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Monday, May 05, 2008THE LOCAL HARVEST Newsletter of Honey Brook Organic Farm, May, 2008 OPENING DAY CAN BE AS EARLY AS MID-MAY– by Sherry Dudas The warmer than usual spring will find us opening for pick your own strawberries and peas before we’re ready to open the farm stand or deliver boxed shares in all likelihood. The strawberry plants look healthy so far, as do the snap and snow peas, despite a hard frost in late April. We planted our spring collards, kale, cabbage, lettuce, lettuce, LETTUCE, broccoli, potatoes, parsley and scallions, among other spring favorites. Onions were also planted, and is the only crop having a little difficulty with insect pests, but we’re addressing the problem by placing remay covers, those gauzy white covers, on the fields. The herb fields look great, with the chives, sage and anise hyssop doing especially well. David returned to the farm in early April after four months of rest and relaxation with his family in Texas. When in Texas, he has a business selling hay to local ranchers, and he hopes to buy his own ranch in Texas sometime soon. His son Emilio has also returned to the farm, and is on the spring transplanting team, as well as greenhouse detail. Several farm stand attendants will be returning to the farm this spring, including Taylor Smith, Andrew Matlack, Elise Renoe, Lindsey Lubow and Sara Rubin. Jim, Israel and David have been doing the spring tillage as weather allows, now that we have plenty of tractors for everyone. It’s been relatively dry, allowing them to get much fieldwork done. There is always work in the greenhouses – many flats of transplants need to be seeded, thinned out, watered and “potted off”. Emily Kinsel, our niece, recently came back to work in the greenhouses, and Jess Neiderer, a former employee who has returned to the farm, is managing the greenhouses this spring. She also assisted with a dinner and tour we hosted for HomeFront to celebrate Earth Day in late April. The kids had a fabulous time, and we especially thank Chambers Walk Café and Whole Foods for their generous donation of vegetarian lasagna, drinks and sandwiches for this event! It has been busy at our farms, with many new projects underway. The two new farms we are managing in Hopewell are undergoing the cleansing process so in the future they can be certified as organic. On the Wargo Road farm, we finished installing our soil conservation project this spring, after over two years of planning and set-backs. We are also beginning to plan soil and water conservation projects on the other farms we manage. On the Chesterfield farm, Jim has begun subsoiling the acreage to improve soil tilth, allowing greater ease of tillage and increasing the productivity of seedbeds. We also had a delightful time hosting a Work Party on Earth Day weekend. Ten CSA members rolled up their sleeves and pitched in as we planted several red bud trees on one of the farm’s boundaries. We finished off the day enjoying a vegetarian deli lunch of various salads from Basil Bandwagon Health Food Store in Flemington. In other news, we are also going to be hosting a team, the “Weary Warblers”, in the World Series of Birding, a 24-hour bird-a-thon to be held on May 10th, on the Wargo Road farm. Last year, the team recorded numerous species on the Big Day, including a last-minute Killdeer that put them over the 100-species count. In the office, Susan has arranged for new Boxed Share hosts in Somerville, Bridgewater and Moorestown. Our recently purchased Chesterfield farm is the newest addition to our South Jersey Boxed Share program. Though we are only starting out with 12 families on this site, our goal is to have 200 families picking up there in 2009. Both Susan and Lynne will be getting the final Boxed Share confirmations for these new sites mailed during the first full week in May. Now is the time for CSA members to plan for the beginning of the harvest season. Our handbooks, now found on the website, include a section regarding handy tools for CSA members. Please consider buying these items, such as a wide-brimmed hat, flower snippers and a lettuce spinner for Mom on Mothers’ Day. They will aid you and your family in getting the most of your CSA share. Other important items to have on-hand are sun block, water bottles (Basil Bandwagon Health Food Store in Flemington has an awesome selection of stainless steel bottles) and lots of diverse vegetable cookbooks! And don’t forget to start saving grocery bags (including the smaller vegetable plastic bags) to reuse when you begin to pick-up your produce in the farm stand. Another great way to prepare for your CSA share is to learn how to do backyard composting. You’ll have plenty of produce scraps you won’t want to just throw out. Reuse it by composting! Backyard composting is a great way to reduce waste and produce a valuable product to provide your home gardens with a cheap source of organic amendment. It can be done in your backyard with little space or care using any one of several methods. To find out more about how to compost in your backyard, visit the Mercer County backyard compost demonstration site located at the Equestrian Center, 413A Federal City Road in Hopewell Township. The compost demonstration site is open from dawn to dusk. For information, contact the Mercer County Master Gardeners at (609) 989-6853 or visit their website www.mgofmc.org. For those of you in other counties who want to learn about composting, please visit njaes.rutgers.edu/county/. On a final note, check out CSA member John Grossmann's fabulous article about the farm in the May issue of SKY magazine. You can read it online at www.delta-sky.com, then go to Green Scene. ORGANIC FARMERS RECOGNIZED FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP Receive top honor from Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association At its Annual Meeting April 28, the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association – central New Jersey’s first environmental organization – presented the 2008 Edmund W. Stiles Award for Environmental Stewardship to Jim Kinsel and Sherry Dudas, owners and operators of the Honey Brook Organic Farm on the Watershed Reserve, the largest community-supported organic farm in the country. Together Jim and Sherry have set the highest standard for sustainable living and have become outstanding advocates for the environment, agriculture and social justice. The Association’s Executive Director, Jim Waltman, a public member of the State Agriculture Development Committee, presented the award. The Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association named its highest award in memory of the late Edmund W. (Ted) Stiles, professor of ecology at Rutgers University. Ted served on the Watershed Association’s Board of Trustees from 1991-2004, as chair from 1994-1997, and on the Watershed Association’s Advisory Board until his death. He played a leadership role in the organization’s land protection, science and advocacy efforts. Ted was also a key leader of countless other organizations including the Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space, Hutcheson Memorial Forest, the Hopewell Township Environmental and Open Space Commissions, and the D&R Greenway Land Trust. His efforts helped preserve countless acres of farmland in the Central Jersey region from development. Jim Kinsel has been farming land on the Watershed Reserve in Pennington NJ for nearly 20 years and introduced the idea of community-supported agriculture to the Watershed Association and the region. Jim’s vision and business acumen has made the farm more successful than anyone could have imagined, as it now provides fresh local organic produce to more than 2,300 shareholders. Sherry Dudas has dedicated herself to farmland preservation and conservation issues. She has served as staff to the State Agriculture Development Committee as the state’s first Right to Farm Program Manager and also NJ’s Green Acres program. She is currently on the Board of the Northeast Organic Farming Association-NJ. Sherry joined Jim as farm planner in 2002. Jim and Sherry continue to advocate for the preservation of working farms, fair wages and employment practices, biodiversity in food crops, and improvement of the connection between people and their food source. The couple farms over 200 acres in Mercer and Burlington counties. ORGANIC FARMLAND INCREASES IN HOPEWELL VALLEY Hopewell Township residents Bhanwarlal and Indu Chowdhury and Jim Kinsel have signed a lease giving Farmer Jim the opportunity to farm organically on a ninety two-acre Hopewell Township farm owned by the Chowdhurys and preserved with state farmland preservation funds. The D&R Greenway approached the State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC) in January 1989 to consider purchasing the farm in conjunction with Mercer County. The County purchased a small portion of the farm along the Stony Brook for trail purposes. The remainder was preserved by the state, using the then-new Fee Simple program. In this program, developable farms are purchased outright by the state. Deed restrictions are then placed on the property stripping away its development rights. Once preserved, the farm is sold at public auction. The Chowdhurys were the successful bidders at the auction, held in Rosedale Park. Both were raised on farms in India. Farm manager of Honey Brook Organic Farm in Pennington, Farmer Jim has been farming in Hopewell Valley since 1991, when he began farming on land owned by the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association. Farmer Jim brought the idea of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to the farm at that time. The farm, since that time, has been privately operated by Farmer Jim, and has become a national model for successful farming and marketing. The new lease not only allows the production of organic vegetables, herbs and berries, but also lets Farmer Jim provide educational opportunities as well as direct sales of organic produce. “This is an exciting time for Honey Brook Organic Farm,” noted Farmer Jim. “With the Chowdhurys’ farm now being available to me for farming, we’ll be able to provide more families with healthy, locally-grown organic produce.” The lease is for a seven-year period. “We are delighted that our farm will be managed organically and will help nourish the community with fresh, wholesome produce,” said Dr. and Mrs. Chowdhury. Honey Brook Organic Farm is now New Jersey’s largest grower of organic produce, according to the state’s Department of Agriculture. UPCOMING EVENTS RUTGERS GARDENS 16TH ANNUAL SPRING FLOWER FAIR Friday, May 9th 10 am - 3 pm. Shop early to avoid the crowds. Saturday, May 10th and Sunday, May 11th 9:30 A.M. to 4 P.M. (rain or shine) Rutgers Gardens Cook College, Rutgers University 112 Ryders Lane New Brunswick, NJ Fee: Admission is free, but a donation for parking is requested. Bring mom out on Sunday at 1pm for a container plant demonstration. Our annual plant experts will help you find the winning combination of plants, so that you’ll be the envy of the block! * Special activities for children. * Every mother will receive a free plant while supplies last. * Food vendors and more! For information call (732) 932-8451 or visit http://rutgersgardens.rutgers.edu/events.html MARK YOUR CALENDARS! WORK PARTY AT OUR NEW CHESTERFIELD FARM Saturday, May 31 10am in Chesterfield, NJ Help Farmer Jim, Sherry and other farm staff plant a tree-lined hedgerow on the farm. This hedgerow will provide wildlife habitat, while protecting the farm’s topsoil from wind erosion. Bring work gloves and a water bottle, and dress appropriately for the weather. The farm will supply a healthy lunch. Please register with Sherry at sherry@honeybrookorganicfarm.com, or call 609-737-8899, and leave a message in the “Events” mailbox. Chesterfield is in northern Burlington County, and is only about a 35-minute drive from Pennington. Other volunteer opportunities such as this will crop up throughout the season so stay tuned to this webpage. posted by Jim 5/05/2008 02:48:00 PM
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