Root Bottom on a Podcast!

Take a listen to another rad podcast from ASAP & Jen Nathan Orris! We are very proud of our old barn renovation and all the people that broke bread with us. Thanks for the listen.

https://asapconnections.org/radio-broadcasts/?fbclid=IwAR1HRimbrmsN2Itfa7WDm3WGa3wHQ4dmSLU16m6BthqJ0JOLAI8TAvMEmI4

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Tobacco barns hug the curves of most rural roads in Madison County, NC. On this week's Growing Local, hear how these stalwarts of the past are being honored by the Appalachian Barn Alliance and how Root Bottom Farm transformed its old tobacco barn into a beacon of local food.

Growing Local airs every Monday morning on WNCW. Tune in live or listen to past broadcasts at asapconnections.org/radio-broadcasts, SoundCloud, or iTunes. ASAP - Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. 

Growing Local airs every Monday morning on WNCW. Tune in live or listen to past broadcasts at asapconnections.org/radio-broadcasts, SoundCloud, or iTunes.

Happy 2019 from Root Bottom Farm

Renovations. Record Rain. Hiking. Farming. Jo. Family. Bikes. What a year. Big things in view as we continue to streamline into our 8th (!) season on this little slice. Big LOVE to everyone that supports Root Bottom Farm. 🙏

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2019 will be a big year of transition for Root Bottom Farm. We are no longer offering CSA Shares and will be taking a break from our Farm to Table summer dinners. We are continuing to expand our perennial gardens and will be producing 20 varieties of low sugar jam this season (ten new varieties to debut!). 

We will continue to host our popular Pedal to Plate bike event in September. Tickets and information available at : http://www.rootbottomfarm.com/pedaltoplate

 

Around the table with Root Bottom Farm

Ever wonder what it's like to have dinner at Root Bottom Farm? Our friends over at Sow the Land shot this great video at our recent dinner in July. Enjoy the video! Click on the link or video image below.

It is hard to believe that we are gearing up for our 14th sold out farm dinner in August. It has been an an amazing experience to so many amazing faces gather around the table in and around our renovated tobacco barn. We hope you can join us one of these days.

Our last dinner for the season is our bike to farm to table event Pedal to Plate. Come join us for a fun ride and a fabulous dinner.

Be sure to check out Jason & Lorraine's inspiriting story and videos at sowtheland.com and on their youtube.com channel.

FARM to FARMERS MARKET

Ever wonder what it’s like to grow food, fill CSA boxes and sell at a farmers market every week? 

 Check out our new rad video from our friend, Jason Contreras, from Sow the Land (sowtheland.com)

 

Click on video OR link below to watch:

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=yQv-FBju9QY&app=desktop

 

#farmtofarmersmarket #rootbottomfarm #growyourown #marshallnc #neversprayneverwill

Internship opportunities at Root Bottom Farm for the 2018 season

WE WANT TO TRAIN FUTURE FARMERS....

Root Bottom Farm is looking for the next great farmer to join our team for the 2018 season. We believe in a local, chemical free food supply and want to share our skills with someone who wants those things in their life and their communities. We are seeking a motivated, physically fit intern interested in learning all aspects of a small organic farm operation this summer.

POSITION RUNS April 15-July 15 OR July 15-Oct 15

APPLICATION DEADLINE until filled

ABOUT THE FARM Our 5 acre farm is located in Madison County, about 30 minutes North of Asheville, and 10 minutes from the towns of Mars Hill and Marshall. In addition to our microgreen and annual vegetable operation, we also have many established perennial crops. We currently grow strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, grapes, herbs, asparagus and 54 fruit trees. We have a large garlic crop that we hang in our renovated tobacco barn. We have three high tunnel greeenhouses that are used for seed starting and tomato and cucumber production. We have multiple outlets for selling our produce including two farmers markets, a 20-week CSA, two farm to table dinners, and Pedal to Plate (a bike to farm to table event).

ABOUT THE POSITION Learn propagation, planting, weeding, harvesting, greenhouse management, farmers market set up and sales, events and microgreen operations. This is designed as a learning experience for someone who is serious about growing food organically on a small scale using mostly human powered methods.  Position runs 3 months.

COMPENSATION Housing, a food share and $50/week in exchange for 30 hrs of work per week. Intern will be responsible for a Saturday farmers market and watering duties when the farmer is out of town.

Fully furnished private residence with a shared bathroom. Tiny house is 120sq ft that includes a sleeping loft, linens, empty second loft, fold out couch, kitchenette (mini fridge, toaster oven), electric & cold running water. 100 sq ft deck off back that overlooks the creek. Recycling and composting is mandatory. No pets. No indoor smoking. This is simple country living.

QUALIFICATIONS No previous experience is required, only an eager person ready to work hard, eat great food, and is enthusiastic about learning to farm and apply these skills in the future. Must have your own vehicle since we live in a rural setting.

To apply: Send your resume with references to

Morgan Decker at rootbottom@gmail.com

LOCAL WORK TRADE OPPORTUNITIES
Shifts are one AM shift each week from 8-12.
Shift runs May-end of September. 
The trade is a consistent day each week for the whole season. 
Trade is a CSA box each week.
Lifting and working outdoors is required.
No pets or children allowed during shift.

Another CSA season has come to a close

In week three, the end of the season seems so far way. And now, all of a sudden, our CSA is over for the year and we are preparing to plant our fall garlic. Our CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, fed 30 families for 20 weeks with a box of fresh vegetables, greens and fruit. We are honored to feed our friends and farm family with what we produce on this little strip of land.

You can still find us at the West Asheville & Brevard markets till Dec. Thanks everyone for making this dream a reality. 

This year the boxes included : 
Asparagus
low sugar blackberry jam
lettuce
microgreen mix
radish
garlic
oregano
Chinese cabbage
sweet pea shoots
strawberries
kale
garlic scapes
green onions
turnips
mint
collards
Swiss chard
sunflower micro greens
spicy radish microgreens
spicy Asian greens mix
radishes
beets
winter savory
Kesto (kale pesto)
carrots
new potatoes
chives
lemon balm
low-sugar strawberry jam
onions
peas
basil
carrots
spring onions 
summer squash
cilantro
dill
leeks
dark opal purple basil
cucumbers
cabbage
kohlrabi 
beets
cucumbers 
beans
blackberries
sweet peppers
corn
bread&butter (or Dill pickles) 
jalapeños
tomatoes
delicata squash 
eggplant 
okra
cooking greens
watermelon
acorn squash 
tomatillos
cherry tomatoes
spicy Asian greens
chocolate mint
spaghetti squash
pears
rosemary 
potatoes
bok choi
napa cabbage
Josie's Jam (low sugar blackberry/strawberry) 
mustard greens 
arugula
sunchokes
mizuna mix
sweet potatoes 
& our CSA cookbook

Summer farm. Going. Going. Gone.

We have had another busy and productive year on the farm! We had a record blackberry harvest (275lbs!) and jam production year (almost 900 jars when they are all made). Josephine is six months old and loves 'working' on the farm. She bounces all around the farm in her backpack and helps with harvest days. This summer has really flown by and here are some pictures of all the things that kept us so busy as we begin to head into (very welcomed) cooler weather.

These photos represent our weekly CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes that run 20 weeks throughout the season. We are honored to feed our friends and neighbors every week.

Our success is made possible by our friends that volunteer each week for a CSA share.
We love our farm family!

Over 100 lbs of strawberries this season!

This year we also had a bumper crop of wild black raspberries, wild blackberries and more cultivated raspberries than any year before!

Blackberries just starting to show up..

Our friends Mara & Jon had a beautiful, intimate wedding on our property in June. I hiked the first month of the Appalachian Trail with Jon 9 years ago!! And they hiked it together 4 years ago. Nothing but love for these rad friends.

Our newest addition to our jam line is our "Wild Jam" that includes wild blackberries, wild black raspberries and wild wine berries (above).

Monday is ladies day on the farm. Three volunteers really help with large projects.

We had a crazy afternoon storm that knocked over our corn and broke our deck umbrella in half! All of the corn eventually did stand back up.

Baby not included in CSA box.

New jam labels

Late night jam session

Back up and ready to go

Helping with (sleeping) so I can pick blackberries. For about a month, we have to pick blackberries every single day.

Root Bottom shades from strawberry to wild black raspberry

We had perfect weather for our August farm to table dinner.

Our next big event, Pedal to Plate (bike to farm to table), is just around the corner Sept 17. Tickets available at rootbottomfarm.com/pedaltoplate

Still have those giant pumpkin blue ribbon hopes. This year they grew right out of the compost pile. The one directly in front of Morgan imploded, but we have one contender for this year's County fair.

Ugly is beautiful. Especially when it comes to heirloom tomatoes.

Grape harvest

Two farmers markets a week

What a way to go. The white eggs are beneficial parasitic wasp eggs that actually eat the tomato horn worm from the inside out as they hatch. Nature is awesome.

Making baby food

Pear harvest from our neighbor's tree. We also harvested apples and pears from our young orchard. We are going into our fifth season and starting to see some results. As the old saying goes "the best time to plant an orchard is ten years ago. Or now." We plant our second orchard in spring 2018.

End of the line for bad tomatoes are me making salsa & tomato sauce for the whole winter. This year we had salsa right until the next tomatoes showed up. Worth it!

Missing, mismatched and broken. Finally renovated this sweet thrift store find in our kitchen.

Farmers market flowers

And just like that we get to wear long sleeves again.