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.

From Zine World #26 -

quitter #4: Every once in awhile you read a zine written in beautiful prose. It’s great, you don’t have to commit to read beautiful and complex descriptions for a whole book; instead you get a brain massage for just a few moments while waiting for the bus. My favorite story was on the author’s experience living out in nature for three months studying birds: “Early on in the study I passed the time chewing on birch twigs and inventing commentaries, developing arguments against the domestication of humans, and settling philosophical disputes between pebbles and sticks, using a slow flowing creek as the adjudicator.” Other stories discuss an unnamed health condition and a treatise on fish sticks; “plastic wrapped… fully reduced from sentient parts of an underwater ecosystem into full color anthropomorphic cartoon representations of happy fish enjoying a full plate of their own ‘fingers.’” Trace [$1.50 everywhere, or trade 20XS :15] –ailecia

One of the benefits of living in Chatham County is the access it provides to workshops, classes and visits to sustainable farming and other operations.  Debbie Roos, our extension agent for sustainable and organic agriculture, is the force behind many of these opportunities.

Last week I was able to attend a free field day about pastured poultry at Perry-winkle Farm.  After wiping our feet in a bleach bath to eliminate any chicken diseases we may have inadvertently brought with us, we walked to the brooding house where up to 125 chicks are raised for three weeks before going to the pastures.

The chicks are fed a non-medicated feed mixed with molasses, garlic, olive oil, comfrey and cayenne pepper.  After they start laying, the chickens are moved to 17% protein feed to supplement their pasture diet of grasses and bugs.

Perry-winkle averages 250 laying hens in three movable chicken houses.  Each house has a couple of roosters in the mix just to make it interesting.  A dozen or so roosters are needed to get any sort of good fertilization, so a few roosters in a pen may be more of a protection for the flock than anything else.

The first house we visited contained two year old hens that were laying well.  The second year is the best laying year for the hens; after their third laying year they usually end up in stew.

Mike Perry, our host for the field day, said that reusing trailers and campers for chicken houses had mixed results.  He recommended starting with a flat wagon or trailer unless you wanted to add to your work load.  The chicken camper holds 65 birds at a time.

The original idea for the chickens was to get them into the gardens before planting.  The largest chicken house (the Egg McMansion) is situated among the farm beds.  Planting of crops comes behind the chickens.  The Egg McMansion holds over a hundred birds at a time.  As a general rule, one nest box is required for each five laying hens.

The roosters kept busy with their noise during our visit.  One rooster almost fell over every time he crowed just from the extra effort he seemed to be giving for the crowd.

The chickens are kept behind non-electrified poultry netting during the day.  They return to the mobile coop each evening and are closed in to keep them safe from predators.

While at the farm I checked on the pigs that I photographed on my first visit to Perry-winkle.  The pigs were down to three in number, and soon they would all be processed.  They seemed happy and oblivious to their impending change from playful dirt diggers to packaged human food.

I am settling in to my new work home, trying to remember people’s names and failing to quite get where it is that everyone fits into this project.  There is a farm component at The Plant as well an accounting office, a sustainable energy/local food focused foundation, and, of course, a million gallon a year biodiesel production facility.

Inside that facility there are also plenty of other components such as R&D, an analytics lab and a design/build team that works on making new facilities and fuel reactors.  Oh, and add to that a new piece that will do glycerin refining.  Wait, and the reactor that makes bug spray our of rue.  And the hydroponic greenhouse.  And the giant vermicomposter.

With all these components comes plenty of people and personalities, running past each other as they work or play or occasionally do both at the same time.  At most points in my day, the length of time I could have a conversation if I wanted to is minimal (and those who know me know that I am not a talker).

In this hectic environment, the folks around here came up with a nice speed-bump called Local Lunch Friday.  The idea is for teams of people - involved with The Plant on some level - to cook lunch for everyone else.  Once a week, everyone comes together to share a space and a meal made from as much local content as possible.

This past Friday was my first Local Lunch.  It was also ECO’s turn to make food, so I got to cook for thirty people in my first week on the job and without knowing many of those same people.

We made pepper slaw with peppers from Green Dreams Farm in Pittsboro, Baba ghanoush, flatbread and crackers.

There was also apple crisp out of Caroline Red June apples from one of our farmers in the mountains.

My contribution was a chunky squash and tomato soup seasoned only with honey.

A crowder pea pie made with spaghetti squash and potatoes served as the main dish.

Farmers, fuel makers, interns, friends and guests; all turned out for a great lunch where the food disappeared in minutes.  It was a good exposure to the people populating The Plant.  Hopefully I can get over myself and start to talk to folks more, get over my stand-offish outer appearance and spread more of the “hey, come talk to me” spores into the wind around me.