Lettuce Present: Aquaponic harvest

Lettuce and baby herbs in our aquaponic grow bed.

Back in July we finished our aquaponic setup in Better Farm's library, complete with grow light, grow bed, light stand, and 70-gallon fish tank which also served as a home to a dozen or more koi, goldfish, minnows, and one friendly sucker fish.

Just one month later, our crop of organic, loose-leaf lettuce is ready for harvest. That's a full month earlier than most lettuce grown in dirt! The leaves on our aquaponic lettuce are unbelievably delicate and nutritious—be sure to stop by our farm stand and see for yourself! You can read all about the benefits of aquaponic gardening here.

Here are some photos of our setup:

For more information on setting up an aquaponic system in your own home, school, or office, click here.

August Produce at Better Farm

We checked in a couple of weeks ago with a pictorial tour of the Better Farm gardens. Since then, we've had a few more, good washes of rain. Those storms have sent the gardens into overdrive.

At our farm stand this week, we're featuring the following while supplies last:

• Corn (several varieties)
• String beans
• Tomato (several varieties)
• Zucchini
• Cantaloupe
• Peas
• Broccoli
• Herbs (several varieties)
• Potatoes (several varieties)
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Cicoria
• Swiss Chard
• Carrots

We attribute much of our success this summer to our mulch gardening system, which retains moisture and nutrients for the plants even in times of drought. Between the mulch gardening and rainwater catchment setups (and our unbelievable cast of interns) we've had less work and more bounty. That's something we can all feel good about.

Companion plant: pole beans climb a corn plant.

Scarlet, center, Bernadette and Delores work the grounds for us.

Destiny's Child, far left, and Scooter, far right.

Gallery Opening of Kristie Hayes Beaulieu

A gallery show at Better Farm last Friday celebrated the work of visiting betterArts resident Kristie Hayes Beaulieu.

As we discussed in an earlier post, Kristie is a high school art teacher and professional visual artist who visited us for two weeks from Syracuse, N.Y. through the betterArts residency program. Her work has been featured in more than a dozen group and solo exhibitions in galleries as far away as Detroit, and her recent "x-ray art series" has been featured on the cover of Academic Medicine and the American Society of Radiologic Technologists' medical publication.



Kristie sold three pieces at her gallery opening, and we had a great turnout—complete with an impromptu, live musical performance by some North Country locals. Here are some photos from the gallery:

To learn more about the betterArts residency program, click here.

Spotlight On: Woodhenge Self-Reliance Campus

On Part II of last week's Better Farm field trip, we paid a visit to the Woodhenge Self-Reliance Campus in Adams Center, N.Y.

A so-called "Center for the Study of Things Practical and Not So Practical," Woodhenge is an off-grid, renewable energy, alternative building and sustainable agriculture learning center in Northern NY. Owners Krista and Jim Juczak energy classes in solar, wind and microhydro, as well as sustainable agriculture, building methods, and biofuels.

From his blog, Jim writes: "My wife and I are the founders of this little experiment in sustainable living. We purchased the land about 13 years ago and decided to try to live the ideals that we've shared for so long. I'm a 'shop' teacher with 24 years in public education and my wife, Krista, is a foreign language teacher (mostly German) with 22 years in the business. We've both done a lot of other jobs in a wide variety of locations. 


"We don't believe in mortgages, everything on the 52-acre site is paid for. This includes our 18-sided, 3,000-square-foot cordwood and papercrete home, a recycled home, a 1000 sq.ft. workshop, an underground home, several cabins, outhouses and shower houses. We are NOT connected to the grid. All of the power that is needed is made through a collection of solar panels, wind turbines, firewood, etc.

"We saw and see the need for a place that people can come to learn the basics of living simply. Simply here does NOT mean poorer. We feel that people have been trapped in our society by not having the knowledge available to them that was available in times past. Building homes designed for the area/climate you live, growing and preserving food that is actually good for you, making the energy systems that you need to be comfortable are just some of the things we do here. An undercurrent of reconnecting with people around you is a secondary feature of living the way we do.

"I believe that within a very short amount of time a series of crises will cause most of humanity to live at a considerably lower standard of living. Woodhenge is a place for people to come before this happens, to learn the coping skills that have been lost due to the way most of us live our lives. It takes time to simplify; to learn to garden, to learn to build, to learn to sustain!"

Couldn't say it better myself! Here's a photo tour of all things Woodhenge:

Main House

Canned food to last through winter, cordwood walls, hanging art.

Ceiling featuring tongue-and-groove and reclaimed wood from a bowling alley. Wagon wheel chandelier with mason jar lights.

The Grounds and Outbuildings

Fuel tank that will eventually be an underground house.

Former motel-turned-apartment, foreground, and main house with living roof in background.

Woodhenge is located at 13910 Fuller Road, Adams Center, NY 13606. To learn more, visit http://woodhengeself-reliancecampus.blogspot.com.

Spotlight On: Kripalu Yoga and Wellness Center

The main meeting space at Kripalu; site of healings, reiki, workshops, and of course yoga classes.

Several people from Better Farm (two betterArts residents, a sustainability intern, and I) yesterday took a field trip to Adams Center, N.Y., to visit two very special places: the Kripalu Yoga and Wellness Center, and Woodhenge Self-Reliance Campus (blog post on the latter to follow!).

Our first stop was at the Kripalu Yoga and Wellness Center, which was founded more than 30 years ago on the belief that all humanity is one family and that the Divine swells within each of us.  The center is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the integration of body, mind and spirit. Its members support this philosophy through the teaching and practice of yoga, health related programs, and services to nurture personal growth and community.

The sprawling property includes a main meeting house for workshops, yoga classes, healings, reiki, and more; a nature trail, stone circle, artwork, and sculpture, and labyrinth.

The center offers the following:

• Yoga classes twice weekly (call 315 583-5061 for information or to register)
• Drumming circle the second Friday of every month
• Wellness Retreats
• Workshops and Healings

The centerpiece of the center (and highlight for us) is a 70-foot labyrinth installed more than a decade ago by board members and people in the community who volunteered their time and materials for the effort. The center's president, Nancy Pfeil, took time out of her day to show us around and join us on a stroll through the labyrinth and short hike on the property.

The Labyrinth

Nancy explained to us the history of labyrinths; that they're found in many cultures dating back as much as 3,500 years, and that unlike mazes, labyrinths are  unicursal, having a single path leading to the center with no loops, cul-de-sacs or forks. They all share the basic features of an entrance or mouth, a single circuitous path and a center or goal.

Here's Nancy showing us a finger labyrinth she made ages ago while traveling through the southwest with her husband (she made it out of yarn and nail polish atop a red rock!):

Many community organizations, churches and retreat centers are making labyrinth walks available for public use for prayer, meditation, contemplation or personal growth. The labyrinth walk is popular with a growing number of people  because of it simplicity and the ability to approach its paths on your own terms.

To walk a labyrinth (or run your finger over one) is a right-brain task. It involves intuition, creativity, and imagery. With a maze many choices must be made and an active mind is needed to solve the problem of finding the center. With a labyrinth there is only one choice to be made. The choice is to enter or not. A more passive, receptive mindset is needed. The choice is whether or not to walk a spiritual path.

At its most basic level, the labyrinth is a metaphor for the journey to the center of your deepest self and back out into the world with a broadened understanding of who you are. Labyrinths belong to the family of “Mandalas” (sanskrit for “circle that contain the Essence”). Many people believe that labyrinths guard, activate & amplify the spiritual energies of a place so that people who walk it can experience a feeling of grace, peace or holiness in their heart, soul & spirit.

There is not a "required way" to walk the labyrinth. The beauty of the labyrinth is that people can approach the experience on their own terms. One may enter playfully or purposefully (many people are finding labyrinths therapeutic for children with ADD, who relax by running through the labyrinth); others enjoy taking intentional walks in which they address a specific intention or issue. Many use labyrinths as intercessory walks to offer prayer for others in need, or meditative walks to concentrate on a specific word or passage. Here are some shots from our walk:

 After the labyrinth, we joined Nancy on a nature walk around the property:

Stone circle

Fire pit and chairs for drumming circles

Many thanks to Nancy for welcoming us so warmly!

Board members of the center include: Nancy M. Pfeil, president; Steve Williams, vice president; Sonya Farmer, secretary/treasurer; B.J. Mosher, labyrinth facilitator; Kim Ward, marketing support; April Williams, Lisa Smith, Donna Smith, Adrienne Rule, and Sueanne Hunter. The Kripalu Yoga and Wellness Center is located at 14029 Route 11, Adams Center, N.Y. For more information, visit www.kripaluyogaandwellnesscenter.org.

The Delicious Lemon Cucumber

The lemon cucumber is an heirloom plant introduced in 1894. The fruit has is the size and color of a lemon, with great disease resistance and the fresh, crispy flavor of a cucumber. These plants hare hardy, prolific, and great tasting.

We got our non-GMO cucumber lemon seeds at a seed party in Alexandria Bay a few months ago. The seeds themselves came from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, a great non-GMO seed purveyor. We found them extremely easy to grow, and less vulnerable to pests than regular varieties of cucumbers.

Unlike the pluot or aprium, which are true cross-bred composites of separate fruits, this apple-cheeked salad stuffer is indeed a cucumber that merely resembles a brightly sour lemon and is actually slightly sweeter than other cucumbers. Like its relatives, the gourd and the squash, the cucumber is classified as a fruit for having enclosed seeds and developing from a flower but is associated with vegetables for its more neutral flavor and use in savory dishes.

Want to taste? Lemon cucumbers are available at our farm stand! Here are some great, simple recipes for these delicious fruits:

Lemon cucumbers with pesto - from White on Rice Couple
Lemon cucumber tofu salad - by Heidi of 101 Cookbooks
Lemon cucumber soup bowls - from Straight from the Farm
Albacore Tuna Salad with Lemon Cucumbers - from Seattle Bon Vivant
Lemon Cucumbers with Toasted Sesame Seeds - from All the Marmalade

Preserves

We're entering peak production out in the garden, which means an overabundance of certain foods. Not a problem, if you're willing to spend a little time in the kitchen canning, freezing, blending, cooking, and blanching. The time spent is well worth it, potentially saving you hundreds of dollars at the grocery store over winter months on jarred, canned, and fresh produce.

In the last week, here are the foods we've prepared for freezing and canning:

• Zucchini Bread (one loaf out on the counter, the rest in the freezer)
• Basil-Arugula Pesto
• Dilly Beans (canned)
• Cucumbers (canned)
• Zucchinis (blanched and frozen)
• Zucchini Pancakes

Wherever possible, we used 100 percent ingredients from our own gardens, including dill and garlic. Some of the recipes we used are below!

GARLIC, DILL CUCUMBER PICKLES

from COOKS.COM
5 qt. water
1 qt. vinegar
5 c. sugar
1 c. pickling salt
Sliced cucumbers
Dill heads
Garlic buds

This recipe makes a sweet pickle similar to bread and butter pickles.Boil water, vinegar, sugar and salt; add sliced lengthwise cucumbers 1 quart at a time to boiling solution until cucumbers change color.
Pack in jar. Put 2 garlic and 1 dill head per quart. Cover with boiling solution, seal jars.
Note: Revised canning methods call for processing quart jars 15 minutes in a boiling water bath. Consult your favorite canning reference for more details on proper canning techniques.

PICKLED GREEN BEANS (AKA DILLY BEANS)
adapted from So Easy to Preserve
2 pounds green beans, trimmed to fit your jars (I had to trim mine a bit more after taking the photo you see above)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used nearly two, but tread carefully here if you’re not a spice person)
4 teaspoons dill seed (not dill weed)
4 cloves garlic
2 1/2 cups white vinegar (5%)
2 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup pickling salt (use a bit more if you’ve only got kosher)
Prep your canning pot by inserting a rack to keep your jars off the bottom of the pot, place pint jars in (wide-mouth pints work best here. A 12 ounce jelly jar is also nice, as it’s a bit taller than a standard pint and makes for less trimming) and fill it with water. Bring to a boil to sterilize while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.
Wash and trim your beans so that they fit in your jar. If you have particularly long beans, your best bet is to cut them in half, although by doing so, you do lose the visual appeal of having all the beans standing at attending.
Combine vinegar, water and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. While it’s heating up, pack your beans into the jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace (distance between the tops of the beans and the rim of the jar). To each jar, add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 clove of garlic and 1 teaspoon dill seeds.
Pour the boiling brine over the beans, making sure to leave that 1/2 inch headspace. Use a plastic knife to remove air bubbles from jar by running it around the interior of the jar. Wipe the rims and apply the lids (which have been sitting in a small saucepan of water at a mere simmer for at least ten minutes in order to soften the sealing compound) and rings.
Process for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath (remember that you don’t start timing until the pot has come to a roiling boil).
These beans want to hang out for a least two weeks before eating, to thoroughly develop their flavor.

BASIL-ARUGULA PESTO
1.5 cups of packed basil leaves, stems removed
1/2 cup packed arugula leaves, stems removed
1/2 cup of shelled walnuts
1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese or vegan alternative
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 garlic clove peeled and minced
1/2 teaspoon salt

Brown 6 garlic cloves with their peels on in a skillet over medium-high heat until the garlic is lightly browned in places, about 10 minutes. Remove the garlic from the pan, cool, and remove the skins. Toast the nuts in a pan over medium heat until lightly brown.
Food processor method (the fast way): Combine the basil, arugula, salt, walnuts, roasted and raw garlic into a food processor. Pulse while drizzling the olive oil into the processor. Remove the mixture from the processor and put it into a bowl. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.
Mortar and pestle method: Combine the nuts, salt and garlic in a mortar. With the pestle, grind until smooth. Add the cheese and olive oil, grind again until smooth. Finely chop the arugula and add it to the mortar. Grind up with the other ingredients until smooth.

Introducing betterArts Resident Sally Jane Kerschen-Sheppard

Sally Jane Kerschen-Sheppard is an award-winning playwright, certified yoga instructor, production manager for theatre events, and worker in the not-for-profit sector who has joined us at Better Farm for the month of August through a betterArts residency designed to give her time and space to work on a new, full-length play.


That play is, according to Sally Jane, "about an estranged family that must reunite at their family farm as the impending economic apocalypse draws near (actually being on a farm while writing about living on one will be very helpful!)." Her inspiration for the play comes from two main events: the 2008 financial collapse and its aftermath; and her own family and their family farm in Texas.

"My grandfather owned the farm for more than 60 years," Sally Jane told us, "and when he passed away he left the land to his children... unevenly. This has caused a great rift in our family, and the end result will be the total sale of the farm. So I am also fascinated by the idea of what would happen if they had to live together on the farm if that was their only means of surviving an economic meltdown."

And though she's worked among many writers in the past at summer writers' conferences, Sally Jane has this to say:  "The irony of working at a summer writers' conference is that I don't actually get any writing done. As a staff member I am 'on the clock' 24 hours a day, and most of my time is spent making sure events run smoothly... During the rest of the year, I work a full-time job at a non-profit organization, teach yoga, and stage-manage theatre productions for a young writers program. I try to write in the evenings or on weekends, but it's clearly not enough time. I have realized that I need to put my writing first, and I need a concentrated amount of time without outside distractions in order to make that happen... I want to spend time surrounded by the natural beauty and artistic energy that a betterArts residency would offer."

Now we've got her helping out in the gardens and with the chickens, cooking up jambalaya, and writing to her heart's content. Stay tuned for information on an upcoming reading from Sally Jane's play, and introductory yoga workshop taught by the writer!

For more information about betterArts' residency program, click here.

Preserving: Zucchini storage

By Salman Akhtar

Massive zucchinis are raining down from the skies at Better Farm!! Well, basically. While zucchini-related weather is a bit of an exaggeration, we have grown an impressive number of these delicious veggies this summer. As a result, we realized a need to learn a new trick – how to properly store zucchini. Here’s what we came up with:

1. One of the ways to store zucchini over a long period of time is to freeze it. To do so, one must first wash their favorite zucchini (or any zucchini, you don’t need a preference for this to work).
2. Next, cut your zucchini into ½ inch slices. For the next few steps, you will need a pot of boiling water on the stove, and a pot of ice-cold water on your counter.
3. In the pot of boiling water, blanch your zucchini slices for about 3 minutes (Note: blanching is simply the process of boiling a fruit or vegetable for a short period of time).
4. Remove your zucchini from the boiling water and place it in the ice-cold water for 5 minutes. If you’re doing more than one zucchini be sure to keep adding ice to the cold water to keep it, you know, cold.
5. Remove the zucchini from the water and place it in a freezer bag/container, make the seal as airtight at possible, and move the bag or container into your freezer
6. Celebrate your success!  

Introducing betterArts Resident Kristie Hayes Beaulieu

"Decked Out", 2011, part of Kristie's x-ray art series

Kristie Hayes Beaulieu is a high school art teacher and professional visual artist visiting us for two weeks from Syracuse, N.Y. through the betterArts residency program. Her work has been featured in more than a dozen group and solo exhibitions in galleries as far away as Detroit, and her recent "x-ray art series" has been featured on the cover of Academic Medicine and the American Society of Radiologic Technologists' medical publication.

"I love meeting new people," Kristie told us, "I love new opportunities... I like the fact that betterArts offers a communal setting. I love the outdoors and my husband and I agreed that this might be a great mix for me at my first residency. I am an artist driven to thrive... I hope to bring ideas to the table, work with others, and to have time away from my home to develop my work without distraction."

Here's her work space out in the Art Barn:

 

And a few photos of Kristie's creative process:

Since her arrival last Sunday, Kristie has already completed four pieces! She's also made her mark at Better Farm, lending an immeasurable hand with gardening, chicken, and homesteading duties, cooking yummy meals for the house, her frisbee prowess, and—most importantly—her friendship.

To see more work or to contact the artist, visit www.kristiehayes.com. For more information about betterArts and its residency program, click here.

What's Good (And Growing) at Better Farm

After some intermittent bursts of heavy rains in the last week, our garden flipped into high-gear. Here's a pictorial synopsis of some of the fruits of our labor:

Squash

Cherry Tomatoes

Pole String Beans

Sunflowers

Kale

Corn

Cabbage

Zucchini

Cucumber Melon

Cantaloupe

Watermelons

Peppers

Better Farm's farm stand is open 9-7 Mondays through Fridays, or you can stop in at the house or in the gardens anytime to check in with our staff on what organic produce we've got available!

Our Nature's Apprentice Puts Himself Between Mountain, Coal Corporation

Matt Smith, at right, and friend in West Virginia.

Release: Largest MTR mine shut down!

Editor's note: Better Farm's resident Matt Smith headed south to West Virginia last week in order to help shut down Patriot Coal's Hobet Mine in Lincoln County. The protests, designed as a call for the end to strip mining and a just transition for the region's families, resulted in 20 arrests. Patriot Coal's intent is to remove the top of a mountain in order to extract coal. The activists argue that this process causes irreversible damage to the environment, and potentially fatal health issues for people living nearby. Read more about mountaintop removal here.

It was a dramatic scene Saturday, July 28, near the now abandoned community of Hagertown in a remote area of Lincoln County in southern West Virginia.  Just after 1 p.m. a fifteen vehicle caravan pulled up at the entrance of Patriot Coal’s Hobet Mine No. 45. Fifty mountain defenders quickly exited the cars, taking by surprise the lone woman worker standing outside the guard shack at one of the largest mountain-top removal coal mining operations in Appalachia.

The nonviolent intervention action was coordinated by the grassroots organization R.A.M.P.S.—Radical Action for Mountain People’s Survival.   Arrests ensued: Now, Matt and 19 others are being held in the Western Regional Jail after shutting down the largest mountaintop removal site in Appalachia. The bail was set at $25,000/person and can only be secured to property in West Virginia. The jail reported that Matt and the others are set to go before a judge tomorrow.
 
The Lincoln county Magistrate office is 304-824-7887.
Western Regional Jail phone number is 304-733-6821.

Below is the story.


Saturday, July 28th, 2012
posted by admin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 28, 2012
Contact: Charles Suggs, 304-449-NVDA (6832), media@wg.rampscampaign.org
Talking Points document: http://rampscampaign.org/key-messages-of-mountain-mobilization/

“Mountain Mobilization” shuts down Lincoln Co. strip mine

Call for end to strip mining and a just transition for the region’s families

Charleston, W.Va.—More than 50 protesters affiliated with the R.A.M.P.S. Campaign have walked onto Patriot Coal’s Hobet mine and shut it down.  Ten people locked to a rock truck, boarded it and dropped banners: ”Coal Leaves, Cancer Stays.”  At least three have been arrested, with another in a tree being threatened by miners with a chain saw.  Earlier in the day, two people were arrested at Kanawha State Forest before a group of protesters headed to the state capitol.

“The government has aided and abetted the coal industry in evading environmental and mine safety regulations. We are here today to demand that the government and coal industry end strip mining, repay their debt to Appalachia, and secure a just transition for this region,” Dustin Steele of Matewan, W.Va. said.  Steele was one of the people locked to the rock truck.

Mounting scientific evidence shows that strip mining negatively impacts community health and miner health.   Recent studies have found a 42 percent increase in risk of birth defects around strip mines, and miners who spend at least 20 years as strip-mine drillers have a 61 percent chance of contracting silicosis, a virulent form of black lung.  “The coal companies are poisoning our water and air, and they’re treating the workers no better than the land – fighting workplace health and safety protections to get the most out of labor as they can,” said Junior Walk of Whitesville, W.Va.

As coal production declines, protesters are concerned that the region will be left with only illness and environmental devastation as the industry pulls out of the region and companies file for bankruptcy to shed legacy costs.


Patriot Coal is currently going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, in which union contracts and pensions could be on the chopping block.  Both UMWA pensions and the state’s Special Reclamation Fund are funded through a per-ton tax on coal.  With Central Appalachian coal production in the middle of a projected six-year, 50 percent decline, this funding stream is increasingly unsustainable.  Protesters are calling on the coal industry and government to ensure that funding is available both to honor commitments to retired workers and to restore the land.

“Coal companies must employ their surface mine workers in reclaiming all disturbed land to the highest standards.  Instead of arguing about the ‘war on coal,’ political leaders should immediately allocate funds to retrain and re-employ laid off miners to secure a healthy future for the families of this region,” said R.A.M.P.S. spokesperson Mathew Louis-Rosenberg.

Appalachian communities, from union miners to the anti-strip mining activists of the 1960s, have a proud history of confronting the coal industry and demanding an end to its exploitive practices with direct civil disobedience. R.A.M.P.S. and other campaigns have returned to this tradition to eliminate strip mining once and for all. Since its founding in 2011, R.A.M.P.S. has organized a range of actions, from tree-sits to blockades of coal trucks.

Today’s protesters are among the hundreds of people across the country who are joining this summer’s National Uprising Against Extraction, using radical tactics to fight oppressive extractive industries and demand a transition to a sustainable economy.

All photos from Flickr.

To learn more:

"Mining protesters' $25K bail reasonable, magistrate says", the Charleston Gazette
"Escalating the Resistance in West Va. to Mountain top Removal Coal Mining", Action South
"Surface mining protesters still in jail, say bail amounts are unfair", WOWKTV.com