Pens to Pasture ~ Puzzle Peace Farm

A few months back, I asked for your help in naming a new feature at just.write.food – a weekly snapshot of farm stories straight from the farmer’s pen. I’m honored to present the first edition of Pens to Pasture: Fodder from the Field. 

About the time I moved to Boston, a few CSA e-mails and farm newsletters began popping up in my inbox. My Mom and dear friend Darcy were appreciating the news from their farmers, and wanted to share with me what they were reading. This sparked an idea. Collect the best of these informal agricultural stories, the trials and tribulations of everyday farming, and share them with others. Just another way to showcase the amazing work of local farmers and help folks understand exactly what it takes to grow the food we require and savor.

I adore the CSA newsletters, blogs and update e-mails composed and distributed by small farmers in an effort to directly connect with their eaters. Part storytelling, part marketing and part shoot-from-the-hip honesty, these bulletins share far more than the weekly CSA harvest report or what to expect on the farmers’ market table. In these writings, we are invited into the world of each farm to experience the details of the day-to-day beyond just the time in the barn, the greenhouse or the fields. These writings impart the subtle character of each farm enterprise, reveal a family behind the action, and provide a transparency and insight rarely exposed by any other small business. What other shop owner would share the details of their insurance policy, previous night’s dinner or stories of dancing in the rain?


I don’t know if any of the authors in this feature consider themselves to be writers, but they are - and I am grateful for it. Today’s small farmers are expected to be a jack-of-all-trades in order to survive, and how lucky are we that penning a regular missive to customers is a required aspect of success in this line of work.   

So, please join us each Monday for the latest edition of Pens to Pasture, and an inside glimpse at the farming life. And of course, your entries are always welcome. Feel free to send along your farmers' newsletters, blogs or other correspondences - especially the ones that make you laugh or fill you with awe.

Puzzle Peace Farm ~ Bostic, NC

It wasn't too long after my Mom found Thomas and Lindy of Puzzle Peace Farm at the Charlotte farmers' market that she started forwarding me their weekly e-mails. Talk about a delight! The e-mail updates from Puzzle Peace Farm are the biggest inspiration for Pens to Pasture, especially the first passage below. Thomas and Lindy write with such clarity, humor and frankness that I usually end up laughing out loud or tearing up when I read their e-mails. They convey so clearly the exuberance and exhaustion of farming - and I resonate with their motivations so much - I don't think the farming mentality could be better expressed than their words. These two also keep a blog that is not to be missed, including beautiful photos in the most recent post. And if you live in North Carolina, be sure to look them up at farmers' markets near Charlotte so you can enjoy their produce, pork and other delights in person. Thanks, Thomas and Lindy, for agreeing to be the first farmers featured in Pens to Pasture and thanks for growing lovely food and words!

Date: July 1, 2011 1:28:12 PM EDT
Subject: Puzzle Peace Farm, yet again...

Hi Charlotte folks,

This week we will have... pac-choi (with recipes!), cucumbbers, a small amount of our first okra harvest (get there early if you want it), Red Pontiac Potatoes, heirloom yellow scallop squash and zuchinni, haricot vert beans, the last of the carrots, the first heirloom tomatoes, sungold cherry tomatoes, kale, swiss chard, and our heritage pastured pork, that we finish on organic feed.  Sorry to all of your pets that depend on our luscious goat cheese. We weren't able to make any this week. 

The pigs are alive and well... and in the pasture, for those of you wanting to know. All seems well around the farm. The fields are full of green, massive plants, and the bees are buzzing in harmony about the blossoms and buckwheat cover crops.  The weeds are under control (just barely), and there is still a bit of moisture in the ground. If there were ever a great time to host a farm tour it would probably be right now.  But it has surprised me at how long we've been hanging on in this transition phase between crops. I keep expecting the next week to be a better harvest but for the last 3 weeks it's steadily gone down. The tomatoes we started indoors in January that got hit by 2 hail storms are just now starting to produce good tomatoes, and very slowly at that. And the Squash got hit so hard by the vine borers that we have had  just a small fraction of what we had planned. Beans that we got handed down to us had really poor germination... I could go on and on. It has been tough, but we know that is just how farming is. There are no guarantees and everything is a gamble. This week's may be the least amount of harvest we've had this year, but, thanks to all the help we've had from our interns, I am hopeful that from here on out it will only get better. So cheer up and be glad... You are the ones that make this rough life possible. Because I'd rather be broke and tossing rotten tomatoes into the woods in 95 degree weather than sitting behind some computer in an air conditioned office any day... Well. It's not so bad at the moment, really. But I really should get back out there and help the crew with the harvest.

So on an end note... don't pity us or our other farmer comrades. We chose this path. And we get to eat like royalty. But you are allowed to appreciate us, as you have, just as we appreciate your support.

Thanks to all of you,
Thomas and Lindy

for other sad stories and occasional laughs visit our blog: www.puzzlepeacefarm.blogspot.com

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      Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2011 09:42:11 -0700
From: Puzzle Peace Farms
Subject: Puzzle Peace Farm At Yorkmont, 6-2

Hi everyone, hope you are all well. This week we will have... green beans, squash and zuchinni, sweet green peppers (bell and marconi), radishes (spicy!), cucumbers (poona kheera, a white heirloom from India), Irish potatoes, kale, chard, carrots,  pac choi, fresh basil, pork, and "for your pet" fresh dill and garlic, and basil and garlic goat cheese. Please ask if interested or curious to know more about this. We finally got a new litter of pigs. Three of them, eight weeks old, just weened, Ossabaw/berkshire crossed heritage breeds. Good looking pigs with their brown and black spots and the one that's black with white spots. They're fiesty too. The first one we put in to the fence immediately bolted right through and headed for the woods. None of us really prepared for the pursuit, with our shorts and sandals on, took off after him. We almost gave up. It was a rather expensive pig that we scrounged to afford but this chase led us deep into neighboring woods with lots of briars and at times we thought we had lost him. Finally we managed to direct him back to a path that led to our house where his siblings' squeals drew him in and, after some very makeshift barriers were patiently constructed, I managed to grab him. Ear piercing squeals followed. Unfortunately the fiasco wasn't over. We re-worked the fence to our satisfaction and tried again, saving the escapee til last. Again, as soon as we put him down he was out of the fence with a short little yip as it shocked his hams. Long story short... Another chase pursued, as long as the first, until we gave up.  He wandered back that evening and hung around outside the fence wanting in to be with his brothers and eating the food we had set out for him. I managed to slowly sneak up on him the next day as he slept and caught him and put him in with the others where he currently resides. Whew! Pigs are smart. take care and hope to see all of you. thomas and Lindy, www.puzzlepeacefarm.blogspot.com ---- Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 09:19:28 -0700 From: puzzlepeacefarm@yahoo.com Subject: Puzzle Peace Farm at Yorkmont, 7-16-11 Greetings, This week we will have... tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes of all shapes and colors, a few bunches of kale, potatoes, basil, anaheim peppers, sweet marconi beppers, and sweet flavor-burst peppers, yellow scalloppinni squash (the best summer squash in my opinion), heirloom zuchinni's, green beans (haricot vert and regular), burgundy beans, pork sausage, fat back, leaf lard, and of course that delicious goat cheese that you shouldn't know anything about because it is only legal for me to sell it to you as "for your pet." For all of you that formerly knew me as Tee Bone from the name on my emails, please note the change. It took several attempts, all of which I thought were sucessfull (but in the end were not), before I resorted to yahoo help. Apparently there are a dozen or so ways to name yourself on your email account. In an attempt to keep my digital ID anonymous when initially setting up my account I hastily and thoughtlessly chose this pseudo name which happened to be my old sign in name when I delivered pizza while in college, equally chosen with haste and little thought. Unfortuntely, I think I will have a hard time living this name down among some friends and customers. Maybe if I specialized in grass fed steaks I could keep it but for now I'm happy to see it go... Now that that has been over explained... I am delighted to hear rain on the tin roof as I write. We need it so bad. Our methods of watering don't quite cut it for extended periods. Thank you folks for all of your support. Hope to see all of you. Try some samples while you're visiting.  Now I'm going to go dance and sing outside like a crazy farmer ought to ---