Category Archives: Allis Chalmers G

In the Share – Week 1

Allis Chalmers G, chickens, kale, transplanter

RED RUSSIAN KALE F/P

GREEN BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE F/P

RED BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE F

RED LEAF LETTUCE F/P

GREEN ONIONS F/P

SPINACH F

CHIVES AND CHIVE FLOWERS F/P  The chive flowers are a pretty salad topping!

MINT AND TARRAGON F

PEA SHOOTS F/P  Read Tom’s post for more info. on this succulent Spring treat.

NEXT WEEK:  More salad greens and herbs, Swiss chard, green garlic, bok choy

FARM REPORT:
Welcome to Week One of the 24-week CSA Season!  We are happy to welcome both those of you who have been with us through the years and those who are brand new to our CSA and farm.

For the newbies, thank you for taking the plunge!  The first season is often a period of adjustment as you learn how to eat seasonally in our region.  We grow crops that thrive in our climate and in our organic soil which is pretty opposite of the American diet where we can eat everything any time we please.  So, to assist in the dietary shift you are about to make, each week Farmer Tom will cover some of the less usual crops and how to enjoy them.  Every week I (Rebecca) list what is in the share for the week and give a quick farm report. And, that’s my cue…

The field harvest for the CSA began today when we brought in a few hundred lettuce heads for the shares tomorrow.  The lettuce crop is plentiful.  Two plantings have ripened concurrently so we have double what we need.  Blame the warm Spring for the fact that you will eat lots of salad for the next month or so.

We had five inches of rain in ten days, so there was a period of time when we couldn’t do much in the fields.  We have made up for lost time since, with all the Spring crops getting a nice weeding with the tractor.

We then shifted gears to the Summer crops of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant and were able to get several hundred of each of those crops planted thanks to our transplanter and the crew putting in extra hours last weekend.

Right before the rain on Sunday we also managed to do something we had never done before:  put the chickens in the high tunnel.  The CSA members helped us glean the last of the worthwhile crops out of the structure ahead of the move.  We made sure to leave them plenty of less-than-desirable plants to pick at.  They appear to be enjoying their new environment.  It is staying dry for them for now until we remove the plastic cover when we find the time.  We are hoping that their stay will lead to a healthier, more fertile high tunnel going forward.  Thank you, chickens!  And thank you to all of our CSA families for your support!  This family farm is feeling grateful!

In the Share – Week 1 (extended season)

Allis Chalmers G, broccoli, chicken coop, chickens, cultivating, irrigation, leeks

EGGS  This week only, we have enough eggs to add to the shares.  Our hens have been busy fertilizing, weeding and eating bugs for us, when they aren’t sitting in the coop laying their healthy and colorful eggs. (eggs will be offered on the bulk list for the next two weeks.  Egg shares start the first week of the regular season in three weeks.)

LETTUCE  From the high tunnel, butterhead or red leaf varieties.

FRISEE ENDIVE  Add to your lettuce for a frilly salad.

SPINACH  We may be out of spinach after this week, it had a long run from its original seeding in September 2015.

GAILAN  Also planted back in September, broccoli’s more slender cousin.

ARUGULA OR SWISS CHARD  More greens from the high tunnel.

CARROTS  From cold storage of the fall 2015 crop.

POTATOES  Ditto on these.

HERB CHOICE  garlic chives and/or tarragon

NEXT WEEK:  Lettuce, green onions, hakurei turnips, radishes, and bok choy

FARM REPORT:

Welcome to the first week of the CSA! The harvest has begun just in time for Earth Day.  Organic farming and community participation is what sustainability is all about.  Thank you for caring about your Mother Earth!

The planting of the Spring crops is all but complete.  The fields are full of peas, potatoes, onions, broccoli, cabbage, kale, chard, carrots, beets, spinach, leeks and loads of lettuce.  Here we are last week putting the finishing touches on the leek planting.

 The rain has given us a temporary break from planting work.  Instead we filled our time giving the packing room and wash area a good Spring cleaning.  We adhere to and train our crew in good food safety practices.  This includes cleaning and sanitizing all of the crates and tools that we use for harvest.  It is a big task, but well worth the effort.

Up until two days ago, the fields were very dry.  Dry weather has its pros and cons.  Last year during the torrential rains I told more than one person that it is much easier to bring water to the plants than to take it away.

Other pros of dry weather: it was dry enough to kill lots of weeds!  Here’s me and the cultivating tractor, our Allis Chalmers G, getting things tidy.

However, there is a big con of dry weather:  it was necessary to walk out irrigation tape in April, which is not always necessary but was very necessary two weeks ago.  This takes time, but was totally worth it.  All of our transplants look amazing after a nice drink from the pond followed by a good bath from the sky.

So, I’m sticking to my assertion that a dry year is better than a way-too-wet one.  Although this week’s rain was tremendous and impossible to duplicate.  Thank your Mother Earth!

In the Share – Week 14

Allis Chalmers G, eggplant, potatoes

EGGPLANT OR SQUASH F/P  Mostly eggplant with just a few squash coming in.  If you haven’t tried the marinated eggplant recipe yet, I highly recommend it.

DESIREE POTATOES F  We have been leaning heavily on the bountiful potato crop for the shares.  They add some heft to what has been a difficult growing season. 

TOMATOES F/P  More heirlooms than hybrids this week including many green-when-ripe varieties like Aunt Ruby’s, Green Zebra and Emerald Evergreen.

YELLOW ONIONS F/P 

CHERRY TOMATOES P

SALSA OR HOT PEPPERS F  See Tom’s post for info. on our hot pepper varieties.

HERB CHOICE F/P  Basil, lemon bail or summer savory

NEXT WEEK:  tomatoes, eggplant, salsa packs, hot peppers, herbs and garlic. 

FARM REPORT:

A cold front has dipped down from the North and we were glad for it.  It has stayed dry which is a benefit to us as we work to complete the fall planting.  Almost all is in and with drip tape on each row.  Farm apprentice, Semra, used the discs on the electric Allis  Chalmers G to  “gutter” the beds today. 

It is so nice to be able to do this work after two months of flooding rains.  For quite awhile attempting tractor work was a good way to get stuck in the mud.  If we have wet times in the future, this work will give a place for the water to drain away.

The CSA member job right now is harvesting the potato crop. They have sized up nicely and are plentiful too.  We have brought in over a ton so far this year and there’s still more to dig.

In the Share – Week 8

Allis Chalmers G, cultivating, Garlic

GARLIC F/P  The first of the garlic bulbs, fresh from the field.

BEETS OR TURNIPS F/P  The share is root-heavy while we wait for our fruits to come on.

GREENS CHOICE P  Swiss chard, kale or cabbage

LETTUCE OR TOMATOES F  We will be making this horrible choice for you and will try our best to get everyone tomatoes just as fast as we can.

NEW POTATOES F/P  A mixture of types we dug from the lower part of the field where they were in danger from the soggy soil.

CARROTS F  The non-stop rain has taken many carrots to rot.  Expect less than usual until the second planting comes in August.

SUMMER SQUASH OR CUCUMBERS F  Our first planting of these crops is very soggy and we don’t think we’ll have much of either until the second planting kicks in maybe 2-3 weeks from now.

HERBS F/P  Genovese basil, lemon basil or summer savory

NEXT WEEK:  More squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage and onions. 

FARM REPORT:
A break from the rain is a chance to harvest what survives (garlic, carrots, potatoes), tend to the growing plants (tomatoes, sweet potatoes, squash and cucumbers) and prepare for the plantings to come.  Luckily, today it dried out enough that Tom and I spent the afternoon on the tractors while the rest of the crew pulled weeds and dug roots.

That’s me cultivating the squash and cucumber plants with the electric AC G tractor.  Tom was on “Grandpa”, our International 504, pulling the spader, which is the implement we use to prepare the soil for planting.  This is the first time since early May that we have been able to spade the soil and we hope to have at least one more chance before the broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and fennel plants  growing in the greenhouse will need to be transplanted, not to mention the fall carrot, beet and turnip seeds that need to go in by the end of the month.  We do what we can and hope to keep on the sunny side…

In the Share – Week 15

Allis Chalmers G, Garlic, sweetpea

GARLIC F/P  Musik hardneck

TOMATOES  F/P  We ended up with a lot of green-when-ripe heirloom tomatoes this year – Green Zebra, Aunt Ruby’s German Green and Emerald Evergreen have all done well.

DESIREE POTATOES F/P  They look like they are blushing.

SALSA PACK F/P  Partial shares get a choice with eggplant.

GREEN BEANS F/P  We will pick the Roma, flat-podded, beans tomorrow.  They’ll be a choice with the usual ones.

HERBS OR HOT PEPPERS F  Parsley, hot peppers or dried herbs.  See Tom’s post for more on the hot peppers.

CHERRY TOMATOES F 

SWEET PEPPERS F/P  We are looking forward to several more weeks of these pretty ladies. 

CUCUMBERS OR SUMMER SQUASH F  Perhaps the last week for these two.

NEXT WEEK:  More tomatoes, beans, peppers, eggplant and tomatillos.  Carrots and onions.

FARM REPORT
Whitey, the newest member of the farm team, was put straight to work delivering the Saturday shares.  Sweetpea, the VW, is taking a break until we can get her to the mechanic.  The new van is a completely different reality – bland perhaps, with an automatic transmission, power steering, a/c and even a radio (!) doing deliveries has become a pretty cush gig.  Thanks to Lawson Bank for loaning us the money to buy a good used solution to what had become a serious problem for the farm.

For the first time in weeks, the soil has dried enough to cultivate.  Monday we tackled the fall crops with machinery, hand tools and hands.  By the end of the day we had the tidied-up many rows of cabbage, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, kohlrabi, turnips, radishes and greens.

In the Share – Week 3 Extended Season

Allis Chalmers G, asparagus, cultivating, electric tractor, tomato plants

 ASPARAGUS  An extra big bunch for all.  The hot weather has it growing fast.

LETTUCES (2)  We have plenty of lettuce for everyone to get two of what is left in the high tunnel.  We have butterheads, Forellenschluss, and red leaf lettuce remaining.

HAKUREI TURNIPS  See Tom’s post for a stir-fry that uses the tops and the bottoms, plus bok choy or almost any other green you may have waiting for a recipe. 

RADISHES  More baby bunches from the high tunnel.  Just enough to give your salad a kick.

SPINACH  Probably the last harvest of the spinach in the high tunnel.  It fed us all well since last fall and we are grateful for it. 

TAT SOI  Both the tat soi and the bok choy in the high tunnel have been disappointments this Spring.  Not sure why, perhaps they got too chilled earlier.  You will be receiving baby heads that will fill in nicely in a stir fry or salad with other greens.

CARROTS It is nice to have fresh carrots this time of year.  The ones in the field are still so small. 

CHOICE:  KALE, SWISS CHARD OR GAILAN  We are clearing out the high tunnel so here is an assortment of greens to choose from.

HERB CHOICE:  Cilantro, dill, tarragon

NEXT WEEK:  The first week of the 24-week season!  Lettuces and salad greens.  Asparagus and green onions. 

After last week’s cold spell, the temperature has increased dramatically.  We waited until the frost-danger had passed and now all of the summer fruits:  tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans, cucumbers and squash are ready to be planted.  So far, we have 550 tomato plants in the ground, with another 350 to go.

It is also time to cultivate the spring beds.  Weeds are still small in most places and are vulnerable to the cultivator sweeps on the electric tractor.  The onion beds got the treatment yesterday and are looking great.

In the Share – Week Ten

Allis Chalmers G, electric tractor, flowers, tour, tractor

Cherry tomatoes 

TOMATOES (F/P) This week the green-when-ripe heirloom varieties are beginning to ripen. If you got it from us, it is just days away from ripening no matter the color. Wait for the fruit to soften slightly and then dig in!

CUCUMBERS (F/P) The persistent cucumber beetles like to nibble the skin of their namesake fruit. They only go skin deep, so a light peeling will remove the damage.

SWEET ONIONS (F/P) This will be the last week for the Walla Wallas, our sweetest onion. There is more to come with lots of reds and yellows.

LETTUCE (F/P) We were surprised by the heft of these little heat-tolerant lettuces. This is the last of them until September. We don’t quite have enough for everyone, so the partial shares get a choice with the basil bunches.

BASIL (F) We are picking big pesto-making bunches of basil this week. It thrives in the heat and needs to be cut back. Chop it with some olive oil and whatever else you can spare: cheese, nuts, sunflower seeds and presto pesto!

EGGPLANT (F/P) Excuse me if I am distracted by my dinner tonight, check out Tom’s post for the super simple and super good eggplant pasta recipe. Yum!

POTATOES (F/P) It has not rained at the farm for 6 weeks, so we’ll see if we break any equipment trying to dig the potatoes tomorrow. It has happened, so keep those fingers crossed! The potatoes are small, but we are hoping to get everyone a quart this week.

SALSA PACK OR CHERRY TOMATOES (F) If you haven’t made salsa from one of our packs before, just chop the whole thing up along with a tomato.

PURPLE PEPPERS (F) This variety is a called ‘Islander’ and is mildly sweet when at its green stage. We pick them until our varieties that start out green begin to ripen. It won’t be long now as we sampled our first ripe red one today.

SUMMER SQUASH (P) This is the last of the summer squash until the next planting kicks in.

NEXT WEEK: More tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and cucumbers. Carrots, beets and garlic.

marigold and buckeye butterfly

FARM REPORT: Admist the flurry of the summer harvest, endless irrigation and fall planting, your farmers get a little lost in the details and often forget to stop and smell the roses. In our case it would be a marigold, since we don’t grow any flowers that need as much fussing as roses. The type of marigolds we grow are big and tall like the ones I remember at Mexican farmers markets. The zinnias are also brightening the farm with their carnival of colors. The two beds at the field entrance is a free u-pick garden for the membership, but it needs more picking than what the u-pickers take so we have put the flowers on the bulk list. Blooming flowers serve many functions in our farm-scape, as nectar sources for pollinating bees and butterflies, seeds for birds and attractants for beneficial insects that prey on pests.  And they are good at cheering up the grumpiest farmer.

What is that you ask? That is something to make a farmer grumpy. On Saturday, our Allis Chalmers G broke its axle. It is surprising that such a stout steel rod could snap, but then the tractor is 65 years old. I hope when I am 65 I don’t break my axle! On Monday, Luke and Lorne took on the project and removed the disintegrated old pieces of axle from the tractor. With the new axle on the way (thanks internet!), we are hoping to begin re-assembly by Friday.

On Sunday, we showed off the farm to a local 4-H group, led by Clinton County 4-H Youth Specialist, Debbie Davis. Tom and I were glad have the opportunity to talk about biological farming with the next generation of eaters and producers. We look forward to hearing how they progress on their sustainable agriculture project.

4-Hers on tour

2008—Our Fifth Season

Allis Chalmers G, community supported agriculture, cover cropping, csa, electric tractor, Elizabeth Henderson, irrigation, mulch, rocky, solar power

In 2008 we met our 5-year goal of being a 100% CSA farm. No more standing around at market hoping the customers would come to buy, instead we were able to stay focused on farming, knowing that all of our produce was already sold.

Morning light in winter

As we plotted our future we realized that one thing we were not doing was getting the most out of the land we were cultivating. It seemed friends with home gardens were growing more in small areas than we were in long beds of crops. We decided to expand our operation by contracting – growing less plants and paying more attention to them.

We had been asked that January to coordinate a CSA Workshop at the Great Plains Vegetable Growers Conference in St. Joe. We immediately contacted Liz Henderson from Peacework Organic Farm to join us on the panel. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to show her our progress since those days in 2001 at her farm.

Rebecca and Elizabeth Henderson in January

We also took time to visit friend Liz Elmore who was working at The Land Institute in Salina, KS. This group of folks, headed by Wes Jackson, are working in a field they call natural systems farming. In what they state is at least a 100-year project, they are breeding perennial grains that can be grown in a prairie-like system. We suggest you visit their website to learn more, and to support their efforts.

Board at The Land Institute explaining some of their work

February was busy as we converted the Allis Chalmers G tractor from gas to electric. With volunteer apprentice Lorne Carroll’s help and John Graff’s welding ability we performed the operation lickety split. We had just started our blog and documented the progress there.


Lorne assembling new motor parts, old G gas engine at top of photo

Then there was Rocky. We knew that we needed help keeping the critters out of our fields and off of our crops, but were not sure what type of dog would do the trick. Livestock guarding breeds seemed to be the best choice – big and intimidating to a critter, but calm and sweet with people.  So when Tom Parker told us a local farmer had Great Pyrennes/Anatolian Shepherd cross puppies for sale we jumped at the opportunity. We brought Rocky home on February 5th. He was tough to resist.

 
Rocky and his brother Bandit

 
2007 volunteer apprentice Jen Baughman joined us for the year. Her sweet spirit and positivity kept us smiling during a difficult year.
 
Jen and Rebecca potting up fall crops
The fields in 2008 were drenched on numerous occasions. The potatoes were a total loss, as the trenches we cut to plant them in filled like irrigation ditches in April. The tomatoes did OK, but were diseased and dying by Labor Day. In September another gullywasher set back the Fall plantings.
 
Attempting to bail out the potato beds in mid-April

Effect of 3 inch rain in September

Typical 2008 harvest morning with CSA troopers
On the bright side, the strawberries loved the rain, as did the beans, greens, carrots, garlic, lettuce, sweet potatoes and cover crops. We harvested 587 quarts of strawberries that year. The Honeoye variety was a good choice…easy to pick, juicy, flavorful, not too sweet, and red all the way through. 
Our first harvest off the new patch
Fresh Tropea onions
Just dug carrots
Weeding crew at the strawberries
A colorful share
Kid Rocky

Though we did not necessarily need it, our solar powered irrigation system was installed in May. Missouri contractor Henry Rentz set things up and we took it from there. It came in handy in August, the only month without a downpour.

Our new solar panels and irrigation pump
The wetness of the year gave pause, as we realized that our farming methods were vulnerable to excess rain. Problems could occur with only 2 to 3 inches of precipitation, something we knew to expect in the future. So we worked on several strategies to address excess moisture.

Step 1: Take low spots in the fields out of production. Being so dry when we started farming in 2003, we did not know just how wet some areas could get.

Step 2: Mulch as much as we can. A canopy of hay or straw over the surface of our silt/clay soils does wonders to keep the plants and soil life from suffocating after a downpour. Hay also provides food for worms and eventually the crops. As we like to say, we have grass-fed vegetables.

 
Jen mulching with hay over a buckwheat cover crop
Step 3: Use the electric G to gutter our beds, keeping the crops raised and reducing the chance of flooding out the plant.
 
Step 4: Continue with our cover cropping and biological farming methods. It is a proven fact that organically-farmed soils handle water better in wet conditions, and provide drought tolerance during dry times.
Rocky enjoying a nice stand of buckwheat

And so we entered another winter on the farm. Back to the remodel. This time it was the kitchen and dining room. We do alot of cooking and canning, so a functioning kitchen was a huge improvement to the homestead.

Stripped down and ready to go

So what did 2009 hold in store…best season yet, bees, sheep and double the apprentices.

In the Share – Week 21

Allis Chalmers G, carrots, cauliflower, high tunnel

CAULIFLOWER (F) One of my favorite crops and not the easiest to grow. We should have cauliflower for another few weeks.

LEEKS (F/P) I am so ready for some luscious leeks to enter our fall kitchen.  See Farmer Tom’s post for more about them.

LETTUCE (F/P) More of the heat-tolerant crisp heads for a satisfying crunch.

RADISHES (F/P) We have three different kinds of radishes ready in the fields and we plan to pick them all for your choosing. Partial shares get a choice of radishes or turnips.

HAKUREI TURNIPS (F) The farm crew’s favorite snack in the field right out of the ground.

TOMATOES (F) Your farmers are debating whether it is time to begin the dismantling of the patch. So far the plants are producing just enough good ripe fruit to keep us from our task but their time is running out.

EGGPLANT OR OKRA (P) A light frost on Sunday morning spared the tender summer fruits for the most part. Only the basil was significantly damaged.

SWEET PEPPERS (P) Mostly purple peppers along with some ripe types.

CABBAGE OR KOHLRABI (F) Choose your ball of brassica (reminds me of the “choose your ball of cucurbit” of a few weeks back). The kohlrabi is a fall variety that gets pretty big but stays tender.

ARUGULA (F) A bit of spice for your salad.

HERB CHOICE (F) Garlic chives, parsley, thyme or hot peppers

NEXT WEEK: More eggplant, peppers, okra, radishes, turnips and cauliflower. Sweet potatoes and a greens choice.

FARM REPORT:

At Fair Share Farm the planting season starts in early February when we seed the onions in the greenhouse. From then on we keep planting so that we have a succession of crops that keeps the CSA shares well stocked with a good assortment of crops. Only now in late September are we at the point where we can stop planting. The last seeds to go in the ground were planted in the high tunnel this week. It is now filled with young lettuces, arugula, beets, turnips, endive, spinach, bok choy, bulb fennel and chard.

 

We have also been spending a lot of hours tending to the many rows of fall roots that somehow managed to sprout and grow during the peak of the summer drought.   We have 2200 row feet of carrots and each plant must be weeded and thinned by hand within the rows.   Luckily our Allis Chalmers G tractor takes care of the weeds growing in between the rows.  On Monday we moved all of the irrigation tape out of the path and the “G” and I did some serious weed-killing.