Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

Stock market downturn got you down? Wall Street bail out got you scratching your head about where to invest? Well I have a suggestion for you… Invest in a garden! Once established a garden can produce thousands of dollars worth of fresh vegetables, fruits and nuts, for less than $100 dollars of investment each year. Now if you ask me, that’s what a return on your investment should look like. Even google stocks can’t provide 1000% return… (can they?). What about the security of your investment, you ask? Well there are risks associated with all investments. Deer could come looking for a snack, aphids might too (we’ve got solutions for that)… you might have an unexpected freeze or you might forget to water it (we have solutions for that too). But for the most part home gardens rarely fail to produce some produce.

Just in case my math is not getting through to you, let’s talk taste;

Money (while some enjoy the smell), tastes awful! The texture is no good, the flavor is like a combination of greed and the inside of other peoples pockets. Aside from the obvious fiber benefit the nutritional value is nil.

Fruits and vegetables on the other hand are delicious! You can grow better, more tasty varieties of all types of fruit and vegetables in your garden than super market suppliers do (since you don’t have to ship them across the continent). Your garden investment returns will have a fiber content rivaling any denomination of money. They will also have all the other vitamins and minerals you need, this will give you the energy you need to do things like… umm, live. As long as we are on the subject of living, the idea that gardening is something that takes a lot of time… it’s not true. A modern home garden, with a timed drip irrigation system, healthy soil, using some kind of organic or sustainable principles needs little to no daily maintenance. This year I have been slacking off in my garden. I planted my seedlings and transplants in spring over a weekend. Adjusted and fixed my irrigation system a few weekends later.

A recent New York Times article reported that Americans spend 15% of their money on Food & Beverages… however only 1% on fresh fruits and vegetables. That means only one fifteenth of our average food budget is spent on fresh food. Now if you say the medium income in the U.S. is around $40,000 a year… say 1% of that is spent on fresh fruit and veggies now, that’s $400 a year you can save right off the top. But if you get half of what you would spend on food out of your garden (this is what most avid vegetable gardeners could do) you’d save yourself $3,000 a year.

Now this ideas is not mine alone, apparently lots of Americans are digging into gardening to fight the fiscal crisis. We’ve seen a rise in new customers in the last year or so. So next time you read or hear a report about our failing financial system, or how the stock market is going to crash… remember that’s the stock market, not the farmers’ market. Money is not on the list of “Things Needed To Live” (it feels like it sometimes, I know)… nobody ever fills their back yard bunker with money… they fill it with canned fruits and vegetables. I am positive that economists and wall street strategists across the nation will admittedly disagree with me when I tell you to take your money (at least $100 of it) out of stocks and invest it in a garden. But I’m okay with that, economists and those on wall street are the ones who got us here in the first place.

I’d rather take the advice of a local farmer, you’ll notice no one ever blames them for financial crisis, or wars, or irresponsible lending… there are a few out there that use too many pesticides… but we’re working on that too. So take some of your green backs and put them in produce backed stalks, you’re sure to see a greener yard, a greener planet and a little more green backs in you wallet. Here at Peaceful Valley we believe you can have your planet and eat it too .

Freshman Farmer is off and running. Over at the site I’ve put up the inaugural episodes in our video cast of Andrew Meyers’ progress in starting a fresh new CSA.

Andrew is a 23 year old farmer who Peaceful Valley is sponsoring in his first year of farming. We hope that by sharing his story, it will inspire and encourage a new generation of farmers to jump in and make a difference.

Click here to watch the videos and to read Andrew’s journal entries!

On Tuesday I got the opportunity to go up to Andrew Meyer’s farm, Wild Grace Organics. Andrew is the very first participant in Peaceful Valley’s “Freshman Farmer” program.

Andrew Meyers at Wild Grace Farm

Freshman Farmer is an initiative that Peaceful Valley took based on our understanding that farmers not only aren’t getting any younger, but younger people aren’t looking to farming as a valid career move either. So we’re “sponsoring” Andrew’s farm this year, giving him the equivalent of an employee discount on supplies that he needs to get started, and to grow a CSA for the season.

I’m making short videos to go along with his website, which is freshmanfarmer.groworganic.com. (as of this moment, March 13, there is not yet content, but keep on the lookout, an intro video is coming real soon!)

We will be checking in with him throughout the season to see how things are coming along, and what challenges and successes he is facing.

He will also be keeping a blog, regularly letting everyone know what is happening up at Wild Grace.

It’s such a cool program, one I’m really proud to be a part of. Each year we will be giving a young farmer a boost and interacting in a very positive and long term way, not just with the organic community, but with the community as a whole.

Other great things are coming out of this too, some I can’t talk about yet as they are not written in stone, but some, such as our retail store’s cooler being a drop off point for his boxes of veggies, that could really assist in making local food available and affordable for this community. Perhaps we will learn enough to be able to pass lessons we learn along to others.

Let us know what you think, if you’ve heard of anything similar regarding CSA’s, and if you have any questions!

I belong to a CSA, which means every week I get a box of the freshest veggies possible… from just down the road. Every year I find myself subconsciously competing with my CSA farmer… and I must admit I always lose. He always has tomatoes and peppers sooner, his lettuce and cabbage heads up better than mine, in short his thumb is just plain greener. And this year I’ve decided to be alright with that, I’ve decided to grow all the other things I like to eat that I never get from my CSA. Now this idea may seem elementary, but to me it’s a revelation.

For those of you who are not hip to CSA membership here’s a quick overview; A farmer near you grows a diverse yet practical variety of veggies, usually on a small amount of acreage (1-5 acres). You join the CSA (community supported agriculture) and pay for a box of veggies a week. It’s kind of a subscription to fresh local food. Usually $15-$40 a week paid in advance or in two or three payments. The idea is that by paying in advance you give the farmers the money they need to get off to a good start. In return you not only get the freshest veggies possible, you also get to”know your grower” which is a rare thing these days. For a more detailed explanation of CSA here is what Wikipedia has to say.

So this year I will grow some unusual greens; Double Purple Orach, Purslane, Miners Lettuce, Italienischer and Regal Spinach. Most of which I have no idea what they will taste like. Even though my CSA has tons of tomatoes, I’m still going to grow my own, mostly sauce tomatoes for canning, you can never have too many tomatoes in my opinion. The same goes for onions and garlic, in my house we eat so much of these it’s a surprise our friends can stand our breath. In addition I plan to grow pickling cucumbers, some specialty squashes like flying saucer and portofino. I also acquired a few giant pumpkin seeds from a winning giant pumpkin (800+ lbs) and I can’t wait to see what comes of that! Herbs are still on the plan this year, dill (for the pickles), cilantro, basil and parsley, and thyme. Shelling peas will be a new addition to my garden and so will the beautiful scarlet runner beans I picked up at a seed swap. Also in the plan this year are berries of the straw, blue and rasp varieties. The blueberries will be the only new item on the menu and even though I just put them in the ground yesterday… my mouth waters already.

My garden plan for this year started out as a supplement to my CSA, giving me the veggies I would not see in my weekly box. It quickly became more about exploring new kinds of vegetables. And while I realize that my garden this year will barely scratch the surface of the vast realm of vegetable variety… I’ve got to start somewhere… and my garden seems like the right place.

What’s in your garden this year?

We’re really excited about a big project we have coming up. We’re calling it ‘Freshman Farmers’, and what we’re doing is sponsoring a young farmer and supporting them in their journey to becoming a part of the organic farming community.
There is a troubling lack of young people interested in starting farms in California. We are hoping that by giving our first year farmer Andrew Meyers a helping hand by providing special prices so that he will be able to inspire a few others of his generation.

Andrew is farming some land in Nevada County in an organic way. He is ready to go for it after contributing a couple of years to other local farms and this year he will be launching a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).
A CSA allows for direct interaction between the consumer of organic food and the producer. In this way a local economic and cultural exchange is encouraged.
We are proud to be a part of Andrew’s start, and will keep you posted on our site devoted to his triumphs and tribulations.