Springtime

Lately everyone keeps asking about the warm weather we have had on the farm. How is it going to effect the upcoming season? What might we do differently? It is hard to say at this point what kind of effect an extra warm spring might have on the farm. We have been able to work up our soil a little early, plant a couple of things in the ground before we usually do. However, over the last couple days, the cold has returned to remind us that, though it may have felt like it a week ago, it is not yet summer. Inside the greenhouse lettuce continues to grow, tomatoes have germinated and we continue to seed many more plants. Thousands of little seedlings are getting their start. With the ground thawed we have had a chance to begin to prepare the fields for this year’s crops. Late season crops like kale and Brussels sprouts came out of the ground as well as the plastic mulch they were planted into. Our temporary hoop structures, which helped protect our kale and enabled us to have it all winter long came down and were brought out of the field. We welcomed 20 more piglets to the farm and next week 400 baby chicks will arrive. We have pulled the remaining winter spinach out of the new unheated greenhouse and are preparing the soil for an extra early tomato planting. The garlic is several inches high already. In many places around the farm, especially pasture where chickens were rotated last year, the grass is already dark green. Spring is here. We are pumped for another great season.

GROW! At the Maclure Library on Sunday

This Sunday at 2pm there will be a viewing of the movie GROW! at the Maclure Library in Pittsford. GROW! is a movie profiling young farmers in Georgia over the course of a growing season. Come join us for a viewing followed by a discussion!

GROW! Movie Trailer (2:00) from Anthony-Masterson on Vimeo.

GROW!
A film by Anthony-Masterson

2011 WINNER BEST AMERICAN DOCUMENTARY - Rome International Film Festival
2011 WINNER FOCUS AWARD - Montana CINE International Film Festival
2011 WINNER BEST OF CATEGORY - Montana CINE International Film Festival
2011 WINNER AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD - Docufest Atlanta
2011 WINNER BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT - Asheville Cinema Film Festival
Official Selection 2011 Slow Motion Food Film Fest - Nova Scotia
Official Selection 2011 Savannah Film Festival
2012 WINNER BEST DOCUMENTARY, Runner Up - Macon Film Festival
2012 WINNER BEST FEATURE FILM - Colorado Environmental Film Festival
Official Selection 2012 Wild and Scenic Film Festival
Official Selection/Jury Nomination - 2012 Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival, New Zealand

The filmmakers are the recipients of the Georgia Organics 'Barbara Petit Pollinator Of The Year Award 2012 for GROW! The award honors an individual or organization for outstanding community leadership in pollinating Georgia's sustainable farming and food movement.

Because our food system is broken, more young people need to start considering organic and sustainable farming as a viable career choice. People with land, money and knowledge need to start enabling them. Communities need to support them.

GROW! provides a look at this new generation of sustainable farmers through the eyes, hearts and minds of 20 passionate, idealistic and fiercely independent young growers. In the film they speak of both the joys and the challenges involved in tending the land.

Filmed in Georgia, USA.

Official movie site: http://www.growmovie.net/
GROW! Trailers, clip and more: http://vimeo.com/channels/growmovie

GROW! Premiered March 11, 2011 at the Georgia Organics Conference, Savannah.

For information about farming in Georgia contact:
Jonathan Tescher at Georgia Organics jonathan@georgiaorganics.org

First Seeding

Yesterday I planted the first seeds for the 2012 growing season.  It felt so good to have my hands return to the soil.  To drop seeds along rows and water them.  In the coming weeks the seeding schedule will take off and I am ready for it.