Series teaches how to grow your food
EDUCATION SERIES PLANTS SEEDS OF KNOWLEDGE
Although fluffy snow is currently covering the region, spring is almost here and that means it’s time to think about the growing season.
Emma Cunniff, owner of Kneehigh Farm in South Coventry, created a video called “Seeding at Home!” in partnership with the Mosaic Community Land Trust in Pottstown. The video is available on the farm’s Instagram page @kneehighfarm.
Cunniff said the video is a general “how-to” on starting seeds and basic growing knowledge.
“If you want lettuce every week, you have to keep seeding it every week,” she said is one of those growing facts that everyone may not know.
Cunniff said people growing food from seeds this season should start the process soon as some crops can take 10 weeks in a greenhouse. The video shared explained how people can start from seed in their home by filling an empty egg carton with potting mix.
“Not everything needs to be seeded in a greenhouse,” Cunniff said.
She said there are some crops that benefit from lots of light, consistent temperature and other growing conditions which make it easier to grow in a greenhouse. Hardy crops such as lettuce do well when started in the home. Salad greens, some herbs, and string beans are great options when growing from seeds at home. Cunniff said people can grow a mix of different lettuces in one cell, then the plants will grow as a salad mix.
The seed gardening video is part of a series called “Know Your Food, Know Your Farmer” in conjunction with the Mosaic community gardens. Daniel Price, executive director and community garden manager for Mosaic in Pottstown, said the food educational series is part of their CSA program.
“CSA is Community Supported Agriculture,” he said. “Mosaic pays farmers upfront to help support them throughout the planting season when there’s nothing to harvest. We give them the money on the promise that we can get vegetables during the harvest season.”
Mosaic partners with Kneehigh Farm and Tine & Toil Farm in North Coventry for the CSA program. The harvested produce from these farms is given to residents in Pottstown.
Price said many local farms want to do social good, but those farms aren’t always in the towns where that good is most needed.
“There’s a divide between where food is grown and where food is most needed,” he said.
Price said the CSA partnership Mosaic has with local growers allows the organization to support farms and get produce into the hands of people who need it.
As an extension to the CSA program, Mosaic also partnered with Kneehigh Farm for a series of classes in 2019 about growing and produce.
“Our residents and members love getting produce, but sometimes they don’t know what to do with it exactly,” Price said.
Cunniff came out to the Barth Elementary community garden in Pottstown to teach about a variety of food topics such as canning, recipes and nutrition. The program ended in 2019 with a “Friendsgiving” potluck in November where participants brought in separate dishes and explained how they used their farm-grown veggies.
In 2020, Emma created the seeding video since the community was unable to gather inperson because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Price said Mosaic is currently working on its programming for the 2021 growing season. The CSA program will be expanded this year in collaboration with Green Allies, an organization with a mission of environmental sustainability, and Tower Health’s Pottstown Hospital.
Price plans to collect food from area residents with excess produce to donate.
For more information about the growing programs or if interested in donating produce, contact Daniel Price at dprice@mosaicclt.org.
The Mosaic website can be found at mosaicclt.org.