Spring, 2000 Vol. 2, No. 44 Publication of the Northeast Organic Farming Association ISSN 1077-2294 Getting Ready for the Revised Organic RULE by Elizabeth Henderson USDA should use a sliding fee system or pick up the entire bill for the first round of accreditation, or find By the time this article appears in print, the National some method of cost-sharing. Organic Program (NOP) of USDA may have re- leased the revised version of the Organic Rule for Other scale issues: Requirement for regular residue the Organic Food Production Act of 1990 - all 600 testing: cost of residue testing should be borne by (plus or minus) pages. Most of this voluminous state departments of consumer protection or the outpouring represents the NOP staff’s responses to federal government. Some of the provisions in these our 275,000 comments on their earlier rule, and their standards, such as the regulations for dairy herd justifications for the decisions they have made in the conversion, need to be designed in such a way as to revised version. While this might make entertaining target the particular needs of smaller scale opera- bathroom reading, we should focus our attention on tions. There must be some way to treat differently the Rule itself. We all need to read this version sized operations so that the bias does not automati- slowly and carefully to assess whether or not we can cally favor the larger operations. live with it. 2. No factory farms. The Rule must not contain Once again, there will be a comment period of 45 to loopholes in standards that allow for factory farm 120 days, depending on how loudly we squawk. The practices such as confinement, dry-lots, and animal NOP will then make revisions and issue a Final mutilations. Highly industrialized farming practices Rule. They will also complete the writing of their by definition are not ecological farming practices. Operations Manual, a much more detailed set of The ecology of the whole farm needs to be pro- Eliot Coleman to Keynote 2000 documents that will govern the day-to-day running tected. of the NOP. NOFA Summer Conference 3. Genetically Engineered Organisms. Organic By Dre Rawlings So what can we expect? Both Kathleen Merrigan, consumers assume that organic is GEO/GMO free. head of the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), The difficulty with this is that it may be very hard to Keynoting the 2000 Annual NOFA Summer Confer- and Keith Jones, head of the NOP, have stated deliver. There is tremendous potential for pollen ence and Celebration of Rural Life will be Eliot publicly that this rule will not be perfect. Kathleen drift and seed contamination. Testing needs to Coleman (featured on the cover of this journal six Merrigan has used the figure 80% of the expecta- reflect reasonable existing conditions in the field months ago). He is the author of The New Organic tions of the organic community. From Secretary of with regards to drift. Funding for any testing must Grower and Four Season Harvest. Coleman has Agriculture Glickman’s remarks shortly after the come from the manufacturers of GEO/GMOs, and contributed chapters to three scientific books on 275,000 comments, we can be reasonably sure that they, not the farmers, should be liable for drift. In organic agriculture and has written extensively on the this Rule will not burden organic agriculture with the addition, if a farm’s crop cannot be sold due to subject since 1975. He is a market gardener in Maine big three - sewage sludge, GEO/GMOs and irradia- contamination from drift, there should be some and designs tools for Johnny’s Selected Seeds. With tion. In writing its revisions, the NOP staff has mechanism for compensating the farmer. his wife Barbara Damrosch,Eliot hosts the TV serices reportedly referred to the text of the American Gardening Naturally. As well as delivering the key- Organic Standards (AOS), ratified last fall by the 4. Strengthen the public-private partnership. The note speech Friday night, August 11, Eliot will also Organic Trade Association (OTA) and approved by purpose of the national organic standards included in present a workshop on Saturday, August 12. most of the existing organic certification programs, the OFPA is to serve USDA, in its role as accreditor, including the NOFAs. as the basis for the evaluation of the certification Brainstorming together over the past 2 months, the standards of the existing certification programs. The members of the Summer Conference Committee 2000 The troublesome points in the new Rule will prob- Rule should maintain NOSB’s role and authority in have covered some exciting ground. The theme of next ably come where the organic community does not summer’s conference will be ‘Feeding the Soil, have consensus. Unless we negotiate hard within continued on page 28 Feeding the Soul’. The concept was Stan Ingram’s, our community, the differing interests of farmers, translated into a beautiful logo by Chris Rawlings. processors and consumers could lead to serious splits and nasty in-fighting. Some of the hottest Inside this issue: Let’s talk entertainment! We’re changing the schedule current discussions swirl around the use of synthetic a little bit next year. We’re planning to have the ingredients in organic processed foods, requiring Features contradance on Friday night. We will hold it in the Red pasture for all dairy herds, and the conditions for Dancing Goats & Chicken Tractors 7 Barn and environs, weather permitting, integrating the transitioning dairy herds to organic management. Get-Aquainted Party and the dance. We’re also There could also be trouble where the AOS and the Increasing Soil Nutrient Matter Safely 8 inviting back the Hot House Zydaco Band - organic National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) recom- music at its sizzling best! More movies will be shown mendations have gaps, such as the lack of detail on this summer, and we’ll have them running continu- genetically engineered materials in feed additives, Supplement on Flowers for Market ously! We are working to secure a room to screen manure, drift tolerance, and the certification of wild Sweet Floral Magic 9 movies during workshop hours as well as in the foods. Perhaps the touchiest issue for the entire Growing Ornamentals Organically 10 evening. This will give attendees the opportunity to organic community is whether USDA defines its role watch a movie if there isn’t a workshop they are as chief certifier or accreditor of existing certifica- Cut Flowers 12 interested in during any given time slot. ‘Ancient tion programs. In the past, Kathleen Merrigan has Deep in their Roots 13 Futures’, the story of Ladakh and its people, ‘The been very vocal in warning certifiers that the NOP Bouquet Making at North Slope Farm 14 Gift’, detailing the mission of the Heifer Project, and will turn them into agents of the federal program. Everlastings 16 ‘Raioni’, a Brazilian aborigine’s struggle with The international norm strictly separates the role of “progress”, are just a few excellent selections we have accreditor from programs that perform certification. Designing & Growing a Cut Flowr Garden 17 lined up. Wholesaling Cut Sunflowers 21 In preparation for the Rule, the organic committee Camp Merrishko 22 The debate this year will be on: “Can Local Organic of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agricul- Our Edible Flowers 24 Agriculture Feed the World?” You’ve heard the ture, which I co-chair with Michael Sligh, has statistics: demand for organic grows 20% per year in developed this list of the basic issues to keep in mind Value-Added Flowers for Off Seasons 25 the developed nations. Will the supply be there for to guide our evaluation: Designer Annuals 26 those who can afford it? On a larger scale, there are now over 6 billion of us on the planet. Who can do a 1. Support Family Farmers. Every point in the better job of feeding us all, local farmers or Cargill? National Organic Program needs to be examined to Departments Are the opponents of the organic movement right assess what its impact will be on farmers who are Editorial 2 about us? Are we just an alternative? A trend? Or are self employed and making their living at farming. If NOFA Exchange 4 we creating the knowhow for intensive, practical, and the costs are too high, they will unfairly burden the sustainable food production wherever we live? What’s very farmers who created organic agriculture. What News Notes 6 the message for the next generation of farmers: “Get effect does the fee structure have on smaller scale Book Reviews 29 Big or Get Out” or is “Small both Bountiful and business — farmers, certifiers, and processors — NOFA Contact People 34 continued on page 28 this program should benefit, not penalize them. Calendar 35 2 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 Letters to the Editor Dear Jack,

I just read through the Winter issue of The Natural Farmer and even before I came to your kind review of my book, I had resolved to write you a letter, congratulating you on your hard work. Bless you.

I’m in constant conflict with the Farm Bureau, which is putting outrageously biased articles in Ohio local papers. I need a steady supply of the kind of info you are putting in The Natural Farmer and I want to thank you for it.

Do you know what Dennis Avery is a doctor of? In the local papers it is always Dr. Dennis Avery. Since he is making outrageously stupid remarks about medicine, I want to warn readers he is not a medical doctor. Can you enlighten me on what kind of “doctor” he is? Also, do you have any biographical info about him relative to his experience as a farmer? Has he ever even planted a tomato plant? Has he ever forked one forkful of manure?

Keep up the good work.

P.S. I especially liked your news bit about how Iowa Farm Bureau objects (!) to organic farmers getting a Flowers for Market? good price for their crops. While the assholes in our I remember when we first moved to our farm and and sounded like the owner of a shoe factory in newspapers keep preaching the need for adding Julie planted beds of flowers throughout the newly 1919, or a Connecticut Valley grain grower in 1839. value to a crop! plowed garden, I gave her bit of trouble about it. I He had been driven out of business. Technologies of was pretty big on being ‘practical’ back then, and cheap transportation, combined with regional Enclosed is $10 for a subscription. I’m also trying to generally figured that if you couldn’t eat it, wear it, variations in labor rates and other production costs, figure out a way I can afford to advertise my books or use it up, it wasn’t of any value. Flowers just sat favored imports over local flowers. continually in your magazine and help us both out. there looking pretty — perhaps smelling good too. With four little kids, a house to build and no visible This issue of The Natural Farmer is an attempt to Gene Logsdon means of support, we were struggling just to keep put a little hope back in the worlds of Northeastern our heads above water, I recall arguing, with little farmers. There are actually lots of opportunities, Thanks, Gene! enough time to spend on luxuries. particularly in the field of flowers, for our growers. Cut, bunched flowers are selling for very respect- We’re going to be up against a lot of public attacks When Julie later wanted to expand our production able prices, and our ability to deliver quality, fresh now. The establishment has billions of dollars at and, looking to match crops and markets, hit upon bouquets that last a week or longer is quite attractive stake in this battle and is not going to lose them bouquets as part of the mix, I again questioned to most retail buyers. Landscape designs, bedding without a fight! I can’t help you on Avery. I assume whether people would actually spend hard-earned plants, dried flowers, potpourris and holiday ar- his degree is in some academic subject like ag money to buy flowers. In fact, I still continue to be rangements give us chances to expand our season amazed that people will spend more to buy flowers and deliver floral value beyond our natural months continued on page 3 than food. But experience is a hard teacher to of production. ignore. Over the years I’ve come to realize that people hunger for a touch of beauty as much as for New varieties also give us an edge. It takes a long The Natural Farmer food. time for wholesale operations to gear up the systems needed to try out, mass produce, and ship new Most TNF readers are aware of the international flowers. But local, small growers can trial, market, Needs You! nature of the food industry, and of the fact that and evaluate new products in one season, holding The Natural Farmer is the newspaper of the Northeast Organic Northeastern organic farmers are carving out a small the market for a year or two until the big boys catch Farming Association (NOFA). All members receive a subscrip- but secure niche for local, fresh product. Much the on. tion as part of their dues, and others may subscribe for $10 (in same is true in the floral world. It is hard to believe, the US or $14 outside the US). It is published four times a year at 411 Sheldon Rd., Barre, MA 01005. The editors are Jack but just as you can ship a California lettuce to Growing flowers isn’t for everyone. But it has Kittredge and Julie Rawson, (assisted by their kids), but most of Worcester, Massachusetts, and undersell a farmer 30 proven to be one way to make agriculture work in the material is either written by members or summarized by us minutes away, so you can ship in the makings for the northeast. CSAs find flower bouquets attract and from information people send us. bouquets from any of a dozen places and out- hold shareholders, farmers markets report they bring compete local growers. Upcoming Issue Topics - We plan a year in advance so that customers to your booth, those selling to the restau- folks who want to write on a topic can have a lot of lead time. rant, wedding, and gift trade feel flowers return a The next 3 issues will be: I talked recently with the owner of one of the largest good price for one’s labor. We dedicate this issue to greenhouse floral operations in Central Massachu- those growers pioneering in this new area, raising Spring 2000 - Flowers for Market setts. He was shutting down his acres of production Summer 2000- Bees Flowers for Market. Autumn 1999 - Transition to Organic Moving or missed an issue? The Natural Farmer will not be Advertise in The Natural Farmer forwarded by the post office, so you need to make sure your Advertisements not only bring in TNF revenue, which address is up-to-date if you move. You get your subscription to means less must come from membership dues, they also Frequency discounts: if you buy space in several issues you this paper in one of two ways. Direct subscribers who send us make a paper interesting and helpful to those looking for can qualify for substantial discounts off these rates. Pay for $10 are put on our data base here. These folks should send specific goods or services . We carry 2 kinds of ads: two consecutive issues and get 10% off each, pay for 3 and address changes to us. Most of you, however, get this paper as a get 20% off, or pay for 4 and get 25% off. An ad in the NOFA member benefit for paying your chapter dues. Each The NOFA Exchange - this is a free bulletin board service NOFA Summer Conference Program Book counts as a TNF quarter every NOFA chapter sends us address labels for their paid members, which we use to mail out the issue. We don’t for NOFA members and TNF subscribers. Send in up to 100 ad for purposes of this discount. keep copies of these, and if you moved or didn’t get the paper, words (business or personal) and we’ll print it free in the your beef is with your state chapter, not us. Every issue we print next issue. Include a price (if selling) and an address or Deadlines: We should receive your ad copy one month an updated list of “NOFA Contacts” on the last page, for a phone number so readers can contact you directly. If you’re before the publication date of each issue. The deadlines are: handy reference to all the chapter names and addresses. not a NOFA member, you can still send in an ad - just send January 31 for the Spring issue $5 along too! Send NOFA Exchange ads directly to The April 30 for the Summer issue As a membership paper, we count on you for articles, art and Natural Farmer, 411 Sheldon Rd., Barre, MA 01005 or July 31 for the Fall issue graphics, news and interviews, photos on rural or organic (preferably) E-mail to [email protected] October 31 for the Winter issue themes, ads, letters, etc. Almost everybody has a special talent or knows someone who does. If you can’t write, find someone Display Ads - this is for those offering products or services Contact for Display Ads: Send display ads with payment to who can to interview you. We’d like to keep the paper lively on a regular basis! You can get real attention with display our advertising manager, Justine Johnson at 145 LaPlante and interesting to members, and we need your help to do it. ads. Send camera ready copy to Justine Johnson, 145 Circle, Easthampton, MA 01027. If you have questions, or LaPlante Circle, Easthampton, MA 01027 and enclose a want to reserve space, contact Justine at (413) 527-1920 or We appreciate a submission in any form, but are less likely to check for the appropriate size. The sizes and rates are: [email protected]. make mistakes with something typed than hand-written. To be a Full page (15" tall by 10" wide) $240 real gem, send it via electronic mail ([email protected]) Half page (7 1/2" tall by 10" wide) $125 Disclaimer: The Natural Farmer cannot investigate the or enclose a computer disk (3 1/2 inch size). We use a One-third page (7 1/2" tall by 6 1/2" wide) $85 claims of advertisers and we don’t vouch for anything Macintosh G3 with Microsoft Word but can with only modest One-quarter page (7 1/2" tall by 4 7/8" wide) $65 advertised here. Readers are expected to exercise due difficulty convert IBM disks as well. Also, any graphics, photos, One-sixth page (7 1/2" tall by 3 1/8" wide), or caution when inquiring about any product or service. charts, etc. you can enclose will almost certainly make your (3 3/4" tall by 6 1/2" wide) $45 Different NOFA chapters have different standards for submission more readable and informative. If you have any Business card size (1 1/2" tall by 3 1/8" wide) $12 fertilizers, for instance, and a product acceptable in one state ideas or questions, one of us is usually near the phone - (978) may be prohibited in another. Please check with your 355-2853, fax: (978) 355-4046 Note: These prices are for camera ready copy. If you want chapter when in doubt. Remember, however, that advertisers any changes we will be glad to make them - or to type set a are helping support the paper and, when appropriate, please ISSN 1077-2294 display ad for you - for $10 extra. Just send us the text, any support them. copyright 2000, graphics, and a sketch of how you want it to look. Include a Northeast Organic Farming Association check for the space charge plus $10. S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 3 sisters (2), most of whom have children. I am I was glad to be able to offer my ideas, but I do wish Letters to the Editor hoping that the information contained in this issue that a complete set of those ideas had been printed - will strongly encourage them to seek out and or at least that I had been consulted about the continued from page 2 patronize their local organic farms. Thank you for proposed revision, prior to printing. the excellent coverage. economics, but I don’t know. He certainly sounds I’m attaching the article again, so you can see the like he’s never farmed, but again I don’t know for Gwen Kopley, Easton, CT difference in my original text from that which was sure. Anyone out there who can help us on this? Hi Jack, published. David Gould I bet if you advertised your books continually in the That last issue was unbelievable! You wrote a book. Jack replies: TNF, you could afford to! Our rates are dirt cheap Seriously, I think it could be edited and published as for the product we deliver — an intelligent audience an organic “safe food guide”. Great work! David, I’m sorry, the omission of a section of your which reads each issue thoroughly (Help me out article was not intentional. I am not sure where the here, guys! You do, don’t you?). From what I’ve Brian Caldwell, Owego, NY mistake occurred, but I am reprinting the full section seen, NOFA members still have home libraries. here italicized (omitted part is also in bold): Studying their behavior at our summer conference, I Jack replies: believe they buy more books per capita than any Still, there is no question that microbial control is other demographic except scholars and, perhaps, Thanks, all who wrote. I did put a lot of energy into an important issue for all sprout producers. Fortu- teenagers. They also live in small towns and usually the Food Safety issue, and I really appreciate nately there are methods which have proven them- serve on the local library book acquisition commit- hearing from those who found it helpful. NOFA- selves effective for certified organic production. tee. So how can you go wrong? New York is republishing most of the issue along Facility cleanliness and good handling and sanita- with their list of certified farms, and a NOFA/ tion Jack Connecticut member is printing up copies of the practices are essential, as is a good and plentiful centerfold (with the pictures in color) as a poster to supply of potable water. Starting with clean Dear Jack & Julie, hang in CSA distribution centers, food coops, etc. equipment, clean personnel, and (as much as (Anyone interested in buying a copy for your own possible) clean seeds themselves, are necessary Once again, thank you for the great work with The CSA wall or whatever should get in touch with me precautions. Frequent rinsing of seeds is perhaps Natural Farmer. In particular, I want to commend and I’ll pass your name along.) I am entirely sold the best way of all to ensure that microbial con- Jack for the excellent job putting together the recent out of copies of that issue, but am happy to have taminants are freed from seeds. Vigilance to winter issue on “Food Safety”. It’s a heavy and chapters reprint it if they think it would be useful. cleanliness must be practiced. This is all possible thought-provoking one for sure, and the substantial The topic is certainly vital to our communities, and within the confines of materials and practices amount of research involved is obvious. Thanks is especially relevant now that (witness the recent allowed by organic production standards for very much for keeping us informed. television show “20/20” and its smear of organic processed foods. food) agribusiness interests are counterattacking and Luis Mendes, Bristol, RI trying to put us on the defensive. Any thinking Within organic standards, there are materials Dear Jack, person, when given the truth about our current available to help reduce risk of microbial prolifera- industrial food system, will recognize that seeking tion. (Remember, no treatment alone is an abso- Thank you very much for the excellent articles in out organic is the only way to avoid most of these lute assurance.) The International Sprout Grow- the Food Safety issue of The Natural Farmer! I risks. ers Association recommends a treatment of 6% really appreciate all the work you did researching, hydrogen peroxide (H O ), or a heat treatment at o 2 2 distilling tons of information, and writing it all up so Dear Jack, 135 F for 5 minutes (this gets tricky, maintaining clearly for each of the areas of concern. temperature and not losing viability of the seeds). I was very pleased to receive the winter edition of Another possibility might be peroxyacetic acid Sharon Devine, Massachusetts The Natural Farmer. It is filled with interesting (also called peracetic acid or periacetic acid), no material, and your efforts are to be commended. higher than 80 ppm (federally mandated limit). To the Kittredge family at The Natural Farmer, However, I was disappointed to find my article However, it must be stated very clearly that these edited to exclude what I feel are key points of above materials are approved by organic standards I’ve enclosed a check for $24 for 8 additional copies proactive information for organic producers. Spe- as generic materials alone, and that some commer- of the Winter TNF. It is such a concise, informative, cifically, strategies were mentioned which could be cial formulations may contain stabilizers or other non-sensationalized overview of the issues sur- effective for certified organic sprout production. “inert” compounds which make them prohibited for rounding the American food system that I am Without this information, the article reads to me as use in certified organic systems. sending copies on to each of my brothers (5) and being far less useful. continued on page 34 4 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0

Organic farm for sale or rent. Located in Central For Sale: Planet Jr. cultivator, $50; Horse-drawn New York’s Mohawk Valley. Ideal for small rumi- items: Pioneer spike-tooth harrow, $100; adjustable NOFA nant enterprise, and/or upland vegetables, soils are spike-tooth cultivator, $25; Farm-made chisel-type excellent, with abundant water. Numerous market- plow, $25; Contact Luis in RI, (401) 253-7537 (after ing options - wholesale, and retail through area 7 pm.) farmers markets, CSA, restaurants, on-farm sales to ethnic communities. Up to 200 acres available + Assistant Grower and interns needed. Phillies Exchange adjoining lands to rent. Excellent opportunity for Bridge Farm Project operates a CSA feeding 200 beginning or experienced producer interested in families, including at least 10% low-income, and expanding. Doug Bowne, 345 Lynch Rd, Little offers educational opportunities in sustainable Falls, NY 13365. (315) 866-1403, email: growing. Assistant grower and interns will help [email protected] plant, cultivate and harvest 5 acres of organic crops, and work in the education program. Asst. grower Angelic Organics seeks a field manager: training earns $200/week plus health benefits and half CSA will take place in the 2000 season; full responsibili- share. Interns get $100/week plus half share. To ties starting in 2001. We are an 800 member Biody- apply send letter, resume and references to: Laura namic CSA vegetable and herb farm located in Moul, Grower, Phillies Bridge Farm Project, PO north-central Illinois. We are entering our 11th year Box 1147, New Paltz, NY 12561, (914) 256-9108 growing organically and our 8th year as a CSA. We manage 80 acres, 25 of which grow the vegetables Looking for a 1 - 2 bedroom apartment, prefer- that feed over 1000 families in the Chicago area. ably on organic land. I am chemically sensitive and Candidate must have at least 2 years growing need a non-smoking, chemical-free environment. I experience. Beginning salary - $1,000/mo + room & am also interested in farm internship options in board. Review the web at http:// Massachusetts. Please call Kristin at (508) 650- www.AngelicOrganics.com for more information, 3940. Additionally, I am interested in setting up a or e-mail [email protected] for a full job support network for chemically sensitive people; description. if you’re interested, please call above number.

Mountain Dell Farm seeks apprentice for 2000 Our first year! Heirloom and open pollinated season, May through November. Private cabin, vegetable and flower seeds, organically grown in board, plus good salary for 50 hour weeks. Must northern Vermont for New England’s cooler climate. know how to work hard and be child friendly. Available through May 31. For a catalog send $1 to Duties include picking, packing, weeding and Arethusa Seed Farm, PO Box 183, Bakersfield, VT transplanting. This is our eleventh year as a NOFA- 05441 NY certified organic vegetable farm. Other interests include yoga, medicinal herbs, politics, swimming Horsepowered biodynamic farm/CSA seeks farm in the pond, rafting the Delaware River, and rural families to join land trust/community farm. Share parties. Mark Dunau or Lisa Wujnovich, Mountain farm work evenly and develop your own skill/trade. Dell Farm, RD1, Box 28G , Hancock, NY 13783. One modern house and one cottage available. Some 607-467-4034. e-mail at [email protected] investment necessary. Contact Davis Family Farm, Box 95, Acworth, NH 03601 (603) 835-2403 Lindentree Farm, a 140 member CSA forty minutes west of Boston and ten minutes from Walden Pond, Apprentice wanted at Summit Farm, Plainfield, is looking for two hardworking, enthusiastic MA. Work with an agrobiologist who has had 28 farmworkers to join our crew for the coming years of experience as an organic vegetable and season. We farm 8 acres. Responsibilities include berry grower. Learn all facets of organic vegetable fieldwork and a local farmers’ market. Experience and berry production. Only reliable persons with a Blow Your Own Horn! on farms is helpful. Send resumes to: Ari Kurtz, 10 strong interest in organic agriculture need apply. A Old Concord Road, Lincoln, MA 01773, or call 781 May thru September commitment of 40 hours per Certified organic goats’ milk cheese and yogurt 259-1259 week is important. Housing and all the vegetables business looking to supply Restaurants, CSA’s, you can eat, along with a weekly stipend, are Farmers Market’s etc. Pigeon Cove Farm is a small Having recently purchased a former farmette in provided. The natural, very rural setting provides a organic farm nestled away in scenic Rockport, Mass. Hingham Mass., I am seeking someone who would multitude of recreational opportunities. At 1800 feet Owned and operated by Greg and Becky DeCaro, like to revive it. My sense is small fruits, but am in elevation the star gazing is superb. Contact Ed the farm produces a delicious fresh chevre goat open to suggestions. Beautiful barn on premises to Stockman at 413-634-5024 cheese and tasty goat yogurt from their herd of store equipment. Please call Christina at 781-740- purebred Nubian does. Everything from hand 2969 (evenings) or 617-348-2362 (days). E-mail: Apprentice sought for 2000 growing season on milking to processing and packaging is done solely [email protected] diversified organic farm. Primary focus vegetable by Greg and Becky on the premises. Call us at 978- production, but also maple syrup, livestock, green- 546-3574 or visit us at 64 Curtis Street, Rockport, Full time, part time and internship positions houses, construction projects and marketing to be Mass.01966 or E-Mail at [email protected]. available at the Ryland Inn, NOFA-NJ certified done. Room, board and wages available. Please call organic garden. May-November 2000. Reasonable Jayne or Gordon Ridgway at 860-672-0779 for Assistant grower and farmhands needed at Still pay or stipend, delicious food, wonderful people, details. Email [email protected] Point Community Farm, Amenia NY. Assistant and a beautiful garden full of vegetables, fruits, Grower works on a team with the farmer and will be flowers and herbs. Learn about all aspects of We are currently researching and working towards responsible for field operations (soil preparation, ecological/biological gardening. Contact Chip opening a kosher slaughterhouse in New York state. fertility management, fallow land management, etc.) Shepherd at [email protected] or The Ryland Inn, We wish to sell organically raised animals if we and general vegetable production work (planting, POBox 284, Whitehouse, NJ 08888. are able to find suppliers. If you can help put us in cultivating and harvesting). Room, board, $500/ contact with producers of lambs and cows in the month stipend provided, previous experience with The Community School is looking for a garden Northeast, we would greatly appreciate it. Miriam machinery required. Farmhands work in all aspects manager and interns to grow organic vegetables in and Andres Gottlieb, Northeast Farms, of CSA production, but no experience is required; Tamworth, NH. Students help garden, manage [email protected] stipend is $300/month. All farmers live in family timber and do research on the farm. Housing, $400 a farmhouse, sharing cooking and cleaning (vegetarian week, possible long range future. Job starts in late Ready to go 2.5 - 3 acres NOFA-NJ certified meals). Contact Nathaniel at (914) 373-8010 or April or early May and goes through mid-October. organic land is available for lease in Morristown, [email protected]. Entails managing all garden work, supervising NJ. There are 2 scenic and well fenced-in areas that interns and high school workers and coordinating have been farmed for CSA and farmers markets Buffalo Organics CSA needs two energetic, hard with summer camp workers. Small CSA with over the past 8 years. Some storage and equipment working field workers and a CSA distribution/ weekly harvests, daily farmstand. Need year round available. Interested individuals please call Sharon farmers marker manager. Pay is $150+ a week living experience on a working farm, adult experi- Rosenhaus at (973) 540-9017 depending on experience and performance. Housing ence on organic farm, some management experi- is available. Workers compensation and other legal ence, workaholic tendencies. Please call Martha Farm manager and grower’s assistant needed for benefits paid. Contact Stewart or Deb Ritchie. 1821 Carlson at (603) 323-7000 or send resume and 25 acre organic farm, roadside farmstand, student Billington Rd., East Aurora NY 14052. 716-655- references to Community School, 1164 Bunker Hill run farm delivering produce to needy, forest fire- 5625, [email protected]. Road, South Tamworth, NH 03883. wood thinning, trail maintenance, maple sugaring and environmental education programs. Manager Assistant farm manager needed to work with farm Entertainers needed for MOFGA Common earns $22,000 for year-round fulltime work, housing manager to operate 275 acre college working farm as Ground Fair, September 22 - 24 in Unity, ME. Folk a possibility. Assistant earns $375 per week. Apply well as supporting pre-vet and sustainable ag pro- and other music, storytelling, poetry, puppetry, stilt with letter and resume to Land’s Sake, PO Box 306, grams. Help train 25-30 student workers in crop walking, dancing, magic, comedy, juggling, etc. all Weston, MA 02493, (781) 893-1162 rotation, intensive grazing, corn, hay, cereals, beef, appropriate. Performances go on all weekend long. pigs, poultry and direct marketing. Bachelors degree Limited entertainment budget available, but volun- Do you live in Northern NJ and need organic required, must live within 5 miles of campus. Send teers given preference. Many performers got their poultry or livestock feed? If you’re tired of driving resume, cover letter and names, addresses and first opportunity before large audiences at Common to Pennsylvania for organic feed, let’s get together phones of 3 references to: Gail Baylor, Warren Ground Fair. Contact fair at PO Box 170, Unity, ME to pool our orders and see if we can’t get our feed Wilson College, PO Box 9000, Asheville, NC 04988, (207) 568-4142, fax: (207) 568-4141, delivered or a regular schedule. Call Landi Simone, 28815-9000. Deadline is April 15 for starting June 1. [email protected], www.mofga.org. 973-263-0674 or Email me at [email protected]. S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 5

Internship position at Wild Roots Farm. 110 acres diversified farmstead, 5 acres organic vegetables grown for CSA. Homesite with young orchard, swimming pond, chickens, Icelandic sheep, highland cow and lush forest. Interns will have the opportunity to learn CSA marketing, organic vegetable production, off-the-grid living, blue- berry gorging and natural history. We are ten minutes from the Catskill forest preserve and 1/2 hour from Delaware River. Looking for two interns with a passion for learning experientially. Intern cabin, stipend and veggies. Amy and Wes Gillingham, 669 Cattail Rd., Livingston Manor, NY 12758, 914-439- 4799

Organic Poultry Feed for sale. Pros- pect Hill Farm, 30 Prospect Road, Plympton, MA 02367, 781-582-8363 or Email [email protected]

For Sale: 10+ acre homestead in Stamford, VT. Hillside land, approxi- mately 1 1/2 acres cleared, balance woodland. 25 fruit trees: apple, pear and cherry. 1700 sq. ft. organic garden. Raspberries, grapes, butternut and American chestnuts. 25 year old 4 bedroom house, wood heat. Gravity fed spring water, Cold frame greenhouse. Small barn, 2 chicken houses & fenced chicken pasture. Available Spring, 2000. $98,600. Call 802-694-1381 and ask for Blake or Vanda

Asst. Farm Manager, Education/ Outreach Coordinator and Interns needed for 16 acre Holcomb Farm CSA growing fruit and vegetables and providing educational activities for 200 households and Hartford, CT organiza- tions serving lower income residents. Interns get $150 per week plus fresh vegetables and assistance with housing. Send resume and letter to: Hartford Food system, 509 Wethersfield Ave, Hartford, CT 06114, Email [email protected]

Seeking an organic farmer for Worces- ter, MA farmers markets. We adhere to: “If you don’t grow it you can’t sell it.” We operate Monday and Friday at Main and Front Streets beside City Hall, and Wednesday at Foley Stadium parking lot on Chandler St. Our hours are 9:30 am until 2 pm each day. We start June 12 and end October 30. If interested, call Andy O’Keefe, market manager, at Deltagraphic Company, 1-800-448-0045 Internship opportunity: Certified organic 500 acre farm For Sale: Sears hand crank cream separator, in very with goat milking, cheese making. 50 member vegetable good condition. Mark Nolt, 717-776-3417 (can UPS). 29 year old vegetable farmer seeking subscription and a beef herd. All feed, including oats, rye, opportunity with established farm: corn and hay are grown on premises. Housing available for Organic farm seeks 1 full-time and 1 half-time worker production manager/assistant, crew 2 to 3 interns with a $75/week stipend plus produce. Berle for 4 acre intensive cut flower and salad farm located on manager, or partnership. Experience Farm is located on the VT/NY border between Martha’s Vineyard. On site housing in converted barn with with tractors, greenhouses, staffing, Bennington, VT, and Hoosick, NY. The surrounding views kitchenette, composting toilet and outdoor shower. Full-time wholesale deliveries, retail sales, and all are beautiful and the atmosphere is conducive to good job pays $175 weekly plus bonus if season is completed. aspects of commercial organic vegetable times, hard work and learning. Flexible pre-arranged start/ Season runs May 1 thru September 30. Half-time position is production. Highly developed work end dates between April 15 and October 15, 2000, 518- 15 hours/week in exchange for tent-site. Also need full-time ethic and excellent references. Contact 686-3249, Berle Farm, PO Box 1, Hoosick, NY 12089 child care person - housing provided, too. Contact Rebecca Mike at 802-951-5851. Miller, North Tabor Farm, RR1, Box 334B, Chilmark, MA DirtyFingerNails - 3 day workshop learning the prin- 02535. (508) 645-3311, Email: [email protected]. Small certified organic farm seeks ciples of growing, harvesting, and drying medicinal apprentice for 2000 season. Farm herbs on a working herb farm. Whether you have a small The greenhouses at the Natick Community Organic Farm produces a wide variety of items, city garden or are interested in farming as a livelihood, this are beginning to fill up with seedlings for spring planting. including seedlings, greenhouse toma- workshop will provide you with invaluable information. We are seeking interested volunteers to seed and trans- toes, 2-3 acres of vegetables and our For information on this and other programs, contact plant. You can learn about planting and get some sun in our own honey, eggs, wool and angora. Healing Spirits Herb Farm and Education Center, Andrea cozy solar greenhouse, plus work with other local students Tasks to include working along with and Matthias Reisen, 9198 Rt. 415, Avoca, NY 14809 and community members. If you are interested in volunteer- farmer in all facets of operation - (607) 566-2701, [email protected] ing to seed or transplant come by NCOF on a weekday and planting, weeding, harvesting and ask for Lynda. Also, the farm, NOFA/Mass certified or- attending busy farmers market. You can Looking for a hardworking, energetic intern interested ganic, will grow your seeds in our solar greenhouse for also learn how to cook on a woodstove, in working on and learning about an organic vegetable you. Contact Lynda Simkins, 508-655-2204, Route 16, So. braid garlic, make pickles, jam and farm and growing CSA. Must have the physical ability to Natick, MA wreaths, and spin wool. Non-smoker work long hours and an interest in sustainable agriculture. gets her own living quarters (snug Will be involved in all aspects of the farm’s operation and Small start-up farm in northern Vermont (40 miles from trailer), shares two meals a day, shower participate in the CRAFT Intern Educational Program. Burlington) seeking farm partner. House to share, south- and laundry. Stipend of $125 for five Private room, farm vegetables and stipend. Work week 5 1/ ern exposure, pond, very beautiful land. I am focusing days work, also paid NOFA conference 2 days April to November. Ol’ Turtle Farm is located at the initially on vegetables and herbs, with micro-flocks of registration and opportunity to attend base of Mt. Tom Reservation - great biking, hiking, water sheep, goats and layers. Longer term direction is berries, various farm tours. Train to Boston sports, educational opportunities and cultural activities. nuts, fruits. What are your ideas and interests? Share the minutes away. Women encouraged to Contact Eileen, Ol’ Turtle Farm, 385 East St., joys, inspiration, and sweat of an emerging organic/biody- apply! Call Jacqui at 978-874-0244 Easthampton, MA 01027, 413-527-9122, namic farm. Call or write: Julian Lewis, PO Box 82, [email protected] Fairfield, VT 05455, (802) 827-9778 6 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0

National CSA Directory Published

The USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Network has published a list of more than 450 US farms operat- ing CSAs. Organizations can get a free copy from News Notes CSA/CSREES, 1400 Independence Ave, SW, Stop compiled by Jack Kittredge Monsanto Subject of Class Action Lawsuit 2207, Washiungton, DC 20250-2207. Individuals can get a copy of the farms in their state from that OMRI Brand Name Products List, In mid-December, anti-trust lawyers filed a class- address. The list is also available at www.sare.org/ Technical Reviews Now Available Online action suit in Federal District Court in Washington, san/csa/indes.htm source: SAN press release, DC charging Monsanto Company, the prominent January 5, 2000 The “OMRI Brand Name Products List” represents “life sciences” corporation, with forming an interna- the Organic Materials Review Institute’s recommen- tional cartel to control world soy and corn seed Demeter Changes Name of Its Organic Label dations and opinions regarding the acceptability or markets, and with rushing genetically engineered unacceptability of products used in organic produc- seeds to market without proper safety testing. The The Demeter Association, Inc. has been granting tion, processing and handling. Manufacturers apply suit was filed on behalf of 6 farmers, but is in fact Biodynamic certification since 1982. It also certified to have their brand name products reviewed by the creation of Jeremy Rifkin, outspoken critic of organic farms as “Organic”, however, if they used OMRI’s technical staff, after which a review panel genetic engineering. Nine other companies, includ- organic practices and were in transition to full of leading experts from the organic industry votes ing DuPont and Novartis, were named as co- Biodynamic status. Now, to avoid confusion, it will on a product’s status. OMRI’s standards were conspirators. source, NY Times, Dec. 15, 1999 certify organic farms - whether or not in transition developed after reviewing various governmental and to Biodynamic - under the label “Aurora Certified certification standards. Also available at omri.org British Bill Aims at 30% of Organic”, not Demeter. source: Demeter press are 16 Technical Advisory Panel reviews that OMRI UK Land Organic by 2010 release, December, 1999 conducted for the NOSB. OMRI gathered technical background information, created databases for each A bill filed in October in Parliament, already Gene Therapy Researchers Fail to Report material, and secured three or more TAP reviewers supported by 170 MPs, would require the govern- 652 “Adverse Events” for each material. Reviewers evaluated and analyzed ment to put in place policies to ensure that organic materials against criteria approved by the NOSB agriculture can become one of the nation’s main Gene therapy is an experimental branch of medicine and conclusions and recommendations were sent to methods of food production. It would have the attempting to cure by changing a patient’s genetic the National Organic Program. For more informa- government enact measures such that at least 30% makeup. Being experimental, it is allowed to tion on the Technical Advisory Panel process, visit of UK farmland be organic or in converstion, and a conduct research on humans only in extreme www.omri.org. source: OMRI Press Release minimum of 20% of the food consumed be organic. circumstances, and required to report any “adverse It also would require that organic produce be events” to the National Institutes of Health. Now it EPA to Require Refuges in Bt Corn available to all sections of society and disparities in appears that several hundred such events, including price between organic and conventional foods be the deaths of 3 of the first 6 patients in one Harvard- In mid-January, the Environmental Protection minimized. source: Elm Farm Research Centre affiliated hospital, were never reported. The scandal Agency (EPA) announced new restrictions to reduce Bulletin, December, 1999 came to light following the death of 18-year-old the risks from genetically engineered corn that Jesse Gelsinger in a University of Pennsylvania makes its own Bt insecticide. In letters to Monsanto, Study Compares Economic and Yield Data trial. According to the Washington Post, only 6% of Novartis, DeKalb, and Mycogen, EPA laid out on Organic, Low-Input and “adverse events” involving gene therapy were requirements for the 2000 growing season requiring Conventional Systems properly reported, including some unexplained Bt-corn growers to implement resistance manage- deaths. source: Washington Post, January 31, 2000 ment plans that allow no more than 80 percent of Results of an 8-year California study of four farm- their acreage to be planted in Bt varieties. The Frito-Lay Refuses GE Corn remaining 20 percent of non-Bt corn, known as ing systems have been published by the Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture. The study, by 3 refuges, must be grown within one-half mile of the Snack maker Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, has Bt acres and may be sprayed with insecticides. In University of California at Davis and one Berea College researchers, compared four-year rotations told its suppliers not to use genetically engineered cotton-growing areas, farmers must plant at least 50 corn. The move is seen as a victory for Greenpeace percent of their corn acres in non-Bt refuges. The under conventional (conv-4), low-input, and organic management, and a two-year conventionally man- and the Union of Concerned Scientists, which had agency has placed additional restrictions on Bt been lobbying the firm to drop genetically modified varieties that do not produce a high toxin dose. By aged rotation (conv-2). The four-year rotations included processing tomato, safflower, corn, and organisms (GMOs). The Farm Bureau, however, January 31, companies must also submit plans for criticized the company as “overreacting” to the “fear the 2000 growing season for monitoring for resistant beans with a winter grain and/or legume double- cropped with bean. The conv-2 system was a tomato they are going to be boycotted”. source: Associated insects, controlling resistant insects should they Press, January 31, 2000 emerge, educating growers and ensuring their and wheat rotation. Yields of tomato and corn (the compliance with resistance management require- most nitrogen demanding crops) differed the most ments, and surveying growers to determine compli- over the 4 treatments. Insufficient nitrogen and/or Whole Foods and Wild Oats Move to GE- ance. Responding to concerns about the potential for weed competition appeared responsible for lower Free Store Brands Bt-corn pollen to harm monarchs and other butter- yields in the organic and low-input systems in some flies, EPA is calling on growers to voluntarily plant years. The most profitable was the conv-2 system Health food retailers Whole Foods Markets and refuges of non- Bt corn in ways that will reduce the because of the greater frequency of tomatoes (the Wild Oats have pledged to eliminate genetically flow of toxic pollen into butterfly habitats. Source: highest value crop) in the rotation. Among the four- modified organisms from their own store-branded The Email Gene Exchange, February 14, 2000 year systems, organic was the most profitable. The products sometime during 2000. These are the first study points out, however, that organic profits are US supermarkets to adopt this policy, although most Bt-Corn Roots Exude Toxins closely related to premium prices and without such European markets already have. Whole Foods’ 600 prices organic would fare very poorly on profits. private label products account for about 12% of source: American Journal of Alternative Agricul- Guenther Stotzky and his colleagues at New York their sales, and for Wild Oats the figures are 700 and ture, Volume 14, Number 3, 1999 University report in a recent Nature magazine article 10%. source: Organic View, Jan. 23, 2000 that active Bt toxins ooze into soil from the roots of engineered Bt-corn. The paper deepens worries GE Soy Can’t Take the Heat Meat Irradiation Finalized about the possible effects of Bt crops on soil ecosys- tems. Soil- inhabiting insects, which are valuable for A University of Georgia scientist has found that hot Although the Food and Drug Administration had a variety of functions such as aeration and breaking climates cause the stems to split on Monsanto’s previously approved meat irradiation, only this down dead plants and animals, may be exposed to Roundup resistant soybeans, leading to crop losses December was the practice finally allowed under Bt toxins with unknown impacts. With the publica- of up to 40%. The worst losses correlated with the regulations promulgated by the Department of tion of this report, there are now three known two hottest springs studied, when soil temperatures Agriculture. Critics of irradiation say there have avenues by which Bt toxins from engineered crops were reaching 40½ to 50½ C. This could be a blow to been no long-term studies on the health effects of may reach the soil: farmers’ plowing under plant the acceptance of GE soy in Brazil and other Latin eating irradiated food and say it has been adopted debris after harvest, toxic pollen falling to the American markets. source: NLP Biweekly News, instead of requiring the meat industry to clean up ground during pollination, and exudates from roots. December 4, 1999 dirty feedlots and slaughterhouses which result in As far as we know, there are no published studies rampant bacterial contamination of animals. Certi- detailing the impacts of Bt-crop toxins on communi- Organic and Conventional Greens Com- fied organic meat cannot be irradiated. source: ties of insects that live in the soil. source: Nature pared on Nitrates Organic View, Jan. 23, 2000 402:480, 1999, http://www.nature.com/server-java/ Propub/nature/402480A0.pdf. A study comparing organic and conventional nitrate GE Soy Low in Phytoestrogens levels in California lettuce and spinach found no Study Finds Organic Healthier lettuce samples with nitrates exceeding the EU Some consumers choose soy products for their standard, but 83% of conventional and 33% of naturally occurring phytoestrogens, thought to A study funded by the United Kingdom’s Soil organic spinach samples did. The results seem to protect against breast cancer, heart disease, and Association, an organic farmer organization, and correlate with relative solubility of nitrogen source osteoporosis. A study has shown that genetically reported at the Association’s January 8, 2000 used, as crops treated with bat guano (a highly modified soybeans, however, were an average of conference, found that organic produce has higher soluble source of nitrogen) had higher nitrate levels 13% lower in phytoestrogens than their non- levels of nutrients than conventional produce. than crops treated with compost. Soil characteristics modified counterparts. source: Eco Farm and source: Organic View, Jan. 23, 2000 also affected nitrate levels. source: The Cultivar, Garden, Winter, 2000 17:1 S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 7 British Future Bright for Organic Food Competition from our Friends to the North? Human Genes to be Put in Cow Milk

British organic demand has increased 40% a year Canada’s Atlantic provincial governments recently The government of New Zealand is reportedly despite premium prices, say analysts, and one in commissioned a study that concluded that the planning to put human genes into cow’s milk to three British shoppers now purchases organic food. Maritimes are missing an opportunity to supply make it more like human breast milk, and thus more Some stores say 20% of all produce they sell is large consumer demand for organic produce in New palatable to human digestive systems. source: Eco organic, and at one supermarket reportedly 50% of England. The report recommends learning from Farm and Garden, Winter, 2000 baby food sales are organic. Wales, too, seems on Quebec’s experience in promoting organic exports, the bandwagon, having set a conversion target of as well as creating an organic certification program 10% of all farmland by 2005. source: Eco Farm and and an organic distributor. source: Eco Farm and Garden, Winter, 2000 Garden, Winter, 2000

hooking people up to each other and to regional Dancing Goats & Chicken Tractors: resources. For example, Jackson, MS is the interna- tional headquarters for The Stockman Grass Farmer Sustainable Agriculture Grows in Mississippi (intensive pasture management system for grass-fed meat and dairy), yet few farmers (and no extension By Nan Johnson and consumers interested in sustainable agriculture. agents I have talked with) in Mississippi have ever (former apprentice at Natick Community Organic I got myself appointed to the Miss. State Extension heard of them! Farm, Natick, MA) Service Sustainable Ag. Committee in order to be a little watchdog for what extension services are Meanwhile, I have a part-time job teaching organic After decades of efforts by a few organic growers in doing with SARE and other monies (not much at all, gardening in the public school systems in the Delta, Mississippi, it looks as though the Mississippi from what I can tell), and also got involved with the where poverty is extensive. We have also started Department of Agriculture and Commerce is ready Miss. Agribusiness Council’s Sustainable Ag. Group community gardens. This is funded by a grant from to lend support to small family farmers interested in (yes, it is as awful as it sounds - how does promot- Tufts University in Medford, MA. My own 35 acre starting certified organic operations. A recent ing chemical turf farming sound for Mississippi’s farm (Dancing Goat Farm) has been set up on a meeting in Jackson, MS brought together not just future?) model similar to the Natick Community Organic state bureaucrats and county extension personnel Farm and last year we had several hundred young- but actual growers who are already following This is a state governed both politically and eco- sters and adults visit for short classes on topics sustainable/organic practices, as well as researchers nomically by the big boys - cotton and soybean ranging from composting to cover crops to dairy studying biological controls and growing beneficial- farmers, plus some rice. Beef production is popular goats! I fit those visits in during my “spare” time attracting crops for the South. Feedback for pro- too, but is not profitable or sustainable - I have been and it has been wonderful to connect with so many posed organic standards (modeled on those of told it is a macho thing. For a small group of us to rural residents who are still starved for connections neighboring states) was invited. The presence of challenge the system is almost unthinkable, but we to a diversified farm, however small. All of our farm actual small family farmers was reassuring, and they are doing it, with the support of the National Cam- animals: goats, chickens, rabbits, and ducks, have were as articulate as any NOFA member in de- paign for Sustainable Agriculture, Southern SARE, traveled to classrooms and libraries to “teach” nouncing weakening of organic standards, while and others. composting, good nutrition or humane farm animal advocating costs for certification low enough to care. allow small growers to participate. Throughout the year I speak with farmers across the state who say they are tired of farming with chemi- So come on down, y’all! If you are interested in civil Meanwhile, I have had the privilege of organizing cals, tired of the whole agribusiness system, and are rights history, the blues, farm education, dairy goats, two organic workshops and one conference in the asking for alternatives - only to be told by extension and sustainable agriculture, consider coming as an past two years (all volunteer efforts with a grant that there are none, or “it can’t be done here”. If I apprentice for a short term. We can offer room and from a foundation in NY.) NOFA’s own Dale can reach this many people just doing it part time as board in our home, though no stipend, and probably Perkins was a keynote speaker at the very first a volunteer, I suspect there are many more farmers the use of a vehicle, plus the experience of being on conference, which drew a standing room only crowd and growers out there anxious to hear some good the cutting edge of organic agriculture in the land of (much to the amazement of the local county exten- news. Each person trying to go into sustainable cotton! We are not near any cotton fields, so you sion agent who served as our host). I now have a farming tells me they feel so isolated - that they are don’t have to worry about being sprayed! Call me at mailing list of over two hundred farmers, gardeners the only ones doing it. So it is a delight to start 662-473-9026 or e-mail: [email protected]. 8 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 How Can Organic Vegetable Growers Increase Soil Organic Matter Without Overloading the Soil with Nutrients? by Brian Caldwell an estimated total N-P-K addition of 3500-2200-3650 cycling it rapidly and effectively. It is counterproduc- Cornell Cooperative Extension Educator to this field over 21 years. I further estimate crop tive to shoot for virgin soil OM levels on tilled farm South Central NY Area Vegetable and Fruit Program removal at 1500-200-2000 over that time (note how fields. little P is actually removed by vegetable crops). So, net The problem additions to this field were around 2000-2000-1650 It is important to realize that the constant production of pounds per acre of N-P-K. No wonder soil test values tilled crops, especially vegetables which return few This is an issue that is just beginning to be recognized. went up! residues to the soil, is the harshest way to treat your It arises from a common practice among organic soil. Sod crops in rotation are the only tried and true vegetable growers—that of applying compost or Where do excess nutrients go? Extra added P and K way to increase long term soil OM levels without manure to vegetable fields nearly every year in order are mostly held in the soil in unavailable forms, but negative “side effects.” Sod accomplishes this because to fertilize crops and raise soil organic matter (OM) most nitrogen is not. Some of the nitrogen is held in the soil is not tilled, and extensive root systems are levels. While this is a beneficial practice in the short the increased amount of soil organic matter after 21 formed. Traditional field crop rotations often involved term, in the long run it can lead to over-fertilization years—a .5% increase holds about 400# of N. But applying manure or compost to a field only once in and water pollution. The problem is similar to over- most (over 1500#/A or about 70#/A/year in this case) every 4- or 5- year cycle. (A typical example is Corn- fertilization that occurs on livestock farms with of the excess nitrogen will not be held in the soil, but Small Grain/Hay-Hay-Hay, with manure applied insufficient land on which to properly spread their will leach into groundwater or volatilize into the air. before the corn.) Organic matter levels and soil manure. In many situations, such as typical home gardens, this nitrogen were greatly enhanced by at least 2 years of a is not a problem, since only a relatively small amount sod hay crop. Phosphorus and potassium did not build On most new land that is just being put into organic of nitrogen is in question. But if this practice is done up in such systems, but were instead mostly cycled vegetable production, it is common and quite worth- on a widespread basis or on large farms, there is around the farm through feed and manure. while to apply a big “shot” of nutrients and organic potential for significant groundwater pollution. The matter through heavy applications of compost and same situation occurs when excessive chemical An ideal rotation for vegetable growers, from a soil manure. After the first heavy application, amounts can fertilizer is applied. and nutrient standpoint, would be to substitute veg- be reduced in subsequent years. However, manure or etable crops for the heavy feeding (field corn) and compost is still usually applied at a rate that will I believe that there is no good reason to continue to light feeding (small grains) crops in this traditional supply at least the necessary nitrogen (N) needed for increase these soil nutrient levels. The field produces rotation. Heavy feeding vegetable crops would the next crop, which means that extra phosphorous (P) good yields and quality. It has clearly reached a include intensive greens, brassicas, sweet corn, leeks, and potassium (K) beyond the crop requirements will “mature” stage in which heavy applications of cucurbits, etc., while light feeders would be root crops, be added to the soil. Over the years, soil P and K brought-in organic materials are unsound. A field like beans and peas, etc. A sod crop of legumes and levels build to moderate, then high or excessive levels. this needs an approach that produces crops and grasses will provide a maximum OM contribution, The soil is out of balance. In fact, if manure or maintains soil OM levels without the “booster” type while supplying its own nitrogen. If hay is harvested, compost is added specifically to increase soil organic approach. there may be a net removal of P and K. These nutri- matter levels, which is a goal for many organic ents can then either be sold off the farm, or fed or farmers, then usually all nutrients will be added How do we raise soil OM levels without causing this otherwise recycled within the farm. beyond crop requirements. problem? An experimental method of increasing soil OM Let’s look at an example from my own farm. “Field High levels of soil organic matter are desirable in without heavy nutrient loading is to use high-lignin, 1” is a small field of about 1/5 acre which had been the many ways. Higher OM improves soil water holding relatively low nutrient OM sources such as wood farmstead garden for many years before I moved to capacity, aeration, infiltration, nutrient holding and chips. These interact in a limited way with the soil, Hemlock Grove Farm in 1977. It had higher nutrient release, and more. But how do we achieve high soil because of their high lignin content and low surface to levels than our other fields. I have soil test data (Table OM sustainably over the long term? And how high volume ratio, but do provide an excellent OM source 1) from this field over a period of 21 years, starting in should it be? over the long term. Cornell did a 15-year study in the 1978. I also have records of the nutrient-carrying 1950’s and 1960’s in which 10 T/A/year of hardwood materials I added to this field for 16 years, which can Virgin soil had much higher organic matter levels than chips was added to experimental plots of Honeoye silt be extrapolated for the 21year period, since I used current cultivated soils. How did high soil organic loam, a rich soil type. Soil OM and other soil quality similar practices over the whole time. Though the matter levels arise naturally (presumably, without levels were dramatically raised, with some positive field is small, all data have been standardized on a per- groundwater pollution)? The answer is: very slowly, (and some limited negative) effects on vegetable crop acre basis for comparison. and in the absence of tillage and crop removal. yields. Little soil nitrogen was “tied up”, contrary to Intensive tillage is the primary culprit in “burning up” expectations. (G. R. Free, “Soil Management for soil organic matter at a very high rate, requiring that Vegetable Production on Honeoye Soil with Special Year Soil P Soil K Soil pH Soil OM we add outside sources of OM to the soil. Under Reference to the Use of Hardwood Chips,” New natural, untilled forest or prairie conditions, highly York’s Food and Life Sciences Bulletin #2, October 1 25 400 6.1 3.2 carbonaceous organic litter (leaves, etc.) is added to 1971.) the soil surface each year, and roots die within the soil. 2 37 400 6.0 3.4 No additional P or K is added to the soil system, Recently, Laval University, Quebec research on except what weathers slowly from the rocks. Nitrogen positive results from the use of chipped hardwood 12 43 515 6.7 3.3 is added in small amounts from precipitation and branch wood (“ramial”) was reported in the Maine bacterial fixation, but held tightly in the vegetation and Organic Farmer and Gardener magazine (Caron, 21 82 685 7.0 3.7 decomposing surface litter. Small amounts of nutri- Lemieux, and L’achance, “Regenerating Soils with ents are sequestered away each year in humus and Ramial Chipped Wood,”12/98-2/99 issue). The “locked up” OM that is not available to decomposers authors stressed the importance of fungus organisms in Table 1. Soil Test Data, Field 1 or oxygen. Nutrients cycle around and around, with the soil. There is growing opinion from some soil relatively slow breakdown of soil OM, and accumula- scientists, notably Dr. Elaine Ingham of Oregon State This data shows the problem. Soil nutrient levels are tion of high-carbon OM on the soil surface. In this University, that many of our agricultural soils are all in the high range after 21 years, which seems good, way, soil organic matter can build up very gradually overbalanced toward bacterial, rather than fungal, but if I continue the same practices, they will get too over thousands of years, to levels around 10% in many populations because of the highly available nutrient high. Phosphorus levels are already very high, and virgin mineral soils. sources we use. There may be other benefits to going up faster than anything else. (Cornell test values favoring soil fungi—perhaps establishing large and are on a scale that reads lower than typical values, so When this land is cleared and repeatedly tilled, OM varied fungal populations in our soils could also help my current P level would probably be measured at levels drop rapidly down to less than 2% in the reduce fungal pathogen populations. over 500# by most labs). High soil P does not hurt absence of manure or compost applications. A sick crop plants, but can contribute to water pollution. soil. But remember, our real goal for a farm field is to So, what are the take home lessons here? Mine Note that soil organic matter levels have increased preserve or increase soil quality, not just its OM are— significantly, from 3.2 to 3.7%—but proportionally content. We tend to be in a frame of mind that says, much less than P and K. Soil nitrogen levels are so “the more OM, the better.” While there is some truth 1. Significantly increase the sod and light-feeding variable because of weather conditions that they are to this, under any given tillage and cropping regime crops in your rotation on “mature” fields. not routinely measured, but OM level gives an indica- there is an “equilibrium” level of soil OM. Generally, tion of how much is stored in the soil. the less tillage, the higher this equilibrium level. OM 2. Reduce tillage and keep soil covered with cover levels can be maintained above equilibrium only by crops and mulches. Using guestimates as to the nutrient composition of the continuous heavy applications of compost or manure applied compost, hay mulch, manures, etc (but not that carry far more nutrients than the crops can use. 3. Don’t waste nutrients by excessive manure or including N from cover crops) and of the amounts that This is wasteful and leads to pollution over the long compost applications. This is particularly typical mixed crop vegetable harvests may have run. (The Biodynamic goal of the farm as a self- important if your P levels are in the “high” removed over the period, I’ve made a rough nutrient contained organism helps to avoid this problem, range. Rely more heavily on getting nitrogen budget for this field over the 21 years. because it discourages importation of large amounts of from legume cover crops and sod than from nutrients.) Research at the Rodale Research Center manure or compost. The field did not seemingly get heavy applications of has shown that soil biological activity, quality, and organic fertilizers, averaging only 6 tons per acre per fertility can be very high, even at modest (2.5-3.0%) 4. If you want to increase soil OM levels further, try year of beef or sheep manure, with occasional addi- soil OM levels, if large portion of the OM is in the experimenting with spreading wood chips on tional applications of hay mulches, commercial and “active” form, i. e. in the process of being broken your fields in moderate (10T/A or less) amounts. homemade compost, and wood ashes. (In retrospect, down. So, the key soil quality strategy in farming is They can be spread just before spring tillage, or the 500#/A of rock phosphate we put on one year not merely accumulating a high soil OM level, but even more effectively, left as mulch on the looks like a mistake.) Adding all this up, though, gives surface until next spring. S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 9

Special Supplement on Flowers for Market daughter this as we walked back home; it was no Sweet Floral news to her. These town flowers (like the town crows who let me get up close and listen to them talk about how great it feels to fly) are used to being around all us people Magic with our comings and goings and busy preoccupa- tions. And they do want us to open up and smile at by Sherrie Mickel their loveliness. Even seemingly haughty cleome, with her hairy sticky stems and her hard to recog- Flowers feed the spirit. They bring us home. They nize face amongst her petals, sways in satisfaction are ciphers proclaiming the primacy of life. And when her beauty gives us pause, penetrates our they want us to smile—at them. (They do!) Be- preoccupation, and we stand enraptured by her cause they are smiling at us, smiling and beaming loveliness, seeing for a moment...only her. bright tones of hope and of life. Smiling and saying, “Rest your mind on me a minute, and be Flowers make magic. It is as if they are messengers glad.” from the strange and wondrous faerie realm that hopes to hear our voices breaking into twinkling For 10 years I farmed, living amidst flowers (such laughter, into sighs of wonder— wonder at the beauties!) I’d planted, or who had lived there first, vision of them, our eyes crinkling in the momentary or who had invited themselves in. I learned another abandon of delight. Flowers are emissaries of light language gathering borage blossoms in the morning and loveliness, and, please, not merely the sex while honeybees droned contentedly beside me, or photo by Jack Kittredge organs of plants. But then, genitals are doorways, while watching butterflies dancing above the The sweet mystery of flowers! mysterious portals of life’s encompassing power and echinacea. I learned a secret the day I found a majesty, of life’s hope and powerful triumph over mouse’s cache of sunflower seeds nestled in the death and despair. crook of a huge hairy leaf. Gold finches swaying on Like over by Fish Creek where the dog and I walk chicory stalks amidst constellations of Queen Ann’s every morning early to greet the new day’s light, I work in an office now, and some days I am so lace was as divine a vision as I’d ever hoped to there’s a little cove tucked in behind some oaks. engrossed in my work I forget there even is an witness. Violets and trout lilies, asters and marsh And in that shady nook 100 yards or so up from the outside, much less go out in it. So the flowers I see marigolds, trillium and hepatica, nicotiana, tithonia, dam’s spillway, gleaming like the purest yellow there, for the most part, are fine thoroughbreds lavatera, rudbeckia, verbena, butterfly weed, these sunshine radiance, is a clump of 4 foot tall Japanese shipped thousands of miles from hothouses in and so many others were sweet and happy friends. irises. How’d they get there?—so stately and exotic and elegant amidst the trash left by partying teens different continents and time zones, sent to deliver messages of love. White tulips in January, arrayed And now I live in town, in a small old village that and people fishing who just don’t pick up after with neon bright heather in a clear glass vase— was settled in the mid-1600’s and burnt down and themselves. A little ways beyond are blue flags looking very much like inspiration for a still life savaged twice during that strange dark time called opening up their own version of stubby stateliness painting. Exotic giant daisies whose names I didn’t the French and Indian War. It’s a village that sits to the sky. Just a few of them, enough to remind catch, with deep brown velvet eyes and petals of directly on the western bank of the upper Hudson anyone who’d care to notice of this land’s wild burnt sienna atop 3 foot stems thick as corn stalks. River and whose location once served as a major antecedents, here at the edge of town. And how all of us in that workplace sigh and fawn transportation center—a confluence of trails and and ooh and ahh over the sight, the presence, of waterways linking the Iroquois and Algonquin Walking up the rise away from the creek, it’s easy to these delicate lovelies in our midst. The only other peoples meets here. And it’s living in this village, see agriculture’s imprint on the land, because to get natural phenomenon that can set us off so are the walking down streets lined with maples and oaks so back up to the road, you have to pass through infants of some of our clients, sweet bright babies venerable and huge, that I see impatiens and petu- pasture abloom with the subtle hues of red clover, with the cosmos still swirling in their wise, dark nias in hanging baskets; portulaca in clay pots on vetch, birds foot trefoil, and goldenrod. These eyes. We smile at them and when they smile back, wrought iron tables; morning glories twining up aren’t very flashy plants. They don’t seem to try to our hearts flow over with the soft heat of happiness. trellises beneath porch rails; fancy dahlias lining a catch my eye. Their purpose is not that they be How like flowers, these babies—so delicate, so true, walk; tiger lilies rounding the corner; zinnias half as noticed, necessarily. They are earnestly fixing such palpable reminders of life’s determined gentle tall as me flaming brilliant pink and orange along nitrogen and attracting bees—not human admiration joy. How like babies, these flowers—faces bright the sidewalk; foxglove peering between the slats of for their aesthetic charms (lovely as they all are with trust and hope. Both beckon us to soften, to a fence; and scarlet geraniums in urns flanking a anyway). I get the sense they wouldn’t much care if stay still a moment and recognize the sweet magic statue of the Virgin in a cobblestone grotto. Easygo- I appreciated their beauty or not. They’re too busy. and the quiet joy everywhere all around us, suffus- ing, friendly neighborhood varieties. And then ing every moment with its peace—no matter where there’s the datura that volunteers in my neighbor’s Unlike the ornamentals of the neighborhood, so we are. garden. It’s a variety the likes of which I’ve never many of whom are prohibited by patent from seen before, tall like Jimsonweed but many- propagating without a license. Their genetic Sherrie Mickel is the former co-owner of Ruckytucks branched as a moon lily, and its ivory white blos- heritage is copyrighted; their unique charms have a Farm in upstate New York. She now works as an soms stink. Then when it blooms at moonrise, those monetary value controlled by corporate entities far, advocate for victims of domestic violence and sexual tubular flowers shine lunar-luminescent and make far away from this little village. So what would assault. me remember the wonder and the mystery of all these idle lovelies be busy with? They are specifi- plants who grow wherever the hell they want to. cally bred to be eye-catchingly beautiful. And so in Like the pokeweed with its deeper-than-wine-dark order to fulfill their particular biological destinies, berries clustered in cascading falls filling an aban- these ornamentals are hoping you’ll notice. doned greenhouse across from the Dutch Reformed Church. I figure I may not live on the land any- I noticed, one afternoon during the summer as I more, but the land is still right there under my feet, walked up to the school to pick up my daughter. A and while these tamed and chastened flowers, these bright fuschia-pink geranium hanging along a porch wild and wily survivors may not necessarily sing rail winked and smiled down at me and I smiled out in the strength of biodiversity, still they do sing. back and in an instant of irrational insight I realized They sing and they whisper, they hum and they yell, that was exactly what the bright blossoms wanted of and their song is a song of life’s magic. me—that I lighten up and smile back. I told my 10 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 Growing Ornamentals Organically by Carol Stull CRS Growers, 2622 N. Triphammer Road Ithaca, NY 14850 phone and fax 607-257-2195

When we moved to Ithaca, I started CRS Growers with weekend help from Bob. Since Bob retired we have run the farm together with part time help. We farm 5-8 acres, growing organic vegetables and culinary herbs. Our flowers are raised in three small greenhouses and several outside beds. In looking to expand our marketing period, it seemed good to include bedding plants in the spring as an early crop that would generate income to pay the planters and weeders before the vegetables started producing.

Over the years we have expanded to include veg- etable transplants (never as popular as flowers), spring bedding plants, herbaceous perennials and lilies as well as most major vegetables. Along the way we did poinsettias and amaryllis in the winter and spring bulbs in the winter and early spring.

Our major selling markets are the local Ithaca farmers market, Finger Lakes Organic Cooperative and on the farm. We also do the local Cooperative Extension Plant Sale in the spring. We have tried other venues as they come along but have not found any major markets. The plants are sold through all photo courtesy Carol Stull markets except the coop (produce only). The inside of the freestanding greenhouse is a riot of color Bedding plants did find that our heating costs in January and houses for any purpose. The flowers, however, are We originally grew everything from seed on a sand February for the freestanding greenhouse exceeded not certified as organic. Some customers do appreci- table with heating cables and grow lights in our the production yields. Shoveling through a three to ate our organic approach to growing ornamentals as basement. A few flowers germinate at lower tem- five foot snowdrift to get into the greenhouse was well as vegetables. peratures than 70 degrees F. They were happy at the also a definite drawback. 50ish degree temperature of the basement with or Insect and disease problems. without grow lights. We found that heating cables We try to wait until March to fire up the gas furnace We have found that you must keep fungus gnats have a short life and transferring plants in mid in the main greenhouse. To do that we have found under control or you will have severe problems. The winter to a greenhouse through wind and snow is a buying-in plugs of annuals and some perennials larvae eat the roots of your plants and the adults problem. We currently heat a free-standing green allows us to have a good supply of plants ready for leave black spots on the leaves and flowers. house with a Modine gas furnace controlled by a the growing season. The plug trays go directly into Hypoaspis miles, a predatory mite, does a good job thermostat in the middle of the greenhouse. We tried the greenhouse for transplanting and can be planted on fungus gnats, thrips and shore flies. It may wood, but the temperature was difficult to regulate directly into six packs or baskets. We buy-in plugs establish and reproduce in the greenhouse. and it needed refueling in the middle of the night. of things we want eight or more 48 count trays of. ScanMask, a brand of beneficial nematodes, works We adopted our current system when we built a new We grow from seed those plants that we need in well too. Gnatrol would be nice to use but is not barn with a small attached greenhouse. The attached small amounts, or which have shorter growing currently approved for organic certification. You can greenhouse is designed for maximum solar heat but times. All our vegetables and edible flowers are check for fungus gnat larvae by putting a small always needs additional heat in the middle of the grown from seed and are certified organic. piece of cut potato on the surface of several plants winter and during cold dark periods. The green- and checking for a small white worm with a black house has a patio door opening into the heated barn We aim to have plants in full color for Mother’s head. We are fortunate to have IPM Laboratories in office/germinating area. We use a rubberized Day. While annuals transplant better in the vegeta- the area for consultation. heating mat with grow lights for germinating tive state, most buyers want instant color that will seedlings, using an assortment of plug trays in the last. Our plants grown organically with no growth Aphids are another possible problem. Good air office area. inhibitors do better in the garden than the pampered circulation and healthy plants work against them but conventionally grown plants that have been fed there are times they just appear. There a number of For several years we made our own soil mix of peat continuously. Our plants tend to be a little smaller resources to control them: green lace wing larvae, moss, perlite, vermiculite, compost and bone meal than conventionally grown plants and to have a root lady bugs, and parasitic wasps all will do the job if or certified organic composted chicken manure. system that matches their size. Our customers you catch it early. Safer Soap may help knock down Since Sunshine #2 was approved for certified recognize their sturdy quality. We do need to add the population enough for the biologicals to take organic operations we have used that with appropri- enough amendments to the mix to last the flowers over. Do the soap first and then release the ate additives, including some compost. The last two until they are planted. While vegetable transplants biologicals as the soap isn’t good for them either. years we have been using Root Shield T-22 (an are ready to go in two to eight weeks, flowers Raising poinsettias was the only time we had a approved beneficial fungus) in the soil mix to generally take longer to flower and need enough problem with white fly — and we were prepared. prevent fungus diseases and promote good root phosphorus to produce blossoms. Some of the liquid We had a regular schedule for releasing Encarsia growth. We rarely have problems with disease or seaweed mixes are useful for this purpose. All of formosa, based on the last spray the cuttings re- insects in the germinating area. our ornamentals are grown by the organic certifica- ceived before we picked them up. If you do poinset- There is good air circulation and bottom heat. We tion regulations so that we can use all our green- tias, assume you will have white fly because you will. Learn to tell to identify the scales so you can keep them under control. We haven’t had problems with spider mites, probably because there is ad- equate humidity in our greenhouses.

Diseases haven’t been a problem either, but our houses are small and empty for several months in the summer and winter. Any residual pests or diseases are cooked or frozen out. My one caution to people with greenhouses is: don’t hesitate to rough out a plant or group of plants with a problem. If it really is your favorite, isolate it (not in the same house) from the rest to prevent the problem from spreading.

Herbaceous perennials We grow a number from seed. They are sold as seedlings in four-inch pots. Usually there are enough to transplant into the garden for gallon pots the next year. We also buy bare root perennials and liners. These are generally sold in gallon pots. Most of them are hardy so they only need to be parked on the floor of the greenhouse until they start growing again. A cold frame would work well for many of these plants. Again, we avoid fall blooming plants S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 11 as people aren’t in the planting mood then. We like poinsettias. We have done mums, but the price that you can sell them for hardly pays for their upkeep. We are generally busy with veggies by then.

Lilies have been a very good product for us. We do colored lilies — Asiatic, oriental, and callas. They require a special soil mixture with no perlite, but grow well. Several different varieties can be planted at one time and will bloom over several weeks. Unsold bulbs (hardy varieties) can be planted in the garden and offered the next year or sold the next year as cut flowers. The callas can be stuck in a warm closet in their pots and repotted and sold the next year. We buy cooled bulbs in the spring rather than try to cool them in our cooler. Easter Lilies have a very short window for selling. They MUST be in bloom on Easter or forget about selling them. Most people are happier with spring bulbs or colored lilies. The white lilies have too close a connection to death for many people.

Spring bulbs are a good selling item. You start rooting them in the fall for sales January through April. You need to explore the best varieties for the time of sale. Park seed offers a good book with all the details of timing. We did lose a few bulbs to rot since we didn’t use the recommended fungicidal drenches. Control the height by keeping the bulbs cool and in good light. Mixed pots are nice. We used crocus, daffodils, tulips and hyacinths for a pot that will bloom for several weeks. Remind customers that all the bulbs can be planted outside for flowers in the future.

Marketing We use an 80-20 rule with plants. 80% will survive and 20% won’t. Of those 80% will sell and 20% won’t. Plant those extra ones or give them away to a local charity. Don’t try to sell plants in poor condition to customers if you are going to be in business for more than one year. If they all sell out in the first two weeks, plan for more next year. If you have a lot left at the end of the season, do less next year. Bedding plants and vegetable transplants have a short selling period and are very weather dependent. Your plants may be ready but the customers don’t have their gardens ready. If they want it this week and you don’t have it, they will buy photo courtesy Carol Stull someone else’s. You need to explore the market in your area. If we had a perma- Carol setting up at a Coop Extension plant sale nent garden shop, we would probably do house plants and fall mums, asters and flowering kale and poinsettias for the holidays. Know your competition. Our neighbor at farmers market grows huge hanging baskets so we do strawberry pots and color pots and herbs. There are many I would recommend that new growers find out about plants they haven’t grown growers at our farmers market who specialize in cut flowers so we do daffodils before they try them out. Explore your markets. What is missing? Where do you in the spring and some cut flowers on Sundays when other vendors are there. fit in? We do the top sellers in bedding plants like impatiens and petunias. We also Plants of all kinds have been a good product for us. The price of one plant is try to have new varieties and colors. Just as heirloom tomatoes are big sellers as generally more than you get in single vegetable sales. We don’t get a premium plants and tomatoes, people are looking for native plants and old fashioned plants for organic, but we more than cover our costs and have a reasonable profit. The like hollyhocks and snapdragons. We do a brochure of most of the varieties we flowers fit in nicely with our vegetable production. The two of us can handle all will be carrying during the season. We also offer several plant sales after the big the spring work. The flowers add a colorful display to our market stand in the rush for some local organizations. A donation of 10% of the sales will go to a spring when we have mostly lettuce and other greens. designated cause. People like to have a choice so try to have a good selection. A good display is important. You also need to be knowledgeable about the plants Resources: IPM Laboratories, Locke, NY phone (315) 497-2063 for biological you’re selling and where they will grow well. Try something new and different advice and supplies. every year. 12 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 Transplanting is another way to help with weed pressures. I start almost all my annuals in the greenhouse in #128 or #72 plug trays. They are grown in the trays until they go into the ground. Timing is critical with seedlings. Flowers do not Cut Flowers tolerate stress well, whether in the field or the by Carrie Chalmers cialty items, or your ability to grow the common greenhouse. It may cause plants to flower prema- items as efficiently as the big growers who currently turely on short stems. Figure out when to seed by I began growing flowers commercially because I supply the market. Once you have made contacts counting back from the date you think it is safe to loved flowers. It was as simple as that, and I’m sure and proven your ability to provide a consistent high plant. Remember, hardy annuals, like larkspur, many other growers entered the field (so to speak) quality product it is easier to market new and snapdragons, sweetpeas, bachelor buttons, nigella, for the same reason. While the luxurious colors and unusual flowers to the buyers. They may only buy a and stock can be planted before the last frost. Fast scents, and the buzz of foraging insects are pure few bunches at first, but down the road, as trends growing annuals like zinnias, cosmos, and sunflow- pleasure to this flower lover, profitable flower change, and previously novel items become more ers can be direct seeded or transplanted. If you growing depends on other factors too. Good organi- common, these “experiments” put you ahead of the decide to start these in the greenhouse, plan on zational abilities, marketing skills, knowledge of competition. seeding them only three or four weeks before the plants and farming, and efficient, hard work are key last frost. Succession sowing of many annuals will to successful flower growing. Retailing flowers directly to consumers through ensure a steady supply of healthy flowers. Zinnias, farmer’s markets, roadside stands, subscription larkspur, bachelor buttons, ammi majus, sunflowers, Market research is the most important part of a plans or pick your own operations generally offers a nigella, cosmos, and most of the filler flowers listed business plan for anyone interested in growing better price to growers than wholesale markets. This below do well with successive plantings. flowers. Deciding to grow a field full of flowers and is a very different market from the wholesale trade. then looking for a market is a costly mistake. Higher price specialty cuts may not be in demand by Growing the right diversity of plants is important if Flowers are extremely perishable, and buyers, these shoppers. Direct marketing to consumers you are marketing arrangements of fresh flowers. I whether wholesale or retail, can be very picky about allows you to grow flowers that do not have to stand like to have a good supply of chunky flowers like stem length and variety. Before you start planning up to shipping or a florist’s cooler. Customers snapdragons, lisianthus, zinnias, lavatera, dahlias, your flower fields, evaluate your personal goals for usually appreciate a good diversity of varieties, and sunflowers, rudbeckia, and larkspur to form the the business and how that meshes with potential often tolerate the shorter stems or shorter vase life backbone of the bouquet. I then mix in fluffier markets. When I first considered growing flowers I of many of the summer annuals like cosmos, flowers to beef up the size of the arrangement. was twenty years old with no experience with calendula, agrostemma, sweetpeas and cleome. Ageratum (tall types), achillea, bachelor buttons, farming. I planted 600 tulips, because I loved tulips, Pick-your-own operations are good alternatives for asclepias (Silky Gold and Red Butterfly), cleome, not because I had established a demand for fresh busy farmstands that do not want to tie up labor cosmos, scabiosa ( garnet red type especially nice), tulips in May. After buying and planting the bulbs I picking flowers. Use the CSA model and offer calendula, gomphrena, Blue Cloud larkspur, realized I would need to charge at least $8.00/bunch bouquets on a subscription plan to businesses or agrostemma, salvia horminium, nigella, centaurea of ten stems, and that was higher than the market individuals. Visit other farmstands and markets and americana, and the peruvian zinnias all work well. A price. I did manage to sell some of those gorgeous price and size the bouquets offered to get a sense crucial and often overlooked component of bou- flowers locally, as they had healthy, strong stems what the market currently offers. Analyze whether quets is filler. I think filler should be of a muted or and vibrant colors. Florists were willing to pay a market demand for fresh flowers exceeds the current indistinct color. Its job is to blend and accentuate little more as long as the flowers were picked at the supply, and whether niches can be created within the other colors, creating elegant and unique bouquets. right time (when flowers are colored but still market. Bupleurum griffithii, euphorbia marginata, flower- closed), and a good portion of the crop corre- ing dill, ammi majus, monarda lambada, ornamental sponded well with Mother’s Day. Some of the Retail markets also vary greatly depending on grasses, foxtail millet, and flowering oregano all Darwin varieties also bloomed well the following location and customer base. When I worked at a work well as fillers. year, which was an unexpected bonus. Selling your farmer’s market on Martha’s Vineyard in the early crop, I quickly realized, should not be an accident. nineties, flowers were in demand at $6/bunch. Last Perennials are wonderful cut flowers, but have very year a friend who sells mixed bouquets said that different growing requirements. Astilbe, columbine, Talking to wholesalers and florists is invaluable to most arrangements now sell for $10/bunch, despite peonies, echinops, baptisia, eryngium, alchemilla, determine what higher price niche smaller growers the increase in flower vendors. During the peak astrantia, monkshood, foxglove, delphinium, can fill. After my tulip debacle I called a wholesale summer months she and the other growers sell out echinacea, lilies and achillea are all beautiful cut flower broker in Vermont, who immediately talked early in the day. Here in Vermont, I found that the flowers. Another niche for flower growers are about new growers coming to him with delphinium demand for my vegetables and specialty plants far tender bulbs/corms. Experiment with acidanthera, asking $3.00 more per bunch than the market price exceeded the demand for my flowers, and that calla, crocosmia, gladiolus, tuberose, and ismene if for their flowers. He was careful to say that the people hesitated to pay more than $4.50/bunch at you see potential for sales of unusual cuts. higher price may be acceptable if the quality was our local farmer’s market. I grow only annuals, exceptional or if supply was dwindling from the which are planted, alongside my vegetables, and at Harvest and post harvest treatment of cut flowers is larger growers. These people know the market, and the end of the season the entire field is turned under. extremely important. Many people overlook this are usually very willing to talk to growers. They I garden on two acres with part-time help. Given my entire phase of growing cut flowers. There are good prefer to establish contacts in advance, rather than limited resources and the higher demand for my texts on this subject, so I will mention the most having someone show up on their doorstep demand- lettuces, early tomatoes, and uncommon plants I important requirements. Harvest either in early ing unrealistic prices. Pricing is very difficult, and scaled back my cut flower production to match my morning or evening while temperatures are cool. growers should know what it costs to produce each situation. Now I sell mostly bunches of zinnias, Cut flowers before they have fully opened. Most can bunch or stem. This information can be balanced larkspur, sunflowers, and sweetpeas that require be harvested while still in bud, but showing good with the general market rate for that item. If you little arranging. Last year a new flower grower color. Put flowers into water quickly, and get them have much higher quality and a unique selection do joined our farmer’s market. He sold all of his into the shade or a cooler after harvest is completed. not be afraid to charge more. Your success depends flowers by the stem, and grew a beautiful selection. Keep all buckets and clippers clean. If you are on your ability to discover the higher priced spe- He also sold wholesale to florists. He succeeded selling to florist or wholesalers they will expect with selling by stems of gladiolus, foxgloves, excellent post harvest treatment and the use of floral alliums, acidanthera, crocosmia , lilies, lisianthus, preservatives. Check with your state certifying and fritillaria. Niches exist everywhere, but they agency to see whether floral preservatives are depend on your skills and resources as well. allowed with organic certification. Most floral preservatives contain sugar to feed the flowers, an I grow both flowers and vegetables organically. The acidifier to help plants take up water, and an anti- fields are amended regularly with composted leaves bacterial agent to prevent the stems from getting and sheep manure, lime, and a greensand /rock plugged up with bacteria. By using good sanitation, phosphate mix. Given my short growing season I harvest techniques, and coolers growers can prolong transplant everything except larkspur and the vase life of flowers. Customers can also help by sweetpeas. I plant two rows per bed, and block out changing the water daily, stripping away foliage that the varieties so taller types do not crowd the shorter is underwater, cleaning the vase, and recutting the varieties. Drip irrigation supplies water throughout ends of the stems. the growing season to the crops. I especially like this method for flowers, as it discourages powdery Growing flowers successfully requires gardeners to mildew, and it keeps the flowers dry. Transplants are balance many skills, and like most tasks it does get spaced closely from 4-10” depending on the plant. easier with time and experience. If you love flowers Crowding the plants shades out weeds and seems to and hard work, and are willing to learn from your encourage longer stems. Weed control is the most mistakes maybe it is the business for you. If you are important garden task. I use a collinear and stirrup currently farming other crops, flowers may be an hoe around the plants and a wheel hoe for the aisles. enjoyable and profitable niche if you do your I just purchased a Farmall Cub to help with all my homework. cultivating chores. Many growers use black plastic or a long lasting landscape fabric for mulch. The Two recommended books on cut flowers are Spe- latter is especially helpful with perennials, because cialty Cut Flowers, by Allan Armitage and pub- it is reusable, it allows water to penetrate to the soil, lished by Timber Press, and The Flower Farmer, and it can be easily removed as the perennials start by Lynn Byczynski and published by Chelsea Green to fill out. Wood chips, straw, or a living mulch of Publishing Company. A text that just covers clover and annual rye grass can be used in the aisles postharvest considerations is Postharvest Handling to keep out weeds. and Storage of Cut Flowers, Florist Greens, and Potted Plants by Joanna Nowak and Ryszard Rudnicki. S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 13 Deep in Their Roots by Clare Pearson

“Deep in their roots, all flowers keep their light”. (Roethke)

I have been a grower now for 13 years, and in that journey I have been accompanied by flowers since the beginning. It has always been my belief that flowers feed the spirit and no matter what size your farm, 2 acres or 200, the presence of flowers offers us a chance to stop for a moment and think about photo courtesy Clare Peareson what we are doing, and why. One of her major learnings and then understandings, comments written all over the chart as well as operationally, is that “Beauty is not a frill. It is a spoken to us about what a difference these flowers Just imagine, (you probably don’t even need to!) human need.” She talked about how no society in made in peoples’ weeks—and even one comment that you are weeding 10-100 foot beds of green history has ever lived without some form of beauty. about how this one person could have left the beans. The weeds have gotten slightly out of Flowers have the capacity to surround us with the produce behind, as good as it was, and taken only control (you probably don’t need to imagine that opportunity to connect with something spiritually the flowers! either!) Wouldn’t you be glad for the opportunity to larger than us, and to help us reach beyond our- be looking at the petunias you planted down the selves to others. Economically, albeit secondary in our plan, the middle of those rows while you are there at eye flowers are starting to pay for themselves. The level? Petunias, in this case, are a ‘working’ flower, When I started growing, there were just a simple value of our CSA has increased. We “did” our first the companion to green beans for Mexican Bean few varieties that I grew, mostly as companions to wedding this year, and local restaurants are buying Beetle prevention. And there are Marigolds for the vegetables. I was living on a not-for-profit farm, our arrangements. We also made and sold many tomatoes, and that lovely Salvia horminum to go our growing was financed by a grant, and I felt dried flower wreaths made from our flowers. with the Brassicas, etc. And so we work our way responsible for not “wasting” the money that I had down our beds feeling a little less burdened by the to justify to the funder. I felt I would never con- So what is food anyway? I like to think that it hum-drum of massive weeding. But flowers are vince the grantors of the “need” to provide flowers comes into us in many ways, not only through the more than that. to our customers, who were poor families and soup mouth. I hope so. My spirit is attached to the idea kitchens. However, as I started to grow, cut and that we all know what we need to really live. I hope “Deep in their roots, all flowers keep their light”. arrange bouquets to send out with our produce, I you find or know the things that do it for you. What does it take, in our fast-paced world, with started hearing what a difference they had made in Flowers are certainly a piece of mine and I believe negative media and often overwhelming stress, for the lives of the people who were receiving them. they belong in all of our fields. us to “keep the light”? Flowers offer us an opportu- All hope of fiscal justification went out the window! nity to notice color and fragrance, and to breathe The more positive feedback we received, the more just a little more deeply. They cheer us when we are varieties came into my strategy! struggling with disease or depression, or just a bad day. It is hard to simply plod along in the face of I now live, with my family, at Wilder Brook Farm in flowers in a field. They invite us to really live! Western Mass. We co-farm with John Hoffman and I recently heard, on National Public Radio, Martha his partner. Together, John and I run a 60 member Ferguson, a concert violinist, speaking about her CSA operation. People pay in advance for produce lifelong struggle with seizures. It was an amazing that they receive for 20 weeks of our growing story of determination to live the passion she feels season. When we started here, I struggled with the about music. To her, music expresses the Divine. same feeling of not wanting to “waste” the money on flower seed. After the first season, however, John and I had a great conversation about intention- ally seeing the flowers, both the space that they took up in the field, as well as the time and money that went into them as equally important as the veg- etables. I shared my dream that people would not see the distinction between the produce that they picked up as food and the flowers they got as “food”. But I realized that unless we acted like we ourselves believed, that we couldn’t expect our customers to get there. We decided in that moment that that is what we would do. We order the seed for our flowers as though it is as important as the seed for broccoli, chard and corn. And we safeguard space in the field as though there were nothing more important to be in that space. We irrigate and weed (never enough though!). And we cut the flowers as part of every harvest day. In the spring, we dig and split roots, potting on small pieces of the perennials to grow and give out on the first pick-up day of the CSA. In this way, we encourage our customers to feed their own passion - whatever it is - by watching just a few colors and shapes come to life in their own yards. We have done this slightly regardless of whether the customers wanted flowers or not. We were going on our own belief that we would in- crease their hope and joy in the world.

This year, we really had it together (rather surpris- ingly) at the end of the season. We managed to put up large charts so that our customers could evaluate the produce by both quality and quantity. Flowers were part of the chart, of course. Our scale was 1-5, poor to excellent. We scored all 4’s and 5’s in the flower category for both quantity and quality, (more than we could vouch for turnips!). There were 14 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 Bouquet Making at North Slope Farm by Jack Kittredge

In western New Jersey, close to the Pennsylva- nia line, there is still farm country. Increasingly, fields will have a house lot carved out of them, but they still look like fields, not developments. The Howell Living History Farm is here, preserving a piece of our agricultural heritage. It was to the Howell Farm that Pam Flory came in 1988, wanting to learn about animal traction. There she met her future husband and decided to stay.

With a knack for raising flowers, Pam started a successful floral business. As it grew she needed more land, however, she joined her business to a friend’s CSA. Now she and Michael Rassweiler, Julia Ritter, Matt Conver and Dominique Herman manage NOFA-certified North Slope Farm. The Farm has a 125-member CSA, sells at 3 local farmers markets and does flowers for parties and events.

The two businesses compliment each other, Pam feels. The summer of 1999 was so dry that the CSA was faced with shutting down for one week because of a lack of vegetables. But flowers, requiring less moisture than fruiting crops, filled in and satisfied members during the photo by Jack Kittredge roughest drought periods. The flower displays Pam shows off her new favorite flower - Euphorbia attract customers to the vegetables at the farmers market, whereas a buyer there for the vegetables may decide to purchase a bouquet on Pam also sells to a few local florists who buy Flowers are picked Monday morning for the specialty things they can’t get elsewhere, such Tuesday market, Tuesday evening for the an impulse. And purchase they do! At the as sunflowers. She likes to develop local Wednesday one, and Friday evening for the Summit market, Pam’s best, she makes more on markets because they will work with her. Sunday one. They are picked directly into flowers than vegetables, selling all her 120 Occasionally she’ll have a lot of something like buckets of water in the field, then taken to a bouquets . She had to hire another person to zinnias come in. If she knows local florists she walk-in cooler for conditioning. Once thor- make just flower sales so those customers wouldn’t have to wait in the vegetable line. can call them up and they’ll take 25 or 30 oughly cold, they are brought out to be made bunches to work into bouquets. into bouquets. “We have a unique product, “ explains Pam. North Slope Farm has about 15 acres under Pam tests new varieties of flowers in a trial “You can’t walk into most florists and find the cultivation, including 3 1/2 in flowers. About 1/ garden. “We were taking up a lot of space in the seasonal flowers that we have. We pick specifi- 4 acre is a pick-your-own garden for the CSA fields with all the new varieties I’d read about,” cally for a market. When our flowers get there, they look fabulous. They’re not left over from a members, which Pam plants in succession and she says. “So we decided to make a special trial designed so that shareholders can pick many garden this year where we can test new flowers previous farmers market. We’ve seen this different flowers within a few feet of each other. and vegetables to see if they work for us. I test happen a lot - people will walk up to our Most growing areas are in conventional 4-foot flowers for stem length, will it stand up for a flowers at the market and say: ‘Seven dollars! raised beds, although this year they have week in a vase, color, what will it look like in a That’s ridiculous!’ Then they’ll walk across and experimented with narrower ones. Fertility bouquet? This trial area also gives people a look at the bouquets for four dollars, then come back and buy ours. People want a quality comes from generous additions of ‘mushroom really nice feeling for the flowers we grow. It compost’. gives you that cottage flower garden feeling. product that will last them a week. You buy And, of course, it’s a lot easier to maintain a flowers for the aesthetic of it. You want them to “It’s horse manure that was used to grow small display area near the buildings.” look perfect! “ mushrooms in Pennsylvania,” Pam says, excitedly.. “For us, using it has changed the Varieties are what a bouquet business is all farm! We till it right into the top three inches of about, of course. Pam needs to have continual soil before we direct seed something. I know it rotations of flowers so some are always coming also makes a huge difference with our seedling into production. Each variety also has its little production. “ nuance. Some you can strip the stem down low, others will break if you try. Some of Pam’s In addition to the compost, they get leaves from standbys are sunflowers, dahlias, delphiniums, local towns and are hoping to build a gladiolas, snapdragons, ageratum, scabiosa, composting facility on the farm to mix the statice, larkspur, rudbeckia, fleabane, zinnias, leaves with manure from local dairy herds. The yarrow, bachelor buttons, globe amaranth, straw leaves are used now for mulching and in 1999 flowers, verbena, and bells of Ireland. Fillers are made a big difference in conserving soil mois- eucalyptus (partly for the wonderful smell), ture. yarrow, and a new favorite about which Pam is excited. Pam uses drip irrigation in many beds, although she is not happy with the mess left by the plastic “This is our new favorite flower!” she says. “It mulch with which drip irrigation is designed to is called euphorbia. The variety is Kilimanjaro. work. In many beds she just doesn’t lay the It is the most amazing filler flower. It holds up plastic, but later rues that decision because of nicely, it bends without breaking, it shows up weed growth and the fact that the irrigation tape well with the verbena. This is the first year is so flimsy that it gets nicks and leaks if you try we’ve grown it. You have to wait until it gets to to use tools to weed around it. the flowering stage and then white appears on the leaves. If you cut it too early it wilts quickly. Besides the five main farmers, North Slope It doesn’t really have a fragrance.” Farm employs several part-time workers plus a number of high school kids. Recently Pam put With certain high value flowers like dahlias or on a crew of pickers to allow the more experi- sunflowers Pam will make bunches of all the enced farmers to focus on bouquet making. It same flower, using 5 or 6 stems as a bunch. But has been surprisingly hard on her and Mike, she if she doesn’t have enough she’ll make one of says, to let go of that task. those flowers the centerpiece for a mixed bouquet of from 12 to 20 stems. Even at $7, “Giving up the pieces of this to other people has however, Pam is not convinced she is really been difficult,” she admits. “Certain people making money given the amount of time spent have more of a knack than others, some take producing, picking, and arranging bouquets. So longer to learn. But giving that up and not being she is trying to reduce the amount of time spent here is hard. But you don’t want to work 14 or on each one. Thus the picking team was hired, 16 hours a day! You have to draw the line to let the experts concentrate on arranging. photo by Jack Kittredge someplace!” Pam trims a bouquet S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 15 “Mike, Dominique and I pretty much make the bouquets,” she explains. “You have to have an aesthetic for the flowers. It doesn’t have to do so much with color as with texture. We’re not so much concerned with what flowers go into it. But it needs to look like a $7 bouquet. I tell people to hold it up and look at it and ask themselves if they would pay $7 for it. Even last year we would sit there and wonder - is that one big enough, is that one beautiful enough? If you’re trying to do this on a large scale, how- ever, you just can’t take that much time. We’ve found that people are happy with our flowers - they’re fresh and high quality if they are picked at the right time. It’s hard to make a bad bou- quet with these flowers!”

Part of the appeal of Pam’s bouquets is the attention she pays to fragrance. She selects many components especially for their smell — dill and artemisia, for example, have exciting photo by Jack Kittredge odors. Other favorites are agastache, which is in A finished bouquet, this one featuring a lot of euphorbia around the mint family and similar to anise hyssop with a licorice fragrance, and cinnamon basil. a large rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan) from each bucket and lay them out so I can pick the produce. I think I’d let go of doing that if we When it comes time to arrange bouquets, Pam flowers up easily when I’m bunching. I get a got bigger. I really shouldn’t be washing pro- and the others gather at a shaded table space sense of how many flowers I have and try to use duce, in terms of efficiency of the operation. outside the cooler. She takes 5 or 6 buckets of enough of each to end up with all empty buck- But I like it. And it’s really hard to find people flowers from the cooler, places them left to right ets. who can do it the way we do. It’s amazing how in the order she wants to build the bouquet, many times you can tell people how you want pulls a handful out of each bucket and lays them “My next step is to clip the bouquet to the things done. Then you get to the market and on the table to pick from. They build the bou- shortest stem and then rubber band the bouquet bunches still fall apart, or aren’t washed, or the quet picking flowers from each bunch, left to and put it in the final bucket it is sold from. First tops are broken off. The only way we can right. I wash those buckets out with bleach to make charge what we do is if we deliver high quality. sure the water won’t go foul. Sometimes What people get from us is a reflection of us. “Bouquet making is getting a formula,” she zinneas can get powdery mildew, sometimes For the customers we’ve developed, that means relates. “I tell people to make a handful of beetles attack the marigolds or sunflowers. We something.” stems. If you have a thick stem that will nor- put four bouquets per bucket, then they go back mally have a large flower, maybe equal to 3 or 4 in the cooler. That’s the right amount so that Pam feels pretty much the same: “When you try stems of another variety. I want the shorter when people pull them out they don’t break to do something you love for a living, you taint stems around the outside of the bouquet and the stems. We tell people it should last a week. it a little. Is there a scale that will let us do the longer in the center. If we have a lot of filler That’s what we want, so they’ll buy another one things we like and still make a living? I love flowers I might put the bucket with them down next week. dealing with people, talking to them. I love at the end so that after you make your bouquet if feeling really competent about what we’re you look at it and it’s not a $7 bunch, you can “We take the bouquets to market in buckets in a doing. Some people say when it gets to a certain throw some filler around it. boxed truck, which protects them from the scale it gets a lot easier and makes sense. But wind. We run out of space in the truck by the with expansion come new problems. You have “It’s more difficult the more varieties of flowers peak of the season. We use New York Times to have more employees, delegate. We’re trying you have,” she continues. “It’s pretty easy when newspaper bags to sell them in. We tell people to figure out how to make a living and have a you have 5 varieties sitting in front of you. You to recut the stems when they get them home, life. How do you manage that? know you are going to have to take a little and give them plenty of water. Because it has handful of this and a little handful of that. But been so dry, they suck down a vase full of water when you have 25 varieties sitting in front of quickly. But the time it takes for people to get you, it’s overwhelming. So we have developed home is not a problem, usually.” a formula and we try to set the flowers up on the bench in that formula. Pam, Mike, and the others at North Slope Farm are struggling with the question of scale. “The varieties we pick for a day are totally Whereas they feel a lot of the economics get dependent on what’s in season. So the formula easier with an increase in size, they are con- might call for some dill, a sunflower, a bells of cerned about trading off the enjoyment of their Ireland, a dahlia, two zinnias — the colors will work for financial return. be different because the individual flowers will be, but they will basically have the same As Mike puts it: “One of the costs of getting components in them. So you can go down the bigger is getting out of touch with the farm. As bench picking up these flowers. My goal is to long as we do everything we know what is get making a bouquet down to between one and going wrong and we can keep track of things. two minutes - from the first flower you pick up We can easily figure out what is worth doing to putting the elastic on and trimming it. when we’re doing it. But if someone else is doing it, then you have to make an effort to keep “This bouquet I’m making now uses, from the track. I think we’ve pretty much made the left, agastache, dill, cosmos, tithonia, euphorbia, decision that we don’t want to get bigger. It’s selosia, rudbeckia, zinnea, and ageratum. important to us to deal with the crop. For Nineteen stems. Normally I take out a bunch instance, I get a lot of enjoyment from washing 16 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 Everlastings: Dual Purpose Flowers by Kathy Morris

A major concern of growers for the fresh cut flower trade is vase life. Flowers classified as everlasting are excellent as fresh cuts and dry well if they’re not sold. They tend to be easy to grow; and, properly picked will provide great color and beauty in arrangements - fresh or dry.

The backbone on many dried arrangements tends to be the annual and perennial statice. The annual statice (Linonium sinuata and Limonium bonduelli) are easy to grow; the seeds germinating in a couple of days with a little bottom heat (the side of the wood cook stove for us). The seedlings tend to do fine even in our cool house but flourish in a green- house. Set out about 15” apart in two foot rows photo courtesy Kathy Morris works well although some of the pastels and yel- Larry picking statice. lows can be 12” apart and at times I wish the whites were 18” apart. They come in shades of blues, be very fragile and are easily broken off, not to in many years), and transplanted it; and, 4 times out purples, roses, white, apricots, and yellows and regrow. Books tend to suggest that the doubles are of 5, it succumbs to insects, doesn’t germinate, or should be picked when 2/3 to 3/4 open for fresh cuts more desirable but I tend to like them both and just disappears. I know for some people and all over and from 3/4 to just fully open for drying. The when starting from seed you get mostly singles England, it self-sows freely, but for some mystical perennial statice (Limonium latifolia and Limonium anyway (which also seem to be more vigorous). reason, we’ve had one great larkspur year out of 20. tataricum) with lavender and white bracts provide Picked before the last few flowers are open for fresh background and filler for all sorts of arrangements. Several other annual everlastings are good cut use, it’s long stems provide good contrast to flat While they’ll do okay starting from seed without a flowers. The long stemmed globe amaranth varieties blossoms. It dries easily but as it dries goes through greenhouse, those wanting only a few plants may do (Gomphrena globusa and Gomphrena haageana) a fragile phase where, if disturbed, it will lose its well to purchase them from a greenhouse. The come in shades of pink, purple, white, orange, and petals. For drying I pick it just as the top flower in German statice (L. tartarica) tends to winter kill for red and provide clover-shaped accent flowers for the spike opens. On very long spikes the bottom me but 30 miles south of here does fine. Both bouquets. For those without a warm greenhouse, the flowers may have gone by by this time, but I like perennial statice like well-drained, fertile soil and temperamental globes require lots of warmth and the looks of the open flowers on the tip. Personal tend to frost heave from the ground when grown in light to grow. Mine always germinate easily and preference and market tastes will determine when less-than-ideal situations. Another perennial that then never get beyond the seed or first leaf stage. I you pick yours. Later stems are shorter and I either fulfills much the same role is baby’s breath buy 6 packs. Cutting long stems does remove lower use them in shorter bouquets or wire the hollowish (Gysophilia paniculata). Well-grown plants provide flower buds, thus reducing yield, but cutting at a stems. (Some very short stems may be too thin to many large airy stems of flowers. Care must be node does allow branching and regrowth. While wire. These are good wreath material.) taken with this hardy plant as the new shoots tend to touted as a good dried flower, the stems of Gomphrena reabsorb moisture (like Acrolinium, Flowers whose seed pods are used for dried arrange- Helichrysum roseum, and Blue Salvia, Salvia ments also can provide cut flower material. Some farinacea) and become limp in humid weather. The such as Nigella species, especially Nigella flowers are best wired if they are to be used upright. damescena, have lovely flowers but with a rela- tively short vase life. However, the pods of Nigella Strawflowers (Helichrysum bracteatum) - whose are long lasting and add highlights to all bouquets. colors range from white through pinks and apricot The seed heads of grasses may also be used in pastels to the hot reds, oranges and yellows - are certain arrangements with lovely effects. best picked for fresh and dry use when only the external 5 levels of petals are open (when you look Many other plants used in dried arrangements can down on the flower you see the first complete circle be used in fresh cut bouquets. The perennial of petal around the bud). Allowing them to open Artemesias, such as Silver King, Artemesia further reveals the center which when dried will turn ludoviciana, will work as accents in bouquets but dark; and as the flower is mature, not as sturdy or must be picked at least several hours before display long lasting. Most commercial straws tend to be as the stems will temporarily wilt until they absorb fully opened - the flowers do look bigger. Straw- water. Some herbs have lovely flowers, fresh and flowers are easy to start even without a greenhouse. dried, and often Coneflower (Echineacea), Beebalm Uncovered, the seeds germinate in a few days and (Monarda sp.), common oregano (Origanum grow well even in our cool house. I tend to prefer vulgaris), lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis), and the ‘silver’ pastel pinks and apricots when combing lavender (Lavendula augustifolia) are sold as them with the colors of the annual statice - but that’s flowers rather than herbs. Many other flowers personal preference. Strawflowers tend to be wired grown primarily for fresh cut flowers also dry well. for dried use not because their stems become limp Try some of those red zinnia and nice rose buds. but because cutting long stems reduces yield. I They dry well too. prefer the way they look with their natural stems as the top leaves tend to frame the flower and the When you intend on drying flowers after they’ve natural stems are sure better looking than green been used as fresh cuts, it’s important to follow a wires. few rules to gain better dried results. When cutting the flowers, wait until all the dew is gone. When The plume types of celosia (Celosia cristata) are immersing them into water make sure the stems are another annual whose unique feathery spikes pretty evenly cut to the same length and only use an combine well with other flowers. The taller varieties inch or so of water. If the flowers sit in water for a give a lot of nice long stems. For dried material, I day or longer, and if the weather is humid, cut the prefer the reds and pinks and some apricots as they stems right above the water line before you hang tend to dry to rather rich darker colors while the them to dry. And make sure your shears, pruner or yellows dry to tan golden colors. In identical dried knife is clean. You don’t want mildew to form and if arrangements, the reds always sell first. Another the stems are too tightly packed or wet, that can nice celosia for fresh or dried arrangements is the happen. Certain flowers are more prone to mildew wheat celosia (Celosia cristata spicata), which than others (argeratum, yarrows, and tansy come to produces numerous 1 to 3” pink spikes. They tend mind). And experiment. You’ll be pleasantly sur- not to last as long in dried arrangements as some prised at the variety of flowers that dry well. other varieites. So, if you’re overrun with fresh flowers and can’t Larkspur (Consolida orientalis) is one of my find another open horizontal space, tip them upside favorite fresh or dried flowers but I have a horrible down and dry them. (Market gardeners can then sell time growing it. I’ve direct seeded it in every them in the fall.) Come winter you’ll be glad for the season, tried to let it self-sow (we’ve gotten 2 plants color they provide. S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 17 Designing and Growing a Cut Flower Garden by Nancy DuBrule

I am the owner of a specialty garden center in Southern Connecticut. Our store is surrounded by organic perennial demonstration gardens, generously laced with annuals, biennials and flowering shrubs. We offer bouquets and arrangements to our custom- ers, using flowers from the New York markets combined with anything that we could pick from our gardens. This sets us apart from other florists in the area and the “Natureworks style” of naturalistic, country bouquets brings people in from far and wide. In this article, I want to share with you some of our secrets to growing and using flowers from your yard and garden.

We do not belong to any floral wire services, basically because I never want to be stuck in the mold of using the limited plant palette that they offer. I encourage my designers to be creative and weave into their work ornamental grasses, unusual foliage, and uncommon flowers. My theory is that the entire yard – including shrubs, evergreens, pods, berries, and roadside weeds – offers material for cutting. When I teach perennial garden design photo courtesy Nancy DuBrule classes and I ask my students their criteria for the Hyacinths are one of the earliest and most fragrant cut flowers. Here they emerge in the design, more than 75% of them are looking to spring with peony shoots. supply fresh flowers for the home. You do not have If you want to be highly organized, I suggest that yard, you would use drifts of 3’s and 5’s of the exact to have a structured setting, with wide, neat rows of you measure your garden and draw it to scale on a same variety. This will provide you with an effective lined up flowers to supply cut flowers for the house piece of graph paper. I always use the scale: one display from a distance and assure that you have (or your marketplace) every month of the growing inch = one foot in order to have enough room to plenty of flowers to cut at all times. Exceptions season. Instead, consider creating a perennial/annual write all of the names in on the plan. Locate on the would be bold, dramatic plants which stand on their garden that is well designed and attractive. plan any fixed objects such as rocks, shrubs, trees, own – ornamental grasses, peonies, and flowering or pathways that are not going to be moved. Locate shrubs such as Scot’s broom or Quince. Single The basic principles of garden design must be ONLY the existing plants that you know are in the specimens of these large plants can be used indi- considered first. When dealing with perennials, the right place. Any other plants that you may have that vidually. biggest challenge is having color in every month – are improperly located, simply INVENTORY them. this is called succession of bloom. Whether you are Attach 7 pieces of tracing paper to your plan, one Another basic design principle is to juxtapose creating a new garden from scratch, or renovating a on top of the other. Write the name of the seven opposite plants next to each other. Spiky flowers new one, the process is the same. Create a Season of months of the growing season on each piece of should be next to flat-topped flowers: yarrows with Bloom Chart for yourself. tracing paper. Then, design your garden month by delphiniums, daisies with liatris. Heavy textured month. The tracing paper overlays help you to see flowers should be next to light textured flowers: On this chart, graph the plants that you already have what the visual picture will be, like a series of peonies surrounded by columbines, phlox besides to show when their bloom period begins and ends. painting or photographs each month. If a perennial baby’s breath. The same is true of foliage textures Then, as you choose new plants for your garden, put blooms for many months, include it on each tracing and shapes: hostas combine well with ferns, and them on the chart. A season of bloom chart will paper overlay. This is a long process, and you will both make excellent cut greens. enable you see exactly what will be in bloom during be doing a lot of erasing as you explore the many any given week. In order to provide your home or combinations and possibilities for your garden. Use Every cut flower garden must be accessible to the market with cut flowers on a regular basis, you must the season of bloom chart as your guide, and fill in person harvesting the flowers. Be sure to work into PLAN what you are doing. Above is an example of your chart as you go, taking notes about the differ- your design wide and generous access pathways. If a season of bloom chart filled in with cutting ent plants as to color, height, shape, texture and your garden backs up to a hedge, a fence, or a wall, flowers in every month of the growing season. form. make an extra wide path along the back to allow a Remember, I live in Southern Connecticut (zone wheelbarrow to roll through. Besides harvesting the 6B); the exact time of bloom will vary dramatically When designing a garden, a general principle is to flowers, you will be top-dressing the garden with according to your location. The first year, you may use drifts or groupings of plants. The rule is: the compost and organic fertilizers and mineral pow- want to keep a garden journal and track exactly larger the garden, and the farther away you will be ders. You will be mulching and staking and doing when your perennials begin and end their bloom viewing it, the larger the groupings or drifts. some organic insect and disease control. Make it cycle. This will help you to more accurately pinpoint Therefore, if you were creating a flower border 50 easy on yourself! If you garden is wider than 4-6 when you have gaps in the blooms cycle. feet long, 8 feet wide, to be viewed from across the feet, be sure to include pathways or stepping stones leading into the bed. Make them at least a foot wide Season of Bloom Chart so you can set your picking basket down as you April May June July August September October work.

Daffodils__ Peonies_____ P.G. Hydrangea____ Staking is a tedious and necessary chore in any Tulips_____ Shasta Alaska Hydrangea-blue,pink____ garden, but it is especially important in a cutting Shasta May Queen Trumpet lilies Phlox______Asters______garden. Straight stems are vital to attractive and Geum______Achillea Gold Plate__ Helianthus Lemon Queen_____ professional looking bouquets. The key to staking is Muscari Lupines Campanula______Echinacae______Rudbeckia fulgida fulgida doing it BEFORE you need to – preventative, Heuchera Astilbe_____ Oriental lilies Ornamental grasses______advance staking means the difference between Hellebores Alliums______Gypsophila_____ Chrysanthemums______flowers that you can harvest and sell, and those that Hyacinths Lily of the Valley Delphiniums Liatris____ Persicaria______you waste. I like to use grow-through grids for Doronicum_____ Alchemilla__ Heliopsis___ Helenium_____ plants like baby’s breath and shasta daisies. I put Cytisus___ Roses______Buddleia______these on very early and the flowers grow up through Veronica Scabiosa______the crosshatch framework and are well supported. Monarda______(continued on next page) 18 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 Lilies must be staked unless you grow the new pest problem. Powdery mildew and black spot can Now that you know some of the basics about care dwarf hybrids. Peonies should have their peony be controlled with a solution of baking soda and and design of a cutting garden, its time to think hoops in place before the buds begin to form. horticultural oil. Combine 1 tablespoon of baking about the plants you can grow. I encourage you to Hollyhocks always need to be staked well in ad- soda and 2 tablespoons of low-viscosity horticul- broaden your horizons and try new perennials and vance of the first flower opening. Pinching or tural oil (I use a commercially prepared canola oil annuals that will add interest to your designs. Look cutting back plants to encourage branching often rather than a petroleum oil. The brand is Concern). beyond the garden to roadside weeds, trees, shrubs, reduces or eliminates the need for staking. Pinching Spray this once a week in the hot, humid summer and foliage plants to supplement your harvest. The will provide you with more flowers on shorter weather. Japanese beetles can be controlled by the list of what to grow is long – I will share with you stems. In a perennial garden grown for beauty and use of Neem, a pesticide spray made from the seed some of my favorites along with some helpful not specifically for cutting, I cut back and pinch of a tropical tree. Neem not only kills insects, it also design or growing information. everything I possibly can. In a cutting garden, I may makes the plants distasteful and keeps them away. sacrifice bushiness and put up with the dreaded Other natural and effective sprays are Hot Pepper Wild things staking chores in order to produce longer stems. An Wax and Garlic Barrier. Consider using beneficial excellent book that covers the techniques of pinch- nematodes or Milky Spore disease, biological Queen Anne’s Lace is one of my favorite “weeds” ing and cutting back plants in The Well Tended controls, to reduce or eliminate grub populations for picking. Although this is not a native plant it Perennial Garden by Tracy Disabato-Aust, pub- both in your lawn AND in your garden. This will grows wild all over the countryside. I incorporate it lished by Timber Press. This is my bible for learning consequently reduce or eliminate the Japanese right into my gardens by harvesting ripe seed in the perennial maintenance techniques. beetles. Slugs can be controlled by trapping or by fall and sprinkling it into the beds. After two years, creating barriers with diatomaceous earth or a new you must be very careful to deadhead most of the In an organic garden, there is a high tolerance for a repellant made from coconut. For more information flowers before they go to seed or Queen Ann’s Lace diversity of insects and diseases that may exist but about ecological pest control, you can check out the will take over your garden. Don’t try to dig it up – it not kill or severely damage the plants. If you are Natureworks website at naturework.com. There are is a wild carrot, and the taproot dislikes being growing flowers for market, you have to be much many informational handouts under the organic disturbed. Be sure to condition Queen Ann’s Lace fussier about the damage that you will accept as gardening section as well as links to other sites of when you pick it (see below). your customers may not be willing to tolerate the interest. Check out the slug website link for a real imperfections common to a balanced ecosystem. hoot! Ox Eyed Daisies (Dendranthemum superbum ‘May There are now organic solutions to just about every Queen) are the earliest of the white daisies to bloom, late May in southern Connecticut, many weeks before the more cultivated varieties of Shasta daisies. They have long, thin stems and make excellent early cut flowers. You must be careful once they are established in your gardens. Learn to recognize the self-sown seedlings and thin them ruthlessly each spring. I always leave a few plants in my borders to assure early wildflower bouquets, but I do deadhead them immediately after blooming so they won’t take over.

Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) is a deciduous holly shrub that grows natively in sunny spots where the soil is moist. The berries form in late summer, and by late fall, the leaves fall off, revealing long branches covered with brilliant red berries, perfect for picking for holiday arrangements. Winterberry does not have to have wet feet – I grow it success- fully as a backdrop plant in many of my borders. Like all hollies, it must have a male pollinator. There are countless new hybrids to choose from with extra-large berries.

Herbs and Vegetables

I like to incorporate edible plants into all of my garden designs. Herbs are deer-proof plants! Some of my favorites for picking are:

Bronze fennel (Foeniculum vulgare ‘Rubrum’) has burgundy lacy foliage that makes a great foliage filler in bouquets. It looks pretty from spring until fall. The flowers appear in late summer, followed by seedpods, which produce fennel seed , which is used in cooking and to flavor tea. The seeds will drop and baby bronze fennel plants will appear all over your garden. Bronze fennel is an integral part of creating a balanced ecosystem in your yard. It provides food for many types of beneficial insects as well as being a larval food plant for the anise swallowtail butter- fly. Be sure to condition bronze fennel when you pick it (see below).

Alliums are a large genus of plants in the onion family. There are many alliums that can be planted by bulbs in the fall to provide you with cut flowers from May through July. The largest flower and the most striking is Allium cristophii, with enormous globes of lavender starflowers on 2’ stems. This blooms in June in my area. I weave it in amongst other June bloomers such as cranesbill geraniums and perennial salvias for a striking display. You may be tempted to leave the seed pods of the large flowering alliums on the plant as dried flowers. I have found that this dramatically saps energy from photo courtesy Nancy DuBrule Yellow Doronicum pardalianches lasts for 2 weeks in a vase. Here it is backed by white the bulbs and causes your Allium stands to shrink in size, eventually fading away. Discipline yourself to Quince and surrounded by Tulips in a spring border. deadhead them right after blooming to allow the S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 19 energy to go into the foliage which feeds the bulb for next year. In July, along with the giant alliums (Allium giganteum) which grow 3-4’ tall, I count on drumstick alliums (Allium sphaerocephalum) for picking and drying. These are very inexpensive, tiny bulbs that form deep purple flowers on 3-4’ stems. The flowers are small but abundant. Fresh cut, they keep their deep purple color; dried, they fade to a lovely soft lavender. Incorporate them between the crowns of your perennials and create marvelous interweavings in July. In the summer months, look to Allium senescens and Allium ‘Mt. Sinai’ to provide you with lovely lavender flowers that are also edible! In the fall, garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) can be a cut flower as well as added to salads. The last Allium to bloom is Allium thunbergii ‘Ozowa’, a cold tolerant, miniature plant that flowers in October! Nothing is more welcome than a bouquet of tiny miniature globes at that time of year.

Artemesias provide lovely silver foliage and a wonderful herbal scent for bouquets. There is one Artemesia that has green leaves and creamy white flowers that I count on for August cut flowers. Artemisia lactiflora is a late bloomer that provides 5-6’ tall creamy white plumes in sun or partial shade. Last year, my favorite combination was orange tiger lilies weaving through this white artemesia – a stunning marriage of two very different flowers.

Trees and Shrubs

Spireas are a large genus that will offer cut flowers from spring until fall. Spring blooming Spireas such as Bridal Wreath (Spirea ‘Van Houttei’) will fill vase after vase with flowers in May and early June. My favorites, however, are the summer blooming Spireas such as S. ‘Anthony Waterer’ and S. ‘Shirobana’. These hardy, durable plants will bloom TWICE in your garden. Growing 3-5’ tall, I use them as struc- tural plants in most of my border designs. The flowers are flat-topped, resembling yarrows, cover- ing the plants in June into early July. After the first initial flush of bloom, I shear the plants back hard and feed by side dressing with compost and organic fertilizer and foliar feeding with a mixture of liquid seaweed and fish emulsion (Sea Mix). By the end of August, these shrubs are in full bloom AGAIN, giving me another 3-4 weeks of cut flowers for my flower shop. Spireas are not eaten by deer.

Scot’s Broom (Cytisus) may not be hardy in all of the areas that NOFA members hail from. In Southern Connecticut, they thrive, especially along the sea- shore in lean, sandy soil. They are in the pea family, and their evergreen branches are covered in yellow, photo courtesy Nancy DuBrule pink, or bicolor fragrant flowers in May, ideal for Summertime - Bee balm, Shasta daisies, Yarrow, Dahlias, and annual Tithonia combining with lilacs in Mother’s Day bouquets. Perennials and Biennials Korean chrysanthemums (Dendranthemum variet- Scot’s Broom should be cut back hard EVERY year ies) are the hardiest of hardy mums. The typical after blooming to encourage a full, dense, bushy There are so many wonderful perennials for cutting roadside mums offered at every produce stand and habit of growth. An unpruned broom has a 6-7 year that it would take an entire book to describe them. grocery store are marginally hardy, even in my life span before it cracks and splits open in heavy In fact, there are many wonderful books on this warm southern Connecticut garden. Korean mums snows or winds. Yearly pruning prolongs the life of subject that I encourage you to have in your horti- are rock-hardy, surviving severe winters and return- this shrub and gives you more branches for cutting. cultural library as a reference. I will share with you ing in gardens for over fifty years! Varieties to look This spring bloomer flowers on last year’s wood, so just of few of my favorites to pique your interest… for include Dendranthemum ‘Sheffield’, ‘Venus’, be sure to prune it immediately after flowering. I use ‘Bronze Elegans’, ‘Lucie’s Pink Daisy’, and the green, linear stems all years in arrangements, Doronicum pardalianches is the Greater ‘Penelope Pease’. These mums should be cut back even when not in bloom. Scot’s brooms are not eaten Leapordsbane daisy. Unlike its shorter cousins, this hard in June to promote branching. Unlike other by deer. plant produces large yellow daisies on 2-3 stems mums, they will bush out and then, in late Septem- that last 2-3 weeks in a vase! This is one of the ber or early October, send up very long stems Quince (Chaenomeles japonica) is a wonderful shrub earliest cut flowers to bloom in my gardens, provid- topped by large flowers. The long stems make them for cutting – especially in the winter when the ing unbeatable combinations with the spring bulbs. perfect for cutting, and they last two weeks or more branches can be forced into bloom. Forcing is a way This species is rhizomatous, meaning it spreads by in a vase. Be sure to seek out the hardy Korean to lengthen your cutting season by two months. underground roots – and it spreads VERY quickly. A forms – they are the mainstays of the fall - - garden. Count back 6-8 weeks from the normal bloom time small plant will cover a large area within two years. Botanists have recently reclassified all Chrysanthe- of quince, forsythia, lilacs, apples, or cherry The Greater Leapordsbane goes summer dormant, mums - what you formerly called mums are now branches. Bring them indoors, plunge them into a only to reappear in the fall, doubled in size, with Dendranthemums. bucket of water, keep them cool and misted. When low basal foliage. At that time, I lift it and separate the buds swell, you can bring them into regular it, spreading small divisions around all of my Echinops or globe thistle is one of my favorite cut household temperatures and create spectacular gardens. This plant will grow in full sun or deep flowers for late June and July. After it is finished winter bouquets. All spring bloomers flower on last shade and it is especially useful under trees. Be- blooming, I cut the flower stalks down hard to the year’s wood so NEVER prune them after early cause it disappears in the summer, you can pair it up base of the plant and feed it well. I usually get a summer or you will cut off all of the flower buds. with ferns or astilbes or Cimicifugas, fitting twice as second flush of bloom in the fall. Globe thistle many cutting flowers in the same spot. flowers are round globes, adding an interesting form 20 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 to cut bouquets. I like to make sure that I mix up daisies, spikes, and rounded flowers to create interest and diversity.

I love lilies – Liliums, that is. I consider them one of the best flowers for cutting. You can get succession of bloom with Liliums by planting Asiatics for June, Trumpets for early July, and oriental and tiger lilies for late July and early August. Orientals and trum- pets are heavenly fragrant. Lilies spread rapidly by forming bulblets underground – it only takes a few years to create a large stand. Be sure to leave enough foliage on the stalk when you cut the flower – the leaves produce food which is stored in the bulb and this is what makes lily stands increase in size and have strong stems with a high bud count.

Digitalis or foxgloves are a large genus, all provid- ing excellent cut flowers. The biennial forms (Digitalis purpurea, D. ‘Excelsior’ hybrids) are the most widely known and well-loved as old-fashioned cutting flowers. Biennials are often misunderstood. It is important to know their life cycle to assure flowers for cutting each year. A biennial grows only foliage the first year- it does not flower. The second photo courtesy Nancy DuBrule year it sends out flowers, and then the flowers go to Phlox ‘Miss Lingord’ is fragrant, a good cut flower in July. seed and the mother plant DIES. The seed is al- lowed to ripen on the stalk and drops to the ground. Peonies are finished, Liatris still to come. Baby plants appear the following spring, and they coming back in the same spot year after year as well This is just a very small sampling of the hundreds are foliage plants that year, blooming the following as self-seeding to new places. Foxgloves are poison- of plants that you can use in cut flower bouquets. year. If you want biennial foxglove flowers EVERY ous plants, therefore, they are deerproof! Use everything in your yard as possible subjects. year, you have to have both generations, the foliage Experiment! Set your arrangements apart from the and the flowering generations, simultaneously. To Annuals FTD “Big Hugs” of the world by creating unusual do this, plant blooming sized plants (6” pots or and unique combinations every month of the larger), starter plants (in market paks or 3-4” pots) Break away from the common annuals and try some growing season. and seeds for the first few years. You will then break unusual cutting flowers this year. The mainstays – the every other year cycle of these popular bienni- zinnias, snapdragons, cosmos, marigolds- are fine Nancy DuBrule is the owner of Natureworks, a als. If you don’t want to be bothered, you can and dandy, but your bouquets will really attract specialty garden center and landscaping service in choose from a wide range of perennial forms of attention if you weave some UNUSUAL flowers Northford, CT. For more information, visit her foxgloves such as Digitalis ambigua, D. lutea, and into your designs. website at naturework.com or write to Natureworks D. ferrugina. Digitalis lutea is my personal favorite at 518 Forest Rd., Northford, CT. 06472. with pale, creamy yellow delicate spikes 3-4’ tall in Verbena bonariensis is an annual that thinks it’s a Natureworks is open from March through Decem- June and July. After blooming, the foliage remains perennial. You only have to plant it once and it will ber. We do not sell plants by mail order. shiny and attractive and this is a true perennial, self sow year after year. I love its common name: “Verbena on a Stick”. It fits this flower perfectly! Conditioning flowers Long, stiff, branching stems weave through your gardens, reaching 3-4’ in height. The flowers are Many flowers must be conditioned first in order to small but abundant flat topped purple clusters. The drink water and last in a vase. Try to cut your more you cut this plant, the more it branches, and flowers in the early morning or in the cool of the the more flowers it continues to produce. The evening, avoiding the heat of mid-day. Bring a seedlings sprout when the weather warms up, so bucket of water WITH YOU into the garden. learn to recognize them and be careful when you are Immediately plunge the cut stems in water, espe- weeding in late May and June! cially if you will be harvesting for a while. Keep the bucket in the shade as you work. Once inside, strip Tender perennial Salvias are perhaps my favorite the lower foliage off of the stems – leaves sub- fall cutting flower. I include them in the annual merged in water for days on end encourage mold section because they are treated like annuals in the and rot. Once cleaned, put the buckets of flowers in north, being hardy only to zone 8 or 9. If you want a cool place such as a cellar for at least 2-3 hours. to try just one to start with, grow Salvia ‘Indigo Many of the flowers described above will wilt and Spires’. This plant begins blooming in August and will be unusable as a cut flower if you fail to continues until hard frost. It has 5-6’ spikes of rich condition them properly. Delphiniums have hollow deep purple-blue, flowers that often bend and curve stems and air bubbles often get trapped in them, in interesting patterns, adding a twist to autumn preventing water uptake. Turn the flowers upside bouquets. I combine them with Dendranthemum down and pour water down the hollow tube. Plug ‘Sheffield’ or Rudbeckia triloba for unbeatable the bottom with cotton or a piece of floral foam, and combinations. then set in water. This will make your delphiniums last much longer. If roses begin to droop, plunge the base of the stems into rapidly boiling water for 3-5 seconds. Air bubbles trapped in the stems will gurgle out the bottom, and the roses will begin drinking water again. Oriental poppies and Euphor- bias have a thick sap, which prevents water uptake. Burn the base of the stems for a few seconds until you see the white sap bubbling. They will then drink water. Be sure to remove the stamens from lilies before using them in wedding bouquets- the pollen will stain fabrics. Misting flowers on hot days prolongs their life, as does placing the vases in a dark spot during the sunny daytime hours. While the look of a vase of wildflowers on a sunny windowsill has romantic appeal, it will dramatically shorten the life of the flowers. Change the water and cut the stems every one or two days to make all cut flower bouquets last longer. S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 21 Setting your retail price for maximum profit is a true art. Too low and profit suffers. Too high Wholesaling Cut Sunflowers and volume will drop so much that profit by Paul Pieri drops also. Move the price around too much Maurolou Farm, Little Compton, RI and you will irritate and alienate your most valuable customers, those who make repeat The following thoughts are based on my purchases throughout the season. I wish I had experience marketing cut sunflowers for the the answer. past eight years. I am a field grower and have no experience with out-of-season Your choice of market helps determine the market conditions. I sell to supermarket varieties you plant. The vast majority of chains, wholesale florists and farm stands. I wholesale demand has been for the standard make no retail sales of my own and have no yellow petal on black center sunflower. Only experience with CSAs, farmers’ markets, or the pollenless hybrid varieties should be other retail outlets. My retailing comments grown for wholesale. They cannot be matched are based on my observations and coopera- for vase life and uniformity by any open tive sales efforts at my farm stand pollinated types. For retail or florist shop sales there is much more latitude in choosing The sales potential for cut sunflowers has varieties, although yellow on black is still the been superb for the past decade. No one can most popular. Local markets will surely differ, predict the future and I would be foolish to but there is increasing demand for the colored suggest I can. That said, I am making my varieties throughout the season, particularly in current plans on the assumption that demand the fall. Be aware however, that vase life on all during the summer and fall of 2000 will the open pollinated, branching, colored types remain near or slightly below last year. that I have seen is significantly less than the Supply may increase slightly which would pollenless hybrids. Open pollinated types must weaken wholesale prices. If demand drops be picked on the one day they are unfolding drastically, it could force prices below the their petals and sold into the hands of the cost of production for many of us. California, New Jersey, and Europe. There is a slightly lesser quality ultimate consumer as quickly as possible with sunflower coming into New England from South and Central excellent care throughout the market chain. If Your selling price is determined by two America at sometimes deeply discounted prices. Few, if any, of us the consumer does not have at least 5 days of factors: first, the going wholesale market can compete on price with the South and Central American crop and good vase life, they will be disappointed. This price, which is out of your control; second, make a profit. will hurt your market and ultimately hurt the your production costs plus profit margin At the wholesale level do not count on a premium price for your cut flower market for all of us. which are within your control to a large pampered local crop. There is a very limited market for “super extent. If you simply accept market price duper, fresh from the field, extra fancy, I kissed each flower before it The reality is that most growers will not have without knowing your production costs and left my farm” quality. Everybody who has been able to stay in the choice of all marketing options. We the profit margin you need, then the profit- business for more than a year or two is able to produce good quality farmers work with what we have available due ability of your operation is entirely a matter sunflowers. to our location, labor, transportation, and of chance. You must know your production economic resources. I can offer two pieces of costs so that you can tell if you run a If you sell to individual florists, you can receive a premium for advice that I feel apply in all situations. 1) business or a hobby. better quality, fresher product at some shops. Unfortunately, you will Leave all the junk in the field or packing shed. typically incur higher marketing and transportation costs, as well as Ship only those stems that you would be Your choice of market has a large impact on lower volumes. pleased with if you were the consumer. 2) the extent the current wholesale market Know your costs and minimum necessary price affects your selling price. With many, Those who sell retail can obviously command the highest price of profit. You can then adjust to the continually but not all, wholesale florists and chain all. Certain retail venues can sell moderate to high volumes as well, changing market conditions with confidence in retailers, you must meet the price of the the best of both worlds! Several of the farm stands that I supply sell the economic success of your farm operation. good quality sunflowers coming in from as many sunflowers in season as a small wholesale florist. 22 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 Camp Merrishko by Jack Kittredge

The narrow valleys of central Vermont are little microclimates with particular growing conditions. Hot days are followed by chilly evenings, as cold descends from the mountains. Rain is often local- ized - on one side of a ridge but not the other. Frosts can linger into June and return in late August, depending on wind exposure and very local condi- tions. In such microclimates, some contend, particu- lar crops do exceptionally well. The cold snaps, for instance, make for a little extra sweetness in corn, or slightly more brilliance in floral colors.

It was in such a valley that Jim Merriam and Clotilde Hryshko, proud proprietors of Camp Merrishko, bought their farm in 1990. Jim was born and raised in Vermont, grandson of a market gar- dener who sold peas, baby carrots and small cab- bages to the Woodstock Inn. Growing up, he worked hanging tubes for a sugarmaker. After engineering school he got a job with Northern Power Systems which takes him all around the world, analyzing renewable energy systems. Clotilde came to the University of Vermont on a teaching scholarship while working for her masters in soil science. Jim and Clotilde are both the youngest child in their respective families, so had no difficulty deciding to pursue their dream of a life in the country after they met and married. They have a two and a half year- photo by Jack Kittredge old daughter, Marya. Clotilde and Jim stand amidst their zinnias, with amaranth behind them. Their greenhouses are visible in the background. The farm, in East Randolph, Vermont, had been For fertility, the couple use aged manure which the July weeding, usually. We’re the best employees we certified by Vermont Organic Farmers when they local diary farms bring and spread for them. Jim tills have. That’s how you keep your margin. If Jim were bought it. The soil was excellent, but of the 100 it under the same day. Given their lack of manure able to be on the farm fulltime we wouldn’t have to acres, only 5 were really tillable. The rest was handling equipment, it would be a lot more difficult hire anyone.” pasture, which had grown back into forest on steep if the couple had to compost this manure before hillsides. Because of the limited space they have for using it, as proposed federal organic standards might “With daylight shrinking,” adds Jim, “I come home crops, and the fact that the farm came with a house require. They do compost some, by hand, for use on and throw myself into this mad thing of doing all in need of repair and an expensive mortgage, Jim crops like lettuce. The farm’s soil organic matter is you can before the light goes! We work 60 hour has kept his job and will do so until the mortgage is very high for an agricultural soil - roughly 6%. weeks, plus every waking hour you’re thinking, paid off. Additional land is hard to get as two local Because of their space limitations, however, no land managing, planning. We have our tasks we each do. dairy farms have been buying it up for corn as it is left fallow and continued fertility is a constant That all takes a while to figure out. You need to becomes available. goal of the couple. learn who you are as a person, then who you are as a couple. There’s a lot of balancing. We took a day off Lack of tillable land has shaped how Jim and Of the 5 acres they plant with mixed vegetables and recently and went to Maine. It was wonderful. You Clotilde farm: “Everything here is totally planted,” flowers about half an acre is devoted to flowers, shouldn’t get used to things like that “ Jim confides. “Our spacing is to get 5 rows in a bed which account for a disproportionate 30% of their the width of the tiller. Then we put only a couple of total sales. In addition they have 650 taps for maple Clotilde had worked at a pick-your-own berry feet in between beds, at most. I’d like to have the syrup and do some spring bedding plants. They have operation in her youth, but otherwise neither she nor space to do tractor cultivation, but we don’t have it. tried raising animals, specifically turkeys and sheep, Jim had much real experience growing for market. The rows are so close we have to hand weed.” but find they don’t like the continual responsibility “We watched other people have stuff early that we that entails. didn’t,” says Jim, “and started asking questions. It Another limiting factor is a relatively short season. took us a year to learn about Remay. We started The land is on the line between climate zones 3 and Five acres of crops without tractor cultivation from scratch so that anything we’ve done we did on 4, but a strong wind chill in the valley, which runs entails a lot of hand work. Jim and Clotilde have the our own. I think our minds might have been a little north and south, brings it firmly into zone 3. Frosts equivalent of one fulltime employee, plus a few more open to new ideas because of that.” can be expected until June first, and then again in people who help out at the farmers markets. “Weed- mid-September. ing is intense!” says Clotilde. “We spend June and “We got into flowers early on when we first bought the place,” continues Clotilde. “We were learning to farm then, and flowers are much better at staying on the plant than, say, beans. So for the first couple of years it was in our interest to learn how to do flowers.”

Camp Merrishko has 4 greenhouses. Two are 14 by 48, one is 18 by 48 and the last is 20 by 48. In a normal year the houses provide extra heat for flowers during the growing season, but in a hot year such as 1999, even with the sides rolled up the heat was too much and a lot of flower buds didn’t set. They open up the house which has a wood stove and a propane backup heater about the second week of March. They bring out seedlings which have been started in the house in trays. A second house is unheated but has a double layer of poly. Jim and Clotilde open that up in April for early tomatoes or other crops, and the other two a little later.

The couple sell at 3 farmers markets a week - two midweek ones and one on Saturday in Montpelier. The midweek markets together end up totaling about half the volume of the Saturday one, but are useful to move greenhouse tomatoes and other crops that ripen between Saturdays. They also sell to a restaurant and a coop.

The pair have found that certification does not really make a big difference for their sales, since their photo courtesy Clotilde Hryshko customers are by and large dealing with them Clotilde sets up at the Montpelier market. directly and don’t need any third-party assurance of S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 23 integrity. Although still certified by VOF now, they are prepared to drop certification should the federal program come out with standards not to their liking.

Jim and Clotilde usually sell everything they grow, and when they don’t the local food bank takes the surplus right at the market - so nothing is wasted. Clotilde likes selling to the restaurant because they are easy to work with. She picks for them along with picking for the Wednesday and Thursday markets, and just sets the order aside and makes a Friday morning delivery, getting the same price as at the market. The coop is a preorder. It doesn’t take much, but Jim and Clotilde are cutting back on it because they don’t get the prices there that they do elsewhere.

For the same reason the couple is not interested in selling wholesale to florists. They like doing mixed bouquets for market and find that their customers come back week after week. Most flower customers don’t buy vegetables, so they have hired a young woman who just sells the bouquets. That way flower buyers don’t have to wait while vegetable customers get their purchases weighed.

Both Jim and Clotilde make the bouquets they sell. Clotilde developed the style she likes by experimen- tation. She prefers a layered effect because it is efficient and lends itself to more of an assembly-line process. She harvests with the ultimate bouquets in mind, choosing material which goes together well and she knows people will buy. In the early fall Clotilde will often use a dahlia as the centerpiece of a bouquet. In July she might use a few early zinnias from the greenhouse. She loves beautiful flowers like scabiosa, but feels that the labor of getting enough of them into a bouquet, compared to zinnias which are three times their size, is prohibitive.

For the Montpelier market the flowers are the last thing they pick Friday evening, going right into buckets of water. Then they make them up into bouquets that night. They take everything to market in a van - a bottom layer of vegetables and a top layer of flowers. They get up at 5:30 Saturday morning and are at the market by 6:15.

Two other vendors at that market sell flowers, but not vegetables. Each of them does about the same amount of business. In 1998 their peak was a September Saturday when they moved 105 bou- quets. They sold the last one just before 1:00 p.m. In 1999, because of the drought, about 90 bouquets was tops.

“We get $4.25 for a bouquet,” says Clotilde. “ We take mostly mixed bouquets to market, but also do single stems of things like gladiolas, sunflowers, and things that people can dry like Celosia cock- scomb — that has been very, very popular. You sell more pastels in September, but people want dark photo by Bonnie Fallon colors when it gets colder, later in the fall. The mixed bouquet, our best seller, is like a CSA bou- Some of the bouquets Clotilde and Jim sell at the market. quet — you get what grew well this year! For Jim and Clotilde also sell a lot of dried flowers. “We tried out two more celosia this year,” she instance we don’t have any asters this year, but we Although they harvest them all summer, they wait continues, “which I was happy with. Johnnies ran a got a lot of amaranth. So we use amaranth in most until after Labor Day to take them to farmers new verbena, which was tall and white. At first I bouquets. Some people don’t like it.” markets. There’s a 5 week period from Labor Day didn’t like it, but now I do. Asters and zinnias and through Columbus Day when they can do $300 a sunflowers are the bulk of our bouquets for a lot of day in dried flowers to tourists. The Montpelier the year. I’m sold on them. We harvest all the market also has an indoor farmers market just gomphrena we want for dried flowers, then use the before Thanksgiving, where they can move any balance for fresh cut. Ageratum is an early producer remaining dried flowers which haven’t sold already. and some varieties of celosia and statice are inter- changeable in bouquets. Clotilde makes several different types of dried flower arrangements — wall hangings, bouquets, Jim and Clotilde like the name Camp Hryshko for etc. Exactly which she will make in a particular year their farm. They reason that there are too many depends on what flowers did best that year. Statice, people who own property and call it a farm. They for instance, does well in garlic braids. Artemisia might have a horse or two and it’s really a second makes great filler in the back of bouquets. To get home, a summer home. Clotilde would much rather really bright colors, Clotilde stresses, you want to have a working farm and call it a camp than the dry the flowers out of the sun but in a place that is other way around! “Having a farm”, she sighs, really warm, so they will dry quickly. She dries “used to mean you were from the backwoods. Now them in the third floor of the house because that is it means you shop at Smith and Hawken!” warmer than the top of their barn.

Clotilde keeps a constant eye out for new flower varieties which will fit in with her ideas about bouquets. “ We’ve been experimenting with differ- ent varieties of grain amaranth,” she confides. “Amaranth is really designed for low rain-fall climates. In 1999 when we’d get one of those stupid sprinkles that was less than a tenth of an inch of rain, you’d look down at the amaranth and you’d see this ring of moisture around it’s base. All the

photo by Robert Eddy leaves are shaped just to channel the moisture down Jim and Clotilde pick zinnias to the roots. 24 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 with its cucumber taste, nasturtium with its peppery taste, anise hyssop with a licorice taste and pine- Our Edible apple sage with its sweet and fruit taste, make them an interesting addition to salads and other dishes.

The flowers are harvested early in the day they are Flowers to be sold. We pick only perfect flowers and make by Steve and Michele Ramos sure they are insect-free before packaging. They are refrigerated soon after harvesting. We sell the We have a small certified organic farm in Bristol, flowers as a mix to Bread and Circus in small Rhode Island, and have been growing edible flow- plastic trays that showcase and protect the blossoms. ers, along with a variety of other herbs and veg- We also sell flowers to restaurants in larger plastic etables, for about fifteen years. So we don’t consider containers with the requested number of blossoms. them to be the latest fad. Alyssum, cornflower, The flowers are used by the chefs for garnishing, borage, calendula, pineapple sage, gem marigolds, cooking, and in salads. scarlet runner bean blossoms, and pansies are some of the annual flowers we grow. Our perennials Our flower harvest begins in March with pansies include anise hyssop, cilantro flowers, chive and and violets grown in coldframes and continues in garlic chive blossoms, chamomile and chervil. the field with warm weather flowers like nastur- tiums. The harvest usually extends into early Our most popular flowers are nasturtiums, pansies December. and pineapple sage. The unique flavors of borage, Edible flowers are easy to grow and provide color in the garden. Though they are a small part of the many different crops we grow, they have proven to be very profitable.

photo by Steve Ramos photo by Steve Ramos Edible Flowers: Pansys overwintered in Edible Flowers: Chives, Chamomile and plastic tunnel for early harvest Garlic chives S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 25 Value-added Flower Products for Off-Season Farmers’ Markets by Karma Glos, Kingbird Farm

Kingbird Farm is a small organic operation in the hills of Berkshire, New York. We raise vegetables, herbs, flowers, poultry and meats. Still in the early years of our development, we continue to experi- ment with different crops and processing options. We currently retail directly on the farm and at the local farmers’ market. Market gives us a good opportunity to try out new product lines, particularly in the off-season when we have few vegetables. These products have included dried flowers, pot- pourri, tea, dried herbs, and garlic braids.

When I initially began by market flower and herb beds I envisioned grand rows of towering cut flowers and ornamental herbs. I fancied spending my Saturday mornings arranging bouquets for market and selling them by the bunch. I hoped fresh flowers would fit nicely with our vegetable display, and initially I always had a few bouquets or fresh flower wreaths. These sold very well and I truly enjoyed the work, but those were rainy, cool springs and the insects had yet to find us.

Following the next two dry years, reality finally hit me. With no practical irrigation and tarnished plant bugs breathing down my neck, cut flowers were not As summer waned I began pulling flowers down and herbs are certified organically grown, the practical, or even possible. The zinnias were from the attic and crafting them into potpourri. I customer can be assured there is no chemical stunted, the lavatera nibbled, and the larkspur knew that soon we would have few vegetables for residue. In addition, I use no dyes to enhance color crooked. Despite the urgings of my husband, our market stall and in the fall I like to fill it with or perfumes to create a scent (virtually always used however, I continued to struggle to coax color from value-added products like packages of dry beans, in commercial potpourri.) The fixatives I use are the ground. herbs and flowers. I had prepared potpourri in plant products and the essential oils (organic when previous years, but never had I dedicated my entire available) are used to compliment the natural scent The summer of 1999 saw the final gasp of my flower harvest to its production. of the mix, not create or mask it. Using natural oils flower operation. The 4' x 100' terraced beds and fixatives also helps to reduce the likelihood my cracked like concrete and the flowers blossomed I start potpourri two months prior to packaging in potpourris might bother someone with allergies or only meekly. Customers and neighbors commented order for it to be well cured. I combine flowers, chemical sensitivities. on their beauty during that crispy brown summer, herbs, leaves, twigs, and spices to create a com- but I knew the beds of dwarfed, scalded plants plexly scented, visually pleasing mix. To this are Learning to craft and sell this simple product has would not produce a single stem worth cutting. added high quality essential oils and a fixative such had many positive aspects. First and foremost, it as orris root. The mix is then sealed in bags or jars sells. The rows of brightly colored bags enhance my Throughout these blistering days, I continued to and stored in a cool dark place for curing. When the fall/winter display and virtually everyone who stops work across the beds, Felcos in hand. I snipped all mix is done I package it in small cellophane bags, at my market stall samples the potpourri. Secondly, the decent blossoms, some barely stemmed at all. I tie it with a ribbon, and label it. Along with the clear it is a very successful way to utilize what might packed the stifling attic with bunches of larkspur cellophane bags, I also prepare small, colorful fabric have been a complete crop loss. I can turn a failed and euphorbia, baskets of zinnias and sunflowers, sachets that can easily be tested by the customer. crop into a value-added product with good shelf life and racks of calendula, lavatera buds, and scabiosa Finally, I try to assign a price that reflects not only and marketability. This venture could quite possibly seeds. Anything that actually grew was harvested the natural, handcrafted aspect of my product, but turn into a way for me to work with flowers without and stashed away for later. During each harvest I also my time and materials. the pressure of growing long-stemmed perfect cut made careful notes on which varieties managed to flowers. This year, with the addition of drip irriga- produce despite the drought and insect attacks. I In marketing these potpourri products, especially at tion, better insect control, and careful variety then discontinued any care for the beds and concen- a higher price, I must emphasize to the customer choices I hope to grow for potpourri and not just trated on the vegetable field. why my product is better than commercial potpour- clean up after a failed crop. ris. My signs clearly state that because our flowers Kingbird Farm is on 9398 West Creek Rd. in Berk- shire, NY 13736. You can contact Karma at (607) 657-2860

photo courtesy Karma Glos Karma and Rosemary bring in the herb harvest 26 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 Designer Annuals: The Latest Goldmine? by Pooh Sprague

Every year I go to conferences and farm twilight meetings. I get all fired up over the latest niche market concept that someone has developed. I come home hoping to cash in on it as well. That is because we as market farmers are horticulturalists who are very flexible in our choices of what we grow. It matters more that a crop be produced profitably and that it will fit in with our growing systems. I know of a grower who is good at growing cole crops but because he has done it for so long, he continues to do so even though it is barely profitable for him. We of Edgewater Farm in Plainfield, NH have been growing strawberries for 25 years and yet we don’t see ourselves as strawberry growers. Strawberries are just one of the mix of crops we grow to earn our way. As a result we have gone to meetings and been lured into specialty or niche crops like mesclun, obtuse varieties of summer squash, and fall raspberries, to name a few.

My wife Anne and I purchased our farm in Plainfield, NH in 1974. She grew up right down the road on a dairy farm . I grew up on a hill farm in Hillsboro, NH. It was our original thought to go into dairy farming, but we couldn’t afford to get into that so our county agent (who is now UNH Extension Fruit Special- ist, Bill Lord) encouraged us to grow strawberries for U-pick. Our fine riverbottom soils were well suited for row crop agriculture. Having some success with strawberries, we started growing vegetables for retail (out of the back of a pickup truck). As an adjunct, we put up our first greenhouse in 1978. We opened our roadside farmstand in1983 and have been at it ever since. Today we farm around 65 acres of tillable land, growing small fruit and vegetables with 32,000 feet of greenhouse space that is devoted to greenhouse vegetables and ornamental crops, supplying two farmstands.

And so it was that I recently found myself talking about exotic or designer annuals at the New England Small Fruit and Vegetable Conference in Sturbridge this past December. Instead of being the victim of a new idea for niche marketing, I found myself victimizing others.

So what is this idea of “designer” annuals? And how can you (or should you) try to get on board this gravy train?

Within the last 5 years there has been a heightened interest in ornamental gardening. This is a result of a couple of things. First is the media. Trendy TV homeowner shows promote and reintroduce gardening concepts to a hungry photo courtesy Pooh Sprague audience who have more disposable income than ever before. Giant merchan- feeding frenzy at the merchandising end. All of this media, marketing and disers have acres of floor space devoted to products designed to capitalize on merchandising has heightened the interest and sophistication of the American the increased interest in gardening. Martha Stewart very cleverly uses the gardener who twenty years ago was content to plant red geraniums, yellow media to disseminate horticultural concepts, and then is able to capitalize on the marigolds, Early Girl tomatoes, and call it a day. That same gardener today is tending border beds of mixed annuals and perennials , growing containers of mixed annuals and tropicals, and his vegetable garden may have arugula and basil between the heirloom tomatoes. They want to try something different. This is where we farmers come in. Many of us who own farmstands currently grow bedding plants for sale in the spring. It brings much needed cash into the operation early in the season and for many of us provides a pretty serious chunk of our total seasonal revenue, as it does here at our farm. All this merchandising and media attention brings some pretty big players into the market. Every WalMart, K-Mart or local gas-deli mart has entered the fray, selling plants from Mothers Day on. How are we, as small independent family farmers, going to compete?

You are going to compete by differentiating your business from others. There are a number of good ways to do that, and there are people more qualified than I to write about them. But ten years ago we started to look at ways of differentiat- ing ourselves from the bedding plant competition and we decided we could do that by offering a different product mix. We tried to think of the plants that we had inquiries for over the years and decided that maybe we should try offering them. The classic request in the early 80s was “Do you have any old fashioned petunias with a scent?” We also had some requests for old-fashioned scented nicotiana as well, so we decided to try to source out some seed and try offering them.

At the same time it became apparent to me that all of the farmstands, green- houses and green retailers in the area sold the same twenty cultivars of seedling and zonal geraniums. So I began looking for different or old-fashioned varieties of geraniums, and after reading a couple of books on the subject went about collecting stock and trying to propagate it. The public responded favorably and though they didn’t embrace every new or different plant that we offered them, they did embrace the fact that we were trying to offer them an expanded variety of choices.

Today, as an adjunct to our “staple” varieties of bedding plant varieties that we offer from the major seedhouses and propagators, we offer about 150 addi- tional plant species that we select and propagate vegetatively here at the farm. Mind you, this all coincided nicely with the increased interest in ornamental gardening and people having more income to devote to it, as well as our farm being located in what has essentially become an attractive suburban neighbor- hood. In both cases we were very lucky to be at the right place at the right time with the right product. photo courtesy Pooh Sprague S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 27 So far this makes for another exciting success story high light levels will now have a greater effect on pot without a bloom, they are definitely going to in niche marketing. But before you run out and find the plants in periods of high humidity and low light need some information on that plant and it is your a source for passion flowers and banana trees you levels. In short, it is dramatically trickier to grow responsibility to provide them with it. They will better read and find out what else you must lay out plants in December and January than it is in March. want to know what it looks like, what it looks good before you can cash in. And if the power or the furnace goes out some night with, and how to grow it. That is where trialing in January, it does not take any time whatsoever to plants in your gardens will enable you to help the First and foremost it must be understood that you freeze out a house — and it will happen ten times as customer with that information. need to have an adequate greenhouse facility to fast in January as it does in April. What designer annuals should you acquire and winter stock over and propagate in. We are defi- propagate? The first and foremost thing you should nitely at the low end of the technology curve, but Sound exciting so far? But wait, there is more. do is listen to your clientele and respond to them by we still have a small mist system, 250 square feet offering plants and varieties that they ask for. of root zone heated bench space, five HID lights, There is a learning curve for growing designer or Chances are if one person asks for a plant there will and an oversized heater for the 21 x 96 foot poly exotic annuals. You can go to the back of any seed be others who want it as well. Put down the latest house in which we winter and propagate our stock. catalog and find cook book instructions for growing copy of The Natural Farmer and pick up a copy of You are trying to grow plants at the wrong time of geraniums, marigolds, impatiens, tomatoes, etc. All Horticulture. Gardening trends are defined there, the year and to offset the low light levels and cold rooted pak material you purchase from the large oftentimes with descriptions and sources of specific temperatures, a certain amount of additional heat propagators comes with growing instructions. With plants. And watch the gardening programs instead and light is needed that you would not normally designer annuals you must learn how to grow them, of MTV or your favorite wrestling program! You need were you to start your greenhouses the first of learn how to propagate them, and trial them in the will get exposure and cultural information in detail March. You can start smaller with incandescents garden to see how they perform in your sales area. from them. Listen to Martha Stewart. The high and heat mats, but without the additional heat and (Your banana trees won’t grow as tall in priestess of homeowner horticulture not only light both the stock plants and rooted cuttings Hardwick,VT as they will in Apopka, Florida.) This defines trends but dictates them. There are plants in require, you are doomed. It is our experience that entails some amount of bookkeeping, or a photo- our collection that Martha Stewart single handedly capital outlays in the greenhouse areas are easier to graphic memory. I possess the former, although it put there because she used them, talked about them, swallow after you have spent some money on farm can hardly be construed as bookkeeping. There are and promoted them. machinery: for instance, having received a bill from sheets and calendars with notes scribbled on them. the local tractor dealership for splitting the tractor Whichever you choose, it will be good to document So where does this booming interest in designer or and putting in a new clutch. If you can justify the what and how you do it. You can by-pass the whole exotic annuals end? I don’t know. Will you get rich cost of that repair you should be willing to go the propagating process as there are some small propa- from jumping on the bandwagon? Probably not. expense of upgrading part of a greenhouse to a gators emerging in the New York - New England Will you make your greenhouse activities in the propagating facility. area who will do wholesale. But as this end of the spring more complicated? Yes. industry is still small, it comes with the complica- Now that you have spent the money to upgrade to a tions of supply. It may, however, be a good way to So why bother doing this? prop house and it is stocked with exotic plants you try out your market without investing much money. (or somebody else) has to run this thing during the Because it is a product of demand. Because by winter. One dramatic change we noticed was that And the last, but not the least, hurdle you must offering something different you are separating when we had no plants to overwinter, all the overcome is selling the plant. yourselves from your competition, you are finding a greenhouses froze and we had minimal bug issues niche. Like we found with fall raspberries, mesclun in the spring. But overwintering stock plants brings You really don’t have to sell a geranium, allysum or and eastern summer squash, there is no easy money on a whole new dimension and level of complexity a marigold. Everybody knows what they are, what to be found in agriculture. But the success story of to your pest management program. You now are they look like, and they come to your establishment the Walmarts, as well as the gas-deli marts, is that overwintering bugs in the stock plants in the pretty much knowing whether they want them or they offer variety as well as convenience and greenhouses. Many predatory insects that work don’t want them. New plants introduced by the service. By growing and offering designer annuals well in the summer do not function well in low major propagators like rosebud impatiens, scaevola, alongside of your regular selection of bedding light levels (diapause) during the winter. Many leaf bacopa, etc. come with sales and marketing tools plants, you can provide the selection and service and root pathogens that plants can compete well such as point of purchase information. When a that gardeners seem to want in this expanding with during summer periods of low humidity and customer picks up a salvia guaranitica in a four inch market. 28 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0

Conference (cont’d from page 1) Revised Rule (cont’d from page 1) present form. From both marketing and philosophi- cal perspectives, we need to differentiate our farm- Beautiful”? We are working to put a panel together, the public review of standards, National List recom- ing from organoagribusiness. and will invite Willie Lockeretz as our moderator. If mendations, and Operating Manual development. you are interested in being on the panel, you can NOSB should make transparency and public partici- I invite those of you who feel the way I do to join contact Richard Murphy at (508) 867-5735, email pation paramount, and hold public hearings through- me in figuring out how to raise the organic bar [email protected] or Jack Kittredge at (978) 355- out the organic community. To maintain the integ- higher. If I label my products at all, I would like that 2853, email [email protected] rity of the board, the criteria for selection of mem- bers of NOSB proposed by the coalition of OTA, the label to mean food that is not only ecologically grown, but also produced on a farm that is commit- This year’s Children’s Conference is being co- National Campaign and others needs to be respected. ted to social justice for everyone in the food system, coordinated by two extremely energetic young food safety and security for people of all income moms, Justine Johnson, and Barbara Cohen. These The national organic program must also provide for levels, humane treatment of all critters, and living women really impressed us at the last meeting. They regular revisions, as is customary among existing lightly on the planet. My local customers know this already have their whole line-up of presenters and organic certification programs, in a manner that is and that is one of the reasons they go to the trouble workshops together! But because they want this democratic, transparent, and that minimizes bureau- to join our CSA. Many of them assume that all conference to be the best ever, they are inviting cratic obstacles. organic farms have similar values. anyone with suggestions or comments to contact them. Justine can be reached at (413) 527-1920, If the community evaluation of this rule is that it The IFOAM Basic Standards include general email [email protected], and Barbara’s number does not meet community standards, then we should principles on social justice. In joining IFOAM, the is (508) 797-3389, email [email protected] We’re consider taking this process back into the private NOFAs and OTA have agreed to uphold these lucky to have such an enthusiastic duo on staff this sector. principles. This is the language from IFOAM: year! 5. Do not weaken existing standards. The national Social Justice and social rights are an integral part of organic agriculture and processing. In food news, we have decided to put our money standards need to reflect the highest standards Recommendations: where our mouths are - Saturday night will be a currently in use on organic farms and certification • All International Labor Organization conventions strictly LOCAL organic meal. (Local will be programs. Any lowering of standards would mean relating to labor welfare and the UN Charter of defined as the seven-state NOFA area). Don’t expect that the USDA approved organic label would be in Rights for Children should be complied with. your coffee, bananas, or citrus - and that’s just for conflict with current industry practice, consumer • All employees and their families should have starters! Get inspired and come to the debate expectations, and international standards. Organic access to potable water, food, housing, education, afterwards with your insights. We are thrilled to processors should be held to the same high standards transportation and health services. have natural food enthusiast, (and JR’s mom,) Beth as farmers in regard to the use of synthetic ingredi- • Social security obligations should be met, includ- Ingham designing our menu for the conference. Be ents. ing benefits such as maternity, sickness and retire- prepared for a real treat! We are in the midst of ment benefits. troubleshooting through a new approach to the food 6. Consumer Right to Know. The primary impetus • All employees should have equal wages when lines. We will pass out a cafeteria layout ahead of for organic standards comes from the desire of doing the same job and they must have equal time so diners can see what their options are. consumers to know that they are getting food that is opportunities irrespective of color, creed and gender. Ingredient lists will also be available this year. In produced ecologically. Therefore, it is important that • In all production and processing operations, labor terms of supplies, we are currently in need of a these standards meet the expectations of consumers conditions regarding noise, dust, light and exposure source for certified chickens and certified organic and provide them with the possibility of voting in to chemicals should be within acceptable limits and milk. If you have any information as to a source for the marketplace for the type of food and agriculture workers should have adequate protection. these provisions, please contact Rita Horsey, food that they want. • The right of indigenous people shall be respected. coordinator extraordinaire, at (508) 529-6148, email ritasur.net How should the NOFAs respond to the federal organic program? If we like the Rule, it will be easy. Standards: 10.1. The certification program shall ensure that Before we know it, it will be time for registration. Our certification programs have been second guess- operators have a policy on social justice. For those new to NOFA, every year we have some ing the NOP for years, trying to adjust in advance to 10.2. The certification program shall not certify money ear-marked for scholarships. Only adults are expected demands. If we hate the Rule, it will also production that is based on violations of basic eligible, and you must be a current NOFA member be easy. We will join in the community protests and human rights (in cases of clear social unjustice). (or may join when applying). Scholarships will be find a way to defund the NOP, repeal the OFPA, or given out according to the following guidelines: take USDA to court. Campaign and OTA lawyers • The ILO Convention affirms the rights of all 1. Scholarships are given on a first come, first have already explored the legalities of these options. workers and employers to establish and join organi- served basis. The timely completion of the American Organic zations of their own choosing, that is, to form 2. Applicants willing to work 4 hours unreimbursed Standards puts the organic community in a strong cooperatives and unions and to bargain collectively. during the conference may receive a maximum position in any future political maneuverings or scholarship of 50% of full registration (before early negotiations with USDA. The AOS does an excel- The only mention of these issues in the AOS occurs bird deadline) lent job of codifying the existing system of organic in Section 3: Principles of Organic Production and 3. All scholarship applicants will be strongly certification. We can state unequivocally that there is Handling: ‘3.4 Organic production systems strive to encouraged to pay as much of the fee as they can agreement among US organic certifiers on the achieve agro-ecosystems that are ecologically, and to volunteer during the conference. meaning of organic. Discussions are going on at this time between representatives of the US organic socially and economically sustainable.’ While the AOS section on eligibilty for certification covers use We have no problem with people applying for community and the International Federation of of prohibited substances, field buffers and residue scholarships for several years, but we do strongly Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM) to clarify testing, there is no clause on human resources. urge you to meet your obligations (for example, the relationship of AOS to the IFOAM Basic Stan- work the hours promised) in order for our system to dards. By contrast, the NOFA-NY standards are much run smoothly. Through new organization we will farther along, including in our principles: ‘to ensure have an easier time monitoring the whole process, The most difficult case will arise if, as promised, the non-exploitive treatment of farm workers.’ Section and hope that all those endowed will give us their Rule gives us 80% satisfaction. The unacceptable O. ‘Labor, Farm Workers, Apprentices,’ states: ‘We utmost in cooperation. clauses will be much harder to phrase as sound bites than with the earlier Rule. How far are we prepared must recognize and appreciate the value of farm workers and their contributions to agriculture. It is New to the Summer Conference Committee this to compromise? Personally, I believe that our important that labor policy, treatment, safety and year is Joanne Duros. Joanne and her husband Van certification programs have already moved too far compensation be consistent with the spirit and own and operate a timberframing business in from farmer education and farm improvement intention of these standards. Many farms have Petersham, MA. For years now, they have been towards regulation. I understand that this has unique situations with apprentices and trainees that educating the NOFA masses with their informative occurred in the effort to avoid any semblance of the involve special consideration with educational workshops. They’re back at it again in 2000, inspector acting as consultant or sharing confidential benefits and other compensations. We remind all promising to erect another building during the information from other farms. Our programs have farms to review applicable NYS Department of conference weekend! The Summer Conference struggled for procedures that assure transparency, Labor regulations, and the Worker Protection Committee is thrilled to have Joanne with us this verifiability and preclude all possible conflicts of Standards from the EPA.’ year. She is one of the many individuals who enrich interest. But by focusing on methods of production, our experience at NOFA. we have lost sight of the broader social and eco- nomic goals of organic farming, many of which are Back in 1989, all of the northeast certification not easily ‘verifiable,’ or would require a level of programs, the NOFAs and MOFGA, signed on to invasiveness of our privacy that surpasses what we principles like NOFA-NY’s. This is a good place to can imagine tolerating. start. Please let me know if you would like to work with me in fleshing out these principles so that our As it turns out, we were correct - large farms can be agriculture will truly reflect the values by which we managed using organic methods. But instead of choose to live our lives. rejoicing, we have the cold comfort of finding our smaller farms relegated to the economic backwater already inhabited by small conventional farms, the few which have managed to survive. A national organic standard that assures New York shoppers that Grimway Farms or Cal-Organic carrots are as organic as mine does not help me in the marketplace. When Horizon crowds Russell Van Hazinga’s Brookside Farm milk out of the milk business, we need to reexamine the value of certification in its S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 29

We hear it all the time. “I just LOVE your wild- flower bouquets!” And we want to say “No ma’am, those aren’t wildflowers. Those are carefully grown garden flowers. It took months of Book Reviews culture and years of experience to produce that delphinium you see there. No, these are definitely not wildflowers!” But we know better than to say that. Texas is the wildflower center of the uni- verse. Ladybird Johnson’s National Wildflower Research Center is in Austin. Roadsides and pastures are filled beyond belief with endless acres of wildflowers. An entire industry has developed around “wildflower tourism”. (There is even a telephone hotline from the State Parks department for finding the best wildflower spots each weekend.) Texans are not just “into” wild- flowers. We are talking about religion here. Our mixed bouquets are going to be seen as wild- flower bouquets, and there is nothing we can do about it except say “Thank you, ma’am. We’re glad you like them.”

Anyone interested in getting rich on flowers had better keep dreaming, but anyone who is fascinated by the proud, colorful little blossoms, likes to spend time under their spell, and is willing to work hard to raise, bunch and market them, will find a wealth of wisdom here. The Echoing Green: The Garden in Myth and Memory By Jennifer Heath A Plume Book published by the Penguin Group ISBN 0-452-28166-0, $13.95 reviewed by Stan Ingram

I must confess that I have yet to finish The Echoing Green. In fact I am only a little over two months into it. I say two months because the book is broken down by months following the gardening season. Since it starts on November Eve, more familiar to most of us as Halloween, I have just gone through the month of December. One reason I am writing this review long before I have any intention of finishing the book is because it is such an enjoyable read. I don’t want it to end. The other reason is that I believe many of you out there in Natural Farmer land would find it enjoyable also. Since the garden is less demanding at this time of year, what better time to wrap yourself around a good book? One note, though - I was given an advance copy. The publication date is listed as March of 2000.

In The Echoing Green Jennifer Heath uses her own garden as the backdrop for her book. This is not a “how I made the most beautiful garden on my street” testimony. Just as the subtitle indicates, it is “the garden in myth and memory”. Ms. Heath grew up living in many diverse cultures due to her We’re Gonna Be Rich! Growing Specialty Cut spite of their official designation as “done for”. So father’s Foreign Service assignments. She also grew Flowers for Market is this it? Have we finally seen the day when up in a family where the garden played an important by Frank and Pamela Arnosky sunflowers go back to being wild bird food? part in daily life, if not the focal point. Not only did published in 1999 by Fairplains Publications, PO Pamela thinks not. She says that very few of us she come to learn the mechanics of gardening, she Box 3747, Lawrence, KS 66046 (785) 748-0605 can really afford to change out interior decorating was surrounded with garden lore. Her upbringing is 168 pages every season like the terminally trendy do, and certainly reflected in her current garden in Colo- reviewed by Jack Kittredge that it will still be a while before everybody’s rado. It is from this place that she starts, and to curtains and dishtowels wear out!” which she always returns. It is where she takes the The Arnoskys publish a regular cut flower column reader when she leaves her Colorado sanctuary that in Lynn Byczynski’s magazine Growing for Even though the Arnosky’s refer to themselves as I find most interesting. Market. This book is a compilation of all the being organic, they aren’t writing just for that columns from 1995 through 1998. The title of this audience. They advocate Peter’s plant starter for For certain, one is bound to pick up on new garden- volume is Frank’s tongue-in-cheek comment every those not worrying about certification, and discuss ing customs living in different cultures. These, then, time they come up with a new variety or marketing the various floral industry chemicals used to pre- become a part of our gardening expression. The scheme. And this book is full of them! serve freshness. But most of their advice pertains to Echoing Green, however, doesn’t stop there. The any grower, and much of it to any small reader is introduced to customs and rituals from The couple farm in Texas, so they are blessed by a businessperson. around the world, not just from the places Ms. different climate than we are familiar with in the Heath has lived. There are many rituals which are northeast. But the book is organized by the seasons They talk about managing your labor inputs so no longer practiced or that have been replaced as and still reflects an annual cycle. Much space is things don’t get totally out of hand, they compare times and spiritual beliefs change. Not all of the devoted to discussing varieties, and that with the various markets - wholesale, farmers markets, farm customs of old are included, but there are certainly ready familiarity that comes from years of trials and stands, weddings and events, local stores — and enough to bring the reader on a pleasant journey market experience, plus a keen sense for how new give tips on time management, making bouquets, through our history as gardeners and farmers. I varieties will work out once, so to speak, the bloom packaging to wholesale standards, pricing, and found the way Ms. Heath wove the stories of is off. working with the competition. Their discussion of ancient rituals with those more modern very easy to scents in bouquets, late season varieties, and use of follow. The manner in which she was able to trace While part of the Arnosky’s job is to report what the floral netting to solve problems from wind and deer some of the transformations that some customs have industry is saying about trends, they keep a sense of come from years of experience and can save the made gave me a greater understanding and apprecia- proportion about it, as the following paragraph from novice a lot of mistakes. tion for some of the celebrations I have just been February, 1997 illustrates: giving lip service to. She is also able to add her own One of the Arnosky’s specialties is crafting bouquets stories in a way that makes the book not only “The fashion moguls have spoken. And, once that have a “wildflower” look. Although they grow informative but an enjoyable one to read. again, the edict that they sent down to us from all their own blooms and wouldn’t think of harvest- their ivory towers in Paris and New York is that ing something in the wild, they try to get the look of From the book I learned of the custom on sunflowers are out. Passe. A worn-out shoe. They wildflowers by growing improved varieties of November’s Eve of making seed balls of flour, said the same last year, and the year before, but traditional wildflowers and have even cultivated a water and millet seed. Into each ball was placed a sunflowers have been hanging around faithfully in number of unimproved species. As they put it in message you wanted to send to someone who was June, 1997: 30 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 deceased. These balls were then placed in the bows and olive oil. There is so much information in this of trees at nightfall. Crows and ravens would then book! It may not make you a more productive take those messages to the departed. I also learned gardener, but I have no doubt it will add to your of “English Pesto”, a mix of sage, walnuts, goat enjoyment and appreciation of your garden and the cheese and olive oil as well as “Greek Pesto”, time you spend with it. containing oregano, feta cheese, almonds, cumin

The Flower Farmer: An Organic Grower’s Guide their ease of cultivation, long vase life, and overall to Raising and Selling Cut Flowers suitability in arrangements. Each listed flower by Lynn Byczynski comes complete with a brief description along with published by Chelsea Green guidance on cultivation, cutting, and preserving. 224 pages $24.95 ISBN 0-930031-94-6 Chapter two covers choosing a site and improving reviewed by Stan Ingram the soil to maximize plant health. Composting, cover crops and making raised beds are some of the Being a flower farmer myself, I was glad to get this topics covered. Her support of organic practices is book to review. I had heard of Lynn Byczynski evident throughout this chapter as it is in the rest of through the newsletter, Growing for Market, that the book. Buying and starting plants are covered in she edits and publishes. I assumed that I would learn the next chapter. Here she discusses the difficulty in a thing or two from her book, and I was not disap- finding locally organically grown starts. The impor- and won’t bleed except in white statice. There are pointed. For growers who have been raising cut tance of using organic practices in growing seed- also tips for selling your dried flowers and ways to flowers for market, this book will cover familiar lings and instructions on how to start seeds yourself deal with dried flower pests. Woody ornamentals territory. Unless you know all there is to know on are given. comprise the next chapter. You will learn how to the subject, however, I’m sure you will gain some choose, harvest, and force these types of plants. useful information. I found the grower profiles that Next Ms. Byczynski covers growing in the field. All There are some farmers who have dedicated a good occur at the end of each chapter most interesting. the bases are touched here, including direct seeding, portion of their growing area to woody ornamentals The stories of, and comments made by, these transplanting, watering, weeding, supporting, pests, including bittersweet. For fruit growers, you may farmers and marketers hold valuable lessons. For and planting under tunnels. In this chapter you will find a use for all those prunings. those who are relatively new to this type of farming also read glowing testimonies of the benefits of or for those who are considering starting a cut landscape cloth, in case that is a decision you are Everyone is sure to find information he or she can flower garden, this book would be a valuable grappling with. Chapter five’s topic is dried flowers. use in chapter seven, which deals with harvest and resource. All the common methods of preserving are dis- post-harvest. I never considered the effect of cussed with their pros and cons, as well as the best ethylene on cut flowers but, as the accompanying Be reviewing the table of contents one can see how time to use each method. It was in this chapter that I chart will show, some flowers are sensitive. Other thorough Ms. Byczynski has been in the treatment learned how to get the stems of my statice to look as topics covered are the best time to cut a flower of the subject of cut flowers. The first chapter is green as commercially available statice I have seen. according to its life cycle and the best time of day to titled “Choosing Varieties”. Here she talks about The trick: stick the statice in a vase with a solution cut. The author cuts her flowers in the evening and annuals, perennials, the best cuts for your region, of one part glycerine to two parts warm water to allows them to rest overnight before she bunches sunflowers, flowers for drying, and using herbs for which is added a little green dye. The statice will them. There is a discussion on harvesting and cuts. Appendix one is a list of close to one hundred soak up the liquid, so only put about an inch in your holding peonies. Cooling and transportation are also flowers considered specialty cut flowers by virtue of container. The dye will turn the stems green, green covered here. Chapter eight is a short course on flower arranging. Listed are what you need and what the flowers need to form an arrangement. Then, by reading the rest of the chapter, you can go from having a bunch of flowers to being able to create those arrangements that artists dream of painting a still life of. Once you have mastered the proceeding chapters, you are ready for chapter nine, which deals with going commercial. The questions of how to develop a market, how to set a price and how much to plant are discussed and answers are given. The chart of the ten most profitable flowers should be food for thought even if it doesn’t meet universal approval. The final chapter on marketing covers just about every outlet. There is coverage of retail, wholesale, cases, subscription, pros, farmers markets as well as shipping, supermarkets, and an outlet that was new to me — bouquet makers. In short, there should be an outlet for everyone. If you grow it you should be able to sell it. The virtues of starting small and of patience are emphasized.

My recommendation, if you are a grower already: at the least get a hold of a copy of The Flower Farmer and read it. I believe you will find it useful. If you are thinking about entering the world of cut flowers or you are just beginning in this area, then the book would be a good investment. There is a lot of information here that you will find yourself referring back to. S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 31

Alternatives to Insecticides for Managing Veg- tion tillage. Elizabeth Henderson gave her farm’s etable Insects philosophy: “Our whole approach to pest control is Proceedings of a Farmer/Scientist Conference, balance, where we understand that we can live with December 6 - 7 1998, New Haven, CT a certain amount of pest damage, we can encourage published by NRAES, NRAES - 138 predators and beneficials to live here, too, and the 84 pages, $8.00, ISBN 0-935817-49-2 system can take care of itself with very little input.” reviewed by Stan Ingram Bio-strip intercropping was covered by Steve Gilman and biodiversity in farm vegetable produc- If you have found conference proceedings informa- tion by Michael T. Keilty. Other presentations in this tive but dry, these will pleasantly surprise you. In session were Cass Peterson on insect habitat and the introduction to the publication Kim Stoner, who Mike Hoffman on the history of bio-control. Table I put the conference and the proceedings together, came out of Mike Hoffman’s talk illustrating the relates this observation: “One comment I heard from need to preserve habitat for beneficials. several farmers was that they had never been to a conference where so many of the scientists spoke Strategies and tactics currently in use by organic freely about what they don’t know.” I also found farmers were the topics of section 3. Talks by Eric this to be true as I read through the proceedings. It Sideman from Maine, Emily Brown Rosen from was refreshing. In putting together this publication, New Jersey, and Myra Bonhage-Hale from West Ms. Stoner also included transcripts of the question Virginia were given. In Table 1, some of the prac- and answer sessions that occurred between the tices of Maine growers in dealing with specific pests audience and the presenters. This open exchange of are given. There were also helpful comments from information and ideas I found as educational and the audience. Section four was broken down into helpful as the transcripts of the presentations small group discussions on specific pests or crops. themselves. Corn and sweet corn, the cabbage family and flea beetles, the potato leafhopper, cucurbit crops, The conference was conducted in four sections with solanaceous crops, the tarnished plant bug, and the Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food a number of presenters in each section. At the end of Mexican bean beetle were the areas. Each discus- Supply each of these sections was the question and answer sion began with a presentation and was followed by Vandana Shiva period. The first section was titled “The Effects of with a group discussion. published by South End Press, 7 Brookline St. #1, Plant Health and Soil Health on Susceptibility to Cambridge, MA 02139, (617) 547-4002 Pests.” Here Eliot Coleman talked about his phi- If organic growers weren’t spread out all over the 140 pages, $14.00, ISBN 089608-607-0 losophy and experiences on his farm. Researcher P. map we would be having these exchanges of reviewed by Jack Kittredge Larry Phelan from Ohio State University talked information at the local coffee shop or some other about his work with soil management and the effect congregating spot. Since that is not the case, it is Vandana Shiva was one of India’s most respected that has on corn’s susceptibility to pests. The gist of good to have these types of meetings. For those of nuclear physicists until she abandoned her career these talks was that plants receiving a well balanced us who did not make it to the conference and for out of a concern that the impact of nuclear systems diet would have less pest pressure. Session Two those who were there and want to ensure they did was detrimental to living systems. She has since dealt with “Putting Biological Control to Work.” not miss anything, it is great to have these proceed- built an international reputation (including earning Talks were given by a number of people, both ings. For any grower who wants to know the skinny the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize - the Right researchers and farmers. Some of these were on how on what the latest information is for dealing with Livelihood Award - in 1993) as a champion of Third to encourage biological control through crop our insect co-harvesters, then this would be eight World environments and peoples. diversification. Sharad C. Phatak from the Univer- dollars well spent. It might even help to encourage sity of Georgia spoke on cover crops and conserva- more of these forums. Despite the statistics from modern “developed” nations, fully 75% of humankind is still involved in agriculture. Of these, every fourth farmer is an Indian. Stolen Harvest is an absorbing book detail- ing exactly how globalization has so effectively destroyed local economies in India. It has separated farmers from the most basic tool of their craft - the seed. It has replaced diverse, efficient local food production with wasteful and expensive imported crop monocultures, designed for export markets. It has allowed private, patented ownership of irre- placeable public resources such as genetic stock.

In a chapter entitled “Soy Imperialism and the Destruction of Local Food Cultures”, Shiva recounts the total replacement in India of local mustard seed cooking oil by imported soy oil over just a few months in 1998. India is a country with many regions, she says, each with it’s own taste in food. Mustard, which was originally developed as a crop over thousands of years by Indian farmers, is not only important for medicinal purposes but also is the source of a pungent cooking oil preferred throughout most of northern India. The oil, which also is used to light ceremonial lamps and to repel insect pests, is extracted from mustard seed by small scale village-level expellers and crushers.

In August of 1998, however, an apparent massive adulteration of mustard seed with seeds of a toxic weed and with petroleum products led to a banning of mustard oil sales in Delhi and most of the other cities of northern India. To replace the cooking oil the government announced the import of 1 million tons of oilseed soybeans, later broadened to an unrestricted import of soybeans. The widespread adulteration of mustard seed is still unexplained, although the health minister of Delhi has stated that it would have been impossible without an organized conspiracy.

As a result of the crisis, mustard seed prices fell from 2200 to 700 rupees/100 kg. Small-scale oil processors have been thrown out of work and consumers have been left with no alternative but soy oil for a vital cooking function. Once farmers have been priced out of the market, of course, mustard seed will rapidly disappear. At that point, Shiva says, we will pay attention to the curious fact that Monsanto has patented the rights to the Indian mustard plant. If it were to be reintroduced later, every seed would carry a royalty payment. 32 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0

Shiva calls this theft. She says, “what the industrial economy calls “growth” is really a form of theft from nature and people.” She cites the example of a monoculture — what many in the modern world would cite as a gain in effi- ciency is really a trade-off in production at the expense of soil fertility, water purity, ecological diversity, and human happiness. As an example, she talks about the supposed triumph of the Green Revolution:

“It is often said that the so-called miracle varieties of the Green Revolution in modern industrial agriculture prevented famine because they had higher yields. However, these higher yields disappear in the context of total yields of crops on farms. Green Revolution varieties produced more grain by diverting production away from straw. This “partitioning” was achieved through dwarfing the plants, which also enabled them to withstand high doses of chemical fertilizer. However, less straw means less fodder for cattle and less organic matter for the soil to feed the millions of soil organisms that make and rejuvenate soil. The higher yields of wheat or maize were thus achieved by stealing food from farm animals and soil organisms. Since cattle and earthworms are our partners in food production, stealing food from them makes it impossible to maintain food production over time, and means that the partial yield increases were not sustainable. The increase in yields of wheat and maize under industrial agriculture were also achieved at the cost of yields of other foods a small farm provides. Beans, legumes, fruits, and vegetables all disappeared both from farms and from the calculus of yields. More grain from two or three commodities arrive on national and international markets, but less food was eaten by farm fami- lies in the Third World. The gain in ‘yields’ of industrially produced crops is thus based on a theft of food from other species and the rural poor in the Third World. That is why, as more grain is produced and traded globally, more people go hungry in the Third World. Global markets have more commodities for trading because food has been robbed from nature and the poor.”

Shiva is on an international campaign to reclaim food democracy. She supports strengthening nature in agriculture through local organic farming, seed saving and fighting genetic engineering. She spoke in Seattle on the eve of the WTO protest and urged people to take back control of their food supply from the corporations and their nation-state vassals. This little book is a clear statement, from an international perspective, of the cause the protesters in Seattle were supporting.

Keeping Food Fresh Old World Techniques and Recipes by the Gardeners and Farmers of Terre Vivante published by Chelsea Green Publishing 197 pages, $16.95, ISBN 1-890132-10-1 reviewed by Stan Ingram

Have you found yourself feeling that you want more out of your “preserving” experience than you’ve been able to get from the typical books on canning? Are you the type of person who always wants to be the first on your farm to try something different? Perhaps you are longing to have something French? Could be you just want to maintain the highest nutritional quality of the foods you preserve? Maybe you are a radical who is concerned with energy consumption? If you answered yes to any of the above or if you are simply of the curious sort, then Keeping Foods Fresh is a book for you.

The book contains over 150 recipes sent into and compiled at Terre Vivante. According to Chelsea Green’s press release concerning Keeping Foods Fresh: “Terre Vivante, located in south-central France, is like the Real Goods Solar Living Center in Hopland, California, a place where people have tried to ‘get it right’ by demonstrating that food can be grown without toxic chemicals, disrup- tive machinery, and waste. This book…celebrates recipes for storing fruits and vegetables in a form as near as possible to fresh.”

Some of us may be familiar with techniques such as preserving in the ground, in root cellars, and by drying. These methods are covered in this book using specific directions and recipes for different foods. Here I found recipes I had not encountered before such as Gruyere Cheese in ashes, blueberries in honey where no cooking was involved, and sundried fermented tomato coulis. What really got me excited, however, were the chapters on preserving using one of the following methods — lactic fermentation, alcohol, salt, vinegar, oil and sugar. I am going to be very busy this summer, trying all the recipes I found in these sections. One of my favorites using lactic fermentation was sauerkraut in glass jars. Here the cabbage, salt, water and juniper berries or bay leaves are put in a quart jar and capped. That is it, wait a month and enjoy. The relative ease of preparation was a definite selling point here as it was with most of the other recipes. Other lacto favorites include lacto-fermented tomato balls, bottled Swiss chard ribs, and one for vegetable condiment.

When preserving with oil I want to try the recipe for cherry tomatoes and the one called vegetable medley. There is also pistou, which is pesto without the nuts and cheese. If you find yourself with a few extra tomatillos you might try the method of preserving them in vinegar. I am. I liked the recipe ‘mixed vegetable stock’ using salt as the preservative. I also want to try preserving tomatoes using salt. When you start using sugar as a preservative, no matter how you do it, the finished product is just plain sweet, as it should be. It is noted that “sugar-free” jams and jellies are really “no sugar added” products. They are concentrating the sugars naturally found in the fruit instead of adding more. That said, I bet most readers will find one or more recipes in this section that they will want to try. I know I did, and my choice is Rhubarb Syrup. A section on sweet and sour preserves, as well as one on making wine and preserving fruits in wine, round out this book.

This book of recipes aims to preserve foods in their most nutritious state so there is minimal, if any, processing involved. These are not the type of products you are going to sell at farmers markets with the blessing of your local health agent. S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 33

One Good Apple: Growing Our Food for the Sake of the Earth by Catherine Paladino published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999 reviewed by Elaine Peterson

Teachers, homeschoolers, parents, have I got a book for you! One Good Apple is a wonderful addition to your library or home collection. This forty-nine page hardcover, full of colorful photos, geared towards older elementary school-aged and preteen children begins with what else? - an apple in the grocery store. But the author then asks the reader if they ever wondered why that perfect looking apple looks the way it does. Anyone who has grown apples in their own back- yard knows that it’s very difficult to match the looks of the store bought one without lots of spraying, spraying and more spraying. She then relates the relationship between farmers and pesticides and the past mistakes made throughout the history of farming. Unfortunately, the history of pesticides shows that when one chemical compound is discovered to not be safe for the humans eating the apple, and is replaced by another, it usually has already done some heavy damage to both humans and animals alike. The legacy of the man-made chemical, DDT, still remains with us to this day.

Ms. Paladino explains in simple and forthright terms how our lifestyle choices and the food we choose to eat affect ourselves and others as well. Not only are we affected, but the people who process our food as well. Farm workers and people who live nearby sprayed fields have a higher rate of cancer and babies born to the same have higher chances of developing birth defects. However, apples are just the beginning; grapes and strawberries are others that are heavily sprayed when raised conventionally.

Thank goodness not all farmers use pesticides. Organic farmers do not. Ms. Paladino then relates why we all should eat organic foods. Not just for the obvious reason of avoiding pesticide exposure and its ill effects but also because of the many benefits gained by eating organic. Food is more fresh and varieties are numerous. Community Supported Agriculture or CSAs is one way to obtain organic produce. CSAs not only benefit the farmer and consumer but the environment. Fuel is saved that would otherwise be used for shipping produce, and in turn pollution lessened. Plastic packaging that might not be able to be recycled is avoided.

Many times, seeds are saved that would otherwise slip into obscurity if left in the hands of big business farming. Some insects have become more resistant to pesticides during the last sixty years. Yet many plants have their own natural resistance to pests.

Organic farmers don’t just avoid spraying their crops to be organic, they rotate their crops to prevent disease and insects from settling into the soil. Cover cropping also gives the soil a chance to rejuvenate itself. Organic farmers also encourage many predatory insects to stay in their fields by attracting them with what every bug wants, food and shelter. These insects then lay eggs that hatch and become hunters or parasites of the pests. These recipes don’t require finishing in a hot water bath or with pressure canning. The methods in this book rely on creating a product with an environ- All weeds are not created equal. Some are good companion plants for the ment which is inhospitable to harmful organisms. It is noted in the book that planted crop. Others provide shade, aerate the soil and prevent erosion. Organic “lactic fermentation was the primary method for preserving vegetables before farmers compost their plant debris by mimicking what happens in nature. The heat sterilization was discovered.” The magic is that “lactic microbial compost when returned to the field recycles nutrients back into the soil. organisms…convert the natural sugars of the vegetables into lactic acid. This The author wraps the book up on a positive note, the bad can be replaced with environment rapidly acidifies, to the point that it becomes impossible for good. Every person on this earth can make a difference. A simple compost pile bacteria responsible for food spoilage to multiply.” The authors do acknowledge in the back yard is a great start. Ms. Paladino gives some ways you can make a the warnings of the USDA and the FDA concerning botulism in unprocessed difference on her last page. Sit down with your child today and read this book food. Not to be cavalier, however, these methods have been used for centuries together. It will open up a world of discussion and good things to come. and those sending in these recipes certainly have been happy with the results. The authors do make good points about the importance of sanitation and the Farmers and their Diversified Horticultural Marketing Strategies distinction between sanitation and sterilization. A VHS video produced by Vern Grubinger, University of VT Extension 49 minutes; for copies contact UVM, 590 Main ST., Burlington, VT 05405, My book shelf is full of good and useful volumes that I refer to once or twice a (802) 656-5459, email: [email protected] year. Keeping Food Fresh won’t have much time to make new friends on that Reviewed by Julie Rawson bookshelf. I envision it working as hard as, and looking like my favorite pair of shorts - worn and stained. You will have a great deal of fun if you buy this book It is no surprise to me that Vern has done yet one more excellent piece of work and you will eat healthier, also. in producing “Farmers and their Diversified Horticultural Marketing Strate- gies.” Vern Grubinger’s commitment to getting the word around to farmers about how to best farm organically is unsurpassed. His method, often foreign to Growing and Selling Fresh-Cut Herbs extension personnel, of teaching others by bringing the work of the best growers by Sandie Shores to the attention of those who need assistance through videos, books, workshops published by Storey Books and seminars is remarkably effective. We are lucky to have him in the North- 453 pages, $27.95 east! reviewed by Charmaine DuPont-Getman This video interviews 8 farmers from around the Northeast, each farm with a Sandie Shores (what a name, huh?) has created a book that covers every pos- specialty to share with us. Considered the best of the full time growers in sible angle on herb farming. This book is not a cover to cover book, but more a farming circles, those interviewed are as follows: great reference guide. Chances are that you will have all the answers you needed contained within these pages. In the beginning chapters, the author shares her *Karen and Jack Mannix, (VT) whose specialty is farmstand sales story of getting started and each chapter thereafter includes the start-up story of *Paul and Sandy Arnold, (NY) who sell at farmer’s markets other herb farms. She then turns to the nitty-gritty of herb farming, starting with *Michael Doctor and Linda Hildebrand, (MA) CSA growers “Building and Maintaining a Greenhouse”. It’s obvious that Sandie knows her *Jan Goranson and Rob Johanson, (ME) with a mixed strategy of farmstand, stuff and is not afraid to share it; unlike the silent brick walls she walked into farmers’ market and wholesale while trying to find people to talk to about getting started back in 1985. *Rich Rommer, (VT) who concentrates on Internet sales of sprouts *Norman Grieg, (NY) who runs a PYO operation In Part III Sandie covers “Growing and Nurturing Your Plants” which includes *Dave and Chris Colson, (ME) sell to restaurants and natural food stores information from seeds to packaging the herbs. Finally, the last part “Success- *Paul Harlow, (VT) markets wholesale through Deep Root Coop, and Dennis fully Growing More than Twenty Herbs and Flowers” goes over each suggested Sauer the Coop manager herb to grow, sprinkled with bits of wisdom on how to grow them, including the herb’s uses, varieties, propagation, growing in a greenhouse, growing outdoors, Each presentation is succinct, gets to the point of each farm’s best practices, and pests and diseases, harvesting, and finally, packaging. I would highly recom- shows very attractive pictures of their operations. Great quotes like “People eat mend this book to anyone interested in starting their own business and anyone with their eyes,” from Jack Mannix and Norman Grieg’s musings as a dairy who eats because their appreciation for good healthy food would grow upon farmer that “people are just a new kind of animal on the farm,” make these seeing how much love goes into growing herbs, keeping blandness at bay. farmers very approachable and human. 34 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The advice is practical: be a better marketer than Drew offers the insights of both a practitioner and a you are a grower, treat people respectfully, be scholar. He guides the reader through choosing a consistent and reliable, make sure it works for you breed, selecting, teaming, and training calves, and the customer, provide an experience, have a making a yoke and bows, and working with oxen in NOFA personal relationship with your client, know your various contexts. While his older book emphasized costs of production, have the highest quality, and competitions, this book also includes sections on most importantly (I think), from Jack Mannix, practical work in agriculture and forestry. It is the “Have fun.” most comprehensive guide to working oxen I have seen. this book is pretty well written, I think the Contact In 49 minutes one can learn an awful lot about how photos and drawings are its strongest aspect. They best to market from these 8 points of view. I recom- are very effectively used to illustrate important mend the video highly. points. Recent photos of teamsters working their oxen in current situations are supplemented with Oxen, A Teamsters Guide some historical ones that show some interesting People by Drew Conroy work not often seen today. published by Rural Heritage, 281 Dean Ridge Lane, Gainesboro, TN 38562-5039 The section on housing is proving to be very useful Connecticut 354 pages, $25 as I lay out the stall in the new ox barn I am build- NOFA/CT Office: P O Box 386, Northford, CT ing. I am getting good ideas for the feeders and 06472, phone (203) 484-2445, FAX (203) 484- review by Rob Flory, restraining the oxen while in their stalls. Drew also 7621, Email: [email protected], website: Howell Living History Farm, Titusville, NJ offers advice on feeding and health care that is hard http://ct.nofa.org to find elsewhere. The only specific flaw worth President: Peter Rothenberg, 53 Lanes Pond Rd., In August of 1998 I asked Gail Damerow at Rural mentioning is the incorrect description of adjusting Northford, CT 06472-1125 (203) 484-9570 (home) Heritage Magazine if she had ever considered the working width of a walking plow. I’ll bet Drew Vice President: Kimberly A. Stoner, 498 Oak Ave. publishing a compendium of Drew Conroy’s articles put that in backwards just to see if we were paying #27, Cheshire, CT 06410-3021, (203) 271-1732 about oxen. I was excited when she told me that attention! There are numerous production errors that (home), Email: [email protected] Drew had a book in the works. His regular articles make one wish the production was as good as the Treasurer/Membership: Johan van Achterberg, 359 in that magazine reflect a lot of experience gained content. Silver Hill Rd., Easton, CT 06612-1134, (203) 261- since he wrote his Oxen Handbook in 1984. 2156 (home), Email: [email protected] Drew gives hundreds of references in his bibliogra- Secretary: Erin Ames, 662 Reef Road, Fairfield, CT phy, and also points the reader to other useful 06430-6576, (203) 319-1525, Email: resources like videos and organizations. Living [email protected] Letters history farms deserved mention in the resource Newsletter & Certification: Rob Durgy, P O Box 17, section but are absent. That omission may have been Chaplin, CT 06235-0017, (860) 870-6935, Email: continued from page 3 a matter of judgment, as not all living history farms rdurgy @canr1.cag.uconn.edu have oxen programs strong enough to be considered Staff: Marcia Brown, 333 Middletown Ave., North Haven, CT 06473-4029 (203) 239-1944 Dear Jack, resources, but within the NOFA region the ones I have been to had a lot to offer. Hancock Shaker Many thanks for your review of my cider book in Village in MA has a great program, and I saw very Massachusetts the Winter 1999-2000issue of The Natural Farmer. It good demonstrations by 4-Hers at the New Hamp- President: Lynda Simkins, 117 Eliot, Natick, MA was especially nice to see it next to Gene Logsdon’s shire Farm Museum. When I was getting started, 01760 (508) 655-2204 Good Spirits, which I edited for Chelsea Green the folks at Old Sturbridge Village were one of my Vice President: Stan Ingram, 27 Little Island Rd., earlier this year. most valuable resources. Falmouth, MA 02540 (508) 457-0864 Secretary: Jen Mix, 6 Rowland St., Marblehead, MA Only one small thing troubled me in the review, I am very happy to have this book as a resource for 01945 (781) 631-2328, [email protected] which is why I’m writing. You mentioned that my interns. To have so much oxen information in Treasurer and Staff: Julie Rawson, 411 Sheldon Rd., “secondary fermentation” could be done in the one place will be a great benefit to them. I recom- Barre, MA 01005 (978) 355-2853, Fax: (978) 355- bottle. I understand what you mean, but actually this mend this book highly to anyone interested in 4046, Email: [email protected], website: isn’t the secondary fermentation, but what might working oxen. http://ma.nofa.org more accurately be called “bottle fermentation” or Newsletter: Jonathan von Ranson, 6 Locks Village “natural carbonation.” Secondary fermentation, on Rd., Wendell, MA 01379, (978) 544-3758, Email: the other hand, is the stage after the first vigorous 6 [email protected] to 8 weeks of primary fermentation, as the cider Certification Administrator: Ed McGlew, 140 begins to clear and some of the malic acid turns into Chestnut Street, West Hatfield, MA 01088 (413) lactic acid, giving a smoother, “nuttier,” and more 247-9264 mellow taste. website: http://ma.nofa.org

The only reason I mention this is because I can New Hampshire picture readers of The Natural Farmer bottling their President: Dan Holmes, The Meeting School, 56 cider before it has fully fermented, and then hearing Thomas Rd., Rindge, NH 03461, (603) 899-2033 the sound of popping corks or, worse, shattering Vice President: Charlie Reid, 97 McCrillis Rd., glass in their cellars. Nottingham, NH 03290, (603) 679-8101 Secretary: Susanne Clements, 179 Sanborn Hill Rd., Nobody who follows the directions in my book, or Epsom, NH 03234, (603) 736-8075, 736-5858, in the other two cider books on the market, should [email protected] make this mistake. Treasurer: Susan MacLeod, RR1 Box 78, Deering, NH 03244-9313, (603) 529-1632 Ben Watson, Francestown, NH Membership and Staff: NOFA/NH Office, White Jack replies: Farm, 150 Clinton St., Concord, NH 03301, [email protected] Thanks, Ben. So that explains the shards of glass all Newsletter: over my root cellar! Organic Certification: Vickie Smith, NHDA Bureau — Jack of Markets, Caller Box 2042, Concord, NH 03301 (603) 271-3685 Dear Jack, New Jersey We’re starting to pack up here, and we’ve begun to President: Leonard Pollara, Upper Meadows Farm, discuss what you guys discuss: what kinds of RD 5, Box 554, Montague, NJ 07927, (201) 293- chickens to order for the spring, what kinds of seeds 7350, [email protected] for the Massachusetts soils, will the mice girdle the Vice President: George McNulty, Stone Hollow apple trees or not.... There are less than 2 months of Farm, 136 Rt 72, Barnegat, NJ 08005, (609) 698- our time left in Lae and so some tidying up is in 2405 order. One thing I came across in one cardboard Newsletter Editor: Amy Hansen, 33 Titus Mill box was page 2 of the Spring, 1999 edition of TNF. Road, Pennington, NJ 08534, (609) 737-6848, I used it in a course on urban development for Email: [email protected] architectural students at the University of Technol- Secretary: Mike Rassweiler, North Slope Farm, ogy at PNG. Most students here have a very limited 1701 Linvale-Harbourton Rd., Lambertville, NJ concept of urbanism as they’re mostly from villages 08530 (609) 466-4191, fax: 466-5974, so this was a pleasant piece for them. The concept [email protected] of the garden within the city was one that they most Executive Director: Karen Anderson, 33 Titus Mill all welcomed, and one student in his final paper for Road, Pennington, NJ 08534, (609) 737-6848, fax: the course even proposed a scheme that would (609) 737-2366, Email: [email protected] introduce private and neighborhood gardens in the Certification Administrator: 33 Titus Mill Road, deeply troubled city of Port Moresby. Who says Pennington, NJ 08534, (609) 737-6848 NOFA and TNF have only a limited influence? Technical Resources Director: Emily Brown Rosen, 33 Titus Mill Road, Pennington, NJ 08534, (609) Dick Burnham, Papua, New Guinea 737-6848, Email: [email protected] S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0 The Natural Farmer 35 New York President: Judith Roylance, 17 Dogwood St., Sag Northeast Interstate Harbor, NY 11963 (516) 725-1009 Organic Certification Committee Vice President: Richard de Graff, Grindstone Farm, * indicates co-chair Calendar 780 County Route 28, Pulaski, NY 13142 (315) Bill Hill, 51 John Read Road, West Redding, CT 298-4139, fax: (315) 298-2119, [email protected] 06896 (203) 938-9403 Saturday, March 4: NOFA/CT End of Winter Secretary: Cathy Popp-McKenna, RR 1, Box 226, Eric Sideman*, MOFGA, PO Box 2176, Augusta, conference, Hartford, CT for more info: 203-484- Stamford, NY 12167 (607) 538-9778 ME 04330 (207) 622-3118 2445 or http://ct.nofa.org Treasurer: Kay Magilavy, 212 18th St., Union City, Judy Gillan, P O Box 31, Belchertown, MA 01007 NJ 07087, (201) 863-1741 (413) 323-4531 Friday, March 10: Massachusetts Farmers’ Direct Newsletter Editor: Stu McCarty, PO Box 70, 632 Ed McGlew, 140 Chestnut St, West Hatfield, MA Marketing Conference & Trade Show, Tunnel Rd., Tunnel, NY 13848 (607) 693-1572, fax: 01088 (413) 247-9264 Boxborough, MA for more info: (413) 529-9100 (607) 693-4415, [email protected] Vickie Smith*, NHDA, Bureau of Markets, Caller Executive Director: Sarah Johnston, 661 Lansing Box 2042, Concord, NH 03301 (603) 271-3685 Wednesday, March 15: Hands-on Landscaping Rd. #A, Fultonville, NY 12072-2630, (518) 922- Rick Estes, 145 Mountain Rd., Concord, NH 03301 Sit Analysis, Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Boylston, 7937, fax: (518) 922-7646, [email protected] (603) 224-4469 MA for more info: 978-897-7490 Administrative Secretary: Ammie Chickering, Emily Brown Rosen, 33 Titus Mill Road, NOFA-NY, P. O. Box 21, South Butler, NY 13154- Pennington, NJ 08534 (609) 737-6848 Wednesday, March 15: 7 - 10 pm, Teach-in on 0021, (315) 365-2299 Elizabeth Henderson, 2218 Welcher Rd., Newark, globalization of agriculture, Vandana Shiva, Certification Administrator: Patricia Kane, NOFA- NY 14513 (315) 331-9029 Anuradha Mittal, Maude Barlow, Berta Jujan, NY Certification Program, 26 Towpath Rd., [email protected] Mark Ritchie, Boston, MA for more info: 617-423- Binghamton, NY 13904 (607) 724-9851 Frank Banner, 1863 Preble Road, Preble, NY 13141 2148 ext. 24 website: http://ny.nofa.org (607) 749-4614 Pat Kane, 26 Towpath Rd., Binghamton, NY 13904 Thursday, March 16 - Saturday, March 18: Rhode Island (607) 724-9851 Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference, President: Jeanne Chapman, 17 Station St., Apt. #4, Dan Lawton, RI Division of Agriculture, 235 LaCrosse, Wisconsin for more info: 715-772-3153, Coventry, RI 02816 (401) 828-3229, Promenade St., Providence, RI 02908 (401) 222- http://agile.net/UMOFC/ [email protected] 2781, ext. 4516, [email protected] th Vice-President: Polly Hutchison, Casey Farm, 2325 Boston Neck Saturday, March 18: NOFA/RI 10 annual Secretary: Kurt Van Dexter, 1740 Stony Lane, No. Rd., Saunderstown, RI 02874 (401) 295-1030 winter conference, Providence, RI. for more info: Kingstown, RI 02852 (401) 294-7994 Enid Wonnacott, 1561 Sherman Hollow Rd., (401) 941-8684 Treasurer: Gayle Anderson, 9 Diamond St., No. Huntington, VT 05462 (802) 434-4435 Attleboro, MA 02760 (508) 643-3500 Tim Sanford, RR1, Box 224A South Royalton, VT Saturday, March 18: 9 am - 5 pm, Water Work- Volunteer Coordinator: Beth Palazzo, 26 Woodmont (802) 763-7981 shop with Jennifer Green, The Pfeiffer Center, St., Providence, RI 02907, (401) 467-4848 Chestnut Ridge, NY for more info: 914-352-5020 Membership: Elizabeth Jesdale, 64 Harrison St. #11, ext. 20, Email [email protected] Providence, RI 02909 (401) 831-9779 Newsletter: Susan Samotey, 105 Bartlett Ave., NOFA Saturday, March 18: Backyard Organics Garden- Cranston, RI 02905 (401) 467-3699 ing Mini-Courses, Boston, Danvers, Fall River, NOFA/RI : Hope Ryan, P. O. Box 29174, Provi- Northampton, Worcester MA, for more info: (617) dence, RI 02909-9998 [288 Dudley St., Providence 287-7287 or (207) 642-5161 02907] (401) 274-4547, fax: (401) 273-5712 Email: Membership [email protected]@ids.net, website: http:// Saturday, March 18: Getting Started in Vegetable users.ids.net/~nofari/ Production with Vern Grubinger, Belchertown, MA You may join NOFA by joining one of the seven state for more info: Eric Toensmeier (413) 586-9050 Vermont chapters. Contact the person listed below for your [email protected] NOFA-VT Office, P. O. Box 697, Bridge St., state. Dues, which help pay for the important work of Richmond, VT 05477 (802) 434-4122, Fax: 434- the organization, vary from chapter to chapter. Unless Tuesday, March 21: Perennial Plant Conference, 4154, website: www.nofavt.org noted, membership includes a subscription to The U of Conn, Storrs, CT for more info: 860-486- Executive Director and VOF Administrator: Enid Natural Farmer. 3436 Wonnacott, 1561 Sherman Hollow Rd., Huntington, VT 05462 (802) 434-4435 Give a NOFA Membership! Send dues for a friend or Saturday, March 25: Backyard Organics Garden- [email protected] relative to his or her state chapter and give a member- ing Mini-Courses, Boston, Danvers, Fall River, NOFA Office Manager: Kirsten Novak Bower, 65 ship in one of the most active grassroots organizations Northampton, Worcester MA, for more info: (617) Wortheim Rd., Richmond, VT 05477 (802) 434- in the state. 287-7287 or (207) 642-5161 5420, [email protected] Newsletter Editor & Bulk Order Coordinator: Heidi Connecticut: Individual or Household: $35, Business/ Sunday, March 26: 10 am - 4 pm, Draft Horse Racht, Main Road, Huntington Center, VT 05462 Institution: $50, Supporting: $100, Student (full time, Sap Gathering Contest, Stonewall Farm, Keene, (802) 434-2690 supply name of institution) $20 NH for more info (603) 357-7278 Farm Share Coordinator: Michele Wheeler, 23 Johan van Achterberg, 359 Silver Hill Rd., Easton, Bushey Lane, Westford, VT 05494 (802) 878-9143 CT 06612-1134, (203) 261-2156 (home), Tuesday, March 28 - Thursday, March 30: Dairy Tech Coordinator: Lisa McCrory, RR1 Box [email protected] Conference on Managing Nutrients and Pathogens 169, Randolph Center, VT 05061 (802) 728-4416 from Animal Agriculture, Camp Hill, PA for more People Grow Coordinator & Agriculture Education Massachusetts: Individual: $30, Family: $40, Low info (607) 255-7654 Coordinator: Joshua Brown, 32 Catherine St., income: $20, Supporting: $100 Julie Rawson, 411 Sheldon Road, Barre, MA 01005, Burlington, VT 05401 (802) 864-3329 Saturday, April 1: 9 am - noon, Greenhouse (978) 355-2853 VOF Admin. Asst.: Jessie Schmidt, 121 Calais Rd., Workshop with Gunther Hauk, The Pfeiffer Center, Worcester, VT 05682 (802) 224-9193 Chestnut Ridge, NY for more info: 914-352-5020 New Hampshire: Individual: $25, Family: $35, Admin. Asst.: Nicole Raymond, 12 Sawmill Rd., ext. 20, Email [email protected] Supporting: $100 Jericho, VT 05465 (802) 899-1742 c/o White Farm, 150 Clinton Street, Concord, NH Saturday, April 1: Organic Apple Intensive with 03301 NOFA Interstate Council Michael Phillips, Ashfield, MA for more info: Eric Toensmeier (413) 586-9050 [email protected] Tom Kemble, 581 Thompson St., Glastonbury, CT New Jersey: Individual: $35, family/organizational: 06033 (860) 633-4503, [email protected] $50, Business/Organization: $100, Low Income: $15* Friday, April 28 - Sunday, April 30: Organic Steve Gilman, 130 Ruckytucks Road, Stillwater, NY *does not include a subscription to The Natural Farmer Beekeeping with Gunther Hauk and Ron Breland, 12170 (518) 583-4613 33 Titus Mill Road, Pennington, NJ 08534, (609) 737- The Pfeiffer Center, Chestnut Ridge, NY for more Ed McGlew, 140 Chestnut St, West Hatfield, MA 6848 info: 914-352-5020 ext. 20, Email 01088 (413) 247-9264 [email protected] Bill Duesing, 153 Bowers Hill Road, Oxford, CT New York: Student and Senior (over 65): $15, Student 06478, (203) 888-9280, [email protected] and Senior Family (2 adults): $20, Individual: $25, Friday, April 28 - Sunday, April 30: American Enid Wonnacott, 1561 Sherman Hollow Rd., Farm Listing: $30, 2 adult family: $30 (each additional Livestock Breeds Conservancy’s Annual Confer- Huntington, VT 05462 (802) 434-4122 adult, $5), Business: $35, Patron: $100, Corporate ence featuring rare equine breeds, Williamsburg, Ed Maltby, 593 So. Pleasant, Amherst, MA 01002 Sponsor: $500, Lifetime: $1000 VA for more info: 919-542-5704 (413) 253-8903 Ammie Chickering, P O Box 21, South Butler, NY Kay Magilavy, 212 18th St., Union City, NJ 07087, 13154, (315) 365-2299 Saturday, May 13: On-Farm Composting with (201) 863-1741 Arnie Voehringer, Belchertown, MA. for more Leonard Pollara, RD5 Box 554, Montague, NJ Rhode Island: Student/Senior: $20, Individual: $25, info: Eric Toensmeier (413) 586-9050 07827, (201) 293-7350 Family: $35, Business: $50 [email protected] Mike Hutchison, 2325 Boston Neck Road, Elizabeth Jesdale, P. O. Box 29174, Providence, RI th Saunderstown, RI 02874 (401) 295-1030 02909-9998 [288 Dudley St., Providence 02907] (401) Friday, June 23 - Sunday, June 25: 5 Interna- David Baldwin, 26 Edgewood, Barrington, RI 274-4547, fax: (401) 273-5712 tional Herb Symposium, Wheaton College, 02806 (401) 246-0275 Norton, MA for more info: (802) 479-9825 Joe White, 140 Deerhill Road, Brentwood, NH Vermont: Individual $25, Family/Business: $35, 03833, (603) 679-5718, [email protected] Sponsor: $75 Jack Kittredge and Julie Rawson,, 411 Sheldon Rd., Kirsten Novak Bower, NOFA/VT, PO Box 697, Barre, MA 01005 (978) 355-2853 Richmond, VT 05477, (802) 434-4122 36 The Natural Farmer S p r i n g, 2 0 0 0

Spring 2000

photo by Jack Kittredge Pam Flory in her flower garden at North Slope Farm, in New Jersey. Here she tries out new varieties and decides which to grow for the hundreds of bouquets she sells each week. News, features and articles about organic growing in the Northeast, plus a Special Supplement on Flowers for Market