Meet Tom Umphries - Grow Alabama's Fishmonger

Did you know Grow Alabama has a fish monger? Tom Umphries grows trout and tilapia and we've been enjoying the product of his labors for several years (since Mt. Laurel days).

Umphries, a retired corporate consultant with a lake near Tuscaloosa, grows trout in the winter and harvests the tasty fish in early spring before the water in his ponds gets too warm. The trout, now available in the Grow Alabama Store, is his latest batch. They've been cleaned, vacuum-packed and frozen, and believe us, they taste as good now as the day they were caught!.

 

 

Umphries keeps a green house full of tilapia. In winter, he breeds and cares for them and when the water is warm enough, puts them in his lake in floating cages. 

 

 

Mrs. Umphries has her own agricultural passions but not for fish. She loves donkeys. A few years ago, she contacted an animal "adoption agency" and began caring for two donkeys. These two have grown into a small herd. She believes donkeys make great pets and farm animals, and she'll be happy to let you take one for your family. Just $350 each. For information, call Grow Alabama at 205-991-0042.

 

Donkeys on the Umphries Farm. Want one for your own backyard or farm? Call Grow Alabama!

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy watermelon? Thank Grow Alabama & Hale County Farmer Levi Agnew

Levi Agnew grows melons. He's been growing them all his life, and now, with the help of Grow Alabama, he's growing sustainably.

He uses no weed killers, no pre-emergents (chemicals like isoxaben, pendimethalin, atrazine and others that prevent seed from germinating or seedlings from growing to maturity), no chemical fertilizers and no pesticides. (A very good thing, we believe, if you look up some of the side effects of the chemicals listed above.)

He cultivates bees to pollinate the watermelons, increasing production and producing some very nice watermelon honey (Grow Alabama will make it available in the fall!)

He plans his plantings, so that his harvest will mature over a longer period of time, so he can pick the melons to sell incrementally and not all at once.

How does he do all this? Grow Alabama has been with him at every stage - from planning and teaching sustainable techniques through to harvest and the market. We bought his entire crop this year for our members, and because Agnew is 64 and has to walk with a cane, Grow Alabama picked up his crop for him and transported it to our distribution center.

Grow Alabama farm-support workers are in regular contact with Agnew and other farmers, visiting twice a month, calling frequently to answer questions and offer assistance.

We've helped him find a partner, ensuring that he can put more land in production next year and support a larger crop. And, we're helping him plan an alternative for the melons next year, so the field can restore the nutrients that make his melons so good.

According to Grow Alabama director Jerry Spencer, "We're serving a role formerly provided by the county agricultural agents. At one time, the state had one or more agents per county. Now, some agents have 8 to 12 counties to cover. And, if you ask for help growing organically, they'll tell you they can't help you."

As for other resources, Spencer says that Alfa, the Alabama Farmers Federation, is geared to support big agriculture producers - corn, soybeans, beef, pork and other commodities. "It's for factory farms primarily, not for the small farmer, particularly if he or she doesn't want to use chemicals and petroleum-based fertilizers, or is concerned about runoffs and pollution."

"Our focus will continue to be the small farmer," says Spencer, "helping great people like Levi Agnew make a living off his land, produce great organically-grown food and market it to local Alabama people."

A photo of Levi Agnew's field. The grass growing in the midst of the melons is a signature of a field growing crops in the absense of herbisides and other chemical treatments.

 

 

 

 

 

Introducing Our Napa Cabbage Farmer

Our tasty Napa cabbage is fresh from the farm of Juan and Elvira Lopez. Picked, washed and delivered Monday mornings, his spring cabbage is a real treat for our members.

Growing cabbage, peas, onions, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and other great vegetables for Grow Alabama, Juan has been growing produce sustainably for about five years.

Juan and Elvira are like most farmers in that the whole family gets involved. Even the little children helped pick sweet potatoes earlier this spring.

The Lopez family are partners on a 200-acre farm in Blount county along with Grow Alabama farmer Jerry Marsh. Together, they provide some of the freshest, most delicious vegetables in our region. We're grateful.

Buddy & Diane Lovetto Return to Farming

Buddy Lovetto grew up farming with his Sicilian father on a farm that produced much of the vegetables for the new Bruno's grocery stores in the early 1950's. Now he and his wife Diane have returned to the farm and Grow Alabama and its members are starting to dine on the results.

This year, Lovetto's three 20-acre plots will produce squash, potatoes, broccoli rabe, haricots verts and agretti, which looks something like chives but is tart, salty and a tasty addition to warm salads, pastas and sushi. Agretti and some other vegetables to be grown on the Lovetto farms, are difficult, if not impossible to obtain locally.

 

Lovetto left farming in the 70's when mass-produced food from California and later South America drove local, Alabama producers out of business. Now, with locally-grown produce in greater demand, and with organizations like Grow Alabama providing a market, the Lovetto's and others like them are returning. For Buddy & Diane, it's a labor of love.

 

 

 

Buddy Lovetto and one of his three 20-acre plots, this one planted with squash.

 

 

 

 

 

Introducing Farmer Jerry Marsh

The fresh leaf lettuce you'll find in your boxes in the spring, 2009, are one of three different varieties of "summer crisp" lettuce grown on the Etowah County farm of grower Jerry Marsh. Picked just before delivery and at their peak of freshness, these great lettuces are coming to your table. We appreciate the work of our local farmers and are particularly happy with the produce from Jerry's farm.