First Fruits Farm, in Freeland, northern Baltimore County, was founded in 1998 by the Bernstein family. It began when Rick and Carol Bernstein started growing produce for charity. Today it has 281 acres, and 100% of what it grows is donated, rather than sold. Elder JimZim and his buddy, Elder Grønk recently volunteered picking peppers […]
Category: Agriculture
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Sukkot
We have recently learned of an ancient Jewish celebration: the Sukkot. This has WLBOTT written all over it! Temporary outdoor structures, agricultural roots, branches overhead, communal meals, ancient tradition, and a certain theological acceptance that the roof is not supposed to be particularly good. As Elder G summarizes: And there’s a lot here worth exploring […]
Under the patient and watchful eye of Elder MJ, the WLBOTT Ag Extension Service (Go Waggies!) planted a sprouting ginger root this spring. In early May, we planted it in a pot, and later transplanted it to a larger pot. It turns out, as it was meant to turn out, that our ginger doesn’t care […]
History is Personal for MeHistory professor Donna Seger enjoys following her curiosity. As a longtime Salem resident, she wanted to explore more than the city’s most infamous period. Following her curiosity, she started blogging about local history and culture. Now her blog, Streets of Salem, is over 15 years old with more than 12,000 ardent […]
“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” – Anthelme Brillat-Savarin WLBOTT, razor-focused on shareholder value, has decided to pursue a fashion line based on the headwear of our Olmec ancestors. Again, our unpaid marketing interns were eager and started the advertising campaign before getting approval or even a budget, […]
While looking into the history of Mexico, leading up to the birth of Elder MJ’s mother, we found a delightful rabbit hold: The Olmec. This civilization flourished around 1500-400 BCE in what is now southeastern Mexico. Although the Olmec thrived near what is now Veracruz, 1,750km from Chihuahua, they played an important role in the […]
Our recent blott on medieval grain growing led us to reflect on the mill house, where the grain was ground into flour. The resulting flour was much different from the enriched, bleached white flour that is ubiquitous in our modern world. Attribute Medieval Stoneground Flour Modern Bleached White Flour Milling Mechanism Stone millstones (crushing) Steel […]
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Winnowing
The WLBOTT Ag Extension Service (Go Waggies!) grew two grains this summer: amaranth and sorghum. Today we harvested most of the grains (some of the sorghum need a little more time). Ripe sorghum (left) and sorghum waiting to ripen (right) So, let’s imagine we are medieval peasants, growing grain. It was a lot of work. […]
“You say Tomato, I say Tomato” – Elder JimZim Two items of interest to our WLBOTT agricultural committee occurred recently. First… Elder JimZim and Grønk I had a good time gleaning. There were eight volunteers, 250 lbs in 1.5 hours. Many varieties of small tomatoes- different colors, etc. The farmer worked along side us. It […]
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Go Waggies! A Garden Update
It’s been a while since we’ve given our gentle readers an update on the WLBOTT Ag Service‘s summer garden. Let’s Start with the Sorghum. We’re trying to mimic some of the main Texas agricultural products in the garden – sorghum, cotton, peppers, peanuts, okra, amaranth, and sweet potatoes. Our unpaid interns took a nice picture […]