Arcadia Center For Sustainable Food + Agriculture

5/4/11

Woodlawn

The first lettuce harvest goes to the Woodlawn staff! It's so wonderful to have the estate producing food again! We think George would be proud :)

More to come!

5/1/11

The Crowning of a Queen... or 5.

The bees are in their new home!

I have to admit, I was a little nervous as Jeff from DC Honeybees, poured out large containers of bees in to each hive. They swarmed a bit, but seemed to be too interested in the blooming apple trees surrounding the hives to be too concerned with us!

The most fascinating part was to see the queen arrive in her tiny box "escorted" by nurse bees. She is the essential part of the hive and if she lives through the transition, we may have some happy bees!

The bees will not only provide us with a little honey, but they serve as pollinators for all my vegetable crops and are known to travel and pollinate up to three miles! (you're welcome surrounding trees and flowers!). I'm looking forward to watch them settle in and see the honeycomb form. I just ordered a book on beekeeping to get a little more information. Are there apiary teaching school out there? I may have a new obsession with bees...

All and all, wonderful coronation. Now, what to name them?

-Farmer Mo

4/26/11

A HUGE thanks to Whole Foods!

I am overwhelmed with the response from our 5% day sponsorship from Whole Foods last week! I want to thank all those involved, all the team leaders, and all the employees of Whole Foods for their coordination and supporting our cause!

With the funds we raised, I will be able to get the summer field prepped for amazing tomatoes and eggplants, I will get to build a season-extension hoophouse, and (i hope!) DUCKS!

A special thanks to the Alexandria store for sending me this great video and another huge thanks to David from Vermillion for making delicious sweet pea soup!

-Farmer Mo

4/20/11

SHOP @ WHOLE FOODS TODAY!!! April 20!

Shop at any DC-region Whole Foods today and 5% of your total will go to Arcadia Farms and the Mobile Market Project! We can really use your help, so stock up on groceries now! Stop by the Alexandria store for a Vermillion chef demo, or go see Kyle from Birch and Barley at P Street. We're also at Tenleytown, Arlington and Georgetown!

See you soon! -Farmer Mo

4/18/11

Check out my ride

Yes, within about two weeks, Arcadia has gone from no vehicles to two! Here's a pic of Farmer Mo with her snazzy farm truck, Bertha:

Much more practical than a borrowed hatchback for hauling around loads of mulch, compost... a 6'x8' pallet of burlap. (True story.) And stylish, too. Just like Farmer Mo.

And here I am trying to figure out how to shift gears on... um... Bus-To-Be-Named:

Oh, it's an automatic. That explains the lack of a clutch. Riiiight. Love the hum of that engine. Ahhh.... Now time to haul some fresh produce around town. Well, after some major (and, if I do say so myself, pretty darn cool) renovations. More on that in coming weeks.

And speaking of weeks, we are in the FINAL WEEK of our online fundraising campaign. If you haven't donated yet, please do so via our Kickstarter page. We need to raise $15,000 by this Saturday, April 23 or we lose the generous pledges of over $11,000 that we've raised so far and I may not be able to get this bus on the road by June. Please donate. And tell your friends.