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The Barefoot Farmer (Jeff Poppen) uses his farm (Long Hungry Creek Farm) as an example in demonstrating good farming principles. The landscape and atmosphere of the 21st century is leaning away from a small farm economy, bucolic scenery, sustainable agriculture and homegrown meals. The health of ourselves and our environment can only be enhanced by a reliance on local small farms for our needs. To learn more about these principle join Jeff Poppen with his weekly column - Barefoot Farmer.To e-Mail Jeff - Click Here

The GArdens Are Still Producing

As it is mid-November, it’s not surprising that people say to me, “I guess you are done with your gardening.” My answer does surprise them. “No, the gardens are still producing like crazy and we’ll be delivering vegetables for another six weeks.” In mid-August, after the spring and summer vegetables peter out, we sow all…

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Soil

As important as soils are, most people and many farmers know little about how they work. This was not always so. Publications on farming from 100 to 150 years ago indicate a widespread understanding of the role of humus, soil structure and fertility, and how plants grow. Recent discoveries in soil microbiology verify these wise…

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Purcell Log Cabin

I have moved. I apologize for the sporadic columns this summer, but I believe I’ll get back into the swing of things soon. There is certainly a lot to write about. First of all, I haven’t moved very far, just a few miles downstream. We spent the last year fixing up the old Purcell house…

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Hellbenders

Have you ever seen a hellbender? It is a two foot long salamander that lives in the creeks which flow up to the Barren River. I’ve seen them twice, a bout 25 years ago, in the Long Hungry Creek. The state biologist and the curator of the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere are looking for signs…

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Harvesting

The potatoes want to be harvested soon, too. The green tops are browning, and after they are dead for two weeks the skins will tough enough to handle without peeling off. Then we’ll plow them up and get them in the cellar. Summer squash and cucumbers are finally appearing in all their glory, thoroughly enjoying…

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Busy As Bee’s

A slow wet spring delayed garden work for a few weeks, but June found us busy as bees. The weeds are growing like weeds, and the vegetables are right behind them. It’s been a great growing season as long as you ignore the calendar. Monday deliveries of fresh produce have been lettuce, radish, onion, beet,…

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Summer Gardens

The summer garden is still in the seed packages, so let us talk about lettuce. Of the many different kinds, we grow a lot of the Batavian type. These are the summer crisp lettuces which hold up well in hot weather. A cold frame was prepared in early April. An equal part of soil, compost…

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Plants

    8. There are two kinds of warmth for plants, a leaf-and-flower warmth that is dead, and a root warmth which is living. The moment warmth is drawn into the earth by the limestone it is changed into a certain condition of vitality. Air, too, is alive in the soil and dead above. Soil is…

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Knowledge

Steiner begins the second lecture by giving an overview of the whole agriculture course. We will spend the first lectures gathering knowledge so as to recognize the conditions on which the prosperity of agriculture depends and observing hoe agriculture lives in the totality of the Universe. In the later lectures we will draw the practical…

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Subtle Influences

Substances like silica make the plant receptive to the expanses of the universe, they arouse the plant’s senses so that it takes up from the whole universe what is shaped by Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Conversely, what makes a plant capable of the reproduction is taken from the spheres of Moon, Venus and Mercury via…

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