Greetings from the farm,
We are writing to send so many well wishes from the Farm. It is a sincere hope that everyone is taken care of by and is taking care of each other. This pandemic is awful and makes the cracks in our social fabric that much more apparent to the world. But, we are also part of a caring, creative and resilient world, and it is amazing to see. We are sending gratitude to health care professionals, service workers, public works employees, postal and delivery drivers, farm and grocery workers and our essential staff at Amherst College who are holding it down.
We love providing our community with information about gardening, cooking, farming and food and are so bummed that we cannot do that in person. We want to share that same information with you virtually and hope that it may be helpful in some way.
We hope you are able to cook and/or eat nourishing food. Chef/Author Samin Nosrat just started a great new podcast called Home Cooking.
We also hope you are able to connect with the natural world. Even from inside my house or from my open doorway, I can take breaks from the screen to look at clouds moving, or sit by an open window to catch the breeze or listen to some of the fantastic birds that are reappearing with the onset of Spring.
I feel really lucky to go up to the greenhouse every day to water the plants and watch our garlic emerge. We are adjusting our season and planning for fields and harvest for the Fall 2020 Semester and our CSA.
Consider growing some food! Book and Plow Staff are on hand to answer any immediate garden questions (feel free to email mives@amherst.edu with questions or photos of your garden projects). We also have updates on what we're growing and a poll
Here's few tips for your garden:
-Only grow food directly in your soil if you know it is free of heavy metals and other toxins (you can grow flowers in mystery soil!). Otherwise consider building a raised bed or growing in containers.
-Local farmers often hold plant sales that will do well in your climate. Or, check out Fedco to order seeds!
-Grow the food you want to eat, with some considerations:
-Some crops take up a lot of space, and grow over a long period of time.
-Some crops (like tomatoes) take a long time to grow or need to be harvested regularly. Other crops (like radishes and arugula) have short growing period and are harvested completely when ready
- Most Importantly, there is no wrong way to plan your garden--seeds want to grow. We also continue to learn through observation and trial and error.
We just put a poll on our instagram (@bookandplow) to see if you may want another newsletter or workshop about gardening sometime soon. Check it out, and stay tuned for more updates from the farm!
For Book and Plow,
Maida, Julia and Kaylee
|
