Thank you to everyone that came out for Snow Day! The benefit at Barley’s Taproom was a huge success with a silent auction, soup-off, live music and beard pageant.

For the silent auction, we had over 100 items from local businesses and crafters. Thank you to everyone who participated! If you have won an item and haven’t yet picked it up, please come to the LT Ross CAC building at 2247 Western Ave. to collect your winnings!

Finally, our 2nd Annual Beard Pageant was a huge success with even more participants than last year! Our “homemade” category was the most competitive yet! This year’s winners were Shelagh with a locally grown human hair beard, Angie with a local and organic kale beard, and Trey with a bird’s nest beard complete with eggs and a bird! The “homegrown” category included over a dozen men with the first place award going to fellow-Americorps member Adam Bean with a Lion’s Mane Beard. You would have to see it to believe it. Thank you to Barley’s Taproom for donating the Beard Pageant prizes!

Lastly, we also have several gardening calendars left! The calendars are now available for a reduced price of $20. Each month’s page features suggestions specific for East Tennessee with information for which crops to start indoors, transplant, direct seed, and harvest. Every month also includes season specific tips for improving your garden and has ample room for taking notes—whether they are about your garden, or just everyday events. For more pictures and more information on the calendars click here.

Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria, 200 East Jackson Ave.

Admission: $7   |   Soup Tickets: $3

Snow Day is CAC Beardsley Community Farm’s largest fundraiser of the year! Snow Day will feature live music, a “soup-off” between local restaurants, a homegrown and homemade beard pageant and silent auction.

Featured musicians: The Hotshot Freight Train, The Lonetones, The Theorizt, Yunglife, TimLee3, Kelsey’s Woods, and Kukuly and the Gypsy Fuego

Soup with Bread: A soup-off featuring some of Knoxville’s finest restaurants including the reigning champion Coolato Gelato, Bistro at the Bijou, Just Ripe, Plaid Apron, Harry’s Deli, and more!

Beard Pageant: Come participate in Beardsley Farm’s 2nd annual Homegrown and Homemade Beard Pageant! All participants, both men and women, are welcome to strut their finest beards before a panel of beard and hair connoisseurs.

Silent Auction: In past years our silent auctions have included a cabin rental in the Smokies, CSA shares to local farms, a YMCA household membership, musical instruments, and gift certificates to local restaurants and businesses.

Last year 900 people attended Snow Day, helping us raise 20% of our operating budget for the year. Don’t miss out this year!

Sponsors for Snow Day include: 91.9 WUOT, 90.3 WUTK, 89.9 WDVX,  Metro Pulse, and Three Rivers Market

We have made important steps towards this goal:

- The great folks at Elizabeth Eason Architecture have designed a beautiful building to meet our needs. Please see the design below.

- Former Mayor Victor Ashe has generously pledged $5000 towards a building at Beardsley Farm. Beardsley was started during Victor Ashe’s tenure as mayor with support from his team at the City of Knoxville, and we are honored by his continued generosity.

- We have set up a Donation Pay button on our website to generate community support.

Last year, Beardsley Community Farm attracted over 2,000 people of all ages to visit, volunteer, and learn. A building not only would help us better organize, but it would help provide a facility for our many visitors to use the restroom, a sheltered area for workshops and classes, especially during times of extreme temperatures, and an ideal environment to store and preserve vegetables. We are so excited about the prospect of a facility that would help us better serve the community. Please support Beardsley’s goal and make a contribution today!

The exhibit will be on display throughout the month of November; afterwards the show will move to The Tomato Head in Maryville for December.

Print of the artworks are available for purchase: $45 for a 16×20 and $15 for a 8×10. Please preview thumbnails below and click on the image to view in full.

A few tips for cool season crops:

– Interseed carrots and radishes in the same row–the radishes will grow first and open the soil, so that when you pull the radish it will leave an open space for the carrot to grow.

– Don’t let your radishes and beets get too large–they are ready when the tops are prominently raised above the soil. (Here is a good example)

– Make sure that you check for cabbage worms on your broccoli and cauliflower plants in their early stages because they are more vulnerable to bugs when young. If you see a pest, the best remedy is to simply take it off and squish it!

– For greens of any kind, harvest the outside leaves first. This way you don’t have to wait to harvest the whole head and you can harvest more. Also, break off the leaves as close to the ground as possible and leave at least 2/3 of the leaves on the plant so that it can continue to grow healthily.

– When planting turnips make sure that you know which one you are planing, whether it is the root or the green.

– You can leave large veggie roots, like carrots and turnips, in the ground for a long time. This way, you don’t have to harvest until you are ready to eat them.

– The majority of fall crops tend to taste best after the first frost because lower temperatures bring out the sugars, giving them a better taste.

– Create a row cover, in order to extend your growing season. You can do this by putting a hoop house over the veggies or by building a cold frame box. Check below for links on how to make your own or stay tuned for Beardsey’s Cool Weather Gardening workshop at the end of October!

How to Build a Hoop House

An Example of a Hoop House

How to Build a Cold Frame Box

During our first few weeks at the farm we have also prepared for and harvested honey from our three healthy hives. Honey extraction is a process that requires a good deal of patience. We had to cooperate with the bees when taking the frames full of honey, and then had to work closely as a team to ensure a successful honey extraction. All in all, we harvested seventeen gallons of honey and are looking forward to having our honey available to the community.

We are learning that we work together very well as a team and have areas of expertise that complement each other. Daniel is excellent at constructing things; so far, he has built sturdy teepees for our pea plants, and has put hinges on storage boxes. Karina is a compost expert and helps keep our compost piles going strong. Kat has been enthusiastic about saving seeds for next year. We all look forward to working with Khann, and are glad to be with Beardsley Farm for the 2011-2012 term.

This summer there were also very many volunteers who worked on a regular basis.  Some of them include Angie Flemmons, Chris Gurecki, Louise Fry, the WOW Youth Ministry, Cherilyn Lootens and her family, and the Thomas family.  We can not thank them enough for all the sweat and joy they brought to the farm!  Beardsley Community Farm depends on our many volunteers to make our work possible.

We had a very bountiful summer with over 750 pounds of food harvested in the month of July alone.  Now we are looking ahead to the arrival of the new AmeriCorps team and cooler temperatures.  We will miss the summer bounty, but welcome the comfortable weather!

WDVX is a listener-supported community radio station that plays Bluegrass, Americana, Classic and Alternative Country, Blues, Old Time and Traditional Mountain Music, Rock-and-Roll and more!  WDVX brings the very special Blue Plate Special to Knoxvillians and listeners from all over the world.  The Blue Plate Special is a live musical performance by local and regional artists.  You can enjoy these performances every weekday at noon from their downtown studio at the Visitor’s Center.  For more information about WDVX, visit www.wdvx.com

Meet Red Hickey…

BCF:  Describe your work and what you do at WDVX.

RED:  I am the Host of the WDVX Blue Plate Special, a live radio show with 2 acts in front of an audience weekdays at noon. I also am the afternoon DJ.

BCF:  What lead you to work at WDVX?

RED:  I was a volunteer for years. I enjoyed the music and diversity of the station. Eventually, I was asked to work here. I started out doing a classic country music specialty show called Hillbilly Fever.

BCF:  Where did you grow up?

RED:  Knoxville

BCF:  How long have you lived in Knoxville?

RED:  Most of my life…I also have lived in Atlanta, Miami and London England.

BCF:  At Beardsley Farm, we strive to bring people together through gardening.  Can you describe how local music influences a community?

RED:  Every day the community comes to us here inside the Knoxville Visitor Center to see new music experiences. We also broadcast worldwide therefore we are able share our local music with the world!

BCF:  What all did you do during your visit to Beardsley Community Farm?

RED:  PIcked Chard, tied up tomatoes, watered, picked strawberries, dug up potatoes…

BCF:  Did you learn anything from your visit?

RED:  Add the fish solution to the watering cans to fertilize, there CAN be potatoes underground – even if the plant above ground looks dead, and chard is pretty enough to grow in a planter and you can eat it too!

BCF:  What was your favorite part about the farm?

RED:  When it was thought the potatoes were all dead and that we should pull up the plants…and then there were potatoes! Everyone was so excited about the potatoes.

Knoxville’s Leading Women is a group that fulfills everything promised in its title. The ladies of KLW are not only leaders in Knoxville’s business and industry, but are community leaders and mobilizers as well. Several of these wonderful women came to CAC Beardsley Community Farm as a group of celebrity volunteers in one of our recent Saturday workdays. They helped out around the farm weeding blueberries and working in the raspberries, and they learned a thing or two about chickens at our chicken workshop.

After their time on the farm, we asked their founder a few questions about the group and the time they spent with us.

Beardsley Farm: When did the Knoxville’s Leading Women group begin?

Rena: Our group began about 3 years ago and initially we called ourselves Women in Networking (WIN).

Beardsley Farm: How has it grown and changed since its inception?

Rena: Our group began with about 8 networking professionals, grew to 18+. Then the group thought of splitting into 2 separate networking divisions–Business to Business/Business to Consumer. Eventually the group began to again grow (primarily B2B), and we have recently surpassed the 30 mark! We now meet for almost 2 hours, we charge nothing, and many of KLW have formed wonderful, personal friendships and connections.

Beardsley Farm: What sort of businesses and organizations are represented by the women in KLW?

Rena: Banking, mortgage, debt collection, general contractor, financial planner, corporate lodging, office leasing space, advertising, web design/internet marketing, office furniture sales, life guide coach, to name a few.

Beardsley Farm: The current team of CAC Beardsley Community Farm, as well as previous and probably future years’, consists of a high percentage of women. What advice can you give to young professional women, especially those working in predominantly male fields?

Rena: I am probably a good example to use with this question. I work in  a predominantly male field–general contracting–and I have no hesitance to enter the male arena of construction. I grew up with 4 brothers and was quite a “tomboy.” I find it a fun challenge!

Beardsley Farm: How does the work of KLW relate to Beardsley’s model of sustainable practices and community involvement?

Rena: All of the KLW members are in one group or another involving our community. We often bring up events such that Teresa did about Beardley, KARM, National Kidney Foundation, etc., and support functions in town.

Beardsley Farm: What was your favorite part of your visit to CAC Beardsley Community Farm?

Rena: Mine was seeing all of the beds of veggies and things they grow. I enjoyed the fact the an open space was being put to good use for the area in a healthy and giving way.

at The Tomato Head, 12 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902

June 27^th, Monday, from 6-9 pm
Tickets will be available for purchase at beardsleyfarm.org or here:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/163353 . The dinner will be prepared by Tomato Head owner Mahasti Vafaie and Tomato Head Maryville chef, Robert Birkholz and will include some of Beardsley’s own produce in addition to the locally sourced ingredients  already used at the Tomato Head. Tickets will be $30 for individuals or $200 for tables of six. Proceeds from this dinner will support the farm.

Why:
CAC Beardsley Community Farm is Knoxville’s only urban demonstration farm. The farm works to promote community-wide health in Knoxville through produce donations, community gardening, and education.  Each year the farm raises over 3000 pounds of produce, all of which are donated to area food kitchens, women’s shelters, and farm volunteers. Additionally, Beardsley hosts 29 free community garden plots and a tool lending library for community gardeners. Throughout the school year, Beardsley sends Americorps volunteers into Knox County schools to talk about healthy eating, growing vegetables, and compost.

Beardsley welcomes volunteers to the farm who would like to know more the work or just roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty weeding, harvesting, and working on the farm. To schedule a volunteer shift or to learn more information please call (546.8446) or email (beardsleyfarm@gmail.com) the farm team.