Now is that time to get outside and start planting your spring garden. This year we have added some beautiful new raised bed options and are thankful to Williams Sonoma for showcasing some our products in their new Agrarian ecatalog shown here.

Check out our website, www.farmerd.com and take advantage of free shipping on many of our most popular items. If you’re local, drop in the store and check out our new seed selections, spring veggie starts and baby chicks.

On Thursday Feb. 14th, Valentine’s Day, the President is showing his love to my little hometown of Decatur, GA as he pays a visit to College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center. I am especially proud because this model school has a Farmer D garden that we built there over three years ago, which has been well loved by the children, parents and faculty at the school. Of course, it’s the middle of winter here in Georgia so the state of the garden is dormant awaiting its spring planting. I do plan on giving it a bit of a makeover today as it’s not every day the President visits one of your gardens.

A garden in a preschool, or any school for that matter, is an effective tool for teaching children valuable lessons in life including those that the President pointed out as paramount Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). In addition, as the First Lady points out in her new book “American Grown”, gardens at schools teach children about nutrition and get them excited about eating fresh vegetables.

At Farmer D Organics, we have built hundreds of school gardens and feel very passionate that growing organic food at homes, schools, busineses and communities is a way to address some of the biggest issues facing the world. These issues include food security, hunger, obesity and diabetes, the environmental impact of industrial agriculture and green job creation. Growing farms and gardens is a way to foster more resilient communities in the face of climate change and ever-growing concerns about our dependency on fossil fuels. It is also a wonderful way to bring people together such as students, teachers and parents in the case of school gardens where communities come together to share in the work, harvest and celebration that comes with gardening, America’s #1 hobby.

Here is an excerpt from the State of the Union speech regarding the President’s emphasis on the improtance of high quality preschools:

“These initiatives in manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, and housing will help entrepreneurs and small business owners expand and create new jobs. But none of it will matter unless we also equip our citizens with the skills and training to fill those jobs. And that has to start at the earliest possible age.

Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. But today, fewer than 3 in 10 four year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program. Most middle-class parents can’t afford a few hundred bucks a week for private preschool. And for poor kids who need help the most, this lack of access to preschool education can shadow them for the rest of their lives.

Tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America. Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than seven dollars later on – by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime. In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children, like Georgia or Oklahoma, studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, and form more stable families of their own. So let’s do what works, and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind. Let’s give our kids that chance.”

Citizen Farmer (current working title), by Daron “Farmer D” Joffe (edited by acclaimed food journalist/author Susan Puckett, with photographs by Rinne Allen), is scheduled for release in 2014 by Abrams Books. It will inspire you to grow food, knowledge, and community through easy-to-follow tips on how to plan, sow, grow, reap, heal and share in so many ways.

So, you see, there’s actually been a method to our madness (or at least an editorial outline) with all this content creation lately. As you may know, I’ve been amplifying Farmer D’s voice through publication of articles on U.S. News and World Report, Patch, Williams Sonoma and through Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Although many revisions lay ahead for Farmer D and Susan, you can get a feel for where things are heading (and get some useful advice for your garden) by clicking the links above.

Farmer D and I have been friends and colleagues for years, and I expect you’ll be hearing more from me as I help promote his growing business through my marketing communications and editorial services. I want to thank him publicly for allowing me to help capture his voice on paper these past six months and to have a small hand in creating what is sure to be a beloved guide to gardening–and life.  It has been my honor.

Learning as I grow,

Pattie Baker

When you pull up your potatoes, you may find some small potatoes dangling from the roots.  These are delicious so bring them in your house, cook, and enjoy with some fresh backyard eggs (if you have chickens) or even just straight up with a sprinkle of sea salt while standing there at the kitchen window, basking in the striations of the late fall sunlight. I especially like them on a bed of slightly warmed and wilted turnip greens, along with roasted radishes and turnips and a sprinkling of feta cheese.

Oh, and don’t worry if you miss a few potatoes when you harvest–they may grow for you in early spring.

Wondering what else I could do with them, I decided to make a hot pepper powder by dehydrating them, blending them, and storing them in an airtight glass jar for use during the winter sprinkled on butternut squash soups and pizzas.  My first two batches came out great, so I feel like I can confidently share with you my methodology (click link below to see 1-minute video).

How to Make Hot Pepper Powder from Home-Grown Jalapenos and Chili Peppers

You can probably also dehydrate them in your oven on a low temperature for hours and hours.  As for my dehydrator, I’m popping sliced apples and cherry tomatoes in it (yes, those are still growing out there, too) for the next 24 hours. After that, herbs.  I have many cute jars to fill, and the holidays are right around the corner.

For more holiday gift ideas, see the Farmer D Organics 2012 Holiday Gift Guide.  Call the store to order at 404.325.0128, or visit our website for more great gifts for gardeners (or yourself).

1. Yes, you can still plant fall crops, as this local community gardener is doing.  Go with transplants, although the radish seeds children tossed last week are up already.  If you’re tossing cover crop seeds (and trust me, you’re going to be glad you did when they are blooming beautifully in the spring), I’d say you have about two more weeks, if you want winter cover.  I planted them a few years ago around December 5 and they didn’t grow until the spring, but then they took off. Then again, as we are seeing, every year is a bit different with the weather so there is really no telling, so feel free to experiment and see how far you can push the limits.

2. If you have leafy greens like lettuce, arugula, spinach, and tatsoi growing, you want to start thinking about covering them with row covers.  This lightweight gauzy fabric adds a few degrees of warmth, protects from wind, and lets air, water, and sunlight penetrate.  I have found that either single-covering or double-covering keeps me in harvests all winter.  This is especially enjoyable when there is snow and I get to go out and snip my salads!  Here is a little video on how to hoop and cover your bed.  Farmer D Organics has row cover fabric.  You may need two lengths clipped together to be wide enough to cover hoops.

3. Consider doing an herb bed on your kitchen counter and keep the healthy, green vibe going all winter within easy snipping distance.  I think Farmer D’s little herb boxes are just about the cutest things in the world.  I’ve tried growing in other boxes, like clementine crates, but they fall apart.  One stop at the store will have you in love with them (there are even some pre-planted with herbs already), or you can order online.

4. If you haven’t planted your garlic yet, now’s your last chance this year.  Here’s how.

5. Add crushed leaves as mulch around your plants, or even just on your bare beds (especially if you don’t get around to cover-cropping), for a little extra warmth and a boost of nutrients as the leaves break down.

Swing by the store or tap in online for gardening advice.  We’re happy to help you keep growing.  Do us a favor, if you would, and help us keep growing, too.  Share our Farmer D Organics Holiday Gift Guide with your friends, and consider our unique product offerings for your holiday gifts.

I was there to shoot photos for the Farmer D Organics Holiday Gift Guide 2012.  That little store is so packed with goodies and surprises you wouldn’t believe it, so we’ve made it easy for you to pick out something fun and special for the gardener (or gardener wannabee) on your list in a wide variety of price points.  As a mom, I get particularly moved by the new baby gift of an organic onesie and a fruit tree.  How cute is this?!  That tree will yield fruit probably right around the time that baby becomes suddenly interested in all-things-garden at around age 2 or 3–and that time passes faster than you think (one of my babies is almost off to college and I wish I planted more fruit trees years ago). What a wonderful new baby gift (or baby’s-first-Christmas gift), especially if you offer to plant it for the new parents as well.

You know all those teachers involved with school gardens now?  I bet many of them have (or would like to have) gardens at home as well.  Gift cards are always nice, or a class gift of a home garden would probably go over really well, too. See the gift guide (linked below) for a really nice urban planter on legs.

How about your friends or family members who don’t have room or time for a garden outdoors?  There are really cute kitchen counter herb gardens in the gift guide, plus books and more for those armchair gardeners and lovers of all-things-green (like this sustainably-harvested wooden kitchen compost pail).

Has your spouse been hankering for a community garden plot at a new garden near you?  We know someone who gifted his spouse with a complete community garden bed setup last year (and it went over really well), so we packaged that up for you as a gift option as well.

Okay, enough beating around the Hanukkah bush.  Here is the Farmer D Organics Holiday Gift Guide 2012.  It’s not even on the website yet, so you can consider this a sneak peek–and considering that supplies of many of the items are limited, that means you get first dibs!  Call 404.325.0128 or contact us online here to order.

Want some cute little holiday extras?  Seed packets, seed bombs and slingshots, and reusable bamboo utensils in cute packaging all fit the bill–or should I say, stocking.

As a seasoned composter, I knew what the problem was and that the solution would be simple. My compost ingredients were out of balance. As I had been tossing kitchen scraps in there day after day, I had too many “greens” (nitrogen) and not enough “browns” (carbon). Since it’s fall, the remedy was as simple as scooping up an armful of fallen leaves, adding them to the composter, and turning it. Oh, sure, it took a few days, but the smell is gone now and things are back in balance. I used to keep hogwire bent into a big circle filled with leaves near my composters so I could toss a handful in every time I added scraps, but I had recently cleared out that area and hadn’t set up the hogwire “leaf supply system” again yet, so I got what I deserved, I suppose.  (Do remember to gather and save leaves at this time of year, because you’ll need them all year.)

Okay, let’s run through some other common composting problems, with some fast solutions:

1. Compost pile not heating up. In order to get the right temperature for speedy composting and to kill weed seeds and more, you really need at least a 3′ x 3′ pile, with the right ratio of browns (about 70%) to greens (about 30%), plus sufficient air (toss the pile once a month) and water (slightly damp, not soaked). If your pile is simply not producing at the rate you want, you may want to take a look at these components and see if you can adjust them a bit to get your desired results.

2. Compost pile just not breaking down. Let’s say you have all the right things going on (see above) for your compost pile, but forward movement is just not happening. You may have garden debris that’s just too big in there. It will decompose over time, but you can help it along by chopping up big stalks or branches and chopping leaves before adding them. Many people actually have a separate pile, such as a brush pile, for larger debris like tree branches.

3. Smells and rodents. I put these two together because, well, they go together. If you are putting kitchen scraps in an open compost pile and you’re not burying them, let’s face it, you just laid out the dinner plates and the rodents are connecting on Facebook right now to let each other know where to go. If you are burying scraps and still having a problem then you may want to consider a closed, rodent-proof composter for your veggie and fruit peels. Also, if you don’t already know or if you need a reminder, please do not add fats or meats to your compost pile. You’re seriously asking for trouble if you do! And, once again, proper balance between greens and browns will keep the smells down.

4. Worm bin gone bad. Let’s take a quick stop at the worm bin for a moment. You will see some recurring themes here from our other composting challenges. If your worm bin smells, it’s out of balance.  The way a worm bin gets balanced is by slowing down the rate of scraps you add to it. The little guys can only eat so much, and many people (including enthusiastic schoolchildren) overestimate this. I actually feed mine only every two weeks or so. I then cover the food with a good amount of shredded newspaper. Other worm bin problems include worms “making a run for it.” If worms are trying to get out, they may not have enough air (you do have air holes, don’t you?) or it may be too wet in there and they are pretty much drowning. Find out more tips about managing your worm bin here (you didn’t know you were a manager, did you?): Worm Composting for the Squeamish.

If all this is starting to sound complicated, I have news for you.  It’s not.  Compost happens, as a popular bumper sticker says.  And like everything else in gardening (and in life, I’m learning), there is only one word you need to keep in mind–balance.  (Well, kindness is nice, too.)

Need more composting advice?  See Farmer D’s article in U.S. News and World Report–From Waste to Wow: How and Why to Compost and on Williams Sonoma’s truly beautiful blog, The Blender: How to Use a Composter.

In short, one step has led to another, and that gardening hole down which I fell expanded to present an entire world of personal choices that help me live lighter and more responsibly on the land, and thus, teach my children to do so, too.  This “eco-literacy” matters because this is the world they are inheriting, aspects of many jobs will be affected by environmental changes, and habits for life are learned while young.

Oh, sure, I know this is a gardening blog, but it’s also a place to show how gardening fits into the bigger picture.  Imagine this series of conversations that don’t happen all at once but little by little over time, while planning and digging and watering and picking. 

* You talk about the kinds of food you find in the supermarket and why the food you grow is different (and the deeply concerning fact that most supermarkets rely on just-in-time inventory management that provides them with only a three-day supply of food at any given time);

* You talk about fuel, transportation, and the effects of industrial agriculture on the land and communities and health;

* You talk about other ways to do things, and the laws that prevent you from doing them (like having backyard chickens in a city that doesn’t allow them), and who makes these laws, and how you can change them.  (There’s a very, very strong chance you will end up at city hall at one point or another, by the way, so don’t say you haven’t been warned!);

* You talk about waste and how it’s really not waste but rather a valuable resource, and how it can even be a revenue-producing marketable product (like Farmer D’s compost made from the green waste from Whole Foods plus other southeast heritage agricultural waste products);

* You talk about the seasons and how “grow zones” have actually shifted due to climate change, and the effects this has on crop selection and animal species, and the new challenges that gardeners and farmers face as a result.

Before you know it, you’ve talked about every single topic under the sun with your children.  And all you started out doing was planting radishes.  That’s eco-literacy.

So, sure, starting a garden is simple.  But the topics to which it will expose your children can be very, very complex.  Yet, they will understand them in ways they never would had they simply read about them in a textbook.

You know this saying, don’t you?  “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.”

Why not start with one simple garden bed today, and see what surprising lessons your family learns?

30-Minute Prep/Eggplant Parmesan (talk on phone to long-lost friend while doing this)

* Put a little olive oil in a deep baking dish;

* Spread some tomatoes on the bottom of the dish which you’ve already diced and simmered on the stove until they are loose with juices (that’s not pictured–I was past that step before I thought to grab my camera);

* Slice and layer eggplant (I always leave the skins on everything for the added nutritional boost), followed by a generous sprinkling of panko bread crumbs, diced fresh mozzarella, chopped basil, and some sea salt;

* Do another complete layer: tomatoes, eggplants, panko, cheese, basil, sea salt;

* Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for an hour.  Remove foil and bake another twenty minutes, broiling for the last minute or so to brown the cheese if you like it that way;

* Let cool for five minutes or so and serve with a side of wilted greens (I don’t care for that word “wilted” but I can’t figure out how to add the accent to the word sauteed on this blog!) and a fresh garden salad.

As I was cleaning up last night, I thought about how I need more cover crops to toss where the peppers, eggplants, and basil plants are currently growing (but not for long).  I’ll need to make a trip to Farmer D’s store this week, which is 12 miles and 27 minutes away from me.  I pass other places that sell gardening supplies much closer to home, but none of them have the exact things I need for my organic garden.  It shocks me that, after all these years and the whole surge in home, school, and community gardening, Farmer D’s is still the only game in town for so many specific supplies.  Cover crops.  Row covers.  Legume inoculant.  Two-inch cedar beds.  And expertise that they simply do not have at the big box stores.

When my eggplant, pepper and basil plants are gone for this year, I don’t worry too much.  I know they’ll be back next year.  It’s not the same guarantee with small businesses in our community.  They depend on all-year support in order to survive, and smart ones, like Farmer D’s, transition with the seasons and offer what you need when you need it.  Right now is a good time to start thinking about two specific types of purchases from Farmer D Organics–gifts and expertise:

* Gifts include the $49.95 herb bed, available online with free shipping anywhere in the continental United States.  More gift packages in three price ranges ($20, $50, and $100) are being announced soon, so stay tuned.

* Expertise includes a $100 site survey for your future home, school, community, faith-based, restaurant, or corporate garden, the cost for which you can then recoup in store value (read about a Farmer D site survey at a city’s future community garden location here). Or, if you already have an active community garden, book a “Fall Special” Walk-and-Talk around your garden where your members get personalized advice about their beds (2 hours/$150), plus whatever general advice you need for your complete garden ecosystem.  We did this last year at the community garden I helped start and it was terrific.  Even the mayor came.

Contact Farmer D Organics today at (404) 325-0128 and keep the good food–and this local business–growing in our communities.  See the abundance in the Farmer D Organics store here.  See Growing a Healthy Family, and a Healthy Local Economy, and Get Expert Help for Your Garden Project.  And good luck with the eggplant!