Last Views of Maggie's Farm

Oops, carrot seedling.  No flame weeding here

well, not the absolute last...  Here are some photos and videos from my last week at Maggie's.  We visited North Waslaske fields to see if a bed of carrots had sprouted. Before the carrot cotyledons emerge from the soil, one can pass by with a "flame weeder." If the weeds are sprouting up and the carrots are still protected in the soil, this is the perfect time to "flame weed"--using a propane tank and small torch, the heat of the flame expands the water in the cell of each weed plant making them burst.  Then the seedlings pop up with no competition.

Tyson shows us the equipment.

Unfortunately, we had one row in the carrot beds that had sprout.  Fortunately, the other two rows were not yet sprouted, so Brian and I each took a turn with the flame weeder.  It sounds like one is walking with a jet engine attached to one's hip.

Trip to Vermont: Strafford Creamery

Here are the photos---info to come!

Trip to Vermont: The Intervale Center

Our second stop on the trip to Vermont was the Intervale Center in Burlington, VT.  This 300+ acres of land hosts many individual farming enterprises as well as "incubator farms" and community projects, not to mention educational programs.  The farmers on this land--mentor farmers as well as beginning farmers--share the greenhouse space, tractors and implements and wash up areas.  We saw a well-established CSA, some smaller market farms, a community plot for immigrants as well as the facilities held in common.

Beautiful Greens (and reds)

Playground at CSA pick up

Watch for tractors!

Flowering buckwheat between blueberry plots

CSA information board

Trip to Vermont: Flack Family Farm

How to sum up our visit to Flack Family Farm? I could talk about Doug Flack's delicious sauerkraut.  Or his beautiful Red Devon cattle.  Or the enormous cabbage.  Or his sweet American Farm dog, Buster. Or his passion for counteracting the decline of food quality.  Ok, I cannot sum it up.  Here are some photos:

Ella in the field with cabbage

Buster listening in while Doug speaks

Betsy, Kim and Doug disucss the farm

Red Milking Devons

You can take a look at the website.  I would recommend a visit to the place--I have never seen such vibrant vegetables!

http://www.flackfamilyfarm.com/index.html

Doug's passion for growing delicious vegetables and nutritious animal products is based on the Weston A Price Foundation as well as biodynamic and organic practices.

He gave us a mini-lecture and showed us a timeline of cheap food in the United States.

Doug Flack and his time line of cheap food

References for further reading

Trip to Vermont: High Mowing Seed Company

Tom of High Mowing

It was interesting to visit a seed company--rarely would one imagine where the seeds come from.  Just open the packet and follow the instructions.  We learned from Tom, the founder of the company, that he collects organic seeds from over 300 acres across the United States.  New England is a good place to gather seeds that come inside a fruit--squash, pepper, cucumber--and not lettuce as lettuce seeds can gather up viruses or bacteria that will be passed on to the new plant

Seed packing

 In the building, we saw where seeds were sorted, packed and then organized for shipping.  We also visited the demonstration fields as well as the growing fields.

A germination rate test in progress

Finding our favorite seeds!

Sacks of seed

High Mowing is front and center in the "conversation" with Monsanto regarding genetically modified seeds.

http://www.highmowingseeds.com/HMS-Wins-Lawsuit-Against-Genetically-Engineered-Crops.html

Pristine demo fields High

Graduation planned!

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