Frog Log

Repotting by Lynne Sharon Schwartz The healthy plant outgrows its pot the way a healthy child outgrows its clothes. Don't let it suffer constriction. Spread the Sports or Business section of the New York Times on the dining room table. Find a clay pot big enough for fresh growth. In the bottom place pebbles and shards from a broken pot for drainage. Add handfuls of moist black potting soil, digging your hands deep in the bag, rooting so the soil gets under your fingernails. Using a small spade or butter knife, ease the plant out of its old pot with extreme care so as not to disturb its wiry roots. The plant is naked, suspended from your hand like a newborn, roots and clinging soil exposed. Treat it gently. Settle it into the center of the new pot, adding soil on the sides for support—who isn't shaky, moving into a new home ? Pack more soil around the plant, tapping it down till you almost rea...

First trays planted in the greenhouse... and so it begins.   Good friend, neighbor and writer Tom Hines describes the start of a cycle at Frog Holler he has witnessed many times.  Pre Spring                 The boys won’t say much.   They’ll build a wood fire in the green house and plant seeds.   They’ll keep it warm enough over night and water it in the day.   They’ll bring in wood to make heat in the blower stove and try to limit use of propane fuel.   They’ll bring in wood for the boiler which warms water circulating through the thick concrete table top which warms soil trays of planted seeds.   They won’t look at the gauges, they’ll feel the warming concrete table and put a finger in the soil and look at the sprouting green.    They’ll mix soil, maybe some well aged compost and manure , maybe some swamp muck mixed with store-bought soil fr...

 Lacking a herd of cattle and the accompanying natural fertilizer, we need to find ways to give back to the soil from which we extract so many luscious vegetables. Plans are afoot to harvest our pond weed and cover crops have always figured heavily into our fertility plan. But, for now, our concentrated fertilizer (or "inputs")comes to us in bags on a big truck. Distributed by Ohio Earth Food, near Akron,  it's good stuff - a yummy organic blend of composted poultry manure, dried seaweed, feathermeal, and potash. Three tons of "ReVita-Pro"  arrived on one of our more wintry days in February, and neighbor Tom Hines with his trusty "Bobcat" helped us unload. A steady hand at the wheel. But a heavy load - check out those airborne back tires! Okay, sometimes you need a little ballast! Our friendly truck driver gets a ride. Unloaded and waiting to help us grow!

Happy New Year! The present incarnation of Frog Holler Farm turns 40 years old this year. Watch for a big celebration - maybe August 24-26. Stay tuned!

Eliot Coleman, one of the early spokespersons for the organic movement and now a "revered icon", has been in the news lately. His daughter, Melissa, has just published a memoir of her life growing up on Coleman's remote homestead in the early '70's, as he and Melissa's mother, his then-wife, honed the skills that would enable him to write three popular how-to books, host radio and public television shows, and guide countless apprentices who made the pilgrimage to his working farm near the Maine coast. From the reviews I have read, Melissa Coleman's book, titled "This Life is in Your Hands", offers an unsentimental account of growing up with a father who was unswervingly committed to the execution of his ideals. Eliot Coleman embraced the back-to-the-land/voluntary simplicity ethic with a single-minded determination that enabled him to spend twelve-hour days felling trees and clearing stumps with only an axe, hauling water with an oxen-yoke, bui...

This article was written by Ken King, Frog Holler's founder. Although Ken passed away in 2009, his vision continues to inform and guide. Measuring Up to Mother Nature, by Ken King (First written in 1980, republished for the People's Food Coop "Connection," January 1990) (PFC Connection Editor’s Note: The following essay originally appeared in the January 1980 issue of The Alchemist, a now-defunct local Ann Arbor publication whose content and design could be described as falling somewhere between The Observer and The Agenda, two current area publications. Ken King is a local organic grower who has had a long working relationship with PFC. He and his family have artistic interests as well – some of you may remember them performing at the last PFC meeting along with other musicians. Although first published ten years ago this month, the following could easily seem to have been written within the last few weeks. Ken’s statements are as appropriate at the beginning of ...

Living in the Ann Arbor area, where non-tradition is more the tradition, we were invited to a vegan thanksgiving. As organic vegetable growers, we support the inordinate consumption of veggies, so were happy to accept the invite and contribute our share to the vegetative bounty. The day before the event we scoured the garden for the final harvest of remaining crops. The generous yield was surprising : 4 crates of cabbage, 2 crates of napa, broccoli, turnips, brussels sprouts, rutabagas, lettuce, parsley, arugula, cilantro - and on and on. We're finished with market, so this is all for us to store, freeze, and eat throughout the winter months. And also to share! I can't describe the kitchen counters filled with vegan dishes that everyone contributed to the feast; it was a veritable cornucopia. But I can recount what veggies the Frog Holler gardens supplied and what we did with them: We made a fresh batch of our salad mix - thanks lettuce, arugula, swiss chard, chives, sorrel, p...