the Office Please Mail Back the Postcard From the Editor To … · 2020. 3. 6. · the postcard, fill it in, and mail it back to us. Our goal is to send you information that you wish

Green Field Farms • 6464 Fredericksburg Road • Wooster, Ohio 44691 • 330.263.0246 • www.gffarms.com

Last winter I ordered ten rootstock trees from Schlabach’s Nursery to graft some of our old apple trees before they died. Some years ago I did some graft-ing, and was successful, but neglected to protect the young trees and before I knew it, the cottontail rabbits had nipped off every tree just above the ground, so was ready to try again. Schlabach’s recommended EMLA 7, which is a semi-dwarf rootstock, and when they were delivered in early March I kept them in the cool part of our cellar. I then collected the scions from the trees I wanted to graft, labeled them, and kept them in plastic baggies in the cold. The scions were from the previous year’s new growth. I cut several McIntosh and Northern Spy, favorite old variet-ies but not the best for a low-spray or organic orchard. The McIntosh, espe-cially, is very susceptible to apple scab. It makes great apple sauce though. The Northern Spy is my favorite dumpling

apple. The other six scions came from our Golden Delicious and a neighbor’s Yellow Transparent. Both trees produce well in an organic spray program. We planted our semi-dwarf Stark Bros Gold-en Delicious apple close to 40 years ago. It is a direct descendant of the Mullens tree in Clay County, West Virginia, found in 1914. I keep it pruned to semi-dwarf size; in other words, we can pick the fruit without a ladder. And it bears large crisp delicious apples every year. In my opinion the Golden Delicious is the best all-around apple for the home orchard-ist. Its fruit is excellent for fresh eating, sauce, pies and cobblers, and keeps well. The Yellow Transparent in our neighbor’s orchard produces decent fruit without any care. In early April I gathered the root-stock seedlings and scions on the picnic table. With the help of my granddaugh-ter, we grafted the ten scions to the

Hello to everyone in the Green Field Farms circle. We appreciate your interest and support of Green Field Farms and our small family farmers who make up the co-op’s membership. We are on this journey to support our farming commu-nities to be viable and sustainable into the future. We recently had a customer event called the Beyond Organic Forum. We were inspired again by what we heard from David Kline and Wayne Wengerd on our community’s history in agriculture and the reason for this co-op to exist. It was a great day to connect with some existing customers and some potential new customers that were attending the event, learning about Green Field Farms for the first time. This time of the year we also take some road trips to connect with our pro-duce customers. We review the prior year and plan for what we can accomplish this coming year. This is exciting for me as I get to meet and greet some of our long-term outstanding customers, some of them I’ve never met before. I want to

Volume 16 • Issue 1 • Spring, 2020

From the Editor - By David Kline

From Insidethe Office -By David Yoder

In This Issue:The Dairy Report .................................... 2

News from the Soil ................................. 3

Produce Sales .......................................... 3

Ramblings of a Board Member (2) ....... 4

Reader’s Write ......................................... 5

For the Children ..................................... 5

6464 Fredericksburg Road • Wooster, Ohio 44691

Green Field Farms • 6464 Fredericksburg Road • Wooster, Ohio 44691 • 330.263.0246 • www.gffarms.com 3

Spring is just around the corner! We had a mild winter so far. The farmers would appreciate frozen soil to haul ma-nure and it makes the soil easier to work in the spring, but we will take what the Good Lord gives us. Farmers are getting good results from using quality compost versus raw manure. It is a very good way to improve the biological part of your soil. It pro-vides food for the microbes, and the am-monia part of raw manure is already bro-ken down. It also creates humus which is the food for the plants to feed on. It improves the organic matter and creates a nice biomass in the top six inches of your soil. After a hard rain the soil doesn’t crust as easily and it holds moisture in a dry year. A word of caution when making your own compost. Temperatures need to be taken and everything needs to be documented or it will be classed as raw

manure. By the time this gets printed there will be seedlings growing in the green-houses. We recommend using new plug trays as bacterial diseases can overwinter on old plug trays. So far, this winter has been very good for the bees in this area, except they eat a lot with this warmer weather. Make sure to check if they have enough food stores. I attended the honey-bee expo last week in West Virginia. A concern that came up was, a number of beekeepers south of here had their bees pack up and leave in December. We don’t know the reason yet, but there is research being done to determine what is causing this. I put out pollen substitute again and they are really taking it when the temperature is warm enough. I am

News from the Soil - By Aaron Weaver

planning to increase my hive numbers this spring. If you need local spring nucs there should be plenty available to sell in this area. We will have Rooster’s Organic Com-post available again in bulk. They can haul seven tons with a smaller truck and trailer, but they will make multiple trips if you need more than seven tons. The price is $96 a ton plus $30 an hour for delivery from Dundee, Ohio. We had growers use it last year with very good results. I wish everyone a prosperous season ahead. Let the land produce vegeta-Let the land produce vegeta-tion; seed bearing plants and trees tion; seed bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their vari-seed in it, according to their vari-ous kinds.ous kinds. -Genesis 1:11 NIV

Produce Sales - By Susie Coblentz

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead Help me welcome the spring season of 2020 with a salute to the founders of Green Field Farms. Merely a small group of farmers and businessmen, they had a vision and a belief in the good of their fellow men, and the drive to do some-thing about that belief. This past year I’ve kept thinking how the decisions of several dedicated people are now im-pacting many for good, from farmers to workers to customers. Green Field Farms’ produce program has grown in leaps and bounds in the past few years, thanks to the hard-working farmers and our loyal customers who have made it possible for us to be where we are today. Question for us, “What are we doing today that will impact for good the gen-erations to come after us?” Conferences, grower meetings, and buyer visits are just part of the many

things our staff at Green Field Farms has going on over these few months while no produce is moving through the ware-house. This is the time to prepare for the coming growing season and to develop new relationships. Buyer visits always get me excited about what summer will bring. Talk keeps floating around us about the concerns of food waste. Naturally, fruits and vegetables are the most wast-ed products in the food industry because of the high perishable percentage and short lifespan of these products. Also, sending highly perishable items across long distances subtracts several days’ shelf life. This is where the local, organic vegetables come in. Product that is safe to be consumed, yet is from within our own community, grown by farmers we trust. We are continually seeing the results of diets loaded with sugars, pesticides, and preservatives. Just as using antibiot-ics over and over to treat diseases causes

a resistance to the drugs, eating foods that are not free from antibiotics causes resistance as well, and will increasingly render the miracle medications useless. While some people notice immediate health issues relating to the use of pesti-cides and antibiotics, many of us do not notice the destructive causes until much later, and many times when seeking medical help will only be exposed to more drugs to cure our disease, instead of finding the root cause. If growing your own food is not an option, buy organic products, especially produce, dairy, and meat as much as possible. Wishing everyone good health and a successful growing year.

The ultimate goal of farming is not The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cul-the growing of crops, but the cul-tivation and perfection of human tivation and perfection of human beings.beings. -Masanobu Fukuoka

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2 Green Field Farms • 6464 Fredericksburg Road • Wooster, Ohio 44691 • 330.263.0246 • www.gffarms.com

Mild winter greetings to the ones who read this. We got a thin layer of snow overnight, but the sun came out this morning and the snow is mostly gone again except for some old snow piles from earlier. We have had a real mild winter so far. I think we need some subzero weather to freeze some of the flu that is floating around. It is visiting our home at this time and I don’t expect it to leave yet, because they did not all have a turn yet, but maybe some will toughen up and pass it on. I hope so! Usually we have an icehouse filled by now, but I don’t think there are any filled yet. Maybe we have to go back to an old fashioned summer without ice. Don’t think it would hurt, unless maybe

some feelings, and it should not even hurt those. Maybe by the time you are reading this we will have ours filled. In a month we are usually thinking about maple syrup, but will we get any maple sap if we don’t get more snow and cold weather? Soon after that, we think of starting our greenhouse. Earlier this winter, part of our greenhouse roof blew off when we had some high winds, so we are thinking of remodeling it this fall if we can be profitable this summer. Another project is sitting in the back of our minds for this fall, but maybe that has to wait till later. Butchering is done for this winter, even though we still have two pigs running around. Those got dropped off here by an English farmer, a little too late

to go with our beef butchering, so they probably have to run around until fall. If they are still running this summer, they might get a chance to enjoy #2 produce if we get any extra. Today is Groundhog Day and the groundhog should be able to see his shadow. Yesterday four years ago, we almost had a Groundhog Day baby. We called him Dan, instead. Groundhog Day also means there is already a month gone from 2020, so better take a deep breath before Christmas. It feels like I should go on a walk for some fresh air because my head feels kind of full of everything. Maybe our tree house is a good place to go, or maybe that is not a place for 34-year-old women?


As we grow away from being raised As we grow away from being raised on the farm, we lose many values that are on the farm, we lose many values that are not reflected in our financial statement not reflected in our financial statement at the end of the year. Do we spend as at the end of the year. Do we spend as much time with the family as we would much time with the family as we would if we were farming? Probably not even if we were farming? Probably not even if we’d add the hours each day that we if we’d add the hours each day that we are not with the family if we have an off are not with the family if we have an off the farm occupation. It isn’t possible to the farm occupation. It isn’t possible to spend as much time with them as we spend as much time with them as we would while farming. So, the question would while farming. So, the question comes up, what type of crops can we comes up, what type of crops can we grow that we can farm successfully? grow that we can farm successfully? We can farm any crop we want, but if it We can farm any crop we want, but if it doesn’t pay the bills, we can’t be success-doesn’t pay the bills, we can’t be success-ful. ful. Values to consider, do we teach res- Values to consider, do we teach res-ponsibility with animals? Work ethics that ponsibility with animals? Work ethics that include feeding, bedding, and caring for include feeding, bedding, and caring for animals require a commitment and res-animals require a commitment and res-ponsibility that we can’t measure. Caring ponsibility that we can’t measure. Caring for animals isn’t just feeding them when for animals isn’t just feeding them when I feel like it, or when I’m at home. This I feel like it, or when I’m at home. This will be valuable in later years no matter will be valuable in later years no matter what job we have. Growing our own food what job we have. Growing our own food is so valuable to a family as we teach is so valuable to a family as we teach them how to prepare food from harvest them how to prepare food from harvest to the table. Here we think of vegetables to the table. Here we think of vegetables or fruit, but what about animals? Have or fruit, but what about animals? Have

we taught our daughters how to harvest we taught our daughters how to harvest and prepare a chicken for a tasty meal? and prepare a chicken for a tasty meal? This may start with a small group of baby This may start with a small group of baby chicks each spring. chicks each spring. I see some young people that have I see some young people that have animals and grow a lot of their own food, animals and grow a lot of their own food, which is very good, even if we live on a which is very good, even if we live on a property. property. Back to the first sentence, why did I Back to the first sentence, why did I say grow away from the farm? It seems to say grow away from the farm? It seems to me the change is here every day, but we me the change is here every day, but we may not notice it. Just as plants or child-may not notice it. Just as plants or child-ren, suddenly, we realize the changes ren, suddenly, we realize the changes from years ago. from years ago. I feel we may not grasp the true va- I feel we may not grasp the true va-lue of farm life until the next depression, lue of farm life until the next depression, which may or may not happen. which may or may not happen.

4

For the Children - By Sarah Ann Hershberger

Seasons come and seasons go. We are reminded daily of this in our walk of life as well as by the calendar or the weather. As I reflect on the recent passing of my father-in-law William Troyer (age 82) on January 29th, my thoughts are turned to how short our season of life on earth really is. As dairy farmers, our daily, as well as yearly routine is determined by the seasons, as well as the weather we are having at the time. In the twenty years that we have been farming we went through a num-ber of seasons that seemed very extreme, with excessive rains, as well as long periods without any rain. The summer of 2012 was as dry as any, with no measur-able rain for six weeks. At the time of these weather events

we tend to get discouraged and think that it has never been this way before, there must be something the cause of this, such as climate change. Or, is it that when the weather doesn’t cooperate with our plans, we look for something to blame it on? Whenever I want to grumble about the weather, I like to look back over the last twenty years. Floods, droughts, and storms will come but not prevail. Let us rejoice in the good we have and be comforted with the promise from Genesis 8, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Wishing you all the blessings of a bountiful season in 2020.

Ramblings of a Board Member

- By Henry Wengerd Jr.

Greetings! This is the first week in February and the past few days have been warm and sunny. It seemed every-one treasured it, based on the enthusias-tic remarks and happy faces. Some updates for you readers on the dairy here at Green Field Farms. We will be installing a filler for the purpose of filling 16 oz. bottles with cream. The filler will be capable of doing both glass and plastic. As of now the plan is to do returnable, glass bottles for the cream. James is in the delicate process of de-signing a cream bottle. This takes quite a bit of time as there are a lot of different angles and aspects to observe. There is the importance of designing according to the wishes and convenience of our distributors, and of course the consid-eration of what consumers will want to

see on the shelf. Requirements from the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the USDA Organic regulations also need to be fulfilled. We had requests from our new distributor, Rainforest Distribution, for homogenized milk so that is another change taking place. A homogenizer will be added to fill orders as needed, because Whole Foods and MOM’s Or-ganics have agreed to carry this. We are hoping and looking forward to a growth in sales after the homogenizer has been installed. We have been hearing positive feedback from East Coast consumers regarding our non-homogenized milk, so that has been a huge encouragement for a new dairy! If you see our milk in stores, you will notice they now have an organic labeled

tag hanging around the neck of the bottle. The purpose for this is to make consumers aware that it’s organic; after all it’s the best way to go! On the tag is a neat little QR code that you can scan, which will take you to our website where you can learn more about our wholesome values, and even check out which stores are selling Green Field Farms products.

The Dairy Report - By Mary Sue Weaver

rootstocks using the whip and tongue method and. I made the cuts and joined the wood and she tied the grafts with long rubber bands. We then coated the grafts with melted grafting wax and planted them in our dooryard garden, and watched them for new growth. Sure enough, seven out of the ten grafts grew. The other three seedlings also grew but not the grafts. This spring I hope to graft three Golden Delicious scions on those three trees, possibly using a saddle graft instead of the whip and tongue because I’ll be doing it while on my knees. I’m sure my granddaughter will help me again.

It was such a pleasure to sink one’s It was such a pleasure to sink one’s hands into the warm earth, to feel hands into the warm earth, to feel at one’s fingertips the possibilities at one’s fingertips the possibilities of the new season. of the new season. -Kate Morton

thank our produce sales team for their efforts and for spending hours on the road this time of the year. The dairy team has also been doing their part. I have recently had conversa-tions with some of the dairy customers. They have expressed appreciation for the quality, service and freshness of the product they are receiving. Happy customers are the type of customers we can continue to grow and partner with on this journey. We are excited that they are willing to expand their product offerings from Green Field which includes our addi-tional homogenized 2% and whole milk. There are a lot of great things hap-pening, as well as some challenges we are working through. We recently made a difficult decision to reduce the amount of egg production. This is leaving a few farmers with hen barns that will stand empty for now. The egg market has been flooded with over production for more than a year, which has reduced prices, with demand not growing as anticipated. We are not discontinuing the eggs, just trying to balance supply and demand a bit closer than we were. We continue to be focused on finding the right sustainable niche markets for our farmer members. We also

need our producers to keep on doing the good work of producing quality products on the farm, which makes a difference for each of our consumers who take an enjoyable bite of your food. If you think about the thousands of lives you touch with your product, it is mind boggling. Right now, we are producing just over 3,000 gallons of milk each week. If an average consum-er uses a half gallon of milk a week, it means our milk could be touching 6,000 lives weekly. The produce every summer touches many more than that. Just roughly figuring we ship around 6,000 boxes per week of zucchini alone. At around 30 pieces per box, we have 180,000 pieces of zucchini touching lives every week during the summer months. Why is this import-ant? It means your work has signifi-cance. It means the care you give each hand-picked piece will be enjoyed by someone soon after harvest. I wish you all the blessings from the fruit of the Spirit in your lives, love, joy, and, as we read in Galatians 5:22-23. I want to thank all of you for your support, and hope you have an enjoyable spring season.

Did you know you can make your own bouncy ball? Would you like to try it? They are almost as much fun to make as they are to play with.

Here’s what you have to do.1. Dissolve 1 tablespoon Borax (washing powder) in ½ cup warm water.1. Dissolve 1 tablespoon Borax (washing powder) in ½ cup warm water.2. In a separate container mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch (the same kind Mom uses to 2. In a separate container mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch (the same kind Mom uses to thicken puddings) and 2 tablespoons white liquid glue (such as Elmer’s School Glue). thicken puddings) and 2 tablespoons white liquid glue (such as Elmer’s School Glue). Add a little food coloring if you want a colored ball. Add a little food coloring if you want a colored ball.3. Scrape the cornstarch and glue mixture into the borax water and let it set for 10-15 3. Scrape the cornstarch and glue mixture into the borax water and let it set for 10-15 seconds. seconds.4. Gather the cornstarch and glue mixture together with a spoon or fork and lift it out 4. Gather the cornstarch and glue mixture together with a spoon or fork and lift it out of the water. of the water. 5. Roll it in your hands to form a ball. If the mixture is too sticky you can dip it back 5. Roll it in your hands to form a ball. If the mixture is too sticky you can dip it back into the water. It will harden as you roll it in your hands. into the water. It will harden as you roll it in your hands.

These balls do not bounce very high, but they are fun to roll across the floor and toss back and forth.

Store the ball in a tight container to keep it from drying out.

Reader’s Write - By Mrs. John Swartzentruber

Green Field Farm

s6464 Fredericksburg RoadW

ooster, Ohio 44691

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Please Mail Back the PostcardRamblings of a Board Member

- By Raymond Yoder










Produce Sales .......................................... 3


Reader’s Write ......................................... 5

For the Children ..................................... 5












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For the Children ..................................... 5












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