Dominika Wojcik’s Post

Go to the source A few days ago, I picked some fresh vegetables from my garden. It was such a joy to look at the bed of vegetables and see the deep green shoots ready to be harvested. However one month ago, this was not the story. The vegetables were a pale green color instead of the deep green color that characterises this vegetable. Upon closer examination, it appeared to me that the soil did not have much organic content. Someone mentioned the need for mulch so I mulched the bed. Then I bought some manure and added that as well. After a few days, leaves started taking on a dark green color. Soon the sparse bed was full of new shoots ready to be harvested. The source of the issue was not a lack of water. It was the fact that the land lacked covering and the right nutrients for growth. Making these changes, greatly improved my harvest. What is the source of some of your issues at work? Have you critically looked at what you are doing versus what needs to be done? Look at what needs to be done and start doing it. Do not deal with symptoms, go to the source. #findtheroot #gotothesource #grow #leadership

Farm-To-Table refers to the process where farmers produce food directly for consumption, ensuring it moves from the farm (farmland) straight to your table with minimal handling and processing. This means fresher, tastier, and more nutritious food for you. But let’s take it a step further with Garden to Table. This concept uses backyard gardens and community gardens to provide access to locally grown, organic produce. Imagine picking ripe tomatoes, fresh herbs, and crisp lettuce right from your garden, knowing exactly where your food comes from and how it was grown. Garden to Table isn't just about fresh food; it’s about enhancing nutritional density and boosting economic development in your area. By growing your own food or participating in community gardens, you contribute to a healthier, more sustainable local food system. This process also gives individuals a sense of equity in a circular economy, where everyone has a stake in creating and enjoying local resources. Join the movement! Start your own garden, support community initiatives, and help build a vibrant, health-focused community. Let's grow together for a better tomorrow! 🌱🍅 #PlantPantry #PurRegen #BackToBasics #HealthyFood #GardentoTable #LocalFood #SustainableLiving #CommunityGardening #FoodEquity #NutritionalDensity #EconomicDevelopment #CircularEconomy #OrganicProduce #FarmToTable

🌿 Summer in the Vineyard: Leaf Removal Explained🌿 As the warm summer days set in, some vineyards are bustling with a crucial task—leaf removal, also known as leafing. Leafing is part of summer canopy management and brings numerous benefits: 1️⃣ Improved Air Circulation: Helps keep the vines healthy and reduces humidity around the grapes. 2️⃣ Sunlight Exposure: Ensures the fruit gets more sunlight, promoting even ripening. 3️⃣ Reduced Disease Risk: Better airflow and sunlight exposure lower the risk of diseases that thrive in damp, shady conditions. However, it’s not without its challenges! Leaf pulling can increase the risk of sunburn, especially on the west side of the canopy. That’s why many growers focus on leafing the east side of the canopy to maximize benefits while minimizing sunburn risk.🌿 Timing and intensity are key! Too many leaves removed too late can lead to sunburned fruit. In warm regions, where sunlight is intense, leaves are often pulled on the morning-sun side, leaving the afternoon-sun side intact to protect the grapes from the harshest rays. Every vineyard is unique, and the approach to leaf removal must be tailored to each specific climate and vine. Cheers to a fruitful summer and a bountiful harvest! 🌿🍷 2025 WSET 3 Harvest Bootcamp: https://lnkd.in/ggKcJkew #NapaValleyWineAcademy #Winemaking #CanopyManagement #WSET #WineEducation #NapaValley #Viticulture

Not everything is perfect though. We are all still human. For example,... ...I often go on walks down many of the trails we have near my home, with each trail within city limits having it's own unique style. We have regulations that require each natural area to be composed of a specific combination of plants & animals - part of out feral food system initiative, but I think some wardens go overboard a little too much, & wildscape their areas into looking more like gardens from antiquity, rather than their intended overgrown forest look. I understand that everyone isn't the same though, so I exercise patience & understanding, even though my opinion of some of them is quite strong. 😂 Regardless, it does give people the opportunity to show off their creative side, while at the same time, supplementing a great deal of our food production via autonomous farming. I shouldn't complain though, it takes a lot of maintenance for each warden to manage their area, which can easily be reclaimed by its more wild nature if its warden gets a bit lazy. & of course! the trails outside city limits are much much more wild, & can get a bit intimidating at night, which provides something for everyone's specific tastes I guess. 🤭 Overall, the greatest benefit of our feral food system is that I can literally find food everywhere!, unless I am in the need for some good old-fashioned fancy cooking, which I would need to go to my favorite specialty restaurants, with there being way too many in my local community for me to enjoy. 🤤 All this talk of food has made me hungry now. 😋 What should I eat today? Pizza down at our market patio, or waste my time munching on a few apples under the good old apple tree near the river that I know of? They are in season! So many difficult choices... 🤣

Anaheim Pepper Plant Care Guide: How to Grow Anaheim Pepper Plant With just the right amount of spice, Anaheim pepper plants have surged in popularity among both chefs and gardeners. Here's your complete guide to cultivating them at home. #ezsuggest #anaheimpepper  https://lnkd.in/gXDh-XJS

Red Espresso® Rooibos is no ordinary tea. It’s not your typical espresso either. The difference is in its unmatched quality and taste. So, what makes it so special? It starts at the source❤️ Also known as Mountain tea, we traveled higher and further than where most Rooibos farms are located, through treacherous mountain passes, to reach our tea lands. There, red espresso® tea grows slowly on high altitude plateaus, as nature dictates, wherever we can find space in and amongst the natural vegetation. Up in this semi-arid, isolated area, everything is done differently. Altitude, soil chemistry, micro-climates and surrounding vegetation, all contribute to the superior quality of our Rooibos. Mechanization and irrigation are not an option and our Rooibos bushes must struggle to survive. We follow sustainable, organic practices and do not use herbicides, pesticides or irrigation. Our primary farm was awarded the highest biodiversity rating in the Rooibos industry for farming as close to nature as possible. This, and traditional farm methods of yester year hold the secret to our bolder, richer tasting tea. We practice fair trade principles with our third generation Rooibos farmers and work together with them to grow the best tea. Rooibos runs in the blood of the community who help us plant, harvest and cut our tea; year after year. With an intimate knowledge of their land and craft, they have perfected the art of a process handed down through generations. Harvesting Rooibos takes place in summer, between January and April every year. Starting before the sun comes up, our harvesters cut ripe green Rooibos by hand with sickles. Our tea is expertly fed through a cutting machine to a size that is unique to red espresso®. This cut Rooibos is then laid on a shallow heap down the centre of a large tea drying court and watered with pure clean mountain water. In the morning when green turns to red, the bees tell us our tea is ready 🐝 Taste our quality in every cup. www.redespresso.co.za #redespresso #redcappuccino #qualitydrink #besttaste #homegrown #singleorigin #Directtrade #mountaintea #mountainrooibos #organicrooibos #original #originalredcappuccino #wecare

Now we know: Why does honey crystallise? If you're a honey nut like myself, you'll have a couple of jars of the stuff on your shelf at any one time. And, like me, you may have noticed that some honeys crystallise while others do not. While my bottle of supermarket "non-EU" honey (thanks for narrowing down the provenance information for us) has hardened into a cloudy, crystallised spread, a jar of raw heather honey is as runny and golden as ever. When a reader, Sharon Carrabin, wrote in to ask me "why does honey crystallise?" I knew just the man to call. Noel Leahy is a fourth-generation beekeeper in the Sliabh Aughty mountains in the west of Ireland. He's passionate about how the treatment of the bees, and the ecosystem in the 150 hives on his farm, translates into superb honey. A fan of the concept of farm to fork, he wants people to know what they're eating and to understand that the difference between locally produced and mass-produced honey is on a parallel to any other farming product. So why does honey crystallise? Rather than being a question of quality or purity, it's actually about the type of honey and its quantity of glucose. "Honey is a saturated solution of two sugars: glucose and fructose," Leahy tells me. "It's the glucose that crystallises. So some types of honey are more resistant to crystallisation because they have low glucose." According to Leahy, dandelion, oilseed rape and ivy honeys crystallise quickly, while clover and blackberry honeys crystallise slowly. "I store jars of honey in my cellar in the same way wine collectors do. Some crystallise in a year and some are runny after six years. They're both still perfect, it's just down to the type of honey it is." The best way to restore crystallised honey is to pop the jar in a bowl of warm water. Leahy also recommends spreading it on your toast in the morning. If you want to learn more, Leahy Beekeeping ( leahybeekeeping.com ) run Bee Tours on their farm where you can explore the inner workings of a hive and learn about the process of honey-making. Have a food question you need answered? Contact Aoife @aoifemcelwain on Twitter or by email at magazine@irishtimes.com with "Now we know" in the subject line Credit: Aoife McElwain (Copyright (c) 2017 The Irish Times) McElwain, A. (2017, Dec 02). Now we know: Why does honey crystallise? Irish Times Retrieved from https://lnkd.in/gFACeQBk

Increasing Blueberry Quality and Yield ISCA lnc. recognizing the importance of maximizing pollination efficiency, is now bringing #APISBloom to commercial #blueberrygrowers in #LATAM. This allows them to fully rely on the critical service #honeybees provide for effective #blueberrypollination and helps bridge the #pollinationgap between they current/conventional pollination results and the #maximization of #yield that can be achieved with #optimalpollination. By enhancing honeybee #foragingbehavior, APIS Bloom increases both the #frequency and #efficiency of bee visits to blueberry #flowers. This not only ensures that more honeybees are visiting more #flowers, but also that these flowers are #pollinatedearlier — soon after they open —when the #pollen is most #viable. The result is higher #flowerfertilization, better #fruitsetting, and the production of larger and heavier #blueberries. Fields treated with APIS Bloom have shown remarkable #fruitsets, with 20% to 30% higher yields of larger, sweeter blueberries. We are now also bringing more effective semiochemical #fruitfly control products to these markets, to protect the fruit, so the grower can harvest healthier fruit. Matías López Martín says that this year’s #blueberryharvests of growers he visited in LATAM look very promising. Good for the #bees, good for the scrumptious #blueberries we #eat, great for the #grower, excellent for the #planet.

We’re Here to Help Growers Thrive! At Hydralada, it’s all about making your work easier, safer, and far more productive! In this video, you’ll see the Hydralada Nblosi Platforms in action, expertly harvesting the exquisite Lapins cherries. These cherries are a true delight—large, dark red, and bursting with flavour. Perfect for enjoying fresh on special occasions, Lapins cherries are also a culinary star. They shine in cocktails, fruit punches, lemonades, or sparkling beverages. From cooking creations to indulgent treats, their versatility is nothing short of exciting! The trees featured here are part of a high-density planting system, with row spacings as narrow as 2.50m and a canopy height of 4.50m. This innovative system maximizes yield, and the Hydralada Nblosi Platform is the ultimate solution, enabling up to four workers to easily and efficiently harvest these precious gems. Growers consistently report huge time savings and increased productivity with Hydralada platforms. And when it comes to cherries, time is of the essence—it’s all about getting them safely from tree to table, where discerning consumers can enjoy them! Talk to Hydralada today and learn how our machines can save you time and money while helping your orchard thrive! #Hydralada #horticulture #agriculture #cherries #freshfruit #productive #efficient #innovation #savemoney

Reason #5 to Grow Food Indoors Year-Round with LED Grow Lights: Cut Your Grocery Bill! With grocery store prices on the rise, especially for essentials like greens, herbs, and fruits, families are feeling the pinch. According to recent data, the cost of leafy greens in the Washington, DC area has jumped by nearly 10% over the past year, with fresh herbs like basil and cilantro also seeing a price hike. For example, a pound of spinach can now cost upwards of $4, and fresh herbs range from $2.50 to $3 per bunch. What if you could cut those costs entirely? By growing your own food indoors using LED grow lights, you can significantly reduce trips to the grocery store and keep more money in your pocket. In fact, many indoor growers harvest crops like spinach and lettuce in just 30-45 days using hydroponic systems, providing fresh, pesticide-free produce all year long. At Plant3r, our Community Grower Program equips you with the skills and tools you need to grow your own food and help your community do the same. You’ll learn to set up and maintain an indoor garden, providing year-round food-growing services in your local area. We currently have community growers in Denver, DC, Baltimore, and Cincinnati, and we’d love for you to join us! Interested in learning more? Visit iwantagreenthumb.com and sign up for one of our live or remote classes today. Grow your own food, save on your grocery bill, and contribute to a healthier, more sustainable future. #IndoorGardening #CutYourGroceryBill #LEDGrowLights #CommunityGrower #GrowYourOwnFood