The Garden & Farm
The Garden
I currently have the luxury of a 15′ wide x 50′ long garden plot of my very own. A gorgeous flat sunny space with relatively good soil, I produce more than 20 varieties of cut flowers, 15 varieties of herbs for tea-making, and 30 different vegetable crops in it! Ambitious? Perhaps, but I really enjoy having full control over the vegetables I consume, even moreso than I did with my work on the farm (see below). This coming season I will be working extra hard at succession planting strategies so I can get the most out of my small piece of land. Visit the “In the Garden” category to get more details on what happens here. I also grow a great many cut flowers in this garden, adding to its beauty and attracting beneficial insects.
Starting in 2009, I’m also working a very small plot in a community garden in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia. It’s great to get a new community group up and running, especially one centered on gardening! I’ve decided to dedicate this space to growing an assortment of edible perennials that will have a long productive yet low-maintenance life. On the list so far are a compact high-bush blueberry, a lingonberry, a gooseberry, a red currant, a couple rhubarb plants, and a few delphiniums to attract beneficial insects and pollinators. I’ve decided to call this garden the The Pie Patch in honor of all the pies and jam that will no doubt flow from its harvests.
Weavers Way Farm Lower Field
The Farm
Weavers Way Farm is my “main squeeze” when it comes to local produce and the main reason I started this blog. Here’s a little more info if you’re curious:
Weavers Way Farm, located in the Mt. Airy/Germantown section of Philadelphia, is a perfect example of urban farming hard at work providing fresh produce and neighborhood revitalization in America’s fifth largest city. An outgrowth of the beloved Mt. Airy institution, Weavers Way Co-op, the farm was established in 2000 by the late Norma Brooks and her friends from the Co-op as a memorial garden project after her husband Mort’s death in 1999. With much foresight and dedication, this group of Co-op members worked the first few years to create a veritable Eden out of what was then the wild “northwest tract” of Awbury Arboretum. With time, the garden became more organized and productive, eventually requiring the services of a part-time staff member. Then in 2007, Weavers Way Co-op decided to commit to urban farming in a big way by hiring full-time farmer Dave Zelov, an experienced horticulturalist and organic farmer, and extending its many resources to ensure the now-official farm could put down deep roots and really grow. To help develop educational programs for local school children, they also hired part-time staff member, David Siller, who has worked to cultivate the interest of local youngsters in the origins of their food. Also in 2007, the farm added acreage by leasing more land from Awbury, almost tripling in size and providing the room to grow more than 75 unusual and/or heirloom varieties of vegetables, herbs and flowers. You can learn more about the farm’s history by visiting http://weaversway.coop/index.php?page=the_co_op_farm.
The farm is currently selling truly local fresh produce to Weavers Way members in the Co-op store and to eager customers at the historic Headhouse Farmers Market off South Street, the Fair Food Stand in the Reading Terminal Market, and several Mt. Airy restaurants. While the full list of crops is too extensive to detail here, some customer favorites are lemon cucumbers, several varieties of heirloom tomatoes, tomatillos, okra, squash blossoms, purple peppers, sorrel, and purple basil. Fresh mixed bouquets of flowers have also been popular at the Headhouse Farmers Market. Plans for the the next growing season are already well underway and include several new ventures into berry bushes and fig trees, expansion of cut flowers and herbs, several new sites around NW Philadelphia, a CSA program, and the addition of a hoop house and greenhouse to extend the growing season.
Weavers Way Farm welcomes volunteers and regularly hosts events to get folks playing with their food before it even hits the table! Please email farmer@weaversway.coop prior to visiting to ensure someone will be there to give you the tour.
The Farmers
Dave Zelov in the greenhouse and amid the okra plants.
Contact the Farmers
farmer(at)weaversway(dot)coop
MY LOG BOOK OF VOLUNTEER WORK AT THE FARM
I thought it might be interesting to record the hours I’ve spent working on the Weavers Way Farm and what activities I’ve helped out with each time. I’m hoping this will help you, my gracious readers, better understand how the farm operates and what you could be doing too if you came to volunteer. Have I mentioned lately that WW Farm LOVES (“adores” is more like it) volunteers? Well, we do. If you find the activities logged below to be of some interest, I encourage you to contactcontact farmer@weaversway.coop to see what work hours are available.
4/28/07 10:00 – 2:00
Cleaned up grounds (rocks, weeds, wood chips) and made two beds
5/13/07 9:00 - 1:00
Harvested baby bok choy, dug more beds, and were visited by traditional english folk [Morris] dancers
5/19/07 10:00 – 2:00
Had a big group of volunteers in the lower field to dig beds, plants loads of tomatoes and some squash, and harvest bok choy and butter lettuce
5/26/07 11:00 – 4:00
Hot day. Harvested radishes, broccoli, bok choy, and butter lettuce. Weeded spring onions and made up a bed to then plant more baby bok choy. Lots of watering too.
6/2/07 8:00-11:30
Took advantage of the cooler morning to harvest like mad. Picked and washed butter lettuce, baby bok choy, radishes, broccoli florets, scallions, and lettuce mix. Good rains and warm days are creating an abundance of produce (and weeds) right now.
6/6/07 5:30-7:30
Made up two beds, planted watermelon, and watered. FYI – making a bed involves: digging a trench, pulling weeds, turning the soil, adding fertilizer and composte, laying down irrigation tape, and, sometimes rolling out black plastic, weighting it and cutting holes in it for plants.
6/16/07 10:00-3:00
Harvested beets, purple top turnips, scallions, broccoli, squash, baby bok choy, baby leeks, peas and mesculn mix lettuce. Weeded and thinned a bed of young radishes. Took a lot of photos around the farm and talked with Farmer Dave about fundraising ideas.
6/18/07 4:30 – 7:15
Weeded, fertilized, installed irrigation tape, planted lots of okra and squash, and watered. Lower field is more than half planted!
6/23/07 8:00-12:30
Harvested lettuce mix, mesclun mix, string beans, purple scallions, and squash. Was joined by my friend, Steph, which was “fabulous”! Thanks Steph!
7/2/07 4:00-7:00
Dug trenches and finished beds for planting beans. Harvested squash. Weeded. Enjoyed the beautiful evening with the usual suspects.
7/7/07 8:00-12:30
Havested all manner of things… 3 kinds of peppers, 2 kinds of cucumbers, radishes, turnips, beets, spring onions, carrots, sorrel, broccoli rabbi, scallions, lettuce mix, thyme, okra, and TOMATOES!!! Can you tell I’m excited about having my first juicy tomato of the season? Oh so divine!
7/15/07 8:00-11:30
Harvested squash blossoms, basil, radishes, sorrel, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, purple scallions, and much much more. (The radishes and scallions are starting to suffer from the heat.) Met new and fun coop folks and talked with Farmer Dave some more about our restaurant strategy.
7/22/07 11:00-12:30
Harvested squash blossoms and fennel before driving to the Headhouse Farmers Market to assist with farm’s table.
7/29/07 8:30 – 2:30
Harvested squash blossoms, fennel, basil, marjoram, oregano, and flowers at farm to deliver to Headhouse Farmers Market. Bunched flowers and assisted with sales. Met many great people and sold a lot of amazing produce.
8/5/07 8:00 – 3:00
Harvested lots of cut flowers, 3 dozen squash blossoms, 10 bunches of green basil, 6 bunches of purple basil and a few bunches each of marjoram and oregano. Enjoyed manning the farm stand at Headhouse again.
8/19/07 10:00-3:00
Joined Farmer Dave and company once again after a brief vactation to man the farm stand at the Headhouse market.
8/26/07 7:45 – 2:45
Harvested swiss chard, flowers, squash blossoms, oregano and marjoram for Headhouse. Had record sales and sold out of everything except hot peppers. Also was interviewed by Jean, a documentarian who is doing a story on Weavers Way Farm.
9/2/07 7:45-2:45
It’s September already?? Usual early morning harvesting before trucking down to Headhouse in center city for another amazing market day! It just gets better and better there. We sell out of many items within an hour!
9/9/07 7:45 – 2:45
Sundays are becoming quite routine but one that I look forward to greatly. The market is booming – press coverage in several major newspapers and good ol’ word of mouth is bringing in the crowds. We’re getting several “regulars” and we love meeting all the new folks too. The flower bouquets I pick early in the morning are a huge hit, which is a nice compliment to all our wonderful vegetables.
9/18/07 7:45-2:45
My usual harvest-and-go-to-market routine was enhanced by the company of Jean and her video camera. We got some great footage of harvesting squash blossoms, zinnias, sorrel and oregan. Even though we’ve been at this filming thing for awhile now, I still can’t get comfortable in front of the camera. Still, I think it’ll be a great project for promoting the farm. It was also another record breaking day for sales at Headhouse. Thanks in part to attending this great market, Farmer Dave says the farm should reach $40K this year – $15K more than projected!
9/23/07 7:45-2:45
Had the pleasure of D’s company during harvesting for the first time. Together we got the squash blossoms, herbs and some amazing bouquets of flowers. I think this day marks more than 100 hours of volunteer time on the farm for me this summer! Not to mention the hours spent maintaining the blog. It’s been an incredible experience! Can’t believe the season is winding down so fast.
9/30/07 7:45-3:30
Incredible market day! Harvested the squash blossoms, herbs, and flower bunches at the farm and then joined Dave and David at the market to combine the forces of Weavers Way and Flat Rock Farms. With both farms represented at one stand, we had 10 varieties of tomatoes and 10 varieties of herbs, not to mention the more than 50 other crops at our overflowing stand. The market itself was the busiest we’ve seen yet with nonstop traffic from 10 to 2:30.
10/14/07 7:45-3:30
Another wonderful market day. Was great to be back after the week off. The flowers are waning but was still able to get nine nice bouquets. Was the last of the squash blossoms for the season though. The nice chilly fall days make market even more enjoyable.
10/21/07 10:00 – 11:00
Spent a leisurely hour cutting straw flowers, globe amaranth, and falmingo feathers (a celosia variety) for drying to use in wreaths. Then took several pictures of the waning fall fields.
10/25/07 7:00-9:30
An evening meeting with the co-op’s farm committee to help strategize about the future of the farm and how co-op members can further support the farmers. Farmer Dave gave his report on the 2007 season and it has by and far surpassed any goals and expectations set at the beginning of the season. David also talked about expanding the education programs offered at the farm to more area school groups and it looks like the farm might start an official internship program next year. Lots of great ideas were discussed, and I’m eager to see how we’ll continue to grow!
10/28/07 7:45-3:00
Another Sunday Headhouse Market. It was very chilly today and it showed in the crowd. Our stand was also looking a little sparse compared to just a few weeks ago but there was brisk business to be had to match the brisk breeze. This was probably the last week for flowers so unless I get some wreaths made soon with the flowers I’ve been drying, there won’t be much for me to do at market. Fall is finally here.
11/04/07 7:30-2:30
I couldn’t believe it, but I was actually able to still get four bouquets together for the Market today and they all sold quickly, despite the lack of variety in them now that the zinnias and china asters are gone. Business was brisk, keeping me a little warmer than last week. Looks like we’ll be able to muster two more weeks at the market, although some of our friends there won’t be making it back again. Still, it’s incredible that we’re still selling tomatoes straight off the vine in November!
11/06/07 2:30-5:30
350 tulip and narcissus/daffodil bulbs snuggly tucked in their winter beds this afternoon through the combined effort of myself, Dave and short-term intern Jen. What a beautiful fall afternoon to spend planting bulbs! The trees are finally in full color at the farm too.
11/07/07 7:00-9:00
Spent the evening making wreath forms out of grapevines foraged from the woods around the farm.
11/09/07 7:00-10:00
Spent another evening working on the wreaths, this time decorating them with the flowers and herbs I had been drying in my basement. They look beautiful! Will be selling wreaths at Headhouse Market this week and next.
11/11/07 10:00-2:30
Flowers at the farm succumbed to the frost so nothing to go over to the farm to harvest in the early morning. Manned the table at Headhouse along with Farmer Dave and Jen the Intern. Very cold day, but business was good. Can’t believe we still had tomatoes to sell!!! Also can’t believe next week is our last.
11/13/07 7:00-8:30
More time spent this evening on making wreath forms out of grapevine. Nine more forms to decorate with flowers, herbs and greens!
11/18/07 10:00-2:30
The last day at Headhouse Market for our farm. It was miserably cold but a good market day thanks to customers with long lists for Thanksgiving. A big hit was the bath soak teas I made from lavender, hyssop and yarrow. Wish I had thought to bring more of them. The wreaths didn’t sell as well as I would have liked. It was sad to say goodbye for the season to so many of our regulars. But we’ll be back in May. Now I just have to figure out what to do with myself on Sundays!
12/01/07 10:45-1:15
Helped collect stakes and gather irrigation tape to store for the winter. Pulled out straw flowers. Harvested more yarrow, lavender and hyssop to dry for tea.
12/06/07 7-9:30
Farm committee meeting to discuss new initiatives to tackle over the winter.
1/3/08 7-9:30
Farm committee meeting to finalize the committe’s structure to acheive the most for the farm in the upcoming year. Goals for the farm’s operation were also discussed, including expanding acres both in Awbury Arboretum and vacant plots around the neighborhood. Yours truly is now helping to lead the events subcommittee and anticipates six or more large events at the farm during the 2008 season, including fine dining experiences, a tomato festival, and cooking demonstrations.
2/13/08 1:30-4:30; 7:00-9:00
Major “farm day” for me with an afternoon of seeding at the greenhouse and then a Farm Committee meeting in the afternoon. Dave, David and I seeded about 30 trays of kohlrabi, kale, collards, raddichio, endive, broccoli, onions, asian greens, lettuces, and other spring favorites. It’s so exciting to have all the babies on the way! The committee meeting was spent talking about more events and how to assist in moving forward David’s full time educator role.
2/23/08 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Went to water the seedlings in the greenhouse and take pictures of their little heads popping up out of the soil.
3/17/08 6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Farm committee meeting. David Siller has been officially hired full time for the education program. We are also hiring three interns for the summer. Further discussions on our upcoming events and important construction projects, including a compost toilet, hoop house, green house and new washing station. First crops going into the ground this week!
Summer 08 Sundays
Helped with cutting flowers at the farm, bunching them and delivering them to the Headhouse Market in Philadelphia. Helped with sales at the market on several occasions as well.
