Corn Planting!

A Charlottesville, Fairfax, and DC crew descended on the farm this Saturday. We made hundreds of mounds of dirt and compost and sowed the corn! We picnicked, sweat, and watered the entire garden with buckets from the creek! We also took it as a sign that the project was destined for luck when it rained good and hard for 20 minutes immediately after we finished planting.

Todd will give a shout out when the corn is 4 inches, and then we'll put in the beans, followed by squash! Keep in touch for those dates if you want to come along!

Fence building

Todd, Andrew, Jimmy, Liz, and I put up our first electric fence! Planting party this coming saturday 11 am!

May update

Before and After!

Ground is broken! Arnoldo, from the Virginia Justice Center and Mexicans without Borders, Todd from Quality Community Council, Brian, our neighbor, Megan, my housemate, and I spent the day on the 7th plowing up two plots of dirt in the back of the farm. We've got a 100 ft by 40 ft and 40 by 40 ft plot nearly ready to go for planting-! We'll put up a fence over memorial day weekend to keep out cows and deer, and then have a planting party at the end of the month with cville folks from QCC and hopefully some folks from the organized day laborer network up here (TUAVA).

We'll be planting corn, beans, and squash. This is often called the three sisters- the three work together to keep away pests and balance soil nutrients. The corn is a natural pole for beans to climb up.
Todd, Arnoldo, and our trusty plow. Brian plowed and tilled the larger plot with his tractor and potato plow.

Upcoming dates:

• May 24th- build a fence and till once more
• May 31st- planting party!
• Late summer- harvest party!

February update

The Quality Community Council is taking on Companion Farm in Ivy as their next project. http://cvilleqcc.com/default.aspx
Todd, urban farm manager and I have staked out a beautiful little 1/2 acre plot for the pilot season of melons and pumpkins. We should sign a lease on the property by the end of the month.
I'll be moving to DC for a little while, but will be back and forth and keeping in the loop. Amanda Altman may be down here for a month--! Anyone else would be very welcome, as her lack of a car is a small problem in a town like cville.

-VA

aerial photo of companion farm

pictures of the farm

Arnoldo, Karen, and Todd check out Companion Farm for the first time-!

february meeting and other updates

Hey y'all.

It's probably a good idea to go ahead and pick a weekend for another
gathering to talk about the farm.

Eric suggested the weekend of Feb. 26th. On the other hand, Feb 19th
is a 3-day weekend, which might work better for folks coming from
farther away? Send the list or me your thoughts and I can try to
synthesize them. You can always call me, too- 202 674 0900

Some ideas I and others have had for early action items for the farm
that we could talk about in February (or leading up to february):

Spring garden planting?
Spring or summer natural building workshop on farm?
Local groups' projects on farm
Synthesis of regional/national networking since Oct. '07
thoughts on project and a 501 (c) - non-profit status.

UPDATES:

1. I've been talking with a bunch of y'all about starting early on
with planting as early as spring, and getting other groups involved.
Arnoldo (community organizer with the virginia justice center) and I
visited an organic herb farm in Harrisonburg, VA to check out their
greenhouses to get ideas for winter crops.

2. A few of us have talked about going ahead and putting up a
structure next year, too- either a shed to keep building materials, or
hosting a natural building workshop that would leave us a structure
after the workshop.

3. Diane and I are working with Francisco to organize a long distance
trip for January to a center we're really interested in. So far, we're
talking about Texas, and visiting Colectivo Flatlander
(colectivoflatlander.org) and a farm run by indigenous women out
there, too. Other ideas for a long distance trips? We're also planing
another regional trip for this month. Not sure where yet- ideas?

4. I'm keeping an excel spreadsheet of any organizations/centers/farms
we have visited or want to. you can send me any information of places
you visit or want to, and i'll keep it organized.

5. Charlottesville-based outreach is going well. Folks around here are
interested already in the Feb. meeting. Catholic workers, community
orgs, local churchfolk, etc.

6. I need to figure out with my dad which 50 acres of the farm is the
best for this project's purposes. if anyone has ideas of how to
determine that, land-wise, please let me know. Right now I'm going by
the access road, the pond, seemingly good farming land?