Touched by Natures Simple Beauty

We got dumped on last night. Three inches of snow now blanket everything as far as you can see. It is beautiful! The first true snow fall of the season. It's too bad that its beauty is about to be spoiled by dirty, noisy vehicular traffic.

Why are we so enamored of snowfalls beauty? The crisp, clean, pure white of it, the way it covers everything, especially the ugly things, certainly has to be some of the reasons. It cleans the air of pollutants and holds those particulates to earth's surface. But, even more than these things, to me, it represents a new beginning.

It is nature’s reset button. Returning every living thing to a fresh, equal and level starting point. Only the healthiest of nature’s beings can survive winters blast. Only these survivors will receive the blessing of a new beginning, relegating the past to but a mere memory, where it rightfully belongs.

The new future can be seen on the faces of the children. They always light up with such unbridled excitement upon their first view of nature's white blanket. Realistically, some of that excitement may be derived from the possibility of school cancellations, but the first thoughts are of building snowmen and snowball fights.

Adults on the other hand have a whole other set of issues that very quickly eat away at the 'excitement factor'. Shoveling the sidewalks and driveway to get to the car so it can be dug out. And then actually driving on this slippery stuff along side those people who foolishly believe their car is the 'one' that will never slide out of control and therefore think they can drive as fast as they want.

Before anyone else is out of bed, before the house wakes up with its usual noisy morning activity, I get to sit in front of the living room picture window, in my comfy soft recliner, selfishly admiring nature's simple beauty, with a cup of hot coffee and a piece of toasted wheat bread and apple butter thinking ain't life grand.

Read more...

The Most Profitable Plants in Your Vegetable Garden

Here’s some interesting info from The Cheap Vegetable Gardener.

The most ‘produce-value’ per square foot are, not surprisingly, many of the leafy green vegetables/herbs (cilantro $1.92, lettuce $16.20, chives $16.40, dill $16.40, Swiss chard $6.14).

Next, comes the larger vine plants (tomatoes $9.50, squash $8.40, pumpkins $6.20, peas $4.50).

With root plants taking up the rear.

Another factor is the going rate in your area.

Now much of this makes sense where many of the vine plants grow on trellises and are allowed to spread, which I guess is sort of cheating the square foot rule but I will let it slide. Compared to the root plants whose production is entirely dependent on the space allowed in square footage they have to grow as well as these are normally inexpensive produce items to begin with.

Of course, the true value of anything you plant is based on how much of it you actually eat divided by the cost of growing it. But, at least now you know how expensive the stuff you are throwing on the compost heap is.

Read more...

New Farmers Market Database

Farmer’s Markets are great sources for locally grown food. Quite often you can find crops that you have never grown. Buy them to get the seeds and try to grow them yourself.

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service maintains a listing of farmers markets throughout the U.S. and manages five commodity programs:

• Dairy
• Fruit and Vegetable
• Livestock and Seed
• Poultry
• Cotton and Tobacco

Market information included in the farmers market database is voluntary and self-reported to AMS from market managers, state market representatives, state associations, and consumers. The farmers market database is updated on an on-going basis.

Read more...

Number of Farms Increasing

With the future of farming seeming to be in jeopardy we learn some good news from New Jersey.

From flowers to vineyards, the state is seeing a spurt of new small operations, even as New Jersey loses more farmland each year to development.

A new trend in farming, called Boutique farming, allows farmers to go directly to customers to survive.

New Jersey lost a higher percentage of farmland to development than any other state between 1982 and 2007, a survey this year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Farmland Trust shows.

It seems that people today are more concerned with buying their food from neighboring farmers they know and trust. This enlightened trend is allowing more farmers to realize a better return for their investment.

Also, the local-food movement works under the philosophy that consumers, wherever possible, should buy fresh fruits and vegetables and other goods where they are grown.

Another trend that is helping growers is referred to as entertainment farming, i.e., corn mazes, hayrides and events. This form of agricultural tourism is being embraced by farmers everywhere because it helps some farms to extend their season and keep more of their workers employed longer.

Farmers also sometimes lease access rights to hunters or environmental groups as a means of increasing revenue.

Despite losing acreage, New Jersey added 400 farms between 2002 and 2007.

“During the last census, we had over 10,000 farms in New Jersey for the first time since the 1960s,” says New Jersey Farm Bureau spokeswoman Pegi Adam. “We’re seeing smaller, more specialized farms, growing a diverse array of things that appeal to niche populations.”

Some growers are catering to the organic market and more foreign influences, with Asian or African vegetables such as yu choy. The state still boasts a variety of farm products.

Long live the Farm!

Read more...

Urban Agriculture Revolution

This is a topic close to my heart. Imagining food growing in every front yard, seeing tomatoes, potatoes, onions, beets, carrots instead of, or even better, along side of, Maple trees, evergreen shrubs, pansies, and roses makes senses in both a frugal and aesthetic way.

Vegetable greenery is beautiful. Diversity is beautiful. Saving money on your grocery bill is beautiful. The healthy aspects of it is just out of this world. But alas there are still so many front lawns still reserved for grass.

I love grass, don’t get me wrong. It feels good on your toes in the summertime…it is necessary for a children’s playing surface. And for some people…mowing it is their only exercise.

Imagine the power we have in our own hands to change the food system as we know it. Organic food prices would drop back down out of the atmosphere…the future would be green and tasty…neighbors would actually socialize more. Well, maybe that last one is stretching it a bit. But we would at least get outside more often and that only helps our health.

In the past, we have been too hasty in favoring an urban lifestyle over a rural one…but this is changing, slowly changing. If we grew our own in our yards we could still have a healthier lifestyle and still see the city lights.

Community gardens, farming in the commons, edible landscape, windowsill and container growing, should all be common language…right now…not in the future.

Examples abound of this phenomenon but haven’t we been talking about this long enough? Let’s get it going.

Read more...