(energetic music)
- Good afternoon, thanks
for joining us across
the fence, I'm Fran Stoddard.
There's a old saying that goes,
"By failing to prepare,
you're preparing to fail."
Wise words in a time of pandemics,
physical distancing, and quarantine.
Last fall, the UVM Extensions
Agricultural Engineering team
talked with commercial
vegetable and berry growers
in New England about food safety.
These conversations have taken
on an unexpected foresight
and given farmers a
foundation of preparedness
in the wake of COVID-19.
Across the Fence's Keith
Silva talks with the leader
of UVM Extensions Agricultural
Engineering program,
Chris Callahan, about
how those conversations
have helped farmers
prepare for a pandemic.
- I'd say first and
foremost, just the need
to rethink business as
usual, which is something
we've all had to do, right?
The, and so really having each
farm thinking through that,
individually, and based on
their, everything from what
they're growing to what
their crew might look like
this year, what markets
they might be serving,
how they might adjust how
they deliver to those markets.
That was one part of it.
The other part of it was, you know, just
the good old fashion human part of it.
Just talking with each
other about families,
and how's everybody's family doing?
And, you know, the stuff of life.
Business, yes, and
farming, and proto sure.
But also just how we're doing?
- Talk about those conversations you held
with growers back in the fall.
What do those look and sound like?
- We're a small team and a
small team that's in demand
by a lot of people. (speaker's
drowns out other speaker)
And so not just within Vermont
but given some of the
work we do and the things
we focus on, we've had
requests for support
and help from all over.
And so one of the ways we've
found we can do that is
by starting with a web meeting.
And the nice thing about
a web meeting versus
a site visit, a physical
site visit is, of course,
time of travel is a lot lower
for a web meeting. (laughs)
The other nice thing that
we've learned is, you know,
screen sharing can be a
really powerful way to
be thinking about these
things, especially when
we're talking about planning
infrastructure, buildings.
And a lot of what we talk
about is the physical flow
of people, product, water, and waste
through fruit and vegetable operations.
It seems simple that
starting with a Google Map.
And just starting to all get grounded in,
"What do we see here?"
"Walk us through where stuff is growing?"
"Where is your compost pile?"
"Where do you wash and pack protos?"
"Where is your well?"
- [Keith] Mm-hmm (affirmative)
If there's livestock,
"Where is the livestock?"
The web meeting platform
can actually facilitate
that pretty well.
And then we end up doing some sketches
in realtime with folks.
And we just use Power
Point, nothing fancy.
But start sketching things out.
And right on top of the Google Map image.
- What's gained for you
and your team by holding
these conversations online
instead of in-person?
- You know, I think it
provides a real opportunity
to hit pause and it takes you
out of where things happen
and into more of a planning mode.
So having that distance
can actually give you
a different perspective, it
can force some reflections,
and really get everybody
into planning mode
instead of doing mode.
You know, when you're
on-site, it's very much that
it's still a very, it's an
active farm, it's a business.
And so there's a lot of doing going on.
And so in some ways,
this has been a nice way
to sort of just force that
pause and take a step back.
We have a serious of questions that we use
as prompts for thinking
about specific challenges
or dreams of what people
would like to accomplish.
And it's sometimes hard
to extract yourself from
the daily activity to think about that.
And, you know, there've
been, very often we're
in the middle of a conversation
about planning a project
and literally in mid-sentence
the grower get pulled away
to, you know, answer an
order, a call for an order
or some other crises.
And so this is, you know,
having some dedicated time
and having the resources in
front of us all all, virtually.
The plan is it can be very helpful.
We love being present
with people with people
as much as possible, obviously.
- [Keith] (laughs) Right.
- Nothing beats a site visit
to understand the real nuance.
But for those initial meetings,
you know, this is really,
this is where we've started.
We get, you know, the 80%
answer right away, virtually.
And then we can sand the
corners of the project later on.
- What's the impact on labor?
I'm thinking of planting and
harvesting, especially in
a time of quarantine
and physical distancing.
- If this whole thing has
helped to really illustrate
one thing for me, it's that, you know,
a farm is not a farm, is not a farm.
And so that also means
the labor setup has,
is also diverse and variable.
One way it'll be different this year is
who those people are.
There's also the aspect of
how the growers do their work.
They need to follow the
same basic guidelines
that everybody has to follow in terms
of physical distancing,
and hygiene, and masks.
If you're sick, stay at home.
So, you know, some of this is not new.
I mean, this is part of
proto safety on farms.
In general, if you're sick,
stay at home, and good hygiene,
and things like that.
But some is new.
I mean, trying to figure how to harvest
with physical distancing
and, you know, et cetera.
Other farms might be
depending more on family,
and family workers to round the crew out
(speaker drowns out other speaker)
to avoid the risk of
bringing new people on
in the middle of--
- Hi.
- this pandemic.
So--
- [Keith] Right.
- And as they learn more
about what their operations
is feeling like, it's
staying in contact to make
sure we're all making the
best decisions we can.
- [Fran] For more information
about how UVM Extension
is helping farmers and
Vermonters in response
to COVID-19, visit uvm.edu/extension.
- "Buy local,"
is much more than a slogan
when it comes to your garden.
At many local greenhouses and nurseries,
you'll often find plants
that are home-grown,
which means they're hardy
and ready for Vermont's
every-changing weather.
We've found a story in our
archives about a grower
in Essex who's build a business
on going and staying local.
- [Keith] From paeoniaceae
and primroses, to hostas,
heaths, and heathers.
Over 800 perennial varieties
in all, and all of them
growing right here at Full
Circle Gardens, in Essex
- The most important
thing is to sell people
a product that is high-quality.
I don't wanna sell people
something that isn't
going to work for them.
Giving though there's 10,000
plants or more, (laughs)
I touch every single
plant that comes through.
I check plugs for diseases,
and I check cuttings, and seeds.
I monitor every thing
that comes through here.
- [Keith] Salatino can keep
a close watch on the plants
she sells because she
cultivates them on-site for more
than a year, which also
means that she can route out
any problems and pests before
they become a nuisance.
- One of the things about
being a Vermont grower
is that I'm able to detect
when invasive species come in
on certain plants, if they do.
Also, I've been keeping
my eye on a lot of species
that I grow to make sure that they don't
have invasive tendencies.
I mean, certainly what
might be a fine plant
for another climate area may
come in here and go wild.
Case in point, like purple loosestrife.
What a gorgeous plant.
Who wouldn't wanna have
a purple loosestrife
in their garden?
But truthfully, who would
wanna have a purple loosestrife
in their garden when you have so many
other great substitutes
and you have a plant
that knows its boundaries?
- Salatino opened Full
Circle Gardens in 2009.
She knew she was never going to be able to
best the boxy mass market
retailers on price,
so she decided that her
niche would be to sell hardy,
locally grown plants and
flowers that are Vermont grown
and breed to last.
- There's no way that I can
afford to grow a quality plant
that meets my standards for the prices
that mass markets do.
So understandable I can
see why people choose
that over one of my plants.
But one thing I can stand
behind with plants growing
in Vermont, not just my own
personal Vermont grown plants,
but other nurseries who
do grow their own plants
is that we know that
these are going to make
it in this climate.
I know that this goes out
the door that a person
is getting a plant, whether
they're an expert gardener
or novice gardener,
they're getting a plant
that's going to survive in our climate.
And that would be enjoyable
for them for years to come.
- [Keith] Small plant nurseries
like Full Circle Gardens
have the advantage over
large-scale retailers
by being able to over unique and exclusive
perennial varieties instead
of only the old standbys
or the runner of the mill.
- I've chosen to focus on
selling plant material.
And with that comes this
wonderful opportunity
to really branch out in a lot
of different varieties of plants.
There's so many new
patented varieties coming up
on the market that I can
get a hold of and sell.
A lot of brand new echinaceas,
very unusual colors.
That's what's exciting about this nursery.
Whereas with a mass market,
they aim for a small variety
of plant material
because, you know, they a,
are not as proficient
in taking care of it.
And they also would have to aim
for what consumers will buy,
which I do to to a certain extend.
I just wanna show them
all different kinds of
different kinds of perennials
that they can choose from.
Things that they've never
thought of trying before
that can work here in Vermont.
- [Leonard] Sarah, these
look like dead sticks,
what are those? (laughs)
- These are hibiscus.
The thing about hibiscus
is they stay-- (speaker
drowns out other speaker)
- [Keith] The diversity of
plants at Full Circle Gardens
is to a large part to Salatino's work with
the University of Vermont
Extension and Plants
and also science professor, Leonard Perry.
Salatino has participated in
many of Perry's plant trials
that help growers learn
what varieties grow best
in the green mountains.
- One of the benefits of being part of
the UVM Trial Studies
is that I am able to tap
into all these knowledge,
and work, and study
that has happened through UVM Extension.
I feel very tied into the University.
Anytime I have a problem
or question, I am able
to contact Dr. Perry and
find loads of research
and information on how
to change my practices
so I can grow better plants.
- [Keith] At this nursery
it's a mixture of research,
care, and quality that brings
everything full circle.
In Essex, I'm Keith Silva
with Across the Fence.
- We're happy to report
Full Circle Gardens
is still going strong.
This year, they are taking orders online
and providing curbside pickup.
Check their website for details
on how you can also cruise
and choose under physical
distancing guidelines.
That's our program for today.
Thanks for joining us across the fence.
I'm Fran Stoddard, stay well.
(energetic music)
