Welcome to the Against the Grain Farm Stand where you can pre-order for pick up at either Watauga Country Farmer's Market or at the farm for Saturday, July 25th. If you're reading this in an email, you'll see the items that we have to offer this week below. You can simply click on the yellow button "purchase from the farmstand" to reserve a box, make swaps and add extras to the base box that Harvie will put together for you. If you're reading this in the Harvie platform, navigate over to the "farm stand" to reserve your box.
The ordering period for Saturday pick-up closes at 8pm on Thursday, July 23rd.
If you have any questions about your box or the farm stand process, please reach out to Holly directly by email at atgfarm@gmail.com or by phone at 828-406-4439. If you are having any difficulties placing your order or would like to confirm the contents of your box, please do not hesitate to reach out to Holly.
This week's newsletter contribution comes to you from M Mueller...
We don't often talk about behind the scenes matters in these blog posts, mainly because we're, well, pretty nerdy about farming. We go to bed thinking about it, wake up thinking about it, talk about it, read about it--don't get us started! But this past Sunday something very special (and very nerdy) happened: we invited a consultant to our farm to observe and report on our soils, crops, compost, biodynamic practices and whatever else we could get him to look at and comment on.
This consultant is Hugh Lovel, a polymath of biodynamics, organic chemistry, physics, psychology, quantum physics, Goethean science, farming of all types, orchardry, gardening and many more areas of understanding that fall under the broader rubric of the human being's relation to nature, both seen and unseen. You can see why we were very excited!
In the course of the day-long consultation we engaged with Hugh on all of the abovementioned topics, delving deep into soil analysis via laboratory testing, crop symptomatology and observation on multiple levels. Hugh dug in our dirt, stuck his fist deep into our compost, and stuck his nose (and ours!) even deeper into biodynamic farming. The good news and the bad news are the same: using biodynamic principles we can awaken even more life in our soil!
By means of the magic of mineral, herbal, animal and human nature, we can become ever deeper co-creators of the future of our lives and our planet by understanding and engaging in the great matrix (mater=mother, matrix=fertile mother, later Latin =womb) of life. What will that mean for you? Keep tasting the ATG vegetables as the season progresses! Our goal is not just to grow vegetables, but to grow food that helps give you the energy to do the physical and emotional and spiritual work that you want to do!
Based on this weekend's consultation with Hugh, we have already begun bringing life from a variety of sources into the soil. We are fermenting yarrow, nettle, and horsetail for injection into our irrigation system, improving our composting practices by adding even more green matter and manure slurry from our new Highland cow herd, and being even closer watchers and stewards of life in all forms--microscopic to macroscopic, microcosmic to macrocosmic.We hope that as we support one another we can become ever stronger and more loving inhabitants of this Great Mother.
Much love and happy eating,
Holly, Andy and ATG Crew
