Rain Water Collection

DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, WHICH MEANS I MAY EARN A COMMISSION IF YOU CLICK A LINK AND MAKE A PURCHASE. FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT MY DISCLOSURE POLICY FOR MORE DETAILS.

As a student of permaculture, Aaron loves to find ways to use naturally occurring systems in our favor. I mean, who doesn’t want more free time? And fewer things breaking is a huge win! Since we have garden beds to irrigate and animals to hydrate, thoughtful rain water collection quickly became one of the more obvious systems to experiment with. The latest rain water prototype may be upgraded to a more permanent set up as it proves its usefulness and we continue to tweak our systems here at Fail Better Farms.

What does rain water collection look like on our farm?

We have four 55 gal water barrels and one 330 gal IBC tote tank set up at downspouts where needed on the property. When it rains, these guys fill up relatively quickly. It’s kind of shocking actually. For every 1” of rain and 1,000 square feet of surface, about 620 gallons can be captured. If the rain barrel is kept up slightly above the ground, we can irrigate on head pressure alone. When it’s warmer we’ll add BTI as a monthly pollinator-friendly mosquito control. (Read about how and why we use BTI here.)

Our current largest reservoir, the IBC tote tank (in photo below) is strategically located. We’re in agricultural zone 7A, meaning we should expect a few hard freezes throughout the winter. Our current solution is to keep the tank on the south-facing side of our garage, out of the biting cold north wind. Using gravity alone, this tank supplies the rain water stored for crops and/or animals.

Water destined for the crops passes through an irrigation filter, a battery-operated irrigation timer (sometimes set to irrigate 3 times a day), and some layflat hose (blue hose seen in photos) before it arrives at on/off valves at the foot of every veggie row (so that only those actively growing get the water). A row of drip tape extends from every on /off valve (right photo below) down the row so every root zone gets a slow steady leak of water. This sounds like a lot, but aside from replacing a 9V battery once a year in the timer, this system has been boiled down to two constants: rain & gravity. Thus, there are NO moving parts to break or be replaced. Win!

Pup Proofing

We’ve also had to get creative because our Great Pyrenees enjoys chewing on (ev.er.y.thing…including) the hose that runs from the tank to the fenced garden. We’ve had success by blocking the front of the tank with wooden pallets and covering the layflat hose with upcycled conveyor belt material. (See photos below.)

How can you plan your water collection system?

1. Make sure water collection is legal where you are.

2. Place your rain barrels in logical locations. If you’ll be using the water for thirsty chickens, then collect the water on your chicken coop. If the water is for your garden, make sure it’ll be flowing downhill to your beds. You know…work smarter, not harder.

3. Be creative. A well-placed gutter is well worth the time it takes to install.

Check out what it looks like:

The Need for Regenerative Agriculture

DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, WHICH MEANS I MAY EARN A COMMISSION IF YOU CLICK A LINK AND MAKE A PURCHASE. FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT MY DISCLOSURE POLICY FOR MORE DETAILS.

Truth #1: Whether we like it or not, because we eat food, we are a part of the agricultural system. Every time we purchase food, we are demonstrating our approval of the farming practices that were used to grow it. It’s a heavy responsibility, but it’s imperative that we all recognize our influence.

Truth #2: Humans have irrefutably done too much damage to our planet, and it’s about dang time somebody (or, better yet, a whole bunch of somebodies) steps up and does something about it. We need to reverse the damage we’ve done. This isn’t just some hippie pipe dream; it’s reality. Here are a few facts from folks who know things:

• “If current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years.” (Read this article if you have a few minutes.) (Or watch this movie if you have a few hours.)

• Mainstream farming practices have placed agriculture as one of the top five sources of greenhouse gases. (Fact check me here.)

• “In recent decades, contact with soil has largely been reduced, which together with a modern lifestyle and nutrition has led to the depletion of the gut microbiome with adverse effects to human health.” (Read more about the direct connection between soil health and human gut health here.) (If you're into it, also check out this podcast to learn more about the connection between human health and the environment.)

Truth #3: The status quo isn’t working. If we lose something faster than we gain it, the argument could be made that sustainable agriculture isn’t enough. We’re proud Americans here at Fail Better Farms, and we figure if we can put a man on the moon, then we can live gently on our home planet without compromising its well-being--or, by extension, our own.

Let’s Talk Solutions

Our current situation is not ideal, but neither is it without hope. Enter: regenerative agriculture.

“‘Regenerative Agriculture’ describes farming and grazing practices that, among other benefits, reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity – resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle.”

— Regeneration International

We are by no means experts on regenerative agriculture, but we’re working to learn all we can so we can be part of the regenerative movement. We hope you’ll join us on this journey.

Fall Harvest at Fail Better Farms

DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, WHICH MEANS I MAY EARN A COMMISSION IF YOU CLICK A LINK AND MAKE A PURCHASE. FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT MY DISCLOSURE POLICY FOR MORE DETAILS.

We’re so excited to offer our first produce packages ready for sale! We’ve worked hard to grow tasty, nutritious veggies, and it feels good to know we’re feeding other folks wholesome food.

How We Do

All of our produce is raised organically with permaculture principles. Here’s what that looks like:

Instead of spraying our crops, we keep them covered with insect netting so cabbage loopers and other creepy crawlies can’t attack them. Also, we eliminate weeds between rows by laying down repurposed conveyor belts.

Once the produce gets to be a healthy size, we remove the insect netting in order to let our plants stretch out (and so we can take a closer look at our beauties!).

Regenerative Agriculture

After we harvest this produce, we’ll plant cover crop, which includes peas, vetch, daikon radish, and other cool stuff, which will pull nitrogen into the soil and make the land even more nutrient-dense for our planting next Spring. We believe it’s not enough to be sustainable. Our pursuit of regenerative agriculture means that we continually strive to leave the land healthier than we found it. Future generations depend on our success.

We’ve Attracted Monarchs!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you click a link and make a purchase. Feel free to check out my disclosure policy for more details.

Aaron’s father, who is also our neighbor, remembers when monarch butterflies in our area used to be everywhere. These days…not so much. On the brink of endangerment, monarchs need our help. One of our goals here at Fail Better Farms is to become a certified monarch waystation, so we’ve been cultivating diverse, native plants for a couple of years. We’ve enjoyed watching the wildlife population thrive, and we’ve kept our eyes open especially for any signs of monarchs. Well, they’re here, and we couldn’t be prouder!

Interesting Stuff You May or May Not Know

Monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed. The momma monarch (momnarch?) lays her eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves, one egg per leaf. Then the eggs grow into adorably fat, striped caterpillars that eat the milkweed leaves before snuggling up into chrysalis mode and popping out as beautiful butterflies, dancing with top hats and canes.

Even though the caterpillars love milkweed, adult monarch butterflies can’t eat milkweed for energy. So we encourage other plants like Mexican sunflower (That’s Tithonia diversifolia for all of our fellow nerds.) as a food source for the grown butterflies before they embark on the next leg of their epic journey. (Start at about minute 4:50 of the TED Talk below to learn about this journey. It’s nuts.)

Anyway, after years of working to create a pollinator utopia, we finally had a respectable patch of showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa. You’re welcome.) growing in one of the back fields. Lo and behold, those puppies are lousy with monarch caterpillars! In the short video below you can see several of our monarch caterpillar friends. Please forgive the blurry videography; I had a really hard time getting my camera to focus on the caterpillars themselves.

The Milkweed Dilemma

As I’m sure you’re aware, the monarch population has been in a steep decline for the past couple of decades, and that decline has in large part been tied to the scarcity of milkweed. So what’s going on with the milkweed? Two things:

• Pesticides and herbicides. Here’s the thing about genetically modified organisms (GMOs): they aren’t necessarily evil in and of themselves. The problem lies in what they’ve been modified to do, which is withstand a barrage of glyphosate. This means a few things for the land where modern farming practices are being used: 1) native plants that are minding their own business are poisoned by an inundation of poison, and 2) a lot of the food we eat is laced with glyphosate. To read more about the connection between milkweed decline and glyphosate, click here.

• Climate change. Increased levels of carbon dioxide in the environment is thought to screw around with the level of cardenolides present in the plant. The cardenolides (a word I’m typing here but can by no means pronounce) are the proteins in milkweed that are harmless to the monarch caterpillar but poisonous to parasites that attack the monarch. Cool, right? (Learn more about this at minute 6:50 in the TED Talk below.) If milkweed contains too many of these proteins, the plant will be too poisonous for monarch caterpillars to consume; if it contains too few of these proteins, the plant will not provide monarchs with protection from parasites. It’s a delicate balance. You can read more about this here.

What You Can Do

• Plant native species of milkweed along with native pollinator-friendly plants. You’ll feel good, your outdoor space will look amazing, and you’ll have scads of bees and butterflies keeping you company.

• Create your own monarch waystation.

• Avoid buying and consuming GMOs. If consumers refuse to buy foods that have been doused with glyphosate, big farms will have to modify their practices.

Learn More About Butterflies

If you don’t have time for the full video, start at 4:50. If you’re reeeeally short on time, start at 6:50.

Salem's Food Desert

DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, WHICH MEANS I MAY EARN A COMMISSION IF YOU CLICK A LINK AND MAKE A PURCHASE. FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT MY DISCLOSURE POLICY FOR MORE DETAILS.

The Need

Our farm is located about 25 minutes from Salem City, NJ, where the median household income is $25,171, and 46.2% of the population is living below the poverty line. Salem became a food desert in 2017 when its only grocery store closed its doors. A food desert is an urban area with limited access to healthy, fresh food. When the grocery store closed, the residents of Salem without transportation were forced to buy their groceries from the local dollar stores. The need in this community is urgent.

They Call the Pastor “The Queen”

Sonita Johnson, pastor of St. John’s Pentecostal Outreach Church, has applied her love of people and her indomitable perseverance to the task of helping folks in need. Johnson ensures that her church lives up to its name by offering a variety of supports and services to a community of residents in need. Every interaction I’ve had with Sonita “The Queen” Johnson has left me with a feeling of hope. She applies her tireless optimism to the work of finding solutions and improving the conditions around her.

What’s Being Done

Now with the pandemic facing our country, St. John’s still provides food and hope to so many people in need. While practicing social distancing, the pantry expanded the days and hours of their services. On Wednesdays and Fridays the pantry at St. John’s opens at 1:00; on Mondays the food pantry takes place at Gateway Family Success Center. Emergency food can be picked up at St. John’s from Monday through Friday from 8-10am.

St. John’s has received donations from friends and families, and they’ve collaborated with new partners. Through their new partnership with EMS Cafe owners Luke and Bethanne Patrick, they now host a food truck in the church’s parking lot on Thursday evenings between 4:00-5:30, which means Salem city residents can now get a delicious take-out meal, at no charge, through a grant from PSE&G. Together with the EMS Cafe, St. John’s served over 400 meals on Saturday, April 4th. The food truck will continue providing meals on Thursday evenings until August 13th. 

Gateway Family Success Centers in Salem and Bridgeton have provided St. John’s with not only volunteers, but also a weekly supply of fresh fruits and vegetables from their hydroponic gardens. Now they have a special giveaway in the St. John’s parking lot every Monday at 1pm.

Catholic Charities enable St. John’s to have monthly pantry meetings where they share best practices so they are able to provide healthier options to the community through the coalition.

The administrators of St. John’s Outreach, volunteer staff, the local police force, Catholic Charities, Bushels of Blessings, local farmers, Wawa’s Harvest of Hope, Volunteers of America, EMS Cafe, Gateway, Stand up for Salem, Mannington Mills, Performance Food Group, Sunday Breakfast Mission, United Way of Delaware, Salem Does More, and local churches are just a few organizations that have come together to make a difference in South Jersey.  

The Food Bank of South Jersey also connects St. John’s with so many vital food vendors, distributors, customers, and shopping markets, that it would be difficult for St. John’s to do their outreach without the Food Bank’s support. 

In addition to providing nutrition, St. John’s also offers a daycare center that provides full-time or part-time care for low income families with children between 2.5-13 years of age. The daycare is a member of Grow NJ Kids, and it is the only daycare center in Salem City that just reopened.

What Salem Residents Have to Say

“I would not have any food to eat this weekend if it were not for your pantry.”

“You all are such a blessing to us.”

“Before today, I was not eating so my kids could eat, someone told me about your pantry.”

“We love Mr. Frank.” (Veteran who comes every morning to give out emergency food)

What Can You Do?

If you feel called to help and you have the means, you might consider doing one of the following:

• If you’re farming or gardening and you find yourself with a surplus, it feels really good to know your hard work will turn into nutrition for folks who need it. Please call St. John’s directly at (856) 935-1445.

• Donate gently used toys, games, puzzles, or books you have lying around your house. St. John’s uses these items in their giveaways.

• Donate empty egg cartons and/or plastic grocery bags to the church. The bags are used to distribute the produce, and the egg cartons are used by a local woman who donates her chicken’s eggs.

• Volunteer your time at the church.

• Donate financially to the church by sending a check to St. John’s Pentecostal Outreach Church, PO Box 753/22 New Market St, Salem, NJ 08079 Attn: Food Pantry or Daycare. (The daycare is currently in need of a new roof, a problem exascerbated by today’s storm.)

• Volunteer at Fail Better Farms so that you can help us increase our impact. The more hands we have, the more food we can produce. Interested parties should email mary.failbetterfarms@gmail.com.

• Check out St. John’s outreach on Facebook to see the good work they’re doing.

• Support the EMS Cafe. 

• Check out the USDA’s Food Access Atlas and find a need near where you live.

Be the Change

DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, WHICH MEANS I MAY EARN A COMMISSION IF YOU CLICK A LINK AND MAKE A PURCHASE. FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT MY DISCLOSURE POLICY FOR MORE DETAILS.

Sometimes the world seems irreversibly damaged. There’s so much anger and hatred, produced by what I have to assume are (or once were) good intentions. I wonder how we as a society step away from our current loop of confirmation bias and create a new trend of listening. And loving our neighbors. And wanting what’s best for our fellow man because at the end of the day their well-being is ours.

What do we do when we don’t know what to do?

It’s disconcerting to look at the big picture and realize the frame is falling off the wall. How do we even begin to prioritize the seemingly endless list of troubles we’re facing?

The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time, right? So we will plant seeds and water crops and breathe. We will wait until the crops are ripe. We will harvest. Then, in a modest, meager attempt to act on our convictions, we will deliver our organic, lovingly-raised, hard-fought-for crops to a nearby minority-dominant community that doesn’t have access to fresh produce. We believe wholesome food can do a body good, and that’s what we have to offer.

This is one small way of acknowledging we come from a place of privilege by being born into white skin, by being raised in safe neighborhoods with decent schools that opened doors to future successes, by never being unfairly suspected of wrongdoing because of the way we look, by being blessed with the opportunity to tend this land in the first place. We acknowledge our privilege in this moment, and we refuse to squander it on ourselves.

How do we already know our plan is a failure of sorts?

We know this is a drop in the bucket. We know it’s more impactful to teach a man to fish than to give him one you’ve already caught. We hope one day our outreach will be a partnership with local communities, through which we work with people to raise their own food, but we’re just not there yet. In the meantime, we’re doing what we can do share our bounty.

Compost: Nature’s Magic Trick

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you click a link and make a purchase. Feel free to check out my disclosure policy for more details.

When you compost, you’re keeping “trash” out of a landfill, where it would have otherwise gone to die and produce a bunch of methane. You’re enriching your soil and bolstering healthy plants. Composting is like a slow motion version of that magic trick when the magician (nature) puts the cloth over the empty hat (food and yard scraps) and manages to pull out a live rabbit (finished compost). It’s pretty wild, really. You mix stuff together and sit back while nature does what she does best…improves things.

What Composting Looks Like for Us

1. We have a compost can that sits under our kitchen sink. I regularly jam stuff in here that our chickens won’t or shouldn’t eat…coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells, onion peels, celery ends, and apple cores. (Fun fact: apple seeds contain cyanide. Don’t feed them to your birds.)

2. My husband Aaron uses a leaf shredder to chop up the fallen leaves in our yard. By shredding the leaves before combining everything in the pile, the compost pile will take less time to finish and be easier to flip/aerate. (Check out the compost flipping video at the bottom of this post!)

3. We combine our kitchen scraps with shredded leaves (carbon) and chicken poo (nitrogen) in a homemade compost bin made from t-posts and wire fencing, but you can find a bunch of prefabricated compost bins online.

4. Then we cover the compost pile with a tarp, which is held down with bricks. The tarp helps to keep the moisture level right where it composts best, the dampness of a wrung-out sponge.

5. We monitor the temperature of our compost heaps. (As you can see in the photo below, the ideal temperature range is between 150°F and 160°F, and we’re killin’ it at a solid 154°F!)

6. After about five weeks, we’re able to apply our finished compost to our garden beds.

How We’re Failing Better

We still throw too much away. It’s hard to avoid waste in our package-happy world. We don’t pretend to have all of the answers, but we’d argue composting is definitely a step in the right direction.

Our First Attempt at Using Cloches in the Garden

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you click a link and make a purchase. Feel free to check out my disclosure policy for more details.

Because he lost access to his work greenhouse, Aaron was forced to use every clear, flat surface of our home to start our seeds. As you can imagine, the wall-to-wall seed trays were inconvenient, so Aaron transplanted tomato seedlings from seed trays into the garden this week. We realize this was a bit risky because tomatoes prefer warm weather, but we were able to get the soil temperature under the black row cover to a consistent 65 degrees. In preparation for any last frosts, Aaron set up the caterpillar tunnel AND was extra cautious by using Mason jars as cloches. (Basically a mini greenhouse, a cloch is a bell-shaped glass jar first used in the 1600s to keep individual plants warm.) We were confident that we were doing the right things to protect our plants.

There’s no way we could fail with this, right?

No chance this well-planned, well-executed planting could go awry, right?

Truth: it was a tomato seedling massacre. We experienced a freeze one night, and only two of the 20 seedlings survived. Disheartened and crestfallen, we decided to throw in the towel with this whole gardening gig.

Kidding! We’re gluttons for punishment. Instead, we did some research and realized what we’d overlooked. It turns out, we missed an important step in effectively using cloches. Depressing the Mason jars into the soil wasn’t enough to protect our plants from frost. We should have also mounded up soil/mulch around the base of each jar to prohibit the cold from sneaking in and killing the plants.

Failure is uncomfortable. It’s disappointing to experience lost time and energy. This is where the fail better mindset comes into play. This is when we have to realize we’re learning valuable lessons through each one of our setbacks. The benefit of losing these precious little seedlings this week is that we won’t overlook the importance of mounding up soil ever again.

Planting Potatoes

DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, WHICH MEANS I MAY EARN A COMMISSION IF YOU CLICK A LINK AND MAKE A PURCHASE. FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT MY DISCLOSURE POLICY FOR MORE DETAILS.

If potatoes are as much a staple for your family as they are for ours, you might want to consider planting some. Check out our quick tutorial on how to get the job done with worm castings, compost, drip tape, and landscape fabric.

Prepping a Garden Bed with a Broadfork

DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, WHICH MEANS I MAY EARN A COMMISSION IF YOU CLICK A LINK AND MAKE A PURCHASE. FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT MY DISCLOSURE POLICY FOR MORE DETAILS.

I realize you’re not all farming in your free time. I know you may not need to personally utilize the information in this video. The reason I’m posting it here is to show you how we prepare our beds for our crops. That way, the next time I give you a butternut squash as a gift, you understand why I’m so dang proud of it.

Thoughtful intention goes into our farming practices here at Fail Better Farms. Research shows that strong, healthy crops are a result of healthy, living soil. I know it maybe feels a little strange at first to think of soil as living, but I promise it’s a thing. Preparing our beds in the Spring with a broadfork rather than a rota-tiller allows the living organisms in the soil to thrive. If they thrive, so do our plants, and so do we.

Watch Aaron broadfork a bed in order to aerate the soil. It's all about giving the earthworms a break, people.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you click a link and make a purchase. Feel free to check out my disclosure policy for more details.