Winter 2009

At Green Toe Ground, cold weather hasn’t meant an end to the growing season. Kale, salad greens, potatoes, parsnips, bok choy, cabbage, carrots, spinach, swiss chard—the Celo, NC farm was producing all this in winter.

Owners Gaelen Corozine and Nicole DelCogliano are using a high tunnel, an unheated greenhouse, to protect tender crops that are part of their winter CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). (Participants in Community Supported Agriculture programs pre-pay to be members of a farm. Throughout the growing season, CSA members receive a box of produce every week, a share of the harvest from their farm.) The thought of receiving a box of fresh greens in midwinter is enticing, and so is the thought of what the farm will grow in spring.

Corozine names the hot weather crops he’s looking forward to: “Melons, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, and that first summer squash.” These vegetables as well as arugula, beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, celeriac, chile peppers, Chinese greens, garlic, green beans, green onions, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mustard greens, onions, parsnips, peas, pumpkins, radishes, rutabagas, salad greens, shallots, spinach, sweet corn, sweet peppers, turnips, and more may be included in their summer season CSA. CSA members can also opt to include pork and lamb shares. Green Toe’s CSA memberships usually sell out, but there are still some available now.

Green Toe Ground’s goods are also for sale at farmers tailgate markets: The Asheville City Market,  North Asheville Farmers Market, and the Wednesday French Broad Food Co-op Market. Additionally, Green Toe Ground is part of the annual Mountain Farm and Garden Tour and hosts its own event: Fine Dining at the Farm. Corozine and DelCogliano prepare a five course classic Italian dinner from foods they’ve grown and serve it on-site.  This year, they plan to have several intimate dinners in June and September for small groups. Visitors to the farm can see the gardens, bees, cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens.

“We try to achieve a whole farm organism by reducing off-farm inputs. That’s why we have animals--to generate our own fertility (manure),” DelCogliano says. They use organic and biodynamic practices. She explains, “This means we plant by a calendar that gives moon and planet indications. [And] we use preparations made out of herbs, minerals, and manure that are applied to the land in a very diluted form. This addresses soil activity, disease, and plant health.”

The couple farms full time, and they home school their two daughters.

Working together and approaching a farm as a whole entity, the family has strong connections to Green Toe Ground.  “And family farms like Green Toe Ground pass that connection on to the customers who support them,” says Rose McLarney, an employee of Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, a nonprofit organization that works with Green Toe Ground as a part of efforts create and expand local food markets. ASAP believes local markets will preserve Western North Carolina’s agricultural heritage, give everyone access to fresh, healthy food, and keep our farmers farming. “Participating in a CSA and seeing how the harvest from it changes week by week over the course of the season, eating a dinner of ingredients that were grown right where you sit, or buying directly from the person who grew the product at tailgate markets—those are great ways to reconnect with your food.”