The prospects for our farm and how to keep interested in farm life:

With just Dorothee and I farm life is quite good but the work load will get much harder as we age. With this in mind I looked for someone who would want to learn the art of Oil pressing and hopefully also take part in the other activities on the farm such as horses, growing grains machine maintenance and working for better soils that also encompasses the many insects, plants, trees animals and friends on our farm. I chose Colpas Kari Numfor from Ghana since I was impressed with the things he has done. The initial idea was that we help one another. Kari has thought about his future in animal feed and I was quite surprised that he had already looked for a mixer and grinder which showed me he is a person who wants to make life happen and not just sit by complaining. He impressed me by renting land and building a building for the mixer/grinder which is now working in Ghana.

We applied for permission to have him come here to work and share the farm with us which was a long and hard process but finally he was accepted. There is still much to do as he still needs to be approved by the Canadian consulate in Nigeria but he did initiate this process before Christmas and is now getting passports for his family.

Dorothee and I have made a small apartment in the north barn to accommodate Kari for the time before he brings over his wife and two children. We also have a two bedroom apartment which was approved but has since been revoked. The apartment in the north barn should be easily approved. I have still a small amount of work to do there. The two bedroom apartment is going to be more difficult to get approved but I will wait until the small apartment is approved before opening the issue. I have written it up extensively and hope that it will be resolved.

I hope to have Colpas Keri Numfor here in March 2024 which will correspond with the medical insurance I purchased until he qualifies for OHIP.

It will be a very big change for Kari with the cold winter months and hot summers and Canadian culture but I hope he can persevere and enjoy learning everything about our farm.

For the time being we are financially stable but adding Kari's salary is going to be more difficult so we need to think about increasing our income. There are many things we can do such as increasing the oil pressing and flour milling but I have a backup plan should we not increase our income since there is the great possibility of things going very badly worldwide and I have prepared the farm for this.

When I look at local farms I see so many that abuse their soils, have tremendous debt and are not able to maintain the soil health properly. The degrading soil in our world has long been talked and written about often over the past century. People like Louis Bromfield and Ed Faulkner point this out many times in their writings. I do note that cover crops are increasing locally. If one has a farm with over 1000 acres it seems possible to derive a profit but it is very machine and fossil fuel intensive. How can our system of providing food for most of the world rely on a depleting resource of fossil fuels? Life in agriculture is not very stable as the multinational firms purchase most of the crops and one cannot earn sufficient income on a small farm unless they sell direct to customers which is what we try to do. It is also quite apparent that those who provide the farmers with machinery and amendments are the ones who profit from agriculture not the farmers.

Then there is climate change which is affecting all of our farms. Generally farms grow crops particular to their area but now some crops are no longer viable. We are receiving too much rain and even experience drought in the spring!

Debt is a very real problem for the general population and many mortgages will be in default if there is a job loss exacerbated by continuing inflation. People will stop purchasing many items like cars, appliances, food and computers which in turn creates unemployment as manufacturers profits decline which means they needs to lay off workers.

Our modern way of life in north America with prepared foods, expensive cars, high energy costs, and luxury air travel, has become unsustainable. Countries like Mexico, Africa are much more able to have a future with the local skills and many local markets available. Generally there is just too few resources for too many people and many of those people especially in north America cannot even grow a garden let alone cook a meal.

We were very lucky to have afforded a farm but making a profit now is difficult but our backup plan of being self sufficient which was started over 25 years ago needs to be considered more seriously while trying to earn some money for land taxes and some machinery to make life easier for us seems like a good backup plan.

Learning to work together is very difficult especially if money is scarce. The thought of working 7 days a week doing chores is not very exciting but for myslef I am happily farming and looking forward to each new day. This is challenge I enjoy as I feel free from the job related mentality permeating society today and it is a real challenge to work with the horses and grow crops.

As I stated earlier many farmers have a day job which is similar to us having a pension. What is important as well as having a skill that can earn money outside the farm but also one must also have an great interest on the farm in such things a bird identification, insect identification, plant identification, machinery fixing, machinery building, woodworking, machine shop work to fully enjoy the farm life. Things like games that involve others such as volley ball, soccer and baseball are a necessary part of this lifestyle

Organic farming is not just a trend, it's the future of agriculture | United Nations Development Programme

Every once and a while I sit down and write up what we should consider for the future of our farm.

We will have a number of changes to think of in 2024 and some new concepts to think about.

In dong some simple math I thought we should add Emmer to our possible grains to grow. Emmer is very similar to Spelt in that it needs a dehuller.. and we have one. Seeds store well in our refrigerator seed storage shed. But we would another stone mill which will cost at least $10000 but I have not found one yet but working on it.

The next obstacle is to find customers for the flour. I feel it would be good to attend more markets close to the farm. This would provide some needed exposure to the buying public and hopefully in the end create some loyal customers for the fresh ground flour as well as our fresh oils and some vegetables, maybe even duck eggs.

Dorothee does not like going to the markets as she wants to spend her time on the farm with the various chores. I like going to markets but also need to spend the time working on the machinery and fields but I do get a good feeling meeting people and developing our customers at the markets.Perhaps Kari would like to be at the markets. One of the problems is transportation as Kari does not have a license to drive and once he gets a license it is usually difficult to get insurance for a new driver without a record of driving for many years.

The emmer has been provided by Erik which Dorothee will plant in the garden next season to provide the seeds for our first crop the following year.

We might also sell seeds for home milling such as flax, spelt, emmer, hemp,oats. Having a dehuller for oats would be good too so we can provide a hot breakfast cereal.

Chickens eggs and meat are a problem since they have to have the eggs graded and all meat inspected at approved centers. Duck eggs do not have any regulations but one still cannot sell duck meat without inspection. People can get theses are the farm but we cannot deliver them. Most people just prefer to purchase eggs at store.

Vegetables are another area where one can sell without restrictions. I suggest that we try grow vegetables that are different from the run of the mill store bought veggies. Perhaps catering to the Jamaican or African vegetables would prove worthwhile or ust unusual varieties not sold in the stores. I think Erik would have some good input on this area.

Dried fruits may also prove worthwhile as we have excess electricity in the summer months.

It also occurs to me that if a number of vendors got together to man one booth at the markets then our attendance on every market would not be every other market day.

After visiting the farm of Gordon Wells it might also be a very good idea to plant trees on our farm such as Hazel nuts.

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