Here are a few hand-picked posts to give you an idea of what we've been up to with our farming in recent years! For more, please look around...
Can’t quite seem to stop planting! Lynn and Libby put in a last 200 or so lettuce seedlings to see how far they’ll go in fall growth. The soil is still moist an inch (2.5cm) or so down, but the surface is way DRY from a few days of sun and breeze, so we watered in these guys—the weather’s been great, sunny and warm this week…and it’s back to the hoses!
This pic reminds me of those “classic” Big Agriculture photos where a row of combine harvesters rolls up a field in impressive staggered formation, except, here it’s Mel (first day!), Lynn and Raechelle, not machines! Hand-weeding mainly pigweed from between tightly spaced rows of greens is unfortunately still in fashion this season, as it was last year, and the year before, and… The more hands the QUICKER, though, and this round went by in no time, under a gorgeous blue sky…
Spent the early morning harvesting a few CSA shares for a Monday drop-off. This is the first week of shares, and they’re still small, mainly greens… There are many tiny farming routines, things you’d probably never do in a bigger operation, that I find extremely relaxing and fun: the final rinsing and putting together of a handful of shares is one of them (it’s not really economical to separately harvest and drop off less than 10 shares or so, this is an…exception). There’s something deeply satisfying about this final post-harvest step, with the veggies together at their finest, the memory of the different quick individual harvests—picking, cutting, pulling—still fresh, that’s…cool! The spinach (above) was quickly dunked in cold well water to rinse off dirt splashed up from recent rain, then allowed to drip dry for a bit on the screen table.
Picked two types of beet greens, Golden Detroit and Scarlet Supreme. The stems are a little long on these—it all depends on the density of the rows, the weather, the harvest timing, leaf size is the luck of the draw since these are really thinnings, they’re not being grown just for the greens. Still young and tender, the baby beets and all can be cooked up, or the leaves used raw in salad (or as a salad!). Really tasty…
And mesclun, of course. This all-lettuce salad mix is a staple crop this year as usual, always on my mind! This cut’s nice and clean! Unrinsed—I let the morning dew dry off a bit on the screen table… More simple pleasures for the simple of mind! ;)
With the cold snap about to break, the final potting up is fully underway, a few days later than last year, but no worries. Even with the new, fourth grow rack, things are tight, with four trays to a shelf instead of the ideal two—better to give ‘em all an equal ration of light for a couple of days until the first wave is out in the greenhouse, than leave some of them on unlit tables. At the same time, started the cucurbits: several varieties of cucumber and summer squash, with melons, winter squash and pumpkins soon to follow. The rain so far has been good, over an inch (25mm) in the last couple of days, and a bit more apparently to come. OK, cool. Then, bring on the heat!
A specially Thursday-picked Large share, tiny farm flexibility in action for a shareholder who missed the weekend pick-up. A Large is about one and a half the size of the standard Single share. This week: carrot (Touchon), beet (Golden Detroit, Scarlet Supreme), tomato (assorted heirloom), mesclun (9-lettuce), spring onion (Ramrod, Red Baron), summer squash (Sunburst, Golden Dawn III, Ambassador), potato (Gold Rush), pepper (Ace), onion (Stuttgarter), garlic (Music). The shares have been pretty good this year, not over the top (in a superabundant way) as they have been at times in the past, but definitely solid value for the fresh, local, organic dollar!
The spring seedling starting days are rapidly winding up. Moved about half of the remaining trays from the Milkhouse to the greenhouse, including most of the experimentally late-started tomatoes. Based on the marginally useful long-range weather forecast, I’m aiming to begin the main field transplants around the end of this week…
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