Bird in the Nest, minus the bird...

If you have ever visited Wilmington, NC, you may have stumbled upon one of my favorite spots, "La Gemma Fine Italian Pastries".  I know why they call it Fine Italian Pastries because they are so very, very F.I.N.E!  

(aka,

FABULOUS. 

INCREDIBLE. 

NAUGHTY.

EXQUISITE.)

(Just check out the pictures on their FB page...

https://www.facebook.com/lagemmaitalianpastries)

I had to go there today (to Wilmington, not La Gemma, although I think it is a necessity.)

I did what any woman with a conscience would do; had a salad for lunch...

 and went straight to La Gemma, bought three cookies and some wonderful custard-filled
delightful pastry!  

When I go there, it takes me back to my childhood in NY state.  My mom would buy flaky, 

mouth-watering Italian pastries for every occasion that strangely seemed to revolve 

around the Catholic Church...First Communions, Confirmations, Weddings, etc.

And, everyone always baked the most delicious authentic Italian cookies.  No table was complete without a platter!  I have no idea how I managed to remain a stick figure with all my teeth back then.

Every Easter there was a very special Bird in a Nest cookie that my Grandmother made.  We all got one; a huge 8-inch biscuit cookie with a hard-boiled egg in the middle, slathered with 1 inch of sweet icing and covered with sprinkles. Apparently the bird never survived the oven because it was supposed to be sitting on top of the nest.  (I doubt my Grandmother had Michelangelo's talent, so I'm sure that contributed to it's absence.)

That one cookie weighed about 5 pounds, was hard as a rock and lasted us until the fourth of July.  

(...I'm sure the Church had something special happening that day, no doubt!)

Don't be fooled...it aint easy

So, I am on this sustainability "kick".  

I don't mean to be glib, but at first it felt so perfectly delightful to say sustainability was my goal, as if the very words made all things pure and oh so right.  I got all pumped up after hearing some well- versed speakers share the topic at a sustainable ag symposium I recently attended. It is a lovely green concept and everyone's buzz word in the farming business.  

"Sustainability...let's all do it!"

(It's sorta like my daughter deciding to go all organic and everything, not just her food, had to be organic;  make up, cleaners, clothing, bedding, organic cat litter for the all-organic cat poop. I imagined my future toe-headed grandkids running around barefoot in flour sack tunics...)

But words are just words.  

It's the actions that make sustainability work and let me tell you, it ain't easy.

In case you didn't get that...IT AIN'T EASY!

For instance, I have recently adopted a "no-till" stance for my garden beds.  Hand turning, mulch and cover crops take the place of incorporating man's invention that changed the course of history...aka the tractor.  (Alright, so I don't even have a tractor, but I was thinking of getting one and even checking out Craigslist on a daily basis.) Instead I saved myself some money and spared my dirt from being over-worked and over-tilled, depleting all its nutrients.  

Fine.

My back is now screaming for synthetic pharmaceuticals from all the hard manual labor removing the sod and digging down deep.  The end result is a gorgeous garden bed I can be proud of but, gotta say, this journey is HARD.  Those vegetables better grow, or else.

I will continue doing the sustainability "thing", but I may go kicking and screaming.  

I may have to convince myself from time to time it's the right thing to do when no one but me is here to get it all done.  (The dogs could really care less.)

Those well-versed speakers have been there...they know it is hard, back breaking and tough. No one wants to hear that, so they just don't mention it.  

(No kidding, everyone would get up and walk out on them.)

 Like anything worth having, it's well worth the effort and, like I've taught my children, it builds character to accomplish a goal with hard work. The end result is more than a mere buzz word, it is a way of life that is better for everyone on this earth.

...Just pass me the pharmaceuticals.

Weathervanes vs. the weather channel...

Once upon a time, in a time not long ago, 

(before the Weather Channel), 

farmers looked to their weathervane to forecast the weather.  

Blowing in from the south?  That meant warm, moist conditions are coming.  

Blowing in from the chilly north?  None other than cold and dry weather will be rolling down the pike.  And if the weathervane abruptly changed directions, something big was about to blow in... 

and it wasn't Mary Poppins!

We look at weathervanes a bit differently these days.  They are whimsical and decorative, adding just that touch of class to a lovely roof line or garden focal point.  Their intended purpose has completely changed, now that we can watch 24-7 real time weather coverage anywhere and anytime.  (Remember when that all first started?  "How can you have an entire channel devoted just to weather?", we all thought!  Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, were we wrong!)

Weathervanes come in just about any shape if you are still in the market for one.  I came across this one that I thought might be appropriate for myself.  

(I don't have cable.)

Salud!

The race is on!

May is Nascar month here in Darlington County.  Soon there will be no shortage of mullets, wife-beater tees and trucks with #3 written in large font across the back windshield.  Young and old gather for the fastest sport in town and the track is a real beauty.  (Too bad those spectators aren't! Haha!)

But with this race there's no checkered flag, there's no revving the engines, and absolutely no nitro surging through these organic lines.  The race is definitely on for the prize...the prize of... wait for itttttttttttttttt....

 "The Early Tomato"!  

Whoohoo!  Take your victory lap, Le Farm!

But why? Why the rush?

I ask why mainly because I am having the argument with myself and feeling the unmistakeable tension to get that first one to market as soon as possible.  Or, maybe just see that first beautiful little yellow flower to know there's some hope? It could be a hint of post traumatic stress in remembering last year's fiasco that is causing all this.

Last summer, market-goers kept asking week after week, "When will you have your heirloom tomatoes?"  "Won't be long!", I'd say, knowing full well I had no actual tomatoes, only a few blooms due to torrential rains that flooded my fields, drowning in one foot of standing water for two solid weeks.  Why, oh why did I have to be that engaging farmer that sells, sells, sells so customers will keep coming back by promising them the treat of juicy, tasty heirlooms? No matter what I did to try to revive my tomato plants, they never rebounded and I wound up with just a few scrawny tomatoes that I was too embarrassed to sell. 

I have learned that there is an art to delivering a bad message when it comes to customer service.  When it was apparent that I would never have juicy, tasty heirlooms, I just told the truth about the rain rotting them and without skipping a beat said..."But, just wait! Next year I will have beautiful heirloom tomatoes!"

Oh, the pressure...

...Start your engines.

Make overs on the farm...

Pruning is a necessary evil if you have a green thumb.  No one likes to mention it since it is alot of work and makes your plants look like crap, but it is necessary for growth.  Pruning necessary for growth you say?  Yep!...a contradictory concept, but true, nonetheless.

We all know the benefits; gets rid of dead, lifeless, diseased scrap, strengthens leggy branches, brings new life to otherwise struggling vegetation and always promotes better and bigger fruit.  No one argues these merits but, it is painful to say the least.  You can't help feeling like you are destroying the very thing you have nurtured from a tiny seed to become this lush green specimen where bigger must be better.  (Well, that is only true in Texas, apparently.)

So it starts.

Whenever I begin, I wince, taking just a little snip off here and there, afraid to induce irrevocable damage.  But then, as time progresses and some amount of courage sets in, I start wacking away, with little regard to any plant's feelings.  "I am woman" and I can't stop myself.  I am on a mission to restore life, to bring back form and airiness, to force my plants to follow every gardening principle known to all farmers everywhere...TO GROW THE BIGGEST AND BEST BERRIES EVER PRODUCED!

I take it too far.
(Take a look at my camellias and you'll understand.)

Let's hope the "makeover" I just gave my blackberry bushes tonight is more forgiving and not a cruel joke created by my rabid pruning shears!  (It will be our little secret if blackberries are conspicuously absent from my market this year, ok?)

Building in sustainability my way...

According to Wikipedia here's the unofficial definition...

Sustainable agriculture:  The phrase was reportedly coined by Australian agricultural scientist Gordon McClymont.^[1] It has been defined as "an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will last over the long term.

So, how do we actually do this?  It appears that it may be put into practice differently for each specific location according to the above definition and I must say, I agree with that concept.  I watched an interesting and somewhat controversial video today called "Back To Eden" and it addresses sustainability, mostly in the form of composting with wood chips.  There were many references to the original "Garden" and that God apparently intended for this very thing because it was good.  Whether you agree or not is not my intent, really.  What I did want to point to were the ways that I could apply a similar principle to my site-specific location.  I believe that I could incorporate the general premise but not necessarily all the details. I don't feel, as one urban gardener stated in the video, that this concept was given to us now because of the state of the world.  As far as I can tell, people have mulched and composted for centuries because it eliminates the need to water.

Right?

Right.

I would not want to introduce "foreign" wood chips, made from any old tree.  Here's why...people cut down diseased trees and I don't want a truckload of that. But, I would consider looking at what I already have here on my land to use.  I have some rather beautiful live oaks that drop some leaves, but not all, hence the "live" reference.  I could conceiveable rake up a load of leaves and composte all my garden beds.  Also, I have alot of pine straw at the back of my property.  This would make the perfect blueberry mulch.  To me, it makes sense to use what you already have to sustain your land, if at all possible. I have two huge brush piles that will degrade soon enough to use as mulch, too.

So, now the wheels are turning and I have thought of some other ways I can encourage sustainability.  One way is to adopt a "no till" stance.  In other words, no tractor, no tiller, no tilling. Eek! (I don't have a tractor, anyway!)  Instead, I will dig the garden beds I need to plant my vegetables by removing the surface grass and using those clods of grass upside down on top of other areas to mulch and remove grass over time. I'll get two for one...using a practice that will have a longterm affect.  Tilling actually ruins your soil, over time.  Instead, I will heavily mulch my garden beds in the winter or possibly plant a cover crop to restore nutrients. My rows are wide and deep, heavily mulched and I should get great yield in less space.  In the spring, I will be ready to plant by removing the mulch.  Unfortunately, all the hard work is happening now, digging the beds.  (My knees and back aren't thrilled and are rebelling, big time).  My melon patch looks like circular mounds cut out with a cookie cutter!  Unconventional but sustainable, all the same. 

As time goes on, I will keep expanding on the concept of sustainability because I want to be able to sustain my farm, my health, my love for farming and to offer only the best produce for others.  Here is a great point made in the video that I have been saying over and over...Remember, if a piece of fruit or vegetable is so perfect that there aren't any blemishes or evidence that a bug may have taken a bite, then it only means that bugs won't go after something that tastes like poison, so why should you?

Perfectly imperfect...as nature intended. That's my motto.