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!)

The impossible happened: we went to a mob and didn’t do a lick of weeding (except, of course, the few weedaholics who just couldn’t help themselves). Instead, we covered fields with straw for winter, picked and bagged some ruby-red field corn, and…oh, you know…built a greenhouse or two. Two, actually. Maybe we didn’t COMPLETELY finish them, but we got the structure up and ready for Farmer Tate and had a heck of a good time in the process! Mr. Tewksbury (Tate’s dad) brought Lou and Sue, their gorgeous and enormous horses, down to the field so we could watch some old-school plowing, and we loved meeting all of the Morgan County locals who came out to help.

Once we were done working, we head up the road to meet some fantastic animals, have a cold one, stuff our faces and listen to awesome music. Seriously, does it get much better than that? The generosity at this mob was really amazing; Plow Point Farms donated and smoked so much delicious pastured Poulet Rouge chickens, Suzi Cooker Catering made amazing sides and desserts (I had no idea slaw could be that good!), the Morgan County Conservancy graciously donated 4 cases of much needed refreshment. And, to top it all off, The Bearfoot Hookers played an awesome set that kept our toes tapping (and perhaps inspired one or two of us to lead an impromptu hoedown by the lunch tables). The weather was finally starting to cool down a bit and hinted at a Fall we never thought would come.

And my oh my did we get our five minutes of sweaty fame! There were no less than four groups doing media pieces on the event including the Morgan County Citizen, Athens’s ezine BLVD, Ramsey Yount, and CNN! Crazy stuff, but it was fun to see all our mobbers getting interviewed – can’t wait to see how everything turns out!

Aaaaaand we’ve already got our September mob planned, too! On the 19th of this month we’ll be heading NE on 85 to Royston, GA (right before Lake Hartwell) to help Burnell Farm get ready for fall. Having relocated from Iowa a year ago after losing everything to floodwaters, the Burnells have worked hard to establish their farm and have several acres for production as well as chickens and rabbits. We’ll have an official chore list soon, but it will probably include finishing up some hoophouses, weeding, seeding, pulling out fence line – nothing our mobbers can’t handle! Expect more details and eventbrite registration soon!

This seriously just keeps getting better and better. And now we’ll have a good Georgia autumn to enjoy it by! I smell bonfires already…

Go Mob!

It’s grape season in North Georgia!

Wine grapes can be a bit fickle (especially in Georgia) and planning a harvest in advance is nearly impossible. Summer rainfall in Georgia is spotty at best and once the grapes hit the right percentage of sugar they have to be picked immediately if they are going to be transformed into outstanding wine.

We got the call from Montaluce Winery in Dahlonega today and they need a few extra hands on Monday (8/23) to help harvest their 2010 crop. They have offered those that come out a taste of their delicious Georgia wine. Only thing is that they do not serve lunch on Mondays so make sure to bring a little something to eat with you.

If you’d like to help out, give Brad or Maria a call at 706-867-4060.

Well, we’re not barn raising quite yet, but we’re getting close with our next mob! On August 29th, we’ll be heading east of the city (about 20 minutes past Burge) to Tewksbury Farms where we’ll be building greenhouses! I know we’ve got a lot of mobbers with some serious carpentry skills, and we’re ready to see what you’ve got. Of course, no prior skill is necessary. No matter what you know how to do, just show up and you’ll be able to add “greenhouse construction” to your list of life skills before we’re done. Plus, Tewksbury is run in a traditional Amish style, so we may get to see some plow horse demonstrations and learn about a style of farming few of us have access to!

I’m not kidding when I tell you this mob’s going to be a bit of a party. We know many of you wake up far earlier than you would want to on a Sunday to get to these farms and we’re hoping for a 9AM start time on this one, which is why Tate at Tewksbury has very kindly offered for people to come and camp Sat. night if you’d like. We’ll be sure to post more info and a sign up for that soon so you can make an evening of it – but don’t y’all go getting all crazy now…we’ve got hard work to do on Sunday! We’re giving the very generous Miller Union a break since they JUST fed our faces last weekend (be sure and congratulate them on being Atlanta Magazine’s Restaurant of the Year) and instead Plow Point Farms have donated free range chicken and we’re arranging for some gourmet sides. Does it get better than camping, delicious food and greenhouse construction? You bet it does! We haven’t gotten confirmation just yet, but Tate is working his magic to see if we can’t get a band to come play some tunes at lunch. It’s gonna be a heck of a good time. You won’t want to miss this one!

So, we’ll send a reminder closer to the mob, but don’t forget smart people things like sunscreen, water, boots, hat but also things you’ll be likely to forget like plates, utensils, napkins etc. And this go around, if anyone has any cordless drills, saws or other helpful construction tools, we sure would appreciate if you’d bring them along. Be sure to label them!

This is the first time we’re trying two larger mobs in one month, so show us you want us to keep it up by coming out to Buckhead, GA (no, not expensive one in midtown Atlanta) and helping our friend Farmer Tate get his greenhouses ready for fall! More on the camping situation soon!

Tewksbury Farm
1121 Mason Rd.
Buckhead, GA 30625
9AM

Register Now (Click Here)

This past weekend Crop Mob went to Burge Organic Farm in Mansfield and MAN did we get some work done! Cory, the super amazing farm manager, did a great job of organizing our tasks so that, once we were all in and accounted for, we hit the ground running! Well, not running, so much as harvesting and weeding. One group harvested an entire field of African winter squash and took fun pickup truck rides to move them to a protected area while another group weeded around asparagus plants that towered over many mobbers heads. We also harvested the dramatically named Bloody Butcher heirloom dent corn, a gorgeous – you guessed it – red variety. We also discovered one of the few things a goat won’t eat when uprooting some coffeeweed, and no Crop Mob would be complete without having to wrangle with some of the dreaded pigweed.

The fried chicken lunch from Miller Union was lifechanging as always. We never stop wondering how we’re lucky enough to have them as a partner. PLUS we had some unbelievable Honey Basil Ale from Folksy Brews. Yes, it was every bit as amazing as it sounds. Even the weather was pretty perfect: cooler than previous mobs with intermittent sprinkles when you needed them most. The farm itself is part of the breathtakingly beautiful Burge Plantation which has been in the same family for over seven generations – or, as the owner accurately put it – since Lincoln was born! It was really awesome to be part of something so historical. In fact, we each got to take home a produce souvenir (prouvenir?) of a winter squash and some heirloom garlic that they found growing on the property from who knows how long ago! We’re hoping mobbers will plant a clove or two to keep this tradition alive. As for me, I’ve already got designs on that winter squash.

And guess what? We get to do it again in under two weeks at Tewksbury Farm! We’ll have more info on that to you today or tomorrow but there are some pretty fun times in the making (think camping, a band, and learning about seriously traditional farming techniques). More on that to come!

Thanks so much to all of you who worked so hard at Burge. Cory couldn’t thank us enough. Hopefully we’ll have a few pictures to share soon, but we couldn’t be prouder of our mobbers. We’re really turning into a strong force farmers can count on when they need it most.

We’re agricultural superheroes, people.

Photo credit: Corey Deyette