I have had another interesting week of agricultural activities in my world. The week after Mia and Cody’s wedding we attended our good friend’s wedding of their son at a beautiful venue in Flora. The place is on Highway 22, its name is Bridlewood of Madison. A perfect place for a wedding, there was an outdoor space for a wedding if weather allows which it did perfectly. There is also an indoor space for those times the weather sends us indoors. The rehearsal festivities were done with everyone being in costume since it happened to be Halloween night. It certainly lit up the mood; it really helped that everyone went all out with their costumes. Costumes have really evolved into some elaborate designs compared to back in the day when one of your mom’s sheets with some hole cut in them would suffice.
The Monday following that we were honored to have a group of 48 gardeners tour our yard. Fellow gardener Emily Grohovsky along with her husband have created a wonderful gardening opportunity for Mississippi. Their business is known as Cedar Hill Gardens. Emily is installing gardens for people that want to have what it takes to have plants thrive in a gorgeous setting. I can’t say enough about their craftsmanship and the care that goes into their work. I’ve seen a few of her gardens and they are mouthwatering but what I really love about her concept is that it doesn’t stop there. The folks who showed up that crispy cool morning were gardeners who were obviously very interested in more knowledge about the gardening world that are clients of Cedar Hill. I did make sure that they understood from the get-go that what they would see in our backyard is a partly unconventional style and partly by the book of trial and error.
We had a great time walking and talking in a very casual and relaxed couple of hours. We showed them what we are doing and talked about plans yet to fruit. The best tours are those that are made up of folks that are there to learn a few tricks, and, even better, to let me in on some of their tricks. There is no end to learning we can pass on to each other, my favorite part of gardening. We are so happy to have these great folks at Cedar Hill Gardens as a part of our industry, they are the kind of business that makes gardening look great and want you to be successful.
During the wedding weekend festivities while I was dressed up as the man behind the curtain, Oz, and Mimi was dressed up as the wicked witch we were doing our best to have a serious conversation with some old friends who were also dressed in loud, sparkling costumes (like leftover Mardi Gras glitter). They are the owners of Salad Days in Flora. I’m sure by now most have had some of their wonderful lettuce either from the produce aisle at the grocery store or unknowingly while enjoying a salad from one of our restaurants in the state or perhaps New Orleans. They package the lettuce in clear plastic “clams” with the roots still attached to the leaves, so the plant is not only not dying but is still alive and thriving. I have never tasted a better lettuce (except maybe that lettuce that is in my garden that I can pull a few leaves off of and munch on when I’m passing through). If you have not tried it look for it next time you get next week’s lettuce, you will be glad you did.
I love that it is produced 20 minutes from the Northside. Salad Days has outgrown their existing facility and are in the process of finishing up their state-of-the-art facility with 65,000 ft. of grow space. Not to mention the giant cooler for keeping the lettuce fresh until it can be shipped out to grocery stores and restaurants around the southeast. There is also a huge space for packaging and shipping along with offices, conference rooms and all that comes along with employing lots of Mississippians.
This business is a huge win for our state and makes living a healthy lifestyle much easier. I’ve seen a lot of greenhouses in my days, but this facility takes the cake. The greenhouse world, especially those that are connected to the hydroponic world and the future of food production has made great strides in automation and has modernized our industry. With water issues in some places becoming more and more the focal point they have figured out ways to recycle the water used, disinfect the water and add back the things that water needs to keep growing crops instead of all the water consumed by farming heading to who knows where.
This grow had fogging systems for cooling, wet walls for cooling, air movement equipment, ways to keep the right temps for the right time of the year, they left no stones unturned. In fact, I could sense their excitement for the newness and their eagerness to get the ball rolling. While we spoke and toured, I watched them and their growers scanning the ground for any little bits of paper or pebbles or anything else that wasn’t perfect. They were steadily filling their pockets with these things; I could just imagine their pocket unloading spot when they got home in the evenings. My pocket unloading spot is bad enough and most of the debris that winds up in my pockets, my socks and my shoes is there by accident, my unloading zone can be quite interesting on some days. Plant tags, screws, tools, scraps of paper with important phone numbers, rocks, acorns and many other little things that you would think a squirrel might be saving for a winter day falls out of my clothes.
I can’t describe enough about this facility that Mimi and I were so honored to be able to see before it was finished. We can’t wait to go back when there will be lettuce plants being propagated, growing and being harvested like we are in the future. We could not get over how calm, cool and collected the owners and their growers seemed with all of this going on around them. I believe their future looks great and we are so lucky to have fellow Mississippians moving our quality of agricultural-related endeavors to yet another highest of levels.
With businesses like Cedar Hill Gardens and Salad Days in our state it gives me hope that we are king of agriculture, not just our bountiful Delta but also with nontraditional, forward thinkers of our agri-industry who are willing to risk pushing that envelope.
A little sad news speaking of thinkers outside the box. A local business that has existed and served our community for quite a few years will be shut down due to the owner having some health issues. The Garden Pharmacy was a six-acre permaculture demonstration farm that produced many kinds of fruits, herbs, and flowers for the greater Jackson area. They used sustainable and regenerative farming methods for growing foods for Mississippians. The couple who started and ran this farm enjoyed the life of a self-sufficient homestead lifestyle in Bolton. This farm has 200 fruit trees, 30 blueberry bushes, a 40 vine muscadine vineyard, organic garden plots filled with perennials, herbs and pollinator friendly beds.
When I heard the unfortunate news, I called my son and his wife, Max and Madeline, to see if they had heard the news. This sounded to me like the lifestyle they dream about so we are going to tour the farm on Saturday to see if it was something they would like to purchase and get it back up and running. It can’t hurt to look; it might just be their dream spot. We have a lot of hard-working folks in this state that love the agriculture world and it’s a lucky thing for all of us. It keeps us in some great fresh produce and plants for our own enjoyment. It is interesting to me when I began searching out the CSA’s and nontraditional crop producers, the number of these types of businesses in our state are staggering, check it out when you get a chance. There are jobs available, volunteer opportunities and much more to learn about. Our state continues to lead and push forward with our rich resources that our climate and soils allow.
I really intended to further write about my journey to India, but I had such a busy week with all this stuff I’ll have to get back to that next week. I have to give a shout out to Tom Johnson for the article What Men Don’t Know last week. If you didn’t give that one a read, you should find it. I laughed and agreed with what he had to say, the stuff we don’t know.
