All Posts by James Eisenstein

Winter isn’t a quiet time at the farm

Winter isn’t a quiet time at the farm

It’s too cold for anything to grow or harvest at the farm. Most of the to-do list requires going outdoors. What to do? How about sitting by the fire, eating dark chocolate bonbons, and finishing a fascinating biography of Millard Fillmore to its exciting conclusion?

Alert readers will detect the faint whiff of irony and sarcasm in that introduction. You would be correct. So what might there be to do in late January and early February at Jade Family Farm?

Continue Reading: Winter isn’t a quiet time at the farm

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 01/31, 2018 at 09:29 AM

Tags: JadeFamilyFarm |

Fall at the Farm

Fall at the Farm

Ever wonder what goes on at a produce farm in October? You might assume that the crops are in and it’s time to lean back and sip some hard cider. For farms growing grain and soybeans, this might be true. For organic produce (and fruit) farms like Jade Family Farm, this is one of the busiest times of the year. 
Our regular harvest share season ended Oct. 24, so we no longer have to harvest and pack some 90 orders per week. But we still offer customers an opportunity to order “a la carte.” The North Atherton Farmers market won’t close until Thanksgiving and the Boalsburg market will be indoors starting Nov. 7 all winter and spring. So we will still be harvesting, going to market, and selling wholesale to several outlets.

Continue Reading: Fall at the Farm

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 11/02, 2017 at 06:59 AM

Tags: UnpaidFieldHand | JadeFamilyFarm | autumn |

Planting fall crops at Jade Family Farm

Planting fall crops at Jade Family Farm

Now is the time to plant seeds for fall crops. No seeding, no fall crops, less fall income, and painful mortgage payment woes.  So on July 20, John invited yours truly the Unpaid Field Hand, daughter Evelyn, and nephew Matthew to plant 47 flats worth of seeds on his list. Each flat has 128 cells, and my calculator tells me 128 times 47 comes to 6,016 seeds.

It took the three of us working hard about three hours to go through the process. We used organically certified seed starting mix to which we addd organic fertilizer and mixed in a big tub. Each of the 47 flats needs to be filled loosely to the top of each cell, putting one flat on top of the other and pressing down so there is room to put in the seed, inserting the seed, making a marker with the date and variety for each flat, filling the cells in the seed flats loosely to the top, and watering the seeded flats.

Continue Reading: Planting fall crops at Jade Family Farm

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 08/16, 2017 at 09:16 AM

Tags: UnpaidFieldHand | fallvegetables | JadeFamilyFarm |

My Least Favorite Ogden Nash Poem

My Least Favorite Ogden Nash Poem

It goes like this:

The Parsnip

The parsnip, children, I repeat,
Is simply an anemic beet.
Some people call the parsnip edible;
Myself, I find this claim incredible.

We like parsnips, and we like to grow them. It ain’t easy. The seeds are very small and it’s difficult to space the seeds properly when sowing. Usually they are too far apart to produce a profitable crop, tempting John to mutter his intention to plow them up.

Continue Reading: My Least Favorite Ogden Nash Poem

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 07/26, 2017 at 07:59 AM

Tags: UnpaidFieldHand | parsnips |

Should you incur the trouble and expense of trying to buy organic apples?  And if so, why?

Should you incur the trouble and expense of trying to buy organic apples?  And if so, why?

According to a TIME magazine article, conventional farmers use pesticides liberally in their orchards, in part to prevent blemishes that can hurt the value of their product. As a result, Americans have come to assume that apples should be as taut and unblemished as a supermodel’s face—a plastic perfection you wouldn’t often see in unimproved nature. Here is a perfect example.

Continue Reading: Should you incur the trouble and expense of trying to buy organic apples?  And if so, why?

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 06/13, 2017 at 10:22 AM

Tags: UnpaidFieldHand | apples | organic |

Some of what you need to know about rhubarb but didn’t think to ask

Some of what you need to know about rhubarb but didn’t think to ask

When I was just a lad, I arranged a field trip for my environmental politics class to visit Tait Farm.  I’ll never forget one young lass’s amazement upon learning that carrots do not appear magically at the supermarket, the product of spontaneous generation in a cellophane bag.  She learned that they grow in the ground!  You can even pull them up, brush off the soil, and eat them.
So it’s no wonder I am curious about how much some of our farmers market customers know about where rhubarb comes from.  Obviously, it must be from our farm, and it sure looks like a stalk.  What might not be so clear is what goes into growing it.  So I’ll show you thanks to the magic of pictures.

Continue Reading: Some of what you need to know about rhubarb but didn’t think to ask

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 05/10, 2017 at 07:44 AM

Tags: UnpaidFieldHand | farming | rhubarb |

The Triple E-A Approach to Climate Change

The Triple E-A Approach to Climate Change

Many people, concerned about the environmental crisis and climate change, are signing petitions, contacting elected officials, contributing to organizations, and joining protest marches. The connection between undertaking such activities and making a real difference is indirect and tenuous. But there’s something you can do every day to make a real (albeit small) difference: Something if everyone did, could add up to a big impact.

People have to eat every day, and for those of us lucky enough to be able to afford sufficient food, we have the opportunity to make a difference through the choices we make about what food to purchase and eat.

Our food purchases and eating habits are so ingrained and routine that their implications for the climate in particular and the health of earth’s life-sustaining processes generally go unnoticed. But making conscious food choices can have profound effects.

Continue Reading: The Triple E-A Approach to Climate Change

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 04/25, 2017 at 07:17 AM

Tags: UnpaidFieldHand | climatechange |

Unpaid Field Hand: Intimations of Spring

Unpaid Field Hand: Intimations of Spring

Editor’s Note: James wrote this Unpaid Field Hand piece before our sudden spring preview this week, but as we all know, winter likely isn’t dead just yet.

While you might be shivering quietly cursing Punxsutawney Phil and lusting for spring, the local farmers we rely on for locally grown food are already getting to work. Decisions about what to grow in 2017 are nearly complete, seed ordering is largely done, additional fruit trees and berry plants ordered, and CSA brochures for the coming season printed. The list of uncompleted tasks on the winter “to do” list is barely shorter than in December. The problem is that most of the items are “too far down on the to-do list.”

So the time has come to start getting to work. Onions are “day sensitive,” which means that in order to bulb up, they have to be already growing as the days begin to lengthen. At Jade Family Farm, John and daughter Evelyn began seeding onions in January with lettuce to begin soon.

Continue Reading: Unpaid Field Hand: Intimations of Spring

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 02/21, 2017 at 07:59 AM

Tags: UnpaidFieldHand | winter | farming |

How your favorite peppers get from farm to market is trickier than you think

How your favorite peppers get from farm to market is trickier than you think

Have you ever thought about how the beautiful peppers you see at farmers markets got there? 

“The farmer brought them in his van” isn’t the sort of answer I’m looking for. I got to thinking about this the other day as I was harvesting peppers. Unless you are a home gardener or your parents had a garden (that you undoubtedly refused to help weed) when you were growing up, you may well have little idea. This serious deficiency is about to be remedied, thanks to the ole’ Unpaid
Field Hand.

Continue Reading: How your favorite peppers get from farm to market is trickier than you think

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 09/02, 2015 at 07:51 AM

Tags: UnpaidFieldHand | peppers | JadeFamilyFarm |

These berries are a well-kept, delicious local food secret

These berries are a well-kept, delicious local food secret

I’m passionate about all things relating to local food (a shocking surprise to folks who know me), including eating it. And if it is organic even better. And if its fruit better still. And if it is the fruit pictured above, well it’s a toss-up between them and raspberries in my book. 

From our experience displaying them at the Jade Family Farm stand at local markets, most people have never tasted one. In fact, most don’t know what they are. The most common answer for the uninitiated is “grapes?” People who lived in Europe or England recognize (and prize) them instantly. And for good reason. They are absolutely wonderful, with a complex blend of sweetness and tartness that make them a delight to eat raw or in jams or pies or as a sauce for fowl, beef, or pork, or to spice up a salad, or…well, the list goes on. I can’t think of a more spectacular food that is virtually unknown here, though currants, paw paws, and persimmons would all be runner ups.

Continue Reading: These berries are a well-kept, delicious local food secret

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 07/07, 2015 at 09:12 AM

Tags: gooseberries | JadeFamilyFarm |

Boalsburg Farmers Market to Sponsor Its Third Annual “Plow to Plate” Harvest Dinner on Sept. 10

Boalsburg Farmers Market to Sponsor Its Third Annual “Plow to Plate” Harvest Dinner on Sept. 10

Fall in Central Pennsylvania brings the bounty, beauty, and variety of the late summer and fall harvest. To celebrate it, the Boalsburg Farmers Market in cooperation with the Mount Nittany Winery is sponsoring its “Plow to Plate Harvest Dinner” featuring the vegetables and fruits that ripen as the last of summer’s crops are replaced by those that thrive in the fall. Some of the best chefs in Happy Valley will prepare main dishes from sustainably produced local meat and poultry, soups and side dishes from tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, okra, garlic, onions, melons, acorn and butternut squash, pumpkins, kale, spinach, lettuce, fall greens, and apples. Guests will also enjoy a variety of wonderful deserts.

Continue Reading: Boalsburg Farmers Market to Sponsor Its Third Annual “Plow to Plate” Harvest Dinner on Sept. 10

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 09/02, 2014 at 07:39 AM

Tags: PlowtoPlate | BoalsburgFarmersMarket |

Nine Local Chefs to Compete for Boalsburg Farmers Market Golden Basket Award

Nine Local Chefs to Compete for Boalsburg Farmers Market Golden Basket Award

Nine of the best local chefs from Central Pennsylvania’s finest restaurants will compete for the Boalsburg Farmers Market Fourth Annual Golden Basket Award on Tuesday, Aug. 5, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Part of Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA)‘s “Local Foods Week,” the event will feature the chefs preparing a main dish and two sides from ingredients produced by Boalsburg Farmers Market vendors.

This will be the largest judged competition among chefs in the State College Area, and it has been described “as the culinary Olympics of Centre County.” The chefs will gather their ingredients at the start of market, then prepare their plates for submission to the judges in front of market guests.

Continue Reading: Nine Local Chefs to Compete for Boalsburg Farmers Market Golden Basket Award

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 08/04, 2014 at 05:59 AM

Tags: GoldenBasketAward | LocalFoodsWeek | BoalsburgFarmersMarket |

‘Vegetable Festable’ Event July 15 (tomorrow) at the Boalsburg Farmers Market

‘Vegetable Festable’ Event July 15 (tomorrow) at the Boalsburg Farmers Market

Just about everybody knows the health benefits of eating fresh, local vegetables and fruits.  But actually eating them is another matter. Often the reason for this is not knowing how to prepare them in creative and easy ways.  To remedy this, The Boalsburg Farmers Market is sponsoring a “Vegetable Festable” on Tuesday, July 15 from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Boalsburg Farmers Market, located at the Pennsylvania Military Museum on Bus. Route 322 in Boalsburg. The event is designed to demonstrate how to use the fresh vegetables and fruits available at our local farmers markets and to inspire creative cooking at home.

Continue Reading: ‘Vegetable Festable’ Event July 15 (tomorrow) at the Boalsburg Farmers Market

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 07/14, 2014 at 06:59 AM

Tags: BoalsburgFarmersMarket | VegetableFestable |

Learning Kitchen at the Boalsburg Farmers Market June 24

Learning Kitchen at the Boalsburg Farmers Market June 24

Three local chefs will demonstrate how to prepare dishes using fresh ingredients obtained at the Boalsburg Farmers Market on Tuesday, June 24. Mark Johnson, chef at Zola New World Bistro is sharing a pork rillettes recipe whose ingredients can be obtained at the market and that’s easy to replicate. He’s also demystifying pesto making using the wonderful seasonal herbs and produce available. Sc’Eric Horner (Fuji & Jade Garden restaurant) & Chris Young (Happy Valley Brewing) will demonstrate making “Cocktails from the Garden” using garden-fresh and local ingredients to create exciting summer drinks. The demonstrations begin at 2:00 p.m. at the market, which is located on the grounds of the Pennsylvania Military Museum on Bus. Route 322 (South Atherton Street) in Boalsburg.

Continue Reading: Learning Kitchen at the Boalsburg Farmers Market June 24

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 06/19, 2014 at 09:39 AM

Tags: LearningKitchen | BoalsburgFarmersMarket |

I’m Fed Up With Industrial Food

I’m Fed Up With Industrial Food

I am really fed up. And it isn’t just because I am an increasingly irascible, old curmudgeon.

I’m fed up with the behavior of government agencies like the FDA, the USDA, and the EPA, dancing like puppets in the hands of Monsanto, ConAgra, Dow, Big Pharma and their ilk. The FDA dilly-dallies by continuing to allow antibiotics in animal feed to promote “efficiency” and profits, when it is clear that the practice promotes the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that threaten our health.

I’m fed up with the EPA constantly approving new pesticides that are known to kill pollinators. (Who needs insects anyway?)

Continue Reading: I’m Fed Up With Industrial Food

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 05/27, 2014 at 08:51 AM

Tags: supermarket | corn | opinion | factoryfarming |

Unpaid Field Hand travels to Mexico and samples their local food scene

Unpaid Field Hand travels to Mexico and samples their local food scene

While most of you were able to enjoy winter in February, my wife and I had to go to Mexico for three weeks. I knew we would miss experiencing the well below zero temperatures that promised to devastate our stink bugs population. I also wondered how much I would miss the fresh organic food available here. 

But when we arrived in San Jose del Cabo near the tip of Baja California, I was delighted to find the organic food movement thriving. We were able to walk from our motel in the city’s arts district to an organic farmers market, chock full of vendors selling fresh organic vegetables, meat, and eggs. Almost everything you can find at the Boalsburg Farmers Market in mid-summer was available and all of it organic.

Continue Reading: Unpaid Field Hand travels to Mexico and samples their local food scene

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 05/14, 2014 at 10:14 AM

Tags: UnpaidFieldHand | Mexico | farmersmarket |

Osage oranges to provide natural fence for Jade Family Farm

Osage oranges to provide natural fence for Jade Family Farm

The object pictured above doesn’t look much like barbed wire, but if you stretch it a bit, there is a connection.

What you see is an Osage orange I picked up this fall on the road near Jade Family Farm. You can find Osage Orange trees from the Great Plains to here and beyond.

Continue Reading: Osage oranges to provide natural fence for Jade Family Farm

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 01/14, 2014 at 09:08 AM

Tags: |

Winter is a time of some rest, reminiscing for local farmers

Winter is a time of some rest, reminiscing for local farmers

Winter offers unpaid field hands like me respite from the daily toil that spring, summer, and fall days require. It is a good time to reflect on the past year. And when I begin these reveries, the first word that comes to mind is . . . pears.

Continue Reading: Winter is a time of some rest, reminiscing for local farmers

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 01/06, 2014 at 09:57 AM

Tags: pears | JadeFamilyFarm | goats |

The natural beauty of a local farm

The natural beauty of a local farm

Editor’s Note: While some of us enjoy snow around the holidays, the recent harsh weather might make some long for warmer times. Local Food Journey writer James Eisenstein takes us back to last spring and summer and shares the beauty he sees around Jade Family Farm.

In my previous life when in worked three jobs rolled into one at Penn State, I was especially attuned to the natural beauty surrounding us. To be sure, I admired the blossoms on my fruit trees at home, appreciated the beautiful flowers on my tomato plants, and admired Mt. Nittany from afar. But for the most part, I was preoccupied with thinking about everything I had to do, and spent more time than I should have staring at computer screens. A colleague with whom I did research brought this lifestyle to my attention when he suggested that an appropriate tombstone engraving would read: “Wishes he had spent more time in the office.”

That all changed when I switched careers to that of an unpaid field hand. I spend close to half of my time outdoors at the farm. I make it a point to stop fairly frequently to appreciate the stunning beauty all around me there.

Continue Reading: The natural beauty of a local farm

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 12/16, 2013 at 10:06 AM

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End of summer reflections…

End of summer reflections…

Working on a farm ties you intimately to the earth’s rhythms like nothing else. Professors begin the new academic year in the fall, then start all over again in January. But what organic vegetable growers do changes dramatically with the seasons.

Usually, farmers are too busy to reflect on much beyond which 20 of the 30 essential tasks that need to be done right away they can do. But I have the luxury of being (supposedly) retired, working only half time, and this allows me to contemplate the passing of the seasons. So as we enter the fall, this is an appropriate time to review this summer, mostly in pictures.

Continue Reading: End of summer reflections…

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 09/16, 2013 at 08:31 AM

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“Plow to Plate” Harvest Dinner to be Held September 11 at Mt. Nittany Winery

“Plow to Plate” Harvest Dinner to be Held September 11 at Mt. Nittany Winery

Fall in Central Pennsylvania brings the bounty, beauty, and variety of the fall harvest.  To celebrate the harvest, the Boalsburg Farmers Market in cooperation with the Mount Nittany Winery is sponsoring its “Plow to Plate Harvest Dinner” featuring the vegetables and fruits that ripen as the last of summer’s crops are replaced by those that thrive in the fall. Some of the best chefs in Happy Valley will prepare soups and side dishes from both summer crops, including eggplant, peppers, okra, garlic,  onions, melons,  and from fall favorites including acorn and butternut squash, pumpkins, kale, spinach, other fall greens, kohlrabi, and apples. They will also offer main dishes using pasture-raised, sustainably produced local meat, and deserts.
The dinner will be held at the beautiful Mt. Nittany Winery on Wednesday, September 11, and will gather a number of our area’s best chefs, including Jamie Steffen (Nittany Lion Inn), Charles Niedemyer (Nola’s Joint), Ben Stanley (El Gringo Tacos), Bob Ricketts (Fasta & Co), Nathan Brungarten (Mount Nittany Inn), Paul Kendeffy (Gamble Mill Restaurant and Brewery), Harrison Schailey (Harrisons), and Andy Rose (Elk Creek Café) to create a variety of dishes from ingredients from the fall harvest of Boalsburg Farmers Market vendors. 

Continue Reading: “Plow to Plate” Harvest Dinner to be Held September 11 at Mt. Nittany Winery

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 09/09, 2013 at 08:18 AM

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Local Food Fantasy Revisited: Part V

Local Food Fantasy Revisited: Part V

How might the proposed Friends and Farmers Food Co-Op Store contribute to making my local food fantasy a reality? (My fantasy envisions a future in which much of the food we eat comes from local farms and producers. The first four installments include Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four. As a member of the interim board of Friends and Farmers, I’ve been thinking about this question off and on for almost a year.

Continue Reading: Local Food Fantasy Revisited: Part V

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 08/21, 2013 at 12:56 PM

Tags: localfoodfantasy | co-op |

My Local Food Fantasy Revisited Part IV

My Local Food Fantasy Revisited Part IV

I’ve been revisiting my 2011 “Local Food Fantasy” piece describing how much of what we eat could be produced locally. The last installment described how the growing demand for local food can be accelerated. Here I want to explore the question of how supplies might rise to meet increasing demand.

Continue Reading: My Local Food Fantasy Revisited Part IV

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 08/19, 2013 at 06:59 AM

Tags: localfoodfantasy |

Why Do We Grow Parsnips?

Why Do We Grow Parsnips?

This is a very good question, one I was asking myself during three or so hours back in mid-July hand-weeding this year’s patch. It was hot! Last year we had no parsnips to sell or use, so I volunteered to take responsibility (with help from John). Most organic farmers don’t grow them. I have no idea how commercial, non-organic large scale growers grow them for a profit, but they evidently do. While we like to farm, it is necessary from time to time to get more money for a crop than you spend in time, effort, and inputs. If I weren’t unpaid, parsnips wouldn’t make the cut. They still might not.

Continue Reading: Why Do We Grow Parsnips?

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 08/07, 2013 at 09:11 AM

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Learning Kitchen Cooking Demonstration at the Boalsburg Farmers Market on Tuesday, July 16

Learning Kitchen Cooking Demonstration at the Boalsburg Farmers Market on Tuesday, July 16

On Tuesday, July 16, two local chefs will demonstrate how to prepare dishes using fresh ingredients obtained at the Boalsburg Farmers Market. Grace Pilato, an accomplished Italian chef, cookbook author, and teacher of popular cooking classes, will be joined by Nate Brungarten, executive sous chef de cuisine at Zola’s New World Bistro, for the event. Pilato, a local cultural food expert, will present “Farm to Fork,” showing how to incorporate unusual vegetables into everyday menu preparation and Brungarten will utilize fresh garden ingredients to make summer entertaining burst with fresh, local flavor.

Continue Reading: Learning Kitchen Cooking Demonstration at the Boalsburg Farmers Market on Tuesday, July 16

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 07/15, 2013 at 07:29 AM

Tags: event | BoalsburgFarmersMarket | LearningKitchen | Zolas |

My Local Food Fantasy Revisited, Part III: Increasing the Demand for Local Food

My Local Food Fantasy Revisited, Part III: Increasing the Demand for Local Food

This year I’ve revisited my 2011 local food fantasy by describing recent developments that are moving us to a vibrant local food system and sketching the outlines of what it could be like given the variety (but limited quantities) of locally produced food already available. To become a reality, the demand for local food here must grow, but some formidable obstacles loom. Part III identifies the major obstacles and sketches ways to overcome.

Continue Reading: My Local Food Fantasy Revisited, Part III: Increasing the Demand for Local Food

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 07/08, 2013 at 08:47 AM

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Learning Kitchen #1 at the Boalsburg Farmers Market June 25

Learning Kitchen #1 at the Boalsburg Farmers Market June 25

Three local chefs will demonstrate how to prepare dishes using fresh ingredients obtained at the Boalsburg Farmers Market Tuesday, June 25 at 2:00 p.m. Mark Johnson, head chef at the Elk Creek Cafe, will showcase dinner ideas for entertaining friends and family, while Sc’Eric Horner and Chris Young (master cocktailians from the Fuji & Jade Garden restaurant) will demonstrate making “Cocktails from the Garden” using garden-fresh and local ingredients to create exciting summer drinks.

Continue Reading: Learning Kitchen #1 at the Boalsburg Farmers Market June 25

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 06/24, 2013 at 10:59 AM

Tags: LearningKitchen | BoalsburgFarmersMarket |

My Local Food Fantasy Revisited: Part Two

My Local Food Fantasy Revisited: Part Two

Editor’s note: You can read Part One of this post here.

What would a local food system look like? Unless really hard times come when we are unable to import anything, we are likely to continue to draw upon distant sources for such things as olive oil, citrus fruit, avocados, pistachios, and high fructose corn syrup (just testing to see if you are paying attention on that last one).

Continue Reading: My Local Food Fantasy Revisited: Part Two

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 04/19, 2013 at 01:19 PM

Tags: unpaidfieldhand | localfood | |

My Local Food Fantasy Revisited: Part One

My Local Food Fantasy Revisited: Part One

Several years ago, I shared what I called my “local food fantasy,” one of the results (besides soreness and sweat) of performing repetitive tasks on the farm that require little thought (think weeding and digging carrots). Could we move to a “local food system” here? We live in a rich agricultural setting, have an educated population and some large institutional purchasers of food (Penn State, the hospital, schools, retirement communities), a supportive media, and a small but growing supply of locally grown food. “Why not?” I concluded But this was, as my title indicated, just a daydream.

Continue Reading: My Local Food Fantasy Revisited: Part One

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 04/17, 2013 at 03:50 PM

Tags: LocalFoodFantasy | community |

Harvesting Tomatoes

Harvesting Tomatoes

I’ll wager that when most folks buy green beans, radishes, tomatoes, or nearly any other vegetable, they don’t think much about how they were harvested. Gardeners, of course, know better, but even they can forget that almost every vegetable is harvested by hand, usually one at a time.

Continue Reading: Harvesting Tomatoes

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 09/04, 2012 at 02:29 PM

Tags: farm | tomatoes |

Harvesting Eggplant

Harvesting Eggplant

Many Americans have lost touch with the land and food production, and know little about what the folks who grow vegetables actually do. A student of mine on a class visit to a farm was amazed when she pulled a carrot out of the ground. So this is where they come from!

People around here often either grew up on a farm or have gardens, and know how carrots grow. Still, I suspect few know the details of growing less common vegetables. Today’s discussion reveals the shocking truth about life in the eggplant patch at harvest.

Continue Reading: Harvesting Eggplant

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 08/08, 2012 at 12:41 PM

Tags: farm | eggplant |

Local Chefs to Compete for Boalsburg Farmers Market Golden Basket Award

Local Chefs to Compete for Boalsburg Farmers Market Golden Basket Award

Customers at our many fine local restaurants place their orders and waiters magically produce delicious food, but most know little about what happens in the kitchen or who is preparing the dishes. Likewise, the chefs working in the kitchen rarely have a chance to meet their guests beyond an occasionally brief hello.

August 4th through 7th is Local Foods Week in Centre County, an appropriate time for restaurant goers and chefs to get acquainted. On Tuesday, August 7th, the Boalsburg Farmers Market is sponsoring an event that provides an excellent opportunity to do so.

Continue Reading: Local Chefs to Compete for Boalsburg Farmers Market Golden Basket Award

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 07/31, 2012 at 01:43 PM

Tags: event |

The Amazing (mostly unknown) Rhubarb

The Amazing (mostly unknown) Rhubarb

When I moved to State College in 1972 and noticed five large plants growing in my backyard in suburban Lemont, I had to ask what they were. Rhubarb, I was told. I had never heard of it. So I took out all but one of them to make room (ironically) for a strawberry patch. Who knew?

I know better now, of course. And judging from the (modest) increase in sales of our Jade Family Farm rhubarb, folks in Happy Valley are catching on, too. Now you can find it from several vendors at most local farmers markets – and sometimes in supermarkets. 

Continue Reading: The Amazing (mostly unknown) Rhubarb

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 05/25, 2012 at 02:52 PM

Tags: rhubarb |

The Zen of Weeding

The Zen of Weeding

You may think that spending some 20 hours hand weeding asparagus would be an onerous task, but only because you haven’t had to slog through grading a big stack of blue books or papers. I’d much prefer the weeding, though my knees and back provide a dissenting view.

Continue Reading: The Zen of Weeding

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 05/14, 2012 at 01:13 PM

Tags: fieldhand | farmdiary |

Why Organic? Part 5: GMOs

Why Organic? Part 5: GMOs

Two fundamental truths proved most useful to students in my environmental politics class—both from the field of ecology. The first is, “You can’t do just one thing.” The second explains why the first is true: “Everything is connected to everything else.”

Previous parts of this “Why Organic” series illustrate the usefulness of these two principles. A conventional farmer can’t just kill harmful insects or noxious weeds or boost crop growth with chemical fertilizers without doing other not so wonderful things. Not so wonderful things include killing pollinators and other beneficial insects, depleting the soil, reducing the nutritional content of food, and jeopardizing human health with pesticide and herbicide residues in food.

Continue Reading: Why Organic? Part 5: GMOs

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 04/16, 2012 at 08:31 AM

Tags: fieldhand | organic |

Why Organic? Part 4: The Biosphere

Why Organic? Part 4: The Biosphere

Parts 1 through 3 of the “Why Organic?” series explained that organically grown food is more nutritious—reason enough to eat (and produce) it—and contains far fewer pesticide residues, whose effects are not fully known. But if that isn’t enough to convince you to eat organic, perhaps contemplating the ecological damage caused by conventional agriculture will change your mind.

Continue Reading: Why Organic? Part 4: The Biosphere

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 04/09, 2012 at 07:10 PM

Tags: fieldhand | organic |

Farm Diary: Pruning in March

Farm Diary: Pruning in March

Most people know that pruning does not consist of attaching prunes to fruit trees and bushes, despite what Amelia Bedelia understood it to mean. But beyond that, I’ll wager that most folks who read Unpaid Field Hand only know that it involves some sort of cutting and thinning of fruit trees and canes.

Of course, you can learn all about it by going on the web and googling “fruit pruning.” But even after reading the 7,280,000 results available, you might be forgiven for still not knowing just how to do it. And for good reason. That’s because even the most knowledgeable experts sometimes give contradictory advice. Even Michael Phillips, whose book The Apple Grower is considered an authority to many apple cultivators, confesses that he hopes to know how to do it by the time he is eighty.

Continue Reading: Farm Diary: Pruning in March

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 03/30, 2012 at 09:12 AM

Tags: fieldhand | farmdiary |

Why Organic? Part 3: Pesticides

Why Organic? Part 3: Pesticides

It’s confession time. I made a small mistake, so uncharacteristic of me, as I’m sure you will agree. You see, in Part 3 of my series “Why Organic?” I wanted to talk about how pesticides are bad for our health and the environment, and then do the same for GMOs.

I intended to make a few, short, simple points about the health effects of pesticides—like they aren’t good for us (especially children) and they aren’t adequately tested and regulated.

My mistake? I decided to do a little Google research for the health effects paragraph, anticipating my inquiring readers’ insistent demands for “evidence.” The more I found out, the clearer it became that just one paragraph wouldn’t do.

Continue Reading: Why Organic? Part 3: Pesticides

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 03/22, 2012 at 11:09 AM

Tags: organic | fieldhand |

Farm Diary: Seeding Fun in Late February

Farm Diary: Seeding Fun in Late February

Seeding is a critical component of farming. No seed flats planted in February means no crops later. It is a laborious and painstaking, but oddly, satisfying task that I tackled two weeks ago. Here is how it works.

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{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 03/07, 2012 at 08:59 AM

Tags: fieldhand | farmdiary |

Farm Diary: Late Winter on the Farm

Farm Diary: Late Winter on the Farm

Every occupation has its rhythm. The rhythms of farming are special because they coincide with earth’s yearly swing around the sun. January and February provide an opportunity to contemplate the prospects of the upcoming growing season. So my unpaid field hand’s diary for 2012 begins with news from winter.

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{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 02/29, 2012 at 10:39 AM

Tags: fieldhand | farmdiary |

Why Organic? Part 2: Nutrition

Why Organic? Part 2: Nutrition

If, as I argued in Part 1, organically produced food is more nutritious, it makes sense to eat it. It may cost a little more, but you are getting more for your money.

Over the past 15 years, we’ve learned more about complex healthy soils. They are teaming with little critters, beetle grubs, earthworms, bacteria by the billions, and fungi. Together, they facilitate plants’ ability to obtain micro-nutrients and minerals essential to good health. Compost, manures, and other organic substances in the soil provide these organisms with what they need to do their thing.

Continue Reading: Why Organic? Part 2: Nutrition

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 02/21, 2012 at 10:38 AM

Tags: fieldhand | organic |

Why Organic? Part 1: Introduction

Why Organic? Part 1: Introduction

My brother, a witty fellow indeed, never misses an opportunity to respond to my every utterance of the term “organic food” by saying that he much prefers it to inorganic food like rocks and plastic. His response follows a long tradition of cleverly tormenting his little brother, but it also revives my suspicion that many people don’t actually know what “organic food” is or why anyone would want to produce it or consume it. If this sounds like you (or even if it doesn’t), read on.

Continue Reading: Why Organic? Part 1: Introduction

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 01/25, 2012 at 12:08 PM

Tags: fieldhand | organic |

Weather Woes

Weather Woes

For most people, the weather gives us something to talk about besides religion and politics. Bad weather can produce gloom, glorious days joy, rainy spells inconvenience. But really, we live indoors and travel mostly in enclosed spaces, so life pretty much goes on regardless of the weather. Not so for folks who work outdoors. Bad weather means no work for roofers and tree trimmers. Rain means less pleasant work for garbage men and traffic police.

But for farmers, the state of the weather has profound consequences that most people are not even aware of. So read on and improve your comprehension of just what a huge impact the weather has on folks who grow your food.

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{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 12/07, 2011 at 03:36 PM

Tags: fieldhand |

Fall Garlic Fun on the Farm

Fall Garlic Fun on the Farm

It is now late fall on the farm, and the last vegetables have been harvested. Time to sit by the fire, do our nails, and dream of spring, right? Yes? Shows how much you know about life on an organic vegetable farm.

Now is the time to plant next year’s garlic. Notice the nifty planting grid our intrepid intern Hannah is using to make sure the cloves are properly spaced. If you squint and look at the front of the wooden form, you’ll discover both some intact garlic bulbs and some individual cloves ready to stick into the soil. 

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{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 11/14, 2011 at 08:59 AM

Tags: fieldhand | farm | garlic |

Unpaid Field Hand: Name this Crop

Unpaid Field Hand: Name this Crop

Your chances of identifying this mystery crop increase in direct proportion to how far south you grew up. These plants like really hot weather. In fact, they are not supposed to grow very well in central Pennsylvania. But that doesn’t stop my son, John.

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{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 09/21, 2011 at 01:11 PM

Tags: fieldhand |

Unpaid Field Hand: Name this Crop

Unpaid Field Hand: Name this Crop

We have lots of customers who buy lettuce, onions, carrots, and beets. Then there are many who merely stroll by and say, “Everything looks beautiful.” True Fact: People who say, ”Everything looks beautiful” really mean, “I’m not going to buy a single thing.”

What is this wonderful, under-appreciated vegetable?

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{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 09/14, 2011 at 10:37 AM

Tags: fieldhand | farm |

Unpaid Field Hand: Mystery Crop Update

Unpaid Field Hand: Mystery Crop Update

I suspect that my faithful followers have been distracted from their routine activities wondering how the various “name this crop” vegetables are doing. Fear not! I have a few updates for you.

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{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 09/06, 2011 at 12:54 PM

Tags: fieldhand | farm |

A Local Food Fantasy

A Local Food Fantasy

Farm work can enrich your fantasy life. While weeding our new currant and gooseberry patch the other day, I let my mind wonder …

How close could we get to a truly local food system here in central Pennsylvania? Could we become one of the leading centers of the local food movement in the United States?

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{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 08/22, 2011 at 11:35 AM

Tags: fieldhand |

How to Plan a Day’s Work on a Vegetable Farm

How to Plan a Day’s Work on a Vegetable Farm

For those of you who are having trouble falling asleep beset by curiosity over how farmers plan their workdays, this post is for you. Actually, it is a laughably simple two-step process. Step 1: List everything that absolutely must be done. Step 2: Rank the tasks in order of importance and do the work. Ready?

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{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 08/04, 2011 at 01:48 PM

Tags: fieldhand | farm |

Unpaid Field Hand: Name this Crop

Unpaid Field Hand: Name this Crop

Driving around central Pennsylvania, I typically see entire fields dedicated to neat rows of corn and soybean plants – all instantly recognizable. And photos from mega-agribusinesses show similarly uniform fields. Any media consultant smarter than a brick would advise a farmer client to only depict similarly pristine views of growing crops.

But what do you notice about the photo of this farm field?

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{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 07/25, 2011 at 01:21 PM

Tags: fieldhand | farm |

Unpaid Field Hand: Food Fear Part 1

Unpaid Field Hand: Food Fear Part 1

Big hairy spiders, slithering snakes, white-faced hornets and yellow jackets—these are common fears among many people. They know they have them, and they are typically not shy about sharing them with others. I have recently realized, however, that there is one fear many people have that they do not admit to having. Indeed, they might not even know they have it. 

I’m talking about food fear, specifically the fear of tasting or cooking something new.

Continue Reading: Unpaid Field Hand: Food Fear Part 1

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 07/12, 2011 at 09:10 AM

Tags: fieldhand |

Unpaid Field Hand: Name this Crop

Unpaid Field Hand: Name this Crop

If you are still reeling from failing to identify the asparagus plants in my first blog post, redemption can be yours. The very immature crop pictured above will produce (with some luck) one of the most sought after food items. What surprises me is that despite their popularity (even though they are pricey), they are not difficult to grow. Anyone reading this who has access to a mostly sunny patch can do it. In addition to being delicious, they contain significant amounts of polyphone antioxidants said to fight cancer and other diseases. One source indicates that one cup provides 69% of the daily requirement for vitamin C. 

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{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 07/01, 2011 at 08:59 AM

Tags: fieldhand | raspberries |

Unpaid Field Hand: The Story of Peas

Unpaid Field Hand: The Story of Peas

Last Tuesday night, Emily Wiley posted a picture of her dinner to the Boalsburg Farmers Market Facebook page. The caption said: “Dinner tonight courtesy of the Boalsburg Farmers Market. Pork chops from Cow-a-Hen Farm. Snap peas from Jade Family Farm. Bread from Gemelli Bakery with lemon-artichoke pesto from Fasta & Ravioli Co. And strawberries from Way Fruit Farm. Happiness on a plate.”

Emily knew the peas she bought were grown at Jade Family Farm, but how did the green pods find their way to our farm and then to the market? Well, this unpaid field hand decided to tackle that question.

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{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 06/21, 2011 at 12:19 PM

Tags: fieldhand | farm | peas |

Unpaid Field Hand: Welcome to the Farm

Unpaid Field Hand: Welcome to the Farm

Can you identify what vegetable growing is pictured? No, really, look carefully and give it try.

Why even ask, you might ask? Because much of the knowledge our grandparents had about the variety names of fruits and vegetables and how they grew has been lost, and I think that is too bad. They knew the names of many apple and tomato varieties, for example, and what each was good for. Part of our renewed interest in what we eat as we embark on a local food journey should involve regaining this knowledge. 

Continue Reading: Unpaid Field Hand: Welcome to the Farm

{name} Posted by James Eisenstein on 06/10, 2011 at 12:34 PM

Tags: fieldhand |

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