As it is mid-November, it’s not surprising that people say to me, “I guess you are done with your gardening.” My answer does surprise them. “No, the gardens are still producing like crazy and we’ll be delivering vegetables for another six weeks.”
I have moved. I apologize for the sporadic columns this summer, but I believe I’ll get back into the swing of things soon. There is certainly a lot to write about. First of all, I haven’t moved very far, just a few miles downstream. We spent the last year fixing up the old Purcell house on…
A slow wet spring delayed garden work for a few weeks, but June found us busy as bees. The weeds are growing like weeds, and the vegetables are right behind them. It’s been a great growing season as long as you ignore the calendar.
Seasonal eating has existed for the bulk of human existence, but is new for most of us, as we are used to being able to get any type of produce year-round in the big grocery chains. Our farm offers a different approach, the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Through CSAs small organic farms thrive, and city folks…
If you are on Facebook, or if you received an email containing a message from Jeff, you may have seen the picture of Jeff’s house and the smaller tract of land that makes up Long Hungry Creek Farm, next to and dwarfed by the Cobb chicken houses just a few hundred feet up the hill…
Beautiful and extremely productive gardens have graced that land around my cabin for the past 16 years. They have been well documented on the Volunteer Gardener program, so many people who hadn’t been able to visit still got to enjoy them. These gardens, open to the public, are where my students learn, and where old…
The produce grown along the Long Hungry Creek has become priceless-we don’t sell it anymore. The invaluable, farm fresh food is now free, and the folks who eat it cover the farm’s budget. You can’t buy vegetables from us these days, you have to join the club and support the farm in some way.
The Southeast Biodynamic Association was formed after our first annual conference in 1987. Realizing the value of shared experiences and observations, we agreed to gather together regularly, we think we are celebrating our silver anniversary, but our accounting may be off.
Biodynamics is an organic farming method, born in 1924, which suggests that the use of artificial fertilizers will have a detrimental effect on our soils and eventually our human spiritual development. It appeals to me because it values old-time farming practices, such as using compost, cover crops and manure. By giving back to the earth…
I love the people involved in the Master Gardeners program. Their curiosity has led them to take courses in horticulture from state university professors, and to help out in community gardening projects. I’ve lectured to many Master Gardeners in Middle Tennessee.
By mid-August I have changed my box of seeds. The last of the summer crops are planted, and it’s time for the fall ones. Although a few rows and beds of cabbage and lettuce are in to make transplants, I patiently wait until August 15 before I go crazy.
The garden changes unpredictably. I wanted to mow seven rows of drought-stricken cucumbers and beans, but save the nearby straightneck squash. By the time we got onions and potatoes up and I had the bushhog ready, the cucumbers and beans had arrived and the squash got mowed.
If you love digging in your garden, you’ll have twice as much fun double-digging.
We talk about the weather often. A recurring spring question for gardeners is, “Has the weather settled?” We want to plant frost tender crops, but we do not know when the last frost will occur. As of May 1st, it is not likely going to frost, but there is still a possibility. About 20 years…
I am sad and don’t feel much like writing lately. It’s a real tragedy when an Arkansas bank lends a man over a million dollars to build chicken houses and then immediately my garden fills up with the mud from his farm. Is that part of my garden no longer organic? And what’s next?
Spring brings beautiful things, flowers and bees and a bird that sings. Gardeners are busier than bees, blooming in their exuberance and humming right along with mother nature’s display. We’ve added necessary minerals, gently tilled the soil, and livened things up with plenty of compost and biodynamic preparations. Let’s go!
Recent discoveries in quantum physics, microbiology, and ecology verify something gardeners have long known. Everything in nature is related. There are no solid lines between the plants’ roots, the soil, and the bacteria and fungi tying it all together. To help understand why garden crops do or do not thrive, we are led into the…
Dec. 6, 2011 http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111206/NEWS21/312060047/Haslam-Speed-up-chicken-farm-permits?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s FRANKLIN — Gov. Bill Haslam said Monday that his administration is trying to speed up the time it takes for poultry farms to get environmental permits. The Republican governor said after a speech to the Farm Bureau that his goal is for the state to strike the “right balance between…
1:06 PM, Dec. 6, 2011 http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111207/LIFE02/312070082/Nashville-blogger-stirs-up-massive-cookie-bake-off Purchase Image Lindsay Landis laughs as her mixer splashes her blouse while she makes cookies. More than 620 bloggers are sharing cookies, and their recipes, later this month. / GEORGE WALKER IV/THE TENNESSEAN On Oct. 24, local food blogger Lindsay Landis dropped an idea into cyberspace like a…