The last day of the CSA share pick-up will be Saturday May 19th. We will be sure to remind you again as we get closer to the date.
Sunrise
and Sunset: 7: 00am/ 7:47pm (actual)
Solar noon: 1:23pm
Moonrise and Moonset: 4:24am/ 3: 49pm
On Friday, April 13 there will be 13 hours and 35 minutes of visible light.
Field Notes
A sigh of relief coasted across the river and land. At once with this breath the sky opened, shyly dripping, then quickly, encouraged by the breadth of dryness below, let go of copious raindrops. Thick with nitrogen and minerals, the drops splattered, shattered on leaf and soil, enriching roots both shallow and deep. The structure of the plants expanded, adding watery life into stem, leaf, and flower. The strangely cool days and nights of the past week have brought life again to the brassica and chard families. The solanacea (tomato, pepper, and eggplant) family has taken a bit of vacation during this time, but will surely come back when the heat returns (which, we know, will be here soon enough).
Flora
Although the oaks have shed their pollen, the air is still thick with spring time, making us sneeze quite a bit in the fields. Long since producing the next generation of food, the avocado and mango trees already carry fruit the size of limes (and equally as green). The pigeon peas (gandules) are weighed down with pods: in the hot sun they have dried quickly.
Fauna
4HF’s resident little hare was spotted under the tomatoes early this week. Although there have been less frequent sightings of the cedar waxwings, there still remains much-less-than-average amounts of mulberries for the picking. During the past two weeks, many deeply colored cardinals have been noticed hopping branch to branch in the pigeon pea (gandules) forest. One particularly bright green anole (lizard) has maintained its high status in the potting shed by continuing its antics of push-ups and head lifts to frighten away would-be competitors. We watched this particular anole descend its way deep into the folds of a Romaine lettuce head in search of water. Unmoved by our curious presence it continued minute after minute to lap up moisture from the recently irrigated greens. Sunshine yellow and manure black details adorn the Swallow Tail butterflies that frequent the fields seeking out water drops and nectar. With the absence of our neighbor to feed the local squirrel population, our lettuce crop has suffered. They have aggressively sought out the greenest of the bunch and munched them to gnarly stubs. We suppose the previous weeks’ lack of rain has urged them to find watery foods, but we hope our recent netting project will prove deterrent enough for these wily critters.
Vegetable Spotlight – Arugula
This lobed-leaf leafy green demands attention for its bitter and ‘peppery’ spice. Unsurprising due to its bite, arugula is part of the mustard family (brassica). Unlike many other loose-leaf greens often found in salads, arugula is striking in both taste and its wavy-silhouette appearance. Along with its smooth textured leaves, arugula’s white four-petal flowers are also edible raw or lightly cooked. Arugula is also known as rocket, rugola, rucola, and roquette. By whatever name it is known, it remains high in vitamin C and iron.
“Rocket has been grown as a vegetable in the Mediterranean area since Roman times, and was considered an aphrodisiac. Before the 1990s it was usually collected in the wild and was not cultivated on a large scale…” Today, you can find it throughout the world. Here in Central Florida, it grows abundantly on the farm, adapting especially well to our long periods of heat and drought.
Eco-Agri-Food Definition of the Week – The Dirty Dozen
In 1993, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) began analyzing the pesticide residue levels of commonly eaten foods (among other ecologically related investigations). 43,000 tests have helped to reveal the most and least contaminated of the produce in question. The data collected considered “how typically people wash and prepare produce (for example, apples are washed before testing, bananas are peeled). While washing and rinsing fresh produce may reduce levels of some pesticides, it does not eliminate them. Peeling alos reduces exposure, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the peel.” The EWG claims that over 90% of pesticide ingestion can be avoided by eliminating (or replacing with organically grown alternatives) the most contaminated vegetables and fruits.
The Dirty Dozen are the worst tainted of all the foods analyzed. It includes peaches (97% tested positive for residue), apples (92% tested positive), sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce, and potatoes.
The most “Consistently Clean” dozen includes onions (90% tested negative), avocados, frozen sweet corn, pineapples, mango, asparagus, frozen sweet peas, kiwi, bananas, cabbage, broccoli, and papaya.
Visit www.foodnews.org for a wallet-sized Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. Canadian Environmental Defence (sic) offers additional information with its Toxic Tracker Program at www.foodwatch.ca
Recommended
Readings
and Pertinent Websites
In order to encourage homesteading on whatever scale available, the *** family began this website. www.themodernhomestead.us is an informational resource as well as a forum for discovery and networking regarding starting your own homestead. There are many interesting how-tos and shared experiences to be found on this site whether you are thinking to take the next step yourself or simply enjoy new perspectives on modern small-scale agricultural livelihoods.
Organic Consumers Association’s colorful and engaging website, www.organicconsumers.org, offers a plethora of information related to all aspects of food and its production in the United States. Keeping up to date, OCA provides articles and links from themes ranging anywhere from farm issues to climate concerns, while encouraging political activism and making e-newsletters available to keep on top of these concerns.
Environmental Working Group, www.ewg.org, is a “team of scientists, policy experts, lawyers, and computer programmers that pores over government data, legal documents, scientific studies, and our own laboratory tests to expose threats to your health and the environment, and to find solutions.” Although often unrecognized, EWG has been touted as remaining extremely influential and active in its mission since its inception in 1993.
Around Brevard and
Central Florida
Florida Oceans Day is April 18th. Oceans Day is an annual event at our State Capitol, Tallahassee, where hundreds of ocean, coastal, and marine related organizations come together. The entire plaza in front of the Capitol will be filled with booths, trailers, demo stations, everything marine and ocean oriented. For more information please see http://www.floridaoceanalliance.org/ or www.surfrider.org; or contact Farmer Mandy.
Some Earth Day (April 22nd) events around Brevard will include: the Brevard Zoo “Party for the Planet”. Receive $2 off admission when you bring in a phonebook for recycling. See http://www.brevardzoo.org/newsevents/index.html#party for more information.
The SunSeed Cooperative in Cape Canaveral will have ecologically-oriented booths by local producers and organizations set up on April 21st from 11 until 5.
Four Hands Farm wishes to congratulate Tristen Kahn for her award winning science project and wish her well in her future endeavors. We are inspired by and optimistic about her blossoming interest in eco-friendly practices and her overall concern for the planet. Tristen was encouraged by Farmer Morgan to investigate an agricultural theme for her science project and now has found herself the blue-ribbon winner of her school’s 3rd through 5th grade science fair and an upcoming contender in the regional science competition on April 26th at the Melbourne Civic Center.
Tristen’s project, titled “Is Vermicomposted [Worm Casting] Fertilizer Better for the Environment than Commercially Produced Fertilizer?” hypothesized that yes, indeed vermicompost is better for plants and the Earth. She began by preparing a worm tray system that used the poop from her pet bunny. The worms ingested and transposed the feces into dark compost. Next, Tristen examined the nutrient make-up of the vermiculture compost (worm castings) and a sample of commercially available non-organic fertilizer (this was done through professional laboratory analyses). The results as stated in her report:
When trying to aim for a balanced nutrition for plants, we want adequate amount of nutrients, not excessive amounts. The excessive amount of nutrients is not only a waste of money; it is a potential source of pollution that can actually reduce plant growth. From the soil analysis results received from the laboratory, and from all the research I have done, I have found that vermicomposted organic fertilizer is healthier for the environment because it has a balanced mix of nutrients that a plant can process, without excess pollution. Plants use only a small portion of the chemicals included in the chemical based fertilizer, and the rest goes into the soil and ends up polluting our water system.
