Strawberries and politics

A neighboring strawberry farmer delivered a kiddie pool full of strawberry plans that he had thinned from his own strawberry patch on Monday. They looked a little beaten up, but I worked with Emily Carlson and Jon Cappelli to plant them all on Tuesday morning. Strawberries are the first perennial crop we’ve planted so far. Hopefully we will add some raspberry cane to the list soon.

When all of my extra Tuesday help left I harvested some zucchini’s for Kathy Zeman at Simple Harvest Farm. I guess her zukes and cukes aren’t doing very well and she needs some for her CSA members. It’s been fun to explore new markets (like the Co-op) to sell our produce through. I think Kathy will be buying another box of zukes from us on Thursday – it’s a good thing too, we have zucchinis coming out of our ears! We harvested several more boxes today, and there will be plenty more for the Co-op tomorrow. Green beans and cilantro are also on our radar – we harvested lots today, but there’s no end in sight!

Chelsea and I met with Representative David Bly this morning to discuss some of the local political issues concerning sustainable agriculture. Bly doesn’t have an extensive background or much hands-on experience in agriculture, but he is involved in a number of efforts to promote more sustainable practices among Minnesota farmers. Bly talked to us about an earlier attempt made by one of his colleagues through the legislature to ban the use of atrazine (an herbicide that affects the endocrine system of vertebrates) and to ban flyby spraying of herbicides in general. Bly also talked about his own efforts to promote a healthy middle class, which he outlines in his booklet called The Middle Class Amendment. We discussed the centrality of small, rural farms to his vision of America’s middle class as opposed to the current model in which small farmers are controlled and bought out by agribusiness corporations like Monsanto. Meeting with David Bly was a wonderful opportunity for Chelsea and I to explore some of the more political aspects of food and farming. While we have had many chances to talk with other producers, consumers, and now, even distributors, David Bly was the first politician we’ve spoken with.

This week is flying by… we’re already starting to think about harvesting for market on Saturday! Before we know our time on the farm will be coming to an end. We have one of our last farm tours scheduled for this Sunday and Monday, but after that it will be all paper writing and scrambling to finish out our Leaders for Social Change program requirements.