Root Mass Farm

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 [...]

Time Lapse My Life

Lindsey — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:57:38 +0000

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 [...]

“How do you use that?”

Lindsey — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:12:18 +0000

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 [...]

Unexpected Farmer Perk: Wicked Fancy Salads

Lindsey — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:42:25 +0000

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 [...]

Wanna See Me Disco?

Lindsey — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:18:06 +0000

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 [...]