by Jeff Poppen 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 onion field…
Ever wanted to meet the world-famous fermentation guru and author, Sandor Katz? Now is your chance to spend the day talking ferments, picking vegetables, and learning how to make kimchi and sauerkraut with Sandor himself! Arrival is at 9:30 am, then we will go around the farm at 10am picking all the vegetables you will…
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,…
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…
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 like this: To advance from wondering nomads to permanent agriculturalists requires little else than land,…
There are many reasons to grow a fall garden and cover crops, poetic as well as practical. “Don’t ever let a weed grow up and go to seed”, “your garden won’t harden with plenty of carbon”, “give back to the land and you’ll have plenty on hand”, “keep the garden growing by cover crop sowing”….