Our first soil blocks. We’d tried and failed before, but it turns out following the recipe really does help.
Soil blocks are a way to start seedlings in an environment that’s as close to the field conditions as possible. They’re supposed to reduce or eliminate transplant shock. We’ll see how this goes.
Soil-blocking ingredients fill a corner of the basement.
Everything else was ready to build a backyard hoophouse for seedlings, but there was this issue of snow. So shoveling it was.
Seeds, tools, and other supplies have been arriving for weeks. Here our research team explores the new Earthway seeder.
You’re invited to a special Bootstrap Acres event on Tuesday, March 23. We will be demonstrating how to measure produce quality in Brix.
Here’s the event information we’re sending out:
You can measure food quality simply and easily!
Great produce is a potent source of nourishment and energy. But even very low quality produce can look beautiful. So how can you know which produce is the most nutrient-dense?
Ryan and Nicole Platte of Bootstrap Acres will demonstrate how to measure nutrient density in Brix units. We will analyze produce and milk with a refractometer, and discuss what we find.
- How to measure your produce
- What Brix tells you about nutrients
- Why high-Brix foods and organic foods may or may not be the same ones!
- What gardeners can do to increase the Brix of their produce
Bring along produce to measure—some of the results may be surprising!
We’re very excited and hope to see you there! Event details:
Thanks to Laura Villanti and the Rochester chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation for making this event happen.
Our site has been quiet, but Bootstrap Acres is a flurry of activity. Lots of tools, supplies, and plans buzzing around the house. We’ve never planned a farm season before and are excited and a bit intimidated.
Over the next few days many elements will be coming together. We will be sharing the birth of the farm here as it progresses!
I wrote the following to a radio show that had an episode promoting the notion that genetically-modified crops had a place in organics. This is a horrifying notion, that consumers would not have any label information available that would let them choose not to eat genetically-modified food!
Michael,
I am writing to you to ask you to consider cancelling publication of your upcoming podcast promoting the idea of GMO use within organics.
Research from this May has shown that the cp4 epsps transgene from Roundup Ready® corn was identified in microarthropods, nematodes, macroarthropods and earthworms sampled within the corn cropping system. That finding is published in a paper available here:
This means that the foreign proteins created by GMO crops are indeed transferring to other organisms. Monsanto and the other creators of genetically-modified organisms are creating a global disaster nobody can predict or control, and they’re using your show to help promote it.
For details of this unprecedented threat, you can review this information:
http://www.bangmfood.org/publications/4-short-leaflets/1-genetically-modified-gm-foods-renewed-threat-to-europeI’m aware that this will seem to be a large and unusual request, but upon reflection I hope you will agree it is an appropriate one given the scale of the threat posed to the human race by genetic modification of food.
Take a stand, Michael, and represent the interests of our children and grandchildren.
The mission of Bootstrap Acres is to provide our community the most flavorful, nutrient-dense food available anywhere.
We will build both demand and supply of nutrient-dense food by teaching, supplying, and helping consumers, retailers, and farmers.
Rick Bishop of Mountain Sweet Berry Farm in Roscoe, New York. This is the kind of farm we want to create.
An acre and a half of our field is plowed and waiting for the next step. We have tested the soil and are ordering a batch of soil amendments so it can grow nutrient-dense food.
This is the start of something exciting!
