Category Archives: chicken coop

In the Share – Week 1 (extended season)

April 20, 2016Allis Chalmers G, broccoli, chicken coop, chickens, cultivating, irrigation, leeksFarmer Rebecca

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 20

September 23, 2015chicken coop, chickens, chicks, gai lanFarmer Rebecca

GAI LAN AND BOK CHOY F/P Bunches for stir-fry

TOMATOES F/P The last good week of tomatoes is upon us.

ROMA BEANS F/P Tom has a recipe for green beans and tomatoes in his post.

SWEET PEPPERS F/P More sweet bells and horn-shaped sweeties.

EGGPLANT F

KOHLRABI F The first of the fall crop. Peel well and enjoy raw or lightly cooked.

CILANTRO, DILL OR ARUGULA F/P

NEXT WEEK: Peppers, greens, eggplant, sweet potatoes, lettuce and kohlrabi.

FARM REPORT:
First, an update from week 16 regarding our flock of 60 chicks. They are over a month old now and have moved to a coop in the fields. They are very energetic and healthy little girls. They stay in a protected run when they are outside to keep them safe from hawks, etc. Every few days we pull the coop down the bed so that they get fresh grass. The love to eat anything green that we can throw at them. Today they got some bok choy leaves that didn’t make the cut for the CSA.

Meanwhile the 2-yr. old flock got a new patch of weeds to work on today. They are happily stripping off the seeds of the annual grasses that are such a nuisance for us.

In the Share – Week 9

July 8, 2015cabbage, carrots, chicken coop, GarlicFarmer Rebecca

CARROTS F/P The carrot harvest is not good, but a few have survived the deluge. Partial shares have a choice of carrots or potatoes

POTATOES F/P See Tom’s post for a nice recipe with sage.

CABBAGE F I did an informal survey with the membership last week, and the results were seem to suggest that there will be no mutiny if we give you more cabbage. Enjoy!

ONIONS F/P More fresh onions from the patch

ROOTS CHOICE F A choice of beets, turnips, radishes or kohlrabi.

HERB CHOICE F/P Basil, summer savory, mint or sage.

TOMATOES OR FINGERLING POTATOES F Not a fun thing for us to have to do, folks. There just aren’t enough tomatoes to go around.

SUMMER SQUASH OR CUCUMBERS F I am hoping to get the partial shares some of these soon. We’ll see what is in the patch in the morning.

NEXT WEEK: Potatoes, garlic, carrots, summer squash, tomatoes and herbs.

FARM REPORT:
This summer we are enjoying the company of my 14- yr old niece, Ariel. She has chosen to join us at the farm for the summer with some breaks for float trips and other fun summer activities with her cousins. You can see her blonde head cleaning garlic with the CSA last Wednesday morning.

Another 2.5 inches of rain fell last night after what was a nice little dry spell during which we were able to plant another round of cucumbers, squashes and beans. We also got the chicken coop moved to a new a new spot.

We like to move the chickens to fresh ground every three weeks or so. This time they are on the highest ridge of the farm, but there were still puddles this morning after the rain.

The first of the fall transplants, the cabbages, are a week or so away from being ready to go in the ground.

If we can finds some dry ground in which to put them, that is. The forecasters say it is about to get hot, sunny and dry. That is exactly what we need to get the fall crops planted and get the summer fruits to ripen. So, please no complaints if we finally get some summer weather!