We grow some great crops, some good crops, some fair and some poorly. What we don’t grow well, other farmers do. We have smartened up a bit over the last 20 years and have dropped the fair and poor producing crops from our cropping mix for the most part. Most farms eventually find the the niche of crops their farm is suited for.

That being said, I am still growing broccoli, carrots, and peas. Crops I have never been able to grow with reliable success. I continue to grow them because they taunt me. And cabbage…, I am a cabbage farmer at heart. I want to grow beautiful heads of cabbage but mine always turn out puny.

Last year, Levi brought a single cabbage plant in a dixie cup home from the third grade. I helped him transplant it in the front of the greenhouse. It was growing well. We were working in the greenhouse last spring and had the door propped open. Some renegade chickens sneaked in and stripped all the leaves off Levi’s cabbage. He was bummed. We took a couple of handful’s of worm castings, mixed them up in a couple of gallons of water, and poured it over the cabbage plant.

The cabbage recovered and went on to be the biggest cabbage by far grown our farm. 12+ lbs. We took pictures, it was twice as big as Levi’s head. While I was happy for Levi, I was seething about my impotent cabbage growing skills.

Maybe it is genetic and the cabbage growing gene skips a generation…

It is so easy to eat fresh, you really don’t even have to know how to cook.

I got home Tuesday night from theTailgate market around 8:30. Arron from Red Dirt Ranch had given me a cornish hen he had butchered that morning. Talk about fresh. I fired up our Weber charcoal grill, split the chicken, and surrounded the chicken with peppers, eggplant, shitake mushrooms, and tomatoes .

Easy and awesome with real food…

• FAQ’s
• Talking Points

I understand the point of view of food safety from the ground beef re-calls, the peanut butter thing, e.coli in organic spinach, etc. But HR 2749 would impose one size fits all requirements on small and local growers.

We are not the problem. I am shocked at how widespread the re-calls are. 100’s of thousand’s of pounds of beef being re-called. The spinach re-call that spread to 22 states and was not organic but went through EarthFare’s organic processing plant… Huh?

If you get ill from eating what we grow, it is a short drive to come whoop our ass when you are feeling better. We eat what we sell.

Apparently, HR 2749 defines a farm as producing stuff that is only grown and eaten on the farm. If we wash, trim, cool, or package for sale at local farmer’s markets; we are processing food and a food production facility. Which will require a $500 annual fee and will allow the FDA to to nose around without a warrant.

This is a recent development within the past couple of years derived from California, Oregon, and Washington state regulations.

We taste test as we harvest and wash. Dirt and all. We have left arugula, lettuce, and spicy greens mix standing in the garden because it was bitter and not up to our standards. We might eat it because we eat the culls, but we won’t sell it. How does that compare to govt. regulations?

“For a while now, many of us have used the word ‘local’ as shorthand for food that meets a certain, somewhat ineffable quality standard. In this context, ‘local’ means something like this: This food is grown near here, on a human scale, by people who care deeply about the land and make thoughtful, conscientious choices for its stewardship. It is nutritionally intact and fantastic tasting. It thrives here, unpropped by excessive resources or technology. Its history is knowable and unsullied.”

“local” has been corrupted just like the term “organic”. A chef friend of ours asked his wholesale distributor what they meant by local and was told it was anywhere they could get a truck to in 24 hours. Not round trip, one way. That makes CA, Mexico, and Canada local…

The Truth About Food

CSA stands for community supported agriculture. It is an opportunity for you to connect to a local farm in a unique way. A CSA allows you to buy shares in our farm before the season even begins.
This arrangement benefits both the farm and the share members. It gives us capital in advance to buy seeds, supplies, and prepare for the growing season.

You know in advance where your vegetables are coming from each week and can be confident that by investing in our CSA, you are supporting a growing local food economy. Your CSA participation supports a sustainable farm, preserves farmland, and keeps your food dollars local.

CSA members also share the risks of farming as well as the harvest. Weather is the biggest factor but insect damage and diseases are also contributing factors.

To minimize the risk, we are constantly planting a wide mix of vegetables. If one crop fails, there is good chance that the next planted will succeed.

A Share

A share consists of a diverse mix of vegetables delivered weekly for 22 weeks. The season begins with greens and lettuces as well as early root crops. Next comes cabbage, broccoli, beets, and hopefully carrots and peas. I say hopefully because carrots and peas in the spring have been hit or miss crops for us. Some years they work and some years they don’t. Then comes the summer bounty. Tomatoes, garlic, potatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, eggplant, etc.
One thing we want to try and do this year is to have more greens in the share at the height of summer. We will be growing a thin-stemmed chard that is heat tolerant and makes an excellent spinach substitute. We will also have Chinese/napa cabbage and are going to try some heat tolerant varieties of lettuce. Having lettuce in July is tough but it can be done.

We often get asked how many people will a share feed. In general, we say a family of four but it really depends upon your eating habits. A couple of vegetarians who rarely eat out may easily consume a weekly share while a family of four with small kids that eat out a few times a week may have stuff left over.

Delivery

Shares can be picked up Tuesday afternoons at the Charlotte Tailgate Market. or at the farm if you live close by. There is a possibility that we may have a drop-off point in Plaza-Midwood. One of last year’s share members has offered to host a drop-off point. Please indicate if that is something you are interested in.

We do not offer pick-ups on Saturdays at the farmer’s markets. Harvesting for the CSA and harvesting for market are two completely different operations. Since we are growing a much wider variety of vegetables for the CSA than we are for the farmer’s markets this year, I think we would go crazy if we tried to do both on Fridays.

CSA deliveries will begin sometime in April, depending on the weather, and run for 22 weeks. Last year, we were not able to start deliveries until June because of the cool, wet spring but this year we are dedicating our 28′ X 96′ greenhouse to early CSA production.

Eggs

The eggs we offer are from our pastured flock of free-range hens.

Newsletter and Events

Based on feedback from last year’s CSA, this year’s weekly newsletter will contain more recipes and preparation tips. Always remember though, if you have a question about anything in your bag, feel free to e-mail or call us.

We would like to have at least one on farm event this year for CSA members. We are not sure yet what that will be and we welcome any thoughts and ideas you may have.

As always, you are welcome to come visit your farm anytime except Saturdays.

Payment

Vegetable shares this year are the same price as last year, $600. A vegetable share with a weekly dozen of eggs is $700. We do not offer 1/2 shares but feel free to split a share with friends or neighbors. It will be your responsibility to divide up the share.

We are also offering a few working shares. A working share is an exchange of labor for food. Working shares would be flexible and would require 4 hours of work a week. We would be open to the idea of 8 hours of work every two weeks.

To tentatively secure your share, send an e-mail and include your name, phone number, and e-mail. Also indicate if you would like a weekly dozen eggs in your share. Please do this step even if you have already contacted us in the past couple of weeks.

We request that you send a $100 deposit within the week. A payment of $300 is due February 25 with the balance of $200 ( $300 with eggs) due March 18. You are welcome to pay in full if you like.

Make out checks to Laughing Owl Farm and mail to

Dean Mullis Laughing Owl Farm 28016 Ryan Rd Richfield, NC 28137

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail or phone.

Ellie and Levi really liked it. Grocery Store Wars.