Better Farm, betterArts Participate in Organic Market's Annual Expo

This year's betterArts-Better Farm project at Mustard Seed: Paint your favorite vegetable or fruit!

Every year, Watertown's organic market Mustard Seed hosts a day-long Earth Day event featuring free samples, locally sourced foods, activities, raffles, and more—and for the last several years, they've extended an invitation to betterArts and Better Farm to participate. This year the event was held a few weeks after Earth Day in May—that's what happens when you live in the North Country and winter takes a particularly long time to heave off.

Lilli and I wanted to engage with the kids at the event, so we decided to ask them to paint their favorite vegetable or fruit; thereby drawing attention to healthy living—and pushing the little ones' artistic sides. We started out painting our own favorite produce to show the kids some ideas. 

Using mat board donated by the Whimsical Pig and acrylic paint, I made a tomato and Lilli made beet and summer squash. Kids were excited about paint their favorite vegetable like carrot, eggplant and tomato. We also talked to the parents about what Better Farm and betterArts are all about and how we are bringing art to the north country and also teaching people about organic farming. We talked to them about upcoming events like Better Festival that is June 21, and how it's kid-friendly with live music, food, games, tours of the farm, and arts 'n' crafts. 


Here are some photos of the day:

Tea-Party Tree Trunk

What's a girl to do when National Grid swoops through the yard and takes down a dead tree blocking the power line?

Stack that wood for next winter, turn that trunk into a table, and start planning an epic tea party.

Not every trunk has to be removed from its place in your yard—a simple plywood circle attached to the trunk with galvanized decking screws and a coat of exterior paint is enough to equip you with the most perfect table for an outdoor checkers match, picnic, or Mad Hatter tea party complete with log seats.

Do you not LOVE this?! Stay tuned for pics from the obviously impending matches of bocce ball and croquet with sides of tea and cucumber sandwiches in all the seersucker, linen, and party-dress fare we can get our hands on.

Sauna Gets Roof, Walls

A group of volunteers yesterday revived last year's sauna project at Better Farm, adding a roof and starting work on exterior walls.

Begun last summer, Better Farm's sauna is an exercise in upcycling. All components are reused from something else: a pallet floor, exterior walls reclaimed from a demolition project this winter, and even a tree stump left after a windstorm knocked down a giant tree back in 2011. What couldn't be reclaimed was purchased from the sawmill next door.

Here are Bob Laisdell, workshop instructor (left) and one of last year's sustainability students Jacob Firman, getting things started:

 After Day 1:

 

Here's the sauna taking shape, with some of the pallet flooring complete:

The crew yesterday trimmed up and finished the roof, which is now ready for metal sheeting (also reclaimed from the winter's demolition project), completed the pallet floors (pallets plucked from the dump), insulated the floor (reused hard foam insulation), and added one of the exterior walls (reclaimed tongue and groove). Once the exterior walls are done, it will be time to add a window or two, put in the front door, and get started on the inside benches, wood stove, vent, and changing room. Here are some photos from the day:

 

Measuring the roofline.

The tree stump will become a bench in the sauna's changing room. Cutting pallets to fit around said stump? Not a fun project.

 

 

To learn more about the projects and upcoming events at Better Farm, click here.

betterArts Supports One District, One Book Initiative

betterArts last Thursday supported the One District, One Book initiative throughout Jefferson County at Watertown Case Junior. The event was hosted in conjunction with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County to bring together local youth and explore arts and animals from the chosen book The Adventures of Humphrey.

One District, One Book is a program begun by Read to Them, an organization dedicated to "Creating a Culture of Literacy in Every Home". From Read to Them's website:

 Picture an entire community embracing the same book.  The conversation among students and teachers and parents spreads out to include other members of the community – within the school (custodians, bus drivers, cafeteria personnel) and without the school (churches, libraries, grocery stores).  From that simple premise, your families will learn how – will acquire the habit  – of reading aloud together on a regular basis.

Fingerprinting was a fun self-expression project that betterArts spearheaded to encourage creating a culture of literacy for our local youth. If you would like additional information about this initiative check out www.readtothem.org.

BetterArts directors Erin Fulton (left) and AmberLee Clement get in the spirit of things!

To learn more about betterArts, click here.

Wild Plant Foraging: Ramps

Allium tricoccum, otherwise known as ramps or wild leeks.

Wild leek season is upon us! The Allium tricoccum (otherwise known as ramps, spring onions, ramson, wild leeks, wood leeks, or wild garlic), is a wild onion that appears in early spring across much of the eastern United States and Canada. Ridiculously yummy and easy to prepare, ramps are a growing favorite among chefs in restaurants—and this weekend you can enjoy some of ours on the Mother's Day menu at Bella's in Clayton!

The broad, bright leaves on wild leeks make them easy to spot along hillsides in wooded, rocky areas:

A grove of wild leeks.

A group of foragers took to the woods yesterday to harvest more than 20 pounds of the tiny delicacy, which goes great in soups, on salads, in flat breads, or pickled and canned.

Here's the bounty, which will be part of this week's CSA:

A pound of wild leeks will cost consumers, on average, between $9 and $20 with leaves and roots on:

But you can get wild leeks from us for just $4/pound (while supplies last!):

To enroll in Better Farm's CSA program, click here. Many thanks to the Tulley family for allowing us to forage in their woods!

Better Bees!

Could there bee a more perfect company for Better Farm to partner with?!

Thanks to a generous donation from the Mollica family in Maywood, N.J.,

Better Farm

will be foraying into the world of beekeeping this summer.

Yes, that means Better Honey will be coming soon!

We've selected a winter-hardy beginner's bee kit from a company called

Betterbee

(get it?!) because obviously this is the perfect company for us to work with...):

TheBeeMax Beginners Kit comes complete with EVERYTHING you need to get started right away.

Introduced in 2000, Betterbee® started this line of ultra-insulating polystyrene hive equipment to give honeybee colonies a better chance at overwintering in extreme Northern temperatures, while also helping to keep the colony cool in the hot summer months due to the material from which it's made.

This Complete BeeMax® Beginner’s Kit is sold unassembled, but takes less than 30 minutes to put together. The beginner's kit includes:

BeeMax® Telescoping Outer Cover for BeeMax®Wooden Inner Cover for BeeMax®BeeMax® Hivetop Feeder for BeeMax™2 BeeMax® Medium Supers20 Medium Plastic Frames2 BeeMax® Deep Hive Bodies20 Deep Plastic FramesBeemax Bottom Board w/ Built-in Varroa Screen10" Hive Tool Stainless Steel Smoker w/Heat ShieldBeginning Beekeeping BookLeather GlovesHard Plastic HelmetRound Tie-Down VeilPlastic Queen Excluder

The bees and kit should be arriving at the farm next week; shoot us an email at info@betterfarm.org if you'd like to come out on delivery day to see how backyard beekeping is done.

Work in Progress: Living and Decaying Art

For one of Lilli Fisher's projects, she has stitched together a book; the letters of which are cut from leaves (this page) and pine needles.

One week into her betterArts residency, visual artist Lilli Fisher has started work on several projects utilizing the natural landscape: a handmade book with letters created from leaves of trees, weeds, and flowers; an installation utilizing invasive plants; and a 3-D piece made entirely out of burdocks.

Lilli, a MICA graduate specializing in sculptural works, pigments, and creative writing, will be working on temporary outdoor installations featuring living and decaying works that may create habitats, be consumed, or be built by organisms in the ecosystem. The intention of her work is to question human-environmental relationships.

Local flora and fauna experts last night teamed up with Lilli on some plant identifications:

Here are some shots of her bookwork and plant collections as they take shape:

 Lilli Fisher will present her final projects, utilizing living and decaying organic matter, in a show Friday, May 30, at Better Farm in Redwood. Check out more of her work at http://lillifisher.com. To learn more about the betterArts residency program, click here.

Inspiring Young Loraxes in the North Country

Volunteers helped to plant 50 white spruce trees on the Better Farm campus in the last week.

In its third year of a partnership with the DEC, Better Farm over the weekend planted 50 white spruce trees to help educate North Country youth about conservation and land stewardship.

The Department of Environmental Conservation's School Seedling Program seeks to encourage young people to learn about the natural world and the value of trees in it. We use the tree-planting to provide visitors to Better Farm with the knowledge of how beneficial trees are to the environment.

Each year, we pledge to plant at least 100 trees on the property of Better Farm and in its surrounding environs. This process replenishes our local habitat and compensates for the loss of trees throughout the year due to a variety of factors (namely ice storms!). We also harvest standing-dead trees on the property, which makes way for new growth. In the last two years, we've planted 150 trees from the DEC, dozens of fruit trees, weeping willows, transplanted at least 30 pine trees, and started from seed more than 150 black walnuts. We have 50 more trees to plant this spring—email us to get involved!

Most of us recognize the beauty of trees and their many other values. Trees provide food and shelter for wildlife and prevent erosion. They help protect our streams and lakes by stabilizing soil and using nutrients that would otherwise wash into waterways. Trees help moderate temperature and muffle noise. They even help improve air quality by absorbing some airborne compounds that could be harmful to us, and by giving off oxygen.

When students plant tree seedlings, they can see for themselves the structure of trees, learn what they need, and how they grow. Reps from Better Farm  use the planting process to discuss the benefits trees provide, while including many subjects that their classes are studying. As seedlings mature, the young trees can be a continuing, personalized way of relating what they've learned in books to visible, living examples. We'll be utilizing mulch and compost while we plant, so students gain the added benefit of learning about how their food waste can help nourish other plants.

Better Farm's sustainability students will provide ongoing care to the young trees throughout their development.

here's one of our volunteers reading an excerpt from Dr. Seuss' classic book, The Lorax.

Join us May 11 for Better Farm's Volunteer Day! Click here for more details.

What's Growing at Better Farm

Seedlings and seeds enjoy some fresh air on (yet another) rainy spring day.

In spite of the perpetually crummy weather outside, spring is upon us at Better Farm. Asparagus, chives, garlic, leeks, strawberries, raspberries, peach and fig trees, and many many more plants and herbs throughout the gardens have been waking up each day and spreading new, green leaves. Inside, seeds are sprouting every day and we're getting regular shipments of new exotics like dwarf pineapple trees, coffee plants, and Mediterranean olive trees.



With evenings just starting to offer the sustained warmth necessary to harden seedlings off in the greenhouse, we've been getting the babies ready for the great outdoors by exposing them to the elements during daylight hours on the back deck. This late season hasn't reaked any havoc yet in regard to the health of our preemies—but it has certainly been inconvenient! Usually by this time of year, all the plants are living full-time in the greenhouse, potatoes are in the ground, and we're starting in on onions. Regardless; here are some photos of all the activity afoot:

Asparagus heads poke up out of the wet soil out back.

Tomato seedlings reach for the sky.

A preview of what's to come: eggplant, celery, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, and cauliflower make their grand entrances.

Our CSA begins today; but there are still spaces left if you'd like to sign up for weekly shares of fresh produce throughout the season. We also offer amended CSAs to those who are only in the North Country on weekends; or those who would like a bulk rate on what's in-season but can't commit to a weekly pickup. Our updated list of produce this season:

Vegetables (all organic)

Artichoke—Imperial Star Organic

Asparagus

Beans—Black Coco, Monachelle di Trevio, Envy Soya, Garbanzo, Great Northern

Beets—Lutz Green Leaf

Broccoli— Belstar

Brussel Sprouts—Royal Marvel Hybrid

Cabbage—Derby Day

Carrots—Purple Haze Hybrid, Rainbow Blend, Yaya Hybrid

Cauliflower—Veronica Hybrid

Celery—Redventur

Corn—Northern Xtra-Sweet Yellow

Cucumber—Lemon

Eggplant— Rosa Bianca, Japanese White Egg

Kale—Red Russian

Leeks— Giant Musselburgh

Lettuce—Buttercrunch, Sunset

Okra

Onions— Yellow Sweet Spanish

Peanuts—Jumbo Virginia,

Peas—Little Marvel Shell Pea

Peppers—Green California Wonder, Italian Sweet Red

Potato—Yukon Gold, Red, Sweet

Pumpkin—Shishigatani/Toonas Makino, Connecticut Field

Quinoa—Shelly

Radish—Pink Beauty

Rosemary

Swiss Chard - Bright Lights

Soybean

Squash— Thelma Sanders' Sweet Potato, Crookneck-Early Golden Summer, Caserta Zucchini, White Bush Scallop, Argonaut Hybrid Butternut, Black Beauty Zucchini

String Beans—Compass Bush Bean

Tomatoes—Ananas Noire, Purple Calabash, Better Farm heirlooms

Watermelon—Sugar Baby

Fruits and Trees

Apple

Apricot

Dwarf Banana (indoor)

Blueberry

Catalpa

Cherry

3-in-1 Citrus (indoor)

Coffee Plant

Fig

Kiwi

Mediterranean Olive (indoor)

Peach

Dwarf Pineapple (indoor)

Raspberry

Strawberries

Herbs

Basil—Large-Leaf Italian Basil, Lime

Borage—Blue

Chives

Cilantro

Dill

Garlic

Lemon Balm

Mint

Nasturtium—Mixed Dwarf Jewel

Parsley

Ramps/Wild Leeks

Rosemary

Sage

Salad greens—various

Flowers

Mammoth Gray Stripe Sunflower

Kochia Scoparia Grass

25 Giant Allium

“Red Sun” Sunflower

Various wildflowers

To join Better Farm's CSA and enjoy a weekly share of fresh produce all season long, please email info@betterfarm.org or visit www.betterfarm.org/csa.

Introducing betterArts Resident Lilli Fisher

"Silent Birth" by Lilli Fisher, tarlatan and dirt, 40" diameter, May 2011

Lilli Fisher is a visual artist and sculptor from Alexandria, Virg., arriving tomorrow for a month-long betterArts residency. During her time at Better Farm, Lilli will be working on temporary outdoor installations featuring living and decaying works that may create habitats, be consumed, or be built by organisms in the ecosystem. The intent of her work will be to question human-environmental relationships.

 

Lilly in 2012 earned her BFA in painting and creative writing from Maryland Institute College of Art. Her sculptures, drawings, and paintings have been featured in multiple galleries along the east coast and in São Tomé and Príncipe. She has worked behind-the-scenes for studios and graphic designers; and participated in several community art projects.

In her own words:

"My work is a physical process of searching in which I investigate my existence in the context of contemporary life. I collect discarded human-made objects before they are swallowed back into the earth. I gather waste from industrial production and daily consumption. I apply ancient materials in the creation of contemporary symbols. Spices, herbs and dirt are my pigments. I interpret these culturally disparate substances as part of a globally interconnected ecological system in which we are all participants. My aim is to provide a sensual experience, removed from the boundaries of language, which encourages the viewer to question their paradigms... During my betterArts residency I intend to gain a personal understanding of human-ecosystem interactions through organic farming, create pieces that are integrated into the living fabric of their environment, and take advantage of the valuable feedback I can receive from the Better Farm community."

Overcast, plastic bags and coal, dimensions variable, 2012

The Alligator Never Sleeps, items found in the Jones Falls River, 72" x 18", 2012

Here's what Lilli had to say about her specific interest in a betterArts residency:

"BetterArts is unique among residencies in that it provides not only an artistic community but also a community of people devoted to living sustainably. This type of community is an invaluable resource for me because of the mode of artistic experimentation I want to explore. The feedback I receive will help me to make the work I really want to make, and to gauge the reaction it receives against a diverse group of perspectives and backgrounds. I intend to take full advantage of the opportunity to converse, contemplate, and collaborate with the community of Better Farm."

Be sure to stop in and check out Lilli's works-in-progress throughout the month! Completed works will be on display for the public to enjoy at the conclusion of her residency—stay tuned for more information!

To see more of Lilli Fisher's work, visit lillifisher.com. For more information about betterArts residencies, click here.

Throw Your Weight Around at Better Farm's Volunteer Day May 11

Better Farm is hosting its First Annual Volunteer Day Sunday, May 11, in order to invite the public (and their moms in honor of Mother's Day) in for a behind-the-scenes look and hands-on learning experience of how Better Farm works. Get your hands dirty right alongside with us and learn a ton in the process about organic and alternative gardening methods, green building and repairs, and loving your Mother in the truest sense of the word.

Here's a rough outline of all the things we'll be up to! If you would like to attend, please email info@betterfarm.org with any particular items on this list that interest you. Lunch and refreshments will be provided!

10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, May 11

• Planting trees, seeds, and transplanting
• Tending plants in greenhouse
• Straw-bale construction for walls of new events gazebo
• Turning compost
• Shoveling mulch and compost, wheel-barreling to garden rows
• Cleaning up materials space
• Tool maintenance/tool shed organization
• Sauna construction
• Building slatted racks for bee hive
• Mulch gardening
• Rainwater catchment repairs/installation
• Outdoor shower installation 
• Pond maintenance
• Deck sanding, staining
• Shed demolition
• Chicken coop repair, deep clean

Introductory Piano Camp for Kids Slated Aug. 18-22

Image from Watertown Piano Lessons.

betterArts has scheduled an introductory piano camp for beginners Aug. 18-22 at Better Farm.

"Blast Off With Piano" is held for 45 minutes Monday through Friday at the Better Farm campus with instructor Jason Comet of Watertown Piano Lessons. Students will learn fundamentals of rhythm reading and keyboard geography, and how to play with others through board games, ensemble piano playing, and other age-appropriate activities. 

Children will be divided into three age groups:

• Ages 5-6 from 10-11 a.m.
• Ages 7-8 from 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
• Ages 9-10 from 12-1 p.m. 

There is a six-student maximum for each age group. On Saturday, Aug. 23, students are invited to perform at 12 p.m. to kick off the annual Summer Fest, an annual music festival held at Better Farm. 

Students do not need a keyboard instrument at home to practice on. The camp studio is equipped with enough keyboards for in-class use. 

Cost: $70, pre-register by at info@betterarts.org. To see our full calendar of events and workshops, visit www.betterfarm.org/upcoming-events.

Shop at AmazonSmile, Support betterArts

Shop at Amazon Smile and a portion of your purchase will support betterArts.

AmazonSmile is a new program allowing a portion of all your Amazon purchases to be donated to betterArts in order to support arts and cultural outreach in the North Country.

Here's how it works.

You visit smile.amazon.com (or simply follow this link) and plug "betterArts" in under charitable organization.  In order to browse or shop at AmazonSmile, customers must first select a charitable organization. For eligible purchases at AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to the customer’s selected charitable organization. AmazonSmile is the same Amazon marketplace you're used to—except a percentage of your purchase amounts will be donated to betterArts.

Each quarter, the AmazonSmile Foundation makes donations to eligible charitable organizations. To account for Product returns, a portion of the quarterly donations will be withheld until the following donation cycle.

What is the AmazonSmile Foundation?

The AmazonSmile Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private foundation created by Amazon to administer the AmazonSmile program. All donation amounts generated by the AmazonSmile program are remitted to the AmazonSmile Foundation. In turn, the AmazonSmile Foundation donates those amounts to the charitable organizations selected by our customers. Amazon pays all expenses of the AmazonSmile Foundation; they are not deducted from the donation amounts generated by purchases on AmazonSmile.

Click here to get started!