The Urban Farm Chronicles: Episode 2 - Syrup in the City

Lights! Camera!............Syrup! Alright so we're not in Hollywood, but we are serving you up the second episode of the Urban Farm Chronicles right now, right here in all it's glory. We have tapped the maple trees in our yard and have been making syrup with the sap for the past couple of weeks. It is going really well. Beginning with this episode, we will start to record how much food we get out of our little Urban Farm, and since syrup is food.....it has begun! Eat your heart out Aunt Jemima! We will also be providing recipes for anything we make on the show and links from the blog to any "responsible" company that we mention in the show. So keep watching and enjoy!

Total Produce from the Farm:
3 1/2 Quarts Maple Syrup

Waffles
Preheat waffle iron. Whisk together in a large bowl:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Thoroughly blend in another bowl:
3 eggs
2 sticks melted butter
1 1/2 cups milk
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Combine with a few swift strokes of the whisk. Cook the waffles in the waffle iron and serve with syrup from the city! (recipe modified slightly from The Joy of Cooking)

The Urban Farm Chronicles: Episode 1

Here we go. This is the first episode in a series that will be ongoing on this blog. I would like this to be an interactive experience. If you would like to get involved let me know. Enjoy!

Bold New Direction

This post will be very short and to the point. Beginning very soon I will be striking out in a bold new direction with this blog. I am not going to get into the nitty gritty of what that direction will be at the moment but it will involve our new house in the hood, weekly videos and have a lot to do with this new song I wrote, the lyrics of which are posted below. Stay tuned and I will be back with a new post shortly. Peace!

Dig It (The Ballad of John Root)

John Root was a man who lived in the city and worked in a concrete box
Owned a nice little house with a wife, cat and dog that sat proudly on the block
John and his wife worked everyday until their bones were numb
Did all their cookin' in a microwave and they never saw the sun

Old John Root thought this old routine was kind of getting old
Felt it unnatural wearing down his very soul
All his food had started to taste like the plastic it came in
So one day he didn't show up to work he had gone to his shed instead

Well he grabbed rake, he grabbed his hoe, he grabbed his shovel and don't you know
He dug his lawn and he turned the earth and the worms helped for what it's worth
John's neighbors asked why are you tearing up your lawn
He turned towards them with a crazy grin and said I'm starting an Urban Farm

I'm going to
Dig a little earth and run my toes through it
Spread a couple seeds and let the water flow
Let a little sunlight in and watch my garden grow
Can you dig it man?

Well John's wife came home from work and gave a little shriek
Her husband was covered from head to toe with dirt and looked kind of like a freak
And the yard was divided in rows, with sprinkler connected to a hose
John my darlin' what have done where our lawn was once now there is none

He said, right where you're standing three sisters: corn, squash and beans
And in those rows over there, broccoli, kale and collard greens
There's beets, turnips, rutabaga and your favorite brussel sprouts
And for a little bit of protein there's a chicken coop behind the house

John's wife was taken aback and didn't know quite what to think
Although she dug the idea of fresh fruit and veggies to eat and drink
So she took her suit coat off and hung it on the front hedge
She picked up the nearest hoe and she made this little pledge

She said I'm going to
Dig a little earth and run my toes through it
Spread a couple seeds and let the water flow
Let a little sunlight in and watch our garden grow
I dig it man

Soon all the little kids in the hood became quite intrigued
Their little minds watched as the rows of dirt turned into colorful greenery
The plants sprouted flowers that turned into fruit, all from those tiny seeds
The little tikes lined up in the front yard and asked John will you teach us please?

John and his wife said sure, first you'll learn to weed
Then put a little compost round the roots and give the chickens feed
Green thumbs were created and the tikes turned into teens
And instead of new graffiti on the fences they were taggin' with sunflower seeds

And that's the ballad of John Root and his crazy dream
To start a farm in the city, making things pretty and a little more green
There's now flowers in the vacant lots and grape vines climbing trees
So if you ever feel down and out maybe an Urban Farm is what you need

Go on and
Dig a little earth and run your toes through it
Spread a couple seeds and let the water flow
Let a little sunlight in and watch your garden grow
Just go and dig it man

Dan Wilder
February 27, 2009

Been a long time since I...wrote a blog

Back and better than ever. It has been a year since I last posted, and what a year it has been. Right now I am sitting in my cousin-in-law's apartment in San Francisco. This city has such a rich literary history, so I thought it was time to pick up the pieces of my humble little blog and post a new one. I have never been to this fair city, and I must say that I am impressed. It is so alive! But alas, it also makes me kind of depressed: Jerry Garcia is dead, Janis is dead, Kesey is dead, Ginsberg is dead, and I can't help but feeling while walking around that I am walking in a land of beat hippie ghosts. There is life and culture, but it is all still trying to compete and capitalize off the fact that this city's golden age was almost fifty years ago. I missed the bus/trolley to free love and enlightenment. The hippies are being pushed out, and I can't help but feel that a lot of them are now pushing shopping carts full of cans around the city. The corner of Haight and Ashbury is now full of bullshit corporate trash like the Gap, and they are trying to relabel the whole district as "The Haight." Man... I love how chic that sounds... Just let that roll off the tongue, savor it... The Haight! I hope good 'ole GW gives me another stimulus package borrowed from China so I can go spend it on clothes in "The Haight" district. I guess I am going to have to move the hippie dream to Minneapolis.

Speaking of which, I bought a house in Minneapolis with my wife. Yes, I got married to Kelly. We bought a house. It was built in 1906, and it is a hell of a fixer upper with broken windows and everything. I love it. I have high hopes for it, and when it is done it will be the best little house in the worst part of town. But we will be gentrifying it by moving in, Kelly and I. Just like those yuppies gentrified "The Haight" by pushing all those dirty hippies out. Ha..ha..ha now I'm just being mean and cynical, and I'm all about love... man.

My little film company is finally taking off; you can find it at www.FarOutFilms.net. I am also working for CBS Sports' website www.maxpreps.com. I never thought I would be sportscasting but I am... and enjoying it. Grace is well and Opheila our cat is doing great, although she is a bit feisty. I plan on updating the blog more often as I work on the house. Look for video and photos in the near future. Until then, take it easy, and I will try to chase the hippie dream by seeing Phil and Friends in San Fran on Sunday. For those of you unlucky enough not to be there with me I will be sure to keep you in my heart. Until then... peace, love, save the hippies.

P.S. For those of you who have not been to The City Lights Bookstore and Publishers I urge you to go in, read a book and commune with the spirit of the beats.

Ahhhh, Fresh Meat and Wine...On the road again

Heaven is a Wal-mart

Petroleum pack them in like sardines
I just bought a fake plastic Hallmark smile
Cardboard sustenance stares at me
As the four by fours truck up and down the aisles
I bought a poster of Teotihuacan
Because they just built a new Wal-mart there
Now they have ruined the ruins for me

I don't remember what the sun looks like
I bought organic beef raised under neon lights
There's a McDonalds and a barbershop
And the old high school bully is the security cop

Heaven is a Wal-mart bursting at the seams
Heaven is a Wal-mart to me

Listened to censored art in the music aisle
Checkout with artificial sweet smiles
The t-shirts that I bought were made in sweat shop
I made sure to buy two so I would get one for free
They gave my young son Billybob a children's cart
To indoctrinate with a healthy corporate start
They have ruined the world that he sees

I bought a gun just so I could get some kicks
I burn synthetic wood so I don't have to burn sticks
I bought certified speed from the pharmacist
And I made sure to get the free eye test

Heaven is a Wal-mart the perfect picture of gluttony
Heaven is a Wal-mart to me

I bought an anorexic lady on a magazine cover
I bought the super-sized slim-fast TV dinner
I bought the America bless god bumper sticker
Should have read America bless Sam Walton 'cause he's bigger

Heaven is a Wal-mart bastardized american dream
Heaven is a Wal-mart to me

Attention shoppers there is a clearance on world culture in aisle six get it while it still exists

Dan Wilder, Tuesday July 31st, 2007

Hello friends, neighbors and perfect strangers. The past couple of days we have been traveling around visiting Kelly's relatives, and we have finally stopped for a week in Pentwater, Michigan. Relaxin' soakin' up the sun and such and enjoying the fine company of Kelly's siblings, grandparents and mom/Brian. We then head up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to do much of the same with my half of the family. Grace had her first swim in Lake Michigan this morning and seems to be having a great time even if she still looks and smells like a farmy swamp mutt. Kelly just got the full kiteboarding hook-up as a graduation present from her father so we have been asking the powers the be for wind, and to our chagrin it has yet to reveal itself. We will kiteboard before the trip is through even if I have to set up giant industrial fans on the beach.



Before we left the farm we had started to harvest the cherry tomatoes as I said in the previous post, and the bigger variteties were also starting to come into their own. Kelly and I are afraid we abandoned our employers for the trip at precisely the time they would need us the most, ahh the irony of life. We have also come to realize slowly that the whole organic process is a corporate sham. Meaning the word is meaningless these days because it has been taken over by the government and factory farming as a word used to make more money. What do I mean by this? Well here is just one such example. Our farm is one of the smallest corporate farms in the country, we do "organic" heirloom tomatoes. Yet every morning Kelly and I walk around with sprayer packs on our backs spraying fish fertilizer and fungicide onto the tomato plants. Yes fungicide, perfectly acceptible by government "organic" policy. We can also use something that kills every single bug on the plants, most people I believe would call this pesticide. Certified organic produce is a joke to any farmer that grew and sold organic produce before the government takeover because it is not organic. Using pesticide and fungicide is not organic. Why can they be used then? Because factory farms probably bribed the government when they were deciding what constituted organic produce or else organic produce wouldn't be viable for factory farming. It all boils down to money which is why Wal-mart is the biggest distributer of "organic" produce in the world, hence the above song. The other reason for the song is that many of these "organic" farmers that we have met don't seem to even enjoy the fruits of their labor and instead eat fast food and shop at Wal-mart for everything. So if you want to be progressive don't buy from "Whole Foods" (all our tomatoes are sold there) buy local from a farmer you trust.




This is what Kelly and I did right before we set off on our journey back across the country. We met Meg Campbell at Third Thursdays, Culpeper's version of Charlotteville's Fridays after five; she owns Croftburn Farm Meats. Local grassfed beef, lamb, sausages etc. So the day before we went to Frederick to see Kelly's dad and extended family I went by and bought a 10 pound sirloin and a six pound leg of lamb from her. We schmoozed for an hour as I watched the animals frolick happily around the giant ranch nestled at the foot of the mountains. Meg seemed impressed that us youngsters were taking so much responsibility for the meat we ate and she ended up giving me a free package of her homemade lamb sausage. Kelly fashioned the beef and lamb into kabobs for the meal the next day. We feasted and it was excellent, probably some of the best meat I have ever had, the lamb sausages were also amazing. I also sold Anne on the garlic we had grown to use in her Lamb sausages, it is just too bad I won't see any of that money.


Anyway Pentwater is very nice, it is sweet to be just hanging out instead of hanging, hunched over picking tomatoes and tucking plants. All I need now is a little wind under my kite so I can rip off into the pale blue yonder, catch some air, cruise back and enjoy a nice 97' Cabernet (peaking right now) with Jim and family while the sun sets on another day. Peace from Pentwater. Danny "Boy" Wilder

Josh-Wondering if you could e-mail me your parents address? Wilderclimberdude@gmail.com

Harvest Time Approaches...Perhaps a Trout Lake Wedding?

Masters of War

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

Bob Dylan 1963

This song seems just as pertinent today as it was 44 years ago. I heard it on two separate occasions this week on my IPod while stringing tomato plants. One of the versions was live Bob Dylan from back in the day and the other was Pearl Jam from their album of cover songs. It has been stuck on repeat in my mind so I am including it for all ya'll readers to mull over in your heads. Ya hear that old Georgie Jr.? Jesus won't even forgive you. Maybe it's time to start hittin' the bottle again.


Anyway, on to more pressing matters. It has been a little while since I last posted mostly because I have been using all my computer time trying to sweeten up the sound on my Smashing Pumpkins bootleg. Frustrating to say the least but I finally have about a third of it in audible form. The rest shouldn't take as long, now that I have the procedure figured out.


Work on the farm has been tough and repetitive but we have finally started harvesting. I have also been disc-ing and plowing with the tractor so that is pretty cool. It seems to me that I am probably the only farmer on the block jamming Wilco inside the tractor. I am willing to bet everybody else is jamming modern country music, which churns out inert piece of shit songs such as "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy."

The cherry tomato varieties are ready to pick; there are not enough to sell yet so Kelly and I have been pigging out. We have a bunch of different cherry varieties; some gold, some almost white and others that are almost black. The black ones are the best and they taste more like grapes than tomatoes. In fact I bet if a person didn't know what they were they would say they were grapes. I hope to buy a wine kit soon and make some tomato wine, which is suppose to be indistinguishable from grape wine. I have already bought two different books on wine making and have been reading up on the subject.


Speaking of books, at the moment I am in the process of reading this book called the The River Cottage MEAT Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. It can best be described as the meat bible, telling you everything you would ever want to know about any cut of meat from any of the main meat-providing animals. It also gives you a philosophical look at eating meat, where to buy ethical meat and so on. I recommend it to everybody, including vegetarians as they might find some of the arguments interesting. It is also half cookbook which is pretty sweet.



Now for the big news (none of this should be taken too seriously as our plans have been changing weekly, but time is running out and Kelly and I are now 99.9% sure that this is the plan). The wedding will most likely be held at Manhattan Beach Lodge on Big Trout Lake in northern Minnesota. For those of you who don't know where this is, it is where my family owns two cabins. Kelly and I figure that this spot will probably be the most fun (watersports, beach, Victor's, etc...) out of any of our ideas and since we are probably going for a casual beach theme it seems to fit. Pig Roast rehearsal dinner, Beach Boys cover band, late night Leviosa and Friends jam at Vic's? Who knows, the possibilities are endless, so stay tuned for details. Peace, Danny Wilder Culpeper, VA


Josh- The Pumpkins played music from all their albums with a lot coming from Gish and Siamese Dream. Yes, we made it to Vic's and yes I hope I can see it when it is Rockin' and Rollin'. Judging from the last paragraph of my blog I think I will see that day. Also thanks for the Manhattan Beach idea, it should prove to be a blast.

A Smash of a 4th of July Bash

Ahoy, ahoy...As one of my best friends used to say. I must say this past week or so was quite an adventure; wine, fireworks, and a pale, bald, guitar virtuoso that rocked harder than I have ever seen him rock before. Let us start with two fridays ago.
Kelly and I went to Charlottesville to see her little bro and sis and also caught some ass-kicking music. I have recently decided that Charlottesville is everything that Boulder could be and should be but isn't. It has a walking mall, like Boulder but with way more culture. It has music just like Boulder, but there is way more of it. It has attitude like Boulder, sans yuppies plus, dare I say, diversity. Let us tackle just one of these subjects: music. At one end of the walking mall the city has erected a giant open air pavillion, think Red Rocks just a tad smaller. Every friday after five there are free concerts that last into the evening. Then on Saturdays there are concerts you can pay for like Bob Weir and Ratdog or Umphrey's McGee. We caught a Friday show with the little kids. Such a pavillion in Boulder would just herald noise complaints and fines (See Dave Matthews Band concert at Folsom Field Circa 2001). It is not that the yuppies don't exist in this city, they do. It is just that everybody seems to coexist, as I witnessed at the show when a cracked out, drunken, homeless hippie danced around completly out of control amidst the hoards of yuppies dressed in their finest Gucci apparel (Boulder still has better mountains). It was a grand old time.


The first band was awesome, though we only caught the end of the show. They were called Man Mountain Jr. and sounded like a cross between Hendrix and Fishbone. The headliner was an Afro-beat band from Richmond and the place turned into a giant dance party. Hippies, yuppies, kids, grandmas, grandpas, nerds, frat boy, dogs and cats all gettin' down to the groove in the Charlottesville heat.


For the 4th of July we headed up to Frederick, MD to take part in the festivities at Kelly's Grandparents' house. We met Kelly's Dad in the park beforehand to do a little slacklining next to the creek where the town festival was. Jim and Yvonne's house was only a block away so afterwards we headed on over. The afternoon was spent schmoozing with the hoards of people that had come to celebrate our independance. There was plenty of wine to go around and by the end of the evening everyone was more than a little toasted. Good thing we didn't have to go anywhere to see the fireworks as they were completly visible in the backyard. Thank you Jim and Yvonne for a wonderful evening.



The next morning found Kelly, CJ and I on the road to Asheville, North Carolina to see one of my absolute all time favorite bands, The Smashing Pumpkins. The drive was about 7 hours from Frederick but we were all so amped that it didn't really matter. We arrived in Asheville a couple hours before the show, so to kill time we got a sushi dinner. After we headed to the club. This wasn't just any Smashing Pumpkins show. This was the last night of a nine night run at the same club herealding their return after a seven year hiatus. We arrived and found that the club was even smaller than I expected, smaller than 1st Ave, smaller than The Fox. We sold our extra ticket for 100 bucks at the door, we paid 20 and I heard they were going for 1,000 on e-bay. We entered and waited for the show to start. We were blown away, Corgan opened the show with a three song solo acoustic set, one of the songs had been written that morning. Then the rest of the band came on and it was only hard rock/metal from that point forward, a 3 hour fist in the air head-banging rock fest. It was loud, and it ranks as one of the best shows I have ever seen. Having seen them two other times, this was by far the most rocking. Billy is having fun again, Jimmy is more solid on drums now than he ever was, Jeff the new guitar player rocks just as hard if not harder than I ever saw James play and the new bassist is a really hot chick(she is also good at bass). And best of all the new material sounds like Gish era Pumpkins. The Pumpkins are Smashingly good and they just announced a full-blown nationwide tour(Matt I believe they are playing Saint Paul, and Boulderites they are going to be Red Rocking).


CJ had never seen them before and was doubtful upon entering the show. Afterwards he said he had been converted and that it was probably the best show he had ever seen. Better than anything he saw at Bonaroo, for sure. Kelly liked it but wished they had played more of their softer stuff. Did I mention that I recorded the whole show on my hi-def Canon GL-2 camera, the sound is a little crunchy at times just because it was sooooooo loud, but I am trying to clean it up. The above still is taken from that recording. We drove back immediatly after the show because CJ had summer school the next day. We remained exhausted for two days afterwards, but somtimes you have to make sacrifices for Rock'n Roll. Delicious Custard Indeed, Peace. Danny Wilder Culpeper, VA