Leaving July Behind

On Tuesday, there was a film crew at the farm to shoot a cable TV spot about the farm. It was orchestrated by our next door neighbor and videographer, David Huot (of Xcetera Productions), and will be part of a series about food and farming hosted by Ben Hewitt. He is a writer who wrote about Hardwick Vermont in The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food. Many who, like us, are farmers and committed to a local food economy, know all about Hardwick as a place with an inspiring story (Ben's title says it all, but here's a 2008 news story about what's happened there over the past 5 years). We've sent articles about Hardwick to our town office and we have cornered the business community organizers at SEDCO with eager plans to push Scarborough in the direction of a food-based economy; growth coming from food production and related agricultural enterprises. Hardwick is very rural with a dead industrial past... there are not too 

many parallels with Scarborough, but we are optimists in this mission, so we'll take what we can get!

There has been growth in agriculture since we moved to town five years ago. "Doubling" the number of farms, or claiming 100% growth, is not saying much when there was only one other vegetable farm in town, but we see growth in other ways. Most notably by the enthusiasm of our community for our efforts. And our great employees, volunteers, and work exchangers.

And, this season, we welcomed another new farmer to town, Daniel Mays, over at the Frith Farm. Add to that the steady number of "part-time" farmers who expand their operations to fill voids in the marketplace. Two farmer's markets: The official one on Sundays at the town hall parking lot, and the other one improvised by our friends at the Cheese Iron. Between the enthusiastic neighbors we have to the Facebook community of producers and co-producers, we certainly see and feel momentum.

That being said, Daniel over at Frith Farm has a newly certified poultry processing facility! For everyone who has hungered for some amazing pastured poultry, you should drop him a line and reserve a few birds. He'll have thanksgiving turkeys as well. With our last year's intern, Courtney, Frith Farm has the poultry processing well in hand-- as with other aspects of helping to start up a new farm. We could not have socially engineered better farm neighbors!

While we're on the subject of progress, lets hear it for the new root washer!

In go the carrots! The barrel turns, and sprays water onto the carrots.

And out the other end!

Lacking a waterfront for our Farm Camp, we think this could be the Camp's next water activity. 

Blessings on the Meal!

John