blackberries

A Verdant Spring

July 9, 2025

After a long, cold winter, Rural Studio Farm in the spring is always a revitalizing place to be. And nothing heralds the new cycle of growth like our fresh strawberries, which began to bear fruit in February.

Three students each hold a basket with ripe red strawberries freshly picked
Two students pose with baskets full of ripe strawberries

Since late May, we have been harvesting hundreds of pounds of blueberries and blackberries. It’s been such a treat to see how much the plants have produced this year compared to last.

Three baskets containing ripe blackberries that were just picked
Two rows of trellised blackberry vines covered in white blossoms
A student holds several plump and juicy blackberries
A closeup of green, red, and ripe black blackberries against a clouded sky
A cluster of blueberries in varying states of ripeness: from pale green to pink to dark-bluish purple

Flowers also signal the changing of seasons. We always grow a lot of flowers for cutting and for pollinators, and this year we are trying some new varieties: poppies, lion’s ear, mullein, flax, moonflower, hyacinth bean, violets, and butterfly pea, to name a few.

Pale pink Chinese aster blooms
A closeup of a sunlit violet in bloom
A closeup of bright orange California poppies
A closeup of a bright red broadleaf poppy
A closeup of blue and white bearded irises against a background of the dawn-time sun through the trees
A row of pinkish, reddish broadleaf poppies

Along with flowers, we are trialing some new varieties of various crops that the kitchen team has requested, like golden acre cabbage and scarlet kale. The golden acre has a nice, sweet flavor and both have been beautiful and productive, even in the heat of the South.

A couple dozen seedling trays in the seed house, each brimming with seedlings of varying shapes and colors
A closeup of dark green mint
Students are gathered in the seed house, both harvesting microgreens and sowing new seeds into freshly prepared trays
Four rows of neat, crisp green heads of salanova lettuce
A plateful of food from the RS kitchen loaded with farm produce
A volunteer smiles as she displays a massive cauliflower leaf that is at least three feet long
Two students pose in front of tubs of recently harvested vegetables: leeks, fennel, zucchini, carrots, summer squash, potatoes, and herbs
A closeup of an emerald green anole lizard perching on a leaf that is only a slightly less brilliant shade of green
An overhead shot of several harvest tubs loaded with fennel, potatoes, herbs, leeks, zucchini, and carrots
Five 7- and 10-gallon tubs full of farm produce in the kitchen, awaiting preparation
A sidelong view of the blackberry row with the hanging vines speckled with white blossoms
A closeup of a full head of pale green broccoli romanesco with its swirls like fractals

To help reduce weed pressure, we are testing a new paper mulch that will also help hold water before finally degrading into new soil. Several months in and the mulch has been effective and surprisingly robust. We hope that, throughout the season, this will remain more effective than other mulches, like straw, while reducing the need for synthetic fabrics.

Five students kneel in the aisles between rows, cutting holes in the paper mulch and transplanting seedlings through
A fellow fits a support cage over a recently transplanted seedling through the layer of paper mulch

Finally, we celebrated the bounty of the Farm and new season of growth with our fourth Spring Dinner, a gathering of friends and neighbors, as well as new folks who work in small-scale, sustainable agriculture and local food. It began as a tour of Rural Studio Farm and culminated in a shared twilight meal in the Great Hall, prepared by our friends and Santa Fe residents Brad Hart and Johanna Gilligan. Johanna created Grow Dat Youth Farm in New Orleans and was instrumental in Rural Studio Farm’s reboot in 2019.

Guests and neighbors of the Studio gathered around a long outdoor table at twilight, conversing and eating farm-fresh food
The director addresses the gathered crowd of guests and neighbors of the Studio as they await dinner service
Guests and neighbors of the Studio gathered around a long outdoor table at twilight, conversing and eating farm-fresh food with the street-light-illuminated farm in the background
Guests and neighbors of the Studio gathered around a long outdoor table at twilight, conversing and eating farm-fresh food
The sun is setting in the sparsely clouded sky beyond a well illuminated place setting, causing the fresh flower arrangement to be silhouetted, awaiting the farm dinner
Guests and neighbors of the Studio gathered around a long outdoor table, conversing and eating farm-fresh food
A lovely salad fresh from the farm with asparagus, greens, dill, goat cheese, and mandarins

Among our guests were architects and consultants Frank Harmon, Phil Szostak, Dan and Julie Wheeler, Mike Newman and Katrina Van Valkenburgh, and Mary Margaret Jones. Others included John Dorsey and Jennifer McMillan from Project Horseshoe Farm, Jovita Lewis from Hale County Extension, Nicole Dugat and Natalie Wulf from Schoolyard Roots, and Emma Chapman Busby from the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network.

Now summer is here, the most productive time of the year. We are excited because we are emphasizing tomatoes this year, growing 19 different varieties of heirlooms, cherries, and other specialty tomatoes. Oh, the dishes our kitchen will cook up and all of their nuanced flavors. More importantly, the lessons students are learning about the value of agricultural diversity, especially the role it plays in farming resilience and sustainability. Stay tuned!

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The Closing Of Summer

August 31, 2022

Summer draws to an end just as new students begin their time at Rural Studio. But all through the summer swelter, it has been last year’s leftover students—now graduated—whose work has kept the farm running.

A smiling student holds up a large plastic bag full of ripe cherry tomatoes of varying colors
An assistant manager harvests ripe cherry tomatoes
A student harvest ripe blackberries off the vines
Two students work amongst fallen corn stalks to harvest all the ears
The farm manager and assistant manager inspect and harvest cantaloupes and watermelons
Students pick snap beans from the low bushy growth habit
A student harvest ripe cherry tomatoes
Four students, attired in harvest aprons, crouch amongst the peas to pick them
A student cuts a ripe watermelon from the vine
A student direct sows some crop seed with the push seeder

Summer is the most productive time of the year, and each week we spend three days harvesting such things as fresh corn, cherry tomatoes, an assortment of peppers, eggplants, cantaloupes and watermelons, okra, cucumbers, black-eyed peas, snap beans, blackberries and blueberries, apples, Asian pears, leeks, scallions, and shallots, as well as herbs and fresh flowers.

Ripe blackberries sit collected at the bottom of a harvest bucket
A close-up of three harvest buckets with peppers and tomatoes
Scallions and leeks lay freshly harvested on the wash table
Some CSA vegetables sit on a table: leeks, a clamshell of cherry tomatoes, Asian eggplant, shishito peppers, and basil
A bouquet of fresh farm flowers: daylilies, rudbeckia, marigolds, and zinnias
About 20 watermelon, of three different varieties, lay picked upon the wash table
A 20-gallon harvest tub brims with ears of picked corn as a farm manager trims leaves off the husks
A tray of ripe, variously colored cherry tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes hang in a cluster with the colors ranging from dark green to ripe red
A student holds a small handful of ripe plump blueberries
A student pulls a ripe ear of corn from the plant
Blackberries ripen on the vine
A large quantity of apples hang on a tree

Summer is also the hardest time of the year in terms of insect pest pressure and fast-spreading weeds. Yet, for the first time it never felt like the insects and weeds grew beyond our control. Each year, we diligently hand-weed and turn over crops to minimize the spread of unwanted seeds, and we are now seeing the long-term cumulative efforts pay off.

Two students transplant corn seedlings into prepared beds in the field
A student uses a stir-up hoe to weed between rows of young corn
A long shot of four students stooping down to pick pea pods

Also, we are growing a wider diversity of plants with more aromatic flowers and herbs that make it more difficult for harmful insects to zero in on any one crop. Despite all the hard work and the heat, it’s been a pretty chill summer on the farm.

A close-up of a sunflower head before it has matured and opened
Four students stand amongst the snap beans and pick them
Trays of young corn sprouts grow in the seed house
A toddler stands between two towering rows of corn
Four students crouch and pick black-eyed pea pods off the vines
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Farm Support Structures

May 27, 2020

Some crops on the farm have a growth habit that is best supported with the helping hand of a built structure.

Growing pole beans climb the bamboo and twine trellis

One such crop is pole beans, which send out runners to wind their way up whatever they can find. So farm manager Eric Ball and Emily McGlohn built a bamboo and twine structure for the growing bean vines to wind themselves up, though the runners still need a little help to “train” them to find the right places to climb.

  • A newly built trellis of bamboo and twine for pole beans to climb
    April 29
  • Pole bean seedlings begin to sprout
    May 4
  • Pole bean plants shortly after emerging along the built A-frame climbing trellis
    May 13

Eric built another structure last spring to support blackberry canes. In the first year of growth, the blackberries produce primocanes, which were pruned and managed so that they spread across suspended wires, making them nearly invisible. In the second year, the established primocanes become floricanes, where flowers grow and then bear the fruit Rural Studio Farm is now harvesting.

  • Flowering and fruiting blackberry canes grown along wire trellis
  • A mass of ripe, picked blackberries
  • A close-up of blackberry fruit

Because the primocanes were pruned and supported by the wires, the fruit is borne off the canes in easy-to-pick cascades at three-foot and five-foot heights. As the floricanes produce berries, the plants also sprout new primocanes that will be next year’s floricanes. Once fruiting ends, Eric will cut out the spent floricanes and begin pruning and training the primocanes for next year’s harvest.

  • Blackberries of different stages of ripeness hang from canes
  • Blackberries of different stages of ripeness hang from canes

Eric, Steve Long, Xavier Vendrell, and Mary English also built a support structure for determinate field tomatoes so that they will have something to hold them up once they get top-heavy and begin bearing tomatoes.

  • A view of the newly built tomato cages for determinate field tomatoes
  • Recently transplanted tomato plants sit within their built climbing structures

Meanwhile, in the greenhouse, plants supported on string-lines—cucumbers, tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes—continue to bear fruit. The greenhouse zucchini has also been extremely prolific

  • An overhead shot of the east half of the greenhouse, highlighting the various plants
  • An overhead shot of the west half of the greenhouse, highlighting the various plants
  • A ten gallon tub overflowing with ripe zucchini harvested from the greenhouse
    1-day zuke harvest: 63.5 lb.s
  • A large, red, ripe tomato from the greenhouse sits in a workers palm
  • Greenhouse-grown cucumbers hang down through their support trellis
    1 day cuke harvest: 45 lb.
  • A close-up of green tomatoes
  • Two tubs of harvested greenhouse produce: one of sun gold cherry tomatoes and the other of regular red tomatoes
  • Tomatoes grown in the greenhouse are healthy and overflowing their beds with foliage
  • Large clusters of green sun gold cherry tomatoes in the greenhouse
  • Large healthy zucchini plants thrive in the greenhouse
    zucchini plants
  • A little boy picks cherry tomatoes from the greenhouse
  • Carrots and tomatoes bear heavy foliage inside the greenhouse
    tomatoes and carrots
  • A close-up of green tomatoes
  • Hand-picked southern armyworms wiggle across the farmworkers hands
    hand-picked armyworms
  • Ripe clusters of sun gold cherry tomatoes
  • A little boy picks cherry tomatoes in the greenhouse
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