crop mobbing

{crop mobbers, great falls, virginia. photo courtesy of crystaline randazzo}

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another crob mob! i spent all day saturday helping out at Chris and Sara's Maple Avenue Market farm in Great Falls - a stunning piece of land owned by an inspiring couple who left their corporate career jobs to pursue a life in farming, providing local, healthy food to their neighborhood and local schools. they've got their own farm that you can visit and volunteer at any monday, and also their own store and funky truck where they sell their produce along with partner farms' goods and specialty foods.

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and i met super cool freelance photographer crystaline randazzo. she has gorgeous galleries from various travels up on her site, and also gave a shout out to the crob mobbers on her blog! be sure to check her stuff out.

onion breath

what Virginia looks like outside of Arlington... my weekend of farming:

{gorgeous view + farmer Attila introducing us to his land}

{tilling and planting rows and rows of onions and leeks}

{weeding the garlic patch}

{the greenhouse}

{farm buddies Blue and Ruby}

{me and Ruby chatting with the chickens}

i recently joined DC's crop mobbing group to start on my path to working in agriculture. it's a group that started down in North Carolina, and once the story hit the New York Times food section, it took off in cities around the country. the crop mob brings together a group of people interested in agriculture. we contact local, small organic farms and spend 1 or more Saturday's a month helping different ones out while learning farming skills of our own.

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our day on Mountain View farm in Purvellville, VA was spent learning about composting, greenhousing and storing vegetables, planting onions, leeks and beets, weeding the garlic patch, sharing in a potluck lunch with produce from the farm, running around with the chickens, goats and pigs, and hanging out with the owners' adorable dogs and 15 month old daughter.

i even got to bring home some leek bulbs (which may or may not still be in the pocket of my dirty khaki pants... at the bottom of my laundry basket)! i'll let you know when they're ready to turn into dinner.