Heirloom Tomato Festival August 22th

Rogowski's Farm  Orange County, NY will be hosting their 6th annual heirloom tomato festival on Sunday, August 22nd from 11-6. Cool thing is the admission is affordable at only $3 per person and kids under 15 FREE!!!!! That leaves a little bread in the wallet to splurge on some of dem cool d'maters. Another thing I like about this festival is the hours. For once someone gets it. I do not attend events that are heavily advertised and crowded that only run four hours.  (I was once saw a very popular church supper that advertised hours from 4:30-6PM, 1.5 hours to eat besides 10's of others? NO WAY)

 

This one runs most of the day giving crowded schedules a chance to break free and enjoy some locally grown produce.

 

W. Rogowski Farm, 327-329 Glenwood Rd, Pine Island, NY 10969

My Garden How To Videos Now Online

Hello gardeners: Just as I picked my first tomatoes of the season I found out my How To Videos are finally up on the web site at Adams. 

 

Though late blight seems to be held at bay this season early blight has hit my tomato patch. I will control it with a sulphur or neem oil spray for now.

Time to start hanging up those bunches of herbs in the garage to dry. Tie them tightly as the stems will shrink when they lose all that water content. It is easy to do and well worth the effort. Just look at the price of dried herbs in the markets. Basil especially can run $16 to $20 per pound alone. I do not believe what I read when it comes to what herbs do not dry well. many say cilantro is best fresh. I like it dry as well since it seems less potent.

 

I plan on bunching herbs by their intended use. For instance for my annual bought of bronchitis I am combining basil, horehound, lemon balm, and gray sage in one batch. when dry I will crush up the leaves and place them into a jar labeled cold and flu. For winter Italian cooking: parsley, oregano, basil, marjoram, chives etc.

 

Bunching herbs by use makes it easy in the winter to just grab the jar and shake. What a hassle going through the cabinets looking over thirty or more jars of herbs just to find 5-6 you need. Remember gardening should be fun not just THYME consuming.

Garden Expo 2010 at Adams Kingston Saturday!

Join us for our second annual garden expo at Adams Fairacre Farms Kingston location this Saturday. Cooking demos, lectures and product demonstrations from 10AM -5PM. I will be speaking on Bugs, Slugs and Other Thugs at 10AM. There will also be a talk on ponds at noon and Mark Adams will speak on fall garden vegetables. Vendors on hand as well to answer your questions!

Late Blight Hits Chenango County in New York

Here we go again! Watch out for your Damaters and Taters! Story below click the link

 

http://www.watershedpost.com/2010/late-blight-found-chenango-county

My Extra Garden Harvest going to Queens Galley Soup Kitchen in Kingston, N

Although my family of five eats a lot of the veggies from our garden I have bushels of extras. I hate throwing it all in the compost pile. Instead, Queens Galley in Kingston is getting all of my extra garden fresh crops. In addition I will be working with them to establish a "soup garden' and attempt to grow greens indoors in my hydroponics grow room, spinach etc, to supply them with fresh greens all winter. If the greens work out, spinach very easy and a fast turn over, I will try other crops like herbs, and root crops as well.

 

Stay tuned for photos and information on my agricultural expansion!

 

I am told the only way they get fresh produce on the table is through donations. So Instead of planting an extra row for the hungry. I will be enlarging my garden for the hungry.

Queens Galley accepts no government funds and served more than 7,000 meals last month.
For more info www.queensgalley.org

Now They Want to Get Rid of Lawns at College Campuses

Eco warriors are attacking homeowners rights to have a nice green lawn. They claim that the noise from mowers, water and nutritional needs are polluting the environment. Originally it was a move to reduce lawns. But as this crowd knows they can get their way through incrementalism- aka give them an inch and they will take a foot.

 

Now the crusade has gone on to college campuses, those lawns where students, faculty and often the public gather to "sit under the old oak tree". This time though they may have bit off more than they cam MOW.

 

Check out the post on Garden Rant

Controversy Over "Free Range" Definition hits Austrailia

It would seem that the United States is inwardly focused on self preservation through organics and environmental practices these days. "Green Washing" a term coined to define products that claim to be green but may only be on a limited level. Now that "Organic" has federal guidelines before being applied to many products the race is on to define "Natural" in the same way. Rest assured that the predicament is not just in the U.S. but down under as well. Free Range Chickens may get a new definition allowing an increase in the number of chickens per ,ot by ten fold and also allow for de-beaking.

Plans by the Australian Egg Corporation Ltd to review the standards of free range egg production have caused a schism in the industry, with free-range producers refusing to agree to changes that could see the maximum number of 'free range' birds per hectare increase from 1500 to as many as 20 000, and allow de-beaking.

Small farmers, free range producers and animal welfare groups are outraged over the proposed changes, saying that they are a concession to the AECL's main members - larger cage and barn producers.

Industry players got away with labelling their eggs 'free range' simply by putting doors in the sides of their 30 000-bird sheds, but kept all food and water inside.

 
Phil Westwood said that the AECL could avoid the watering down of the 'free range' label by introducing more specific labels, such as 'semi-intensive' (as used by the EU) or 'cage-free'.

The above is from the publication Australia Food News. Click for more information on the story.

The next time yo see a biodegradable flower pot, a bird feeder made from recycled milk bottles think twice. What good is a biodegradable flower pot if you have to buy another one in two years? How much energy goes into manufacturing, shipping, and distribution of that flower pot. A "normal" plastic pot lasts for decades.

In theory just going organic is passe'. Think about the total "footprint" a product or practice makes. Footprints are important not only if you are green conscious footprints also equate to dollars. The larger the footprint the more dollars it costs you in the end. And who said greens and capitalists could no co-exist?