I’m sure I’ve mentioned this somewhere in some post but for
our newer readers, I was born, well let’s say in the 1940’s. My folks had a
fairly large hog & dairy farm back in the Midwest
and it had been passed down three generations. How we ended up in Arizona
Now dad was probably about as a down to earth a person one
could ever expect to meet. He was also full of more common sense and good old
fashion “know how” than any person probably has a right too be. Like I
mentioned we raised hogs and had a small dairy herd. Actually, we averaged
around 250 to 300 hogs at any one time, around 80 to 100 head of dairy cattle,
about 250 chickens, some geese, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, goats, a few sheep,
4 mules, 2 draft horses and probably a
few other critters I can’t remember at the moment. Almost forgot, dad raised
and trained hunting dogs also. I guess you could say we were “Old McDonalds
Farm”. I often think back about the family farm that way.
The total acreage of the farm was 880 acres. We grew most of
our own silage so a large portion of the acreage was devoted to that. We did
have a 5 acre truck garden. That’s what a large garden was called back then.
The farm house was built back in the 1880’s by my great grandparents and it was
multi storied and big. Thinking back I would say it would have to be at least 6000
SqFt when you added up all the floors and the 2 basements.
Although some of the hogs went to market each year, we also
slaughtered quite a few ourselves. We had a big smoke house and we made our own
hams, ham hocks, bacon, sausages and virtually anything else that could be made
from a hog. Around harvest time we canned much of what came out of the truck
garden and trades some of it with other farmers for items we didn’t grow. I
would say our farm was pretty much self sufficient. At least it seemed we were.
I know I’m partial but dad was special. When slaughter time
came, he always had two sayings that will be stuck in my head as long as I
live. “The only thing we don’t use from the hog is the oink” and “A healthy hog
is a happy hog”. I’d have to get pretty graphic to show the reader just how
accurate that first saying was but believe me he wasn’t joking.
In dad’s way of thinking, when he said “a healthy hog is a
happy hog” not only went for the hogs. He really cared for the livestock and
took great care of them. That same care he showed to the livestock carried over
to the family. Basically our farm was organic long before the word or concept
became popular. It wasn’t by design either. We simply did things pretty much
the same way my grandparents and great grandparents did. That made us organic I
guess.
The philosophy was a simple one. We are God’s creation and
as such we have a responsibility to treat our bodies the best we could. That
included eating only wholesome food. Dad would no more consider using chemical
fertilizers or insecticides than he would giving arsenic to the livestock or
putting it on any of the crops.
I’m telling the reader all this as a prelude to the main
point of this post. Most folks today haven’t a clue as to what they are
actually putting in their bodies when they sit down at the table in the
evening. I know for many folks today, it isn’t easy to eat healthy the way they
might want to. Face it, eating healthy isn’t cheap. A lot of folks these days
are simply thankful to be able to put any food on their family tables.
This philosophy is one of the reasons we encourage people to
grow as much of their own food as possible. It’s really not as difficult as
some think. It’s not only healthier physically, it’s really nice and comforting
to know that what your putting in your body isn’t full of garbage that God
never intended to be there.
We here try to operate Squash Patch Farms Ministry as much
as possible the same way my great grandparents, grandparents and parents did
and with the same philosophy. Sure we use some modern equipment and modern
conveniences but we use No chemical fertilizers or insecticides and everything
we grow is from either a direct heirloom seed stock or a hybrid of direct
heirloom’s. This is God’s ministry and work and we try to give those we serve
the best wholesome produce possible.
