Farm Report: August 2005
by Erica Renaud

Pesto is the name of the game at the farm this time of the year! Kelle Carter and Colin Foster are polishing up their capacity to create as many renditions as possible, with the help of The Pesto Manifesto held tightly under arm. We are lucky to have over thirty varieties of basil to choose from, including a plethora of Sweet, Large Leaf, Cinnamon, Opal, Lime, and Lemon types. However, we are most excited about our new introductions for 2006, which include Poppy Joe's and Cardinal basils. Poppy Joe's is our new large-leaf type that is resistant to four virulent strains of fusarium. Poppy Joe's was bred by Dr. Jim Simon of Rutger's University. Simon grew the variety for four years, in intensive fusarium conditions, on a basil grower's farm in New Jersey with great success. Cardinal, another new variety to be offered in 2006, was bred in Israel at the Neve Ya'ar Experimental Station. It is a beautiful culinary herb, producing nonsavoyed leaves that are slightly succulent; it is also a cut flower with deep purple flowers. With a subtle cinnamon flavor, it is lovely to eat and look at!

	Colin Foster and Baba Cham spreading straw on beds.
	Baba and Kelle Carter afixing irrigation line and labels to the new rows.

In addition to basil harvests, we are in the process of harvesting and evaluating cucumbers and summer squash. While the sound of crunching has become commonplace in the field, all of us are eager to take a bite of the new Beit Alpha type cucumbers, many of which were brought to us through a project led by Cornell University, the Organic Seed Partnership (OSP). OSP is an integrated set of activities that will enhance and expand existing complementary, regionally focused organic seed production, crop variety evaluation and breeding activities. Seeds of Change is proud to be part of this newly developing national network of organic farmers and breeders who are developing and delivering commercial-quality seed of improved vegetable varieties for organic agricultural production systems. As part of our role in OSP, Seeds of Change donated seed to over ten participating growers and breeders throughout the country, in areas as far reaching as New York, California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. In addition, researchers at New Mexico State, UC Davis, Washington State, Oregon State, and Cornell University are trialing Seeds of Change varieties to determine the appropriateness of our varieties in organic systems in their respective regions. Simultaneously, we had the opportunity to trial off-the-shelf varieties of bell peppers, summer squash, and cucumbers from Cornell and broccoli and peas from Oregon State; several of these varieties offered the uniqueness, flavor, and performance in organic systems that Seeds of Change strives for.

While consuming the fruits of our labor is commonplace around here, so is producing the seed that one day many of you will plant to consume bounty of your own. Today marked the season's first release in our seed production tents of our pollinators, the Blue Bottle Fly. This year the tents are full of summer squash and chile pepper varieties for seed production; to insure pollination, the flies are released weekly from the beginning of August until well-developed fruit set. The rewards of this process to the farm are great in terms of new varietal offerings and the ability to see the plant from seed to seed.

	Baba Cham's irepressible grin.
	Erazmo pitching in to help spread the straw.
	Baba driving the new tractor.

Unfortunately, Baba Cham, our season's best addition, will not be able to see the seed through to harvest. Baba, a sustainable agriculture student from the University of Maine, was with us since May and returned to school at the end of the August. Because he'd been living in Maine the past few years, I was a little nervous about his capacity to bear the heat and the dryness that northern New Mexico brings. However, his endurance prevailed through eight hours a day of planting, weeding, compost tea spraying, and nolo bait applying; every day he wore a smile so great it boggled the rest of us. Toward the end of summer Baba moved to tractor and rototiller operations through the mentoring of small equipment expert Erazmo Marquez. Baba certainly has a knack for machines! After he graduates this coming June, Baba intends to return to his homeland, Gambia, and transfer the skills he has learned in sustainable agriculture to farmers there.

As writing can be very difficult at this time of year, and we all seem to find every excuse in the garden before we actually sit down to focus on a story for you, Emily Gatch has taken procrastination to a new level. As I write, she is out in the kitchen garden painting pots and potting up bright colored flowers that may make an appearance in the "Gardening in the Southwest" article that she was supposed to have already written for this issue. Yesterday, she spent the entire day tramping around Santa Fe looking for gardens to stimulate her creative juices to share ideas with you. Rather, she fixated on color, and as a result, the farm is covered with colored pots; in addition, the 300-photo-capacity digital camera meant for research photos, is full of garden shots for you to enjoy. See, we don't really only weed around here.

Happy harvesting and southwest garden designing!

Erica Renaud
Research & Farm Manager