Rural South Institute

From pasture to plate 🌱🐄🤠

Local meat is in demand, but getting a quality product to market requires producers to build strong partnerships and understand the regulations. This publication outlines the key considerations and steps for starting to sell livestock as meat directly to consumers rather than through the conventional commodity route.

Read and download: https://buff.ly/YNAncyB

Odds are good you’ve already transplanted your tomatoes and peppers and harvested lettuce or other greens to serve up fresh for dinner. If you’re interested in more than just weeding and watering, plenty of crops are still ripe for planting in many regions of the United States. Try direct-sowing these crops:
1. Beans
2. Carrots
3. Okra
4. Zucchini
5. Beets
6. Cucumbers
7. Radishes
8. Corn
9. Watermelon
Find seeds for all these crops and more on our website, https://shop.seedsavers.org!

USDA is proud to celebrate America’s farmers, ranchers, and ag innovators at the Great American State Fair. Come join us at the fair inside the USDA Pavilion and experience:

🍎 Daily farm stand offering, American-grown produce, inspired by the Great American Farmers Market.
🚜 Interactive experiences and demonstrations that bring USDA’s mission to life.
🤝 Meet USDA experts, and discover how we support communities nationwide.

🗓️ June 25 – July 10
📍 Washington, D.C. on the National Mall
🔗 https://www.freedom250.org/celebration/the-great-american-state-fair

Get your applications in today!

This USDA Program Transformed Food Systems. Now It’s Gone. ‘We will survive, but we’re not going to thrive.’

Let's chat Who is growing your food?
Great read.. thanks

I just published a new thought piece on my Substack: “Who Is Growing Your Food?”

In this piece, I write about food sovereignty, community-based agriculture, and why food access cannot stop at distribution. Communities need farmers, and there are certain conditions and systems that must be in place if we are going to sustain the farmers who already exist and encourage the next generation of farmers to take root.

Read the full piece here:
https://cheriejzar.substack.com/p/who-is-growing-your-food?r=58xat4

We are in a critical time for farms, farmers, and food security.

~ Sharing is caring **

Bucket gardening is perfect for small spaces 🪴 A few tips that help:
🍅 Use deeper buckets for tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and carrots.
🥒 Choose bush varieties when you can, especially for cucumbers and zucchini.
💧 Drill drainage holes before planting so roots don’t sit in water.
🌿 Add good potting mix, not heavy garden soil.
🥬 Greens like lettuce, spinach, radishes, and green onions are great for beginner container crops.
I like buckets because you can move them around until you find the sunniest, easiest spot.