Greetings in the New Year 
 

January 26, 2016
  

To welcome in the new year we harvested the last of our carrots, beets, and cabbage, for storage in the root cellar. These field crops can, and did, withstand a few light frosts, but we learned that the temperature would descend into the teens, and hover there for a few days. So we trusted in the cool safety of our cellar, already stuffed with a few thousand pounds of potatoes: Kennebec, All Blue, German Butterball, and Augusta. 

Through the first week in January we continued to harvest kale and parsley from our fields, where the cover crop of oats and Austrian Winter Peas maintained the last significant green of the year. The more growth the better for fertility -- we will plough in this organic matter to feed the fields in April.
 
Before the turn of the year I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in a global CSA conference, held in the Shunyi district, at the base of the Yanshan mountain range, Beijing, China. The theme of the conference, "Rural Regeneration," was a kind of revival of the "Rural Reconstruction" projects initiated in the 1920's-30's in China intended to reinvigorate a tradition of 6,000 years of "sustainable agriculture." 

The conference was hosted by Urgenci, an international network promoting Community Supported Agriculture whose mission is to strengthen the position of small scale farmers in local food chains, and to build alliances between producers and consumers. Farmers and food advocates from 5 continents and 28 countries attended this 6th  international gathering, as well as CSA advocates from all over China, meeting (for the 7th annual China-CSA conference) to celebrate and discuss the multiple meanings and forms of "Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share, Cultural Diversity" -- words that appeared under the Chinese characters prominent on conference banners. 

Every moment was an awakening, the energy was exhilarating -- from the colored strobe lights flashing in the auditorium, accompanied by blaring pop music (prior to an academic presentation), to the gentle harmonies of traditional stringed instruments and kettle drums, and the sweetness of traditional singers in sequined dress celebrating the season of "Grain Rain."
 
The proceedings were simultaneously informative, surprising, moving, and comic. In the evening I returned to my room in the Sun Town Hot Springs Resort (luxurious) to find some more trusted bearings. I had brought with me Lu Chi's "Wen Fu," translated as "The Art of Writing" by Sam Hamill: "The poet stands at the center of the universe,/ contemplating the enigma.../and seeing the inter-connectedness of things..." 

I also carried with me "One Hundred Poems from the Chinese," collected by Kenneth Rexroth, a copy I have been reading since college. Tu Fu (Circa 750) wrote: "The window/ Frames the western mountains, white/With the snows of a thousand years..."
 
I spoke as part of a panel organized to discuss Biodiversity, alongside a French farmer, a Japanese researcher, and a Chinese professor from the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. I felt humbled to speak of "sustainable agriculture" in a country that has practiced just that for over 5,000 years. 

One of the core texts for a young farmer in the U.S. is "Farmers of Forty Centuries," penned in 1911 by American professor F. H. King, a book recently translated into Chinese by one Shi Yan, a remarkable young woman largely responsible for bringing this international CSA conference to Beijing. The continuous exchange of ideas and practices is stimulating. While at work on her PhD Shi Yan spent some time on a CSA in Minnesota, and for over 5 years, since her return to China, she has worked tirelessly to promote sustainable, ecological agriculture through CSA. In an interview with Al Jazerra Shi Yan commented: "Change won't be fast, but the impact is deep. CSA is not just a company or business, it's a social movement."

I read a poem to begin my discussion of biodiversity, about the sharp shinned hawk and the flash of a bluebird in our Amagansett fields, "part of the golden language of renewal." Later, because of this, and unexpectedly, I was asked by one of the Chinese attendees to assist her in a translation of a Chinese song to be included in the rather grand closing ceremony: "In the essence of thick green/the Cukoo sings: Begin! Sow!/In the season of Grain Rain/the plough rakes through wet soil..."

At the close of the day I opened "The Art of Writing" to a chapter "On Originality:" "The shuttle has worked in my heart/As it worked in the hearts of those who came before me."
 
The concept of rural regeneration was presented repeatedly as a way to revive rural communities and the economically depressed countryside as the foundation for "Ecological Civilization" (an often spoken phrase). CSA is viewed as a viable alternative to heal the rift between urban and rural dwellers; some in China speak of a crisis of trust-peasants uprooted, communities fractured, and a widening divide between city and countryside. One young farmer, not unlike those who come to apprentice at our community farm, commented: "We provide vegetables, chickens, and trust, the trust between consumers and producers..."
 
Following the conference I spent several days with farmer friends on Shi Yan's CSA farm, Shared Harvest, where we met Uncle Ma, master organic grower, Caroline, a Yale PhD researcher fluent in the language, and a number of optimistic, energetic young apprentice farmers, at work daily in 35 greenhouses, packing and delivering Shares to over 700 CSA members. 

I returned from China with garlic from Shared Harvest (now planted in our fields), winter wheat, a gift of Rupert from Wales, and a long white scarf (a cloud symbol) presented to me by several visitors from the Tibetan Plateau. They bowed to me and called me "their main cloud." This was their first journey to Beijing from their ancestral holy lands where they "still follow the original practice, and guard the holy snow-capped mountains and grasslands of Qinghai Hainan." They also gifted me with a tiny delicate folded package with a word written on it, in Chinese characters and English: Cosmos. This summer we will see how this Himalayan seed blossoms beside our own standard variety, Seashells.
 
I return to Lu Chi's "Wen Fu:"
 
          "Luminous words are brought down
          Like a bird on an arrow string
          Shot from passing clouds...
 
          Heaven and Earth are trapped in visible form..."
 
As we enter our 27th year of organic, sustainable, ecological CSA farming here in Amagansett, under the passing Atlantic clouds, we continue to offer you vegetables, eggs, flowers, and trust, the trust between consumers and producers...
 
Peace in the New Year,
 
 

Save the Date: Saturday, February 13 
2nd Annual Long Island Regional Seed Consortium 
Seed Swap 

After last year's amazing success, the LIRSC is excited for this year's Seed Swap. With talks on seed saving and gardening, a panel on the Long Island Cheese Pumpking and few surprises . . . including our very own Scott Chaskey who will be available to sign his book: Seedtime: On the History, Husbandry, Politics and Promise of Seeds. 

The star of the show is of course the seeds! Bring vegetable, flower or herb seeds you have saved that ha no crossed with other types, commercial excess seed from last year, tubers, fruit scions and bulbs. Typically, bring seeds that are open-pollinated or that can be saved as "true-to-type." Don't bring hybrid seeds or seeds that are really old and/or will have poor germination. Label your seeds with variety name and species, the year harvested or purchased, a brief description, original source. If you aren't sure, someone at the swap may be able to help. 

FREE to the public! You don't need to have seeds to swap to attend. 
It's a great day to learn and meet new people and share your love of the land. 
More info at www.lirsc.org
 

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We're selecting seeds for summer! 
Quail Hill Farm summer shares are available now.  

We hope that you will join us as we celebrate our 27th season at the farm. One of the original CSAs in the country, the Quail Hill Farm shares are a unique experience, where farm members share in the harvesting of the bounty from the fields. Over 500 varieties of vegetables, herbs, fruits & flowers are raised on 30 acres of farmland, donated to the Peconic Land Trust by Deborah Ann Light. 

Individual, Family & Box Shares Available. 

Ladybugs valley and orchard

Membership forms are now available online
Or, you can call or email Robin Harris at 631.283.3195. 
We look forward to seeing you in the fields of Quail Hill Farm this summer. 

Producing over 500 varieties of organically grown vegetables, flowers, fruit and herbs,

QUAIL HILL FARM is located on 220 acres of land donated by Deborah Ann Light to

the Peconic Land Trust. Quail Hill Farm is located on Deep Lane in Amagansett, NY, 

Summer harvest days are Saturday and Tuesday from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm.  

Winter harvest days are every other Friday and Saturday, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

  

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Quail Hill Farm is a stewardship project of the Peconic Land Trust.  
For information concerning Quail Hill Farm, please contact Robin Harris at 631-283-3195  
or by email, or visit us online at www.PeconicLandTrust.org/quail_hill_farm 
 

The Peconic Land Trust conserves Long Island's working farms, natural lands,
and heritage for our communities, now and in the future.

For more information concerning the Trust, call us at 631.283.3195
or visit us online at www.PeconicLandTrust.org


Financial Disclosure Statement: A copy of the last financial report filed with the New York State Attorney General may be obtained in writing to: New York State Attorney General's Charities Bureau, Attn: FOIL Officer, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271 or Peconic Land Trust, PO Box 1776, Southampton, NY 11969.