Is there anything better than getting a letter from first-grader? Yes - getting letters from 10 first-graders!! Once again, we participating in NOFA's Farmer-School Correspondence program and we are so lucky to be writing to and receiving letters from the Kindergarten and First Grade classes of Barstow Elementary School in Chittenden. If you want to read the first letter we wrote to the students, click here. But far more interesting is the collection of letters we have gotten in return. The ones below are from Mariah Freemole's first grade class. We love each and every one of them!!! We have deleted the names to protect the children's privacy.
 Seedlings on the dining room floor at night Article published Mar 16, 2014
Winter, revisited By Carol Tashie The Weekly Planet In 2012 I wrote a column titled “Winter on and off the farm.” To be honest, I think that column was an excuse to wax sentimental about the winter camping vacations my partner Dennis and I take each year. I apologize if the column was more akin to viewing your coworker’s vacation photos than reading a newspaper-worthy story. Some of you, dear readers, were kind, thanking me for the over-share. Others of you remained curious, asking the question, “What are you doing now?” This column is for you. As I write, I am sitting in New York’s Penn Station, waiting for the train home to Rutland. While I promise no more tales of winter retreats, it is plain fact that, for this farmer, winter is a time to reconnect with out-of-state family and friends. Every winter I hop the train to see the people who raised and love me. And ditto on the loving-them-back part. But since it is now March, albeit a driving-us-crazy cold March, this weekend away was only possible thanks to Dennis’ willingness to handle the home front without me. Mid-winter is the time for planting and tending — seeds, that is. By early February, we have already started the 17,000 onion and leek seeds we hope, by mid-summer, will grow into aromatic delights. Onions and leeks take a long time to grow, which is why many growers start with sets. Sets are basically young plants that look a bit pathetic when they arrive but can eventually grow into delicious vegetables. But we start with seeds, not sets. Onions and leeks are not the only seeds we start in February. Spinach, peas, lettuce, kale, scallions, beets and artichokes are all on the early start list: onions, leeks and artichokes because of the length of time they require; peas, greens, and the like because they can be transplanted as soon as the outside ground can be worked. And even though the calendar says spring is right around the corner, the ground outside is far from workable. So for now, we transplant what we can inside our high tunnels and care for the rest as we dream of melting snow and warming soil. The seedlings that need more tending, as well as those we continue to start throughout the winter and spring, all require water, warmth and light to thrive. A greenhouse is the ideal milieu for managing all these conditions. As long as your water source is not frozen, water is the easy part. When the sun is shining, hallelujah for the light and warmth it bestows! But with this season’s cold days and colder nights, the greenhouse requires another source of heat. And therein lies the rub. Propane is probably the most common source of greenhouse heat, although wood, kerosene, pellets, and electric are also used. Solar hot water is making a splash, and heat pumps and geothermal are exciting possibilities. But for now we use propane, which takes a toll on both the pocketbook and the environment. To manage that toll, we transfer our trays of seedlings between our home and our greenhouse twice every day. By carrying the trays out to the greenhouse in the morning, we ensure that our plants reap the benefit of the sun and natural light all day long. By carrying them back inside every evening, we reap the benefit of not running our propane heater during cold sub-zero nights. Is it a pain? You bet. But by making this effort, we save a bit of money and reduce our overall carbon footprint. Complaining about this year’s winter seems to be a favorite pastime. But let’s face it, cold and snowy winters used to be the norm. The warming climate, while horribly frightening, has actually spoiled us. We have almost come to expect workable ground in March. Let this winter remind us of the real challenges — and joys — of growing food in our northern climes. Carol Tashie, co-owner of Radical Roots Farm, lives in Rutland City. She can be reached at carolweeklyplanet@yahoo.com.  Rutland Herald/Times Argus
Article published Dec 30, 2012 Weekly Planet column What do Farmers Do in the Winter? The other day I was enjoying a cup of tea at Café Terra, my favorite Rutland coffee shop, when an acquaintance stopped by to say hello. Amidst the small talk about the weather and the holiday season came the question I have begun to expect this time of year: What do farmers do in the winter? This question is akin to asking what teachers do in the summer. There is no one answer; some take the summer off, many have non-school jobs, all prepare for the upcoming school year, and a number continue teaching throughout the summer months. Like teachers, there is no one answer for farmers. Some take the winter off, many have off-farm jobs, all prepare for the upcoming growing season, and a number continue farming all year long. So I answered this question as I always do: not speaking for all farmers, but stating what we, Radical Roots farmers, do in the winter. As the days shorten and chill, we begin to clean and repair, everything from hand tools to greenhouses. We assess what needs to be renovated or repaired and what needs to be bought or built anew. We harvest the last of the field crops and fill our hoop houses with cold-hardy plants like kale and spinach. Some of these greens will be harvested and sold by mid-December; others will sit tight until they begin to grow again in early February. While the greens sit tight, we take a break. One of the joys of vegetable farming in Vermont is that the climate dictates certain realities. The short days and cold temperatures mean that most crops do not grow very much - or at all - and the ones that do require very little human tending. This allows us to leave town for a few much-anticipated and much-appreciated weeks. Our break is simple; we head as far south as our old truck can take us, and camp in state and national parks. Books are my guilty pleasure and I spend much of our vacation making up for lost reading time. Dennis is a bit more adventurous; he gets in as much fishing, hiking, canoeing, and biking as possible during those precious days off. But while vacation is a time to relax and rejuvenate, it is also a time to review and renew. Equipped with last season’s crop and harvest notebooks and next season’s seed catalogs, we meticulously evaluate the past and eagerly plan for future. Plot diagrams are drawn, soil amendments needs are determined, harvest and marketing plans are developed, and seeds are ordered. All done while sitting beside a scenic (and often alligator-infested) river or roaring campfire. But this out of town break is relatively short and our Vermont winters are infamously long. February brings an interesting juxtaposition of the foregoing and forthcoming seasons; last year’s greens are now ready for harvest and market, while seeding and preparing for the coming spring and summer begins in earnest. Suffice it to say, our vacation quickly becomes a thing of the past. From this point forward, we are very much back on the farm. The dilemma now lies in how we will respond to this question next year. Farmers are getting better and better at extending our growing season, and harvesting veggies in the winter, including fresh-picked greens, is no longer a pie in the sky dream. Stop by any winter farmers’ market and this reality will hit you between the eyes. But just because we can, doesn’t mean we will. The joke going around the farming community is the need for a support group to help farmers reclaim the idea of the good old fashion winter break. On the other hand, we love growing the veggies that the good people of Rutland seem to enjoy and selling at winter market is one of our greatest joys. Ask us next year what farmers do in the winter. It is anyone’s guess as to what our answer will be. Carol Tashie, co-owner of Radical Roots Farm, lives in Rutland City and tries hard to find a balance between what is possible and what is impossible to ignore. She can be reached at carolweeklyplanet@yahoo.com  Rutland Herald/Times Argus
Article published Oct 20, 2013 Weekly Planet column Eating Well into Winter A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak to a group of visitors from Fargo, North Dakota. While my joke about their city-named movie bombed, they all gasped in surprise when I told them that Rutland had a 52-week-a-year Farmers’ Market. After assuring them that winter fare was not simply turnips and potatoes (not that there is anything wrong with turnips and potatoes), they were fascinated with the idea that Vermont winters could truly bring forth fresh greens. Due to limited time, I begged off the technical explanation to the group as a whole, although a few curious souls stuck around to ask specifics. And while I very much doubt this column will end up anywhere near Fargo, it struck me that Vermonters may also be interested in the very same question: How is it possible to have local greens in the winter? Let’s start off with a common misconception. Farmers (and ambitious home gardeners) are not actually “growing” greens in the winter months; more accurately we are “harvesting” greens throughout the winter. Plants (well most of them anyway) require at least 10 hours of sunlight in order to grow, anything less and they go dormant, no longer producing new growth. Therefore, the key to having fresh greens in the winter is growing the plants to maturity, in a protected environment, and harvesting them when desired. Here’s a typical scenario. Most farms these days have high tunnels (also known as hoop houses), which are greenhouse-like structures that are unheated, save for the passive warmth of the sun. Many of us have tunnels thanks, in part, to the federal Department of Agriculture cost-sharing program prompted and promoted by Michelle Obama (I jokingly refer to one of our tunnels as “the First Lady”). This program supports small farmers to construct high tunnels with the goal of increasing overall local food production. The high tunnel is erected on fertile land and plants are grown directly in the soil inside the tunnel. Cold hardy greens, such as kale, spinach, bok choy, chard, tatsoi, and the like are seeded or transplanted into the tunnel in September or early October, making sure there are enough days and daylight hours for the seedlings to develop into full grown plants. While the high tunnel itself offers some frost and weather protection, row covers (spun polyester fabric called remay) are used to further protect the plants from the realities of the cold Vermont winters. It is not unusual to peek into a farmer’s high tunnel in the winter and see nothing but long lengths of white cloth seemingly floating over beds of hidden greens. And what about those greens? Yes they do freeze in the dead of winter, and no they cannot be harvested when in that state. But thanks to the power of the sun (magnified by the tunnel’s plastic skin), thawing occurs on sunny days and the farmer can harvest gorgeous, delicious, virtually perfect greens to meet our community’s growing appetite. The first time you taste winter greens you are sure to be hooked by the sweetness and the majesty of nature’s bounty. Needless to say my explanation is short on details but, in a nutshell, it describes how we can have an abundance of fresh greens all winter long, in Vermont or North Dakota. That even means you folks in Fargo. Carol Tashie, co-owner of Radical Roots Farm, lives in Rutland City and tries hard to find a balance between what is possible and what is impossible to ignore. She can be reached at carolweeklyplanet@yahoo.com  Rutland Herald/Times Argus
Article published Feb 2, 2014 Weekly Planet column All Hail the Mighty Kale Driving south on Interstate 95 requires extraordinary concentration. It’s not just the 18-wheelers barreling by at 80 mph or the tedium of flat roads and unremarkable scenery that demand your full attention. It’s also those ubiquitous billboards: mile after mile of stern-faced lawyers promising “big cash settlements,” smiling waitresses hawking an “all you can eat buffet” and, once you get south of the Mason-Dixon line, Bible quotations exhorting you to “believe and follow.” And don’t even get me started on the callousness of the billboard calling Ponce de León Florida’s “first tourist.” Maybe Vermonters are more distracted than most by the endless cavalcade of highway billboards; after all, our state’s ban is nearly as old as I am. But it’s hard to believe that anyone, no matter how jaded, would not be sidetracked by these relentless messages of consumerism and religiosity. So imagine my surprise when the words “Hail the Mighty Kale” arose from the landscape, as if Vermont’s own “Eat More Kale” had graduated from one-at-a-time-design to the big time. Take that, Chick-fil-A, with all your billboards along the way! OK, the mighty kale billboard was actually hawking a health insurance company, but it was still heartening to realize that kale now warrants such celebrity. It was kismet to see this billboard. We were enjoying our annual camping trip through the southern states, and for the first time ever it was incredibly easy to find kale wherever we shopped. Local farm stands, farmers markets and most grocery stores were awash in this amazing green. As such, kale became the staple around our campfire. Breakfast was kale and eggs. Wilt as much kale as fits in our too-small camp saucepan, while sautéing onions and garlic brought from home in our just-right frying pan. Add the kale and cook until flavors meld. Crack a few eggs, scrambled or not, and cook them amongst the veggies. Lunch meant raw kale salads or kale inside wraps or added to sandwiches. We were pleasantly surprised to realize that even grocery store kale was sweet and tender enough to enjoy uncooked. Dinner could be a side of sautéed kale, another kale salad or our favorite — kale with pasta. Wilt as much kale as possible, even if it means making several batches in a too-small saucepan. Using a bit more olive oil than usual, sauté onions, garlic, and whatever veggies you have on hand. Since zucchinis and tomatoes were in season down south, these were our standards, along with the carrots we brought from home. Once the veggies are soft and the flavors have melded, start cooking the pasta. Now here’s the trick — before draining the pasta, add enough of the pasta water to the cooked veggies to make a sauce. As eaters, we know the power of kale as a nutritional champion. Kale is chock full of vitamins A, C, and K, iron and calcium. Per calorie, kale has more iron than beef, more calcium than milk and more vitamin C than spinach. Kale is known for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer virtues. It also has cardiovascular, digestive, and detoxification benefits. Wow! And it tastes great. Double wow! As farmers, we know the power of kale as a champion food source. Kale can be grown in a wide variety of soils, and it does quite well in spring, summer and fall. With the proliferation of unheated high tunnels, kale can be harvested long into the winter months — even in our northern climes. Imagine, a leafy green vegetable that is in-season in December, in both Florida and Vermont. Carol Tashie, co-owner of Radical Roots Farm, lives in Rutland City and tries hard to find a balance between what is possible and what is impossible to ignore. She can be reached atcarolweeklyplanet@yahoo.com.  Rutland Herald/Times Argus
Article published Dec 8, 2013 Weekly Planet column A Wish List for Santa Spoiler Alert: Parents may want to keep their children away from this column’s opening paragraph. Of course, how many children read my column in the first place? Dear Santa, It’s been many years since I stopped believing in you. In fact, I can still remember the exact day I realized you weren’t real. It was Easter — yes, Easter — when 7-year-old Carol concluded there was no giant rabbit hopping around the globe delivering eggs. And as the Easter Bunny fell, so, too, did you. Don’t feel bad, Santa; that kiddie logic banished the Tooth Fairy the very same year. But today, dear Santa, I am putting aside old grudges to send you my Christmas list. The first thing I want is for the good folks who answer the phones at Vermont Health Connect to get their stockings filled with chocolate and flowers. Throughout the very rocky launch of our state’s health exchange, these people have been on the receiving end of frustrated and occasionally furious phone calls. Include a few bottles of good Vermont wine, and hopefully they will finally know how much we appreciate their patience and support. Please send our president a feather for his cap for bringing sweeping changes to our country’s inequitable health-care system. Although I was rooting for single-payer, he deserves credit for succeeding where so many others have failed. But once you go down his chimney, please leave him Bill Gates’ phone number. Next time he needs some computer work done, hopefully he will ask a pro. Santa, bring our governor and state Legislature the children’s book “The Little Engine That Could.” They will need courage and fortitude as they craft and codify our state’s single-payer system and stave off those who say it can’t be done. And why not throw in a copy of “David and Goliath” to remind them that the little guys — us — can win against the giant — Monsanto — in the GMO-labeling war? There’s a rumor going around that our beloved Sen. Bernie Sanders is thinking of running for president. While we are damn proud of our independent Socialist senator, please give Bernie a gift certificate for a weekend getaway with Howard Dean. And Dennis Kucinich. And Ralph Nader. Please bring a red pencil to the U.S. secretary of agriculture so he can delete the inane food-safety rules included in the farm bill. While food safety is critical, these one-size-fits-all rules could put many small farmers out of business and make it virtually impossible for schools to get local food into their cafeterias. For the Supreme Court justices, please give them the games of Monopoly and Operation so they can learn the difference between corporations and people. I know I should ask you to bring something for the folks in Congress. But since you are Santa and not the Wizard of Oz, I guess brains and hearts are not possible. Oh, well. Here’s a tough one, Santa. Please give all climate-change deniers the deed to a small sliver of beachfront in the Republic of Maldives, the island nation that is disappearing into the sea. I know this seems like a reward for bad behavior, but there’s nothing like firsthand experience to change somebody’s mind. Plus your old standby of a lump of coal is what got us into this mess in the first place. And lastly, for everyone who has everything he or she needs and yet fills their Christmas lists with more of what they want, please bring them all fruitcake and hope they can take a joke. Thank you, dear Santa, for making all of my Christmas wishes come true. Carol Tashie, co-owner of Radical Roots Farm, lives in Rutland City and tries hard to find a balance between what is possible and what is impossible to ignore. She can be reached at carolweeklyplanet@yahoo.com. |
Radical Roots Farm's BlogCarol Tashie and Dennis Duhaime will occasionally share stories from the farm, the farmers' market, and their lives. They will also share Carol's Weekly Planet column which runs once a month in the Sunday Rutland Herald and Times Argus . Archives
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