What do ants eat?

That’s a question I was asked by an inquisitive 4th grader last Tuesday at A.B. Combs Elementary School.  It’s also a question I was not sure of the answer.  There I was, assisting students with their garden plots, being the knowledgeable college student that works at a farm, and I don’t even know what ants eat.  (Alison, the insect expert, tells me that different species of ants eat different things--fruit, vegetables, other animals, etc.)  

Just another reminder that farming is a continuous learning experience.  

And speaking of learning new things.. I’ve personally learned several new skills just in the first two weeks at the farm.  Most notably (and something I’ve wanted to do for a while)... driving a tractor!!  

My first experience was using the cultivator to aerate the soil on the ½ acre that is soon to be planted.  One half of that portion will be put into more vegetable production and the other half  will be a cover crop of buckwheat.  My second tractor adventure involved using the bush hog to mow down the hay in another field currently not in production.  

Because we’re an educational farm, we are faced with a few different responsibilities that wouldn’t be as important on a strictly production farm.  Some of those responsibilities include outreach projects that aren’t as necessary for other farms.  We’ve done a bit of that already by updating our on-farm kiosk with bulletin board material, putting up educational information, and attaching a new dry erase board for comments!  Another responsibility involves planning our exciting summer workshops (honey harvesting, wild edibles walks, and more…!).  More info on that in the coming weeks.  

Another aspect that is unique to an educational farm: volunteer days! We’ve already had many quite successful workdays.  There is something to be said for solitary reflections during weeding, to be certain… but farming with others is a wonderful experience as well.

Come and join us!  Our workdays are Wednesdays 4-8 and Sundays 2-4.  It’s a fun time.. and you can take home some vegetables too!

 

Season's End

Hello Folks,

It seems this year's growing season came to an end pretty quick. We really enjoyed providing fresh produce "grown by the pack for the pack" to campus dining and hope to continue to do so in the future. This year we met many challenges as one does in this line of work. 

The first issue we encountered was the rain. It never seemed to stop this year. Every other day it poured and this had a huge impact on all of our crops. The produce that suffered most is anything that grows on vines like tomatoes, beans, melons, squash, cucumbers etc. These guys just couldn't handle the extreme amount of water thrown at them this year and far too many of crops split.

Of course with the rain came mildews galore. We had a few different types of mildews that attacked our plants this year which we did not experience last year. 

Another problem we encountered was pest issues. Beetles and other pests seemed to have doubled their numbers this year. They were relentless. It's possible the water may have helped them proliferate. 

Now we face a much larger problem...funding. The future is uncertain at the farm at the moment due to budget cuts and sequestration. Many of our staff members are moving on to new opportunities and we lack the funding to continue our work for much longer. 

All in all, this year was great though. It was the first year exploring our partnership with University Dining Services and we believe it was a fantastic experience. 

Cheers,

Agroecology Education Farm Staff.

Art at the Farm

Hello Readers,

This year we have a pretty special staff member. Will Hildreth is working at the farm this summer and has contributed immensely to the success of sales to campus dining. Each Tuesday he spends hours, along side our Farm Manager, Stephen Ratasky, harvesting produce. He then helps weigh, wash, pack, load, and unload the crops for dining services.


This ex-CEFS intern has
also put the skills and techniques learned from the internship to good use out at the farm. From weeding plants, to pruning tomatoes and basil, to helping to diagnose plant disease issues, he does it all. Thanks to him and our Farm Manager, the farm has produced over 700 lbs of food earning over $1,000 towards farm maintenance.

However Will is not only a farmer, he is also an artist. Luckily for us, he will soon paint a large mural on our water tank. Plans are still in the air as to what themes might be explored but it is certain to be fantastic! Agriculture is not only about growing plants and selling crops. There is a community aspect to it as well. Part of community is visual expression through various artistic forms. You could say that we are bringing more components of community to the farm.

Photos soon to come of his work of art's progress.

Cheers,
-Agroecology Education Farm Staff

Volunteer Day and Dining Food Delivery

Hello Readers!

Things have been very busy out at the farm. We've had tons of rain and, of course, this has posed quite a problem. It seems our little plants are constantly struggling against pests, mildews, and other plant diseases. That is the life of an organically grown plant
though. They all just need a little help from their human stewards and we know just how to make that happen.

Recently, we hosted a volunteer event with NCSU Dining Services. Quite a few people came out and spent their entire morning working on various projects including spreading mulch/compost and weeding. Folks from NCSU Sustainability, Campus Dining, and NCSU Library Services made it out that morning and really worked hard to get the farm in tip-top shape. Also, Green Planet Catering brought a few folks out which definitely contributed to the overall success of the morning.

NCSU Campus Dining Services has really taken a proactive role in the success of the garden this year. In addition to coming out and working on the farm, Dining Services now purchases food from us. Each week we deliver a variety of tomatoes, chard, beets, basil, peppers, okra, carrots, among other crops. In return, dining services pays us which goes to help continue the development of the farm. We hope to progress more into the educational components in the future.

So if you are at campus anytime soon...stop by the dining halls and try a bit of our delicious produce. Let dining know that you think food grown by the pack for the pack is awesome so we can continue this fantastic partnership.

Cheers,
Agroecology Education Staff

Food Grown by the Pack, For the Pack!

Hello Readers!

Exciting things are the air. We have officially established a formal relationship with University Dining! June 25th was our first delivery and we believe the folks over in dining services were very pleased.

The hope is this partnership remains a constant and students will begin to eat more food grown by the pack for the pack. All our crops are grown organically by students from NCSU. Talk about local...you can't get much more local than that.

This is monumental and has the power to influence to student food choices.
More updates to come.

Cheers,
Agroecology Education Farm Staff

15 Things to do with Chard (Green Delight).

Hello Readers!

Chard!

Succulent Swiss chard originated in Europe and is one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat. Botanically, it is related to the beet-family of vegetables which includes sugar beets and garden beets. It features distinctly large dark-green leaves with prominent petiole well-developed edible stalk. Chard, like spinach, is the store-house of phytonutrients that have health promotion and disease prevention properties. It's very low in calories and fat so is recommended in cholesterol control and weight reduction. It is an excellent source of vitamin-C, vitamin-K, vitamin-A, B-carotene, B-complex vitamins, copper, calcium, sodium, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorous. In other words, chard is "oh so good" for your body, specifically for your bones, blood, heart, colon, and prostate (if your a man).

Right now, in most of our gardens, we are awash in a sea of green. So much so, that you might not know exactly what to do with all of those delicious green leaves. Don't fret. We've got you covered. Just scroll down to find some interesting and delicious things to do with your chard

.

1) Saute with olive oil, garlic and add a dash of lemon juice as a great side.
2) Juice it with apples, carrots, a half a lemon for a healthy thirst quencher.
3) Make cabbage rolls substituting chard for cabbage.
4) Steam it then mix it into cream of broccoli soup.
5) Treat it like spinach.
6) Use it in a fancy pasta dish.
7) Cream it and make chard dip.

Chard is oh so good!

8)Make chard chips much the same way as you make kale chips.
9)Make a green smoothie. Combine bananas, apples, chard, pineapple or orange juice.
10)Make a chimichurri blend from it.
11) Use it as lettuce.
12) Prepare the stalks like asparagus.
13)Use it as a pizza topping.
14) Cook it with salmon using this recipe: http://goo.gl/b4F5P
15)Make a tart using this recipe: http://goo.gl/HVH7G

Cheers,
-Agroecology Education Farm Staff

Plant Debut 2013

Hello Readers,

This will be a short post this time. We just wanted to give the you and the rest of the world a glimpse of our first crops of the season!

Aren't they just beautiful?!