The Future of Pennsylvania Agriculture as I see it, Part 3
...Brooks continues his personal opinion piece on Governor Tom Wolf's recently announced agricultural plan. Here is Part 1 and 2 if you missed them. Point 4: Establishing business ownership succession plans on the farm and throughout the food system. Succession planning is one of the most common sense and unexpected points for a politician to include in a plan. I say unexpected because it is so forward-thinking I can’t believe a person whose job depends on re-election in a co


Life on the Farm: A late summer night
Dear friends and local food eaters, Lately there has been a lot of sharing of farm life trials and tribulations, of which there are many. To balance that out, I wanted to share this experience from last weekend. We had some friends over and were grilling a london broil and making a huge salad. There was peach crisp in the oven. Before eating, the sun went down and the sky was darkening, and someone suggested walking up to the top of the hill to see the sights. So a bunch of k

Food from the Farm: Summer Vegetable Ground Beef Stir Fry
Good morning local food eaters! Is it still summer? Feels like we've been alternating between heat waves and rainy season. But we still have tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and summer squash, though they are probably on their way out now. One of my favorite things to do with ground beef is a simple stir fry with whatever vegetables are in season at the time. This summer has been a whirlwind of farm activity, house construction, and new baby care. This simple stir fry has been a
The Future of Local Agriculture as I See it, Part 2
Here is a continuation of Brooks' personal opinions on Governor Tom Wolf's Agricultural plan. Check out part 1 if you missed it. Ooohhhh man, that third point is so close to my heart! Removing unnecessary regulatory burdens and strengthening the state’s business climate. Yikes! I can feel the power-hungry folks sitting on zoning hearing boards shifting in their heavily regulated seats. I could address this one for weeks - first, it is apparent by the changing food trends tow