Down on the Farm

Happy Halloween

Waverly went out trick or treating for the first time this year. Of course, since she is only one year old, she had no idea what was going on. But she did look pretty cute in her dinosuar outfit.

The whole time she had an expression that simply said, "Why am I not taking my bath right now?" And since we don't really let her have sweets, Maryellen and I will have to figure out what to do with the seven or eight pieces of candy she wound up with. But I hope we are laying the groundwork for lots of future fun.

Closing up shop

Today was a truly beautiful day. We have been blessed with an unusally dry, mild, and long fall up here. And after our rainy, wet, cool, non-summer, it has been a welcome stretch of weather. Today it had to be in the 50s with sun and no wind. As long as we kept moving (and stayed in the sun) we could wear short sleeves this afternoon. It's the little things that keep you going . . .

But we got a lot done around here today.

We broke down the "washroom". Now the tubs are resting safely in our barn.

Took the irrigation system down.

And stored the pipes in the hoophouse for the winter.

Pulled up a lot of remay.

And here is Susannah with some of the last turnips of the year.

Milkweed

Another Spectacular Fall Day

Worker appreciation day!

Mark, Tommi, Jennifer, Susannah, Dana, Ethan and Emma walking through the fields during worker appreciation day.

Susannah brought the famous Peacham Turnip Souffle which we ate as part of the party dinner. It was awesome!

Notably missing were Cornelia, Josh, Sheri and Geoff. Not to mention the many people who provided moral, financial, and advisory support to make all this possible. Thank you very much everyone!!

6:50

For the first time in 23 weeks we didn't have to get up for our Saturday Farmer's Market today. As a result, we slept in until 6:50 a.m. That may not sound like much, but normally, the alarm goes off at 3:45 a.m. on Saturdays around here. Maybe the change of seasons isn't such a bad thing after all.

Organic farming boosts biodiversity

"Organic farming increases biodiversity at every level of the food chain – all the way from lowly bacteria to mammals. This is the conclusion of the largest review ever done of studies from around the world comparing organic and conventional agriculture."

My wonderful sister Jessica sent a link to the article. Thanks Jess!!

Just another night

Tonight I think I will prep some garlic for fall planting, and listen to the "sporting event that cannot be named" on the radio. However it turns out, it promises to be one for the ages.

Update -- Thursday a.m.: Well, you got to tip your hat to the Red Sox and their faithful fans -- Congratulations! That was quite a series. As for us Yankees fans, there is always next year . . .

Tripping out

I thought I might be back in my Haight-Ashbury days when I walked into the living room this afternoon and saw a green and purple dinosaur. But then I realized Waverly was just trying on her Halloween costume!

Creamy Turnip Decadence

I told my friend Chris that we were hoping to start a recipe page on the blog someday, so he sent me some recipes for it. Thank you Chris!! However, these look too good to save for someday, which around here, may be quite a ways off. Plus, the way Chris writes cracks me up.

Little salad turnips sliced and dropped into a salad, or tossed with some vinegar, are wonderful, but what happens when you get tired of them? Or what if you buy some old ones, or leave them around too long? What about those big honking things you get in the supermarket when you’re jonesing for some Old Shaw taste but it’s mid-winter? And what do you do with rutabaga, anyway? Well, here’s one way to make turnips your favorite food all over again.

Notes
* This does not reheat well, as the sauce will separate; tastes great but looks nasty. Don’t worry, though–there’re not going to be a lot of leftovers.
* You can do this with potatoes too, but they don’t generally have enough flavor to stand up to this wonderfully evil sauce. This is a very good way to bake the potatoes, however, if you skip the sauce; they take about 40-45 minutes.
* Incidentally, when we say “bring to a boil,” we mean boil. Don’t think that cream can’t boil without burning or some such nonsense; it’s not true. Boil that sucker!
* If you want to expand this recipe, the most important thing is to keep the cream and water in identical proportions. If they get unbalanced, the sauce will not emulsify and it will be slick and greasy instead of thick and creamy. The mustard helps keep it bound as well. You can use light cream or milk, but you will have a lot of trouble keeping it all together, and may need to take it off the heat to beat in the butter in separated small pats.

Going for a walk with Mama

Waverly and her Mom went for a walk the other day. As you can see, it is starting to get cold up here.

Checking on the bees.

Posing for the paparazzi!

Kind of nice, kind of sad

I stepped out into the woodshed tonight to get some wood for our woodstove, and I had two thoughts. First, I thought, "Boy, it's going to be cold tonight." And then I thought, "And I guess I don't really care." For the first time since March, there are no seedlings to worry about or field crops to cover. Kind of nice and kind of sad at the same time.

Goodbye 2004

The last farmer's market harvest of 2004 is now on the truck awaiting our 6-6:30 a.m. departure tomorrow. And it was an appropriate day on which to end the season -- rainy, cold, autumnal.

Here are me and Tommi and Susannah trying to figure out if the automatic-picture-taker-timer on the camera was working. The two of them made an awesome main crew this year. A big thanks goes out to them, and to everyone who worked on the farm this year -- Mark, Cornelia, Josh, Tom, Ethan, Geoff, and Sheri.

The best washroom/packing team on the planet, Tommi, Maryellen and Susannah, hoist an adult beverage after washing the last veggie of '04.

Who says we don't know how to party here on the farm . . .

One last time

Last week was our last Wednesay farmer's market, and tomorrow will be our last Saturday market in Waitsfield. This means that today is our last big harvest day, and (sarcasm alert) I am sure Tommi and Susannah will just be all choked up when they get here at noon. I'll try to get some pictures. Looks like the season is really starting to end.

Want to be a farmer?

If you don't already know about it, the Intervale is a remarkable place in Burlington, VT. Go to the link and read all about it.

Yesterday I received the following email from Andy Jones, who is the head farmer at the Intervale Community CSA, and an all-around all-star human being to boot.

Friends, farmers, former employees -- please forward or apply, as appropriate! Brief description below, attachment has details.

Intervale Community Farm in Burlington, VT seeks full-time Assistant Farmer. ICF is a member-owned CSA farm of 450 households, producing a wide variety of crops on 30 acres. Candidates must have several years of vegetable production experience, encompassing a broad range of skills. People, planning, and computer skills are also necessary. Starting salary of $20,000-$25,000, plus health and retirement benefits. To apply, submit a letter of interest, resume, and references to Andy Jones, Intervale Community Farm, 128 Intervale Road, Burlington, VT 05401, or via e-mail to andy_jones@adephia.net Deadline 11/15/04.

Now is your big chance! Farm away!

We're famous!!

We got mentioned in an article about blogging in Vermont. It appears in this week's Seven Days, which is Burlington's weekly newspaper. Go to the article entitled, "The Blogger", and we are in the sidebar. As my friend Mark points out, at this rate, pretty soon we will be able to retire from farming and just focus on blogging about our farm efforts full-time. Wait a second . . .

The new greenhouse is here!!

Early this morning our new greenhouse frame arrived!! We are planning to put two real professional greenhouses in our field south of the barn. The first one arrived and will go up this fall. We aren't sure if we will get to the second one before the ground freezes, in which case it will go up first thing in the spring. The single layer, unheated, hoophouses we have built have helped us extend the season, but they cannot match the season extension, reliability, and consistency of a real, heated greenhouse.

This is the field before the pipes go up.

This is Ed Person from Ledgewood Farm and Greenhouses, delivering our frame. Ed is a vegetable farmer, but he has developed a separate business building greenhouse frames for other veggie farmers. He is THE authority on greenhouses in northern New England. And he was here, today, hanging out on our farm! He is kind of like a veggie farmer rock star, and it was great to meet him and work with him. He is wicked knowledgeable and spent a bunch of time with me making sure I had some small inkling about how to get the frame constructed once he left.

Uhhh . . . where are those directions???

We still have some site work to do, but we will keep you posted as this one goes up. I can almost taste those early tomatoes now . . .

Beautiful

One person's weed is another person's tasty salad.

But seriously, this fits in with my thinking that farmer's should grow what the ground will give them, and then worry about marketing it later. For example, dandelions grow like wildfire up here, and sure enough, we grow two varieties of Italian dandelion cooking greens for market. And my friend Richard grows another variety of dandelion for medicinal use.

The point being, if our climate and soils want to give us dandelions, we should figure out a way to take advantage of that, instead of trying to grow mangos up here in VT. Now we just need to figure out how to market ice and snow . . .

Last Wednesday Market

We had our last Wednesday market today. It was a beautiful day. Sunny, blue skies, though cold first thing, especially in the shade. Waverly had on two sweaters and a hat, so she looked like the michelin man, but she was warm and happy.

Brrrrrrr

I am up getting ready for our Wednesday market. It is 25 degrees on the porch this morning at 5am. That is probably all she wrote for most of our field stuff. I guess the season really is coming to an end.

Dragging out the drones

It is another Spectacular Fall Day around here. After a cool wet summer, September and the beginning of October have been awesome. Bright blue skies, warm sunny afternoons, cool nights, the foliage. No wonder people come from far and wide to Vermont this time of year!

The bees are kicking out the drones. The drones do not do much work. They are loafers whose only purpose, so far as humans can tell, is to fertilize the queen. And she only mates once. Anyway, in the fall, the workers kick out the drones to conserve food for the winter. The drones are much bigger than the workers, so it is an amazing sight. (In the photo above the drone is the big one on the upper right.) There is a big fuss around the front of the hive, because the drones want to get back in, and the workers won't let them. I feel bad for the poor drones, who will die without the protection of the hive, but I hope that life in bee heaven will be at least as nice as summer in Vermont!