When I left Wilmington, I generated a new version of the 100 mile diet circle.  Gone is the vast expanse of salt water; in is a nice chunk of rural Virginia and a bit of country in South Carolina.  Many of the farms included in the old map are still in the new map.  After all, I did stay in the same state.

All that said, I have to admit that my local food habits hit a rut when I first moved.  I was eating peanut butter and canned crap for a good four week period before I realized that I was missing out on what the new circle held.  I started eating five mile salads and thirty mile meats.  Locally grown and milled flours, grits and rice made their way back onto the table.  I also found my way back into a box of Carolina Ruby sweet potatoes.

Through Eastern Carolina Organics, I also have access to produce from the entire state of North Carolina, from Valle Crucis to Ivanhoe, Edenton to Hurdle Mills and back to Bakersville.  Occasionally things get culled due to poor quality and I of course get my hands in the boxes just like back in Wilmington.  My scavenging eyes are returning and - without my staff discount from the coop - I am looking for ways to slim down the food budget.

Basically what I am getting at is that I am back in the food bubble.  I am also looking forward to producing more of my own food in the coming year.

Carolina Farm Stewardship Association now runs two farm tours per year, one in the Spring and another in the Fall.  The Spring tour has been going on for quite some time, but the Fall tour is in its infancy, this most recent tour being the third annual.

Our first stop this time around was Edible Earthscape, about a half hour drive from our land.  Edible Earthscape, home to a one acre farm intensive incubator farm, is also home to the Piedmont Biofuels Cooperative.  Edible Earthscape is farmed by Haruka and Jason Oatis with the help of several interns.  One of the interns, Brandon, gave us our tour.

On many levels, Edible Earthscape is committed to sustainability and biodiversity within their small farm setup.  Their primary irrigation system uses runoff from the greenhouse stored in a series of 275 gallon totes.

All vegetable rinse water is recycled back into the irrigation system through pipes connected to the wash sinks.

Fall cover crops of cowpeas were recently sown among the freshly mulched raised beds.  Adding leaf litter and other mulches gives our primarily clay soils more “spring” and allows for better drainage.  Over time, heavy mulching also helps with everything from water retention to freeing up nutrients that might otherwise become locked up in the heavy clay.

Bamboo is harvested locally and serves as trellising systems throughout the farm.

The farm focuses much of its energy on Asian heirloom varieties with an added emphasis on seed saving.  Burdock root is grown using a small bamboo chute or trench in order to train the root.  Normal burdock root grows deep and is difficult to remove from our clay soils.  The bamboo chute allows easy access to the root for harvest.

Turmeric (in the ginger family) does moderately well in our climate if removed from the ground and placed in greenhouses to overwinter.

Hops also grow well in our climate, the ones in the picture below were recently harvested for beer brewing.

Flowers add to the biodiversity of the farm both by having the flowers themselves and by attracting beneficial insects.

One of the awesome sights on the farm were the huge trellises of beans, gourds and squashes.  Asian varieties of noodle beans, cucumbers and more formed dense walls of green in contrast to the red clay below.

Add in stevia, borage, Thai bottle gourds, Japanese purple sweet potatoes, echinicea…

A diverse farm is also home to plenty of creatures -

Tomato hornworms (Manduca quinquemaculata) are quick destroyers of the leaves of tomato plants.  They can quickly defoliate entire plants in an organic system.  However, braconid wasps (Cotesia congregatus) will parasitize hornworms in the biodiverse system of yarrows, clovers, and lemon balm that Edible Earthscape has created.

The white cocoons on the hornworm are the developing wasps, which have already started the process of eating their host.  Once most of the wasps emerge, the hornworm will be dead or dying.

What small farm would be complete without a chicken tractor?

And finally the wild edibles that can be found in the places where agriculture is not considered a war on the land.  Winged sumac (Rhus copallinum) supposedly makes a decent lemonade type drink.  Kristin thinks it might be a bit too sour though.

Last year I signed up for the Fall CSA from Robb Prichard at Oakley Laurel Farm. She is doing the Fall CSA again this year and is looking for folks to sign up for the subscription. Here is her announcement:

“Hi everyone,

 

I hope you are all having a good summer. The garden is resting now and enjoying a little down-time. I planted some tomatoes, melons, and cucumbers, but they did not do well in the extreme heat/drought that we experienced early in the season.

 

I’m getting my ducks in a row for the Fall CSA. Let me know if you are interested in joining again, or if you know anyone else who is.

 

The cost is the same–$200. I think I will shoot for 12 deliveries–October, November, and ending right before Christmas. It depends on the weather, of course.

 

Thank you so much, Robb”

Some of you have contacted me about getting in on a CSA, and here is the perfect opportunity. If you are interested please email Robb or contact me and I will connect you.

The Carolina Farm Stewardship Association is holding a contest/challenge to eat only food produced in the Carolinas for one week. During July 7th through 13th, participants will keep a food log and receive points based on a list of criteria. The person with the most points at the end of the week will receive free admission to the upcoming Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Anderson, SC.

I go to the conference every year, and, win or lose, this year will hopefully be no exception. I’m looking forward to hearing Joel Salatin speak and maybe get him to sign my copy of his newest book, Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal. Yeah, I’m a farmer nerd. I’m still wondering where I can get a life size, color, cardboard cutout of Alex Hitt like I saw on the back porch of Eco Farm.

The Eat Carolinas Challenge has been featured in the Wilmington Star News as well as a number of press outlets throughout North and South Carolina. It has brought locavores out of the woodwork, and it is exciting to see that many of the participants have been eating locally for quite awhile.

This challenge will bring some change to the way I eat. I will go beyond the usual 100 mile radius and explore the reaches of the Carolinas. This will most likely mark a transition to a more regionally based locavorism on my part. I had planned to tighten my radius to 50 miles when I move to Silk Hope (finally) next month and be on my way to a nice tight 35 mile radius next Spring. Whether or not that will happen is not really debatable at this point. The idea of living within the smallest “foodprint” possible just makes sense to me in terms of community, energy and work.

More on all that later after I attempt to win this challenge…