MARCH, 2014 ISSUE #154

We made our way happily though March, spending a lot of time outside, starting up the garden, exorcising winter with a bonfire and in general inching our way towards warmer weather in fits and starts with temperature swings from just above freezing to shorts and flip flop weather.

 

WINTER GO AWAY

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Amy and Camille examine one of the first flowers of Spring during a walk in the woods with Bob. A few weeks later, on the Spring Equinox, Rachel organized a bonfire to expel Winter once and for all. Come walk with us and and enjoy That Nature Thing.

 

AMY’S NEW TRUCK

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Bob drove Amy to Wilkesboro where she bought a truck, then they both drove to Asheville and hooked up with Molly and Shane for dinner.

 

GREENHOUSE BUILDING

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Malcolm and Bob have made good progress on one of two greenhouses they are working on at The Plant. Check out the pictures on the Greenhouse Building page.

 

SPOT LOVES PEOPLE WHO GROW FOOD
(and share their tequila)

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Spot was very pleased when we invited Malcolm, Nathanael, Tadj and Brett to a potluck dinner and has now acquired a taste for tequila. All four of our new visitors are growing food at Piedmont Biofarm. We were joined by Jason and Haruka who gave a tour of Edible Earthscapes before dinner.

 

STRIPES

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Bob has to tilt the bird feeder to scoop feed into the space between the top and the lid and because he feeds both sunflower seeds and a seed mix, the result is very pleasing to the eye.

 

SEEDS AND STARTS

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Bob has already begun planting seeds in flats and our neighbors are kind enough to give us space for them in their greenhouse.

 

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These tender salad greens came as starts from the feed store and are thriving in the container gardens in the back yard.

 

CM OWNER APPRECIATION

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Owner 1456 (that’s us!) won a bar of chocolate on March 11th at Chatham Marketplace. Here’s Josie and Steve at the cash register.

 

IN THE KITCHEN

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Whipping up a meal is easy when there’s home made Veggeroni, leftover Sweet Potato Shepherd’s pie from Angelina’s Kitchen and Asparagus on sale from Chatham Marketplace.

 

CSA & B

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Community Supported Agriculture and Community Supported Bread. Here is a weekly share of Piedmont Biofarm’s CSA and a share of Three Bellows Bakery’s CSB.

 

SPOONING

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Amy took her knife and carved a lovely spoon from a piece of wood.

 

SELF-CONTAINED

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On her way back to Asheville, Amy carries her kitchen with her. She has learned the art of fending for herself, can cook a meal practically anywhere and is at home in city, forest and field.

 

THINGS FALL APART

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Even the most well cared for machines will show their age from time to time. Christine needed a new fuel filter this month and it looks like the Kubota riding mower could use a new seat.

 

WORK PARTY

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The farm next door held its last CSA potluck in conjunction with a planting party. Much was accomplished and then we all enjoyed a good meal.
Check out the photos at Edible Earthscapes Spring Planting

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THIS MONTH’S QUOTES:

“Specialization makes it easy to forget about the filth of the coal-fired plant that is lighting this pristine computer screen, or the back-breaking labor it took to pick the strawberries for my cereal, of the misery of the hog that lived and died so I could enjoy my bacon.” – Michael Pollan, from Why Cook? in the March, 2014 issue of The Sun Magazine

“Toward the end of his life, historian Lewis Mumford concluded that the only way out of this conundrum is “a steady withdrawal” from the “megamachine” of technocratic and corporate control. He did not mean community-scale isolation and autarky, but rather more equitable, decentralized, and self-reliant communities that met a significant portion of their needs for food, energy, shelter, waste cycling, and economic support. He did not propose secession from the national and global community but rather withdrawal from dependence on the forces of oligarchy, technological domination, and zombie-like consumption. Half a century later, that remains the most likely strategy for building the foundations of democracies robust enough to see us through the tribulations ahead.” David Orr

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We blog, too! Just in case the photo album didn’t quite satisfy your appetite, check out Plastic Farm Animals

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[Troutsfarm] * [March 2014] * [That Nature Thing] * [Greenhouse Building] * [Edible Earthscapes Spring Planting]

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