Farm Report: July 2005
by Erica Renaud

As I sit here to write during the heat of a 100°F afternoon at the Research Farm, garlic has just been harvested. The transference of the bulb through my hands, through my nostrils and out my skin is staggering. (You are lucky you are only reading this!) Intermittent harvesting and data collection are a welcome break from the weeding, foliar feeding, and pest control routine so common at this time of year. We especially enjoyed harvesting and evaluating the diverse array of fifteen garlic varieties that Seeds of Change has to offer. Our softneck varieties, including Silverskin, Artichoke and Turban types, are immediately woven into braided strands of multiple bulbs. These garlic braids grace the walls of our farm kitchen and provide easy eating access for months.

Kelle Carter, Farm Field Lead, was particularly keen for this harvest—eagerly stating for the last two weeks that "the garlic is ready to harvest." After some negotiation, it was determined that we would await her return from the Smithsonian Institute's Folk Life Festival (June 30th–July 4th), where she represented Seeds of Change in the Food Culture USA theme tent, which celebrated the extraordinary story of the American food revolution of the last forty years. The program's three areas of focus included the new foods and tastes brought to this country by a vibrant and diverse immigrant population, the grassroots movement of sustainable agriculture in connection with traditional methods of farming, and the role of cooks and professional chefs and their influence on the appreciation and variety of the food we eat. Kelle demonstrated seed cleaning and seed propagation to many of the hundreds of thousands of attendees at the event, predominantly children, many of whom engaged in these activities for the first time in their lives. How rewarding for all of us at the farm to have these fundamental experiences shared with so many!

At this time I would like to announce Emily Gatch's new honorary title of "Compost Tea Queen." Since our recent internal training in compost tea making, stimulated by the donation of a compost tea maker from Growing Solutions, Emily has taken on the task of twice-weekly applications of compost tea to various crops in the field. Compost tea is an extract derived from brewing compost with water, together with a microbial food source such as molasses along with kelp, rock dust, humic-fulvic acids. The compost tea brewing technique, an aerobic process, extracts and grows populations of beneficial microorganisms including beneficial bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes. When compost tea is applied to foliage it provides additional fertility to the plant and works to suppress a range of foliar diseases. The beneficial organisms in the tea occupy spatial niches on the leaf surface and gobble up leaf exudates that pathogenic organisms would otherwise feed on to prosper; other microbes directly interfere with pathogenic organisms through antagonism. Simultaneous to the farm's regular compost tea applications, we are testing six home garden-scale tea brewers to consider for our 2006 catalog. These units are being evaluated for their ease of use, durability, and most importantly, the quality of the compost tea they produce.

While garlic is being harvested and evaluated, compost tea is being brewed and applied, and the cultivation of over a thousand crops continues. Joe Martinez and Erazmo Marquez have rigorously taken on the restoration of our apple orchard. Having fallen off the priority list in recent years, the orchard received its first of three intended annual prunings this March. Most recently Erazmo pruned all of the understory suckers, while Joe prepared the soil under the trees for a sowing of clovers and buckwheat. Already we are seeing the result of what opening up the canopy slightly can do for overall fruit tree health. The bows are no longer breaking; Joe is not getting nearly decapitated on the tractor while trying to till between the tree lines and fruits abound. We hope to increase the overall vitality of the orchard while enhancing it with new fruit trees for potential new introductions to our catalog in the years ahead.

Once again, happy growing (and compost tea brewing) from the farm staff of Seeds of Change.

Erica Renaud
Research & Farm Manager

Photo caption: (1) Smithsonian Institute's Folk Life Festival participant. (2) Cleaning seeds with seed cleaning screens at the Folk Life Festival. (1) Seeds of Change booth at the Folk Life Festival. (1) Display of beans at the Folk Life Festival.