"Will hustle and sweat for local, nutritious, chemical-free food!"
Hello friends. Check out the photos of our worklife below, and as an added bonus see some pics from when Dan's mammy and our dear farmie friend K-lee visited us last month.
Below is a shot from the top of the (at that time unplanted) farm plot on the land we live on. Different from "Full Circle Farm", where we're expending most of our farm labor this year, our home land is only in it's first year of being farmed. We see huge potential for further agricultural development here though, and recently got permission from our employers stay on this land long-term to actualize that potential... and hopefully make it fully our own one day!
**Hello folks. Dan here (not Cole anymore), to talk a bit about the farm operation and my part in it...
Full Circle Farm:
A patchwork of an acre and a half, Full Circle Farm (the Floyd, VA one) is in its tenth season. Although we grow all the usual suspects, as far as veggies go, we go big on garlic, lettuce, spinach, and salad mix. I cringe at the thought of crouching down before a fifty foot bed of spinach. It's 6:30 AM. The order is for 30 pounds. I will be squating for the next three hours...
This is a thing of the past as the summer pushes out the cool season crops and brings on the daily harvest of tomatoes, summer squash, and cucumbers.
Below is a picture of the horse stall, turned tractor shed, turned soil mix area. Spring seedlings are a big part of this operation. I spent most days in early spring making soil mix (my specialty) and potting up seedlings. We must have grown 10,000 seedlings. We are currently working on potting up fall seedlings.
Here are the tomato seedlings in the spring...
This greenhouse is now full of cherry tomatoes, which have out-grown their 5 foot trellis and are reaching toward the ceiling.
Here are the tomato seedlings in the spring...
This greenhouse is now full of cherry tomatoes, which have out-grown their 5 foot trellis and are reaching toward the ceiling. This is the herb house.
I spend many hours hand watering this greenhouse. The pleasures include snacking on delectable herbs as I slowly work my way through the plants: tarragon, chocolate mint, thyme, oregano, rosemary, pineapple sage, lemon verbena, and chives.
And this one time I caught a beetroot THIS big... !
What happens to the Kale when it leaves the field, you might ask dear follower of our food chain? Well, I'll SHOW you! This here is kale leaves soaking in a cold water bath, releasing them of any critters and the small amount of organic soil they may have carried into our pack shed:
We then pack our vegetable shares into our walk-in cooler (below). The cooler houses produce for TONS of different market outlets that we (Good Food - Good People, food distribution network) supply. Our operation began with a focus on wholesale, acting as a single point of contact to sell several local farms' produce to local restaurants and grocery stores. We've since grown to include our own self-serve farm stand/ mini-grocery outlet, three farmers' markets, a 333 member fruit share, and a 53 member vegetable share (new this year). Most items come in boxes, but the vegetable bags are a bit unruly and cannot be stacked:
The next several photos are of the farmer's market in Roanoke that I sell at on Saturday mornings. In addition to selling produce and seedlings from our employers' "Full Circle Farm" we carry veggies, fruits, meats, baked goods, and crafts (eg. cutting boards, wooden spoons, etc) from about 30 different local farms/food producers and artists:
Here are some seedlings from our farm (mainly tomatoes, peppers, and herbs):
This sideways photo shows gorgeous radishes from one of our friends' farms in Riner, surrounded by three different kale varieties from our farm (lacinato, camden, and red curly):
The cherry tomatoes are hydroponic (grown in water) and were available as early as May. The dried apples are left from last season. And the broccoli, basil, and garlic scapes are from our farm. Garlic is an amazing crop. We sell "garlic scallions" which are immature garlic that need to be thinned out of an over-planted bed of garlic anyway; then we sell the scapes (pictured below) which are the bolting flower bud of garlic that we must harvest to keep the plant's energy focused on the garlic bulb; and finally we harvest the garlic bulbs themselves, which we sell fresh. Garlic is normally found dry, but we sell at least half our garlic fresh during the early part of the season, and then dry the rest for late season sales.
The artichokes pictured below are grown in glass greenhouses at a place in Bent Mountain, about 30 minutes north of us. Artichokes are an unopened flower, related to thistles. You eat a portion of the petals, as well as the inner heart (best known as a pizza topping I think). These local artichokes are incredibly delicious, and put the store-bought-from-California ones to absolute shame. You should try to grow some if you have the space!
Horray for family and friends, and horray for our very good fortune to have found this place, this work, this land, and the opportunity to return to the roots of our ancestors who shared our appreciation of growing and sharing whole foods designed to keep us feeling whole, healthy, and happy.
I hope you all will come see us soon.
I spend many hours hand watering this greenhouse. The pleasures include snacking on delectable herbs as I slowly work my way through the plants: tarragon, chocolate mint, thyme, oregano, rosemary, pineapple sage, lemon verbena, and chives. Also, the greenhouse is filled with dozens of praying mantises, the size of my middle finger. As I water they scurry and leap from plant-to-plant trying to escape the downpour of the hose.
These guys keep other pests to a minimum.
The not so pleasurable aspect is that in the midday sun the greenhouse easily tops 120 degrees (the thermometer doesn't read past 120). Watering by hand can take up to 2 hours at a time.
Here we are transplanting lettuce, a weekly task.
I have been crowned Beet Master. I harvest between 200-500 beets a week. I love harvesting root crops! It is like unwrapping hundreds of little presents from the soil.
And this one time I caught a beetroot THIS big... ! |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
OK, enough about my tall tales. I'll hand it back to Cole...
But first, let me part with a few quotes....
"The care of the earth is our most ancient and most worthy and, after all, our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it, and to foster its renewal, is our only legitimate hope."
-Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America
"Suppose that you had the revolution you are talking and dreaming about. Suppose your side had won, and you had the kind of society that you wanted. How would you live, you personally, in that society? Start living that way now!"
-Paul Goodman, Author and Sociologist
**Ahoy hoy! Cole again. Enough about Dan, lets talk about food, and how it gets from farm to table:
The gorgeous photo below is of our beloved Red Chirodi Kale. I say beloved because, of all the many varieties of Kale, I believe it to be the sweetest and most tender... and, did I mention the most GORGEOUS?!
What happens to the Kale when it leaves the field, you might ask dear follower of our food chain? Well, I'll SHOW you! This here is kale leaves soaking in a cold water bath, releasing them of any critters and the small amount of organic soil they may have carried into our pack shed:
The leaves are then distributed onto drying racks, and weighed into 1/2 pound bags.
We're likely to process about 200 bags of Kale on any given harvest day, in addition to our orders for other food items.
From our pack-shed, the Kale goes to various markets. Below is a photo of Kale packed into our vegetable CSA bags (along with 7 other items: Baby Lettuce Mix, Spinach, Standing Spring Onions, Artichoke, Asparagus, Hydroponic slicer and cherry tomatoes, and an herb bunch of Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, and Tarragon). CSA stands for "Community Supported Agriculture", a brief summary would be that folks pay for a "share" of produce from a farm (or in our case a network of about 20 farms) and throughout the growing season they are reimbursed in produce for the amount of money they paid up front at the beginning of the season. For more information or to find CSAs in your area, visit: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/
We then pack our vegetable shares into our walk-in cooler (below). The cooler houses produce for TONS of different market outlets that we (Good Food - Good People, food distribution network) supply. Our operation began with a focus on wholesale, acting as a single point of contact to sell several local farms' produce to local restaurants and grocery stores. We've since grown to include our own self-serve farm stand/ mini-grocery outlet, three farmers' markets, a 333 member fruit share, and a 53 member vegetable share (new this year). Most items come in boxes, but the vegetable bags are a bit unruly and cannot be stacked:
The next several photos are of the farmer's market in Roanoke that I sell at on Saturday mornings. In addition to selling produce and seedlings from our employers' "Full Circle Farm" we carry veggies, fruits, meats, baked goods, and crafts (eg. cutting boards, wooden spoons, etc) from about 30 different local farms/food producers and artists:
Here are some seedlings from our farm (mainly tomatoes, peppers, and herbs):
This sideways photo shows gorgeous radishes from one of our friends' farms in Riner, surrounded by three different kale varieties from our farm (lacinato, camden, and red curly):
The cherry tomatoes are hydroponic (grown in water) and were available as early as May. The dried apples are left from last season. And the broccoli, basil, and garlic scapes are from our farm. Garlic is an amazing crop. We sell "garlic scallions" which are immature garlic that need to be thinned out of an over-planted bed of garlic anyway; then we sell the scapes (pictured below) which are the bolting flower bud of garlic that we must harvest to keep the plant's energy focused on the garlic bulb; and finally we harvest the garlic bulbs themselves, which we sell fresh. Garlic is normally found dry, but we sell at least half our garlic fresh during the early part of the season, and then dry the rest for late season sales.
The artichokes pictured below are grown in glass greenhouses at a place in Bent Mountain, about 30 minutes north of us. Artichokes are an unopened flower, related to thistles. You eat a portion of the petals, as well as the inner heart (best known as a pizza topping I think). These local artichokes are incredibly delicious, and put the store-bought-from-California ones to absolute shame. You should try to grow some if you have the space!Also pictured below are "Stinging Nettles". You may know them as those annoying plants that sting you as you pass them on a trail, but what you may not know is that they are one of the most nutritious greens on the planet! Expose the greens to a little heat (eg. steamed as sandwich greens, dropped in hot water for tea or soup, or warmed in oil for stir fries) and the stingers disappear. Spinach and asparagus from our farm are also pictured.
Our egg producers, Weathertop Farm, of Check, raise some of the biggest chicken eggs I've ever seen, they barely fit in the extra large egg cartons, and often you'll get at least one with a double yolk. How? Pasture raised! The healthiest way to keep your chickens happy, and your eggs ooober nutritious and delicious also. Allongside the eggs are cookies, granolas, and breads baked the night before, at Sweetwater Bakery here in Floyd. The breads are made with natural leaven instead of yeast, nearly all organic ingredients, and then baked in a brick-fired oven. A locally baked blueberry baby cheescake forms the centerpiece here. INCREDIBLY addictive, though I won't make any claims about the cake's nutritional properties.
The yarn below was spun by my employer, Tenley, the cuttingboards made by our neighbors at Phoenix Hardwoods, the soaps by a lady in the area who does them all by hand... and the books? Well, they just have good recipes. I think they're from a Wisconsin CSA.
Our egg producers, Weathertop Farm, of Check, raise some of the biggest chicken eggs I've ever seen, they barely fit in the extra large egg cartons, and often you'll get at least one with a double yolk. How? Pasture raised! The healthiest way to keep your chickens happy, and your eggs ooober nutritious and delicious also. Allongside the eggs are cookies, granolas, and breads baked the night before, at Sweetwater Bakery here in Floyd. The breads are made with natural leaven instead of yeast, nearly all organic ingredients, and then baked in a brick-fired oven. A locally baked blueberry baby cheescake forms the centerpiece here. INCREDIBLY addictive, though I won't make any claims about the cake's nutritional properties.
The yarn below was spun by my employer, Tenley, the cuttingboards made by our neighbors at Phoenix Hardwoods, the soaps by a lady in the area who does them all by hand... and the books? Well, they just have good recipes. I think they're from a Wisconsin CSA.
Here's a shot Dan's mom took of Dan at his Farmer's Market stand in Blacksburg (also on Saturdays). You'll note that even the photojournalist to the right couldn't restrain himself from taking a shot of my handsome man hard at work!
Dan's mom stayed with us for a couple of wonderful weeks. She camped in a tent outside our trailer, showered outside with cold water from a hose, did all our dishes everyday, was absolutely awesome for us to have around, and seemed to enjoy herself as well.
Here's a shot of our picnic dinner with Dan's mom and our landmate:
After the picnic dinner, she and Dan made cherry wine together:
One of the highlights of the stay for her was visiting the historic Mabry Mill, in "Meadows of Dan", a neighboring town:
My favorite part was getting to see an old-school sorghum press there (below). I'm itching to make my own molasses one of these days.
Nona's biggest highlight at the mill site was this giganto weaving loom. There were women there spinning wool too, and explaining how this used to be common practice in the US... you know, back before we started practically enslaving small children in China to make our clothes for us:
A surprise visit from our dear farmie friend Kara Lee rounded out the week. We took tons of hikes around the property and neighborhood with her and are just crossing our fingers she and her husband will find a way to move out here!
Extra big thanks to Nona for coming to stay with us, dealing so gracefully with our rural, off the grid lifestyle, and for the already much used wheelbarrow she left us:
After the picnic dinner, she and Dan made cherry wine together:
One of the highlights of the stay for her was visiting the historic Mabry Mill, in "Meadows of Dan", a neighboring town:
My favorite part was getting to see an old-school sorghum press there (below). I'm itching to make my own molasses one of these days.
Nona's biggest highlight at the mill site was this giganto weaving loom. There were women there spinning wool too, and explaining how this used to be common practice in the US... you know, back before we started practically enslaving small children in China to make our clothes for us:
A surprise visit from our dear farmie friend Kara Lee rounded out the week. We took tons of hikes around the property and neighborhood with her and are just crossing our fingers she and her husband will find a way to move out here!
Extra big thanks to Nona for coming to stay with us, dealing so gracefully with our rural, off the grid lifestyle, and for the already much used wheelbarrow she left us:
I hope you all will come see us soon.
