Category Archives: Uncategorized

Below in an excerpt from a garden consultation that Jeff did last week. Maybe it could help you gain some insight into your own backyard garden!    Your garden needs humus, Find this black soil underneath where cows are fed … Continue reading →

To inquire about having Jeff Poppen out to your small garden or large farm, please click here.  About six months ago David approached me with a job he thought I might be interested in. He manages Second Harvest Food Bank … Continue reading →

The 6th annual Tennessee Local Food Summit is at TSU’s downtown Avon Williams campus on December 2-4 this year. Local food means many more jobs, food security, better health and revitalizing family farms. According to Joel Salatin, “Local integrity food … Continue reading →

Let me take you down ’cause I’m going to strawberry fields. The harvest is real. Gallons upon gallons are picked every few days, and we are not selling them. Instead, we are trying to set a new Long Hungry record … Continue reading →

Educational opportunities abound on a farm and in a garden. Two groups of school kids spent extended stays here last month, and I spearheaded garden projects at two different Nashville schools. I am learning a lot. Last fall I got … Continue reading →

I have good news and bad news. First the bad news. There is more carbon in the atmosphere than is healthy for our planet, and it takes 25 years for the carbon we’ve been emitting to get up there. So … Continue reading →

March is the compost month. The cows have cleaned up the hay and are eagerly awaiting the greening of the pastures. By harrowing where they’ve been, old hay and cow pies get spread around and mixed with a little soil. … Continue reading →

Pastures can get compacted, acidic and in need of renovation. I’ve been doing some things to improve our hillsides. The soil color is getting darker and the texture looser, so maybe I’m on the right track. The most important aspect … Continue reading →

Spring Equinox has come and gone, and we are still walking around as if in a dream from all the great energy that you all brought to our farm. How thankful we are to have so many people bring such … Continue reading →

The following is a blog post written by Jeff Poppen in response to the question “Why?” after Kristina’s post about a day spent scooping brains out of a cow’s skull.  An open grown white oak tree can attain a magnificent … Continue reading →

The old carvings in the cave where we store our potatoes have finally been deciphered. They were carbon-dated at about 30,000 years ago, and resemble carvings in Swiss lake caves and one up in the Himalayan mountains. It reads something … Continue reading →

I don’t have to tell anyone that this has been an unusual summer.  The unusually cool weather has extended green bean season, while parsley has suffered.  This kind of give and take is expected when the weather does strange things.  I count us … Continue reading →