Catalog & Supply Time

If you ordered any seeds or other garden supplies in the past few years, then you know what to expect when you open the mailbox in late December. Catalogs- lots of them, full of the latest and greatest varieties, tools, gizmos, gloves, books, etc.

There are several catalogs that head straight to the recycling bin. There are a few that I know I will need handy eventually, so I put them into the SAVE pile, but they don't really call my name at this time of year. Then there are a few that I scan like a detective hunting for clues. Topping the list of the catalog most scanned, read, and eagerly anticipated is the catalog of Johnny's Selected Seeds.

First question: what's new? I find myself gravitating towards the tools section. Has Eliot Coleman created a drill-powered mini-copter that allows you to hover over beds of greens in the hoophouse? Perhaps in 2011. But the big push on quick hoops seems right for the times. Cheap, effective, and serious profit potential.

Second question: what's changed? Now I'm looking at prices. I go straight to lettuce mix for that one. Almost no change. Smart move! Now to Zinnias- prices have risen sharply for the Benary's mix, probably in part due to the events in the flower seed world that Growing for Market has covered in 2009. Either way, I wish that Johnny's would just stick with weights of seed (1/4 oz., 1 lb, etc.) or quantites of seed (50 seeds, 1000 seeds etc.), but not tinker around with these units for different varieties, or from year to year. Everything else about the catalog is excellent, but I'd rather that Johnny's just be more open about price changes than trying to muffle them with changes to units and sizes of packets that prevent an easy comparison.

Third question: in what direction is the company headed? I'm interested in what new areas the particular seed/tool company seems to be expanding. Johnny's appears to be renewing focus on the commercial grower, and expanding in the tools/equipment aspect of the company. That says two things to me- one, that small-scale farming is booming in a time of economic stagnation, and two, that Johnny's is concentrating on strengthening its position as the 'go-to' seed & supply company on the East Coast for the small veggie farm. That may seem like the obvious move, but my observations of several companies in the past few years lead me to conclude that many small companies make the mistake of trying to be all things to all people. Johnny's has avoided this pitfall, by concentrating on becoming all things to a particular group of people (market gardeners and small veggie farmers), a group which is clearly surging into 2010.

The Seeds of Change catalog really surprised me by removing the tool section entirely! This says to me that after dabbling with all kinds of different stuff, they may be concentrating again on the backyard gardener. I get the sense that the company is a little bit scattered in terms of focus, and perhaps might be returning home to a focus on heirloom seeds.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange has the most compelling catalog of the year, in large part due to the catalog cover, which is creative and enticing. Little gnomes with caps that mirror hot peppers. Very well done. Everything about this company says that it is heading in a positive direction. Like Johnny's, Southern Exposure is clearly concentrating on strengthening its home base, but in this case the home base is heirloom seeds and the backyard gardener. Quantities of many seeds are certainly sufficient for the market farm, but Southern Exposure has smartly continued focus on the victory gardener and establishing itself as the go-to seed company for organic gardeners of the mid-Atlantic. I am impressed by how Southern Exposure has crafted and communicated such a clear and consistent identity over the years, and how each year seems to feature solid and measurable improvements...all this I gain from the catalog!

But a picture is worth a thousand words. In summary, the catalogs of 2010 communicate to me that this is a year of 'energizing-the-base'. Smart companies are identifying the things they do well and improving them. The small farmers and backyard gardeners these companies serve are doing the same thing. 2010 motto (expanded from an old funk song)- "Whatever you do, do it good, and what's good, make it better."

Airlie in the Snow

A couple weeks ago we were excited to harvest Arugula from beneath a light canopy of snow...well now we have two feet of snow in the garden! so not much harvesting happening. We're relieved that the hoophouse shed the snow, and look forward to uncovering the arugula in the garden if this snow ever melts! Looks like it will be around for a long time, so we'll just hang out in the hoophouse until then...

Arugula, Class, Snow & Winter

Four inches of snow sits atop beds of arugula in the Local Food Project garden- meanwhile, winter sowing of arugula and greens carries on in the LFP Passive Solar Hoophouse. As we wrap up a year full of workshops and seminars at Airlie Center, we look forward to our January 2010 Conference- Nordell & Martens: Culture in Cultivation, featuring a small vegetable farm powered by draft horses, and a 1,300 acre organic grain operation with custom milling of animal feeds.

Winter, where the harvest is soooo sweet, literally! That's because the cool temps concentrate sugars in cool weather crops, from carrots to kale to yes, arugula. If you have ever wondered why your garden carrots are not that sweet, is may be partially due to the temps of the soil during harvest. So many crops that are bland or even bitter during the summer and early fall take on an entirely new flavor in the fall and early winter.

The key becomes how you keep these crops alive in the garden for that sweet harvest.

At the LFP garden, we believe in simplicity. Metal hoops (you can cut your own using any decently thick steel wire) straddle our three ft. wide garden beds. Over these hoops, we drape floating row cover, a poly-fabric that provides a mild amount of frost protection (a few degrees), but creates a temperate, wind-free environment in which cold-tolerant greens and roots (like radishes, carrots & beets) can hang around and sweeten up until harvest. The row cover comes in varying thicknesses and price, but we like to use the stuff that is in the middle- not too light, not too heavy.

So when it snows, the cover will at least provide a little buffer between the plants and the snow, provided the snow is not too heavy. It is truly amazing to dust off the snow, and uncover a dazzling green bed of crispy greens amidst a winter wonderland!

For heading deep into winter, a hoophouse is the way to go. It's the same concept of providing a little protection for the crops with hoops and a covering, but the hoops are much larger and the covering is a high-grade plastic. In the LFP garden, we have a 30x72 ft. gothic frame hoophouse. The frame came from Ledgewood Farms. The plastic, vents, and end-wall paneling came from Griffins Greenhouse Supply. We harvested and milled all the white oak baseboards and door framing ourselves, with the guidance of experienced timber framer Eric Westergart.

And that brings us back to winter. I encourage all gardeners to go for a winter harvest, which is essentially an extension of your fall crops via a little protection from the elements.

Exploring the Small Farm Dream

This past Wednesday, December 2, 2009, eighteen emerging new farmers gathered for the fourth and final session of this year's Exploring the Small Farm Dream Course, held right here at Airlie Center. The course, developed by the New England Small Farm institute, is designed to be a concise and effective catalyst for small farmers to better evaluate new enterprise ideas, identify resources, and determine next steps. The course is so valuable because of the holistic design of the sessions, helping small farmers look more closely at the dollars and cents of a particular production model, as well as quality of life and family dynamics.

Each session, we invite a local farmer or two to share their story, experience and advice for the group. The goal of the course is not to teach how to farm, but to facilitate the connection of aspiring farmers with one another, with experienced mentors, and with the right questions. At the end of four sessions, course participants create an action plan with next steps, from additional research to mentorship opportunities to launching an enterprise!

This year we took a field trip to Moutoux Orchard and helped Rob Moutoux plant garlic while learning about his developing CSA and local grain & flour projects.

It is our hope that Exploring the Small Farm Dream and other programs create the beginnings of a more effective infrastructure to advance new farmers and new farm projects throughout the region.

Hallows' Eve: Scythe Time

This past Sunday's Hallows' Eve workshop was a blast from the past, and into the future! Guest presenter Harvey Ussery demonstrated proper use of the scythe, a mowing tool of old (commonly associated with the grim reaper & Halloween) which has come back to life recently as backyard food producers and small farmers alike focus on minimizing their use of fossil fuels. The high-quality & properly used scythe is not only efficient, as Harvey demonstrated, but meaningful and enjoyable!

The rest of the workshop examined the use of the broadfork and other hand tools in the Local Food Project garden system, and the consideration of season extension strategies and protection of crops in the late fall garden.

Cider and good times all around, we can see the Hallows’ Eve workshop becoming a pre-Halloween tradition here at Airlie Center.

Lettuce Revolution

Lettuce loves the fall, in and around DC. Cool, moderate conditions are perfect for the tender leaves of lettuce, which acquire a sweet crispiness in October.

Lettuce can tolerate frosty weather, but it needs a little protection. That’s because those tender leaves can take a hit if they freeze and are exposed to a punishing wind.

At the DC Green Fest a week ago, we launched a lettuce revolution, giving out 1,500 baby lettuce plants to 1,500 Green Fest visitors who signed-up for our Local Food Project newsletter- the Broad Fork Express (named for our favorite garden tool). But with a lettuce head in hand, now what?

How to grow lettuce in and around Washington D.C. (in October).

At the Local Food Project at Airlie, we have a simple acronym that identifies four areas an organic gardener must address to achieve success with a crop. This acronym is SNAP! (Seed, Nourish, Advance, Protect).

Seed- without seed, you don’t have a garden. Even a vegetable garden dependent on transplants from the nursery is one ultimately dependent on seed! The first thing an organic gardener needs to know is that not all seeds are the same. Lettuce is not lettuce is not lettuce. There are hundreds of varieties out there in a range of garden catalogues. Some are hybrids, some are heirlooms (save that discussion for later…better yet ‘google’ ‘heirloom seed’ and read), and have been bred over generations for a range of needs and conditions. For instance, some lettuce varieties thrive in colder weather, and make it much further into the winter- they have been selected and developed for this property. All the lettuce seeds we started in the greenhouse to give out at the Green Fest and to plant in our passive solar hoophouse are varieties bred for the winter. They are heirloom varieties we purchased from Southern Exposure Seeds.

*Capitan

*Yugoslavian Red Butterhead

*Rouge D’Hiver (“Red Winter”)

*Forellenschluss (“Speckled Trout”)

*Deer Tongue

These five lettuce varieties all do well in the cold, have excellent flavor, have been tried and tested and passed down through generations, and will be planted all over the DC metro area after the DC Green Fest this weekend. If the Green Festival were in early summer, the Local Food Project would focus on lettuce varieties that can withstand heat (Sweet Valentine, Jericho, etc.). But the days of October grow colder, and we need lettuce plants that are up for a winter challenge.

You won’t feed a family with one lettuce plant, but we hope that one single lettuce plant, put into the garden, or window box, will become the catalyst for food-producing-transformation in many of those folks who adopted the plant and Nourished that little lettuce into a whopping Thanksgiving treat.

Before we move on to Nourish, two more points about seed. First, seed varies in quality, so get it from a reputable source. Second, “seed”, in common organic gardener and farmer vernacular, is also a verb, and is synonomous with “sow”. Instead of “Sow that bed with some lettuce seed,” the efficient farmer will often state to her crew, “Seed that bed!” And the tool often used to sow seed is a “seeder”.

We lead off our acronym with Seed because, above all else, you need seed to have a veggie garden, but you also need to seed the seed. Sometimes we gardeners over think our gardens, get out a hundred books, and never get to the actual seeding and planting. Stick seeds in containers, stick ‘em in the ground, but don’t leave them to wither in packets!

Conclusion- Seed good seed with a seeder.

So Nourish, the second word encoded in our clever acronym SNAP! Nourishment for vegetables comes in many forms. For organic gardeners, we should create another sub-acronym for Nourishment, but the problem is that there are so many forms of nourishment it would be hard to come up with the right acronym, unless the acronym was N.o.u.r.i.s.h.m.e.n.t, but that would be working backwards, and trying too hard.

Nourishment for most vegetables includes:

Sunlight, and lots of it. Lettuce really likes the sun. Problem is, when we have lots of sun around here, it’s often too hot for lettuce. That’s why spring and fall are so important to the lettuce family in and around DC. Enough sun, but not too hot.

Water, in even moderation. Lettuce loves water, but like most vegetables, not too much. Many organic gardeners, conscientious beings they are, water too much, and drown their plants. It’s better to water thoroughly 2-3 times a week than every day. In the fall and spring, water less. That’s because the water table tends to be much higher, and soils stay moist much longer in the cooler temps.

Healthy Soil- so you’ve got sunlight and water, but if you’re growing organically, you need a nice, healthy soil. Healthy soil has plenty of well-decomposed organic matter, like compost and decayed root systems and plant matter, that feeds microbes which in turn feed growing plants. Healthy soil is well-draining and well-aerated. The organic matter helps with this, as do the worms creating channels through the soil as they digest organic matter. Plants need air in the soil for expanding root systems and optimal microbial populations to enhance plant growth. Healthy soil also has a good balance of rock minerals & slow-release nutrients that work in concert with organic matter and microbes to provide plants the full-spectrum of food they need to grow with speed. A soil-test can help reveal which minerals may be missing in your garden soil. A final component of a healthy garden soil, many organic gardeners would argue, is a mulch over the surface of the soil that boosts microbial activity near the surface of the soil, feeds worms over time, and keeps soil evenly moist during dry-spells, among other things. Straw, leaves & other plant matter are popular organic garden mulch materials.

Nourishment can also include optimizing the soil & air temperatures that vegetables want to grow best. Floating row cover and other materials can add warmth to plants in the beginning and late stages of the season to speed their growth. Most lettuces in the DC area are going to want a little supplemental warmth, in the form of a protective cover, in late October and Fall, so this is where “Nourish” might overlap with “Protect”, but first let’s consider the ‘A’ in SNAP- Advance.

*A final note about Nourish- the best fertilizer, as the old saying goes, is the footprint of the farmer. That means that the attentive care of the farmer and gardener goes a long way in seeing crops through to a bountiful harvest.


Advance – Organic farming and gardening can be a real challenge. All kinds of pests want to eat your crop, and one lettuce plant out there in the garden on its own is no exception! We need that lettuce to grow fast. There are many ways we can help plants grow fast. We can start them out in the sheltered environment of the greenhouse, so the seed germinates quickly and does not have to fend off neighboring weeds that want to grab all access to sunlight. We can supplement the garden with more water during hot spells, or dry spells. We can cultivate around our lettuces and vegetable plants to stimulate the soil and remove weed competition (overlapping with ‘Protect’). As our plants grow, we can add a little organic booster, like fish emulsion or compost tea, or a top-dressing of compost right around the plants on the surface of the soil. These are all things we organic gardeners can do to ‘Advance’ our plants and help them grow as quickly as possible. Plants that are stalled out because they are in overcrowded conditions, or poor soils, or unsheltered from weather extremes, are plants in trouble. ‘Advance’ is all about the little things we gardeners can do to make the difference, the proverbial ‘Green Thumb’. The trick is not to overdo it. A little bit here and there can go a long way.

Protect- The final component of our LFP garden acronym, but should probably be the first! That’s because ‘Protect’ is arguably the weakest component of many an organic garden. Here’s why- we get excited about ordering seeds, working up the soil and planting, we get excited about the harvest, and in all this excitement we forget about the importance of protecting the crop. Only when the deer have razed our plants to the ground, or the squash bugs overtake our zucchini, or a frost kills all our hardwork, do we think “Gee I should have done a little something to protect the harvest!” “Protect” is about working backwards, imagining the things that will inevitably happen if crops are unprotected, and working to prevent the damage from being done. Working backwards kills the spontaneity of the organic garden, or so it seems, but ultimately creates much more satisfaction. First, protect your garden from large critters like deer and groundhogs and rabbits by building a good garden fence. The ideal fence is tall enough to keep deer out, and reinforced at the bottom to prevent gnawing. Any fence at all would be a good start if you don’t currently have one. Second, protect your crops from bugs by monitoring them closely. So many infestations can be prevented just by recognizing the warning signs. Row-cover and fabrics can be employed to keep bugs off certain types of vegetable plants until they are large enough to withstand some pest pressure. Non-toxic biological controls can be employed in select circumstances where all other approaches fail. Promoting habitat for beneficial insects in the garden is a form of ‘Protect’. Third, protect your crops from frost and weather extremes. Blankets and row cover can protect your crops when it first starts to get really cold outside. Another strategy involves patience, and planting your plants at the right time of the season! Many gardeners plant their tomatoes too early, only to be nipped by a frost, or to languish in cool weather.

SNAP- Seed, Nourish, Advance & Protect is a basic way to understand the areas of concern for the organic gardener.

Regarding your singular heirloom lettuce plant-

Seed- stick the thing in the ground, and fast. Work up the soil around the plant, and try to keep the leaves above ground level, and the roots below ground level, just like planting a mini-tree. Water in gently.

Nourish- hopefully you have planted that lettuce into a nice rich organic soil. If not, sprinkle some compost in a six inch wide circle around the plant, and incorporate lightly into the soil. Create a little greenhouse (with breathing and air flow) for the plant at night as it gets colder. Cut off the bottom of a plastic milk jug, and remove the cap- a perfect greenhouse that can release heat. But don’t leave it on all day, because your lettuce plant wants as much sunlight as possible. Drape some fabric over the mini-greenhouse on a really cold night.

Advance- Lettuce does not need much additional help, aside from a little water now and again, and a bit of protection and warmth when it gets colder outside. The crops that really need advancement in an organic system are fruiting crops. Squash, for instance, benefit enormously from a handful of compost packed around the base of the stem right as the plant begins to set fruit

Protect- Bunnies and deer and groundhogs want to eat your little lettuce, way more than you do. Think about fencing up front!

Local Food Project at DC Green Festival

The Local Food Project met a lot of new friends at the Washington, DC Green Festival October 10 and 11. At our booth in the enormous exhibit hall we shared information about LFP and Airlie Center, handed out over 1700 lettuce starts for folks to plant at home, and talked about the role local food can play in an institutional setting. The festival provided a great opportunity to expand our outreach to an extended community and talk about LFP’s work to promote the benefits of local food. See more photos.
If you picked up a lettuce seedling and want to identify your variety, check out the October 8 post below to view photos.

What Kind of Lettuce Will You Plant?

Did you stop by the Local Food Project booth at the Green Festival October 10 and 11 and pick up a free lettuce seedling? Then check out the pictures below to figure out what variety you have.

Yugoslavian Red Butterhead

Deer Tongue

Forellenschluss

Capitan

Rouge D'Hiver

Back-to-School Buckwheat

Back to school, in the garden! Three weeks ago, we decided to sow a cover crop of buckwheat in an area of the garden where we had grown potatoes. Cover crops can have several positive impacts on the organic garden system. First, cover crops add biomass and build organic matter in the soils, breaking up clay soils and making more nutrients available to crops that follow. Some cover crops, like legumes and clovers, fix nitrogen from the air into the soil, working cooperatively with soil bacteria to do so. Cover crops can outgrow and smother weeds (especially buckwheat, which has to be the fasting growing non-weed we’ve ever seen!), and can also facilitate the disruption of pest and disease cycles in the garden. Cover crops tend to have a ‘mellowing’ effect on the soil, and also protect soil from erosion & the elements.

Point is, cover crops are cool. Problem is, many of us organic gardeners know that cover crops are a good thing, yet can never seem to get around to actually sowing them in our garden. The two main barriers to a lack of cover crops in the organic garden are space & seed. Unless you live in the outerburbs, many garden centers do not carry cover crop seed. And unless you have a large garden, it may seem like a waste of space to put a section of the garden in cover crop.

The key to using cover crops begins with having a stockpile of cover crop seed on hand. Most garden catalogues carry cover crop seed in small enough increments to use over the course of a couple years in the backyard. Four good cover crops to have in your closet are: buckwheat, oats, winter-rye, and white clover. If you have an area that is ‘spent’, like an early planting of squash, and are not about to do a second planting, just get out there and broadcast some of your cover crop seed. It’s fun, and makes you feel like a wise gardener. Buckwheat is a fast-growing summer cover crop, but does not do well in the cold. When the frost kills your tomatoes, you still might be able to sow a cold-hardy cover like winter-rye. Each cover crop has its purpose and place in the organic garden system.

Now that you have the seed, you might find yourself with a space problem, particularly in the urban garden. The space problem can be solved through the technique of undersowing, or getting cover crops started a few weeks before a particular vegetable crop is done, right underneath the vegetables, in the same bed. For instance, now’s a great time to ‘undersow’ your tomatoes with oats. The oats germinate, grow up a few inches, then the tomatoes die back, and the oats can carry on into the fall before eventually dying after several hard frosts. Eliot Coleman, the Maine organic farmer and author, writes extensively about undersowing cover crops in his book, The New Organic Grower.

Once you get started with cover crops, you won’t want to stop. Buckwheat is a great one to start with, and you can probably still sow it this week, giving you a few weeks of growth before the first killing frost…

Small Space Gardening: Parking Space Garden

The LFP’s 9x19 foot Parking Space Garden is producing a lot of delicious vegetables in a small space. Our senior intern, Lauren, prepared the soil back in June by double digging the beds—using a garden spade to dig out a trench one foot deep, then loosening the sub-soil with a garden fork, repeating down the length of each bed. The result was four fluffy beds perfect for close-planting a wide variety of crops. So far, we have harvested 9 pounds of Swiss Chard, 13 pounds of Lettuce Heads, and 2.5 pounds of basil from this small space. And there will definitely be more to come! See pictures of the Parking Space Garden. Check back to read about the yields in our 700 square foot Feed a Family Garden.

Grow a Lot in a Small Space

Looking for strategies to produce a lot of vegetables in your own backyard? Find out how you can garden using Small Space, High Yield growing techniques at the Local Food Project’s next evening workshop on Thursday, July 2 from 6-8 p.m. We’ll discuss biointensive methods and talk about ways to increase soil fertility, decide plant spacing, keep pests away, and more! Local wine and beer, as well as snacks made from local ingredients, will provide a delicious start to the night. A new skit performed by the LFP crew and friends will spark plenty of laughter. And we’ll kick off the July 4th holiday with a fun and relaxing evening in the garden. Cost, $20. Learn more on our website. To register, send an email to bslate@airlie.org by July 1.

Lots of Lettuce

The Local Food Project crew is harvesting baskets and baskets of crisp, crunchy lettuce these days. Pink-tinged Fireball, frilly green Nevada, and tall ruffled Concept all appreciate the wet, mild weather. We planted the little seedlings close together (six inches apart in four rows) and began harvesting them out as baby lettuce heads. Now they’re all growing fast and we’re supplying bountiful lettuce for lots of fresh salads for Airlie guests.

Tomatoes, Start Your Engines!

As temperatures begin to climb, the Local Food Project hoophouse is becoming a hot, humid environment—perfect for tomatoes eager to get out of their flats and into the ground. Last week the LFP crew planted three hoophouse sections (about 100 square feet each) of different kinds of tomatoes. We gave our favorite from last year—Sun Gold—center stage in the wide bed right inside the main door. Other varieties we’re looking forward to harvesting include Pineapple, Brandywine, Geronimo, Glacier, and Cobra. With basil interplanted between the tomatoes, the hoophouse truly has the aroma of summer!

Organic Garden Primer Workshop a Success

We had blue skies and plenty of sun for the Local Food Project’s first evening workshop of the summer. About 35 people joined us for “The Organic Garden Primer,” enjoying the chance to see the LFP garden’s recent updates, mingle with other local food enthusiasts, and sample juicy mini-burgers made with local beef. Yum! The sixteen foot ladder also made an appearance, reprising its role in last year’s skit about organic gardening techniques.

If you missed the workshop, plan to join us for another great celebration on July 2. An LFP favorite, “Small Space, High Yield Gardens” will gather urban growers, suburban gardeners, and small farmers alike to learn about maximizing vegetable production in tight quarters. We’ll also enjoy local food treats, wine, beer, and lots of great conversation. Learn more and plan to attend!

We Want Candy…and 1st Edition and Leeks!

It’s onion planting time at the Local Food Project garden and we’re excited about getting this crop in the ground. We planted Candy, a delicious yellow onion we couldn’t get enough of last year, alongside Red Candy Apple, a new red variety from Dixondale Farms. In another section (five 3x33 foot beds), we’ll plant 1st Edition and Red Torpedo Tropea, then put in a section of leeks. We’re also experimenting with two different planting styles. The first is our regular four-row, one onion every six inches layout. The second has only two rows spaced wider apart and bunches of four onions every foot. The same number of onions go into each 33 foot bed so we’ll see how they do and compare the yields from each.

Lunchtime for Tomato Starts

At the end of March the Local Food Project crew started our summer tomato crop in flats. We sowed seeds for our favorite cherry tomato (Sun Gold), a strain of Roma selected especially for Virginia, a volunteer heirloom we saved seeds from last year, plus several purple/black tomatoes to compare which varieties we like best—Black from Tula, Cherokee Purple, Nyagous, and Purple Russian. Now (about four weeks later) we’re transferring the tiny seedlings to larger flats, giving them a fresh dose of nutrients and more space to spread their roots—a tasty lunch after breakfast in the smaller flats. Soon they’ll help themselves to dinner in the soil of our garden.

Planting Potatoes for Earth Day

The Local Food Project celebrated Earth Day by inviting Airlie Center staff to come visit the garden, enjoy the sultry warmth of the hoophouse, and join us for potato planting. Inside the hoophouse, we talked about the fast-growing Arugula we’re harvesting from the north bed and the soon to be transplanted Sun Gold cherry tomatoes that will thrive in the coming heat. Out in the field, a crew of energetic volunteers from Airlie’s housekeeping department planted an entire section (five 33-foot beds) of Russian Banana fingerling potatoes in only 20 minutes! We really enjoyed visiting with all of our Airlie colleagues and look forward to welcoming them back when the garden is in full bloom.

H.O.E.—Hands-on Organic Education

Last week, the Local Food Project crew led a fun team building workshop from our new menu of garden activities for groups staying at Airlie. In addition to tours, the LFP now offers interactive gardening projects we fondly call “H.O.E”—Hands-on Organic Education. Guests not only learn about the project and its role at Airlie and in the community, they also have the chance to experience the garden up close, try out our favorite handtools, and collaborate with their co-workers.

Our first H.O.E. activity was a great success with the two teams—who named themselves “The Double Diggers” (after our Parking Space plot) and “The Earthworms”—quickly getting into the rhythm of using broadforks to loosen the soil. They worked together to weed, spread compost, and rake the beds smooth, then planted Mei Qing pac choi in 12-inch triangles. For the finishing touch, they protected their neatly planted beds with fabric row cover draped over wire hoops. The new gardeners were rewarded with the knowledge that the crops they planted would eventually take their place on the Airlie Center buffet, feeding future guests like themselves. And after an afternoon of hard work, they relaxed in the garden with locally-sourced treats. We’re looking forward to our next opportunity to break out the H.O.E.!

Digging in to Small Farm Design

Participants at last weekend’s “Skills, Scale, Sustainability” workshop took home a whole new toolbox full of ideas and strategies for designing, managing, and enhancing a small-scale food-growing system. Facilitator Shane J. LaBrake drew on a lifetime’s worth of farming experience to inspire course attendees to put their sustainable agriculture dreams into motion.

During the 2.5-day workshop, Shane returned again and again to one of his favorite quotes from William McDonough—“Design is the first signal of human intention.” He showed participants how to apply that concept philosophically—in the way they set up and think about the integration of their farm system—and practically—as they lay out the beds and set the schedule for a vegetable garden. Shane’s approach to tractor operation and maintenance emphasized two simple policies: 1. Read the manual. 2. Safety, safety, safety. Attendees were empowered to understand how tractors work and feel comfortable operating them on their own farms. The workshop was a real success thanks to Shane’s depth of knowledge and the enthusiasm of the participants. View more photos from the weekend.

Starting Broccoli and Cabbage

The Local Food Project crew spent an afternoon starting seeds for our first spring field crops—cool weather-loving broccoli (Gypsy and De Cicco) and cabbage (Gonzales). After filling flats with dark, fluffy potting mix, we poked shallow holes in the center of all 128 cells. We dropped in the tiny round seeds by ones and twos, then carefully tucked them, covering them with a light layer of potting mix. After a gentle watering, we set the flats atop heating mats, which will give the seeds an extra boost of warmth as they work to put out roots and sprout. We’ll be starting more seeds in the days and weeks to come and transplanting day will be here before we know it!

Some New Varieties for 2009

We placed the last of our seed orders for the summer season and the Local Food Project crew is looking forward to harvesting some old favorites like Ermosa lettuce, Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, and Sweet Chocolate peppers. We’re also excited to try out some new varieties this year—red and purple speckled Scarlet Runner bean, bumpy blue Marina di Chioggia pumpkin, blackish purple Nyagous tomato, and other unique vegetables, flowers, and herbs we can’t wait to try and share!

A Tale of Two Farms: Conference Highlights, Part 4

Attendees at the Local Food Project’s 2009 conference—“Half Pint and Essex: A Tale of Two Farms”—had the chance to see a local draft horse team in action. Justin Lamountain, owner of Piedmont Virginia-based Greenman Forest Management, and his hardworking Suffolks gave conference attendees a sense of the horse power in use at Essex Farm. Justin and his team are also responsible for sustainably harvesting the wood used in the frame of our passive solar hoophouse. Conference participants had the chance to see these beautiful animals up close and ask questions about their work.

View more conference photos in our online album. Thank you to everyone who attended “A Tale of Two Farms”! We look forward to seeing you at the next Local Food Project at Airlie event. Our 2009 calendar will be available soon.

A Tale of Two Farms: Conference Highlights, Part 3

A memorable part of the Local Food Project’s 2009 conference—“Half Pint and Essex: A Tale of Two Farms”—was the delicious buffet lunch prepared by Airlie’s talented team of chefs.
Conference participants enjoyed a feast of seasonal, locally grown foods—roasted carrots and braised cabbage, braised pork with rosemary and shitake mushrooms, roasted red and purple potatoes with herbs, and other sumptuous dishes. Aside from the yummy feast of local foods, attendees had the chance to share new ideas sparked by the presentations and hear one another’s farming and gardening stories.

View more conference photos in our online album. Stay tuned for more highlights from “A Tale of Two Farms”!

A Tale of Two Farms: Conference Highlights, Part 2

The Local Food Project’s 2009 conference—“Half Pint and Essex: A Tale of Two Farms”—shared a peek into the innovative systems of two very different farms. Mara and Spencer Welton of Half Pint Farm (Burlington, VT) inspired us with their passion for farming and eagerness to have fun while doing it. They wowed our audience with their dedication to record-keeping, showing samples of spreadsheets with data on every aspect of running the farm—from weather and soil conditions, to market sales and production yields and beyond! Participants also got a kick out of Half Pint’s “annual meeting”—the demanding agenda for last year’s strategy session showed how comfortably Mara and Spencer take on various roles—CEO, farm manager, field worker, marketer.

Mark and Kristin Kimball of Essex Farm (Essex, NY) led an interactive presentation that mirrored how they describe their farm—high-energy and physical. A series of hand-drawn posters gave conference attendees a visual sense of the systems that make Essex go. Essex employees Sam Ehrenfeld and Matt Volz helped Mark and Kristin take questions from the audience and they all spoke about the farm’s main components: providing a full diet—veggies, fruits, dairy, meat, and baked goods; allowing its 75 members free choice in what they select each week (no pre-measured boxes or bags); feeding members on a year-round basis (summer and winter shares); working the farm with draft horse power; and operating as a membership organization where folks pay for the food at the beginning of each season.

Conference attendee Ellen Polishuk, owner of Potomac Vegetable Farms, appreciated getting such an up-close look into the farms’ systems: “The intensive study of these farms is exactly what made it so valuable, and of course the fact that they were so funny and amazing.”

View more conference photos in our online album. Stay tuned for more highlights from “A Tale of Two Farms”!

A Tale of Two Farms: Conference Highlights, Part 1

The Local Food Project’s 2009 conference—“Half Pint and Essex: A Tale of Two Farms”—was a great success! On January 9, we welcomed more than 100 participants to Airlie for a dynamic day of learning, networking, food and fun. We want to share some of the highlights from this fantastic event and welcome feedback from anyone who attended. If you weren’t able to make it, explore the blog for content summaries, photos, and other valuable info from the conference.

This photo shows folks gathered in our passive solar hoophouse for the networking social that wrapped up the day. After a morning of in-depth presentations on designing successful farm systems, conference participants had the chance to get to know one another and share their impressions. One attendee, Nancy Gravely, appreciated the opportunity to talk with other small farm enthusiasts: “It really makes a difference to spend time with other people who are doing it, seems as though something gets passed along just by being in their company.”

View more conference photos in our online album. Stay tuned for more highlights from “A Tale of Two Farms”!