In this issue:
- 2013 Farm Experience Calendar
- Winter Squash and Sweet Potato Harvest
- Book Review: Ecovillage at Ithaca - Green Footprint
- Deer in the neighborhood - 8 point buck outside my wIndow - photos
Fall on The Farm
Hi Friends,
It has been a busy and beautiful fall and our killing frost came in November. a week late.
Time for fall garden foods like broccoli and lettuce again.
2013 will be my 12th year hosting Farm Experience Weekends. After experimenting with other themes over the last few years, my general conclusion is that most folks are really drawn to the overall, comprehensive integration of sustainability, spirituality, health and diet, shared resources, right livelihood, and immersion in nature that is The Farm Community.
With that in mind, for 2013 I have decided to offer Farm Experience Weekends starting in February going through October. In May over Memorial Day Weekend, I will continue to host my Sustainability Conference in partnership with the Fellowship of Intentional Communities. For June once again I will have the 7 day Organic Garden Intensive and July the expanded 5 day Summer Farm Experience.
Join me this year in whatever month works for you and explore the art of living green, alternatives in building, education, and social networking on a real, human scale. I will also offer anyone returning for a second retreat a $75 discount. Anyone signing up for February will have dorm space included in their registration.
As always, I guarantee you a memorable experience.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Yours in community,
Douglas
Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com
Hobbit cabins called "Hippitats"
Models for Natural Building at the Ecovillage Training Center
Community Dinner
Farm Experience Weekend
A
fun filled weekend intensive
on all aspects of living green.
A tour of the Ecovillage Training Center
Activities*
include:
- Green Homes / Farm Tour
- Midwifery Workshop
- Alternative Education
- Starting a Small Business
- Kids Welcome!
- Community Dinner
Register today!
Additional Activities:
- Farm History/ The Farm Now Slide Show
- Yoga and Meditation
- Community Garden
- Healthy Recipes
- Nature Walks
- Music and Entertainment
*Activities subject to change based on season and availability
| For more activities and events on The Farm, check out: | |
|---|---|
| The Farm Community Calendar | Green Life Retreats |
| Friends of The Farm on Face book | Midwifery Workshops |
The Fall harvest of winter squash and sweet potatoes are the perfect way to wrap up another great garden year. I especially like growing the winter squash because after planting and mulching, there is really nothing left to do but gather the fruits in late fall. It doesn't get much easier and the payoff in food is fantastic.
Farming organically in the south can be challenging, especially for a crop like winter squash, which can get hit hard by squash bugs and vine borers.
After experimenting with a number of different squash and pumpkins varieties, fortunately we have found two that are very resistant to both pests.
The Seminole squash produces medium size fruits similar in color inside and out to a butternut. I am really sold on their flavor.
The Seminole squash is bug resistant, produces abundantly,
stores well, and has an excellent flavor.
The Troboncino squash is also similar to a butternut in appearance, but have extremely long necks, which can be a good thing, meaning lots of flesh and minimal seeds).
The necks form a curly cue, making them a challenge to store.
We grow the Troboncinos because when picked green they can be prepared as an alternative to yellow crookneck summer squash.
However this year we had a good supply of late yellow crooknecks, so I let the troboncinos fully mature to boost my winter squash harvest.
Troboncino squash have long, curly necks, making them challenging to store in a tight space.
Three 30 foot rows of sweet potatoes produced eight, 5 gallon buckets. I stick with the classic Beauregard variety with its dark orange flesh and intense flavor.
There would have been even more had I not lost fully half the harvest to voles. Voles are burrowing mammals like moles, but moles only eat worms and grubs and the voles are content to get fat on my sweet potatoes. Fortunately If they only munch away a small section the potato is still salvageable. I just eat those first since they may not store as well.
Last year I did grow potatoes in raised beds with hardware cloth on the bottom to prevent voles from entering and I will try that again next year. The raised beds were a mix of peat moss and compost and I did not think the potatoes were as sweet, but the seed was from a different source. Next year I will add more Tennessee dirt and other nutrients to the mix in my raised bed to see if I can enhance the flavor.
This sweet potato got hit particularly hard by the voles.
Book Review: Ecovillage Ithaca - Green Footprint
As a lifelong participant in community living, I have a keen interest in how other communities are organized. One of the best ways to learn about other experiments is through the Community Bookshelf at www.ic.org, the web site for the Fellowship of Intentional Communities. I am currently reading a book about Ecovillage Ithaca, which formed about 15 years ago with the very deliberate intention of designing an model Ecovillage up to modern standards.
Unlike The Farm, which started with virtually no plan, only ideals, EVI spent years in the design process, working with architects, builders, plus a strong link to Cornell University. In addition, they are just on the outskirts the city of Ithaca, NY, and subject to all kinds of building codes along with city regulations and oversight. A 1000 sq. ft. home starts at around $200,000 before adding amenities such as passive solar standards, hardwood floors and upgraded cabinetry and woodwork. In contrast, a recent 1000 sq. ft home here came in at $80,000, with the builder, who was a retired contractor, saving approximately $20-$30,000 by managing the various work crews himself.
It is interesting for me to read about ETI's integration of the community's social aspects, how people work together, what types of conflicts arise,and how they are resolved. There is a certain freshness to the relatively "youthful enthusiasm" I see in a community still comparatively young which in a certain way I can envy.
One of the ways ETI measures its status as Ecovillage is in the amount of people who work on site, thus lowering the communities overall carbon footprint. Many people work from home. Their close proximity to town allows some the ability to bike to work or car pool for shopping runs.
This is true for The Farm as well. In a quick survey for Farm residents, I found that 80% work on The Farm compared to 20% that commute to jobs in town. In some cases there is a mix. For example, our two largest companies and employers, The Book Publishing Company and SEI, our electronics manufacturing firm, send people out to trade shows to do sales on a regular basis. I work from home 90% of the time but occasionally drive in to town for meetings with clients or for on-site video production.
Here at The Farm, it was interesting to note that an increasing number of our founding generation has reached retirement, and although they once commuted to jobs outside the community, they no longer do so. We also have several aging parents, now in their 80's, which live here as well and also contribute to the number of adults that do not commute.
Unlike Ecovillage Ithaca, which has tightly packed neighborhoods, we are very spread out and require a lot of internal transportation, countered by our wide use of lower emission golf carts, bicycles, and our comparatively large land base preserved for nature. All in all, I was impressed to see how much of our population does not commute to outside work.
Outside my window
Our homes are nestled in the woods, but also close to open fields, a perfect habitat for deer. Since there is no hunting allowed on our property, the deer wander about pretty freely and
barely notice their human co-habitants of the land.
It does mean all gardens must have an 8 foot fence and a few people have enclosed their yards in order to have flowers and shrubs. Deer also carry ticks in the summer time, another good reason to keep them out of the yard.
You see a lot of does, but an 8 point buck like the one pictured right can be a rare sighting. This one was just outside my window.
I tapped on the window so he would raise his head.
Thank you for your time and attention!
I look forward to hearing from you.
Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com
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PO Box 259 / Summertown, TN 38483
931-964-2590 - office 931-626-4035 -
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