Friday, May 29, 2009

Raised Beds!

Great Buy for Raised Bed Gardeners!
Lisa Brown (you know her from her work at the Earthscape booth at Sweetwater Market) will have a large quantity of raised beds available for purchase this week. The boxes are made of untreated lumber, about 3 feet X 4 feet X 7 inches deep.  They are made with hinged corner braces and a pointed end that makes them stackable, and able to be folded away at season’s end. And at the bargain price of $5/each you’ll want more than one!
If you want to order some from her for me to bring to the Farm, just let me know by Saturday noon.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Photos from today

Salad garden

Sarah packing CSA boxes
Today's CSA box:  Pak choi, radishes, head lettuce, green garlic, chives, spinach and mixed salad greens.  Oh, and a parsley plant.


Herb Walk


For those interested.......
Plants are growing and flowers are blooming! It's time to get outside and start gathering.

Join Amanda Jones at Hit the Road Joe's in Croton on Saturday May 30 from 10am-2pm for a introduction to local plants. We will identify and discuss wild edibles and medicinal plants. We will walk the land and look at the plants, this will last a few hours. Then we will return to the cafe to eat and discuss herbal preparations-what to do with the plants once you've gathered them. Please dress for the weather. Bring items for taking notes, and some water, or anything else you think you will want on the walk. Children are welcome at no extra charge.
Cost is $15.  
Hit the Road Joe's is located on Elm St, one mile north of M-82 in Croton. For further directions call the cafe at 231-652-6020.
We hope to see you there.
Please let Amanda know if you plan on attending.  231-861-2535 or wildwoodwholisticarts@hotmail.com


Thursday Week 1

We have been picking salad greens and spinach since 8:30.  We don't have to start as early when it's cool and overcast.  The spinach and lettuces are all triple- washed and bagged.  They were very dirty with 2.25 inches of rain splashing on them yesterday.  These are not sold 'ready to eat', so will need another wash and spin before you eat them.  If you don't have a salad spinner, we recommend them.  We have a 3 gallon commercial spinner that gets a workout here!

The salad greens contain all kinds of lettuces, mustards, arugula,  beet greens, chard, red kale, and  Asian greens.  It has a little spice with the arugula and mustards, but hopefully only enough to add good flavor.

Head Lettuce is a Bibb/Romaine variety.  Crispy and tasty.  When I ate a leaf this morning, I could only describe it as tasting GREEN

Pak Chois can be eaten raw as salad or sauteed for a vegetable or  add to stir fry.  We washed aphids off them, but they probably need another good wash before eating.

The chives have flowered and can go in a vase or be eaten, all but the harder stems.  I usually pull out the flowers and then only eat the softer stems.

Green garlic is a treat we've only begun to appreciate the past few years.  We take all the small cloves of garlic left over after planting the large cloves and plant them close together in the Fall.  They are like large garlic-flavored scallions and are wonderful for sauteing and adding to any dish in place of garlic.

The parsley plant is Italian Flatleaf Parsley, the better-flavored kind.  It likes sun, and should be transplanted into a fairly large and deep pot as it has a long taproot, or directly into the ground.  You will be able to harvest the outside stems all summer and fall.

Radishes!  No instructions needed.  We grow these under row covers to keep the bugs out and off them.  Same with the Pak Choi.  The mustards and arugula are out in the open and have some flea beetle tiny holes in them.  The bugs are long-gone.

Here's some help with preparing and storing your veggies. We buy this book in bulk and resell it to CSA members for $18.


The perfect gift for the conscientious chef: From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh, Seasonal Produce 3rd Edition 

Make the most of your local and seasonal produce! All proceeds support MACSAC and the Partner Shares Program.  (MACSAC is Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture)

Here's a great website:

Source: www.eatrealgood.com
Why belong to a CSA? 
The vegetables are insanely fresh: Outrageously crisp and gorgeous, they last muuuuuch longer in your crisper than grocery store produce.

You are directly, with no middle man, supporting the farmer that grows your food: A small-time, local farmer that needs that support. If you believe in "Buy Local", then Community Supported Agriculture is for you.

CSAs are usually organic, which is the superior choice where possible. Organic food has no pesticide residue (your neurons thank you) and has a higher nutrition value than conventionally grown foods.

CSA farms save you money, stretching your grocery budget and leaving money for other things.

It is like Veggie Christmas each time you open your fresh box of goodness, and if you have kids, this is an effective and fun way to get them excited to try new veggies.

Community supported agriculture farms usually avoid growing genetically modified crops, and they do tend to grow heirloom varieties of produce, as well as support efforts to preserve heirloom species from extinction (Mother Earth thanks you).

The variety of produce you receive in your vegetable boxes may have you trying new things, trying new recipes, and in general moving in a direction of eating more vegetables and gaining health.

Monday, May 25, 2009

CSA Begins! Memorial Day 2009

We wish blessings on our servicemen and women, and their family and friends supporting them.  No matter your stance on wars and conflicts, these people deserve our respect and thanks.

We have been picking salad greens and spinach since 8am.  It's all triple- washed and bagged now.  These are not sold 'ready to eat', so will need another wash and spin before you eat them.  If you don't have a salad spinner, we recommend them.  We have a 3 gallon commercial spinner that gets a workout here!

The salad greens contain all kinds of lettuces, mustards, arugula,  beet greens, chard, red kale, and  Asian greens.  It has a little spice with the arugula and mustards, but hopefully only enough to add good flavor.

Pak Chois can be eaten raw as salad or sauteed for a vegetable or to add to stir fry.  We washed aphids off them, but they probably need another good wash before eating.

The chives have flowered and can go in a vase or be eaten, all but the harder stems.  I usually pull out the flowers and then only eat the softer stems.

Green garlic is a treat we've only begun to appreciate the past few years.  We take all the small cloves of garlic left over after planting the large cloves and plant them close together in the Fall.  They are like large garlic-flavored scallions and are wonderful for sauteing and adding to any dish in place of garlic.

The parsley plant is Italian Flatleaf Parsley, the better-flavored kind.  It likes sun, and should be transplanted into a fairly large and deep pot as it has a long taproot, or directly into the ground.  You will be able to harvest the outside stems all summer and fall.

Radishes!  No instructions needed.  We grow these under row covers to keep the bugs out and off them.  Same with the Pak Choi.  The mustards and arugula are out in the open and have some flea beetle tiny holes in them.  The bugs are long-gone.






Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Raised Garden Bed Boxes!

Lisa Brown will be selling raised bed boxes at Sweetwater Market this Saturday.  They are the perfect size, have great hinges so they fold flat for storage, stack and lock if you want a deeper bed.  They are $5 each.  I've seen the hinges for sale for more than twice that!  Check them out!  Email me if you are interested.

They are packing crates, shipped from Sweden, and  this is the perfect way to recycle them.  The wood is not treated.

Summer

We had some frosty mornings.  I was at a conference Friday and Saturday, then at births Sunday and Monday, so Bill took care of all the plants and gardens for a few days without me.

Yesterday I finally had some garden time in between appointments.  I put in about 200 celeriac plants.

Today was lovely!  We set out some tomatoes, eggplant, sweet peppers, summer squashes.  We are covering most everything to prevent wind damage and help with the transition.  

Bill is working up field corn ground.


Friday, May 15, 2009

43 Shares so far

We have a handful of uncommitteds in addition to the 43 who have signed on for this season.  Please let us know which day you prefer getting your veggies.

Yesterday I transplanted some more celery plants, some beautiful colorful lettuces, some kohlrabis to finish out a 3rd row.  We started new flats of head lettuce and scallions.

Picked more mixed salad greens!  And radishes are ready about a week early!  I picked about a gallon  of them.  They should hold.  We have enough veggies ready to fill some shares this week for those of you who live closely, or who will be out of town Memorial Day / week.

Bill and Mike have the walk-in cooler done except for the door and shelving!  

I'm off to a conference in Grand Rapids for a few days.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Rain

2.5 inches last night!  No hail, though!  Here's a few photos of the hail we had 4 years ago in late June:

Damaged vegetables - tomatoes, squash, peppers.  Luckily we had a lot of root crops planted that were harvestable for CSA.  We then skipped a week, and had no extra veggies for Sweetwater Market for a month.


Shredded garden.  The fog was thick, temperature dropped about 20 degrees.  The smell of the air was incredible - a blend of herbs, onions, lettuces, etc.  Pungent.  


That's a quarter in the hail pile, next to shattered pea vines.  Our pictures were on the 11pm news that night.


Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Celery

I planted about 200 celery plants.  Celery is one of the 'dirty dozen' - pesticide and herbicide residue levels are high on commercially grown celery, so we try to grow a lot.  I also picked lovely spinach and salad greens and we have enough for sale!  Or if you are a member of our CSA and want to come by for an early delivery of your Week 1 veggies, I can accomodate you!

Bill and Mike laid all the rest of the black plastic mulch with our new machine.  It went down really well!  Now if it will only warm up a little more we can start transplanting tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, and plant bean seed.

Now that we have the new shop set up, the garage is being made over into a better space for CSA divvy. A walk-in cooler is being built in one corner.  Maybe we can still fit 2 vehicles in it, too!

Spinach and Salad Greens for sale!

half pound bags, triple-washed ~~ $5.  First come, first served.  Limited supply.  Call or email if you are interested.

Monday, May 11, 2009

I've been dealing with an aphid problem in the greenhouse.  They seem to only get on the peppers and eggplant.  I was staying ahead of them until I was gone for a few days.  Soapy water works to wash them off, but it has to be done daily.

100 cells of summer squash are planted, and about 350 cells of melons of all kinds.
More scallions were transplanted in the garden, as well as early savoy cabbages, more leeks, more head lettuces.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

This is the time of year when spring unfolds before your eyes. Trilliums and phlox are now blooming and yesterday the sugar maple leaves unfurled. True to form, the orioles arrived in time to witness this ~ chattering and calling on the branches overhanging our clearing.
 Yesterday was blue and beautiful. With almost no wind, it was difficult to believe the weatherman was correct in the prediction for Saturday rain, but the cows spent most of the afternoon lying down. About 5 o'clock the tree frog called distinctly for rain within 24 hours. After a few croaks I located him on the roof under the eaves, puffing up his throat and singing the forecast. Better than a barometer and alot more entertaining. Coming with the opening maple leaves is the first major bug hatch which we would have felt today if it hadn't cooled. But some night soon that frog and his relatives will be clinging to our kitchen window with their little suction cup feet waiting to dine on those newly hatched bugs.
So the rain started about 2 AM and quit about noon. A soaker of over an inch. Good thing our principal field crop is grass. It thrives in this cool damp weather as do the winter grains and oats. But if this keeps up it might thwart the field corn intented for some of the clay ground. We'll wait and see. The month is still young.

Haiku

Cows are lying down
The tree frog croaks his forecast
More rain is coming

Friday, May 8, 2009

Summer Today, Early Spring tomorrow?

We picked, washed and bagged over 7# of lettuce mix!  Also got chives and rosemary bunched up - all for Sweetwater Market tomorrow.

Planted 150 ft of carrots including rainbow mix.  Planted 120 ft of cutting lettuces.  Transplanted anuenue head lettuces.

Planted potatoes:  Russian Banana fingerlings,  Red Golds, Kennebecs, Satinas (better than Yukon Gold), Russets.  Potato seed is ~ just potatoes!  We usually save the smaller ones, and any green ones over the winter to plant in the Spring and early summer.  We also buy certified seed every year, as the varieties aren't necessarily true after saving our own seed for a few years.   These varieties are chosen for timing of maturity, taste, variety of color and texture, yield, and storage.  The Norlands went in a few weeks ago and we will do one more planting in mid-June.



Wednesday, May 6, 2009

This weather is perfect!

I couldn't write haiku this May evening but the air was filled with poetry. In addition to the chorus of peeps there was in the background an almost whirring amphibious purr. There was a point forenoon, with the tractor off, that in addition to birdsong, this purr was the only other sound. It makes weeding, thinning, hoeing the early garden almost sedating. A nice hour spent before lunch. Good thing, as the rest of the day was pure mechanized hustle.
 The ground was perfect to work and till. With rain in the forecast we were in tractor mode. During the course of the day hay was spiked for the cattle. Then the big rototiller was put on and rye and compost were tilled under in the the potato and squash ground. While that was happening the field cultivator was put on another tractor and more vegetable ground and a small corn field got preliminary tillage. That was then taken off so the corn planter could be hauled into the shop for repair. Then the bed maker/mulch layer was put on and the brassica patch was prepared for planting. If all this sounds like talking about "6 miles of fence" it seems like more when written down than it feels in reality.
   Patrice transplanted about 200 broccoli plants.  Catie and Arie helped water them and covered them with row cover. it will help keep the bugs off and provide a little extra blanket for the cold nights predicted in a few days.  That makes about 350 broccoli plants in so far.  About half of them are a sprouting raab-sort of broccoli that is really early, good to eat raw, sauteed or lightly steamed.
Seeded a new 70 ft row of beets.  Planted 100 summer squash seeds to be transplanted out later.
We ended the day at the Muller's place helping pick stone and backfill the water and electric line trenches to their brick oven bakery. Had a great dinner there that included fresh bluegill. Maybe next years amphibian chorus will be heard over dinner with fresh sour dough bread.  

Monday, May 4, 2009

Pruned raspberries and weeded about half of them.  Put in some new Rhubarb plants.  Transplanted chard into the 260 ft row that's already planted.  Also transplanted about 72 cauliflower plants.  Seeded into flats:  basil and dill, cucumber seeds.  Replanted the Green Arrow Pea seed.

Bill and Mike finished restretching the front pasture fence and the steers were let out on lush thick pasture grass today!  They look fat and happy!

The geese pairs hatched out 2 families. It seems that the hatch occurs every year at the time the dandelions are in the fullest bloom. Camouflaging the buff yellow fuzz balls. They are cute now, but won't be so cute when they are grown.

Haiku

The island's goose nest
Exposed in evening's long light
Reveals white spent shells

WHEATLAND'S TRADITIONAL ARTS WEEKEND: A MAGICAL POT OF GOLD

MAY 22-24, 2009   Come for the weekend, the day, an individual workshop or for the evening.

Traditional Arts Weekend (formerly known as Dance Camp) is an annual event held over the Memorial Day weekend on the Wheatland Festival grounds near Remus, Michigan. The Community Education committee provides over 80 workshops in traditional forms of dance, music, crafts, vocal, and instrument instruction that participants might not otherwise be exposed to. A silent auction is also held during the weekend. Free primitive camping for participants. Food is available to purchase on site. Traditional Arts Weekend has become a very popular Wheatland event for those seeking more personal instruction.

Participants can register for the entire weekend, a single day, or workshop. Some workshops have limited participation and advance registration is highly recommended. Advance registration can be done through the mail, or by calling the WMO office - 989-967-8879. On site registration begins Friday from 3 - 11 PM, and continues Saturday and Sunday from 8AM - 9PM. There are evening performances and dances which include Square & Contra, Swing, Salsa, Ceili, and Cajun. The cost for evening performances and dances will be $5 at the door, and are open to the public. A flyer with performers, classes, schedule and registration information is mailed in the spring. Contact the Wheatland office at 989-967-8879 for a copy.

Yellow Dog Cafe  ( That's us! along with friends!) will be returning to Traditional Arts Weekend this year.  They are long-time farmers, gardeners, cooks, a mailman, midwives, carpenters and bakers who live in Oceana County and have an appreciation of good food.  This will be their 4th year cooking for TAW (they are sorry to have missed last year) and they  are looking forward to serving healthy, abundant food.  They use organic ingredients as much as possible and support local growers too.  They grew all the salad greens!  All food is made on site for you to enjoy.

Click here for more information!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Busy, lots going on

I transplanted cabbages, red and green small early ones.  I have also been replanting peas.  We had lousy germination.  The ground must have been too wet and cold and the seed rotted.  There's a fairly good sprout of sugar snaps - the edible filled-pod peas.  All the snow pea seed was planted and about 1/3 came up.  The shelling peas are what had the worst germination.  I hope they bear well before it gets really hot. This seems late to be planting them. Peas like cooler weather.

Chris Kunkel came up to help out yesterday.  We picked lettuces and seeded flats of pak choi, chinese cabbage, red cabbage, & many kinds of flowers.  Thanks, Chris!

I worked with the tomatoes:  checking and counting plants, planting some more seed of many varieties.

Bill & Mike worked most of the week on the new shop:  got the electricity and lights going, painted, put in all kinds of counters and shelving and are moving tools and parts out of the garage and into the new shop!  It's a great space!  We bought stain for the outside today.  It will match the house and garage.

Bill and I went to Lansing last night for a friend's 50th birthday party.  Left here about 6:30pm, got home about 1:30 pm today.  The neighbors opened up the hoophouse and greenhouse, but it still got so sunny that things overheated without us here to move fans, etc.  The range of temps in the hoophouse over 24 hrs was 39 degrees up to 109 degrees!  Oh dear!  NOT good!  I have watered and babied things this afternoon helping them to recover from the heat stress.