Will work for good food!

"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!

Dan and our employer installed deer fence around this two-acre plot in early Spring and then tilled up the rocky soils by tractor. Dan then took charge of planting out 3oo watermelons, 250 mostly heirloom tomato plants, 100 pepper plants, a dozen tomatillos, and about 50 feet worth of potatoes. The sideways photo below is of Dan putting watermelons in the ground.

**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.

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.

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... !

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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.

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:

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.

Whoa, whoa! Where did spring go?

Hello reader. Answer me this: Where in the heck did the last three months since I wrote you go?! Our days have been so full and time has flown, flown, flown on by. Has it been the same for you?

After sending out our last blog entry (April 22), Dan, Dag, and I escaped to the wilderness of the Grayson Highlands for a couple days. On night one we introduced Dag to the important skill of splashing around in rivers. He was pretty freaked out, I think he thought the river was a monster eating us when we got in... but with continued practice we've since seen him overcome that fear and embrace river frollicking entirely.

After much lounging around on day one, we spent day two enjoying the scenes around us, hiking so hard our knees turned to jelly. Here are some of the views (late enough winter to be nice out, early enough spring to not have too many leaves budding out of trees quite yet):

Many of the leafless shrubs above are wild blueberry bushes. They are literally EVERYWHERE there, and in such great abundance that human and non-human Appalachian Trail users combined have yet to be able to eat them all in one season.

Beyond the billions of blueberries, wild ponies are one of the unique features of the area:

Well, "wild" in that no human is caring for them and they just roam around and live the good life there... but "not so wild" in that I think they were expecting us to feed them like so many other trail goers have probably done before us:

Rhododendrons are evergreen shrubs that have brilliant colored flowers come late spring. They are flowering as I write, but back then they were just beginning to bud.


Here are a few shots of us in the Rhododendron forest:

All the ups and downs managed to wear us ALL out quite a bit:

After our hike, we returned to our Floyd paradise where Spring arrived like slow running fireworks, shooting out beautiful floral colors that varied daily. Even now in summertime nature's floral fireworks continue. Here are some samples of the early wildflowers around our neighborhood:

RHODODENDRON BLOOMING (Three photos):

FLAME AZALEAS (related to Rhododendrons, this sideways photo shows the branches of one hanging over the Little River):

Other early flowers in abundance:

Months later, these daisies are STILL everywhere, dancing like stars in the meadow alongside white Yarrow and Queen Ann's Lace:
Along with the clover (and blossoming milkweed, not pictured), this butterfly has been quite abundant. Any ideas what it's name is? The monarchs didn't arrive until about a month after these butterflies moved in!

Here are some cultivated spring flowers from around the farm:

Why has it been such a strong flower year here? Well, centuries-old layered seed-banks that make this place one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world have helped... and the heavy rains haven't hurt either! They haven't hurt the flowers at least, but this tree stuck on a bridge over the Little River might argue the rains were a bit rough on it:

As might our area roads, which were turned into small rivers when we got 8" of rain in 4 hours:

In other fun weather out-takes, here's how our outhouse looked after winds blowing a storm in had their way with it:

After several years of drought, the flowers that grow from seed aren't the only ones happy for the intense rains we've had this year, so are the fruits that grow from mycellium: mushrooms!

Below are some mushrooms seen on our walk through the forest to work:

"MUSHROOM OF IMMORTALITY" (very medicinal):

"AMANITA" (poisonous):
"RUSSULA" (edible):
MYSTERY SHROOM:


The rains have been a blessing and a curse in farming and gardening. They've kept seedlings indoors longer, waiting for soils to be dry enough to transplant them into... but they've also saved on irrigation! Fair enough trade, right?

Here are a couple of our seedlings from early spring, now all planted out in the garden below:

And below, Okra!


Here's a shot of Dan watering our small garden by our trailer (If I took the same photo today you wouldn't be able to see Dan, cause the corn, beans, and peas have gotten so tall!):

As temperatures warm and more and more diverse items come out of our garden and off others' farms, we pick and choose which we want to eat over winter and preserve them.

Here I am in our outdoor kitchen, enjoying a day off spent making apple-rhubarb chutney and apple pie filling while drinking our 2007 plum wine:

Our final products from the day also include Dan's Wholesome Gingersnap Cookies (at right of photo below), made with whole wheat flour instead of highly-processed white flour, butter instead of hydrogenated shortening, fresh ginger instead of powdered ginger, and honey instead of sugar (CRAZY DELICIOUS):

Dan also started brewing ginger ale and ginger champagne for us that day... the ginger champagne will be ready in about a year! :-D

Pictured below are some of our favorite neighbors, who stopped by that evening to make sure we didn't need any help taste-testing Dan's cookies:

(*Though we inquired, no reason beyond giggles was given for our friends' adorable costumes)

Yip, life here in Floyd is magical-good. We couldn't be happier, lest you all happened to move out here too so we wouldn't have reason for this blog ;-)

To add to your virtual walk through the life and times of "GravyTrain", let me share with you some images from a day spent hiking around our neighborhood...

Our walk begins in early morning, the fog rises from the Little River, which surrounds us on three sides, making our area into a sort of peninsula:

Most of the land we live on is in meadow (24 of 32 acres), and tallgrasses and wildflowers rule that part of our landscape.

Where the meadow meets the forest, sun rises behind some oak trees and our outhouse.

The fog lifts to reveal our rolling mountaintop hill easing its way out of the forest...

...and at the other side of that hill we find draft horses (Suffolks specifically) grazing our pastures.

Continuing down the meadow path we pass by 30 acres that are in conservation easement...

...and enter into the our neighboring community of "Left Bank", 170 acres (or so) that borders our land. Their community land, combined with our land and that of another neighboring community, was once part of a single farm plot totaling 300 acres. A Hollywood actor bought the land, ran out of money and sold off divided tracts over time to recoup his debt.

The Left Bank Community came into existence in the early 90s, with the idea that land is more affordable if you buy it in large chunks with several others. Here live about 40 people, portioned off into maybe a little over a dozen houses, each assigned an area they can call their own, and each sharing stewardship for the overall landscape.

With them comes a history tied to the second-wave settling of Floyd, which began in the 1960s. So-called "Hippy" (or preferably "alternative thinking") folks drove out in their school-buses, moved their whole lives to this place, in search of a landscape and community that would allow them to live simply and not follow so closely the path of the average restless consumer.

Their artifacts remain on the landscape:

As do those from the wave of settlers that came here a century-and-a-half before them:

And fortunately for all, those so-called "alternative" or "old timey" ideals of sustainable development have remained a norm here -- ideals to protect the land from destruction, and leave the smallest possible human footprint:

Wrapping around Left Bank is our dear Little River.

Pictured below is the Little River swimming hole at Left Bank that we most frequent:

The Little River is fed by many springs, three of which are on our property. The spring pictured below belongs to our neighbors, but they have granted us full access to it. It's a fantastic way to cool off after work!

For anyone seeking follow-up on our last blog, our new dog, Dag, continues to love "living the life" with us here. In Daily Show fashion, I'll close this blogpost with some snapshot "Moments of Dag Zen":

(ABOVE: Dan carrying Dag home after he escaped our yard to visit his girlfriend-dog, Dottie; BELOW: Dag playing with neighbor-dog Louie, who escaped HIS home to visit us one day)

(BELOW: Dag chillin' in our trailer, post-Louie playtime)



Thanks for reading friends! Continue on to the next post if you like, to learn about our work-life and how our visit with Dan's mom went last month.

Blessings!