Bunny Brew

“What is this tea thing?” Bri’s mom Jan had asked.  She was picking beans and I was digging carrots.  It was harvest day and there was a storm approaching.  We only had a few hours or so before it hit.

“T thing?  Ummmm I’m not sure.”  I replied.

She read from the text message on her phone.  “Tell Tab I’m going to do the tea thing and then plant that row of beans.  Can you have her bring the hoe back over here when you guys are done?”

“Oh!  That’s rabbit tea.  We use it on the garden.  It’s made out of rabbit poo mixed with water.  It’s a fertilizer and it….”

Jan interrupts.  “Ok!  That’s enough!  I don’t want to hear any more details.  You guys are crazy.  Rabbit tea….geesh,” she replied as she continued to pick beans.

I just laughed remembering when we brought the rabbit poo home.  Bri was so excited she yelled, “Yay!  Tea party!”

“Ha!  That’s hilarious.”  I replied.  “We are definitely doing a blog post about a rabbit poo tea party Alice in Wonderland style.”

If you know the Alice in Wonderland story, then you know how bizarre that tea party was too.  The Mad Hatter had gone crazy after being told “Off with his head!” by the Queen.  Ever since then the Mad Hatter and his friend the March Hare (weird right?!) had a tea party all day long with a sleeping Dormouse where they all told crazy stories that didn’t make any sense and asked riddles that had no answers.

We’d like to explain why our tea party isn’t as crazy as the Mad Hatter’s and that it actually makes sense.  Everyone knows you can use cow manure and horse manure to help fertilize crops.  Well, the fact is you can actually use all sorts of animal manures in the same way and rabbit poo is one of them.

Rabbit tea is a “cool” fertilizer that won’t burn plants.  Its properties are slow in releasing nitrogen making it less likely to burn the plants.  Rabbit manure contains nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and calcium with elements of essential minerals and micro nutrients.  We used the “bucket fermentation” method which, according to the ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture Program “dates back hundreds of years in Europe…”  (https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/viewhtml.php?id=125)

According to Rise and Shine Rabbitry in Maine, “Rabbit manure is one of the best manures for your organic gardens!  It will increase poor soil by improving soil structure and also improving the life cycle of the beneficial microorganisms in the soil. Rabbits are very good at producing an excellent source of manure. It is rich in many nutrients and very simple to use.”  (www.riseandshinerabbitry.com)

And improving soil structure is one of our main tasks at hand.  As you may have noted in previous posts, we are paying close attention to our soils attempting to create the perfect ecosystem.   Paying attention to the soils will help the overall Clean Acres operation since soils rich in organic matter suppresses weeds, provides higher yields, keeps pests at bay, keeps moisture in when plants need it and repels water when there’s too much.  In doing so, we should create that “ecological balance” that many organic experts speak of.

Still think we are crazy for making “bunny brew”?  It may sound a bit looney and maybe we do seem a bit nuts for getting so excited about sustainable agriculture.  Wonder what the conversation about “bunny brew” would be like at the Mad Hatter’s tea party.

#CleanAcresLLC #garden #womenwhofarm #ProtectTheEarth #SustainableLiving #RespectTheEarth #EatForthePlanet #stopfoodwaste #organiclife #stopthechemicals #jointheorganicmovement #biologicalpestcontrol

Submitted by Tabitha Elder

Farmers Brianne Santoli and Tabitha Elder are Central Illinois residents and managers of Clean Acres Produce.  Clean Acres encourages being knowledgeable about the foods that we eat, where they come from, and what was put into making them. By understanding the importance of this, we can take advantage of natural resources that allow the environment and its inhabitants to work together.  The beliefs and ideas posted by Clean Acres are not intended to offend any individuals.  Follow their journey of starting a Community Supported Agriculture program in the chemical free fresh food desert of rural Piatt County at http://www.cleanacresproduce.org, http://www.facebook.com/cleanacresproduce or @CleanAcres. 

Organic Farmers Can Feed the World!

It just takes a little time and organization. The key is to pay attention to your soil and ensure it is getting the nutrients, care and treatment that it needs. When you can do this, you create an ecosystem that will allow for easier work in the fields and higher yields.
It is true that current farming techniques lead to high yields, but we have to question at what cost. Our farmer friends stated after last year’s harvest they saw the best numbers in the history of farming; the same statement they made the year before thinking they couldn’t top those numbers. Piatt County has been the leader in the state for corn and soybean yields for many years. In 1994, Illinois average corn yields per acre were 156 bushels. Last year the average was 220.5 bushels. (www.nass.usda.gov) With this kind of data, it’s no wonder we can’t understand how organic farming can replace current farming techniques in order to feed the world.

Let’s take a look at Punjab, India who struggled to feed its people after a devastating drought in the 1960s. A new variety of wheat producing high yields was introduced to them and their people no longer had the threat of starvation. According to an article titled “The Global Food Crisis” (2009) written by Joel K Bourne (National Geographic) after the introduction of the new technique, “They could produce grain like no other wheat ever seen—as long as there was plenty of water and synthetic fertilizer and little competition from weeds or insects. To that end, the Indian government subsidized canals, fertilizer, and the drilling of tube wells for irrigation and gave farmers free electricity to pump the water. The new wheat varieties quickly spread throughout Asia, changing the traditional farming practices of millions of farmers, and were soon followed by new strains of “miracle” rice. The new crops matured faster and enabled farmers to grow two crops a year instead of one. Today a double crop of wheat, rice, or cotton is the norm in Punjab, which, with neighboring Haryana, recently supplied more than 90 percent of the wheat needed by grain-deficient states in India.” All good, right? Unfortunately, today yield growth has flattened, over-irrigation has led to a steep decline in their water source, and thousands of acres of land have been ruined and left nutrient deficient. Not only are they not able to farm their land anymore, their people are dying from pesticide use and are in debt due to the high costs associated with mechanized farming.

You may recall from a previous blog what Farmer Dave of PrariErth Farms in rural Atlanta, Illinois shared with us during our visit. He showed us one field that was flooded by a nearby creek during heavy rains last summer. Even though his crops were under water, they survived. He attributed it to organic farming practices and paying close attention to replenishing nutrients in his soils. If you take care of your soil, it will continue to provide for years and years to come and will be able to tolerate drought or flood.

We took that advice and have been busy applying it at Clean Acres. This past month we’ve added a spring cover crop of a hairy vetch, pea and oat mix to an acre of land. This fall we will mow it under and plant a fall cover crop of hairy vetch on top and let it overwinter. The cover crops will add up to 8,000 pounds of organic matter to our soil, will out-compete weeds and will fix nitrogen in the soil. According to cropnutrition.com, “Nitrogen is so vital because it is a major component of chlorophyll, the compound by which plants use sunlight energy to produce sugars from water and carbon dioxide (i.e., photosynthesis). It is also a major component of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Without proteins, plants wither and die. Some proteins act as structural units in plant cells while others act as enzymes, making possible many of the biochemical reactions on which life is based. Nitrogen is a component of energy-transfer compounds, such as ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP allows cells to conserve and use the energy released in metabolism. Finally, nitrogen is a significant component of nucleic acids such as DNA, the genetic material that allows cells (and eventually whole plants) to grow and reproduce. Without nitrogen, there would be no life as we know it.”

We’ve also been adding fish emulsion to our soils. Fish emulsion is an organic farming method that has been around since civilizations have been farming. It is a non-burning fertilization method and will help replenish and rebuild the soil.

After we found some cucumber beetles and grubs, we decided to apply beneficial nematodes. Beneficial nematodes are a worm that naturally lives in soils, but organic gardeners can add them directly and increase their population when a problem occurs. Beneficial nematodes kill up to 230 pests. While it takes 2-3 weeks for them to take effect, we’ve already seen a decline in the number of cucumber beetles and the zucchini have doubled in size in the last week and half in appreciation of it!

Just by paying attention to the microscopic and macroscopic life of the soil, we will be able to create an ecosystem that will be sustainable.

In such a small operation, it’s vital for us to put the time and labor into making our soils work for us now so that our job can be easier in the future.

In addition to paying attention to our soil, we are now managing over 5,000 plants and have been keeping busy succession planting, weeding, harvesting, and supplying for our investors each week. To give you an idea of time, this area alone took us 20 hours to weed and is about 1/10th of the ground we are managing. We are looking forward to future years when the weed wars will become less tedious and our soil will be a sustainable, nutrient filled ecosystem!

Submitted by Tabitha Elder

Farmers Brianne Santoli and Tabitha Elder are Central Illinois residents and managers of Clean Acres Produce. Follow their journey of starting a Community Supported Agriculture program in the chemical free fresh food desert of rural Piatt County at http://www.cleanacresproduce.org, http://www.facebook.com/cleanacresproduce or @CleanAcres.

Before and after pictures: 20 hours of weeding:

We Can Do It!

Although Norman Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter” was made famous on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on Memorial Day 1943, she was first printed in 1942 on a Westinghouse Power Company poster used to encourage women workers in the war effort. Everyone fought together as one America whether on the battle fronts or on the home fronts.

As First Lady during this time, Eleanor Roosevelt joined “Rosie the Riveter” advocating for many social and political issues including those that were of importance to American troops. Among many programs, she “worked to boost soldiers’ morale, encouraged volunteerism on the home front and championed women employed in the defense industry.” (http://www.history.com/topics/first-ladies/eleanor-roosevelt).  As a result of this encouragement and combined efforts from other leaders, around 350,000 “Rosie’s” joined the Armed Forces as WASPS (Women Airforce Service Pilots), WACS (Women’s Army Corps), and WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services).  A majority of other American women at the time took on factory jobs and home front jobs, including managing the Victory Gardens.

The idea of Victory Gardens came to fruition in 1917 during World War I when the National War Garden Commission was implemented. Its goal was to encourage Americans to “Sow the Seeds of Victory” by growing, harvesting and storing their own foods in order to send nourishment supplies to our troops and allies overseas.  A combined Patriotic effort resulted in 3 million new garden plots and more than 5.2 million gardens cultivated by 1918 which produced 1.45 million quarts of canned fruits and vegetables.   http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/americas-patriotic-victory-gardens

By Rosie the Riveter’s time (1941-1945), Victory Gardens had re-emerged in order to contribute to World War II efforts. “Throughout both world wars, the Victory Garden campaign served as a successful means of boosting morale, expressing patriotism, safeguarding against food shortages on the home front, and easing the burden on the commercial farmers working arduously to feed troops and civilians overseas.  In 1942, roughly 15 million families planted victory gardens; by 1944, an estimated 20 million victory gardens produced roughly 8 million tons of food—which was the equivalent of more than 40 percent of all the fresh fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States.”  http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/americas-patriotic-victory-gardens

Join us in bringing back the culture we are rooted in; the foundation we are built on. Follow the advice of your ancestors that promoted Sow the Seeds of Victory and Dig for Victory.  Growing a garden or buying local produce will save you money and is patriotic.  It grants you freedom from imported and chemically processed foods.  “We can do it” together as one America by making the decision to grow our own or buy local produce from a sustainable American farm.

Here at Clean Acres we may not be directly helping to feed our troops or allies, but we understand the importance of growing and cultivating our own foods for our own families and our American brothers and sisters in Piatt County and beyond. Just as the Victory Gardens generated patriotism and boosted Americans morale, we are motivated and energized to improve health, the environment, the local economy, and the American way of life through organic sustainable agriculture.

This Memorial Day weekend we hope you can take a moment with us to celebrate, honor and remember those who are in service and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Submitted by Tabitha Elder

Edited by Brianne Santoli

Farmers Brianne Santoli and Tabitha Elder are Central Illinois residents and managers of Clean Acres Produce. Follow their journey of starting a Community Supported Agriculture program in the chemical free fresh food desert of rural Piatt County at http://www.cleanacresproduce.org, http://www.facebook.com/cleanacresproduce or @CleanAcres.      

Mudder Nature

 

What a challenge! You may recall from our last post that we were expecting a big storm with hail.  Luckily, the storm just missed us and headed north.  But since then, we’ve had plenty of storms putting us on edge as we see our initial succession planting dates pass us by.  At one point, we decided we had better “mud-in” and hope for the best.

Thinking back to this past winter as we were business planning, we knew Farmer’s Almanac was predicting a wet spring. But even though we knew it was coming, were we ready here at Clean Acres?!  Yes and no.  Thankfully, we have been able to keep up with successions thus far.  If it weren’t for Farmer Dave from PrariErth Farms and his sage advice, we would probably be having a nervous breakdown at this point!

So what was Farmer Dave’s advice? He said to make a plan with set calendar dates well before planting.  You want to note your ideal planting date according to the weather and your calendar, but should also note the earliest you could plant and the very latest you could plant.  As long as we fall in between both of those dates, we should be able to continually produce on a weekly or biweekly basis for our investors.

Stress avoided! We were able to develop a plan early on and were ready for dealing with “mudder nature” for our planting dates.  However, we weren’t ready for record rainfall.  According to the Illinois State Water Survey, record-setting rainfall accumulated this past April at 7.45 inches….almost doubling our average April rainfall at 3.83 inches.  The previous record was set in 1957 when it rained 7.13 inches in the month of April.

With all of this rain people have been asking us “what are we going to do if we get too much rain” in addition to “what if we have a drought one summer?” And the answer to that is we plan to pay careful attention to our soil so that it can withstand drought and flood.  This is something else we learned from Farmer Dave who has been farming organically for 25+ years.  He indicated that last year there was so much rainfall and a nearby creek breached its banks overflowing into the fields.  Even though the plants were under inches of water, they survived!  That, my friends, is proof that a biodiverse ecosystem in your soil can produce better than its manmade/synthetic farming techniques.  A system that is rich in nutrients and organic matter is resilient and robust.  This is not new news or a groundbreaking discovery.  This technique has been used for millennia.  It’s just that we’ve steered away from this over the last handful of decades for alternative (and in many eyes detrimental) farming techniques.

When you pay attention to your soil, cover crop and implement crop rotation techniques, you are enhancing the soil’s structure by adding organic matter. When you add organic matter to your soil, you increase its biodiversity allowing microbes and organisms to live and contribute to the Earth.  A soil in high organic matter will then allow water to filtrate through if too much, retain water if needed, reduce soil erosion when necessary and contribute to agricultural pest control.

According to the American Museum of Natural History, over the last 100 years humans have come to dominate the planet and as a result, “Ecosystems are being rapidly altered, and the planet is undergoing a massive loss of biodiversity,” (http://www.amnh.org/our-research/center-for-biodiversity-conservation/about/what-is-biodiversity/).  What’s great is it’s not too late!  We have the power to control the environment and bring back biodiverse ecosystems by being educated and informed about our choices we make.  One easy way to get started is to buy locally grown organic food.  Click here to view other ways you can make a difference at http://www.amnh.org/our-research/center-for-biodiversity-conservation/what-you-can-do.

Submitted by Tabitha Elder

Editor Brianne Santoli

Farmers Brianne Santoli and Tabitha Elder are Central Illinois residents and managers of Clean Acres Produce.  Follow their journey of starting a Community Supported Agriculture program in the chemical free fresh food desert of rural Piatt County at www.cleanacresproduce.org, www.facebook.com/cleanacresproduce or @CleanAcres.  

White Ducks Can’t Jump

Or at least we don’t think they can. It was 7:30 or so Saturday morning and we met at one of our plot locations to start the task list for the day.  First up on the agenda…placing newspaper and then straw down between the rows.  The newspaper and straw method allows us to walk in the gardens when wet, keeps the soil moist after a rain, and kills weeds saving us a lot of time in our organic field.  Additionally, it has been raining quite a bit lately which is great for the garden.  Plants love rain water but weeds do too so we needed to get to this ASAP, making it first on the to-do list.  We would haul a load of 3 or 4 bales from the barn to the plot and then start chipping away at the 4,200 square foot garden.  After laying about 350 feet of newspaper and straw, our backs and knees needed a break so we sat at the edge of the garden, observing our work.  As we sat there, the flock was behind us pecking away at the bales eating whatever bugs they could find.  There’s a dark Muscovy, a white American Pekin duck, and a rooster.  All of a sudden the Muscovy stretches his wings out and jumps up onto the bale of straw.  It was the funniest thing to see a duck jump the same distance in the air as he is tall.

“That duck can jump!” said Bri. “Bet that white one can’t though,” we chuckled joking that white ducks can’t jump.

After a good laugh it was time to get back to work. It was going to be a nice weekend and we have to use that time to our advantage since we both work full-time and are the only two working on our CSA.  Farming an organic CSA is a lot of fun and a lot of work.  Helping those in Central Illinois have easier and cheaper access to organic produce is our passion and motivation and keeps us going.  Here’s some insight into the energy that went into Clean Acres CSA this past weekend to weekend.

You might remember from our last post that we planned to put 1,200 plants in the ground. Each weekend is loaded with so many tasks it’s hard to figure out where to start and of course, we always come across some things that need done that we had forgotten about.  For example, we realized we had some organic onion bulbs left that needed to go into the ground and some organic potatoes that were sprouted and ready to plant.  So….we thought we had better get to that before it’s too late.  Also, we had originally created the to-do list thinking the soil temp was too low for corn and beans however, we found out it was the ideal temp to plant.  You can see where this is going.  We ended up planting more than the planned 1,200 seeds and starts bringing our total to 2,360 in the ground from weekend to weekend.  It was busy but very productive.  We’ve been working pretty much from sunrise to beyond sunset every day making our CSA and full time job commitments, maintaining 3,027 plants in the ground and another few hundred pepper and tomato starts that we will plant soon.

Now we just need a little rain! Last night’s weather report said rain and it never rained, so it’s hard to tell if the forecast is going to be right or not.  Husband David who coaches track called a bit ago to say their meet was cancelled due to a storm.  They had tried to wait it out but as the storm produced hail and intensified, he called to warn me it’s heading our way.  Let’s hope our tiny plants survived!  Tune in next week to see.

Submitted by Tabitha Elder Tabitha is a Central Illinois resident and co-owner of Clean Acres Produce.  Follow their journey of starting a Community Supported Agriculture program in the chemical free fresh food desert of rural Piatt County at www.cleanacresproduce.org, www.facebook.com/cleanacresproduce or @CleanAcres.  

Clean Acres is the Place to Be!

Now if we could just find a pig like Arnold from Green Acres who attends school, can skate, read, and write and speaks several languages, we would really be the place to be!

Instead of a “talented” pig we’ve got six cats, a dog, two ducks, and one rooster between our properties and they are all very curious and sometimes even attempt to “help” when we are out taking care of our checklist.

Checklist for last week included:

• Plant carrots.
• String garden plot for square foot planting plan.
• Fix gaps in rabbit fence.
• Plant all broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage starts in the ground.
• Place garden quilt over plants for pest disease prevention.
• Mail member agreements.
• Figure out transition plan for acre from traditional corn and soybean to chemical-free.
• Find and purchase recycled food-grade 55 gallon barrels for rain harvesting.
• Re-check our plant start totals. Make sure we’ve got enough to keep successions going.
• Work on recipes to go with produce.
• Start more trap crop seeds.
• Stake tomato plants/transplant in larger containers.
• Build tomato cages.

As we attempted to check the list off, our first “Green Acres”-like mishap occurred last Monday evening. I took some time to fix the rabbit fence and gather as many large coffee cans I could find in preparation for the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage planting the next day.  Sundown was approaching and as I was about to string the garden I realized it was still too wet.  I frantically messaged Bri.  “We’ve got a problem.  The garden is still too wet over here so we aren’t going to be able to plant tomorrow.”  It was going to rain that next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and we were already a few weeks behind schedule getting them in the ground.  We are also working around our full-time jobs so timing is really important and when the weather doesn’t cooperate we have to figure it out.  Bri realized we were going to need to change the farm map around.  This is no easy task!  If we were to print it out, the darn thing would probably be a four foot by four foot poster.  Using an excel doc she has everything documented by earliest date we can plant, number of plants per square foot, and each succession noted for 25+ varieties of vegetables….that’s a lot of excel doc columns!  If we were on the set of Green Acres, you can imagine how red-in-the-face Oliver Wendell Douglas would be at this last minute change with his farm plan!  Later that night she was able to move the beans from one plot to another so that the cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage can be planted the next day as scheduled.  Crisis averted!

The next day we were in a hurry to beat sundown trying to plant 83 cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli and we hear “Bagawaak!” and a really loud “flap, flap, flap,” and see this giant bird coming over the fence. Harry the rooster had decided he would fly over the fence into where we were planting.  “Get out of here Harry!” Bri yelled running after him.  As she slowly inched toward him and gets close enough to catch him Harry sees her and runs away just in time.  This goes on for a minute or two and after a “gen-yew-wine” farm game of chase the rooster, we were eventually able to corner him.  Bri quickly grabbed him by the feet and put him on the other side of the fence.  Thanks for trying to help, Harry, but we have work to do!

Our last “Green Acres”-like story happened on Saturday. We found food-grade plastic barrels for $5 each from a local recycling center that we are going to make into rain barrels.  Actually, Bri’s boyfriend Andy is going to make them for us….thank you, Andy!  Anyhow, I had to work so Bri made the drive over to Danville to pick them up in her new Jeep.  Soon after I get a message that they were from Quaker, needed to be cleaned and still had a little bit of chocolate and coconut in them and they smelled amazing!  The excitement of making rain barrels out of recycled materials eventually fizzled when we opened the back hatch to find that amazing smelling coconut had leaked out all over her new car on the drive home.

We put over 1,200 new plants and seeds in the ground this weekend and have more to do this week. Now that sounds like a recipe for some Clean Acres mishaps!  Tune in next week to see how it went.

Submitted by Tabitha Elder Tabitha is a Central Illinois resident and co-owner of Clean Acres Produce.  Follow their journey of starting a Community Supported Agriculture program in the chemical free fresh food desert of rural Piatt County at www.cleanacresproduce.org, www.facebook.com/cleanacresproduce or @CleanAcres.  

“Try organic food… or as your grandparents called it, food!”

Have you ever seen this magnet or eCard online? It’s true, what we now call organic food is what our grandparents and their grandparents before them and every person consumed since the beginning of time.

Chemicals didn’t become so widely accepted until the 1940s. “In the late 1940s, DDT became the “safe” chemical to use on the food we consume.  DDT, by the way, does the same thing that crop rotation and getting the correct microorganisms and pH levels into your soil does…..without the harmful side effects.  We’ve just forgotten this over time because we are used to buying a chemical that we can spray to eradicate these problems.  It’s easier and requires less work.” (Rodale’s Organic Life)

Until there were chemicals, a potato was a potato. A tomato was a tomato.  But now that chemicals are so widely accepted, the government requires farmers to label potatoes and tomatoes grown without chemicals as “organic.”  For a farmer to be able to carry an organic label, an operation must put multiple organic practices into place and pay fees.  All of the costs add up resulting in higher prices for organic products.  Some of these costs include a requirement to build barriers in order to prevent pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides from coming into contact with our chemical-free produce.  Additionally, water runoff from chemical farming operations is an issue which can also result in a costly expense.

Before chemical use became the norm, organic food was the only option on grocery store shelves. Now we must pay premium dollar for organic foods if we want to rid our diets from chemicals.  Food that isn’t really food or has no nutritional value is inexpensive and readily available.  But having food that is pure, without chemicals and full of nutritional value is difficult to find in our area and it is expensive.  The entire system seems a little backwards.  Why should we have to pay more for the food we really should be consuming?

So how do we get back on track….get back to our roots? Organic farmer Mary Jane Butters has it figured out.  “I think we need to take back our language.  I want to call my organic carrots ‘carrots’ and let other farmers call theirs a chemical carrot.  The other farmers can list all of the ingredients that they used instead of me having to be certified.  The burden is on us to prove something.  Let them prove that they used only 30 chemicals instead of 50 to produce an apple.”  Here at #CleanAcresLLC we say right on!

In order to “take back our language” we will need to go up against big corporations that have deep pockets. Leading a healthy lifestyle shouldn’t be motivated by money or politics or be a social or ethical debate.  Unfortunately that is the backwards way our current food system works.  We can turn it around with one simple decision.  Be informed, be educated, and make a stand to buy organic or chemical-free as often as you can.

Anyone who doesn’t buy organic believes they can’t afford it. But is it really that expensive when you take everything else into consideration?  There are so many hidden costs when it comes to purchasing and consuming processed/chemically-laden foods.  One major cost is the lack of nutritional value of processed foods.  Our health is increasingly at risk due to the way in which foods are packaged since chemicals used in packaging materials can leech into food.  Furthermore, the mechanization of processed foods means more handling and shipping causing greater risk for contaminated foods.

There are hidden medical costs associated with consuming non-organic and processed foods. It’s been documented that heart disease, diabetes, cancer, metabolic disorders, asthma, learning disabilities, neurological disorders and obesity cases have significantly increased over time.  “Google it” and you will find that many respected agencies have reported on links between chemicals in our foods to poor health.

Not only are chemicals negatively affecting our health, they are detrimental to the environment. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization conducted a study in 2007 and noted that 1.6 billion tons (approximately 40%) of food is wasted contributing to an equivalent of 3.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions.  Food waste sitting in landfills also “break down anaerobically and produces methane; methane is 21 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas.” (Environmental Protection Agency)  Other environmental concerns are loss of biodiversity, excessive use of water, and reduction of soil fertility.

There is strength in numbers and power in money. Join the movement in going back to our roots.  Government and industry is driven by consumer demand.  Together we can drive the price of organic down simply by applying the economic principle of supply and demand.  Be prudent in your food purchases.  Your own health and the health of your family, friends, and loved ones all depend on your decision to buy or grow chemical free and organic.

Submitted by Tabitha Elder Tabitha is a Central Illinois resident and co-owner of Clean Acres Produce.  Follow their journey of starting a Community Supported Agriculture program in the chemical free fresh food desert of rural Piatt County at www.cleanacresproduce.org, www.facebook.com/cleanacresproduce or @CleanAcres.

 

 

 

Coal Train

One Thursday evening I stopped by my parents after work.  As I’m telling my dad I need to get home pretty quick because I have plants to put in the cold frame, he says “A coal train?  What are you going to do with a coal train?”

Maybe it was the blaring radio he was jamming to while he readied his fishing boat for the next outing.  Or maybe those 35 years he worked in a factory really did make him hard of hearing (although we do find it curiously funny that he’s been tested and has no evidence of any issues with his audition).

I make a louder, clearer pronunciation.  “I have to go put my plants in a COLD FRAME.”

“A cold frame?” dad says.  “What’s a cold frame?”

And some of you may be wondering the same thing.  Cold frames have actually been around for thousands of years.  According to freelance writer Gwen Bruno, in Rome circa 30 A.D., “Royal physicians have warned the ailing emperor Tiberius that he must eat a cucumber every day. So begins construction of a specularium, a house dedicated to growing plants.” (Source: www.davesgarden.com)

A cold frame is a variation of a greenhouse in that it can retain heat, allowing gardeners to gradually acclimate their seed starts from indoor conditions to outdoor conditions in an effort to prevent plant shock.

We chose an unseasonably warm Saturday morning in February (it reached 70 degrees in Illinois that day) to make our cold frames.  One we made out of bales of straw and re-used windows making a box against the south side of the house.  Fifteen minutes or so and we were done and onto the next cold frame!

The next one we made was a bit tricky.  It involved quite a bit more muscle, time and energy.

You see, cold frames can be made out of any recycled material.  According to Webster’s Dictionary, a cold frame is “a small wooden or metal frame covered with glass or plastic that is used for growing and protecting plants in cold weather.”

So we decided to scavenge through the barns to see what we could find.  Armed with our dirty jeans, work boots and gardening gloves, we began the hunt.

Old windows were spotted on top of the hayloft.  While sifting through the “best” old windows, Bri came across an old sturdy wooden box about 3 foot deep, 3 foot wide, 7 foot long, and heavy…really heavy.  Probably about 75 to 100 pounds.  “This would make a great cold frame,” she says.  “But how will we get it down.”

At one point we even discussed getting some guys to help us but eventually realized we didn’t need dudes, just ingenuity.  After much deliberation, we came up with a plan to take three sturdy, long boards and placed them at a 45 degree angle from the edge of the loft to the floor.

Once we cleared the 1980s snowmobile and other items out of the way, we climbed back up the ladder onto the loft to figure out how to shimmy the box down these boards.  Not being strong enough to lift it above waste level onto the 45 degree angled planks, we quickly realized we needed some sort of leverage.  Two old tires were spotted and moved just beneath the boards.  These would work, we thought!

We lifted the 75ish pound box up on top of the two old tires and slid the box onto the 2 by 4s.  One of us balanced the box on top of the 2 by 4s while the other climbed back down to the ground.  It was the deciding moment….is the box going to stay on the boards?  Is it going to slide down so quickly it will smash into a bunch of pieces rendering it unusable?  Will it take me with it as is goes crashing down to the ground?  Will it slam into Bri down below?

To our surprise it slid down very slowly and stayed in place until we were both able to get on each side of it and carry it out of the barn.  Mission accomplished….without dudes.

#garden #recycle #CleanAcresLLC

Submitted by Tabitha Elder

Tabitha is a Central Illinois resident and co-owner of Clean Acres Produce.  Follow their journey of starting a Community Shared Agriculture program in the chemical free fresh food desert of rural Piatt County at www.cleanacresproduce.org, www.facebook.com/cleanacresproduce or @CleanAcres.