Archive for the ‘Farmer Beat’ Category

• Cloudland Farm: Still in the Family a Century Later

  Date: 04.30.2010 | Category: Farmer Beat | Response: 0

  “Cloudland.” The name rings a little ’60s psychedelic, but it’s generations older than that. The farm was already called Cloudland Farm back when the Emmons family purchased the property in 1908. Today, Cathy and Bill Emmons and their three children work the hilly farm in North Pomfret, Vermont. Once a dairy farm, Cloudland is now home to Black Angus beef cattle, pastured poultry, pigs, horses, a certified tree farm and the Cloudland Farm Country Market.

  Most visitors to the farm and market arrive by car, driving the four miles up Cloudland Road from River Road in Woodstock. “They come to buy our roasting chickens, local beef and specialty sausages,” says Cathy Emmons. “Our beef cattle are grass-fed and finished with a minimum of cracked corn to give the meat a light marbling that contributes to its juiciness.” More than a few visitors arrive on foot, especially in the summer months, because the Appalachian Trail traverses the farm. Hikers can stop and purchase Cloudland’s nitrate-free beef jerky.

  We caught up with Cathy during one of Wednesday’s snow squalls! She’s more than eager for spring to come and the work to finish on Cloudland’s newest addition: a commercial kitchen and dining room. “We’ll be holding weekly farm dinners here serving farm-raised foods,” she said. “We hope to be open by the end of June.”

  You can find Cathy and Cloudland’s superb products at the reopening of the Norwich Farmers Market this Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm. Cathy is also one of the founders of the outdoor Woodstock Market on the Green. She’ll be there when the market opens for the season on Wednesday, May 19 from 3 pm to 6 pm.

  Teriyaki Cloudland Beef
  from Cloudland Farm, North Pomfret, Vermont
  1 pound semi-frozen boneless beef sirloin, preferably Cloudland Farms Black Angus beef
  1/3 cup soy sauce
  2 tablespoons apple cider or apple juice
  1 tablespoon molasses
  1 teaspoon dry mustard
  1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  1 clove garlic, minced
  1/3 cup water

  While the beef is partially frozen, thinly slice across the grain into long strips 1/8-inch thick.

  Combine the soy sauce, cider or juice, molasses, dry mustard, ginger, garlic and water in a glass dish.  Add the sliced beef and set aside to marinate for 15 to 20 minutes at room temperature.  Drain the meat, reserving the marinade.

  On 8 long skewers, loosely thread the meat accordion-style. Place the skewers on a broiler pan or preheated grill. Broil or grill to the desired doneness, 5 to 8 minutes, turning and brushing occasionally with the marinade. (Discard any uncooked marinade.)

  Serve immediately.

  Serves 4

  Cloudland Farm • 1101 Cloudland Road, North Pomfret, VT • 802.457.1520 • vtangus@sover.net
  
  See more great images of Cloudland Farm and the Woodstock Market on the Green on our flickr page!

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• Crop Mobbing: A First Attempt At Urban Farming

  Date: 04.16.2010 | Category: Farmer Beat | Response: 3

  I was a little nervous about what my Sunday afternoon would be like when I got a message on Facebook that included the instructions, “Eat a big breakfast, this ain’t your 9 to 5 desk job! We’ll be doing physical labor!”

  I was gearing up for my first ever Crop Mob–a volunteer phenomenon that took off in the New York City area after a New York Times magazine article about the initiative ran in late February. The concept, as detailed on the Crop Mob website, is simple:

  “Crop mob is primarily a group of young, landless and wannabe farmers who come together to build and empower communities by working side by side. Crop mob is also a group of experienced farmers and gardeners willing to share their knowledge with their peers and the next generation of agrarians. The membership is dynamic, changing and growing with each new mob event.”

  For me, a Crop Mob sounded like a great way to meet like-minded people, learn about the food system and the unique challenges of urban farming firsthand, as well as help an important cause. I was sold.

  

  Crop Mob planting lettuce

  Shortly after the February New York Times piece ran, I did a quick search on Facebook for “crop mob” and found a New York City chapter had recently been organized. In two days, the group had over 60 members. My confidence was boosted reading the group description: “For aspiring farmers or the merely ag-curious.” Since watering houseplants was the only way I had ever challenged my green thumb, I consider myself to be on the ag-curious side of the spectrum. I joined.

  In less than a month, the first round of Crop Mobbing was set-up, with four farms requesting volunteers. I signed up to participate on April 11^th at the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn. Other mobbers (approximately 100 in total) took on the Youth Farm at the High School for Public Service, the Red Hook Community Farm and the Brooklyn Rescue Mission Farm.

  The Eagle Street Rooftop Farm is a 6,000 square foot organic vegetable garden planted on the roof of a warehouse that houses a film production company. The farm, which overlooks the Manhattan skyline, is in its second planting year. It also boasts the first rooftop-based CSA in the country, an on-site farm market and farm education workshops. This year, they will introduce chickens and an apiary.

  

  Greens growing at Eagle Street Rooftop Farm

  The farm is an active part of New York City’s farm to table movement, delivering produce via bicycle to nearby restaurants: Eat, Marlow & Sons, Manducatis Rustica, Anella and Paulie Gee’s.

  My Crop Mob group was under the direction of Eagle Street Rooftop Farm’s co-founder Annie Novak. Annie, an energetic and highly knowledgeable farmer, is the program director at the farm’s partner organization Growing Chefs, which provides classes and workshops on farming and gardening for all ages. She also is the children’s gardening coordinator at the New York Botanical Garden.

  After a brief introduction to the farm, and a warning not to clump together in large groups of people so the roof wouldn’t cave in, Annie split us into groups of three to be led by more experienced Eagle Street volunteers.

  

  Crop Mob hard at work at Eagle Street Rooftop Farm

  While other Crop Mobbers worked on building the structure for the apiary, composting and planting lettuce, my team worked to gather loose dirt that due to high winds had blown into the gutter area that surrounded the garden. The soil, Annie told us, is made up of compost, fungi and brick debris.

  We prepped a section of the garden for planting, removing wood chips and building up the bed that would be home to a salad mix and three varieties of sunflowers—all grown with seeds from High Mowing Organic Seeds, in Wolcott, Vermont.

  Under Annie’s direction, we learned how to properly space and plant the seeds for the salad mix and the sunflowers. Later this spring, beans will be planted in the same bed. The idea is they will twist their way up the sunflower stalks as they grow.

  I’ll definitely return to the Eagle Street Farm. I feel connected to the garden, even though I only contributed a few hours of work on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon. The farm is open for volunteers every Sunday, and I want to buy the produce I planted to cement my new role as an urban farmer.

  See the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm’s website for details on volunteering. To find a local Crop Mob chapter, check out their website or their Getting Started guide to organize a Crop Mob in your area.

  Visit our Flickr album for more photos of the Crop Mob at Eagle Street Rooftop Farm.

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• Pete Johnson: Year-Round Farmer and Innovator

  Date: 01.29.2010 | Category: Farmer Beat | Response: 0

  Spring is only three weeks away–at least for the savvy Vermonters who’ve already signed up for their Spring Localvore Share from Pete’s Greens’ Good Eats CSA.

  Pete Johnson, the Pete in Pete’s Greens, is a rock star among New England organic famers, and his year-round CSA concept is spreading across the country. By growing salad greens in unheated, movable greenhouses on his 230-acre farm in Craftsbury, Johnson has made fresh local produce a cold-season reality here. Johnson is one of “a critical mass of new, innovative farmers” at the heart of “a massive wave of change,” says Dave Rogers, national policy director of NOFA (the Northeast Organic Farmers Association).

  The Spring Localvore Share begins on February 17 and runs through the first week in June. Good Eats CSA members pick up their weekly share at the farm or at one of 15 convenient pickup locations across northern Vermont. Members can look forward to a wide variety of roots, potatoes, onions, garlic, cabbage, celeriac, kohlrabi and other storage crops from the PG cellars plus shoots, sprouts and mesclun that are growing outside throughout the colder months. Frozen vegetables that were harvested and frozen at their peak of freshness last summer augment the fresh veggies. Tomatoes, spinach and braising greens, frozen squash puree and pesto are just a few of the sun-kissed delicacies on ice. By May and June, a wider variety of fresh grown crops will be available—pac choi, baby beets, turnips, scallions, Asian greens and many more.

  In addition to flavor-packed vegetables, share members also receive a wide variety of localvore staples from more than 30 producers in Vermont and southern Quebec. Offerings can include artisan breads, eggs, cheeses, organic Vermont flours, oats, cornmeal and other local grains, cooking oils, vinegars, sweeteners, miso, tamari and other basics.

  CSA members may also opt for a meat share, which features meats grown on the farm and meats and fish (yes! fresh trout!) from local producers. All meats are pastured and grass fed where applicable, and all are sustainably and naturally raised. Many products are certified organic.

  For more information about the farm or to find a CSA sign-up form, click here.

  For more images from Pete’s Greens, check out FarmPlate’s flickr gallery (Pete’s, too!).

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• Applecheek Farm’s Creative Viability

  Date: 01.15.2010 | Category: Farmer Beat | Response: 0

  In the early 90s, Hyde Park dairy farmers John and Judy Clark felt worn out from working so hard and still having a hard time paying the bills. Instead of selling out and moving on, they got creative. Today the Clarks and their two sons continue to milk 70 cows on the 243-acre organic farm but they’ve diversified into grass-fed meats, pasture-raised poultry, raw milk and agri-tourism. So along with the mooing, visitors can now hear gobbling, clucking, quacking, whinnying, bleating and the deep-throated drumming of emus and llamas.

  Applecheek is a busy place. The farm offers old-fashioned horse-drawn sleigh rides in the winter and llama trekking in the summer. Thousands of school children come each year on field trips to learn about agriculture and where their food comes from. Members of Applecheek’s meat CSA stop by to pick up their shares. Restaurateurs and cooks-in-the-know come to buy guinea fowl, heritage turkeys, Muscovy ducks or a couple dozen farm-fresh eggs.

  Applecheek Farm has become an important focal point of the community. The Clarks have built a barn with a large dining hall and meeting room that has become a gathering place for meetings, reunions, conferences and weddings. Son Jason Clark, a graduate of Johnson & Wales University, operates JDC Just Delicious Catering from there featuring farm-fresh ingredients.

  Recently, John and Judy decided to sell their development rights to the Vermont Land Trust to pay down debt and help transfer the farm to their sons. Neighbors have also jumped in to help: The Freeman Foundation has pledged $215,000 to the project, and the family and locals must raise the remaining $95,000—they’re close the halfway mark. Judy Clark said the neighbors’ response has left the family “amazed and grateful. Even though most of these neighbors aren’t involved in agriculture, they see the importance of sustaining land and sustaining farms.”

  On Saturday, January 23, Applecheek Farm will be hosting a localvore dinner to welcome in the New Year in mouth-watering and foot-stomping style. Chef Jason’s feast will showcase products from area farms. The band Knotwork will play traditional Irish music. For more information and reservations call 802.888.9407 or email jdccatering@yahoo.com. Reserve by January 21 for the early reservation discount.

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• Vermont’s Own (and Only) Cranberries

  Date: 11.20.2009 | Category: Farmer Beat | Response: 1

  “A sound berry bounces,” explains Bob Lesnikoski, Vermont’s only commercial cranberry farmer. “A rotten berry won’t.”

  When you buy a box of fat, round garnet-colored cranberries from Vermont Cranberry Company you can bet they’ll all be bouncers.

  Lesnikoski excavated and planted his first cranberry bog 13 years ago on a small farm in northwest Vermont. He began selling fresh cranberries two years later. “It’s not the easiest crop to grow here,” he says, “but it does work. We produce a premium berry. Our size sorting and color sorting is quite a bit more rigorous than just about any other fresh berry out there.”

  Each October Lesnikoski can expect to harvest and bounce-test about 30,000 pounds of berries from his three-acre farm in East Fairfield. Of that yield, about 60 percent is sold fresh to area markets and restaurants. The rest become dried cranberries, frozen cranberries, cranberry juice, cranberry wine or specialty cranberry preserves. Some of these products will bear the Vermont Cranberry Company label. Some berries turn up in other fine local products including Champlain Orchard’s Cranberry Apple Cider and in Boyden Valley Winery’s Cranberry Wine (which, BTW, makes the most refreshing pre-dinner spritzer imaginable).

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