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Published On: May 02, 2008 01:14 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: May 02, 2008 01:14 PM
Fri - May 2, 2008
Cool Challenge
As Tansy said on her blog, it can feel like nothing is getting done when you're farming with little ones around, and she is participating in the Independendence Days challenge to keep track of what DOES get done amid the crazy, joyful everyday of family life. This challenge is from Sharon at Causabon's Book and is all about doing something each day in the name of local food. The mainstay of the challenge comes from Carla Emery's routine of planting something every day till mid summer, and then harvesting/preserving something every day till the end of the harvest season. She suggests updating weekly, so here is our first update!
Planted: So, let's see...from last Friday? I planted the rest of the scallion sets - none will sprout, forgotten in the corner of the barn, this year! I also put in anouther sucession planting of lettuce for salad mix - a purple looseleaf and a nice green oakleaf type. Today I'll plant anouther round of radishes and get one more bed ready to go. We really need to move the pigs ASAP so I can get into that garden bed too.
Harvested: Eggs :) I definitely could harvest some dandelions, just need to remember!
Preserved: Nothing in this area this week.
Storing: We're starting on the second egg fridge and I've been collecting, cleaning and packing eggs for market every day.
Prepped: We are wrapping up our pullet preparations today - E called off of work and is out gathering supplies to finish the second chicken coop for the pastured pullets. Once he has put the fin. We have a new waterer and range feeder, and will put another solar light in the second coop just like we have in the first. My goal is to see equal production between our chickens on pasture and in the barn, or very nearly so.
Managed: I plan on cleaning out the pantry this week, so that we can do another round of use what you have cooking over the next few weeks. :)
Cook Something New: I already make homemade mayo whenever we need it, but since E has been eating a low carb diet lately, I learned how to make hollandaise sauce to put over fish and broccoli.
Work on Local Food Systems: Paperwork was sent out for the farmer's market, and I just received a copy of our liability insurance so that will be sent out today. We need to buy a new cooler and tent, and then we should be good to go for next Saturday!
Compost something: All our scraps went to the pigs, as usual.
Learned a skill: See the hollandaise sauce above :) and I did some free-motion quilting on my latest Etsy quilt.
Posted at 01:08 PM Read More
Thu - April 17, 2008
April Farm Report
- First farmer's market is in less then four weeks - hooray! We should have plenty of eggs from our over-wintered hens for opening day, but hopefully we'll also have our new pullets here and laying by then.
- The usual start up costs are overwhelming this season - feed costs have nearly doubled! - but we'll cross our fingers, lose a little sleep and forge ahead...
- E's first bees came last week, a package from Georgia, brought up the coast by a local guy who owns a pollination service. Mary will have a nuc ready for us in May, and hopefully we'll be able to catch a swarm or two as well this season. E already had to put a honey super on our strong hive - it's looking good for our spring harvest! He went out this afternoon and opened the new hive for the first time - the queen was released, accepted, and has started laying eggs.
* the difference between a package and a nuc of bees is that a package is a few pounds of bees and a queen that they haven't "met" yet - they slowly release her from her cage, and in that time you hope they come to accept her. A nuc is a few pounds of bees and a queen, as well as a few frames of eggs and developing bee babies - you don't have to worry about the workers rejecting the queen and the hive gets established more quickly. .
- I haven't mentioned it here - didn't want to jinx ourselves! - but I think pig move number 2 can be officially declared a success. Roko and Lola have settled in nicely to their pasture digs, so now we have to see how they take to being moved to a new section of the garden in a week or two. We've been bribing them into a large dog crate with food and moving them that way, so until they get too big, we will probably stick with that method.
- Scallions, peas, carrots, beets, mizuna, mesclun, arugala, and dino kale are all up and running. I stripped one of last year's tomato beds of landscape fabric tonight, so will turn that and plant it with more spring crops tomorrow. I'm anxious to get summer crops in, but we'll probably plant those as the spring veggies are harvested, since the scallions and radishes will be up and out very soon. Only one bed of peas is trellised, so that's another chore for the to-do list.
- I'm debating getting into mushroom production this year...still thinking it over.
Posted at 03:19 PM Read More
Mon - March 24, 2008
Time to Dig!
I received an unexpected e-mail today that the
farmer's market will be starting the 10th of May - much earlier then expected,
and much appreciated during my unpaid :) maternity leave. That means the peas
can go in as of today, along with the beets and carrots (I'll try getting a bed
of each done tonight - not being too ambitious, as my dad may be finally!
discharged and the weather is unseasonably cold today) We'll wait till the 1st
to put in the radishes and mesclun, as those are two crops I hate to let get
even a day past their prime.
This also means it's time to rent the industrial tiller from down the road and till up the other existing beds so I can plant a ton of potatoes and get my brassicas started. The pigs are still in the back kennel after one failed move (we've learned they're still too small to be deterred much by a few strands of electro-tape), but we're going to put the elctro-net up and try again this week - even if I can't use them to turn over the old beds, they'll be a big help in getting some new beds ready for later in the season - there will always be more tomato seedlings needing homes, as well as more winter squash varieties to try .
This also means it's time to rent the industrial tiller from down the road and till up the other existing beds so I can plant a ton of potatoes and get my brassicas started. The pigs are still in the back kennel after one failed move (we've learned they're still too small to be deterred much by a few strands of electro-tape), but we're going to put the elctro-net up and try again this week - even if I can't use them to turn over the old beds, they'll be a big help in getting some new beds ready for later in the season - there will always be more tomato seedlings needing homes, as well as more winter squash varieties to try .
Posted at 11:56 AM Read More
Tue - March 4, 2008
More Spring Planning
We're not used to winter babies - whoa! the layers! Little sister sleeps too much for Gi's taste, but luckily cousin Alex is always ready to play
Everyone is settling in around here - there has been much playing, much big sister helping, and a whole lotta recovery. Last night I finally started to feel human again - the spinal headache is finally letting go of its grip - so I'm hoping today is even better. Who knew a headache could take longer to get over then a surgical incision and a bunch of stiches!
E and I are getting excited about spring prep here on the farm. The dogs have been exiled from our pool-turned-backyard into their side yard, and we are going to be pampering that area with some organic fertilizer and regular watering in between rainstorms. Hopefully in a few weeks, we'll have a gorgeous little kid paradise back there! We may have to patch a few places where the sod didn't make it through the winter, but I think we'll be pleasantly surprised if we just give it a few weeks. Next on the agenda... turning the dog's path into a "real" one with some old flagstones and maybe, just maybe, a swing set this summer!
Roko and Lola will move out onto pasture in the next few weeks - if the weather is nice today E and I are going to stake out their first pasture in electro-tape today. Our first plan of attack is to get the pigs into harnesses, so that we can move them with leads to unconnected pasture areas, but our back up plan is to herd them into two dog crates and just use the truck to re-locate them out there, then try again with the harnesses in a few months. This "late" in the year the piggers won't be able to turn over our gardens completely before spring planting begins, but a few weeks in each area and they should be able to root out the perennial weeds, especially the tuberous roots, and mix in some aged manure, even in the beds we'll till and plant early on. Another addition out there are some movable 2 by 8 raised bed frames - not too high, but enough that we can drag them onto a tilled level bed and use the frame to keep the row covers nice and lifted over the leaves, while being able to tuck in all the sides under the wood - it is so, so windy out in our fields that the wind often tears the row covers right out of the metal landscape staples. I'm thinking we should be all right building 4 frames (one for arugala, one for mizuna, one for looseleaf, one for baby lacinato kale)- we'll see though, I think we may need double that since we have so much in mesclun production right now.
To set into motion my plan of growing all the perennial herbs in containers this year I'll start moving my rosemary, sage, oregano, mints, and chives into pots while they are still dormant. I still plan on growing our annual herb crops - the basil, cilantro, etc. - in with the rest of the veggies, but I think I can better mimic the perennial herbs' preferred climate in terra cotta pots and window boxes. The ideal situation would be to not lose any to winter kill in our iffy climate zone, move them to the hottest parts of the farm as the season progresses, and confine those wonderful mints so they don't become weeds in other crops. If it works, I plan on doubling our perennial herbs for 08-09, as well as adding some that I've avoided since they almost never survive our winters, like lavender. Herbs de Provence anyone?
We're still conflicted about indoor seed starting, but I'll suck it up and at least start peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes in here this month - E is going to move our grow lights back upstairs, as the basement is just too damp, not to mention a haul I'm not supposed to make while in recovery. We were all about the soil blocks a few years ago, and were disappointed in how fiddly the process was (getting the potting mix just right so the blocks held together long enough for the roots to start holding their own, moving the trays with completed blocks around to diff. parts of the house and barn without the whole darn thing disintegrating, etc.). We moved back to flats, but maybe this whole new surge in popularity due to Martha will result in some tips and techniques we didn't know to use back then. I'll be anxiously awaiting all of your notes on your progress, fellow gardeners.
I'm excited to head over to school today to see everyone and show off the new kid, but it's nice to be able to devote my mental energy to spring planting and planning this year.
Posted at 06:51 AM Read More
Sun - January 13, 2008
2008 Growing Season Seed List
Old Seeds (2007 season)
Spring Crops:
Snow peas – 1/2 lb
Shell peas – 1/2 lb
Beets – Early wonder, about 1/2 pound, opened. Buy golden beet seed.
Broccoli rabe – enough to try again this year, not going to buy any more.
Cabbage – 1 minipack each early and late season green, some red seed left – start in coldframes OUTSIDE. Don’t use row cover plus landscape fabric – just one or the other
Broccoli – 1 minipack, enough to try it again, start in coldframe
Cauliflower - 1 minipack, enough to try it again, start in coldframe
Brussel Sprouts – 1 mini-pack, enough to grow for family. (mature too late for market)
Kale – 1 oz. Lacinato kale seed – plenty, but order another variety – redbor and curly, make sure to dust with bT every two weeks, baby kale was a hit too.
Spinach – 3 packs – start very early and cover! (maybe as part of mesclun mix)
Arugala – plant by itself for mesclun mix and let grow a bit larger to bundle separately.
Mizuna - plant by itself for mesclun mix
Mild Mesclun Mix – 1/2 oz. Use, but make sure to pull out mizuna so it doesn’t crowd out anything else.
Purple Looseleaf – 3 packs. Need green looseleaf
Leeks – grow for us, keep weeded! Direct seed!
Scallions – put in EVERY week from agway sets and establish perennial bunching onion bed(s) this year.
Radishes – cherry belle and d’avignon or french breakfast – don’t bother with seed tape – make sure to buy enough for the whole season Try forcing in boxes.
Carrots - three color varieties, till well, keep weeded. Try forcing in boxes.
Nasturtiums – start early so they can go in first bags of mesclun mix! Grow in front garden, don’t fertilize, set out April 25th
Violas – liberally sow in March so they can self seed in front garden for mesclun mix!
Potato sets – three colors, agway, even more mulch this year, make sure to plant fall crop.
Make sure oyster mushrooms are ready to go for mid-May!
Summer Crops:
Cukes – need them – good slicers.
Tomatoes – order a heavily ribbed variety, red zebra, start in cold frame.
- Sweet Million
- Dave’s grape tomatoes
- Beefsteak
- Brandywine
- Wisconsin 55
- Rutgers
- Barbeque Hybrid
- Large orange/red striped
Charentais Melon
Mini watermelon – plant melons once winter squash comes up and goes into storage
Sweet Thai basil – 1 pack
Sweet Basil – 1 pack
Bell Peppers – set out in landscape fabric
Sweet Basil – Red Rubin
Dill – 1 pack
Cilantro – 1 pack (lots will self seed next year – watch for it!)
Parsley – 2 pack
Snap beans – royal purple burgundy 1/2 lb
- yellow wax 1/2 lb
- need jade
Fall Crops
Acorn squash – a few seeds (table ace)
Sweet Dumpling – 1 pack
Snack Jack – pumpkins
Order more varieties winter squash, figure out storage issues.
Posted at 08:58 PM Read More
Sun - November 18, 2007
Seed Catalog Season Already?
We've yet to put the market gardens to bed,
waiting till Thursday when we harvest the last of the beets, radishes, and
brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving. Afterwards, E will mow everything down and at
the rate Roko and Lola are growing, we'll put them to work turning those over in
a few months - the piglets already seem to have doubled in size!
Johnny's and Pinetree catalogs have already arrived, and we can't help but start planning for next year. We'll be spending a lot of time on keeping up with our succession plantings of radishes, beets, and carrots next spring, and at least doubling the amount of radishes we grow - they're one of our most popular veggies at market. Table Ace acorn squash will be back, as will the Bull's Blood beets and Jade green beans - we were thrilled with the heavy second harvest we picked from each bean planting, and that means half the number of plantings we need to put in! I'm going to add in golden beets alongside the Bull's Blood, and limit our carrots to just one of each colored variety - orange, purple, and yellow.
We'll expand our winter squash plantings, and plant them much earlier - a fellow farmer starts growing his in the spring, and stores them with great success - that way they're sweet by early fall, and he avoids the powdery mildew and squash bugs much more. Sounds like a plan to us. I think we're striking collards from next year's plantings - we were unhappy with their yield and hardiness this year, limiting our brussel sprouts to enough for ourselves - they just mature too late for market, and giving our lacinato kale another chance and more TLC - this was our only bad year with it - but also adding in some other kale varieties since kale is one of our stand-bys. We seemed to ht the right amount of production with our mesclun, but next year I'm putting in our nasturtiums when we plant our peas - I'm sure we'll lose some to the cold soil, but we'll have flowers for our salad mix from the get go. I think we're also going to separate our mesclun mix components so we don't have problems with shading out of the smaller varieties.
E wants to expand our herb plantings, so I'm planning on doing that in large clay pots spread all over the farm - that way we won't have to re-plant our sensitive perennials like the rosemary every year, and we won't have to worry about having another field to weed. I'm going to put a bunch of them behind the house, where they can bake on the brick patio - I think they'll like the high heat, and the hose is right there so we'll be able to water them regularly.
On the livestock front, I'm planning on getting about ten turkey poults mid-summer to raise for family and friends for Thanksgiving, and adding a flock of Khaki Campbell ducks to a pasture pen to add duck eggs to our farmer's market offerings - we won't have too many this first year, just enough to see if it's worth it. They're actually more efficient layers then chickens, so I'm excited to try them. We'll hopefully have some Togg kids out of "Guy" the buck and Lucretia in early spring, and will be looking to sell those kids and add an unrelated female so we can have two females to breed to him from now on. More to come as I keep plotting and planning.
Johnny's and Pinetree catalogs have already arrived, and we can't help but start planning for next year. We'll be spending a lot of time on keeping up with our succession plantings of radishes, beets, and carrots next spring, and at least doubling the amount of radishes we grow - they're one of our most popular veggies at market. Table Ace acorn squash will be back, as will the Bull's Blood beets and Jade green beans - we were thrilled with the heavy second harvest we picked from each bean planting, and that means half the number of plantings we need to put in! I'm going to add in golden beets alongside the Bull's Blood, and limit our carrots to just one of each colored variety - orange, purple, and yellow.
We'll expand our winter squash plantings, and plant them much earlier - a fellow farmer starts growing his in the spring, and stores them with great success - that way they're sweet by early fall, and he avoids the powdery mildew and squash bugs much more. Sounds like a plan to us. I think we're striking collards from next year's plantings - we were unhappy with their yield and hardiness this year, limiting our brussel sprouts to enough for ourselves - they just mature too late for market, and giving our lacinato kale another chance and more TLC - this was our only bad year with it - but also adding in some other kale varieties since kale is one of our stand-bys. We seemed to ht the right amount of production with our mesclun, but next year I'm putting in our nasturtiums when we plant our peas - I'm sure we'll lose some to the cold soil, but we'll have flowers for our salad mix from the get go. I think we're also going to separate our mesclun mix components so we don't have problems with shading out of the smaller varieties.
E wants to expand our herb plantings, so I'm planning on doing that in large clay pots spread all over the farm - that way we won't have to re-plant our sensitive perennials like the rosemary every year, and we won't have to worry about having another field to weed. I'm going to put a bunch of them behind the house, where they can bake on the brick patio - I think they'll like the high heat, and the hose is right there so we'll be able to water them regularly.
On the livestock front, I'm planning on getting about ten turkey poults mid-summer to raise for family and friends for Thanksgiving, and adding a flock of Khaki Campbell ducks to a pasture pen to add duck eggs to our farmer's market offerings - we won't have too many this first year, just enough to see if it's worth it. They're actually more efficient layers then chickens, so I'm excited to try them. We'll hopefully have some Togg kids out of "Guy" the buck and Lucretia in early spring, and will be looking to sell those kids and add an unrelated female so we can have two females to breed to him from now on. More to come as I keep plotting and planning.
Posted at 10:04 PM Read More
Thu - June 14, 2007
Counting Our Blessings
Self-portrait with collard greens
An awful tragedy in our circle of friends and family has us counting our blessings here. Life on the farm proceeds apace - last week we brought beets, swiss chard, collard greens, baby lacinato kale, scallions, and lots of herbs to market. I'm going to let one of the four broody hens set on some eggs - we'll see what Americauna/Black Sumatran mix chicks look like if everything goes well. Our lone surviving guinea hen is determined to hatch out her own brood - we may get some fertilized guinea eggs from a friend and let her try her luck with those.
This week's market stand had snow peas, shell peas, collards again, the first of the carrots, the last of the current scallion beds, swiss chard, and the second harvest of beets. We turned over the last mesclun bed and will plant that with beans or cukes today. The tomatoes, squash, and peppers are doing well, they all love the black landscape fabric. I'm trying to balance out our summer crops so that we have more variety then the tomatoes/peppers/squash that flood our market come July - we'll have potatoes, beans....maybe carrots and beets too. Back with more pics in a few days.
Posted at 06:35 AM Read More
Tue - May 22, 2007
Sprung!
Newly mulched potato beds - Yukon Golds, Pontiac, and a few blues.
Every April I get discouraged looking out at the
fields, losing hope that any of the seeds will germinate at all - but every year
the gardens prove me wrong.
Our first farmer's market was a great success thanks to all of our great customers - we had a wonderful time and it feels great to be back in the swing of things. We brought eggs, broccoli rabe, mesclun with chive blossoms, collards, scallions and radishes this past week, and will probably have the same variety this coming week. Peas are on their way and the carrots are starting to do their thing. I may pack arugala in separate bags - we'll see how it looks on Friday. Kale, beets, cilantro, and swiss chard are all on deck.
Our first farmer's market was a great success thanks to all of our great customers - we had a wonderful time and it feels great to be back in the swing of things. We brought eggs, broccoli rabe, mesclun with chive blossoms, collards, scallions and radishes this past week, and will probably have the same variety this coming week. Peas are on their way and the carrots are starting to do their thing. I may pack arugala in separate bags - we'll see how it looks on Friday. Kale, beets, cilantro, and swiss chard are all on deck.
The chicks are growing like weeds and we split them up a few days ago - half stayed in the stock tank and half went into the rabbit hutch. The gardens are shaping up - I'm really trying to stay on top of the weeding, mulching, and mowing as much as possible this year, and I think it's paying off. The new garden is a problem, as the newly tilled areas always are, but I bought some more landscape fabric and we'll run that down this weekend between the hills of squash, tomatoes, and beans in that area. I'm glad to spend 50 dollars on that if it means that we can have a fighting chance against the sod.
A few more pictures....
Thinned beets (we add the colorful baby leaves to our salad mixes)
A bed of cabbage - we're trying this one on landscape fabric, but I think the floating row covers will win out once the bugs show up. Row covers plus landscape fabric, we quickly learned this spring, = fried cabbage.
The peas (snow and shell) are clambering up their supports - we used a interwoven hedge of twigs this year since the dead magnolias provided us tons of supple branches.
Posted at 10:46 PM Read More
Thu - April 5, 2007
April Showers
Gi and I have been enjoying our spring break,
but since it also falls in the busiest planting season, we've been out in the
gardens every day that we're able. The rain gave us an excuse to relax
yesterday, and the snow! gave us another reprieve today, but there are several
flats of cabbage, cauliflower, and leeks that need to get in the ground before
Easter, as well as the first round of snow peas, mizuna, arugala, and broccoli
rabe. We're hoping the ground has dried out enough by tomorrow to get that done.
Earlier this week E and I planted the potatoes (Red Pontiac, Yukon Gold, and a
purple variety), the first bed of mesclun (we'll do one a week for the next
month or so), all the carrots (yellowstone, purple haze, danver's half long),
and about half of the brassica transplants. I wish the weather had cooperated a
bit more, but everything will get in over the next few days - I have off Monday
and Tuesday as well, for the end of Passover, so even if the soil hasn't dried
out till then, we'll be fine. I'd like to pick up a pear tree and get that in
the ground tomorrow to replace a young one that died last year too.
E is using plans he found on the new farm website to make an eggmobile for our existing flock. It uses a bunch of 2 by 4's, 2 standard cattle panels, a tarp with grommets, and a roll of chicken wire - materials ran us about 200 dollars. He's almost done, and we should be able to set that up tomorrow. We're going to try to figure out food ad water solutions BEFORE we move 50 birds out there - we'll see how it goes. That will clear up the barn for brooding chicks and/or another 25 or so laying hens so that we can produce all the eggs we'll need for market (about 30 dozen a week last year). I was hoping to put some feed store chicks under the broody buff orps out in the coop, but I think they may all have been sold for Easter. We went by yesterday- I buy animal feed once a week since we don't have much storage space here - and Georgia was in heaven. Even by the usual standards, it was a zoo. There were the usual two cats, several rabbits, the silkie chickens that have been strutting around the place for months now, the usual Easter chicks and ducklings, and yesterday, for some reason, there was a baby boer goat inside by the register. (This is the same place that had the emus last month, lol)
Our faucet broke a few days ago, and after a couple of attempts to fix it, E finally called a plumber, who ended up replacing the whole thing. Everything seems to be working fine, though we're bummed about the warped floorboards that resulted from the whole fiasco. We'll have to order a few boxes of laminate boards and then E and J will replace them - luckily the damage is all in one corner, so not too much of the floor will have to come up. As a side effect of all our water woes, egg washing was put to the side for a few days....the result?
That was exactly a dozen dozen, and my poor
chapped hands washed every last one the minute the plumber left! *grin* Since we
are drowning in eggs right now - we only bring eggs that are 30 days old or less
to the farmer's market - I tried my hand at making egg wreaths for my mom and
MIL - they turned out nice, though the pic I managed to take washed all the
colors out a bit. I just blew them out and strung them on aluminum fencing wire.
Have a wonderful Easter and Passover everyone!
Posted at 07:11 PM Read More
Tue - September 19, 2006
Planting Notes
Our season isn't over yet - we have another month
of slowly ripening tomatoes from a late all-heirloom planting, lettuce, arugala,
kale, radishes, and the carrots and beets which will be racing to beat the first
frost. Any green tomatoes will go into salsa verde, which we eat a LOT of around
here. :) I used to grow tomatillos, but we like it just as much made with unripe
tomatoes, so now I just wait till the first frost. I harvested some beautiful
large slicing tomatoes today - our favorite of this batch is a large orange/red
variety...of course we'll never remember what it was called, but we'll save the
seeds for next year. :)
Next year we are going to experiment with using landscape fabric or black paper mulch with our transplants. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, cabbages, kale, and swiss chard will all be planted that way, which will hopefully allow us to focus our weeding efforts on keeping our mesclun and other direct seeded crops weed free.
We'll be getting more serious about our early and/or fall onions in the hopes of a good storage crop, at least enough for our own use, and plant a ton more scallions - they fly when we bring them to market. Same goes for leeks - a LOT more leeks. They grow well from seed here, and there's no reason not to grow more of them. Hardneck garlic from NorthSlope farm will go in soon, we just need to decide where to plant it.
Mesclun mix is one of our best sellers, so we'll be expanding that, including a large spring planting of arugala.I'll also be starting my nasturtiums in early spring this year - they don't bloom for us in the hot months, and they got off to a late start this year.
We've grown plenty of tomatoes this year, and our pantry is stocked, but we realized at market the common varieties just don't sell through mid-summer. We'll focus on three very eye-catching heirlooms in color and shape - I'm thinking one highly lobed red one, Purple Krims, and one with lots of red and yellow/orange streaks. Hopefully they will catch people's attention and our tomato sales will go up. We'll be growing sweet million cherries, a variety of grape tomatoes that our neighbor has developed over the years, and yellow pears. That will give a nice colorful mix of super early tomatoes. We'll have romas in too, but may not bring them to market as they don't sell well. Our peppers and eggplant suffered from weed competition but the mulch plans for next year should help with that, and we had some nice purple bells, sweet bananas, and asian eggplants.
Early spring root crops will be increased, as we didn't have enough this year. I'm going to go with french breakfast radishes - a favorite at market, a wide variety of colors of carrots, and plenty of chiogga beets. We also know now that we can never grow enough snow peas, so we'll double that planting. We prefer them to the sugar snaps, even though the sugar snaps fill out a pint basket faster.
In other farm news, the pullets we put in with the rest of the flock last night managed to pile into a corner and smother two of their kind today - chickens! Argh. I don't know why they are so petrified of the hens - they're being treated nice enough, have a heat lamp, who knows. I took half of them out for now till the rest get adjusted and start milling around like they should, then I'll slowly add in the rest of that batch. Next year we are only raising laying replacements ONCE!
Next year we are going to experiment with using landscape fabric or black paper mulch with our transplants. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, cabbages, kale, and swiss chard will all be planted that way, which will hopefully allow us to focus our weeding efforts on keeping our mesclun and other direct seeded crops weed free.
We'll be getting more serious about our early and/or fall onions in the hopes of a good storage crop, at least enough for our own use, and plant a ton more scallions - they fly when we bring them to market. Same goes for leeks - a LOT more leeks. They grow well from seed here, and there's no reason not to grow more of them. Hardneck garlic from NorthSlope farm will go in soon, we just need to decide where to plant it.
Mesclun mix is one of our best sellers, so we'll be expanding that, including a large spring planting of arugala.I'll also be starting my nasturtiums in early spring this year - they don't bloom for us in the hot months, and they got off to a late start this year.
We've grown plenty of tomatoes this year, and our pantry is stocked, but we realized at market the common varieties just don't sell through mid-summer. We'll focus on three very eye-catching heirlooms in color and shape - I'm thinking one highly lobed red one, Purple Krims, and one with lots of red and yellow/orange streaks. Hopefully they will catch people's attention and our tomato sales will go up. We'll be growing sweet million cherries, a variety of grape tomatoes that our neighbor has developed over the years, and yellow pears. That will give a nice colorful mix of super early tomatoes. We'll have romas in too, but may not bring them to market as they don't sell well. Our peppers and eggplant suffered from weed competition but the mulch plans for next year should help with that, and we had some nice purple bells, sweet bananas, and asian eggplants.
Early spring root crops will be increased, as we didn't have enough this year. I'm going to go with french breakfast radishes - a favorite at market, a wide variety of colors of carrots, and plenty of chiogga beets. We also know now that we can never grow enough snow peas, so we'll double that planting. We prefer them to the sugar snaps, even though the sugar snaps fill out a pint basket faster.
In other farm news, the pullets we put in with the rest of the flock last night managed to pile into a corner and smother two of their kind today - chickens! Argh. I don't know why they are so petrified of the hens - they're being treated nice enough, have a heat lamp, who knows. I took half of them out for now till the rest get adjusted and start milling around like they should, then I'll slowly add in the rest of that batch. Next year we are only raising laying replacements ONCE!
Posted at 10:29 PM Read More
Sun - July 23, 2006
Out In the Garden
It was wonderfully cool this am, so while E
mowed, Georgia and I headed out to the gardens. I finished cleaning up the bed
of potatoes we harvested for market Saturday, cleaned out two of the strawberry
beds, consolidating the big, healthy plants into one bed. I just headed out
again, and planted the potato bed with carrots and beets, and half the
strawberry bed with arugala, the other half mesclun mix. I also threw in some
newer pumpkin seeds in the hills that seemed to fail (I think the seed was bad),
and a few rows of radishes. I've never tried growing them when it's this hot,
but I have the seed to spare for an experiment. Harvested side shoots of
broccoli for dinner tonight, and used the shears to trim between the tomatoes
and cukes to give them better air flow as the fruit matures. It's tempting to
pick the ripe tomatoes every time I go out, but I'm holding out - they do better
staying on the vine till at least Wednesday if we're taking them to market.
A mama robin has a new clutch of eggs on a low,
low branch by our faucet, so I've been checking in on her every morning when I
water the animals. Two of her eggs have hatched so far.
In other natural history news :) Georgia and I found an amazing caterpillar while out picking blueberries this week...even bigger then a tobacco hornworm, and covered in red, yellow, and blue spikes. A little research showed it to be a immature cecropia larva - they turn into the largest moth in the US with a six inch wingspan. Apparently the red horns on the front of the body turn yellow as the caterpillar nears maturity - I can't imagine how big they are then, this one was already at least four or five inches long!
In other natural history news :) Georgia and I found an amazing caterpillar while out picking blueberries this week...even bigger then a tobacco hornworm, and covered in red, yellow, and blue spikes. A little research showed it to be a immature cecropia larva - they turn into the largest moth in the US with a six inch wingspan. Apparently the red horns on the front of the body turn yellow as the caterpillar nears maturity - I can't imagine how big they are then, this one was already at least four or five inches long!
Posted at 06:48 PM Read More
Mon - July 10, 2006
Slow Down Now...
Y'all give me too much credit. *grin* I didn't GROW all those blueberries. We do have a few baby bushes, but they're at least a year or two away from production - as far as advice, keep the soil acidic and sandy, and mulch with plenty of pine needles. We were blessed to be able to buy a farm with wonderful soil (even though much of that is still in permanent pasture) but about three miles down our county road the soil transitions to sand as you enter the beginning of the NJ Pine Barrens. We pick our berries down there, at an organic blueberry/raspberry farm. The environment and soil there are perfect conditions for cranberries and blueberries, and it shows in the grape size berries we picked by the pound. I'm going out picking again Thursday, and if sales are still strong and the blueberries still ripening, may go a third time before the month is up. I'm going to make sure to put some in the freezer this time.
We had a great day at market on Saturday, though we didn't have many eggs to sell. On the table were blueberries, our spring honey, summer squash, sweet banana peppers, squash blossoms, baby chiogga beets, snow peas, snap beans (green, dragon langerie and french filet), kale, swiss chard, cut and potted herbs, mini red cabbage, and mesclun mix with nasturtiums. Next week we'll have the same, minus the honey (we're sold out), plus more eggs, royal burgundy snap beans, cukes, and maybe cherry tomatoes. I need to weed, pull cabbage, and fill that space with some more beans, squash, maybe another round of cukes. We'll see how I feel. Also need to buy some boiling onions as stand ins for onion sets for fall scallions. My market bags didn't sell last week, but we moved them to the front of the tent mid-day where they were getting a lot more attention - I'm hoping to sell a few next week.
The picture above is the new nest box E built for the hens - they seem to be getting used to it, and it's nice having higher nest boxes. I think the ones on the bottom are too small for our larger hens, so we may double the size of those by cutting out the divisions between them. I also have plans to start putting leg-bands on the hens as I see them laying so I have a record of who is the most productive (we'll be thinning out the flock in the fall), but I need to order leg-bands first.
Posted at 06:28 PM Read More
Sun - July 9, 2006
What to do with 45 Pounds of Organic Blueberries
If you're the baby, consume your weight in
blueberries while out in the fields, and proceed to do the same the next day for
breakfast.
Pack up 50 pints for sale at market (we sold out
:)
Make a batch of blueberry jam - we made one batch, for a yield of about six and a half jars.
And of course, a double batch of blueberry muffins
with my grandma's recipe....
Grandma Kilduff’s Blueberry
Muffins
Cream together one stick of unsalted butter and
one cup sugar. Add two eggs, one at a time, mixing till thoroughly combined. Mix
in two teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and mix to combine. Add 1/2 cup of
milk and 1 tsp of vanilla, mix till combined. Fold in 2 cups of flour and one
cup (approximately one pint) of blueberries. Be careful not to over-mix, some
lumps are ok. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 of the way full, and sprinkle top of
batter with granulated sugar. Bake at 375 for approximately 30 minutes till
golden brown and sides pull away from the pan.
Posted at 04:00 PM Read More
Tue - April 25, 2006
Every Day's Planting Day
We've been busy here - one day at a time to get
our market garden up and running. Yesterday I brought home some tomatoes and
peppers (yellow pear tomatoes and sweet banana peppers), planting them (plus
some eggplant I had hardening off) in three of the the five new beds in the
front garden. Since they all have row covers on them I planted half of one row
with mesclun to see how big the difference is between one uncovered and one give
a bit more pampering. We shall see. The spinach, some mesclun, and peas are all
up and running, and though very slow, the brassicas are starting to perk up
thanks to all this rain. The soil in there is nice and rich already so I don't
think it is an issue of poor nutrients, but I'm sure a mulch of some aged
chicken straw or goat bedding wouldn't hurt when I can get to that. We're on
schedule for scallions, greens, and probably radishes at the first market of the
season, so along with eggs and seedlings (tomatoes and purple basil/green
basil/italian parsley) we should be ok.
Today I brought home some more tomatoes (Rutgers and Mr. Stripey) and we put those in, and Gi and I headed over to the feed store for onion sets and white and red seed potatoes, now cut up and curing in the barn for tomorrow. There were a whole mess of chicks in, and our brooder is still up and running with some older chicks, so why not? We picked up 2 Silver Wynnedottes, 2 RIR, and 2 Buff Orps. (The older chicks still in there seem to be treating the younger ones pretty well, so far so good)
I'll be 27 on the 27th, and E has coined this birthday week - so far, a very good one! Monday the bees gave me an ingenious honey "device" - you open the top to let air in, and honey pours out the bottom - close it, and no drips! Today Harri and Rip gave me "Simply in Season" the seasonal/local cookbook from the more with less series. Hooray!
Today I brought home some more tomatoes (Rutgers and Mr. Stripey) and we put those in, and Gi and I headed over to the feed store for onion sets and white and red seed potatoes, now cut up and curing in the barn for tomorrow. There were a whole mess of chicks in, and our brooder is still up and running with some older chicks, so why not? We picked up 2 Silver Wynnedottes, 2 RIR, and 2 Buff Orps. (The older chicks still in there seem to be treating the younger ones pretty well, so far so good)
I'll be 27 on the 27th, and E has coined this birthday week - so far, a very good one! Monday the bees gave me an ingenious honey "device" - you open the top to let air in, and honey pours out the bottom - close it, and no drips! Today Harri and Rip gave me "Simply in Season" the seasonal/local cookbook from the more with less series. Hooray!
Posted at 09:42 PM Read More
Sat - January 28, 2006
Well, I did it
After much hand wringing, I ordered most of our
seeds, etc. fro this year. I'm going to pick up sterile potting soil, seed
potatoes, onion sets, and sweet potato slips at the feed store when they come
in. I spent about $125 (three 25 dollars off coupons for the three catalogs
except Johnny's) and included there were mostly longer term purchases: four new
row covers, a 2' soil block maker, 20 asparagus crowns to expand the asparagus
bed now that I'm *relatively* confident of its permanent location, and 75
strawberry plants. We didn't buy much seed at all, I'm trying to use all of the
stuff we bought last year first!
From Henry Fields: Jacob's Cattle beans, spaghetti squash, 2 oz mesclun seed, easter egg radishes, and 20 asparagus crowns.
From Gurney's (same company, diff name): soil innoculant, sweet banana peppers, medania spinach 'cuz it's supposedly more heat tolerant then the Bloomsdale I'm also putting in, snap peas, more bright lights chard, 75 Honeoye strawberries, Mr Stripey tomatoes.
From Garden's Alive: 4 new 25 ft. row covers.
From Johnny's: a pack of chiogga beets, 8 ball zuchinni, Zephre squash (the yellow ones with the green tip on the end), orient express eggplant, some purple bush beans, and the soil block maker.
I'm pretty sure I'll order a few packs of Dragon Langerie beans from Pinetree - it's a pain to order from yet another catalog, but I can't find them anywhere else and they do wonderfully here, and look gorgeous too. I'd like to sell them at market so we'll see. So that's the first farm expense of the new year - hopefully we'll break even, and if I plan this right, we may even make a little bit of profit - dare to dream, right ;) This year I'm aiming to make enough to get us through the summer when I'm not teaching without using our savings...make 3000 or so. That's 230 of profit every week. We'll see.
From Henry Fields: Jacob's Cattle beans, spaghetti squash, 2 oz mesclun seed, easter egg radishes, and 20 asparagus crowns.
From Gurney's (same company, diff name): soil innoculant, sweet banana peppers, medania spinach 'cuz it's supposedly more heat tolerant then the Bloomsdale I'm also putting in, snap peas, more bright lights chard, 75 Honeoye strawberries, Mr Stripey tomatoes.
From Garden's Alive: 4 new 25 ft. row covers.
From Johnny's: a pack of chiogga beets, 8 ball zuchinni, Zephre squash (the yellow ones with the green tip on the end), orient express eggplant, some purple bush beans, and the soil block maker.
I'm pretty sure I'll order a few packs of Dragon Langerie beans from Pinetree - it's a pain to order from yet another catalog, but I can't find them anywhere else and they do wonderfully here, and look gorgeous too. I'd like to sell them at market so we'll see. So that's the first farm expense of the new year - hopefully we'll break even, and if I plan this right, we may even make a little bit of profit - dare to dream, right ;) This year I'm aiming to make enough to get us through the summer when I'm not teaching without using our savings...make 3000 or so. That's 230 of profit every week. We'll see.
Posted at 11:50 PM Read More