Tag: family farm

Outcome Independence

There is a phrase we rather like here on our small, Fairview family CSA Farm. The phrase is Outcome Independence. It means Robert and I are able to feel successful regardless of the outcome of any given growing season. Another way to say this is the “doing” is more important than the “result.” This phrase applies so well to the many, many crops we attempt to grow each year on our CSA farm. 

Of course, we always “prefer” to have every crop reach its full potential because this results in an exceptionally bountiful harvest season. We plan and prepare and do everything within our power to make this happen from choosing seeds to digging drainage ditches to monitoring for insect pests. Still, sometimes the best laid plans go astray and our harvest “preferences” are not met due to some factor beyond our control. This is when our Outcome Independence allows us to understand we did all that we could and enables us to feel successful none-the-less. This really is an excellent way to deal with the stress of all of life’s worst-case scenarios.

One of our beautiful 2023 Gardens!

If you have ever attempted to grow a garden, you know exactly what I am talking about. Sometimes the multiple factors over which one has no control are simply too great–too much rain, not enough rain (fortunately we have drip irrigation), cloudy days, extreme heat waves, late frost, early frost, fungus and bacteria (which are ever present in the air and the soil), wildlife (thank goodness for the seven-foot deer fencing)–the list goes on and on. Fortunately, by growing a wide variety of crops planted in “waves” of time, total disasters are usually avoided. However, when we do lose a crop, we just have to say, “It is what it is!” as rely on our Outcome Independence to see us through any harvest disappointments.

For Robert and I, filling our CSA Boxes with the seasonal, organically-grown (but not certified) vegetables we are able to provide any given week is a delightful and empowering feeling. We love sharing the flavors, textures, and nutrition of the seasonal vegetables which are created on our small part of the Earth! CSA Shares are available for the 2024 Harvest Season. We would love to have you join us on our seasonal gourmet vegetable journey! I have attempted to answer all possible questions on the website; but if not, please send your query to me in an email.

Bills Before Congress vs. Veggies

The garden is all cleaned up and put to “bed” for the 2023 Harvest Season. This feat was accomplished by Halloween which is a record for our small, family-farming operation. As a result I have time to delve into the many projects I have been postponing. Hang on . . . here we go . . .

Stakes, poles, fences, fabric, ground staples and debris all removed for the winter!

Congress is currently considering 50 bills in both chambers that, collectively, would promote significant proliferation of wireless antennas and infrastructure across the country and in space, leading to higher levels of wireless radiation in the environment under the auspices of H.R. 3557: American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023. There are many reasons that we the public and our local authorities must tell Congress this and related bills are unacceptable!

As farmers, we feel these various legislation’s would encourage wireless radiation in agriculture, which depends on pollinators. As Members of a CSA, we trust you understand the importance of pollinators. All of the vegetables we grow for you depend on pollinator insects – bees, wasps, and butterflies. (This was one of the reasons for our decision to “opt out” of all “smart meters” on our property.) Fully three-quarters of our crops depend on pollinators to some extent, but only one-third of global crop production does. This is because many of the largest producing crops (staples such as cereals) are not dependent on them at all. WE like to eat vegetables from A to Z.

But let me get more “into the weeds” of these bills being written by the telecom industry lobbyists. Their entire construct is designed to strip all power from public, state, and local representatives as well as the general public (YOU) with regard to all meaningful discretion or choice on the placement, operation, and oversight of the telecom facility. Additionally, they want dispute settlements to be taken from the Federal Court and given to the FCC. The FCC which is fully captured by the telecom industry under BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES.

Telecom is NOT a public utility–it is a Common Carrier. Wireless is a commercial facility, but HR3557 (in particular) gets rid of restrictions in an attempt to make it a public utility. These bills speak to private wireless service, public wireless service, wired, and cable as well as all permits including land use permits, building permits, and all safety requirements. These bills are designed to swamp the local jurisdictions (City Council, County Commissioners, etc. with what they need to do under the Open Meeting Act) to benefit the telecom industry. In other words, things get technical and full of legality really quick.

Additionally, these bills represent an attempt of significant violations by the telecom industry of the Commerce Clause, Separation of Powers, and CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS of First, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Fourteenth Amendments!!

This battle is not hopeless! The public votes!! Everyone just needs to communicate with the House and Senate Congressmen we elected into office in order to defeat these deceptive bills–because right now they are only hearing from the telecom industry lobbyists. Please share this legal challenge with others!

For Fact Sheets go here. To see the status of legislation visit Congress.gov . You can also find NC Senators and Representatives here under “Contact Him” for email and/or snail mail. The main Capitol Switchboard Numbers are Senate: 202-224-3121 and House: 202-225-3121. Please do some research and “make yourself a bother” to your representatives to stop the telecom industry.

Respectfully,

Blueberry bushes in the fall at sunset . . .

What Goes Up, Must Come Down

By now all CSA Members should have received their End of Season email from me. We did a gradual close down of the CSA much like we did a gradual start up last May. Sometimes, it seems these last five months have flown by! And at other times, Robert and I know we have been planting, tending, and harvesting since early March.

It has been fun getting to know all of you these past few months! Most of you have already indicated you want to continue in our CSA for the 2024 Harvest Season. However, just because life changes, I will be asking everyone again–probably in February 2024.

It seems work on the farm is never completed. Robert will soon begin dismantling the deer fence with its poles, the bean fence, the tomato stakes, and the eggplant and pepper stakes, the rows of fabric and the many, many hundreds of staples which have been holding it in place since March. Every single item of our growing season infrastructure must be removed in other words!

Robert and I think this has been one of the most successful harvest seasons we have enjoyed. And just as we are always excited to begin the planting season, we are also equally excited to end the harvest season. Patience and persistence are necessary traits for any gardener. And some growing seasons are better than others; but, there are always some lessons to be gleaned from a garden!

Our gardens look very sad today . . . but they definitely had their Glory Days in 2023!

Eggplant Heaven

I received an email from one of our CSA Members telling me how she is dealing with all of the beautiful eggplants she has been finding in the CSA Box. I will admit to using a lazier version of Eggplant Parmesan precisely because of time constraints. However, I do lots of “batch cooking” and will try this in the future.

“We love eggplant Parmesan and the most time consuming part is breading/baking the eggplant before assembling. So I’m prepping big batches of the eggplant and freezing it for later in the fall/winter when I want to assemble the eggplant parms! (Have to make some homemade marinara to go with it!)”

If you want to try this, I suggest quick freezing the eggplant slices on parchment paper and then stacking in an airtight container or freezer bag. Putting a piece of parchment paper in between the layers of slices will prevent them from sticking to one another. This is a great time to Consider Stashing Away.

Next, I have a bean story to relate! One afternoon while Robert was harvesting beans, a dog appeared outside of the garden fence. He had a collar, but no name tag to call his family. He was friendly, so Robert petted him through the deer fence and then tossed a bean over the fence. The dog devoured the bean instantly, so Robert tossed another. This time the dog jumped to snatch the bean in mid-air! He was obviously hungry, so Robert continued tossing random beans over the fence as he continued harvesting. After about an hour, this “vegetarian” visitor went on his way with a full tummy. It has been a great season for beans and not a single one has been wasted. It seems all creatures love our Heavenly Beans!

In the box this week, you will find beans, tomatoes, eggplant, sweet bell peppers, cabbage, carrots and potatoes. The carrots keep growing larger! This is our last wave of cabbages.

Labor Day

Labor Day has come and gone and we are still getting a massive volume of beautiful green beans from our garden. Furthermore, the plants are still blooming! Robert said he was going to harvest every single bean. I think a challenge is coming down from The Heavens to hold him to his declaration! If you want a new way to eat green beans, consider running them through a slicer, sprinkling with EVOO, and roasting them in the oven. This is a great way to prepare them for the freezer, too!

The blueberries did not turn out the way we would have liked. The rains came at the incorrect time which caused the berries to explode. Also, for the first time in thirty years, the bears decided to visit our berry patch. They did a great deal of damage to the bushes in addition to eating everything they could easily reach. You can see from this photo there is no walkway or tunnel between the rows due to the fact they pulled down and broke many plants in an attempt to reach the higher blueberries.

Everyone should have received a cantaloupe over the past couple of weeks. I put this fruit in the same category as avocados when it comes to picking a “ripe” one. I trust you got a tasty one or two! Speaking of tasty, the last potatoes you received in your veggie box are our new favorite! With its smooth skin, creamy texture, and exceptional flavor, we were particularly pleased. We just planted a few as this was a new variety which we wanted to try out, so do not expect any more this season; but you can be sure we will be planting these again next year.

Our sunflowers were glorious this season! In two and one-half weeks, it will be Autumn. We have waves of sweet bell peppers and eggplant and tomatoes to go with the potatoes and green beans and (sometimes) okra. There will be more carrots and cabbage at some point. The peppers are just beginning to turn colors! The heat from the sun is perfect for making bell peppers sweet. The same thing goes for the tomatoes! We trust you agree they were worth the wait!

A Father’s Day Story From Our Farm

Anyone who gets a box of our family farm, seasonal gourmet vegetables knows that Robert spends a great deal of time in the garden each day. A side benefit is his ability to observe the area wildlife up-close.

There is a beautiful, blue male Indigo Bunting which usually sits on the high corner post of the garden serenading Robert throughout the day which helps to make his task a bit lighter. Saturday morning this melodious companion was not on his usual perch. Sometime later Robert observed the male bird on the ground outside of the deer fence flying up a few feet and then back down to the ground. Only to fly up again and then back down. The Indigo Bunting kept repeating this strange behavior which caused Robert to go closer only to discover a baby Indigo Bunting on the ground and inside the garden fence! It seems the fledgling had inadvertently landed inside the garden on perhaps its maiden voyage into the sky. Baby Indigo Bunting was flying up a few feet and then falling back to the ground apparently unable to clear the seven-foot deer fence!

Daddy continued his persistent behavior encouraging this immature, errant member of his brood to mimic his moves in order to fly over the fence. After many lessons and failed attempts, the greenhorn flyer finally made it up and over the fence and out of the garden. Together they flew into a nearby tree. This father certainly had “his wings full” on Saturday! Our Indigo Buntings will celebrate Father’s Day in the nest as a united family. No doubt the sibling chicks will be told the terrifying story of Junior being “trapped in the Ploeger’s Garden” behind the seven-foot deer fence.

This left side has now all been planted . . . I will get an updated photo up soon!

Happy Father’s Day to all males serving as a “Dad” in this exciting and ever changing world!

What Is Quick?

I may have a different view of quick than some people. For example, I realize how long it takes to get from tiny seed to edible vegetable and I have patience. When dealing with Quickbooks, however, I trust the process to be quick! Needless to say, I spent three full days dealing with Quickbooks upgrades, etc. during the past week. NOT QUICK! My patience was tested and my tongue said some words it should not have expressed. I trust this part of the job is done for another year.

I want to show you a photo taken with my camera right up to the deer fence! As you can see it is almost invisible to the human eye. It is seven feet tall which is necessary because we have a herd of about fifteen deer residing in the area. They love to eat our tender plants and shoots. We attempt to encourage them to stay near the woods by planting clover on that side of the field. Alas, they are comfortable enough with seeing us to venture out into the gardens–thus, the fencing! As you can see, the transplanting continues each and every day. Our plants are beautiful and have strong root systems. We lost some due to the cold temps, but that is to be expected and we plan for it.

Look closely at this photo and you can see the fencing bellowing out from the breeze! It is a very fine material. We must lift it up to enter and exit the garden. Turkeys have been known to fly from the trees and into the fence tearing it down. And they have been known to land inside the fence and tear it up on the way out. Our property is a Wildlife Sanctuary it seems! We have flock of over thirty turkeys some days. Much of the property along Cane Creek has been developed leaving less and less space for the wildlife to inhabit.

This is the designated “First Summer Garden”which will be enclosed inside the fence eventually. Robert tilled it this week in preparation for laying down the fabric and drip tape before planting. AND he needed to do some mowing on the property; hence the tiller came off for the season. The blueberries got a final mowing. He removed all of the sticker and briar bushes last winter, but the grass and weeds will come back quickly! Also, the berries will be set making it impossible to drive the mower between the rows again. If we were planting the bushes again, we would put more space between the rows. Hind sight is always 20/20!

I will begin working on CSA scheduling NEXT WEEK. Once I get things arranged, I will be sending emails out to each and every CSA Member with more details. We do have shares available if anyone is interested. Just go to the website Join Our CSA page and sign up. I will get right back to you with an email of acceptance. Spring salads are in my nightly dreams!

Increasing Prices

I have been looking back at records and receipts.  Several of our farm inputs have increased over 20% in recent years.  And our two special potato seeds have gone up 240%—YES—I said 240%.  As a small family farm we are always adapting, reorganizing and readjusting to real life. You might guess where this is going . . .

We have not increased the price of our every-other-week CSA Veggie Boxes since 2017.  Therefore, the 2022 Harvest Season will have a 20% price increase to $60 per box.  We trust our CSA Members understand the need for this price increase if we are to remain an economically sustainable family farm business.

We realize that time and place are important for integrating wholesome, local vegetables into our CSA Members diets and lifestyles. We will continue to harvest and prepare boxes daily in order to provide the freshest and most nutritious veggies possible to each and every member.  We will follow our CSA ONLY marketing model—meaning we do not go to tailgate markets or have a roadside stand. 

I will notify directly each 2021 CSA Member of this increase as I realize not everyone reads the Blog! Then as I have done in past years, I will email each member to get a firm commitment for the 2022 Harvest Season.

Robert and I are grateful for everyone who has ever purchased a farm share from us!  You understand the importance of keeping green spaces in Buncombe County with agriculture and food production thriving in our shared community. 

Happy New Year!  Here’s to Health and a bountiful local food system in 2022!!