Radical Roots on WCAX TV

Today was a wonderful day at Farmers Market. Coupled with downtown Rutland's Ethnic Festival, the streets were filled with people excited to be enjoying all that Rutland has to offer. WCAX-TV was filming and Carol was interviewed to get the farmer's perspective on how Ethnic Fest and Farmers Market complement each other. Check out the video and see how terrific our city and our Farmers Market really are!

New Coolers at the Farm Stand

We decided to go "big-time" and bought some huge coolers for our farm stand. Come check them out - they keep all of our precious produce cool and fresh - even in this summer heat.

Tomatoes!

The tomatoes are in!! We have been selling them at our farm stand on Creek Road for about a week and willl have them at Farmers Market this Saturday - as well as for weeks to come!

We grow all of our tomatoes in the field - they are "Dirt Tomatoes" as one Rutlander called them last week. So while they may not be the picture-perfect-looking tomatoes of greenhouse and grocery store fame - they smell and TASTE just like the summer tomatoes you have been dreaming of all year long!

(One of our friends asked why so many tomatoes don't smell like tomatoes. While we won't say a word about anyone else's tomatoes, we can assure you that when you get a whiff of Radical Roots tomatoes, they will smell like tomatoes grown in the dirt, rain, and hot Vermont sun!)

Please stop by the farm stand and the Farmers Market to enjoy these joys of Vermont summer! We will have Sun Gold and Cherries, Oregon Spring Slicers, Red Saladettes, and lots and lots of plum tomatoes perfect for making sauces, stews and salsa!

Donating Produce to the Vermont Democratic Party Summer Fundraiser

Radical Roots Farm, along with a number of other farms and producers, is donating some produce to the Vermont Democratic Party Summer Fundraiser, held at the Marble Museum in Proctor, on August 11th. The best part? The Domestic Diva (Hilary Adams Paul) will be using our veggies to make some luscious. decadent, delicious creations, available for tasting and sale at the event. Check out the Rutland County Democratic website for complete information.

Testing our Soils

Sylvia Harris from the NRCD (Natural Resources Conservation District) came out the farm today to do some free soil testing. She took samples from our 5 fields and will provide us with all sorts of useful information for next year. How lucky we are to be living in a state that offers this kind of support to farmers!

Radical Roots on Facebook

OK we did it - Radical Roots Farm created a Facebook page! This is all brand new for us - and it will take us a while to get the hang of it all. But we are hoping it will be a great way to keep in touch with anyone who is interested in the happenings on the farm!
Please check us out and become a fan. We look forward to hearing from you!

Our Artichokes in Today's Rutland Herald

Check out today's Rutland Herald for a great article about artichokes in Vermont.

Got Recipes?

Calling all Radical Root-ers. Do you have any great recipes - especially for summer squash/zucchini and green beans - that you would like to share with others in the Radical Roots community? What about a favorite way to use leeks or sweet onions? A decadent broccoli recipe? Something special to do with beets? We want to offer some new recipes at Saturday Farmers Market - and what better way to do it than to ask you for your favorites!
THANKS in advance. You can email your recipes to radicalrootsfarm@gmail.com And please include your name so we can give you full credit!
Carol and Denis

Green Beans Galore

Glorious summer - the time when the green bean plants start to produce and produce and produce and produce.... Stop by our farmstand on Creek Road (2 miles south of the College of St Joseph) or Rutland Farmers Market on Saturday and enjoy this taste of summer!

Artichokes are IN!

As amazing as it sounds, we are now harvesting Vermont-grown Artichokes!
They are beautiful and oh so tasty. The great thing about locally grown artichokes is how fast they cook. Compared to those found in the grocery store (grown in California, picked weeks before they actually get to your table!) - these luscious globes cook fast and stay sweet and delicious.
Please stop by our Farmers Market stand early - as they tend to sell fast each week. We hope to have them for at least another two or three Saturday markets!

ONIONS - SWEET and YELLOW

One of the special treats of summer is SWEET ONIONS. We are now harvesting and selling sweet Ailsa Craigs - a northen cousin to the Vadallia onion. These summer onions are sweet and juicy and can be eaten raw (Yes - some people eat them like apples!) or cooked in your favorite recipe. The extra treat is how wonderful they caramelize - they have lots of natural sugars and make the most delicious caramelized onions! Be sure to keep these sweet onions refrigerated!

We are also now harvesting yellow onions - these onions do not need refrigeration and can be used in any and all of your favorite recipes! ENJOY!

Radical Roots in The Weekly Planet

Once a month, Carol contributes to the Rutland Herald's Weekly Planet column. Check out this past Sunday's column about plastic bags.

A Photo in Today's Rutland Herald

This photo of Carol weeding the onions was in today's Rutland Herald. Thanks to photographer AJ Marro for stopping by the farm to shoot (pictures) and chat. Of course - in the paper the caption says I am weeding "carrots" - but close enough....!

A Mention in the Rutland Herald

Sharon Nimtz's latest column has two nice shout-outs about Radical Roots Farm. Thanks Sharon! Click here to read the article.

Ode to a Woodchuck

As most farmers and gardeners know, woodchucks are vegetable eating machines.They boldly dine to their hearts' content - never eating one entire plant, instead they chomp a little bit from dozens and dozens of plants. That's what makes them so frustrating - they can destroy an entire row of crops in just one meal.

Last night, thanks to a friend with a shotgun, there is one less woodchuck in Rutland.

Today, we pay our respects to this creature, as well as the others that are surely still around. While we never take the killing of any animal lightly, we are thankful to our friend for doing what he did. And we hope that other woodchucks get the hint and take their voracious appetites somewhere else!

The Realities of Farming

While there is so much to crow about - the incredible land we farm on, the bounty of our harvest, the utter joy of doing what we love every day - farming is not always a bed of roses. (Or maybe it is - lots of beautiful flowers surrounded by dangerous thorns!!) Mother Nature, with all of her magnificent power - and sense of humor - often poses challenges and hurdles to keep us honest and humble. Add to that, the utterly human - and sometimes fairly humorous - mistakes we make - and you have the always-interesting life of Radical Roots Farm. A taste of some of the realities of farming......

Why are the artichoke leaf tips turning yellow? Too little water? Too much water? Stress from the aphids who seem to delight in dining on the tender shoots? We are not panicking - the plants are otherwise healthy and there fruit is starting to poke through the center of the plant. We are guessing "too little water" and so are putting the drip lines on a bit more frequently. And if we are wrong and it's really "too much water" - then YIKES!

And thanks to the hundreds (thousands?) of ladybugs who are dining on the aphids. Keep up the good work gals!

Powdery mildew has hit the zucchini. These are the zukes we put in the ground in May and they have been producing for some time now. The fruit is still healthy and we sprayed an organic oxidizing compound (similar to Hydrogen Peroxide) on the plants after harvest last night. Hopefully the warm (HOT!) weather forecasted for this week will help keep this under control. If not, we have two additional plantings of summer squash, one of which has already started bearing beautiful fruit.

One of Mother Nature's greatest challenges has been the infamous woodchucks who are chomping on our precious lettuce. If they would eat one or two plants - well we could live with that! But they insist on taking bites out of many many plants at a time. Dennis actually saw one of the little "darlings" snacking away without a care in the world. When Dennis approached, the woodchuck dashed into the cornfield. Hmm.... We have tried - many times - to catch it (them?) with our Have-A-Heart trap - to no avail. In the spring, we knew where the holes were and we filled them with used cat litter and rotting meat (YUCK) which drove them away - for a while. But they are back and we are pulling out our hair!

The deer are entering our fields as well. Not many -and not too bad YET. Their hooves can do a number on young plants but we have to thank the ones that came last night - they stepped gingerly around the celery! They seem to enjoy the kale. Fine - we have tons of kale!

Kale. Kale. Kale. Certainly one of the many mistakes we have made this year. KALE - we have it coming out of our ears!!!!!! Little did we realize that people are not as crazy for kale as we are - and certainly not in the summer. Oh well - we will probably pull and till under a few of the rows - and realize that 100 row feet of kale is probably enough for the spring and summer.

And speaking of newbie-mistakes. Why did we wait so long to get our basil in the ground??? And cilantro???

OK enough of the trials and tribulations of life on the farm. There is far far far more great than bad, and the bad teaches us lessons that no book or teacher could possibly impart!!