Coronavirus Projects: Composting

Like a lot of people, this time of social distancing has made me want to take on new projects. My favorite coronavirus project that I’ve seen is starting a garden. With grocery stores sold out of food and posing a high risk of contracting the virus, it’s no wonder people want alternative ways to get food. And people are finally stuck at home, looking for things to do without leaving their yard, so gardening is a perfect opportunity. For those of you who don’t have space (or interest or energy or time) to make a garden, I would suggest signing up for a CSA at a local farm to support local farmers and get food without going to the grocery store.

But my family decided to do a slightly different project. We already had a garden started, but we still wanted to do something environmentally friendly. So we decided to focus on composting. We’ve had a compost bin for many years, but mostly we just bring out vegetable scraps once a week and forget about it. While this reduces food waste, it misses the main benefits of compost: converting this food waste into nutritionally dense soil to feed new plants.

Frozen vegetables in a compost pile at the farm I work at...not decomposing now

So, we decided to make compost a priority. We added piles of wood chips from recent tree work we had had done, as well as dried leaves, because our compost was too high in “green matter” (vegetables), and it is supposed to be 50/50 green matter with brown matter (leaves, grass clippings, wood chips, shredded newspaper, etc.). I filled a bucket of brown matter and left it next to our compost bin, so that now every time somebody dumps in one bucket of vegetables they also will dump in one bucket of brown matter.

Secondly, we decided to make stirring the compost a regular task. Nobody wanted to do it before, because the compost is behind our garage and sort of annoying to get to. So we moved our compost out to next to the house, so that it will get more sun and be more accessible. If you don’t stir your compost, the food isn’t exposed to oxygen, so the microbes in your compost won't be able to break it down. But, if you mix the compost regularly, and thus expose it to oxygen, it will break down aerobically, so it won’t smell as much.

It’s not hard to set up a compost pile or bin: put a bin or start a pile outside and keep a small bucket inside (we keep it in a cabinet under the kitchen sink-make sure it has a lid to prevent odor) for collecting food scraps. Collect vegetable scraps, anything not cooked and that doesn’t have fat or oil. Then, once a week (or more or less often depending on how much you use), bring it outside to your bigger pile. And, don’t forget to do the work to maintain it: add brown matter, and stir it at least once a week.

In two months, you will have highly nutrient dense soil!

To learn more about composting read, check out these links:

How Stuff Work's Guide to Composting 

 Grow it Organically's Composting Basics

The Waste Free Kitchen Handbook

Drought on the Farm

            Currently, the we are facing a major drought on our farm. We can’t irrigate our farm because we don’t have access to enough water (and can’t buy into the town water for another few years). We haven’t had rain in weeks, and although it was supposed to rain both yesterday and today, it didn’t. The first plants to go were lettuces, but now we’re losing our cucumbers and summer squash. Unfortuantely we’re afraid many of our fall brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, etc.) might be next.

            What are we doing on our farm in a drought?

This is a question we’re asking ourselves about a hundred times a day right now. We’re focusing on harvesting as much as we can from the plants that are still alive (especially the ones that might not be for long). We’re not weeding often because we want to leave shade cover and we don’t want to disturb any remaining soil moisture. We’re selling a lot of our garlic and onions early (before they fully dry) because we need to have consistent product to sell.

            What can you do to help your crops during drought?

    The best way to deal with drought is to prevent it from being a problem. If you can, irrigation is a great solution for this. When we have access to water, we use drip tape because it delivers water directly to the roots of plants, thus cutting down on waste involved in many irrigation systems (read more from The Water Efficient Garden here). Another advantage of drip tape is that you can turn it on or off in different crop areas depending on what needs water. 

If you’re watering your plants, you should water in the early morning so that the water doesn’t evaporate before the soil and plants can absorb it.

            When you’re planning your garden, you can also choose to use drought resistant plants and varieties which will hopefully do better during a drought (see a list from The Spruce here ).

            The best way to help your crops during drought is to take an agroecological prospective and build soil moisture. This means to use ecological (natural system based) practices that keep water held in the soil. If you think about a forest, the soil is often damp even when it hasn’t rained. When you contrast that with the image of a dry, dusty field, it’s obvious that nature knows something that we don’t.

Notice the differences between the forest and the field: the forest has many layers of luscious green plants while the field has predominantly one type of plant, and you can see the layers of mulch and tree litter protecting the forest floor.

            How can you build that soil moisture on your farm?

            The best way to build soil moisture is to use compost. Adding compost to your soil increases organic matter (material from broken down plants) which is what holds onto water in your soil. Thus, the higher levels of organic matter in your soil, the more water will be available to the plant roots (and plants absorb water through their roots!). Another great way to keep water in your soil is to use mulch. Leaves or grass clippings (check that they are from an organically managed lawn because some lawn pesticides can harm farm plants) are a great, often cheap mulch. You can also use hay or straw, or even newspaper (but you should wet newspaper to hold it down so it doesn’t all blow away).        

What happens to plants during drought?

            Plants need water to survive. They absorb water through their roots and it travels up their stem. Like in humans, water carries nutrients throughout the plants. Water is most crucial, though, because of its role in photosynthesis. Plants photosynthesize to make sugar for energy. When plants photosynthesize, they release water through their leaves in a process called transpiration. Transpiration is what happens when plants open tiny holes in their leaves (called stomates) which allow gases to pass through. In order for photosynthesis, to happen, plants must take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. During that process of having the stomates open, water also evaporates from the plants. In order to keep enough water in the plant for the plant to survive and keep its structure and maintain temperature stability, it must be able to absorb water from the roots. If you want to learn more about drought stress on plants, read this article from Biology Reader.

 

 

The plants on the right have been watered, the grass on the left hasn't. Notice how it loses it's shape and color when it doesn't have enough water.

            Basically, for plants to keep their structure and to keep making sugars and supplying oxygen, they need water. During a drought, they can close the stomates so they are no longer losing water to the atmosphere, but this stops them from photosynthesizing, so they can’t make sugars anymore for energy. Essentially, when they have to close the stomates so they don’t get dehydrated, they starve because they can’t make food!

    I hope this gives you more of an understanding of drought and how you can prepare. How do you deal with drought on your farm/garden? Any other ideas/tips?

Lessons In Self Acceptance From A Cow

I’ve been told many times over the past few years as I’ve learned more about psychology, meditation, and self-improvement about the importance of “accepting yourself. And honestly, I thought that I did accept myself. Sure, there’s things I wish I could change, but I’m generally happy with how I live my life. I have friends who have never liked the way they look or the way they spend their time. But I’m comfortable with my body, I love my job, and I enjoy the way I spend my time. But last summer, as I was harvesting tomatoes, I had an interesting conversation that made me realize how important self-acceptance is.

I asked my coworkers, “If you could be any vegetable, what would you want to be?” As vegetable farmers, we talk about vegetables a lot. But everyone had an answer: someone would be chard because of the fun colors, someone would be zucchini because they love it’s flavor, and I would be garlic because I love everything about it (see this article). One of my coworkers, Ryan  said, “I would want to be the worm on the tomato.”

Which of course led me to say, “Well, if we’re talking animals, I would want to be a cow. Imagine how nice that life would be, eating grass in beautiful fields all day. And I’d get to be a cow. What could be cooler?” To me, this was so simple. I love cows, they look beautiful, and they seem to live incredible lives.

Cows living their best lives

After everyone answered, I kept thinking about this idea. Then I realized, what if all this cow wanted in its life was to be the worm on the tomato also? What if it dreamed of drinking fresh tomato juice all day instead of constantly chewing grass? What if it wished it were small and invisible instead of so big and visible? That would be a really unhappy cow. And it would be so sad-how could a cow spend its whole life wishing it was something else, when it was so lucky to be a cow?

Then I thought about this and realized- maybe both animals would rather be human? There’s so many incredible things humans can do-we can talk, eat so many different foods, cook, travel farther than these animals could imagine, learn incredible things. I realized that I didn’t want to spend my life as the unhappy cow-I didn’t want to be the one always wishing I was somebody else, I wanted to realize how awesome it is to be me, and how many other people (or animals) might dream of my life.

This isn’t to say that I became an arrogant, overconfident person. Instead, I realized that I didn’t have to worry about what I couldn’t do in my life, who I couldn’t be. I could just focus on who I am, and work towards who I want to be next. I could choose to spend my time the way I want to, and appreciate the life I’m living.

 

“And so for this lifetime you do what you need to do for this lifetime and it doesn’t matter about all the rest because you’ve probably already done it before or else you’ll do it in the future.”- Vicki Mackenzie in A Cave In the Snow

Is gardening a job?

     When I told a specialist at a world-renowned hospital that I farm for a living, he asked me, “Is gardening a job?” When I told him that yes, it was, he asked, “What do you plan to do with your real life?” In the moment, I was too shocked to respond. But now, I would like to share my real answer. Because unfortunately, it’s a question that I get asked all too often, in various forms.

    First of all, YES. I don’t love the term gardening, it’s degrading (especially when used in those types of situations), and I consider the act of gardening for profit to be farming, but YES. It is absolutely a job. And possibly the most real job there is.  

    Farming is not a vocation that people get into to make money. Tell anybody that you want to farm, and they will probably laugh in your face or tell you that you need to marry rich. Some farmers would say no, farming isn’t a job, it’s a lifestyle. Farming isn’t a job you work 9-5 everyday before coming home to your family and your hobbies. Farming is a full-time, energy intensive job that becomes your life.

    It terrifies me, when the people we trust most with our health forget the most important truths. Food determines our health. What we eat becomes how we feel, and who we are.

    And contrary to some people’s belief, food doesn’t just magically get made in grocery stores. The process of growing food is one of the most amazing miracles of this life. Plants grow from the earth, taking energy from the sun and converting it into energy that can be used by animals. Using the sun’s energy and carbon dioxide we exhale, plants create the food and energy that sustains our life, and all animal lives on earth.

Eggplant seedlings

    For most of American history, we were farmers. Families lived on farms. Children knew that lettuce has roots, that garlic grows underground, and that lemons grow on trees.   

    I don’t know where these people think food comes from. I don’t know what people think they would do if farming wasn’t a career. I know that people don’t understand our dynamic and complex food system, even though it shapes their health, economics, and politics. I know that when people think of farmers, they think they’re old-fashioned, and they think they’re less intelligent, choosing to do manual labor because they’re less smart. But what these people don’t realize is that farmers are highly educated and there’s a very large and growing population of young farmers. People don’t farm because it’s easy, or because it’s the only job they can get, they farm because they know how important it is to them personally, and to society as a whole. Rather than spending their days in front of computers, in meetings, and filling out paperwork, farmers spend their days outside, caring for the earth that sustains our life, and growing food that feeds us.

Flowering lavender

Purple cabbage

Winter squash in the greenhouse

              Not only does farming feed us, but it is what allows all of these other professions to exist. If everyone spent their days hunting and gathering food, there would be no banks, no lawyers, no schools. People wouldn’t have time to do anything else except find food. But luckily for all of us, farmers spend the time and effort to grow the food we need.

Why Purple Garlic?

Heirloom garlic

       For me, garlic is art. It reminds me that simple things don't have to be boring, they can be special. Garlic shows me of the natural beauty that can come from growing through new situations, and it reminds me to observe the beauty of each present moment.

       I always thought garlic was white. My family usually bought pre-minced garlic, but sometimes they bought large white bulbs from the grocery store. Even though the color was plain, I was always intrigued by the layers and the forms of these white bulbs.

White garlic from our farm

        But then I started working on an heirloom garlic farm. Here, garlic isn’t just white. Sometimes it’s purple, pink, or yellow. It has names like “sunset” and “burgundy”. I didn’t know that garlic, a food I ate almost every day, could come in different colors. How could I have missed such a beautiful occurrence, right before my eyes? How could I have eaten garlic from a jar, grown around the world and soaked in preservatives when I could grow something so magical in my own backyard? 

Different varieties of garlic in different colors and patterns

      

        When I tell people about my job, a natural question is, “What’s your favorite vegetable?” My immediate answer is always garlic. Not because of the taste (although I love the flavor), but because of how it’s grown, because of the varieties, and the stories.

       To grow garlic, you bury a clove. One clove grows into a new bulb of garlic. Unlike most plants, you plant it in the fall, usually late November. Garlic needs the cold winter weather to form its unique shape. It only gets strong enough to form cloves (next year’s seeds) by surviving the winter.

Garlic cloves for planting

       The summer is really the season for garlic. Usually in late July, it is time to harvest garlic. Harvesting garlic was the moment I really fell in love with farming. It was the moment when I wondered how anybody could even think of doing anything else with their lives.

       When you harvest garlic, you first dig underneath it with either a pitchfork or undercut it with a tractor, to loosen the roots from the dirt beneath them. Then, you reach your hands into the rich soil, digging purely guided by the feeling of the plant and the soil, until you can firmly grab the garlic. For some varieties, you can grab it higher up along the stem before gently pulling it out. For others, you have to dig until you’re holding the entire bulb in your hand so that it doesn’t rip off the neck.

Fresh garlic lined up to wash

       When you pull the garlic out of the ground, you have to be extremely careful. This isn’t a rock you’re digging up. This is a fresh bulb, which has lived under the earth for months. You gently pull the stem up, releasing pressure when there’s too much pullback from the roots, a sign that you need to dig around it more so you don’t break the neck.

       When you handle this fresh garlic, it isn’t something you just toss in a harvest bin. Fresh garlic bruises extremely easily, which causes it to rot when it’s cured, so you have to treat the bulb like an egg, placing it gently where you want it to go.

       While you can eat garlic fresh from the ground (called green garlic), it’s usually cured, which means dried out, for about six weeks so that it hardens and can be stored much longer. This, too, is a process incorporating community, art and tradition.

Garlic drying in the greenhouse

        Sometimes soft-neck garlic varieties (they have flexible stems instead of the harder ones of other varieties) are dried out by braiding them. These braids can be woven with dried flowers to add color, and bulbs of garlic can be cut off when you're ready to eat them.

Garlic braid

       For me, the growing and harvesting of garlic is the magic that makes garlic more than just a vegetable. It embodies everything beautiful about farming: growing a new plant from a tiny seed, surviving a long winter to blossom the next summer, digging this new bulb out of rich soil. Garlic holds a story, a life of its own that culminates in a beautiful bulb with a powerful flavor.