Wild Scallions, Fat Radishes, Sweet Peas, and Ninja Cows… what do they have in common? They’re all farms on the 11th annual Eastern Triangle Farm Tour! Tickets are available online.
Wild Scallions Farm in Timberlake was an overgrazed horse pasture until five years ago, when Matt and Renee Clayton converted it to a farm that sustainably produces vegetables, fruit, and flowers. From their website, “Our farm includes over two acres of cultivated fields, a holistic orchard, and a passive solar greenhouse. We try to listen to our land and intermix perennial crops, flowering shrubs, wild lands, and song bird habitat amongst our fields … We constantly strive to improve our land and practice crop rotation, cover cropping, minimal tillage, and include farm animals to help us with this effort. Farm animals include chickens, dairy goats, and honey bees.” http://www.wildscallionsfarm.com
Fat Radish Farm in Zebulon, east of Raleigh, produces, vegetables, herbs, microgreens, eggs, and chickens that are processed on the farm. They go beyond organics with their list of practices, including amending the soil naturally (with compost, their own chicken manure, clay, kelp meal, bio-char, worm castings, and more), controlling weeds (with natural mulches, hand pulling, burning, and livestock), controlling insects (with beneficial predator insects, decoy and deterrent crops, succession planting and crop rotation, and hand picking), using smart irrigation and hydroponic systems, and keeping animals happy. Join them for a bonfire cookout Saturday night, with camping available. http://www.fatradishfarm.com/
The team at Sweet Peas Urban Gardens in Raleigh “believes that urban farming is fundamental to the creation of healthy, sustainable food production for our growing metropolitan society … Moving from rural fields of row crops to dense neighborhood farms and gardens constitutes an urgent and exciting transition.” At Sweet Peas Urban Gardens, you’ll see a high-tech hydroponic growing system that fits snugly into a re-used shipping container, a forest of mushroom logs, an efficient compost system, a greenhouse, a pollinator garden, honey bees, and a traditional family garden. The farm grows nutritious microgreens, and they’ll show you how to do it at home. http://www.sweetpeasurbangardens.com/
At Ninja Cow Farm on the edge of downtown Raleigh, you can meet cows, learn about rare breeds of pig living in the forest, see beehives, and watch chickens. Farmer Dan Moore feeds the animals forage and millions of pounds of reclaimed produce, instead of commercial feed. There’s a farm store that includes farm products and items from like-minded businesses, like Locopops. While you’re there, learn the story of the Ninja Cow. http://ninjacowfarm.com/
The Eastern Triangle Farm Tour includes 26 farms located in Person, Durham, Granville, Franklin, and Wake Counties. The tour is Septmber 23 and 24 this year, with farms open from 1 to 5 PM. Buttons are now on sale in our stores! You can also purchase them online. Brochures with a map of the farms and directions are in stores, or download a PDF here.