Category Archives: cultivating

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 15

cultivating, fingerling potatoes, harvest dinner, potatoes

FINGERLING POTATOES F/P  There are some peace-sign shapes in with the fingers.

TOMATOES F/P  The tomato harvest has peaked but we will still have some for many weeks yet.

GARLIC F/P  Artichoke variety

SALSA PACK P 

SALSA PACK OR CHERRY TOMATOES F

SWEET PEPPPERS F  We are just picking the purple peppers while we wait for the red and yellow varieties to ripen.

EGGPLANT F

ROMA TOMATOES F Tom’s Italian ancestry must be to blame for the many varieties of Roma/paste/sauce-making varieties in our fields.  See his post for his thoughts on enjoying them.

HERBS OR HOT PEPPERS F/P  Basil or chives plus a few stems of garlic chive flowers.

NEXT WEEK:  Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, salsa packs, herbs and onions.

FARM REPORT:
We had a nice dry spell this past week which gave us perfect conditions for killing weeds.  I ran the cultivator through the fall broccolis, cauliflowers and cabbages and then we all hoed the ones the tractor missed.   

The last of the fall crops – arugula, endive, lettuce, turnips and herbs were planted just in time to be watered in by the 1 inch + rain we got today. 

Throughout the day as we go about our tasks, we often catch ourselves scanning the farm for our big white dog.   He is gone, but not forgotten.  Thank you to all of you who sent your kind words of support and sympathy our way.  It lifts our spirits.  On that subject, long-time FSF CSA members, Janet and Kevin Day, asked us to share their thoughts:   

“First, we want to tell you how sorry we are about Rocky’s passing. Seeing Rocky was one of the things we loved most about our farm visits, and I fell in love with him during my first visit to the farm when he was still a puppy. We will miss him, so we can only imagine how heartbroken you must be.

We also want to assure you that you can stop apologizing for what you consider somewhat skimpy shares this year. For one thing, we don’t consider them skimpy. When we become CSA members, we understand that we share in the harvests, no matter what the weather and conditions bring. You farmers take on risks that other professions turn tail and run from.  By putting in with you, we also assume risks, but more than that, we support your lives and livelihoods while you dramatically improve your little corner of Earth. We’ve been members for eight years, and prior to that, Janet had been a member of three other CSAs, none of which have offered the amount, variety and quality of produce that Fair Share has, year after year.

But that’s not all you two and your farm have offered us. You two have helped to create a community of local providers. Every Wednesday, during the CSA season, we pick up the freshest, most delicious produce in town and locally made cheese from two area dairies, Goatsbeard Farm and Skyview Farm. Then once a month, we get chickens and eggs from Tiny Whole Farm and meat from Parker Farm. And once in a while, we get bread from Companionship Bread, a local bakery you’ve hooked us up with. We’ve never belonged to a CSA that assisted their members in finding other local providers.

Every time we work a farm shift, it’s like a mini apprenticeship. We’ve watched your land get healthier and more productive year by year, and we’ve borrowed ideas from you and applied them in our gardens. So thanks to you two, we’re growing produce you’ve introduced us to using methods you’ve taught us.

So to our fellow CSAers, especially those new to Fair Share: thank you for joining us–and Tom and Rebecca–in this endeavor.  We hope you also see the bigger picture even with some “small” harvests.  Stick around and you’ll be rewarded! ”

 Many thanks,

Janet and Kevin Day

Thank you, Janet and Kevin!  We strive every day to deserve such trust and support.  We do love the community that has sprung up around us and hate to think what life would be like without you all.   We are looking forward to celebrating the harvest with many of you at the upcoming FSF CSA Harvest dinner on the farm on September 13.  Mark your calendars, if you haven’t already, and keep your eyes peeled for an official invite coming soon.

2014 hayride at the Harvest dinner

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 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.

Early Spring

cultivating, electric tractor, high tunnel, seeding, transplants

The weather this last week has been rather exceptional. And with a forcast of 70+ degree days for the next week, we have decided to throw caution to the wind and begin seeding early.
Yesterday we got the electric tractor humming and began preparing our beds. First a quick pass to cultivate. At this time of year killing all of the small weeds that have begun to germinate does wonders to reduce weed pressure. In many of the Spring beds a second or third pass is in order to further reduce the “weed seed bank.”

Rebecca cultivating with the G

Next we switched out the cultivator for the “guttering disks” which create a raised bed for us, helping to warm the soil and reduce the potential for a flooded field.

Then the seeder goes on. On Wedensday direct seeding consisted of a bed of spinach (3 rows x 200 feet) and two beds of peas (4 rows x 200 feet). A second planting of each of these is planned in the near future, as is the transplanting of our herbs and onions.
 

Changing out the seeder
Cabbage transplants

While that was going on we were also taking another step towards constructing the high tunnel. A pair of roof purlions run the length of the tunnel and help support the bow and keep them from swaying back and forth. Thanks to Jim Pierce for the loan of his wagoin and scaffold, which allowed for a safe and sturdy work surface.

A final thanks to our 2011 intern, 2012 farm hand and fellow farmer Lucas Knutter. Luke will be working at a farm in Lexington, MO this summer before hopefully returning to the area to start his own farm just north of us. It has been a pleasure to work with Luke the last year, helping as well as learning from him. Good luck Luke.

Luke installing the purlions