farming
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The text message came while I worked at the home, farm and auto supply store. I saw it on my afternoon break. “If you want to start tomatoes there is a crate on the packing shed floor you could pick up on way home from work,” Farmer Kate texted. “I’m not home but if you… Read more
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When people think of local food, most have seasonal sweet corn and tomatoes in mind. That hasn’t changed much in years. The quest for good-tasting food that does no harm has also been around for a long time. Organic food production came up in the early 20th Century as an alternative to the rise in… Read more
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Yesterday I made the last 62 trays of soil blocks at Sundog Farm (Local Harvest CSA) and Wild Woods Farm. Totaling 946 trays or roughly 110,000 individual seedling soil blocks, I made more than in any previous season. Adding Wild Woods Farm this year is the reason for an increase in this specialized work. Not… Read more
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What could break the back of the local food system? Lack of affordable individual health insurance policies. Finding and funding health insurance is a key pivot point for local food farmers when considering remaining in business. If they can’t afford health insurance, they may reconsider operations, take a job off the farm to get coverage,… Read more
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After work at the home, farm and auto supply store I drove to the farm and picked up the first spring share. In it were spinach, baby kale, Bok Choy, Choi Sum, broccoli raab, rhubarb, oregano and garlic chives. Already my mind is swirling with cooking ideas. I’ll prepare a breakfast omelet using greens seasoned… Read more
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The sound of bleating lambs pierced the air during yesterday’s shift at the farm. It was a sad sound because we know their destiny. Above is a photo of goats instead. I made 60 trays of soil blocks for the germination shed. It’s time to transplant pepper plants from plastic trays where they germinated to… Read more
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The weather on Saturday was perfect for getting into the field. Wind had dried the ground making it tillable. In the cycle of community supported agriculture projects, now is the time to plant onions — a key crop to share with members. Most farmers I know were planting them — tens of thousands of onions. I… Read more
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Progressives, farmers and environmentalists heard there is movement in the Iowa legislature to fund water quality and ears perked up — a natural impulse to interpret new events as supporting something we already believe or are working on, also known as confirmation bias. 56 percent of Iowans support increasing the state sales tax three-eighths of a… Read more
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After a Saint Patrick’s Day meetup with friends in Iowa City I drove home, parked my car in the garage and haven’t moved it since. It was too cold for outside work on Saturday so I stayed in, did laundry, cleaned the bird feeder, wrote, read, and cooked dinner of bean soup, Carnival squash and… Read more
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My first work day at Local Harvest CSA, was spent organizing for the season and soil blocking for the first seedlings. I made two trays for myself as part of the barter deal with the farmer. In one I seeded basil, Conquistador celery and Tall Utah celery. In the other was four kinds of kale:… Read more
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