The days are getting shorter again which means that my favorite season is fast approaching. I love layering clothes and heading out for a nice brisk hike through the woods. The colors of the leaves combined with the food of the season leave little to dislike about autumn. Some of my fondest memories are of going to the Franklin Cider Mill just outside of Detroit, where I’m from, to get nice, cool, freshly pressed cider along with their delicious, hot, greasy, and freshly made donuts. Nothing like it. Alas, I’m not yet able to take those nice brisk hikes, or drive yet to a cider mill, but I am looking forward to seeing what Farmer Becky, and my farm brother, Sky harvest this season.

I, very much, want to extend a heartfelt thanks and appreciation to all of you for your kind thoughts and words extended towards Becky, Crystal, and myself after our accident. It’s been a difficult summer for me in many ways, but I’m happy to also say that I am making big progress. My obvious bruises have disappeared and my bones are steadily healing. So I’m a lucky lady in many ways, but most of all, I’m lucky to know that there is plenty of love out there.

Finally I’d like to share my video with you all that I had just made prior to the accident. It was my ‘love letter’ about the farm and my life there. Hope you enjoy it — www.vimeo.com/lethefarms/oneday

Love and winter squash,Susan

field notesVolume 17 | Number 16 | September 7 & 11, 2012

EcoSyStEm Farm at accokEEkwww.accokeekfoundation.org

Summer drama Pick liSt

Bush BeansMatt’s Wild Cherry Tomatoes

ZucchiniHeirloom Watermelon

Eggplant

Introduction to Biodynamics Monday, September 17, 20126 p.m. – 8 p.m.$15 non-members, $10 members

In this introductory lecture we will take a look at the essentials of biodynamic agriculture, particularly from a home scale, gardening perspective.

A Fungi Foray Saturday, October 6, 201210 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.$5 suggested donation

Join biologist Tovi Lehmann for a foray into the fascinating world of fungi. In this two-part workshop, Tovi will introduce participants to mushroom life cycles and habitats, as well as the important role that fungi play in the natural world. Tovi will also discuss the basics of mushroom identification. Participants will take a guided trail walk to hunt for fungi.

Farm managerBecky Seward

apprentice FarmersSusan Cook, Sky Harman

Farm internCrystal Proctor

Farm assistantBlain Snipstal

Pre-registration required for events, for details on any event, please visit www.accokeekfoundation.org or call 301-283-2113.

upcoming events

Shoots dappled with dewFields turn over for their restNew season awaits

Shoots dappled with dewFields turn over for their restNew season awaits

Shoots dappled with dewFields turn over for their restNew season awaits

Food is Everywhereby Becky Seward

Harvesting is my favorite farming activity, tied with transplanting seedlings. The tactile element is exaggerated when parting a wily tomato plant for fruit, or prying apart delicate lettuce babies for relocation into a bigger flat. I find I have the same feeling: of training my eyes for aesthetic abundance, when I take walks in the woods, searching for medicinal and edible plants. The two methods of food gathering, that come about through very different processes, evoke the same basic desire within me. It is something as primal as sitting around a campfire. It is the gatherer part of me, and it reminds me to consider the overlapping relationship between wild and cultivated food.

Every plant we grow on the farm began somewhere in the evolutionary scheme of things as a wild plant, indigenous to some part of our planet, settling into its ecological niche. At some point humans came in, plucked out the plant and developed it into a

tastier or hardier version of itself, in the process changing the chemistry of the plant for human consumption. The tomato, which has no direct native species (the primogenitor is the tomatl of the central Andes), came to Italy around 1522. It did not make it into the hearts of Americans until the early 20th century however, as it was considered poisonous and generally too luscious for public consumption.

The garlic we know now in its cultivated form originated in Asia as long as one thousand years ago, but there is no shortage of native edible plants all around us with that potent spicy savory flavor. Ubiquitous garlic mustard in early spring, ramps from the Appalachians, wild onion, and chives all are wild and delicious in this region and can be found safely and in abundance in our woods and fields.

While we may not find the cucumber growing wild in the nearest cleared land, it has been common in botanical history as long ago as 7750 BC, when it was cultivated near its native southeast Asia. This plant, taking many different shapes in many different food cultures, often interbreeding with other members of its plant family, the cucurbits, has surely benefited from such long standing human attention, to the point where there are pests of several different families of insects that thrived on our cucumber crop this season!

In my engrossed delight at finding a rare carnivorous plant in the swamp, I find the gatherer and also the mad scientist. In their prolific diversity, I am able to see why plants have inspired us to manipulate (breed) them with as much creativity as there are vegetable varieties. Grab a field guide and go try something wild today with your cultivated veggies!