Tag: farm-to-fork

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Farm Tours Coming on Saturday, June 21st

Join Us and Tour Our Farm

Sharing the story behind an adventure is a great way to share the experience and learnings. Starting the farm has definitely been an adventure. Let us take a hour or two and talk about what we’ve learned and experienced along the way. Much of what we’ve done on the farm can be applied applied in your garden or front yard. Maybe you want to have a few fruit trees. We’ll share how to get started in a practical way.

Every year we do a farm tour day. This is a great chance to meet the farmers and see the farm. in progress. We do tours once per year.

Tickets

Tickets for tours are available at 10AM and 1:00PM. The version of the tour for people wanting to start a homestead is at 3PM.

Click Here to purchase your tickets

Farm tour includes

– detailed tour (family friendly)
– 1/2 lb of honey from our remote mountain location of Troublesome Gap, NC

What to Bring

Just bring yourself and your family and comfortable shoes. We plan to walk on grassy fields and uneven ground.

We are Dirt Farmers and Pesticide / Insecticide Free

If we grow good dirt, then plants will grow and produce abundantly. We use a minimum of organic fertlizers. We avoid the use of synthetic fertilizers. We also don’t use any pesticides or insecticides. We do use natural amendments like woodchips, hay (pesticide / herbicide free) and feather meal.

Diversity of Plants and Trees on the Farm

Let us introduce you to some of the variety of plants, bushes and trees on the farm including

Row Crops
– garlic

Fruit Bearing Trees
– mulberry
– hazel
– black walnut
– figs
– persimmon
– pawpaw
– plumcot
– plum
– apricot
– peaches
– quince
– medlar
– pomegranate
– jujube

Fruit Bearing Bushes
– blueberry
– goji berry
– elderberry
– blackberry
– beautyberry
– goumi berry
– raspberry
– chokeberry / aronia

Specialty
– native cactus (edible / nopales)
– honey bees

Medicinal
– comfrey
– witch hazel
– elderberry

Harvesting Elderflower

This week we harvested more elderflower.

Elderflower

We also snacked on mulberries

Mulberries, a great snack

I hope you enjoy the pictures

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Creating a Robust Orchard

Guiding the shape of the trees is important from the very beginning. The best fruit trees that have branches that are robust and don’t shade other parts of the tree. A properly managed tree produces lots of high quality fruit. Getting a tree limb to follow the desired shape may require gentle pressure or pulling the limbs in the desired direction when they are younger and more flexible.

Helping create a shape that is sustainable and healthy for the tree
Biodegradeable stick (ha ha) used to help spread out the branches of the young tree for a better shape

We recently received a quantity of 10 of english walnut seedlings. They went into pots where they can grow this summer and get ready for planting in the fall

English walnut seedlings in pots ready to grow this summer

Cannas and comfrey growing near the tractor shed. I’m really surprised the deer haven’t eaten the comfrey since this area isn’t protected by an anti-deer fence

Canna and comfrey growing together
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Showing the Blueberries Some Love

This is a busy time of year on the farm. One of the tasks is getting the blueberries ready for summer. We use pine straw as a mulch. Using pine straw as a mulch is a good example of function stacking. The pine straw helps to lower the soil ph (blueberries like low ph soil), regulate moisture in the soil, supresses the growth of weeds and amends the soil as it breaks down adding nutrients and organic matter. The pine straw settles during the next few months, so we pile it deep.

The iris, comfrey, clover and wildflowers are blooming. This year we created a natural area. This was a previously cultivated area that is now fallow. The wildflowers that came up are great.

The last couple of days have been spent mowing grass (grows amazingly quick this time of year), trimming under fences and around plants. We’ve also been watering new plantings and fertilizing. Sometimes new trees and plants don’t thrive but that is vastly offset by the wonderful growth on the farm right now.

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The Plan, So Far

Our plan with the trees and bushes we planted this fall and spring has 4 elements

  • co-plant with comfrey
  • use metal tag with a plant number, type and variety
  • protect the tender trunk with a plastic cage or tube
  • placing wood chips around the trees and bushes

Metal tags everywhere

We have used the metal tag system from the beginning of our farm. This has been a great way to track trees and bushes on the farm. We also have maps where the individual plant locations are noted.

Spreadsheet where we track planted trees and bushes

One of the tasks for today was installing metal tags on trees that were planted last fall and this spring. The plastic tag that came with the tree is removed and a metal tag is put in place. This gives us a permanent way to identify a plant and know its history.

Using lots of wood chips

We are still in the process of putting woodchips around all the new trees and bushes. The woodchips helps regulate the moisture of the soil, while keep summer temperatures down at the root ball. They also amend the soil with nutrients and organic matter as the wood chips break down. All of these items help to build healthy soil, which greatly improves the conditions for the tree as it grows. The goal is to put at least woods in a circular pattern around the tree to depth of 8-12 inches.

Metal tag with a number, tree type and variety plus a plastic guard against critters
Tree with tree protector, tag and comfrey
Metal tag with unique identifier and tree type and variety
Comfrey at the base of young tree, growing through the mulch

Here are some pictures from today on the farm

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Grow, Grow, Grow and Peace

It is really nice to spend the day surrounded by all of the springtime explosion of blooms and new growth. The weather this time of year is spectacular and it makes the hard work on the farm seem much easier. Being outside and having the privilege of managing this property is wonderful. Watching everything grow is nice. Sometimes things don’t grow and there is a lesson to be learned. Sometimes that lesson is a technical one. Other times, it becomes obvious, once again, that I can’t impose my will on the farm.

Working on the farm also gives me time to think. It is humbling to know that I’m just a caretaker of the farm. There are trees that we have planted that will still be growing and thriving long after our season has passed.

A great feeling comes as standing in the middle of a growing ecosystem. The goal is to build abundance. Part of that abundance goes back to the land as a way to build better soil and strong plants and trees for future abundance. The rest leaves the farm as food.

Standing there and looking at the trees and plants at the end of the day with sun getting lower, there is a peaceful feeling. What is happening in a crazy world, is still important but is in perspective. That is such a blessing. You can’t buy peace. Sure having a farm is a lot of work and expense but having peace in our lives is priceless.

Orchard with young pears, nectarines, peaches and plums
Hugelkultur mound with blueberries, raspberries and goji berries
Driving back across the field at the end of the day, tired but relaxed
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Let Us Prune Elderberries

It is that time. Join us as we prune our elderberries. We’ll have a great morning learning to prune elderberries and also learning to plant the cuttings. The cost of the class includes a 1/2 lb of honey from the farm and cuttings so you can plant your own elderberries. Please sign up below so we know how many people to expect.

Event Schedule on Saturday, March 8th

Take Aways from the Event

You’ll learn how to

  1. prune elderberries and make cuttings to plant
  2. plant elderberries

Experience

  1. pruning elderberry plants
  2. planting elderberry cuttings

Bring home (included in the ticket cost)

  • enough elderberry cuttings to start your own elderberry patch
  • 1 lb of honey from the farm

Agenda on Saturday

9:00 AM – Welcome

9:15-Noon
Demonstration – how to prune elderberry bushesPractical – prune elderberries and take home elderberry cuttings so you can grown your own elderberry plants.

Demonstration – how to plant elderberries
Practical – plant elderberries and comfrey

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Making Elderberry Syrup

Link to image file↗

It is that time of year. Time to make elderberry syrup! FoxNews just did a story talking about the benfits of elderberries (click on the image below to read the story)


How we make the syrup

The first step is to put the elderberries in a steam juicer. The steam juicer creates a juice extract from the elderberrries. The extract from the steam juicer is reduced (over heat) to approximately half the volume that came from the steam juicer. Once the juice has cooled to less than 120 degrees, it is ready for the honey. The reduced juice is mixed with an equal part of honey from our place in the mountains. The goal is to keep the majority of the honey below a temperature of 105 degrees. The honey and juice mixes best at warmer temperatures but we don’t want to get the honey too warm and lose the natural properties of the raw honey. We measure the temperature of the juice as it is cooling and then mix the honey and liquid together once the reduced liquid reach a temperature of 120 degrees.

Frozen elderberries going in the steam juicer
Elderberry syrup in a squeeze bottle
First time we have put elderberry syrup in a squeeze bottle
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Getting the New Trees Ready for Summer, Really?

Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but we have a lot of trees that need mulch around them so they thrive this summer. The mulch is a great example of function stacking (a permaculture term). Function stacking means to accomplish multiple functions with one element . The element in this case is the woodchips that we are putting around the trees.

After being in the ground for 3 weeks, the trees look like this

Tree with bare soil around the roots

Bare soil is not desireable because

  1. erosion when there is no root structure and plants above ground to help keep the soil in place
  2. lack of roots and organic activity feeding the organisms in the soil and keep the soil robust
  3. encourages “weeds” and grasses that will colonize the bare soil and compete with the tree and will need to be mechanically removed

Mulch Materials

Which materials used for mulch are really driven by econonmics and availability. The most available materials that are local to the farm are:

a. hay – we have pulled hay from our fields and purchased from our neighbors. Hay is easily available in round bales in our local area. As the hay breaks down it adds nutrients to the soil while providing helping to regulate moisture under the soil. This is especially important in the summer. Moist soil is much easier for the tree roots to penetrate which allows for a faster growing and healthier tree. Hay has 2 downsides. One downside is that it composts fairly quickly (which addes nutrients and organic matter to the soil) and this quick composting means we have to reapply it sooner than woodchips. One thing to consider is that hay is easy to move and apply. Much easier than woodchips when it comes to moving and applying it. The other downside is that it has to be fairly thick (thickness of the applied layer) to create enough shade to suppress grass weeds and grass. We use hay around our garlic beds very successfully. We’ve also had good success using hay around young trees as a much

Important note: Many hay fields are sprayed with a broadleaf herbicide to suppress weeds. This chemical application is so common that many farmers don’t mention that these chemicals were sprayed on the hay. Before using any hay in your garden or around plants on your farm, triple check with the farmer managing the field that they sprayed no chemicals on the field. The broadleaf herbicides can be transferred to your garden or farm via the hay and kill your crops.

b. wood chips – Our wood chip piles is about 4 months old (i.e. the trees were chipped at a another location and brought to the farm). It takes a pile of unturned wood chips around a year to compost. This means that they woodchips we just put around the trees are not anywhere near fully composted. As the wood chips compost they will have effects on the soil. The first effect is that they will raise the ph and they will deplete nitrogen from the soil at the interface layer between the wood chips and the soil. Because our farm soil ph is fairly low the effect of the ph going up slightly isn’t a problem. The nitrogen depletion (as the chips compost) isn’t a big deal either because the tree roots are 6 inches to 2 feet from that depleted layer. However, it is important to consider these two items if you used wood chips in your garden. We use a lot of wood chips very successfully in our garden at home.

Most of the time your supply of wood chips is a local company cutting trees for homeowners or clearing power lines. I keep an eye out for arborists working in the area. When I see a tree cutting crew, I usually stop and let them know I would really like to take their chips on our farm. Often we can get them for free. In some locations, you can use www.chipdrop.com and get free wood chips. It is important to note that if you get compost from a municipal or county source that it can contain broadleaf herbicides from grass clippings (where homeowners spray their yards). So be very careful with the source of your compost.

The wood chips do a great job retaining moisture under the wood chips. Over time they will add nitrogen and organic matter to the soil. The composting process for wood chips takes a while so the wood chips we are applying now should stay in place throughout the summer. The wood chips also help suppress weeds and grasses that would otherwise compete with the tree as it is getting established. If you want to suppress weeds and grass with wood chips they need to be a minimum of 8 inches thick.

c. comfrey – when we plant a tree or bush we generally plant comfrey root cuttings as well. The comfrey grows through the hay or woodchips and acts a living mulch (helping regulate moisture at the base of the tree or bush) with also add orgranic matter in the fall when the plant dies back in the fall. We usually use comfrey as a companion to wood chips or hay. The comfrey does even more function stacking as a medicinal plant and as a root that we can dig up and sell as a starter plant to homesteads and other farms that want to establish comfrey on their farms.

Notes about comfrey – when you purchase comfrey you want to purchase sterile comfrey like the Bokcing #4 Russian comfrey. This of comfrey spreads underground and is very manageable. Varieties of comfrey that aren’t sterile can spread by seeds and become invasive on your property, showing up places that you don’t want it. It is also important to note that comfrey doesn’t thrive in some areas. It is a great plant but it just won’t do well in some areas. Another great source of comfrey cuttings is Perma Pastures Farm in WNC. All of our comfrey plants originally came from them in the form of cuttings that we planted.

Tree with mulch added

Equipment Needed

We have a lot of trees to mulch, so the tractor is a game changer. In your garden, a hand cart is often a great solution.

Peach trees, aronia / chokeberry and goji berry plants with wood chip mulch around them

Next Steps

We still have more trees to mulch, but we are about 1/2 way through. We also have trees I hope to cut this winter. So lots to do.

In March we hope to plant

– jujube trees
– quince trees
– pomegranete trees
– goumi berry bushes (nitrogen fixer)

Other planned activities

– cut trees shading the fruit trees in field #2
– extend the anti-deer fences in field #2 and the cushaw patch to accomodate the new fruit trees as a they grow and allow for room to mow around them
– mulch the latest trees
– put up a trellis for the goji berries we planted in November
– amend the soil in the garlic beds
– extend the water lines in the food forest and field 2 to allow first year irrigation of the fruit trees and bushes

Thanks for coming along the for the ride with us!

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Planting Fruit Trees and Having Fun

We had a good time as a family on the farm planting fruit and nut bearing trees. We planted fruit and nut bearing trees and bushes.

We were able to plant 41 trees and 15 bushes including

Trees (Fruit)
Apricot
Mulberry
Nectarine
PawPaw
Peach
Asian Pear
Kieffer Pear
Pecan
Plum
Plumcot

Trees (Nut)
Black Walnut
Chestnut

Bushes (Fruit)
Blueberry
Elderberry
Goji Berry

Medicinal
Comfrey

The comfrey is planted with trees and bushes as a living mulch and as a medicinal.

It was so nice that it was a family effort with Connie and JonnyLee.

Thanks

Rob K for the walnut trees and the use of his autocross car a few weeks ago (that was fun and we didn’t die)
Rabbit Ridge in Coats, NC for the fruit trees.
Permapastures Farm in WNC for the comfrey

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Designing a Gift Basket

Simply Us Farm is a local farm that my wife and I run. One of the projects for this year is to develop gift boxes for Christmas. I wanted to share some of the thinking behind the process of designing the gift boxes. Usually my blog entries focus on the design sides of new product develpment, but this is a journey into product management.

Background

Local businesses often struggle to market and sell products. This is driven by several issues including

  • not having a fully developed sales channel – wholesale, retail and online
  • smaller number of items in their catalog
  • catalog items are often very hyper focused on what the small business is passionate about

This is especially true for small farms. Simply Us Farms is young farm in NC adding new production every year. The farm specializes in uncommon fruits and berries with high nutritional value and high anti-oxident content.

The challenge for this holiday season is to develop a gift basket. Simply Us Farms produces honey from the farm and from Troublesome Gap. One option is to team up with other local producers to create a specialty gift basket filled with local goods and the honey from the Simply Us Farm.

Sources of Inspiration

Dan the Sausage Man is a company that produces a well thought out line of gift baskets. They also have a great origin story that they effectively share. Here is the story from their website.

They provide a variety of gift baskets that vary with the seaon and a different price points.

The internet also provides lots of examples of gift baskets that feature or include honey.

Goal

Provide a great gift that will be appreciated by the person receiving it. We want to create an special experience for the person who puts the contents of the gift basket to use.

Basket Themes

We want to help the basket user create a special culinary experience. This could be categorized several different ways. One way is to associate the experience with snack or meal. Here are some options

  • pre-breakfast (such as morning coffee)
  • breakfast
  • brunch
  • lunch
  • dinner
  • snack

Other opportunities is to associate the gift with an event include

  • picnic
  • thank you (professional or personal)
  • family or personal tradition
  • specific holiday (religious, cultural or social – examples: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween)
  • birthday or other personal milestone (maybe a 50th anniversary, college graduation, or baby shower)
  • wedding present
  • corporate / organizational gift, thank you or award

Packaging

Because these are limited runs, the packaging needs to be something that is easy to decorate and off the shelf. We can print labels to designate the package as a Simply Us Farm gift box. Decoration can also show which version of the gift box is in packaging after it is closed up. The filler material and the box should be easily recyclable. Possibly a crinkle paper. It would be nice to have a single box that held the 3 smallest configurations, just to keep down on the number of boxes to purchase.

What to Put in the Baskets

Simply Us Farm has two types of honey available (farm honey / Bennett, NC & mountain honey / Troublesome Gap, NC). We can pour that honey into different size jars. Currently we have

  • 1/2 lb
  • 1 lb
  • sample size

It would be great if the gift box / basket could be filled with items from local farms and vendors. Here are possible companion products from a brainstorming session

  • honey dipping utensils
  • coffee (maybe with a coffee stirrer)
  • sauces (maybe bbq or some other sauce for a process that can involve honey)
  • sourkraut or other fermented food
  • teas
  • table cloth or other items to set a scene
  • meat product (cured ham, sausage or sliced)
  • crackers
  • cheese
  • jelly or jam (including fig)
  • honey from another farm with a different taste
  • recipes or cookbook
  • food mix
  • juice (maybe grape, elderberry, or other)
  • mug with a relevant graphic
  • medicinals (locally sourced)
  • balloons for a birthday or other party
  • pumpkin something for fall
  • placemats for the table with a seasonal color scheme
  • locally made pottery or mugs
  • locally made candles (maybe with a seasonal scent)

Themes

We also wanted to think about how we could build gift box around a them. The theme helps build an emotional connection with the gift giver and receiver. Turning it from a box with food items into an experience.

  • Morning coffee and honey
  • Christmas coffee and honey – maybe adding a pine or other seasonal smell
  • Fall grilling season (mild)
  • Fall grilling season (hot)
  • Tailgaiting
  • Snowy Day
  • Fall set – maybeadd something pumpkin or wool placemats with a fall color scheme
  • Health theme (maybe with medicinals or a medicinal tea)

Pricing

After doing a survey on the internet, here are our initial cost targets for pricing.

  • Option 1 – $54.95
  • Option 2 – $59.95
  • Option 3 – $64.95
  • Option 4 – $149.95

Once we put sample baskets together then we can take pictures and test market the combinations on the website and with targeted emails. That will help determine if the gift basket is desirable and if they will sell.

Next Steps

We have started working with local farms to identify items that can go in the baskets. Then we’ll need to create specifc basket configurations. We’ll share the results as we go. The best wasy to follow along are to join the email list and check back on the blog.