Know Your Vegetables - Summer Schedule and Next Workshop: May 18 2009 6:30PM @ Brix Bounty Farm

Our next Know Your Vegetables workshop will be held this Monday evening at 6:30 PM at Brix Bounty Farm (858 Tucker Road in Dartmouth).

We'll be focusing on weed control strategies on organic farms/gardens: stale bedding, cultivation tools and techniques. We'll be covering a bit of everything: weed identification (got a weed you aren't familiar with? bring it along), cultivating tools (again please bring along your favorite tools - we'll be demonstrating the use and technique of all kinds of hoes, stale bedding techniques to make weeding more effective, and more.

The attached photo is a field of Potatoes in early june 2005 at Norton Farm on Martha's Vineyard; one of the farms where I managed field production before starting Brix Bounty Farm.

Know Your Vegetables is a free monthly conversation series hosted by Brix Bounty Farm focusing on small-scale vegetable production. Conversations are usually held the third Monday of every month. We invite farmers, gardeners, and anyone interested in learning more about growing healthy food to join us.

Note: During the months of March, April, and May we will be available from 6:00-6:30 right before Know Your Vegetables to answer questions about soil testing. We can review testing techniques, different soil testing labs, and help you to understand what information your soil test report includes. Come with specific questions or general interest.

Upcoming Dates and Topics (all of the following Know Your Vegetables are at Brix Bounty Farm at 6:30 PM) this summer we'll be focusing on techniques used to improve the nutritional quality of crops...

June 15, 2009: Alternative Soil and Tissue Testing in the Field - Monitoring Soil Conductivity (ERGS), pH, and Brix of Plant Sap
July 20, 2009: Foliar Fertilizers: Compost Teas, Biodynamic Preparations and Foliar Sprays to Increase Production and Improve Disease Resistance
August 17, 2009: A Celebration of Summer - Know Your Vegetables Community Potluck

On a separate note; today's Standard-Times has a nice article about the new wind turbine raised at Silverbrook Farm on Chase Road. Silverbrook is one of a number of local farms with alternative energy generation on the farm (Round the Bend Farm and Sylvan Nurseries are two others with wind turbines).