Root Mass Farm

Who’s the Mom?

Lindsey — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 22:57:12 +0000

At last week’s inaugural Philly Farm and Food Fest, Landon and I tested the chicken wits (or blind guessing ability) of the event attendees with a Match-the-Chicken-to-the-Egg Challenge. Out of 60 contestants, 7 of you got the right answer. Sorry everybody–it was a little harder than we intended it to be.

For those of you [...]

Sanitation Nation

Lindsey — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 16:28:16 +0000

Sanitation of farm equipment is one of those boring things farmers do in the winter. We wish it could all be seed catalogs and daydreams, but some things things just have to get done.

Over the past few months, Landon’s cleaned out loads of plug trays, burned some field debris, and cleaned off tools–all with [...]

Steamboat Landing: The Story of a Chicken Tractor

Lindsey — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 16:53:38 +0000

You know those default conversation topics you fall back on when the need for small talk arises? Television. Baseball. The absurdity of Rick Santorum. Recently, I’ve found myself adding chicken tractors to my go-to mix. “So, how ’bout those chicken tractors, huh?” I just can’t stop chatting about them.

So, what’s so captivating about chicken [...]

Doing Things the Hard Way

Lindsey — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:51:06 +0000

A few weekends back, Landon and I spent half of Saturday and most of Sunday shoveling manure from the barn floor to the spreader, rinse and repeat. Toward the end of Day 2, our very supportive and well-intentioned landlord finally saw it fit to intervene: “You know, it’s good exercise to be doing what you’re [...]

Farm Score: Spreading Bedding

Lindsey — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:11:17 +0000

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 [...]

Lessons from the 2012 PASA Conference

Lindsey — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:52:57 +0000

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 [...]

Your Love is Like a Rollercoaster

Lindsey — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 23:04:48 +0000

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 [...]

Tasty Onion Roll

Lindsey — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:07:04 +0000

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 [...]

“Children of the Corn” and other Movies

Lindsey — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 02:55:47 +0000

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 [...]

This Week in Bugs: The Flea Beetle

Lindsey — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:00:12 +0000

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 [...]