September 2010 Crop Mob (Meadowsweet Farm) - Recap & Photos!

Thanks to Cassandra Firak for the photos! If you have anything you'd like to add, please email me!

All the really good ideas I ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.  
-Grant Wood

Last Saturday, a small band of crop mobbers visited Meadowsweet Farm, a raw milk dairy in Lodi, NY. Though the Smith family- Barb, Steve, and their children- once sold raw milk to customers directly, Meadowsweet currently operates as an LLC (Limited Liability Company), in which LLC members own the cow herd and the Smith family manages the herd and distributes the milk products to members. The Smiths have been deeply involved in the litigation surrounding the sale of raw milk in New York State, and shared with us some insights and education on this breezy September morning.

August Crop Mob at Remembrance Farm- Recap & Pictures!

A big thanks to Genevieve DeClerck and Evan Wray for the beautiful photos!

The day of fortune is like a harvest day, We must be busy when the corn is ripe. -Torquato Tasso

Summer's end heralds the harvest time, the most simultaneously demanding and gratifying time of year. Like a strict teacher, it insists upon our constant dedication, industry, and zeal, but it is under its high expectations that we realize our biggest gains. The language of the harvest is deeply imbued with cultural meaning. We reap what has been sown. Our ideas bear fruit, or we seek the fruits of our labor. We glean, we squirrel away. Preserve. Produce. Yield. Vintage. The Grim Reaper with his scythe reminds us that winter eventually comes for us all.

Last weekend the Ithaca Crop Mob joined Nathaniel of Remembrance Farm in Trumansburg to observe the rite of the harvest. Remembrance Farm, one of the three farms of the Full Plate Farm Collective CSA, specializes in salad greens, root vegetables, and eggs. On Saturday we met to harvest the onions that would feed the CSA's more than 500 members, as well as area restaurants and others through Regional Access.

July Crop Mob at Sweet Land Farm- Recap!

Unfortunately there are no pictures from this event- but please visit Sweet Land's website to see photos of their beautiful farm!

July's oppressive heat and humidity came to a cool, breezy end last Saturday morning. The 70-degree temperatures, along with mostly sunny skies and a cool breeze, welcomed 15 crop mobbers to Sweet Land Farm in Trumansburg at 9 a.m. for some midsummer crop maintenance fun!

Paul, one of Sweet Land's farmers, began by giving us a tour of their CSA distribution site and a quick description of their farm. Paul Martin and Evangeline Sarat and their two children take care of 34 acres on Route 96, just outside of downtown Trumansburg. Their CSA-only farm currently has 400 members for its summer CSA; Sweet Land also has a winter CSA during the colder months. A third of their tillable acreage is devoted to growing a great diversity of annual vegetables, and they also have strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and flowers, which, along with some vegetables, are available as U-Pick options for their members. Sweet Land adheres to the NOFA-NY Farmers Pledge, a document that advocates principles of moral integrity and environmental and social sustainability.

Ithaca Crop Mob in the press

Here's a list of publications that have covered the Ithaca Crop Mob. This page will be updated from time to time, so be sure to check back!

7/15
"Ithaca's Crop Mob Saves the Beans" - Ithaca's Food Web

5/27
"Ithaca's Crop Mob Helps Local Farmers" - Ithaca Times

5/13

"Mob Rule" -The Ithaca Post

4/21

"Crop Mob of Ithaca: Local group exposes community to farming experience" -Cornell Daily Sun

3/31

"Ithaca Crop Mob Takes Shape, First Event April 11" -Ithaca's Food Web

3/25

"'Crop mob' movement intended to help Ithaca-area farmers" -The Ithaca Journal

3/22

"Ithaca, NY Starts Crop Mob Volunteer Effort" -Beginning Farmers

3/21

"Crop Mob Assembling in Ithaca, NY" -GreenHorns

Thanks to all the reporters, photographers, and mobbers who helped make these wonderful articles happen. Let us know f you'd like to add anything to the list!

June Crop Mob at Early Morning Farm- Recap & Pictures!

"Take thy spade,
It is thy pencil; take thy seeds, thy plants,
they are thy colours."
-William Mason, The English Garden, 1782

"If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done." - Anonymous

The solstice may not have arrived yet, but it is definitely summer in Ithaca. Last Wednesday a small Crop Mob gathered (in 85+ degree heat!) at an Early Morning owned land plot in Lansing to plant potatoes for the farm's CSA and farmers' market patrons. Aided by several Early Morning employees, our dozen or so volunteers set to work in the hot afternoon sun.

May Crop Mob at Kestral Perch Berry Farm- Recap & Photos!

Many thanks to Jim Bosjolie for the great photos!

"More grows in the garden than the gardener sows." - Spanish proverb

Ithaca's last frost date is in early May, and we were all reminded of that fact this past weekend. Weather reports for Saturday warned of strong winds, a steep temperature decline into freezing, and an 80% chance of precipitation. So it was with some trepidation- and a strong sense of purpose- that the Crop Mob gathered at Katie Creeger's Kestral Perch Berry Farm at Ecovillage on Saturday morning. 

But imagine our surprise when the gray-blue clouds above our heads gave way to warm, yellow sunshine when we began to work!

April Crop Mob at The Good Life Farm- Recap & Photos!

Thanks to Matt Stillerman for the great photos!

"The diligent farmer plants trees, of which he himself will never see the fruit." — Cicero

On a sunny Sunday morning in early spring, the Ithaca Crop Mob assembled (for the first time!) at The Good Life Farm in Interlaken, NY. The feeling in the air was one of excitement, optimism, and energy- and a bit of nervous anticipation about how our first mob- and a full day mob at that- was going to be!

Some of us came early, carpooling with neighbors and new friends. Others brought their families or a buddy or two. We had an unexpectedly high turnout- it was really inspiring! The weather was perfect- clear blue skies, bright sun, and a pleasant wind greeted us as we congregated in front of Melissa and Garrett's barn to learn about our task: planting apple trees.