A reader asked me about heirlooms:   what are they?  How are they defined?  Good questions.   There isn’t a consistent definition but for Terembry Farm, we note those items as heirloom that are designated as such by the seed vendor. That being said, one could go further and ask, why use heirlooms?

Lots of reasons exist, from taste, to sturdiness, to appreciation for the past, but there is one key area that’s important.  Heirlooms–vegetables that were produced without today’s intensive technology–belong to us all.  There should be no patent, no limitation on the vegetable that grandma grew in the garden.   If anyone wants to save seeds, and see those seeds work well, heirlooms are an answer.

There seems something amiss when one buys seeds that produce plants and produce that can’t reproduce in the way that plants have for millennia.  But that’s today’s modern–technologically shaped–reality.

The mission of Terembry Farm is to grow food sustainably, in a manner that supports good health and protects the environment.   Heirlooms fit that bill because  they are part of the gardening tradition of a past that worked with nature, not against nature.

For a less political assessment of heirlooms, this article is excellent:  http://www.halcyon.com/tmend/define.htm.

This past week I had the great pleasure of attending the Virginia Association for Biological Farming Conference (aka VABF.org).  In earlier posts I had mentioned that finding resources for farming in a sustainable fashion, without synthetics, was a challenge.

But attending the VABF conference showed me wonderful resources and a community of farmers and gardeners in Virginia who do very much care about healthy farming practices.   Some of the highlights:

• Discussions of field trials this past year, on how to deal with squash bugs–a notorious problem for organic farmers and for Terembry last year–through trap crops and farmscaping;
• Karl Hamner of Vermont Compost Company–a compost and poultry operation located in Montpelier, Vermont–who talked about how he was able to use restaurant scraps for compost and poultry feed, producing both healthy compost and a considerable amount of eggs from a very large poultry operation  that he sells to urban markets;
• Pam Dawling of the Twin Oaks Community in Louisa, who discussed her circular crop rotation–her very thick book on the subject of farming goes into great detail about crop rotations and planning;
• Kristen and Mark Kimball, of Essex Farm in upstate New York,  discussed their approach to farming their large operation with  9 draft horses, and the challenges of farming in a sustainable fashion;
• Most important–meeting a ton of people from Virginia and North Carolina who want to see organic, sustainable, local, non GMO farming succeed!  There’s nothing like talking to those who’ve been there and done that to get energized and focused on the next steps.
• Finally, incredible food–from bison burgers to delicious beets to fresh salads and baked apples for dessert; best food I’ve had at a conference, and all from local providers arranged by the VABF.

In past years I’ve looked for local resources on sustainable farming, and didn’t find it in the usual places.   This was my first conference with VABF, and I learned a great deal.

Some items that consumers may want to focus on are the serious changes at play in DC with the farm bill, including some that may have strong impact on local farmers.  VABF was a good venue to hear about those as well, and to hear about some of the efforts underway to support small farms that promote healthy practices.

All this being said, Terembry is gearing up for its second season, with a focus on a smaller CSA, greater diversity, and growth of the poultry operation. We are signing up members now; if you are interested, email sharon@terembryfarm.com.

And yes, the cookbook, now at 100 plus pages, is getting close to distribution.

A revised planting plan will be posted in the next week.  It will be very similar to what’s there but we’re adding some items such as sorrel and domesticated lambs quarter.

Here’s looking forward to Spring (and hoping that the groundhog in Pennsylvania knew what he was doing.)

Terembry Farm,  February 2013

Terembry Farm has been in down mode for the last several weeks, catching up and planning, and writing.

The cookbook project has expanded a bit—but we think you’ll like the end result which all 2012 members will receive in PDF format.  It’s almost done!

The gardens have been at rest; the only remaining items are Arugula and herbs—the flat leaf Italian parsley is astonishingly hardy in heavy frost.   Our rosemary is growing well.  As for the birds, the barred rocks are starting to produce eggs.  Poultry need plenty of light so egg production is typically not as heavy in the winter months but we’re getting some very nice light brown eggs that have a richly colored yolk.

The barred rocks are big birds, beautiful black and white feathers, about 6-7 pounds for the hens and more, 9 plus, for the roosters.

Noting that the French traditional dish is “Coq au Vin” not “Poulet au Vin,” we’re getting ready to prepare some roosters for eating—if anyone is interested, send me an email.

We’re also planning for next year.   2012 offered great opportunities and challenges:  drought, labor, and the reality that we grew too fast.   After looking back at year one, and reviewing our member survey comments, Terembry’s 2013 focus will be on quality and diversity in our food offerings,  while continuing to be true to the farm’s mission of sustainable and environmentally sound growing practices.

This also means that we’re going to limit our CSA memberships while expanding our local partnerships.  We’ll be sending out information before the New Year on our 2013 membership and growing plans to all our current membership.

Wishing blessings of the season and a prosperous and joyous New Year to all who have been and are part of the Terembry Farm community.

Terembry Farm

I hope all stay safe in this weather.  The animals were very agitated yesterday.  The guineas raised a racket, making their peculiar loud strange clacking noises all last evening until time to roost, and even then they were unsettled.

But we’re prepared here at the farm, albeit part of preparation this weekend for the hurricane was to address the cold snap that was supposed to come tonight as part of the super storm package but that I’ve now learned won’t hit quite as hard. (Thank goodness!)

Does anyone remember the movie, Remains of the Day, featuring Anthony Hopkins? The original novel written by Kazuo Ishiguru received the prestigious Booker prize.  Great book, good movie.  But in any case, that phrase comes to mind now with the garden as it moves into winter and rest mode.

But there are still things to do.  It’s time now to start onions from seed , in the greenhouse.  I have on hand seeds for a variety called Welsh Winter Hardy Bunching onions, which once established, will re-seed, as well as some other varieties of onions.

The parsley loves the cool weather, as do the burgundy beans, now bearing well (although the deer absolutely love the tops of the bean plants.)  A few remaining beets are flourishing, and late-planted arugula and chard are thriving also.    The wax beans that I was going to pull out came back from the roots and have been bearing surprisingly well–I picked a quart of Gold Rush wax beans yesterday.

 Yesterday also, I dug up about 10 large flat leaf Italian parsley plants and 2 basil plants for transplanting into pots in the greenhouse for winter harvesting.

Salsify—a root vegetable– will winter over.  Good article about it and other heirlooms in Martha Stewart Living November issue, featuring Jefferson’s gardens at Monticello.  Amazingly, peppers are still bearing.  There are beautiful chocolate peppers that I intend to pick today, out in the rain, before the cold weather hits tonight.

Am also busy picking up pecans, hickory nuts and black walnuts—and after Hurricane Sandy, I am sure to have plenty on the ground.  But this is better than Hurricane Isabel which knocked out the pecan crop before the pecans were mature.

The cookbook is coming along –  We hope to have it completed in three-four weeks!  Thanks to all who submitted recipes.  It’s not too late, if you would like to send some.  It’s actually going to be more than a member cookbook, and will also include discussions about sustainable food.  More later.

And, thanks for the Survey responses.

Winter is a time of rest for the garden and for planning and we’re doing that now.   We’ve read the survey comments and we’re grateful for the time taken by members to make comments.  And, yes, we are making some changes for next year.

This year was a learning curve: working with the early hot dry weather, challenges with organic pest controls, and also, lack of labor with a core knowledge base.  All of this, combined with the expected implementation of infrastructure for year one, made life interesting.

Two areas we’ll focus on going forward to work on food production.  One is finding more local resources and information to support organic garden and farm practices, so that we can be better prepared for surprises!

Local resources to support certified organic farming practices are hard to find.   We could have used pesticides on produce to eliminate any infestation with a most beautiful result, but our mission was and is to support not only sustainable practices but also practices in keeping with plans for organic certification.  Not using pesticides makes growing much harder—and today’s expectations of produce are based on what is grown with pesticides.

For example, all peaches in Virginia are routinely sprayed to prevent bug infestation. Anyone I talked to about finding organically grown peaches just laughed and said that growing peaches without pesticides/spraying wasn’t possible!  It is possible, of course, but no one would buy peaches with brown spots.  The challenge to those who farm without synthetics is to find and implement a non-synthetic alternative on a scale that is functional and effective.

Many states have great support systems for organic farming.  Virginia has a wonderful extension program with good support for small farms, but there is minimal information and support for implementation of organic practices.  I.e., how exactly does one deal with a major squash bug infestation (which are a major east coast problem) or bean bugs, without using pesticides, when hand removal isn’t sufficient, and when hot pepper sprays or companion planting don’t work?

National resources to support NOP certification are plentiful, but resources specific to our area, and its unique growing needs, are not.

We’ve found that the best sources of information for organic farming—which is more exacting than “sustainable” as the latter term is used in a variety of ways—have been area organic farmers.  They have been tremendous and we hope to build our network here.

The second major area we’ll focus on is building a solid labor team.  We don’t have a farm family here as built-in labor, and the primary key to production and quality is an available, knowledgeable labor team ready to do the hard work that a farm requires, who in our case are also supportive of organic practices and the additional work that sustainable practices require.  Beans need to be picked right before delivery—and they need to be picked when ready.  Same thing goes for just about any garden item.  While we have some folks on board to help, we need more, and are looking at interns for next year as one option.

Farm labor isn’t just a challenge with our farm.  In talking with area farmers, owners and families do the bulk of the work, and all expressed a concern with available labor.

Anyway, at the end of the day, we remain committed to our environmental mission of growing sustainable food, without synthetics.  In year two we’ll have an operational greenhouse for early seed starting, a mature poultry operation, guineas in place to eat the bugs, and we won’t be starting from scratch!  Lots of changes to be implemented, and we are looking forward to it.

A busy week!  On the way home from the Fredericksburg delivery on Thursday, I hit a pothole and bent a rim on the jeep and it’s getting repaired today.  So last night I drove my mini cooper to Evergreen Farm (near Nokesville, about 10 miles away) to pick up the organic tomatoes and organic New England pie pumpkins that will be part of the last week’s delivery.

Each Friday for the last several weeks, this has been a ritual, and it’s been a pleasure to talk with Jim about farming with organic practices:   tillage (too much roto-tilling destroys soil fertility), determinant tomatoes, the problems of growing heirlooms, infrastructure for irrigation.  And, of course, we had fun loading 90 pumpkins into the Mini for today’s delivery!

Jim’s farm provides certified organic tomatoes and pie pumpkins for places like Whole Foods and Wegman’s—he’s a lot bigger than we are and has been around for quite some time.  I am grateful for what I’ve learned in our talks—and I’ve also learned this season that those practicing organic production are very supportive of each other.

95% of our seed stock came from High Mowing Seeds in Vermont which sells certified organic seeds—and they were extremely helpful with guidance.  They were the source of the all blue potatoes (we’re planning to plant more of those next year!), for example.

Early in the season we purchased certified organic herb plants from Shenandoah Growers—who usually don’t sell to a small start up like Terembry.  Shenandoah is a large greenhouse operation in the valley; its owner received recognition earlier this year for one of the fastest growing greenhouse operations nationally.  Our basil, parsley, rosemary—all of the herbs have been predominately from their plants that we transplanted into the garden here so that we would have enough to serve the CSA.

Shenandoah were extremely helpful—gave us an incredible price on the plants—and again, I drove the Mini over to the valley because of its excellent gas mileage.   Always fun to see the looks and then the amazement of how much can fit into the cooper!

Last night was our first frost.  It wasn’t a hard or “killing” frost—the beans survived just fine, but I did come home last night after picking up the pumpkins, to cover up about 80 feet of herbs that will be harvested this week for the last shares and I’m glad I did, because the thermometer showed a chilly 30 degrees at 5 a.m.

Tomorrow I’ll have the jeep repaired and loaded with the final shares:  pumpkins, tomatoes (red and green), acorn squash, herbs, jalapenos, bananas, bells peppers.  Some have asked for green tomatoes (I love them too, in relish, and simply fried), and we have  a box ready.

I’ve enjoyed the circuit drive in DC, and the weekly tour of neighborhoods, from Takoma to Mt. Pleasant, to Capitol Hill, and then Arlington. More important, I’ve enjoyed meeting all the members of the CSA, and all the conversations this year.

We’re planning for next season, realizing that while some things went well, we need to improve in other areas.  A survey will go out asking for input, along with information about sending in recipes for the cookbook we’ll work on during October and November, with plans to have it ready for December!

All of the members will receive a PDF copy as per our original agreement, with full shares getting print versions.  And we’re looking for recipes!  Members will get credit for every item submitted.  We want to highlight our season, from cabbage to squash, to Scarlet Nantes carrots, to the High Mowing Seed mixed lettuce mix that held on so well through the hot weather.  And of course, the peppers!

So please let us know your thoughts in the survey, and also we would love recipes.  Thanks to all of you and to all of our members who have been so supportive through this season.

Yesterday’s Saturday delivery was #19; we have only one more Saturday to go.  What a cold and rainy day!  We’ll finish up with the Tuesday and Thursday deliveries on the 16 and 18^th!    Thanks to the CSA member in Arlington who brought me a jar of pickled jalapenos—I am very grateful for her thoughtfulness.

All members should remember that we’re working on a cookbook featuring items from this year’s garden.  Peppers, especially jalapenos, will play a prominent role! (Think top ten ways to use a jalapeno.)  We’ll be sending out more info in email and also asking for recipes—everyone who contributes will get credit.

While the CSA is winding down, work on the farm continues—it’s simply different, with the seasons but the work doesn’t stop.  This year’s frost date should be around October 10 but last year we didn’t have frost until Halloween, and I’m betting that will be the case for this year, too.

The herbs and winter greens are loving the cooler weather, and since we avoided frost last night, will be around for a bit more.

We’re picking all the peppers and are also harvesting pecans, hickory nuts and black walnuts.  Walnuts will be laid out to dry before being taken to the Farm Co-op in Culpeper which there is a processor (cracking black walnuts by hand requires a heavy mallet!)  It’s always a race with the squirrels to get this done, and it’s another hand-consuming task.

We still have some French Haricot Verts on the vines but getting them picked!  Everyone who works here has said, “These beans are too small; they’re not ready!”  But this small French bean has been ready. The Tavera Green plants are loaded but since the beans are are so petite,  the farm team finds picking them challenging.  I certainly have worked on these  as we are getting about 4 gallons of beans per row.  But because we’re a bit behind on picking them, I have to cull with care.

The sunset yesterday was a deep glowing red; as the sun faded behind the silhouette of trees, one could feel the onset of winter.   And winter preparation tasks abound:  filling the chicken house with straw bedding, enough to create a winter pack – about a foot deep of straw that will get packed down; taking the weeds piled in the compost bin to be burned—we’ll till the ash into the soil for potash; winterizing the equipment and doing one more mowing after all the nuts have been picked.  There will be one more tilling of the soil, preparing the beds for next year.  It’s also time to plant cover crops.

Farms are labor intensive and seasonal tasks must be done regardless of weather.  It gets cold and rainy but the chickens still have to be fed and watered.

We’re thinking about next year and making plans—more to come.

We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to hold our first farm dinner and wine tasting. Sunny September skies and a slight chill in the air proved the perfect autumn backdrop this past Sunday.

Terembry Farm first annual harvest dinner

John, one of the three farm partners, manned the kitchen while Sharon and Emily led guests on a tour of the farm. The tour was complete with animal pageantry. Our billy goat Apollo put on a show for the crowd, leading his fellow goats down the proverbial catwalk of the grassy field so that all could snap a few photos of their handsome hides.

And our feathered friends got to demonstrate how fast they could to devour a bowl of tomato scraps. Let’s just hope that the guinea hens forget the taste of tomatoes by next summer when they will be charged with eating the bugs off the plants and not the plants themselves!

For appetizers we served grilled peppers (banana and jalapeño) stuffed with chevre, followed by a pumpkin soup. The main course offerings were representative of the current seasonal transition with both summer and fall flavors: tomato basil salad, roasted butternut squash and apples with rosemary, linguine and basil pesto, jalapeño corn pudding, and pan roasted chicken!

Desert was pure inspiration from above. It being nut season (have you noticed that the acorns this year are especially bountiful!?), we grilled apples with cheddar and dressed them with the pecans that fell from the trees above our heads. And all was paired with wines from Rogers Ford.

Not bad for a Sunday afternoon in September.

But things at the farm and in the soil are winding down. (Peppers are still plentiful though…) We’ve already begun to plow some fields under and let them rest for the winter months. For the remaining three weeks of the season we’ll be providing more apples and other items from local farms.

Also as our email this week mentioned, for those who receive shares on Saturday, we are shifting the remaining Saturday deliveries to Sunday in order to avoid some of the traffic snarls we’ve run into recently. Times and locations will remain the same otherwise. Email Emily or Sharon if this is going to be a problem for you.

Lastly, thanks to everyone for your support during the season. We will be sending out a survey to get your feedback on what worked well and what we could improve upon as we begin to make plans for the 2013 summer CSA! So stay tuned.

First, thanks to all of you who told me you were saddened to hear about one of the farm dogs.  Olive (Ollie) was a sweet 6 year old sable German Shepherd—a big baby with humans, who had a big heart.  She, like her sisters, was born here, and her unofficial puppy name was “Fierce Bad Rabbit,” because she always had a wide-eyed look.  Unfortunately we had to put her down. She will be missed for a long time.

The dogs here are all pure bred GSDs (German Shepherds), from a German line, not American and they are all part of a single family.  Their appearance and bark is intimidating to some, but dog people usually understand them pretty well and appreciate them.

The garden is winding down.  We’re still picking beans and peppers, and are now preparing for the dinner this weekend.  There will be a buffet with chicken, linguine with basil pesto, tomato salad , corn pudding with cheddar and jalapeño peppers, good bread—probably French, and something good for dessert.  We’ll set up tables under the pecan trees, overlooking the pond. Rogers Ford will be here and they have wonderful wines, especially their Jacob Christopher Chardonnay, named after their grandson. The wine tasting will be a fundraiser for Bread for the City—so we hope all enjoy appropriately!

The poultry are growing, and the Guineas continue to fascinate—the older guineas have to some extent adopted the babies, and roost near them every night.  Before roosting, they parade up and down on top of the box where we keep the younger birds for safe keeping, talking to them.

The chickens are doing well, and thoroughly enjoy every table scrap we toss.  It amazes me that I can toss in a pumpkin, and there be no trace of it 30 minutes later! We are still waiting for the to start producing eggs and are hoping we’ll get a few before the season ends in a month.

Some of you have asked for recipes, and we are working on it:  pumpkin and hot pepper jelly were the most frequently discussed!

Looking forward to Sunday’s event and wine tasting!  We hope all enjoy.

Week 14, and Labor Day, saw more hot dry weather.  We took advantage of it to plant, but goodness it was dry.  Finally this past weekend, we got some rain—actually it rained all weekend, which was wonderful.

And today, we got more rain—albeit a rather serious storm with intense wind, but nothing like the one early in the season that did so much damage to so many.  And now, after the rain, I’m walking around, noting that everything planted on Labor Day is sprouting and one plus inches tall.  Other beds are coming along too.   After the storms, the sky has changed from the blue of earlier to a shaded, luminescent gray—the colors of fall skies.  The temperature feels downright chilly compared to earlier, also.

This is the time for winter plants:  turnips, spinach, kale, arugula, chard.   Turnips will winter over, as will some greens.  We’ll also plant kress seed.

Every August my mother would go to Fredericksburg Hardware and buy a small bag of seed.  She would sow the kress in the area where potatoes had been dug, and then harvest the greens throughout the winter so that we always had fresh greens.  I’ve been looking online for the seed and have been unsuccessful, but someone told me that Southern States Feed Coop carries it.

Kress used to be a native plant but was adopted by very early settlers as a winter plant.  It makes a peppery winter green, and can be sautéed like turnip greens or cooked with meat for a savory flavor. While related to watercress—field kress is quite different and not so mild in flavor.  Like turnip greens, it is a good source of calcium and other nutrients.

Hard to believe Fall is here.