Message from the President

In case you haven’t noticed, the autumn colors have been incredible this year, and now that temperatures are getting into the 20’s overnight, it seems like fall is continuing her quiet slide into winter just like she is supposed to do.  But as beautiful as they are, we all know what happens to deciduous tree leaves as the colder weather sets in—once they change color, they begin to drop away from the limbs, having completed their job for the growing season and volunteering to provide nutrients and carbon for next year’s growth.  They accumulate in all sorts of places, like building corners, flower beds, sandboxes, gutters…and boots, when you forget to bring them onto the porch.
 
Most people have their own way of handling leaves, and the dueling leaf blowers we heard while in the city early on a Sunday morning made me realize two things, the first being that I don’t have to listen to that noise at my house!  It also made me think a little more deeply about how we silly humans will go to extreme ends to keep things overly manicured and highlights another way that many of us have lost our connection to the natural world we are part of. 
 
As a young lad I spent a lot of time with my grandpa raking leaves from his flower beds and cleaning out the gutters on their house.  We would spend hours raking, piling, and bagging the leaves to set them on the street for the City to pick up and haul to the landfill.  I remember the feeling of satisfaction Grandpa would get when the yard was “clean”, only to see his crooked smile of desperation when the next gust blew more leaves into the yard.  In his mind, having those ol’ leaves out of the way kept his grass greener and yard cleaner, and that was important to him given their location in a suburban neighborhood.
 
I don’t have an issue with gathering leaves, even though I do believe there is good reason to allow leaves to decompose in situ as much as possible, especially on a lawn.  Hit ‘em with the mulching blade on the mower and let the worms and fungi do the rest.  Leaves can be high in phosphorus, a major plant nutrient that most turf-warriors purchase every year, mainly because they have hauled all their grass clippings and leaves away. 
 
But my issue isn’t the cleaning up of the leaves as much as it is that we DO with them.  I don’t remember my grandpa having a compost pile, but looking back I think of the compost that we could have made with those leaves and then used them on his flowers, landscape plants and trees in the yard rather than him going to the local hardware store every spring and buying bags of 10-10-10 fertilizer. 
 
On a larger scale, just imagine if we could keep all those plastic bags full of leaves out of the landfill and utilize them as feedstock for compost!  I know there are metropolitan areas that have leaf and vegetative debris programs and our understanding of using these types of carbon is growing, so I am hopeful that one of these days, we can drive through any neighborhood and not hear the obnoxious noise of gas-powered leaf blowers but see many hands raking, piling, jumping in and composting leaves for next year’s garden!
 
Happy Thanksgiving—
 
Brent

Register for the 22nd annual Virginia Biological Farming Conference!

The 22nd annual Virginia Biological Farming Conference will be held in-person January 22-24, 2022 at The Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center.

The 22nd annual Virginia Biological Farming Conference is Virginia’s premier organic and sustainable agricultural conference! The Conference brings together farmers, gardeners, eaters, educators, industry professionals, and advocates of biological, sustainable, regenerative, and organic agriculture.

The three day Conference includes: 7 Pre-Conference intensive workshops, 63 concurrent sessions of workshops, presentations, and panel discussions, 50 tradeshow exhibitors, locally sourced farm meals and book sales with author signings. The Conference highlights include a Youth Program, a Silent Auction and networking opportunities including regional meetings and fireside chats, morning yoga for farmers and the Taste of Virginia Expo & Social. 

SPEAKER SCHEDULE RELEASED! FIND IT HERE!

SPONSOR AND EXHIBITOR OPPORTUNITIES HERE!

ALL CONFERENCE INFO AND PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS  HERE!

November Gardening Tips

By Ira Wallace of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and the author of  Grow Great Vegetables in Virginia
 

Fall and winter are my favorite garden seasons with the second chance to grow all the delicious greens and wonderful roots we savor in spring and a bonus of decreasing weed pressure and limited need to water. Many winter greens like kale, collards, and spinach taste even sweeter in fall as they concentrate sugars to withstand colder temperatures.

I thought it would be fun to share what we have ready for harvest now and as younger plants that will grow rapidly as the days begin to lengthen in early spring. Elliot Coleman coined the term “Persephone Days” for the period when there is less than 10hrs a day of sunlight and plant growth slows to a halt. Here on our central Virginia Farm that is Nov 21- Jan 21and a little longer because of the ground temps. So what you see in the garden now is what you get until early February for practical purposes unless you are growing under cover in a greenhouse, cold frame or low tunnel.

In many case we had to do a second and sometimes even a third succession planting to get the beds full of thriving plants. In the case of spinach and kale our last and most successful sowing was in early October. For an idea of what and when we sow most years for fall and winter harvest read our blog post on Summer Sowing: Continuous Harvest All Summer into Fall or look at our Southern Exposure Fall and Winter Growing Guide.

Spinach, Collards and Kale are our largest planting for winter greens because of their versatility in the kitchen and dependable winter hardiness. Because our earliest succession plantings had spotty germination we have a lot more plants from the later sowings. Luckily for us the unusually warm temperatures continued into November so we have nice full beds of Abundant Bloomsdale spinach and Lacinato Rainbow kale, many different varieties of heirloom collards and Asian greens going into December. Fortunately half grown ”juvenile” plants like those from our second and third plantings often survive the winter and last longer into the spring.  Continue Reading

Book Review: Sandor Katz’s Fermentation Journeys: Recipes, techniques and traditions from around the world

By Sandor Ellix Katz, Chelsea Green, 2021, 252 pages

Book Review by Pam Dawling

This brand new book will make an amazing gift for your friend who is very enthused about all kinds of fermented foods and drinks. Sandor Katz is the world’s most well-known and respected advocate of all things fermented, and the author of four previous books on the subject. This book includes directions and recipes for over 60 fermented foods from across the world. Sandor travelled the globe learning, teaching and tasting every day. And this time, Sandor had a camera, and the pictures are fascinating. This is his first book in almost ten years, so you can be sure there are many foods you haven’t met before.

To his credit, Sandor shows deep respect for the cultures (human, fungal and bacterial) that he encounters, and invites us to do so too. He describes the traditional techniques as well as the customs and ceremonies attached to the ferments. Here are some well-known fermented foods, such as sauerkraut (in a chocolate cake), tempeh, cheeses, and breads, and also much less well-known ones like pickled tea leaves, Dan Chang egg sausages, Alaskan stinkheads (salmon), and Peruvian Chicha de jora. Sandor reminds us how much work sustenance takes, and what a wide range of skills and knowledge are involved.

After youthful discoveries of palm wine and millet beer in Niger, Sandor found books for home brewers technical and off-putting, with their emphasis on chemistry and sanitation. Global alcohol makers had other traditions, as had the fermenters of other foods, to preserve the food and add flavor and safety by preventing pathogens. Some ferments, consumed raw, may provide beneficial bacteria.

Fermentation varies across the world, depending on climate, which foods are abundant, and what storage facilities are available. Ideas and techniques have spread from people to people, although sadly, sometimes extinguished by colonization.

The book is organized by fermentation substrate (sugars, vegetables, grains, starchy tubers, mold cultures, beans, seeds, milk, meat, and fish). Due to his fame and fermentation friends, Sandor was able to visit many small villages. Fortunately for us, when Sandor had to hurry home from Tasmania (wearing a gift of a home-made mask) after Covid-19 struck, he realized he suddenly had time to write a book!...Read the Full Review

Purchase Sandor Katz’s Fermentation Journeys: Recipes, techniques and traditions from around the world here! 

November Policy Updates

By Mark Schonbeck & Francesca Constantino

Recipe: Chicken, Cheese and Spinach Lasagna

For some reason my daughter doesn’t like traditional lasagna with ground beef and marinara sauce. But she loves spaghetti with ground beef and marinara sauce.  I don’t understand it but I guess kids can be hard to understand when it comes to food sometimes. Since the rest of the family likes lasagna and we always have cooked chicken on hand I came up with this chicken and spinach version a few weeks ago. As I was preparing it I realized that this dish would be a good use of Thanksgiving leftovers. I’ve written the leftover ingredient substitutes in parenthesis.  

Ingredients: 
2-3 cups diced cooked chicken (or leftover turkey or ham from Thanksgiving meal)
1 cup diced veggies- onion, celery, mushrooms, carrots (dice extra when preparing dressing or stuffing)
2 cups cooked greens
1 cup chicken broth (or leftover gravy thinned back to gravy consistency with broth or water)
1/4 cup chopped parsley

One box cooked lasagna noodles, cooked al dente
8 oz cream cheese
16 oz. ricotta cheese
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

Directions: 
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Grease a 13 x 9 inch casserole dish.

Saute diced vegetables in butter or oil until lightly cooked. Add cooked greens and chopped chicken to the pot and stir to combine. Lower heat to medium-low and add broth and softened cream cheese to the cooked veggies and chicken. Stir until the cheese is melted. Remove from heat.
Reserve one cup of this chicken and greens filling for the top of the lasagna.

Stir the ricotta cheese with one cup of the mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup chopped parsley 

Layer the lasagna. Alternate layers of 4 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture, 1/3 of the chicken filling. Make three layers. Then layer with one more row of noodles and the one cup of reserved chicken and greens filling sauce and the last of the mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes until the lasagna is bubbly and the cheese is browned.   

In the News

Compilation by Francesca Constantino

New Report Highlights Global Farmers Markets Creating Alternatives to Industrialized Food System

Public Interest Groups Urge the EPA to Regulate Factory Farm Emissions

Since 2005, large-scale livestock operations have skirted air pollution laws under a deal with the second Bush administration. Now, advocates are petitioning the EPA to do its duty.

Nine charts that show why the US needs to tackle food emissions.

Food systems are significant contributors to the climate crisis with meat and dairy the greatest culprits. (Note: the emissions data is about industrial agriculture. Carbon sequestration in rotationally grazed pasture and range can offset much of the livestock enteric methane emissions.)

The cow in the room: why is no one talking about farming at Cop26?

Sustainable food systems are a cornerstone to cutting emissions but have been largely absent from the agenda in Glasgow

Maine Vote on Right to Food State Constitutional Amendment

On Tuesday, Maine voters will consider amending the state constitution to guarantee every resident’s right to food, defined as the ability to “grow, raise, harvest, produce, and consume the food of their own choosing,” as long as it doesn’t involve trespassing, stealing, poaching, or other illegal activities. If passed, it would mark the first constitutional amendment of its kind in the United States. 

Holistic Livestock Management in the News

A Different Kind of Land Management: Let the Cows Stomp

Ditching meat isn’t the answer for climate change. Better farming is

New Report: Soil Health Is a Natural Climate Solution

A new comprehensive review of research on soil health and carbon storage published by the Izaak Walton League of America shows that increasing the use of proven soil health practices on farms will slow climate change, while producing benefits for water, wildlife and farmers. The report reviews the benefits of 24 climate-friendly conservation practices, discusses strategies to engage more farmers in implementing these practices, and provides a series of actionable recommendations.

USDA Funds 15 Large Sustainable Agriculture Systems Projects

Beginning in 2019, the USDA’s flagship extramural research grants program, the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) began funding large (up to $10 million) proposals to conduct sustainable agriculture systems research. This link provides descriptions of projects supported by this funding

4 the Soil

4 the Soil is a campaign of the VA Soil Health Coalition working to raise awareness about the critical importance of soil and the 4 Core Principles of healthy soil management: 

1. Keep Soil Covered: It’s the first step in protecting it from erosion, but also buffers soil temperature, slows rainfall runoff, and aids rainfall infiltration.
2. Minimize Soil Disturbance​: Both physical and chemical. This proactive measure can heal and protect properties of the soil and ultimately enhance the biological component of soil life.
3. Maximize Living Roots​: Doing this longer throughout the year fuels biological activity, aids nutrient cycling, and contributes to improved soil structure.
4. Energize with Diversity: ​Use different crop species and integrate livestock where possible  for specific purposes to enhance chemical, physical and/ or biological aspects of the soil. It improves the whole system.

Visit 4thesoil.org for more information and to Take The Pledge!

Podcasts - 4 The Soil Conversations
 
Hear and learn from farmers, agricultural professionals, conservation leaders, master gardeners, and many more on how and why to be 4 The Soil. Check out the inaugural episode in which Eric Bendfeldt, Community Viability Specialist with Virginia Cooperative Extension, and Mary Sketch, Coordinator of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition talk to host Jeff Ishee about why we should all care about soil health. Stay tuned for new episodes released every second and fourth Tuesday of the month.  The 4 the Soil podcasts are part of the 4 the Soil Awareness Campaign led by the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Training Events

Rodale Institute Farmer Training Programs Now Taking Applications
Rodale Institute offers two farmer training programs - one for beginner farmers interested in regenerative organic agriculture, and another specifically designed for military veterans.
 
AgBiz Masters Learning Series for Young/Beginning Farmers
AgBiz Masters is a two-year interactive learning series designed specifically for young and beginning farmers interested in honing their business and financial management skills.
 
Webinar – Turning a Profit from the Ground Up
Farmer-educators, Keith Berns and Steve Groff, team up for a free event designed to help you gain a better understanding of how managing for soil health can increase profitability, improve resilience, and take farm stewardship to the next level. Join this information-packed, one-hour webinar on Thursday, December 9, 9:30-10:30 am. 
 
National Organic Program training on Organic Products Sold at Farmers Markets
NOP is offering a course to educate farmers market managers, vendors, and consumers about how to identify potentially mislabeled and misrepresented organic products. After completing this course, farmers market managers will be able to explain organic certification requirements to vendors.  

Job Ops, Classifieds and Event listings on vabf.org

Job Opportunities