Last week saw the first Heritage Harvest Festival, sponsored by Heritage Montgomery. This farm tour was not to be confused with the Annual Farm Tour and Harvest Sale, held in July and sponsored by the Montgomery County Office of Agriculture, even though the format was the same: a self-guided drive to any of a dozen or 15 farms around the County, each offering tours and other bucolic activities meant to acquaint folks with the scope of agriculture in our area.
We took the opportunity to visit Common Root Farm, one of the newer farms selling at the Olney Farmers Market, in Derwood, only a few miles down the road from Olney. The farmers, Erica Coady and Ryan Kalivreternos, were proudly out standing in their field, ready to conduct tours. We joined them.
Common Root’s Field Crops
Common Root’s Greens (and Reds)
Ryan Demos His Cultivating Tools
Erica Explains High-Tunnel Construction
This is the first year they are farming at this site. Erica and Ryan have put in an enormous amount of work to prepare the soil in the field and the farm structures for raising crops. They showed us the high tunnels, the seed starter, and the old barn where they wash their crops to prepare them for selling.
Tomatoes in the Tunnel
Inside the Seed Starter
Showing Off the Washer and Centrifuge in the Barn
The crop washer and centrifuge were made from PVC pipe, an old pump, and a washing machine. The farmers use intensive planting to maximize the yield from their small acreage, along with “regenerative, ecologically sound farming techniques free from synthetic chemicals and pesticides” (quoting from their website). It seems to be working very well.
They are young, but have previous farming experience. Ryan’s father farms (and was there for the tour – that’s him in the plaid shirt on the left in the barn picture). They plan to be bringing their greens and winter crops to the Market through December, and maybe very early in the Spring of 2019. I can personally recommend the radishes and lettuce, and hope to become familiar with their other crops bye-and-bye.
We also took the opportunity to visit Waredaca Brewing Company, a craft brewery on the site of a horse farm and former summer camp. It may have been the last good day of the season to sit out on their picnic lawn and enjoy the sunset and a delicious Reveille coffee stout – perfect for me, as I love coffee and hate hops. We sat just far away enough from the band to have it serve as pleasant background music, and enjoyed a lovely end to the warm day and the warm season.
Waredaca Lawn With Band
Looking Toward the Paddock
