Mother Rock Micro Farm
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A Market You Don't Want to Miss
Hello, Friend! We have officially reached major harvesting time on the farm! Zucchini, and green beans, and beets, oh my! And potatoes. And cucumbers. Leeks. Cabbage. Carrots. And wow, so much basil -- a lot of pesto happening these days! Quite the jackpot with our Golden Nugget potatoes! Beautiful beets! The tomatoes and peppers seem to be taking their time. A neighbor at this weekend's farmer's market suggested that the recent heatwave here might be slowing those guys down -- apparently...
What is Nature Reflecting to You?
Hello, Friend! How's your summer going? Is it like the wild and rapid growth of bean and cucumber vines, climbing higher every day? An empty garden bed that has been harvested and awaits new planting? A sweet potato vine, starting to find its way both above and below ground? As we approach the middle of summer, it's a time of lush growth and increasing harvests. It's also a great opportunity to take stock. How is the plan created back in the chilly days of winter playing out? What lessons...
The Mid-Season Pause
Hello, Friend! You know, every week we sit down to write this newsletter, and generally there's some accomplishment, some setback, some lesson to share. This week, we've got nothing. Well, not nothing, because this, too, provides an opportunity for insight. We get so used to being busy, often having more to handle than we have time or energy for -- starting seeds, planting them out, battling pests and weeds, fertilizing, building support structures, turning over beds, and on and on and on....
The Paradox of Abundance
Hello, Friend! Yet another wonderful community day this weekend! In no time at all we cleared the hoop houses to plant cover crop, and we got to dig around for potatoes and pull up some beets. Before After Before After After months of planting and nurturing, it's always great to get to the point in the season when there's more to harvest. And soon, we'll be harvesting piles of veggies multiple times a week -- an abundant return for all of our work. The majority of our meals will consist of...
Harvests Offer More Than Food
Hello, Friend! Happy Summer! With these long days and warm temps, it's the time for plants to grow like crazy. Tomato vines become jungles, flowers are blooming, beans are climbing -- and we get to start harvesting more than just greens! The garlic had been hinting for the last week that it was ready, and it's a beautiful harvest! Some of our potato plants were also looking a bit tired, so we decided to pull one, and then another, and another -- in the end harvesting a whole row of wonderful...
Don't Underestimate These Guys
Hello, Friend! Last week, we shared our sad-looking snap pea plants and our decision to pull them out. Well, we have more pitiful-looking plants this week: sweet potato slips (starts). But don't be fooled! Sweet potato slips often look like there's just no way they're going to thrive. Actually, these slips above look great compared to some of the withered, nearly leafless starts we got last year, which turned into this: What matters are the roots. Or at least the potential for them. As long...
Struggle: Keep Going? Or Change Direction?
Hello, Friend! Sugar snap peas can be such a fun plant to grow. The plants vine up a trellis and produce fat pods that are the perfect garden snack. But alas, we have not been successful with them. When they struggled last year, we knew we had neglected them a bit -- it was our first season in this new place, and we were overwhelmed with all of the things to do. We eventually built them trellises and mostly got them off the ground. Some did okay-ish. This year, we put them in a sunnier spot...
We Gave Up, And This Happened
Hello, Friend! Most of the time, we put as much care as possible into growing healthy crops -- watering, weeding, feeding, battling pests, and so on, over and over. There's always something that needs more attention, and we do our best to keep up. But we gave up on our artichokes last summer. It was an experiment to try to grow them in this climate anyway, so when they didn't produce any bulbs despite their great bushiness, we just figured it was too warm here. For the rest of last season and...
You Have to Kill Some of Them
Hello, Friend! I spent an hour yesterday killing my little carrot seedlings. Not all of them, as you can see, but at least half of them. Thinning seedlings is just part of the process of growing beautiful, healthy vegetables -- each plant needs its space to grow, so others have to go. But the sacrificing always feels kind of ruthless. Don't they all deserve to live? Isn't it my responsibility to keep nurturing them? Well, you may already know where keeping all of these seedlings would lead:...
Gardening Lowers This Risk by 66%
Hello, Friend! Gardening has many benefits, as we know, but it's amazing when you encounter statistics like these: "...those who gardened on a daily basis had a 36% lower risk of developing dementia than those who didn't." "...those who gardened for more than one hour per week had a 66% lower risk of cardiac arrest..." These and so many more facts are outlined in this article. (Thanks to my friend Jen for sharing it!) Now, you may be young and feel like such concerns are not yours, but...
Want to learn and grow with us? Curious about joining us on the farm in Marshall, NC for community days and workshops? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter!