Blog

(BIG)END OF YEAR UPDATE- 2024

| nellamae

December 28, 2024

Hello fellow farmers, neighbors, friends, and local vegetable eaters.

Hatch & me at Peninsula Park in Portland at my godbrother’s wedding

This year I dropped off the map after the end of the farmers market season, and it wasn’t just from frost and exhaustion. My time, care, and attention needed to turn towards my family in a big way, so I have paused things like writing to you all for awhile.

In September my husband Michael Hatch went in for his first scheduled, routine colonoscopy and came home with a diagnosis of Stage 3 colorectal cancer at age 48.

It has been quite a ride since September. He had major surgery to remove the tumor, and we are about to enter his fifth week of chemo and radiation treatment with one more after that. We have been spending the weeks in Boise with his folks for treatment and home on the weekends, leaving the care and feeding of our daughter in the hands of my family and friends. My parents are amazing.

We have more chemo and possibly more surgeries to go, but by the end of 2025, I hope we will be celebrating his freedom from cancer on a beach somewhere.

I know many of you have had or do have experienced serious health issues personally or with your loved ones. Some of you are in it now. I first want to apologize for my own lack understanding and deep attention to you in times of precarious health. You can’t know what you don’t know until you do, but I have realized how I didn’t know how to treat health issues. I didn’t come through for those in my community in the best way, and I didn’t think deeply enough about what was needed. Sure, I check in on folks and made some food, but not in the sustained way that is needed. I am really sorry.

The reason I know that my approach was inadequate is because of how you all have cared for us. The gifts of meals, groceries, cards, conversations, hugs, and knowing looks have been ongoing and they have come from both expected and unexpected places. Friends, neighbors, and of course family, have showed up at our house to make pie; to fix fence; to take our daughter out for the day. You all have been steady, and you all have known what to do for us. You have known this is hard for Hatch, but also for our daughter Chloe, me, and my parents.

So, as I reflect on the end of the year, I am overcome with the care, attention, and bravery of the people in our orbit. It takes bravery to send a card or start a conversation about cancer, mortality, and well, the rectum. Mostly, folks have not shied away.

It is powerful to feel this much love.

What now, what next

Hatch, Chloe & me with our Christmas tree

When folks ask what they can do or what we need, the list is pretty simple.

First, checking in on us–visits, calls, texts, cards–has been so helpful. I told Hatch last week, “I want to go through this cancer with a house full of people.” For us, that has been the way through. We are open about things, not trying to hide or struggle alone. We have found a natural rhythm of conversation that is a salad of normal stuff and jokes and cancer talk.

Second, Hatch has a specific request. He wrote a beautiful letter below in which he asks folks to get over the “yuck” factor and get screened for colorectal cancer early. There are at home kits (Cologuard) to start with, so you don’t have to go in for a hospital procedure. And I know many of you have a kit mailed from your insurance company long ignored and squirreled away somewhere.

For “fun,” Hatch and I are keeping track of the number of colonoscopies rippling out from his diagnosis, so let us know if you finally got screened. I will even give you a bag of salad for your efforts! But seriously, Hatch gets a lot of meaning from catalyzing colorectal cancer screenings and from his participation in an international, longitudinal study on colorectal cancer in young people.

Third, help us keep community things going. One of my biggest concerns has been that the things Hatch and I have helped build will suffer. For him, it is all things outdoors like the Wallowa Avalanche Center, Backcountry Festival, the Outdoor Adventure Program, kids summer camps, and outdoor education. For me it is the local food and agriculture, the food bank and farmers market, the Cove Community Association, and all the ad hoc, informal things we do to support our neighbors. If you feel inspired and have the ability to step into any of these community building activities, we would so appreciate it.

Finally, as for the farm next year, things are a bit up in the air. I need to be available for the health stuff, and frankly, I need to work my benefited, better paying (and super meaningful) other job at Oregon Rural Action more to keep things afloat for my family.

Samirah, India, Quinn & me at the Cherry Fair Parade

We will still feed you because Samirah Miller, the 2024 farm apprentice, is staying on as a farm partner for the coming year. For those of you who have met Samirah, you know her spirit, knowledge, and leadership on the farm is nothing but a blessing. (Unfortunately, Samirah tore her Achilles tendon this fall, so she is recovering and will be a bit limited.) Our other farming colleague, India Wright is also coming back next season, and is taking on more leadership as well. We will figure it out, but it will be a challenging year.

But, with all the love and you all, our community, we can do hard things.

I wish you all peace, love, and joy, happy solstice, happy holidays, and a bright new year. Plant some seeds and stay in touch.

Love from your farmer,

Nella Mae

Surfing with our cousins in Santa Cruz in October.

Letter from my Husband, Michael Hatch

“Dear Colleagues, 

Last week I was diagnosed with Stage 3 rectal cancer. During a recent colonoscopy a tumor was discovered and a week and a half ago I had surgery to remove that tumor. The pathology report came back positive for cancer which was also detected in one of my lymph nodes. 

The next six months to a year will be a combination of treatments including radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery. The good news is a cancer free outcome is highly probable, but it will be a long hard road to recovery. 

So, why am I telling you this? For one I want to be honest about what is going on with my health and the impact cancer is going to have on my work at Eastern Oregon University. …there will be potential negative impacts to the amount of programming and number of courses offered in the coming year. My time in treatment and recovery will have me gone from campus for extended periods of time. I have a great team of students working for me and much support …and we will do our best to keep the Outdoor Adventure Program running as smoothly as possible. I ask for your patience during this uncertain time. 

Another reason for disclosure is I want to continue the work of so many brave cancer survivors, and those with loved ones battling cancer, to de-stigmatize the sensitivity to talking about colorectal cancer and hopefully get more folks to seek preventative treatment like home sampling and colonoscopies. According to the National Cancer Institute, colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer death among people under 50 in the United States, with rates of new diagnoses still climbing in this age group. If you notice any significant changes to your bowel movements or blood in your stool go get it checked out. Many doctors are recommending anyone over the age of 45 now get a colonoscopy. Early detection is key to saving lives and having the best medical and quality of life outcomes. 

Lastly, as my wife Nella and I are huge believers in the power of community to help us thrive, I want to put out a call to all EOU faculty and staff to think about ways you can engage each other and students in more outdoor programming.

I cherish my connections and friendships in this community. Already, my heart and soul have been overwhelmed with the amount of love, compassion, and care shown to me and my family. Words cannot express the fullness of my gratitude…thank you, thank you, thank you. 

If you see me around campus, I hope you won’t feel awkward in saying hi or having a conversation. Life goes on, and I’m doing alright. As Diana Ross sang, “I’ve got all my life to live and all my love to give. I’ll survive. I will survive.”

Warm Regards, 

Michael Hatch”

On the Front Lines of Climate Change

| nellamae

An Essay for The Other Oregon Magazine, December 2021

Available at here or at www.theotheroregon.com.

This summer a heat dome hovered over the Pacific Northwest for four months, moving the jet stream north, creating extreme heat and drought, exacerbating fire conditions, and making it harder than ever for farmers like me to grow food.

The cover of The Other Oregon Magazine, Dec 2021

A young farmer friend of mine called in June to say he lost all of his meat rabbits after temperatures jumped to over 100 degrees in western Washington. Another friend saw her dairy goats lose a huge number of pregnancies due to heat.

Farmers across eastern Oregon had to figure out how to farm with zero ditch irrigation water this year.

Worst of all, Sebastian Francisco Perez, a 38-year-old man working at a nursery in St. Paul, Oregon died in June when temperatures rose to 115 in the Willamette Valley. This news broke my heart. It hit home. This man was working on a farm like me; he was only two years older than me. He was my peer just doing his job in conditions he had no power to change.

This year we had no springtime, no water — only heat and fire. The Bootleg fire burned 400,000 acres, killing trees, livestock, wildlife and burning up forage for the animals that survived. The fire burned so hot it created a 200-foot-high fire tornado. It created its own weather. It maimed cattle, burned feet and udders, and killed trees that had survived the previous seven fires.

The smoke made working outside dangerous. It was so thick it blocked sunlight and delayed crop growth and maturity. There were days the visibility was so bad in my valley that huge flocks of birds — hawks, buzzards, starlings, crows — sat lined up on center pivots, wheel lines, and power lines because they couldn’t see well enough to fly or hunt.

It was eerie and ominous. Some days I felt like I was living in a post-apocalypse reality. If this sounds dramatic, you probably work inside and not with living things; you’re buffered from nature; you don’t work on the front lines of climate change.

Smokey sun over the farm, summer 2021.

But I do.

I wrote this essay not to bombard anyone with depressing snapshots, but to show and share with folks what is really happening on the ground. We the people are those whose lives are upturned or lost to hurricanes and wildfire. We the people are scrambling to figure out how to address, adapt and survive climate change.

I want to reach leaders with these stories because I believe we the people have the will to face this problem, but we need leadership to get us all rowing in the same direction.

We need leaders to follow the example of my neighbors who pulled together this summer to get through drought, heat and smoke.

Preparing, adapting and coming together

On July 19, my neighbor and mentor Sandy called with news that set my day in motion and made my heart sink. “We’re out of water. We’re trying to figure something out, but I had nightmares about it all night. This is bad.”

Sandy and her husband Dick own a nursery down the road from me. They are used to their water sources — a ditch and a spring — running dry for a few weeks at the end of August. They are prepared for that, but not for losing water six weeks early.

Emergency water for the nursery, summer 2021.

I was already on my way to my neighbor Jorge’s house with 50-gallon barrels of water for his steers. He just bought his place and five steers—a dream he worked toward for the last 25 years. He relied on the ditch to water them and didn’t have a back-up plan being so new to his place.

Sandy had already been preparing for lower flows for several weeks. She put shade cloth on four of her greenhouses to reduce heat and conserve water. She was trying to get more of her mature plants out the door and decrease her inventory. Some rancher friends to the south had seen the drought coming and started decreasing their herd in April to prepare. They moved to eastern Oregon from Wyoming because of drought and took its early signs seriously.

As each of these water and heat issues arose for us, we leaned on each other and on other neighbors for help. Two loaned us an additional shade cloth. Several brought over huge tanks to store water. The local Soil & Water Conservation District helped get the tanks filled. Some friends from town came to help harvest crops that we couldn’t water and pull the shade cloth over the greenhouse.

I feel lucky to have the kind of neighbors and friends that pull together. Anyone who could help did. We eked by because we have a functional community. What we don’t have is climate policy that will keep this situation from repeating and worsening.

Instead

I haven’t lived in a time before we knew climate change was happening. I grew up with an unsettling confusion about why no one seemed to be doing anything about it.

But really, what confused me was the lack of national leadership by policymakers to address this most existential threat. There has been no “war effort” against climate change — only bickering. We haven’t been called up to do our civic duty to reduce greenhouse gases — we’ve been polarized around it. For generations now, our elected leaders have failed to lead, and citizens have worked on this problem piecemeal.

I have come to see that the will to limit and adapt to climate change resides in the millions who are already doing the work.

My neighbors have been growing native plants for 35 years for restoration projects. My rancher friends on Catherine Creek are working to restore salmon habitat hand-in-glove with their cattle operation. In the last 15 years the local food movement has blossomed with folks in all stages of life starting small farms like mine to feed their own communities. There are seed savers and tree planters, students and scientists, entrepreneurs and families all trying to figure out how to have a smaller human impact on our planet.

Borrowed shade cloth kept the hoop house cooler, summer 2021

The work of these millions is critical, and it needs to be scaled quickly. We must use a buckshot approach to address climate change and adaptation at multiple levels.

We need to leave behind the lazy and costly ideas that:

  1. Technology will save us,
  2. Solutions must be profitable, and
  3. Individuals are responsible for climate change and can fix it.

Instead, I think we need to tap into the latent knowledge and capacity of the people, change our expectations and update our narratives. Instead, I think we need to:

  1. Utilize many traditional and innovative methods,
  2. Take actions as investments in our future, and
  3. Organize people around our shared challenges.

And, we must demand or elect or somehow conjure national leadership.

How things would look

If we changed our approach and thinking, instead of spending billions of dollars developing a few “climate-ready” GMO seed crops, we would invest in farmers and seed savers who have hundreds of varieties that have been adapted to extreme weather over centuries. We would study, trial and disperse these seeds.

Instead of spending billions and risking lives on wildfire suppression as we have for 130 years, we would follow the lead of land managers who use cultural or prescribed burns to decrease catastrophic wildfire. Lands managed this way by the Klamath Tribe in the Bootleg complex survived.

Instead of assessing forest thinning for profit, we would assess it in terms of jobs created, money saved in future fire suppression, un-disrupted lives and businesses, and the health of the forest. We must look at these actions as investments in our future resiliency rather than activities that must return profit. After all, we don’t hold fire suppression to a profitability standard.

What I long to see is a collective, diverse, urgent approach to climate change with local, state and national leadership. What else are institutions like government for if not to help organize citizens to address problems we can’t fix alone? Individuals did not create this problem and individuals cannot affect it in isolation.

We have traditional and innovative methods. We have people in all sectors eager working on adaptations. We need national leadership focused on proactive solutions that aren’t myopically trained on technology and profitability. We can’t keep failing to act because the solution isn’t glittery, and no one can make money from it.

I believe we the people are ready. We are doing our individual part growing food, managing forests, decreasing our household carbon footprints, helping our neighbors through severe weather. We need our state and national institutions to follow our example, do their jobs, and lead.

Friends helping all year on the farm, 2021

Water, Heat & Smoke

| nellamae

This is a letter from one farmer to all the eaters out there. This is a small look into how the extreme weather changes from climate change is affecting your farmer neighbors. I hope this will help folks understand what we’re up against, what to expect from your hard-working farmers, farm-workers & ranchers and what you can do to help.

Water

This morning my neighbor and mentor Sandy called with news that set my day in motion and made my heart sink. “We’re out of water. We’re trying to figure something out, but I had nightmares about it all night. This is bad.”

Sandy and her husband Dick are used to their water sources–a ditch and a spring–running dry for a few weeks at the end of August. This year it happened July 18th. And they are not the only ones. I had already planned to go borrow some 50 gallon barrels from some friends this morning to help another neighbor, Jorge, who’s out of water. He bought his place a year ago along with five steers–it was a dream he worked toward for the last 25 years. He relied on the ditch to water them and now he is in trouble. Yesterday we made due hauling 5 gallon buckets from our place to his, but today we needed a better solution.

Sandy had already been preparing for lower flows for several weeks. She put shade cloth on four of her greenhouses to reduce heat and conserve water. She was trying to get more of her mature native plants out the door and decrease her inventory. My other mentors, Andrea & Tony, had seen the drought coming and started decreasing their herd in April to prepare. I followed their lead and didn’t buy cattle this year because I was worried about having enough pasture. We all did the best we could to prepare. Year by year we are trying to build resilience into our soil and systems, but at some point, it is out of our hands. Sandy didn’t know when the water would dry up. Andrea didn’t know her pump switch would fail in the middle of this drought and she’d have to scramble to get animals watered and the pump fixed.

As each of these issues arose for us, we leaned on each other and on other neighbors for help. One loaned us an additional shade cloth. One brought over huge tanks to store water. I searched for 50 gallon barrels to haul water. My dad offered up his 500 gallon water tank. Some friends from town dropped everything to come help harvest a bed of beets that we couldn’t water and pull the shade cloth over the greenhouse. We are working together because we have developed a functional community that acts for mutual aid. What we don’t have is climate policy that will keep this situation from repeating and worsening.

Shade cloth goes over the chiles, eggplants & basil. We are nearly out of water so this is an extra measure to conserve.

HEAT

The old joke is “if you have to buy zucchinis, you don’t have any friends.” This year I planted zucchinis three times by seed and finally transplanted them into the ground from seed pots. First they were killed off by very low temperatures. Then they wouldn’t germinate because of the very early high temperatures. Now, after weeks over 100 degrees followed by weeks over 90 degrees, they are slowly coming along. I’m a professional–I should be able to grow a zucchini! Bu, the climate change-driven temperatures are out of my hands and the multiple zucchini failures are outside my experience.

One thing many folks might not understand is that each species of plant has ideal heat and soil temperature ranges. Spinach is a spring crop because it hates hot temperatures. Mature plants bolt (go to flower) after a few days of hot temperatures, and the seeds won’t even germinate if the soil is over 85 degrees.

Similarly, while tomatoes love heat, but their blossoms are particular. If the nights get below 55F or stay above 75F, the flowers will drop, which means less fruit. Daytime temperatures above 90F can also cause blossom drop. Prolonged high day and night temperatures are the worst, which is what we’ve had. When I look out at my tomato plants that should be heavy with big green fruit, I see that the excessive heat has left me with only a smattering of fruit and a handful of blossoms.

Perhaps the biggest source of stress for me during the heat is concern for my co-workers and livestock. We have started working earlier and quitting earlier in order to stay safe. Even at 90, much less 100 or 110, folks start to wilt. A farm worker in the Willamette Valley died working during the heat wave in late June. I take this concern seriously because usually by the time folks know they are in trouble it is very serious.

We do the best we can for livestock making sure they have plenty of shade and cold water. My daughter’s bunny even got to live in the luxury of the mudroom for a few weeks during the heat wave.

We just have to make adjustments and adaptations as the temperatures spike but is this a permanent trend? Climate projections says yes. I keep asking myself, how do I keep my co-workers safe out in the field? How do I keep farming when nothing wants to germinate in this heat? I have to be able to plant continuously through the season to feed the people in my community. If I can’t direct seed my crops, I will need more space, more water and more labor to transplant more crops. How can I afford this or ramp up in time?

SMOKE

Smokey sunrise over Twin Butts on Mt Fanny.

Just like heat, smoke makes me worry about my co-workers. I watch the air quality index, require masks, reduce hours, take more breaks, find things to do inside–but it is hard to know what the best course of action is. I still need to farm when it is smokey. My co-workers still need a paycheck and cutting hours hurts them and productivity on the farm. As I write this the bindweed is taking over and beds go unplanted as we try to avoid working outside in the smoke. We will see the consequences of these decisions in a few short weeks when I don’t have enough lettuce to fill orders or miss my window for the final crop of carrots.

One thing folks don’t realize is that unhealthy levels of wildfire smoke also slows down the ripening of produce. Tomatoes can’t ripen without enough sunlight. Even wheat maturity slows when there is too much smoke in the air. Farmers all have a lot of tricks, but no one can make crops ripen when the sun is blocked out.

WHAT EATERS CAN DO

  1. Be patient with us

We growers are up against a lot right now–water, heat, smoke, and the regular stuff too. Your tomatoes may be late this year. You may not be able to get lettuce in the heat of August. Please understand we’re doing our best to plan and adapt, but we’re seeing problems we haven’t encountered before.

2. Heed the “Bat Call”

When I have an emergency, I send out a “Bat Call” (a text message rather than a spotlight in the sky.) I ask for folks to come help me. Tell your farmer and rancher friends to put you on their “Bat Call” list. Today when I sent out the Bat Call around our water emergency, I had friends and a husband show up and we got done in two hours what it would have taken me all day to do.

3. Push for climate change legislation NOW

Call your members of Congress and tell them to support climate change legislation in the current infrastructure bill (aka “Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework as of July 2021.) This life-changing, world-changing, critical legislation may be compromised out of the bill. Tell your members of Congress you want clean energy production, a Green New Deal, and effective climate change mitigation NOW.

(P.S. Calling is more effective than emailing your reps. It just takes a few minutes! Once is not enough. Do it as daily as possible!)

Find phone numbers for your members of Congress here: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

Thank you for reading and for acting.

Your farmer,

Nella Mae

We lost one of my favorite white pines to drought this year. Even closely watched and watered.

Tomato Pruning & Trellising Class

| nellamae

June 13th Nella Mae will teach a class on pruning and trellising tomatoes. Pruning and trellising help increase tomato production, plant health, strength and easy of picking.

Nella Mae will go over how to prune tomatoes to maximize production and minimize disease. She will cover the “Florida weave” technique of trellising. She will also answer your questions about growing tomatoes.

The class is 10-11am on Sunday, June 13th at the farm (69361 Antles Lane, Cove, OR.) The cost is $8 per person or $15 per family. The class is free to folks who stay for the weeding party from 11am-noon.

You will take home a handout and materials for trellising.

Please pre-register by filling out this form (link) or contacting Nella Mae at 541-910-4098 or farmer@nellamaesfarm.com.

    May Classes at Nella Mae’s Farm

    | nellamae

    Nella Mae will be teaching two more classes at the farm on May 8th, 2021. The farm location is 69361 Antles Lane, Cove, Oregon. It is the second driveway on the left on Antles Lane. Look for the farmstand in its new location.

    Classes are $8 per person or $14 per family. Cash, check, Venmo (@nellamaesfarm) or CashApp ($nellamaesfarm) are accepted. Weeding Party volunteers can attend a class for free!

    • 10-11:30am: Better Grazing for More Pasture class- Simple rotational grazing methods to avoid over grazing, control weeds, and lengthen your grazing season. This class will help you better graze any species on small to large pastures.
    • 2-3pm: Weed management for the Home Gardener- Different methods for controlling weeds in the garden and weed identification. Bring your questions!
    • 3-4pm- Weeding party. Anyone who joins can attend a class for free.

    Click here to register for a class.

    Please note:

    • Kids are welcome, dogs are not.
    • Please bring warm clothes and you may need mud boots.
    • Classes will be held outside, but please help us by bringing a mask and socially distancing as everyone in our community is not yet vaccinated.

    When you register, you will get an email confirmation with more info. Call or email Nella Mae if you have any questions. farmer@nellamaesfarm.com or 541-910-4098.

    • Fence line comparison of horse grazing

    Anti-Asian Racism in Agriculture and Our Communities

    | nellamae

    Two weeks ago eight people, six of whom were Asian American women, were targeted and gunned down at work in Atlanta. I can’t express how horrifying the terrorism, racism, and misogyny of this attack is. This kind of attack isn’t new, but it has been happening more over the last pandemic year. There have been thousands of racially-motivated attacks, particularly against elders in the Asian community. Imagine that. Imagine your own grandparents or parents being targeted at the grocery store or walking down the street. It is excruciating.

    As I have followed the news and read about the Atlanta shootings, people in the AAPI community have expressed intense fear for themselves, their families, and their neighbors to simply be out in the world. I am very concerned for the safety and well being of my AAPI friends, neighbors, community members, and fellow farmers and ranchers. And we should all feel intense concern. The people who have been attacked are our grandparents and parents. They are members of our community and state and nation.

    While many white Americans like me might interpret the Atlanta shooting as “random,” the underlying causes are racism and misogyny. When we are silent about what’s really going on and why, it erases the truth and perpetuates the deep and ongoing root causes.

    My words are not sufficient or important except to help call up fellow white folks. There are many people who are speaking up about anti-Asian racism and how these most recent attacks have affected them, and we all need to listen. And we can’t stop there. We have to actively dismantle the racist system that lead to the murders of Asian women in Atlanta; the murders of Latinx shoppers in an El Paso WalMart; the murders of Black women and men in asleep in their homes and jogging in their neighborhoods; the thousands of disappeared Indigenous women; those attacked in their houses of worship for being Jewish or Muslim or in their favorite night club for being gay. We have to dismantle and oppose racism and prejudice in our work places, our homes, our families and ourselves because it is the root of the violence that we see.

    WWII Japanese Internment Camp“WWII Japanese Internment Camp” by MarcCooper_1950 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

    I call on folks to join me in remembering this kind of anti-Asian sentiment is not “out there.” The Pacific Northwest and eastern Oregon where I live are steeped in anti-Asian history. In 1893 La Grande, Oregon where my local farmers market is located, an armed mob of 200 white people marched Chinese immigrants out of town and burned and looted their businesses. The relic of the “Chinese Underground” where Asian-Americans were forced to live and do business is now a tourist attraction in Pendleton, Oregon. During World War II, Japanese-Americans were interned in concentration camps. Many Japanese farmers in our region permanently lost their land. Decedents of these farmers live in our communities and have never received restitution for the time lost, the property lost or the betrayal and heartbreak.

    I was thinking about these stories today as I read a letter of solidarity from the National Young Farmers Coalition, of which I am a member. I encourage folks to read the letter and keep going from there. Here’s an excerpt that broadened my understanding.

    “The U.S. has a shameful history of creating policies designed to deny, limit, and take away access to agricultural land and economic viability for Asian Americans. These policies were lobbied by white-led institutions and policy makers, agriculture associations, lenders, and farmers and ranchers who felt economically threatened by Asian American farmers. These strategic racist policies include but are not limited to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the 1913 & 1920 Alien Land Laws, the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1935, and 1942 Executive Order 9066 and the ensuing theft of more than 250,000 acres of Japanese American-owned land. Anti-Asian xenophobia has also been expressed through U.S. imperialism, which is intricately connected to militarism and misogyny, from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the war in Afghanistan, to military control in Okinawa and Guam. We continue to frame recent events through a zero-sum lens, from the China trade war and scapegoating blame of economic decline on China. This narrative permeates agriculture, where a mainstream portrait of the U.S. farm economy portrays a sector principally threatened by China in order to obscure the responsibility of our domestic agricultural policies.” 

    National Young Farmers Coalition, April 5th 2021,
    https://www.youngfarmers.org/2021/04/in-solidarity-with-aapi-communities/

    I also encourage folks to listen to this conversation between Justine Yan and R.O. Kwon and read Kwon’s essay here. It is a powerful expression of how many of our AAPI neighbors, friends, and family are coping in the aftermath of the Atlanta shooting.

    Here’s an article on supporting your AAPI colleagues and friends at work. Again, don’t stop here.

    Thank you for reading.

    Sincerely,

    Nella Mae

    Young Farmers in Solidarity with AAPI Communities

    Nella Mae’s Farm is Hiring

    | nellamae

    We’re looking for two Farm Assistants for the 2021 growing season. Please read on for more information.

    Feel free to email or call Nella Mae Parks at farmer@nellamaesfarm.com or 541-910-4098 to discuss position before submitting application. Please do not contact us via text or messenger in regards to this job.

    Farm Assistant Positions Now Open

    Background: Nella Mae’s Farm is a small vegetable farm growing for local markets. We sell to restaurants, retail outlets, through our on-farm farmstand, and at the La Grande Farmers Market.

    Farm Assistants experience first-hand what it takes to manage a diverse small farm through the growing season. The work is physical and mentally engaging. Farm Assistants help with harvest, planting, weeding, irrigation, pruning, trellising, and other production tasks. The work is varied throughout the day, the week, and season. It is a great job for someone who likes to work outside and likes to learn new skills.

    We value our employees and appreciate the skills and ideas they bring to the farm. We have a friendly, organized workplace with clear procedures and daily objectives. We have a strong sense of community and teamwork on our farm.

    Farm or gardening experience is not required. Interest, curiosity, and a strong work ethic go a long way.

    COVID note: We require masks and appropriate distancing until further notice to keep all our employees safe.

    Wage: Starting at $13/hour.

    Work Schedule: 10-30 hours per week. Schedule is flexible but harvest days are required–Tuesdays and Fridays. Daily schedule is 7am-12pm, lunch, 1pm-3pm.

    Term: June-Oct

    Job Description: The Farm Assistant will work with a team of other workers under supervision of the farm manager. The Farm Assistant will be involved in daily fieldwork with instruction in pest and disease control, soil health, and irrigation and water management.

    • Field work: includes field preparation for planting, transplanting, weeding, thinning, pest control.
    • Greenhouse: seeding, transplanting, watering, trellising and pest control.
    • Harvesting: Field harvesting, washing, sorting, and packing salad mix and vegetables.
    • Record keeping: Assisting with planting, harvest, farm activity records.

    This position also provides an excellent learning experience for someone who is interested in agriculture, food and running a small business and who enjoys being outside. At the farm we strive to provide learning opportunities for all employees per their interests.

    Qualifications: We are looking for a hard-working, self-motivated person who is able to communicate well. The Farm Assistant must be able to work quickly and deftly with their hands. This person must be able follow direction of the farm manager and provide constructive feedback about operations. Attention to detail and adherence to our food safety procedures is critical. Applicants should be ready for physical work and to lift 30lbs regularly. They should also be able to work outside in all weather conditions from rain to heat. We invite a person of any skill level to apply for as long as they are excited to learn and work outside.

    How to Apply: Please send the following to farm owner Nella Mae Parks at farmer@nellamaesfarm.com: 1. A cover letter of 1-2 pages explaining your interest in the position and availability; 2. Current resume and; 3. A list of three work references with contact information. Please email as attachments in MS Word or PDF format.

    Feel free to email or call Nella Mae Parks at 541-910-4098 to discuss position before submitting application. Please do not contact us via text or messenger in regards to this job.

    More information about the farm at www.nellamaesfarm.com and on Facebook and Instagram.

    Tips for Starting Tomatoes

    | nellamae

    It is March 1st, so it is time to start thinking about starting your tomatoes indoors. Below I outline my tips for starting tomatoes in my climate, zone 6B in northeast Oregon.

    Tip 1: Don’t start too early! They will catch up.

    In northeast Oregon zone 6B, it isn’t really safe to transplant your tomatoes outside until June. The earlier you start your plants, the more of your house they will take over before they can go outside. Also, the earlier you start them, the deeper the hole and the more time it will take to transplant them outside.

    I shoot for a plan that is about 8 inches tall and no more than 12 inches. However, my friends at Val’s Veggies in Medical Springs plant them much smaller and they catch up easily. Seeing how Val’s does it has made me want to plant smaller and smaller plants. I think smaller starts are generally more healthy because they have less time to develop problems or get leggy.

    I think planting any time in March is safe for a healthy crop. Maybe try planting some tomatoes early and some later in March this year and see what works for you. Notice if the starts catch up with each other in size before planting and what happens with transplants too.

    Tip 2: One seed per pot

    I’m all about reducing complexity and work down the road. If you can carefully put one seed per pot or planting tray cell, it is a lot easier than trying to carefully disentangle tiny seedlings or thinning them later.

    Tip 3: Big, deep pots

    I like to start my tomatoes in large, deep tubes because I don’t have time to transplant 400 plants up from small trays. If you do start in small trays, make sure you transplant up to larger pots once they get bigger. Remember there should be at least the same depth for roots as you have for the shoot above ground. What I mean is you don’t want a two foot tall plant in a shallow pot. It is better to have a pot that is too big than too small.

    Tomato starts in deep tubes.

    Tip 4: Lots of light

    Many people ask, “why are my tomatoes so spindly?” Answer: Not enough light! If your plants are consistently “leggy” your window isn’t doing the trick and you need a grow light.

    Tip 5: Watch for disease & pests

    We have trouble with mice getting into our greenhouse at night and mowing down young tomatoes and peppers. We set traps to reduce loss. Slugs will do the same thing, so consider leaving Sluggo pellets around your plants.

    If you’re a smoker, do not touch your tomato plants without gloves. Tobacco mosaic virus can easily spread from your hands to tomatoes and it is bad. Give your plants the best start.

    Tip 6: Whack ’em back

    If your tomatoes get really healthy, and tall with thick stems, you can whack them back without worry. If they are making a jungle in your house or just getting too darn tall, it is important to prune them for a better transplant. Again, you want a 50/50 root to shoot ratio. If anything, you should have more/deeper roots than you have shoots above ground.

    Remember to pluck off flowers and fruit before you transplant them. Both just waste your plant’s energy at the beginning of the season when they should be putting on vegetation rather than fruits and flowers.

    Tip 7: Don’t transplant too early!

    At our farm, we’ve had frost as late as Father’s Day often. If you plant before Father’s Day in June, be vigilant. You can use “Walls o’ Water” or remay/cloche to keep the frost off, but they only provide so much frost protection.

    At our farm, we plant tomatoes inside the hoop house about May 15th and plant outside after Father’s Day. A lot of folks in our valley say, “wait to plant until the snow is off Mount Emily.” So you can try that if you want.

    Keep an eye on the 7-day weather forecast to look for a good time to plant. I know the weather report for our farm is usually correct when it comes to precipitation, but wrong on the forecasted low temperatures. I usually just subtract 9 degrees to the forecast for a more accurate estimate.

    Again, if your plants are huge but you don’t think the conditions are right for transplanting, just prune them back and wait.

    Those are my tips! Thank you for reading.

    Your grateful farmer,

    Nella Mae

    Letter in Support of Double Up Food Bucks

    | nellamae

    The Oregon Legislature is reviewing two bills that would give state funding and support to the Double Up Food Bucks program. Here is my letter in support of these bills.

    Click here to learn how to submit your own testimony by 9am Feb 2, 2021.

    Double Up Food Bucks cards from the La Grande Farmers Market

    February 1, 2021

    Chair Gelser and Members of the Committee,

    My name is Nella abdae Parks, and I am a farmer in Cove, northeast Oregon. I am writing to request your support for SB 440 & 555.

    SB 555 and SB 440 support the expansion of Double Up Food Bucks Oregon, a SNAP incentive program with a proven record of success. For every dollar spent on SNAP-eligible foods at participating farmers markets, farm share programs, and grocery stores across the state, shoppers will receive a dollar to spend on Oregon-grown fruits and vegetables.

    This program is important to me for two main reasons. First, it increases access to fresh, locally grown food for my neighbors, and second, it increases sales for my farm.

    I accept hundreds of dollars of Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) each Saturday at the La Grande Farmers Market. Shoppers who use their Oregon Trail EBT card also get a $10 match at each market to buy more produce grown by local farmers and ranchers like me. Just like the Oregon Farm Direct Nutrition Program, Double Up Food Bucks help food benefit dollars recirculate more times in our rural community than if they were spent at a big box store. My business directly benefits from DUFB purchases. My employees benefit too because of the income the program brings to my business.

    The impact of DUFB is not small. At our medium-sized, 5-month long market, shoppers use over $10,000 per year in DUFB to buy healthy, local produce. This money benefits many farms in my county and region and can make or break a slow day at the market. Furthermore, the DUFB program results in higher Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, aka food stamps) spending at our market as well. Double Up Food Bucks is both an incentive to shop at our market and a welcome sign showing our community we really want everyone to shop with us.

    The La Grande Farmers Market started our Double Up Food Bucks program about four years ago. In the first two years we received grant funding for the $10 matches. The program was so popular and so well supported by all shoppers at the market, we were able to fundraise about $10,000 per year from grants and local donations for the last two years to support the program. However, the grant funding is not sustainable for the long term.

    SB 555 and SB 440 would assure the long-term sustainability of the DUFB program for our market and our shoppers. Double Up Food Bucks is not a complicated or convoluted safety net program–it directly addresses food insecurity and nutrition by putting dollars in the hands of folks who need them and directing them towards the purchase of healthy, fresh food from local farmers and ranchers.

    Furthermore, many of the vendors at our farmers market themselves are low-income, so DUFB directly benefits even more low-income people.

    Given the deep economic impact and loss of life and income during the COVID-19 pandemic, I think the Double Up Food Bucks program is more important than ever. More and more of my neighbors are in need of both food assistance and work. I am able to provide both through produce sales, produce donations, and by hiring local people. During COVID there has been a great increase in demand for my produce, and I have hired more people, produced more food, and provided a free food pantry at our farmstand. I am shopping for my elderly neighbors and helped our school meal program reach elderly residents and students. I feel I am doing all I can with my neighbors to help my community, but I am just one person and one farm. I urge Oregon’s senators and representatives to do all they can and support the citizen efforts on the ground like Double Up Food Bucks.

    The power of our state government is to help address the problems and build the things that are too complex, too large or too global for us to address ourselves on the community scale. Please support the citizens of the state support our neighbors by passing SB 555 and SB 440.

    Thank you for the consideration and for your service to our state.

    Sincerely,
    Nella Mae Parks
    Nella Mae’s Farm
    Cove, Oregon