Oct 02, 2004    Today we had a surprise visit from a CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) inspector. I'd always known that both CCOF (our certifying agency), and the State could come and make an unannounced surprise inspection visit. This is the first time that I can recall that they had shown up and done such an exhaustive analysis of our record keeping and practices.    The inspector asked to see our harvest/sales records (for us both are the same) for a random month (they picked March) and wanted a printout made. They also looked at the records to see that we are keeping it up-to-date.    Also examined was our compost temperature log (we have to maintain daily records on our compost temps). This record will also include the site where we got the raw manure we use for our compost (horse manure). Also they wanted to make sure we were not using cow manure. There are also another three locations on our place that we have a pile of horse manure we use for composting and breaking down the cactus leaves, as well as a couple places that I will dump a truckload to kill off the Bermuda grass that plagues me at times. These other piles that are not turned and not maintained at the appropriate temps are not qualified as fresh compost, but must instead be considered raw manure, even if it has been aging for six months (as all our manure is before we put it into the ground.    The inspector also visited our 'INPUTS' log. This is where we record all items coming in to our place. This is the spot to put in the organic insecticidal soap we use (Safer's brand). Also the 4-4-4 fertilizer we bought in January from Nature's Finest.    The inspector walked the grounds with us asking questions, trying to get insight into our cultural practices and philosophy.    The regulations of organic agriculture are a bit stringent, and I cannot say that I agree with every aspect of the process, but if you are going to be organically certified you must maintain the proper records and be ready at all times for this kind of inspection. I signed up with CCOF back in 1992, and being organically certified has had its benefits. There are many customers to whom it is very important that the cactus they buy is from a source that is not only organic, but not being wild collected and destroying native stands of cactus.    To tell the truth it is the advent of keeping our records on the computer that has enabled us to more easily keep our records up to date in a fashion that is readable. My scratching on forms years ago was an onerous task, and the marks I made on paper were only decipherable by me. Now it is a simple matter of using a spreadsheet program and a word processor to keep detailed records. I can cut and paste and maintain records very easily. I also have a landscape program that enables me to keep little maps of our various sections and terraces so that a visitor can follow from the documents to the map to see visually where a particular action was followed. Add to this the more modern technology of digital camera work, and you have before you the workings of a modern record keeping organic operation. I can keep photos of the work going on and be able to access them quite easily to help me recall the work I did at particular times.    so even though being organically certified is something of a hassle with the record keeping, with the advent of the newer technologies in the hands of the modern farmer we are able to fulfill our commitments to the State and our certifying agency. It is the record keeping after all that separates the organic growers from those who merely claim to be organic but can offer no proof.    All in all, I must say that if you are a commercial grower and wish to grow organically it is worthwhile to be certified. It is illegal to go past a certain amount of sales and not be certified, and if you have the sales you might as well be legal about the whole thing and avoid the type of mistake that can result in fines and perhaps a prohibition from doing organic sales for some time in the future.    Now, there is an added benefit to having the inspection done on this 'spur-of-the-minute' 'unannounced' basis; we get the inspection done for free. Usually we must pay CCOF for the costs of the inspector to come out to our place and look it over. This is in the area of $250 or so, today since they came over for this type of visit they give those inspections out for free. So, it was a productive day for us.    Oct 16, 2004    Today it rained! The first rain we've had since March or April.    It has been a long hot seven months with no rain. Luckily we grow cactus, but even so we do a lot more watering than we'd like to. We add compost to the soil when we prepare it initially, and then we keep mulch on the soil, renewing it yearly to keep it fresh and deep on the soil. But even so, the plants do need water to keep up production. So most of our plants get watered weekly, and sometimes we water twice in a week when the weather is hot, and they need more than usual.    The funny thing about this rain is that it is six weeks ago that I saw our first tarantula of the season walking around. The local lore says that when you see those big hairy spiders walking about, we are about six weeks form the first rains. This same legend continues that you can tell how much rain we'll get by how high up the sides of the canyons their nests are. There is a good explanation for all this, and it ties into the regular workings of nature....it goes like this:    The male tarantulas are the ones we see walking around in the daytime. They are looking for a mate and not concerned at this time with food. The females come out at night. The males on their walks will seek out and try to enter the subterranean nests the females live in. The reason they take off a couple months before the rain is so that when they find the female and mate, the young will be born during the beginning of the rainy season when the living is easier here in the California hills.    The females build their nests near the water sources and small creeks that will attract lots of wildlife and small insects and bugs they like to eat. But they want to be high enough above the waterline during the big rains to keep their nests from being flooded and the spiders risking death.    So in some way, these animals are able to know when the rains will begin, they also know how much rain will come so that they know how high above the creeks to build their nests.    Nature is so intriguing, and I encourage all to examine nature minutely, this will give great insight into life. Chapter 70 of theTao-Teh-Ching My words are very easy to understand. My teachings are very simple to put into everyday practice. Yet no one who is tied to the world can understand them. And if you are chained to the world, you cannot apply them in your life. My doctrine comes from the source of Nature; my actions have a purpose in accord with the Law. If you cannot understand this; you cannot understand me. Because I cannot be understood I am a greater treasure than you know. This is why the sage wears simple unpretentious clothes, but his treasures are kept close to him, in his heart.    Oct 23, 2004    A beautiful and compelling story of coyotes from the 'four-legged-tribe'. A Coyote Family Story    I sing to the coyotes, they seem to like melody, and even though their yips and yowls are not like the poetry I love, I do like to listen to them. To hear a pack of coyotes in the distance with that wild yet happy sound makes me smile every time. I suppose they are smiling in their own way when they hear me sing to them.     Native American Literature is the main literature page for the same site. It is full of Native American literature, beautiful short stories that explained things to the Native peoples so long ago, things like how the world was created, how the bear lost his tail, and the origin of the Snake Tribe.