We had a great weekend at the NOFA-NY conference (Northeast Organic Farmers Association). We attended many interesting conferences, some of them more related to our own operations than others. Among the workshops we attended: "Streamlining Your CSA System", "Soil Health and Advanced Organics", "Hosting Apprentices" (we are thinking of having paid workers on the farm this year), "The Rebirth of Agriculture in Native American Communities: Haudenosaunee Corn, "Worksongs on Diversified Small Farms", and "A Close Look at Teikei: The Japanese Version of CSA". I was able to attend three workshops on seed saving and breeding organic vegetable varieties and am getting very excited to learn even more about the "other side" of growing vegetables: growing the seeds! It is a fascinating part of the sytem and I am amazed at how little I know about growing vegetable seeds though I am a vegetable farmer! Its a completely different farming world. For example, the biennial vegetables (like carrots and beets) would be unrecognizable to many vegetable farmers and gardeners in their second year of growth! But I am getting very excited by the prospect and opportunity of possibly growing one variety of vegetable seed for commercial sales this year. If we are able to do that it would be an adventure and a great learning opportunity.
Plus we got to travel there and back and stay with our friends and fellow farmers Sharon and Dean. And we also got to visit with our Vermont farmer-friends Kara and Ryan of Evening Song Farm who lost their farmland to a devastating flood caused by Hurricane Irene in August 2011. When we arrived Thursday evening they announced that they had closed the deal earlier that day on a piece of property they had been renting this past year. This land is far above the creek that ruined their previous land and they are very excited to be starting anew, although it certainly is a daunting task. Hooray for their courageous spirit! We can't wait to see what wonderful things they will achieve there (they've already built a barn, two hoophouses and the foundation for a home!!!).

Choose 7:
lettuce mix
spicy mix
garlic
carrots
kale
beets
onions (red and yellow)
leeks
winter squash - butternut, carnival, tetsukaubuto (big, gnarly and green)
celery root i.e. celeriac
parsnips
cabbage
salad turnips - hakurei and red
potatoes
watermelon radishes
rutabegas