Is it possible to be fossil fuel free on our farm? 2022

One would think that if anyone could be fossil fuel free it could be us but this is just not possible. If we plan to stay alive in the near future we will probably have to become fossil fuel free within ten years if we like it or not. So about 2033 is the date to be fossil free. I'm trying hard but the system is making it very hard to be fossil free and monetarily stable.

Although we have cut down tremendously on using fossil fuels at our farm, we are not fossil fuel free.

In the meantime we need to develop ways to work our farming that constantly reduces our fossil fuel use as well continue to mitigate the challenges of climate change on our crops and lives. Humans have not developed an energy system that does not destroy the very earth that we need to live on. The earth has provided us with bountiful sunshine and energy but greedy humans want a lot more. We need to use more human and animal power with some windmills to convert wind energy to mechanical energy for things like milling flour or using water wheels to saw logs. We have to consider human power seriously for our future.

I have been developing ideas for no till crops. I start with a pasture of clovers/ alfalfa and grasses that has been pastured for over 3 years. Over plant rye in the fall then in the spring crimp the rye and plant sunflowers along with clover and peas. Harvest the sunflowers in the fall and turn the field into a pasture which now has lots of clover that I planted back in the fall. The horses use the pasture for another three years and the process starts over again but perhaps with oats.

Unfortunately the great paradox at present to become fossil fuel free is to also produce enough money to keep farming which means producing crops for our oil and flour which require some fossil fuels to produce. If we do not produce at least $7000 of sold produce from our farm then the farm taxes go up four times to regular residential rates. The only way this has been feasible for us is to use fossil fuels (or sunflower oil) in our tractors which take over when I cannot use the horses. I do not think that we could produce enough crops just using horses in the fields. Using horses does all the right things but it is much slower, so the crops are basically cut by two thirds by having to use smaller fields. Of course if I had lots of free help this might not be a problem.. but who today works for free or for food and shelter?

Sadly the world will continue using more fossil fuels each year as the earths population continue to grow as we persist with the capitalistic lifestyle despite the consequences of a unlivable world coming soon. We cannot leave or change our present world easily.

I have not forgotten the many indigenous and rural societies that have existed for hundreds of years that have been fossil fuel free. I also realize full well that our industrial capitalistic society that caused climate change has wrecked havoc on the many peoples and animals who have not contributed to global warming.

Why should I be fossil fuel free in ten years? A simple answer is that we will we run out of oil that we can afford because there is no other form of dense energy available to us. Society will collapse and if you are not prepared for this, life is going to get very difficult. In short we must be able to be sustainable without fossil fuels. Knowing how to grow food is not easy and one should be able to live on ones own food well before the need arises.

So how can I approach a fossil fuel free lifestyle? Our horses do work on the farm but I also use the tractor for many things and most times it is because I do not have enough time to get it done with the horses or enough time to get the job done in a timely fashion for the next crop to be planted. Basically I lack farm help mostly because I am getting too old for the heavy manual work. While I am proud to have developed the diesels here to run on sunflower oil it is still in a sense using a fossil fuel type in a machine that pollutes. Sunflowers are grown and processed on our farm to make sunflower oil and used as diesel to drive the oil presses and tractors but this is not the answer either.

One of the problems for us without kids nor without a strong community is financial. I can't hire full time workers because of the cost with our limited income. I would love to have some part time workers but there have been few takers so far. It seems that most people want a full time job with $20-30 per hour that does not require much physical output nor any life skills. While we are quite self sufficient it bothers me that I am not also able to be fossil fuel free.

One of the main requirements in farming years past was to have lots of kids and be part of a community. My Amish friends have at least ten kids each and at my age they would now have taken over the farm and I would be in a retirement phase helping out in the community.

For the moment we have customers that pay for our oils and flour but will this continue knowing that we are all going to have to reduce our use of fossil fuels and unemployment for most may be a factor very soon due to the fossil fuel depletion. So will our oils and flour still have a market?

Long ago it we realized that purchasing seeds from other farms for our oil presses is too expensive so we mostly grow our own and certainly become more efficient.

For the pressing of vegetable oil and milling of the flour I could have a horse walking around a large mill stone to crush the oil seeds that press the oils but the amount of oil would be too small to make farming financially possible let alone time to plant the sunflower seeds and other crops. What bothers me is that this did occur at one time in our history, so how was it possible? Was there more farm help available? Perhaps everything was closer in ones community and a lot of people were just more self sufficient and did not need the latest computer, software or new car.

Our field work can be mostly done with horses but there are limits such as the use of our combine. I do have a horse drawn combine but it needs a rebuild (recently done) and besides it has a small gasoline motor to do the threshing. I have seen horse drawn reapers/ binders being used in some Amish fields near here and they are not motor powered but I do not have one and it will still need threshing by a threshing machine or combine and a tractor to run it. Maybe this is where I need to think about a windmill for the threshing. I wonder if the municipality would allow a windmill?

Delivery of our oils is a problem and delivery with horses is not possible since we deliver to places a couple of hours away. This brings us to realize the we need to sell and deliver oil in a much more local area that can be negotiated by horses or bicycle but our local population considers our oils and flours too expensive. The no frills stores flour and oils are less expensive but of dubious nutritional worth and people even drive long distances to get it. My worry is that the cheap oils and flour that sit on a shelf for months do not provide any quality nutrition.

We are constantly working to live more sustainably and using less fossil fuels and it has so far proven very beneficial in good quality food that we grow on the farm but the amount of work needed is sometimes overwhelming especially at my age of 75, life gets a lot slower. The work here on the farm for most people would find it overwhelming but at least it keeps us in good food and good physical health.

Dorothee with harvest of potatoes from the garden. 2023