CARROTS F/P baby orange ones from the summer harvest.
TOMATOES F/P
SUMMER SQUASH F yellow squash or zucchini
YELLOW ONIONS F/P
EGGPLANT OR OKRA F
CUCUMBERS F/P
HERBS F/P See Tom’s post for more on our interesting assortment of herbs this week that includes basil, fresh fennel seeds and garlic chive flowers.
NEXT WEEK: peppers, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, potatoes and garlic.
FARM REPORT: The farm received nine inches of rain within a span of three days. Most of it fell Friday night when all of the creeks rose and lots of folks found water in their basements. It was what some folks around here call a real gully washer. We’ve done the good work of sowing the farm’s gullies down in permanent sod, so instead the soil washed right over our newly-planted lettuce beds. Once it dries out enough to attempt it, we’ll need a shovel to unearth what lies beneath.
Most of the crops weren’t buried like the lettuce, and not even most of the lettuce got the full treatment, but there’s other damage that is hard to see at first. When we get a big rain event like we had this week, water pools below ground long after the surface water has receded. Plant roots swimming in muck leads to root rot. Root rot leads to leaves wilting and yellowing. Not every crop is in this situation, but many are. If we get the weather that is forecasted for the next week, dry and sunny, we should see some recovery. If instead we get another slew of rain then it might be time to start wishing on rainbows.
Next week begins the 2014 extended CSA season. For the next 31 weeks we endeavor to feed the community from our fields. Our best guess for the first share is lettuce, spinach, arugula, Swiss chard, carrots, asparagus, green onions and a choice of herbs.
We also plan to give each extended season share a dozen eggs (if you do not eat eggs, let us know and we will substitute with something else.) It was not the plan to include eggs in the shares, but we are doing it this once because we feel that some of the share items will be smaller than we would like. Such has been this cold starting spring (see last post), and our high tunnel growing learning curve.
If you would like additional eggs they are $5.00/ dozen. Email us with an order and they will be delivered to distribution for you (while current supplies last).
The normal Spring routine of plant, mulch, cover was tested this morning with a low temp. of 24.8 deg. F.
A heavy frost covered most of the fields. It seems all survived intact thanks to the row cover. The perennial crops like the strawberries can handle the frost better and looked fine once the frost melted.
The greenhouse is filling with peppers, eggplant and tomatoes. We are hoping to squeeze the last of the cool-weather crops out to the fields by the end of the week.
BOK CHOY some are green-stemmed, some are white – either way they make the best stir fry.
SPINACH we are still picking off the fall planting and the leaves are still sweet and getting quite large.
SWISS CHARD see tom’s post for his yummy Cacciatore recipe
GREEN ONIONS AND GARLIC use the green garlic as you would green onions.
PARSLEY AND DILL both appear to be thriving
ARUGULA we do not grow baby greens here at Fair Share, so be prepared for big bunches of big-leafed and full-flavored arugula
HAKUREI TURNIPS some say they taste like they have ice cream in the center, you be the judge.
CARROTS this was our first winter with the high tunnel and we hope you all are ready for the experiment! The carrots taste great but are a bit misshapen due to uneven watering, we believe. We just have enough for everyone to get a 1/2 pound.
What a way to kick off the first week of our new extended season – a brutal cold snap that had us racing across our fields today doubling-up on row cover! We put a second layer on 3800 feet worth of beds doing squats every 20 feet to pin it down. Perhaps we are running on adrenaline, but it went quickly and no frostbite was reported.
This was after a very pleasant day on Saturday with the first crew of CSA member workers. With lots of extra hands we cleaned-up the asparagus patch, dug dandelions, painted the picnic tables and filled in the trench for the new drain line from the wash area.
The washing and packing area of the barn got a big retrofit this winter and is ready for business.
And here’s a sneak peak at the crops going in the shares tomorrow before we covered them up too.
We were hoping to have asparagus in the shares this week, but the stalks are barely poking out of the ground and for good reason, they’ll most likely be frozen in the morning.
Forecasts range from mid-20s to 21 degrees in the morning. We have cancelled the work shifts for tomorrow. Our farm crew of four will be able to handle the harvest once the crops thaw. CSA distribution should continue as planned. We were able to cover our most sensitive crops, but the fruit trees and the direct-seeded crops are uncovered. We’ll let you know how it turns out.
In 2007 we reached our 5-year goal of 100 members. It was an accomplishment we were proud of, and it established a good economic base for the future. The next step…was figuring out the next step.
A rare chance to skate on the old pond in February
Exterior work on the farmhouse before the season starts
Pre-season Core Goup meeting at Kelly and Rick’s
We decided to approach the season as if we were starting fresh. We pretended that all the work in the previous years had been done by a different couple we called Rachel (a common misnomer for Rebecca) and Joseph (my middle name). For all the good things we saw on the farm we thanked them, and for all the things that broke or had to be redone we sighed and assigned them the blame.
St. Patricks Day was spent working on the barn, fixing the east loafing shed roof and walls with the help of fellow farmer Tom Parker and members Jim Markley and Victoria Wert. Working on a barn with the farm community is always fun.
Jim Markley, Tom Parker and Rebecca
Weather again played a unique role in the season, as it was the year of the “Easter freeze.” After the third warmest March on record with literally everything blooming, the buds of Spring were killed off by two overnights of record low temperatures in the upper teens.
We fulfilled our contractual obligation to the CSA, doing everything in our power to protect the many beds of plants we had out in the fields by covering them with up to 3 layers of row cover. All the while we were battling high winds and the urge to take a shortcut or two. Our efforts paid off, as by June much of the broccoli we had protected headed up beautifully.
Row cover mid-April
Spring broccoli
The combination of high winds and temperatures in the teens made keeping the row cover on a never-ending chore for us and Libby Negus, who started her apprenticeship with us that week. Working hard at the farm, moonlighting at Green Acres Market, and going to school to become a Montessori teacher kept her busy that year.
Picking peas with Libby (photo by Lorne Carroll)
April was also when we planted the strawberry patch. Members had voiced their opinion in our yearly survey that they wanted us to add berries to the shares. We felt that strawberries were the best choice, as they are sturdier than bramble fruit and, based on earlier trials, seemed to grow well here.
Strawberry patch humble beginnings 4/19/07
In general, 2007 was a good year for the crops. The tomato harvest topped 5,000 lbs and we picked over 5,000 individual summer squash. We planted some of the potatoes where we had run the chickens the year before and had our best yields to date. Beans, carrots, and the Fall brassicas were standouts.
Happy lettuce harvest led by 2013 apprentice-to-be Lorne Carroll and long-time member Betty Marcus
Picking summer squash
Members with the harvest
Thanks to the scarcity of wild fruit after the Easter freeze, the raccoons and opossums feasted on our successes in the field. We used a live trap to catch more than 30 racoons that summer, sometimes catching two at a time. They seem cute, but I will tell you that picking up a metal cage with a snarling wild animal in it at sunrise wakes you up for the day, and gets you thinking of alternative methods of predator control.
One of many
In June my Mother passed away. She was a grand lady, the source of my German blood, and a role model like no other. I’m glad Rebecca had a chance to make her aquaintance.
Mom would have been thrilled that August, as we were honored as the Clay County Farm Family of the Year. We have the local University of Missouri Extension Council to thank for nominating us for the award, and recogznizing a sustainable farming operation for the honor. They won us a free trip to the State Fair to pick up the award, where the orators noted that “farmers are the backbone of democracy.” That’s us! Love that quote.
We had a great Fall harvest with little to no frost until late in November.
Fall cauliflower
The year ended with more home remodeling before heading to Italy in December. We visited Rome, then took the train to the southern tip of the continent, Calabria, the ancestral home of the Ruggieri’s.
Working on the back porch
In Calabria…the land of Persephone
Next up…electrifying the G, strawberry bonanza, Rocky, solar irrigation, adding mulch, and toooooo wettttt!
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.
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.
As farmers, we try to spend a lot of our time listening. Listening to the plants, the soil, the weather forecast, to better manage the farm. Since 2008, arguably our wettest and toughest year, we have modified our growing practices to alleviate the distress caused by too much rain.
From taking some areas out of production, to guttering our beds with our electric tractor, to using more mulch, these changes paid off in the likewise wet years of 2009 and 2010.
Last year we learned what we should have already known about planting summer crops like tomatoes—wait until it is warm. In 2010 late April and early May saw cold, wet days and nights that killed the feeder roots of three beds (about 300 plants) worth of plants and lead to a harvest at less than 50% of what we should expect.
This year we have been more patient, waiting for what looks like the beginning of day and night temps over 50 degrees. Tomatoes are heat loving plants, and plants that are warm and happy for their whole life grow just as fast, if not faster, than ones put out in the cold to start.
So Wednesday the farm crew set out 100 cherry tomato plants and 100 hybrid determinate plants. Yet to come are 100 hybrid determinates, 300 heirloom, and 200 paste tomatoes. We finish off our tomato planting in about a month with a final bed of summer (heat tolerant) tomatoes.
Tomato planting
Other goings on include walking by the strawberries every day and marveling at their lush green growth and many flowers. At the moment things look right for another successful strawberry season. Keep your fingers crossed.
Elsewhere in the field the broccoli and cabbage planted under the warmth of the row cover are growing as well as in any Spring. As they size up they make thier presence more obvious behind the shear fabric. Other crops are growing well too, as can be seen in the photo of this year’s garlic crop.
Meanwhile, in the greenhouse, we are finishing up most of our seeding and moving plants from the greenhouse, to the cold frame, to the field. It is interesting to watch the cucurbit seeds germinate in the soil blocks, as their large seeds seem to explode through the soil surface and unfurl thier leaves.
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