David Wetzel is the person possibly most responsible for bringing the ancient practice of applying milk to the soil in order to improve the health, disease resistance, and productivity of the soil. As part of a 10-year study in collaboration with the University of Nebraska soil specialists and weed specialists as well as insect specialists have proven the effectiveness of milk as a soil improver.
It started with David having excess skim milk that he didn’t want to waste, so he started applying it to a pasture on his farm and noticed several oddities about that particular pasture. When his dairy herd was turned out on it, the butterfat content of the milk increased by 3-4% within 2-3 days of being in that pasture, every time. Not only that, but the herd needed fewer vet visits, maintained their weight better and the pasture recovered faster and produced more hay than other pastures. David contacted his next-door neighbor, Terry Gompert, an extension agent for the University of Nebraska about the phenomenon, and a multiple-year study was born. One of the additional benefits of spraying the milk has been a drastic reduction in grasshopper populations in the pastures, as the milk sugars are toxic to soft-bodied insects. One theory is that grasshoppers will leave healthy plants alone, as the milk feeds the plant as well as the soil.
The following article is from Ralph Voss, a student of David’s methods, followed by David’s own observations on what is working on his farm.
Mon, 2010-03-08
“This article appeared in the March 10, 2010, issue of theUnterrified Democrat, a weekly newspaper published in Linn, Mo., since 1866. In addition to writing for the paper, Voss raises registered South Poll cattle on pathetically poor grass that he is trying desperately to improve.”
Nebraska dairyman applies raw milk to pastures and watches the grass grow
An Illinois steel-company executive turned Nebraska dairyman has stumbled onto an amazingly low-cost way to grow high-quality grass – and probably even crops – on depleted soil.
Can raw milk make grass grow? More specifically, can one application of three gallons of raw milk on an acre of land produce a large amount of grass?
The answer to both questions is yes.
Call it the Nebraska Plan or call it the raw milk strategy or call it downright amazing, but the fact is Nebraska dairyman David Wetzel is producing high-quality grass by applying raw milk to his fields and a Nebraska Extension agent has confirmed the dairyman’s accomplishments.
David Wetzel is not your ordinary dairyman, nor is Terry Gompert your ordinary Extension agent. Ten years ago Wetzel was winding up a five-year stint as the vice president of an Illinois steel company and felt the need to get out of the corporate rat race. At first he and his wife thought they would purchase a resort, but he then decided on a farm because he liked to work with his hands. The Wetzels bought a 320 acre farm in Page, Neb., in the northeast part of the state, and moved to the farm on New Year’s Day in 2000.
“We had to figure out what to do with the farm,” Wetzel said, “so we took a class from Terry Gompert.” They were advised to start a grass-based dairy and that’s what they did. “There’s no money in farming unless you’re huge,” Wetzel said, or unless the farmer develops specialty products, which is what they did.
In their business, the Wetzels used the fats in the milk and the skim milk was a waste product. “We had a lot of extra skim milk and we started dumping it on our fields,” Wetzel said. “At first we had a tank and drove it up and down the fields with the spout open. Later we borrowed a neighbor’s sprayer.”
Sometime in the winter of 2002 they had arranged to have some soil samples taken by a fertilizer company and on the day company employees arrived to do the sampling, it was 15 below zero. To their astonishment they discovered the probe went right into the soil in the fields where raw milk had been applied. In other fields the probe would not penetrate at all.
“I didn’t realize what we had,” Wetzel said. “I had an inkling something was going on and I thought it was probably the right thing to do.” For a number of years he continued to apply the milk the same way he had been doing, but in recent years he has had a local fertilizer company spray a mixture that includes liquid molasses and liquid fish, as well as raw milk. In addition he spreads 100 to 200 pounds of lime each year.
Gompert, the extension agent that suggested Wetzel start a grass-based dairy, had always been nearby – literally. The two are neighbors and talk frequently. It was in 2005 that Gompert, with the help of university soils specialist Charles Shapiro and weed specialist Stevan Kenzevic, conducted a test to determine the effectiveness of what Wetzel had been doing.
That the raw milk had a big impact on the pasture was never in doubt, according to Gompert. “You could see by both the color and the volume of the grass that there was a big increase in production.” In the test the raw milk was sprayed on at four different rates – 3, 5, 10 and 20 gallons per acre – on four separate tracts of land. At the 3-gallon rate 17 gallons of water were mixed with the milk, while the 20-gallon rate was straight milk. Surprisingly the test showed no difference between the 3-, 5-, 10- and 20-gallon rates.
The test began with the spraying of the milk in mid-May, with mid-April being a reasonable target date here in central Missouri. Forty-five days later the 16 plots were clipped and an extra 1200 pounds of grass on a dry matter basis were shown to have been grown on the treated versus non-treated land. That’s phenomenal, but possibly even more amazing is the fact the porosity of the soil – that is, the ability to absorb water and air – was found to have doubled.
So what’s going on? Gompert and Wetzel are both convinced what we have here is microbial action. “When raw milk is applied to land that has been abused, it feeds what is left of the microbes, plus it introduces microbes to the soil,” Wetzel explained, adding that “In my calculations it is much more profitable (to put milk on his pastures) than to sell to any co-op for the price they are paying.”
Wetzel’s Observations
Wetzel has been applying raw milk to his fields for 10 years, and during that time has made the following observations:
* Raw milk can be sprayed on the ground or the grass; either will work.
* Spraying milk on land causes grasshoppers to disappear. The theory is that insects do not bother healthy plants,which are defined by how much sugar is in the plants. Insects (including grasshoppers) do not have a pancreas so they cannot process sugar. Milk is a wonderful source of sugar and the grasshoppers cannot handle the sugar. They die or leave as fast as their little hoppers can take them.
* Theory why milk works. The air is 78% nitrogen. God did not put this in the air for us but rather the plants. Raw milk feeds microbes/bugs in the soil. What do microbes need for growth? Protein, sugar, water, heat. Raw milk has one of the most complete amino acid (protein) structures known in a food. Raw milk has one of the best sugar complexes known in a food, including the natural enzyme structure to utilize these sugars. For explosive microbe growth the microbes utilize vitamin B and enzymes. What do you give a cow when the cow’s rumen is not functioning on all cylinders (the microbes are not working)? Many will give a vitamin B shot (natural farmers will give a mouthful of raw milk yogurt). Vitamin B is a super duper microbe stimulant. There is not a food that is more potent in the complete vitamin B complex than raw milk (this complex is destroyed with pasteurization). Raw milk is one of the best sources for enzymes, which break down food into more usable forms for both plants and microbes. (Again, pasteurization destroys enzyme systems.)
* Sodium in the soilis reduced by half. I assume this reflects damage from chemicals is broken down/cleaned up by the microbes and or enzymes.
* If you choose to buy raw milk from a neighbor to spread on your land, consider offering the farmer double or triple what he is paid to sell to the local dairy plant. Reward the dairy farmer as this will start a conversation and stir the pot. The cost for the milk, even at double or triple the price of conventional marketing, is still a very cheap soil enhancer.
* Encourage all to use their imagination to grow the potential applications of raw milk in agriculture, horticulture andthe like – even industrial uses –possibly waste water treatment.
Microbes
The purpose of this story is to convince farmers and livestock producers in this area to look into the possibility of using raw milk, compost tea, earthworm castings tea,liquid fishor sea minerals or some combination thereof to boost production at an affordable cost. It’s my experience that people in the Midwest are to a great extent unaware of the benefits of microbes. If the first part of this story has caught your attention and you intend to consider the use of raw milk or any of the other methods, you need to learn about microbes and the best way I have discovered is a book co-authored by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis,Teaming with Microbes.
In this story I cannot go into detail about microbes, the miniscule little critters that exist in abundance in good soil. There are four principal types of microbes – bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes. To get an example of their size, consider that there are a billion bacteria in one teaspoon of good soil. The role of microbes is to consume carbon, along with other minerals and nutrients, and these are stored in their cells until their ultimate release for use by plants. Microbes also store water, which make them drought-fighters as well.
I realize this is an inadequate description, but you need to read the book.
Brix
Brix is another concept that is not widely understood in the middle of the country. Brix is the measure of the sugar content of a plant (that’s an oversimplification but good enough for this article) and is measured by a device called a refractometer. If your grass has a brix of 1, that’s cause for nightmares. Our grass is routinely a 1. Clover and johnsongrass might on occasion measure 4 or 5 in the middle of the afternoon on a bright, sunny day. That’s deplorable for plants that should be double or triple that figure.
It’s not just our farm that has grass that’s not fit to feed livestock. I communicate frequently with three young cattlemen from this area – Jeremia Markway, Bruce Shanks and Chris Boeckmann – and they have the same problem. Last summer we were singing the blues over lunch and decided our refractometers must be broken. Someone came up with the idea of measuring sugar water. We tried it. Boom. The refractometer measured 26. Our equipment wasn’t broken, only our grass.
About three months ago Markway discovered a short article on what Wetzel and Gompert had been doing in Nebraska with raw milk. He emailed the article to me and that’s what got me to do this story. An interesting thing is what Markway discovered about the impact of raw milk on brix levels. He has a milk cow and took some of her milk, mixed with water and sprayed on his pastures with a small hand sprayer. Where he sprayed, the brix level of the grass was raised to a level of 10. That’s a great start and was good news to Wetzel and Gompert, who had not been measuring the brix levels of Wetzel’s grass.
Compost Tea
Raw milk is not the only thing that will improve soil. Compost tea is a liquid made by running compost through a “brewer,” a device somewhat akin to a fish tank, in that oxygen is added to the water containing the compost and this action flushes the microbes out of the compost into the water. The resulting liquid is a “tea” that can be sprayed on pastures and crops, to their great benefit.
Two men that make extensive use of compost tea are Mark Sturges and David Herringshaw. These two have never met and until recently had not even heard of each other.
Sturges lives in western Oregon near the coast and for 10 years has had a business spraying compost tea on vineyards, cranberry bogs, fruit and nut trees and pastures. Sturges adds malt extract, kelp and seas minerals to his tea, and if he is spraying pastures, he adds molasses to build the bacteria content.
Herringshaw lives in the near-desert southeast part of Oregon at an elevation of 4,100 feet. He uses compost tea on his own land and has the brix level of his pasture and hay ground up to 22. That’s tantamount to feeding corn. Herringshaw attributes the high brix to the compost tea and also sea minerals, which he applies at the same time. He uses nothing else.
I have seen the compost Sturges produces. It is so alive it literally moves. I have not seen the compost Herringshaw makes at the other end of the state. I can only imagine how good it might be. He fortifies it with raw milk.
Think for a second what Wetzel said about using your imagination to grow the applications for raw milk. Herringshaw has already used his imagination.
Earthworm Castings Tea
This tea is identical to compost tea except that worm poop is substituted for compost. Almost everyone thinks tea from earthworm castings is great stuff, and some even think this tea is superior to compost tea. Earthworm castings are known to suppress certain diseases of grass and some people think the use of castings might suppress harmful bacteria such as staph and E. coli.
There is a story going around that a university was having problems with athletes getting staph infections from burns sustained on grass practice fields and the university stopped applying chemicals to the grass and instead turned to worm castings and solved the problem. I spent two weeks trying to track down this story and at this point I don’t believe it is true. Maybe someone will prove me wrong.
I did, however, come across an interesting situation in St. Louis County, Mo., where the Parkway school district turned to earthworm castings in lieu of commercial fertilizer. The groundskeeper there is Matt Jenne, who prior to coming to St. Louis was a golf course superintendent in Florida. While working in Florida he noticed earthworms had built up their castings on the greens. They picked up the castings as part of cutting the grass, and then piled the grass-castings mixture and let it compost, after which they used it with great success on new grass and bare spots. To feed the life they had in the soil, they applied molasses once a month with their irrigation system.
When he got to St. Louis Jenne decided to go with worm castings on two football fields, applying between half a ton and a ton per field. The castings are applied dry and work best when the field has been aerated.
Jenne may have an explanation for the staph infection story. He says that artificial turf causes staph and the only way this can be controlled is to disinfect the artificial turf.
Here in Osage County earthworm castings are available at Eisterhold Brothers on U.S. 63 between Westphalia and Freeburg. Unfortunately they have decided to close their business when their current supply runs out.
Fish
Liquid fish or fish fertilizer is another product that has been successfully applied to pastures. Teddy Gentry, the founder of South Poll cattle, has been using a fish product for years and is pleased with the results. It seems especially beneficial in fighting the effects of a drought. Gentry mixes the fish with liquid calcium and is thinking about adding sea minerals to his mixture.
Sea Minerals
Sea minerals might be the best way to improve poor or depleted soils. We all know that a large deer in Iowa will weigh 100 pounds more than a large deer from that part of Missouri south of the Missouri River. Many people ascribe the difference to the mineral level of the soils. It’s difficult – if not impossible – to produce high-quality grass on soil that is no properly mineralized. It took Herringshaw years to get his grass to the 22 brix level and he is convinced he would not have gotten there without the seal minerals. Herringshaw prefers Redmond salt, while Sturges uses Sea-90. Sturges applies his sea minerals as a spray, along with compost tea. Herringshaw makes both dry and spray applications. He estimates he has broadcast approximately 85 pounds of Redmond salt per acre since he started using that product. This is in addition to what he has sprayed on. For both Sturges and Herringshaw a foliar application is one pound or less per acre.
Another individual that makes extensive use of sea minerals is Doug Gunnink of Gaylord, Minn. Gunnink produces high-brix grass for his grass-fed beef operation by the foliar application of liquid fish and sea minerals. He also tests his grass and adds those minerals that are in short supply in his pastures, whether boron, sulfur, copper or some other mineral.
Fish hydrolysate, Gunnink explained, is the entire fish ground up and then preserved with phosphoric or sulfuric acid. If the preservative is phosphoric acid, the phosphorus “bumps up the Brix,” he said, adding that “phosphorus gives grass power.” High-brix grass produces more organic matter, which in turn holds more water, Gunnink explained, stating that a 1% increase in organic matter will hold an additional 53,000 gallons of water per acre. “Organic matter is the sponge that holds water for dry spells.”
The organic matter also holds the nutrients that plants need.
Conventional Fertilizers
This story is not meant to be a war on conventional fertilizers. The late Dr. Maynard Murray, the pioneer that first advocated use of sea minerals, said there is a place for conventional N, P and K. We do, however, need to come up with better ways to use them. Bill Totemeier, a friend in southeast Iowa that is a commercial hay producer, uses ammonium sulfate rather than ammonium nitrate because the former is much more earthworm-friendly. He applies fertilizer two or three times per year in smaller amounts rather one large application in the spring. This reduces the shock to the microbes.
Houston-area rancher Tom McGrady spread ammonium sulfate on his ryegrass pasture in early March. In his area ammonium nitrate is no longer available. That may be a good thing.
For Row Crop Farmers
Row crop farmers can also benefit greatly from some of these practices. Lowenfels, who co-authored the book on microbes, urges anyone who uses herbicides or insecticides to soon thereafter apply compost tea to increase the microbe population that was probably greatly reduced by the chemical spray. Fish would also work in this situation.
For the busy grain guy, there are companies that make products ready to go into the sprayer. One such firm is AgriEnergy Resources. Mike Wyatt, an independent consultant that workswithAgriEnergy, has helped me gain some insight into world of microbes.
Hunters
If you want bigger deer like you read about in Iowa and Illinois, the methods set out in this article should be used on your hunting land, especially the food plots. Animals are clearly attracted to plants that have been treated with sea salt. And they also choose high-brix plants over those with low brix levels.
My Experience
I know Terry Gompert personally. He’s the real deal. In 2007 he organized a high-stock-density grazing seminar in as remote an area of northeast Nebraska as you can find and attracted over 200 people. Included among that crew were Jeremia Markway and me. Based on my knowledge of and respect for Gompert and the results Markway experiences just down the road from us, why wouldn’t I be willing to try this? To me it’s a no-brainer. I’ve made arrangements to buy milk from Alfred Brandt, who lives just south of Linn, and Chamois MFA has agreed to spray 50 or 100 acres in mid-April. A 1,000 gallon tank containing 150 gallons of raw milk and 850 gallons of water will provide the perfect ratio of three gallons of milk and 17 gallons of water, which applied at the rate of 20 gallons per acre will cover 50 acres. I hope to get over at least 100 acres. Whether we include something with the milk – such as fish, molasses or earthworm casting tea – is a decision we haven’t made at this time.
We are also going to broadcast one ton of sea salt at a rate of 20 pounds per acre.
Conclusion
For years I’ve been a dung beetle fanatic, thinking that I needed dung beetles to build my soil. I’ve probably been wrong in this regard. I now think I need to build my soil and the dung beetles will come. Dr. James Nardi, in his classic workLife in the Soil, describes dung beetles as picky eaters. That may seem strange, but my experience convinces me his assessment is totally accurate. I hope – and I do believe this will happen – dung beetles will choose to come to our farm because we have upgraded the food supply.
Urban Farming Examined Part I
Can Urban Farming Really Work?
Today we are going to look at a couple of opposing viewpoints on urban farming- that being the practice of growing food in an urban environment, more of a food producer than a hobby gardener with a windowsill box of daisies. Urban farming has become hip, cool and somewhat radical in mainstream America over the past few years, with Patti Moreno showcasing the Garden Girl TV that helped lead the way for growing food in the city to become acceptable. Long before that, Will Allen started Growing Power in Milwaukee, WI growing food in an urban landscape and teaching others how to do the same.
Our first article comes via AG Professional, an industrial farming magazine. The author – Maurice Hladik – is from a farming background with a degree in ag economics and was an ag diplomat to several countries. He says that he is a gardener and really enjoys it, but that urban farming in no way can make any measurable positive impact on our food supply, or feed any significant number of people in cities. He uses national land use figures and statistics to prove that the urban landscape is entirely unsuited to growing food. Um, really? What gave you that idea? He cites the fact that his house is built on a rocky outcropping and had to have many truckloads of soil brought in to create the lawn and gardening spaces.
The desire and skillsets of urban dwellers is brought into question next, with the comment of “hype and encouragement” for city folks to get out and grow a garden, with little visible results “given the lack of enthusiastic and capable gardeners” according to him. He challenges the sustainability of urban farming with the lack of suitable soil for growing that has to be trucked in. That soil was once farmland that has been removed from productivity, he states. Apparently he has never heard of the French intensive growing method that fed 90% of the city of Paris with 6 – 7% of the land inside the city limits. For over 350 years.
Water availability is addressed next, saying that rooftop gardens are water guzzlers in a water distribution system that has little excess capacity for irrigation. No mention of drip systems, gray water useage, rainwater collections, mulching or any of the other myriad approaches to reducing the amount of water needed. Urban farming on rooftops is a “thin layer of soil on a cement surface” that needs much more water than a conventional garden. Again, really? He cites a city of Toronto bylaw that states any buildings with flat roofs over 2,000 square feet are required to have some sort of garden. He goes on to say that because of the water issue, food production is out of the question and drought tolerant sedums are used almost exclusively there.
The two most disturbing and concerning points that he makes are at the end of the article. The first is that gardeners should enjoy their hobby and not worry their pretty little heads about feeding the world. Leave that burden to those who can. How @$#!* condescending! The second is that “someone” has a responsibility to feed the world. That “someone”, obviously, is industrial agrobusiness and not anyone else. Why does there have to be one entity that acts as the world’s supermarket? Is there really that need, or is this mantra another construct that has been promoted and pushed for so long that many now believe it? What about improving the capacity of each community and nation to feed itself and get away from the extractive export model? Look at Cuba and Russia as examples of how small, human scale agriculture can, in a real world situation, feed itself.
The article is worth reading, especially the reader comments!
Urban farming is an urban myth
Here is a great rebuttal written by Devon G. Peña, a professor of agroecology, ethnoecology, and the anthropology of food in Seattle.
history shows urban farms can feed cities
Herbed Marinated Dried Tomatoes
Here’s a recipe that will take a little preparation, but you will be thanking me for it later! Make a lot more of these dried tomatoes than you think that you will ever need, as once folks catch on to just how incredibly tasty these little jewels are, you will run out. You might want to hide some just for yourself!
These make beautifully presented, incredibly thoughtful gifts for the chef or serious home cook in your life. You cannot buy the flavor of these herbed tomatoes, anywhere, at any price. These will take a bit of time, but doesn’t require much hands-on time to make.
First, the tomatoes. Only heirloom tomatoes can really be considered, as the flavor is what you are after. The beauty of this process is that almost any tomato can be used, as the drying intensifies the flavors already present. Obviously, a paste tomato will give you a more substantial result. Good ones to look for are the plum and pear sizes with meaty walls, few seeds and a ton of flavor. If you don’t have these already growing in your garden, plan to plant some next year and look at your local farmer’s market. You will need a lot of fresh tomatoes, as they lose a lot of weight during drying. Plan on about 3 times the fresh volume as what you will get dried.
Drying them is the easy part. Wash them, slice and place on cookie sheets to dry. The oven is a great choice, as most gas fired ovens with a pilot light stay at around 90F or so. A consistently warm, sunny location is also good. If drying outside, cover with cheesecloth to prevent flies from snacking on your treats. Let them dry to a leather-like stage, then collect and start the marinating.
There are several different directions you can go with the herbs. A traditional approach is to use basil, oregano and garlic. A French approach would include lavender buds, Herbes de Provence with garlic. The strong punch of Mexican oregano accompanied by some smoked Jalapeno chiles, cumin and marjoram would be out of this world as well. Be creative, look at some herb combinations you enjoy and do some experimenting. The results will most likely be quite tasty!
We will start with the most basic recipe and then give you some alternatives to try. Use as you would sun-dried tomatoes – in soups, sauces, stews, bruschetta, pizza, spreads, salads or anywhere else the flavors would work well.
Herb Marinated Dried Tomatoes
Use these following recipes as the herb ingredients for the basic recipe above.
Herbes de Provence Marinated Dried Tomatoes
Mexican Herbed Marinated Dried Tomatoes
Italian Herbed Marinated Dried Tomatoes
Recipe Tip! Pickling salt is -simply put- fine, pure granulated salt. Grocery stores label it “canning and pickling salt”, health food stores call it “sea salt”. It is not table salt, which contains iodine and several other stabilizers and anti-caking agents that can ruin your pickles appearance.
Pickled Nasturtium Pods
Nasturtium pods, also called seeds or buds, are hot like peppers when they are mature, green and plump. They also make an incredible pickled condiment that is considered better than capers in many sauces and salads. I’m looking forward to using them in an old favorite capanata spread recipe that relies on capers for its distinctive flavor. Nasturtium pods will initially release a sulphurous odor when brined, but the resulting flavor is outstanding. Heirloom Nasturtiums are very prolific and fairly hardy.
Here is a family recipe that has its roots in Eliza Smith’s 1727 cookbook, The Compleat Housewife. It comes to us from the excellent book The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich.
Pickling salt is -simply put- fine, pure granulated salt. Grocery stores label it “canning and pickling salt”, health food stores call it “sea salt”. It is not table salt, which contains iodine and several other stabilizers and anti-caking agents that can ruin your pickles appearance.
Pickled Nasturtium Pods
Give these a try and let us know what you think, or if you already use them in some special recipes, please share them with us!
How to Prevent Bitter Cucumbers
Have you ever brought in fresh from the garden cucumbers, washed and sliced them into a salad only to discover you have bitter cucumbers? Or had a bitter batch right after some sweet and tasty ones? What a disappointment!
Many folks believe that certain varieties of cucumbers are naturally bitter, but this may not hold true. It turns out that growing conditions and the stresses that cukes are subjected to have a lot to do with their flavors.
Read the short article at the link below for the full story, and some easy tips on how to improve your cucumbers flavor!
Why are Cucumbers Bitter?
Urban Farm Grows Sustainable Food in Parking Lot
Sustainable Food Grows in Strip Mall Parking Lot
The Holland Town Center in Holland, MI is a mostly empty, struggling strip mall with an engaging, unique story. Located in what is described as a food desert – a low-income population center that has limited access to supermarkets or large grocery stores – the mall management contacted Eighth Day Farm about tearing up 1.3 acres of parking lot to grow a sustainable food garden, feeding and educating the local community from it. Produce from the farm will go to Eighth Day’s CSA program, with a farm stand on the property selling directly to the local public.
As one would imagine, there were significant challenges to overcome just in getting the soil ready for planting. After stripping off the asphalt, the top 2 feet of soil were removed and replaced with quality topsoil. Irrigation had to be completely established, compost worked into the soil, fencing built, beds planned and made before planting could even be thought of. They were starting a lot further back than just vacant land.
The Holland Town Center location is much larger than their other property, allowing them to expand the amount of food they can grow and reach many more people that do not otherwise have reasonable access to fresh and healthy food. In reaching this new market segment, people will have the opportunity not only to visit the farm when buying food at the farmstand, but participate in learning how and where some of their food is grown including picking their own food. There has been incredible community interest and support in the early stages of the new project.
Strip Mall Parking Lot Torn Up to Make Way for Sustainable Urban Farm Oasis in Food Desert
Eighth Day Farm KickStarter Project
Coffee Grounds Build Compost and Soil Health
Fresh Coffee Grounds Are Great Source of Minerals and Nutrients
Looking to perk up your compost pile? Do you drink coffee? You might be holding the answer in your hands this very moment, or at least part of the answer. Coffee grounds have been used for many years by those “in the know” to boost the quality of their compost, making a superior soil amendment for free. The grounds are considered part of the “green” portion of the composting, speeding up the decomposition process while keeping temperatures high enough to kill off pathogens.
Coffee grounds provide energy in the form of nitrogen to the hard working bacteria doing all of the work in the compost. They also encourage beneficial microbe growth, contributing to a healthier soil. Another benefit is the minerals added to the compost such as phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and copper – all very necessary to the growing process. Earthworms absolutely love coffee grounds, preferring them to other food sources and turning them into highly prized vermicompost. For many years coffee grounds have been thought of as slightly acidic, but recent research shows that the grounds are usually pretty neutral in pH, but have a very high buffering capacity. This means that whether the soil is acidic or alkaline, the grounds will bring the pH back toward neutral, so they are good for any soil types. The moisture holding ability is very beneficial for loose soils, yet it acts to loosen heavy clay soils at the same time.
Some gardeners have worked the grounds directly into the soil, but it is best to add them to the compost pile and let decomposition release their nutrients first, then add the aged compost to the garden soil, working it into the top 2 – 3 inches in early spring and late fall. The grounds can make up to 25% by volume of the compost, and be used as a manure replacement for gardeners who don’t have ready access to those sources. Some city gardeners make their compost of leaves, cardboard and newspapers for the carbon side with coffee grounds and fresh grass clippings supplying the nitrogen to keep the pile going. It is best to let the compost decompose or age for at least 6 months, with a year time-frame yielding a higher quality amendment that looks very much like soil all by itself.
Coffee Grounds and Composting
Coffee grounds perk up compost pile with nitrogen
Food Prices Increase with 50 Year Drought
Food prices are expected to increase due to the worst drought in more than 50 years pushing more than 1,000 counties in 26 states into natural-disaster status. The USDA announced the news last week, stating that about 55% of the US has been designated as experiencing moderate to severe drought conditions, the worst since December of 1956. The worst conditions might not have arrived yet, either. If the weather doesn’t turn and deliver some desperately needed rain, the majority of food crops could be impacted. Right now corn and soybeans are feeling the biggest hit, as the worst of the drought conditions are centered around the Corn Belt.
Let’s look at how this plays out for you and me as everyday citizens.
Corn has a huge economic ripple effect in both the food and energy markets, as #2 field corn is the commodity of choice when the word “Corn” is mentioned. Most likely genetically modified to be Roundup Ready, #2 field corn is not used much as corn, but disassembled into components used in the processed food industry. If you haven’t looked at what food ingredients are derived from corn, you are in for a surprise! Google “Ingredients derived from corn” and start reading. There are a few hundred commonly used food ingredients the corn supplies us via the extraction process! Pretty much any food that has a wrapper or is processed has some form of corn in it, unless it is Certified Organic. Corn is also a major ingredient in commercial beef feed, so expect to see a resultant increase in the price of store-bought beef.
There could be a loss of almost 40 – 50% of this year’s corn harvest.
Obviously if this year’s corn crop is wiped out in a significant number of areas – many farmers in the Corn Belt are calling 2012 a total loss – the commodity or base price for corn will rise. It has already doubled in the past 2 months and is expected to double again or even more. Any packaged or processed food could see a noticeable increase in price in the coming months.
Now would be a perfect time to take a hard look at what packaged and processed foods you routinely buy and look for alternatives. Look for fresh, locally grown or minimally processed replacements. Find a local baker, butcher and get to know them or know them better. Your local farmer’s market is a great resource for locally made replacements to processed and packaged foods, often tasting much better and being healthier in the bargain. You might be surprised to find that they just might cost the same or even less! This way, you are less dependent on price fluctuations from a major food supply shock while supporting your local economy and keeping your money closer to home.
Drought in U.S. reaching levels not seen in 50 years, pushing up corn prices – The Washington Post
Has ‘Organic’ Been Oversized: Avoiding Tragedy On Maple Street
Cooking Up A Story has written a new editorial that addresses many folks concern with the New York Times article “Has Organic Been Oversized?” We talked about this article in Does “Big Food” and “Big Ag” Control “Organic”? There has been quite a bit of controversy about the article, partly due to the misreading of some that the article was about organic agriculture, when in fact it is about organic certification. Don’t get the two confused!
To many, the process of organic certification has been corrupted and co-opted by large companies wanting to gain a share of the very lucrative organic market. Cooking Up A Story (CUPS) advances the point that not all corporations are predatory and solely profit driven, which is true. They have a very valid statement in that being able to reach, teach and move 300 million consumers, you need more than a good blogging site!
The main, salient point that needs recognition is that despite it’s shortcomings, organic certification has definite, positive and meaningful benefits. Yes it needs work and a watchful eye to ensure that it doesn’t get made into a mouthpiece for Big Ag and Big Food, but let’s be careful to not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Has ‘Organic’ Been Oversized: Avoiding Tragedy On Maple Street
Heirloom Tomatoes Have Flavor Lost in Commercial Varieties
Heirloom tomatoes vs standard supermarket “red slicing” tomatoes
One has created a following based solely on its incredible flavor, the other has long been the benchmark of mediocre, tasteless, pithy but brightly colored tomatoes. Available 365 days a year, it’s only offering to the salad or sandwich is a bit of bright red. Why do these universally yucky tomatoes exist, and why do the supermarkets continue to sell such an obviously inferior product?
Consumer demand is the main reason, as most commercial growers state that they are only paid on the weight, not the flavor, of their tomatoes. This traces back to the tomato breeders, as they are responding to the grower’s inputs of what they need – a plant that will yield as much as possible over as long of a time as possible. The fruits must withstand being harvested, packed, and stored in a warehouse where they are turned orange with ethylene gas, then shipped by truck several states away and continue to look good a minimum of 7 – 10 days later when displayed on the grocery store shelves. If the grower has no financial incentive to produce flavor, they won’t.
Here’s a new wrinkle to the story. The growers are not completely at fault, it turns out. Recent research published in the journal Science isolates a gene mutation that is responsible for the almost artificially bright red, at the cost of flavor. This gene mutation was accidentally discovered by commercial tomato breeders and then bred into the majority of tomatoes used in supplying the food chain, especially in the off-season. This is not a genetically modified organism (or GMO) as the gene mutation happened spontaneously, and not through mechanical gene manipulation.
This is truly a story of unintended consequences, as it clearly shows the unwanted results of focusing and breeding too closely on one desired characteristic while ignoring others. The color mutation also turns off the ripening sequence gene, which disables the tomatoes’ ability to manufacture sugar in the body of the fruit, explaining why the lack of flavor. Dr. Ann Powell, a lead author in the Science paper offered this solution to the flavor issue – heirloom tomatoes, as they do not have the genetic mutation!
Flavor Is the Price of Tomatoes’ Scarlet Hue, Geneticists Say
GMO Labeling Vote Will Be a Big Fight
GMO Labeling – Good Idea?
The upcoming GMO labeling vote, known as California Proposition 37 or popularly called the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act is shaping up to be a huge fight for both sides. Those that support labeling of foods that contain GMO ingredients –about 70 – 80% of all processed foods– believe that there are many unanswered questions about the impacts of GMO foods on our health, both now and in the future. Advocates of the safety of GMOs say the passage of the proposition will be too costly and complex to enforce, while not doing enough to protect public health. They also assert that there is no scientifically proven dangers of the GMO ingredients.
The battle lines are very clearly drawn with scientific studies, experts of all kinds, parents and lots of emotional appeal being deployed by both sides of the argument. So far other GMO labeling efforts have failed in 20 states, most recently Oregon, New York and Vermont. Much media attention was paid to the Vermont case, as public opinion and votes were seemingly disregarded after threats of lawsuits from Monsanto against elected officials turned the tide. California is very important to this issue due to the historical trend of what has been adopted as agricultural practices has spread to other states. As California goes, so goes the nation. Labeling advocates point to recent studies showing consumers support Prop 37 by an almost 3 – 1 margin, with 64.9% in favor and 23.9% opposed. This follows several years of national public opinion polls showing the same or greater trending.
This isn’t just about a label appearing on the box of cereal you might choose for breakfast. This is about huge amounts of money and profits at stake for large food corporations. Research has shown overwhelmingly that consumers will be reluctant to buy packaged foods that have a “Made with GMO” label on them. This will create a sea change in the packaged foods industry, with earthshaking consequences. New food ingredient suppliers will be needed, supply will most likely not be able to keep up with demand for some time, certifying the non-GMO ingredients will cost money, and the new ingredients will most likely be more expensive. These increased costs will be partially passed on to the consumer, resulting in the average American’s food bill to increase appreciably. It might become more cost effective to finally eat a more healthy diet!
Expect this issue to hold center stage more often as the November election draws closer.
Battle over genetically engineered food heading to voters
More Seed Company Consolidations
The large seed company Ferry Morse was recently sold and almost half of the employees were immediately laid off with a 60 day lump-sum severance pay. Seed Holdings, Inc. purchased the home and garden division of Jiffy International, who owned Ferry Morse previously. Seed Holdings also owns the NK (Northrup King) seed brand seen in big box stores and mass merchants nationwide. There was no notice to the two plants that were affected in Kentucky and Oregon. The plant in Kentucky has been in operation since 1959 and the one in Oregon since 2009. Some of the employees in Kentucky had worked for Ferry Morse for over 30 years.
Even though Ferry Morse was not an independent seed company, this further consolidation will not bode well for the customer, as the future offerings will be dictated almost entirely upon the basis of profitability for the company and shareholders. In a press release the expectation was expressed of “significant synergies, including optimized logistic solutions and exciting product development.” They further stated that this acquisition will give the home gardener the same high-quality products as used by most industrial growers. Synergies, logistics and products are profit centers. They are not new varieties of seed – bred for positive traits needed by gardeners – but more than likely new chemicals that will increase the profits of the new parent company. When any industry sees the extreme consolidation that the seed industry has, it follows what Americans have seen with the auto industry – when very few companies have complete control over the choices available for a product, and the quality usually suffers and the prices usually rise.
Ferry Morse Sold, Nearly 200 Laid Off
The Problem with Genetically Modified Seeds
An intimate and very telling interview with Dr. Vandana Shiva, a scientist, philosopher and champion of food and seed sovereignty. She recounts the history of genetically modified seeds, lies told to the Indian farmers, why there have been over 250,000 documented farmer suicides, the truth about actual GMO production versus what was promised, and why there is such a battle between the Indian government and corporations seeking a greater foothold, mainly by economic force. Dr. Shiva goes into some detail on how wrong it is to institute “intellectual property” rights on seeds, but how it makes absolute perfect corporate sense economically in moving into a monopolization on seed and food on a global scale.
Well worth the next 25 minutes of your time to watch – rewind, read the transcript and take notes!
Vandana Shiva on the Problem with Genetically-Modified Seeds
How Milk Improves Soil Health
David Wetzel is the person possibly most responsible for bringing the ancient practice of applying milk to the soil in order to improve the health, disease resistance, and productivity of the soil. As part of a 10-year study in collaboration with the University of Nebraska soil specialists and weed specialists as well as insect specialists have proven the effectiveness of milk as a soil improver.
It started with David having excess skim milk that he didn’t want to waste, so he started applying it to a pasture on his farm and noticed several oddities about that particular pasture. When his dairy herd was turned out on it, the butterfat content of the milk increased by 3-4% within 2-3 days of being in that pasture, every time. Not only that, but the herd needed fewer vet visits, maintained their weight better and the pasture recovered faster and produced more hay than other pastures. David contacted his next-door neighbor, Terry Gompert, an extension agent for the University of Nebraska about the phenomenon, and a multiple-year study was born. One of the additional benefits of spraying the milk has been a drastic reduction in grasshopper populations in the pastures, as the milk sugars are toxic to soft-bodied insects. One theory is that grasshoppers will leave healthy plants alone, as the milk feeds the plant as well as the soil.
The following article is from Ralph Voss, a student of David’s methods, followed by David’s own observations on what is working on his farm.
Growing Milkweed for the Monarch Butterfly
Milkweed – Monarch Butterfly Food Source
As a small family owned heirloom seed company, we receive many requests for partnerships with or donations to some great causes. Some of these are exceptional, as when the Xerces Society contacted us in January 2012 about growing a specific species of milkweed that is native to our part of central Arizona. Pollinators and pollinator attractants are very important to the success of any garden, so we jumped at the chance to connect the right people who share our passion for this project. Here is how that story unfolds!
Monarch butterflies have seen steady population declines across their native range since population monitoring first began in 1976. Several 2012 reports show that Monarch numbers will drop almost 30 percent this year, continuing a decline that has lasted for the past decade. The severe drought seen across Texas and Northern Mexico, combined with wildfires across the entire southwest has been a large factor. The biggest contributor is simply the loss of land that supports the Monarch’s food source and hatchery – the Milkweed plant. Much of the land has been converted to commercial herbicide tolerant corn and soybean production, or developed into housing. Overuse of persistent chemical herbicides and roadside mowing for weed control has also created loss of milkweed habitat and thus reduced Monarch numbers.
Monarch Butterfly on Milkweed
The milkweed plant (Asclepias spp.) plays a critical role in the monarch life cycle. Each spring Monarchs move across the United States, laying eggs on native milkweeds, the only plants that serve as food for newly hatched monarch caterpillars. Because of their migratory life cycle–breeding in the United States and Canada, and overwintering at only a few locations in Mexico and California–the most effective conservation strategies for Monarch butterflies are those that protect and restore habitat across their entire range. As a result, the North American Monarch Conservation Plan recommends planting native milkweed species to restore habitat within the Monarch butterfly’s breeding range.
The Xerces Society is working to increase the availability of native milkweed seed and encourage restoration using milkweed in California, the Great Basin, the Southwest, Texas, and Florida. These are important areas of the Monarch’s spring and summer breeding range where few commercial sources of native milkweed seed currently exist. To conduct the project, they are partnering with the Monarch Joint Venture, a coalition of federal and state agencies, scientists, and nonprofit conservation organizations.
Brianna Borders and Cindy Scott with Milkweed plugs
At the end of this past January, we were contacted by Brianna Borders, Plant Ecologist for The Xerces Society about a possible project to propagate a subspecies of Milkweed – Asclepias asperula that is native to Arizona. She had about 2 ounces of seed (approximately 7,000 seeds) that had been collected in the southern portion of our local county by the Desert Botanical Garden volunteers in Phoenix. Through grant funding, a California native plant nursery could propagate the seeds into plugs ready for planting. The Xerces Society was looking for a grower in our area that could bring the project into being. This would be a minimum 2 year project to grow a commercial quantity of seed to offer for sale.
Spreading Mulch for Milkweed plugs
After some thought, we decided that Fiona Reid was the perfect fit for this project. Recently retired as Education Director from a natural history education center, she was already growing and saving milkweed seeds at her property – Painted Lady Vineyard! One of her passions is native plants of the area, with an emphasis on butterfly attractants, and has solid connections with the Arizona Native Plant Society, as well as the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. The Painted Lady is a beautiful, ephemeral butterfly that happened to visit the vineyard in droves as the initial vines were being planted, thus the name for the vineyard came about.
Drilling Holes for Milkweed Plugs
The planting took place over a long and extremely hot weekend in the middle of June after much work over many weeks not only by Fiona but her volunteer crew to prepare the ground to receive the fragile tiny plugs that had arrived overnight in flats from the grower in California. We took part in the planting, but what really inspired, amazed and humbled us was the outpouring of community support from all walks of life and all interests in this project that will only benefit the Monarch butterfly. There are no financial rewards for any of the volunteers for the hours spent bent over in 100 degree heat planting over 2,000 fragile plugs. Many of the people helping were native plant enthusiasts, some were butterfly lovers, but a significant number had no real interest besides that of helping see a project to fruition on nothing more than the basis of it is the right thing to do.
Planting Milkweed is a Team Effort
We received this email from Fiona on Monday after the planting weekend. When we left Saturday evening, a little over half of the plugs were planted. There was some concern of getting the rest planted with the remaining group and the high heat creating a deadline of viability for the milkweed plugs.
Planting Milkweed Plugs
Here’s Fiona’s update on the project after the Monsoon rains have begun:
Almost Half Way!
Busy Hands
More Busy Hands
Very well said, Fiona!
July 2013 update:
It has been just over a year now, and things are looking very well indeed! We visited Fiona recently to see how the seed production was coming along, took some photos and video and wanted to share them with all of you.
There are several things that have been learned from this experience. First off, the milkweed is an on-going production plant, meaning that it doesn’t set all of its flowers at once. This means that there aren’t a crush of seed pods that need to be bagged (needing a crew or a bunch of hardy volunteers), but it does mean that there are little bunches of pods that always need bagging, so it is seemingly never done. Second, there is no real seed cleaning equipment available for the small scale grower to process and separate the seeds from the floss. There is equipment for the large seed grower that costs as much as some folks homes, but nothing for the smaller scale grower. We have known that as an heirloom seed company, as we’ve had to adapt other industry’s equipment and needs to serve our own. Third, there isn’t an established market for a regionally adapted milkweed seed of a specific species, as there hasn’t been any available up until this point in time.
Let’s look at how things have developed:
This is what a milkweed pod that has been bagged looks like. It is bagged to capture the “floss” or fluff that transports the seeds on the wind. This has to be done on an on-going basis, as the pods grow and begin to mature.
This is what good pollination will do for production, and really emphasizes the importance of all pollinators, but especially bees. Big black carpenter bees are what do the most effective pollination for Painted Lady Vineyard, as they get into the flowers and do a tremendous job that the smaller pollinators can’t.
This is one of the several butterflies that were visiting the milkweed the day we were there.
The star of the show appears: the carpenter bee!
Another view of this hard-working bee. Notice my hand in the background, holding the flower stalk steady as the wind was starting to pick up. The bee didn’t mind and let me get several close-up “glamour” shots! They are big enough to get down into the flower and do the pollination work that smaller insects just can’t reach. The flowers are quite stiff, and some insects will be damaged trying to get into these flowers as their legs get caught.
Here’s a short video showing what the field of milkweed looks like, as well as how Fiona and Brianna have worked together to determine how to separate the floss from the seeds.
FarmPlate – Better Food Every Day
FarmPlate – Technology Connecting Producers with Eaters Everywhere
The burgeoning local food movement has a powerful new ally in FarmPlate to connect more people to those around them that are producing, promoting and distributing locally grown food. It can be very hard to find out who is in your neck of the woods, or in the next town that is part of local food. Communication is difficult, as there is no real central channel yet. There are a few resources that are devoted to showing us where the local “foodies” are, and this is one such resource that is making great strides in connecting the producers with the eaters of local ingredients.
Using the top search toolbar, you can find a specific ingredient or foodsource near you, no matter where you are. I especially like to enter my zip code and click the red “Go!” button. It shows everything starting with what is closest to your zip code and works out from there. This is a great way to explore a new area, or if you are traveling and don’t know what is available locally – this is your ticket!
They showcase farmers, artisans, restaurants, markets and foods, so there is no loss for variety to choose from. Their blog is very informative and has a series of Young Farmer stories of, you guessed it, young farmers making their mark in today’s local food world. Take a look for yourself and see what is local to you.
FarmPlate
Community Supported Fisheries – CSAs for the Ocean
Community Supported Fisheries – Sustaining Our Oceans
The local food movement has had some seriously positive impacts on the quality and transparency of the food we eat. It has also stirred up quite a bit of controversy, which isn’t really a bad thing as it keeps food and where and how it is grown circling through the center of the national attention spotlight. Seeing how short the national attention span is, having food issues, food safety news and local food coming back into it every few days or once a week has helped many people realize just how disconnected almost all of us are from the third most important ingredient that sustains life.
Getting to know our seafood and those that harvest it is much harder than visiting our local farmer or joining a CSA. Most of us don’t live close to the source of fish and seafood, so we usually rely on the seafood lists such as that from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and other organizations who are making a step in the direction of educating us in where our seafood comes from and how sustainably it is harvested. With 86% of the seafood we eat being imported, this becomes almost impossible to sort out who is doing what right on an international scale. After all, I didn’t plan on a doctoral research project in order to feel good about my grilled salmon steaks!
That’s where the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA) comes in. They are helping to create a national Community Supported Fisheries (CSF) movement. This is how you can get to know where your fish and seafood comes from, how it was harvested and who the folks are that are doing all the work for you. Your support helps the very people in the boats make a living by eliminating the international systems of trade and shipping that grabs most of the profits. It truly is a CSA system for seafood!
Beyond red lists: The power of community-supported fisheries
Rural America Bike Trip Converts Techie to Sustainable Farmer
After losing his job in the L.A. tech industry to downsizing, Nathan Winters takes a 4300-mile bike ride across rural America to find inspiration and finishes his trip deeply in love with sustainable farming and a new relationship with food.
After working on several farms along his ride, he jumps in with both feet and starts his own. He shares his experiences, successes and challenges along with some new-found words of wisdom for those looking to start a farm of their own.
Bike Trip Across Rural America Results in Techie’s Conversion to Sustainable Farmer
2012 Slow Food Terra Madre
Slow Food is Good, Clean and Fair
We are honored to have been selected as US delegates to the 2012 Slow Food Terra Madre in Turin, Italy October 25-29. There are only 200 Delegates chosen from across the country to represent Slow Food USA. This is a very unique and advantageous opportunity for us as a small heirloom seed company to attend while creating and strengthening connections with producers around the world. This event will help to further our work of preserving and promoting heirloom seeds, home gardening and sustainable, local food networks.
Since 2004 Turin, Italy hosts this international event every two years in the northwest Piedmont area. Slow Food is an international grassroots membership organization promoting good, clean and fair food for all. Terra Madre is a network of people who actively work to preserve and promote sustainable farming that respects nature, traditions and communities.
During this trip we plan to meet and make friends with food producers around the world and learn from their experiences while sharing ours. The synergy of a group of committed people with a common goal and interest can make incredible change in the world. Now more than ever we need this change on both a global and local level. Bringing back stories of successes and challenges can help make changes in all of our communities. We have a unique position of interacting not only with our local community but a customer base that expands across North America and many countries, giving us the ability to share our experiences at Slow Food Terra Madre with a very diverse audience. The time is right for us to gain a larger view of the global food system by participating first hand in such a unique event.
The Slow Food organization is an ironic way of saying “No” to fast food and a fast, superficial life. Slow Food means living a deep, meaningful life; beginning at the table. It was founded to counter the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our daily food choices affect the rest of the world.
It has been said that the best revenge is living well. It really starts with eating well, as eating is such a central part of all of our lives whether we consciously realize it or not. Not only is food the third most important ingredient for life behind air and water, but every civilization and culture throughout history has shaped and been shaped by its food traditions. Slow Food is simply reconnecting with those roots in today’s world by opposing the industrial standardization of taste and culture, and the unrestrained power of the food industry and industrial agriculture.
The tenants of Slow Food are Good, Clean and Fair. Good simply means a fresh and flavorful seasonal diet that satisfies the senses and is part of our local culture. Clean designates food production and consumption that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health. Fair is accessible pricing for consumers and fair conditions and pay for small-scale producers. Farmers Markets, Community Supported Agriculture, local food swaps, community gardens, neighborhood gardens and over the fence backyard garden food trading are all examples of the ideals outlined above.
Terra Madre arose out of Slow Food and is made up of small farmers, producers, cooks, academics, consumers, non-government organizations and youth who come together to discuss how to improve the food system collaboratively at global, regional and local meetings. The many resulting projects and exchanges promote the sharing of knowledge and best practice approaches around the world.
The first world meeting of Terra Madre was in 2004 in Italy and brought together 5,000 producers from 130 countries. The second in 2006 included 1,000 chefs, aware of their important role in supporting local, quality production, as well as 400 researchers and academics seeking to bridge the theory of their work with hands-on knowledge. In 2008, 1,000 young producers, chefs, students and activists from around the world joined the network to show their commitment to ensuring traditions and agricultural wisdom is handed from one generation to the next.
“Foods that Change the World” is this year’s theme. For the first time the Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre will be a combined event and open to the public, not just Slow Food members. In years past the Salone del Gusto was the venue where foods and products from around the world were showcased while Terra Madre housed the discussions on successes and challenges of food producers everywhere. This year they are combined, making it the most important event solely dedicated to food, responsibility and respect for those who produce it and the environment.
To make this trip a success, we are asking for your support. As 2 of 200 US Delegates we are responsible for travel to and from Turin, Italy. The costs of international air travel have increased greatly in the past year, and we are seeking support to help cover these costs to attend. 100% of contributions will go directly to travel expenses. This is a very unique opportunity for us as a small family owned company; however the costs are significant. We ask for your support in any amount that you can contribute, as everything will make a difference! Many of you have commented that the work we are doing is significant and important, so please pass this along to your friends, family and neighbors that are interested in preserving heirloom seeds and strengthening local, sustainable food networks.
To contribute, please visit our Slow Food Terra Madre link in our store!
Heirloom Seeds and The Native Garden
Heirloom Vegetables and Native Plants Work Well Together
Heirloom gardening has really caught on in the past several years; from the delicious and nutritious usefulness of heirloom vegetables and herbs to the ethereal, captivating scent and stunning colors of heirloom flowers. What is often overlooked is the foundational stock of native plants and how they can be highly beneficial in many aspects. Inherently hardy and adapted to the environment, they need little if any attention and care once established. Natives act as pollinator attractants, nurse plants for more tender heirlooms, erosion control, soil improvement species, provide shade, windbreaks and housing for birds.
We are fortunate to have The Native Garden here in Prescott, AZ as they embrace and educate people on the dual benefits of both natives and heirloom seeds. The trees, shrubs, perennials, grasses, cacti and succulents are all adapted to the Central Highlands of Arizona, making them ideal additions to any garden or landscape.
We’ll show you around the demonstration garden with its raised beds and wall planters that are growing all sorts of heirloom goodies.
The front entrance greets visitors with a set of raised beds growing edible welcomes. Several different varieties of radish are on offer now, with lettuces and other greens filling in the mix. As the radishes are picked, they will be replaced with other tasty greens throughout the summer.
Raised Bed Radishes
Looking toward the street gives a good view of the central raised bed with its Purple Plum and Easter Egg blend radishes being offered to visitors, and the Black Spanish Round radishes are almost ready. People are pleasantly surprised at how tasty the fresh-pulled radishes are.
Raised Bed Squash
A view North along the two front raised beds showing the squash followed by Hopi Blue Corn on the right and Cherokee Long Ear Corn on the left. The beds are pretty wide, so the boards allow walking into the bed without compaction of the soil. The beds are new this year and the plants already have some great growth on them. There should be an abundance of summer squash this year!
Natives Ready for to Take Home
Here is a good view of some of the native trees that line the walkway.
Heirloom Tomato and More Natives
Another view down the other side showing the heirloom tomato leading the way to another native-lined walk to the greenhouse and back parking area.
Start incorporating native plantings with your heirloom vegetable garden. They can be very supportive of each other, so look for some plants and trees that are native to your area at a knowledgeable nursery or local garden center where you live.
Overlooked Benefits of Home Gardening
Home Gardening Offers More than Just Food
Home gardening has been a national pastime for almost as long as there have been Europeans in America, and growing food has been important for a much longer period. Home gardening on a family based scale has gone from an absolute necessity for most of the population to a hobby for many in today’s world. Along the way there have been formal gardens, research gardens, and plant breeding gardens alongside the ever-present, humble home garden that provided fresh produce for the house. Many of the benefits of the home garden have been material in nature; a source of fresh vegetables when grocery stores had no coolers, money saved by growing one’s own food, better nutrition compared to the canned or aged offerings on the local shelves. Let’s look at just a few of the less than obvious benefits of a home garden that are not strictly physical in nature, but are valuable products of the garden nevertheless.
Anyone doing home gardening of any size will readily agree that gardening has a very physical component to it. The work associated with caring for the garden throughout the year can positively contribute to a better level of both cardiovascular and physical fitness, but those are just the introductory benefits. A reduction of osteoporosis has been a measurable result of gardening, even compared to activities such as jogging, swimming and aerobics, a study from the University of Arkansas of 3,310 women has shown. Kansas State University has found that the risk of diabetes is decreased through active gardening. Of course, the nutritional benefits of fresh home-grown produce are a powerful diabetes management tool right out of your back door. Several studies have found that diabetes rates are lower in neighborhoods and areas having community gardens, or where home gardens are common. Many studies show that when children are exposed to gardening, they will make better and healthier food choices for the rest of their life, enjoying a healthier, higher quality of life as a result. Their school grades are higher; they socialize easier and are better adjusted to the everyday stresses of life.
Linda’s Garden, NE
Better sleep and an improved outlook on life are easily experienced and well documented benefits from all of this gardening! In fact, the mental health rewards of gardening are strong enough that an entire field of study called horticultural therapy has been developed to help people working through psychiatric disorders find relief. Dementia and anxiety are calmed through gardening, leading to improved quality of rest through deeper and better sleep patterns. For many busy people, the garden is a welcome, treasured escape from job pressures and family responsibilities. The relief and relaxation found in the garden helps reduce stress levels that have been shown to contribute to chronic, deadly stress related diseases such as heart disease.
Many gardeners know that beneficial bacteria and microbes in the soil greatly improve plant health and productivity. Surprisingly, the same holds true for the gardener as well. A study published in the magazine Neuroscience in 2011 study discusses a strain of bacterium in soil, Mycobacterium vaccae, which has been found to trigger the release of seratonin that elevates mood and decreases anxiety. This bacterium has also been found to improve cognitive function.
Criss’s Garden, OH
Just half an hour in the garden assists in toning and strengthening the physical body, yet the mental benefits seem to outweigh them completely. In a study published in 2011 in the Journal of Health Psychology, thirty gardeners performed a stressful task and were then randomly assigned to 30 minutes of outdoor gardening in their own plot or indoor reading. Gardening and reading each led to decreases in cortisol during the recovery period, but decreases were significantly stronger in the gardening group. Positive mood was fully restored after gardening, but further deteriorated during reading. These findings provide the first experimental evidence that gardening can promote relief from acute stress. Another study conducted by Tennessee State University found that people who garden regularly believed that the greatest benefit they received from the act of gardening was not a yard filled with flowers and vegetables, it was the significant reduction in general stress they felt in their lives.
A 2010 study by Farming Concrete measured total vegetable yields and produce value from 110 gardeners in 67 community gardens across New York City. These gardeners, collectively only using a total of 1.7 acres, grew 87,700 pounds of produce worth more than $200,000. This means the average community gardener in the study grew produce valued at $1,818 out of their plot. Looking beyond the obvious (and impressive) economic benefits, these community gardens strengthened the family bonds, created relationships outside the family that fostered trust and a powerful sense of belonging for the gardeners. Community gardens empower people to realize that they are not victims and can take responsibility and control of their lives, making choices that will positively benefit them not only for the short term but long term as well. They learn life skills that help provide food and therefore security and peace of mind along with methods of creating something that hadn’t existed before.
Gardens stimulate us as they engage all of our senses. Not just the sights, sounds and smells around us, but touch too; the textures of soil tell a story, and feeling; the emotional satisfaction of a harvest or a successful cutting as well as the deeper side in a sense of belonging or a realization of a spiritual connection or spiritual and emotional peace. These are just a few of the often overlooked benefits of a home garden.
Home Garden Bug Solution
Here it is the beginning of June and bugs are making their appearances in our garden. We wanted to share a recipe we’ve found that has been recommended to us by other gardeners and has proven to be effective in dealing with unwanted insects and other bugs in the garden.
This is a different approach than our Squash bug solution. You can read that article here – Squash Bugs and Ways to Deal with Them. That approach works well for more than just Squash bugs, so give this recipe and that one a try to see what works for your garden! You might also like some of our solutions detailed in Heirloom Tomato Growing Tips that shows several methods of deflecting insects, nematodes and blight, mildew and other assorted fungi that love our tomatoes.
It needs to be mentioned that spending time in your garden and getting to know who lives there is extremely valuable, as then you’ll know when some shady character moves in. You might still be taken by surprise when you discover a colony of insects chomping on your squash, tomatillo or tomato plants; but you’ll know with certainty that they weren’t there last night or the morning before. This knowledge is valuable, as this helps in choosing which methods to use and how aggressive to apply them.
Here is another recipe for a broad-based insect repellent for your garden. This is a very concentrated recipe, as the garlic and onion oils are extracted into the mineral oil, so test spray a small area before soaking the whole garden. The extraction is based on English research used to test the effectiveness of garlic and onion oils as natural antibiotics and anti-fungal agents.
Start by testing it on a small area at a 20:1 dilution – 20 parts water to 1 part bug solution. You can always dilute it with more water if you find it is too aggressive for your plants. If it is effective, increase the dilution ratio 10:1 at a time until the solution is still effective, but not immediate. You don’t want to nuclear carpet bomb the problem, just kill off the bad bugs. Remember, this kills all bugs, not just the bad ones, so go easy and be careful! Garlic oil is very effective, but if used in large doses it will be deadly to bugs and soil micro-organisms as well. It must be said that homegrown or locally and organically grown garlic and onions are the best, as they will have much stronger oils than commodity ones from the grocery store.
It is best to make this fresh as needed, as the oils will work best on the bugs when they are at their peak. Another approach is to use garlic essential oil that has been distilled and is many times more potent than the home-grown extract. If using the essential oil, start with 5 - 10 drops of oil in place of the extract. Look for garlic essential oil in your local health foods store or apothecary.
How to Pick Perfectly Ripe Heirloom Vegetables
Finding and picking perfectly ripe heirloom vegetables or fruit seems second nature to some, but those new to gardening can be confused and frustrated by the seemingly endless choices. One the one hand, you don’t want to pick too early and miss out on the scrumptious flavors, but you also don’t want to pick too late and not only miss the flavors, but lose the time and work of growing the vegetables in the first place. What’s a hard-working home gardener to do?
Do not use size (or color) alone to choose when to pick, as most of us are used to the size and color of the supermarket produce, which is not an honest or accurate measure to use for your veggies! Most home grown produce will be a bit smaller, more colorful and a bit less uniform in appearance than the supermarket equivalent. Heirloom vegetables grown at home will mature over a span of a few days to a couple of weeks, so you have time to let things get a bit riper if needed. No need to rush.
Use your sense of sight, touch, smell and taste to determine when to pick. Gently feel the tomato to see if it is soft and slightly yielding, or still just a bit firm. If it feels like it is ready to pick, gently pull the tomato just a bit. If it is truly ripe, it will almost fall off into your hand, if not it may need a day or two more. Give the melon vine the slightest pull to see if it slips from the melon. Smell the skin to see if it has that deliciously ripe tomato perfume, that heady melon scent or if it needs just a day or two more. Watch the colors change on the peppers, feel the skin and flesh change from firm and unyielding to slightly pliable to see when the flavor is best. Gently squeeze the okra, fondle the eggplant, watch the translucence of the pea pods fill with young luscious peas. Gardening is a full contact sport, and not just in the physical sense. It requires, engages and tunes all of your senses to learn when everything is at its absolute peak ripeness and therefore peak flavor and nutrition.
When in doubt, always take a taste test to see if your other senses are right, or they need a little education and fine tuning. Don’t be afraid to taste! Most of us have been educated on what to expect with vegetables from the supermarket, which is very misleading. Supermarket produce is specially selected to be picture perfect; everything else is discarded or used for other products. Every time you do a taste test, you become more in tune with the flavors and timing of your particular garden, and your particular vegetables that are growing there. This is called terroir, and your garden has its own special brand and flavor of terroir! With a little time, you will know exactly when everything will be at the peak of its flavor, and can plan some scrumptious meals around them. Once you have experienced the magic of a ripening garden, you will never forget the sights and smells.
It’s usually best to pick in the cool of the morning, as the evening’s growth is completed and flavor is at the day’s best. Cool evenings are a good time to pick as well. Make sure to plan ahead if you need chilled vegetables such as salad makings and pick ahead of time. Harvesting the day before will give plenty of time to get things chilled without losing any flavors that you’ve worked so hard to grow.
Heirloom Sweet Corn History
Sweet Corn Planting Tips
May is the traditional month to plant heirloom corn. A direct-sow crop, it must not be planted too early as it needs warm soil. Continuing with our historical heirloom history series, below is an excerpt on Sweet Corn from the 1884 “How The Farm Pays – The Experiences of Forty Years of Successful Farming and Gardening” by William Crozier and Peter Henderson.
Choose your new favorite heirloom sweet corn.
Modern Day Thoughts and Comparisons
It is very interesting how much attention was paid to the “richness” of the soil. Also, some great pointers to think about if you are trying to bring corn to the local market.
Here are some thought-provoking yield comparisons to our modern corn production. The average yield for commercial hybrid corn in 2010 was 152 bushels per acre. In 2010 the average price of corn was between $3.50- $4.00 per bushel. A bushel of corn in ears is 70lbs.
Higher production yields have not actually produced more income for the farmer in 128 years, due to several factors! Inflation is one of the biggest, but commodity pricing structures are a close second.
Just for comparison, that $200/acre in 1884 would be worth about $4800/acre in 2010. This means that even with the increased yields of the hybrid corn, 152 bushels/acre at $4.00/bushel is only $608/acre, which is eight times less! Even if the income was $100/acre in 1884, that would be about $2400/acre in 2010- something that many farmers would jump at.
Plant some heirloom open-pollinated corn in your garden this year. OP corn may not have as high of production yield as the modern day super sweet hybrids but it sure does have a richness and depth of flavor that can’t be forgotten.
A Few Tips to be Successful with Corn
Here’s a few recipes to tempt your tastebuds!
Fresh Roasted Garden Salsa
Cajun Chicken Maque Choux
Heirloom Corn and Potato Chowder
Hortopita or Greek Spring Greens Quiche
Hortopita is a savory pie that is stuffed with horta, or edible wild greens such as dandelions, chard, kale, and lamb’s quarters- commonly called spring greens. Horta directly translates as “grass” in Greek, but refers to about 80 different greens growing all over the country. It’s delicious alone (sauteed with lemon and olive oil) but obviously much more savory when feta and filo pastry sheets are used. Hortopita is a cousin of Spanakopita–layers of crispy filo dough stuffed with cheesy, leafy spinach greens.
Here are two separate, distinct recipes for you to try. The first one comes directly from Greece, just outside of Athens and is a modern take on a traditional family recipe used for many years. The second one is from FarmPlate, a wonderful website that connects folks looking for great, locally produced food with those folks that make just such foods. They are “a revolutionary online community that connects farmers, fishermen, foragers, food artisans, restaurants, markets, distributors and foodies everywhere. Our searchable directory of 40,000+ business listings across the country, networking tools and reviews make it fun and easy to find and enjoy real foods near you.”
These are large recipes, as they are usually made daily at the local bakery in large sheets, to be sectioned out for individual portions. Make a large batch, as it will be gone in a couple of days!
Traditional Greek Hortopita
Makes 3 to 4 servings
Hortopita from FarmPlate
Makes 6 to 10 servings
Recipe Tip! The feta cheese is naturally salty, so be careful how much salt you add during preparation.
Home Gardening As Therapy
Home gardening can be one of the best therapeutic activities available. If you approach the process and activity from the viewpoint of mindfulness, and really pay attention to what is directly in front of you, the mind has the opportunity to relax and stop worrying about all of the little daily concerns. It will stop trying to herd the cats, untangle the knots and wind the ball of yarn. Home gardening will give you a fresh, relaxed and rejuvenated feeling. It has long been known by pre-med students and those in residency that there needs to be a balance between the mental activity in which so many of us are engaged and the physical activity that we have lost for the most part. This is why when there is only a couple of hours of sleep in front of them before starting their next set of rounds, they will play a short round of basketball, take a 10 minute run or something similar. It puts the mind on the back burner and gives it a little peace while the body gets some attention. Both parts of the equation benefit.
Something as simple as weeding can be hugely beneficial. The activity itself does not require much thought, just a wakeful mind that is paying attention to and is engaged in the process. Looking for and identifying emerging weeds from the young seedlings, finding out how deep the roots go and how much soil is attached to them, as well as how to remove the weeds without disturbing the tender seedlings are all things that do not require a high level of intelligence, but demand the full attention and presence of the gardener. The same goes for rolling the paper pots and filling them with seed starting mix, then placing them in the seed starting tray and planting each seed by hand. Not mentally challenging by any stretch of the imagination, however there are some powerful forces at work here. You gain an intimate understanding of how things are inter-related and how the parts of the garden work. In home gardening you are starting the eternal cycle of life all over once again by planting seed and making one of the most elemental connections with it at the same time. There can be something very Zen-like in gardening, no matter what the activity. You only need to “Be Here Now” as the Zen practitioners say. This is one of the major reasons that gardening was looked at by both Eastern and Western traditions as a contemplative activity, especially in the monasteries. The daily ritual of checking on the plants, watering them and tending to them is a strong one, giving a natural break from the daily work life and easing the transition into the home life. It is a few minutes of peace and stillness and harmony before beginning the next direction of the day.
There is a concept of active meditation or “meditation in motion” that is described as an activity that requires full attention and concentration without needing much cognitive thought. Rock climbing, trail running, mountain biking, riding a horse on a trail and various forms of exercise are great examples of active meditation. You are forced to put the cognitive mind on hold for a bit and focus on what it right in front of you. Gardening can be an active meditation as well, depending on how it is approached. If you look forward to the time spent in the garden instead of as a “chore” or something that must get done, then you can experience the positive benefits on offer. Gardening has the added benefit of being less intense than many other forms of active meditation, so hitting the pause button is more of a choice than an absolute necessity. Many great leaders and thinkers throughout history have used the garden setting, especially in early morning, as the ideal stage to find both intuitive and meditative advances as well as consciously and cognitively working on and untangling seemingly intractable problems that they were facing. It is a bit uncanny to find how well this works, and it is rather easy. Simply walking slowly along the beds and paying attention to as much as you can will provide you with a constantly unfolding education into how things work together in the garden, as well as glimpses of incredible beauty on a ridiculously regular schedule. Heavier work such as broad-forking a bed will intimately show the structure of the soil- how loose it is, the colors and aromas revealed with the movement of the fork, and hard spots announce themselves abruptly. You get to know the soil on a much more detailed level than ever possible with a gas powered tiller with it’s noise and fumes.
The garden can become a small steady place of solace in these times of our always-on, instant response world where really knowing someone or something can be hard to achieve.
Heirloom Tomato Growing Tips
The yearly gardening season is just about on us and for many gardeners that means a heavy focus on tomatoes. Specifically, heirloom tomatoes, as their meteoric rise in popularity over the past few years would have many a pop and rock star green with jealous envy. The heirloom tomato seems to be almost everywhere these days, from high end cooking shows with their ultra-close-ups and glamor shots to many new cookbooks focusing on home-grown and locally sourced produce to Farmer’s markets, CSA’s and almost everyone’s home garden. Even die hard hybrid “Better Boy” and “Early Girl” gardeners that have planted nothing else for years are giving these wondrous beauties a shot.
With all of this attention being paid to the “Love Apple” as it was known in Colonial times, we wanted to give you a better chance of harvesting all of that potentially rich, complex, juicy tomatoey goodness that are only seedlings at this point.
Tomatoes are complex creatures, needing rich and well mineralized soil that is well drained and not over-watered. The simple, ruinous yet well intentioned act of giving tomatoes too much water most likely accounts for fully 75% of all of the problems with them; from soil borne fungi and other micro-organisms attacking the roots to fruit splitting, cracking and blossom end rot and ultimately the worst- flavor wash-out. Ideally, tomatoes like a lightly moist soil. The best way to judge when to water is by getting to know your plants and paying attention to the leaves. When the leaves just start to curl at the very edges or tips is when the plant is telling you it’s thirsty. Different varieties of tomatoes will have naturally curling leaves, thus the need to get to know your specific plants. Give them a drink, but don’t drown them. There has been multiple studies done that have clearly shown that tomatoes do much better with a little less water than a little more. Production, taste and disease resistance all increase when the plant is watered a full 25% less than what is commonly believed to be the “right” amount.
Now that we have the biggest issue out of the way, let’s look at some other techniques to get the best out of this year’s tomatoes! This is not an exhaustive, encyclopedic resource. There are many, many books available that are devoted entirely to the subject of fixing your tomatoes. What we want to do is give you some good, proven and easily used tools to help you get the best out of your tomatoes this year. Some of the most effective remedies are the simple and easily applied ones, as they are the ones that get used more often. So here we go!
-If you see brown or black soft spots appearing at the blossom end (opposite the stem) of the tomatoes, you have blossom end rot. This is caused by a lack of available calcium and can be easily corrected. Tuck a Tums or other antacid tablet or two into the base of the roots and give them a little water to soften. The antacids are calcium carbonate and will quickly provide needed calcium to the plant. It won’t cure the existing blossom end rot- nothing can- but will prevent the next set of blossoms from having then same problems.
-A 10 – 20% milk solution used as a foliar spray is highly effective against mildews and tomato mosaic virus. This remedy was discovered by Wagner Bettiol, an agronomist from Brazil found that weekly sprays of a milk solution was faster and more effective than synthetic chemical fungicides. The milk solution controlled the fungi just as well, with the added benefit that it acted as a foliar fertilizer and boosted the plant’s immune system and production. This spray also works for zucchini, cucumbers and other cucurbits including melons. It seems to work on roses also!
1 Cup milk
9 Cups water
Mix well and spray on offending mildews, blights and assorted unwanted fungi.
-The baking soda/mineral oil approach has been around a long time and is familiar to long-time gardeners, but it bears sharing. Cornell University has research showing the effectiveness of this approach. The baking soda deters fungus spores, and the oil coats the leaves, holding the baking soda in place longer.
1 Tbs Canola or mineral oil
1 Tsp baking soda
1 Gal water
Mix well and spray directly on the fungal blights.
– To stop nematodes from attacking the roots of your tomato, insert old 1 to 5 gallon nursery pots that have been cleaned, disinfected and had the bottoms cut out into the soil leaving 2-3 inches showing. Transplant your tomatoes into these guards. For heirloom tomatoes, the larger the pots the better, as the root system can be extensive.
-Another preventative measure for blight and other diseases, sprinkle a handful of this mix into the planting hole before you insert the transplant.
3 Cups well aged compost or potting soil
1/2 Cup powdered milk
1/2 Cup Epsom salts
1 Tbs baking soda
Mix well and sprinkle a handful into each planting hole.
-For soft-bodied insects, the milk spray described above is very effective, as well as a simple home-made insecticidal soap spray. You must use soap and not a detergent. They are different in how they work. Soap will kill the bugs, detergent will often kill the bugs and your plants! You’ve been warned. One of the absolute best soaps out there is Dr. Bronner’s. You can get it in a liquid form, it is certified organic and won’t harm your plants.
1 Tsp liquid soap
1 Qt water
Mix well and spray on the unwanted critters.
-When the plants are really working setting flowers and fruit, use the Spring Garden Soil Elixir recipe and omit the Borax and cranberry juice. Mix as usual and give a light spray to the roots as a side dressing to give the tomatoes a boost in nutrients to keep the health and flavor up.
These techniques and tips will set you on the path of better, tastier and longer producing tomatoes this season. If you have an especially effective remedy or recipe that you’ve used to help your tomatoes do well, please share it with us!
The History of Heirloom Peas
Heirloom Peas Have a Long History
Heirloom peas or garden peas originated in middle Asia, from northwest India through Afghanistan and adjacent areas. A second area of development lies in the Near East, and a third includes the plateau and mountains of Ethiopia. In these areas wild field peas have been found, along with many cultivated forms of P. sativum, but wild P. sativum has never been found. Vast areas in southern Russia and southern Europe still have large tracts of field peas growing wild. The garden pea was an early introduction in northern Europe and Asia and as far west as England and east as far as China.
Early heirloom peas were cultivated for their dry seed, similar to today’s “split peas” for soup. The varieties known a thousand years ago had seeds that were much smaller, dark colored from the modern garden peas. They were an ideal supplement to an early hunter gatherer lifestyle that was just beginning to transition into agriculture. They were durable, easily carried and their germination lasted for several years. They needed only a short season to produce food for both man and animals and flourish in soils too poor for early cereal grains which were being adapted to early agriculture at about the same time. No doubt that during times of scarcity of animals to hunt, peas became a chief source of protein.
Primitive garden peas have been found during excavations beneath houses of the Swiss lake dwellers around Morssedorf, Switzerland dating back to both the Bronze and Stone Age. Peas also were found in a Hungarian cave dwelling, believed to date back even further. Charles Pickering says in his 1879 Chronological History of Plants, “Of culinary vegetables, Pisum sativum the only kind that can with certainty be traced as far back as the Stone Age;…” He also mentions a type of Fava bean, parsnips and carrots found in the excavation.
Garden peas have been found in the excavations of ancient Troy. The Aryans from the East are thought to have introduced peas to the Greeks and Romans, who grew them in ancient times. Theophrastus, considered by many to be the Father of Botany, described peas in detail and their cultivation in his Enquiry into Plants in Chapter 8 which is devoted to cereals and peas. He is the author of the oldest existing treatise on botany, having died in 287 BC. U. P. Hedrick wrote about Theophrastus in his 1928 book The Vegetables of New York, “He wrote at a time when gardening, farming, orcharding, and the cultivation of flowers and medicinal plants were far advanced, when all food plants derived from the Old World had been named, domesticated, had their varieties and had been cultivated for many centuries. He was writing in a advanced stage of agriculture and civilization; quotes other books about plants and had much of his information from predecessors whom he looked upon as ancient as we look upon him as belonging to an age long, long ago.”
Heirloom peas were one of the most widely grown vegetables of northern Europe during the Middle ages, as their description and cultivation was evident in almost every early gardening or agricultural book of any language in middle and northern Europe. They were almost as widely grown as the early cereals as an easily produced storehouse of nutrition for the population and for food for the armies of the time. In 1066 they were one of the chief crops grown in England, and by 1400 peas were frequently mentioned in the “Expenses of Collegiate and Monastic Houses”. From the 1400s to the mid 1600s, peas were so commonly eaten that “pottage” and “porridge” were terms meaning peas as well as the dishes made from them. Sugar peas were common and described in John Worlidge’s Systema Horticulture, or the Art of Gardening in 1677.
Eating freshly shelled peas, or what were called green peas became a very popular delicacy with the aristocracy after the restoration of Charles II when they were parched, fried or boiled. Louis XIV was highly fond of them, and so was his entire Royal court. In a letter written by Madame de Maintenon dated 10 May 1696, she describes, “The subject of Peas, continues to absorb all others, the anxiety to eat them, the pleasure of having eaten them, and the desire to eat them again, are the three great matters which have been discussed by our Princes for four days past. …It is both a fashion and a madness.” Commoners didn’t partake of “green peas” until the early 18th Century.
Heirloom peas were introduced very early on by European explorers, possibly starting with Columbus himself on his 2nd voyage. It seems they were widely traded and spread rapidly. In 1535 Cartier mentions the natives of Hochelaga (now Montreal) growing peas, and in 1613 French traders obtained peas grown by the Ottowa River by the native tribes. Francisco Vasquéz de Coronado mentions “small white peas” in New Mexico in 1540. In 1614 peas were a food staple of the New England native tribes.
Subsequently, American gardeners have embraced heirloom peas wholeheartedly with many breeders improving yields, flavor and pod size. We have a nice selection in our Heirloom Pea Department for you to enjoy!
“Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” and Your Heirloom Garden
First off, watch the trailer about this crazy Australian who comes to America and spends 60 days on a complete juice fast-
Now you’re wondering- “What in the world does that have to do with my home garden?”
Surprisingly more than you think!
In “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”, Joe Cross regained his health, lost weight and ditched a lot of prescription drugs (with his doctors approval!) by changing his diet and eating better. Specifically- eating a lot of fruits and veggies and losing the processed, packaged industrial foods that put him in that corner to begin with.
Here’s where your heirloom garden comes in; right in your backyard, on your porch or balcony. It can be easily explained in one simple, overused word- nutrition. You have much more positive influence on your health with a home garden than you would think. By tending to your garden and growing just some of your own food, you will be eating much better from both a dietary and nutritional viewpoint than almost any other way.
Let’s look at how this works-
Creating and maintaining biologically sustainable, healthy and fertile soil is the first step. This builds the foundation for strong, healthy, productive and disease/pest resistant plants that grow food that is not only healthy but highly delicious as well. This can be done no matter the size of the garden, all the way down to a few containers or an Earthbox.
Many folks don’t stop and think about how important the soil is to the overall flavor and nutrition of the produce. In biological, sustainable agriculture a term called “Brix” is used a lot. It means the amount of plant sugars that are present in a drop of sap from the stem, leaves or fruit. The higher the Brix, the healthier the plant and the sweeter (and tastier) the veggie or fruit. Higher Brix plants also have fewer pest and disease pressures.
Very few people have tasted high Brix vegetables, and those that have remember that they tasted like no other. For example, a simple bell pepper that has a Brix of 4 will taste bland, unremarkable and somewhat bitter. Now raise that Brix reading to 12 or 16 and it will taste like an apple in its sweetness! Not only will it be sweet, but rich and complex in flavors that you have not tasted in a bell pepper before. Another example is green beans. 4 Brix green beans need some sugar before kids will eat them, yet at the 8-10 Brix level kids will go out to the garden to pick them fresh and few make it to the kitchen. Most green beans at the supermarket are in the 4-5 Brix range.
High quality seeds are the next step. They provide the next link in the chain of growing food, but are often thought of as a commodity and not very important to spend time on getting the quality needed. While it is true that great soil can grow mediocre seeds, you don’t really want to go there do you? After the time spent in getting the garden planned, soil built and amended why use second-rate seeds?
The nutrient-dense, highly nutritious and delicious vegetables from your heirloom garden are the final result. Here’s where all of this ties into “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”, as Joe found that drinking juice made from several different kinds of vegetables gave him the nutritional boost to get his systems back in order, his health back and lose the weight from years of not eating right. He bought his veggies from stores, and talks a bit about buying organic instead of conventional vegetables. He had no choice in growing his vegetables, as he was traveling. If his remarkable progress is possible with store-bought produce, can you imagine what you can do with nutrient-dense vegetables that you’ve grown in your own soil?
I’m not talking about just growing for juicing, but eating the produce from your own garden can have a similar positive impact on your health, when grown as described above. If you have the space and can grow veggies for juicing, you will see even more beneficial results in addition to eating them.
Pretty amazing to see what benefits a home heirloom garden can have, isn’t it?
Please realize that this article is not advocating eating only vegetables, only juice or not eating meat, but is looking at how we can achieve some impressive results with tools and opportunities that many of us already have. The absolute fact is that most Americans really need more vegetables in their diets with a corresponding reduction of the processed, packaged industrial foods that are all around us every day.
It is well worth watching “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” and visiting Joe’s website- FatSickandNearlyDead.com. The movie is available through Hulu and Netflix, among others.
Just imagine- eating nutrient-dense fresh vegetables and drinking juices made from them grown in your own garden as a method of greatly improved health. Pretty radical thought, isn’t it?
Heirloom Seed Starting Made Easy
Home gardeners are starting to get the itch to get their yearly heirloom seed starting tradition under way about now. In some parts of the country it is warm enough that folks are able to direct sow cool season crops into their gardens, while in others it is time to start seeds inside to get them big and sturdy enough to transplant once the frosts have passed.
This leads to something of an eternal question- how do I start my seeds and what is the best method? If you are new to this series of articles, you might want to read Successful Heirloom Seed Starting for the Home Gardener where we show the equipment and space needed to be successful in starting your seeds at home, and Seed Starting Media for the Home Gardener, which examines the different materials used in making up a great seed starting media, and why you should use them. This will bring you up to speed on everything that brings us to this article and video.
Heirloom seed starting is actually pretty easy and straight forward, once a couple of basics are understood. The whole reason for starting seeds inside is to get a jump-start on the season by growing vegetable plants like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant inside to a stage where they are able to produce much earlier than if their seeds were directly sown into the garden soil once the frosts have passed. For example- it is common to start tomatoes 6-8 weeks or up to 2 months early inside, then transplant them into the garden. This means for many parts of the country that tomatoes will be ripe in late June or early July instead of September, as they would be if planted directly.
You can use this technique to your advantage and start a few select plants much earlier and have a small harvest within a couple of weeks of transplanting, then stagger some starts every couple of weeks for a month. What this will accomplish is the same as succession planting in the garden with carrots, beets, radishes, etc.- it gives you a continuous harvest of the vegetables that are in demand over a longer season without flooding you with too much at once, then having it all run out later. This is exactly the technique that highly successful market growers use to have a full stand for the first Farmer’s Market, as well as having produce for the year-round CSA. They will start everything– lettuce, beets, tomatoes, peppers, kale, Swiss chard, mustard, spinach- inside and transplant to the hoop-house or high tunnel once they are big enough to handle whatever season they are being planted into. Eliot Coleman has been perfecting this method for 30 years in Maine where he grows year-round without heating the growing houses.
We have prepared a new video showing how we do seed starting for our trial garden and food production here at Terroir Seeds. There are several methods that we share with you, as there are many ways to reach the same goal. Please enjoy and as always let us know your questions and thoughts!
Catanian Wheat and Lentil Soup
Catania is an old city on the south-east coast of Sicily, fronting the Ionian Sea. During the Renaissance, Catania was Sicily’s most important cultural, artistic, and political hub due in part to its major seaport. In 1434 the first university in Sicily was founded and today it is one of the main economic centers of the island and an important hub of technology and industry.
Cantine del Cugno Mezzano, located on the Via Museo Biscari is one of the chic restaurants in the old downtown that are reviving the ancient farm cuisines and elevating them to fine dining status. What is notable is that the flavors need no “freshening” or “elevating”, only the surroundings and atmosphere is needed to create the fine dining experience. The old recipes and locally sourced farm-grown ingredients are what make the flavors so memorable. The chef drives out to the surrounding countryside every weekend and goes from farm to farm on a well-established routine buying the foundations for the next week’s dishes.
This is a substantial and deeply satisfying, yet not heavy winter soup that has sustained farm families and farmhands for many generations. It is eaten during the cooler weather in Sicily on the farms, but is in demand year round in the restaurants. Get the best quality sausage possible, as it is the foundation of the flavors here. The smoked sweet and bittersweet paprika will add an intriguing depth of flavor to the soup, with the oregano backing them up. Another option to broaden the flavor profile is to use a home made beef stock instead of the water in the lentils, or split it in half. This freezes well to provide a delicious backup when time is short or plans change during the week.
Add some thick slices of fresh artisan peasant bread with butter and a good beer for a taste of what our ancestors ate after a long workday in the fields!
Zuppa Di Grano e Lenticchie
Makes 6 servings
Heirloom Gardening for Backyard Chickens
Raising backyard chickens is becoming increasingly popular, no matter where you live. There have always been rural chickens, but now there are small and large city chickens, happily living in coops and backyards all across the country. Chickens can do a lot for you, both in the garden and in the kitchen. First off, they give you a real measure of food security and increase your resiliency. The eggs are a great bartering tool, as very few folks that we’ve talked to weren’t interested in some fresh home-raised eggs. Chickens are great for bug control, light soil tilling and fertilization. The chicken manure is very high in Nitrogen and is a great addition to your compost. Home raised eggs are some of the highest nutritional content of any chickens, including free-range. The reason is that most home raised chickens are pampered and given extra nutrition and care. It is very easy to provide a highly nutritious and healthy diet for your backyard chickens from your home garden. We will look at several heirloom vegetables, herbs and flowers that you can easily grow in your garden that will not only provide some tasty treats for your chickens, but give you some great greens as well.
Almost any of the greens and vegetables that you enjoy your chickens will love. You have probably seen them get really excited if you share salad fixings or old veggies from your refrigerator. Think of how they will get when they know that the garden is providing treats for them all of the time! You don’t have to plant a special garden just for the chickens, as they will happily devour any greens that come their way.
The question is often asked of why grow your chicken’s food, why not just buy the 50lb. bag of chicken scratch and call it good? There is nothing wrong with going this route, and realistically you will most likely need to have some commercial feed available as your garden may or may not produce enough greens and grains for your flock. This will vary depending on the size of your garden compared to the size of your flock. The real answer to growing fresh greens for your chickens is the same answer as to why you would want to grow your own garden- taste, nutrition and choice.
Spring Chicken
Let’s look at several varieties of vegetables and herbs that are easily grown in a home garden setting that will provide some tasty and highly nutritious greens for both you and your birds. Starting off in the cooler season with some cold-hardy greens will help jump-start the hens energy levels. Kale, Swiss Chard, mustard greens and beet tops are a great start to the season. They all like a cooler soil, sprout quickly and will provide some serious nutrition. Speaking of sprouting, sprouts are an absolute powerhouse of nutrition and are ready to eat in 4-7 days. Alfalfa sprouts are possibly the best known, but there are several different types of sprouts such as radish, mung bean and red clover that work well. Sprouts take up minimal space, use little water and need only the most basic equipment to produce a couple of pounds of fresh food. This is a technique that works especially well in the depths of winter when other greens are scarce and expensive. You can produce plenty of sprouts for yourself and a half dozen chickens from a half gallon jar with a sprouting screen lid on your kitchen sink.
Once the weather starts warming up more options open up for different vegetables and greens. Cabbage, chicory, mustards, spinach and a number of greens do well in the early spring once the soil has started warming up. These include Miner’s Lettuce, French Purslane and Aztec Red Spinach. Once the true spinach starts to bolt in the warmer weather, switch to the spinach substitutes such as red and green malabar spinach, the Aztec Red spinach and New Zealand spinach. All of these love the heat, won’t bolt and produce all through the hotter weather. Traditional winter cover crops such as alfalfa, clover, vetch and annual rye should be considered for later in the year.
If you have the space, pumpkins and squash- both summer and winter- can be excellent feed choices. Winter squash and pumpkins that can be stored until later in the winter give you an additional resource for high quality feed when nothing else is growing. Corn is another great choice, space permitting, as it is the base for the commercial feeds. Other grains that will grow well in a smaller home garden set up is Mennonite Sorghum, Amaranth and Quinoa. Don’t forget Sunflowers, as they can provide both shade and a wind break for your garden along with seeds for your girls.
Many folks don’t think of herbs when it comes to providing food for chickens, but there are some great choices here. Borage is one such, as it has lots of mineral-rich leaves as well as flowers that are edible and make excellent additions to a chicken’s diet. Comfrey is in the Borage family and is another great choice.
To help you get started, we have created a section on our website called “Backyard Chickens Collection”, appropriately enough. We list all of the varieties that are mentioned in this article to save you the time of looking throughout the website to find them. It is really easy to incorporate the chicken feed aspect into your existing gardening plan. Planting one or two extra plants of each variety for each half dozen chickens is usually sufficient, with grains such as Amaranth and sunflowers going almost exclusively to the chickens. As with most things gardening related, a little experimentation will prove the way as you see what volumes of fresh garden produce you particular flock of chickens needs.
Seed Starting Media for the Home Gardener
The importance of proper seed starting mediaSeed starting media is what is used to, you guessed it, start your seeds in! Why does starting seeds require its own media? Why not just use some good garden soil or well-aged compost? What is the difference anyway? These are valid questions that all too often go unanswered, leading to disappointment, frustration and failure for the home gardener trying to get a jump on the season by starting their own seeds for transplants.
The first thing to recognize is that starting seeds inside and growing them into transplants is much different than what happens in the garden with direct seeding. Growing inside has advantages and challenges that simply do not exist in the garden, with its own rules. Temperature can be controlled and modified inside, as well as lighting to ensure success. Humidity and soil moisture levels are other things that can and need to be controlled to get the young seedling to the strapping transplant stage. A good seed starting mix provides a sterile environment free of fungus, mold or viruses, good drainage to allow better soil moisture management, and minimizes nutrient leaching from the young root systems. These are all things that are just not possible to control outside, forcing the gardener to wait until conditions are right before sowing the seeds directly into the soil and hoping that the weather cooperates. Thus the entire reason to start your own seeds inside, in a nutshell! You have control- control of the choice of what to plant, what varieties of tomatoes, peppers and such that are not available at the local garden center or nursery, and control of all of the variables that will grow a healthy, sturdy and productive member of the garden.
It all starts with the choice of the right seed starting media or mix. Get it right and you are well on your way to success. Get it wrong and you could have some challenges that slow you down. Luckily, it is not difficult at all! When you visit your local garden center, home improvement store or local market, it might be confusing on which growing media to buy. For the beginning gardener, buying seed starting media is the best and safest choice for success. This is not the time to overthink or overcomplicate things. Find the simplest, most successful way possible and stick with that method. You will have plenty of time to experiment with different approaches and systems once the seedlings are transplanted into your garden. What you need for starting seeds is a dead-simple, easily repeatable, always successful method to get the seeds up and healthy. As you gain experience and knowledge you can do some experimenting to see what “recipes” or hand-made mixes work well for you. Below we will tell you more about each type.
Perlite
Perlite– An amorphous volcanic glass expanded to about 13 times its original volume by heating to 1,800F; it is used as a soil additive to help prevent water loss and soil compaction and is white in color. Perlite provides aeration and optimum moisture retention for superior seedling growth. It is sterile and has a pH of approximately 7, or neutral. Used to condition garden soil to improve aeration and drainage.
Vermiculite
Vermiculite– A mica mineral expanded by heating it to 1,400F; used as part of peat-lite mixes. Similar to perlite it is lightweight, highly absorbent, increases aeration and moisture retention, and minimizes fertilizer leaching.
Peat Moss
Peat moss– Organic material used in many soil mixes to grow plants in. It comes from Peat bogs, which are natural deposits of peat moss. Peat Bogs are found in very Northern Countries such as Canada. This is a finite resource.
Peat pots– Pots made from compressed peat moss and paper.
Rock Wool
Rock Wool– A growing media is an inorganic product that is made by melting together at a very high temperature a mixture of basalt, coke and limestone into lava which is blown into a large spinning chamber which pulls the lava into fibers like “cotton candy”. Rock wool fibers hold a lot of water; this medium is usually used in greenhouse production.
Compressed Coconut Coir
Coir– A natural fiber extracted from the husk of coconut and has a large capacity to absorb water and still provide aeration. It is a strongly recommended substitute for sphagnum (Peat) moss because it is free of bacterial and fungal spores, and produces good results without the environmental damage caused by peat mining.
Wetting agent– Material added to water to reduce the surface tension and make the water wetter.
Seed Starting Mix
Many common Seed Starting Potting Mixes will contain peat moss, perlite, a fertilizer and a wetting agent. There are many different brands of Seed Starting Mixes on the market or you can create your own. Take a look at our Seed Starting Department for ideas and tools to help you get the best out of your seed starting efforts.
Here are a couple of hand-made mixes from The New Seed Starters Handbook by Nancy Bubel. Nancy was the author of many books at Rodale and the author of the Storey Publication Grow Super Salad Greens.
Good and Simple Potting Soil
One part finished compost
One part vermiculite
Home-Style Potting Mix
One part finished compost
One part either loose garden soil or potting soil
One part sharp sand, perlite or vermiculite or a mixture of all three.
If you are a beginner it might be easiest to buy a bagged mix or a tray with coir pellets to start with. After a little experience you will find what works best for you.
A personal favorite is using a soil blocker and creating your own custom mix based on Eliot Coleman’s methods. Chapter 14 of The New Organic Grower covers the complete use of soil blocks and blocking mixes. If you start a lot of starts or are a larger grower this method might be worth exploring.
With an understanding of the importance of a good seed starting mix, and the ingredients commonly available, you have the tools needed to have a successful start to your seedlings, a more productive garden and great home grown food. We will be continuing the planning, seed starting and planting series with some seed starting basics, tools and experiences that have helped us have a high success rate.
Large Leaf Sorrel or Lemonade Leaf
French sorrel is known as “lemonade leaf” and has been prized for its nutritional and culinary qualities for centuries. In many climates it will nativize.
Successful Heirloom Seed Starting for the Home Gardener
When it comes to starting their own heirloom seeds, home gardeners seem to be in two distinct camps- those that are really positive about the process and results, and those that aren’t. The folks that aren’t too excited about starting their own seeds usually have a good reason- they’ve had some failures with die-off and had to scramble to buy starts at the local garden center and wound up with something that they didn’t really want. Others haven’t tried their own starts, but feel that it is complicated or difficult. There are some very compelling reasons to start your own seedlings, but there are some challenges to overcome as well. We will look at several items to consider in making the decision of whether or not to do your own starts, along with some tips to get you started successfully.
Why start your own seeds? What advantages/disadvantages are there?
Now that you know the pro’s and con’s of starting your own seeds, how does one go about actually doing it? As with just about anything, there is some planning and preparation involved, but not too much. Remember how we talk about getting started in the garden- start small, start simply, but get started? The same thought process applies here as well. Set yourself up for success, not frustration, headaches and failure. Take the time to do some initial planning and set up and you’ll be off to a great start.
Plan and arrange the seed starting area
Once the area is planned and prepared, the equipment is all that is left and you’re ready to start some seedlings! The equipment can be very basic of pretty involved, but again- start small and simple. It is amazing how well seeds sprout in a soil block that is free or paper pot that is next to free! Sometimes they sprout better than in much more expensive and complex equipment.
Gather the equipment needed
See our Seed Starting Department for books and tools to help you be more successful in starting your seeds.
Introduction to Seed Starting video with Terroir Seeds
We have created a short video showing how we have started seeds for several years now. This is the result of many experiments and really works well for us. By no means is this is the only way to do it, as we know of several different but equally effective ways to get seedlings started at home. This is just what works for us, and the expense didn’t break the bank. We constructed this in stages after experience and experiments taught us what works in our situation. This takes up little space and produces a lot of seedlings for our trial garden. Take a look and please let us know your thoughts, ideas and experiences that we can share with everyone else!
Szechuan Buttons or Toothache Plant – Rock Star of the Garden
Szechuan Buttons – Secret Ingredient of Celebrity Chefs and Master Bartenders
One of our best selling herbs is the Toothache Plant or Szechuan Buttons. Spilanthes oleracea, also known as Acmella oleracea is a low-growing plant with bronze-purple leaves hosting yellow/red “gumdrop” flowers that bloom repeatedly summer through fall. The medicinal uses of spilanthes have been around for a long time. A mouth rinse of spilanthes extract can be used daily to promote gum health. In vitro testing has shown that the plant’s extract has strong effect against E.coli, pseudomonas, salmonella, klebsiella pneumonae and staphylococcus albus, as well as inhibiting the growth of candida albicans. Improves digestion, eases flatulence, improves the appetite, and helps to overcome nausea and vomiting by its stimulating effect on the salivary glands.
We don’t sell spilanthes soleley for its medicinal properties but also for its “Rock Star” qualities. NPR has a story about using the Szechuan Buttons in high-end restaurants and bars. The Washington Post did one as well. We were very intrigued and had to grow these amazing little plants last summer to see for ourselves, had a nibble of the traditionally used leaves and it makes your mouth tingle. It is like the old pop rocks candy, a very effervescent feeling. The fresh buttons sell for somewhere around $40 for a bag of 30 buttons, but if you grow them yourself it’s around $3.50 for a packet of 30 seeds, and you’ll grow hundreds of buttons! Freezing does not hurt their buzz, so you can have them year round.
Get your seeds here!We also had to try out the buttons on a cocktail. What follows is a short photo essay of this experience. We would highly recommend growing the plant for its rock star presence but also for the beauty it adds to the garden.
Starting with this –
Szechuan Buttons in the garden
We selected three great specimens.
Szechuan Buttons ready for use
With the ingredients gathered, we were ready to start.
All ingredients are ready
After the drink is made, the magic is ready to be put into play! The Buttons must be pressed into the rim of the glass firmly, as the bud needs to be slightly crushed to release the “Buzz”.
Szechuan Buttons in action
We were surprised at the strength of the tingle and how long it lasted. Any part of our mouths or tongues that touched the rim of the glass had an immediately noticeable tingling or buzzing feeling, along with some numbness of the tongue that lasted at least 20 minutes. The height of the effect easily lasted 10-12 minutes, with a slow tapering off toward the end.
Seeing how easy it is to grow these, you can be the producer of a lot of “Buzz”!
Dijon Roasted Heirloom Beets
Heirloom beets are one of the earlier crops to be planted, and one of the first to be enjoyed early in the Spring. Here’s a great recipe with an unusual preparation that really brings out the earthy goodness of fresh home-grown beets. The secret is slow roasting at about 300°F for almost an hour. I prefer to do this in our charcoal fired Kamado grill, a Japanese clay covered BBQ which holds the heat amazingly well and gives an incredible rich but lightly smoky flavor. The beets turn out heavenly, and I’m often asked what I did to make them so delicious. Oven roasted is a very good second choice, just make sure to roast them slow and long – it caramelizes the sugars in the beets, making them a surprise all of their own.The Dijon mustard plays a nice counterpoint to the richness of the beets. For some additional flavors, add some heirloom carrots or overwintered onions to the mix- roast along with the beets! Keep in mind that young beets – less than 2 inches in diameter- are sweet like carrots.
Dijon Roasted Heirloom Beets
Makes approximately eight servings.
Planning and Planting Your Spring Garden
Now that the days are becoming slightly longer, the holidays are over and life is getting back to whatever consists of normal for you and your family, it’s time to dig into our garden seed catalog and start planning the eternally anticipated Spring garden.
After spending a little time reading – and realizing that you want to plant one of everything – the realization sinks in that this could be some work, and that’s before the real work of actually digging in the garden even begins!
What to plant, how to plant, when to plant, what will grow for me, should I start my heirloom tomatoes from seed or just buy starts, what do I need to do for my soil, and what exactly is succession planting are all questions that crop up and need answers.
All of a sudden, a garden seems pretty intimidating, definitely not for amateurs and something that might be best left to the experts. Well guess what? Everyone was an amateur at some point, starting out with not much knowledge and needing some help. It is easier to start your home garden today than in any other time in history, as there are mountains of information and education out there and it is all pretty easy to find. The Internet is full of good gardening advice in many areas.
What we will look at today are some points to consider about your home garden, we’ll do some initial planning and pass along some tools that will be very helpful in building your toolbox of gardening knowledge and problem solving. Let’s get started!
Now is the perfect time to start planning for what you want to do in your garden next year. Just get the planning started, then work on it as ideas bubble up from your subconscious. This way, you won’t be caught short when time becomes an issue in a couple of months.
To help you get the process rolling, we have the following points to consider, along with some tools to help get you there sooner.
1. Review last year’s garden. How did it do? Did you start enough seeds/seedlings to compensate for losses due to transplanting, weather, critters etc.? Were plants healthy and productive, or were there issues that need some researching, such as pests, insects, disease, weather conditions to plan for or try to mitigate?
We found that the rabbits and deer were a factor we didn’t even consider in planning how much of the White Eagle corn we planted as a test plot for growing our own heirloom seed corn. They took out almost a third of our crop! This is something that we will be planning for (in a couple of ways) in this year’s planting.
2. Plan early for varieties that might need a longer growing season, or take longer to germinate. This isn’t just a beginner’s mistake, many experienced gardeners get caught out on the timing for their garden. We’ll show you how to do the date planning later on in this article. Then it is just a matter of writing down the seed starting dates on a garden calender and sticking to the plan.
If you give yourself at least a week “cushion” on the timing, you won’t be stressed if you can’t get the seeds started or transplanted on the date you’ve chosen, whether due to busy schedules or the weather or some other unforeseen happening.
3. Try one new variety this year that you’ve never had out of your garden. It may be something that you don’t think you’ll like, or it may just be something that you’ve never had fresh just moments before from your own garden.
This was eggplant for me, and I now love it- from my own garden. This year it just might be turnips, as I’ve never had fresh turnips!
4. Make a garden plan. This can greatly help with spacing, intensive planting, succession planting and growing more food in your existing space. Also helps with small space/container growing.
Download and use our Garden Journal for more information and help.
Mother Earth News has a Vegetable Garden Planner that has several short videos showing how to get started. It is free for the first 30 days, and is $25 for a years subscription. There are other free garden plannersif you do a search online.
5. Grow an herb this year. You won’t believe the exquisite flavor that one fresh heirloom herb can bring to your kitchen and meals. If you’ve grown herbs before, or are growing some now- try a new one.
To start, try something that is used extensively in cooking like Basil, Oregano or Thyme. All of these can be dried and used year round, with the added benefit of saving you money buying expensive dried herbs.
6. Plant some pollinator attractants. These can be herbs or flowers and will dramatically help your garden’s production. Just one or two varieties planted throughout the garden can make a huge difference.
7. Plan to save one variety of seed this year. Start with something easy and something that you are interested in. Read our Seed Saving articles to get started, or take a look at these books- “Saving Vegetable Seeds” is a new book that has great illustrations and introductions, while “Seed to Seed” is the established reference for all things seed saving.
8. Plant enough to share with a neighbor/senior center home or food bank. Plant an extra row if possible, a couple of plants extra if space is small. The difference even one gardener can make in another’s life is extraordinary!
Plant a Row for the Hungry is a public service program of the Garden Writers Association and has donated over 14 million pounds of food since 1995 to feed hungry folks in our local neighborhoods and communities across the nation. This is without government assistance, oversight, subsidy or bureaucratic red tape – just people helping people. It was started in Anchorage, Alaska by Jeff Lowenfels to provide food for Bean’s Cafe, a local soup kitchen.
9. Get your kids or grand-kids involved. Have them help plan the garden and plant something just for them. Don’t have kids or grand-kids? Use the neighbors, friends, etc. Start them on growing food and learning where our food comes from and how it gets to the plate. You will be surprised at how interested kids are in the garden once they are there. Combine this with #7 above and help them learn the full cycle of the garden from planting a seed to harvesting a seed.
10. Cook a meal with those kids mentioned above. Plan a simple, easy to make meal. Have them help harvest, clean and prepare the meal.
11. Review our website. If you have questions or need help, please, email or call us. We’re here to help you be more successful in your garden. We make our living on the sale of heirloom seeds, tools, books, etc. but if we can help you be more successful in your garden, everyone wins.
Here’s how we see it: you have a better garden, more fresh veggies and more food. You give some to your neighbor, who notices your garden is much more productive, disease, insect and pest resistant and they ask how you do it. You share what you’ve learned and they have a better garden with more food. They then help create a better, more resilient local food system.
Yes, we may get a few more customers, but that isn’t the point or the focus. Another possibility is that you do plant a row to donate, and make the local food bank, soup kitchen or retirement home’s day with fresh, healthy and tasty food.
All right, then- now that you’ve got plenty of ideas of what to do with your garden this year, how do you get started?
Getting the timeline down is one of the hardest parts, as there is some real confusion on when to start seeds, when to till the soil, when to direct sow these seeds and transplant those to get some great food growing in your garden. There is no fail-proof method, as even experience can be tripped up by an early spring followed up by a sneaky late cold snap that kills your tender seedlings.
Here is a good tool to get some real world, historical weather data from the three closest weather stations to your zip code- the First and Last Frost Dates by Zip Code. Once you are there, add in your Zip code, click Go and this is similar to what you will see:
First and Last Frost Dates by Zip Code
We are using our Zip code of Chino Valley, AZ for this example. Click on the photo to make it bigger.
There is a lot of useful information here, so let’s break it down a bit to make sense of all of this. The three weather stations are included for locations that might not be really close to any one of the stations, so you can make an educated guess on dates. We are closest to the Chino Valley weather station, so that is what we will use.
The first box says this-
This is good information to use in planning your garden and in choosing varieties to plant that will be able to grow in your garden, with your growing season. For instance- if your growing season is 60 days, like our friends in Flagstaff, AZ, then you want to be careful in choosing too many things that need 90 days to produce food, if you don’t have a greenhouse or shelter for protection. This information also gives you a good idea of first and last frost dates, but we can get more selective with the information below this top box.
The next three boxes are the historical data from the closest weather stations to your Zip code. The top line of each box is the chance- in percentage- of a frost happening. So 10% is a really low chance, while 90% is a high chance. The temperatures on the left side represent the different frosts- 32F is considered a light frost, 28F is a moderate frost and 24F is a killing or hard frost. For garden planning, look at the 32F line. I usually choose the 50% column to start, then work from there. In our example 50% chance of a 32F frost in Chino Valley in Spring is May 4. This corresponds with the traditional time to direct sow and transplant of May 7-10 locally. Direct sowing cool season crops can be done up to 4-6 weeks earlier in some locations.
To get the timeline correct on starting seedlings like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant- subtract at least 6-8 weeks to allow the seedlings time to grow and get strong enough for transplanting. The more time seedlings have, the bigger and stronger they will be. They will also take up more space, so allow for that as well. We try to give the tomatoes and peppers a minimum of 8 weeks before transplanting them, as we always seem to have some weird weather event that causes havoc with younger, more tender seedlings. We’ve found that the larger ones blow through a heavy wind or late frost without too much worry.
So here is how the math looks and works-
In our example May 4 is the earliest date to direct sow and transplant tender varieties. We want to subtract 8 weeks from that to determine our seed starting date for transplants such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. This takes us to March 9, give or take a week or so. This is where the beauty of planning comes in, as you can “fudge” the dates by a week or so on each end if needed and still be very successful. For example: you are swamped the week you are scheduled to plant seeds for transplants, and get them planted one week late. On the other end, you can very easily just wait one more week if needed (weather, hectic schedule) before transplanting the seedlings into the garden. Getting them started a little earlier and waiting a little longer will only give you bigger, stronger transplants.
This tool also works very well for planning your timeline for direct sowing those early season, cool weather crops that go in earlier than anything else. All of our seed packets have planting instructions on the back, and some will indicate that they can be planted a certain number weeks before the last frost.
One last tool to leave you with is your local Master Gardeners. Click on the link, select your state, then county to see where your local Master Gardeners are located. These are volunteers through the land grant universities in each state. They will have really good, accurate information on your local conditions, pest and disease pressures and general gardening information. They are good folks to get to know. Some are mainly flower gardeners, while others focus more on vegetables, so talk with a few of them.
The Master Gardener manual lists good planting timelines for local conditions for pretty much all of the garden crops, what kind of production can be expected for each crop and how many feet of garden to plant per person. You can also do a search for “Arizona planting guide” or “Arizona garden planting guide” substituting Arizona for your state. The search results will show something like “Arizona Master Gardener Manual”. You can then download or print this to have for your future reference. The local Master Gardener office can also make copies for you if you ask.
There you have it, a lot of information to help you get more out of your garden and some great tools to get the planning and timing under control. It can seem daunting at first, so start small and simple, get a good feel for how it works for you, then expand as needed. Make sure to use the Garden Journal to keep track of what worked well and what didn’t so you don’t get frustrated and repeat your mistakes. As always, we are here to help and advise you on growing a better, bigger garden!
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Organic Food Production Can Feed the World
Barry Estabrook is well-known for his new book “Tomatoland” that shows how, exactly, those perfect red, round, hard and tasteless tomatoes show up on our grocery store shelves. Here is an article that he wrote on the ongoing debate of how are we going to feed ouselves- all of us- in the coming years. Please take the time to look at the links to articles and studies, it’s well worth your time!
The most powerful, compelling statements of this article are in the last three paragraphs, appropriately enough. The statement by conventional, industrial Agribusiness advocates and lobbyists is repeated often enough, and with a chilling similarity to the GMO statements to make us believe them, just because we hear it non-stop. Interestingly, those statements are all about quantity, yield and production with no mention of nutrition, quality and health- of the soil, plants and the people eating them. One of the major disconnects of modern, industrial agribusiness is the intense focus on throughputs (chemicals) and outputs (production) that leads to profits, without acknowledging just what it is that the system is creating- food, the third most important ingredient in life, behind air and water. Food that should nourish, heal and energize us, not just keep us alive.
Conventional agriculture should be made to prove its mantra of being the only solution to feeding the world, seeing how at the same time it is failing to do just that by leaving 1 out of 7 of the current world population undernourished or starving. It is very curious to see how organic, local agriculture is dismissed out of hand as being an almost ridiculous fantasy notion, while there has been no proof offered at all to support its claim.
A rational, reasoned debate would be possible if there were a few studies that supported the industrial agribusiness’ position with the same quality of studies as those 98 showing organic, local agriculture can, in fact, feed us.
Where Did My Favorite Heirloom Seeds Go?
We often get phone calls and emails concerning a customer’s favorite variety of heirloom seed and why it is not offered on the website or catalog this year. There are several reasons that items come and go. Some will be back in a year or two, while unfortunately, others will probably not return.
Every variety that we offer is grown for us and undergoes a lot of scrutiny, inspection and quality selection. Established standards are reviewed for each variety to ensure that the crop is growing true to type, both in physical characteristics and fruit production. We look at many more things than just the fruit production, however.
Other characteristics such as germination time, leaf shape, blossom color and appearance, specific fruit shape, color and of course flavor all play a part in the selection process. If a variety does not meet our standards, it is pulled and put into the selection process, meaning it will be grown out, with each plant being hand inspected and selected for the physical characteristics, traits, and flavors that distinguish that particular heirloom variety. This selection process can take anywhere from 2 to 10 years. If it is determined that the selection process will take too long or does not have a good chance of success, a new source of seed is needed.
Other varieties require a multiple year grow out period to produce seed, such as the brassicas like cabbage, kale, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. The coconut geranium is very labor intensive to clean, as the seed is difficult to separate from the pod. Another example is the Cherokee Sweet Mint, which has been grown out for 2 1/2 years now. It has taken this long to produce a very small commercial quantity of seed for sale.
Something else we examine is sales history. If a variety is not a good seller, with a low sales volume, we may remove the item for a year or so and then reintroduce it. It is extremely difficult to keep fresh seed stock for such low volumes, as it is hard for growers to produce genetically viable seed in very small quantities, especially tomatoes and peppers. To prevent a genetic bottleneck, and the loss of desirable characteristics, a minimum population of a variety must be planted.
Some items just don’t meet our quality standards, or we find that they have too much genetic drift to enable a successful selection process in less than 10 years. In these cases we will usually try to find a variety with similar traits and characteristics to replace it.
When we remove an item or a variety, we try to replace them with new offerings. Sometimes we offer similar, but different varieties. Other times we will offer a new, never offered variety such as cauliflower. We’re constantly searching to find and offer really unique items not seen elsewhere, such as licorice. Some of the hard to find items that we do find are a bit more challenging to grow from seed, but with some patience can be done. A couple of examples are rosemary and lavender. Both of these have low germination rates, and a long germination period. The scent and flavor are well worth the time and effort required to grow them from seed!
A different example is corn, which is becoming increasingly hard to find due to GMO and hybrid contamination or cross pollination. We’re working with several different sources of heirloom, Open-pollinated corn to ensure a healthy, viable seed stock.
A few final reasons that we may not offer seed from year to year are crop failures, not enough seed produced to be able to sell, or damage to seed after harvesting or in shipment.
As you can see, there are many different reasons that an heirloom seed variety doesn’t reappear in the catalog or web site for the next year. We would rather remove the seed from sale then offer an older, out of date, lesser quality seed. This way you are assured of the highest quality, freshest seed possible.
What Are Heirloom Seeds?
Unleash the flavor of the past with heirloom seeds. Find out how these seeds can bring back memories of delicious, homegrown produce.
Sopa de Tomate con Albóndigas or Tomato Soup with Meatballs
Oaxan Sopa de Tomate con Albondigas
One of my favorite Mexican cookbooks is titled Seasons of My Heart, by Susana Trilling. Susana was a chef and owner of a restaurant in New York City and also owned a very successful catering business. She left all of this to pursue her ethnic roots in Mexico around Oaxaca, sharing the food, culture and traditions of the cooking of the region. She wrote this cookbook to showcase the native foods that are not well known outside the region. Seasons of My Hearthas become hard to find but is well worth pursuing once you do find it.
Today I’m going to share a recipe called Albóndigas, or meatball soup. Many people are familiar with Albóndigas as a clear broth with a couple of meatballs in it as an appetizer or first course. This particular soup is more rural in nature, with the broth enriched by the onions and tomato puree. Many people are are amazed to find that this is “Mexican food”, as it doesn’t have the characteristic emphasis on chiles and heat that most Americans are accustomed to seeing in Mexican food. This is one of those perfect hearty winter soups that has an abundance of rich and savory flavors. Make extra, as this soup keeps exceptionally well and will prove to be very popular.
Oaxan Sopa de Tomate con Albóndigas
For the meatballs:
For the soup:
During the winter months, or cold weather, this is the type of soup that is very easy to make when you’re cooking out of your freezer with ingredients that you have prepared beforehand. Making beef broth or beef stock is somewhat time consuming, but does not require constant attention and can be made in large batches, saving time later on. Likewise, making tomato puree from extra tomatoes when your garden is in the height of production gives you a rich, fresh tomato taste in the dead of winter.
Please give this soup a try, and let us know what you think!
“The Dirty Life- A Memoir of Farming, Food and Love” by Kristin Kimball
One of the things that I most enjoyed about The Dirty Life is that it is a story about a real woman in today’s world. She begins as a savvy New York freelance writer, and winds up as a deeply devoted farm wife. This journey is not something that she consciously chooses in the beginning, but becomes something that takes hold of her and pulls her in an entirely new direction.
She is completely unprepared for her first meeting with the farmer who becomes her husband, but soon realizes that there are deeply rooted forces in her life that cannot be ignored. To her credit, she does not run away from a completely alien experience on her first meeting with Mark, her future husband. She believes that she is happy with her New York life, but soon realizes that the simple farm life offers a deep soul satisfying choice that is completely unmatched in the superficial, upwardly mobile city. This is not to say that the farm life is easier than trying to make a living in the city, as it is much more difficult physically and emotionally yet is in many ways more rewarding.
Kristin tells the story mainly from her point of view, yet offers insights into the conviction that drives her husband on the farm. She tells her story in a real, unglossy way that shows both the beauty and the heartache of farm life. The audacity of two young, somewhat inexperienced people in starting a farm that supplies all of the food for a small community of subscribers comes through clearly. Food is a focal point of the book; from the fresh, vibrant produce of the farm to the upscale cafes in New York.
Part of the core of this book is about chasing a dream and the joys and frustrations experienced in the chase. Another is a young woman’s journey into a deep relationship that she had hoped for but never expected to have. Yet another shows the daily challenges involved in growing our food. Watching the success happen only after much hard work is refreshing to see in today’s age of expected instant gratification.
This is an inspirational yet cautionary tale for anyone thinking of taking up farming as a profession. She clearly shows that success is very possible, but the work is hard, long and arduous. Watching her travel the path to the dedication needed to make both her marriage and the farm work is part of what keeps this book open and approachable.
A very enjoyable read, and one that’s worth going back to several times.
Armenian Cucumber- Best Burpless Heirloom Cucumber
I’ve often wondered why the Armenian Cucumber was always the preferred choice of cucumber for my grandmother. She said it was the best tasting cucumber and that it was “burpless” which was important to her. I know sometimes folks are very sensitive to eating raw cucumber because of that burping issue.
What causes the burping? Some foods are more prone to producing gas, such as onions, celery, and cucumbers. Foods high in fiber have more of the “gas” forming characteristics which can cause that burping issue. But back to the Armenian Cucumber, which is really a melon (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus) is why we don’t burp. There is a funny group of melons that botanically are melons but are much similar in characteristic to the cucumber (Cucumis sativus).
I wanted to know more about this Armenian Cucumber, so I referred again to Fearing Burr’s Field and Garden Vegetables of America to read up on the Snake or Serpent Cucumber (AKA Armenian Cucumber).
Interesting that in 1865 not much was mentioned about the “burpless” quality that the Armenian Cucumber is known for today. I would have to say it is much tastier than just an ornamental for the local county fair!
Give this recipe a try with your Armenian Cucumbers!
Peasant Salad
Makes 4 servings
Recipe Tip! Redmond Salt is the best tasting salt to use with fresh garden vegetables. A sprinkle on a fresh cut tomato or on a hard-boiled egg is heaven.
Fearing Burr on Savoy Cabbage
Discover the captivating history of Savoy perfection cabbage. Learn about its origins and why it’s considered the best in the world.
Beef, Barley and Root Vegetable Soup
When Fall arrives, I look forward to thick and hearty soups. Even if the weather isn’t cold and blustery quite yet, a hot bowl of broth-based soup is somehow nourishing for both the body and soul. Serve with fresh cornbread, biscuits or home-baked whole wheat bread and butter, and you’ll understand how family traditions are started. For this soup, I used a beef broth that I’d made earlier this summer with bones from the butcher. We are fortunate to have a real, old-fashioned butcher in our town that understands when I ask for broth bones. Pan roasted with some root vegetables, then slowly simmered for a day and a half- this is a rich, silky broth that has a depth of flavor just not found outside of the home. Well worth the time to make in large batches and frozen until needed!
Using beef, barley and what root vegetables were on hand was the ancient beginning of this soup. You can use any root vegetable that you have, in any combination that you like, and a little or a lot of beef for flavor. Slow simmering for several hours will give the best, richest flavor. Plan on making extra, as this is very popular once people get a taste of it. Great to make on a weekend to have for lunches at the start of the week. This can be a thick or thinner soup, or stew depending on how much liquid you leave at the end of the cooking. Maintain the liquid level for more soup like consistency, or let the barley soak up the liquid for a stew. Feel free to add onion, green beans, peas, beets, celery or any vegetable that will add a hearty flavor to this soup.
Beef, Barley and Root Vegetable Soup
6-8 oz Beef, cubed- Roast is best for flavor in slow cooking
1 Qt Beef stock
1/2 Tsp Thyme
1/2Tsp Marjoram
1/2 Tsp Savory
1/2 Tsp Rosemary, fresh picked and chopped
1/2 Tsp Black pepper, best if freshly ground
2 Bay leaves
1/4 Tsp Salt (to taste)
4-6 cloves Garlic, diced
1/2 to 1 Lb Carrots, thickly sliced
1/4 Lb Potatoes, reds, purples or any waxy types
16 oz or 1 can crushed Tomatoes
1 1/2 Cups Barley
Add beef, broth and thyme, marjoram, savory, rosemary, black pepper, bay leaves and 1/2 of the salt to a heavy pot or stockpot and bring to a slow simmer. Once beef is tender- about 30-45 min for 8 oz- add garlic, carrots and potatoes and taste. Adjust salt if needed and add water to keep covered. Continue simmering for 1 hr or until carrots are tender. Add tomatoes and barley, check liquid level and add water if needed, simmer for 45 min to 1 hr until barley is tender but not soft or mushy. It will have a slight crunchy, toothy texture to it.
An alternative method is to brown the beef in 2-3 Tbs Olive oil or butter on medium heat until well browned and deglaze with 1/2 cup red wine. Lower the heat, then add the broth and spices and continue from that point. This will add a richness from the brown/deglazing, along with the wine. Experiment and you’ll soon learn which is your favorite method and ingredients!
The Tale of Two Seeds- Heirloom vs Hybrid Seed Production
Two of the most important ingredients in growing food are healthy, fertile soil and good quality seed. As gardeners and growers, there is often an arc in the quality of both that directly corresponds to the arc of knowledge and experience of the grower. At first, most home gardeners will start out buying seeds from almost anywhere, without the realization that all seeds are not the same in terms of quality, but also germination and vigor in production. As time goes on, experience and knowledge are earned, and the grower becomes increasingly particular in selecting the seeds that they want to grow from. They usually get to know a company and the performance of their seeds, either through a friend or by experience. We all know the definition of experience, right? Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want!
This is a type of question that we receive a lot- how are your seeds grown? are they organic? are they well-suited to my climate? do you grow your own seeds, or buy them? Most of the time, the real question is- What is the quality and performance of your seeds? How do I know that I am getting the best possible quality at a reasonable price? Most gardeners and growers that have some years of growing behind them realize that the best, “guaranteed lowest” price is often not at all. Paying $2.00 for a packet of seeds vs. $3.50 a packet may seem like a good deal, but there is more than just the price that must be looked at. If that $2.00 packet has 10-15 seeds and the $3.50 one has 45 seeds for a tomato or pepper, and knowing that high quality tomato seeds will last at least 2-3 years in good storage conditions, then the “more expensive” packet is a much better buy, as it is half the price, when comparing equal amounts of seeds. Or when comparing prices, there are 2 to 3 times more seeds at the same cost. Plant what you need this year, share some with friends and neighbors and you’ll still have enough to plant with next year, maybe the year after that. This is good economy. Long ago, Cindy and I realized that we would never be wealthy enough to afford to buy cheap quality. Let me elaborate. Boots that cost twice as much new, but will last 3 times as long and can then be rebuilt for another service life is money well spent, over saving some dollars today, but being forced to buy the same boots 3-5 times over the same time period. Another benefit of quality is … quality. The better quality will be more enjoyable to use, work better, or grow better with more flavor, nutrition, resistance to pests and diseases or weird weather patterns.
We have just returned from visiting two of our growers in California, and have some good photos that illustrate the differences between high volume, mass-produced seeds and how ours are grown, harvested and cleaned. One of our growers is also a mentor to us; a highly respected traditional plant breeder, introducing the Chocolate and Green Pear tomatoes last year; and an acknowledged expert in seed saving and seed purity. We turn to this grower to identify and correct problems that show up with heirlooms. The other grower is a larger seed grower that we contract with; we are a small portion of their total seed production. Yet they take the time to get to know us and their quality control processes, ensuring that their seed meets our quality criteria.
Tomato Combine
Let’s look first at commercial, conventional seed production. We will use tomatoes as the example, as they are in season right now, and show the amount of work required to produce the quality needed for heirloom seeds.
Large tracts of land are planted by machine (usually with hybrid varieties) and grown until ready for harvest. There is too much acreage under growth for any hand work, so periodic spot inspections are carried out throughout the season. When it is time for harvest, a large tomato combine machine is pulled by a tractor down the rows to harvest the tomatoes. All of them, regardless if they are fully ripe or not, or if they are smaller or under-developed. The plants are separated from the fruit by a huge vacuum, then the tomatoes are transferred to a gondola bed pulled alongside, to be hooked to a semi truck and transported to the processing facility. Above you can see the double gondolas pulled by a tractor. If you look closely, you can see the people in the cabs to get a sense of how big the equipment is. The transfer spout of the combine can just be seen over the top front of the lead gondola.
Tomato Combine- Rear View
This is a rear view of the same combine/gondola. The tomatoes are falling into the gondola, and the remains of the tomato plants are left behind the combine. From here the tomatoes will go to a large crusher to separate the seeds from the rest of the tomato. The seeds will be washed and fermented to remove the gelatin coat, washed again, dried and packaged for shipment to the seed company. The tomato remains might be used for animal feed, or composted.
The challenge from a quality standpoint is that there is no selection possible in the field, it must be done at the processing facility- probably from a conveyor belt with people on both sides, looking for rotten tomatoes and debris. They won’t select for the largest and best of the variety, the ripest and tastiest, as there are simply thousands of tomatoes rolling past fairly quickly. They won’t be able to feel the tomatoes, picking out the ripest and most ready. Nobody will taste the tomatoes to check for flavor and ensure that it holds to the standard for that variety. No one will inspect them for the visual characteristics that make that specific variety unique and valued. The goal is to capture all of the seeds possible, as that is how the grower is paid- by the weight or volume of seeds.
Tomato Isolation Cages
This is in direct contrast to how our seed growers operate. They have smaller plot sizes that enable them to better control various factors and observe growth, flowering and fruit set patterns often and make needed changes during the season. The smaller plots also allow better isolation by time, distance and/or physical barriers to prevent cross pollination that would result in hybridization. This is one of the key factors in ensuring the highest quality seed possible.
Our growers inspect the growth of the tomato plants frequently, and remove any that are stunted, or show abnormal growth. This is done several times throughout the growing season, as flowering happens, and again during fruit set. This technique is a process of specific selection of traits or characteristics throughout the growing process- growth patterns, flower color, fruit size, color, shape and taste. It is labor intensive and requires a lot of handwork and hours in the field, but results in a superior seed. The tomatoes are harvested by hand with the fruit selected for the largest, best characteristics of the variety, best flavor and production right there in the field. The tomatoes are either processed in small batches by hand, or in larger batches by machine- depending on the grower and the volume of production that they do. Either way, there are more hands and eyes on the tomatoes than commercial processing, as there are significantly fewer fruits in the workflow. After separating the seeds from the tomato, the seeds are fermented to remove the gel coat, screened, washed, dried and inspected one last time before being packed for shipping to us.
Production growing for seed only happens after trials to determine viability, suitability and quality of that variety. Some of the trials take a couple of years before seed production begins. We don’t want to offer an heirloom that does not offer superior flavor, growth and resilience characteristics. In all of the selection processes, flavor and taste are at the forefront of the decision process. We have had a couple of instances when our grower called and said that we shouldn’t offer the variety because the flavor was not remarkable enough to qualify as an heirloom, or did not exhibit the flavor profile that it was known for. That means an entire growing season is lost, and the trouble-shooting begins, but it is better to lose a year or more than to offer an inferior quality variety. All of our seed production is focused on home gardeners and small scale growers such as Farmer’s Market and CSA growers.
Now that you have the answer to the questions above – What is the quality and performance of your seeds? How do I know that I am getting the best possible quality at a reasonable price?- you understand more of our processes and commitment to the quality of our seeds that we offer to you, our customer.
The Cycle of Terroir- From the Soil, to the Seed, to the Food You Eat
We have just returned from The National Heirloom Exposition in Santa Rosa, CA. For three days we were able to meet and talk with many like-minded and very interested people that wanted to know more about local food, growing their garden and how heirlooms tied into all of this. We did a presentation that tied the concepts of healthy, vital soil combined with heirloom seeds to produce the most nutritious, flavorful and local food possible. We looked at how, exactly, to build that “black gold”- healthy soil that increases in production, pest, weed and disease resistance each year. Specifically why heirlooms and open pollinated seeds are so much more appropriate and beneficial for local and human scale agriculture was addressed, as well as how profitability, productivity and biodiversity are firmly on the side of small scale agriculture- from the home gardener and Farmer’s Market grower to the CSA grower.
Many of you have asked to see the presentation, as there were lots that couldn’t make it to the Exposition, and others that wanted to go back over it and make notes at their own pace.
Here it is in it’s entirety!
We hope that you enjoy it, please let us know if you have questions or comments by scrolling down to the bottom of this page.
Braised and Marinated Carrot Recipes
Carrots are an ancient standard in the garden, one that is introduced to many of us as kids when we are first playing and learning in the garden. Short season, hardy, fast-growing and delicious just out of the ground, carrots are a hit with everyone, and one of the top sellers for every seed company.
What else to do with fresh carrots than slice them and add to the salad, especially an over abundance from an enthusiastic planting? There is always pickling and canning, but at the height of fresh garden produce, I don’t want to think of canning quite yet. Here are a couple of delicious ways to enjoy the sweetness of carrots combined with other flavors that go well with Spring and Summer dinners.
Pan Braised Carrots with Parsley and Rosemary
This unusual but satisfying side dish will be a hit with your dinner guests. Equally at home beside a burger, freshly grilled beef or Salmon steak or roast chicken. This can be done on a stove or outside on the barbeque in a cast iron pan. For extra panache, add grated Parmesan cheese just before serving. Fresh Fennel, sliced in 1 inch chunks can be added for an increased depth of flavor.
1 Cup Beef broth (can use mushroom base or vegetable base instead)
1 Lb Small carrots, sliced into 2 inch pieces
1 Tsp Honey
1 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Fresh parsley, minced
2 Tsp Fresh rosemary, minced
Juice of 1 orange
In heavy saucepan bring broth and honey to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Add carrots, butter, rosemary and 1 Tbsp parsley. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove carrots to a warm covered plate, add orange juice and continue to simmer broth until reduced to about 2-3 Tbsp- should be about 15 minutes. Once reduced, add carrots and remaining parsley, toss to coat and serve immediately. If desired, add grated Parmesan or hard grating cheese to top just prior to serving.
Serves 4
Herb Marinated Carrots
These tangy, savory carrots are addictive! There is a train-wreck of flavors, from the sweet crunchiness of the carrots to the lemon juice, mustard and rosemary coming together into an unexpectedly delicious combination. Best if marinated overnight, but will work well with 6-8 hours in the refrigerator. Use as an appetizer or side dish. Will hold their own with almost any flavors.
1 Lb Full sized carrots, sliced or cut into matchsticks
2 1/2 Tbsp Lemon juice
1/2 Tsp Stone ground mustard
1/4 Cup Olive oil
2 Green onions, chopped
1 Tbsp Fresh parsley, chopped
1 Clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Freshly ground Salt and Black Pepper, to taste
Blanch carrots in boiling water for 3-4 minutes or until just barely tender, then drain. Combine lemon juice, mustard, olive oil, onions, parsley, garlic and rosemary in a jar with tight fitting lid. Shake vigorously to mix well. Pour over warm carrots, season with salt and pepper and refrigerate a minimum of 6-8 hours or better yet, overnight.
Makes about 3 cups