Trevor’s Corner

I was recently asked about how the spring has been to farmers. If there is anything constant in farming, is that farmers love to talk about the weather and the weather is never what they want. In my opinion, there are two sides to every coin. The Bad Side of the Wet Spring The very…

Terms like free range and cage free can be quite confusing.  Those terms are generally applied to laying hens, which are different from the meat birds known as broilers. Almost all meat poultry in the US is raised in broiler barns, generally in common configurations of 40 ft wide by 400 ft long, some longer. …

This past Saturday Jason and Angie Bosler of Bosler’s Honey dropped off four hives at Wholesome Valley Farm.The hives were placed next to the future vegetable field. The honeybees, along with native pollinators will spend their summer pollinating the zucchini, melons, peppers, and tomatoes. The type of flowers that bees collect nectar from influence the…

Spring is here and that means it’s time to start seeds for summer. Starting seeds indoors gives farmers and gardeners a head start on the season. In the hothouses right now we have tender spring greens, celery, onions, and cabbage. Soon we’ll have summer crops like tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers as well. Most of the…

It is Maple Syrup season. When the temperature rises above freezing during the day and drops below freezing at night, sap in trees starts to flow. This sap is made up of sugars, water, and nutrients that the tree stored during the summer. Many trees can be tapped to make syrup. Trees in the Birch,…

Down at Wholesome Valley Farm the hogs we raise live most of their lives outside. Pasture raised pigs are allowed to root in the woods and pasture in the hunt for insects, nuts, and tubers. This allows our pigs to act like hogs (tear up the ground and make a mess!) and tillers that aerate…

Sometimes we take for granted the schedule and activities around a farm. Our tours highlight some of the disconnects that can exist between our customers and us as producers. These are great moments as we find our customers always interested in deepening their understandings of the cycles that bring their food from our fields to…

When I started Fresh Fork Market I was 21 years old – arrogant and fearless. The trials and tribulations of a startup business are quite humbling. That is why I am grateful for the mentorship of the numerous small farmers we work with. One of the most enlightening pieces of advice I ever received was from one…