Category Archives: high tunnel

In the Share – Week 22

October 3, 2012extended season, frost, high tunnel, sweet potatoesFarmer Rebecca

sweet potatoes

CAULIFLOWER (F/P) The broccoli is just starting and some may get a choice of the two.

SWEET POTATOES (F/P) These are the traditional orange type. They keep for months at room temperature. Never refrigerate sweet potatoes.

LETTUCE (F/P) The last of the crispheads this week. Next week we start in on the more tender leaf lettuces.

GARLIC (F/P) One head for all one last time. The rest we are planting at the end of the month.

TOMATOES (F/P) We have quite a few ripe tomatoes still and we think everyone will get around a pint again.

GREEN TOMATOES (F/P) Frost is on it’s way by Saturday morning. The farm is in full swing preparing for it which includes harvesting the green fruits from the summer crops. See Tom’s post for ideas for using your green ‘maters.

GREEN PEPPERS (F/P) Ditto on the peppers.

EGGPLANT (F) If the forecaster is right this will be the last of the eggplant.

NAPA CABBAGE (F) See Tom’s post for a yummy sweet potato and cabbage recipe.

CHOICE: HOT PEPPERS, ARUGULA OR HERBS (F/P)

ALSO THIS WEEK: Parker Farms CSA shares

FARM REPORT:

pre-frost harvest

The frost is not forecasted until Saturday, but we are trying to get a lot done early this week before the weather gets wet and cold. Tomorrow we hope to bring in the last of the tender crops and button up the high tunnel. Row cover is protecting the lettuces and bulb fennel out in the field and most of the green summer fruits have been picked. Many of the crops that we grow this time of year can handle a light frost and actually get sweeter in the cold weather. Fall carrots, broccoli, kale and turnips actually benefit from a cold night or two.

Speaking of cold nights, all current CSA members are invited to sign-up for the Inaugural Fair Share Farm CSA extended season. A deposit form will be in your inbox tonight. We are offering 4 extra weeks of produce starting October 24th. Space is limited to 50 shares, so send that form on in to secure your spot. We are only offering full shares, so consider sharing with friends and family if it is too much for you alone. Cost is $30/week. Distribution will be available at the normal farm, Liberty and Bad Seed locations and times. No work requirement for this short run although that may not be the case in 2013. Our best guess is that the shares will be comprised of the following: lettuces, bok choy, sweet potatoes, cabbage, bulb fennel, beets, carrots, turnips, radishes, leeks, endive, spinach, herbs, cauliflower and broccoli. Tom and I are looking forward to extending our harvest season on the farm and we welcome you to join us.

In the Share – Week 21

September 26, 2012Allis Chalmers G, carrots, cauliflower, high tunnelFarmer Rebecca

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.

In the Share – Week 20

September 19, 2012high tunnel, sweet potatoesFarmer Rebecca

O’HENRY SWEET POTATOES (F/P) Creamy yellow sweet potatoes are sure sweet and thankfully survived the summer heat.

ONIONS (F/P) Spicy red and yellow storage onions out of the barn.

TOMATOES (F/P) The tomatoes are getting slim, but everyone might get a pint tomorrow.

HAKUREI TURNIPS (F) Welcome back our fine white roots. See Tom’s post for a lemon pickle.

SWEET PEPPERS (F) Mostly our purple peppers.

CARROTS (P) the last of the storage carrots from the summer harvest.

OKRA OR EGGPLANT (F) We hear that the okra is popular down at the Bad Seed distribution. We wish it was producing better but it has stayed short this year and there isn’t a lot of fruit.

RATTLESNAKE BEANS (F) We are hoping for another week of harvest off of the pole beans. The new fruit looks nice but there may be small bags for only the full shares.

HERB CHOICE (F/P) hot peppers, parsley, thyme, basil or a dried herb.

GARLIC (F/P) Seems everyone we talk to had a bad garlic harvest this summer. We’ll have at least one head for all this week.

ALSO THIS WEEK: Parker Farms CSA shares

NEXT WEEK: More peppers, eggplant, turnips and tomatoes. Cauliflower and cabbage. Arugula and lettuce.

FARM REPORT:

On Monday we pulled the plastic on the high tunnel, which turned out to be a bigger job than we expected. Tom started the day by ascending to the tippy top and attaching the channel that would hold the plastic on the structure.

After spreading out two 40 x 100 ft. pieces on the ground we all climbed under the plastic and began attaching the plastic to the first side.

Then, we attached ropes to the plastic and attempted to pull it across the top. After much tugging and shouting and little progress we realized that we were a bit under-staffed for the job. With the plastic half on we had no choice but to continue. We added more rope, tugged and shouted some more and by about 1 pm we had managed to finish the job.

With the blower fan installed the two layers of plastic make a firmly inflated roof. Today we formed the beds, added compost and rock powders and then ceremoniously planted the first seed, a spinach seed to be exact.

Early Spring

March 15, 2012cultivating, electric tractor, high tunnel, seeding, transplantsFarmer Rebecca

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

High Tunnel Beginnings

February 21, 2012construction, high tunnel, hoop houseFarmer Rebecca

As we may have mentioned somewhere along the line, we have decided to add “season extension” to our growing practices here at Fair Share Farm. So with the help a a Federal NRCS grant we bought the materials for a so-called “hoop house” or “high tunnel,” and have begun construction.

On February 11, Rebecca and I traveled to Morgan County Seeds to pick up the 6,000 or so lbs of steel, wood and plastic and safely made our way back to the farm. Yesterday Rebecca, Luke and I began staking out the layout, and putting the ground posts in.

Hoop house on the farm

Along with leveling the site (something we did last month), this is one of the more critical steps. Once the posts are in place the remainder of the work is similar to an erector set.

Laying things out

Setting the posts (we got half of them in before the rain) has been a learning experience. To provide stablility to the tunnel you need to drive them 32 inches into the ground with whatever means you have at hand. Our primary source of power is a Bobcat. Our initial attempts were a bit precarious, lifting the bucket 11 plus feet and then pushing/hammering the posts in.

We decided that we didn’t want to tip over onto Luke in the process, so came up with a new method. Searching the barn for old metal parts we found our solution…a compressed gas cylinder top and some old, old tractor tire chains (this is why I never wanted to throw them out!)

As you can see from the picture, things were less tipsy that way and we proceeded to drive 14 posts in a couple hours. We plan on finishing them on Wednesday or Thursday and will be ready to put the rest up during a “tunnel raising” on March 10 and 11th. More in the post above.

Post pounding method 1

Post pounding method 2