October 20th, 2008
We are getting close to the end of our season
now with only 4 more weeks of distributions left. You may see the
variety of items in the share decrease a bit over the next few weeks.
Our apprentices will be gone soon so we are mostly working to wrap up
things. We've started our bulk potato harvest and have about 5 more
beds to go. Last week we also prepped the new garlic beds and began
planting for next year - about 15 beds. Garlic planting is always an
end of season milestone at the farm. While the cows still have plenty
of grass, it is time for us to buy in some hay for the winter.
Here's the harvest:
potatoes, carrots, winter squash, turnips, brussel sprouts, garlic, chard/spinach.
October 16, 2007
Things continue to wind down here at the farm. By the end of next week we will say good-bye to our apprentices Aliyah & Alissa. They have been great workers all season and have been fun to be around, too. Bea has taken a real shine to them and will surely be sad to see them go. Farm
apprenticeships usually are for one season only, but there is much to
be gained by staying on the farm for another year – that is if you know
you are heading down the path to become a farmer yourself. We’ve offered both Aliyah & Alissa second year positions for next season. But
something tells me they have other fish to fry. Aliyah is off to
California to work on a date farm and Alissa has had lots of ideas,
including olive picking in Spain!
We’ve just said good-bye to our Allis Chalmers G. These little tractors were made in the 1940s and are coveted by many organic farmers. Built
before the Green Revolution that gave birth to chemical farming, these
little tractors gave farmers real control over the weeds. The cultivating implements attach onto the belly of the tractor so the driver can look straight down to see what they’re doing. It feels a bit like a video game when you are using it. So we just sold ours to Megan Haney of Marble Valley Farm in Kent. She is just starting out on her own land and the G will really help her with her weed control.
If it is such a great tractor why are we getting rid of it? It is a great tractor if you plant your crops in rows. However,
we do so much intensive planting that we can’t use it that much. Also
it needs a little TLC and because we don’t have that much use for it,
we never really gave it the attention it needs.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the garlic planting on the 27th! One of our last big projects of the season.
Here’s this week’s harvest: winter squash, arugula, onions, eggplant, brussel sprouts, carrots, daikon, parsley, kale or collards, fennel, sweet potatoes.
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