The secrets of manuring are now being discovered in the fields of soil microbiology, and the incredibly rich interrelationships there. When we choose to refuse chemical fertilization, we instead rely on these complete interactions to supply our crops with the nutrients they require for proper growth. At the top of the list is nitrogen, and…
Below is an excerpt from this past Monday’s consultation. Winter is a great time for consultations, to get you ready for what to do in the following year. It is also our most free time, so you are more likely to be able to schedule something with us now! Please request your consultation here! Dear…
The 6th annual Tennessee Local Food Summit began almost right on time. With excellent facilities at Tennessee State University’s downtown campus, the event ran from December 2 through December 4, 2016. A partnership with the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee has made sponsorship easier, and the Nashville local food community pulled it off elegantly. Our…
Below is an excerpt from a consultation report Jeff wrote up for someone after visiting their farm. With your 7500 square feet of bed space in mind, here are my suggestions. I would ensure a good crop by incorporating: – 50 lbs green sand – 50 lbs granite dust – 50 lbs kelp – 50…
A note to our CSA members. Thinking of You Always When we sort potatoes in the middle of the week, I wonder what you‘ll do with them when we bring them to you on Monday. Then when we sort butternuts I wonder if you‘re making pies with homemade crusts and plenty of cinnamon. I think about you…
The mid-October garden report finds the farm in pretty good shape. We survived festival season and got a lot of much needed clean up done. Tomatoes and peppers are dwindling, but the fall beans are banging. Besides six rows of blue lake, we have many rows of October beans whose time has come. These were…
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 and has been getting donations from our farm for many years. David has a goal…
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 will enjoy a huge boost from the Tennessee Local Food Summit in December. For enthusiasm,…
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 for desserts. Besides simply eating too many strawberries, the kitchen crew has produced pies, tarts,…
Planning plantings to provide people who’ve previously pledged payments with plenty of produce places particularly peculiar and perplexing parameters around the potential possibility of periodic over productions. It is way too easy to grow way too much. Our first plantings pose no problems. We can never grow too many onions or potatoes. These storage crops…
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 a message from Brad, a teacher at High Mowing School in New Hampshire. He had…
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 there will be much more in the next few years. What happens when too much…
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. This is called sheet composting, where the decaying and rebuilding of humus happens directly on…
We sat in the field, letting the sun kiss our skin while we watched the butterflies and fairies play, and the wildflowers and grass dance. Our fingers worked to pull up the weeds that were choking the garlic and stealing their food, and in return they thanked us, one by one, with a deep sigh…
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 of grazing cattle on pastures is to keep them off of it. The grass needs…
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 goodness to the farm that the plants in the upcoming season can then use to…
We are so lucky to always have such talent and creativity on our farm. The poem below is by an intern from two seasons ago, Olivia Cantrell. I Am But A Single Cell I am but a single cell within a seed, with little energy I must proceed To the sun above that…
I enjoy being around organic gardeners. They are a fun and inquisitive bunch, with lots of questions and unique experiences. Every garden is different, an artwork of soil, plants, and animals created by an artist with dirty fingernails. Winter time offers several area conferences for us all to run shoulders with each other. Last weekend…
You probably already know since I am too excited about it to keep it to myself, but I just got a dairy cow! She is a Guernsey named Gertrude. She started out really angry. I took her away from her last calf and moved her here to the farm. She screamed all day for…
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 crown, rounded and easily as wide as it is tall. When you burn the bark,…