Farm Notes by Miriam

Hello Folks,

Talk this time of year tends towards the tomato. From expressing adoration for those lovely red orbs to cursing the blights that befall the plants, this solanaceous super star gets a lot of attention in August. For all the glory there is a price to pay in the form of endless trellising and ubiquitous copper spray. While methods for trellising are more varied than one might think (cages, weaving, high-tensile wire, etc.), nearly every "Organic" grower I know relies on the legal use of copper to suppress blight.

Most blights that effect tomatoes are soil-born. Every time it rains and dirt splashes the lower leaves of the plant the disease spreads. You can only remove so many leaves without causing "sun-scalding" (pale, hard patches on fruit). Even the use of mulch cannot completely stop the occurrence of blight.

With copper spray, copper ions are actually absorbed by the fungus or bacteria and link to the chemical combinations in their proteins, which disables them.

So, we don latex gloves and throw on a backpack sprayer and walk up and down the beds leaving a fine, blue mist in our wake. With a broken gasket on the lid of our sprayer and the requisite jostle to re-mix, there is always an unpleasant trickle of this concoction that drips down one's back. But, don't worry about us, safety regulations assert "Zero days to Harvest", which means it's even o.k. to eat the fruit on the same day of application.

I still wanted to prove to myself that our efforts are not in vain. Although human health issues are not in jeopardy, continued use of copper can have a deleterious effect on the soil over time.

Is it really worth it?

This season I set up a test to find out. Every two weeks we apply the correct amount of copper to nearly 40% of our total tomato crop. The remaining 60% is left untouched. Of that 60%, 20% are determinate varieties of tomatoes bred primarily for resistance to disease, rather than supreme taste. In other words, half of our yummy heirlooms have been treated and half of them have not.
So far, the results show that the blight has overtaken more of the lower leaves on the untreated plants to the point where they are unable to produce fruit on these lower sections. And, the blight continues to climb ever higher. This is no good. But, I will see the experiment out just to make sure.

Last week, I attended the monthly meeting of small scale growers in our area who are "Organic", "Certified Naturally Grown", or folks like us who never use chemicals but haven't felt the need to bother with the paperwork ;) I informed some farming friends of my experiment. They laughed and told me there was no need to test it out. Copper works. But, I was glad I mentioned it because I learned that "Champion", the copper brand we use, has recently been removed from the national organic list. (See OMRI, Organic Materials Review Institute for more details.) According to the certification board, as is usually the case, farmers are allowed to use up their remaining stores of a banned product as long as their next purchase conforms to the new standard.

In fact, I remember in 2003 when "Champion" brand copper spray replaced "Kocide" as the organic standard. The certified "Organic" farmer who I was working for eventually used up his bag of Kocide and diligently bought the new stuff -- "Champion". When I asked him the difference between the two brands he shook his head. No idea.

Therefore, I put out the call to all of you!

Anyone want to research more about the "new" brand of organic copper (I haven't even found the name of it yet!)- and how it compares to "Champion"? Please consider this a sincere invitation! And don't worry, our bag is going to last the rest of the season, so the due date for these findings is not until '09! The reward? Our own delicious dehydrated tomatoes mailed out in wintertime to the first one who responds!

--Miriam

Farm Notes by Benjamin

Small sustainable farmers are all over the media lately. A few years back, Hearty Roots might have been in an occasional story in our local paper or a food related magazine. These days, we have literally been inundated with requests from filmmakers, TV and radio producers, and editors of books, newspapers and magazines. In fact, this week in Brooklyn we will have a crew from Japanese Public Television (NHK) filming distribution of the vegetables; this past weekend Stoneledge Farm, which is in a neighboring county to ours, had a film crew from ABC News documenting their Garlic Harvest for a national TV feature; and last week, I was invited to speak on the radio about the economics of small farming, on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show.

In the past few months alone, the New York Times has featured stories on young urbanites becoming farmers; corporate executives switching to the farm lifestyle; CSA in general; and people hiring gardeners to create their own organic CSA's in their back yards.

Is this just a fad, or Is there something going on to merit all this attention? Judging by our experience at Hearty Roots, this is more than just media hype-- we're in the midst of a local food and farming movement whose growth is momentous. Hearty Roots has seen unprecedented demand for our CSA shares this season, selling out far earlier than we ever have before. We are seeing new farms pop up and hearing from many people who are excited about learning to farm. We've been forced to turn down many neighborhoods, restaurants and specialty stores interested in getting our produce, since even though we have grown our farm by nearly 100% each season, we are still unable to keep up with demand.

So what's next? In order for this local food movement to keep up with the media attention, and demand from a locavore-savvy public, we need more farmers! Even in our area, which faces development pressure due to its proximity to NYC, there is lots of land that is currently growing low value crops like hay-- land that could be used to grow higher value crops to meet NYC's demand for fresh, local produce. It will be no easy task to achieve this: we need changes in local, state and federal policy; we need young people who are working for farmers now to have the tools they need to launch their own farms; we need to protect our existing farmland from development; and we need existing commodity farmers to diversify into direct-marketing. It won't happen overnight, but now is the time to build our capacity for a strong, local, sustainable agricultural sector in the future.

Farm Notes by Tracy

We work hard here at Hearty Roots. Seven days a week, at least one of us is at the farm. Some days just watering, other days planting, weeding, tilling, keeping away the groundhogs, and harvesting. Perhaps the produce itself tells that story: of long days in the field. But our bright, sweet carrots and heavy, round beets also tell another story: Hearty Roots isn't just about hard work. After hours you'll find three of us coming home to the same house, and often most of us find ourselves in the same place. On Tuesdays there's wing night (always better if shared), on Thursdays we show movies, and on the right weekend, some of us dance until wee hours, enjoying our late nights of the week.

I can't speak for the rest of the crew, but farming for me is about the people I work with as much as it is about growing produce. Days aren't filled with laughs, but they keep me going. I think our produce shows the satisfaction we feel at the end of our days, as well as the work we put into them. I love my job because I believe in good food, but also because summer season means many hours of hard work, and spending those hours with the right people makes or breaks the harvest.

Garlic Harvest Party!

The annual Garlic Harvest Party is this weekend at Hearty Roots Community Farm!

Saturday, July 19th, 11am - 5pm

Find us at our Pitcher Lane field, 227 Pitcher Lane, Red Hook, NY 12583

We'll provide water and some snacks, feel free to bring a picnic and stay for as much or as little time as you'd like.

We'll be digging the garlic out of the ground, tying it in bunches, and bringing it to our barn to hang up to cure.

Kids and friends welcome! Rain or shine! We look forward to seeing you there!