Stokesberry Sustainable Farm

10-1-09

WOW!  What a day yesterday was!  It started at 5 a.m.; I hurried out to the processing room to start working on packaging up orders for the restaurants, while Jerry started breakfast for the volunteers (we eat big breakfasts because you never know when the next meal will be).  I came in while breakfast was being prepared and announced that the scale had died and retrieved a hair dryer from the bathrrom.  Jerry left before he could eat breakfast to go to the butcher shop (45 minutes away) to pick up 3 beeves.  (That means beef at the farmers markets again – yahoo!)  As Jerry drove to and from the butcher shop we kept in phone contact brainstorming how to work around the scale situation and where to put all the meat (freezer space was limited).   Things like estimating weights, using the bathroom scales,  using the field scale (too unreliable), and having Jerry stop by a kitchen supply store to buy a new one were considered.  Things like keeping some meat in the refrigerator or composting some of the pet scraps that we are saving were kicked around.  During this time, I was training a new person (Seneca) on how to prepare the meat for packaging (only her second time in the processing room), preparing labels, trying to fix the scale with a screwdriver and a hair dryer, and creating invoices.  Finally they can no longer find anything else to do other than start weighing meat again.  I walk up to the scale to turn it on and say,  “Come on.  Work.  We need a miracle here.”   And it worked!  We rush to finish readying the restaurant orders.  Jerry gets home to unload the beef (with help from Jack) while he cooks his breakfast.  As soon as they finish that, Jerry hurries to the post office to pick up the chicks while Jack shovels out old bedding in preparation for the new chicks.  While Jerry is gone, Janelle and Seneca load the orders and get them into the truck (again with Jack’s help).  Jerry gets home in time to tie down the load while I finish making a sandwich (which we share on the ride to Seattle) and make the invoices.  Finally we are off, and only 2 and 1/2 hours late.  (Keep in mind that while all this is going on Jon, Laura, and Janet are feeding, watering, and moving birds.)  I quickly call the people at the special stops we had planned to let them know that the time planned for delivery has changed.  They are all wonderful and understanding.  This is the first time in probably about a year that we (Jerry and Janelle) have both done deliveries.  This part goes well.  Jerry gets to meet some new customers and chat with the old ones.  We get to the final stop: a home owner that is purchasing the entire beef.  All goes well there until… the truck won’t start.  Just one click per turn of the key.  Not looking good.  After a cursory jump and banging the starter with a hammer, our mechanic Mike from Mike’s Auto in Lacey, explains to Jerry how to work some magic (I think he said something about stealing cars) to get it started and we are off.  Of course we can’t stop the engine, so we take turns sitting in the truck while the other runs into Marlenes’ (great health food/grocery store if you haven’t tried it – one in Tacoma and one in Federal Way) and uses the bathroom and orders food from the deli.  We arrive home around 6 p.m.  Jerry hurries off to the pastures to pull feed from birds that will processed the next day, and I head off to the processing room to finish what Seneca did not have time or labels to do.  Jerry gets back, and we need to have a meeting with all the volunteers.  We do that – the most fun part of the day.  I head out to the processing room, and Laura offers to help (how wonderful).  By 9 p.m. we are finished and I head off to bed.  Not bad for such a busy day.

What a day!  Thank goodness that we survived it with no serious consequences to our animals, people we work with, or our bottomline (after all we have pay bills to be able to continue bringing our products to people who care).  This is what we call a good day.  A good day is when unexpected things happen, but everything works out fine.   Today we will bring the truck to the shop and I will finish the processing we didn’t have time to do last night, and we will start the routine over.  Life is good.

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