is in the first place.

There really isn't a single set definition of what permaculture is (making this post a bit of a challenge)... If you google the definition it'll tell you that it is "the development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient." That is not a wrong or bad definition but I would say that it is incomplete. 

Permaculture can be either permanent-culture or permanent-agriculture. Permanent meaning ultimate sustainability where agriculture can be done year after year forever and make the land and ecosystem healthier, while never diminishing land anywhere. Many operations claim to be sustainable but are only taking into account things that happen on site and not other areas that are affected. I am very skeptical of products or businesses that claim to be sustainable.

The way it achieves sustainability is by mimicking the natural world and allowing Mother Nature to do a lot of the work for you. It is letting food grow just as it would in nature and creating a space where as many aspects of a complete ecosystem can be expressed all the way from the bacteria in the soil, to the top predators roaming your land.

Because permaculture has both the 'culture' and 'agriculture' it is not only a way of growing food but also a way of life. It is growing food for a better world and trying to bring that better world into every aspect of your life. 

You don't have to grow food to be a permaculturalist. You can support people who are doing permaculture, or just make your life more sustainable by trying to follow nature's lead in other ways. 

In what ways are you a permaculturalist?

Flying Over First Light Farm

This is not a real blog for today, I'll do a longer one later but I really want to share this with you guys! One of the people who has a mini farm also has a little helicopter thing with a camera attached and he took a video flying over the farm. We're hoping he does this every month so you all can see how the farm is growing :)

First Night on the Farm

I spent my first night out at the farm this week :) I haven't moved in yet, I was just camping for the night, but it was still very exciting! We stayed in the trailer though, which is still floor-less on one side, but on the other side, it's pretty nice... just a bit dirty... but for camping it's great!

I stayed out there this week because we were building the hoop houses for the tomatoes and were trying to get three built in four days (which we accomplished but it was a lot of work!) We worked until 8 at night and then were up and working again by 8 in the morning. They turned out great!

Staying the night let me experience things that you really can't during the day. We were working until it started getting dark but thankfully we stopped in time to fully experience the sun set. I was so entranced by it that I completely forgot about taking pictures, for which I am now kicking myself! We got to walk down to the lake and watch the sunlight reflecting off of the water, and in that beautiful lake we saw beavers! We had been trying to keep an eye out for them sense last week when we spotted some chewed up branches and beaver channels in the tall grass. A beaver channel is where they dig out a path so they can get to food sources more easily. Here's a nifty video about beavers if you're interested :) My partner is really into using beavers to restore ecosystems, so I've been learning a lot about all the awesome stuff they do. Their dams create an incredibly diverse habitat that acts as a nursery for lots of different species and can help regulate rivers so they flow steadily all year round. They're basically amazing, so getting to see them at the farm was pretty darn cool.

When we were all getting ready to get to sleep (in the trailer all locked up) we heard a pack of coyotes! That was exciting! At first I couldn't tell for sure if they were coyotes or screaming children, they have a high pitched screech, but then they started barking so that was easy to tell. We were pretty certain that there were two packs or a pack and a single coyote that were on opposite sides of the lack and trying to get to each other. They barked and howled back and forth across the water getting closer and closer to us until they met up and headed back away. It was good to learn early on that they like hanging around the valley at night, so I'll have to be careful. That will probably be easy though with no electricity so once it gets dark, there really wont be any reason to stay awake. Late night bathroom runs will be tricky...