The whole buy local food movement is well intentioned, explains Farmer Lee Jones, and this movement has had the wonderful effect of helping people to refocus on where their food actually comes from. “It’s fabulous to focus on and then fix that disconnect,” Lee says, “because it’s very important to know where your food comes from and, in the case of crops, to know how they were grown.”
“Purple is . . . the most powerful wavelength of the rainbow – and it’s a color with a powerful history . . . purple symbolizes magic, mystery, spirituality, the sub-conscious, creativity, dignity, royalty – and it evokes all of these meanings more so than any other color.” (ColorMatters.com)
Cathy Seamans was at a crossroads. Newly retired from teaching, she needed to “figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life.” And, when she saw that The Chef’s Garden was looking to hire a part time greenhouse assistant in 2005, she decided to apply. After all, what did she have to lose?
“Crop quality is important to fruit and vegetable growers, buyers, and handlers. Brix readings indicate soluble solids content. Since soluble solids represent a product's potential sweetness (an aspect of quality), Brix readings can interest many throughout the value chain. Three steps are required to make effective use of Brix readings: (1) obtain accurate representative values; (2) become familiar with other representative values for similar crops; and (3) if needed, adjust management practices according to how they may affect Brix values of your crops, using proven approaches.” (Ohio State University Extension)
The one-word answer is: pollination. To get more in-depth information about the importance of bees, we talked to John Schick, an experienced beekeeper who is the vice president of the Sandusky River Valley Beekeeping Association. He’s also the expert The Chef’s Garden and Culinary Vegetable Institute turn to whenever we have a beekeeping question. Here’s some of what John had to tell us.
Signs of spring are everywhere, from glorious blooms on trees to robins singing at dawn, and from sunshine-yellow daffodils to the first harvests of asparagus. “And it’s really amazing,” says Culinary Vegetable Institute Chef Matt Ward, “how forcefully the asparagus shoots through the dirt, pushing mounds of it aside to get to the sun.” That’s a real sign of spring!