Having learned from past growing season at Evergreen, I wanted to clearly communicate my aspirations for potential projects within the farm. To do this, I met with the farm manager, Beth, many times to talk about the potential of incorporating a few variety trials into the farm curriculum, on top of (or in conjunction with) the normal SURF variety trial that already takes place on the farm. Having fallen in love with conducting variety trials, I thought that I would try and carve out a space in the total-farm crop plan to hold these variety trials throughout the season. My thought was that any students of the farm program that showed interest in the process of trialing vegetables could join in the data collection, observation, and management of the trials as a whole. I do think that variety trials offer a lot of benefits, but with the added interest from students, I see a lot of potential learning and teaching value that could come from these trials. Following a scientific method to gather data that is used to strengthen and diversify our crops varieties, all while growing delicious food seems like an incredible opportunity to me.
After having multiple meetings with Beth, I felt comfortable that there would be some space on the farm to hold these trials. I even had a meeting with the new adjunct professor of the farm program to run these ideas by her as well. Having received much encouragement from both Beth and the professor, I began to reach out to some connections that I thought might be able to offer some support. I reached out to Lane Selman of OSU and the Culinary Breeding Network (CBN) to ask for some guidance. Knowing that the CBN works directly with OSU’s plant breeders to run trials of the different varieties being studied, I thought that Lane would be the perfect person to direct my questions to.
When we had finally carved out some time to meet with each other I gave her the full spiel of my aspirations and asked if she had any advice. I had an inkling that she would have no problem providing, not only guidance, but actual seeds for these trials. After talking for some time, we had agreed that she would supply me with 8 different varieties of Shishito peppers, and 8 different varieties of Winter Squash that would be grown for observation and data collection (and eating)! I have said it 100 times and I will say it 1000 more, thank you to Lane Selman and thank you to the Culinary Breeding Network. I know that we are both helping each other out and that there is a lot of work tied to those seeds but I also think that it is very special to have made a connection with someone so ambitious and accomplished.
Just as the college as a whole, the Organic Farm at Evergreen is going through some changes. With a new adjunct professor of the farm program, and an unpredictable administration that may be doing their best, the farm still moves forward; the farm manager, Beth, working hard and persevering through a lot of unknowns.
I mention this, because it inevitably will affect what I am allowed and able to do within the farm itself. In a further attempt to remain patient and adaptable, I have allowed for the potential for plans to change. As it stands, none of this is set in stone, and all of it could change over-night.
Meeting with Beth Leimbach (Evergreen Organic Farm Manager).
As a logical first step in this planning process, I set up a meeting with the Evergreen farm manager to try and set up a solid foundation of communication, allowing for space to ask and answer questions that will inevitably need to be addressed. It is important to note that these meeting is taking place in the midst of a new farm-faculty hire, turbulent COVID protocols and ever fluid bureaucratic dynamics that threaten to alter any plans at the flip of a switch; this meeting was held with all of this in mind…
The topics of our meeting included management plans, seeds/seed starting, desired space, timeline, end-use of produce, and project goals. To sum it all up:
- Management Plan – I was happy to commit to the project and am very open to the idea of having student help in managing the plots, all things permitting.
- Seeds/Seed Starting – I am still working on nailing down the varieties of seeds that we will be growing but this will largely depend on the available space (and timing) that is offered by Beth.
- Space – As Beth starts to work on the crop/management plan for the Organic Farm, I asked her to keep me in mind as she starts to map out the farm plots; but I was told that I would have access to roughly 45’x100′ of field space, and possible more.
- End Use – While one of the goals of this project is to gather tasting data on the varieties that are grown, I agreed to allowing parts of the trials to harvested and sold at the Evergreen farm stand.
- Timeline – This is a tricky thing to hammer down, but it would be great to have produce growing throughout the season, but there are a lot of moving parts that may make this tricky to make into reality…time will tell.
- Project Goals – I told Beth of the goals that I have stated in the ‘about’ page of this blog, it would be incredible to incorporate this into the curriculum of the year-round farm class, getting student interest involved in this process and doubling up on the education properties of these variety trials!