Stewarding Creation

Ecology has been on my mind recently.  We had two ecologically significant days pass this week, Earth Day and National Arbor Day.   Also, as a member of The Apostleship of Prayer, I pledge to pray daily, in unity with 50 million others around the world, for two prayer intentions picked by the pope each month.  One of which happens to be, "That people may learn to respect creation and care for it as a gift of God."  In light of that, I thought that our family might step up our ecologically friendly activities a little compared to usual.  It started by planting a jaboticaba tree in the backyard. This is a very interesting tree native to Brazil which produces grape-like fruit all over the trunk.

I was then able to talk with Anna's class about the importance of agriculture and our practices on the farm.  I explained how we conserve resources and promote life by not spraying pesticides and choosing our crops wisely.  Those kids had the most thoughtful questions I ever had from a third grade class.  I intended to speak for twenty minutes and reluctantly had to leave after an hour with questions still flying at me.  I even had to dance around a question about chicks in the eggs.  I could tell the young lady wasn't satisfied with the answer.  "OK, next question."

I then had an idea that on Earth Day our family would not turn on any lights after the sun went down to conserve the burning of fossil fuel and we could imagine what it would be like to not have electricity.  Amazingly everyone humored me by going along with it.  This was an interesting exercise.  It was extremely hard not to cheat and we did a few times to find our way in the dark.  But it was also unifying as we all sat out on the porch at dusk where the light was the greatest and just hung out together.  I thought that was the best part of the event.  It was funny to see everyone scrambling around when the sun went down (including myself) to finish activities that needed light like showers, brushing teeth, getting pjs on, putting away the dishes, etc.  Anna said that she did not like the event because she wanted the lights on.  It would be an interesting phenomenon if we all took part in a similar event in the US to reduce carbon in the atmosphere.  What if we did that once a month; Once a week?

Today, Arbor Day, I got to plant a live oak tree with Noah and the three year old kids at preschool. This was my favorite event.  We all got to struggle to pull off the root-bound container.  They then got to cheer me on as I showed them circling roots as big as my thumb that should be cut off with my blunt shovel.  "You can do it!" they kept encouraging me as I repeatedly brought down blows of my shovel with no success.  I nearly gave up until I was able to break it with my hand and they all cheered.  "Look how strong he is!"  Maybe, "Look how unprepared he is," would have been a better statement.  Next time I bring my hand clippers.  In my questioning I asked, "What do trees do for us?"  I should have asked, "What good things do trees do for us?"  My first response from a child was, "They can fall on you!"  Gulp!  "Uh, yes they can fall on you."  I can tell that this child will have a great career ahead of him in insurance.

I wrapped up the day with a tree give-away to Hillsborough County residents at the Extension office.  One hundred trees ready to give away to only the first lucky people to register.  My fears were that they would be lined down the road waiting for a tree.  My fears were completely the opposite when only two people were in our conference room at six o'clock.  We wound up getting a few extras for a total of five people.  A rather disappointing finale to the week but overall I think we accomplished a little good in the community.

If you did anything special this week to improve our environment let us know.
Anyone need a free tree?

Transition Time

This time of year is always a bit tricky.  I thought that maybe it was just me that struggled to get a change of fresh new produce to the pick up table on Saturday this time of the season, but it seems I am not the only one.  I got  a call from another farmer who was wondering what we had for sale and was looking to purchase items for his customers.  I told him that I was late on winter crops and too early for the warm season crops.  He told me he was in the same boat.  In fact, he had called a few other growers who repeated the same sentiments.  Nobody had anything new yet.  It seems that from my conversation with him, we are all "caught with our plants down" at this time of year.  I mentioned this in my last post when we don't have a moderate spring to taper off the winter and slowly start the summer.  Throw in the use of organic fertilizer and the crops are slower still to reach maturity.  I am just happy I am not the only one looking at the field and scratching my head.
It won't be long before the potatoes are ready and they are looking great this year.  Beets are new and are ready this week.  Green beans won't be too long and then leeks are sizing up.  Just a little bit more waiting to go.