Who Knew Garlic Came With Instructions?

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It's IN the garlic clove...it's so simple.  The winter is coming and it's already time to plant for the spring, it's kind of like working in the fashion industry,  we're already preparing for next season's new flavors.  Although I haven't had much time to write while being out of the country and off the grid for a few weeks, last time we discussed different techniques for saving heirloom tomato seeds. Similar to tomato seeds, Garlic also has a protective outer coating, but it can be removed by hand, something most of us have done if you've ever eaten garlic.  As I walked into The Captain's office holding a garlic bulb, I heard him discussing the winter's garlic plantings.  I had never planted garlic before and had no idea that the fall was a good time to do it.  Being the novice farmer I am,  I asked him to tell me where the garlic seeds came from, but to my surprise, he told me...

Saving Sweet Summer Seeds

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This summer we talked about the beauty and diversity of heirloom tomato varieties and how they differ from hybrid tomatoes.  Heirloom's are selected for desirable traits such as color, shape, resistance to disease and/or flavor (of course).  Since these specific varieties are perpetuated and passed on from one season to the next and one generation to the next, the seeds must somehow be stored and saved during the winter in order to sow them the following year.  Although you can clearly see the seeds sitting in pockets of the tomato above, the gel that surrounds the seed is actually...

Clever Corn: How Seeds Travel

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Weeds have been one of the most common topics and chores discussed on the farm since starting to document this experience almost two years ago.  As we now know, weeds are simply plants that have unintentionally made there way into a plot of soil.  There are a number of ways in which seeds travel and as we saw a few weeks ago, some varieties extend for hundreds of miles.  Sometimes seeds are blown by the wind, dropped and kicked around, or moved by insects and animals all depending on how the plant has adapted and evolved to survive.  Sometimes it can be tough to understand how a seed can really move like this, but this week everything finally came together...

"Foraging" for Mushrooms in your own backyard Part II: Let's Eat

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According to Paul Stamets, one of the leading minds in the study of mycology, humans are more closely related to fungi than any other kingdom.  We both breathe in oxygen and release carbon dioxide and even share many of the same pathogens, which is why some of our greatest and most useful medical discoveries have come from fungi including our strongest and most important antibiotics, penicillin being the most common.  Medical, delicious and environmental mushroom discoveries seem to be sprouting up all over the world including the use of oyster mushroom mycelium to detoxify industrial and petroleum waste whether near a factory or a farm.  Mushrooms can be used to not only preserve our environment, but more importantly to help it flourish.  So mushrooms are incredible, good, let's celebrate by...

"Foraging" for Mushrooms in your own backyard Part I

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Last Friday the autumnal equinox led us out of summer and into the fall, a time that I generally find myself reflecting on the past 12 months and projecting what I want for the next 12 ahead.  For me, the beginning of fall is more of a yearend than December 31, with the summer's close feeling like the end of a chapter in my life.  All the winter planning and summer fun come to a culmination here in the fall.  School starts again, people come back to a more full time schedule at their office jobs, even the media industry reigns in their "summer fridays" (yes, this really exists).  There is a sense of completion and review as everyone discusses how they just spent their warm summer days, what went right and what they would look forward to changing for next year.  Completing my first summer season on a farm, I can see a natural connection between my fall feelings and those of the plants I am working with.  Although this is a time of completion, it is not a time of sadness longing for more summer days, instead it is a time of great celebration.  Winter planning led to spring seeding into summer growing and harvest all culminating here in fall where the full harvest can be enjoyed.  In my opinion, early fall is the best season for food.  The diversity of flavors is incredible and delicious.  Summer tomatoes, peppers and potatoes finally meet fall squash, kale and mushrooms.  All the summer plants are pushing out their last fruits and at the same time all the fall and winter crops are starting to show up.  A great celebration where all of the plant families come together.  Almost 5 months to the date, these amazing...

Can't Nobody Hold Me Down...Oh no, I got to keep on movin

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I can remember walking through Manhattan for most of my life thinking that people must have planted all the trees and plants throughout the streets, but now I realize that for most of my life, all plants were the same and I never thought twice about their origin or diversity.  It never occurred to me that some of this natural green was actually still fighting a battle in an age old war between New York City and nature.   Without even the simplest level of understanding or desire to see individuality, things can look similar and unfortunately, this can lead to some pretty narrow-minded thinking and potentially stereotyping or grouping.  Living in the hustle of New York City, it is easy to forget that the city was completely created by man, but that the land it sits on was once almost all natural, even some farmland hundreds of years ago.  Empty of concrete slabs, streetlights, buildings  and almost 9 million people.  Even with all that history hidden under tons of asphalt, nature still pokes its head out constantly reminding us that...

Cob Oven Comeback

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There's no better time than now...after months of talking and debating about when to use this beautiful cob oven we helped build last year, it was finally time to take the plunge and light it up.  Almost a year to the date of it's completion this infamous...

Attack of these Killer Tomatoes

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But seriously, these are killer tomatoes and so many different varieties too, even without including the life-changing Sungolds that may or may not be a large part of my reason to leave Rockefeller Plaza for the Rockefeller Estate.  Before we slice into the names and flavors of this year's colorful crew, let's discuss what defines an heirloom variety, a term so often flaunted around at summer markets.  Unfortunately this term, although commonly used to describe specifically bred vegetables, is missing one standard and widely-accepted...