Author: Anna

Thanks to everyone who came out to our farm stand Market Dec. 3rd. It was a lot more than potatoes. Here’s a list of vendors:

Stony Mountain (pasture raised meat), Within the Flowers (wreaths), Four Beat Farm (veggies), Georjeana Farm (garlic products), Beks Farm (carrots), Blissful Bites (exactly what it sounds like- delicious baking), Starseed (organic mushrooms), Marisol’s Maple Syrup Sales, Kathy Leverton Art, Ryan Creek Tallow Skin Care, Viriditas Apothocary, Qwalimak Nlep’calten honey and pickles!

Published in BC Organic Grower Spring 2021

I exhibit a strong spring Biodynamic practice. I have all the time in the world for stirring BD 500, tending to compost piles and dutifully attempting to follow the planting calendar. In the summer things will likely slide, and the fall is very Biodynamically weak for me. Winter comes and at that point it’s out of my hands as that’s when the influence of the distant planets of the cosmos take effect in the soil. For real.

But that is neither here not there, for the purposes of spring. Don’t get hung up on that. What’s important now is that this spring I have already vacuumed the farm truck and washed it twice. I am well on my way to cleaning up the shop and tidying the upstairs of the barn. And I have not lost my interest in learning more about Biodynamic farming.

A couple of earnest, active and idealistic springs have passed since I decided to develop a more learned and deliberate approach to Biodynamic farming. Prior to that, I had been a willing, but not a very wondering, participant in our farm’s practice. I would have happily kept going like that, but my inability to articulate even the basic concepts was undeniably denting my preferred image as a modern, hip organic potato farmer.

Anna, what is Biodynamic farming? Anna of yester-spring: uh, well, you know how the moon and planets and stuff are there… and the soil is important… you have to look after the soil…and make good soil in compost. It’s sort of homeopathy for the soil. Beyond organics.

You see the problem.

Biodynamically woke Anna: Agriculture involves taking crops off the land and is therefore inherently exploitive. A Biodynamic grower knows this and works to replenish and strengthen the life and energy of the soil so that the crops continue to be imbued with taste and vitality.

Oh well, then, that explains that.

I did not make this up, of course. It is in the lectures, buried deep in Lecture 5 and finally, after countless readings, I have picked up on what Steiner was putting down. If you ask me, he should have led with this idea, rather than launching Lecture 1 with a description of the relative effects of cosmic energy on plants, animals and humans.

The thing is though, he didn’t. He died only a year after delivering these lectures and he may have known he was mortally ill at the conference. There may in fact have been a sense of urgency to his delivery. So, he probably started exactly where he meant to start and finding a powerful mission statement in Lecture 5 does not absolve me from figuring out what he is talking about leading up to that point. For now, however, I am agog with dawning comprehension.

Now. You will point out to me that regenerative farming is all about replacing in the soil what has been used, and what’s so special about Steiner saying it? Well, I guess that would be the compost preparations he describes. They are special.

Steiner is not insisting that farmers stop regenerating soil in whatever way they are doing it- from cover cropping to (just short of) using synthetic chemical fertilizers, and the massive number of options in between. He is, however, suggesting that these are not adequate measures. They are driven by science, which is not enough.

The biodynamic method is driven by observation, experience, and a belief in the existence of forces that cannot be immediately seen or measured, but whose presence is proven in the resulting product. It is these cosmic influences, collected in the soil and taken up into the plant, that are removed along with the crop and therefore must be replaced. He is not denying the efficacies and even necessities of science in agriculture but rather saying that it stops short of completing the regeneration necessary to maintain the production of healthy, tasty food.

Steiner’s Lecture 5 describes the Biodynamic Compost Preparations, which when applied in very small doses, enliven and provide stimulus for the soil to again be able to collect the streams of cosmic force. They consist of common and recognizable plants variously treated and applied to compost heaps, the soil of which is then applied to the field or garden. There was no scientific underpinning then, or even now; he expected that the science would catch up eventually.

Look, it is a scientific fact that the moon causes the tides of the ocean and that the sun warms our atmosphere. These influences are easily perceived of course, and science is there to confirm the obvious and fill in the details. Can we propose that other planets and cosmic bodies take effect on earth too although not in a way we can easily see, feel, touch or smell?  Can we do this ahead of science telling us it is so?

Heaven’s above, it has taken me a long time to write this article. I had to go back into the lectures quite a bit to see if I was on the right track. I even read a bit of Steiner poetry. I wrote long, meandering paragraphs about the contrasting yet inseparable dualities of matter and spirit, of science and spirituality. I did a lot of deleting.

I’ll have to leave it here. I must go outside and get giddy over spring.

Anna Helmer farms with her family in Pemberton and would like to scientifically prove that the hundred-pound sacks of seed potatoes are getting heavier all the time.

Want to hear a little more about the farm? And some recipes featuring celebrity farmers?

Oh dear. I’ve had an unexpected change-of-mind.  Having just spent some 5 years convincing the boss (my parents) that we shouldn’t be doing big city markets anymore, I have just admitted to myself that I don’t mind them all that much and it seems a little rash to remove them from the revenue stream.

Our farm was built and paid for with the money that city people have given us for potatoes. I have always privately bristled when non-market people have expressed incredulity that driving down there has been worthwhile. I am not sure what those people picture when they think of farmers’ markets. Probably not these commercial juggernauts with upwards of 10,000 people with money and shopping bags passing through every weekend, summer and winter. We could always count on about 10% of them buying our potatoes, which left the other 90% as our target market. Growth was not only reliable, but it also seemed inevitable.

COVID, however, did away with the crush of humanity and laid bare the fact that the emotional and physical toll of trundling down there has increasingly outpaced the need for that money. Finally, after several years of persistent campaigning on that point- several skirmishes, the odd big battle, very carefully crafted diplomacy, and the shameless exploitation of a global pandemic, we are all in agreement on the concept at least, if not the plan going forward.

Problem being, I went to the big city market yesterday (first one since March) and it was great. Loved it. I’m looking forward to next week’s installment. So nice to see these people, both customers and fellow farmers, again. It was satisfying to move a larger volume of potatoes, even though the capacity restrictions have reduced the commercial juggernaut to something of a more dubious nature. An excellent new stall location with both truck and trailer parked adjacent allowed me and my helper to enjoy the warmish sunny day with minimal heavy lifting. The city driving was easy.

Evidently there is more than money drawing me to markets and I am now effortlessly cataloguing the desirable aspects of the experience. Included are honest admissions and pandemic positives. For example, I have missed showing off our beautiful potatoes and the glowy feeling I get when they are admired. Another: city driving conditions have improved immensely. Volume exists at certain times and in certain neighborhoods, but overall, there are new and unexpected gaps into which my large truck and half-empty/half-full trailer easily fit.

Contributing greatly to my mood swinging from oppressively obsessed with work requirements to breezily musing on the charms of attending city winter markets, is the change in season. That is to say, the ground is now either frozen or too muddy for tractors, day-light hours are seriously reduced, and weather conditions require clothing choices incompatible with high productivity expectations: all this signals good times ahead. It’s a far cry from yester-week when I was roaring around the farm pursued by an aggressive to-do list.

I learned years ago to measure my work-life balance over nothing less than the course of a year. It is sensible to make hay while the sun shines, after all, as that is what we are here to do as farmers. It is equally important to cherish the impossibility of farming potatoes when there is 6 feet of snow on the ground, which is the lesser known corelated farming cliche. Leaving aside the fact that we still have almost the entire crop to wash, sort and sell I don’t have much to do. I guess I can’t leave that aside.

So, point being, a change is a good as a holiday.

Winter is coming! Markets are fun! Hooray for unexpected mind changes.

Anna Helmer is farming and doing other things in the beautiful Pemberton Valley.  

Farm Story- September

These are the first September weekends in 20 years that I haven’t been at the city markets selling potatoes. It is the result of suddenly completing a 10-year plan that began 5 years ago with the vague idea of finding alternate revenue streams for the farm. The vision: loosen the golden handcuffs that are farmers’ markets and spend more time with family and farming.  COVID came along, offering a once in a lifetime opportunity to impulsively transform the plans for gentle, reasonable, and well-cushioned extrication into a somewhat mis-managed and much more interesting business strategy. Therefore, we have a total severance from summer city markets, with the income replacement plans still unproven, and mostly untried.

On-line sales, farm stand, local markets, wholesale, a new pricing model for the seed potatoes, these are all in play. While change feels necessary, and even normal, it qualifies as a crazy way to conduct business and is not being done blithely.

I am stressed right now.

I probably needn’t be so fussed, given that I am not sure what exactly I am stressed over. Too much work, too little time? Nope, no markets: time abounds. Crops not working out? Nope, not an issue. Mechanical breakdowns? Nope, blessed at the moment. Where are the sales coming from exactly? Pass. Middle age approaching? Oh.

It is super bad form to self-therapize in this public manner. I think it is time to move on to an easier topic, something less fraught, not so charged with emotion.

Let’s talk about family farming!

When I say that I work on my family’s farm, I usually, and wisely, leave it at that. Those readers who also work with family will know that there is all kinds of drama. Those who do not will remain in the dark as to how it all works.

I am in the dark myself as to how it works, but am familiar with some of the rules, prohibitions, unspoken agreements, and topics to avoid. The policies and procedures, if you will, that when followed, contribute to but do not guarantee, a successful family enterprise, complete with enjoying one another’s company.

An important rule to remember must surely be this: don’t write about the family in articles. Every few years however, I just can’t help it and off I go. I consider it a public service. Maybe someone is struggling on their family farm and something I say might help them get through the rough patch. I’ll get right to it: pull yourself together. There. Happy to help.

Here is what I think I know about family farming: essentially the term “family dynamic” is any point on a spectrum that spans two points: total harmony and total dismay. Following the policies and procedures, one does what one can to keep pinned to the harmony end of the scale. Inevitably, there will be wild pitches over to the dismay end of the spectrum, and the situation will explode, much like dynamite.

And all because of that we have the near impossible, easily forgotten and absolutely necessary rule of getting back to harmony: drop it and move on.

So. I believe that exhausts the topic.

Unfortunately, it’s September, which I am not very good at. l am reluctantly concluding with the observation that I can’t blame markets or family for making September difficult. No, it’s more likely I am just quite tired. It’s been a long haul since about March, to be honest. And potatoes are so darn heavy.

Anna Helmer farms with her bubble in Pemberton and was never really going to dish.

Aug 7. BC Organic Grower Magazine Biodynamic Farm Story

We have no cattle on the place this year. This is not an ideal situation for a biodynamic farmer. Rudolph Steiner’s lectures are specifically reverent about the bovine influence. Very simply, their manure is important, and their manner is to be admired.

We never set up as ranchers, but the 2 cows were integral to the farm: Bella and May the Belted Galloways were not only manure producers, they were brush cutters, cull potato processors, and steadying influences on us flighty farmers. They spent at least a decade in the same 5-acre pasture, securely contained by a one strand electric fence that hadn’t been tuned on for years. Although from time to time they allowed themselves a certain amount of, shall we generously say reckless gay abandon, and turn up at the kitchen window…they never really lost the plot, emotionally speaking. Very chill animals. I wonder what they would have thought about COVID. Not much, I guess. Good point.

We miss them. We plan to get more animals. However, we recently put a farm-stand in the copse of trees in their pasture by the road, their go-to place during hot summer days. It’s the perfect place for a potato stall, and I can’t even begin to explain all the factors that make a perfect environment for a potato stall.

As a rule, I resist change, despite numerous examples of delightful, or at least tolerable, results of succumbing to it. Let’s, for example, take this insistence on using our own cow’s manure to make BD Prep 500:  obviously impossible this year because we have shipped all the cows away, taken down the fencing and plopped a farm stand in the pasture. Nevertheless, BD 500 must be had.

We dithered, we dathered, and long, boring story short, we finally ordered it from a mail order service, and it worked a treat. The fields are next level in moisture retention and punching up lush cash crops (and weeds). I realize that the mail order people have been making the Prep for about 80 years so they probably are better at it than us. It’s powerful stuff.

I’d like to circle back to the roadside farm-stand and cite it as another example of farm empowerment. Apologies and respect at this point to farmers who already utilize and understand this powerful agricultural tool. I am still at the giddy goosebump evangelical stage of change. You may now say: I told you so and suffer through my inadequate thesis argument.

It’s a way we can sell to the people that is clean, open, traceable, and accessible for both ends of the food chain. On our farm, the workers range in age from 8 to 80 and each one can get out to the farm-stand to help manage it. Even those reluctant to engage the public can connect with the point of sale, as there is no expectation to greet each customer. There are no rules (yet). The people who turn into the driveway are choosing us and leaving nice notes in the book provided.

You know, the farmer can go to the city to sell, but the farm itself can’t. Customers have been telling us for years that they want to see the actual place where the food is grown. Historically aware that the work required to host people on the farm is counterproductive to farming, I have resisting this call. How thrilling to now discover that the farmstall is on the contrary, complimentary to farming, and it’s more than just a place to sell potatoes.

I am starting to think a proper food system has space in it for people to sit in the shade like Bella and Mae, doing nothing more than taking in the sights and not fussing.

Anna Helmer talks big and farms with her family and friends in the Pemberton Valley.