May-mulch madness
by Stowell P. Watters

At a time when the word “automobile” is, in some circles, synonymous with peak oil, climate change, and supreme-wanton-disregard-for-all-things-sacred-and-green, and the roaring sound of an engine seems to impress only the attendant at the gas station or the oil tycoon picking filet mignon from his teeth with one of the thinner bones of an Ivory Billed Woodpecker, I am going to attempt a risky metaphor: our farm is currently a vintage beast of an automobile, cherry red, with a snarling, carnivorous engine thundering on all eight hemispherical cylinders and powered completely by - what else - vegetable oils.

The market season is fully on and we have salad mix, spicy mustardy stir-fry mix, spinach, electric lettuce heads, radishes, eggs, organic vegetable starts, and flowers flying out of our store on River Rd. and off the trucks at the Portland and Bridgton markets. The seven-layer mandala (clover shaped fifth-of-an-acre vegetable bed) is built and planted thanks to some friends from the Portland Permaculture meetup.com group and every passing day another few beds are given happy, humming plants, mulched, and set to prosper. The sun came back out and we were ready for it; time is flying and vegetables are everywhere.

But back to my automobile analogy; just as a finely tuned roadster depends on continued fuel combustion and oil viscosity, so too our farm requires some key processes. The bulk of physical labor during the early summer is devoted, therefore, to the mother of all farm tasks - mulching (vroom vroom). It is not possible for me to overstate the importance of mulching here at Rippling Waters Organic Farm.

If you look at plants growing in a field or on a forest floor you will observe nature's mulching (effortless) efforts as leaves, pine needles, golden rod stalks, and rye all fall to the earth and facilitate new growth. Every crop we plant is subsequently mulched with decomposing leaves and hay, this covering is anywhere from two to four inches thick.

First, this bio-mimicry allows the soil to retain moisture - think of a bare field of tilled soil baking in the sun with the moisture rising up and away, paving the way for desertification and soil erosion. With more moisture locked into our soil we can water/worry less about plants crashing in the field.

Mulch also suppresses weeds by blocking sunlight to their creeping rhizomes or seeds. In some cases where the Bermuda grasses have a presence like old phone wires in the soil we start our mulch with newspaper or cardboard. The fight against weeds is good, important work and mulch allows us to maintain a game-long 10 point lead - something every organic gardener needs.

Better than black plastic - which requires yadda yadda amounts of petroleum to produce and is more than slightly annoying to purchase, put down, find drip tape beneath, maintain, clean up, etc - mulch is nearly free and does something black plastic does not - it gives back all important organic residues into the soil (not to mention it is well loved by and frequently packed with worms).

When microbial life (various bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms) already present in the soil comes into contact with this mass of carbon compounds in the mulch a veritable feast is kicked off. The microbes chow down on carbon for their own metabolism and transform the organic residues back into plant food and nutrients as microbes have mutualistic relations with plant rootlets in the soil. The undigested portion accumulates as readily available plant food known as humus. For more on this topic I refer you to "The Waste Products of Agriculture and their Utilization as Humus" by Albert Howard (http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/HowardWPA/WPAtoc.html) - he does the subject justice like I cannot.

Fueled by mulch we are forging on into June, but May isn't over as we are having an open house this weekend and a Pumpkin Planting Blitz this Saturday May 28th 9:00am-3:00pm, and we are inviting you, good reader, to join us and get some vine crops in the ground - oh yea, and we'll be full throttle mulching too! See you there.

Potato Planting Day

Come on out to the farm Saturday April 30 at 9 or 10 a.m. and help us plant approximately 1 acre of potatoes. Learn different varieties and different planting methods - some of which help reduce pests and improve soil! We'll be wrapping things up probably around 1:00 p.m. and you're invited to stay for a pot-luck lunch. Hope to see you here!

Spring Fever

by Stowell P. Watters

Winter is now a waning moon; each one of us will be olive-skinned and river bound before we know it. The life in the soil will soon explode into the sunlight, our meals, and our bodies, and at this point all we can do at Rippling Waters Organic Farm is just try to hold on.

Both greenhouses are bustling, as of the week of March 28 we have everything from arugula to tomatoes to kohlrabi seeded and growing in warm trays and potting soil. With field mice politely locking themselves up behind the bars of have-a-heart traps our peppers and spinach are showing their true leaves, and the kale transplants are standing stalwart and ready.

This weekend we shoveled the snow out of two of the hoop houses and have since brought the plastic down to heat the soil for planting next week - this is very exciting for us as it heralds in this year's first foray into the soil. A host of carpentry projects and weekly visits from friends and volunteers have also kept us busy amidst seeding, watering, seeding, and watering.

It is easy to get lost amidst this flourish of activity and to think of the months ahead with more than a tinge of anxiety. When I worked for a local newspaper I remember the (dreadful) onset of dread, of not wanting another minute of work to present itself to me. I remember wanting to hide from the cavalcade of to-do's and deadlines - crushed under their unending weight.

But at the farm this dread is simply not there. The growth of the plants, slow and steady, gives us a foil for our own work, that - whether you worry, hope, fret, or totally forget altogether - life and work goes on, and good things come from small things and pile up until all of the sudden, one day in midsummer's heat, you turn around and there is a great success flourishing in your wake. So join us at the farm in not worrying about the work to be done, but enjoying the time spent doing it.

NOFA-Vermont 2011 Conference

by Stowell P. Watters

Climate change author, activist, speaker, 350.org creator, Captain-Planet, wunderkind Bill McKibben took to the podium proceeded by 20-foot mother-moon and father-earth puppets; a fitting way to start the second day of Vermont-NOFA's (Northeast Organic Farming Association) 29th Annual Winter Conference as more than 1,000 organic farmers, do-it-your-selfers, homesteaders, worm enthusiasts, soil gurus, political activists, herders, shepherds, permaculturists, etc. poured across the University of Vermont campus.

"This situation is ugly, and I don't mean 10 years down the line ugly," was McKibben's central message concerning global climate change. A big league advocate for global policy change and the organic movement, McKibben was in his stride, lighting up the room with applause and cheer, striking a chord with all of us as he passionately clamored against the abuses of modern toxic agriculture. Electricity in the air grew palpable with each turn of his speech and as we shuffled out into the crackling cold (Burlington is farther north than Standish and gets chilled by icy winds flying over massive Lake Champlain) I saw only smiles and looks of eager excitement. I am fairly certain that I heard the words "I am so psyched" every hour.

Rippling Waters sent myself and fellow farm journeyperson Marina Steller, as well as Education Coordinator Marielle Mathews and Director Richard Rudolf to the conference to attend daily workshop style classes and network with other northeast farm-ilk. Although I learned enough to fill 10 notebook pages and explode a cardboard folder, the main thing I gained at the conference was a tremendous blast of energy, enthusiasm, and curiosity. To sit among the people there, to see the work being done in the northeast and around the globe, to hear from people who make it their business to work for food security, to see the booming organic community in flesh and feel their excitement moving about the room was empowering, as was the realization that this whole back-to-nature movement is really the zeitgeist of my generation.

The first class I took was titled "Using Cover Crops to Enhance Ecological Functions in Gardens" and was taught by NOFA-Vermont's crop advisor (no small position) Susie Harper. For nearly two hours I sat rapt as she spoke about the cover cropping strategies being studied and employed by NOFA. My mind was immediately blown by the sheer amount of information these people process, the sheer amount of work that goes into their studies. This class set the pace for the weekend; full throttle subject emersion taught by authorities on topics ranging from dairy goat health to food fermentation to using excel to streamline your growing season.

I ate lunch with Ben Gleason- presenter and owner of Gleason's Grains - and cookbook author Andrea Chesman and they wanted to know how I had gotten involved in the organic farming movement. Imagine that! I took a class on energy innovations on the farm and homestead by a bearded Adirondackian by the name of Bill MacKentley who was so off-grid he could barely keep his feet on the floor as he bounced around the room, extolling the virtues of "doing-it-yourself" and powering your home through a variety of solar and wind power systems.

I learned about Rudolf Steiner's biodynamic lectures/system from Mac Mead, director of the famed Pfeiffer Center for Biodynamics in New York (which lead me to the purchase of an immensely dense book on the subject that I am determined to conquer). I took a class on the art of scrounging for building materials with the director of the Yestermorrow Design Build School in Vermont. My brain felt as though it were flowering or perhaps fruiting.

Just outside of the main convention building a portable oven ran all day- the event spokesperson told us this oven has attended every NOFA-Vermont event for the last 20 years- cooking root vegetables free for the sampling. After each day we were given free ice cream and treated to free live music by The Appalachian Horse Thieves, a name with implications and meanings I am still sorting out.

Lastly I want to mention Saturday’s keynote speaker, a homesteader and author by the name of Shannon Hayes. Her topic - Real Cows in a Parallel Universe - characterized the entire event; that we are now a movement, millions strong, in part defined by a growing separation from mainstream culture. On her farm in upstate New York Hayes was snapped to this conclusion by an exiting farm intern, who barked at her "You people aren't living in the real world, you are living in a parallel universe!" At first Hayes was dismayed, disgruntled, maybe a bit peeved, but then she examined the comment some more and decided it to be perfect.

The modern world eats food from gleaming packages in brightly lit stores with dictionary pages for ingredient lists, the likes of which are shipped at great cost from far off places. But in the parallel universe we eat kale, rutabaga, fava beans, pork, and tomatoes that we buy from farmers. We have neighbors that we seek to connect to- a community to nourish- while in the "real world" there is a trend to become as rich as you can as such that you will never need the help of anyone ever again; picture a "KEEP OUT" sign.

In the "real world" we are told who is hot and who is not, what movie to see or what music to listen to- all of it riddled with endless supplies of advertising money. We are shown material extravagance as if it were a vestige of the average working American when really it is a dream afforded (and touted) by a rich elite far detached from the realities of working a 9-5 only to have a mortgage pulled out from under-foot.

But in the parallel universe, Hayes explained, exercise is a product of work and not endless vanity, wealth cannot fit in a wallet or a bank account, and entertainment comes from all angles- our work, our community, our family and our friends. To highlight this last point she left us with a pastoral picture of her daughter, 2 years-old, lilting among a row of tomato plants with a cotton-white lamb in tow.

We Love Volunteers!!! Join us in 2010

“Volunteers Make the Farm Go ‘Round”! We depend on them immensely - without their support, we wouldn’t be able to proceed with our non-profit projects.

How can you volunteer?

-In the greenhouse from March 15 - June 15: sowing seeds, planting plugs, transplanting, making soil, organizing plant displays, deadheading, and loading trucks.

-Working in the fields from April 30 - October 30. Learn first hands how to grow sustainable, organic vegetables employing permaculture, companion planting, mulching, and bed making methods.

-Be a workshare member. We have 12 during the year, work forty (hours) and get 140 ($ of produce).

-Join us on potato planting day - the last Sat. of April.

-Join us on Permaculture day in May or our Weed ‘n Feed Day in July.

Our goal is to have all our volunteers go away saying:

“I can do this - I can have a garden”.

Interested? call 642-5161 or better yet email Julee at greengrower@ripplingwaters.org.

Share in the Harvest - 2011 CSA Shares Now Available

CSA shares are now available for the 2010 growing season. Our Community Supported Agricultural Project allows members the flexibility to choose when, what and how much they want of any of our products. We off a wide variety of certified organic fruits & vegetables, herbs, baked goods, organic eggs, annuals, vegetable seedlings, hardy perennials and many garden supplies including organic certified compost and potting soil. You can pick up your goods at the Portland and Bridgton Farmers’ markets or at the Farm.

Each market share cost $100 and provides $110 worth of goods. If you love to buy local organic produce, a family of two will want to purchase 2 shares. We take care of the bookkeeping and let you know when your account is up. Additional shares can be purchased throughout the season. Any balance leftover at the end of the season will be considered a donation in support of the farm’s community food security work. You can pay through PayPal at our website or mail the enclosed form with a check.

Today we hope you will join our collaboration enabling us to grow organic food for those who can afford it as well as those served by the local emergency food system.

SNAP Program Grant

Rippling Waters has recently received a small grant which will enable us to provide a financial incentive to SNAP (formerly the Food Stamp Program) or WIC recipients to join our CSA.

MOFGA received the grant through the Wholesome Wave foundation to subgrant to Maine CSA farms who are vendors of either the SNAP or WIC program with the intent of encouraging participation by reducing the cost of the share for these members.

SNAP or WIC program recipients will be able to pay as they buy our fresh vegetables and fruit and will receive a 50% discount as an incentive to participate in the program. As we only have enough funds to provide discounts for 14 SNAP or WIC participants please be sure to apply early. by calling the farm at 642-5161.