This season, we’re going to try out a new series of posts called “Farm Score”. In these posts, we’ll identify a common farm task and try to decide which song provides the best accompaniment.
In times of frustration or exhaustion, a good song can push you through even the most unsavory of tasks. Landon and [...]
A week or so back, Landon and I made the annual trip out to State College, PA for the 2012 Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture Conference. The best part of the event is always the camaraderie–2,200 farmers and friends-of-farmers from across the region, swapping stories, celebrating, and commiserating. We got to catch up [...]
Farming can be a volatile profession. One week, you’re on top of the world, Scrooge McDuck-ing it into giant piles of heirloom tomatoes and wallpapering with collard greens. The next, you’re pulling thousands of rotten carrots out of the fields.
OK, the first part didn’t happen, but the second part is the g*d-honest truth. Landon [...]
Hoo, baby. August was a hectic month on the farm. I started working at a local engineering firm to bring in some extra dough, and Landon continued to bust his butt in the fields. I’d love to give you a full run-down of August-mania, but I’m just going to post this video instead. It talks [...]
Root Mass Farm has been blessed with visitors lately. As a matter of fact, we’ve had folks come to the farm for the past 4 weekends and plan to make it a 5th. Our friends are the nicest. This past week, Landon and I got to share our home, our farm, our swiss chard, and [...]
Bug Scale Rating: -2*
You’ve seen the damage they inflict–tiny little holes in our radish greens, kohlrabi leaves, and mesclun mix. The greens look like they’ve been assaulted by an unstable David the Gnome wielding a tiny, gnome-sized pool cue (maybe smaller than David the Gnome, though–didn’t he ride a fox or something?). Unfortunately, the [...]
Most things in life evolve too slowly to notice in the moment. I know my face is changing, but I can’t say where or how. Roads develop new potholes and trees grow more rings, but who knows when. It just makes me yearn for time lapse videos of everything–the expansion of my cat’s girth, the [...]
We get that question a lot during garlic scape season, and with good reason. Upon first glance, the garlic scape is definitely an enigma. Its name contains a familiar word–garlic–and there are parts of the food that vaguely resemble garlic. But it’s also kind of wacky looking. When Landon was working at the [...]
Being a farmer has its advantages. No, they don’t include steady income, access to affordable healthcare, or regular hours. But they DO include wicked fancy salads!
Every time I thin flats in the greenhouse, I end up with a wicked fancy salad. Here at Root Mass, we throw dozens of insurance seeds into every flat [...]
Over the past few weeks, Landon and I have been dealing with the realities of our hardpan. It’s a nasty, compact layer of soil about 4-6 inches beneath the topmost layer that causes all sorts of problems. Most maddeningly, it interferes with root growth and prevents proper drainage.
We’re not sure quite how [...]
This past Thursday, Landon and I celebrated our unofficial six year anniversary. We had long-standing plans to get some portable speakers for the iPod, but things were a little too hectic last week to make that happen. Instead, we celebrated by doing what we like to do best when the weather’s dry–sticking things into the [...]
Landon and I love selling at Headhouse Market. It’s well-organized, the customers are terrific, and the vendors are super supportive. Well, that’s why we love it as business owners.
As people who love food, we love it for the shopping. Landon and I make sure to snag some groceries toward the end of each market, [...]
We see a lot of strange things on the farm: giant spiders living in piles of manure, cows bathing in each other’s bodily fluids, trees furry with poison ivy roots.
This time, Landon was able to snap a picture. Can you describe what’s going on in this picture? Post your guess in the comments below–there [...]
Guess what everybody? THE CHICKS ARE HERE. And they are CUTE! I’ll just let the pictures do the talking.
This past Sunday, Landon and I attended our very first farmers’ market as Root Mass Farm. Someone should’ve passed the word onto our fields. The rain and cool weather slowed our harvest to a near standstill–we had just under $100 of produce to sell. What do you want first? The good news or the bad [...]
Landon and I live in the country. Fact. There aren’t many jobs in the country for a Sociology major with non-profit event planning experience. Shit. Who am I kidding–there aren’t a lot of jobs anywhere for a Sociology major with non-profit event planning experience.
So, when I reentered the job market last November, I decided [...]
I went to the PASA conference (Pennsylvannia Association of Sustainable Agriculture) this past weekend. I’ve gone to the conference for several years now, and it’s always a great source of diverse agricultural know-how. This year I learned about everything from internet marketing to hops growing – it turns out I don’t want to grow hops. [...]
When Landon and I started this venture, we knew our friends and family would be supportive. We’re incredibly fortunate to have people in our lives who believe in our abilities to try something new and recover from our mistakes.
But we couldn’t have imagined the depth and sincerity of their support. The words of encouragement, [...]
The rest of this winter could be tough… Landon and I are finally living in Oley full-time, anxiously awaiting the start of our first growing season. Sure, we have lots of farm work to keep us busy, but the odds of cabin fever are high.
Fortunately, I’m working on a strategy to beat the odds. [...]
When we first visited what is now Root Mass Farm, Wilbur greeted us warmly–jaws agape, anxiously awaiting an edible treat. It’s been over a year now, and we’ve gotten kind of intimate.
This Monday though, he’s off to the butcher. As a farewell tribute to our farm friend, we’ve compiled some video footage of [...]
