-Appa Amma, Sashi, Shifu, Pranay, Vinay, all relatives and friends.

Jo zameen (land) sarkari hai wo zameen hamari hai. … said Manyawar Kanshi Ram.

“Agriculture looks different today – our farmers are using GPS and you can monitor your irrigation systems over the Internet.”

Restful
winter has quickly flowed into a dizzying,familiar state of spring
ruckus.Spring racket.Spring merry mayhem.Daffodils have just begun to
bloom and snow clouds are in the sky.Farm shares for the season sold
quicker than expected which has feeling all-the-more-so appreciative for
the support and enthusiasm of farm community and eager and excited for
this new growing season. Here’s what have been up to lately, mostly
photos.

Greenhouse
beds are greening up, up, UP, albeit slowly. The lettuce is having a
tough go of things, with pressure from house sparrows.

Plug
in bok choy to fill gaps in spinach beds where germination was
uneven.Ittybitty carrot seedlings will come up in the newest/western
beds. The arugula looks amazing, fared the cold temperatures with a
smile, and is almost harvestable – this is grown from seed saved last
summer.

The
north wall of the greenhouse has to be been getting some early spring
attention this year – be cobbing! Cob is a mix of clay, sand,straw and
water. A bit like adobe, but not formed in bricks. The greenhouse uses
strawbales as insulation on the tall north wall and an interior cob wall
(about 6-8″ thick) as thermal mass. The beautiful red-orange of the cob
comes from the local clay/silt that outcrops around Spearfish,the
Permio-Triassic Spearfish Formation.Deposited before the uplift back
when this place look more like the Heleh wetlands of Iran. Which is
especially lovely to consider as the sky is about to dump a boatload.

Do seeding spring turnips in March,potting up herbs with Miga guarding the door/snoozing.

A collection of little spring things: eggplant seedlings,crocuses, roots still work through from last fall, planting peas.

Regarding
eggplant: grow three varieties of eggplant this year, Tsakoniki,
Diamond, and Long Purple. (Share members, these should be familiar to
you, these are varieties grown in the past and do well here.) Diamond
started to germinate. Diamond, also known as Almaz (Алмаз). is an
eggplant variety originally bred in Ukraine, developed at the Donetskaya
Vegetable Experiment Station. It was brought to the US in 1993 by the
co-founder of Seed Savers Exchange, Kent Whealy. The two taller rows of
Long Purple adjacent to the Diamonds are from our own seed crop – they
germinated about a week earlier, almost as though they remembered this
place and were ready. Last year we tried to save Diamond for seed, but
deer got in and made a hearty feast with the row of large yellowing
fruit. Try again this year.

Soil
blocks with seeds and tiny germinating precious beings are filling
shelves in the greenhouse. Of special note: 1. the majority of the seeds
planting are ones grown and saved, these are varieties we’re familiar
with and they’re familiar with us, this place, the light and the soil. I
very quickly lose all ability to communicate just how spectacular this
is. If you will, please imagine a flock of flamingoes taking off from
the mangroves . 2. additionally! now growing seed from local seed
grower/gardener friends as well! YEAH! Couer de Bouef and Woodle Orange.
Excited about this because these are regionally adapted/ing varieties,
grown by friends with good taste, and seeds from friends are the coolest
thing. 3. The super dooper low temperatures last week (eeps! 10
degrees!?) had scurrying to cover beds in the greenhouse and bring in
the most tender things that wouldn’t make it through those low temps.
(Cold weather temps in the greenhouse a generally 10-15 degrees warmer
than outside). This means that the floor of our basement, our dining
table with wings extended, and an additional giant foldy table set up in
the living room are hosting a whole lot of little things that would
really rather being getting more light. For a brief while, the kitchen
floor became my new place for potting-up, making a good stand-in for our
greenhouse work bench. The dogs were very deliberate with their puppy
footing and rabble rousing – no seed tray disasters.

In
March, helped out with the annual Spearfish Seed Swap. The public
library host a community seed exchange box, shared carrot stories with
kiddos, and pulled together all their most excellent gardening resources
for display and check-out, local seed stewards shared their seed
stories online, and finest ice cream shop make another incredibly
delicious seed-themed ice cream flavor in celebration of, celebration
with the Seed Swap – crispy crunchy dark chocolatey seed bombs tossed in
a milk chocolate ice cream. Oh maaaan. And as part of the Seed Swap
seed merriment, got muddy making wild flower earth dumplings (aka seed
bombs) with all sorts of folks excited about creating more pollinator
habitat and forage in our community.

In
the spirit of celebrating gardens and life, seeds and pollinators,
community and community action, put together a zine as an introduction
to earth dumplings. You’d like your very own copy of the Earth Dumpling
zine, here you go. And here are some easy instructions for how to fold
it up, with many thanks to artist Ashley Topacio.

And
lastly: while warming up in the greenhouse after moving wet, slimy
occultation tarps and a whole lot of heavy sand bags in the field on a
cold and blustery afternoon. Springtime in a nutshell.

Farmer quotes that will make you appreciate the harvest

“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.”

“When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization.”

“No race can prosper until it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.”

“As long as there’s a few farmers out there, we’ll keep fighting for them.”

“You know, farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.”

“The
farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail,
sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.”

“Do what you love to do, and be around things that make you smile. The cows make me smile every day.”

“The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn’t still be a farmer.”

“Farming is a profession of hope.”

“It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who
reaps a harvest in the Autumn.” You’ll love collection of spring quotes
celebrating life and change.

Farmer quotes about working the land

“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”

“I would rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.”

“The story of family farming underscores a legacy of sustainability.”

“We have neglected the truth that a good farmer is a craftsman of the highest order, a kind of artist.”

“The master’s eye is the best fertilizer.”

“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own.”

“Whether it’s on the tractor or in the pasture with the cows, I just love being able to take my kids to work when I need to.”

“There are only three things that can kill a farmer: lightning, rolling over in a tractor, and old age.”

“Farmers only worry during the growing season, but townspeople worry all the time.”

“Agriculture engenders good sense, and good sense of an excellent kind.”

Farmer quotes about hard work and perseverance

“It feels good at the end of the day to know you made a product that other people are going to enjoy.”

“My dream is to become a farmer. Just a Bohemian guy pulling up his own sweet potatoes for dinner.”

“Frankly, any city person who doesn’t think I deserve a white-collar salary as a farmer doesn’t deserve my special food.”

“The farm is part of me.”

“Factory
farming came about from a moral race to the bottom, with corporations
vying against each other to produce more and bigger animals with less
care at lower cost.”

“It is thus with farming: if you do one thing late, you will be late in all your work.”

“Farming
is a matter of dirt and dung. It is not the kind of thing we look to to
find the meaning of human life. It is too ordinary, too inescapably a
part of life to be interesting. We know that it has to be done, but see
no reason to pay much attention to it. But it is just because farming is
inescapably a part of human life that it may provide a clue to what is
most basically human, and so a clue to our place within the cosmos.”

“Life on a farm is a school of patience; you can’t hurry the crops or make an ox in two days.”

“A
farm is a manipulative creature. There is no such thing as finished.
Work comes in a stream and has no end. There are only the things that
must be done now and things that can be done later. The threat the farm
has got on you, the one that keeps you running from can until can’t is
this: do it now, or some living thing will wilt or suffer or die. Its
blackmail, really.”

“The discovery of agriculture was the first big step toward a civilized life.”

Farmer quotes to motivate you

“A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humus.”

“Agriculture
is the greatest and fundamentally the most important of our industries.
The cities are but the branches of the tree of national life, the roots
of which go deeply into the land. We all flourish or decline with the
farmer.”

“Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can call her own.”

“Farming isn’t a battle against nature, but a partnership with it. It
is respecting the basics of nature in action and ensuring that they
continue.”

“Agriculture looks different today – our farmers are using GPS and you can monitor your irrigation systems over the Internet.”

“I
do think that there is a big difference between family farms and
agri-business, and one of the distressing things that I think has
occurred is with consolidation of farm lands. You’ve seen large
agri-businesses benefit from enormous profits from existing farm
programs, and I think we should be focusing most of those programs on
those family farmers.” – Barack Obama

“To make agriculture sustainable, the grower has got to be able to make a profit.”

“Agriculture
is the noblest of all alchemy; for it turns earth, and even manure,
into gold, conferring upon its cultivator the additional reward of
health.”

“If the rain spoils our picnic, but saves a farmer’s crop, who are we to say it shouldn’t rain?”

Other inspirational farmer quotes

“If you tickle the earth with a hoe she laughs with a harvest.”

“The
goal of any farmer, after producing enough to feed his own family, has
always been to find the best place to sell the year’s crop.”

“Strong communities are built around local, real food. Food we trust to nourish our bodies, the farmer and planet.”

“I
love the idea of farm to table and farmer’s markets. I enjoy a meal
more if I know I’m eating something that’s good quality and good for
me.”

“When
I help a farmer, I don’t differentiate between them based on their
region, as farmers have no borders. I want to live like a world citizen
and react like a human being.” – Prakash Raj

“My feeling was, you plant some seeds. If they grow, great; if they
don’t, you don’t take it personally. Not my problem; I just kept
planting. Just like a farmer.”

“Agriculture is the foundation of manufactures, since the productions of nature are the materials of art.”

“It is impossible to have a healthy and sound society without a proper respect for the soil.”

“Agriculture
was the first occupation of man, and as it embraces the whole earth, it
is the foundation of all other industries.”

Farmer quotes for everyone to appreciate

“If the farmer is poor then so is the whole country.”

“A farmer is a magician who produces money from the mud.”

“The farmer is a born philosopher, the aristocrat has to learn how.”

“Even if a farmer intends to loaf, he gets up in time to get an early start.”

“The corn is not choked by the weeds but by the negligence of the farmer.”

“The farmer hopes for rain, the walker hopes for sunshine, and the gods hesitate.”

“Farming isn’t something that can be taught. Each plant tells its own story that has to be read repeatedly.”

“Raw
ingredients trump recipes every time; farmers and ranchers who coax the
best from the earth can make any of us appear to be a great cook.”

“Our
farmers deserve praise, not condemnation; and their efficiency should
be cause for gratitude, not something for which they are penalized.” —
John F. Kennedy

“We
need farmers, more than any other profession. If lawyers, politicians,
bankers, university academics or salesmen were to somehow disappear
tomorrow, I think the world would muddle through pretty well. Some
things might even get better. But if farmers were to vanish, most of us
would be dead within a year.”

More farmer quotes

“As the Republican platforms says, the welfare of the farmer is vital to that of the whole country.”

“I inherited that calm from my father, who was a farmer. You sow, you
wait for good or bad weather, you harvest, but working is something you
always need to do.”

“Agriculture is at the core of the state.”

“It will not be doubted that with reference either to individual or national welfare, agriculture is of primary importance.”

“Cultivators are the most valuable citizens…they are tied to their country.”

“Agriculture is a fundamental source of national prosperity.”

“Weeding is as necessary to agriculture as sowing.”

“The Nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”

“If we as a society are willing to have a preference for organic food, the farmer can pass on the savings.”

“The duty of the individual farmer, at this time, is to increase his production, particularly of food crops.”

Farmer quotes that will inspire you to plant a garden

“A
person who is growing a garden, if he is growing it organically, is
improving a piece of the world. He is producing something to eat, which
makes him somewhat independent of the grocery business, but he is also
enlarging, for himself, the meaning of food and the pleasure of eating.”

“There
are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of
supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat
comes from the furnace.”

“The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in
1946. That is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food?
Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests.
It was near kitchens, near tables, near bedsides. It was in the pantry,
the cellar, the backyard.”

“The
fields are black and ploughed, and they lie like a great fan before us,
with their furrows gathered in some hand beyond the sky, spreading
forth from that hand, opening wide apart as they come toward us, like
black pleats that sparkle with thin, green spangles.”

“Here
in the country, on a little farm in southern Georgia, I am building a
quiet life of resistance. I am a radical peasant, and every day I take
out my little hammer, and I keep building.”

“If you really want to be a good gardener, you need to understand what is going on in your soil.”

“Soil is not just a substance, soil is the soul.”

“Without the farmer, there is no food.”

“The
soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of
all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease
passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care
for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we
can have no life.”

“Agriculture looks different today – our farmers are using GPS and you can monitor your irrigation systems over the Internet.”

Jo zameen (land) sarkari hai wo zameen hamari hai. … said Manyawar Kanshi Ram.

“There’s nothing like eating food you’ve grown yourself.”

“My
grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a
lawyer, a policeman and a preacher, but every day, three times a day,
you need a farmer.”

“Agriculture
has become essential to life; the forest, the lake, and the ocean
cannot sustain the increasing family of man; population declines with a
declining cultivation, and nations have ceased to be with the extinction
of their agriculture.” So grow your own food like vegetables and fruits
not only in pots but all over the world as the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka
did to overcome hunger the worst kind of illness as said by the Buddha.