Produce Direct from Producer

There’s a surprise in each box. And the prize is perhaps the opposite of the cheap plastic toy we used to find at the bottom of a box of sugar-laden cereal.

As a member of a CSA, each week, it’s fun to open your box and peer inside at the selection of healthy, locally grown produce your farmers have provided for you.

The farmers take pride in their produce and enjoy knowing who they are growing for. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Members buy shares of produce grown by local farms. Members get to know the people growing their food. You get to know the face behind your food. Typically, CSA farms grow sustainably.

We are lucky to have several great CSA’s in Central PA. But they are filling up fast. Beth Weaver-Kreider of Goldfinch Farm near Wrightsville in York County, PA, said they’ve had more first time inquiries about the CSA this year and they have sold out of shares faster this year than any time in their years of farming.

Seeing the pleased reaction of their shareholders each week is a great joy for Beth and for Amy Leber of Shared Earth Farm in Mechanicsburg, PA.

Produce Direct from Producer

Produce Direct from Producer

Shared Earth Farm CSA started small. Like a seedling, really. Amy Leber started growing vegetables “part-time” on her farm while remodeling her home and raising a newborn. Her first year, she served 7 shares. In her fourth season, she’s offering 120.

Amy and her mom provide most of the labor on the farm. They’ve found the growth of their farm to be a natural evolution. Its hard work and they love it. Similarly, when they’ve needed something they’ve found it.

When they needed two doors for the new greenhouse, they found exactly two doors stored on the property. When they started running out of refrigeration room, a member offered a refrigerator. They recently asked their members for help in covering their greenhouse. Thirty members turned out to help.

Shared Earth Farm members pick up the produce at the farm and can pick from a choice table of goods in addition to their shares. At the table, they offer interesting veggies like yard long beans or a miniature cucumber that a member nick named, “cuca melon” because they resemble tiny watermelons. Members can pick their own flowers and herbs as they are available. Other locally produced food can also be picked up at the farm.

Amy’s committed to sustainable agriculture and to the importance of locally grown food. This she shares with Jon and Beth Weaver-Kreider of Goldfinch Farm.

Produce Direct from Producer

Beth Weaver-Kreider remembers it was a rainy Monday morning when her husband Jon purchased the land at auction for Goldfinch farm. When they initially looked at the rolling York County acreage, they weren’t sure it would work for their CSA. Looking closely, they saw the hills offered plenty of level space for planting. In their 9th season now, their beautiful farm will provide 180 shares to their customers.

Jon Weaver-Kreider studied agriculture in several forms, including an internship on an organic farm, before he and Beth started their first farm on rented Lancaster County land in 1999. They follow strict organic farming guidelines.

They also feel it’s important to be in contact with their customers. As often as possible, Jon and Beth personally greet shareholders at their pick-up locations at the Farm and in Lancaster County.

Along with more than 30 vegetables, Goldfinch farm offers strawberries and raspberries in their shares. Members can pick their own variety of berries along the fence rows at the farm and flowers later in the season. The produce is picked less than a day before pickup.

Some other local CSA are:

- Dickinson College Farm: Serving only the Dickinson College Community based near Carlisle, PA. Organic Farming practices used. http://www.dickinson.edu/storg/sisa/index.html
- Garden of Edenbo: A salad CSA. http://agmap.psu.edu/Businesses/3352
- Joshua Farm: Harrisburg, PA. Supporting at-risk youth in Harrisburg. http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M14359
- Prescott's Patch: Fruit and Veggies with pick-ups in Bainbridge and Hellam. http://www.localharvest.org/csa/M7085
- Spiral Path Farm: One of the largest and oldest. Perry County. http://www.spiralpathfarm.com/csas.html
- Spoutwood Farm: Southern York County. http://tinyurl.com/cwgw9o

Produce Direct from Producer

Dickinson College Farm contibutes to Enviromental Award

The beautiful stone foundation barn along the road looks like any other picturesque barn in Pennsylvania. But as you walk up the lane toward the greenhouses, off to the left, you see canvas covered yurts, chickens free ranging, and a row of shiny solar panels. New shine meets old wisdom in harmony, straddling old and new farming practices at Dickinson College farms, near Boiling Springs, PA.

It is a lab and health service. The farm, which provides fresh, local, organically grown produce to college food services, along with offering work study and internships in forward thinking agriculture, was part of the reason the Dickinson College was one of fifteen institutions to be awarded the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence announced Tuesday.

Specifically, the farm’s composting of 700 lbs daily of food waste was mentioned in the Governor’s award. The farm has generated enough compost from this practice to feed all the plants on their farm for 2009. This compost not only benefits the farm by providing nutrients to grow more food for the college, but it saves the college money by reducing the number of dumpsters needed to haul waste to the landfill. Of course, we all benefit from the reuse of the material.

The farm is a lab, as well, because they involve many departments of the college to maximize the beneficial use of resources from heating the greenhouses efficiently with solar energy and using pond water for irrigation to reusing grey water.

There’s much more to be said about the farm and the cool folks who run it. But for now, heartfelt Congratulations. For more info: http://tinyurl.com/d2p5pf

How to Hug a tree? Hire Professional Tree Care

GUEST COLUMNIST: Jon Schach, ISA Certified Arborist PD-1580A. Jon is an arborist representive for Good’s Tree Care Inc. of Harrisburg.

Tree Guys are Not all The Same, Buyers Beware

In a down-turned economy we are all out for a bargain. If it’s not a bargain, most of us will walk away from the table. We’ll put off buying the new car or the new couch until we get through the slump, or until that year end bonus comes in. Some purchases can’t be put off however; a painful toothache, faulty wiring in the basement, or a large dead tree towering over your property. In the first two instances most of us will hire a professional. We look for the letters DDS or DMD at the end of the name on the door before we let someone take a drill to our mouths. We do some research to make sure that the electrician that we hire to repair faulty wiring in our home is a certified journeyman with a reputable firm.

Unfortunately, the same rigor is not always applied when we hire a tree service to remove the large dead tree in the yard or for other tree related services. Instead, many look for the bargains in the kid that mows the lawn, the handy-man neighbor with the reciprocating saw and a ladder, or the wife’s uncle who worked for a couple of years as a logger in Maine in the 1970s. More commonly, we sign up for the bargain offered by the “tree guy” that comes in with the lowest price out of several who stop by after you blitz the yellow pages for free estimates. Buyers beware.

Tree guys are not all the same. In the state of Pennsylvania you need a license to cut hair professionally, but you don’t need a license for cutting trees in the same capacity. Anyone with a saw and a pickup truck can respond to your call for tree work, and say, “I am the man for the job.” It is up to you to decide if that is indeed the case. So what should you look for in a tree service? At a bare minimum, you should ask for proof of workman’s compensation insurance for all employee’s working on your property, as well as, sufficient liability insurance specifically covering tree care related operations before you allow a tree service to perform work in or on your trees.

How to Hug a tree? Hire Professional Tree Care

Say for instance you hire the “tree guy” with a saw and a pickup truck to take down the huge tree in your yard. Chances are he won’t do it alone. He’ll call a couple of buddies to help him out. In this scenario, say the buddy breaks his leg or suffers a severe head injury while working at your house. If the “tree guy” doesn’t carry worker’s compensation insurance for his buddy, chances are the buddy will have to sue someone to pay for the medical bills. Well he isn’t going to sue the “tree guy,” because what is he going to do with a saw and an old pickup truck? He is going to sue you.

Or same instance different scenario, you hire the “tree guy” and things don’t go quite as planned and the big dead tree is now occupying the space that was once your upstairs bedroom, hallway, and bathroom. When you find out that the “tree guy” doesn’t carry liability insurance to perform pruning and removals of large trees, you are going to want to sue for damages. But then you ask yourself, “What do I need a saw and an old pickup truck for?

My reason for writing is not to instill fear and distrust in the homeowner looking to hire a tree service, nor is it to destroy the reputation of several small legitimate tree services in our region. Rather, I write to offer an explanation for why the estimates you receive for services tend to vary a great deal; The playing field is not always level. Further, I write to expose the risk and liabilities involved for both homeowner and individuals involved in tree related services performed without sufficient coverage in the event of an accident.

This current economic climate sets the conditions for a race to the bottom. As buyers of services we seek out the lowest price, the bargain, even if that price carries risks. On the other side of the transaction are a growing number of guys with saws and pickup trucks laid off from companies that had always handled the details of indemnity. Work that involves pruning or removal of trees carries inherent risk. Don’t make matters worse buy bargain shopping. You hire the dentist and the electrician because your life and property depend on it. Make a point to hire a professional tree service, because the same is true. Look for companies that are accredited by the Tree Care Industry Association (formerly the National Arborists Association) and staffed by arborists certified by the International Society of Arboriculture. Doing so will help insure that your trees and property are cared for safely, efficiently, and in a manner that follows the best practices standards developed by the tree care industry.

Jon Schach, ISA Certified Arborist PD-1580A
Jon is an arborist representive for Good’s Tree Care Inc. of Harrisburg.

Dirt Specked Daf

Afternoon light illuminates a daffodil that was sprinkled with both rain and rebounding soil during our recent rains.

Check the plant's background

I’ve wanted a gardening knife. I’m told they make weeding and dividing a breeze. After today, I’m convinced I need one. I need a knife for a desperate fight. I am embroiled in a war and I’m concerned it may go on all summer.

I took home a strange plant I met at a farmers market a few years ago. I thought it was good looking, so I planted it. A dear friend had warned me about that sort of thing. She always goes online and does a background check before planting anything.

She’s right. I’ve learned the hard way. Invasives invade. Like the marauders on those credit card commercials, they can be brutal.

I should have educated myself by searching on line or looking in a book before I added the innocent looking delicate flowering Pink Evening Primrose, Oenothera sp., in one of my more meticulous ornamental beds. It is actually a native of the southwest and a good choice for a large dry area where it could romp. It is prolific flowering and growing.

This is how bad it is. The plant is terribly impolite. It’s gotten right in the face of my favorite plants and even entangled its root system with theirs. Can you imagine? I'm having trouble digging it up without uprooting my other plants. I'm concerned for that garden. I may have lost it to the primrose.

I have seen this plant out and about as well. It isn’t only to be found in back alleys. I purchased more of it last year at a high-end garden center. Invasives are out there, looking good and looking classy, and just waiting for a naïve gardener to take them home and put them in a garden bed.

Better get that knife if you don’t want to do background checks first.

Mini-farmin' Mom

It’s been cold here in Pennsylvania but that hasn’t stopped me from being busy in the garden. I don’t have a farm, yet. But that hasn’t stopped me from farming. Mini-sized.

I have a 10 square foot farm working in my basement. Under my seedling benches topped with precariously placed grow lights almost kissing the tops of my plants, I have my worms in their composting bin and three baby chicks nesting in their box. My son says we have a lot of pets. He’s including the worms in the pet category.

I giggle at the contrast between the Eames rocker, which sits next to the worm composting bin, and my "farm". The chicks are also in close proximity to a pristine 1950’s Haywood Wakefield dresser. It’s fifties mod-living for my chicks. The Red Rock and Barred Rock chicks are dubbed Poachy (thanks I-Carly, not), Lovey, and Dixie. My four year-old was in charge of the names. I’m not so sure that was so smart. And yes, my four year-old does watch I-Carly. I may be a better gardener than parent in certain moments.

Spring planting, horticulture classes, writing a biz plan, and watching the chicks with my son, have kept me busy and away from the PRG this week. Look for another guest columnist soon and several postings on native plants and plant sales coming before the end of April.

Tomatoes Anyone?

If you want to start seedlings yet this year, it’s time to do it. If you want to start lettuce or onions or peas, you now have the choice of starting them indoors or directly sowing these cold hearty vegetables.

If you’d like to try a indoor seeding of tomatoes, you should get a move on. It’s widely recommended growing tomatoes for 4 to 6 weeks inside before transplanting.

In central Pennsylvania, the recorded last frost date is May 4th. However, we’ve had frost after that and many use Mother’s day as a safe starting point. We have just enough time to start our seed, but we have to do it now.

Can’t do it now? Not to fear. Erica Beadle, Nursery Manager at Highland Gardens said they will stock over 40 varieties of tomatoes this year. Check out their website for a list:
http://www.highlandgardens.org/

Both Highland Gardens and Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouse will be carrying heirloom varieties as well.

Shirley Halk, a Dauphin County Master Gardener, said people shouldn’t be afraid to try heirlooms. Halk’s heirloom tomatoes have performed every bit as well as any hybrids and taste much better.

Some of the heirloom varieties she suggests growing are:

Old German – A large tomato with a pink inside
Cherokee Purple – Flavorful rose colored favorite
Amish Paste – Plum shaped, excellent for paste and sauce
Green Zebra (not always an heirloom) – Green and yellow tomato with added spice and zing

I got the sense that Halk had grown and loved many other varieties of heirloom tomatoes and would probably discover at least one other variety to add to her list this summer.

Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouses lists their tomato plant varieties at:
http://www.ashcombe.com/vegetablelist.htm

At the end and the beginning

Today, I found myself celebrating old and young beauty. Graceful arching of the over wintered Hakonechloa grass under gray skies made parting with the dry foliage sad, as I cleaned up my perennial beds a bit. Then visiting my tiny greenhouse of seedlings, some begging to be planted outdoors, others just saying hello with their first true leaves, brought home the cycle of the seasons again.

At the end and the beginning