It is somewhat amusing to see the Wall Street Journal cover this topic.  After all, they are the paper of Wall Street, which I imagine has a “look down the nose” attitude about the people who grow food for a living, especially small-scale farmers who don’t use giant machines or buy inputs from Fortune 500 companies.   Perhaps I need to get over a prejudice?

 

Check out what this reporter did…and on page A1 to boot:

 

Green Acres II:
When Neighbors
Become Farmers

Suburban Arugula Is
Organic and Fresh, but
About That Manure...

By KELLY K. SPORS
April 22, 2008; Page A1

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120882472974233235.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

 

Not bad!  The people doing this work are good looking, young, suburbanites.  Probably makes it more palatable to the readers because they can relate to them. 

 

The music on the video included at the web site, however, is kinda hill-billyish.  I enjoy banjos and blue grass myself, but don’t know any farmers of the generation depicted who listen to it regularly.  If more young farmers are needed, it might be better to associate them with rock stars instead. 

 

I appreciated the coverage of the SPIN farming method:  http://www.spinfarming.com/

 

It is great that there is now a marketed entry path to farming in urban/suburban areas.  I would like to point out where SPIN differs from what we are advocating in the Energy Farm Program.  The article explains:

 

Start-up costs for a one-eighth-acre farm run about $5,500, says Ms. Christensen of Spin-Farming. That includes a walk-in cooler to wash and store fresh produce, a rotary tiller and a farm-stand display. Annual operating expenses, including seeds and farmers-market stall fees, can add about $2,000. Such a farm can generate $10,000 to $20,000 in annual sales, she says. That's "an entry point into farming to see if they have a talent for it," Ms. Christensen says. "Those that do will eventually be able to expand and increase that income level quite substantially."

 

Where we differ is in the use of hand tools instead of rototillers, and passive cooling techniques instead of walk-in coolers requiring electricity.  Also, we would probably be more circumspect about the inputs of manure and other fertilizers and ask farmers to work on green manure cover cropping and compost making on site instead.  This is all about the need to “get off the sauce” of oil, and fossil fuels in general.  Good hand tools are incredibly efficient at the scale needed for home-scale veggies (http://www.energyfarms.net/node/1509 ).

 

The Wall Street Journal does have some great reporters.  Good going Kelly!  Too bad the editorial pages of the WSJ are full of garbage about energy and climate issues. 

Brookside Farm provides produce year-round. After all, people eat even when the days are short and cold and plants go into a hibernation mode. Before supermarkets could place a call to a vegetable broker and have a truck deliver boxes of tomatoes from anywhere in the world, humans planned for seasonality by growing during the summer the kinds of foods that would keep during the winter. Brookside Farm is a bit unique among veggie CSAs (locally at least) by growing storage crops. As a result, our baskets in January are still pretty hefty.

 

 

These baskets are from January 15^th. Potatoes, onions, shallots, and winter squash make of the bulk, and are all from storage. Carrots, beets, parsnips, Jerusalem artichokes, tree collards and kale are still harvested fresh.

 

The farm has experienced a cold and wet January, including a few days of snowfall, but without much accumulation. Snow is not very troublesome, even to the greens. Much more concerning would be a severe frost at night (in the low teens) and bright sunny days. The wet soil can expand and contract, harming root crops in the ground. Above ground greens can be tissue damaged by extreme lows and fluctuations. A sunny day could light and warm the leaf surface enough to provoke strong photosynthesis, the need for gas exchange and the opening of leaf pores, but since the soil is still frozen root activity could be limited and the leaf could become water stressed.

 

We don't get a lot of snow in Willits, so its presence is an exciting novelty and the transformation of the beautiful landscape is captivating. The picture is from January 31^st, and shows in the foreground a row of kale and cabbage, middle of the frame are former potato beds in compost crops, and the conifer trees from the neighboring property dominate the background.

 

 

A particularly hardy crop around here is a variety of leek known as "elephant garlic" (Allium ampeloprasum). Once established, it is practically impossible to get rid of because it propagates by sending out subsidiary bulbs that form new plants the next year. During the summer it goes dormant and can be harvested for the edible bulbs. Like regular leeks, you can try eating the immature leaf stalks, though these are generally tougher than the familiar leek. Two big advantages to elephant garlic are that the plant requires no watering around here to produce well, and it is high in calories. Most don't think it tastes as good as true garlic, but it is milder and so can be eaten in larger quantities--providing some significant calories if need be. I think of elephant garlic in the same way as Jerusalem Artichokes-not the best to eat but oh so easy to grow.

 

 

I don't have a lot to do on the farm this time of year, but work for the farm is continual. A tree pruning is scheduled for next week as we expect a break in the weather. Seeds have been ordered and organized. I started some flats of leeks in the greenhouse. Going to get some folks to look over the work plan for the coming season and refine as I see fit. Should probably take stock of tools and equipment, making sure everything is in good repair and blades are sharp; organize the workshop so it is ready when called upon. And there are relationships to cultivate with the school system, the after school program, community service clubs and potential farm volunteers and donors. Oh, and my wife reminds me to do sit ups and push ups regularly!

Most CSA farms (CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture) distribute to members only during the main growing season. Brookside Farm is a little different because we have chosen to remain active all year long.

One of the main challenges we see of the food system adapting to energy scarcity is the lack of off season storage and processing at the farm, community and household scale. Why worry about canning or drying tomatoes when they can be shipped in fresh from Mexico in January (or flown in from Holland!)? And why should a local farm grow storage potatoes when new potatoes fetch higher prices and the storage kinds can be shipped in from Idaho, and furthermore isn't it a hassle to take care of potatoes during the winter?

Well if everything was a-OK with our global food system we wouldn't be bothering with a year-round CSA. But we see the need to cut out energy dependency in any way possible. By growing crops with storage potential we educate and encourage our CSA member households to keep a place for storage foods in their homes. The infrastructure of the farm needs to be different too--we need thermal mass walls and earth connection for passive cooling and freeze control in some farm building. And when planning our crop selection we are growing in June-September food to be eaten in December-February. This means we can't grow as many summer veggies and increase our membership. We serve fewer people but give them more than other CSAs typically do.

Yesterday was one of our winter pick-ups. Instead of weekly distribution as during the summer, we are now on a once-a-month schedule. From a farmer's perspective that isn't too bad. We still get a bit of a break.

This is the newsletter that goes out to the members, and I've posted a couple of pictures so readers can get an idea of what people get.

---------------------------------------

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Greetings CSA Family and Friends!

The farm and I are resting physically as winter sets in. There are occasional chores at the site, such as the harvest of carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, parsnips and greens that contributed to this month’s basket, but otherwise the cover crops take care of themselves. On a sunny day in January I will prune the fruit trees.

Since baskets are distributed from my home, you may not be aware of the “extreme makeover” of the orchard, thanks in large part to the time and expertise of Max and Maria of the Mendocino Ecological Learning Center (www.melc.us). They donated days of labor and the entire farm will benefit. Planted among the fruit trees are assorted herbs and shrubs that attract pollinators, beneficial insects and birds, bring nutrients to the soil surface to develop rich mulch, add color, scent and texture, and may include medicinal or culinary plants.

Though I am not spending much time at the farm, my mind is busy developing detailed plans for next year. Plans begin with a list of crops to sow in the 10,000 sq. ft. annual cultivation zone. I found my mouth watering while coming up with the following selections:

Basil, Beans (Pole), Beets, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Chard, Corn (Sweet), Corn (Flour), Cucumbers, Eggplant, Garlic, Kale, Lettuce, Leeks, Melons, Onions, Parsnips, Peas, Peppers, Potatoes, Pumpkins, Radish, Spinach, Summer Squash, Sunflowers, Tomatillos, Tomatoes, Watermelon, Winter Squash

For each of these crops I estimate how much people are going to want to eat, which I then translate into area to plant. Timing of planting is important also. For example, I have scheduled 6 plantings of carrots and 8 of lettuce so that fresh specimens are regularly available. Other species are sown only once, but the timing of planting is critical if they have a long growing season and are sensitive to frost. Flour corn, pumpkins and winter squash should all be in the ground during the last week of May to the first week of June. Nearly all crops can be either sown directly into the soil or started in the greenhouse and transplanted and I have to weigh the tradeoffs and decide which way to go for each of the 31 species. Greenhouse space constraints also come into play. In the current plan, May is the busiest month in the greenhouse with about 1544 seedlings initiated, but I actually get going in January with 245 leeks! Since it takes time to prepare the ground, I am sorting out a schedule to make sure we don’t miss a crop’s window. As expected, April, May and June are the busiest months with 2493, 2470 and 2038 square feet respectively needing preparation.

Have a happy holiday, Jason

 

 

The following article appeared this week in a local paper called the Willits Nickel and Dime. The paper is free to readers and financed through ads. The author, Mary Zellachild, has been writing something about local food every week for six months now under the column heading "A Local Food Web."

 

A Local Food Web

Mary Zellachild

 

Year-Round Produce-In Willits?

Brookside Farm's CSA is year-round.

So what does that mean? It means anyone who's a subscriber to the Farm's Community Supported Agriculture program receives a basket of fresh produce year round-January through December. This is different from most CSAs, which just deliver food May through October, or sometimes into November.

When I asked Brookside's farmer, Jason Bradford, how the Farm can continue to deliver fresh food even during the winter he explained that a high proportion of what's grown the second half of the year are storage crops: potatoes, onions and winter squash. There is other produce growing now, although its growth is much slower than the rest of the year. These crops can tolerate temperatures that get down in the 20s. Baskets from December through March may contain potatoes, onions, winter squash, carrots, beets, spinach, tree collards, chard and winter greens. Spring produce starts in April.

In 2007 the CSA was serving nine shareholders. In 2008 they plan on serving twelve. Jason and his partner Chris Hansen will also be saving space at the Farm to grow produce for the school, in case it works out financially and logistically to have this food on the school lunch menu. Jason and Chris have half of the subscribers they need for 2008. A year's worth of fresh food costs $1,000. It's possible to break that amount into three payments during the year of $350 each. Although it sounds like a lot of money it's actually just $84 a month, and will feed from 2 to 4 people. (In 2006 the USDA reported the average US expenditure for food per person per year was $3,616.) Jason points out this is the healthiest and freshest food a person can buy, grown in really good, pollution-free soil. Since a subscriber appreciates the food and feels compelled to eat it all, he or she will have improved eating habits. Subscribers can also come to the Farm to spend time, help out, get fresh air and exercise, and have good conversations with other people in a beautiful setting.

Most CSA baskets start out with a small amount of food at the beginning of the growing season and have a daunting amount mid-season. Jason states that to avoid having everything coming in at once, he's trying to become adept at successional planting. Also, because of growing crops for winter storage, he's experimenting with varieties that mature at the end of the summer and are eaten months later. The Farm also sends a newsletter with each basket that gives tips on using the food or, if there's a large amount of something, suggests food preservation techniques. The Farm will be building two solar food dehydrators onsite and eventually may be delivering dried food during the winter such as tomatoes, basil, apples and pears.

Knowing that Jason most recently came from an academic setting and has a PhD in Biology, I asked him how it seemed to be working in such a different way. His answer (greatly summarized here) should be enlightening to anyone who looks on farming as necessary but mind-dulling drudgery:

The amount of variables you need to juggle would swamp a group of computers. You have to look ahead, figure the amount of food you're going to need to satisfy the diet needs of people in a holistic way without growing too much or too little. We're growing 30 different species of crops plus different varieties. So you're dealing with the timing of planting, the area needed. You have to adjust for the unknowns like weather and problems with pests. You also have to build compost piles to have enough six months later. It takes five tons of compost an acre for intensive vegetable planting. Every day is a challenge.

At the end of the interview, Jason asked if I wanted to see the cabbages that were stored. He dug into a huge pile that I thought was compost but he said was from the sod they dug off the soil when they first started the Farm. He proudly lifted out a cabbage and showed me how firm and healthy it is below a covering of yellowed leaves.

If you are interested in becoming a 2008 member of Brookside Farm, call Jason at 456-0760.

Each week we offer our CSA subscribers a newsletter called What’s Cookin’ at Brookside. These newsletters relate the on farm events of the week and give suggestions on how to use the produce.

Click the link below to open the newsletter.

Each week we offer our CSA subscribers a newsletter called What’s Cookin’ at Brookside. These newsletters relate the on farm events of the week and give suggestions on how to use the produce.

Click the link below to open the newsletter.

Each week we offer our CSA subscribers a newsletter called What’s Cookin’ at Brookside. These newsletters relate the on farm events of the week and give suggestions on how to use the produce.

Click the link below to open the newsletter.

 

Each week we offer our CSA subscribers a newsletter called What’s Cookin’ at Brookside. These newsletters relate the on farm events of the week and give suggestions on how to use the produce.

Click the link below to open the newsletter.