Dig In with Farmer D!

Sustainable Can Replace Industrial in Agriculture

2011-03-09T11:36:00.000-05:00

Check out this positive proof for sustainable agriculture from Mark Bittman:

"...increasing numbers of scientists, policy panels and experts (not hippies!) are suggesting that agricultural practices pretty close to organic — perhaps best called “sustainable” — can feed more poor people sooner, begin to repair the damage caused by industrial production and, in the long term, become the norm."

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/sustainable-farming/?emc=eta1

Farmer D Goes To California

2010-11-12T13:15:00.000-05:00

Middle Green Valley - Solano County, California

Farmer D spent this past week in the 'Green' of California: speaking at the Green Valley Agricultural Conservancy in Fairfield, spending time at The Rudolph Steiner College in Fair Oaks and being inspired by Village Homes, a (if not the) model of sustainable communities in Davis, California.

The Green Valley Agricultural Conservancy is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is preserve the working landscapes that have characterized Solano County (specifically Middle Green Valley) for over 150 years. They are promoting sustainable food and agriculture systems by creating a synergy amongst agricultural lands, environments- natural and man-made, healthy living ideals and resource stewardship. The Conservancy will help manage and monitor the ±1,500 acres of productive agricultural land, pastures, and natural areas.

Hart Howerton is developing a Specific Plan for Middle Green Valley to conserve the agricultural legacy of this land and develop a sustainable community around the Stewardship Ethics outlined by the Conservancy. Farmer D was asked to come on board as an advisor in the planning and developing of this conservation community. So a few Sundays ago he met with the whole community to discuss his work with the Green Valley Agricultural Conservancy and to empower them to grow healthy foods, renew the connection to agriculture and envision a sustainable community.

Middle Green Valley - Solano County, California

Top 2: Rudolph Steiner College | Bottom 2: Village Homes

* All photos taken by Daron 'Farmer D' Joffe

Farmer D's Jumping on the Lifeboat!

2010-10-16T18:16:00.000-04:00

Farmer D is honored to be Michael C. Ruppert's guest on his talkshow "The Lifeboat Hour with Michael C. Ruppert." airing Sunday, night (10/17/10) at 9:00 pm EST. It can be heard on Progressive Radio Network http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/michael-ruppert/

A funny story... a nice woman came into Farmer D Organics who was determined to start growing her own food. Farmer D was helping her to start her new garden and he asked her, "What is your sudden interest in organic gardening and growing your own food?"

She answered, "I just watched Michael C. Ruppert's video called 'Collapse,' and it inspired me to start growing on my own."

Shortly after, Farmer D was interviewed on CNN's Newsroom (see previous blog!) about organic and biodynamic farming. Ironically, Farmer D's appearance caught the eye of the one and only Michael C. Ruppert who asked him to appear on his radio show because of his mission to teach people to grow organically!

It goes to show how synchronistic this World is, and how like minds are attracted. Please check out Ruppert's website called Collapse Network, and tune in for D's interview!
http://www.collapsenet.com/

Farmer D in the Florida Panhandle

2010-10-11T16:20:00.006-04:00

Farmer D at Cowford

Farmer D is currently involved in two new farming projects in the Florida Panhandle, Longleaf Preserve and Cowford. Shown below is Cowford where Farmer D is designing and implementing a 100 acre organic farm complete with chickens, goats and cows- Cowford's design is based on the full circle farming concept, a concept that lies at the root of Biodynamic Farming.

Farmer D Live on CNN!

2010-10-08T12:49:00.001-04:00

Farmer D on CNN, click here!

10/10/10 GLOBAL WORK PARTY!

2010-10-06T18:40:00.002-04:00

10/10/10 GLOBAL WORK PARTY! This Sunday people will be celebrating climate solutions worldwide by participating in activities that will address global warming in their city or community. We will be joining in this celebration by having a FREE 10/10/10 Work Party Workshop, called Shades of Green, 10% off everything in the store and a Raised Bed Kit Special: 4x8 with soil, fertilizer and seeds for $350!

10-10-10 is not an inorganic fertilizer analysis. It is the auspicious day of October 10, 2010, and Farmer D Organics is pitching in along with the rest of the entire world to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Come to our workshop hailing the auspicious day of 10-10-10, Shades of Green: How to integrate environmentally responsible practices into your lifestyle.
Attend our free workshop and find out ways that you can change your life to be a deeper shade of green. We will look at the basics of food, water and shelter as well as common practices in laundry, dishwashing, recycling etc. You will bring home a "home audit" to see changes that you can start making in your home to reduce your carbon footprint and make more of a beneficial impact to your environment and community. Farmer D will also be offering 10% discount on our whole store all day (11am to 5pm). Also buy a raised bed, soil, fertilizer and seeds for $350, and visit 350.org to see why it's important!

Farmer D speaking at this year's Biodynamic National Conference in Chestnut ridge, NY

2010-10-05T17:10:00.001-04:00

Farmer D was a featured workshop presenter at this years Biodynamic National Conference: "Biodynamics & the Future of Agriculture" Sept. 30th - Oct. 3rd. To learn more about the conference and Farmer D's workshop titled Bringing Biodynamics to the World through Social Entrepreneurship check out the Conference's website:

www.biodynamics.com/

Leadership Johns Creek, Community Garden, Newtown Park

2010-07-26T22:51:00.000-04:00

GGWTV loves Farmer D!!!!

2010-07-26T21:56:00.000-04:00

My day with Farmer D is a great blog article following up on Daron's appearance in their newest episode.

Transforming the Social Image of the Farmer

2010-07-25T12:28:00.002-04:00

Daron has been revolutionizing the way people see the modern farmer. THIS episode of Growing a Greener World goes into detail about Farmer D bringing agriculture back to the dinner table, literally. The need to localize food sources and support CSA organizations has become a vital cultural issue around the entire world.

New GGWTV episode!!!

2010-07-23T12:00:00.000-04:00

Click here for the teaser for the newest episode of Growing a Greener World TV. The new generation of organic farmer is the main topic of conversation in this episode. Be sure to tune in on Saturday (for PBS Blue Ridge viewers), or Sunday for online viewing.

Late Spring Visit to Natirar

2010-07-16T16:53:00.008-04:00

Image via Wikipedia

The name Natirar is simply an anagram of Raritan, which is the river that runs 2 miles across this truly stunning 500-acre property in Somerset County, New Jersey. It has passed through a couple of hands throughout the past three centuries, but it is now run as a public/private shared partnership between the county, Richard Branson (Virgin) and Bob Wojtowicz.
The vision of a top quality sustainable farm-to-table culinary center is now becoming a reality at Natirar. Appropriately enough, they named it Ninety Acres, which is the size of the land within Natirar that was set aside for this project. A 99 year ground lease was signed through The Virgin Spa at Natirar LLC to ensure the projects longevity.

This is a photo of Richard Branson and Bob Wojtowicz riding the new tractor at the grand opening of the farm.
Photo Courtesy of Ninety Acres Culinary Center

Whole Foods is getting even MORE sustainable!

2010-06-23T23:18:00.000-04:00

Check out this article about Whole Foods Market starting to grow their own produce for their hot bars and restaurants. This is definitely the future of local grocery shopping.

Grow your own sandwich! Yep, you heard me right.

2010-06-18T10:35:00.004-04:00

The Farmer D ventures at Palmetto Bluff continue with an emphasis on growing your own healthy meal with sustainable and biodynamic methods. Daron also discusses how he has arrived at his fame of being 'Farmer D'.

Farmer D Breaks Down Organic Farming from Courtney Hampson on Vimeo.

How to Grow a Sandwich from Courtney Hampson on Vimeo.

Farmer D at PB from Courtney Hampson on Vimeo.

A factor directly affecting our future and fertility

2010-06-07T16:32:00.000-04:00

Research Links Genetically Modified Food To Long Term Sterility

Home gardening is on the rise!

2010-06-07T12:11:00.001-04:00

Local nurseries see uptick in home gardening - Atlanta Business Chronicle

Happy Composting Awareness Week! May 2-8

2010-05-03T16:49:00.003-04:00

Every avid gardener and farmer enjoys a steamy handful of fresh compost! The act of composting is a sustainable way to recycle waste, and feed your plants at the same time. Check out the US Composting Council. The main theme behind this years composting holiday is to educate and motivate novice gardeners to start a compost pile themselves, start a home garden and reduce the amount of trash bags that are filled every day.

Do Not Forget About Our Dirt Farmers!

2010-05-03T16:14:00.004-04:00

An interesting article from Ode Magazine about a man in Mendocino County, California.

Dunwoody Remains Resilient and Generous

2010-05-01T01:02:00.006-04:00

The farmers of the Dunwoody Community Gardens at Brook Run have a lofty goal of donating a literal ton of food this year with their "A Ton for Hunger Drive." So far, they have put an 8oz bag of greens on the tables of 159 families. That equals about $1000 worth of food. The gardens only need to accumulate about $400 more worth of food in order to meet their YEAR-LONG goal in just a few months time!!! There are currently six charity beds filled with Farmer D soil that are producing all of this great food! Here is another blog from a Dunwoody resident about this great community project!

Van Malone has kept his own front-yard veggie garden for five years now. He started gardening a year after surviving colorectal cancer. Check out his story on the Sustainable Dunwoody blog.

Earth Day Kids Fest with Captain Planet Foundation

2010-04-28T20:43:00.014-04:00

The Captain Planet Foundation was founded by Ted Turner in 1991. The main goal of this organization is to engage young people (grades K-12) in hands-on activities that educate them about the environment. If environmental consciousness is encouraged at a young age, then children are more likely to grow into naturally empowered environmental stewards. This organization is currently involved in over 2500 projects throughout the world. April 17th marked the 8th year of the Earth Day Kids Fest. It was held at the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell, GA.

It is always a pleasure to educate kids on our environment. The future generations need to have the utmost love and respect for their natural surroundings.

Children really enjoy a hands-on approach to learning (fresh air and sunshine aren't too bad either!)

Special thanks to Danny Acres Photography.

Biodynamically yours,

Farmer D

Spaders and School Gardens

2010-04-01T09:02:00.001-04:00

This past week I've been busy putting in school gardens around Atlanta, designing a farm village in South Carolina and teaching Reid, the farmer at Bethesda Home for Boys how to operate our new spader.

Here are the school garden seedlings being sorted and prepped for delivery to over 20 schools.

Here is the rough sketch of the farm village design with close to 1000 acres dedicated to organic agriculture.

Here's Reid on his debut spader run. One happy farmer! He's even calling his mom to tell her how stoked he is. Just kidding.

Freshly spaded bed.

- Biodynamically Yours, Farmer D
www.farmerd.com

School garden - The Forgotten Cabbage

2010-03-23T00:23:00.000-04:00

This morning I drove the truck and trailer loaded down with soil, beds, tools and plants to Spalding Drive Elementary School, not far from where I grew up. We put down two new raised beds and refreshed 6 existing beds with compost and organic fertilizer.

Planting organic vidalia onions making a "boop" sound when pushing the soil around the plant to firm it's roots in the soil.

The children were super enthusiastic and about 100 of them helped haul soil, turn in fertilizer and plant potatoes, onions, lettuce, blueberries and more. It was a fun day that felt like we made a bunch of elementary students day by giving them a chance to get their hands dirty.

This Kentucky basketball fan and his buddies worked diligently inorcorporating the fertilizer and breaking up the clay below.

Jennifer McCormick of Whole Foods Market planting the forgotten cabbage.

Backyard garden.

After planting the school garden we headed to the principals house to deliver two 4x8 beds atop a very steep curvy driveway. The up went fine and the gardens looked great, but the down, going backwards, scared the compost out of me. I basically slid down the driveway using my emergency break to slow down with the car in drive the whole way down.

Not good!

Once down I discovered where the hitch from the truck meets the trailer, bottomed out leaving me stuck there blocking the street. We had to scoop the soil in the front of the trailer to the back to take some weight off the hitch in hopes it would lighten it up enough to get out. Not again I thought to myself as we narrowly escaped a real cluster.

In gratitude for another day of getting dirty and staying safe.

- Biodynamically Yours,
Farmer D

www.farmerd.com
Twitter: farmer_d

The Farm at Natirar

2010-03-02T12:24:00.001-05:00

A little over three years ago my good friend, Ronny Bell, told me about a really cool project that was getting started in New Jersey. It was then that I first heard about Natirar, the first luxury Virgin Spa to be developed in the United States.

He told me they wanted an organic farm to anchor their farm-to-table restaurant, cooking school, spa and hotel. I was introduced to the visionary and developer by phone and found myself up there a few weeks later doing a site visit and proposal.

The property was last owned by the King of Morocco and was built in the early 1900's by the Ladd family. The properties is about 400 acres most of which the county currently owns and operates as a public park. It's named after the Raritan River that flows gently through the property. Natirar is Raritan spelled backwards for those of you who did not pick that up.

This is a view of the back of the restaurant standing in the soon to be kitchen garden and greenhouse covered with 18" of snow.

The ninety acres on top of the hill is presently home to the Ninety Acres restaurant, The Cooking School at Natirar and the Farm at Natirar, which I will be breaking ground on in a few weeks!

The farm is about 10 acres and will provide organic/biodynamic produce, herbs, flowers, fruit, nuts and animals to the restaurant an cooking school. Ninety Acres was already voted one of the top ten new restaurants in N. America and with the addition of the farm in full force this season will be a place worth travelling to.

You may even find Sir Richard Branson plowing the fields on the tractor!

To learn more about this excitng project check out www.natirar.com and keep following the blog for updates as we plow into Spring 2010.

Consumers replaced by Co-producers

2010-02-22T09:58:00.001-05:00

Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food, gave the keynote address at this years Georgia Organics conference in Athens, GA. One of his profound ideas for leading the slow food revolution into 2010 is to do away with the word "consumer" and begin empowering these individuals as "co-producers" instead, which is what they really are. Every time you decide to buy local, sustainable food you are contributing to a healthier planet and supporting a farmer critical to restoring the soil and soul of agriculture.

Carlo makes a great point and uses the undervalued power of language to change the viewpoint on the most basic concept of grower and eater, producer & consumer (now known as co-producer) thus further reducing the gap between farmers and the people who support them.

The revolution is a team effort and we the farmers need our co-producers support in every way possible to ensure we can overcome the multitude of challenges facing the small farmer today.

Calling all people who care about the earth and its people - Grab your forks (digging and eating both) and dig in to the slow food revolution by becoming a co-producer of local sustainable food, grow your own and inspire and educate others to follow.

Here's Carlo in action passionately inspiring a peaceful, global revolution through food.

- Biodynamically Yours, Farmer D
www.farmerd.com

Chicken tractor

2010-02-06T13:48:00.000-05:00

Our latest design in Chicken Tractor technology, 'Franco's Condo', is named after our refugee Silky rooster, Franco.

Franco arrived at our store unannounced one night and has been the most photographed rooster I've ever known. He greets both our garden and car wash customers with his chicken charm. The poor guy was attacked by our resident Red Tailed Hawk right before our eyes. It was Franco's eyes however that suffered after having hawk talons spear through his side and right eye.

Amazingly, after much TLC from the Farmer D team, especially Farmer Whit, Franco has recovered. He now resides in the supa pimp Franco Condo and guards over all our georgeous chicks. Come by and visit the chap sometime and you can even get your car washed and pick up some Spring gardening supplies.

- Biodynamically Yours, Farmer D
www.farmerd.com

School Garden at SE Flower Show

2010-02-06T12:57:00.001-05:00

It's been a busy week for us at the Southeast Horticulture Society's annual Flower Show at the Cobb Galleria Center. We have had thousands of people through our discovery garden marveling at the beautiful veggie plants, wiggly worms and happy chickens.

Last year we took Best in Show for our Backyard F
arm themed educational garden, which demonstrated high yield food production in a small urban homestead.

This year's theme is an Edible Schoolyard demonstrating the value of school gardens for teaching children nutrition, science and much more through experiential learning. We have partnered with the Captain Planet Foundation this year as they also share our mission of educating youth about the importance of protecting the environment and eating healthy.

- Biodynamically Yours, Farmer D
www.farmerd.com

Tu Bishvat

2010-01-31T13:50:00.001-05:00

Tu'Bishvat is the Jewish holiday that celebrates the birthday of the trees. In honor of the holiday people plant trees at home, in their communities and in Israel. Today I planted 20 blueberry bushes with five year olds at Ahavath Achim, where I went to preschool. Full circle!

Urban Farming Revolution

2010-01-30T14:37:00.001-05:00

Today I worked with Georgia Organics on their second Atlanta Local Food Initiative (ALFI) fruit tree sale and it wreaked of revolution. The reason for this second fundraiser tree sale was because the first one a week ago was such a hit, we sold out of fruit trees in an hour!

I missed a prime opportunity on that first day to make my compost available for these urban farmers who were digging in. I wasn't gonna miss this opportunity again, so today I drudged through the cold rain, making two trips with bags of compost as the first load sold out within 45 minutes.

The robust energy of people digging in for independence by growing perennial food crops reminded me that I was far from alone in this back to the land movement. These urban stewards, whether aware of it or not, are growing victory from a dependence on a food system driven by oil and greed. Plant a fruit tree, grow a garden and compost. These are very likely the most powerful contributions we can make to fight climate change right in our own backyards.

- Biodynamically Yours, Farmer D
www.farmerd.com

Attracting Beneficial Organisms to Your Garden

2010-01-16T13:04:00.007-05:00

As home-growers, we have come to fear the furry, slimy, many-legged, big eyed creatures that frequent our gardens and yards. In our defense, this has a lot to do with wanting to protect the plants we have nurtured from any backyard bullies who plan on munching on their leaves and fruiting bodies. We must face these fears and acknowledge that Mother Nature often has a bigger plan. There are numerous beneficial organisms that can help protect and provide for your garden if you give them some favors in return. This partnership between two organisms, both or just one species benefiting, is called a Symbiotic Relationship and is replicated throughout all of Nature's processes.

To break down the different partnerships that humans can maintain with organisms through their food production, I will break it into categories: Birds, Insects, Mammals, Amphibians and Reptiles.

Birds
Birds are great for protecting your garden from the onslaught of insect infestations. They are not only a delight to watch and hear, but they have a diet that relies heavily on finding and eating insect prey. Not all bird species are the same and they have numerous habitat requirements. Fortunately, those that live in a similar climate generally have adapted to different Niches than the other species in the same plot and can coexist. Incorporating wild flower varieties, berry producing plants, shrubs, tall trees, and weed-like undergrowth generally provide enough differences in habitat for a large number of birds. Providing them with a source of water, such as a bird bath, is another excellent habitat enhancement that will encourage their stay. Another "bath" that can be provided for birds is a Dust Bath which can be an equal mixture of sand, loam and sifted wood ash. This bath should be no less than three feet in area and six inches deep.

Insects
Attracting insects to your garden seems like a bad idea, but there are actually numerous insects that can be brought into your garden ecosystem to give it balance and eliminate the threat of crop devastation. These insects are attracted to the garden through incorporating certain flowers and herbs that are beneficial to their life cycles into your plot. Bees and Butterflies are great pollinators and are attracted to brightly colored flowers. Lacewings, Hoverflies, and Parasitic Wasps are all attracted to herbs like Dill and Coriander and feast on insect eggs, mites, and other small pests. Pirate Bugs, Ground Beetles, Lady Bugs, Big Eyed bugs, and Assassin Beetles all offer great plant defense when given the right conditions to thrive. With ground dwelling creatures like these, it is helpful to have different layers of plants for them to crawl around and hide in and leaf litter or mulch on the floor for them to live.

Mammals
While most mammals seen in a garden would be considered pests,(moles, rabbits, deer, etc.) one member of the mammal family serves as a great garden ally. Bats are known for their role in controlling insect pests such as mosquitoes, and attracting them to your plot generally does a world of good for the hosts of insects that roam in the night hours. While most bats are insectivores exclusively, there are bats that have evolved from eating fruits to eating nectar from flowers. Flowers that benefit bats are generally large and wide open for ease of entry. When the bat extracts the nectar from the plant, the pollen is caught on the hair of the animal and it is spread with every plant interaction the bat has. One way to get bats to continually favor your property is to provide proper habitat, such as a place to hide in thick shrubbery and a place to sleep like a Bat House.

Amphibians and Reptiles
Amphibians are some of the most important organisms on Planet Earth. Not only do they do a great job of controlling insect populations, they are considered environmental indicators. An environmental indicator species is a species that represents the health and quality of an ecosystem. Amphibians such as frogs, toads, and salamanders are important indicators because they absorb atmospheric conditions through their skin, as though they breathe through their skin, which makes them very susceptible to toxins and chemicals found in soils and waterways. When amphibians are found in your yard or garden, it means that the health of the ecosystem you have created is high. Reptiles, such as snakes and lizards are also good indicators of a healthy ecosystem. Snakes, in particular, have very stringent habitat needs and only live where these are met in full. Snakes are excellent hunters of small mammal prey that may be feeding on your garden vegetables. Habitat needed for amphibians and reptiles is lots of cover. This means that instead of having bare ground between your crops, it would benefit these organisms if you left your weeds to grow and fill in the space.

This information is only the tip of the iceberg for understanding all of the varied and beautiful relationships you can cultivate through your garden plan. If you are interested in more information concerning these relationships, feel free to contact Team Farmer D. If you'd like to learn more about the mysterious and wonderful world of bats, join Farmer Darby for her "Bats in the Garden Workshop" next Sunday.

Biodynamic Agriculture

2009-12-15T10:38:00.008-05:00

Biodynamic Farming developed out of eight lectures on agriculture given to farmers in Eastern Germany in 1924 by Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian scientist and philosopher. These lectures were given in response to observations from farmers that the soil integrity was beginning to degrade following the introduction of chemical fertilizers at the turn of the century. In addition to the depletion of viable top soil, the health of crops and livestock started to deteriorate. Biodynamic farming rooted from this event and became the first system offering alternatives to chemical agriculture.

The idea behind Biodynamic Agriculture is to view the farm as a working ecosystem, or even as an organism. In order to achieve this high level of symbiosis and balance both animals and plants should be incorporated onto the farm, nutrients taken from the soil must be replaced with composted organic materials, the integrity of the soil must be maintained, and the every living creature should receive all necessities needed to thrive. This is all achieved through utilizing the natural processes that generate food on this planet. Viewing your farm Biodynamically promotes a more holistic approach to management practices that in the end create delicious, nutrient dense food at an exceedingly lower environmental cost.

Biodynamic Agriculture is similar to Organic Agriculture in many ways; however, the holistic management of a Biodynamic farm takes into account cosmic and terrestrial forces that have been scientifically proven to affect life on Earth in many ways. This allows the farmer to produce the best crop when it is easiest to do so at the least cost to the surrounding environment. Biodynamic Farming can be understood as being a literal combination of the words "Biological" and "Dynamic".

The "Biological" aspects of the farm are dealt with in many of the same ways as they would be on an Organic Farm. The "Dynamic" aspects of the farm rely more on the symbiotic relationships of the farm, the closed loops, and anything done to adapt the farm to the natural rhythms of the Earth. Some examples of the "Biological" practices include: Tillage, Cultivation, Composting, Integrating Crops and Livestock, Green Manure, and Cover Cropping. Some examples of the more "Dynamic" practices include: Foliar Sprays, Compost Preparations, Planting by the Cosmic Calendar, Radionics, and Homeopathy.

Check out Farmer D Organics' Biodynamic products!

Captain Planet Xmas Party

2009-12-10T11:08:00.005-05:00

Come support our partner Captain Planet Foundation at their annual Xmas party this Friday night 12/11/09!

Besides being a whole lot of fun, this party raises important funds that are used as seed money for hand-on environmental projects for youth in the form of grants throughout the year. We are also in full-swing with Captain Planet's Learning Garden Program that teaches children core subjects through planting, maintaining and harvesting a school garden.

We all know what an important role each of us play in saving the planet! As Captain Planet says, "The power is yours!" Please help educate and empower others to do their part.

Go to the Captain Planet Xmas Party Site to buy tickets today!

Extending Your Growing Season

2009-12-01T09:50:00.010-05:00

There are several tools and techniques that can lengthen the growing season, making it possible to begin earlier in the spring and end later in the fall. Three easy ways to increase the productivity of your plot are cold frames, cloches, and greenhouses.

Cold frames serve as one of the easiest methods of extension with the most applications. A cold frame is a simple structure that generates warmth from the sun and blocks out unfavorable weather. The sun is concentrated through a transparent cover that causes a greenhouse effect. This heats the interior of the cold frame and provides the plants with a more temperate environment. Cold frames are most commonly used to extend the growing season one to three months. The top door is put on hinges so that the transparent cover can be lifted on warm or sunny days, preventing the interior environment from getting too hot for the plants. Heat cables can also be added to cold frames to create what are called "hot boxes." These boxes can be used to start seedlings outside as opposed to starting seeds inside under artificial lighting.

Cloches are plastic or frost cloth, portable hoops that can be placed over rows of plants for protection from colder weather. Metal or plastic pipes are bent into a series of hoops that are stuck into the ground or attached to a raised bed. The hoops are covered with 4-6 millimeter polyethylene or frost cloth which is tucked into the soil along the sides. This addition to your garden can provide six to eight weeks of additional growing time in the spring and the fall. On warm days, cloches must be ventilated just as you would a cold frame. This is done by opening top sections of the plastic cover or lifting the ends of the cloche from the soil.

Greenhouse are the biggest, most complex structures generally used to extend the growing season. They have several uses and can keep you growing year round. Greenhouses are excellent for starting seeds, holding over plants to serve as "parent" plants the following season, increasing the diversity of plants that can be grown in the off season, and can generate a continuous supply of vegetable growth. Greenhouses are typically made with a glass or plastic roof and frequently glass or plastic walls. The structure produces heat as the solar radiation from the sun heats the plants and soil inside the covering and the heat is trapped, thereby heating the air inside. These structures are generally permanent, whereas some of the smaller season extenders can be moved from planting to planting.

Farmer D Organics is now carrying Heaven's Glow Greenhouses made out of fiber glass with an easy assemble frame! These houses are not only beautiful features in the garden or backyard, they promote a growing season that lasts all year long! Come into a Farmer D Garden Center today and ask about our cold frames, cloches, and greenhouses or call (404)325.0128. If you have any further season extension questions, email us at info@farmerd.com.

Green Holidays with Farmer D Organics

2009-11-23T13:03:00.006-05:00

Happy Holidays from the Farmer D Organics Team!

The Farmer D Team is very excited for the Holiday Season that is finally upon us! Both of our retail stores are packed with discounted merchandise that are perfect holiday gifts for the green thumb family member or friend. We have a great selection of gear; everything from seeds to tools, composters to compost, and kids toys made out of recycled material! The most popular garden kits to go, compost bins, and soil are all being offered at a 20% discount. All seeds, gift cards, tape measures, and other stocking stuffers are 15% off and a selection of our fruiting trees, native plants, and perennials are now 10% off!

This sale will end on Christmas day, so get planting gear for less and be ready for the busy Spring planting season! Visit our Norcross location to check out our nearly 2 week old chicks. Chickens make a great present for a family interested in having delicious, homegrown eggs from their backyard everyday. Cultivating relationships with your food is not only fun, it is a great way to take control of your family's nutrition!

These great savings can also be found on our website under the "Holiday Gifts" tab on the left navigation panel. If you can't make it into one of our locations, order your holiday gifts online and have them shipped out same day!

White House Chef Stands up for Children's Nutrition

2009-11-05T15:50:00.011-05:00

An article written in the New York Times last week outlined the role of Chef Sam Kass who serves as the personal chef to the Obama family in the White House. Chef Sam Kass has had no formal training in the culinary arts and has sculpted his career from his sheer passion for cooking and the nutritional benefits of eating a healthy, local diet.

When he isn't cooking for the family from their garden, he is tackling policy surrounding the development of the School food system and the presence of diseases that are plaguing children caused by their unhealthy modern diets. He spends his time becoming familiar with the problems associated with the American diet and lobbies the senior White House staff to adapt laws and policies towards the protection of children's health through proper nutrition. His voice within the walls of the White House continues to help bring about change and serves as an inspiration to all of us who can take similar stands every day.

Read the entire article.

One thing that can be done to help children gain access to local, healthy foods is install an organic garden at their schools. Farmer D Organics is proud to continually install organic gardens at schools across Atlanta, hoping to give every child in the city the option of eating healthy, organic foods they grow themselves.

Learn how to get a Farmer D Organic Garden into your child's school today.

Congressman Lewis and NCAA student-athletes Garden with Farmer D

2009-10-27T13:58:00.006-04:00

On October 24th, over 135 NCAA student-athletes went to Mary Lin Elementary where they worked alongside Farmer D Organics, 150 elementary students, teachers, parents and local volunteers. They planted garden beds and made improvements to the outdoor classrooms and play spaces. The remaining student-athletes, students and volunteers went to Burgess-Peterson where they planted garden beds and improved the playgrounds and playing fields.

NCAA and Farmer D Organics worked together to provide 11 garden beds, plants, soil for Mary Lin and 2 trailer loads of soil for Burgess Peterson, two of the Atlanta Public schools with edible school gardens.

Congressman John Lewis attended the event by request of Farmer D Organics School Liaison, Ashley Rouse. He came to the event to support the community service work conducted by the NCAA athletes and to be a representative for positive social change through action. Congressman Lewis has helped to protect human rights and secure civil liberties in the United States through his leadership during the Civil Rights Movement. His presence at the event inspired all of us to take action for the things we believe; that being organic, nutritious food for our youngest generations.

Camphill Village

2009-10-14T13:14:00.004-04:00

During a recent trek to New York, I was lucky enough to visit the Rudolph Steiner influenced living community Camphill Village in Copake. This village was established to provide a working, responsible, and loving home to adults with disabilities and provides them an opportunity at a healthy, holistic, and balanced life. The teachings of Rudoph Steiner, the Austrian scientist and educator responsible for our understanding of Biodynamics, is the central voice in the philosophy of anthroposophy applied to every individual's daily life within the community. Anthroposophy, when applied to the village, means in short that a tight knit community of individuals is created in order to maintain the spiritual integrity of all of its members, especially those in need.

The village is made up of around 20 houses where volunteers and "villagers" (those with special needs) make their homes together. There is a biodynamic farm that provides much of the food for the community and countless learning experiences for all involved. The villagers are encouraged to learn to take responsibility of their futures through daily exercises in therapy, projects geared towards the upkeep of the village, and through interacting socially with a loving community. The volunteers are not paid a salary and generally participate in the program out of the urge to do good work and help those in need.

Below is a video I took while walking through the bakery at Camphill Village. The bakery, cafe, coffee shop and gift shop are popular stops for visitors interested in learning about the community and are open to the public during certain hours. Going to any of these locations is a great way to meet volunteers and villagers alike as well as try their tasty, homemade treats.

Click here to learn more about the Camphill Village community.

Laura Turner Seydel's Eco-Manor Garden

2009-10-11T12:39:00.007-04:00

Long time environmental activist and community builder Laura Turner Seydel has carried on the lessons of her father, Ted Turner, and spent a lifetime pursuing sustainability and an eco-sensitive lifestyle. She has put her efforts into transitioning the city of Atlanta towards a more aware and conscious population, focusing on recycling, clean water and air, composting, and living light for the benefit of creatures and humans alike. Just one of her accomplishments throughout her active lifetime is the constructing of the Eco Manor.

The Eco Manor was built in 2007 and serves as the family home to Laura, her husband Rutherford, and their three children. It is a LEED certified home, the first of it's kind in the Southeast, and serves as a blue print for home owners, architects, and interior designers looking to create a healthy, eco-friendly lifestyle for themselves and or their clients. Farmer D Organics was commissioned to build an organic garden that was not only beautiful to look at, but provided the family with nutritious edibles.

The raised beds were built complete with fall vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. As part of the green building methods employed in the Eco-Manor's construction, the old drywall and other construction debris were filled in above the garage and basement to create a platform for the backyard. This area was the only space with enough sunlight for the garden. The beds were built in tiers with landscape fabric bases to avoid planting directly into the fill soil. This not only offered enough room for the plants to grow, but a beautiful showcase of the fall vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers that would be harvested for their family meals.

To learn how to get your own organic, eco-friendly garden, visit us today!

Harvard Goes Organic

2009-10-06T10:44:00.009-04:00

The New York Times ran an article last week about the advancements Harvard University has made towards organic lawn care and landscaping throughout their campus. The switch from synthetic fertilizers to organic compost and compost teas has spread from one acre to 25 acres with hopes of transitioning all 80 acres of grass and plants within two years. The root systems of the grass carpeting the manicured lands of the Harvard campus have reached down six inches into the soil. At one point this soil was so compacted it was unable to support the new root growth of trees, causing them to wither and eventually die. To read the entire article, click here.

It is always exciting when colleges and institutions of higher learning take steps towards more sustainable practices. Utilizing composting systems and compost teas are not only beneficial when organically caring for large lawns and landscaping projects, but just as easy and rejuvenating on your own personal property. Going about transitioning from conventional, chemical treatments of your lawn to organic practices will not only help the natural, beneficial organisms on your property thrive, but also eliminates the presence of chemicals in your child's play area or the parts of your yard you choose to relax. Farmer D Organics offers several products that can help with the everyday lawn problem.

In order to have healthy grass, you need to have healthy soil. The Farmer D Organics product line is a fast track towards that goal. Farmer D Organics Signature Biodynamic Blend Organic Compost is a Demeter certified biodynamic compost that is ideal for rejuvenating the beneficial biology,critical to fostering healthy soils. On top of our compost, soil, and other amendments, we offer brewed compost tea and a variety of different composting systems for every price range. To view some of these options click here.

The Farmer D Organics staff is dedicated to helping people feel empowered about their green spaces. If you have any questions or concerns about your landscaping needs, garden needs, or lawn care, visit our contact us page and send us an email with your story.

Harvard isn't the only one in the New York Times! Check out Farmer D's new article.

Introducing Backyard Cultivators

2009-09-24T14:01:00.010-04:00

The launch of our newest service has us all busy as bees here at Farmer D Organics. Coming this fall we will be extending our garden installation program into a weekly service where our educated staff return and help maintain the integrity of your garden plot!

Here's how it works... You contact us concerning your ideas for your upcoming vegetable, fruit, and or herb garden, and we'll come look at your property, write up a plan, and test your soil. After we've had enough time to review all of the information and feel comfortable with our plan, we'll contact you back with the actual design of the garden and a quote that covers the materials and labor. We will agree on a date and show up ready to "grow" and begin setting up your garden complete with Farmer D Organics Raised Beds, Farmer D Biodynamic Soil Mix, organic fertilizer, plants, seeds, drip irrigation, and more. After you have your dream garden in place, we'll send Farmer D Organics garden specialists every week to make sure your garden is growing and healthy to serve you, your family, school, and or business. If you would like to put in a composting or worm system, we'll set it up and make sure it works. If you want to put in a chicken coop, we'll set it up and make sure they're healthy and cluckin'. We'll even harvest your produce or teach you some quick tips for knowing how and when to pick your goods!

This program is specifically designed for the hard working american who wants to eat fresh, delicious treats, but doesn't have the time to grow it. It not only provides healthy food right from your own soil, but it saves money at the grocery store and in the gas tank. If you are worried that setting up a garden right before the winter is a bad idea, don't be! There are several plants that can withstand the temperate, Georgia winter and besides, having your garden set up in the down time of the winter makes spring planting a piece of organic strawberry shortcake. Farmer D Organics gets pretty busy in the spring and you never know when we'd be able to schedule a visit. Contacting us about this exciting new program early is taking one step closer to healthy food, the natural way, right in your own backyard.

Send us an email for more information!

Hanging with Alice Waters

2009-09-23T12:51:00.006-04:00

Spent the morning with Alice Waters and Marsha Guerrero, Director, Special Projects for Chez Panisse Foundation. We toured the Children's School Garden and the Morningside Elementary Garden and cafeteria. It was fun to walk in the cafeteria and hear lots of kids shout hey Farmer D, remembering me from our planting day in the garden a few weeks back. It was such a pleasure to meet Alice, Marsha and Craig St. John, who is an Emory Alumni and now a TV producer in Los Angeles. We had a vibrant discussion about best practices in school gardens, chef cooking lessons and much more. We are very excited to work with the Edible Schoolyard, Feed and Seed, Slow Food and lots of other great local and national organizations to help get better food in schools and inspire the youth to be healthy stewards of the planet and their bodies. Here's a picture of the Morningside Garden after all the rains, it held up really well.

Seattle trip

2009-09-16T21:30:00.007-04:00

This past weekend I went up to Seattle, WA for my good friend, Ronny Bell's, wedding. Ronny and I met at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 1995 and when I told him I was working on an organic farm near Madison, WI where we both happened to be living at the time, he asked to come check it out upon our return. Ronny came out to the Prairie Dock Farm, where I did my first apprenticeship, and he decided that day he was going to work in the organic food business. After swatting mosquitos for me as I raked in rows of cover crop, he thought farming may not be his cup of tea, so he started an organic home delivery business that grew to serve well over 3000 families. So as you can imagine, the wedding was very organic and his best man was Andrew founding Farmer of Full Circle Farm, a 240 acre organic farm serving over 8000 families in Washington and Alaska! Andrew was nice enough to take me on a personal tour of the farm with his wonderful wife and children and allow me to go grocery picking along the tour. Here are a few pics of Andrew's farm, the amazing wedding venue, which is a Paul Newman Hole in the Wall Camp for children with special needs. This incredible place is called Camp Korey and is the site of the original Carnation Dairy and Nestle retreat headquarters. The people there were truly amazing and passionate about their work.

Another wonderful and passionate person I met along the way is Amy Pennington of GoGoGreen Garden and founder of Urban Garden Share. After giving up my plane seat to a soldier who clearly needed it more than me, I found myself with a free unplanned day in Seattle. Amy was nice enough to step away from writing her soon to come out book and took me on an amazing tour of Seattle's community gardens, the arboretum and an organic restaurant called Tilth. Another restaurant we stopped at for cocktails and a rooftop garden tour. This cool rooftop garden was put in by my new friend, Colin, of the Seattle Urban Farm Co. who run a similar business to Farmer D Organics of creating and tending urban gardens. Oh, how I love Seattle!

Torah Day School Garden

2009-09-10T22:45:00.004-04:00

Today we planted the gardens at Torah Day School in Atlanta with the help of all 350 children. Each class came out for about 20 minutes starting at 9am and non-stop until after 3pm. The children all learned how to plant seeds, transplants, potatoes and garlic as Farmer D demonstrated techniques in the community tended Social Justice garden. All of the food grown in this garden will be donated to a food bank, which is in keeping with the biblical Jewish law of PEAH, which requires farmers to leave the corners of their fields for the poor. Each class planted and watered their garden bed and enjoyed eating sorrel "lemon" leaves, edible violas and more.

Garden pics from Morningside Elementary

2009-09-10T22:42:00.005-04:00

Here are a few pics from our garden install and planting at Morningside Elementary School.

Morningside Elementary School Garden

2009-09-07T09:29:00.004-04:00

This is a great example of collaboration, whereby Farmer D Organics, Whole Foods, Murphy's Restaurant and Morningside Elementary school worked together to raise the funds and put in a beautiful garden that was planted by the children and will be utilized by the school for years to come. Farmer D Organics built the beds and provided all the soil and fertilizer, which had to be hauled by hand up a large staircase to the garden site. Whole Foods Briarcliff staff came out and helped clear the land, put the beds in place, level them and fill with soil and fertilizer. The following day, Farmer D staff (Ashley, Whit and Farmer D) worked with each class in the school to plant the garden with a wide variety of vegetables, herbs and flowers. Some of the children planted seeds, such as radishes, carrots, beets, arugula and others transplanted kale, collards, broccoli, lettuces, violas and more. It was a great day and we are excited to help ensure this garden succeeds for years to come. And yes that is a cabbage leaf on the head of this young farmer in training.

Community Garden Conference

2009-08-10T17:15:00.002-04:00

I just returned home from a long weekend in Columbus, OH where I attended the American Community Gardening Association's national conference. There were 40 of us from Atlanta that chartered a bus up there and back with financial support from Robert Mondavi's Woodbridge winery. The conference was a vibrant gathering of passionate people working to foster the widespread growth of community gardens throughout the United States. I was especially impressed with the work going on in Detroit, Maryland, Los Angeles, Ohio and even the USDA! I brought a great deal of valuable information back with me that I look forward to putting to work here in the Southeast, especially Atlanta. In other news, I spent the day today piloting a composting program at a cafeteria in an Atlanta Public School with the help of Sodexo in hopes of replicating this program throughout Georgia. We separated and collected about 40 lbs of fruit and vegetables scraps (mostly apples and oranges) which went into the school's new JORA composter.
MNN also launched two new Farmer D In the Field videos.

Farmer D in Fortune Magazine online

2009-07-23T18:01:00.005-04:00

Check out this cool little piece in Fortune Magazine online today about 6 young farmers, including yours truly.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/fortune/0907/gallery.farmers_organic_local_young.fortune/2.html

This sprouted from the Top 40 under 40 Young Farmer piece MNN ran last week.

http://www.mnn.com/food/farms-gardens/stories/40-farmers-under-40-nos-11-20

Trip to Grayton Beach

2009-07-21T18:04:00.002-04:00

Well most people head down to Grayton Beach for vacation to lay on the white sand beaches and swim in the crystal blue waters. I on the other hand was so fortunate to head down there on business to consult for a developer and conservationist to help look at the potential for establishing a few organic and biodynamic farms in the area. While the weekend was packed with meetings, site visits, presentations and meals, I did find the time to sneak in a few ocean swims and sunsets on the beach. Wow, is it ever beautiful down there in South Walton County!

My presentation to about 25 local business people, environmentalists, ecologists, chef's and reporters was well received and it looks like there will be a nice story in the Walton Sun newspaper later this week about it. Speaking of which, there is a story in Atlanta Magazine that just ran this month highlighting my recent ventures. I have yet to see or read it but heard rumor of a rather sexy title that I will try my best to ignore (and not let go to my head).

Anyway, back to Florida. The trip was amazing and the projects have HUGE potential and have my wheels turning as the visioning session begins to unfold as to what can be done there. More on that later as it develops. One of the projects I was working on is called Nokuse Plantation (www.nokuse.org) where the E.O. Wilson Center is being built to educate youth about conservation and much more (www.eowilsoncenter.org). It was awesome getting the opportunity to meet and spend time with MC Davis, the visionary behind both and an inspirational conservationist and entrepreneur. Here is a pic of me enjoying myself at Cowford Farms on an old International sipping a cold one, obviously in my element.

Lunch and Learn with Souper Jenny

2009-07-02T19:50:00.002-04:00

There is so much to catch up on! The past month has been a bit wild with my computer in crash mode and my soul in replenishment mode. The blogosphere has been a distant reality that I have been keeping at a distance for no good reason. Well, my intention is to be more disciplined about blogging in general and specifically focusing on more practical information about how to grow your organic garden. I also just bought a Flip camera so keep an eye out for some fun video coming soon (as soon as I learn how to use it!). I have been pretty good about twittering as that only relies on me having my iPhone around, which is way too often for the good of my auric field. Check me out on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Farmer_D. The photo here is from a really great Lunch and Learn Souper Jenny and I recently did at her house. We put in four raised bed gardens 4'x8' and Jenny prepared a delicious lunch for the participants to chow down on while I broke down some knowledge on putting in an organic Spring garden. We are already planning a harvest lunch and learn follow up at her house for September. We are also finally getting some workshops on the calendar for July, which you can sign up for at http://www.farmerd.com/product/garden_workshops/farmer_d_workshops.

Spring harvest

2009-05-27T16:43:00.002-04:00

A bed of yummy lettuce and onions ready to harvest! These beautiful veggies are growing out of one of our raised beds that is set right alongside Briarcliff Rd.

Abundant Spring

2009-05-07T18:56:00.003-04:00

Not much time for blogging these days as you can tell. We have been pleasantly busy setting up gardens at homes, schools, community gardens, restaurants and of course at our retail store on Briarcliff & Lavista. We are thrilled with the positive responses we are getting both from our retail & online customers as well as all the successful Gardeners who are using our biodynamic soil & cedar raised beds. To keep up with my business, check out Farmer_d on twitter. I'll be linking lots of new photos of recent gardens and events here on the blog as well as at farmerd.com. Check out our in the new section on the web to see our recent press on CNN, Fox 5 and South Magazine. Thanks for joining us on greening the Southeast! Be sure to celebrate International Compost Awareness Week by starting a new pile, turning an old one or come to our store and get some compost to spread all over!

Breaking ground on the Greyfield Inn Farm

2009-04-14T17:55:00.004-04:00

Greyfield Inn Garden Transformation photo blog. The food grown here will be used by the chefs at the inn and will serve as a farm-to-table venue for guest chefs and farmers. In addition to the intense garden work that got done, we had a few animal spirit encounters from a bee sting therapy session to a leg-less lizard.

Blog Bomb

2009-03-29T15:20:00.007-04:00

It has been weeks since I last blogged and that is for a few reasons. One, I do not have internet in my new house and two because I have been so busy it keeps getting put off. So, I am about to drop a blog bomb with a bunch of photos of recent projects. The past week has been a blur of goodness starting with the Georgia Organics conference and leading into a series of garden installs, farm visits/consults and kids gardening programs around Atlanta and Savannah.

Photos in order.
-Kindergardeners from Savannah Country Day School planting potatoes at Hampton Island
-The Farm team at Grefyfield Inn, Cumberland Island
-Farmer D heading over to Cumberland Island by Ferry with his organic veggie plants
-Seed planting workshop at Farmer D Organics Garden Center
-Pike's Nursery in Buckhead stocking up on Farmer D Raised Beds
-Jewish Funds For Justice volunteers from Vermont working on the Avondale farm in Savannah, planting a row for the hungry

Hoop House is Up!

2009-03-10T09:07:00.004-04:00

It's nothing fancy, but our new hoop house is going to be very helpful for stepping up plug flats of veggies, herbs and flowers into bigger pots for sale. This hoop house is about as economical as you can get. It's made from cattle fence panels, 2x6's and rebar with a standard 6-mil cover. Total cost of materials was at about $500 before end walls, which we will construct with plywood and 2x4's. We have plenty of potting up to do with our thousands of baby plants here now that need more space to stretch their roots and leaves out. Today we will be potting up Cracoviensis lettuce, Chinese Cabbage, Lacinato Kale and Packman Broccoli from 200 cell plugs into 2.5" coconut fiber pots. If you are looking to get your hands dirty we are trading labor for store credit to people who can help us do some potting.

Farmer D Compost in Pike's Nursery!

2009-03-09T21:23:00.003-04:00

It's a dream come true! Farmer D Organics Biodynamic Blend Organic Compost is now officially available at Pike's Nursery in Charlotte, NC! We are thrilled to be a part of the new Pike's team and being a partner in their pursuit of sustainability. You can now find a wide range of organic products at Pike's stores, including Farmer D Organics compost and cedar raised beds! Our new friend, Jaiy Geno (pictured here with D) is excited to start educating Pike's customers about the value of compost, raised beds and organic/biodynamic practices along with our closed loop story of taking agricultural and food residuals and transforming them into Biodynamic Compost for the soil. Farmer D Organics compost and raised bed 'Gardens to Go' will be available at all 16 Pike stores in the next few weeks so drop in and check us out!

Caring for Creation symposium

2009-02-28T17:41:00.002-05:00

Today I participated in a Caring for Creation Symposium at Mercer University, hosted by the Harvard School of Health and the Global Environment. The theme of the symposium was bringing together the academic sciences and faith community to address the issue of climate change. I led two break out sessions looking at the impacts of sustainable agriculture on climate change, social justice and environmental ethics. It was a rich dialogue that stimulated much conversation and ideas on how to bring urban agriculture into churches and schools as a way for inspiring young people to care for creation and take better care of themselves and their communities in the process..

Farmer D Compost in da "House"

2009-02-15T14:46:00.003-05:00

Funny the places my compost finds itself. This week a bag of Farmer D Organics Compost made it's debut on the floor of the House Gallery at City Hall in downtown Atlanta as the highlight product of the Sustainability Forum. This was part of a resolution promoting and supporting sustainable and environmentally friendly businesses in Georgia. You will have to look closely to see the bag on the podium as taking photos is not allowed, but I had to sneak one with my iphone. Don't tell please:)

Best of Show!

2009-01-28T22:37:00.017-05:00

Today was our debut as an exhibitor in the discovery section at the Southeastern Horticultural Society's Flower Show in Atlanta. Our theme was "The Backyard Farm" with an emphasis on creating sustainable soil and food producing gardens. We knocked this one out of the park and won 5 awards plus Best in Show. Not bad for a first time showing. We had hundreds of people come through our garden today and many of them learned that they can grow an abundance of organic food in a small space when using raised beds, Biodynamic Compost and a little guidance. It was a great learning experience for us as well to hear what people's questions and concerns were. We are so excited to help people grow their own food and promote more sustainable and productive uses of people's backyards (and front-yards for the rebels). Our awards included, The Governors Trophy, Bulkley Medal Garden Club of America, Pike Family Nurseries "Play in the Dirt" Award, Certificate of Excellence in Conservation Award Garden Club of America and the Caroline Paullin Minnich Trophy. Very exciting!

Mother Nature Network Launch!

2009-01-13T09:53:00.003-05:00

I am thrilled and honored to be part of a national education and awareness website called Mother Nature Network, www.mnn.com, that's mission is to become the place to go on the web for learning about everything and anything to do with the sustainability movement that is sweeping the globe. The team that has been put together on this is a superstar cast of talented individuals and companies who have the ability to take us into a new paradigm where our economy, ecology and society can thrive through innovation in green technology. By technology, I am not just talking about hybrid cars and solar energy, but also primitive technology in sustainable farming practices and simple things like composting. We as a society have moved so far away from the basic principles of sustainability that it is absolutely critical we begin to move in that direction as a critical mass rather than a fringe group of activists. The only way to do that is by making things like recycling, composting and organic farming easy and accessible to everyone. This is much easier said than done. Nonetheless, I am committed to finding solutions to the myriad of problems that exist today and MNN.com is a powerful vehicle for getting the masses educated, empowered and engaged in this extremely important work. Please spend some time on the site and enrich yourself with its diverse content and vibrant personalities. Also, keep an eye on farmerd.com as we are getting very close to launching our newly designed online-store in a matter of days!

Grand Opening - Farmer D Organics Garden Center

2008-12-20T18:52:00.005-05:00

The flagship Farmer D Organics Garden Center is now open! It is amazing how much can get done when a deadline is set. It was about a month ago when we announced our opening day would be Dec. 15th and so the past few weeks have been crazy getting all the final pieces put together in time. We just managed to pull it off and have been open for almost a week without any major hiccups. Our first day was a bit scary as we hadn't quite finalized our business license and did not want to open without it. After three straight days in the Dekalb County offices, we managed to get all the proper documents, site plans, etc. to get our permits and be official for opening day, well by lunch on opening day anyway. Talk about cutting it close! The store is looking great and people have been very excited when they come in the store to see all the cool stuff we are selling. While we do have alot of things set up, there are many exciting things yet to come. We now carry compost and worm bins, organic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, seeds and plants, eco-friendly pots, quality tools for adults and kids, raised wooden beds, bulk soil, drip irrigation supplies, organic chicken feed and supplies, garden carts and more. We are about to set up a super cool compost tea brewer and will have compost tea available very soon. We are also going to set up a chicken brooder in the store and coop in the back and will have baby chicks and full-grown layers for sale. Our next big endeavor now that the retail store is up and running in the newly designed FarmerD.com website with a comprehensive organic online store, which should be up in 3-4 weeks. Keep checking back to www.farmerd.com to see the new site, it is really awesome! In the meantime, come down to the store at 2154 Briarcliff Rd. diagonal from Whole Foods and check us out! We are open Mon-Fri 9-5:30, Sat. 10-5 and Sun. 11-4.

School Garden Update at SCDS

2008-11-17T20:26:00.004-05:00

Here is a follow up picture from the September 12th blog entry of the garden at Savannah Country Day School. Science teacher extraordinaire, Bill Eswine is putting his class to work on planting fall greens in their new garden that is almost two feet deep with Farmer D Organics Biodynamic Compost Blend. It is going to be exciting to see these veggies go off!

Greenhouse tomatoes

2008-11-17T20:16:00.003-05:00

One of these days I am actually going to keep up with this blog! It did not help that my desktop computer and backup hard drive were stolen out of my home recently. This is where all my pictures were stored, so unfortunately many of the great photos I had thought of blogging about are now gone. Oh well! Time to fill up on some new memories I suppose.

Here is a classic picture of Eliot Coleman kicking down the knowledge about growing greenhouse tomatoes in Maine. Eliot is a seasoned organic grower and master of innovation who has developed some really cool tools and moveable greenhouses. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Elliot at his farm and at a nearby restaurant that served his fresh veggies. I cherish these rare opportunities to share wine and stories with the pioneers of our movement.

River Farm update

2008-10-12T22:04:00.003-04:00

The first garden at River Farm has been cranking out tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, salad greens, beans, beets and more! Ben has done a great job of getting the soils amended, the clover pathways established and is keeping things coming with successional plantings. In addition to getting the garden going, Ben has been busy keeping the baby chicks healthy and happy, while building them a coop to move into when they outgrow their box. He's also been making apple cider, setting up morel mushroom beds and volunteering one day a week in the garden at the St. Francis school. We had a big fundraiser at River Farm for the Nature Conservancy a few weeks back, where I had the great honor of chatting with Wendell Berry for 45 minutes. He has been a longstanding hero of mine and what a treat to meet him and get his opinion on the state of things. Ben has a nice fall crop planted and is working on putting in a 1/4 acre of garlic and some winter cover crops. We will be busy building a barn and greenhouse this winter as well as setting up the irrigation and more permanent fencing.

Turkey Wrestling

2008-09-12T16:56:00.002-04:00

I took this photo a few days ago while transplanting some young brassica plants (kale, cauliflower and the like) with our newest farmer at Hampton Island, Cory Mosser. Cory and I were joined by this turkey who decided to peck out our newly transplanted veggies right in front of our noses. Cory nicely escorted the turkey away from the garden bed and then decided he would pick him up. Andy, our other farmer on site has a close relationship with this turkey and picks him up often with no problems. I think he and Cory are still getting to know each other!

School Garden

2008-09-12T16:50:00.002-04:00

Farmer D Organics is helping Savannah Country Day School (SCDS) go even greener with a new organic garden. SCDS launched a green initiative whereby they have built a new LEED certified green science building with greenhouse and organic garden. The photo above was taken just yesterday of the garden area before the arrival of Farmer D Organics Biodynamic Blend Organic Compost. Keep checking back here to see this garden come to life!

Jewish Funds for Justice at Trustees Garden

2008-09-02T07:49:00.005-04:00

This week a group of Jewish Funds for Justice volunteers came from Atlanta to Savannah to do service work by helping with the Trustees Garden Community Food Project Grant. They worked hard digging beds, planting seeds and laying down irrigation lines. The seeds they planted will feed the homeless and provide an educational venue for people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds. The JFJ group also cooked a gourmet farm-fresh meal for a dozen of Union Mission's respite care patients with the help of Cha Bella's kitchen and chef/owner Matthew Roher. As seen in the picture they enjoyed digging away at the oldest public agricultural experimentation garden in America.

Do Good Gardens

2008-09-02T07:29:00.005-04:00

Farmer D, Amanda and Ryne hauling Farmer D Organics compost from the parking lot to the Ronald McDonald House Garden at the Memorial Hospital Campus in Savannah.
The past few months Farmer D Organics has been busy growing good karma gardens as part of the company's mission and Community Food Project grant with partner Union Mission. One of the latest new garden's in the works in addition to the Trustees Garden, is the Ronald McDonald House in Savannah. The mission of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Coastal Empire is to create, find and support programs that directly enhance the health and well-being of children and families. Since 1987, the Savannah Ronald McDonald House has served more than 5,000 families with critically ill or injured children by providing them a "Home away from home" during their time of need. The average length of stay is three days, although many families stay longer depending on their child’s illness. The organic garden will provide a comforting place where residents can occupy themselves with therapeutic activities in the garden, rest and reflect amongst the beautiful garden and eat fresh food that they pick themselves. Here is a picture of myself, Amanda and Ryne hauling Farmer D Organics compost into the garden using shovels and wheelbarrows while the rain came down making our task a bit more interesting.

Volunteer Gardeners rock out Trustees

2008-07-24T21:31:00.002-04:00

A few weeks back, this group of volunteers from a church in South Carolina, rocked out the upper garden at Trustees by digging out a bunch of weeds in preparation for a large planting of the historic herbs and flowers that grew here 265 years ago. Once they dug up all these weeds, they brought them to the valley compost pile and mixed them with the horse manure stock-piled there.

First seeds sown at Trustees Garden

2008-07-24T21:24:00.003-04:00

The first vegetable planting was done by these two super cute girls who are participants in the Community Food Project grant at Trustees Garden. The okra and southern peas they planted have come up and are growing well. Tomorrow I am heading over there first thing to set up a drip irrigation system to ensure the little okra babies get what they need in the way of water. Meanwhile, the cover crop is growing like gangbusters, which is a great sign of things to come in the oldest, newest agricultural experimentation garden in America!

Trustees Farmers Market is Launched

2008-06-20T18:04:00.004-04:00

Our first farmers market at Trustees Garden was a huge success, considering the minimal marketing that was done. The next market is planned for July 2nd from 4-7pm and will be much cooler thanks to the addition of some big fans. We will be hosting the market the first Wednesday of the month through September and will go every week starting with GreenFest on September 13th. The market will have local organic farmers, restaurants, artists, green organizations, games, animals, gardening and live music. Come one, come all!

Trustees Garden Groundbreaking

2008-05-24T18:59:00.004-04:00

This week marks the monumental groundbreaking of Trustees Garden, the oldest public agricultural experimentation garden in America! As you can tell in the picture, the soil has been compacted and neglected for over 250 years and now is the time to bring it back to life! On May 23rd, 2008 over 60 yards of Farmer D Organics Biodynamic Blend Compost was added to this garden to begin the process of bringing it to back to life. There are so many aspects to this project that I am not going to try to cover now, however, the first big event is our June 4th debut Blue-Green Festival, which will be a collection of organic farmers, eco-artists and bluegrass musicians. Come on down from 4-7pm on Wednesday June 4th at the east end of Broughton St. in downtown Savannah to celebrate the revitalization of the Trustees Garden and stay tuned for more.

Dylan's Garden

2008-05-24T18:55:00.003-04:00

Passing on the passion to the next generation is a duty I take great pleasure in. This picture is of a recent garden I constructed for my nephew Dylan, aka Lil' Farmer D. I was inspired to create a "Dylan" garden and figured if it said his name it would get his attention. My theory proved true and I have a feeling this won't be the last alphabetical garden these hands dig. Here Dylan is beckoning the nature spirits with his shovel to nourish his newly planted tomato plants.

Farmer D Compost Hits Whole Foods

2008-04-30T14:10:00.003-04:00

The hard work has finally come to fruition as the display units with bags of compost are now at the front entrance of every Whole Foods Market in the Southeast! What a great feeling to have created a model of sustainable business practices by closing the loop with Whole Foods green waste. Is also wonderful to provide gardeners and farmers with a superior organic/biodynamic compost for them to use in their gardens, landscapes, lawns and houseplants. The past two weeks I have been busy building and planting gardens in and around numerous Whole Foods stores with the help of pre-schoolers and at-risk teen girls. All of the programs went very well and I even managed a few slots on Dave FM radio letting people know what Farmer D Organics Biodynamic Blend Compost is and why they need it in their garden this Spring!

Compost Celebration!

2008-04-09T17:12:00.005-04:00

Today marks a monumental beginning for Farmer D Organics. After two years of coordination, planning and lots of composting today we bagged the first batch of Farmer D Organics Biodynamic Blend Organic Compost made with Whole Foods green waste. This is one of those times where it is vital to step back and savor the moment, celebrating the success of something that has required tremendous effort. Once I catch my breath, I realize it's time to get the compost out to the people! Friday April 11th, 22 pallets with over 2000 bags of Farmer D Organics compost will head to Whole Foods new distribution center in Braselton, GA. From there the bags will be divided among 18 Southeastern Whole Foods stores where they will be presented in beautiful hand-made reclaimed wood displays. More on that coming soon!

Compost launch coming soon

2008-02-27T10:52:00.003-05:00

It has been a very busy month, which is why I have been such a slacker with my blog. The launch of the Farmer D Organics Biodynamic Blend Compost is right around the corner and so I have been crazy trying to get ready. The bags are in print production now and should be ready in a few weeks. Once those are in, we can start bagging the compost and getting out there for people to use in their spring gardens. Here on the farm it has been very wet and warm for the past few weeks, which has the perennials and fruit trees waking up from their slumber. I am worried about them as temperatures are going to drop below freezing tonight.

It is also time to be planting seeds in flats for all of our early crops and long-season crops such as tomatoes, peppers, flowers and a succession of spring brassicas. Despite the abundant rains, we managed to squeeze in our potato crop this week. Tomorrow I am off to the Georgia Organics Conference in Dalton, GA, which has sold out with over 600 participants.

Weekly Farm Newsletter 1/3/08

2008-01-28T12:11:00.000-05:00

Harvest Farm Newsletter 1/31/08

Harvest

Carrots
Beets
Turnips
Cabbage
Kale
Mixed cooking greens
Radishes
Green Onions

Field Notes

Our veggies are getting very confused as the past few weeks went from the coldest to warmest January temperatures in many years. The night temperatures dropped down as low as 16 degrees and daytime temperature went as high as 78. The back-to-back nights below 20 degrees did some serious damage to many of our crops. It killed our nasturtiums completely to the ground and damaged the leaves of many of our lettuces, collards, cauliflower, peas mustards and more. Luckily, some of our newer plantings of lettuces and carrots miraculously survived the hard freeze. The larger, tropical plants such as the bananas, castor beans and fruit trees were all frosted and were therefore cut back to the ground.

This week we cooked a batch of cane syrup and finished transplanting over 4000 Vidalia onion plants, some of which are having a hard time recovering from the freeze. The beds with frost-damaged plants were cleared out this week and are getting prepped for our first spring plantings, which included peas, carrots, lettuce, beets, radishes, spinach and more. We received the results from the soil tests from our Rice Patty, which enabled us to go ahead and amend the soil with high calcium limestone and lots of Farmer D compost. We planted the field in winter peas to get some nitrogen and biology in the soil before our first rice planting in April. We also amended the burm around the ricefield as we are going to plant it in sugarcane, citrus trees, herbs and more. We are very excited to be bringing back the heritage Carolina Gold Rice to this property after over 150 years!

The Energizer Cane Syrup

2007-12-30T09:12:00.000-05:00

This was a perfect sugarcane cook off until the fatal final moments when a young boy, Louis, was splashed by a renegade syrup bubble that set off a reaction whereby he accidentally threw a laser thermometer into the pot of boiling cane syrup. In those critical final moments of finishing off the syrup we tried desperately to fish out the thermometer. With no bites from the batteries, we had to empty the finished syrup, which had been cooking for over 4 hours. When we got to the bottom of the pot, the melted thermometer and two AA batteries lay there melted and toxic. Little Louis stood aside as we contemplated what to do with our boiling frustration at his negligence. We had no choice but to laugh it off and make up funny names for our new electric syrup. In my next blog entry I may go into the art of making syrup, bur for now will leave it at that.

Weekly Farm Newsletter 12/14/07

2007-12-14T14:16:00.000-05:00

This week’s harvest is chocked full of vitamin and mineral rich green vegetables that are great for salads and cooking. The Asian salad greens are delicious and packed full of antioxidants. Arugula and mizuna are best chopped in salads, while the tatsoi is great raw or cooked. The pac choi, kale and mustard greens should be lightly steamed, sautéed or braised for maximum benefit. These greens are very high in many of the essential trace minerals necessary for strengthening the immune system and cell health.

Last week in Kentucky at the Acres Conference, I attended a workshop on preventing cancer through nutrition and many of these vegetables were mentioned. The real take home for me was how soil that is biologically active and has balanced soil chemistry is the key to optimum health in plants, animals and humans. All of the key nutrients that plants need to be resistant to pests, disease and drought are the same ones we need to be immune to the myriad of health issues our society suffers from. Here at Hampton Island, we are committed to making sure our soil gets all of the necessary inputs to be as healthy as possible. It is astounding to see how improved our soils are in just two years of intensive cover cropping, composting, green manures and biodynamic preparations. In the first year, a handful of our soil was void of any visible microorganisms, worms or beneficial bacteria and fungi. Today you can scoop up a handful of our garden soil and it is teeming with life and is beginning to have the structure we are striving for.

The biodynamic compost, green manures, compost teas and mulches will continue to improve the soil vitality and nutrient levels, which will yield healthier food for decades to come. One of the greatest differentiators between organic vs. conventional farming is that in chemical dependent farming, the soil biology is degraded resulting in more pests, disease and fertility issues, which require larger more frequent doses of fertilizer, pesticides and fungicides each year. In a biological farming system, the soil gets healthier each year resulting in greater plant resistance to pests, disease, drought and therefore needs less and less inputs making it a more sustainable approach to agriculture.

Tip of the Week
Where we do soil and plant tissue tests every year to better understand what our soil needs to grow healthier crops for optimum human health, we encourage you to do the same for your body. Get your saliva or blood tested to see what minerals you are deficient in and we will help provide you with the right foods to remedy those deficiencies.

Biodynamically yours,

Farmer D

A Lotta Luffa

2007-12-03T10:43:00.000-05:00

The luffa gourd, pictured, here, is a peculiar plant that we have alot of fun with here on the farm. It grows well when given something to climb on and has some adequate space to spread its large leaves. The flowers are yellow and open wide to the sun in the early morning providing a feeding frenzy for the bees. While the luffa is an edible gourd, most people do not grow it for that reason as it is a bitter vegetable that leaves a lot to be desired. Where it really shines is in the bathtub. The luffa, still green in the picture, ripens brown and dry on the vine. At this point it is harvested, peeled, seeds shaken out of the bottom and voila, you are ready to scrub it up. The luffa does an excellent job of exfoliating skin and last a long time when left to dry after each use. We grow a good bit of luffa here because for one we have lots of fences that beg for vining plants and with two spas on property and multiple guest cottages, it is adds a nice touch to the bathrooms around the property. We complement the luffa with a large herbal tea bag for the bath that is filled with our fragrant homegrown herbs, such as lemon geranium, verbena, lavender and lemon eucalyptus. The luffa also reproduces very easily as each gourd produces dozens of seeds, which are easy to save and replant year after year. We are on our third season of growing from our own seed.

Lush green fall

2007-11-20T13:01:00.000-05:00

The seasonal changes remind me of the great journey each year presents. The cool autumn weather has drastically reshaped the landscape as leaves burst forth with colors and the garden changes shades of green. Lush green shoots of peas, clover, vetch and rye cover the garden beds throughout farm as our fall cover crops take root. We are already harvesting the intercropped turnips and rape that are seeded among the cover crop. Other crops that are coming in now include collards, kale, mustards, arugula, salad greens, pac choi, green onions and more. We narrowly escaped the first frost last week as temperatures dipped in to the low 30's, which means we are still harvesting basil, okra, tomatoes and eggplant, though they are all slowing down drastically. Almost all of our sugarcane has been cut and is ready for grinding into syrup this week. We will keep a great deal of the harvest for cuttings next spring in an attempt to increase our production with our goal being to grow enough cane to produce an artisan organic rum here on the farm.

Harvest Barn

2007-10-20T15:05:00.000-04:00

Harvest Barn is no ordinary barn as it stands majestically overlooking Hampton Island Farm's 10 acres of gardens and 70 acres of lakes. It was built two years ago using reclaimed lumber from an 1800's cotton mill in South Carolina. It is flanked by two matching buildings, one the Farm Spa and the other our interpretive center. In between the three eco-friendly buildings is a large brick courtyard surrounded by aromatic herbs such as Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, Mints and much more. It is a magical place that I am honored to spend my days working and growing.

Compost goodness

2007-10-04T22:05:00.000-04:00

Here is a picture from a recent compost donation I made to the Church of the Holy Comforter in East Atlanta, which serves people with special needs. This is the group that helped unload the compost and were incredibly appreciative. The whole experience was a bit odd until I found out that some 80% of the congregation has some kind of mental disability. The gardens there are beautiful and it is clear that the compost will go to good use.

Dragging in Fall Cover Crops

2007-09-30T22:06:00.000-04:00

With our tractor out of commission, we resorted to dragging in our cover crop seed by hand. We sowed a mix of Red Clover, Winter Peas, Hairy Vetch, Wheat, Rape and Turnips in to about an acre of open beds that are in need of soil improvement. We used wheat instead of rye because the only rye seed we could get was treated with Malathion, a poison used to inhibit insect activity. It is such a shame to see how much of the seed crop out there is grown with chemicals, treated with poisons and oftentimes grown with genetically modified organisms. Sure makes me want to grow all my own cover crop seed, hay and everything else to eliminate the need for inputs that cannot be trusted.

Wedding on the farm

2007-09-30T21:40:00.000-04:00

Saturday was a magnificent day for a wedding and the farm made the perfect venue. With the majestic barn in the foreground, fragrant herb gardens in the middle and the fields as a backdrop, one could not dream up a nicer wedding venue. It was so nice to see the farm serve as the sanctuary that it is.

Garlic Chive Blooms

2007-09-17T12:57:00.000-04:00

Often the months go by so fast that I look to the plants around me to know when the seasons are changing. The garlic chives blooming is a sign of the coming of autumn. It is amazing how fast a month can fly by when you move to a new home, transition to a new season and start up a new business. It has been a month since my last blog entry and I think it is due to the chaotic state my office and home has been in with moving. It took us about a month to get out of the house we have been living in, let go of a ton of old paperwork, clothes, etc. and settle into our new home. Robyn and I moved from Midtown, Savannah to the historic district close to Forsyth Park. It has been a fantastic lifestyle change now that we can walk to all our favorite spots, such as the Sentient Bean (an organic coffee shop), The Brighter Day food coop, the park and a bunch of great restaurants and bars. It has enabled us to fall in love with Savannah all over again. On top of being a great new space, the season is changing here and with it comes a refreshing burst of energy as we start planting lettuces again along with lots of other yummy veggies. Soon we will be putting in garlic and not long after that more fruit trees.

Flower child

2007-08-21T21:15:00.000-04:00

This cute little girl is one of the many youth that are positively influenced by a visit to the local farmer's market. Hopefully this experience will inspire this blooming flower child to support her local farmer when she grows up.

Sea Farmer

2007-08-15T12:49:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was one of those days that make me want to burst with joy at how beautiful nature is. It was a day of firsts - the first time I have ever been on an airboat and the first time I have been clam harvesting. The airboat was super cool as it enabled us to get into the nooks and crannies of the marsh where the wild things thrive. Baby shrimp were popping me in the neck, while I raked my gloved hands across the river bottom in search of a smooth oblong shell. Once my fingers found refuge in a smooth shell amongst the sharp oyster shells and mucky soil, I would wiggle my fingers around the clam until I was able to pluck it out of the muck and into a sack on the boat.

What a sensation to be floating through the inner creeks in the marsh, listening to the gators, stingrays and sharks rustling around you (minding their own business thankfully), digging around in search of these little gems buried just beneath the surface. It was amazing how we searched and searched without any luck and then all of a sudden we found one, two and then dozens all around us, abundant beyond belief. It was so cool. Charlie Phillips, our guide, showed us his own field of farmed clams as well out in the middle of the marsh, where he cultivates the clams from seed and gets a harvest in two years. He is a steward of the marsh and has grown up in this beautiful area around Harris Neck most all his life. He has a wealth of knowledge that he is more than willing to share. We are already planning our next trip out to harvest algae and seaweed that is suffocating his clams, basically we will be weeding the clam beds, and using the seaweed for fertilizer on the farm at Hampton.

Once we had a nice bag of clams picked, we headed into the sunset beneath a sky full of Wood Storks, Herons and Egrets to prepare a feast with our harvest from both the ocean and the garden. What a great combination! Christa Frangiamore from the Jeckyll Island Conservancy treated us to a feast at her home with our fresh clams, okra, tomatoes, Sea Island Peas (which I got seed to plant on the farm) and Carolina Gold Rice. This was one of those days that leaves you inspired to protect the coast and share that passion with others.

Biodynamics - Entry #1

2007-08-02T13:39:00.000-04:00

Biodynamics is the word used to describe the farming philosophy and practice outlined by Rudolf Steiner in the early 1920's. Steiner was asked to lecture to a group of struggling farmers in Poland in 1924 to try and give them some techniques for improving their land and farms. As a result, Steiner gave eight lectures over the course of about one week describing what is today referred to as Biodynamic Farming. Since then many practitioners, as recommended by Steiner, have learned and improved on the original concepts outlined in Steiner's lectures from 1924. As a Biodynamic farmer myself I have found much of Steiner's ideas to be enlightening both in theory and in practice.

The elemental goal of Biodynamic farming is to create a farm that produces the highest quality food as possible, while making itself more and more sustainable and less and less dependent on outside inputs. The goal is to grow food that is of the highest quality both physically and spiritually. This is the goal that the Biodynamic farmer has in mind every day. It is not about exploiting the land for profits but rather improving the land so that the overhead costs go down, while the yields and quality go up as a result of wise stewardship.

August already?

2007-08-01T14:28:00.000-04:00

This is the month that us Southerners dread all year long. The hot, humid days of August are brutal on any gardener and any garden. After working so hard planting, weeding and harvesting the Spring and Summer garden, August comes in and delivers a knock out punch to the Southern farmer. Everything struggles for the month of August, except for maybe Okra, Southern Peas, Bananas, Sugarcane and a few others that actually thrive in this brutal heat. We use August as a reboot for the farm and the farmers to refuel for the abundant fall growing season. Here in the South it's kind of like getting two seasons for the price of one, which enables us to plant a second crop of potatoes, squash, greens and much more. In fact, we are just starting to sow many of our fall seeds into a custom blended Farmer D Organics germination mix made with the Biodynamic Preparations (see upcoming blog for more on Biodynamics).

We also plan on taking advantage of the hot weather to do some building in our newly setup workshop in the barn. Projects on the plate right now are worm bins, chicken tractors and rabbit hutches. We may even try our hand at building a luxury chicken coop like the one pictured above, which was pulled from a Seattle newspaper.

July garden

2007-07-22T21:29:00.000-04:00

The garden nicely mowed by the latest addition to the farm, a red snapper rider lawnmower. Today the sales team put on their t-shirts and lent a hand mowing, pressure washing and organizing the farm in preparation for an important showing early next week. Meanwhile, we had a great Saturday Farmer's Market at Starland in Savannah and hosted a nice bunch of people from www.priceforsure.com, who are doing a Farmer D story next week sometime. The winter squash is taking over the barn and new residents are filling up the interpretive center, such as a King Snake, catfish, some hissing cockroaches, a nymph rabbit and more. Tomorrow we hope to start construction on a worm farm and a chicken tractor soon thereafter. Farming is such great hard work it's hard to call it work.

Fishing for fertilizer

2007-07-13T19:03:00.001-04:00

Fishing for Pogies that is. Also known as Menhaden, these oily little fish have been and are presently being used for fertilizer, animal feed, bait and more. The farmers at Hampton Island, myself and Ben, took a 98 degree day to go fishing for fertilizer. It was beautiful crusing out through the windy North Newport River out to the barrier islands and beyond to the great wide open. The ocean breezes were kicking and the fish were biting. The picture you see here is of Captain Mark Covington casting a net to catch a few dozen pogies to be used both for bait and for fertilizer on our farm. We had a bit of luck catching a 15lb Triple Tail and wrestling a few Black Tip Sharks, which we let go. The Triple Tail was prepared with farm-fresh veggies and herbs for our members and the pogies were tucked into a fertile garden bed getting ready for Giant Pumpkins. We'll let you know how it goes. For the near future, we are looking forward to more fishing and less purchasing fertilizer. A good deal if you ask me.

Farmers Almanac TV shoot

2007-07-01T17:49:00.000-04:00

Thursday June 28th was my birthday and I spent it with some great people from Farmers Almanac TV on the farm at Hampton Island. We started filming the first of some 26 one minute pieces on organic gardening with Farmer D. My past experiences filming for TV have been frustrating as I am not big on repeating lines and not being productive in the garden. This was actually a pleasant experience as the film crew take great joy in what they do and really believe in the stories they tell. If you haven't seen any of their shows, I highly recommend spending some time on www.farmersalmanactv.com watching the amazing stories they have done so far.

World Tour

2007-06-19T22:12:00.000-04:00

It has been weeks since my last blog entry. This is primarliy due to the fact that I have been on an adventure to South Africa, Mauritius, England and Holland for the past two weeks. I won't bore you with all the fabulous details of the all expense paid trip for four days to the Royal Palm Hotel in Mauritius for my uncle's decadent 60th birthday party. It was tremendous fun in a pristine setting where parasailing, snorkeling and partying were the order of the day.

London was a whirlwind as I was only there for a few hours to meet with some great Whole Foods people at their new store in Kensington, which is three times bigger than any Whole Foods I have ever seen. It was so packed that people had to stand in line outside waiting for people to cash out. It was like being at a hip night club on a Saturday night. Yet another testament to the global consciousness when it comes to our food and well-being.

Holland was a fortunate opportunity that came out of meeting one of my uncle's business partners in Maurtius who invited me to tour his company, DeliXL while I was in the area. One of the Whole Foods representatives joined me for the tour and we were both thoroughly impressed by the operation, which is one of the largest produce distributors in Holland with over 450 refrigerated trucks and 15 regional distribution centers.

Since returning home I have not had time to write due to the unwelcome abundance of weeds that has overwhelmed many of the crops on the farm. Aside from weeding, there is alot of harvesting going on with summer squash, cukes, tomatoes and okra all coming on strong. Today I taught Bill and Josh how to drive the tractor and operate the spader, which was a great experience for both of them. There is much more I would like to share about the farm and my journey, though I will save it for another night in the near future.

The best news of the week is that Jonah has come home! We are so excited to have him back after 6 weeks of surgery and therapy. He has been swimming eight minutes a day and is in good shape considering what he has just been through. We are watching him very close and keeping him in his crate all day with monitored walks until he gains enough strength to be able to be more active and go back to the farm.

Jonah's Recovery

2007-05-25T08:03:00.001-04:00

Good news friends! Jonah Bear has completed both hip surgeries and is now on his way to recovery. You will see him pictured here in his sling kissing his momma and posing for his papa. Jonah still has another month of physical therapy and then he should be able to come back home. Once home, he will have another six weeks of taking it easy and this means another month away from the farm, his favorite hang out. The good news is that when he returns to the farm in August, we should be pretty close to having our milking barn and dairy cows. Then he can get trained to pull the cart of milk from the pasture up to the barn. This is what his breed has been used for in the Bernese Mountains of Switzerland for generations. We are very excited that Jonah's surgery has gone so well and can't wait for him to come back home.

Starland Farmer's Market

2007-05-12T14:49:00.000-04:00

Savannah celebrates today as the debut of the Starland Farmer's Market proves a great success. The Starland Market is the only of its kind in Savannah and was very well attended on its opening day of May 12th, 2007. Upon arriving at 6:30am Ben and I wandered around the deserted misty parking awaiting someone to give us direction as to where we were supposed to setup. Within about 1 hour the deserted lot became busy with bodies setting up their booths and displaying their crafts, foods, soaps and produce. The rest of the morning is a bit of a blur as hundreds of people buzzed around stocking their totes with fresh vegetables, herbs, preserves, t-shirts, pottery and much more. We sold alot of carrots, potatoes, vidalia onions, herbs and more generating close to $400 to be donated to Union Mission, a local charity that helps people overcome homelessnes and much more. The energy amongst the participants was so positive that we are seriously considering making this a weekly venture.

Rooftop Gardens

2007-05-09T07:13:00.000-04:00

I just returned home from a fantastic few days in Chicago filled with education, enlightenment and alot of fun. I was there for the 'All Things Organic' Food Show, which is the biggest organic food show in the country. It happens in tandem with the Fancy Food Show, which is for all the big time corporate food companies like Lipton, Dole, etc.. I could write a whole blog just on the show and the many connections, products and ideas that were tossed around. I could also write a whole blog on the talk I heard the Dalai Lama give at Millenium Park and will write about both at a later date.

For now, check out the picture of Chicago's City Hall Rooftop Garden. The city is leading the country in Green Rooftops and is doing incredible things with green building all over the city. I strongly encourage a visit to one of Americas most beautiful and progressive cities. The benefits of the rooftop garden are many, including reducing the heat island effect, reducing stormwater runoff and making the building more energy efficient in both summer and winter by insulating and cooling. What I liked most about the garden at City Hall is the way the design reflects the local terrain and flora. The garden has rolling hills and is planted in hundreds of perennials that grow in the midwestern prairie and attract all kinds of local butterflies, birds, bees and other insects. The even have birdhouses and beehives up there and make hundreds of gallons of honey each year, which they sell and donate for fundraisers. Kudos to Chicago and Mayor Dailey for setting a global precedent that will hopefully be replicated many times over.

Jonah's Journey

2007-05-04T14:53:00.000-04:00

It was a day of grand anticipation and suspense as Jonah went in for his hip surgery. He did not go without a show as he performed what looked like a wild bull at the rodeo outside of the veterinary clinic in an attempt to resist entry. Evenutally in order to avoid embarassment and a possible neck injury I cradled his furry 110 lb body up to my chest and carried him through the doors. Almost romantic, but not quite.

We were supposed to hear around noon as to the results of his surgery. We waited eagerly and fearfully until after 2pm before we got the call that Jonah's surgery went fantastically well. Dr. Shealy told us he has rarely seen the hip socket move so quickly into place as it did with Jonah. That is the good news. The bad news. We can't go visit him for a week to avoid any possible excitement. We'll keep you posted as to Jonah's recovery. Thanks to all of you out there looking out for him. Meanwhile, Sheva is enjoying some time with all the attention on her and no Jonah Bear biting on her tail. It is only a matter of time before she begins to miss him miserably. Us too.

Thursday morning shower

2007-05-03T12:56:00.001-04:00

Getting soaking wet first thing Thursday morning on the farm is not exactly what I had in mind considering we are going on our 67th day of drought. This is the worst drought on record for over 50 years here in Liberty County, Georgia. I arrived at work this morning to find that the irrigation circuit tripped last night and therefore did not run as supposed to at 4am. We run the irrigation at that time of morning to ensure that there is not a loss of water through evaporation and because the fungal activity is highest at that time of the night. Well, first thing I did was flip the circuit and then ran the irrigation system throughout the farm. Keep in mind that after nine weeks of drought our grass pathways, crops and fruit trees are beyond thirsty. I noticed one of the sprinklers was just dripping rather than spraying. In an effort to remedy the problem I found myself soaking wet and yelling for someone to hold the pop-up sprinkler up while I shut the system off. You see, when there is no water running through the pipe, the pop-up sprinkler sinks back down into the ground where you cannot reach it. Therefore it must be on, gushing water all over the place in order to grap the sprinkler head, unscrew the cap, clean out the screen and replace. Well, I got wet alright, but at least the problem is fixed and our plants can drink up.

Jonah Bear's last day on the farm

2007-05-03T12:36:00.000-04:00

Today is Jonah Bear's (Bernese Mountain Dog in picture) last day on the farm for over 6 weeks. Friday morning he goes in for a hip surgery that will require 6 weeks of physical therapy. Jonah is a sweet male dog with lots of personality and a bad case of hip dysplasia. Luckily, a local vet believes he can fix Jonah up and have him back on the farm in a few months able to pull a cart and live out the rest of his life as normal. Jonah will be missed by many here at the barn for the next few months, however, we are all excited for his speedy recovery.

Defining Local

2007-05-02T07:56:00.000-04:00

There is an ongoing debate in the food world with regards to defining 'local'. This issue just popped up yesterday on one of the email list serves that I am on when an organization here in Georgia defined local as within 150 miles from the market, Atlanta. One of the only organic grass-fed beef farms in the state felt alienated because his farm is more than 150 miles from Atlanta, which is his primary outlet. What is the true definition of local? Some feel strongly that local should be anything grown within the state, while others feel that there should be more localized areas within a 150 mile radius. What do you think the definition of "local" should be? And is it better to buy local non-organic or non-local organic when there is not a local organic option?

Here on the coast of Georgia, we are blessed with a micro-climate that is just right for growing a very special crop that is extremely difficult to find grown locally in the USA. That crop, Camellia Sinensis, or more commonly known as Green Tea. In our tea garden here at Hampton Island we have just transplanted about two dozen of our two hundred Green Tea bushes. This plant has tremendous medicinal qualities, which I will not go in to now but will save for a future entry as the list is too long for this mornings time allotment.

Another future topic is the barn featured in the background of the photo with Jake and the Green Tea plant. This barn, where I work from most days, is built of all reclaimed wood from an old cotton mill. More pictures of the barn to come.

Farmer D at Earth Day

2007-04-29T11:17:00.000-04:00

Farmer D posted up behind his market stall at the Earth Day celebration in Forsyth Park, Savannah.
This year at Earth Day we decided to give back to the community here in Savannah by donating all of the proceeds from our farmers market sales to Union Mission, a great non-profit working to help fight homelessness and hunger. We sold lots of vidalia onions, herb bouquets, dried herb blends and passed out free samples of our chef's gourmet pea and coconut soup among other tasty treats fresh from the farm.