Please donate to our GoFundMe page here to help us rebuild! I left my cabin at 4:15 and stopped at Shrums to get some tractor parts and vetch seed. At that time, the barn was fine, and no one else was at the farm. Phil had gone home for the day and Anthony and Kristina…
Dear Facebook Friends, I have chosen not to look at computers for a variety of reasons. My time is spent outside during daylight, tending plants, animals and farming equipment, or shooting the breeze with neighbors and friends. I value computers and all they offer, and if I’d been born later I’m sure I’d be using…
The following is an excerpt taken from a consultation report by Jeff Poppen on a farm in Tennessee giving a general overview and synopsis of our planting schedule: In April we plant onion, potato, lettuce, carrot, beet, and swiss chard. In May we plant beans, corn, squash, and cucumbers. Later in May we plant tomato, pepper,…
Tennessee’s 5th annual Local Food Summit again celebrates Nashville’s farmers and chefs and their supporters, who are committed to good agricultural practices, eating better, and stimulating the local economy. Although we can grow almost all of the crops we consume, only a small fraction of one percent comes from Tennessee. Industrial agriculture, from corn and…
Great ground guarantees the growing and gathering of gourmet garden greens galore. We get the soil in good shape by adding lime and generous amounts of biodynamic compost in the spring and growing a garden all summer. By mid-August, the spring and early summer crops have petered out, and we are ready for fall Brassicas….
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”….
Microbes make good compost, compost makes lots of good vegetables, and excess vegetables make for good neighbors. I love my neighbors, and we love to give away vegetables. What are cooks to do when they retire? Dan the soup man often shows up with a jar of deliciousness, and then forages around the gardens for…
Tennesee’s health care industry recently reported a $37,000,000,000 contribution to the economy last year. At the same time Tennessee spent $2,000,000,000 on food. We used to spend a lot more on food and less on health care. They have an inverse relationship, when one goes down the other goes up. A new CSA member once…
The following are excerpts from an article that came out in our local paper, The Macon Country Chronicle. The article features our internship program and the interns that we currently have, Tyler, Daniel and Chris. We thought you would all enjoy reading about why our interns are here helping to grow your food this year, along…
You are all I think about and all I dream about. It is embarrassing how excessively I bring you up in conversation, and my love for you, the raw and true you, is so natural and obvious to me that I am shocked anyone can walk past you without stopping to stare. The buildup has…
I love our CSA drop off, watching everybody explore and get excited about the vegetables. Recipes are swapped while filling up the bags and baskets, children bounce around and laughter abounds. Even though I’d like to be there, the magnetic pull of the farm keeps me here. Potato harvest had to happen, as hot, wet…
One of the best things we can do is give someone a job. I am pretty good at this, as anyone who has visited here for a while can ascertain. By joining the CSA, you have given me a job and I want you to know how grateful I am to have such meaningful work….
To till or not to till, that is the question. The no-tillsystem works well if the ground is well-tilled, otherwise it is best to till. Tilling works best the less you till, A rototiller tills too much, destroying soil tilth although it appears to make it look like good tilth. Tillonly until you can no-till,…
Have you ever seen a hellbender? It is a two-foot long salamander that lives in the creeks that flow up to the Barren River. I’ve seen them twice, about 25 years ago, in the Long Hungry Creek. The state biologist and the curator of the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere is looking for signs of hellbenders. We…