Category Archives: csa

Planting Away

csa, mulch, row cover, sustainable agriculture, transplanting

So far, this Spring has been one of the best we have had for early growing. We continue to put out plants and seed our fields, and hope for thisweek to be especially productive, so that we can have time to turn our attention back to our high tunnel.

Our 2012 interns Dani Hurst and Ryan Stubby have been on the go and productive since the beginning. Last week was a good example as we: mulched, staked and trellised the peas; planted, mulched and covered the broccoli; weeded some “no-till” beds; planted potatoes; potted up tomatoes, eggplant and peppers; hoed, fertilized and mulched the new asparagus patch; harvested for the KC Food Circle Expo; and took care of many other tasks.

We also put row cover over the strawberry plants, the first time we have ever done that. Of course this is the first time they have ever started flowering in early April. Last year the very cold start to May severely damaged our crop and we do not want a repeat of that, so we are doing all we can to keep these tasty fruits protected.

pea mulching
covering the strawberries
asparagus plants
potato planting

Photo of Springs Past

csa, fair share farm, soil temperature, spring, sustainable agriculture

Crazy but enjoyable weather this year. In the ten years we have been here at the farm we have never had a March quite like this one. We have photos of the Spring since 2004, and in perusing them can see that the trees have never been as leafed, or the plants so far along as this year.
As a contrast to this year check out the 2009 photo below of our lilac bush. These seem to be real extremes—from iced over leaf buds in 2009 to full and glorious blooms this year. In fact, the blooms Rebecca picked this morning are already beginning to be past.

March 29, 2009

March 30, 2012

Other, less anectdotal info shows just how warm it is. Each week during the growing season MU Extension sends us an email with information on weather conditions, weeds to expect and soil temperatures. The last soil temp chart we got is shown below. This years soil temps are over 15 degrees warmer than the 12 year average in some cases.

This is the condition, more than air temperature, that has created the show of greenery this March. Normally at this time of year we are wary to plant out because the soil temperatures are too cold for the tender roots of our transplants, or too cool for seeds to germinate.

This year, the soil is downright hot. When we were planting onions yesterday the soil was warm to the touch. What this means for the rest of the year is hard to tell, but at this point we have moved our planting schedule up and plan to start the season a week early.

High Tunnel Raising at Fair Share Farm

csa, fair share farm, high tunnel, high tunnel construction, sustainable agriculture

On Saturday over 20 CSA members, friends and community members came out and helped us with the bulk of the work for our high tunnel construction. It was a beautiful day for working and we got a lot accomplished. A big THANK YOU to all that participated.

I made a stop action movie of it all, condensing 8 hours of work into 2-1/2 minutes. You can see the different work crews; teams to the right in the video were piecing together the bows and trusses, while the team on the left was assembling the structure on the existing ground posts. Hope you enjoy the video, and if you were here, that it brings pleasant memories.

March Happenings

csa, fair share farm, greenhouse, onion trimming, sustainable agriculture

Spring looks closer every day as March marches in for 2012. In the greenhouse the plants are lookin’ good. On Monday we gave the onions what will be one of several “haircuts.” The video below shows the process: the lanky tops are trimmed to help the plants put more energy into root production, and then a top dressing of potting soil is added to further aid their growth. In the end over 35 flats were tended to on Monday.

Other crops getting their start include the herbs, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, leeks and Asian greens. the greenhouse is filling up fast as we will soon be starting the tomatoes.

cabbage starts

lettuce

In the field we are prepping for tomorrow’s high tunnel raising. Rebecca, Luke and I did some pre-assembly to get a feel for things and so we could tell our swedged ends from our tabbed ones, and our clamps from our bands from our straps. Looking forward to a safe, productive day tomorrow with lots of help from the many friends of the farm.

MU Extension Award
On February 28th we joined by charter CSA members the Flynns (Ann and Mark) and the Barths (Fred and Carole) to receive our MU Extension Leaders Honor Roll award. It was indeed an honor and we were so happy to have our CSA members at our side for dinner and the award.
Tom, Rebecca, Ann, Mark

Onions and Geese

csa, fair share farm, onions, snow geese, sustainable agriculture
As is often the case in February, the greenhouse is the warmest place on the farm right now. Sunny days bring 90 degree comfort to our little hothouse. The onions we started on February 4th are up and growing well. Next in line are some herbs, and then the broccoli, cabbage and other brassicas.
Outside the skies have that late winter feel, as the geese cross back north over the farm. The snow geese have been abundant this year, and lower flying than normal. You almost feel that you can reach up and touch them sometimes. It is nice to be in a flyover state.
While you can hear them, you may want to full screen the video to get a better look by going directly to the YouTube Fair Share Farm Channel.

The Fair Share Farm CSA Video

compost, cover crops, csa, fair share farm, sustainable agriculture

For some reason this year the signups for the CSA have been coming in at a slower rate than other years. Perhaps for the better, this circumstance has caused us to review our “marketing” plan and spruce up our image.

So we decided that we should make a video showcasing the wonderful, fun and tasty aspects of our CSA. The first hint to go in this direction was based on comments received at our Jan 22 Core Group meeting (thanks guys). Right on the heels of the meeting we were shown more of the way by the GVOCSA…the CSA in Rochester where we first met. To see their video, click here.

The final inspiration came from some musical and cinematic professionals. Our good friend Jamie Ratcliff (Ernest James) was our first choice for an upbeat fun song.

Lastly, we went to see “The Artist.” This modern silent movie convinced us to chuck our script and use text and images to tell our story. We hope you like it and have fun watching.

Remeber, if you want to join the CSA, go to our website, www.fairsharefarm.com and click on the JOIN button.

Kite Flying

csa, fair share farm, kites

Our good friend Bill McKelvey recently visited the farm and told us of a how-to paper he had describing how to take your own aerial photos with a kite and a digital camera. We thought the idea sounded fantastic, and saw it as a great event for a farm day of the future.

Before planning for such fun though, we thought that we should first start taking the steps needed to become expert kite-people. We figured that with all of the scrap materials we have on the farm we could easily construct a kite for no cost.

So…with a little web surfing, some old lath, a peat moss bag, tomato twine, a stapler, and some old rags, we attempted our first kite today. After several unsuccessful combinations of materials (row cover appears to be too thin) we hit it right with the peat moss bag for the kite and old tea towels and t-shirt material for the tail.

The wind was a little weak, but despite that we got the kite up and flying–a successful trial run. Now we will start working on the contraption needed to house the digital camera, and play around with some kite designs and sizes.

If you have kite flying experience we would love to hear from you. We look forward to having some fun with the late-Winter and Spring winds that always cross the farm.

Tom with his kite.

Rebecca launching the kite.

Hello 2012

csa, fair share farm, rocky, row cover, seed order, sustainable agriculture

Welcome to 2012. We are gearing up here on the farm for what we hope is a good year…our 10th farming and our 9th CSA season. Hard to believe that it has been that long. Those 10 years have seen a lot of cover crops, compost, hay, straw, wood ash, lime and organic fertilizer added to our soil, and we are looking forward to reaping the benefits of those years of soil feeding. Over the last several years we have begun to see noticeable improvements to the soil, both in its texture and fertility.

In that time period we have also changed the layout of our fields several times. Areas that are susceptible to wet conditions are no longer farmed for annual crops, but have been replaced by perennial plants or laid fallow. We have also been breaking new ground in the areas where we have run the Parker’s sheep.

For some of the poorer soils on the farm we have implemented a system of continual mulching. We cover the beds with a deep layer of hay, and add more several times throughout the season. This mulch acts as a nice “canopy” over the soil surface, keeping it from getting compacted by rain, or dried out by the sun. It also serves to keep down weeds and retain moisture during droughty conditions.

Our electric tractor has proven a boon too, as the disking attachment allows us to easily make “raised beds.”  Put on the cultivator, and it allows us to break up the top couple inches of the soil, minimizing the need to till the beds. These techniques significantly improve drainage, while minimizing disturbance of the worms and other life in the soil.

January Work
This unseasonably warm weather has been a pleasure to work in over the last week. We are lucky to have our intern from 2011, Luke Knutter staying on as a hired hand for a couple days per week. We plan on getting caught up on a few things this winter, ahead of the Spring planting push.

Activities at the farm this week include the 2012 seed and equipment orders, inventorying,  budgeting and planning, cleaning and organizing the barn, maintaining the deer fence, and tractor maintenance. Next week will include more deer fence and equipment maintenance work, as well as planning and site work for our proposed high tunnel. More on that in our next post.
Fields at rest

Rebecca working on the seed order

Rocky at rest

Luke sorting row cover

Thanksgiving Share 2011

cabbage, csa, fair share farm, sustainable agricuture, thanksgiving

The late Fall is here. As I sit writing this on Thursday morning it is 21⁰ F outside and there is a heavy layer of frost in the fields. Through the wonders of modern weather forecasting we were able to anticipate this deep freeze, and have harvested all but the sturdiest of the crops for your Thanksgiving share. We are always happy when we can provide food to the CSA so late in the season—14 items this year.

 With such a large selection of produce, the recipe options are endless. To start with, we suggest perusing the 2009 and 2010 Thanksgiving share recipe suggestions.
We also offer the following suggestions:

Leeks and fennel: Treat leeks like onions and fennel like celery for all of you cooking needs. Use these substitutions in your standard bread stuffing recipe to create a flavorful dish.
Watermelon radish, Hakurei turnip, fennel and broccoli: Start your feast off with this fresh and healthy crudité platter. Cut the radish and turnips into rounds or half rounds. Pull the fennel stalks off the bulb like celery. Cut the broccoli into florets. Make a dip of yogurt, sour cream, olive oil, vinegar and herbs.
Lettuce, spinach, fennel, cabbage and grated beets: Make a nice salad of these oh so fresh vegetables for the dinner table. Or better yet, wait until after Thanksgiving and top the salad with leftover turkey and grated cheese for a hearty chef’s salad.

Beets: Add some color to the normally brown, white and orange of a Thanksgiving plate. Cook your beets whole in boiling water for about 20 to 35 minutes (until just starting to get tender),  cool in cold water and peel. Cut into slices and dress cold with oil and vinegar, or warm in a pan and top with butter, salt and dill.

Sweet potatoes: Good as a savory dish by themselves (mashed or roasted) or in a pie, the options are in your family traditions or on the web.

Cabbage: A fresh cole slaw is always good, especially if you are having smoked turkey or other bbq style meats.

Tomatoes: The tomatoes have been off the vine for over a month, so we don’t expect them to be especially tasty in a salad, but will go well cooked in a stew or curry.

Bok Choy:  We have had these Asian greens under wraps in the field for the last month. It was a pleasant surprise to uncover them and find such large, green plants. They will make for a good stir-fry either side of the Thanksgiving meal, when you need to load up on some green vegetables.

We wish everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving and hope the you are able to share it with your friends and family.

Tom and Rebecca

End of the Season Dinner Thanks

csa, fair share farm

Want to give a heart-felt shout out to all the folks who made our 2011 End of the Season Dinner such a fun success. Ann and Mark Flynn again threw a wonderful get-together, and we can never than Mark enough for procuring so many wonderful raffle items. We raised almost $250 for the veggie voucher fund to help our members who need a little assistance in buying a share.

We want to specifically thank all of the folks who donated to the event. We truly appreciate your support of the Fair Share Farm CSA and the community we are building. As winners of two of the raffles, Rebecca and I are looking forward to our night of dining at Jem Restaurant in Liberty and at the Farmhouse in River Market.
We also want to thank members who contributed items: Fred and Carol Barth, Stacey Cook, the Flynn’s and Coral Wert.

Thanks again to: