Sunday, March 22, 2015

Let The Fun Begin


Birds flying high
You know how I feel
Sun in the sky
You know how I feel
Reeds driftin' on by
You know how I feel

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good (Nina Simone)



By the calender spring has officially started. By the actual weather it still seems like it's winter, six inches of snow on March 20 will do that to you. Regardless of the weather seeding needs to begin. And so it has. As has been the case for the past years onions, scallions, shallots, chard, beets, and broccoli are the first to be seeded. Seeding is a time consuming process, but it creates its own sense of focus, a sense of mindfulness. With music in the background you can get into a rhythm where you lose track of time and just move along. Sometimes, in all honesty, it can be boring. Regardless, it is something that once you are done for the day there is a definite sense of satisfaction when you see all the flats that have been seeded. 

I am currently reading the book, The Third Plate, Field Notes On The Future of Food, by Dan Barber. For those of you who are interested in various aspects of farming, the health of soil, the health of the oceans, how food is grown, and where our food comes from, I would highly recommend this book. Mr. Barber, executive chef of Blue Hill Restaurant in Manhattan and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, a nonprofit farm just north of NYC, explores various issues pertaining to good farming and good eating. One specific point of emphasis as it pertains to what Z Food Farm is trying to accomplish, is the maintenance of the health of the soil. Healthy soil leads to better tasting food. Healthy soil reduces a farmers challenges with weeds, disease, and insects. We each have choices to make about what we eat and where we get our food. As an organic farm, Z Food Farm believes in the importance of growing food without synthetic ingredients. As in most things in our lives, what you eat is a matter of choice not chance. Choose what's best for your health.

These pictures show the gradual process of the greenhouse filling up. As previously noted in earlier posts, onions have four seeds per cell while scallions have 8 seeds per cell. Each of the onion/scallion flats have 128 cells. You do the math as to how many seeds that is.






And here's Sadie having her first spring at the farm. 'What are you silly people doing, let's go play!' In fact she has started to earn her keep as she caught a mouse the other day, after the mouse had eaten some of the newly seeded flats. Not in Hule's class when it comes to the challenge of taking care of ground hogs, but it is a good start. 



Well, welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. It is hoped that the snow is now behind us and that warmer and drier days are in our near future.

Happy and healthy eating to one and all.





3 comments:

Sarah said...

I actually just picked up that book form the library last week!!! Now I'm even more anxious to crack it open!

Thanks so much for your farm updates. I love learning more about my food from the very beginnings :)

Tom said...

love the dog!

essay best said...

You have exposed such a nice concept in this blog. We should go out and enjoy ourselves. There is only one life so we should live it as much as we can. Forget about the sorrows and live like anything.