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We are looking for some help at White Barn Farm.
The following are “Work-for-share positions” with a commitment of 4 hours/week. In exchange for your work, you will receive a Community Supported Agriculture boxed share of veggies or equivalent after the official CSA season has ended. If that is not right for you we can offer a Farmstand CSA debit card.
OFFICE ASSISTANT: We need someone to help prepare deposits, pay bills, do some record keeping, filing, organizing, and make runs to the bank and the post office. At some point, it could include entering bank statements, invoices and payments into Quickbooks. Thursday would be the best day for this, but we are flexible according to the best candidate’s availability. Time of day is flexible (as long as the bank is open). A couple of character references are required.
GARDEN ASSISTANT This is mostly perennial ornamental garden maintenance. Duties could include: cutting back past blooms, weeding, watering, mulching, planting, dividing, transplanting, and some flower harvest. This is a job I used to incorporate into my flower harvesting work, but now that I’m “cutting back” on that aspect of the farm, the gardens need attention. This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to learn about garden maintenance and just be with nature for a committed amount of time each week. I (Christy) will be setting up the task each week and ideally be working with you, but realistically will have to leave to go manage something else, so you must be willing and able to work independently. You also must not be afraid of insects, must be able to push a heavy wheelbarrow or pull a heavy cart, lift 40 lbs or so, and be able to squat or kneel for extended periods (good hips and knees!), clip for hours (no carpal tunnel!). Gardening experience is preferred but an unstoppable good attitude is all that is really required. The best time for this job would be from 9am to 1pm on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, again we can be flexible for the right person.
The following is a paid position:
CHILD CARE. This position starts immediately. The farm baby, Graham, has grown up into a toddler who is almost three!! (October 26th he’ll be 3). In September, he starts school at King’s Wood Montessori in Foxboro, about 10 minutes from the farm. He will have school Monday to Friday from 9 – 12. We are going to inquire within the parent community there if he can carpool with another family for September and October until things slow down enough at the farm that I can take him. If we don’t find anyone, part of the duties would be taking Graham to school and picking him up. Otherwise, we will just need afternoon childcare – 1pm to 5pm Monday to Friday. We do have a wonderful network of grandparents and the amazing Steiner family who can take a couple of days a week if the right person is only available a few afternoons a week. We only need this schedule for September and October. Is there anyone in a transition period, looking for other work, coming back from being abroad, graduated college and doesn’t know what to do? It is asking a lot, but have to put it out there. It is possible that part time hours could continue over the winter and ramp up in the spring when the farm gets going again.
Graham is an adorable and bright little guy, extremely active!! He loves sports, running, and playing so you must be able to keep up! He speaks really well and loves books. He is just entering his terrible two/threenager mode of loudly fake crying when he doesn’t get what he wants and having bizarre tantrums if you break his snack bar in half, for example. He still takes one nap a day, but we think he may be phasing out of that, considering how late he stays up afterwards! He is not potty trained though we are working on it. You will need to prepare simple meals for him and possibly take him on shopping trips to target or trader joe’s or stop & shop for groceries. He loves to go to parks and the YMCA and libraries and the beach. He is still learning to swim. He can play at the farm or the family’s lake house on Lake Archer, where we are living for the summer. There is a lot of opportunity to work in fun outings. Since he doesn’t have siblings, play dates or library story times or whatnot would be great. You must be able to drive and have several references.
If any of these jobs strike a chord with you, Please send an email response to info@whitebarnfarm.org
Include a description of your work experience, interest in the job, your phone number, and a couple of work or character references.
Thank you all! I am hoping that these magical people will materialize out of the fabulous community that surrounds our farm!
And also, TOMATO TIME!!
Hello!
This is Kat, I'm new to White Barn Farm. You may be seeing me at the farm stand! Here is a list of what was included in this week's CSA box and some delicious recipes we recommend trying!
Your box either included a patty pan squash or Zucchini (here's a recipe for each). Since you have basil in your share this week, it's a perfect chance to try a zucchini and basil carbonara
Patty pan squash. This yellow squash might remind you of a UFO. It is a bright yellow round squash. Try this delicious stuffed patty pan squash recipe.
Two Italian Eggplants. One classic black eggplant and one specialty. If you're looking for something new to make with your eggplant try baba ganoush !
Summer squash. This is a great addition to any summer meal! Try experimenting with summer squash on veggie kabobs on the grill. I love pairing summer squash with red pepper and onion.
Slicing cucumber. If you're looking for a refreshing salad try this tomato, cucumber and avocado salad
Silver slicer. Similar in flavor to a green slicing cucumber, silver slicers pack in a little more of a crunch!
Golden beets. A little sweeter than their red beet relative these beets are great even thinly sliced and eaten raw. Try roasting them with a balsamic glaze.
Basil. A great addition to spice up any meal. Try this avocado caprese salad!
Lettuce. It has been a hot August week! For a great addition to any cookout or quick meal on a hot day throw some lettuce onto grilled burgers or make a delicious salad.
Pint of cippollini onions. (pronounced Chip-o-leeny). Cipolle is onion in Italian. Cipollini is a little onion. These flattened little disks are sharp when you're cutting them (wear your swim goggles), but the sweetest when you cook them. Try roasting quarters of these treasures. They would be great thrown in with some potatoes and carrots at the bottom of a pan of roasted meat (a whole chicken or a pot roast). I've heard of success wrapping them in a foil packet on the grill, too.
5lb Tomato Box. A great addition to any summer dish!
Pint of cherry tomato. Perfect as salad toppers, diced into dishes, or grilled on skewers!
Get the Mozzarella Balls! Grab some Bacon! It is time to feature tomatoes on your menu!!
We have tomatoes up to our ears!!! It is time to get them moving!!!
Here are this weekend's deals on mass quantities of our favorite Nightshade crop! (not really, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, hot pepps - I love you, too).
3 lbs of Tomatoes. A mix of heirlooms and regular reds. These are all ripe and ready to enjoy. Even if they are yellow or green or orange - they could be any of one of our many heirloom tomatoes. Cancel all plans and make BLT's or tomato mayo sandwiches or a caprese salad. I love a bagel with cream cheese (or goat cheese) and a slice of tomato, grind of pepper, pinch of salt, torn up basil leaf and drizzle each of balsamic and tasty olive oil. These should sit out at room temperature. Putting tomatoes in the fridge tends to change their texture to crystally and meally.
pint of cherry tomatoes. yum. cut in half with a serrated knife if you want to avoid an explosion!
a specialty globe eggplant and a couple asian eggplants. Slice and roast on a baking sheet at 400 degrees, tossing with salt, pepper, and oil (i say a blend of organic canola and olive). turn once one side has browned. You could do a mix of onions, squash, and eggplant for a nice roasted veggie mix. for a composed salad try roasted eggplant with feta and mint.
assorted sweet peppers - a green bell, a limegreen bell named Flavorburst, and a couple random specialty peppers. There are no hot peppers in your box this week. (Even though the cubanelles look just like the hot wax type).
assorted squash and zucchini. Now it is time to get creative! try shredding the zucchini/golden zucchini for baked goods. if you don't have time to bake now, freeze the shreds, and they will be perfect for baking later (Thanksgiving Zucchini Bread?) I also recommend making a corn and yellow squash chowder. both veggies are kind of naturally buttery. you can make a fancy strained puree like Alice Waters or just shake a recipe out of your sleeve - start with a few pieces of bacon, add some onions and your diced new potatoes, maybe carrots, cover w/ a homemade corn broth or chicken stock. when the potatoes are almost tender, add a bunch of diced yellow or zephyr summer squash. You can cut the squash lengthwise and scrape with a spoon to remove some seeds before dicing if you think the seeds are too big. When the squash is tender enough you can add fresh corn cut off the cob. You can add cream or milk to make it creamier. You can use an immersion blender to coarsely chop and thicken the soup a little bit. The most important thing is to taste for salt and pepper before serving. add salt along the way (like with the onions and whatnot) but always taste and adjust. You can also go raw on these if you slice them thin and marinate or spiralize or make fine strands with a special julienne peeler. Here is a good raw zucchini recipe (don't be afraid to use the golden zucchini the same as the green): Shaved Zucchini salad with Parmesan and Pine nuts.
mixed bag of torpedo onions, carrots, and potatoes. these are mostly a no brainer - diced red onion is key to a fresh chopped salsa or guacamole. the three would be fabulous roasted together. the potatoes you can just boil whole in salted water until fork tender then cut up and finish with butter and chopped parsley. or make any creative version of a warm potato salad.
Two heads of lettuce. Complete the "L" in BLT. Make a Salad with cukes and cherry tomatoes and shredded carrots.
More Cucumbers!! try a cucumber, feta cherry tomato salad with fresh basil. slice some and add a pinch of salt, pinch of sugar, and toss to coat with seasoned rice wine vinegar, cover and refrigerate. the cukes will release liquid enough so that when you go back in a few hours they are covered with the brine and these will last for a week or more - if you don't eat them all immediately. Try making a yummy Raita or tzatziki. some sort of yogurt based shredded cuke dip. Here is a recipe for pita crisps with cucumber dip. or make it a main course with a chilled cucumber soup.
Happy Height of Summer Everybody!! Thanks for being so understanding about the rain fiasco that didn't really pan out and the late email, etc. The lovely Paige, who worked at the farmstand this year and has been putting together the CSA email this year, has gone back to college, so the CSA email may be later and less frequent than ever . . . . .
Thank you all for your fabulous support!!!
Your farmers, Christy, Chris, and the WBF Crew!
Now you all know we can stand a sprinkle. But 14mph winds, 100% chance of downpours and lightning is a safety issue. We are not willing to put our employees and quite honestly, our customers, in danger!
No Farmstand today, Tuesday, August 11th.
WE ARE GOING TO BE BACK IN FORCE TOMORROW, WEDNESDAY, 10am to 6pm. INCLUDING SEAFOOD AT THE STAND FROM JORDAN BROTHERS SEAFOOD 2PM TO 6PM. PLEASE COME SUPPORT US!!
Chris and I have been glued to our hourly weather report and radar screens and trying to decide what to do. When we need to sell produce so badly, harvest is at its peak, the decision is a killer. Tuesday is one of our most important farmstand days . . .
We are still going to pack the Boxed CSA boxes, which will probably be ready closer to noon today. They will be packed in the van as usual. Boxed CSA members are more than welcome to pick up tomorrow, if they'd prefer, to enjoy the full farmstand set-up, bread, and seafood from 2pm to 6pm.
The thing is, we have so much produce right now it busts out of our 20 x 20 tent. There is just nowhere to put anything when we can't put up our EZ Up tents to protect the hundreds of pounds of tomatoes we have to pack into cardboard boxes because we don't have enough plastic crates to hold them!
Please come tomorrow and do all that shopping you were going to do today. This is the time of year we really need you to enjoy your fresh, local produce and we promise it will be delicious!! Tell your friends and anyone you see during errands or playgroup or work or whatever.
Thank you for understanding, best customers on the planet
Wishing you a relaxing indoor day as the earth drinks in some water and sprouts the seeds of our fall crops!
Your farmers,
Christy, Chris and the White Barn Team
The Height of Summer has Offically Arrived!!!
We have got Summer! Fresh Ripe Tomatoes, Glossy Eggplants, Sweet Peppers, Hot Peppers, all varieties of Summer Squash and Zucchini, Refreshing Cucumbers, and Perfect Fresh Cut Sunflowers to Finish your Table.
Cooking at this time of year is so quick and easy with so many things to eat raw. Just get out a serrated knife and you have a tomato salad. Chop up some cukes and you have a snack. Get out your big chef's knife, a bottle of olive oil, salt, pepper, and a large bowl and you are ready to throw in big slabs of eggplant, onions, peppers and squash for grilling or roasting.
Alice Waters' cookbook, The Art of Simple Food II, has me inspired. I just added several of her wonderful recipes to the website:
Chile Verde (that classic Southwest stew that uses Anaheim chiles)
One of White Barn Farm's alumni, Dan Gutstein, who worked at the farmstand on Fridays several years back, shared the following photo of his noodle free zucchini lasagna. We had gone up to visit and left him with all sorts of veggies. Most impressive to me was his use of the Patty Pan, though. He took off the top and hollowed it out like a little pumpkin, discarding the seeds. Then he put in some pesto, slices of garlic, and a handful of feta, replaced the top, wrapped it in foil and put it on the grill for 35 minutes or until tender. The squash produced a decent amount of moisture so he stirred in some leftover cooked rice that he had, then cut the whole thing in quarters to serve. Gorgeous! Anyone who has seen me at the farmstand lately has probably heard me talk about it :)
I suggest having on hand for this weekend: balls of fresh mozzarella, feta or goat cheese, cilantro (we don't have any), a backup bottle of olive oil, and maybe a pork shoulder. If you browse all the latest posts to the recipe page of our website this should all make sense to you.
Hello Boxed CSA members! Here is a list, along with some delicious recipes, of what is in your share this week!
1 Quart Purple Potatoes: These taste, and can be prepared, just like your usual potatoes. Try them whipped as a side to your dinner, or add them to a Roasted Root Vegetable Medley! Yum!!
Fresh onions: This variety of fresh onions can be used in a Summer Vegetable Tian, or in the Roasted Root Vegetable Medley recipe above.
1 Pint Cherry Tomatoes: yum. snack em. or slice in half with a serrated knife and put on a Greek Salad With Cherry Tomatoes or with diced, peeled cukes, feta, herbs (like mint, basil, or parsley), s&p, oil & vinegar.
4 Heads of Lettuce: Use this lettuce to make a salad! The cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and bell peppers are a few things in the share this week that will go great on it.
3 Slicing Cucumbers: slice and eat as a snack, or try them in a Japanese Cucumber Salad!
1 Silver Slicer: This light colored cucumber can be used just like a slicing cucumber!
2 Specialty Peppers: These peppers are a banana pepper or Cubanelle pepper. Peppers and onions are a classic combo for pizza topping, accompanying grilled sausage, as a base to a stir fry, or rice and beans. Veggie burritos are a great easy meal at this time of year. Just cook some rice, open a can of beans, and sautee some veggies. Shred some cheese. finish with fresh herbs sour cream, and hot sauce.
1 Summer Squash: Try the summer squash with your zucchini in a Zucchini- Crusted Pizza! Enjoy!
2 Zucchini: Great grilled or roasted! Also try it shaved raw in a Shaved Zucchini Salad with Parmesan Pine Nuts!
2 Bell Peppers: Use these bell peppers with your purple potatoes in a Roasted Potato and Red Pepper Salad! Also try in a chicken fajita, or eat them raw with your favorite vegetable dip.
1 Italian Eggplant: Try it sliced and grilled on a sandwich, or create Roasted Eggplant Rolls with Ricotta.For some good comfort food, I recommend dusting slices in flour, then beaten egg, then a tasty mixture of breadcrumbs, parmesan, salt, pepper, and fresh herbs. Line them up on a baking sheet prepared with a layer of oil (I usually do some organic canola, some olive oil) and bake at 375 or so, turning once, until golden brown and delicious. If you do not use all of the slices right away for eggplant stacks (with ricotta and tomato sauce), on a pizza, or for an eggplant parm casserole or sandwich - they freeze very well. To freeze just wait until cool and freeze on a baking sheet (just so they don't stick together). Then put them in a freezer grade plastic ziplock and you have an excellent commodity for a quick meal
1 Specialty Eggplant: This is another variety of eggplant that can be used similarly to an Italian Eggplant. The easiest way to prepare this veggie is to marinate and grill it, right alongside your halved onions, squash and zucchini, perhaps. You can either whisk together a quick vinaigrette (tsp dijon, fine diced onion or garlic, balsamic vinegar, chopped basil, and olive oil, for example) to throw the veggies into or use a bottled dressing (Italian is always good) or maybe go asian style with some diced garlic, ginger, soy sauce, canola oil, and maybe a squeeze of siracha (hot sauce). You could drizzle with a little toasted sesame oil after grilling for a tasty finishing touch.
Tomato: If it is not really solid red, give it a day or two of sitting out on the counter to ripen. Never Refrigerate tomatoes! It makes them mealy and crystallized. Wait until it’s perfectly ripe, then slice and enjoy. A BLT or just a tomato mayo lettuce sandwich can really hit the spot at this time of year. A nice piece of toast spread with goat cheese or cream cheese and topped with a slice of tomato and finished with salt and fresh pepper and perhaps a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil is just divine. Tear up a couple basil leaves to really complete the dish. Of course there is always the classic Caprese salad: Sliced fresh mozzarella instead of the toast with cheese described above. Don’t underestimate the power of a pinch of salt and grind of fresh pepper – it’s as important for the mozzarella as for the tomato.
a hot pepper - serrano, jalapeno or hot wax - your choice.
Hello CSA Members! Here is a list of what is in your fresh box of vegetables this week!
5 Cucumbers: You can slice these cucumbers for a cool, refreshing snack! Or you can create a delicious Shaved Cucumber Salad with a Citrus-Cilantro Dressing! Yum!
2 Summer Squash: Try it in a Grilled Veggie Sandwich! It is also great roasted with some kohlrabi!
1/2 lb Green Beans: you can steam or blanch and roast or sautee w/ diced garlic and toss w/ toasted sliced almonds. You can also use them with your zucchini this week and make a Marinated Green Bean and Zucchini Salad!
1 Kohlrabi: Tastes great roasted! Also try it cut up into stick-shapes, and enjoy it with your favorite veggie dip!
1 Bunch Torpedo Onions: Fresh red onions that are kind of like a big fat red scallion. Great for mincing as a base to a roasted beet salad, guacamole, balsamic vinaigrette, pasta salad. anything. use like a red onion they are just a little milder.
1 Bunch Celery: If you are a true celery diehard you may enjoy celery sticks with peanut butter or cream cheese on our celery, but mostly this celery is about adding flavor to cooked dishes. If you are making any chowders or soups or stews or braised meats or stir fries, this celery is the perfect base. The autée culinary term, mirepoix, describes the essential basis of all sauces: onion, carrot, and celery. One CSA member decided to feature the celery last time it was in the share (the week I never was able to send the email). She made a cream of celery soup, using potatoes to give it body, and chicken stock and a little cream for richness. Oh, I should also mention that you can chop the leaves as a fresh herb, add them to your stockpot, or bunch and hang upside down out of the sun to dry. When crinkly dry, crumble into an airtight container and use all winter to season soups and whatnot. You could also blend the dried celery fine with kosher salt to make your own celery salt (Chicago’s secret ingredient to a great hot dog).
3 Heads Baby Lettuce: Enjoy in a salad. You can also add some shaved kohlrabi, sliced cucumbers and some radicchio from this weeks share too!
1 Head Romaine Lettuce: Also great for salads! Try it in a Cucumber and Tomato Salad with Buttermilk Dressing!
1 Bunch Basil:Since this is a bunch with stems this could keep quite well in a glass of water on the counter. Just as with fresh flowers, make sure there are no leaves in the water ( you may have to strip some lower leaves) or the water will go bad. Basil leaves can also be plucked, dried, and preserved whole submerged in olive oil. As long as no leaves are poking out into the air, you can keep it like this in your cabinet. It will definitely keep in the fridge this way, too, but the olive oil will solidify so you should take out the jar twenty minutes or so before using. The olive oil will take on some basil flavor so you can use if for cooking or salad dressing once the basil is gone. Pesto is another choice – whiz in the food processor with olive oil, garlic, parmesan or pecorino cheese, toasted nuts, lemon juice, salt and pepper. I could eat the whole batch on wheat thins.
1 Head Radicchio: We like just chopping the radicchio thin to add to lettuce for a tasty salad mix. Also try it as a delicious pizza topping on a White Pizza with Radicchio, Mushrooms, and Gorgonzola Cheese!
3 Green Zucchinis: Create some Zucchini Tots! Quick and easy way to create a side for a meal that the kids will love!
No Seafood Today, Tuesday, July 7th at White Barn Farm.
Our farmstand will be back on track with seafood sales beginning this Friday, July 10th.
One Change: All seafood will now go through our cashier under the farmstand tent. Don't worry, your friendly seafood monger will still be taking your order and helping with your selection!
White Barn Farmstand will be selling seafood during the same times as before:
SEAFOOD AT THE STAND: TUESDAYS and FRIDAYS: 2pm to 6pm
It may be another vegetarian entree night. No shortage of WBF veggies for options.
Come on by! We promise not to send you home empty-handed!
Thank you for your patronage, as always!!!
So sorry seafood fanatics, I somehow missed the memo that Jordan Bros. Seafood will NOT be here this Friday. Apparently, July3rd is the official holiday for our nation's birthday.
I apologize for inconveniencing any of y'all who had included seafood in your weekend menu.
Since I am pestering your inbox, I may as well share some thoughts that were rushing to my head as I harvested bunches of basil this morning.
With the upcoming holiday, my heart has been growing large with patriotism. not in the "'Merica" sort of way, more in the Serve Your Country Food sort of way. That is a phrase borrowed from one of my amazing friends, Severine von Tscharner Fleming, mastermind and leader of The Greenhorns organization, whose mission is "To Promote, Recruit and Support New Farmers in America" I could get lost on a tangent all about Severine - look up Maine Sail Freight, Greenhorns Documentary, or most influential women in food&wine for a start. But back to the breed of patriotism fueling my spirit of late - it's more like the Woody Guthrie "This Land is Your Land" sort of love for my country.
Growing food in the middle of suburbia is what I decided to do after my college education circuitously lead me to the concept of Sustainable Development. After attending Wrentham Public Schools since 2nd grade, going to KP North, and then KP High, I managed to get a full tuition scholarship to UMass Amherst (after #1 & #2 in the class declared noninterest in the school, the chancellor's award scholarship fell to my best friend and me who were luckily #3 and #4 at that moment in time). I vowed to never move back to boring Wrentham. I hoped one of my cousins might have an idea to keep my grandparents' home in the family and spare the land residential development.
Although as a child growing up in Rangeley, Maine I had enjoyed the idyllic setting of the Rangeley Lakes, Saddleback Mountain,beautiful rivers & waterfalls, meadows and forests, I still considered gardening to be yardwork, drudgery. In high school I clearly remember dreading raking leaves. Back in Maine, our evening entertainment was driving to Oquossoc to look for Moose or filling our cleaned out gallon milk jugs with the acorn picture on the screw top with fresh water from the spring. We lived in an adorable little cape my Dad built on Cottage Avenue, which was lined with wild strawberries and wildflowers that I would gather and bring to little old Mrs. Fox, our down the street neighbor. I collected dandelion greens for the other neighbors up the hill, and my mom would have us all foraging fiddleheads in spring and lowbush wild blueberries in summer, ala Blueberries for Sal. Kerplink, Kerplank, Kerplunk. except our blueberries went into small Ice Teasers (a brief 80's craze, I assume). When I harvest flowers these days at my family's homestead here in Wrentham and the moments of beauty strike me with wonder, I realize how much my childhood of gathering influences me. My mom grew big cultivated gardens, to round out the foraging. I remember the first time she steamed fresh spinach for me and put a pat of butter on top. I remember picking McIntosh apples from the trees my parents planted, the time my older brother Dave and his plastic cohort, Crane Man, "cut down the forest" in the raised bed that was my mom's carrot planting. I remember our fatso gun-shy beagle, Daisy, constantly hitting up our compost pile. I remember hiding in the rows of corn, to see if my parents would miss me. Do I digress?
That childhood planted in me a deep appreciation of nature and in particular, open spaces. Our farm sits on prime agricultural land - we have incredibly few rocks, level land, and although the soil is pretty sandy, our soil is made ideal by amending with organic matter - by addition of compost or growing and turning in cover crops (grains and legumes grown to feed the soil, not to harvest and sell).
Here are some reasons I think it is important for a farm to be here. Especially a farm that uses no chemical pesticides (we have used a certified organic insecticide exactly three times), no herbicides, no fungicides:
WATER TABLE. Rather than impermeable surfaces such as paved roads or asphalt shingled homes atop concrete foundations, the area on which we crop absorbs rainwater, filters it through the roots of our plants, networks of mycelium which run through the soil structure, and finally the soil particles themselves. We use compost and slow release certified organic fertilizers on our crops, not fully soluble fertilizers that can release excess Nitrogen and Phosphorous into our watershed.
HABITAT. The turkeys are one of our worst pests (they just love to demolish Romaine), but gosh darn it, it is pretty awesome that such a large wild animal can persist despite the immense infestation of humans in this region. Same for deer, fox, coyote, possum, raccoons, pesky squirrels, rascally chipmunks, darn diddly darn woodchucks. and what about the birds?? Goldfinches, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Chickadees, Robins, Mourning Doves, Nuthatches, Downy and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, Hummingbirds, Purplefinches, sparrows galore, grackles, crows, Red Tail Hawks, and the Great Blue Heron commuting overhead from Lake Pearl to the Trout Pond. and what about the insect world? Yes it is infuriating to watch striped cucumber beetles devastate your curcurbits, or those nasty colorado potato beetle larvae squish their gross orange guts all over your shirt and your face. But finding the swallowtail butterfly caterpillar on your parsley and seeing huge brown praying mantis, brachonid wasp eggs parasitizing tomato hornworms, darling ladybugs, aphidius colemani wasps mummifying aphids and hatching out of them. Madness! And then there is the plant world. and the microbial world. These creatures deserve to live just as much as human beings. We are an interconnected web of life, their existence is actually important to our own.
FOOD SECURITY. If so many people are going to live in this region, it is a good idea to preserve some prime agricultural land for producing food. In times of crisis, diversity is so important. We need little pockets of food production everywhere. What if the drought in California does not stop? What if transportation as we know it becomes impossible? I have a 2 year old son who is the seventh generation in our family to live at our farm. We need to think seven generations ahead as the native people of this land did. What if erratic weather patterns and strong storms ruin crops in a major food producing region? Small farms everywhere make our population more food secure.
NATURAL BEAUTY. Daily doses of beauty are what make life wonderful.
COMMUNITY. Human societies come together around food. Feasting is the most common form of celebration. A hub of local food producers gives a community a common bond. A farm has to produce more than they can sell in order to offer the best, most marketable produce. The excess supports the less privileged of us in the community. White Barn Farm donates to three food pantries a week: Plainville, Franklin, and Wrentham. We also donate plants to community gardens in Norfolk, Wrentham, school gardens, and at two YMCA gardens.
FLAVOR. Fresh food tastes delicious. Farmers who are passionate about their crops and become enchanted with the seed catalogs in the winter, and have the advantage of not having to ship their wares far, far away can grow varieties of crops that are selected for taste and beauty, rather than shipping ability.
BIODIVERSITY. This is covered by both habitat and flavor, above. Maintaining a market for seed producers who grow their seeds organically, open pollinated, or using old fashioned hybridizing is muy importante!!! Genetic Modification is pure human hubris, in my opinion. When you buy a purple kohlrabi, a lemon cucumber, siberian kale, etc. you are supporting vegetable breeders, and a continued diversity of vegetable varieties.
If you are still reading, you are a trooper.
Thanks for listening to my take on patriotism!
Happy Birthday USA! We wish you fantastic feasts!!!