Fields of Plenty

“There’s pansies, that’s for thoughts.” William Shakespeare, Hamlet  The name “pansy” comes to us courtesy of the English, who mangled the French word “penser” (means ‘to think’) in the mid-1400s. At that time the word was used for the wildflower we call a viola or johnny jump up. The flower was widely used for centuries as a romantic gesture and as a symbol of secret courting.  A violet or purple flower meant passion, yellow for happiness, and white for “let’s take a chance!”  Shakespeare used the pansy several times in his plays.                      The large flowers we know today are a result of the gardening passion of the British landowners in the 18 th and 19 th centuries. Lady Mary Elizabeth Bennett of Surrey, England, was the first to introduce the large pansy flower to the world in 1812. Other gardeners quickly followed in her path, and within 20 years there were 400 named varieties of pansies....

We had a "Plant Your Own Garlic" Pop Up Event recently and it was soo much fun! Here is some information about growing garlic if you didn't have a chance to stop by.  Garlic, Onions, Potatoes... When these veggies sit in the pantry long enough they begin to grow leaves. All three can be re-planted in the garden for a fresh crop. Outside, garlic is typically planted in fall. It’s a cool-season crop, meaning it grows well in cool temperatures and will flower in summer heat. This moves the energy and flavor of the garlic plant away from the stem and leaves towards the flower, giving it less flavor, so harvesting your garlic cloves before they flower is important. Garlic is typically not re-planted outside after selling in stores, because they often don’t grow as big. This isn’t a problem when growing garlic in a pot as a hobby gardener, because it is a small-scale option if you want to re-use garlic that sprouted in the pantry now and again. How to Plant: Step 1: F...

What DO we do all day long? Every day is different—it’s one reason we like what we do! But here is one day in March, with the help of a lot of people: Saturday, March 10, 2018. I always check the weather first: Clear and sunny, low of 29, going up to 44 today, still plenty of snow on the ground from the March 7 nor’easter (winter storm Quinn—did I know before that storms are named as well as hurricanes?), but starting to melt. 5:30 am  -  Bring market truck to barn loading area. Prepare market aprons and Fitler share list. 5:45  -  Roll carts with produce out of storage and start loading truck 6:25 -  Finish loading. Double check that everything is on the truck: donuts (very important! Especially since we’ve forgotten them once or twice….), supply boxes, flowers, non-refrigerated produce, meat shares…check! Off they go to Philadelphia 6:30  - Bake and prep pies, bread, muffins, and donuts for the farm market. 8:00  -   Start b...

In Honor of Women’s History Month In addition to honoring those women who have changed the world, I think it is important to honor those women who have been so important in our individual lives. I present to you Rachel Louise Rotthouse, who married John Coleman Webster, Jr., my grandmother. Born in 1908, Rachel grew up on Cherrywood Farm located just off Concord Pike, in the area now known as Blue Rock Manor. Her grandparents immigrated from Germany, and her father was the first born in the United States in 1879. Rachel attended the one-room, multi-grade school on Concord Pike, and learned all about farming. She learned how to make cheese and sausage, how to plant and harvest, how to preserve the harvest for the long winter months.   She always loved reading and learning, and Rachel became the teacher in that one-room school. Rachel caught the eye of a young farmer, John Webster, and he talked her into marrying him in 1924. She moved into the large farmhouse with his pa...