Our farm was mentioned in the November 20, 2014 edition of The Winston-Salem Journal
Dixon: Farm finds a niche in baby ginger, turmeric
Amy Dixon/Special correspondent
One of the best parts about writing this column is discovering new places, new people and new plants.
Recently, I discovered Plum Granny Farm in Stokes County – and the unique crops that they cultivate
Owners Cheryl Ferguson and Ray Tuegel are best known for garlic. Growing more than 20 varieties has put them on the food map.
Regular venders at the King and Cobblestone Farmers Markets, Plum Granny always offers a great selection of produce and products, including raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, numerous jams and fresh-cut flowers.
But Plum Granny also specializes in two crops that most people are not familiar with: baby ginger and turmeric. Ferguson and Tuegel gave me a great lesson on the cultivation and uses of these crops since it’s now harvest time.
First, a little background.
Baby ginger is a younger, more tender version of what you usually find in the grocery store. Mature ginger is harder, stronger and much more fibrous than baby ginger. Baby ginger is not as spicy and slices like butter. It can be eaten fresh and it freezes nicely.
Turmeric is an Indian spice, most commonly found in your spice rack as a powder. It is usually used in Asian dishes and has a distinct, spicy flavor. Turmeric is also known for its curcumin composition, making it a super food with cancer-fighting properties. It can be eaten fresh or dried and turned into powder.
The process of growing baby ginger and turmeric begins in February inside the milkhouse at Plum Granny Farm. The milkhouse is an outbuilding on the farm. It’s well insulated and serves as a great place to sprout the seed rhizomes of ginger and turmeric.
The family farm has been in Ferguson’s family for 140 years, and many of the original buildings have remained, including the milkhouse.
“The milkhouse is probably one of the most useful buildings on this farm,” Ferguson said. “We didn’t build a whole lot, we’ve just tried to re-purpose things for our use.”
During the pre-sprouting process, the rhizomes are put in nursery trays, misted periodically and kept warm with a portable heater. The rhizomes sprout quickly and require no light at this time since they are being “forced,” just like a narcissus bulb.
Once sprouted, the seed rhizomes are moved to a large greenhouse, where they will grow throughout the spring, summer and fall. Ginger and turmeric produce attractive green foliage, but the real crop is beneath the surface. Throughout the growing season, both the baby ginger and the turmeric produce vast “fingers” of root rhizomes, which is what’s harvested for market.
Ferguson and Tuegel grow their baby ginger and turmeric in large bags instead of pots. The bags are more practical. Their square shape makes for better use of greenhouse space. The flexible sides are easy to roll up and down, and they are more cost effective than regular nursery pots. Their soil medium is a light and airy coconut coir, which is ideal for the rhizomes.
Unfortunately, 2014 hasn’t a good year for baby ginger at Plum Granny. A combination of bad seeds and fusarium (root rot) has plagued their crop, resulting in lower numbers.
“We have struggled with our ginger this year,” Ferguson said. “We had bad seed to start with, which has led to a supremely reduced ginger crop for us. We were gonna have close to 170 bags of ginger and we’ve ended up with maybe 20 bags. We’ve always known ginger is temperamental, and this year it has really shown us this, even more so.”
Even though their crop has been smaller, the remaining baby ginger has grown strong.
Digging into a bag and pulling back the soil from a stalk of ginger, Tuegel showed me what the harvestable roots look like.
“What you should have is a nice pink top and a cream-colored bottom. As the ginger grows we hill it and then it produces more as it grows outward, like a hand.”
A ready-to-harvest ginger plant has large clumps of rhizomes, which look like fingers on a hand.
“You plant ginger in a relatively shallow soil,” Ferguson said. “And as you start to see the pink on the top, that’s your signal to hill it. You hill it like you would potatoes. You want to encourage the ginger to grow out and down.”
Turmeric grows a little different than ginger. Instead of growing up, turmeric grows down. A turmeric rhizome produces nubs and side-shoots that continue to reproduce more “fingers” throughout the season, eventually forming a large “hand” of product.
Mature turmeric looks like ginger, but with a bright orange center. When cut open, a piece of turmeric looks like a little carrot. The flavor is mildly spicy, bright and has a unique mint flavor.
But comparing fresh turmeric to the spice rack equivalent is pointless. “You almost wouldn’t know it’s the same product,” Ferguson said.
Turmeric has gained in popularity over the last few years, and it’s desirable in juicing.
“Our first year we grew a little bit of turmeric, and we were kind of walking blind,” Ferguson said. “We grew it and asked ourselves: ‘Now what do we do with it?’ The second year we grew it, we saw we had a market for it. And now customers really want it. They expect it.”
Turmeric takes a little longer to sprout, and it has a little longer growing time than the baby ginger. Baby ginger is typically harvested in mid-October, turmeric in mid-November. Unlike the baby ginger, the turmeric crop is strong this year. Because of their setbacks with their baby ginger, both crops will be harvested at the same time this month.
Ferguson and Tuegel offer baby ginger and turmeric at both the King and Cobblestone Farmers Markets. It is typically sold in 2-ounce portions for $4. They also sell it by the pound.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 29, Plum Granny Farm will co-host an open house for Small Business Saturday. They are teaming up with Buffalo Creek Farm & Creamery to promote local farms and local products. Plum Granny will offer fresh greens, lettuce, paperwhites, mistletoe and garlic braids. Their homemade jams are also a big hit at this event, which incorporate baby ginger as the inspiration.
“The reason we got into growing ginger was because we knew we wanted to do a ginger raspberry jam similar to a jam produced by a farm Ray used to work at in New Mexico,” Ferguson said.
These jams include baby ginger strawberry mint, raspberry baby ginger and raspberry cranberry.
For those interested in growing baby ginger and turmeric at home, Ferguson and Tuegel recommend contacting Susan Anderson at East Branch Ginger in Pittsboro. Anderson is an expert in growing both crops. She can be reached at (207) 313-4358. Puna Organics in Hawaii also does mail order on both baby ginger and turmeric. You can find Puna online at www.hawaiianorganicginger.com
Plum Granny Farm is located at 1041 Flat Shoals Road in King. Ferguson can be reached at (336) 994-2517 or email cheryl@plumgrannyfarm.com.
If you have a gardening question or story idea, write to Amy Dixon in care of Features, Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27101-3159 or send an email to her attention to gardening@wsjournal.com. Find Amy Dixon on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WSJAmyDixon.
Our farm was mentioned in the November 20, 2014 edition of The Stokes News
Stokes County Farm to Host On-Farm Event for Small Business Saturday
Looking for a perfect gift for your Holiday giving? Stop by Plum Granny Farm’s Holiday Market and Open Greenhouse event on Saturday, November 29 from 10-4. This event, which is part of the national Small Business Saturday, will give visitors a chance to “Shop Small” by supporting small businesses in the community.
In addition to Plum Granny Farm, there will be other local farms and producers bringing their products to the event: BeNutty Bakes and Butters of Winston-Salem (gourmet peanut betters and baked goods), Greenberries Farm of King (eggs and photography), Truffles NC at Keep Your Fork Farm of King (truffle products including honey, butter, salt and white chocolates). Plum Granny Farm will offer a wide variety of farm products, garlic braids and other garlic products, turmeric and baby ginger, jams, mistletoe and Holiday greens, kitchen herb gardens, paperwhite narcissus and more.
The day will also feature on-farm activities such as Christmas tree cutting and a bonfire with s’more making. There will be refreshments and door prizes. The farm is located at 1041 Flat Shoals Road, just off of NC Highway 66 north of King.
The farm is partnering with Buffalo Creek Farm and Creamery in Germanton for the day. Buffalo Creek is also hosting a Small Business Saturday event with at least ten vendors participating. The farms are conveniently located near each other (a 20 minute drive through beautiful country roads) and offer a great opportunity for visitors to see small family farms in operation.
Now in its fifth year, Small Business Saturday is held every year on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. The day was created by American Express in 2010 to support the small businesses that create jobs and boost the economy. Plum Granny Farm, located just south of Hanging Rock State Park, is a Certified Organic farm that produces garlic, brambles (raspberries and blackberries), ginger and turmeric as well as heirloom and other specialty crops such as asparagus, artichokes, and fingerling potatoes. Ordering is available on their website: www.plumgrannyfarm.com.
Our farm was featured in the November 14, 2014 edition of The Weekly Independent and The Stokes News
Germanton plans to host 3rd annual Small Business Saturday
Ten small local businesses plan to set up outside Buffalo Creek Farm and Creamery’s Farm Store on Nov. 29 as part of their Small Business Saturday event.
In addition to Buffalo Creek’s goat’s milk cheeses, customers will be able to sample and purchase products from Mother Holtz Farm (jams and jellies), Mystic Wench Herbs (herbs, teas and soaps), Tyson Farm (honey), Running Pine Herb Farm (herbs and flavored vinegars), Nothin’ but Nola (granola), Piemonte Farm (artisan cow’s milk cheeses), and Crooked Run Vineyards (muscadine grape juice).
Long Family Farm’s goat’s milk soaps and lotions, Dinner Time Chimes’ spoon wind chimes, and a variety of food and gift items in the Farm Store will round out the items available to Saturday’s shoppers.
Visitors to the Farm Store are typically able to view the farm’s livestock from the parking area by looking out into the pastures that border the Farm Store. While shoppers browse the selection in the Farm Store, they are able to watch a virtual tour of the farm and take a peek behind the scenes of where the goat milk cheeses are produced.
Buffalo Creek’s owners, in addition to the owners of each of the local businesses will be available to answer questions and to explain more about their products. The local business owners are gearing up for Small Business Saturday and hope that everyone continues to Shop Local and Shop Small this holiday season. The Farm Store is open daily (Monday-Saturday 9-6; Sunday 1-6) throughout the year. They offer a variety of local foods and gift items, including products from the vendors who will be joining them on Small Business Saturday.
Our farm was mentioned in the November 4, 2014 post by Atelier on Trade
Our farm was mentioned in the October 31, 2014 edition of the Old Gold & Black
Every Tuesday afternoon, farmers sell their produce and specialty foods on the patio outside Mary’s Gourmet Diner on Trade Street.
The Downtown Cobblestone Farmers Market invites residents to taste test and purchase locally-grown vegetables and craft items from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, groups of two to three people walked through the farmers market as storm clouds loomed above the covered patio.
Three large tables lined the patio, offering produce from local operations such as Beta Verde, Rowland Row’s Family Farm and Buffalo Creek Farm and Creamery. Collards, kale and vibrant radishes flowed over one of the tables, while the scent of fresh goat cheese lingered in the air.
Margaret Norfleet Neff founded the Cobblestone Farmers Market system and discussed its origins in Old Salem Saturday mornings.
“We needed food around Old Salem because it’s at the center of the largest food insecure area, but it needed to be a market for everybody,” she said.
Eventually, the Old Salem Cobblestone Farmers Market managers met with a group of farmers who were interested in starting a weekday market.
The Downtown Cobblestone Farmers Market moved to its current location outside of Mary’s Gourmet Diner from its previous location at Krankie’s Coffee on Third Street.
The market was temporarily located on Patterson, a parking lot on Fogle Street and outside the Milton Rhodes Center.
The Cobblestone Market system offers the only food subsidy program in the city, the Matching Program, according to Norfleet Neff.
“Every time you purchase directly, 40 to 70 cents of your dollar stays in the community, compared to less than one percent at big-box groceries,” she said.
The Matching Program makes organic food available to customers who qualify for the federal government’s Electronic Benefit Transfer or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, colloquially known as food stamps.
The Old Salem Cobblestone Farmers Market draws larger numbers, 2,300 to 3,700 people every Saturday, versus a range of between 50 to 300 people during the Tuesday market, according to Norfleet Neff.
“This is the one we’re growing right now,” she said.
The number of customers and farmers has decreased as colder weather moves in.
Despite the smaller crowd, the market showed that agricultural production doesn’t end with the summer. For some, attending the Downtown Cobblestone Farmers Market is a matter of both convenience and the quality of the products sold.
“I like the downtown market because it’s quieter than the Old Salem market and it is closer to my home,” said Kelly Wright, who lives northwest of downtown. “I like supporting local businesses and I’m trying to feed my kids organic.”
The vendors, who attend both the downtown and Old Salem markets, expressed their support for the weekday market and its continued growth.
For every farmer present, the Downtown Farmers Market has helped business.
“We have been members of the Cobblestone Market for about five years now. It makes up about 40 percent of our sales,” said Johnny Blakley of Buffalo Creek Farm and Creamery in Germanton.
Blakley was selling “goat berries,” a type of flavored cheese balls as the specialty item of the day.
While the attendance numbers aren’t as large as the Old Salem Farmers Market, the business present Oct. 14 explained the benefits of the downtown location.
“Midweek markets are not going to be as strong as your weekend markets, but the Downtown Farmers Market has definitely been good for business,” said Joe Rowland of Rowland’s Row Family Farm.
In addition to managing the Downtown Cobblestone Farmers Market, Norfleet Neff is also a vendor.
She owns a business, with her daughter, called Beta Verde, which produces and sells gourmet jams.
On Oct. 14, jars of approximately ten different types of jams lined the Beta Verde table.
In the center, a display of blueberry jalapeno, one of the business’s most popular jams according to Norfleet Neff, was nearly picked clean.
Market organizers hope that the downtown market will continue to grow next year.
Norfleet Neff discussed working with the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership in order to help market the business.
“The strength of any farmers market is the uniqueness of the product,” said Jason Thiel, the organization’s president.
“They’re wonderful people, wonderful operators. They do it the right way.”
The downtown market will go on hiatus on Oct. 28 and reopen May 26. For students wanting to get away from the Pit, the Downtown Cobblestone Farmers Market is the place to go.
Our farm was mentioned in the October 21, 2014 edition of the Winston-Salem Journal
Tidbits: Local cheesemakers win at state fair
Michael Hastings
Buffalo Creek Farm and Creamery in Germanton and the Goat Lady Dairy in Climax won several gold medals for their goat cheese at the N.C. State Fair in Raleigh.
Buffalo Creek won gold medals for its regular brined feta and its garlic, peppercorn and red pepper marinated feta. Buffalo Creek won silver medals for its date and honey chevre, its red pepper chevre and a bronze medal for its unflavored feta.
Goat Lady Dairy won gold medals for its unflavored chevre and flavored soft cheese. It won silver medals for another flavored soft cheese, open soft-ripened cheese, and in the American originals open, sheep and mixed milk, open class soft and spreadable and open class hard cheese categories. It won bronze medals for feta and open soft-ripened cheese.
The cheese contest included 76 cheeses from 14 North Carolina cheesemakers.
For the complete list of winners, visit www.ncfair.org.