Bootstrap Farm

Back in Business 2012

2011-12-05T16:45:00.000-08:00

Bootstrap Farm is coming back! I have been away from my dream now for two full years, and it is time to put the boots back in the dirt. I've informed the Cherry Street Farmers' Market Board that I will no longer be Assistant Market Manager next year, that I will instead be at the market representing my farm and selling my wonderful veggies.

This has been a erratic couple of years, trying to "cover crop my soul". I've grown a lot, and I feel like I have a much better emotional foundation. I'm currently living in Tulsa and operating another business - Incredible Service. I work on coffee, tea, espresso, and water treatment systems. I love that too, so I'll be part time at Bootstrap Farm for a little while. I won't be the first farmer to have a "day job."

I have learned a few things over the last two years. I learned that I haven't been asking for help when I need it. I feel like I would be much farther along in my life if I had learned to ask for help when I need it. I've learned to put my thoughts away and listen to my feelings. I put some effort into it and finally came to the realization that my dream is to own an organic farm and grow great food for my community in novel and efficient ways, but I never wanted to do it alone. It was hard to admit that last part to myself. I wanted to believe that I could do it all by myself. I wanted to believe that I'd fashion the whole thing out of straw if I had too. It turns out that I can't do it by myself and it was pathological to think so.

2012 will be my year to reconnect with the land, my customers, and my farmer self. I will have a modest, habitable home on the farm by March. I will grow a few low maintenance crops in medium quantities for the farmer's market and wholesale. I will produce a business plan for the complete operation and determine how much investment I want. I will find the help I need, from my customers, my friends, my community. This may mean technical help, physical help, financial help, and of course encouragement. I will involve the broader community in a meaningful and authentic way, because I can't do it alone.

Assistant Market Manager

2011-10-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

I've been the assistant market manager now since April 2010 and I love my job.I'm just now finishing my second year in this position. I love being able to see all the customers and all the vendors every week. I decided to join the market in this capacity because I couldn't afford to operate my farm in full capacity, and because I knew I was the only person who had the commitment to get up at 3:30 AM to close the street every Saturday morning, regardless of what other priorities I had. The Cherry Street Farmer's Market is what distinguishes Tulsa from other cities on the map. It is what makes us extraordinary. Do you realize that the Cherry Street Farmers' Market is as big or bigger than the San Francisco City Center Farmers' Market? That is quite the appellation for a Midwestern city. There are very few people who have the focus and acumen to prioritize market on Saturday above all else. This has been a strain on my life and on the people I love. What would you think if your wife, husband, girlfriend, or boyfriend refused to "go out" on Friday nights? That's me, Mr. "No Life" on Fridays because of my commitment to the market. I go to bed at 8:30 PM. Bummer.

There is a lot of pressure on the Assistant Market Manager. If I were late to work, the vendors would go ahead and set up their tents in the middle of 15th Street without the appropriate safety systems. These are farmers after all, they don't stop for anything. I've seen some pretty crazy things in the early morning. Many of the people driving at in the early hours of Saturday morning are drunk or strung out. One time, I even had a guy in a clown mask pull a kitchen knife on me at 5:00 AM. To him is was a joke, really. It wasn't very funny to me. Well, next Saturday is the last market of the season and I hope everybody has enjoyed the season. I certainly have. Please come down to the market and say hi one last time before the market is over!

Getting By and Keeping Up

2010-08-12T16:09:00.000-07:00

I'm a farmer; I guess I should face it sooner or later that time and money are two things I'll never have enough of.

The idea of taking a year off of farming to grieve my divorce and recover financially was supposed to simplify my life while keeping me close to my friends and family. While I have been able to stay close to the people who I care about, my life has become very hectic.

I have three part-time jobs not counting the farm so my schedule and workload fluctuates wildly from week to week. Unfortunately that means the income stream also vacillates which is a very stressful thing when you have a clear goal to achieve and a limited time to get there. At this point I'm wishing I hadn't jumped into farming so hastily. One of my cousins is a 3000 acre no-till farmer in Olustee, OK and the only advice he gave me when he heard that I was starting a farm was: "Don't quit your day job"

Whoops. Why do I have to learn everything the hard way?
Oh well, I guess I'll stop my bellyaching and get on with it.

Not much has happened on the farm except the steady progression from one cover crop to the next. I've chopped up all the cowpeas and I decided to put down Sorghum-Sudangrass since I was expecting droughty conditions. They should incorporate biomass and choke out the remaining weeds.The red seed above is the Sorghum-Sudangrass.

The day I decided to plant, I started my day at the farm way too late. I knew I was already short on daylight when I found my tractor with a totally flat rear tire sitting on the rims. Now, flat tires are not that big of a deal themselves, but when they weigh about 200 lbs and are full of another 500 lbs of water they can be a serious issue.

I had to drain all the water out, remove the tire and put it on the flatbed trailer to take it to the local tire shop. While I was in Stillwater buying my seed, the tire shop closed and locked their doors with my tire inside! Great I thought, I hope it is a cool night because I'll be sleeping at the farm tonight. Sure enough it was a very cool night. The great thing is a I got more sleep that night than any night that week even though I don't have air conditioning in the trailer house. I love listening to all the little bugs and frogs at night, they seem so loud when the night is so quiet.

Cover Cropping The Soul

2010-07-07T08:36:00.000-07:00

The first round of cover crop on the new land was a success and a failure. The cowpeas had fantastic germination. Every little bean sprouted due to the especially wet and warm June. Unfortunately, the weeds appreciated the great weather even more than the crop. The weeds had a veritable party in the fresh tilled soil. There was Johnsongrass, Bermudagrass, Fescue, Perennial Ryegrass, Crabgrass, Sour Dock, Lady Finger, Pigweed, Coreopsis, Horse Nettle, and more! The Crabgrass was the real life of the party - it flowered first and was forming seed when I disked it under this week. I had hoped to let the cowpeas flower before turning them under but I wasn't willing to risk a field full of even more crabgrass seed. Oh well.

While I hated disking it so soon, I felt like a real competent farmer making a hard decision like that. My pride was dashed later in the day when I stopped to chat with my neighbor. He stopped cutting hay so we could talk. He and I visited in the field with our tractors idling in the background to catch up on the local news. When I mentioned I was chopping up the crabgrass before it could set seed, my friend said "It won't make any difference, there is enough crabgrass seed in that piece of ground for the next ten years!"

I can only hope that my labors make a difference. The only thing I know for sure is that I got more chiggers out of those cowpeas than I've ever had in my life!

Soil Improvement

2010-05-10T16:23:00.000-07:00

This year, I hope that I can cover crop not just my soul, but the soil as well. The soil on the new farm has really fantastic texture. It is very sandy and has very little clay which is great for veggies. On the other hand the organic matter is very low at 1% and the pH is extraordinarily low at 5.2. This is due to years of conventional farming. Applying chemical fertilizers has two major unwanted side effects. It "burns up" the organic matter in the soil and also drives the pH down. The organic matter is what supports healthy soil microorganisms and regulates moisture levels, and a proper pH (should be 6.5 or so) allows complete nutrient availability for the crops.

Raising the pH is the first priority. All that requires is ground limestone and time. I called my local lime company (Root Lime) and had them bring a spreader truck with 15 tons of lime to spread on 10 acres of the farm. The lime will react chemically with the soil over the next year to bring the pH up to around 6.5.

I decided that Cowpeas would be the best choice for my first round of cover crops. They grow very well in Oklahoma in all kinds of weather conditions, they establish quickly, and compete well with weeds. Most importantly, they are legumes and will fix nitrogen into the soil for the next crop. They are a very beneficial cover crop. I wasn't sure if I would be able to find the seed in significant quantity but the mill in Stillwater fortunately had them in 50# sacks and they weren't too expensive either. I had some old wheat seed around and mixed that in too. Hopefully it will come up and not try to set seed before the cowpeas are ready.

-Don

Farm Tragedy

2010-05-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

It has been more than three months since I've posted to my blog because this has been a tragic winter. It was wet, blizzardy, terribly cold, and very lonely. Without going into great detail, I will just state frankly that Boostrap Farm is now operated by Don Drury alone. My wife and business partner has moved on to pursue a life outside of farming.

I have decided to take a one year sabbatical from farming. Emily at Three Springs Farm recommended taking a year to "cover crop my soul." That is meaningful and heartfelt advice that only farmers can understand. I am in the process of repaying all of my CSA investors while working and living in Tulsa. I still own the farm in Yale, and with a lot of hard work and even more luck I will be able resume where I left off in February 2011.

Farming is full of crop failures, sad surprises, and dissapointments. But it is also a source of wonderment, beauty, and joy. I've decided this tragedy will not derail my dream. I promised myself to keep going. I will not have failed until I have given up on myself.

The good news is that I am now the Assistant Market Manager at the Cherry Street Farmers' Market for the 2010 season. Please come visit me at 15th and Peoria from 7 am until 11 am every Saturday morning! I'll be waiting for you at the Market Manager's booth with a smile!

-Don

The (not so) New House

2010-01-14T08:19:00.000-08:00

If I had it my way, I'd be starting transplants right now but we haven't even built our greenhouse yet! We're still working on the house. Chelsea and I got a trailer house for the price of hauling it off and it's a real winner. It's not actually even a house it is an old office trailer with a 7' celing. I'm 6'3" so I won't be wearing my cowboy hat indoors. We had it professionally hauled in, but then decided to move it to a different part of the property, so a kind neighbor pulled it from one side of the farm to the other with his Ford 4000.

We'll move in by Jan 31 whether the house is finished or not because that is when our current lease is up. Hopefully by then the office, bedroom, and bathroom will be finished. That will make us foodies sans kitchen. Whoops!

After two weeks of bitterly cold weather, I noted that most every body of water froze over: Keystone Lake, the Cimarron River, and our pond. Chelsea and I scooted and slid around on the ice before it melted in the sun.

Fortunately we chiseled another field in December just hours before the snow came in. It will be field rotation number two. This is the view from our front door! We'll have veggies and cover crops 50' in front of our house. We are so excited about the new soil and the new farm layout! We are going to have six 2-Acre production fields and a 1-Acre garden. This means we will be allowed to have a 6 year rotation without any double cropping!

Keep Warm,

Don

The Question of Scale

2009-12-02T16:31:00.000-08:00

This week we're planning the planting calendar for the year - more or less finessing spreadsheets for hours and hours. While on the computer I happened to check the Tiny Farm Blog and found a very insightful quote on the subject of scale that I'd like to share with you because it is a subject that is important to the business end of farming and often overlooked:

[Mike farms a total of 2 acres in Southern Ontario]

"This idea of SCALE has been on my mind quite a bit, lately. More and more people these days seem to want to get back to the land and start farming, and the farming they want to do is usually of the tiny variety. Like what’s pictured on [my] blog. Small-plot growing is understandable, accessible, hard work, economically tough, genuinely community-building, fun…all of that stuff. Big tractors and combines and other imposing (and EXPENSIVE) machinery don’t figure into the picture. In my few years of market gardening, I’ve only ever driven my Kubota compact tractor, and I know nothing practical about larger scale growing gear.

This is interesting for the simple reason that, if “we” (referring, at least, to Canada and the US) are going to change what we eat, where it comes from, on any sort of large scale, it’s difficult to imagine our part of the world, with its convenient supermarkets and complex food chain, suddenly fed mainly by hundreds of thousands or MILLIONS of postcard tiny farms. Gathering food for tens and hundreds of millions of people from all those tiny farms would be…complicated. So it seems to me, there’s tiny farming and mid-size farming, and figuring out how they fit together. Hmm…"

There is no right answer to what is the "appropriate" scale but there are some reasonable limits. I suspect that Tiny Farm is as small as you can be and still make a living and I seriously doubt that a 1600 acres lettuce monocrop is sustainable. There is a big middle ground. "Appropriate scale" really depends on what you want to do with your life, whether your techniques are sustainable for your soil and climate, and what your target market is.

Chelsea and I came to farming as environmentalists and pioneers, but economic success is what keeps us farming. Activism doesn't pay the mortgage. The most important variable to us is economic. We've got to be able to make a decent living - more than just pay the bills. We believe that farmers should be respected just as much as any other small business entrepreneur, and financially rewarded as such. This is not merely because we are proud; it is the key to making sustainable farming into a movement capable of feeding the continent. The simple fact is, if it isn't profitable - people won't do it (and worse, banks won't loan money on it).

Here are some of the reasons that encourage us to be smaller.

More face to face interaction at the farmers' markets.
A higher profit margin per item (especially if you only do retail)
Less employee drama - aka no employees.
Less administrative costs.
More hands in the dirt time.
Less upfront investment.

Here are some of the reasons that encourage us to be bigger.

Oklahoma needs 10 times more local and organic produce than is currently growing.
More labor saving equipment (thus lowering our prices for the customer).
More full time helpers - and pay them well (Green Jobs)!
More wholesale clients - with more predictable and consistent demand.

So that is our dilemma! I'm not done with the planting calendar just yet so I'm not sure how big the farm will be but I'm guessing we will rotate through about 12 acres next year. Hopefully that will allow us to hire a few full time employees as well as some summer help. With any luck we will be able to get some new farm tools too!

What do you think about appropriate scale?

-Don

Completely Moved!

2009-11-26T10:29:00.000-08:00

We're finally finished! It took three trips with the big trailer, one trip with a smaller trailer, and one semi truck to haul the reefer and we're finally done! Every last piece of equipment, every last tool, and every last piece of junk is now at the new farm in Yale, OK! We figured it was time for some celebration - hence the bottle of champagne in the photo.

We can't even begin to tell you how excited we are about our land. We'd like to thank all of our customers - those who visit us at the farmers' market, our wholesale customers, and especially our new CSA customers who trusted us and invested in us. Just last night Chelsea and I were musing about how we owe our success to all the people who vote for local, sustainable, thoughtful agriculture with their dollars and their supportive words. Thank You! We could not have done it without you!

There is Chelsea in the first new field at the farm. All our production fields will be 300' x 300' square with a 40' grassed turn lane around them for convenience and erosion control. That is 2.5 Acres of growing space per field and we have room for at least 7 of them on flat ground.

This is the old farm, we disked all the residue and the beds back down. I broadcast Improved Fescue and Lespedeza for Jeff's cows and leveled it with a big drag. Chelsea and I beleive that when you borrow something, whether it be land or tool, you give it back in better condition than you found it. In our time on Jeff's place we reduced the soil compaction, raised the background fertility, and improved the tilth. By next spring this field will be bright green early spring forage for the cows.

-Don

New Farm - Here We Come!

2009-11-09T17:24:00.001-08:00

We've finally begun moving! After waiting for what seemed like forever for the rain to subside and then for the sun to dry out the mud we can finally pull this big rig in and out of the farm. This is my Dad's service truck and gooseneck trailer he let me borrow for a few days. The orange tractor is also his. We have to have a front-end loader at the new farm and one at the old farm so that we can lift equipment onto and then off of the trailer. Pulling a trailer like this down the highway can be a bear.
This is what our first load looked like. It was a gigantic tangle of cultivators, drills, chisels, and the enormous rotary hoe. My tractor had a hard time lifting some of the big stuff, the rear wheels on the tractor would just come off the ground - but we finally got all this stuff onto the trailer with some clever rigging and planning. Chelsea did much of the actual loader work so that I could do the grunt work on the ground.

Though she wasn't brought up doing this kind of work, it turns out that Chelsea is at least is as good or better heavy equipment operator than I am. The photo is her lifting the grain drill at the new farm.

We are so excited to finally be moving to the new farm. It is a beautiful location and the soil is fantastic - way better than the hard clay at the old place.

One Last Market! And CSA still open!

2009-10-20T06:15:00.001-07:00

We're harvesting today for one last market this season. Tomorrow (Wed.) morning 8am to noon at 41st and Peoria is your last chance to stock up on Bootstrap's Beets, Rainbow Chard, Bell peppers, Jalepenos, Pie Pumpkins, and Butternut Squash. You can easily preserve all of these veggies for the winter: Pickle your beets, blanch and freeze the chard, chop and freeze the peppers, and keep the pumpkins and squash just how they are :) Tomorrow is also your last chance to pick up the 40 lb crates of sweet potatoes that many of you ordered.

I also wanted to let everyone know that our 2010 CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program is still open. We are so excited about those of you who have already signed up, and I can barely wait until next season. Planting, picking, and packing a box for each member will be a lot of fun. You can read about how our CSA is set up here and shoot us an email if you are interested in details (pricing, dates, etc) at bootstrapfarm@gmail.com.

As for the goings on of the farm, everything is still soaked in mud! We got 5 1/2 inches out there the week before last! We are rolling up drip irrigation tape, pulling up tomato stakes, and chopping down the okra. We're waiting until the mud dries up a bit (if it ever does!) to move all the equipment to the new farm. I got a cozy coffee shop job for the winter, and Don is working as well. We will stay in touch throughout the winter, and post pictures of our big greenhouse when we get it set up! Stay warm,

Chelsea

Saturday is the Last Market Day on 15th Street

2009-09-30T17:06:00.001-07:00

Just thought I'd let everybody know that Saturday Oct. 3 is the last day for the Saturday farmer's market. The Market at 41st and Peoria will still be running on Wednesdays until the 21st. Check out Rick Wells' piece on the popularity of the farmer's market. They got some video of me too!

Saturday we will have:

Sweet Potatoes
Pie Pumpkins
Bell Peppers
Cubanelle Peppers
Hot Peppers: Anaheim, Poblano, Cayenne
Sweet Jalepenos
Swiss Rainbow Chard
Fresh Dill

Winding Down the Season

2009-09-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

Chelsea and I were looking forward to doing a strong fall and winter market, but the combination of all the rain in September and the move to our new location has encouraged us to call it a season soon. The pie pumpkins are still going strong and we are still digging sweet potatoes for market and for those of you who've ordered cured potatoes. The peppers are rocking on, but most of our other veggies have quit for the season. Here is a photo of our pie pumpkins with their faces washed all smiling in the sun.
The potatoes come out of the ground pretty muddy. We are so ready to move to our sandy loam and be done with this sticky black muck. It doesn't even wash off very well because it is so sticky.

We're curing our seed potatoes for next year as well as a couple hundred pounds of Georgia Jets that some of our customers requested. There will be more, of course, we're just letting the Centennial and Carolina Ruby's grow.

In case you are wondering what "curing" means, check out this fact sheet. It is all we know about curing sweet potatoes and is handy reference. Basically, you put them up in a well ventilated room at about 90 degrees for about 4 days so that the can grow a protective tissue over any wounds caused by harvesting and handling.

I went down to the new farm today to do some work and found all the failed soybean crop neatly bailed and ready to go, so it won't be long until Chelsea and I can start chiseling the land to prepare for our spring crops!

-Don

Melon Slapping Good Time!

2009-09-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

You have got to see this video! One of loyal customers and raw food advocates, Penni Shelton, shot a great video of Ian, our trusty farmhand and banjo-picker, hawking melons out of the back of his truck at the Cherry Street Farmers' Market Saturday. Its a hoot! He's quickly accumulating a fan club as "The Foxy Farmer." Its the quick wit, the show-biz smile, and of course the suspenders... Fast Forward to 2:52 if you want to cut to the chase.

Vote for the Farmer's Market!

2009-09-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

The Cherry Street Farmer's market is looking for a new location, and the Driller's stadium is being torn down... What better location for a farmer's market? Check out the Tulsa County website and tell Tulsa County to build a farmers' market on the old Drillers site! If you've been to the Broken Arrow farmer's market you know what it looks like when a municipality really puts their support behind farmers and sustainable agriculture.

Broken Arrow is way ahead of the curve, they have built a wonderful pavilion - it is a covered space with electric and water hookups for every vendor! Wow! It is really a shame that Tulsa doesn't have anything like this! How many millions of dollars did we pay to build a concert hall big enough to bring Britney Spears to town, but we still don't have a real farmers' market facility?

While the Cherry Street Farmers' market is considering other locations, Chelsea and I believe that a permanent, covered, year-round farmers' market at the fairgrounds would be the best solution for our customers, our farm, and all of Tulsa. We want to bring organic food and sustainable agriculture into the mainstream - and what better way to do that than by erecting the market on county land near the county fair!

-Don

Sweet Potatoes are Everywhere!

2009-09-17T18:39:00.001-07:00

We've spent the better part of the week dealing with the sweet potatoes - they're everywhere! We've harvested nearly 1000 lbs of them this week and that's just the beginning. We took 400 lbs to the Oklahoma Food Coop this morning, and there are still plenty to go around. We were so impressed at the yield that we had to pass our good luck on to our customers. We're dropping our price 25% to $1.50/lb. Even better, if you want to order a whole 40 lb crate of potatoes cured for winter storage, we'll give it to you for only $40. That's cheap!

Did you know that sweet potatoes are considered a "super-food" for your heart, that they contain massive amounts of vitamin A and Beta Carotein. More than just delicious!

Our camera kind of ran out of batteries when we had a 1000 lb wagon-load of sweet potatoes :-( we were so proud of all our hard work. Maybe we'll get another picture early next week.

Monster Market Haul! Super Sale Day

2009-09-10T15:04:00.001-07:00

No Kidding. The season isn't over yet...Bring some extra bags Saturday!

Jalepenos and Anaheims 1/2 price $1.50/lb

Watermelon Markdown to only $5 each! - all prices include sales tax.

Biggest market days this week!

2009-09-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

Our summer crops keep giving, and our fall crops are rolling in in a big way. Tomorrow at the market (and this Saturday too) we will have another truckload of watermelons. They are sweet, juicy, and have tons of flavor. We finally have green beans! We've tried and tried to grow them all year, and we finally got some luck.

We will also have:
Sweet Potatoes!
Red okra,
Heirloom Black Prince tomatoes,
Heirloom Black Krim tomatoes,
Heirloom Green Zebra tomatoes
Beefsteak tomatoes,
"Sugar baby" pie pumpkins,
Butternut squash,
Poblano Peppers,
Jalapeños,
Cayenne peppers,
Anaheim roasting chilies,
Cubanelle sweet peppers,
Bell Peppers, and
Sun Gold cherry tomatoes

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that should give you an idea of our bountiful harvest that we are bringing to market. We'll have a sale on Jalapenos and Anaheim Chilies this week- just $2/lb! I'll leave you all with a recipe for our Red okra and heirloom tomatoes:

Red Okra Semi-Fry

This is a reasonable healthy and very tasty way to eat okra, as opposed to the traditional fried method. Our red okra is especially tender and drier (less slimy) than green. Prep and Cook time: approx. 45 mins.

Ingredients

1lb Red Okra, chopped in ½ in slices
1 cup white vinegar (optional: soak the sliced okra in vinegar for about 10 mins to reduce sliminess),
2 small heirloom Black Prince tomatoes, or 1 larger heirloom Black Krim tomato, diced
1 Poblano pepper or 2 Jalapeños, diced
¼ cup olive oil or bacon grease
Approx. ½ cup wheat flour
Salt and Pepper

Heat your olive oil or bacon grease in a cast iron skillet on high heat and toss in the poblano (or jalepenos) and okra. I let it sizzle and stir it up for a few minutes before sprinkling the flour on, coating the okra. Cook on medium-high heat for about 25 to 30 minutes, stirring regularly. Add in your diced tomatoes, black pepper, and salt shortly before it is done cooking. When cooking okra, I always do a taste test to see when it is done. The Okra should be tender and not slimy at all when it is fully cooked.

-Chelsea

Home Sweet Loam! We Bought Land!

2009-09-03T09:36:00.001-07:00

After looking for land for what now seems like an eternity (during the busiest time of year, to boot) we are finally the proud owners of 40 Ac of sweet loam! We've kept the whole deal fairly hush-hush because we didn't want to disappoint ourselves or our customers if it didn't work out. It did work out though, and thank goodness, because we were getting down to the wire. Our new place is in the Council Valley just North of Cushing, Oklahoma in Payne County. It is a traditional farming community. Click here for an aerial photo taken last winter!
You should totally check out this panorama shot that Chelsea took to get a feel for what kind of land this is. It is ancient alluvial terrace, which means it was formed as flood plains around the Cimarron River millions of years ago. Now it out of the flood plain by about 40 feet so we don't have to worry about flooding. The river is just a 1/4 mile behind the trees in the background.

One of the reasons the topography is important is because the farm has to be able to access irrigation water for our veggies. We drilled our well before we even closed on the property to make sure that we could get sufficient water. This is the drilling rig that punched the hole. The well is only 70 feet deep, and bores into the gravel around the current river bed. That means we are essentially pumping river water that has been filtered through a 1/4 mile of gravel!
Here is what the well looks like now - just a straw sticking out of the ground! That is me telling my Dad "there's the well." It's really the only improvement on the property except the pond on the very back of the property. I dropped a little homemade bucket down the hole for a water sample, and the water starts at 15ft below the surface! That means our water column is currently 55 ft tall! Wow! The water is hard, but is suitable for irrigation.

We are so excited about this property, and we are planning to have a grand opening party out there this fall after we move our reefer and equipment. It seems kind of silly to have a grand opening a year after starting our business, but we never got to have ours!

Most importantly, now that we own the farm, we will be able to give farm tours, farm parties, farm table dinners, and generally engage with our community the way a farm should. We are also free to start our CSA next year! Join up!

- Don and Chelsea

Bootstrap Farm CSA has arrived!

2009-08-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

Due to popular demand, and a growing confidence that we know how to grow vegetables, Chelsea and I have decided to begin enrolling people for the 2010 Spring/Summer CSA. Don't worry, there will be a Fall CSA as well but we won't start sign-up for that until June or so.

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and it is a way for our customers to be involved in the farm and support sustainable agriculture.

Our CSA is a type of loan that you give us in January, when we have our most critical expenses, that we later repay with a greater value in vegetables each week through the growing season. Our Spring/Summer CSA will go from April to August. It is a great deal for you because you get more vegetables for less money, and you don't have to worry about us selling out of your favorite veggie before you get to the farmers' market.

For more information, please come visit our booth at the Cherry Street Farmers' Market this Saturday. We have produced some fancy brochures on the specific details of this program that we would like to give you! Please don't delay because there are a limited amount of spots available and we expect them to fill up fast!

Pumpkin Soup!

2009-08-24T06:48:00.000-07:00

If you all haven't noticed yet- Fall has come early this year. We had an incredibly mild August (Thank goodness!!) and our pie pumpkins and acorn squash are already ripening. I love making pumpkin pies from scratch, but it is a lot of work! So I wanted to come up with a few easier recipes for everyone. The first one we tried is Pumpkin Chorizo Soup. It was literally the best soup I've ever tasted. I know it sounds a little funky, but I really hope you all try it. Here it goes:

Pumpkin Chorizo Soup

Ingredients (You can find the peppers and pumpkins at our market stand!):

1 Pie Pumpkin
2 stalks celery
1 tsp cinnamon
splash of soy sauce
2 Tbsp oregano or marjoram
1 pat of butter
1/4 Cup sour cream
½ of a large red onion
2 red bell peppers
1 poblano pepper
2 mild jalapeños
2 cayenne peppers
½ lb Chorizo (from Pork & Greens)
1 tsp Honey or Agave nectar (optional)

Alright- Start by cutting the pumpkin in half and scooping out the seeds and stringy stuff. Then peel the pumpkin- I used a knife instead of a vegetable peeler, because the skin is so thick. Dice the pumpkin into about ¾ inch cubes. Slice up the 2 celery stalks. Combine the celery, pumkin, cinnamon, soy sauce, oregano/marjoram, and butter in a pot and sautee for a few minutes. Then add just enough water to cover the vegetables and boil until the pumpkin is cooked all the way through – about 15 minutes- then add a scoop of sour cream and puree everything in the pot.

In a separate skillet, brown the onions, peppers, and Chorizo. Then add these to the pureed pumpkin soup base and cook for another 10 minutes. Add more spices or salt to taste.

I hope you all enjoy! I'll post more pumpkin recipes soon.

Chelsea

Planting Late Potatoes

2009-08-17T20:19:00.000-07:00

We finally got our potatoes in the ground! The OSU Planting Calendar says that you should have them in by August 15th so we'll hope the growing season is two extra days long this year. Chelsea spent the morning cutting up 100 lbs of red and yellow potatoes while I rigged up a potato planting attachment to put on the bed maker sled.

It is little more than two pipes stuck in the ground to drop pieces of potato in. It worked pretty well for such a podunk contraption - it just takes a lot of horsepower to pull to big dumb pipes through the soil at a depth of about 6".

The weather was very strange - it would threaten to rain and we'd get all motivated about our chores and then the sun would come out instead. Very strange indeed.

-Don

See us at the Broken Arrow Farmers' Market!

2009-08-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

We have so many great vegetables that we are now doing 3 markets a week! We just started visiting the Broken Arrow Farmers' Market. It's at 418 South Main from 4:30 PM to 8:00 PM. We'll be there tomorrow and we'll have all the varieties that we've had at the Cherry Street Markets:

Cucumbers
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Amaranth
Yellow Squash
Zucchini
Patty Pan
Sungold Cherry Tomatoes
Blackeyed Peas (shelled)
Cantaloupe
Heirloom Muskmelon
Red Okra
Anaheim Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Bell Pepper
Pablano Pepper
Jalepeno Pepper
Green Beans

Above is a picture of our wonderful sweet potato planting. We are so proud of our sweet potatoes! They are just now blooming so it shouldn't be long until we have a couple TONS of sweet potatoes. They'll be ready in time to bring to all the markets. To the left is our red okra planting. As you can see it is just now starting to really grow - which is pretty late, but heck what good thing isn't worth waiting for?

I look forward to seeing you there, and thank you for supporting your local sustainable farmers - Chelsea and I really appreciate the business!

-Don

Look at Them Melons!

2009-07-31T20:19:00.000-07:00

The news on the street is that we've got the best melons of the season. You better come out and try for yourself, just to make sure. We have about 300 pounds of them, so get prepared for some major cantaloupe eating this week.

We'll also be bringing an enormous amount of patty pan squash. Our second planting is going gangbusters right now. Patty pan is a very versatile crop that can be used like a winter squash OR a summer squash. You can grill it, saute, bake (whole or diced), make soup, or my very favorite PIE! Here is my very own recipe for it. It is a great summery take on pumpkin pie.

Patty Pan Pie

2 lbs patty pan squash (about 2 medium squash)
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons fresh grated ginger
grated rind of one lemon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup sour cream or creme fraiche
1 9-in pie crust

Cut the patty pan squash in half and place flesh down in a Pyrex pan and bake at 375 for about 40 minutes (depends on size, until you can easily stick it with a fork). Then puree the squash in a food processor. Cream eggs with sugar in a separate bowl, then blend in all the other ingredients including the squash. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes. You can use the fork test to see when it is done (if the fork comes out clean, it's definitely ready). Let the pie cool, and serve it cold with whipped cream. I always make my own whipped cream and add some lemon juice.

In other news, we are ridiculously thankful for this mild July. You probably will never hear a farmer say that the weather is perfect, but here it is... July has been perfect. We didn't have to irrigate all month, but we didn't get too much rain either. And it has been such a relief to work in 86 degrees instead of 101! The cool nights have helped our peppers and tomatoes set fruit, as well as our mid-summer green beans that were a gamble. We'll have plenty of those next Saturday.

See you at the market!
Chelsea

The Food Safety Enhancement Act: HR2749

2009-07-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

Many of you all have already heard about this Food Safety Act. It is being voted on today (Thursday) early afternoon in the House. Yesterday it failed to acheive a 2/3 vote, thanks to many of our Oklahoma representatives, but congress has suspended the normal rules to allow a simple majority vote to pass the act today. This is the Act that you probably received emails about saying "their going to make Organic farming illegal!!!" and whatnot, which is quite an exaggeration. However, as small scale vegetable producers, we do have MANY concerns about it.

The Act as it stands requires frequent FDA inspections of all farms and processing facilities, an across-the-board $500 fee for all farms big or small, and extensive expensive traceability guidelines. Luckily there is an exemption for producers who sell the majority of their products direct-to-consumer.

Here are the biggest problems we have with this Act:

1. It does little to address the real food safety problems such as: sourcing food from China, industrial food processing and confinement animal feed-out operations. The scale and complexity of the industrial food distribution system severs the farmers' accountability to the consumer. There has NEVER been a Food Safety issue arising from Organic produce. Food borne illness usually originates from large scale processing facilities, not Organic Farms.

2. It is not scale appropriate. Small scale family farms do not pose the same risks as corporate farms and processing facilities. Small scale farms have inherent traceability because there is rarely more than 1 stop between farmer and customer. Small scale farms should not be required to pay the same fees, provide the same extensive paper and electronic records, and pay the same penalties for noncompliance.

3. Small scale farms that wholesale directly to a retailer or food preparer (restaurant, cafeteria), should also be exempt from these requirements.

Read more about it at the Organic Consumers' Association website.

We'll be on the news again tomorrow morning to discuss this Act. It is Channel 6 news at 6am.