There’s still time to join us for the mini-mob this Saturday at Whippoorwill Hollow Farm. If you’d like to come out and help lay the foundation for the Hilda Byrd Memorial Garden and get the farm ready for Field of Greens then Register Here.

If you can’t make it on Saturday we hope to see you at the big mob of the month! We’ll be heading to Cane Creek Farm on October 17 to spend some time with the amazing Lynn Pugh, organic gardening guru extraordinaire. Looks like we’ll be putting up a hoophouse (since that’s our area of expertise now), as well as planting strawberries and garlic, some general farm cleanup, and maybe digging a few sweet potatoes.

Cane Creek is in Cumming which is only about 45 minutes north of the city, so we can actually get up at reasonable times for a 9AM arrival. We’re capping this mob at 50, and it’s bound to be a good one, so be sure and reserve your space! And, now that it’s cooling down, it’d be the perfect time to invite a friend!

Click Here to Register

Guest post by Brittany Grace Shiver, founder of Grace’s Goodness.

Have you ever mobbed a crop?

Think open land, organic farms, impromptu horticulture lessons, weeds as high as the Bank of America tower, and pot bellied pigs. Think philosophical conversation about chicken slaughtering. Think making friends while learning about ground tomatoes and tasting fresh, raw okra for the first time.

Crop Mob is primarily a “group of young, landless and wanna-be farmers” who meet up and converge on a farm to help it out with whatever may need to be done – weeding, harvesting, building greenhouses – that hasn’t been done because the farm only has so many hands. It also empowers the mobbers, farmers, and the community they have between them. Mob activity took hold 2 years ago in North Carolina;  since then, it has been gaining momentum around the country.

What is spectacular about this is it has been completely grassroots: a few emails go out, some people voice their love for the group, more people sign up, more people mob a crop, farmer is happy, volunteers are fulfilled. Rinse, repeat.

Upon hearing about it this summer, I was intrigued and decided to sign up for one at Indian Ridge farm, about an hour north of Atlanta. Adrian and I got up early that morning to make our trip, which included a few U-turns,  a spilled box of granola, one 360 degree, 20 minute trip, one gas station stop, and one run through the Kroger grocery store to find a clean bathroom.

We got there late and frantic, concerned that the other Mobbers would be put off by our lack of directional aptitude, but instead, everyone greeted us warmly, and we spent hours weeding crops and making new connections and friends. The culmination of the day included a picnic of fried catfish, hushpuppies and salad provided by Atlanta’s new farm-to-table darling, Miller Union. The convenience of disposable plates and utensils is shrugged off in favor of the environmentally conscious, bring-your-own-plate-and-utensils MO (although my new and industrious friend Alan never brings a literal plate. He just washes off his Frisbee and uses it instead).

This is similar to Alan's idea - a biodegradable "UFO" plate you toss into a tree like a frisbee after you eat off of it.

We then hiked through the woods to a sunny spot of rushing river to cool off before heading back to the city. At the end of the day, physically bushed from the hard labor that comes from bending over a crop in the sweltering sun for hours, I felt good. There was salt on my lips from the boiled peanut purchase from a roadside stand visit on our way home. There was dirt beneath my fingernails from fervently pulling weeds. And there were a whole group of people who better understood what it takes to get the local, organic food they love.

At the next Crop Mob, I washed the petulant sleep from my eyes on an early Sunday morning to make the drive to Burge Organic Farm, a farm that holds a spot on the National Register of Historic Places and has been in the same family since 1809.
I got to chat with Corey Mosser, the farm manager, about the sprawling place (900+ acres!), and he enthusiastically told us about the history of the land.

He also explained the origins of the African winter squash we harvested.

And expounded on the presence of heirloom garlic growing wild in a field that he estimates has been growing for the past 100 years. We even got to take some home.

More friends were made. More great food was eaten – that is how Mobbers are rewarded; we work for good food! We will also gladly work for good beer. As an extra reward, Folksy Brews, a local home/microbrewing operation, treated us to the best ale I’ve had all year – a honey basil creation. The congenial Mike Lorey, man of many hats who coincidentally is also a Mob Leader, is the man behind the beer. This is another reason the Mob is super cool: we get to talk about our hobbies and interests and share them with people who have different, equally cool things going on.

This process of working, and learning, and communing, and eating, occurred yet again at the last Crop Mob I was able to attend. We built greenhouses, hayed a field for fall, and weeded again. We even had some press come. A band called the Bearfoot Hookers provided musical entertainment that made some of us abandon our plates of local chicken and fresh Muscadines to dance in the dirt.

As I drove back to the city listening to Old Crow Medicine Show with more dirty fingernails and a small, uneven sunburn from haphazard sunscreen application, I noticed a feeling similar to a blissful yogi moment, or the moment after a perfect power nap on the beach. I realized that our bodies and minds need to be outside, need to get dirty, need to connect with our land in a way that makes us understand and appreciate where our food comes from and what it takes to get it on our plate. Or frisbee.

You needn’t be a part-time farmer to have a good time at Crop Mob. Hell, you don’t even need to know how to keep a plant alive in your windowsill. Just come ready to learn and meet rad people who also want to learn. You will come away replenished.

Even though autumn hasn’t quite cooperated yet with the cooler temperatures we’ve all been waiting for, we still had a fantastic mob. Everybody was up and at’em good and early to get to Royston, and we were greeted by the lovely Tammy Burnell and her husband Joe. In mobber fashion, we got to work and started knocking out chores almost as quick as Tammy could tell us about them! While the guys tore down the remains of an old, wooden greenhouse and secured the plastic sheeting of the new hoophouse, a bunch of us harvested okra, beans, peppers and more as well as clearing a field of rocks. We seeded and planted grape vines and all got to hunker down and trade stories while shelling and weighing beans.

We took an amazing tour of the property including a 9 1/2 acre pond (a few of us made mental notes to bring fishing poles next time around), chickens, rabbits and a beautiful cabin (well, we got to see the outside). And, as always, Miller Union was greeted with happy, hungry mobbers and provided a fantastic lunch of house-cured ham sandwiches with H&F bread, green bean salad, eggplant salad, and farm greens. Every meal they provide is a 10, and the homebrew from Folksy Brews doesn’t hurt one bit!

Now it’s the time we’ve been waiting for: October mobbing. What could be better than a day on the farm when the air is crisp and it’s chilly in the morning. Not to mention not having to get up *quite* so early! This October we’re going to have one large mob and one mini-mob. The mini-mob will take place October 2nd, and will help Whippoorwill Hollow Farm get organized and spiffed up for the next day’s Field of Greens festival!  It’ll be a great time, and come back the following day for the festival itself! If you’ve never been to Field of Greens, you can’t afford to miss it. Tip: come hungry! There are about 10 spots remaining for the mini-mob on October 2nd. Lunch will be provided, and Crop Mob attendees are welcome to hang around after lunch to walk the farm’s trails, visit the animals, check out the fruit trees and see what’s growing in the fields — so sign up now!

And for our big mob of the month, we’ll be heading to Cane Creek Farm on October 17 to spend some time with the amazing Lynn Pugh, organic gardening guru extraordinaire. More details to come on our exact chores, but looks like we’ll be putting up a hoophouse (since that’s our area of expertise now), as well as some general farm cleanup, harvesting and more. Cane Creek is only about 45 min. north of the city in Cumming, so we can actually get up at reasonable times for a 9AM arrival. We’re capping this mob at 50, and it’s bound to be a good one, so be sure to keep an eye out for the registration info coming soon! And, now that it’s cooling down, it’d be the perfect time to invite a friend!

More updates on all our October excitement soon! We’re so lucky to get to enjoy the cooler temperatures (hopefully) and start wrapping up this stunningly awesome year with our mobbers.

Hint: we might have a holiday/mobber appreciation party in the works!!!

Field of Greens is a family festival taking place at Whippoorwill Hollow Farm, a 74-acre certified organic farm that sells at farmers markets in Atlanta, on October 3. The farm is located in Walnut Grove, 35 miles east of downtown Atlanta.

Festival activities include a chefs’ tent featuring tastings from Atlanta and Athens’ celebrity farm-to-table chefs (from noon to 3pm), live music, and an on-site market that mixes educational exhibits with vendors. An expanded kids’ area features farm-based activities for children of all ages. Proceeds benefit local sustainable farms through Slow Food Atlanta.

There are 3 ways that you can participate in this event: Attend the pre-event Crop Mob, volunteer the day of the festival, and attend the festival. You can find details about all these options below.

Attend the pre-event Crop Mob on October 2

The day before Field of Greens, the Crop Mob will be descending on Whippoorwill Hollow Farm to help prepare for the event. Tasks will include general farm cleanup and some typical small chores. Lunch will be provided.

Crop Mob attendees are welcome to hang around after lunch to walk the farm’s trails, visit the animals, check out the fruit trees and see what’s growing in the fields.

We are capping this one at 25 people so make sure to register early!

Click Here to Register

Where:

Whippoorwill Hollow Farm
3905 Hwy 138
Covington, GA 30014

When:

October 2 from 9AM-2PM

Volunteer the day of Field of Greens

Help out with the Crop Mob Atlanta table or help keep the event running smoothly by filling one of the volunteer positions listed below.

Below you will find the different festival areas and the two (sometimes 3) shifts that are available for volunteers in each area.  Please email your top 3 shift preferences (e.g. the second shift for the Children’s Area would be “5b”) to bsmilesjr (at) yahoo.com.

We can’t promise that you will get your preference but we will try.  They will inform you of your shift at least 10 days prior to the event and you can always decline AT THAT TIME (i.e. please try to avoid canceling at last second) if you don’t like your assignment.

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Well, it’s about that time again. Our sore muscles are all limbered up and our sunburns have faded, and that can only mean one thing: time for another mob! This month we’re heading to Burnell Farm in Royston, GA to do a variety of fun things. For those of you who helped out at Tewksbury, you can experience hoophouse construction from beginning to end, since we’ll be helping Tammy finish up her hoophouses as well as do some weeding, seeding and pulling out fence line. I don’t *think* we’ll be needing any special tools or equipment, but you can always feel free to throw what you’ve got in terms of shovels and such in your trunk just in case! Be sure to remember gloves, water, sunscreen, bugspray, boots, and plates and utensils for lunch! (We haven’t confirmed yet, but are pretty sure we’ll be getting a Miller Union visit. Get excited!)