Stonewall Corner Farm

New Blog for the farm

2012-02-22T05:44:00.000-08:00

I seem to be unable to change the url for the farm blog from the original brandybrookfarm. blogspot.com so I've set up an entirely new blog for Stonewall Corner Farm that now reflects the correct url. I was hoping to preserve the history of the blog by just changing the name but, apparently, it doesn't quite work the way I'd hoped. I want people to be able to find us with the correct farm name, so this will be the last post at this url. Please visit http://stonewallcornerfarm.blogspot.com/ to continue reading about our adventures. Thanks!

Challenges and planning.....

2012-02-10T07:23:00.000-08:00

I've tried in a variety of different ways to add this to the side bar on this blog:

http://www.sustainableeats.com/sign-up-for-the-urban-farm-handbook-challenge/

It's got a nifty little graphic and everything. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I can't get blogger to accept it. So, please check out the link instead.

The upshot of it is, that it's a 12 month "challenge" (11 challenges, one reflection month) to help transition to a more self-sustaining lifestyle. It's based on the book, The Urban Farm Handbook (http://www.amazon.com/Urban-Farm-Handbook-Resources-Preparing/dp/1594856370/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328884747&sr=1-1) which I will admit I haven't read but stumbled over on another blog called Food In Jars (http://www.foodinjars.com/2012/02/books-the-urban-farm-handbook/) which I read fairly often. Food In Jars author Marisa does a fine job of reviewing the book (not to mention writing a great blog in general!) in the above linked blog post, so click, read, and enjoy her great review and lovely photos. Ordinarily, I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to a book or challenge oriented towards 'urban' farmers because I don't think of us that way - we are definitely out in the country and not in an urban setting. Out of curiosity, mostly due to Marisa's wonderful book review, I clicked on the challenge link she provided to see what it was all about and the more I read, the more I thought, hey, this could be really helpful to us. The final clincher was the sentence, "This challenge will be what you make of it – the ultimate in crazy or just dipping your toe in." Oh, ok. No pressure, no deadlines. I won't look like a deadbeat to the world if I can't meet some list of required tasks if life gets too busy to do a lot but I can at least keep up by reading the monthly guest blog challenges. Maybe I can do this. Sounds very interesting to me, and I want to learn more about almost about all the topics listed (seed saving, soil building, dairy, preserving, grains, to name a few). Plus, it will give me some exposure to things I don't think too much about right now (like bartering or foraging, for instance). Sounds like a winner all around!

I am continuing to get the gardens planned and hope to finish that today. We are going to plant all three plots again this year. Just to complicate things a little more, in addition to companion planting I am also using crop rotation principles. In all seriousness, it doesn't really complicate things that much and it actually helps in deciding what goes where in each plot. For those of you not familiar with the concepts involved with rotation, it's pretty logical: don't plant the same plants or plants from the same family in the same space every year. It's proven to help reduce the incidence of pests and disease. For example: don't plant potatoes in one spot one year and then tomatoes in that same spot the next year. Potatoes and tomatoes are both nightshades and share the same diseases which can stay in the soil between seasons. I'm also going a little further with it in trying to take into account the nutritional needs of the plants. Another example: corn is a heavy nitrogen feeder, which leaves the soil it was planted in lower in nitrogen than before. Legumes (peas & beans) 'fix' nitrogen in the soil, so it would help restore nitrogen to the former corn patch if you plant beans there the following year. Simple things that will, hopefully, make a big difference in the overall health of the garden.

Today and a look ahead....

2012-01-27T05:58:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading through the past couple of months' worth of posts and have discovered that I have started nearly every one with an apology that it's taken me so long between postings. Oh, my. I'm just not gonna' do that anymore. My goal is to be more consistent and post more often and I will keep working towards that, but I'm going to quit apologizing with every post. Life just is what it is right now and, sometimes, it's challenging. That means I don't get to put in the time to writing posts as much as I'd like to right now. I'm just going to keep forging ahead and we'll see how things go from here. Thanks very much for taking the ride with me and for reading, regardless of how often I am able to post.

It's raining here in our part of the northeast today and it's about 34 degrees out. An overall cold, raw, day. Challenging to deal with the dogs because none of us (me or the dogs) like it when they go out in the rain. They come in as wet mudballs and none of us enjoys dealing with that. But, they don't really like being stuck inside, either. Beau just hurt his paw jumping up to try to reach a rawhide chew that I'd put up because they were fighting over it. Usually, it's all just a grand game for them and nothing is serious. This time, however, Marcie got very serious about defending it and scared me when she lunged for Beau when he got too close. That is NOT acceptable so I put her in time out and put up the chew. When I let her out, Beau tried to resume the game by jumping up to get the chew, but caught his paw on the door to Marcie's crate when I told him to get down and hurt himself badly enough to yelp. No visible damage, thank goodness! Now that the drama has subsided, they are all sacked out on the floor and peace has returned to our tiny temporary home.

Tiny by my standards, anyway. Somewhere around 300 square feet. We never thought we'd be in here so long but the house is taking longer to complete than we expected. Things are finally moving along, though, and the interior work is picking up speed. All of the downstairs has been drywalled and the kitchen cabinets are about to be installed. Fireplace (with hand forged 18th century reproduction crane! yay!) and masonry for the woodstove have been completed, just waiting on the exterior chimney to be finished. I need to go take some pictures for you when it's sunny again. I am hoping to be able to move in in March, but it will probably be April or May.

Farm work right now consists of garden planning and getting space ready for livestock. If all goes according to plan this year we'll have chickens, turkeys, pigs, and maybe even a couple of sheep, with a livestock guardian dog to go along with them all. And most likely, no vacations together. It may be silly, but that is a sad trade-off for me. It is, however, a reality of farming for most.

Planning the garden isn't as simple as just deciding what to plant (though that's not always simple, either), it also includes WHERE to plant it. We have a long term permaculture plan for our farm, so that has to be taken into consideration. We also have to consider issues of succession planting. For example, you shouldn't plant nightshades (ie: tomatoes and potatoes) in the same ground two years in a row. We had lots of tomatoes and potatoes last year, so that will take some serious consideration. And we want to plant legumes (peas, beans) where the corn was to restore some of the nitrogen in the soil that the corn (a heavy nitrogen feeder) depleted. I also really want to try a couple of traditional 3 Sisters mounds, so we need to decide where to place those. The list goes on with things like that, and then there is the added issue of companion planting to seriously complicate it even more! Slow going, but it will be worthwhile in the end. I'm just getting anxious about ordering seeds, because I know I was behind last year and had to scramble to find bouquet dill when my first choice source sold out. I also couldn't get some flowers that I wanted for the same reason, so I am pushing myself to get the plan completed and things ordered asap. And, just to throw a wrench into the whole works, school is starting again for me. Fortunately, I have a less involved schedule this semester. I'm pretty happy about that because I think, between school, house and farm, things are going to be pretty busy.

"A riddle

2011-12-11T14:34:00.000-08:00

wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma" - Winston Churchill (1939). While Churchill was referring to Russia when he said this, I am referring to another "foreign country", if you will: the past. Being a 'history geek' I've always loved the quote, "The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there." (L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between, 1953) and the more history I learn, the more I believe it to be true. I love the Churchill quote, too, and both together sum up how I'm feeling about the name of the moving body of water (brook? creek?) on our property.

All this started when we went to the craft fair in town today:

There were quite a few vendors selling all manner of things (hand carved wooden bowls, jewelry, hand braided rugs, Native American jewelry and crafts, pottery, and more) and they had a very nice turn-out for a first - time craft fair. I brought home a couple of things: a beautiful blue and green stoneware bowl from Rhonda Wainshilbaum:

A really cool t-shirt from Wicked Stepmother Jewelry:

Loved this because it is a gravestone rubbing from one of the old cemeteries in town and supports the town Historical Commission. And, last but not least, prints of two old maps of town (also from Wicked Stepmother) - one is the 1871 map I mentioned in my previous post and the other is dated 1858:

The even better part of finding these is that purchase of them also helps support the town Historical Commission ~ not some on-line company (where I was going to buy them in the future) who I would also have to pay to ship them to me. Nope, they are here in my hands right now AND helped the Historical Commission. Can't get better than that. Oh, wait, yes it can: they were less expensive than the on-line price! Wicked Stepmother doesn't seem to have an on-line presence but, if I find one, I will post it for you. They had more t-shirt designs and had earrings with early gravestone type designs - REALLY cool stuff!

Ok, so to get back to the history/riddle/enigma thing: when I got these two map prints home I spent some time looking closely and comparing them. I found our farm site then, out of curiosity, I looked for the brook. Somehow, in the thirteen years from 1858 to 1871, the names of this moving body of water mysteriously changed. In 1858 what we thought was Brandy Brook was Still's Brook, which (in 1858) ran into Buddington Creek just below us. Then, in 1871, Still's Brook somehow becomes un-named and what was Buddington Creek becomes Glen Brook. Now, I know the answer to why these names have mysteriously changed and/or disappeared, it's really quite simple: the 1858 map is by H.F. Walling and the 1871 map is by F.W. Beers. Two different map makers, two different sets of information. The Beers Atlas seems to have become the accepted version because an 1894 USGS topo map found on line uses the Beers names, which have pretty much stayed the same into the present time. I'm going to have to do some more digging into the town history at some point in the future, though, because I'd never heard of Still's Brook or Buddington Creek before and they intrigue me.....

A rose.....

2011-12-06T17:18:00.000-08:00

by any other name would smell as sweet. - Wm. Shakespeare

And, a blog and a farm, by any other name, would still be the same blog and farm. So, from here on out, Brandy Brook Farm is Stonewall Corner Farm. I'm going to miss the name Brandy Brook Farm ~ I really liked it and loved the way it just alliteratively rolled off the tongue. Alas... we have discovered that the brook that runs through the farm is not named Brandy brook after all and it just doesn't seem right to name the farm for it. It seems dishonest, somehow. The actual name of the brook is Glen brook and we are not going to use that because there is already a farm in town with the name Glen Brook Farm. It was an honest mistake ~ Brandy brook actually runs into Glen brook and we didn't realize that the name changed before it got to our property. I found this 1871 map of our town on line and it very clearly labels Glen Brook:

So, we spent some time seriously brainstorming new names for the farm and, based on some of the words that describe our place that we mixed and matched (quite literally - I wrote them out and we cut up the paper and randomly picked words to put together) we finally settled on Stonewall Corner Farm as the new name. And, this time, it's official: there is a business license on file with the town that makes it so.

All this means that, for those of you who follow or are subscribed to this blog, the name of the blog will be changing with the next post, probably in the next week or so. Just wanted to give y'all a head's up.

Lessons and reflections, Part 2

2011-11-22T08:22:00.000-08:00

Ha! Bet you thought I forgot! Sorry it's been so long. Really. School was a little hairy for a while, and then I got sick. Really sick - viral asthmatic bronchitis. That = coughing all the time and having trouble breathing. I think I'm getting better but I am still coughing some. All that means that I haven't been able to do anything in the garden so Country Boy has taken care of all of the winter prep, including planting (and MULCHING!!) 91 cloves of garlic. It's only a pound, so will most likely yield enough for just our use but we'll see. That would be almost a head of garlic a week if they all make it, which might be a little much. We do use a lot of garlic but, well.... sometimes you can have too much of a good thing! We got ours from High Mowing Organic Seeds:

From their website:

"Organic Purple Glazer Garlic - HEIRLOOM A glazed purple-striped garlic that grows well in most climates, but really excels in places with cold winters. Likes to be planted early in the fall. Excellent for raw eating and for roasting because of its exceptional sweetness. Outer bulb wrappers are white and inner bulb wrappers can be almost solid purple. Will store for 6-7 months. There are 8-10 cloves per bulb. Originally from the Republic of Georgia. Hardneck (Allium tuberosum)"

I LOVE this company! They produce beautiful catalogs that provide all the information you need about their seeds.

We also got all the potatoes harvested ~ Country Boy did most of the work for that, too. We got a great harvest and the potatoes are wonderful. We won't be selling them, though, because we didn't get them covered soon enough and they started to green up some. I've used them to make scalloped potatoes and they were fine - we ate the whole casserole with no ill effects - you just have to peel them to remove the green. Count it as a lesson learned. We will plant potatoes again next year, too - lots of them. And lots more French Fingerlings, too, because those, folks, are delicious!

Lessons and reflections..... (part 1)

2011-09-11T17:35:00.000-07:00

September = Autumn in our neck of the woods. Not full-on, fire up the wood stove and pull out your sweaters and wool socks autumn, but autumn, nonetheless. Sigh. Summer has come and gone, though we still get glimpses of her here and there in splashes of sunlight and afternoons that are still warm enough to make you sweat with a little exertion. I miss her already and can feel the steady approach of winter in my bones. We are starting to clean up and clean out the gardens, with what time we can patch together to accomplish these chores. It's been a very busy summer that has been tough in many ways but there have been many lessons learned along the way. Particularly garden lessons. Lesson #1 (number one is most important, right?) - don't take classes or make any extra commitments over the summer months if you expect to keep up with the garden and its needs. Ouch! I have a long-standing habit of thinking I can do everything and adding to my plate until I really can't take on any more. Well, folks, this summer the garden taught me that I really can't. Between the Permaculture Design Class and the part time job, the garden suffered. Lesson # 2 - MULCH!! Mulch early, mulch often, and mulch heavily. Nuff said. Lesson # 3 - Keep up with the weeds (see lessons #1 & #2). Overall, it's been mostly ok. Ha! How's that for wishy-washy?! We tried a lot of things that were new to both of us.... some of them were successes (companion planting!), some were not (radishes under the beans, squashes in the rows of corn). We tried a lot of new (to us) varieties.... some that we will plant again (bouquet dill, borage, Detroit Dark Red beets, among others) and some we will not (eggplant & cauliflower, to name just two).
"Real" school has started for me again and I have a more-than-full-time schedule so things are even busier right now, when we need to be putting up the harvest for winter eating. We cut down the corn and cleaned that out today, and got most of the (extremely ! prolific) pear tomatoes tied up to their nifty new stakes. Until we ran out of ties and stakes, that is.

My undying gratitude to Country Boy, who spent a great deal of time on his knees in the dirt, pulling weeds to reclaim a whole row of tomatoes and green peppers from the weeds. What a fight that has been! Oh, and I forgot to tell you about the corn....

If you're wondering, "what happened?!", so were we. It took us a while to figure it out but we ultimately decided that the local deer family had decided to bed down in it after the hay field that abuts our property (their previous 'bedroom') was cut. We were able to salvage some of the corn

and, of that, about half of it was good enough to freeze. Very disappointing, after all the work invested. We will fence the gardens next year to protect them from deer (and the neighbors' wandering animals). I guess that qualifies as lesson #4.

Critters and stuff

2011-08-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, at least this time it has only been two weeks instead of four. Since my last post I've accomplished two things: I have successfully completed and graduated from a course in Permaculture Design, and I have successfully completed the EMS First Responder course for Massachusetts. (I am still currently certified as an EMT in Virginia, but the whole transition thing is complicated. Plus, the opportunity to take the First Responder class kind of fell in my lap so I ran with it.) So, I am now certified in both Permaculture Design and as a First Responder in Massachusetts. Where things go from there I don't know right now. But, I think you read this to find out about how things are growing here on there farm, so here we go:
Here's a shot of the corn with Beau dog in the foreground for some perspective. The shorter corn in the foreground is actually a bantam variety of corn (Golden Bantam Improved from Seed Savers Exchange) and is supposed to be shorter. The taller varieties are Stowell's Evergreen and Reid's Yellow Dent. Man, are those tall! Easily eight feet tall, and maybe up to ten. We had our first ears of the Stowell's Evergreen yesterday and they were very good and tender.

As far as corn goes, the only critters so far are what we think are probably raccoons. The damage to the corn is consistent with something that has pulled it over. We don't think the deer would be doing that.

You can sort of see some of the corn leaning over into the beets in this picture but the damage is worse today than it was when I took this picture yesterday. We figure we'll probably fence it next year. The beets look sort of ravaged because we've eaten some and I've sold quite a few of them. They were the first thing sold from the garden and they are really very good. Detroit Dark Red - gorgeous deep red color and sweetly earthy like beets should be. Yummy!

Here are a couple of pictures of the Borage that I planted:

The blue is just amazing in person - it looks almost electric. It's really a beautiful plant. I decided to grow it this year because I read that bees like it and was hoping to attract pollinators. It seems to be doing the job. It's also supposed to be a good companion for the cucumbers, which it is planted in with. Please disregard the terrible weeds around it ~ I am working hard to reclaim that section of garden from the weed overgrowth now that my PDC (Permaculture Design Course) is over. Did a whole row yesterday and, really, am finding that the weeds have served as a sort of living mulch so it's not all bad. I think the veggies would have done better if they hadn't had to compete with so many weeds but, in the absence of 'regular' mulch they've done a pretty good job of keeping moisture in the soil. You can see how moist the soil looks under our first and, so far, only cucumber:

There is hope for more because there are tons of blossoms. Unfortunately, the timing is off and I am going to have to buy cukes to make pickles with if I want to use my own bouquet dill. I think I will try to do both that AND make pickles from our own cukes with our dill *seed* but "regular" school is getting ready to start again so, we'll see if I have time.

In the same 200 square foot patch as the cukes are the tomatoes - all 80-something plants! [omg.... WHAT were we thinking???]. They, too, have a bunch of blossoms but so far the only fruits I see are on the Pear Tomatoes:

Aren't they beautiful?? And they are all bearing clusters like that.....! It appeared that "something" had been eating some of them, and some stems looked like they had been nipped off. I had no idea what it could be but was thinking deer may have been after the blossoms until I found this guy:

Can't see him clearly because he blends in so well? I didn't, either! At first I thought he was some sort of leaf - I am so glad I didn't grab him when I was pulling weeds! Here's a better photo:

Can you see the bright yellow circles on each of his segments? They're right next to the white lines. Very vibrant in person and the center of the yellow circle looks like a black 'x'. Really interesting markings. And his "horn" that you see is red, which identifies him as a Tobacco Hornworm, not a Tomato Hornworm (they have a black "horn"). Not terribly surprising to me since the greater valley area we live in is a big tobacco growing region. He was quite large (easily the length of my middle finger and the thickness of my thumb) and very tenaciously holding on to the tomato branch. I couldn't quite bring myself to squish him or his 'friend' that I found so I sort of threw him into the swampy field next to the garden and I'll keep an eye out for his return. His friend proved to be more adept at escape and managed to make his getaway before I noticed that he was gone and then I couldn't find him again. I'm sure he's happily munching on my tomato plants as I write this. In the words of the indomitable Scarlett O'Hara: tomorrow is another day. Interestingly, according to OrganicGardening.About.com, this is the larval stage of the Hawk or Sphinx Moth, also known as the Hummingbird Moth. According to http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/hummingbird_moth.htm,

the Hummingbird Moth is a beneficial pollinator so I guess I'm glad I didn't squish them, after all.

The Diablo Cosmos are blooming like crazy:

and they are attracting lots and lots of beneficials and pollinators. I've never grown so many flowers in and among my vegetables before and I am absolutely hooked. Not only do they attract pollinators and beneficial insects but they add a beauty to the garden that just delights me. Honestly, every time I look at the beautiful colors on all the blooming, flowering things in the garden I smile. It makes me so happy to see them. The Calendula looks bright and sunny:

And even Beau dog looks happy when he's near the garden:

He looks like he's smiling to me. It's definitely his "happy place". Mine, too.

And last, but most definitely not least, even our house is growing:

And this, folks, makes me happiest of all. :)

As time goes by.....

2011-08-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

"You must remember this" (first line of the song, "As time Goes By") : Late summer is CRAZY for gardeners!! But, really.... a MONTH?!?!?!! My sincere apologies, to anyone reading this who has been trying to follow this blog. I really don't mean for there to be such big gaps between posts. There have been extenuating circumstances.... I started a part time job, and I have been up to my neck with the Permaculture Design class I've been taking this summer. It's all good stuff, but has eaten up my time in ways I didn't see coming. So, to bring everything up to speed:
We have not been visited by any more large domesticated animals in the gardens since that one time last month. However, we believe the deer that live in the forest at the edge of our property have decided that they like dill. This is how it looked before the deer got at it:

Isn't it beautiful? The deer didn't get it all, so it's not a major disaster. I've started selling some things through another local farm's established farm stand and so far have sold 20 lb of beets and she will take some of the dill. We are in the process of setting up our own farm stand but aren't quite up and running yet.

The rest of the garden is going great guns: all my worry about things being too cold and rainy was unfounded. The corn is huge and is getting tasseled out:

There are marigolds growing at the base of the corn and those are finally blossoming, too. Here it is from the other side, where the beets are:

It's a little weedy right now but I will post more pics once I get it cleaned out. Gonna try to do that this week but not sure if I can get to it or not. The NOFA (Northeast Organic Farmer's Association) (http://www.nofamass.org/ ) Summer Conference is this weekend and we are going to be there. The mustard looks great and is busy setting seed:

Can't wait to make my own stone ground mustard with this some time this year!

Foreground: mustard, then cabbage, cauliflower, dill, red cabbage, and bean teepees:

Close - up of the beans with some of the yield:

Radishes, that had been left to go to seed so we can save seed and plant the same ones next year:

Close - up of the radish seed pods:

Don't know if I've pulled them too soon or not, but will try hanging them up in the garage to dry and see if it works. I had no idea that radishes got so big! Omg! Some of them were almost as tall as I am!
The pear tree is absolutely LOADED with pears this year!:

And the 200 square feet of 50 lb of seed potatoes have all come up ~ every blessed potato planted has come up!:

Finally, the Cosmos is blooming and virtually glows at dusk:

So, that's a brief update. I'll try to keep you posted more often from now on as things keep coming in. I know we have peas to pick among the corn, so will post pics of that soon (I hope)! Until then, I am very happy, very blessed, and very tired! Good night, all!

Radish haul and potatoes in the dark

2011-06-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

It's been raining and cold here for what seems like forever now. Most of this week, anyway. I am concerned because things just don't seem to be taking off the way they should ~ not enough warmth to grow and too much rain. But I digress....
Last week was a nice week. Finally got the rest of the garden planted (except for the horseradish, which will go in large pots in the potato patch). I even got a small flower bed planted (finally!) but no pictures yet as I finished it in the dark and it started raining that night and hasn't stopped yet. We also had an "incident" with a neighbor's large animal (we think it was a cow). I went up into the garden one day to find huge hoof prints through every. single. garden. All three. And not just one or two on the edge, but a nice meander through every damn patch! I was just sick. Huge hoof prints right through the cucumbers that I had planted the previous day (which are now up, I might add...take that, you damn animal!), in my baby basil, in the corn, in the potatoes, you name it, it was tromped through. I felt vandalized. Violated. Pissed off. I almost cried. In the end, I sighed, replanted the baby basil that was in the hoof print divot, pulled up the corn that had been trashed, tried to rescue the squash that had been stepped on, recovered the potatoes, replanted the tomatoes that had been torn up, hoped for the best for the cucumber and other seeds that hadn't yet sprouted, and am hoping that it won't happen again.

The potato patch mentioned above isn't the three rows we planted early on, it's the "new" potato patch - 200 square feet with 50 lb. of seed potatoes that should yield about 4,000 lb if all goes well. We were out planting until 9 pm one day last week to get them in the ground before it rained again

In this pic you can see the first row going in and the rest of the rows ready. It just got too dark to take any more pictures. By the time we were done it was tough to see well enough to cover the last of the rows and we had to go back and check the next morning to make sure they were all covered. They were, but all this rain has exposed some of them so as soon as it stops raining and things dry out a little I'm going to have to go get them covered back up again. I tell ya', this weather is nuts.

Also last week I had the first moderately big haul of radishes

The French Breakfast radishes have finally taken off, and the Philadelphia White Box are just crazy! The Cincinnati Market are still not as plentiful but they are coming along. Here's a good photo of one of each

And here's the cleaned haul

Close ups of each
Philly White Box:

Cincinnati Market:

French Breakfast:

As you can see, they've been cleaned and topped. That's because we were gonna' EAT them! The Philly White Box are still my favorites raw but I did actually saute the French Breakfast in butter and salt and, lemme tell ya'..... omg! Delicious! If you can get your hands on some, give it a try. I halved or quartered them lengthwise and used about a tablespoon of butter and a generous pinch of salt for the amount you see here and I now have a new favorite way to eat radishes! I just can't go on enough - I loved them! Now I can't wait to try that lovely recipe I shared with you before, with the tarragon..... and am kicking myself that I didn't plant tarragon this year! Next year, for sure.

THIS is why heritage/heirloom varieties and breeds are so important:

2011-06-17T07:01:00.000-07:00

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/07/food-ark/siebert-text

Rain + sun = growth!

2011-06-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

The potatoes, beans, and most of the radishes have taken off:

For some reason, the Cincinnati Market radishes are patchy:

but the ones that have come up look fine:

and the abundant Philadelphia White Box look fabulous:

I think radishes are on the menu for tonight. I may even try sauteeing them.

And, the peonies have popped!

They're so beautiful. They're just beyond the potatoes, beans, and radishes. It's really nice to be working in the garden and look over and see them.

Busy, as always

2011-06-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

Wow..... the week has flown by! I've been trying to sit my butt down at this computer and write about what's been going on, and feeling guilty that I haven't. I planted all the rest of the tomatoes and peppers, filled out that third row in the second garden with carrots, sage, and lettuce; plotted out the rest of garden # 2, hoed the radishes and beans, and planted more lettuce in the center of the radish rings under the bean teepees. There's probably more, I just can't remember right now. Oh, yeah, I moved a couple of wheelbarrows full of rocks to the edge of the garden to mark the rows because I needed a visual orientation point at each end - fifty feet is a long way for me to just "eyeball" a straight line. I'm sure I'm forgetting other things, too. In addition to this, I am taking a Permaculture Design certification class through the Vermont Wilderness School and was in class from 9 am. to 5:30 pm (or a little later) on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Before classes started, I had visions of coming home and going out to the garden ~ NOT!! OMG! I was so exhausted by the end of the weekend that I went to bed at 8:00pm on Sunday! That was after showing up an hour late to a neighborhood pot-luck (they knew I was going to be late and very graciously said to come, anyway) and having to choose to not go with everyone to a dance at the town hall (Cajun dance lessons, and I had to miss it! Sob! Snif!) because I was so tired I couldn't think straight by the time I'd finished dinner.
We actually got to eat some of these amazing heirloom radishes this week. I had to thin them because they were getting big enough to crowd themselves, so we had them with our salad with dinner one night:

The white ones at the top of the pic are my favorite: Philadelphia White Box. It's a wonderful, mild radish. According to what I've been able to find about them, the word "box" in the name refers to them being grown in cold frames as early as the 1890's. Next in my order of preference would be the ones in the bottom left of the photo, French Breakfast. It's sort of in the middle of the three, in terms of 'bite'. Seed Savers Exchange (our source) says, "A very early market garden radish of French origin. Listed by James J. H. Gregory of Marblehead, Massachusetts in 1875." and here's a nice article on them from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home_garden/the-french-breakfast-radish-makes-a-handy-snack/2011/04/12/AF6E8uBE_story.html . The last one in the picture, the long one on the right, is the Cincinnati Market radish. In my opinion, they have the sharpest "bite" of all three varieties. Still good, mind you, just more 'radish-y' than the other two and especially more so than the Philadelphia White Box. Seed Savers Exchange says this about the Cincinnati Market radish: "(aka Long Scarlet) Heirloom described in Vilmorin’s The Vegetable Garden (1885); now becoming scarce. Deep red radishes are 6" long and tapered.". I think the thing I love best about these is that they are an heirloom that is becoming scarce and, that just by growing them and taking them to the farmer's market (when we have enough produce to go), we will be helping to preserve them in the gene pool and raise awareness about them. Maybe that sounds a little overblown but, really, that's why we're growing the heirlooms.
Oh! And, did you know that you can cook radishes? I sure didn't. Guess I've been living an uninformed life, folks, because I came across several references for cooked radishes, especially sliced and sauteed in butter (mmmmmmm..... I love butter!). But then I found this: http://nymag.com/restaurants/recipes/inseason/56730/. It's a recipe for Butter Poached Radishes and it sounds sublime. It makes me wish I was growing tarragon this year. Next year..... definitely next year.

Eight hour day

2011-06-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

That's what we put in yesterday in the garden: an eight hour day. Both of us. The good news is that we could actually move this morning. The bad news is that we didn't do much in the gardens today, only about 2 hours. But that had to do with having another commitment that kept us out longer than we expected during the middle of the day. Still, we did so much yesterday that I don't feel too awfully bad about slacking a little today. We got the second garden tilled, raked, and partially planted and the first garden weeded and hoed. Doesn't sound like much but, believe me, it was. In addition to weeding and hoeing the first garden I also hilled up the three rows of potatoes that are in it.

They're coming along nicely.

I did find three Colorado potato beetles, though, so I checked for them again this morning. Thankfully, I didn't find any. Doesn't mean they weren't there, but I didn't see them. The eggplant on the end of the garden is actually intended to be a trap crop for them, so we'll see how well that works. More of that companion planting stuff. The potatoes are growing much more quickly than the eggplant, so I don't know how well that will work. I'll keep you posted on that. In the meantime, I'm going to make up a garlic spray for the garden that someone in my organic gardening class told me about and we'll give that a try, too.

So, progress so far: garden #1 (20' x 75') is fully planted, garden #2 (40' x 50') is partially planted, and garden #3 (40' x 50') has been tractor-tilled. You've seen #1. Here's #2:

In here, between yesterday and today, we planted 86 tomato plants (Red Brandywine, Yellow Brandywine, Sudduth's Strain Brandywine - aka Pink Brandywine, yellow pear, and red pear), 43 Genovese basil starts, and 10 Mexican jalapenos. I still have all the Bull Nose Bell peppers to plant, along with some more sage. The sage that I put between the rows of carrots is looking pretty good but I've lost a couple (rain? rabbits? dunno...) so I'll replace them with these that are left to plant. In addition to the peppers and sage, I still have the other three varieties of melons, a couple of pumpkins, some acorn squash, and cucumbers. The cucumbers haven't fared well and are looking pretty iffy, to the point that I think we're going to lose them. That 2 weeks of rain really did us in. We'll plant what we have and also direct seed them in the garden - plenty of seeds left! Sadly, we lost all of the habanero peppers. They were looking great but that two weeks of rain was too much. I'm going to start some more seeds tomorrow. Hopefully, it's not too late.

This is garden #3:

This patch is exclusively dedicated to potatoes. We bought 50 lb. of organic Kennebec seed potatoes which, based on information we have been able to find, should yield us somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 lb. of potatoes. Yes, that was right: 4,000 lb. We are, of course, hoping to sell them. Or, at least, the vast majority of them. Live local? Wanna buy some potatoes in the fall? I'll let you know when they're ready.

It missed us

2011-06-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

The tornado. The ones that hit Springfield, MA and surrounding areas have been all over the news and, for those who don't know, we aren't that far from there. I had a few tense moments when the sky here was really, really black and the wind was picking up but, thankfully, we were spared. I wasn't sure what I would do, being in the trailer as we wait for the house to be built - I didn't have a really good place to go. The best I could figure on was the garage, but wasn't even sure I could wrangle all the dogs in time to get us all under cover. Thankfully I didn't have to find out. Sadly, quite a few folks in the area have lost their homes and, some, their lives. Please pray for them. We did get quite a bit of rain but it doesn't seem to have been heavy enough to hurt the garden. Unfortunately, the invisible dog that ran through did. I say invisible because only the prints remain.... in my rows of carrots, in the beets, in the squash, and in the corn. Sigh. However, if that's the worst of my troubles today then I am grateful.

Lessons learned thus far...

2011-05-31T13:54:00.000-07:00

I've already learned a lot this year. As of right now, it mostly has to do with starting the seedlings that we've transplanted. We ended up losing quite a few of them, partly due to the two weeks of rain and partly due to being new to starting seedlings in this quantity. There were two or three things that we should have done differently. The first is that our grow lights were too far away from the top of the plants. They should have been two inches above the tops and ours were in the neighborhood of 4+. We think this is our biggest error and what caused a lot of the seedlings to get leggy. Second, we should have turned off the heat source below the plants as soon as they sprouted and we didn't. We just left it on way too long. And the third thing that may or may not help in the future is to run a fan in the "seed room" to keep the air circulating. Everything I read says that this helps keep spores (ie: mushrooms and other fungi) from growing on the top of the pots. I'm thinking we probably should have done that because several of the seedlings had a nice crop of little bitty mushrooms growing with them in the cup. Another thing we will do differently next year is to use a soil-less planting medium. We went with organic potting soil to start, then added in organic soil-less mix to loosen it up but even that wasn't enough. We found a deal on organic potting soil and thought it would be ok, even though I know from my horticulture class last semester that virtually all commercial growers use a soil-less mix of some kind. We were hoping to save some money. It might have been ok if we hadn't had that two weeks of rain ~ that's when things really went downhill for the seedlings. They had been looking really good up until then but some of them got really leggy (light source too far away, I think, as mentioned) and I also think they exhausted the nitrogen in their pots because their leaves started getting yellow-ish at the edges. Ultimately, more of them than I am comfortable with losing laid down and gave up the ghost. I know some losses are inevitable but I think we had more than we should have this year. I am hoping that, if we apply what we've learned this year, next year will be better.

Planted...

2011-05-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

After two and a half days of marathon planting in OMG!August-heat-but-it's-only-May weather, garden #1 is planted:

It may not look like much from here but those radishes and beans under the teepees are growing like crazy, as are the potatoes right in front of them. See? Here are the radishes, with the beans right next to the poles

and here is one of the potato plants:

It doesn't look like much from this angle, either:

but this end has eight rows of corn, zucchini squash, pumpkins, summer squash, and marigolds. In the middle are onions, leeks, mustards, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbages, among other things. Here's the corn with the baby squashes in the middle:

This happens to be the row with the yellow crookneck squash, but you get the idea. The hoped for result of planting them like this is that the squash vines will act as living mulch for the corn, keeping the soil moist and (hopefully) keeping weeds to a minimum. Next week, we will be putting peas in on the outer edges of the rows with the idea that the pea vines will climb the corn and help feed it as they fix nitrogen into the soil ~ a variation on the Native American Three Sisters combination except we are using peas instead of beans because the beans seemed more suited to the teepees. We'll see how well that all works.

If you start at the far end (where you can see the teepees) the exact order of things is:
Rosa Bianca eggplant, Diablo cosmos, St. Valery and Paris Market carrots with sage in the middle, 1 and 1/2 rows each of Kennebec and French fingerling potatoes, teepees with Kentucky Wonder (green) and Pencil Pod Wax beans with French Breakfast, Philadelphia White Box, and Cincinnati Market radishes; Early Snowball cauliflower with dill, Mammoth Red Rock cabbage with dill, Early Snowball cauliflower (seeds), Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage with hyssop, a wide row containing one row each of black, brown, and white mustards; Yellow of Parma onions and Prizetaker leeks, Red Wethersfield onions and Detroit Dark Red beets, DeCicco broccoli, a double wide row of Golden Bantam corn with Charentais melons in the middle, a double wide row of Golden Bantam and Reid's Yellow Dent corn with Long Island Cheese pumpkins in between, a double wide row Reid's Yellow Dent and Stowell's Evergreen corn with Early Yellow Crookneck squash in between, a double wide row of Stowell's Evergreen corn with Costa Romanesca zucchini in between, and marigolds on the very edge. Not a bad couple of days' work. The real trick is going to be to get everything to grow successfully.

It's a beautiful day...

2011-05-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

in the neighborhood. Forgive the cliche, but it really is. After almost two weeks straight of rain the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the neighbor's rooster is crowing. And the veggie plants are all outside enjoying the sunshine, too. Here are some of the tomatoes:

and some of the broccoli, cucumbers, cabbage, and marigolds (in the white cups in back):

I keep reading about how marigolds are great for keeping the "bad bugs" away, so we are starting a bunch of them and plan to plant them all through the garden. You can't tell, but they are up. Some of these indoor starts are beginning to look a little leggy and I was getting concerned about them. Hopefully, getting them out into the natural sun will help them get stronger.

The first potato plant has poked it's head out of the dirt, too:

it doesn't look like much yet but, trust me, those two little bunches of green leaves in the middle of the picture are potato plants. Still no beans yet, but the radishes are looking awesome!

Now I'm off to do the grocery shopping and get milk. Yup, two separate things. We get our milk up the road from an organic dairy farm: http://www.franklinfarmstore.com/index.html

The smaller building is the farm store (I borrowed the photo from their website with their kind permission) which is open 24/7. They are such nice people. From the consumer's side of things, I can say how much I appreciate knowing the person who grows my food. Occasionally, when I go to get milk, one of the Franklins is in or near the store and we get a chance to chat a little. We trust these people and that's why we get our milk there ~ we know they have integrity and that they make sure to provide us with the best products possible. We are lucky, and grateful for all the hard work they do. Check out their website ~ it's a diversified farm and they've got a lot going on.

Why organic and heritage?

2011-05-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

In a word: biodiversity. In two words: food security. I know there are other farms out there that only grow heritage varieties, but those of us that do are far from the mainstream. Most people nowadays "get" the arguments in favor of organic, even if they don't agree, so I'm not going to dig into that here. I don't think as many people understand the "why" behind heritage varieties. I'd like to share our reasons for choosing heritage (as well as organic).

The three words mentioned above are a big part, but not all, of the reason why we specialize in heritage varieties. They are, however, a good place to start. First, biodiversity. Dictionary.com defines it as:

–noun

diversity among and within plant and animal species in an environment.

So the next question to ask is, "why is this important", or at least, "why do we think this is important"? In terms of the food supply, this is important because a lack of biodiversity leaves us dependent for our survival on a narrow range of crops that are vulnerable to destruction by weather, pests, and disease due to the fact of their limited genetic variety. Our survival as a species depends primarily on three crops: corn, rice, and wheat. Imagine, for a moment, what happens when one of these staple crops is decimated by any of the previously mentioned threats (weather, pests, disease). What impact does that have on our lives? Not really that hard to imagine, if you think about it, because it's happening right now with the drought in the American Southwest. Here's an article that sums it up well:

http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2011/05/23/drought-texas-oklahoma-kansas-wheat/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-eatdrinkbetter+%28Eat.+Drink.+Better.%29

The effects of this reach far beyond just the wheat crop. It impacts finished goods (beyond bread) that contain wheat (read the ingredients list on your food packaging - it's in a LOT more than you would think), cattle, the price of beef, world food supply, and even foreign governments. Think I'm exaggerating? Not so much. According to a recent article from Bloomberg:

"Prices may climb to $10 or $12 by August if the dry conditions persist in the southern Great Plains and if other growing areas of the world endure adverse weather the way they did last year, said Kim Anderson, an agricultural economist at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater." and,

"Prices reached a record $13.495 on the Chicago Board of Trade and $13.95 in Kansas City in February 2008, when food shortages sparked riots from Haiti to Egypt. Unrest this year toppled leaders in Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, and Tunisia. Chicago futures advanced to a 29-month high on Feb. 14 as countries in the Middle East and Africa boosted stockpiles."

Read that again if you didn't get the full impact. Food shortages topple long standing, well established government leaders. There is no more basic human need than food and, when we don't have it, we do whatever we think we need to do to get it. Enter the concept of food security. The World Health Organization says this: "Food Security: The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life”. Commonly, the concept of food security is defined as including both physical and economic access to food that meets people's dietary needs as well as their food preferences." This goes hand-in-hand with the issues related to biodiversity (or the lack of) that are discussed above.

I don't mean to be a fear-monger, I just want to make my point - our dependence on a narrow range of food crops makes us extremely vulnerable. Now that I've beaten you over the head with that I'm sure you are wondering what this has to do with heritage varieties. Isn't that what I started out talking about? Yeah. The thing about heritage varieties is that they preserve the genetic diversity within a species. This makes it stronger. It also makes it more likely that some of the varieties will survive some of these adverse conditions that threaten to wipe out the hybridized varieties that we have come to depend on. So, if this 'diversity' thing is so important, why did we end up letting so many older (ie: 'heritage') varieties fall by the wayside? It's really a simple answer, when you boil it all down: convenience. We have selected for and focused on varieties that are the most convenient to produce on an industrial scale. The varieties that didn't meet the requirements for mass production, for whatever reason, just didn't get grown. Preservation of the diversity of our food supply and helping to ensure its security are two of the primary reasons that we have chosen heritage varieties. A really wonderful resource for heritage varieties and information is Seed Savers Exchange: http://www.seedsavers.org/ . Check them out. Buy some seeds ~ you can do it, too.

Rain, rain....

2011-05-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

It just won't quit. It's been raining for the better part of a week and it's doing it again today. I will admit that we did need some rain but, enough already! Given all that, not much has been happening with the garden this week and I am worrying that the bean seeds and potatoes are rotting in the ground. Too wet and not enough sun and heat for them to sprout. At least, that's my fear and only time will tell on that. The radishes are up:

you can see them near the bottom of the picture. Here's a close-up:

There are tiny little pieces of grass scattered about because Country Boy mowed the lawn... yes, in the rain... so it wouldn't get out of hand. And we had a bumper crop of dandelions, which he hates, so he had to make them go away before they went to seed and made more of themselves. I keep telling him to remember that the huge taproot (relatively speaking) that they have pulls nutrients up from deep in the soil for the benefit of all the other things we have growing but it hasn't changed his opinion of them - he just hates them. So, back to the radish close-up: the dirt around them almost looks dry because it's cracked, right? Not so! That couldn't be farther from the truth. The ground is so wet that I can't even step into the garden without sinking in farther than I am comfortable with so the photos are actually taken from the very edge of the garden, hence the grass clippings. In fact, it was even raining lightly when I took the photo. Beau dog was out there, too, and made the mistake of stepping into the garden - it looked like a horse had walked through it! Huge, deep, false-horse/doggie footprints were left behind. He didn't much enjoy the experience, so I don't think he'll do it again. At least the lilacs are looking lovely......

Outside!

2011-05-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok... I know I already apologized for the cheezy "!" type of comments, but I just can't help myself this time. We finally got to plant things outside on Saturday (yesterday) - like, as in, in the actual ground. Country Boy got part of the garden rototilled yesterday morning while I was working on part of the take home portion of my math final and after lunch we went out and (finally!) got to put some seeds in the dirt. I just can't describe how happy and satisfied I am when working outside ~ in some ways it feels like being exactly where I belong. Not that I "fit in", but that I really "belong" there, as an integral part of the picture. So, enough with the pseudo-psycho-spiritual stuff, and on with the planting! Saturday was potatoes (2 kinds), pole beans (also two kinds), and radishes.

We started out with our freshly rototilled garden bed:

then we cut up the seed potatoes. First, the Kennebecks:

Fedco Seeds says this about their Kennebec Potatoes: "This most popular Maine Potato has proven adaptable to a wide range of soils and growing conditions. One of the best french-frying potatoes around. Large uniform tubers store extremely well and resist late blight." [side note: just found on Fedco's website that they have 50 lb. of Kennebeck organic seed potatoes on sale, so we may end up growing a ridiculous amount of potatoes this year.]

Then we did the French Fingerling:

And this, from Seed Savers Exchange, on the French Fingerling potatoes: "Rose-colored skin covers creamy yellow flesh. Very versatile–good for any type of preparation. Peeling is not necessary. Rumored to have been smuggled into America in a horse’s feedbag in the 1800s." I LOVE that! Smuggled potatoes, in a horse's feed bag... makes me feel like I'm getting away with something just by planting them!

There were two and a half pounds of each type but the Kennebecks didn't go as far as the French Fingerlings did and neither of them went as far as we thought they would. Next year we should probably plant twice as much. Here they are, ready to be covered over:

Once the potatoes were covered over, we cut poles for the pole beans from an ash tree that had come down in the field a year or so ago. I've been to Monticello and seen beans and peas planted around tall poles in a teepee arrangement and have been dying to try that, so we thought we'd give it a try. Here is an image from Monticello's website of the scarlet runner beans in the historic garden so you can see what I am talking about:

Not exactly Monticello quality, but here are ours:

Beans (both green and yellow) are planted around each of the poles - two teepees have green beans and two have yellow. The green are Kentucky Wonder pole beans and High Mowing Organic Seeds (our source for these) says this: "Organic Kentucky Wonder Pole Bean - HEIRLOOM Unbeatable productivity, consistency, and flavor. Introduced in Kentucky just prior to the Civil War, this classic variety has proven its excellence through the test of time. Pods are 7-9” long, stringless, solid, and meaty. Known to have a favorable bean-y flavor. Use fresh for snap beans, or dry on vines for an excellent soup bean."
The yellow beans are Pencil Pod Golden Wax beans from Seed Savers Exchange and this is what they have to say about them: "Old-time favorite introduced in 1900. Excellent quality, stringless pods are 5-7" long with delicious wax bean flavor. Good for freezing or canning."

I am doing a lot of research on companion planting because I want to give us (well, our plants, really...) every advantage I can. After months of looking at companion planting books (really, I did my semester project for my horticulture class on companion planting) I am primarily using three books. Each of these books has their strengths and weaknesses, but I think they are all very helpful so I'm using information from all three. Since the bean "teepees" will be providing shade, I decided to plant the lettuce and radishes underneath, since both would benefit from the protection of the shade and both are supposed to be good companions for beans. Since lettuce will bolt if it's too hot it will be in the center, with the radishes in a ring around them, all inside of / under the beans and poles. We'll see how it works out. Can't wait till things are growing so I can show you pictures!

Reality. Or, the post wherein I dispense with smoke and mirrors and just tell it like it really is...

2011-05-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

I was sitting here at the computer about 45 minutes ago, with Beau dog sleeping at my feet, listening to the sound of Canadian geese coming softly through the open window and thought... now THAT would be a great way to start a post. But, I realized what time it was and that I had forgotten to do the dishes so got up and did them. While working my way through mugs, plates, silverware, dog bowls, etc. I really thought about what I wanted to write. I know some people will be distressed that I have decided to just lay it all out there but it's more like me to do that than not, and I have been thinking a lot about how lame these posts have been. "OOh, the sprouts are up!", "wow, we planted a gazillion seeds".... jeez. I am embarrassed. If you are taking the time to read this blog then you deserve to hear about the nitty gritty of the situation. So, here we go:
Beau dog was peacefully laying at my feet because Marcie and Jessica (the two puppies) got dropped off at the vet this evening to get fixed tomorrow. He had lost his playmates and just didn't know what to do with himself. He performed valiantly last night though, when someone tried to steal my car right out of the dooryard. Yup, no kidding. I bet they could've been identified by a distinctive brown stripe down the back of their pants and a tell-tale aroma because as soon as he barked (the raise-the-hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck kind of bark...) they took off. They didn't even close the car door, which is how we figured out what had happened. We looked out and saw the interior light of my car on and knew right away something wasn't right so we called the police. I won't bore you with the rest of the mundane details but will tell you that we were up very late and got very little sleep before having to start our day today. This is not the "royal we" but a reference to myself and the Country Boy. There are two of us starting this farm. The rest of the reality is that we are also building a house (log home, to be exact) while we are attempting to start this farm. Oh, yeah, and he works full time and I go to school full time. So, for the time being we live in a thirty foot RV. Gettin' less romantic by the minute, isn't it folks? And, after our nocturnal visitor last night I am stressing that someone is going to steal the pile of scrap metal where the old house was (we burned it down last December.... on purpose... that's a story for another time) or the pile of lumber that will become the first floor sub-flooring (and other things I'm not sure of yet) that is waiting for the excavator and concrete guys to get here and do their things. Really, though, all in all we are pretty happy. Oh, and I forgot to tell you that I had an allergic reaction to something I ate at a restaurant last night and broke out in hives worse than ever before. It's been getting progressively worse when it does happen for the past year or so and last night was pretty bad ~ back, face, and neck area involved where before it had just been one spot on my back. It's starting to look like I really shouldn't eat out any more...
So, Country Boy just got home from his twice-a-month meeting with the volunteer fire department and is now out in what I have started calling "the seed room" in the garage watering all our precious little sprouts. He told me this morning that the Charentais melons had started to come up ~ I was very happy to hear that because it seemed to me like they should have already sprouted. I am really looking forward to eating one of these. Seed Savers Exchange, where we got our seed, says this on the website about them:

"(Cucumis melo) A true French cantaloupe that originated in the Poitou-Charentes region circa 1920. Considered by many to be the most divine and flavorful melon in the world. Smooth round melons mature to a creamy gray with faint ribs. Sweet, juicy, orange flesh with a heavenly fragrance. Typically the size of a grapefruit and weighing 2 pounds—perfect for two people."

How can you NOT be intrigued by something that is supposed to be "the most divine and flavorful melon in the world"??!?! This is some of ours, so far...

and, in case you were wondering, those are leeks just poking up in the pots behind the melons. :) There is a beautiful, bright half-moon out tonight ~ I just saw it when I went out to take that picture of our melons for you. They say it's supposed to get down to the low 30's tonight and it's already pretty chilly out there. Good thing we have a heater under the plants. Good night, folks.... after last night I'm pretty tired. I hope we all sleep well tonight.

Bustin' out all over!

2011-05-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

The sprouts are, that is! These are the zucchini:

I am finally convinced that Spring is here, too. I'm so excited! We planted 376 more seeds last night. It took two of us about three and a quarter hours to do it, all together. Last night's list includes: Bull Nose Bell Peppers, Magnum Orange Habanero Peppers, Standard Mexican Jalapeno Peppers, Charentais Melons, Delice de la Table Melons, Petit Gris de Rennes Melons, Prizetaker Leeks, Rosa Bianca Eggplant, Mammoth Red Rock Cabbage, Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage, DeCicco Broccoli, Snowball Cauliflower, Antares Oakleaf Lettuce, Priat Butterhead Lettuce, Tennis Ball Lettuce, and Green Oakleaf Lettuce. If the day goes according to plan, I'll be planting 18 more Genovese Basil tonight, too. Believe it or not, there is still more to plant in pots, as well as the stuff that will be planted directly in the garden (like corn, radishes, carrots, and other things that can't be started in pots).

So, what else is up? Well.... all the varieties of tomatoes,

both types of cucumbers, yellow squash, pumpkins,

basil, and oregano.

The only things not up yet from the first batch planted are the butternut and acorn squashes. Hopefully they will be along any time now.

Last night...

2011-04-29T11:57:00.000-07:00

We discovered sprouts! Yay! This stuff is actually working!

Tiny, yes, but sprouts nontheless. I feel silly being so excited about it. They're only cucumbers, forcryingoutloud! But, really, they are so much more than "just" cucumbers.... they are the first physical manifestation of this dream of a farm. We're making it happen. This photo actually makes me want to think they are encouraging each other

C'mon, little seedlings! You can do it!

A-planting we will go....

2011-04-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we planted seeds ~ finally. 314 seeds, to be exact. In eight pounds of potting soil which was, in turn, in 234 - 3" round pots and 4 - 10 square flats. Sounds like a lot, but there's still more to do. We had to stop because we ran out of table room for them all

In fact, where you can see the seed box in this picture there now sit two more of the plastic trays. They hold the 4 - 10 square flats. One set of 4 is Genovese Basil, the other is Greek Oregano. The 13 trays hold: Red Brandywine Tomatoes, Yellow Brandywine Tomatoes, Red Pear Tomatoes, Yellow Pear Tomatoes, Russian Pickling Cucumbers, Marketmore 76 Cucumbers, Waltham Butternut Squash, Early Summer Yellow Crookneck Squash, Costa Romanesca Zucchini (I love that name.... ), Table Queen Acorn Squash, and Long Island Cheese Pumpkins. The plug you see in the wall coming up from behind and beneath the pots is for a heater - the seeds won't germinate if they're not warm enough. They also need light - more than they're getting from the windows (there are 2 in the room and you can sort of see one of them at the top left of the photo) so we will be hanging grow lights. Before we do that, though, we are building shelves for more layers of seeds. There will be at least two more tiers of seeds, with grow lights attached to the bottom of each for the tier of seeds/pots below, before we're finished. I'll post pictures of it all as we go along. In the meantime, I'm excitedly anticipating germinating seeds. As soon as something sprouts, you'll see pictures. I will be happy to see sprouts when they finally poke their little heads out of the dirt, because I've never planted this many organic/heirloom/untreated/open pollinated seeds before and I will breathe a little easier knowing they are coming up. It will be interesting to see what our germination rate is.
Because we are putting so much into this, I was pretty meticulous (oh, ok,..... anal) about how I planted them. I had previously created a measuring stick to use when planting seeds because, let's face it, can you really tell how deep a 1/4 inch is when you're sticking something that small into the dirt?

It's not very deep. In fact, it barely looks like the seed is in the soil

but, being one to follow directions, I did what it said on the seed packet then covered them over and am hoping for the best. The bigger seeds, like squash and pumpkins, go down a full inch. That's a little easier for me to be a little less compulsive about because, conveniently, my first finger joint is about an inch from the tip of my finger so I could just push those babies in and be done with it. The herbs, on the other hand, were a whole 'nother story! OMG! The seeds were so fine it looked like pepper. Like, what you have in a shaker on your table to put on your food. Wow. I've never planted anything with seeds that small before and I'm a little worried that they won't come up. I think they got a little too flooded when we watered them. In fact, it was that experience that prompted me to go out and buy a new watering wand attachment for the hose with a "mist" setting. That's about perfect in the way it delivers the water but it may be too late for those poor little herb seeds. Time will tell. I've got the flats covered with plastic and keeping warm, so if they're going to make it that's the best I can do for them.
I'm anxious to get finished planting everything that's going to be started indoors because I still worry that we're behind where we need to be but life has intervened, once again. In this case, it was in the form of the computer crashing yesterday. We had a heavy thunderstorm the night before and when I went to plug in and turn on the computer yesterday morning what happened was.... nothing. That was NOT A GOOD THING! It took all night (and much later than we really should have stayed up on a weeknight) to restore things to working order. It was a little dicey when we turned it on this morning, too. I'm almost afraid to shut the thing off but we are having more storms today and will have to shut it down soon. This time, I think I'll unplug the phone line in addition to unplugging the power cord. That's the only thing we can think of that might have caused the problems. Wish me luck!