Notes from the Field: January

In November and December, we attended several inspirational confidences. We started at the Winter Growing Conference in Joplin, where we learned new techniques for growing a wider diversity of winter crops in our hoophouse. (Watch out for claytonia and mâche, two winter hardy greens, along with herbs like cilantro, dill and parsley, in the upcoming Ferguson winter markets.) Next up was the Young Farmers Conference, hosted at Stone Barns in upstate New York.  We were tantalized by compost systems used to heat both water and sprout trays in the greenhouse. Panels featured of some of our farm heroes, Eliot Coleman, Jack Algiere and Jean-Martin Fortier, whose tales of growing 12 rows of carrots per bed mesmerized us. The Slow Tools Symposium, which featured the collaborative project of a group of growers and engineers designing more scale-appropriate tools for small farms. With their work in mind, we brought home “Groundskeeper II”, a small rake that, if we time everything right, might take the place of hula hoes in our hoophouse beds.

We have spent the winter traveling the county (and the world), from Mayland to Thailand to Costa Rica. Rested and rejuvenated, we are happy to return to the incredible slice of land in Ferguson.