Farm Notes - Week 13 (2007)
Farm Notes Week of September 17, 1007
Editor’s Note
Farm notes are meant for the members of our Veggie Coop, an 80-member CSA, and are usually sent out weekly. It has been difficult to follow through on a regular basis this season, primarily due to illness in our family. I have been to North Carolina three times since June, staying for 2 weeks at a time, to help with Mike’s parents who are elderly and ill. In fact, I missed the first Veggie Coop delivery in late June and have only been able to help minimally. Over the past years, we have sent out several recipes each week to reflect, “What’s In The Bag!” This year, Farm Notes have been more sporadic. We are fortunate to have Pauline Hollett, who has stuck by Mike to get the bills paid and the paychecks out, and who has been able to post the packing slips and a few recipes each week.
Mike’s Dad passed away last week. My daughter, Toby, and I have been in North Carolina since September 5th. His mom and Dad lived independently in a retirement community, but he was his wife’s caretaker. Since Dad’s illness, Mom has been in the same health centre, but in a different unit. We returned around 4 am on Monday morning and our feet haven’t hit the ground. The Farm Manager has been off for several days, unable to walk due to some swelling in his knee. Mike is outside now, Wednesday morning, overseeing what needs to be done in order to get ready for Open Farm Day, which is Sunday, September 23rd. Yesterday, it was restaurant orders, picking beans and helping to dig potatoes for “ye guys.”
There are lots of things happening. Maybe we can catch up a bit with this issue. It also includes the obituary of Mike’s Dad, which is the best way to communicate the extraordinary life of this honorable man.
What’s Happening Off The Farm?
The Food Security Assembly is taking place October 18-20, 2007 at the Capital Hotel in St. John's. This event is being organized by the Food Security Network of Newfoundland & Labrador, with objectives including the opportunity for participants to come together, share experiences, talk about food security issues, learn from one another,and discover locally appropriate solutions to increasing food security.The assembly includes many workshops involving several themes. Perhaps of particular interest to the Veggie Coop members are those workshops involving the theme "Sustainable Food Systems", which includes a workshop called Food in Schools, as well as a workshop on Communities Accessing Healthy Food. Other themes include "Zero to Hunger & Food Aid" and "Healthy & Safe Food".
To register, or to find out more about the Food Security Assembly, visit the Food Security Network website at www.foodsecuritynews.com. I hope to see you there!
What’s Happening On The Farm?
Visit From Enroute Magazine Food Editor
The Owner of Atlantica, the new ocean side restaurant in Portugal Cove, recently accompanied Jeremy Charles, Chef and the Enroute Food Writer and Cameraman for a tour of the edible flowers, lettuce gardens and greenhouses flowing with luscious basil, tomatoes and cucumbers. However, it seemed that these folks from Ontario didn’t fully appreciate the effort and experience needed in order to achieve this kind of results in our short season climate, especially this season. We will keep our eye out for when the article is published. If you see it first, please let us know.
Newfoundland Living
CBC Television will air their visit to The Organic Farm at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, September 24th. Sarah Stoker, our farm helper and professional dancer carried the interview, with cowgirl hat and all. Louis and Alice, the creators of our extensive edible flower gardens, stayed behind the scenes. The next day, the crew returned with Krista to make their promo in front of the Organic Farm sign and took a shot of Darcey, the chicken, strutting near-by. The clips are usually only ten minutes. More than likely, our crew will be busy picking and packing for the Veggie Coop and I’ll be in Deer Lake giving a workshop.
Enhancing Biodiversity on the Organic Farm
Mike participated in an all day seminar on Managing the Farm Landscape, developed for farmers in Atlantic Provinces, last Friday, September 14th. He presented in the morning and gave a tour of the farm in the afternoon. This activity was funded by Canada Agri-foods, Newfoundland and Labrador and Ducks Unlimited Canada. It was organized by Tara Neal, Coordinator, Environmental Farm Plan and included both participants and resource people from other provinces. One of the participants, Jacqueline White, was born on Bell Island. She now operates a 3-acre organic farm in Quebec with a large CSA. She has a large house where she offers healthy retreats and yoga classes. Mike invited her to come back on Monday and meet me because she has built a cordwood house in Quebec and he knows that building a cordwood cabin and barn on the farm is one of my dreams. Jacqueline was so excited to find like minded folks in Newfoundland that she stayed for over 2 hours and only left when her sister called to remind her they were meeting her for dinner before they took her to the airport. I explained to her that there are a lot of like-minded people and promised to send her some contacts.
Breaking Ground
Breaking Ground, the new television series showcasing Newfoundland and Labrador’s unique agriculture industry, has started airing on NTV every Sunday at 3 PM. Look in this week's edition of the Herald for a three page article on Breaking Ground. The airtime listed in the article however is incorrect. The show airs at 3 PM, not at 8 PM as listed. Doug Caldas, the film producer brought a cameraman to the Organic Farm for a visit last fall; there were some issues with darkness and the camera battery; he also came to Veggie Coop Pick-up another night but the camera man didn’t come due to an emergency. He didn’t contact us after that. I expect some content from the farm will pop up somewhere in the series. If we learn more, we will let you know. Meanwhile, on Sunday, we will be out on the ranch, giving tours for open farm day.
Coming Up: Next Week!
New Requests for Tours from Cooking Classes at the College of North Atlantic and Grade Five Children from Holy Trinity in Torbay.
Good-Bye Jordie and Magnum
Jordie, a WOOFER from B.C. was a wonderful help to Mike; he had some experience with gardening and farming and also helped with some of the cooking while I was away. Magnum is a computer expert from Germany. He is in his mid-thirties and is taking some time away from family to work out some things around his brother’s death last April. He has no experience working with the land, but was able to help with many things, from digging garlic to washing carrots; he left today to try the East Coast Trail and will be back in awhile.
Welcome Bonnie and Chris
While I was writing this, a middle aged couple arrived at the kitchen door. They have driven from B.C. in the last few months and may be around for a month or two. They have led very interesting lives - home schooled their children and had a one cow dairy farm in Western Quebec; sold the farm and traveled Europe with their children, living in hostels, then traveled in North America, sent their kids to college and have just spent the last ten years, taking care of elderly parents. They tent and have a car, their son is arriving from Princeton tonight; they will spend time with him and be back around October 1st.
Life and Death of Samuel Joseph Rabinowitz
Samuel Rabinowitz died on Thursday morning, September 13, at 101 years of age. He was born in New York City on July 20, 1906, the eldest of Louis and Fanny Rabinowitz’s six children. After graduating from New York University in 1929, he attended medical school at Sheffield University in England, where he won the prize in surgery. He returned to the United States in 1936 to resolve a family crisis following the death of his mother, and began his medical practice in New York City. On June 14, 1940, he married his beloved wife, Rose Winsock, with whom he shared 67 years.
Soon after Pearl Harbor, Sam volunteered for military service. He served in the European theater from shortly after D-day until the war in Europe ended. He participated in both the Battle of the Bulge and the liberation of Paris, and was part of the force that met the Russian army in Germany. During the war, he was awarded the Bronze Medal for Valor and innovated the use of jeeps to recover wounded troops rather than using stretcher-bearers. For the rest of his life, he detested war.
Sam practiced medicine in the Bronx in New York City as a family physician, running the gamut from delivering babies to caring for the elderly. He was deeply engaged in his work and cherished by his patients. It was common for him to be making house calls at 10 at night. After retiring to Florida in 1971 at age 65, Sam quickly grew bored and decided to take the Florida Medical Boards. He then practiced medicine in the Miami area for the next 15 years. With a primarily geriatric practice in Miami, he became interested in acupuncture, and was one of the first cohorts of U.S. physicians to receive extensive acupuncture training and formal certification.
In 2004, Sam and Rose moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A devoted husband and father, he is survived by his wife, Rose; his sons and daughters-in-law, Michael and Melba of St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, and George and Stuart of Chapel Hill; his granddaughter, Toby, and his grandsons, Louis, Avrom, Joshua, and David Rabinowitz; and many nieces and nephews and their families.
A simple graveside funeral will be held at the Judea Reform Cemetery on Sunday, September 16 at 2:30. The cemetery is on Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro.
(At the graveside, family members told little stories about Dad. Mike shared a story about how he went with his Dad to a Miami Buick dealer to buy a new car about 2000. Sam showed his driver’s licensed to the car salesman as required. When he read the date of birth as 1906, he thought it was a mistake. He went around the dealership showing off the driver’s license and emphasizing the fact that this man, who was 94, was buying a new car. He gave the car to his daughter-in-law when he moved to Chapel Hill four years ago.)