Today at YellowTree Farm

Lately we've been plugging away at starting our seedlings.  Today we started some red celery and asparagus chicory seeds.

Today at YellowTree Farm from YellowTree_Farm on Vimeo.

Listen Up

"Life isn't about [making money].  It shouldn't be about that."

In case you missed it last Friday, Justin was featured during a segment on KWMU's "Cityscape" program.  Collaborating with Sauce Magazine, Cityscape aired a story on urban farming in St. Louis. Producers caught up with Justin to get his take on what caused him to become passionate about urban farming as a way of life.  

If you missed the segment, listen to it here:

http://kwmuweb.streamguys.com/Cityscape/091611bweb_small.mp3  Justin's part begins around the 03:37 minute mark.

Back to the Start

For those of you not familiar with this video yet, several weeks ago the popular food chain Chipotle uploaded a video of Willie Nelson covering Coldplay's "The Scientist," with computer animation accompanying the song.

Don't view it as just a commercial for Chipotle, however.  The company commissioned the video to emphasize the importance of developing a sustainable food system, and I think it hits its target spot-on.  Willie's cover of the song is haunting, as is the narrative of the cartoon, and yeah, I'll admit that it made my eyes well up a little.

As long-time supporter's of Farm Aid (Willie Nelson's other project), we're happy to see Willie Nelson supporting Chipotle's endeavor to highlight the importance of sustainable agriculture.

It's Been a Long Time, We Shouldn't Have Left You...

We can't believe it's been almost four months since we last wrote a blog post! Spring turned into summer, and summer produced some crazy hot, hot temperatures, and what else can we say? We've been working tremendously hard these last few months out in the fields, at the markets, and around town.

Now for a brief little recap:

You might already know that our grow space at our homestead in Affton is around 1/10 of an acre. While it's surprising to see the bounty such a small space can produce, we started searching earlier this year for ways we could acquire more land on which to grow more crops. Our search ended once we met Virgil and his wife, Margaret – farmers in nearby Fenton, Missouri (St. Louis County) whose property spans 500 acres in the middle of subdivisions and strip malls.  

We've been renting a few acres from Virgil and Margaret, and if you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you might have already seen photos of what our plot looks like and the transformation its undergone while in our care. 
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It's That (Itchy) Time of Year Again...

Spring has sprung, and our crops are growing, and as such our back door is seeing tons of activity as Justin and I travel from inside to outside, and vice versa, with gardening tools, plants, and other items.  However, we're not the only two coming in and out of the house; mosquitoes are, too.  Last night, for instance, I managed to swat a half dozen blood suckers.  Although, swatting with my hand is as far as I'll go to kill these pests.

As residents of St. Louis County, our local government routinely sprays for mosquitoes from the months of May through October.  However, the mosquito tucks don't spray down our block.  That's because we're on the do-not-spray list.  Yes, it's true, people have a right to opt-out of mosquito spraying!

But what's the problem with mosquito spraying, you ask?  Plenty.

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In Season: Bamboo Shoots

At YellowTree Farm, we're big on gleaning and foraging.  Open your eyes; there's plenty of food all around us just going to waste. Bamboo shoots are in season right now, and we're selling plenty of them at the Maplewood Farmer's Market.  Fresh, springtime bamboo shoots are considered a delicacy all over Asia, and they're an excellent source of fiber, protein, vitamin C, potassium, vitamin E, and iron.  

If you're already a fan of the frozen or canned bamboo shoots available in grocery stores or in your delivery of Asian takeout, you simply must try our locally foraged fresh version.  Just peel back the outer layers until you come to the tender, bright green insides.  Slice them up, boil or sauté them with some salt and oil, and you've got a hyper-local side dish to any meal.

Looking to Learn More?

Thinking about raising your own flock of chickens for eggs?

Wondering if a goat would make a great lawnmower?

Next month, we'll be teaming up with the people at Brick City Gardens to lead a workshop on raising livestock in an urban setting.  You can learn the in's and out's of caring for and maintaining a variety of animals like chickens, ducks, goats, rabbit and quail.  We'll teach you a myriad of things including what legalities to be aware of, proper ways of slaughter, and tips on how to succeed.

The event will be held at Schlafly Bottleworks, Maplewood on Saturday, April 30th from 9:00am-12:00pm.  Cost is $40.  To pre-register email Sue at brickcitygardens@yahoo.com or call (314) 630-5910.  Learn more here.

CSA Coming Your Way!

It's true.  We've decided to do a CSA this year, with pickups to be held at our booth at the Schlafly Farmer's Market.  We're doing things a little differently than how typical CSAs are set up:  We are offering shares in more affordable tiers of $500, $200, or $100.  This is structured so that you get to enjoy our specialty produce and still have enough money in your pockets to spend throughout the farmer's market.  It also serves as a great introductory CSA plan if you're a newbie to CSAs, if you're hesitant to sign up for one based on expense, or if you're afraid you'd waste unused produce.

There are roughly 30 market days at Schlafly from April-October.  Our $500 share provides for pickups of items at nearly every market date, with the value of each pickup being $18-$20.  The $200 share allows for half the number of pickups (to be set up, for example, every other week, or however you like), with $15-$17 as the value of each pickup.  The $100 share provides a small taste of the items we offer, with pickups valued at around $8.  It won't be enough produce to fill the fridge, but it'll provide a great opportunity to sample and try our unique items.
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Meet the Kids...

We've been on "goat watch" for the last few weeks, as two of the does at our Waterloo location were pregnant.  We spent entire weekends and much of our spare time on weekdays waiting for the girls to give birth, and they finally did just the other day (within days of eachother, too).  We've now got three kids:  Two males and one female.

See You Tonight

We'll be at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood at 7pm tonight for Slow Money St. Louis' first meeting.  Slow Money is a wonderful organization, and we're very excited about St. Louis starting up their own chapter.  We're even presenting our plans for 2011 at the meeting, so you should stop by to hear more about what we've got in store for this year!



End of Fall Update

With it being just hours away from the official start of winter, we don't want to let the seasons change without providing a recap of all we've been able to accomplish this fall.

If you've been following us on Twitter or Facebook, you know we built ourselves an outdoor kitchen last summer (primarily to beat the heat while still being able to cook amazing meals).  In the early part of fall we were blessed with an upgrade to our kitchen:  a six-burner, two-oven Wolf range with a flat top.  It's been in use virtually every day since we got it, and it's so enjoyable to cook on.

In animal news:  We obtained more squab to replace the ones killed by the raccoon last summer, and they seem to be doing well – pairing off and making nests.  We've also begun raising quail again, and nearly two dozen quail chicks hatched just a few days ago.  We also hatched a handful of ducklings, and welcomed two litters of rabbits to the homestead.

We managed to get our garlic and spinach in the ground before the cold temperatures set in, and we'll let them grow throughout the upcoming winter and spring before they'll be ready to harvest next year.

Now that the days are short and the nights long, we keep warm by staying indoors – flipping through books and seed catalogs, carefully planning what we're going to do next year.  We've got plenty of exciting things in development, that's for sure, and we can't wait to share them with you in the upcoming months.

Giving Thanks

First and foremost, thank you to our neighbors:  Mike, Cheryl, Megan, Bob, Sharon, Craig, Kevin, John, etc.  They generously let us use their land, they give us encouragement, they build things for us (Craig built both our beehives and our composter), offer us help (especially John, our bee mentor), and they never complain.  We couldn't do what we do without the supportive neighbors we have.

Thank you to the network of restaurants, local grocers, and individual customers that buy from us.  They keep our business going and growing - pushing us to grow new and different vegetables and meats.

Thanks to our family for helping with the needs of our farm from time-to-time, happily eating the food we cook, and listening to us constantly discuss our new projects and passions.

Thank you to the St. Louis community, food bloggers, journalists, Kitchen Conservatory, Facebook fans, Twitter followers, and the folks at Homegrown.org for having an interest in what we do.

A special thank you to Stephanie for recently designing our wonderful new logo.

We want to give thanks also to Slow Food St. Louis for supporting our heritage breed, heirloom vegetable, and squab projects the past two years.

Thanks to the new friends and contacts we've made:  The brothers in Waterloo, and Joe, our squab breeder. With their knowledge and help, we've got some very exciting things in store for 2011 and the years to come.  

Last, but not least, thanks to Nature for always being there.

Fall Project: Microgreens

At YellowTree Farm, we're always thinking of ways to remain productive during the colder months.  Late last summer, we decided our cold-weather project this year should be growing microgreens.  

Microgreens are a tiny form of edible greens produced from the seeds of vegetables, herbs or other plants.  They're used in a variety of ways, including as salad components and as garnishes.  Microgreens can have surprisingly intense flavors considering their diminutive size, making them perfect as a flavor accent.

Their tiny size makes them nutrient-dense - all the energy it takes to grow from seed to full-size vegetable is packed inside these tiny greens.   Microgreens are often higher in protein, phyto-chemicals, vitamins and minerals than their full-size veggie counterparts.  

We offer them to chefs in custom blends.  The varieties we grow include:  arugula, beet, brocooli, carrot, Chinese heading mustard, chrystanthemum shungiku, collard greens, fennel, fenugreek, leeks, mizuna, onion, pac choi, purple kohlrabi, radish, red mustard, red Swiss chard, tatsoi, and Tokyo bekana.  Keep an eye out for our microgreens at your local restaurant.  

The Future of "Food"?

Genetically engineered animals are inching dangerously closer to our dinner plates today, as the FDA commences public hearings on whether to approve gene-altered salmon for human consumption.

AquAdvantage® Salmon (AAS) is the creation of Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Technologies. The company boasts that AAS "reach market size twice as fast as traditional salmon," thereby creating a more economical and efficient meat source for producers.

...and thereby making it logistically easier for fish farms to turn into CAFOs: growing more fish in faster time with less space.

One ethical problem with AquaBounty's engineering of salmon is that they approach the fish as merely a product or commodity, with the end-goal being increased revenue for both AquaBounty and the fish producers who buy their product.

As we mentioned previously about Cornish cross chickens, animals bred for size exhibit signs of pain and muscle immobility. Considering that Cornish crosses cannot move a few paces without their legs tiring from carrying their own weight, we wonder whether AquaBounty's product will suffer any health implications from being genetically altered for size.

Sure, gene-altered salmon seem like a great idea for AquaBounty shareholders... but is it a good idea for the fish themselves?

If you share our concern over this technological innovation, Food & Water Watch provides an excellent online petition for you to voice your doubts to lawmakers. Click here, and also note that they provide phone and fax numbers for the White House, should you really want to get your point across.

Chicken Spotlight: Naked Neck

The recent recall of salmonella-tainted eggs has highlighted once again the problems with industrial animal production: Inhumane treatment + unclean facilities + questionable practices = diminished food security. So we figured now's a good time to fill you in on our latest venture: raising naked neck chickens.

Naked necks, also called "turkens," can be found in pockets across the globe. Rather than a breed, the "naked neck" is a gene wherein the chickens lack feathers on their neck and have significantly reduced feathers over the remainder of their body.

And what are feathers made of? Mainly protein. Because naked necks have fewer feathers, their diet doesn't require as much protein as other chicken breeds - instead, naked necks convert excess protein into eggs and meat more efficiently than other breeds!

Keep in mind that today the main breed being supplied is the cornish cross. Regardless of whether you're buying conventional or even "free range," chances are you're purchasing a cornish cross chicken. The problem with this breed is that its specifically bred for industrial production. Cornish crosses build muscle mass at such a fast pace that they cannot move more than a few feet without getting tired (hardly "free range"), and they reach market weight in a monstrous 49 days.

However our naked necks are quite the opposite. While naked necks are efficient in protein conversion, they happen to be a comparatively slow grower - reaching market weight in 10-12 weeks. But the meat it does grow is darker, richer, the skin more delicate, and the fat more yellow in color than conventional chickens. It's one of several, lesser-used chicken breeds that supply richer meat, yellower skin, and more flavorsome fat than typical breeds, and it happens to pair well with our climate and growing conditions.

We hope to have a modest flock by the beginning of October and will be sure to keep you posted on our progress.

What We're Reading Right Now

The End of Food, by Paul Roberts

"The very meaning of food is being transformed: food cultures that once treated cooking and eating as central elements in maintaining social structure and tradition are slowly bring usurped by a global food culture, where cost and convenience are dominant, the social meal is obsolete, and the art of cooking is fetishized in coffee-table cookbooks and on television shows."

The Face on Your Plate, by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

"We eat every day. We put our forks into something or someone three times a day. We cannot disengage ourselves, even if we wanted to. We are all involved in agriculture on a daily basis. We vote with every meal. We make a difference with every bite. We cannot choose to ignore this issue, thinking it has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with us."

A Month's Worth of Lunch

Want to go a little further in your fight to help the environment? We all eat, but have you ever taken into account the massive amounts of packaging tied to the food we consume? Being more conscious about how to reduce food waste is one of the easiest ways we can make a difference environmentally.

Danielle works a typical 9-5, and she used to spend upwards of $50 per week on lunches from nearby grocery stores and restaurants - lunches wrapped in plastic or styrofoam, with plastic silverware, in plastic or paper bags. However, she stopped all that ridiculousness in 2007, and she's been bringing her own lunches to work ever since: homemade soups, leftover rabbit stews, pastas, sandwiches, tomatoes, squash and other vegetables from our garden - all on reusable china or in compostable wrappings. The picture here is what July's lunches looked like for Danielle.

The folks at TakeOutWithOut have launched a campaign to reduce restaurant waste. Check it out and become inspired to readjust your own eating habits. You can make a difference too, one lunch at a time.

What We're Reading Right Now

Animal Factory, by David Kirby

"Nature did not intend for animals to live by the hundreds or thousands, crammed together inside buildings, raised with pharmaceutical products, with no access to grass, sunlight, or the clean, healthy scent of outdoor air."

"Many Americans have no idea where their food comes from, and many have no desire to find out."

'Tis the Season for Tomatoes

Not only did our Matt's Wild Cherry win highest brix at yesterday's The Good, The Big, & The Ugly Tomato Festival, but our tomatoes are also featured in this month's Sauce Magazine, on stands now. Check out the stunning photos of our tomatoes taken by Greg Rannels.

Get Growing, St. Louis!

In the past, the Missouri Botanical Garden hosted an annual tomato contest awarding cash prizes for those who grow "the best tomatoes." Sadly, 2008 was the last year they hosted this contest, right after we began growing our own tomatoes at YellowTree Farm. Thankfully this year, Justin took the initiative to form a group of people to help organize The Good, The Big and The Ugly Tomato Festival! It's taking place this Saturday from 12-4 at Sappington Farmers Market on Watson Road. There are various fun categories tomatoes will be judged on - and at $1 per entry, anyone from experienced pros to newbies are welcome to enter. In addition, there will be live music, seed saving demonstrations, and a tomato mixed drink contest featuring area mixologists and local tomato growers. Click here for more information.