Reading Material

I've been sneaking some time with Barbara Kingsolver lately, seeking a change from the seed catalogs, gardening books and record-keeping.
Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" is subtitled "A Year Of Food Life" and was written with her husband, Steven Hopp and daughter Camille Kingsolver. It's a chronicle of a family's food journey, packed full of information, recipes and love.

"This is not a how-to book aimed at getting you cranking out your own food. We ourselves live in a region where every other house has a garden out back, but to many urban people the idea of growing your food must seem as plausible as writing and conducting your own symphonies for your personal listening pleasure. If that is your case, think of the agricultural parts of the story as a music appreciation course for food – acquainting yourself with the composers and conductors can improve the quality of your experience. Knowing the secret natural history of potatoes, melons or asparagus gives you a leg up on detecting whether those in your market are wholesome kids from a nearby farm or vagrants who idled away their precious youth in a boxcar. Knowing how foods grow is to know how and when to look for them; such expertise is useful for certain kinds of people, namely the ones who eat, no matter where they live or grocery shop."*

It's kind of nice for me to think of myself as a farmer composer and conductor as I continue scooping planting mixture into cells, adding seeds and water as a well-orchestrated prelude to the symphony of green! You have the opportunity to experience the first movement which begins with fanfare at the Potter County Farmers' Market on May 24.

*ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE. Copyright 2007 by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp, and Camille Kingsolver. All rights reserved. (If you haven't read this book, you can find it at the Coudersport Public Library.)

This post is linked to: http://www.thismindbeinyou.com/2013/03/farm-girl-blog-fest-23-and-special.html

Local Dirt!

I've been spending lots of time in front of the computer in the past weeks with welcomed breaks to tend the greenhouse plant starts and play in the dirt to plant more seeds.

AgSquared is a web-based record-keeping system for small farms. I learned about it at the PASA Conference two years ago and have been following its progress since it was launched that year in beta test.
This year, I've renewed my efforts to get a better handle on the record-keeping for our business and been working at inputting the inventory – everything related to the farm business – and developing a complete crop plan for 2013. AgSquared promises lots of flexibility and the developers are continuing to add features to address issues identified by the farmer/users.
The other project that's putting me in front of the computer screen is Local Dirt.

Local Dirt is a website to help connect folks with local food sources. This site gives readers the ability to search for specific products and to pre-order or reserve the products. Of course, here in the northeast, most of the local growers (us included) have limited selections this time of the year. But as we move into the growing season, we'll all be updating regularly to show our customers exactly what is available. Here's the link to our page on the Local Dirt website:
http://www.localdirt.com/metzgerheritagefarm
There's also a site for the Potter County Farmers' Market:
 http://www.localdirt.com/pottercountyfarmersmarket 

Meteorological Spring

As we greet yet another day of snow flurries and leaden skies, I join with the glib weatherpersons on television to welcome March 1 as the first day of spring - meteorological – or climatological – spring for the Northern Hemisphere.
I won't continue to grouse about the bleak winter weather because my antidote is planning for the coming growing season, tending the plants I have already started in the greenhouse and continuing to read seed catalogs, garden and farming blogs and the reference library we're building. I won't mention that Potter County is one of the cloudiest places on the planet because we just purchased supplies to supplement the grow light capacity in that aforementioned greenhouse. And, indeed we are warm and cozy inside our remodeled farm house!

We hosted a meeting of the Potter County Farmers' Market growers over the weekend and welcomed some new participants. It got me to thinking once again about what our customers are looking for when they make the time to come to the Farmer's Market each week. This is your turn to talk back to me. We can narrow the focus to the subject of lettuce this time.
Pictured above are some of the leaf lettuces I grew last summer. We enjoy a mixture of Black Seeded Simpson and a commercial mixes such as Burpee's Gourmet Blend and Spicy Mesclun Mix from Seeds of Change. We also grew leafy head lettuce (a dark green variety called Concept and a red variety) that folks seemed to enjoy.
We tried to price the lettuce at about the same price the supermarkets charge for their organic lettuce - keeping in mind that ours is fresher (picked within 24 hours of sale) and has a good shelf life if it's properly cared for.
So now I ask you to leave us your comments. Please note that comments are not published on the blog until they are reviewed so just let me know you don't want to publish your comment here. We are mostly just interested in hearing what you have to say as we continue planning for the summer.
As a group, we're also looking at web-based options to let folks know who is bringing what to the market each week and we hope to have a way for folks to "order" in advance once they know what's going to be there. More information is forthcoming so stay tuned!

Linking to a Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop here: http://www.thismindbeinyou.com/2013/03/farm-girl-blog-fest-22.html
Linking to Homestead Barn Hop here: http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2013/02/homestead-barn-hop-100.html 

Choosing Seeds For Success

The seed catalog describes it this way "... extremely hard shell and excellent storage ability. High quality flesh is the color of a sweet potato and has similar flavor." It's Anna Swartz Hubbard from Seed Savers Exchange. The other squash in the pan is Red Kuri, also known as a Baby Red Hubbard. The catalog from High Mowing Seeds says "the most reliable yield even in cool, short seasons."

These squashes were harvested last fall and have been successfully stored in our little greenhouse space which is part of our workshop. Other varieties include Uncle David's Dakota Dessert (below) described by Seeds Of Change as "richly sweet and robust," and old-fashioned butternut squash.

I decided to cook up all the leftover winter squash today and put it into the freezer for I think we're coming to the end of the storage season.
Cooking and preserving duties provide me a little break from the seed ordering process which has consumed my time in the past week.
We've been pouring over the seed catalogs and reading about the seed business online and from other sources as we place our orders this year. One of my old favorite companies (Seeds Of Change) which sells 100% certified organic seed, is now owned by the Mars Corporation.We have discovered that many of the seed companies sell seeds with ties to Monsanto. We're trying to avoid those companies this year, instead choosing to buy our seeds from organizations that have signed the Safe Seed Pledge. We choose our seeds carefully - drawing on our own experiences and the experiences of other gardeners and growers. But we have also found some wonderful new varieties by reading the seed catalogs and the wish list grows longer and longer and then needs to be cut to manageable levels.
I think we're coming down the home stretch in the planning process and the first of the boxes stamped with seed company labels brought the UPS guy to our door yesterday. Down in the greenhouse, the first little sprouts of that leafy head lettuce that our farmers' market customers enjoyed last summer are poking their way up through the seed starting mixture. Can spring be far behind?

Turn Your Face To The Sky

Arthur and I drove down to State College on Saturday morning for the PASA (Pennsylvania Association For Sustainable Agriculture) Conference. We arrived in time to take a quick walk through the exhibits on our way to hear the keynote address.
The young man who took to the stage was unknown to us but we knew from past experience with speakers at this conference that his words would offer us new and interesting perspectives. We weren't disappointed. Ben Hewitt used his annual experience haying with a seasoned farmer (a story in itself) to bring into focus the great joy we farmers share and the challenges we face as our environment becomes increasingly commoditized and systems evolve to continue to support and shore up the status quo.
He concluded his talk with a long list of "Rules For The New Game" for he believes that nothing will change until everything changes. "Turn your face to the sky," he said and on Sunday morning, I stepped outside in the crisp cold air to do just that.

Ben Hewitt is a farmer and writer who lives in northern Vermont. I am anxious to read his 2010 book "The Town that Food Saved", which chronicles the story of Hardwick, VT, and the efforts to blueprint and implement a localized food system.

Onion's Sweeter Sister

I recently read that shallots are the onion's sweeter sister. While often considered smaller, milder onions, shallots are their own species within the allium family (onions, leeks, garlic). With the flavor of a mild onion with a hint of garlic, shallots have long been mainstays in French and Asian cooking. In my experience, shallots seem to become a part of the overall flavor of a recipe without the overpowering more subtle flavors.I've been growing shallots in the garden for several years and offered them for sale at the Farmers' Market last summer. Today I ordered seeds for my 2013 crop. Shall I grow some for you?

How Many Days 'Til Summer?

Our Potter County Farmers' Market group spent Sunday afternoon chatting, laughing, sharing a potluck dinner and planning for the 2013 market.
We determined that we would continue bringing our wares to downtown Coudersport every Friday afternoon beginning May 24. There has been a small change in the operating hours. We'll now begin at 1:00 and continue to 5:00 p.m. (We have found that there was little demand after 5:00 p.m.) Tentative Saturdays to be added including the Maple Festival, Memorial Day weekend, God’s Country Marathon weekend, Independence Day weekend, Woodsmen’s Show/Archery Show weekend, Labor Day weekend and the Falling Leaves Festival. Saturday hours are 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
We've also decided to explore an alternate location – the lot adjacent to the square (corner of North East and East Second Street) which is across East Second Street from the Potter County Jail. We feel that this site will be a bit easier to access for the public with more parking as well as less traffic noise and exhaust. Let us know what you think about this change for we want to preserve the option of moving back to the courthouse square if this location is not satisfactory.

If you're a grower, producer of high quality crafts, home baked goods, prepared foods, consider joining the Farmers' Market group. We have a set of guidelines that govern the Market and I'll be delighted to email them to you to see if you meet the criteria. Just send a comment via this blog and I'll get back with you.
As I type this, it's 50+ degrees and seems more like spring that late January. We enjoyed two January thaws this year. I can do without the mud, however!