The Horseradish Whisperer

Time for a Farmer D update! Haven't met D yet? Well, you're about to, because he is about to blast onto the scene in a big way. I've known D for years--in fact, it is because of him that I first got involved in CSAs (community-supported agriculture). I have since written materials for a non-profit agency he founded, for his website, and for an exciting product he is about to release. I have also seen him cup seedlings in his hand in my garden and somehow invigorate them with an essence they didn't have a moment before. I call him the Horseradish Whisperer.

But here's the big news. Farmer D has partnered with Whole Foods in a closed-loop, cradle-to-cradle relationship that goes like this:

* Whole Foods (southeast region) trucks all its old fruits and veggies to Longwood Centennial Farm, a Georgia Centennial Farm located near Savannah, Georgia (nearby where Farmer D runs the Hampton Island Preserve biodynamic farm).

* Farmer D composts this green waste and adds composted cotton gin waste, virgin pine peelings, peanut by-products, peat humus, granite dust, and biodynamic preparations that he hand-mixes himself (made from chamomile, yarrow, dandelion and valerian flowers, stinging nettles, oak bark, and equisetum). (Those little red flags in the photo indicate where the biodynamic preparations get added.)

* He then packages the finished biodynamic compost and will sell it to farmers who supply Whole Foods.

* Additionally, he will be selling it to consumers at every southeastern Whole Foods (that includes every store in Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama) starting about April 1, branded as Farmer D Organics Biodynamic Blend Organic Compost.

I got off the phone with D yesterday and was struck, yet again, by his incredible calm. The day before, a storm knocked out our electricty for a few hours, and I noticed how the hum of the house had stopped, how still and quiet everything was. That's what Farmer D is like. Still. Quiet. Like the mound of compost he tends without tossing, leaving the molecular structure of the soil intact so that microorganisms can work their magic underneath.

For anyone starting a new garden, or enlivening an existing one, I say run, don't walk, to Whole Foods once this product is available. It will also be available through Farmer D's website (there's a link to a very good article titled Virtual Dirt about this initiative on D's website). I won't be surprised if it goes nationwide in no time at all, plus Farmer D has "other things up his sleeves," and I'm not talking about dirt. Stay tuned!