Hi Friends!

Hope you guys have had a fantastic week in you respective homes. We are trucking right along here at Whitton Farms. Yesterday consisted of lots of seed sowing & scattering. The tomato transplanting is gaining steam with hundreds of the little guys being gently placed into the soil ready to stretch their legs, I mean roots. (I'm thining of myself on that one).
I believe our cover crops and crop rotation plan is going to work out well for us this year. Using more green manure (plant based manure) over animal manure, we believe, is the way to go for our farming operation. Thank goodness we are farming on ground that horses roamed for nearly 50 years. So we are blessed to have very rich and fertile soil to work with, but you never want to take it for granted. That's why we cover crop, and use composted leaf mulch in our fields to be tilled back into the earth. It decomposes ever so nicely. When transplanting its like working with buttah!
We do have aged horse manure & goat manure in our stables. We use it in the hothouses, and in specific fields, when preparing beds late in the fall, but we refrain from collecting manure from other sources, unless thoroughly checked. You never really know what you are getting, in regard how long it was aged, etc. If you like using animal manure in your gardens, a little goes a long way. Don't over fertilize, you can burn up your plants! We learned that lesson- the hard way a few years ago.
Whatever gardening practices you prefer, I am extremely thankful that you are out there experimenting, growing, and enjoying what the earth has so elegantly provided for us all, nature.

Over the course of the winter and spring Keith has been reading several books about farming in the early 1800's and the techniques that were used during those times. Long before synthetic fertilizers and herbicides were used in agriculture, there were a handful of specialty crop farmers who did an incredible job of documenting their organic farming practices. Crop planning/rotation all the way down to good farming philosophies, these books hold a wealth of information. This type of farming is truly a dying art, and we are working hard to bring it back in our region of the state. It's all about educating yourself. We won't ever claim to be experts in this field, because farming always throws a curve ball that you didn't see coming. We simply try to do the best we can out here on the farm each & every day. Thank goodness we have a lifetime to figure all this out.

In case you guys didn't know, we have bee hives on our property. Peace Bee Farms, out of Proctor, Arkansas, is owned and operated by Richard & Rita Underhill. They are two of the sweetest people you would ever want to meet. They keep bees the Amish way and use absolutely no synthetic materials when working with their bees. Richard is the president of the Tennessee Beekeepers Association and also keeps bees at the Memphis Botanic Garden. We truly feel blessed to have their hives out here at the farm. What started out as a simple experiment bloomed into something much more. Last year was a phenomenal year for both farming operations, and wouldn't you guess that Peace Bee collected hundreds and hundreds of pounds of delicious honey from the hives located here! It was so exciting to witness the bees pollinating our crops throughout the growing season. This week if you come by the Memphis Botanic Garden on Wednesday from 2:00 - 6:00 pm you can meet the Underhills yourself!

Last but not least! Tomorrow is an exciting day at the Memphis Botanic Gardens! The market opens! Lots of great vendors will be out there like Jones Orchard - yummy fruit & breads, Flora at Bluebird Farms- expect the unusual from Van the man - he's got lots of interesting and tasty crops, Tim's Family Farm - nice young couple farming Ripley tomatoes & other goodies, Downing Hollow Farm - good, high quality, specialty crops, Groovy Foods - the best granola in the Delta, Paul Little's Sedums - the plants you can't keep your hands off of, Gardens Oy Vey - they specialize in naughty native plants, Peace Bee Farms - need I say more? and lastly - Whitton Farms - lots of awesome flowers, heirloom transplants, and spring produce. Hope you guys take the opportunity to support as many local farmers & artisans as you possibly can. Encourage your friends to come out and experience the fun.

Recipe of the Week!

Curried Honey Sweet Potato Soup
- Makes 8 cups -

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 medium-sized cloves garlic, peeled
6 cups (48 oz.) chicken or vegetable stock
1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 medium russet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
2 teaspoons salt
6 Tablespoons local honey, divided
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 to 3 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, optional

Directions
Heat oil over medium-high heat in a soup pot. Add onion and sauté until translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Add stock, potatoes and salt. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.Puree mixture in batches, put soup back over low heat and add 5 Tablespoons of the honey, bell pepper, curry powder, pepper and ginger. Bring to a simmer, taste and adjust seasonings.Microwave remaining 1 Tablespoon honey for 5 seconds on High. Serve soup drizzled with a little warm honey and sprinkled with chopped cilantro. Serves 4 to 6.

Hope you eat local and visit the farmers market in the near future, like tomorrow!

Peace,
Jill

Bringing in the new...

Hello all,
Well, the opening of the Memphis Farmers Market is just two weeks away and we can feel the pressure of the growing season mounting. It's a good feeling, not a bad one. Just so much to do these days. Our potatoes, leeks, onions, greens, lettuces, mushrooms, kale, snap peas, radishes, beets, carrots, turnips, and herbs are all doing fantastic. We've been getting just enough rain to keep everything moist but not drenched! Keith and I have been transplanting maniacs and have thousands of tomato transplants to set out within the next couple of weeks. Can't wait to get those guys in the ground, then we know the real growing season has commenced.

Flowers have been a top priority for me more this year than ever before. I've already got sunflowers, daffodils, tulips, safflower, phlox, gladiolas, lisanthus, delphinium, snapdragons, flowering kale, purple coneflower, bachelor buttons, rudbeckias, and host of other beauties up in the flower fields. Some of them are only a few inches tall, but I am much further ahead in the my planning and planting this year - whew! I so am excited to envision what we will have to offer all our of cut flower enthusiasts.

Just this past week our farm interns started work out here at Whitton Farms. We have four possibly 5 interns this year. Two of them are my brother and his wife, Mark & Amy Arnold. They both left their jobs in the coporate world to learn the trade of growing wholesome, clean food right here in the Delta. I know its gonna be a journey for us all, you know it is when family is involved, but I have extreme confidence in their abilities and dedication to the art of farming.
One of our interns, Charlie, is pretty incredible. He's been a commercial fisherman, turtle hunter, chicken caretaker, carpenter, etc... You name it he can do it and we feel blessed to have him here working with us, especially since we are entering into the field of chickens, and possibly ... crawfish! More about that later, like in a couple months.
Finally last but certainly not least, is our main farmhand, Caleb. Caleb has been with us for 3 years now, and is currently a college student. We got Caleb, at the age of 16, while he was still in high school and he has been an absolute joy to work with over the years. He truly recognizes the determination and importance of local food, and has worked extremely hard here at Whitton Farms to help our dreams of owning a sustainable farm come true. As a farmer, if you don't have a dedicated staff on a farm, your operation is in jeopardy. You're employees can make or break any business operation. We owe much of our success not only to our family, customers, and "Mother Earth", but also very much of it belongs to our former and present staff. So if you come to the farm for a visit, please show them the courtesy of thanking them for all of their hard work. This field is indeed, an extreme sport, if you're running it right!

Trees... about a month ago Keith, Caleb & myself planted just over 1000 hardwood trees on the farm. I can't remember if I told you guys this or not. Man, what a job, but we are firm believers in replenishing the area with the trees that were cleared in this region many, many years ago. Many of our neighbors in the community of Whitton have joined in the effort, a few long before we ever had the idea to do so. It's nice to live a small town where neighbors can recognize what's right for the Earth and take the initiative to do something about it. A few of the trees I planted are Vitex Trees. Most are only 1 ft tall, but they are fast growers, have beautiful blue blooms similar to butterfly bush, and are major butterfly attractors. In about 5 years, they will really make the statement out here on the farm that I'm looking for.

Oh we're in a couple magazines this month, Edible Memphis, and Jonesboro Occasions. Just found out that a local artist will be visiting the farm in the near future to begin painting a series of Whitton Farms, so that's pretty cool. Be on the look out for dates for our Spring Farm to Plate Dinner out here on the farm. Some of the proceeds from the event will go to one of our favorite non-profits, and rest to the farm. Hope you can join us for the farm-filled-fun. Okay, I'm a dork for saying that! Anyway hope you can make it at some point, to the farm this growing season.

Well, I know this message is all over the place, but I wanted to get back in touch with you guys and let you know what we've been up to. Got lots of baby flower transplants to work on the greenhouse right now, so I must depart. Hope all is well in your world and come see us at the Memphis Farmers Market April 18, 7:00 - 1 :00 pm. Peace Ya'll! Have a rockin' week!

Just keepin it real in Whitton, ya'll
JillBilly

Farming is a dirty business.

Greetings & Salutations,


What a difference a few hours makes, right. Thursday I broke from my winter clothes and donned some shorts. Again, Friday morning I was in shorts, but by noon those clothes were gone and back to the leggings. Then, well I guess we all know what happened next. Ten fluffy inches of snow is what happened next. This was Saturday of course, but man oh man did it snow, and anyone travelling Interstate 40 found out the hard way. The Sunday morning reports were that some motorist had been trapped over night. WOW! Has everyone had enough of Winter yet?

Before the snow started Saturday the Memphis Farmer's Market held their annual vendor meeting with record attendance. The MFM continues to be the place to be on Saturdays, and all farmers, artisans and food vendors are extremely excited about what is shaping up to be the best year yet. I actually believe farmer's markets are recession proof, and I guess this year we will see.

Last year I noticed many gardens sprouting up throughout Northeast Arkansas where in previous years there had been none. It seems gardening is the new hot thing again. Country folks, like my neighbors, garden to cut down on food costs more than anything else, but anyone who has ever turned one spade of soil knows there are many more benefits to growing your own food or flowers than just saving money. Whatever your motivations are I am sure you agree that the more attention you pay to your garden the better your outcome. One thing should especially be noted, and this is something I know people do a lot, and that is over thinking. Gardening is a very simple exercise when done correctly, but all plants require different care, and this is where people get into trouble - your's truly included. Some early disasters I managed to produce include overwatering, underwatering, incorrect spacing (too close together), trying to trellis plants that did not require it and planting tender annuals out too early. Mostly out of ignorance, but some failures should be attibuted to overthinking. There is no better way to learn than thru experience, and often the experiences producing the most learning are ones of failure.

Related to this, everyone should keep in mind that in the mid-south the last average frost date is around April 15th. Now, give or take two weeks of this date and you can either be the first one in your neighborhood or at the market with tomatoes or you can devastate your crops and potential earnings by getting your plants killed. Old timers will attest that no tomatoes should be set to the ground before May 1, and if you plant on two week intervals this will naturally be one of your planting dates. Last year I planted every two weeks thru the middle of July, and just as you can have a late frost in the spring you can have delayed frost in the fall and turn out a decent late October-November crop of tomatoes. You can also have an early frost in the fall, but when weighed out it still makes sense to plant thru July. The reason is because if you have had success throughout the summer and you are looking to have tomatoes as long into the year as possible it doesn't sting as much in the fall to loose a crop as it does in the spring when you are greedy for juicy fruit. You have to remember, however, that daylength is shortening and those large green tomatoes that you are desperately waiting to blush up will take extra days to do so. Also, many stewards use the late plantings of tomatoes to be picked green and stored in the dark to ripen off the vine. When wrapped in newspaper it is common to have tomatoes ripening on Christmas. Of course it should be noted that these fruits will fail to match the flavor of a vine-ripened specimen, but they far and away outdistance what can be found at the grocer.

Also this week I started sub-soiling my fields. Sub-soiling is just what it means - getting down into the lower layers of soil - those layers of clay under the topsoil. What you are doing when you dig down that deep is many things. First, after many years of discing or tilling only the top five or six inches of soil the lower levels get compacted from driving over them, from rain and standing water and from the weight of the top soil. This makes it very difficult for the fine roots of succulent vegetables to penetrate deeper in the soil. When this soil is disrupted and those fine roots are given more discretion in movement they naturally travel further down into the soil in search of moisture during lean times. This is one trick old timers used before irrigation was common - break the soil up deeply and allow the roots to go down, down, down. Then, when it gets dry and hot your plants will be better able to handle the stress. One hundred years ago this method of subsoiling was commonly down with a shovel and a strong back. Today, Friday in fact, it was done on my farm with a one-row implement referred to as a sub-soiler. It amounts to a very heavy duty and thick piece of curved, pointed steel that is set at an angle as to pull itself deeply into the ground - up to two feet. It is mounted onto a hitch with which I affix it to my tractor, and then lowered and raised with hydraulics. It was slow going, but did an excellent job, and as a testament to the amount of earthworms I noticed deep in the ground I can say the fertility of my soil is astounding. I am very excited about this years tomato crops. In fact, the tomato seeds I started in the cold frames 10 days ago are starting to sprout. They are extremely tiny now and it is almost unthinkable that by August they will be 12-15 feet tall. Tomatoes are a vine of course. It is also unthinkable to some that the snow and ice did not kill everything or collapse my structures. Infact both the snow and ice build up acts as an insulater against the outside cold and this morning when I first shoveled the snow away from the door and went in it was 45 degrees. The lettuce bed was grinning back at me, and all the seedlings were chilly but not dead. I actually think raising my starts in the fluctuating cold frame makes them tougher and hardier. Once the sun was at 9-o'clock it was 80 degrees on the inside and everthing was marvelous.

Well, that is about all I am up for at the moment, and I have noticed that Jill has gone adrift herself - out making snow women she said. It is time I pelted her with some snow balls. So, until I blog again you better start getting your hands and back in shape - Spring will be here before you know it.

Keith