Just One Seed and Purely Meats hosted the second in a series of farm tours around Bucks County

Doylestown-Buckingham-New Britain Patch [PA]
By Ann Biggs

A record-breaking crowd that spanned all ages feasted on summer dishes and learned about organic farming just north of Doylestown on Wednesday.

From the tiniest infant carried in its mother’s arms to a lively mix of teenagers and adults to a nonagenarian farmer from Morrisville, all ages were represented at the Pipersville farms of Just One Seed and Purely Meats.

It was the second in a series of Summer Farm Evenings organized by the Bucks County Foodshed Alliance. The nonprofit organization’s goal is to raise awareness of local food production and the farming economy while connecting those who eat with those who produce our food.

Wednesday evening’s crowd of 150 attendees broke the program’s record for the second time this summer.

The event began with a potluck supper and ended with informative walks around the two organic farming operations.

A breeze blew away some of the oppressive heat as the sun inched toward the tree line, promising a better summer evening than expected, with none of the torrential rains the lower end of the county had been experiencing in the afternoon. As any farmer knows — and there were more than a few present — rain can be a blessing or a curse.

Long tables were quickly covered with platters, bowls, baskets and plastic containers holding a variety of ingredients and recipes from simple to complex — in other words, a typical potluck feast. The line of those patiently waiting to fill their plates snaked all the way around the yard among the chairs.

Cars continued to arrive and disgorge passengers even after many people had eaten their fill.

This was Bill & Genny Finley’s second farm evening, and they were really enjoying themselves. Like many of those who arrived with cameras, picnic blankets, folding chairs and bowls or pots or platters of food to share this evening, they hoped to get some tips from farmers who do this fulltime.

“I can see what I did wrong with my pole beans,” she says, gesturing to Just One Seed’s beds. “Look how tall those poles are!”

The Davis family, from Ottsville, includes mom Claudia and teens Kara, Annie and Victor, all students in the Palisades school district. Kara, a culinary student at the Upper Bucks County Technical School, made a batch of jalapeño poppers. Claudia’s contribution was her fettuccini with organic garden vegetables.

Joanna and Marc Michini of Purely Farm and Eve Minson of Just One Seed rent living space and acreage for their farming operations from Matt and Margaret Balitsaris. The Balitsaris own Come Along Farm and live part-time in the stone farmhouse that sits directly across Municipal Road.

Purely Farm raises organically pastured, hormone- and antibiotic-free lambs, pigs, turkeys, chickens and eggs using sustainable farming practices.

The Michinis use the fields of organic grasses to pasture their animals in the fresh air – lambs and pigs in fenced areas with open-ended Quonset-hut shelters, chickens and turkeys in portable, well-ventilated pens called “chicken tractors.”

Only the lambs, Joanna explains, are 100-percent “grass-fed.”

As the farm’s sole ruminants — animals with multiple stomachs, like cows — sheep are able to digest and take nutrition from fibrous, tough grasses. Chickens, pigs and humans are monogastrics, and they can digest grains. The Michinis buy organic grain, free of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) or chemical additives, from a trusted source in Berks County.

This year, Minson converted her small organic CSA, or community-supported agriculture, to a 25-share pick-your-own CSA operation. Instead of Minson and her staff harvesting the produce and waiting for members to pick up their shares each week, members come to their designated plots and do their own harvesting. Minson said she has had an enthusiastic response from the members.

She and her interns showed off their new high hoop house, which allows them to extend the season with protection in winter for their cool-weather crops and in spring and fall for the more tender plantings. The project was given a financial boost with a Sierra Club grant administered by BCFA.

Local gardener and horticultural therapist Phyllis D’Amico, a Tinicum resident, admitted to coveting a hoop house of her own after seeing Minson’s and learning about extending the season and growing vegetables in the winter.

The next BCFA Summer Farm Evening is Wednesday, August 3, at Shady Brook Farm in Yardley, where Paul and Dave Fleming raise vegetables and berries. For more information: 215.598.3979 or the BCFA website.

 

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