A Verified Grower's Valley of Green

A few weeks ago, Green Edge Organic Gardens, an AFM Verified Local Grower, hosted their 3rd annual Open Farm Day. After all these years of buying food for our home from them at the farmer's market, to casual conversations with Becky Rondy, one of the farm's proprietors, to working with Becky and her husband Kip to procure their delicious organic produce for our restaurant, my partner Andy and I realized we'd never been to see their farm! Andy made some amazing cole slaw for the potluck and we headed out to Amesville to see where our food was coming from.

The meal was great-- one thing I can always be sure of when going to a potluck in Athens County is that the food is going to be incredible. There were many creative dishes with fresh, local ingredients in them, including ours, which had cabbage from Cowdery Farm and carrots from Rich Organic Gardens.

Then came the awesome tours! I was so amazed after we hiked up to the microgreen house to learn that the sprouts that I eat on my salads come from soil that has been recycled for 10 years! Kip showed us thick sunflower, and delicate radish and buckwheat sprouts, all of which are healthy and delish. The soil they use is full of earthworms, eating up the roots of the sprouts that have been cut to sell, pooping all along the way, thereby fertilizing the soil and replenishing it for the next batch of seeds it will receive and nourish.

Rob then took us to the mushroom house, where they're growing shiitake, and yellow, white and blue oyster mushrooms. The environment in the mushroom house is carefully controlled-- temperatures must be cool and the humidity just right to grow the succulent fungi, but no other molds or fungus. Rob had the task of mopping the floors with bleach water after we left to keep contaminants at bay. It was cool to learn that Green Edge obtains even the spores for the yellow oyster mushrooms from folks down the road from them.

Next, we went down to the valley to check out the gardens. Green Edge is home of the Athens Hills CSA. Community Supported Agriculture is a great way to eat fresh, local food while providing wealth to your local economy and getting to know the farmer and the farm that your food comes from.

Cale and Dan, the farm's manager, showed us fields of potatoes growing, bushy with tiny white flowers.

We walked by the greenhouses full of shiny tomatoes and thick, glossy basil to the other garden, where we saw raised beds popping feathery dill and bright salad greens. The new concrete walls are an attempt to help protect the crops from flooding, which this farm struggles with yearly in their valley.

We ended with long, wide rows of deep purple eggplant in striking contrast to the light, wide leaves of summer squash, introducing blossoms. This place is enormous to me; I can't wrap my brain around this five acres of food. If I was trapped on that farm with everyone there, we'd have plenty of veggies for years to come. I deeply feel the absolute dedication that was put into developing the land for a beautiful, prosperous farm here. Years and years of hard work and vision made this possible. I think about it every time I eat their greens and microgreens. Check out their stall at the AFM on the east side of the main aisle for flavorful salad mix, mushrooms, eggplant, microgreens and more!