Down on the Farm

Dont' miss it!

We are pretty excited about NOFA-VT's annual winter conference this year. This event has always been a blast in the past, but this year it is going to a two day format -- two whole days of speakers, workshops, vendors, nice people, farm chatter, the ice cream social, and good food. This year there is a technical track for farmer types and non-technical tracks for farmers, homesteaders, consumers, concerned citizens, and of course the kid's conference. It really is a spectacular event, and a great cure for the February blues. Hope to see you there!!

Tomato seedlings are up

Old Home Week

Aleda and Kat, two interns from two and three summers ago, came by for breakfast on Saturday. It was awesome to see them. Mimi came by recently too. The kids were so excited to see her that the shrieks of joy are still reverberating through the house.

And they're off!

We started our first tomato seedlings today!!

First, some background. We grow a lot of tomatoes around here. We start our earliest tomatoes for the greenhouses inside, and then when we turn on the greenhouses in March, we are able to fill the houses up quickly. Up until now our seedling operation in the basement has consisted of a bunch of florescent light fixtures with plant/aquarium bulbs in them. Lights like these ones.

Here is another view.

But the past couple of years we have grown to where out setup is an impossible tangle of fixtures and cords, and it makes watering and plant handling a nightmare. So this year we bought a professional high density light that covers a lot of area, has a better light spectrum for our plants, and makes watering and handling so much easier. Here is a picture of the light, with the remote ballast on a the cement block to the left.

Even though the light wasn't cheap, we are convinced it will pay for itself quickly in saved labor/hassle, and in improved plant quality. Other growers tell me that legginess will be a thing of the past with these lights.

And here is the first tray of the 2008 season ready for some seeds!

And now in its new home. Grow!

Mud season preview

Watching Wavy play in the mud yesterday reminded me of this picture, one of my favorites.

CAS Feedback - updated

Well December is done and January is the time to try to clear out the 2007 books and get started on 2008. So in that vein I've been emptying my farm to do box and so I found two more CSA feedbacks to add in. So here is an updated chart. If you are a CSAers who hasn't sent in feedback -- its not too late! But please send your feedback soon because we are ordering seeds and planning out the year now.

Really loved (the number is parenthesis is how many people said that):
Tomatoes esp. buffalos (round red ones) (7)
recipes (7)
balance of familiar and unfamiliar (4)
salad turnips (4)
trade out option (3)
sun golds (3)
garlic (3)
delicata squash (3)
yukon gold potatoes (2)
garlic scapes (2)
charentais melons (2)
eggplants
zucchini
french fingerling potatoes
strawberries
all the greens
basil and cut your own herbs at the stand

Want to see more:
mesclun (8)
arugula especially baby arugula (5)
zucchini (esp. pre-August) (4)
summer squash (3)
snap and snow peas (3)
beans (3)
culinary herbs like cilantro (2)
carrots esp. big carrots (2)
berries and other fruit (2)
radishes including funky kinds (2)
garlic (2)
asparagus (2)
broccoli (2)
basil (esp. when tomatoes going wild) (2)
beet greens (2)
spinach esp. baby spinach (2)
red russian kale
pickling cukes
salad turnips
Japanese knotweed
melons
winter squash
baby beets
early new potatoes
green peppers and hot peppers
onions
cilantro
scallions
late carrots
new things to try each year
brussel sprouts*
corn*
(* means some said wanted more, some said wanted less)

Want to see less:
lettuce (5)
sun golds (from a large basket subscriber)
beets
cabbage
celery
leafy greens
large tomatoes
baby carrots (or a warning that they don't keep well) (3)
corn (2)*
brussel sprouts*

Other suggestions:
A bigger basket especially for localvores and home preservers
A St. J drop spot
An option to subscribe for eggs

Total number of CSAers:52
Surveys received so far: 22

Tropical

After our first real winter in a while, we have hit a very very mild patch of weather here. Last week the lows approached -10 F and last night, it didn't even freeze! Today it is supposed to be close to 50 F! And you can feel the days getting longer and the sun getting a tiny bit stronger. It feels like mid-March rather than mid-January, and it is a welcome break for a few days.

Puddles on the driveway

Snow shedding from the barn roof

While the warm weather is nice, it is setting off farm alarm bells in my head. There is still a bunch of planning we need to do and work getting ready for the season -- starting seedlings for the greenhouses, barn and shop clean up, building a solar pump for the upper hoophouses, putting a new cover on one of the greenhouses, fixing the stovepipe on another greenhouse, we need to find and hire a crew, sell CSA shares, order supplies, buy some pieces of new equipment, find a new-to-us truck, etc. etc. etc. So it is really time to get moving on some things.

Fortunately, we still have a little time. Not all the snow has melted yet.

The far greenhouse still covered in snow

More snow

Mark waits for his turn on the sled

The greens in the unheated hoophouse are thriving. We ate a delicious lettuce salad the other night from it. There's even a stray lettuce plant not under cover that's still alive. I'm not sure why they are doing so well. Everything I've read makes me think the lettuce should be dead and only the kale and maybe the baby bok choy alive. I suspect its because it has not been bitterly cold and all the snow has really sealed up and insulated the greenhouse well. You can see in the greenhouse behind Mark that the snow from the roof is almost all the way up the sides.

It wasn't really intentional to try out overwintering greens. These are just plants that never got big enough in time to harvest for Thanksgiving market. At this point we don't really have the infrastructure or markets to be worth commercially harvesting them, and there's not a whole lot up there, anyway. But its enough for us to enjoy and a good learning experience. Hopefully we can extend our commercial growing season to Christmas next year.

The snow has been relatively light and dry and a little at a time, which is good. The greenhouses have been shedding well. The greenhouse behind Mark in the photo above I've only brushed off once, and even then I'm not sure it really needed it.

In the meantime, we've all been enjoying the snow. Happy new year!!

Sledding!

More sledding!