ruralstudiofarm

I Love You From My Head Tomatoes

September 23, 2025

Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, corn, peppers, and farm flowers are arranged pleasingly together

No other crop embodies the summer bounty on the Farm like fresh tomatoes! Delicious and versatile, they are always a favorite among students and staff. In years past we have leaned heavily on several workhorse varieties of tomatoes, particularly ‘mountain merit,’ which are all determinate, or bush, tomatoes. This means that their growth is limited to about four feet, and, while they don’t produce as many tomatoes overall, they are dependable and easy to support, such as with a simple trellis or cage.

A fruit cluster of queen bee tomatoes ripen on the vine

A cluster of beautiful green tomatoes on the vine

This year, however, we wanted to celebrate tomatoes by growing a wider variety of colors and flavors, focusing on heirlooms and more unusual varieties. All the new cultivars we grew were indeterminate tomatoes: they have a vining growth habit, requiring support structures to produce well and remain clean and disease-free. Because of their vining, we have to frequently attach the vines to the trellises.

A student holds a cross-section of a ripe multicolored tomato

Matt's wild cherry tomatoes hang in a cluster that moves from green to red in a gradient of ripeness

We selected ten traditional tomato varieties: ‘Cherokee purple,’ ‘Woodstock,’ ‘Barnes Mountain orange,’ ‘carbon,’ Radiator Charlie’s mortgage lifter,’ ‘Brandywine,’ ‘yellow Brandywine,’ ‘harvest moon,’ ‘lemon boy,’ and ‘golden girl.’ We also grew six varieties of cherry tomatoes: ‘sungold,’ ‘Matt’s wild cherry,’ ‘indigo cherry,’ ‘white currant,’ ‘bumblebee sunrise,’ and ‘queen bee.’ All in all, we grew a total of 19 varieties.

A variety of fresh farm tomatoes are sliced and arranged colorfully on a plate, ready to eat

A student holds a bowl of various kinds of cherry tomatoes

A closeup of the white currant variety of tomato — white currant

A closeup of sungold cherry tomatoes, of a vivid gold-orange — white currant

This extended variety is allowing us to perform a trial to determine which kinds of tomatoes grew best in our hot and humid climate. A second wave of tomatoes is still coming in, so the results are still out! Early spring and late summer were a real test of tomato resilience because of how much rainfall we received, since excessive wetting can hurt the tomatoes.

Students and volunteers are gathered around a table for the tomato taste-testing

But we also wanted to see which varieties were the best to eat, so we held an informal blind taste-test of all our tomato varieties. Several students and Project Horseshoe Farm volunteers gathered for this event and voted on which tomatoes had the best flavor and texture. Among the traditional large tomatoes, standouts were ‘Woodstock’ and ‘harvest moon.’ For cherry tomatoes, the favorites were ‘sungold,’ ‘bumblebee sunrise,’ and ‘white currant.’ With all this new information, we are already looking toward next summer when we can focus more on these robust favorites!

Students and volunteers are eating tomatoes

Students and volunteers look thoughtful as they judge the tomatoes qualities

In other farm news this summer, we grew for the first time a Native American heirloom corn called ‘glass gem.’ It is a dent corn variety (not sweet corn), so its culinary use is limited to grinding the dried kernels into hominy or grits. However, once dried, the ears are gorgeous and herald the coming of autumn!

A display of glass gem corn ears with kernels of purple, pink, white, yellow, red, orange, yellow, and blue

Several ears of the brilliantly colored glass gem corn

A side view of a many-petalled zinnia flower in shades of orange, gold, and pink

Some flower spikes of Phoenician mullein

Tags: cherry tomatoes, corn, eatlocal, farmhelpers, farmtotable, freshfood, organic food, projecthorseshoefarm, rsfarm, ruralstudiofarm, tomato, tomatoes

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

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.

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 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

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!

Tags: blackberries, carrots, eatlocal, farm, farmhelpers, farmtotable, flowers, harvest, potatoes, rsfarm, ruralstudiofarm, strawberries

Looking Back and Moving Forward

November 27, 2023

A student sits calmly in the rows of strawberry plants

As the weather grows cooler and the days shorten, Rural Studio Farm is preparing for the cold wet winter when most of the field operation will rest as cover crops replace food crops. It has been a busy year of growing and expanding what we do.

A student worker is hoeing in cover crop seed

A wide shot of the farm on a hot summer morning with ripening peppers, tall cornstalks, spreading summer squash, and verdant eggplant

Two neat rows of enormous kohlrabi roots are on display

A student smiles exuberantly as she holds up a small French melon

In the spring, we hosted our 2nd Annual Spring Farm Dinner along with friends and consultants Brad Hart and Johanna Gilligan. It was a beautiful outdoor evening of sharing an excellent meal—prepared by Brad using farm produce—with our neighbors and friends.

An evening shot showing people gathered and drinking some kind of toast at a long wooden table covered in a white tablecloth with place settings

A closeup of some of the tantalizing food plated up for the 2nd Annual Spring Farm Dinner event

Now that Patriece’s Home has been completed, Laurel Holloway has left Hale County and her two-year role as assistant farm manager. While we are sorry to see Laurel go, she has been replaced by Jake Buell from Austin, Texas, who is part of the team designing and building the 18×18 House. Jake has joined Ambar Ashraf (Rural Studio Bathhouse), and now they are scheming to bring chickens back to Rural Studio Farm. We also welcomed our Project Horseshoe Farm volunteer fellow, Jenna, to the team.

An assistant manager and the farm manager smile as they pose before some tall green tomato vines inside the solar passive greenhouse

A farm volunteer looks serious as she picks basil

We introduced two new crops to our regular rotation: strawberries and microgreens. Over the course of the summer, we produced around 200 pounds of fresh delicious strawberries—so good that many berries were eaten in the field. The microgreens are our first hydroponically produced crop, and they have been a welcome addition to the salad bar.

Several students and volunteers are gathering and spreading handfuls of microgreen seeds across wetted burlap in a large PVC tray this part of the hydroponic system for growing microgreens

A shot of four trays of growing microgreens of different kinds

A basket brimming with bright ripe red strawberries harvested from the field

During the summer, Rural Studio Farm hosted kids who were participating in Project Horseshoe Farm’s Summer Youth Program. The students had fun picking cherry tomatoes, digging up potatoes, and pulling cabbages.

Someone holds up a handful of small yellow potatoes before a small group of other people there to visit the farm and pick produce

School children walk between rows checking out potato plants and digging for potatoes

Looking ahead to 2024, we are planning on introducing ginger, turmeric, and Jerusalem artichokes to the Farm. We are also changing some of our accessory flower and herb growing spaces to specifically support pollinators, as well as developing a sensory garden which will be filled with plants of varied textures, colors, aromas, and growth habits. Finally, we are planning on reintroducing both honeybees and chickens back to Rural Studio Farm. It’s going to be a great year!

Two raised beds with beautifully colored heads of lettuce with colors ranging from bright green to bronzy red

A curtain of bright green foliage, illuminated from behind by sunlight, and hanging green cucumbers

Tags: butternut squash, carrots, eatlocal, eggplants, farm, farmhelpers, farmtotable, harvest, microgreens, rsfarm, ruralstudiofarm, strawberries

Hello, Goodbye

October 4, 2021

Rural Studio Farm is a small-scale, organic vegetable production farm run by our farm manager, Eric Ball, who relies on the labor of each and every Rural Studio student who passes through the program. Each year, two new 5th-year students are hired part time to work alongside Eric in co-managing the farm’s operations.

With the beginning of a new academic year, it means we must say goodbye to our two former farm workers: Cory Subasic and Madeline Ray. Madeline and Cory were both diligent and hard-working students who, together, managed the operations of the farm and acted as leaders to the other students for several months while our farm manager, Eric, was away on parental leave. Cory, who worked on the Thermal Mass & Buoyancy Ventilation Research Project has since taken a fellowship with Brian MacKay-Lyons in Halifax, Nova Scotia. And Madeline is devoting all her time to finishing up work on the Myers’ Home. Their contributions to the farm were essential, and their presence will be greatly missed.

A crouching student digs up a mature garlic head — As sad as saying goodbye to old friends is, it also means we get to say hello to new ones. We are excited to welcome our two newest farm workers, Laurel Holloway and Jackie Rosborough! Laurel is from Huntsville, Alabama. At Auburn Laurel worked for several years as a bike technician and spent the last summer as a garden assistant with Auburn’s community garden. She loves to feel the hope and resolve that the hard work of growing things creates in her. Jackie is from Deerfield, Illinois, where she spent a number of years working and riding at a competitive equestrian facility—an occupation which suited her well, given her fear of aquatic animals. She wants to gain knowledge and experience to better allow her to live a more sustainable life growing and making as much as possible.

A student pushes the seeder across a prepared bed — As sad as saying goodbye to old friends is, it also means we get to say hello to new ones. We are excited to welcome our two newest farm workers, Laurel Holloway and Jackie Rosborough! Laurel is from Huntsville, Alabama. At Auburn Laurel worked for several years as a bike technician and spent the last summer as a garden assistant with Auburn’s community garden. She loves to feel the hope and resolve that the hard work of growing things creates in her. Jackie is from Deerfield, Illinois, where she spent a number of years working and riding at a competitive equestrian facility—an occupation which suited her well, given her fear of aquatic animals. She wants to gain knowledge and experience to better allow her to live a more sustainable life growing and making as much as possible.

Two new student workers pose in front of the greenhouse — Jackie (L) and Laurel (R)

We are also excited to have two Project Horseshoe Farm fellows working with us on the farm as part of their community engagement. This will be Maggie Rosenthal’s second year working at Rural Studio Farm, and we welcome Diana Omenge to Hale County!

A volunteer farm worker transplants mustard green sprouts — Maggie

A volunteer farm worker smiles while wearing a crop collection tub — Maggie

Tags: farmhelpers, farmsupport, ruralstudio, ruralstudiofarm, studentworkers

Fall 2021 Neckdown Week

August 31, 2021

three young people stand together smiling wearing hard hats and harneses

This semester, Neckdown Week was as productive as ever, with the sun shining on us all week long. Neckdown is a studio tradition, during which all students and faculty work together to mend, clean up, or push forward our past and current projects. This time around we worked on student projects in Newbern and sent teams all the way out to Perry Lakes Park in Marion, AL.

At Perry Lakes Park, we cleaned up debris from a big storm that hit the park last year. We also worked on the plumbing for the bathrooms, which included a lot of digging. And we mean A LOT. Up on the Perry Lakes Birding Tower, we finally completed our objective of replacing all the rotten boards that we began removing during Neckdown last year! We hope all of you will be able to come visit the beautiful park as soon as it reopens in the very near future.

six young people stand in mud holding shovels — Students who helped dig to find the water line at Perry Lakes

a woman smiling in an orange shirt and a man wearing a blue face mask stand in a big muddle hole — Students who helped dig to find the water line at Perry Lakes

a man and a woman in protective harnesses and hard hats look at a hand railing — Installing the final new boards on the Birding Tower

a scene of a walkway ending at lake, with two people sitting down and looking at the lake — Installing the final new boards on the Birding Tower

Back in good ole Newbern, teams of helpers working a several maintenance projects at our headquarters at Morrisette House. A few teams also worked alongside Eric at the Rural Studio Farm constructing raised garden beds. These beds, made from concrete blocks, are very time consuming to build correctly, and our helpers worked hard in the sun to make them look good and function well! We’d also like to give a shoutout and a big thank you to all of the Auburn University Landscape Architecture students and faculty who came out to Hale County to help us nourish Rural Studio’s outdoor spaces. The AULA cohort not only helped out at the Farm and Morrisette property, but they also worked in our courtyards in downtown Newbern and at Lion’s Park in Greensboro. Our plants and ground surfaces would not be as happy as they have been lately without you all. Thank you!

looking down from above, a pair of feet in work boots next to an angle of concrete blocks — Close-up of the new garden beds construction

a big plot of dirt with four raised concrete block farm beds and some bright yellow strings framing the beds — Close-up of the new garden beds construction

Our recent graduates also took advantage of a few Neckdown helpers this week to make some progress finishing up their projects! With assistance from new 3rd and 5th-year’s capable hands, our three “leftover” teams accomplished a huge amount of work! The Thermal Mass & Buoyancy Ventilation Research Project team constructed two sets of stairs that lead down into their cooling porch. They also worked on installing battens on the exterior of their Research Pods!

The Myers’ Home team installed tongue-and-groove cypress boards on their interior core walls, and they worked with their helpers to nail their exterior flashing in place. Siding is coming up next for these folks. At Rev. Walker’s Home site, the team completed a massive amount of earth work in order to prep their site for its final grading. This process also included creating an outdoor gravel patio for their client to create a smooth transition from concrete slab to the adjacent ground surface.

Thank you to all the students, staff, and faculty that made all of this work possible this week!