Week 4, Season 14-15

The harvests have started off well this year at least once we got started.  The weather has been tame and the pests have been fairly low aside from the turnip greens.  We are about to start a big planting of more kale, broccoli, komatsuna, lettuce, and cabbage.  Our plantings go in waves out in the field around October and then sporadic crops here and there and then a big wave this next week.  It would be nice if I could plan it better for when I have time off.
Our sweet potato crop is awesome and am glad to have tried it out.  This weekend will be pick number four and we are a little over half way down the row.  Aside from some of the wacky shapes and gargantuan sizes, they taste great and are holding well in the field.  I shut the irrigation drip tube on them about six weeks ago and they are doing fine holding in the ground.
I have started putting in some of the winter cover crops on the fallow fields and completed one field with rye, rye grass, and clover.  I am having a late start this year.  I've got two more fields to do before we are finished.  I'm also trying to spread a self-seeding, indigenous legume that grows wild to all the fields to help do some of the work for us during the winter.  My goal is naturally appearing, self seeding, perennial cover crops that I don't need to buy/sow each year for both winter and summer.  We are a few years from that goal but are getting closer each season.
I took a picture of some of the red cabbage in the field to share.  I love to walk by it and check it out.  It has a beautiful color and hope it will harvest well later on.

Local Organic Produce 30% Off!

I had to travel to Gainesville this week to take part in an annual poinsettia variety trial at UF.  This was my first time at the event and it was pretty cool to see all the latest and greatest poinsettias.  This is a trial for commercial growers so they can compare growth and colors to what they are currently growing.  After a while of comparing colors my eyes started to wig out from all the bright reds and I had to look at something different.  I did see something I thought was a very new and interesting variety.  This was just out so you can say you heard it here.  They are breeding for a yellow-orange-squash colored poinsettia plant that they are hoping will pick up some Thanksgiving sales for the poinsettia market.  That is my insider tidbit for poinsettia aficionados.
On the way home I stopped in at a local supermarket to get a drink for the ride.  I decided to check out the produce section just to see what they had in the way of organics as I normally don't do the food shopping for the family.  Then I thought since I was there that I would compare what our share of produce would add up to with what our members have paid.  I did this last year and remembered that the week I checked was comparable to the store value.  This time our members are doing really great.  So the process was, I added everything in the share item by item that I could find that was organic, and when they didn't have it as organic, I added in the conventional items for the total price.  I did my best to add price per ounce compared to what we distributed or price per item depending upon how it was being sold.  I was able to find about 65% of our farm share in the organic section.  The other 40% was not available so I used conventional prices to complete the share.  I wound up with a bill of approximately $31.00 for what our members paid $22.50 for.  A remarkable savings of about 27%.  If you throw in the eggs then we are about 30%.   It would probably be higher still if I could find all of it in the organic section.  The awesome thing about buying from our farm is not only are you getting organically grown (except in a few rare occasions) produce at a discount, but all of it is locally produced (under 20 miles for all members), and for the most part, picked hours to minutes before you take them home.  So, quality is higher (better for your family's health), fossil fuels and energy to ship and maintain the produce are dramatically less (so you are helping the environment), and you are improving the economic conditions of your neighborhood by keeping the money local.  I am very thankful that we have members that are making a decision to improve on a way to purchase produce.  I am also thrilled that I can help the social, economic, and environmental factors of my surroundings by growing produce for our community supporters.  This is a real tangible way we are all supporting one another.  Maybe we should call it Community Supporting Agriculture!

Go GMO or No?

GMOs or Genetically Modified Organisms have been a topic of conversation lately at seemingly every agricultural and university function I attend.  I know most of the sentiments from our community supporters are against them as well as the organic community.  We don't use any GMO seeds at our farm and we are not planning to change that in the near future.  It is interesting to note that as of 2013, roughly 85% of corn, 91% of soybeans, and 88% of cotton produced in the United States are genetically modified (wikipedia).  Here is an interesting viewpoint you might like to listen to that explains what the scientific community's viewpoint is.  This is the 2014 Distinguished  E.T. York Guest Lecture Series from the University of Florida featuring  Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam an Extension specialist in animal genetics from UC-Davis.  The lecture is about an hour and a half, so you may want to factor that in before you click on it.  Most of it was worth listening to.  You can probably skip some of the intro and the "What do the Facts Say" music parody and not miss anything.  Here is the link for your viewing pleasure.  http://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Play/6b427993a59d45fb9d207dffa4255ed41d