Down on the Farm

Back update

Well, that was amazing. We went to Dartmouth around 4:30 am, had surgery around 8 am, and now I am back in Peachem tonight, minus my intense pain! I think it worked, and so does the doc. But because I am still completely wiped out from being put under, and the surgery, I can barely see the letters I am typing, so I am going to sign off and drift back into a spotty sleep. But thank you everyone for the thoughts and prayers, and so far it is looking good!

Life is bigger

There is a REM song that starts out, "Oh, llife is bigger . . ." Maryellen and I say that sometimes to each other when the magnitude and intensity of life washes over us, and leaves us humbled. And we have had some of that bigness around here lately.

I haven't posted much lately because I have been preoccupied with my back. I have always had a maginal back, and I have always had back pain that predated my active farming years. But last August, something changed, and the back pain increased significantly. Since last August, it has gotten worse and worse, to the point where sitting is problematic, I wake up at night with pain, and my foot falls asleep at random intervals, usually when I am just standing or sitting somewhere normally.

So I tried a lot of different things. I tried laying off work some, yoga stretches, massage, exercise, no exercise, anti-inflamatories, but things kept getting worse. Finally, after the holidays, I went in for an MRI, and was told I have a massively herniated disc in my back. In some ways, this was good news, because it meant I wasn't just being a wimp about some nagging tweak. But in other ways, it was not such good news, obviously, because it meant there was something structurally wrong with my back, and a properly functioning back is pretty important to any vegetable operation.

Since we had tried a lot of non-surgical options already, the docs gave us kind of two options - surgery, or waiting it out. Apparently, lots of herniated discs resolve by themselves. Some of the disc fluid is reabsorbed by the body, the swelling goes down, pressure on the nerve is reduced, and the pain goes away. But it can take a lot of time. Like years sometimes, especially if you have a big herniation like me.

The other option is surgery, which removes the material pressing on the spine nerve, and allows the body to heal more quickly. The success rate is very high for this surgery these days, but hey, it's surgery! Any surgery includes the potential for nasty side effects, like death, paralysis, and the plain-old-not-working-to-remove-the-pain problem. So surgery is something that must be considered seriously. But, if everything goes well, you are pretty much as good as new after 4-6 weeks of recovery, or as the doc said, "If not new, then at least as good as you were before this happened!"

The rub for us is that I don't think I could make it through another veggie season with this pain. In fact, I know I couldn't. And the surgery holds out the tantilizing possibility of living without intense chronic pain, and of being able to continue to farm.

So we met with our surgeon last Thursday and decided to go for it! And we were able to get added on to an existing surgery slot with our doc, so I am going in tomorrow (Tuesday Jan. 31st) for the procedure! So there you have it - surgery tomorrow, hopefuly home tomorrow night or Wednesday morning.

We are in the able hands of the pros at the Dartmouth Spine Center, so we will be well taken care of. In a weird way, I am looking forward to the procedure. It turns out that chronic pain is a real bummer, so I am excited about having good odds at reduced pain. Wish me luck!

Testimonial

This is a verbatim reprint of an actual email I received from a CSA member regarding her 7 month old son.

Hi Maryellen,

I thought you should know that Sam will pretty much ONLY eat the kale baby food I made with a bunch you gave me after market last summer. I give him some of the standard rice cereal, apples, etc. No no. He wants another cube of kale into which I have to sneak the other traditional baby food stuff. He only wants Old Shaw Farm veggies I guess.

And so it begins

The first tomato seedlings have been planted. Not enough to be worth firing up the greenhouse, so they're in our house under lights. Welcome 2006 season. I got a good feeling about this one!!

Henry

Henry is smiling more and more. I wish I could get a photo, but I didn't. His smiles are fleeting, and, happily, most often when he's looking into your eyes - the camera seems to distract him. In any case, like every mom I guess, I think he's perfect.

Standing on the shoulders of giants

There were four Shaw children who grew up here during the heyday of this farm. Henry and I were lucky enough to meet two of them today - Agnes Shaw and Kay Johnston. That is Kay up above, and Agnes below, kindly holding Henry while he wails.

The excuse for going was that Terry Hoffer from the North Star newspaper is considering writing a piece about them. But article or no, it was really great to meet and talk with them.

From what I can tell from their stories and the photos, the farm was thriving and beautiful when they lived here. Hollyhocks growing by the front door stairs. The farmstand was their garage. The spring line splits before it gets to the barn and had enough water for all the farm and all the farm guests and enough pressure to get up to the second floor. All the Shaw children went to college and had successful careers -- a chemist who went to South America with a rubber company, a nurse, a teacher, and one who worked for National Life. Their mother never when to high school, instead she cared for her ailing mother. Yet she did the books for the farm (something I am struggling to learn now), raised four very successful kids, tutored them in algebra and physics, ran a guesthouse including raising hundreds of chickens and feeding up to 40 for Sunday dinner, and has the happiest looking smile around, at least in all her photos. You can see a bit of it in Kay's smile above.

When the Shaws went to sell the farm in the 1970s, they made a conscious decision to try to not sell it to someone who would develop it. Land prices were low then and property wasn't selling. And they had an offer from someone who wanted to buy the land to put houses up top on the farm field. But the Shaws knew that the soil, especially up top, was excellent agricultural soil, and they really wanted to keep the land in agriculture. So even though they sold to the Seidens, who didn't want to farm it, the Seidens did intend to keep the land together and open, which they did, in fact taking it one step further and conserving the land with the Vermont Land Trust.

This farm is a wonderful place, and I'm glad to be a part of it.

NOFA Conference

We always have a great time at the NOFA winter conference . Good food, friends, fun and helpful information. The flyer for this year's conference -- happening February 11 -- looks good too. Two workshops on biodiesel that I hope Peter will go to, and some interesting looking farm business planning and management workshops.

Friends' websites

Dean, Quinn's dad, designs beautiful books and he also does limited edition publishing. You can see some of his work at his new website.

My friend and work colleague Jack now has a political blog. Jack rocks!

Seed catalogs

The seed catalogs, and we are dreaming about next season, trying to change those dreams into concrete plans. One of the ideas we have for next year is to try to improve our farmstand. Maybe a real sign, maybe better fridge situation.

One fun thing to mull on has been what to plant in the tilled land around the farmstand. We have thought about cut flowers, but it seems too much to take on this year. I'm thinking prepare the soil behind the shed for a perennial herb garden, to the south of the shed plant culinary herbs and edible flowers, and I don't know what are the rest. Barb, my sister in law, said she liked how in their CSA, they got a small bouquets of herbs almost every week, and that intrigues me. So far on the list of herbs I have parsley, basil, cilantro, cutting celery, dill, and oregano, and for edible flowers, calendula, nasturtiums, violets, and marigolds. Your suggestions and thoughts welcome!

Happy New Year!

Another relatively warm day, though not warm enough to turn the snow to mush, and perfect for a walk in the woods.