eggplants

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
Some kids and student workers are busy between the rows of different brassica greens: collards, kale, lettuces, and red mustard greens,
A large heap of moist, recently washed carrots with long skinny roots of yellow, purple, and orange
Students and a couple of kids spread garlic cloves across the soil in preparation to plant them
Two baby watermelons sit on the vine near a melon mound with the early summer sun's light shining across them
Two neat rows of enormous kohlrabi roots are on display
A student smiles exuberantly as she holds up a small French melon
Two orderly rows of bright green, savoyed Chinese cabbage with full tight heads
A closeup of emerging flower seedlings in their cells
A single long-stemmed sunflower is open with its yellow face against the backdrop of Morrisette house
A shot of many deep green, heavily savoyed leaves of lacinato or dinosaur kale
The storehouse is stocked with commodities harvested from the farm: garlic, potatoes, onions, and butternut squash
A student measures seeds in her hand as she prepares to plant out some trays of soil blocks
A grouping of various harvested vegetables and fruit: potatoes, basil, sage, parsley, banana peppers, butternut squash, cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, French melons, mint, and Seminole pumpkins
A closeup of several bicolored green-yellow summer squash ripening on the vine
An assistant manager spreads a thick layer of hay that is acting as mulch around the newly planted seed potatoes
A bunch of harvested flowers are resting in a blue harvest tub: gladiolas, zinnias, rudbeckia, chives, and garlic chives
Students plant out onion sets into the cold, prepared ground

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
People of all ages share an outdoor meal together at a long wooden table on an elevated deck space

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
A shot of two of the students who are acting as assistant managers posing in front of some tomato vines inside the greenhouse
A smiling assistant manager makes soil blocks
Students gather ripe strawberries in the field

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
A closeup of microgreen sprouts growing abundantly
A student smiles exaggeratedly as she prepares to devour her microgreen-covered lunch
A student is piling microgreens on to her plate in the lunch line
A student is smiling as he brings a forkful of farm microgreens to his mouth and more microgreens can be seen on his plate

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
Some visitors are picking cherry tomatoes off the vine
School children walk around the farm on a sunny day, picking produce and exploring
Several school children are gathered around the cherry tomato vines picking the ripe orange-gold fruits

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
A full, vibrantly green head of cabbage sits in the ground
Some students and kids all help to plant cloves of garlic in raised beds, the cloves of which came from last year's garlic harvest
A student worker is weeding around some collards and mustard greens and is being helped by an eager toddler
A cluster of bright purple bell peppers on a plant
A student is busy collecting flowers from the farm for an arrangement
Four large plastic gusset bags are full of ripe sungold cherry tomatoes
Many eggplant eggplants of varying colors, shapes, and sizes, lay together atop a mesh table
Students spread hay mulch over rows of seed potatoes
An overhead shot of several cucumbers oriented like a large heart surrounding several ripe red tomatoes, all of them atop a wire mesh table
A blue 7-gallon bucket filled with miniature butternut squash that were just harvested
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Dog Days of Summer

August 31, 2021

The long, hot, busy summer on the Rural Studio Farm is finally starting to wind down toward autumn.

A student uses an oscillating hoe to weed between rows of pinkeye purple hull peas

With several of our recent graduates once again spending their summers here in Hale County, we have been experimenting with the timing and varieties for multiple crop cycles of summer favorites: tomatoes, squash, eggplant, sweet corn, and cherry tomatoes. The Sun Gold cherry tomatoes have been the biggest hit of the summer!

  • A female student harvest ripe Asian eggplant
  • A view of green looseleaf lettuce growing in a greenhouse bed
  • Watermelon vines winding across landscape fabric with ripening melons
  • A long shot of the greenhouse, showing several beds of multicolored salanova lettuce heads
  • Two students thin out pinkeye purple hull seedlings
  • A detailed shot of alternating red and green salanova lettuce heads in the greenhouse
  • Two students plant seeds into flats
  • Two students use the broadfork to prepare beds in spring for planting
  • A long shot of the farm with the distant figures of students bent over at various jobs
  • Three female students build concrete block-lined raised beds

We’ve been able to provide fresh produce for those students working over the summer (with extra to be preserved for the future) and still have some fresh for the students whose semester has just begun. We have also harvested mountains of pinkeye purple hull peas, garlic, onions, zucchini, peppers, melons, butternut squash, and many leafy brassicas.

  • Ripe blackberries dangle from the vine
  • Students arrange and process garlic heads
  • A view of green looseleaf lettuce growing in a greenhouse bed
  • A student mulches around newly transplanted onion seedlings with pine straw
  • Students dig up hard neck garlic plants and collect in a large tub
  • Students hand weed around some of the perennial herbs and flowers
  • A student rinses and processes newly harvest garlic
  • A crouching student digs up a mature garlic head
  • A view of the row of Asian eggplants which have just begun to fruit and flower
  • A student looks mock reverent as he clutches a recently harvested ripe tomato
  • A student picks the dirt off of a recently pulled garlic plant

This summer we added sweet corn and sweet potatoes to the crop rotation (more on these in future posts). The fresh sweet corn was a big success with two crops of fresh juicy corn. The sweet potatoes have also proven to be a great choice because we have been growing them in the greenhouse where few other crops are able to thrive during the long hot summers. They have performed so well that there is no longer any room to walk!

A long shot of the sea of sweet potato vines that has blanketed the inside of the greenhouse in palmate leaves
  • A close-up of celosia flower spikes
  • A close-up of an orange African marigold flower
  • A close-up of yellow canna flowers
  • A view of yarrow and other beneficial flowers and herbs in bloom
  • A close-up of pink yarrow flowers
  • A close-up of a pink gladiolus flower spike
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A Long and Productive Summer

August 25, 2020

It’s been a long, sweaty summer, and even with continued help from some of the teaching faculty (Steve, Emily, Chelsea, Mary, and Xavier), our farm manager Eric has been very busy.

Eight harvest tubs are arranged, each with its own crop: red mini bells, mini eggplant, jalapenos, orange mini bells, Asian eggplant, tomatoes, yellow mini bells, and okra

We made several large harvests of commodities that went into long-term storage: garlic, onions, butternut squash, and potatoes. For every one pound of seed potatoes that Eric planted back in February, we harvested 14.5 pounds of fresh, organic potatoes back, which is a great return.

  • A cluster of red potatoes peak out of the earth after the plant was pulled up
  • A large table lined with harvested garlic and onions to be cured
  • A grid of harvested butternut squash laid out neatly for curing

Many of the summertime crops, such as beans and squash, have also been very productive, with many still yielding, like tomatoes, mini bell peppers, mini eggplant, Asian eggplant, and okra.

  • A diagonal view of a block of beds showing hibiscus, Asian eggplant, mini eggplant, mini bell peppers, and tomatoes
  • A full-on view of a block of beds showing hibiscus, Asian eggplant, mini eggplant, mini bell peppers, and tomatoes
  • A row of pepper plants that have been staked and supported with netting
  • A tub bursting with ripe mini bell peppers of orange, yellow, and red
  • A close-up of harvested mini eggplants
  • A row of basil stands before a much taller row of okra plants
  • A young Asian eggplant fruit developing
  • A little boy inspects some growing squash plants next to trellised pole beans
  • Tear-drop shaped jalapenos hang from the plant, ready to pick
  • A little girl helps to harvest some yellow summer squash
  • Several ripe okra pods jut out from the nodes on the central stock
  • A mini bell pepper plant with many green fruit growing on it
  • Sprawling butternut squash plants in contrast with the tall pole bean plants in the adjacent row
  • Two 10-gallon tubs full of harvested tomatoes

With autumn just around the corner, our long-term crops of peanuts, parsnips, and leeks are continuing to develop and grow.

  • A small watermelon develops on the vine
  • Young parsnip plants growing together in two rows
    young parsnips
  • Leeks and parsnips growing in adjacent rows
    leeks
  • Two rows of mature peanut plants next to some much taller okra plants
    peanuts

With the return of students, we have just begun to harvest our edible summer cover crop of pinkeye purple hull peas.

  • Rows of pinkeye purple hull pea cover crop seedlings grow
  • All of the beds in the solar greenhouse filled with flowering pinkeye purple hull peas

And finally, the perennials and flowers that Eric planted earlier in the spring, like asparagus, have been very productive.

  • Pink blooms of nicotiana, or flowering tobacco
  • A close-up of red and orange French marigolds
  • Deep blue morning glory flowers sprout from vines trained to grow up several vertical lines
  • Perennial rows of asparagus, artichoke, and scallions looking verdant between cover crop rows of white clover
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Soil Blocking, or Making Soil Brownies

May 8, 2020

Students always call them soil brownies, and they do look tasty!

Soil blocking, which was developed in Europe and largely popularized in the US by legendary organic farmer, Elliot Coleman, is a practice of starting seedlings in cubes of compressed soil. While Rural Studio Farm still makes use of plastic flats for starting seeds of certain crops, soil blocks eliminate the waste and expense of using plastic containers.

The blocks are made in metal molds from a mixture of soil made here on site at Rural Studio Farm, which makes them more labor-intensive to begin with—and thus might not be suitable for larger scale farms.

However, farm manager Eric has found that, overall, seeds tend to germinate and grow better in blocks, and transplanting soil blocks into the field is faster and easier than having to remove each individual seedling from its tray.

Throughout the past two weeks, tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers that were started in 2-inch soil blocks were upgraded to 4-inch blocks to allow the roots to continue to develop before being transplanted to the field once the soil has warmed up more. The 4-inch mold is made with a 2-inch cavity to accommodate such an upgrade.

  • 2-inch soil blocks containing eggplant seedlings sit in trays
  • A teaching faculty member is making 4-inch soil blocks from a mold
  • Eggplant seedlings sit in 4-inch soil blocks after being upgraded from 2-inch
  • Pepper seedlings recently upgraded into 4-inch soil blocks
  • Various soil blocks and plants sit on a water table

There are other advantages to soil blocks. As the growing roots reach the edge of a block, they stop growing in what is called “air pruning,” as opposed to wrapping themselves about as they would in a conventional pot or cell. Indeed, as the blocks are transplanted directly into the ground, root disturbance is almost entirely eliminated, meaning that more delicate plants that cannot tolerate root disturbance can be started this way.

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