July 20th, 2011

"Double-digging" to prepare a small Biointensive garden plot.

Buckwheat-- a favorite summer cover crop.

Beets--we harvest their greens.

Covering our squash plants to protect them from groundhogs and other hungry critters.

July 13th, 2011

Hill Country Red Okra is looking ready to harvest!

We set up tomato trellisses with volunteers from the Piedmont Environmental Council Fellowship.

Last Friday's harvested included more than 40 lbs. of Cabbage, 70 lbs of Swiss Chard, 5 lbs. of Lettuce mix and 7 lbs. of assorted Basil.

June 18th, 2011

Here's what we've been up to:

Ooh la la, look at all this swiss chard...

Our large back field is rapidly filling with crops. From left to right: beets, carrots, eggplant, peppers, okra and tomatoes.

Huge Onions! Red Tropea, Big Daddy, and Candy Onions plus Lancelot Leeks.




















Raised beds are the newest addition to the LFP garden, planted with flowers and herbs including: Zinnias, Curry, Echinacea, Roman Chamomile, Valerian, Stevia, Rosemary and Tarragon.





















Our Pac Choi suffered with the heat blasts in the last couple of weeks, but has still provided a solid harvest.

In the distance you see bunching onions, swiss chard, and tomatoes. The pretty purple is Mammoth Red Rock Cabbage, and next to that Mrs. Burns Lemon Basil and classic Genovese Basil.

"Basil Enliveneth the Soul."

- Unknown

Freshly hilled potatoes: Yukon Gold, Mountain Rose, Purple Peruvian, German Butterball, and Russian Banana Fingerling.

New Season-- New Blog!

Happy Spring, everyone!

We are well into the growing season here at The Local Food Project at Airlie and excitement is in the air-- and in the soil! This year we are not only improving our approach to the garden, but also simplifying our blog. Each week we will divulge the status of our crops so you can track their progress as they develop-- think of it as the baby book for our garden.

First let's rewind and summarize the last couple months:

• Planning- We coordinated with the culinary magicians in Airlie's kitchen to refine the selection of food to grow this year. The chefs detailed the maximum quantities of various produce they could use, and we used their list to determine the amount of garden space to allocate for different fruits and veggies. We translated this information into a plan for the spatial and temporal layout of the garden--a vision that is consistently altered and revised. Key ingredients for this stage of planning: Google spreadsheets, graph paper, Crayola colored pencils, and a dusty calculator that I hadn't touched since I took Macroeconomics in college.



• Ordering seeds and supplies- We ordered more than 200 varieties of seeds and plants from seven different catalogues. Almost all of our crops we start from seed ourselves, but there are some exceptions for which we order plants from specialty providers: strawberries, onions, leeks, potatoes and some herbs.



• Starting seeds- We use Premium Lite Growing Mix from Countryside Organics to fill plastic trays and start seeds in Pablo's greenhouse at Stoney Lonesome Farm. So far we have started thousands of plants, including: parsely, bunching onions, cabbage, basil, pac choi, swiss chard, sweet peppers, spicy peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, celeriac, marjoram, zinnias and sunflowers.



• Planting- Before planting we prepare beds by loosening the soil, removing weeds, adding compost, and raking them smooth and even. So far we have planted: 15 (3ft.x30 ft.) beds of strawberries, 10 beds of onions, 5 beds of leeks, 2 beds of radishes, 2 beds of tat soi, 1 bed of lettuce mix, and 15 beds of potatoes.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for updates! Remember, the best way to learn more is to come check out the garden in person- we are always eager for volunteers! If you have questions or would like to arrange a visit to The Local Food Project at Airlie, please email awhalen@airlie.com.

Virginia Berries

One week ago I awoke to the blaring beep of my alarm clock at 5 a.m. After battling the snooze button, I brewed a strong mug of coffee and hit the road to Petersburg, Virginia-- home of Virginia State University and the 4th Annual "Virginia Berry Production and Marketing Conference." This daylong event highlighted the emerging market for locally-grown berries in the U.S. and shared some successful models for berry growing that could be adopted in Virginia.

American consumers have come to expect a consistent, year round availability of berries in grocery stores. Although the current system for berry distribution relies on foreign supply (Mexico and Guatemala produce the greatest quantities of berries sold in the U.S.), the corresponding demand for berries creates an opportunity to market berries that are grown domestically. Speakers at the Virginia Berry Conference argue that locally-grown berries will not eliminate the dependence on berries produced south of the border because the berry growing season varies among distinct climates, however locally-grown berries can replace imported berries during the seasons in which they are ripe.

One way to extend the berry growing season is to use high tunnels, as advocated by Dr. Marvin Pritts from Cornell University. Dr. Pritts explained his method for using high tunnels to grow high-yield, high quality raspberries and blackberries that thrive despite harsh New York weather. He keeps them inside through the fall and winter, and brings them outside to sun in the summer. Dr. Pritts also grew raspberries and blackberries strictly outside, and carefully noted the differences between the high tunnel plants and the outside plants. There is a marked and significant difference-- those grown inside have a longer season, a greater yield, and more marketable fruit. The difference was more extreme for the blackberries than the raspberries. Pritts also noted that there were fewer insects inside the tunnels than outside.

Dr. John Clark from University of Arkansas discussed the specifics of blackberry trends and varieties. He noted that between 2000-2010 there was a significant increase in blackberry shipment in the U.S., more than ever before, and that 75% of the blackberries for sale are grown in Mexico. In Arkansas, he is on a team that is developing blackberry breeds to produce in the U.S. Some of the varieties he recommends for Virginia, considering that the Virginia climate is relatively similar to the Arkansas climate, are: Ouachita, Natchez, Kiowa, and Triple Crown.

Table grapes were also a subject of interest at the conference. Most of us (myself included) have never eaten a "fresh market" table grape, and the speakers advocated for the "impressive eating experience" that a grape can offer. The favorite varieties are: Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Vanessa, and Marquis. Spraying, however, seemed to be taken for granted in this discussion of grape production.

A lecture about pest management in berry crops was useful because I gained a better understanding about the function of certain insects and how to identify them. It was disheartening though to hear that spraying is still the easy, go-to option for controlling bugs.

As far as the Local Food Project is concerned, we will be growing strawberries this season! And looking forward to planting more berry varieties next year...

PASA Conference 2011

My experience at Local Food Project has included a series of first times for me: first time leading a scavenger hunt through an organic corn maze, finding and killing a horn worm, intentionally (mildly) shocking myself to test an electrical fence... the list goes on. The pattern continued in the first weekend in February, which marked two more firsts: my first time in Pennsylvania, and my first time at a farming conference! From February 3rd-5th I attended the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture's 20th Annual Farming for the Future Conference in State College, PA.

I kicked off the conference by participating in a "Young Farmers Mixer," followed by a lively performance from the band Hoots and Hellmouth, a foot-stompin' favorite of mine. The next morning the conference officially started with opening remarks from some key players in the sustainable agriculture movement.

Roger Johnson, the Farmer's Union National President, discussed the legislative challenges and successes for family farmers. His driving point is: "The economy is created for the people-- not the other way around."

PASA President Kim Sealy discussed the evolution of the organization's role in a world that is gradually embracing the values of sustainable food systems: "In the beginning, we were the extremists-- naive earthy folks who don't believe in progress." He says, "Ag is only sustainable when it connects with a healthy culture," and now we must ask the question, "Which foods will promote health and which will undermine our culture?"

Brian Snyder, PASA Executive Director, offered some statistics about the conference: More than 2,000 attendees representing more than 30,000 acres and 30 states. This includes 80 young farmers who received scholarships to attend the conference (and I am one of those grateful recipients-- Thank you PASA!) Snyder's take-home quote is simple: "Nature cannot be fooled."

Wes Jackson delivered the keynote address, which criticized our overuse of resources. He illustrated the excessive energy consumption within the timeline of a person around my age: "The 22-year-old has lived through 54% of all the oil ever burned. Average soil has changed from 6% carbon to 3%." He cites Jevons Paradox, which was posed in 1865 and states that as technology becomes more efficient, resource consumption increases. Jackson argues that it is time to move backwards towards a less energy intensive world, that we should follow the poetic words of T.S. Eliot in our approach to sustainability:"The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

And then the workshops began! The first and best workshop I attended all weekend was called "Dig This! Farm & Garden Tools that Work for Women & Why Fit Matters." This workshop was hosted by a company called Green Heron Tools, which was founded with the objective of designing farm and gardening tools that would be advantageous to women. Many people neither recognize the profound difference in the biomechanics of farming for women as compared with men, nor do they realize that that most farm equipment is modeled for a male body. Our speaker relayed an anecdote in which she pointed out to someone that "Women shovel differently than men," and his response was, "Well, why don't you teach them to shovel right?" As women, we simply have different bodies than men and the reality is that the "right" technique for a man may be the wrong technique for a woman.

The proportions of a woman's body have several relevant distinctions. Compared with men, we have wider hips, narrower shoulders, shorter arms, shorter legs, more adipose tissue, greater flexibility, lower center of gravity and smaller grips. Women are more vulnerable to musculoskeletal disorders than men and farming is the #1 occupation associated with musculoskeletal injuries among women, and is attributed to the 2nd highest severity of disability among women (according to the CDC). For all genders, musculoskeletal disabilities are "near epidemic" in agriculture and are taken for granted as an inevitable outcome of field work. But injury is not necessary and it is avoidable if we take proper care of ourselves-- that is the most important lesson I took from this workshop.

Sustainability is not also about caring for the earth, but also sustaining the vitality and longevity of the farmer. Improving farming methods for women's health is especially crucial as women are increasingly prominent in agriculture worldwide. According to the USDA, 75% of farms in the U.S. are owned or co-owned by women. In the last few years in the U.S., the number of farming operations managed by women has increased by approximately 3%, and in that same time frame the number of organic farming operations run by women has increased by 29%. Globally, rural women produce half of the entire world's food.

In a search for female-friendly farm tools, the ladies behind Green Heron encountered an alarming amount of products that projected the impression, "All women need is something pink." Many of the pink or floral-printed tools they found were actually less useful than traditional tools because they were more flimsy. So they set out to design their own and will soon release their first spade, but in the mean time they are educating women about how to use our bodies more safely and efficiently. The basics you should know are: stretch, tighten your abs, lift with your legs, vary your tasks, maintain a neutral spine, don't twist, keep loads close to your body, keep wrists in a neutral position, stretch more... Now's the time to get in shape for the growing season!

My next favorite workshop at the PASA conference was entitled, "Human-Powered, Low-Input Vegetable Production." The speaker, Kenneth Miller, is a teacher from Green Mountain College in Vermont, which was recently named the "Greenest School in the Country" by the Sierra Club. He runs a 12-credit summer program for students to work on a farm on the college campus, in which he emphasizes the efficiency of human powered operations.

Miller has a resource economics background, and he explains that using fossil-fuel powered machines is actually significantly less efficient, both in terms of material and financial input, than it is to pay humans to work the land. "The best fertilizer is the farmer's footsteps," he says. He advocates for treating yourself to really good tools because "a good tool makes you feel powerful," and even if it seems pricey it's still a whole lot less expensive than buying a tractor and filling it with fuel and repairing and maintaining it over the years...Miller is not strictly opposed to mechanization and does incorporate it, minimally, into his farm. His guideline is: "If you're gonna burn fossil fuels, do something cool." His approach to high productivity is aggressive inter-cropping and close plantings. He also says to know your weeds and let some of them stay. The most exciting innovation in Miller's project is a bike tractor! I am inspired to explore the possibilities of bike-powered farming and hope to incorporate a bicycle into the Local Food Project garden.

The other workshops I attended over the weekend were all interesting. These included:"Road to Reform in the 2012 Farm Bill," which was an explanation of the proposed upcoming changes to the Farm Bill and a forum for people to discuss their opinions on the bill.

Another presentation I enjoyed showed a UC Davis study of "Sri Lankan Home Gardens." In Sri Lanka, home gardens are ubiquitous and are very biodiverse, growing vegetables, fruit, trees and medicinal foods and herbs in a single space. The gardens provide income flexibility for residents because they can exchange surplus goods with neighbors or sell to farmer's markets that collect rural home garden goods and sell them in large cities.

The "Chesapeake Bay Pollution Diet" lecture revealed that the bay is actually at its cleanest in a long time, despite its unacceptably polluted current condition. The speaker used an insightful analogy, saying that if we consider the bay an obese adult, our goal is to change it to a healthy adult withe a few extra pounds to lose-- converting it to an Olympic athlete is unrealistic.

PASA hosted an excellent event that was informative and engaging, leaving me inspired to dive head first into the 2011 season at Local Food Project! I will end this (dreadfully long) bog entry with a fitting anecdote from Kenneth Miller, a speaker at the PASA conference: Miller was explaining his low-input food production system to a stockbroker, and the stockbroker said to him, "You can't feed the world that way." Miller's responded, "You can't feed the world being a stockbroker, either."

Cheers to the good work of PASA and friends!

Farm to Table in Schools

In October I attended a workshop entitled "Grow Your Own Farm to Table Program," which was hosted by the Headwaters Foundation and held at Rappahannock County High School (about 20 miles from the LFP garden). The day was packed with speakers discussing the challenges and successes of implementing local food programs in Virginia public schools and communities.

Matt Benson contextualized the issue of food in schools in terms of economics and public health. Benson shared that in Virginia, 92% of farmers gross less than $100,000 annually and Virginia schools spend more than $6 million annually on produce--the majority of which is not grown in Virginia. Food in schools matters because many children in America are either hungry, overweight or obese, and malnutrition is widely recognized as a public heath concern. Benson extends the importance of malnutrition and proposes that it is also a national security issue (how does a misfed country defend itself?).

Benson also highlighted the legal framework for food in schools and political initiatives aimed at improving child nutrition. This includes, "Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act" and, "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010." Although these proposals invite optimism at first mention, they are limited in scope--for example, one act would increase the reimbursement rate for school meals by 6 cents per meal, which is a step in the right direction ideologically but would not make a discernible difference practically.

Andrea Early, the dietician for Harrisonburg schools, shared her experiences working to bring local foods into her cafeterias. One of her early lessons in reaching out to local farmers and following up with administrators was realizing that "not everyone speaks the same food language." Learning to translate between the dialects of regulations and farms and kitchens and classrooms was crucial. Pinching pennies is also inevitable--Early works with a budget of $2.50 per meal. Only half of this budget is allocated for actual food costs, because half of it is accounted for by labor costs. Early has done an impressive job of creatively introducing local foods into her schools, including stocking the kitchen with locally sourced ground beef and Virginia apples.

After a delicious local lunch, we toured the Farm to Table garden on-site at Rappahannock High School (where some of the veggies we just ate grew). The garden is thriving! It includes several raised beds growing herbs, tomatoes, greens and assorted veggies, two hoop houses, and apple trees.

This workshop instilled in me an appreciation for the relevance of public schools in the local food movement, and I am refreshed by the stellar work of the people I met that day.