“Out of sight, out of mind” or “You don’t know what you had until its gone” ? Whether it is fields and agriculture, water, rains, the lady beetles, local food systems, or time-tested farming techniques, this question has begun to define our time together here at the Merry Lea…
A few days ago, people here and around the country gathered to celebrate America’s Independence Day. Around Merry Lea, the mood was not quite as mindlessly celebratory as I remember it being back home in Kansas. Part of this stemmed from the burn ban in Noble County, which nixed…
Every day at Rieth Village is filled with a diverse mixture of fieldwork and coursework. This week we spent our time transplanting varieties of heirloom tomatoes, ground cherries, eggplants, cucumbers and sweet potatoes, just to name a few. We also direct-seeded some bean varieties that I had never before…
In many ways it seems as though we have just arrived, but already we are in the last two weeks of the Agroecology Summer Intensive! The past week was a whirlwind of trips, lectures and the scramble to complete our remaining classwork and projects. How much we have experienced…
2012 began with unseasonably warm temperatures in March with highs reaching into the mid 80s (F). As a result all of our outdoor gardening activities began earlier than usual. Pruned fruit trees went on to flower, only to be caught by four subsequent killing frosts. As a result our…
After a fairly mild and somewhat disappointing winter, March has been unseasonably warm! With temperatures more than 30 degrees over the average for this time of year, we have had quite a bit to do to get ready for the next growing season. The wet winter and the hot…
Though the winter has been too cold for growing plants outside, we have been keeping busy with other projects here at Rieth Village. One of those projects has been season extension. In our greenhouse, the lives of many of our plants were extended well into the winter. In fact,…
