We just split our hive into two! Keep your eyes peeled for spring swarms of bees.
Does anyone have any recipes using sage they could share? We have so much drying in the barn right now! Please take some at our next workday.
The weather was perfect for our workday this Sunday. Here three gardeners cut back our sage and strung it together to hang to dry in the barn. Thanks for your help!
If you couldn’t read the text of the menu on the previous photo I’ll relay some highlights from the Farmer’s Feast. The room itself was terrificly large with a band on one end of the tables for entertainment.
Each table had a variety of jarred starters and breads to begin the meal. They held tasty treats such as pickled onions, pickled carrots, triple berry jam, hummus, persimmon butter, pork rillette, chicken liver, smokey sausages, pimento cheese, and peanut butter. My favorites were the chicken liver, berry jam, and persimmon butter and fortunately since they were served in mason jars with lids I was able to take those three home! The above photo is the persimmon butter.
There were multiple dishes of produce fixed in interesting ways such as the Coca-Cola braised collards, slaw with bourbon soy dressing, and sorghum lacquered sweet potatoes. The meats were a major highlight with hickory smoked chicken, bbq beef brisket, and corriander smoked pork. All of the wine was from local vineyard Tiger Mountain. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
The Farmer’s Feast was one of the best parts of the conference with everyone reflecting on what they had learned, talked about future growing plans, and just generally enjoyed the kind of food we have all spent so much effort trying to grow!
A huge thank you to the very generous Dr. and Mrs. Hartel for sponsoring my attendance to the conference. I would not have been able to attend without your help and support.
The Farmers Feast was out of control delicious! The menu/placemat lists everything that was served, who made it, and where it came from. Check it out! Bravo Chef Anne Quatrano of Bacchanalia!
Phoenix Gardens-Maxing your Space
2 rules at Phoenix Gardens: nothing goes to waste & if you breathe you work.
Work backwards, start at the end
Where will you sell?
Look for gaps in what is being sold and if there is a market for it. Ex: Horseradish, asparagus, artichoke
Divide revenue goal by square footage available for production for square foot gardening.
Soil is always your most important factor and requires ongoing maintenance. They combine no till and sheet composting.
Mobile chicken coop frames are crucial for using the birds to fertilize and eat weeds on raised beds; add hay before placing chickens in area to make poop decay more consistently.
If you have to kill use as much as possible in animals, trees (for raised beds, mulch), and other resources.
If you can’t grow in the ground then grow on top of it. (Sounds familiar from the Urban Farming workshop)
Research swales and water catching concepts if you’re dealing with slopes.
As farmers we have a responsibility to continue genetic diversity and build seed banks.
Try different methods like planting into hay bales if you can’t get part of your land ready in time. They act as small compost piles and break down as the plants finish growing.
Maximize your vertical space!
Scavenge and reclaim materials or buy creatively. For low tunnels they use regular painter plastic instead of more expensive landscape cloth or Ag plastics.
Phoenix Gardens
http://www.phoenixgardens.net/
How much Nitrogen is in the soil?
Tired of getting your soil tested for planting crops and receiving no feedback on your nitrogen levels? Use CERES-N to enter your inputs (cover crops, weather, fertilizers, etc) to see how much nitrogen you already have in your soil and determine what you need. You can also tailor graphs about your soil.
http://aesl.ces.uga.edu/mineralization/
The website is still under construction so email them if you find a glitch. Pghartel@uga.edu or lisawoodruff@gmail.com
Meals so far have been delicious!!! I can hardly wait for the farmers feast. Lunch is chili, salad, cornbread, and chocolates.
Common threads from the previous session: Landless CSAs, recipes, weekly share photos, blogs, upfront expectations, split season, market style v. boxes, partnerships (supplement with other CSAs for eggs and meat), presentation adding perceived value, full v. half shares
CSA strategies
“Marketing is like cover cropping- hugely beneficial for the present and future; can be handled seasonally”
Presenters: Joe Reynolds, Love is Love Farm and Paige Witherington, Serenbe Farms
Michel Nischan, CEO of Wholesome Wave, is one of the two keynote speakers for the conference. His company uses private funds to double the value of food stamps. In only 4 years they have expanded to 27 states and redirected insane amounts of money to local farmers. When they polled the people who use the program the number 1 and 3 reasons they choose to use their stamps at farmers market are due to the high quality of produce and to support local farms and businesses. Those reasons trumped along with a sense of community. Tapping into federal food assistance is a key way to direct money to local and organic farmers.
Somehow ate breakfast with a former president of Ga Organics and one table away from Will Allen of Growing Power!!
The nearest hotel boasts early machinery for harvesting corn and making corn meal-main ingredient for corn bread!
The weather outside is frightful! This afternoon hosts an array of farm tours but as I’m ill and not equipped for trekking in the rain.
Here’s a link to the fabulous tours lined up for today:
http://www.georgiaorganics.org/conference/2012farmtours.aspx
