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  • Who We Are
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September Newsletter

10/6/2020

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"The child in each of us knows paradise. Paradise is home. Home as it was or home as it should have been. Paradise is one's own place, One's own people, One's own world, knowing and known, perhaps even loving and loved. Yet every child is cast from paradise- into growth and new community, into vast, ongoing change."
~Octavia Butler
Octavia has also said, or written in her "Parable" novels, "God is change." A lot of us fear change as it can take us out of our comfort level, our every day habits. But change is necessary in life, and it can happen instantaneously. One way to help shift our perspective, to see comfort in this, is knowing that change will happen with or without us. Then, once we understand that, we can learn to accept change, perhaps even strive for as much change as possible! That inner child doesn't need to feel fear. They can live in wonderment and awe, joy or sorrow, with each new experience, and grow for the better resonating with the world around them.

All of this is to say that this will be my, Jono's, last newsletter to you, the good people who make up Rising Locust's outstretched (and changing!) community. I will be moving to Minnesota's north woods' lake country with my partner Laila next month, leaving Rising Locust Farm after four wonderful years. It is bittersweet for me and I am so much looking forward to my next adventure and chapter in life. The mushroom yard will continue here though, and shiitake's will continue to be part of what RLF has to offer. I am currently mentoring Frank (RLF community member, co-founder, and all around swell guy) in the ways of the fungi. He has shown an eagerness to fill in my boots as he transitions into retirement in the next couple years, and he has the discerning eye to make a great mycophile.

As I move on I know that the farm will continue to grow and change with or without me. I'm humbled to have been accepted here, one of the first non-family members to move onto the farm having been invited by the Rhodes' who were looking to expand and grow their community (A big scary leap that must've been for them!). As I wander about the property these days there's so much that I reflect on that I've had the opportunity to help imagine and transform into existence. As a direct result of those collaborative manifestations a plethora of diverse life has begun to make their way home. I leave here knowing that I've done as good as I could've in making a positive impact in this little patch of Earth.

~Take care, T.R. Jono Droege
Sayonara, adieu, auf wiedersehen, ciao, so long! Cheers!
TREE HAY

I think we finally convinced our neighbors we aren't all there. Our neighbor asked us the other day what we were doing on the side of the road with all of that brush and I said we were "making tree hay" and he laughed and stood there for a second before asking again. I said again we were making tree hay and he looked at us bewildered and exclaimed "I thought you were joking" but I just smiled and said "Tree Hay has higher nutrition than grass hay and peasants have been making it for thousands of years around the globe." And that was when he finally accepted that we were in fact rather odd.

So what is Tree Hay?

"The collection of tree leaves for feeding stock, usually from pollards, is now generally confined to poorer and least inhabited areas where subsistence farming and traditional herding still exists, but is believed to have been widespread across Europe until recent times. There is evidence that the practice pre-dates the making of hay from herb rich meadows and has been a farming practice for at least three millennia. The leaf fodder or “tree hay” was stored for feeding to stock during the winter, especially in mountain areas, but was also a vital source of animal feed in periods of drought especially in free draining soils. It was also an insurance against failure of the hay crop due to cold, wet summers. Trees with deeper root systems and mycorrhizal fungal associations can access moisture and nutrients and produce green leaves when other plants have dried up. The leaves may also be richer in nutrients because of this. Some tree leaves are known to have medicinal benefits and stock will self-medicate where they have the opportunity. As such there is a recent resurgence of interest in tree fodder, a valuable and untapped resource." -  From Tree Hay: A Forgotten Fodder at https://www.agricology.co.uk/field/blog/tree-hay-forgotten-fodder

So, despite the labor and odd practice of cutting limbs in the summer from trees to feed to animals in the winter, we are very excited to start this process of learning how to make tree hay on our farm. It will add a great deal of climate resiliency, flexibility in drought, and nutrition to our animals, by feeding mulberry, willow, poplar, locust, and other types of tree leaves in the winter. 

- Harrison
Our intern Alicia cheesing with fresh cut tree hay!
FALL CSA AND WHOLE LAMB ORDERS!

We are now taking orders for the Fall Meat CSA as well as orders for whole and half lambs. Whole and half lambs will be ready in late October. The Fall CSA will be 3 pickups beginning in the middle of November and ending in January (pickup every 4 weeks). Pickup locations will be here at the farm, in Lancaster, at the Horn Farm Center near York, and Camp Hill. Please email us at risinglocustfarm@gmail.com or call 717-967-2012 to order or ask any questions you may have. Thanks!

FULL PORK SHARE $130 - ~ 5 lbs a month of roasts, bacon, chops, sausage, and other cuts

HALF PORK SHARE $80 ~ 3 lbs a month of roasts, bacon, chops, sausage, and other cuts

SAUSAGE SHARE $45 - 2 lbs a month of sausage

PORK ODDS AND ENDS $20 - 1-2 extras each week of the more unusual parts of a pig

PORK FAT $15 - 5 lbs of pork fat and 1 lb of leaf lard (unrendered)

FULL LAMB $175  ~ 5 lbs of roasts, rack, chops, shanks, ground and stew meat

HALF LAMB $100 ~ 3 lbs of roasts, rack, chops, shanks, ground, and stew meat 

BEEF BONES $20 - 5 lbs of bones
 

BULK LAMB AND MUTTON

WHOLE LAMB ~ 40 lbs @ $7/lb hanging weight + butchering fees (~$11/lb final)

HALF LAMB ~ 20 lbs @ 7.50/lb hanging weight + butchering fees (~$11.50/lb final)

WHOLE MUTTON ~ 50 lbs @ $5/lb hanging weight + butchering fees (~$9/lb final)

HALF MUTTON ~ 25 lbs @ $5.50/lb hanging weight + butchering fees (~$9.50/lb final)

RLF on YouTube!
We now have a YouTube channel and have released the first of our video series documented by Laila Davis. The first short video is Jono taking you on a virtual tour of our mushroom yard. Watch it here!

Outdoor Drumming "Playshop" at the Farm - Oct. 17 - 2-4pm
 
Join Jack and Tammy Bray for an afternoon of musical fun and relaxation for adults at the Farm. And there will be a farm tour after the event for whoever would like to stay. Registration is required so please send us an email (risinglocustfarm@gmail.com) if you are planning on attending! Here is there description:

We were going to call it a workshop but it has nothing to do with work and a whole lot to do with PLAY!! We'll be PLAYING the drums and making music! We'll be PLAYING some fun rhythm games. We'll be finding "the groove" and doin' some movin'. We'll be smiling and laughing and simply relaxing outdoors in the beautiful setting of the natural Rising Locust Farm. Sounds good doesn't it! It gets better because there is no drumming or musical experience necessary. We hope you'll join us for this afternoon of music and fun for adults. Bring your good "vibes", a chair, something to drink and a snack for yourself. Social distancing will be observed. Masks are optional. Plenty of parking available.

Your exchange for the afternoon is $30 per person.
Registration is required so register now at: risinglocustfarm@gmail.com. (Please let us know if you have a drum.)
For more information contact Jack or Tammy Bray at joyfulvibraytions@gmail.com or call 717-699-4965.

Hope to see you there!
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July Newsletter

7/27/2020

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"From zoning to labor to food safety to insurance, local food systems daily face a phalanx of regulatory hurdles designed and implemented to police industrial food models but which prejudicially wipe out the antidote: appropriate scaled local food systems. "

 - Joel Salatin
We spend a lot of time thinking about systems here on the farm. Plant systems, animal systems, soil systems, and how all of these pieces fit together to form the whole farm system. Looking out farther, how does this farm fit into our community, our state, our region, our country, our planet? How does our food production fit into local food systems? What is working, and what is not working? 

The pandemic has exposed some of the glaring problems of our current food systems. Most of the meat currently for sale in grocery stores is processed through a few large agribusinesses, and closing of a few meat processing facilities in the mid-west threatened nationwide shortages of meat. This has now seemed to stabilize, but the effects are being felt in other ways, even here on the east coast among small producers like our farm. A recent article in Lancaster Farming tells how the butcher we use, Smucker's Meats in Mount Joy, has been affected by COVID-19 and the closing of the Midwest facilities.They are working overtime, trying to meet the increased demand as many people are turning to smaller, local farms for their meat purchases. This has benefited us in the short term, as we sold out of all of our CSA shares immediately, and have folks on waiting lists. But in the long term, there are not enough USDA certified butchers to be able to handle the demand, so we will have less access and flexibility when sending animals for processing, and this will affect all small farms in the area. 

In New York State, the situation has forced some farms to change their entire business model, or they face going out of business. Shannon Hayes, who has Sap Bush Hollow Farm in West Fulton, New York, has sold lamb, beef, pork and chicken by the individual cuts from the farm and at markets. An influx of Midwest livestock into the slaughterhouses in her area have taken away all of the processing slots for small farm producers. Selling by the individual cut requires that the animal is processed at a facility with a USDA inspector on site at all times, and if there are no slots available, then the only option available to her is a custom butcher, normally used by hunters and homesteaders. It is not legal to sell individual cuts if they are processed by a custom butcher - it is required that the animal be sold "on the hoof", and then the buyer is legally allowed to process it how and where they see fit.  Most people are not able to buy and store a whole animal, so Hayes is working on a new business model that will allow people to buy shares of an animal, and pick it up in smaller amounts. This is a whole new business plan that she is trying to create, to stay afloat. She was interviewed, along with other farmers, by the Albany Times Union on June 30, 2020.Read the full article here 

There is currently a bill in committee in the US House of Representatives that partially addresses this issue, but it has not come for a vote since being introduced several years ago. Shannon Hayes addresses the Prime Act in thisblog post. And if you really want to go down the internet rabbit hole of farm legislation, here is alink to the bill on the congressional website. Another article from South Carolina on the legislation tells how this is affecting farmers in the South.

We do our best to raise our animals in a way that mimics natural systems and honors the essence of who they are. In our version of a better world, our animals would be slaughtered on site, in a very low-stress way, and then transported to a local butcher for processing. We don't have any way of doing this legally right now, but one silver lining of this pandemic is that the flaws in the food systems we have now are being exposed. Maybe this is the time for positive changes in how we think about and produce food - as individuals, farms, communities, states and nations.

- Kay
Many of our locust trees have grown tall enough to allow the cows to graze underneath them, enjoy the shade, and munch on the tasty leaves!
It has been hot and dry here, really hot and dry here. Many of the early June and July thunderstorms seemed to have a knack for scooting right around our farm, sometimes with rain clouds on all sides but not here. So we are trying to assess how the farm is doing with drought resilience and adapt as the frequency of these stresses might increase.

So which plants are resilient in the face of such climate extremes and weather? Looking around it is obvious that the rich, deep greens of trees and shrubs are most able to deal with the heat in our climate, particularly when there are a number of trees all together (no drought in a forest). Trees with their deep root systems are able to pull up the moisture that is still abundant in the subsoil of our local ecology. So, the woods next to our pasture is lush despite weeks of extreme heat and little rain. Our pasture is holding its own as a fairly resilient perennial system, but it is no match for the multi-layered plant wonderland that is a hardwood forest. So, how can we mimic these systems on farm? I guess a simple answer: plant more trees in our pastures, orchards, gardens even, around houses, and in the woods.

But until we have a nice dappled shade over our whole pasture, beautiful shade trees near our house, a full-canopy orchard, and all of the woody plant diversity we can muster on our farm, we need to value and utilize our forest edge as a reserve for lean times. We are learning and experimenting with many of the tree leaves, shrubs, and understory plants as edible forage we can cut and provide to our animals over the fence. So far Norway Maple, Oak, Multiflora Rose, Poplar, Mulberry, Willow, Black Locust, Ash, Silver Maple, are all desirable for our grazing ruminants, even a bit of Black Walnut too. It seems that most trees have some forage value and we only need to selectively prune the lower limbs versus harm the whole tree by cutting it down. And, if the heat and drought persist, we can even graze a small section of our woods directly until the rains return (as a side note, we are also using the pigs to clear out invasive multi-flora rose in our pasture so we can diversify the understory and plant more trees this fall to increase the richness and diversity of the forest too - see them resting in the picture below). As always, we are blessed by the beauty, function, and vitality of trees here in Pennsylvania and on our farm and we will continue to learn and interact with them.  

- Harrison
Demanding Racial Equality during Times of Pandemic.

Since quarantine has shut down life as we knew it, a lot of us have been laid-off from our jobs and forced to stay home. Others of us were considered "essential workers" and continued to work in potentially unsafe conditions in order to ensure food and health systems continued to operate. The quarantine has given us all a moment of pause though, and a lot of before unseen underlying oppression is now laid bare. Essential workers have been hit the hardest by COVID-19, and thereby hitting BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People Of Color) communities the hardest as they make up a large percentage of that work force, culturally living in multi-generational living conditions, and facing racism within the health care system. Due to this plus the ongoing racial profiling and murders of unarmed Black people by police, rise in vigilantes, and the impending eviction crisis is why we may be seeing the largest social movement in history.

It's troubling to be witness to, especially those who may be exposed to it for the first time or thought that racism ended with Dr. Martin Luther King. I ask you dear reader to please use these hard times to listen to those who are raising their voices. Actually listen and be present. Maybe attend the next protest in your town and listen to the speakers, or talk with your black and brown neighbors or potential family members.

I wanted to write about racial inequalities within agriculture. I wanted to write about historical racism that Black farmers have dealt with, how the food system still favors whiteness, and what we can do to make reparations. But I felt it necessary to address the current uprising and the root problems within our country in a couple short paragraphs. Please take the time to read these following articles as their words are better than mine.

~Jono

Black Land Matters
We Don't Farm Because it's Trendy
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May Newsletter

5/27/2020

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Lambs love to play, and sometimes cows are the playground!

"The best farming systems are ones where animals and plants are put into a synergistic relationship."

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma

The cool, damp weather of early spring seems to want to hang on longer than we would all like this year, and it has pushed back many of our garden plantings. But many plants that we started indoors are finally in the ground, and most of the seeds have been planted. Just a few late crops to get in yet - sweet potatoes, okra, summer and winter squash, some late corn. We plant a big garden each year, trying to grow as much food as we can to feed ourselves here on the farm, with a few extras that we sell along with our meat and mushrooms.

Some folks might ask...why not use all of your land to grow vegetables? Wouldn't that be healthier for ourselves and the planet? Given the recent news about meat shortages, there are some vocal advocates for having everyone eat a vegetarian or vegan diet. I recently read Jonathan Safran Foer's article The End of Meat is Here in the New York Times. I was considering writing a response, and then I read Jon Darby's response to a Facebook posting of this article, and found that he had written exactly what I wanted to say. Jon is the Education Director at the Horn Farm Center in York. We have partnered with them for several years, we respect Horn Farm's work, and Jon's voice carries weight with us. Here's what he wrote in response to the article:

"An end to industrial meat? Yes please. But one of the best strategies to repair land ecology, restore carbon to the soil, and improve biodiversity is rotational grazing of cattle mimicking the way large mammals existed on the land prior to western civilization. It’s a nice slogan, but meat isn’t murder if done with natural systems in mind. It’s actually living in relation with the land and it’s inhabitants and becoming fully human again. So don’t quit meat, support regenerative farmers doing it right. This article starts with a completely false premise and ignores the fact that not all meat is equal."

Exactly. Ruminant animals like cows and sheep turn sunlight into protein, and they enrich the soils, the land and our bodies in the process. We don't eat meat every meal here, and  we have community members and friends who are vegetarian and vegan - we respect their choice. We do our best to treat all living things here on the farm - people, animals, plants - with respect and value, and we thank all of you who support your local small farmer who is doing their best to provide good food for you.

Kay

Our newest multifunctional riparian buffer!

What's happening on the farm...


We are now sold out of all of our Summer CSA shares so thank you all for your support and interest in helping to regenerate land with your fork. For those of you who weren't able to sign up, we are very low on inventory at the moment but we still have a large supply of pork roasts, bones, organs, and fat for sale at our store. We have a small amount of mutton, lamb and other pork cuts too. We will have beef again in August. And, shiitake mushroom season is about to begin and there will hopefully be many fungal surpluses in the future to share so keep in touch. 

On the farm, we have planted another riparian buffer that will act as a windbreak for our orchard trees as well as provide a great deal of beauty and wildlife food. The trees we planted are ninebark, redbud, red osier dogwood, spicebush, and winterberry. All are beautiful native trees that grow well in wild, wet areas or in a landscaped yard. We have also been grazing our cows across the road for the first time to much success (though they did escape one night and I woke up at midnight to a cow beneath my bedroom window mooing for attention) and we are excited to see how that silvopasture will grow and respond to the healing power of cows. And of course, we are busy in the garden planting and weeding as the weather finally warms up and we pray for no more late frosts! Wishing you all green growth and sunshine as your gardens, plants, and tree friends wake up too.

Harrison
 
Cows and sheep grazing on the pasture across the road from the farm - lots of tall grasses and plant diversity!

What's cooking here on the farm...


Fried Rice!
Given the opening to this newsletter regarding our meat consumption choices, it seems a good time to share a favorite recipe that stretches a bit of meat to serve many people. This recipe is endlessly adaptable - use whatever vegetables you have on hand - cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, greens. Just increase the cooking time for vegetables like broccoli and make sure to chop them into fairly small pieces. Add greens at the end, just enough to wilt them. Experiment - we have tried many combinations and they all work!

Ingredients
1/4 lb bacon, chopped in small pieces
1 medium onion, chopped 
Peanut or canola oil, as needed
4-6 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup celery
1 cup peas
4 cups cooked rice (white or brown)
soy sauce to taste

For this recipe, it helps to have all the ingredients chopped and in small bowls close by. As the ingredients are added to the skillet or wok, keep them moving to avoid sticking to the pan, and be generous with the oil that is added.

Using a large skillet or wok over high heat, fry bacon for a few minutes, until fat is rendered some and bacon is beginning to crisp a bit. Add onions and fry for a few more minutes until it is becoming translucent. If using a wok, push bacon and onions up the sides of the pan (or, alternatively remove bacon and onions to a plate). Add a tablespoon or so of oil, and then add the eggs, let set for a minute, and then scramble. (Add the bacon and onion back, if you removed them.) Add the peas and celery, lower the heat a bit, and fry until celery and peas are heated through (add oil if needed). Add the rice, and soy sauce, and continue frying until everything is heated through.

Serves about four people - we always make more than one batch because leftovers heat up nicely. (It doesn't work to double the recipe and make it all at once - the pan gets too crowded and the ingredients don't fry well.)

UPCOMING EVENTS


Like most people, we are still waiting and wondering how soon we can schedule events again. We look forward to the day when we post invitations to events here, and see many of your faces here on the farm. For now, we will do our best to be patient.

We hope you are all well, and we invite your emails, and phone calls with your thoughts and suggestions on how we can work together to move forward in these strange times.

 
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April Newletter

5/27/2020

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Trout Lilies in our woods - a beautiful sign of spring!
 

“We need acts of restoration, not only for polluted waters and degraded lands, but also for our relationship to the world.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

The Trout Lilies, Spring Beauties and Violets are blooming all through our woods, just below our pasture. Despite the upheaval that all of us are feeling, spring comes, with its erratic weather and unexpected beauty, just as it always does. Many birds have returned to the woods and pastures - tree swallows, bluebirds, herons, flickers, robins, cardinals, blue jays, and sparrows abound. New life has also arrived - ducklings, goslings, chicks, piglets, and lambs are soon to be born. We find solace in observing the natural world and its rhythms, as we are finding most of the normal rhythms of our lives in such disruption. 

We hope that all of you are also finding ways to be outside connecting with the changing season, wherever you live. In rural areas, suburban neighborhoods or on city streets, the trees are budding and the birds are singing, and time spent observing these changes can calm our anxious thoughts and slow our breathing. 

Taking care of ourselves is vital in these challenging times, and we also want to take care of our communities - those of us who do not have stable incomes or food supplies. There are ways we can help, and find help, if we are in need. Mutual aid groups are really taking off right now in response to the virus, and we are heartened to see so much coalescing in the face of disaster. We can donate to local food banks (like the Community Cupboard of Elizabethtown), provide financial support to local immigrants in danger of deportation (through Lancaster Neighbor Fund), and we can start a cooperative community garden (see below). Together we will get through this.

Piglets at feeding time!
 

What's happening on the farm...


We are now taking orders for our Summer CSA! We have pork, lamb, mutton, beef, egg, and shiitake mushroom shares for pickup here on the farm, in Lancaster, at the Horn Farm Center, or in Camp Hill. You can find more details on our website or you can email or call with questions or orders.
Email: risinglocustfarm@gmail.com
Phone: 717-967-4012

Something new for sale at the farm - Thornless 'Triple Crown' blackberry plants! This disease resistant blackberry variety produces big beautiful berries. Semi erect, these canes can be free standing if pruned to picking height, but trellising is needed if left to grow. Canes can grow 10' each year! These cuttings will send up new growth this year and begin producing fruit next year. Plant 4'-6' apart. $6/plant.

Some local businesses we encourage you to support:

Farm friend Ben Weiss posted this on his Facebook post, regarding his Lancaster city business;
Urban Edge Farm is in its third season of operation. Previously our crop plan was focused largely on growing medicinal herbs for Susquehanna Apothecary. This year, in response to the Coronavirus crisis, we've transformed into a small-scale urban fruit and veggie farm. Our aim to is to provide food access in our community in response to reduced mobility and economic hardship. This is why we'll be delivering food directly to your door, and why we're asking customers who have the financial means to subsidize CSA shares for those in need.

Check out Urban Edge Farm's CSA here!

Emily Gilmore, a resident of the farm and owner of Dillsburg yoga is teaching online yoga from the farmhouse.Here's a link to her studio website for class signup.
 

Cooperative Gardens


To build our immune systems to fight off the virus, we need vitamin and mineral-rich veggies like leafy greens, to supplement all the pasta and canned goods we all stocked up on. During the big wars of the past the U.S. was urged to grow "victory gardens" in order to prevent food shortages resulting from shipping the countries farmed foods overseas. Currently we are on the brink of another food crisis due to the pandemic. In response community gardeners, permaculturists and peasant farmers around the world are calling on people to grow food. An excerpt from a group in Philadelphia says it best:

"In response to this crisis, Experimental Farm Network (EFN) is urging all people who can to establish "Cooperative Gardens" to grow as much food this year as they possibly can. We hope this effort will help people across the country (and potentially in other countries as well) to provide themselves and their communities with healthy fresh food, reduce our reliance on the faltering industrial food system (which is terrible for the environment and human health even when fully functioning), and make it easier for folks to stay in their communities and avoid further transmission of the virus." If you have resources to help people grow food or if you are in need of resources please visit their page and fill out this form. Go on, dig up your yard and grow! Food not lawns!

UPCOMING EVENTS


Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are not holding events on the farm. This has been really hard for all of us here, because creating community has always been one of our important goals. We would like to be hosting all the events we usually host - potlucks, neighborhood soup nights, workshops, skill shares. We are brainstorming about new ways we can connect with our community and help it to grow, and we are hoping some of you may have some thoughts and ideas about what that could look like. What feels important to you right now, and what are you interested in learning about? We would like to help connect people with the resources they need, in these unsettling times. Here are online resources  we suggest you investigate:

Penn State Extension's website has a lot of information on home gardening: https://extension.psu.edu/trees-lawns-and-landscaping/home-gardening

Friend of the farm Nathan Carlos Rupley has posted many foraging and wild plant videos on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/nathanrupley/videos?disable_polymer=1

Stay tuned for more details on a video workshop taught by Donna and Justina - Intro to Lacto-Fermentation and Wild Foods!

What do you need, and how can we help? Email us with your ideas and suggestions, and maybe together we can do our small part to make things a little better here in our corner of the world.
 
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March Newsletter

3/17/2020

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Inter-species affection and play on the first day of grazing! 

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
― Lao Tzu

We had this month's newsletter opening mostly written, and then realized that our thoughts and conversations have been so focused on the constantly changing news regarding the Coronavirus, that it seems to be a much more appropriate topic to address.

All of us have concerns about ourselves as individuals and families, and most of us have worries about people we are close to who are more vulnerable to this virus. How will it affect us as individuals and as a community? What will happen as schools, businesses, restaurants shut down?

Here on the farm we have an ample supply of our own meat, eggs, dried mushrooms, homegrown and stored vegetable and fruit. We buy in bulk to feed the community, so we always have the staples we need, to avoid going to the grocery store very often. The off-farm income that helps support the work of the farm is secure, and can continue from home. We are already fairly isolated compared to most, but our personal resiliency does not help us to rest easy at night, knowing that so many do not live in the place of privilege that we do.

We've discussed what we can do as a farm business and community. We know that the food we offer is nourishing and is important for our health. If you have a CSA share with us or just want to place an order and decide to isolate or quarantine due to becoming ill, we can work out a doorstep drop-off for you. Please contact us if this applies to you. We're also doing our part by following the recommended WHO (World Health Organization) protocols for hygiene. 

So, what can we do more broadly? We are open to conversations about how and where we can help, if things become difficult. What are your ideas about ways to help? Can we begin a conversation about how to create more resiliency within our communities? How can we support each other through difficulties? 

Times like these are when communities need to come together to take care of one another. Through mutual aid, kindness, compassion, and sharing resources we will foster resiliency. Stay up to date on medical advice put out from the WHO and CDC but don't let the facts put you into a state of fear. Do self-care to stay healthy and check in on your elders and community members who have pre-existing illnesses. If you are an elder or someone who is immuno-compromised please reach out if you're in need. We will get through this together. 

What we're cookin' here on the farm...

Lard!

Okay, we're not exactly cookin'...rather we are rendering! In the photo above you can see our simple process of rendering lard, using a crockpot. The fat from our pasture-raised pigs comes back from the butcher frozen in packages, and we thaw it partway, then chop into pieces (golf ball size or smaller), and just put it in the crockpot on low. As the fat melts, we gradually ladle out and strain the melted fat into quart mason jars. Shannon Hayes (author of Long Way on A Little cookbook) says it keeps up to a year in the refrigerator and indefinitely in the freezer. She also says "Sustainable livestock farming cannot happen without sustainable livestock consumption. We must make use of all the gifts an animal provides when we take its life." (p. 35) And, "Good, clean animal fats...are our source for the all-important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, which enable us to absorb minerals from our food." (p. 36). There are many methods for rendering fat, and Shannon prefers a stove-top method which is detailed in her book. We have found the crockpot method to be simpler and effective for us. 

We have frozen pork fat available for sale if you would like to give it a try! 

Here's the link to her recipe - give it a try!
http://meljoulwan.com/2011/04/29/stovetop-pork-carnitas/

SPRING GRAZING BEGINS


Each year we anxiously wait for the grass to grow tall enough for the first day of spring grazing. This year it was the earliest day ever, March 15, about 2 weeks earlier than last year due to our unseasonably warm winter. Spring grazing starts again the process of regeneration on the farm where the flerd's rotational and adaptive grazing (not the same formula but managed with careful observation) begins to increase soil health, plant health, and the health of the herd. The plant is grazed, its roots die back to feed the soil, it regrows to a greater height before the next grazing (grass grows fast in spring!), the flerd grazes again, more roots die back to feed the soil life more, grass recovers even quicker, and the process continues and grows. Meanwhile, our pasture trees are all growing and beginning to cast shade (which helps animals and plants in the summer heat grow), sending their roots farther down into the soil to pull up minerals and provide habitat for more soil life, and providing habitat for birds and insects that are more numerous each year as well (and those birds bring in a lot of free poop for the pasture). So, the first day of grazing is always an exciting time for for us where we feel like our grazing management with the animals can have  a lasting impact on creating more abundance in our little corner of the world. The cows, grass, trees, sheep, and wildlife all end up creating more life and health on the farm just by being themselves and performing their role in the ecosystem. That's a lesson worth remembering. 

UPCOMING EVENTS


Due to the COVID-19 epidemic we will be suspending events until further notice.
 
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February Newsletter

2/27/2020

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Winter is a season of rest and reflection on the farm, where the shorter and darker days are meant to help us look inward towards ourselves and the inner workings of the farm. And we have been doing that here, adjusting grazing plans and garden plans, adding beneficial components to the farm like a small nursery to propagate plants we need, and cutting out parts of our work that weren't serving us or the farm mission. But after two months of cold, wet mud and dreary days (where has the winter gone?) sometimes you need some inspiration and sunlight to come back into your days and move past reflection. Right on cue, every year in early February, the PASA conference provides the spark that is needed when the winter blues start to take hold and we are ever so grateful for it.

PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) is a pivotal organization in the state for providing education, policy, resources, and networking for the sustainable and regenerative farming and food system movement. They have been the most important organization personally for my continuing education in farming. It's also the best place to find mentors, friends, and resources. This particular conference most of the members of the farm were able to go and learn about useful topics such as grazing to support native plants, soil fungal networks and their benefit in agriculture, fruit tree pruning and organic care, marketing and telling your farm's story, and just hear inspiring stories. Also, we met so many wonderful people and got to catch up with people we haven't seen since the last conference. It is communities like the PASA network that drives this work forward.

And it's not just for farmers, but for any individuals interested in or working towards a better food system. Whether it is how racial and wealth inequalities affect food distribution and health, how to increase community gardens and deepen people's connection with land, or how to run a small diversified farm, PASA is working towards connecting the dots and inspiring people to get their hands dirty towards more earth care, people care, and fair share. We are inspired once again by the people and possibilities we saw and are looking to take that inspiration into our work this year on the farm. Oh, and spring is right around the corner!  

- Harrison

Learn more about PASA and the many resources they have to offer here:
http://www.pasafarming.org

What we're cookin' here on the farm...


Citrus Carnitas!

One of our favorite pork recipes is from Melissa Joulwan's Well Fed: Paleo Recipes for People Who Love to Eat (We're not paleo, but we love to eat!) Her subtitle to the recipe is "Could supersede bacon as your favorite use of pig" - we might agree! The beauty of this recipe is that you spend a little time getting it into the pot (5 quart cast iron dutch oven works great), and then it takes care of itself until the last 15 minutes or so. It is juicy and full of flavor, and tastes great by itself, or shredded and put in a taco or tortilla.

Here's the link to her recipe - give it a try!
http://meljoulwan.com/2011/04/29/stovetop-pork-carnitas/

LOOKING FOR LOGS


It's that time of year again. Do you have a small woodlot that needs thinned? A tree that needs to come down on your property? We're looking for logs to use in mushroom production. If you didn't know by now, we operate a small outdoor mushroom operation in a forested riparian lot here on the farm. These mushrooms grow in a natural environment on wood, instead of in grow houses like most mushrooms you'll find in stores. In order to keep the operation going we need to inoculate fresh logs each year to replace the spent ones.

For shiitake we're looking for oak, sugar/red/silver maple, beech, ironwood, sweetgum, and black birch. Trees need to be freshly cut and free of disease and rot. We need wood that is 4-8" in diameter cut to 3 ft lengths to make mushroom logs. For oyster mushrooms we can use box elder, willow, cottonwood, hackberry, mulberry, and tulip poplar 8-12" diameter.  Call 717-967-4012

UPCOMING EVENTS


If we can collect over 150 logs we will be holding another shiitake log inoculation and cultivation workshop sometime this spring! Keep your eyes and ears open!
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January Newsletter

2/27/2020

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"If you have a good diet, of what use is a doctor? And, if you don't have a good diet, of what use is a doctor?
-saying from Ayurveda, an ancient tradition of medical practice from India

Wow, that's a strong statement! But what if we took it seriously? Could we make the leap to see our food as our medicine? I know this is something that I struggle with, even though I have been considering it for quite some time. So many of our food choices are the result of the traditions we were brought up in, the choices we were offered as children, and the incessant marketing for food products we are exposed to on a daily basis. So many choices, and so many temptations, full of sugar, refined flour, and unhealthy fat! 

I just spent four days away at a retreat center where I was offered only whole, unprocessed food, homemade food. It was so easy to make good choices in this environment, where there were no potato chips, chocolate, and ice cream. Most of us can't give up these things completely, but one useful piece of advice I received was to follow the 70-30 rule. Eat well 70% of the time, and indulge in what you need to satifsy your food yearnings 30% of the time. (Or 80-20, if you are feeling more ambitious.) So, try to eat local, organic, unprocessed food for the bulk of your food, and happily enjoy your bag of cheetos now and then, if that's what makes you happy. (Dieffenbach's potato chips are my guilty pleasure.) Here on the farm we are doing our best to raise the most healthy food possible, working to build up our soil so that everything we produce - meat, eggs, mushrooms, fruit, vegetables - will be as nutrient dense as possible. Healthy soil leads to healthy plants, which leads to healthy animals and healthy people. If the kinds of food we eat are the building blocks of our body, mind and soul...what are you building?

-Kay

For us, medicine and nutrition begin in the garden. We try to eat as much as possible from the vegetables and storage crops we grow right here. As we increase the fertility and health of our soil, the nutrition of our vegetables will grow and our health along with it.  

What we're cookin' here on the farm...

Bone broth!

This is a great time of year to fill your freezer with bone broth. Making broth in the winter makes the house smell great, and heats up the kitchen on these frigid days! Bone broth is so nutritious, and can form the basis for so many soups and stews, and is healthful to just drink when winter weather or illness depletes us. It is important also to honor the animals by using all of the parts they provide, and the bones are especially valuable in the nutrients they give. We especially like Shannon Hayes' recipe for Meat broth, and she gives a very thorough description of how to make it, and the many health benefitshere. But we often don't have time to follow her beautiful recipe, so we just use our crockpot to make broth with leftover bones from whatever we ate that day. Adding some vinegar to the bones and water is a good idea to help release the nutrients. We let chicken bones cook for 12 to 24 hours, and beef, pork or lamb bones cook for 24 to 48 hours. Then just strain and freeze, with the fat, or skimming the fat off after it cools, to use separately. 

We have beef, pork and lamb bones for sale in our farm store, if you would like to try this!
 
SPRING CSA IS HERE!
 
Its time for the Spring CSA (I know, its still pretty cold out there)! We have beef, pork, and lamb meat shares starting in mid February as well as egg shares starting in early March. The CSA will run through May (4 monthly pickups for meat and biweekly pickups for eggs). For all of the information check out the CSA page on our website. Email or call us with orders or any questions you might have, thanks!

BEEF SHARE - 5lbs per pickup - $195
GROUND BEEF SHARE - 3 lbs per pickup - $85
BEEF BONE - 6 lbs total - $20
BEEF FAT - 5 lbs total - $10

LARGE PORK - 6 lbs per pickup - $195
SMALL PORK - 4 lbs per pickup - $140
SAUSAGE - 2 lbs per pickup - $60
PORK BONE - 5 lbs total - $15
PORK FAT - 6 lbs totatl - $12
PORK ODDS AND ENDS - 6 lbs total - $20

LARGE LAMB - 5 lbs per pickup - $215
SMALL LAMB - 3 lbs per pickup - $140
MUTTON - 4 lbs per pickup - $150
BONES - 5 lbs total - $20
ORGANS - 4 lbs total - $20

LARGE EGG - $60 (2 dz per biweekly pickup - 12 dz total)
SMALL EGG - $30 (1 dz per biweekly pickup - 6 dz total)

CSA PICKUP DATES (Tuesdays 5 - 6:30)
MEAT - Feb. 11 - Mar 10 - Apr 7 - May 5
EGGS - Mar 10 - Mar 24 - Apr 7 - Apr 21 - May 5 - May 19

UPCOMING EVENTS


We don't have any upcoming events in the near future but we are busy planning our year with open farm days, workshops, tree planting parties, along with all of the farm work and plans. There will be plenty to get involved in this coming year so stay tuned.

Also, we will be at the PASA Conference Feb. 5-8 learning, networking, and even helping to teach one class on Ecological Design for Small Farms with Ben Weiss (Susquehanna Sustainable Enterprises) and Robyn Mello (Edenspore). It's a great place to learn about food systems, regenerative farming, and more. And, it's in Lancaster! For more info check out pasafarming.org.
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FALL NEWSLETTER

10/16/2019

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"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
-African Proverb
 

Meet the newest member of our community, Julian.

This was the hottest summer ever, in my opinion, anyway. I gave birth to my son in August and have since then been spending the 4th trimester relaxing, reflecting, and enjoying our time of bonding. This postpartum period has introduced intense emotions of love and devotion, that which I've never experienced before. It has also conjured up great sadness. Bringing such innocence into this broken world has felt irresponsible and careless. But, as my friend and doula put it, more healthy humans is what this world needs. His existence is a drop in the pond but the ripple created extends outward and affects every other molecule that is touched. 

I'm sorry, Julian, for bringing you into a world wrought with so many problems. But, I can show you a place where beauty and productivity coexist. I can show you the good that comes from collaboration. 

The trees we plant benefit his future as the climate crisis continues. The edible perennials are for his nourishment in the years to come. The diversity we cultivate is for his resiliency. And the spaces we rewild are his to find the magic within. 

I can only do so much as one human to improve the injustices that exist. I can't fix all the broken systems. But each of us individually (it's more fun to work together!) can all do something that would contribute towards positive shifts. As I learn to navigate this new version of my old life, I'm energized to return to this Purposeful Work we do here to build community and heal people and land while growing nourishing food, not only for the benefit of all creatures, but for my son's future. 

-Donna

FALL CSA TIME IS HERE!


We are now taking signups for our Fall Meat CSA! It is 3 monthly pickups starting in November and ending in mid-January. You can pick up here at the farm, in Lancaster, at the Horn Farm Center, or in Dillsburg. And, there are some new share options including lamb and mutton shares, bones, organs, fats, and odd bits. 

Give us a call or send us an email with orders or questions. And you can find more details about each share on our website. Thanks!

FALL CSA PRICES


FULL LAMB - $165 (5 lbs per share)
HALF LAMB - $100 (3 lbs per share)
MUTTON - $110 (4 lbs per share)
BONES - $20
ORGANS - $20

FULL PORK - $130 (5 lbs per share)
HALF PORK - $80 (3 lbs per share)
SAUSAGE - $65 (3 lbs per share)
BONES - $15
FAT - $12
ODDS AND ENDS - $20

FULL BEEF - $130 (5 lbs per share)
GROUND - $65 (3 lbs per share)
BONES - $20
FAT - $10
BIOCHAR, SOIL HEALTH, AND CLIMATE
 
    The Amazon basin contains some of the most lush forests in the world. Yet despite the incredible density of life that exists there, the soils of the Amazon rainforest are surprisingly thin. If the tree cover is removed, the exposed soils quickly bake in the intense sun and erode away in the heavy thunderstorms, leaving behind dry hardpan that few plants can grow in. However, scattered throughout the Amazon are patches of deep, black soils known as terra preta. These unusual patches of fertility are much less prone to erosion than the surrounding soils and can stand up to the slash-and-burn agriculture commonly practiced there. Terra preta soils allow crops to be produced for longer on the same piece of land and allow the forest to regenerate once the farmers move on. These soils are not naturally occurring; they were created by the human civilizations that existed there before the arrival of Europeans.  What is the secret to these amazing soils? Biochar.
  
Biochar is charcoal that is used for soil fertility. It is produced from some type of biomass, usually crop residue, wood, animal manure, or other organic waste materials. Anyone who has checked the fire pit in the morning after an evening spent around a campfire is familiar with charcoal. It is the lightweight, black pieces of half-burnt wood left behind in the ash. Charcoal is created by heating biomass in a low oxygen environment. The organic matter is partially combusted, and what remains is charcoal. Very little carbon is burnt off in this process; most of it is retained in the biochar.

   What makes biochar so special is its incredibly high level of porosity. A tiny piece of biochar has thousands of microscopic nooks and crannies which are perfect for grabbing and holding onto minerals and nutrients. This property creates immense benefits when biochar is applied to soils. Fertilizer that isn’t directly taken up by crops is grabbed and held by biochar, preventing nutrient run-off into waterways. The nutrients that are held by the biochar can then be utilized by crops as they grow, reducing the amount of fertilizer that needs to be applied. The little crevices will also hold water, slowing stormwater run-off and holding moisture in the soil for longer periods. This increases the drought resistance of crops, which is becoming increasingly important as rainfall patterns are altered by climate change. In addition, the carbon in biochar is very stable; some the biochar in the terra preta soils of the Amazon is over a thousand years old. If the process is done properly, the use of biochar can sequester carbon in soils for hundreds to thousands of years.
 
For more information on bio-char and why the United Nations is endorsing it at it as a way to reverse land degradation, check out these resources:

International Bio-char Initiative
US Bio-char Initiative
Bio-char for Sustainable Soils Project
 

 
Biochar guru.

BIOCHAR WORKSHOP

REVISITED
 
On the first brisk morning of our fall season, a lively group of people descended upon the farm with one thing in mind: to learn the secrets of biochar from Gary Gilmore. Gary is a PA State forester who has a passion for charcoal which began at childhood. That passion lead him to become a blacksmith as and adult, then, as a forester later in life, it all came back full circle.  Needless to say, he is our local authority on biochar.

We discussed the history of biochar use by Native peoples, the history of charcoal as fuel , the chemistry and process of how to make it, selective sustainable forestry practices for acquiring material, the health benefits for both humans and animals as a dietary supplement, and just how easy it is to make! If you have a fire pit or wood stove, you can make it! We also learned about the importance of including biochar in agriculture and other earth works as soil amendments, and how that applies in regenerative farming systems like ours.

Along with the simple two barrel kiln demonstration, Gary also brought other delightful hand made contraptions to show case that either made or burned charcoal as fuel. His small indoor wood stove was outfitted for creating charcoal within a couple hours while producing heat (demonstrated as he roasted chestnuts on the stove top!). The grand finale came with the firing up of an electric generator, typically ran on gasoline, that was powered off of a wood gasifier burning charcoal. As we all "ooooo"ed and "aaawwww"ed, he hooked up an electric chainsaw to the generator so he could cut fresh logs for the purpose of making more biochar!

Check out Gary Gilmore building a simple barrel kiln on his youtube channel!
 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Saturday, October 26 - Open Farm Day and Yoga!
Free outdoor Yoga class with Emily from 9:00 to 9:45, followed by Open Farm Day from 10:00 to 4:00. Come join us for the day to explore our permaculture-focused farm. Farm tours will be held at 10:00 and 2:00, and will offer an opportunity to see our Scottish Highland cattle and calves, Katahdin sheep, Idaho Pastured Pigs, laying hens of several breeds, along with our Shiitake mushroom yard and the rest of the farm. (There is a golf cart available for anyone with mobility challenges.) We are also planting lots more trees this fall, so join in to plant a tree or two anytime all day!

Saturday, November 9 -Riparian Buffer Tree Planting
Come join us anytime between 9:00 and 3:00 to help fill in our Riparian Buffer with more trees and shrubs! We will be planting tulip poplar, tupelo, river birch, hackberry and more, continuing to diversify the wild life habitat along Little Chiques creek. Thanks to Chesapeake Bay Foundations Keystone 10 Million Trees Project for facilitating the regeneration of the Susquehanna river valley! Join us for soup and bread if you are helping to plant over the lunch hour! Remember to bring boots, work clothes that can get dirty, gloves, and a water bottle. Please bring your favorite shovel if you have one as our supply is limited. 

Saturday, November 23 - Tree Planting pt 2
Come along and join us in planting willow trees in a low section of our pasture. Together we will add to the riparian buffer and create a coppice patch, or copse (trees that are managed for wood by pruning without killing the tree)! Again, join us for soup and bread if you plan to be here over the lunch hour, and bring appropriate clothing and items listed above.
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SUMMER NEWSLETTER

8/5/2019

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Spring flew swiftly by, and summer came; and if the village had been beautiful at first, it was now in the full glow and luxuriance of its richness. The great trees, which had looked shrunken and bare in the earlier months, had now burst into strong life and health; and stretching forth their green arms over the thirsty ground, converted open and naked spots into choice nooks, where was a deep and pleasant shade from which to look upon the wide prospect, steeped in sunshine, which lay stretched out beyond. The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green; and shed her richest perfumes abroad. It was the prime and vigour of the year; all things were glad and flourishing." 


Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
Summer is the time of beautiful sunrises and sunsets
In our last newsletter in April we talked about the first signs of spring growth that were hinting at the promises of summer. The summer Solstice has just passed, and we are now well into this hot and wet summer and new life and growth abound! We have 17 new lambs, 5 calves, 13 piglets, and 50+ chicks. Our cows and sheep are loving the lush pasture grass, the sows, boar and piglets are happily foraging, and the chicks are moved out of the barn and feeding in the abundant green growth. All of the trees that were planted at the two April tree plantings have had a great start with the plentiful sun and rain. And the vegetable garden looks great with no need to worry about watering!

We were very grateful for all of those who helped to plant hawthorn trees to form a living hedge and riparian buffer trees to create more habitat and erosion control in our pasture and on the bank of the Little Chiques Creek. We continue to enjoy the increasing wildlife, and our latest new species sighting was  a woodcock on the pasture in late June. In addition to our own farm events like the tree plantings, we were happy to host a two-day Tractor Safety and Maintenance for women, sponsored by PA-WAGN (Pennsylvania Women in Agriculture Network) and taught by Shane LaBrake, tractor guru extraordinaire!

Interns Erica and Rachel have settled in to the farm routines, and have been a welcome addition to the life of the farm community. With more hands we are accomplishing more than ever, yet still have many more ideas than we can put into practice! We hope that your lives are also full of good work, good play, and more ideas than you have time to explore! - Kay

ANNOUNCEMENTS


We are expanding our farm store to make it more easy to stop by and purchase meats, mushrooms and eggs. We have added a new freezer so we can stock all of our normal cuts as well as odd cuts of lamb/mutton, beef, and pork. Stop by 8am-7pm on Monday-Saturday, Sunday is appointment only. Thanks!

We continue to have a bounty of Shiitake mushrooms so please contact us if you would like to buy these wonderful forest-grown delights. $7 for a 1/2 lb of the best mushrooms you've ever tasted!
You can just saute them in oil and butter too :)

ROTATIONAL RESTORATION


Our goal as farmers utilizing permaculture techniques is always to create ecologically sound and resilient agricultural/natural systems that have multiple yields. We don't want a fruit tree to only produce fruit, but to also provide wildlife habitat, build topsoil, form beneficial relationships with herbs and fungi and wildflowers, and be beautiful too. So with each system on the farm we are looking to diversify the roles and components because the more relationships, connections, and yields in a natural system, the more likely it can withstand extremes of weather (seems pretty common these days) and other stresses. 

Our sheep have grazed with our cows to help add fertility to the silvopasture, eat the weeds and forages cows don't prefer, and produce lamb as a byproduct of their diligent digestion and rumination of plants. We have seen their love of "weeds" firsthand and were wondering what other functions they could play on the farm. So, we have been experimenting with sheep in our small tree orchard, across the road in the chestnut and hazel patch (hog heaven pastures), and soon they will venture into the woods in the areas we planted riparian trees this spring to restore the woodland ecology by grazing invasive multi-flora rose. Its been a joy to see how they have mowed, pruned and weeded these systems so far and how much they are enjoying it. You can feel the calmer energy in the flock as they happily munch together with their heads down and their tails wagging (yes sheep wag their tails sometimes). And, by grazing these new areas we have effectively added 6 free acres of suitable sheep pasture, fertilized and weeded these tree plantings (the trees are protected by tree tubes), added diversity to the sheep's diet which helps growth and protects against disease, and broken the parasite cycle that can plague sheep by doubling the amount of time before they graze the same area! It is another wonderful example of how the health of sheep, the land, and people are tied together as what is right for one of them in a natural system will be right for all three. - Harrison
Sheep busy in the orchard weeds

FOOD AND JUSTICE


It is estimated that at least 6 out of 10 of our country’s farm workers are undocumented (Southern Poverty Law Center). So in this edition we would like to highlight Shut Down Berks Coalition, a group of organizations and individuals whos mission is to close the Berks County Family Detention Center, one of 3 ICE immigrant detention centers in PA.

Quoted from theirwebsite: "In 2019 the Berks County Detention Center (BCRC) will be entering its fifth year in operation as a immigrant family prison. That is five years of human rights abuses, due process violations, disregard of Pennsylvania and Federal law and the immoral and unjust treatment of immigrant families. The Shut Down Berks Coalition will continue to fight until this inhumane prison is shut down and family detention is put to an end in Pennsylvania. Governor Tom Wolf, Lt. Governor John Fetterman and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services have the power to issue an Emergency Removal Order (ERO) on the Berks County Detention Center, an action that would ensure the facility can no longer be used as a prison. It is not only their moral obligation to keep families out of this prison but their legal responsibility."

Shut Down Berks Coalition has been very busy since their beginning utilizing a wide variety of tactics including organizing vigils, call-in days, rallies, and non-violent direct actions. They are currently on tour screening a short film documentary, "Las Madres de Berks". The film shares the testimonials of four mothers who have spent 2 years detained at BCRC with their children. The next two viewings are at the Lancaster public library,July 20th, and Susquehanna Art Museum in Harrisburg, July 21st. Both will be followed with a talk back on how to get involved. To see their full list of events check out their website or facebook page.

We acknowledge that we live in a Nation of immigrants, refugees, and people brought here against their will, who have settled on colonized, stolen land among the traumatized survivors. To deny sanctuary to anyone fleeing from violence is morally wrong. Denying immigration to anyone not of Anglo/European descent is racist. No one is illegal.  - Jono
 

UPCOMING EVENTS


August 10 - Open Farm Day - 9:30am - 4pm

  Visit us for a day of sharing about the farm. There will be a farm tour at 10am and also at 2pm with lots of time in between to ask questions and learn more about our little regenerative farm. Its also just a great time to relax on the farm. Farm products will be for sale as well. Hope to see you there!

September TBA - Biochar Workshop with Gary Gilmore 
 
   Gary has spent years as a forester making and exploring the various uses of charcoal and biochar for farms, cooking fuel, water filtration, and restoration. Come learn with Gary in a hands-on workshop of how to make charcoal using various low-tech methods and then turn it into biochar (charcoal mixed with nutrients) to be used for soil fertility, carbon sequestration, livestock health, water filtration, cooking fuel, mitigating odors, or a humanure composting system. Details and a date will be announced soon. Here is a video of one of Gary's setups in action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiFHXg9o2wo
 
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Spring Newsletter

8/5/2019

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"Being naturalized to place means to live as if this is the land that feeds you, as if these are the streams from which you drink, that build your body and fill your spirit... To become naturalized is to live as if your children's future matters, to take care of the land as if our lives and the lives of all our relatives depend on it. Because they do."
~Robin Wall Kimmerer, "Braiding Sweetgrass"
Spring means calves are soon to be born!

SPRING GROWTH

While spring always brings change, transitions, and new beginnings for the growing season, this year in particular seems to have us welcoming more into our lives than normal. We are excited to welcome our first ever interns Rachel and Erica to the farm this season. We are hoping to teach and show many aspects of regenerative agriculture and living in community with them as we also learn from the skills and experiences they bring to our farm. And it is always good to have more helping hands as our list of tasks and farming systems grows. We also are focusing on new areas of cultivation and stewardship on the farm this year that we haven't had the time or designs to create yet. Particularly, we are hoping to spend a great deal more effort on healing our riparian woodlands through invasive species removal and planting more diverse native trees and shrubs; building an outdoor kitchen for cooking with wood from the farm and also an earth-sheltered greenhouse that will provide year-round growing space; and working with new organizations, groups and people to help foster connections to our local ecology and the beautiful world that we live in. The projects and task lists abound!

One of those recent community connections was an ecological design course taught by our good friends Ben Weiss, Robyn Mello, and Wilson Alvarez that used our farm as a teaching ground this past Sunday for their 30 students. It was a wonderful day for everyone to learn from each other about different farming systems as well as how to look at the whole farm landscape from an ecological perspective. We met many new faces of people interested in these topics whom we hope to see again and collaborate with in the future. It is becoming more apparent to us that spending the time to make these human relationships flourish is often what is needed to find better and more creative ways to make our natural landscapes flourish too. We can learn so much from each other. I hope you can make the time amidst the spring bustle to build deeper and more growth-oriented and collaborative relationships in your lives whether it is with people, animals or trees.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Eggs - We have so many tasty pasture-raised chicken eggs available for sale at the farm now till June when our CSA starts so come and get them! $5/dozen

Summer CSA Shares Available - Our Summer CSA offers egg, shiitake mushroom, and grass-fed meat shares beginning in June and running through the end of October. Egg and mushroom shares are weekly or biweekly pickups whereas meat shares are every 4 weeks. You can choose any combination of the different shares and buy multiple shares if you would like. Click here for pricing and more info. The pickup locations are here on the farm, at the Horn Farm Center in York County, or at our Mulberry Street drop-off point in Lancaster City. Call 717-967-4012 or email us at risinglocustfarm@gmail.com to order. If you are picking up at the Horn Farm Center, we encourage you to also join the Horn Farm Center Vegetable CSA near York so that you can get vegetables, eggs, mushrooms and meat all in one place (same pickup time). Thanks!

Looking for Logs 
We're still looking for logs to make next years mushroom harvest. Do you have a small woodlot that needs thinned? A tree that needs to come down this spring? We can provide some tree felling and sustainable forestry services, or simply come pick up wood that's already been felled.  We can use oak, sugar maple, beech, and sweetgum. Trees need to be freshly cut and free of disease and rot. We need wood that is 4-8" in diameter cut to 3 ft lengths to make mushroom logs, but we can take other sizes for firewood if some of it falls in the appropriate range. Call 717-693-3381.

PIG POWER

Pigs are powerful creatures full of energy and an unending desire to move and use their bodies everyday. Those bodies are essentially a sturdy, muscular tank with a nasal excavator at the front end. When a group of pigs gets to rooting and foraging for worms, roots, and grubs there will be soil flying in all directions. Knowing this, we decided to employ our pigs for some excavation work. We needed more space for corn and beans to feed ourselves through the winter as well as a place to plant tree seedlings en masse for planting out later. So, we decided to over winter our pigs on areas of lawn so that the pigs could spend all winter rooting up the sod, trampling hay into the ground we fed, and spreading their manure (as pigs do). What we are left with is no sod, fertile ground, and a little bit of work to loosen the soil back up for planting. This is one of the small ways we work with the natural tendencies of our livestock to fulfill a goal of ours while also making our livestock that much happier. 
The grass returns!

FOOD AND JUSTICE

We try to include this section in each newsletter because it gives us an opportunity to talk about what is important to us here at the farm and to share the good work being done by others. We have highlighted organizations like Soul Fire Farm, a Black-led farm in New York state, and La Via Campesina, a movement supporting small farmers all over the world. 

We want to bring it a little closer to home this time by sharing a bit about an organization that is trying to offer support to local people facing difficult times right in our own backyard. Community Place on Washington in Elizabethtown is a newly opened social service hub, housed in a renovated building that was once a school and a church. Within the building is the Community Cupboard food pantry, Elizabethtown Community Housing and Outreach Services (ECHOS), Elizabethtown Area Communites That Care (EACTC) offices, Community Action Program "Parents as Teachers" office, Barshinger Financial Counseling office and the Winter Shelter, which provides overnight housing in the colder months for those who are homeless. The building is owned by United Churches Elizabethtown Area (UCEA) which runs the Community Cupboard, Meals on Wheels and the clothing bank. Renovations are in process to tear down an old garage and build a new clothing bank. Campaigns are ongoing to build another building that would house five temporary low cost apartments, expanded ECHOS offices and Hope Within dental clinic. (Hope Within is a local non-profit medical clinic.)

According to Beth DeGoede, administrative assistant at Community Place, "if you talk to any Winter Shelter volunteers, they would tell you that the shelter is too crowded! There is really not enough room for the guests that we currently have. There are twice as many guests this year as last year. (NO, Mr. Trump, the economy is not doing well for everyone!) Also, Hope Within has been given all of the equipment needed to run a dental clinic (there is NO dental care for low-income individuals in northwest Lancaster County), they just need the space to put it."

We are glad there are local people working to create a more fair and just community and we agree especially with this statement from the mission and vision page of their website;" We believe we are all made stronger when we help each other."

Find more about what they do, and how to help at their website
 

UPCOMING EVENTS

April is tree planting party time. Come join in and help us establish a living fence and/or riparian buffers this month. Bring: proper boots, work gloves, sun hat, water bottle and weather appropriate clothes. Some shovels provided but bring your own if you have a favorite. Participants will get fed a hearty lunch and have time to wander the farm grounds. Details below! 

Living fence planting party- April 6th, 9am-3pm
Hedges were once, and still are in some places, a common land management practice delineating pastures amongst the commons. Our hedge will grow to be hog tight, provide medicinal hawthorn berries, create wildlife habitat and serve as a wind break.

Arrive at 8:30 am
Planting begins at 9
facebook event here

Riparian buffer planting party- April 20th, 9am-4pm
Come join in and help us plant 300 riparian trees in collaboration with Chesapeake Bay Foundations Keystone 10 Million Tree Project. We'll be planting native species of sycamore, black willow, redbud, river birch, arrow wood, elderberry and tulip poplar.

Riparian buffers are important watershed ecosystems that filter sediments and contaminants from agricultural run off, prevent stream bank erosion, provide wildlife corridors and many other aquatic ecological functions. We'll be establishing riparian buffers on at least 4 sites along our section of Little Chiques creek, some intended to be multifunctional and some to be semi-wild spaces, all with the intention of encouraging a pasture to forested stream connection.

Arrive at 8:30
Planting begins at 9
facebook event here

 
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ADDRESS

1339 Creek Road
Manheim, PA 17545

Telephone

(717) 967-4012

​Email

risinglocustfarm@gmail.com