FARM WEEK # 13 - August 9, 2012 - MINI SHARE # 10

August 6, 2012

Good morning, friends and farm members,

FARM NEWS
The weeks seem to be flying by at the moment.  Busy with the garden and friends.  Robin and I had a major weed-a-thon last weekend and made great and visible progress.  There's a clean slate for some fall planting and I am eager to do that this week, thinking about daikon radishes, arugula, and spinach in the cool weather.

BUT for now, it's summer!  We had our first fresh picked and grilled sweet corn on Saturday and it was wonderful.  I'll be putting some in the big shares this week and should have enough for 2 of the mini shares. Yay!  The shares will include the makings of ratatouille or salsa, if you are so inclined.

I transplanted about 75 more feet of kale just before the rain.  The beans are plumping up.  The tomatoes look good.  I decided to give the carrots a rest this week so they can get bigger.  There are peppers and eggplant this week but blossoms and fruit set are a bit slow at the moment.  According to my research, that is sometimes a problem during extremely high heat.  Here's hoping that they can set more fruit now that it is a bit cooler and before the nights get below 60 degrees.  Tricky.  There are some peppers and eggplant in the hoophouse so they won't suffer from the cooler nighttime temperatures.  I hope that what this all means is that there will be peppers, and lots of them!

The rain has been great but with only a shallow spring for a water supply, I continue to be very careful with my water use.  Mostly it is a matter of paying attention to supply so I don't run out at any given time but this is the earliest in the season that I have ever had to think this carefully about timing my water use.  I hope it rains a whole bunch more over the next couple of months.  We all need it.

And that is just a prelude to saying, thanks for doing such a good job returning clean, dry containers.  It saves me time and water.  (Right side out bags are better than inside out so I don't need to wonder about what the inside of the bag has been touching.  Thanks.)

POULTRY
We got two more Moscovy ducks on Sunday from Judy Sopenski of Not Your Ordinary Farm in Guilford. Thanks, Judy!  Now we have 3 female Moscovys instead of only one.  The new birds were accepted almost immediately by the other ducks.  The older birds were curious and the other Moscovys spent some time sniffing them, at least it looked like sniffing, and now everyone is getting along fine.  That was nice.  If it were chickens they would be working out their pecking order for days.  It may be that because the new birds were females, they were not seen as a threat by the other ducks.  I don't know but I am glad it was easy.  Oh yes, and Rob extended the duck yard on Friday.  It looks great.

On the down side, the ducks are figuring out ways to get out of their pen!  So that's the next little poultry puzzle. If you are driving in, please look out for roving ducks.

Judy sells her home raised duck, chicken, lamb and pork at her home and at various locations including the Franklin Farm store in Guilford and the Franklin County Farmer's Cooperative in Greenfield.

I collected 2 very tiny eggs lately that might be from the new pullets!  I am waiting to see if that continues but it is exciting.  The Freedom Rangers have been safe in their pen/house so I think the beefed up security worked out.


MINI SHARES

Mini choices week # 10 - Pick two or I will choose for you.  It works well if people tell me their top 3-4 choices. Then I can figure your share based on the harvest.  I am including a couple of things that I know I do not have enough for all.  I'll put the requests in a hat to decide who gets them since not everyone can check their email all the time.

basil
chard
garlic
onions
corn - 2 minis only
kale - 1-2 minis only
tomatoes
flowers?

Farmer's Choice (I give you 2 items from the garden, from this list or not, based on general preferences you have shared with me and based on the harvest.  Farmer's Choice may include items not on this list, like NZ spinach or tomatillos, depending on availability.)

PICK UP NOTES
Thursday, 1:00 - 7:00.  I'll send an email when the shares are ready.  I'll be home, probably planting and weeding.  Feel free to come find me to say hello.

THIS WEEK'S SHARE

corn!  I will pick this when you come to get your share so it is as fresh as possible.
basil
chard
New Zealand spinach?  Looking better this week so far.
onions
garlic
tomatoes
eggplant
sweet peppers
kale microgreens?  I am pretty sure that the youngest kale will need thinning.
beans?  At least some...
ground cherries/tomatillos - I continue to dole these out week by week, giving people turns.
flowers?  Not so sure this week...except for marigolds!

No-raccoons-allowed-Laura

Laura Timmerman
910 Greenfield Rd
Leyden, MA 01337
413-773-8325
laurat-at-crocker.com

Lots more farm news and pictures on the farm's facebook page:
(You do not need to be "on facebook" to view this page.  If you use facebook, you can "like" the page for updates and pictures.)
Last week's share:

Last Week's Share - August 2, 2012

Share # 12 Pictures

I took pictures last week, stuck them on facebook at Sweet Morning Farm's facebook page, then forgot to post here.  So many things to do each week and I only get a small portion done.  Always.

Half Share # 12

Full Share # 12

Sample Mini Week 12 (Share # 9)

My browser closed while trying to do this quick catch up.  So 5 minutes turned into 25.  Now it's time to move on to feeding the chickens, finishing up today's shares, including posting!, (# 13) and then backflushing the water system and hoping that the flow from the spring returns.  Do a rain dance and say a prayer for water, okay?

FARM WEEK # 12 - August 2, 2012 - MINI SHARE # 9

July 30, 2012

Good morning!

Hurray for rain!

FARM NEWS

(Hurray for rain!)

Welsh Harlequin - 10 weeks old

Poultry:

Chickens and ducks are well and making a lot of noise.  They know how to make me run out and check on them.  Sometimes their clucking means "I laid and egg!!!" and one time it meant "Get lost you fox!  There are more of us than you and we can cluck!" and sometimes its meaning is mysterious.

A few nights ago we lost 4 of the Freedom Rangers to a raccoon.  I know it was a raccoon because the next night I heard squawking, went out to check, and saw the hungry critter.  That time it killed 1 chick.  We have tightened up nighttime security and I am confident that now a large animal cannot 1-open the door or 2-reach through a small crevice to grab a chick that is sleeping on the floor.  There's always room for improvement, of course.  This week I plan on putting up cords across their yard to make it impossible for a hawk to land in there.  When I am not home, I generally keep the chicks inside their house.  It's roomy enough and safer than the pen.

Veggies:
The corn looks so nice.  Doing my best to discourage the raccoon from that area as well, mostly with lights, noise and camouflaging smells and textures like basil, marigolds, wilting peach branches, rue, etc.  

The sweet peppers are setting fruit and some of the fruit is big enough to eat.  There are small beans on most of the pole beans now.  I gave the full share a pound of beans last week so I hope that means that soon we will all be eating them.  The winter squash looks very nice - large, dark green leaves and vines that are running with flowers that are setting fruit.  I would love to have a nice crop of winter squash this year!  The summer squash is not so happy.  The leaves are turning yellow and growth has slowed way down.  So if you were counting on being overwhelmed by zucchini from our farm this year, I'm sorry, it won't be happening.

I am still behind on my weeding and fall planting but making some progress.  I'll be working on that this coming Saturday so if you get the urge to garden, come on by!

Fall Kale

MINI SHARES

Mini choices week # 9 - Pick two or I will choose for you.  It works well if people tell me their top 3-4 choices. Then I can figure your share based on the harvest.  I am including a couple of things that I know I do not have enough for all.  I'll put the requests in a hat to decide who gets them since not everyone can check their email all the time.

basil
chard
garlic

onions

carrots

eggplant

tomatoes

New Zealand spinach
flowers for all
Farmer's Choice (I give you 2 items from the garden, from this list or not, based on general preferences you have shared with me and based on the harvest.  Farmer's Choice may include items not on this list.)

PICK UP NOTES
Back to normal, 1:00 - 7:00.  I'll send an email when the shares are ready.

Thanks for returning egg cartons and clean, dry bags, esp. the big freezer bags.  Keep up the good work.

THIS WEEK'S SHARE

basil
chard
kale - small leaves
New Zealand spinach
onions

garlic
carrots
tomatoes

sweet peppers?

salad toppings?  (stuff to add to your lettuce to make your salad extra yummy)

beans??
ground cherries/tomatillos - So far I am doling these out week by week, giving people turns.
flowers

Hurray for the rain!
Laura

Laura Timmerman
910 Greenfield Rd
Leyden, MA 01337
413-773-8325
laurat-at-crocker.com

Lots more farm news and pictures
(You do not need to be "on facebook" to view this page.  If you use facebook, you can "like" the page for updates and pictures.)

FARM WEEK # 11 - July 26, 2012 - MINI SHARE # 8

Indigo Rose Tomatoes

July 24, 2012

Good morning, people,

Nice to get some rain yesterday.   We could use a whole lot more but moisture is encouraging.

*******NEWS FLASH:  I will be a bit later with the shares on Thursday.  Most likely they will be ready around 3:00.  Usually I am able to do the bulk of the picking on Wednesday but this week I will be doing most of the picking Thursday morning so, call 773-8325 or look for my email about the shares being ready.  I hope this isn't an inconvenience.  Let me know if it is impossible and I will see what we can work out.***********


FARM NEWS

Chickens:
Last weekend we consolidated the poultry so now there are only 4 places to keep supplied with food and water. That is making chores a lot simpler!  And it means that all the birds have more room and fresher grass.  The Freedom Rangers (our meat birds) our looking great.  The young (teens/pullets) chickens are now in the coop with the hens and working out who sleeps where and who gets to go in and out when and in what order, etc. The little chicks and their mama are mixed in with the whole flock as well.  Two results of all this shuffling: 1 - The mama has decided that the chicks are doing okay without her help and started roosting without them last night and clucking like a laying hen this morning.  2 - The laying flock is slightly disturbed and laying fewer eggs than usual.  I expect that once they all get used to the new set up egg laying will normalize.  At least I hope so.

Vegies:
All the garlic is harvested and curing.  The tomatoes have lots of big green tomatoes, getting set to ripen up. The winter squash, corn and beans are looking really nice.  The beans look like we will be eating them soon, perhaps a tiny bit this week, and some of the ears of Silver Queen corn have silks that are turning brown.  That means they will be ready soon!  Corn would be really fun, don't you think?  There are some vegetables that just have a tiny bit ready - summer squash, peppers, and tomatillos, for example, but not enough to list on the share list.  There may be samples or not, depending on how quickly they ripen and how much the farmers need to sample.  This is a hard time of year for me to be patient.  I want everything to be in season NOW!  Soon, soon, soon.


MINI SHARES

Mini choices week #8 - Pick two or I will choose for you.  It works well if people tell me their top 3-4 choices. Then I can figure their share based on the harvest.

basil
mixed herb bundle
chard
kale
scallions or onions
carrots
flowers
Farmer's Choice (I give you 2 items from the garden, from this list or not, based on general preferences you have shared with me and based on the harvest.  Farmer's Choice may include items not on this list.)

PICK UP NOTES
This week only, Pick Up is 3:00 - 7:00 unless you arrange otherwise.  I'll send an email when the shares are ready.

Thanks for returning egg cartons and clean, dry bags, esp. the big freezer bags.  Keep up the good work.

THIS WEEK'S SHARE

basil
sorrel
parsley
chard
kale
New Zealand spinach
scallions
onions
carrots
tomatoes
ground cherries/tomatillos?
eggplant?
flowers

Praying for more rain,
Laura

Laura Timmerman
910 Greenfield Rd
Leyden, MA 01337
413-773-8325
laurat-at-crocker.com

Lots more farm news and pictures at:

Today's Share # 10 - July 19, 2012

Lilies, Echinacea, Alliums, Crocosmia, Vervena, Sweet peas, Carrots, Bee balm, Flox, Sunflowers, Rubeckia, Agastache, Achillea...

HALF SHARE
Basil 3 oz.
Chard 1 1/4 #
Onions 3
Garlic 2
Carrots 15 oz.
Dill 1 bundle
Cilantro 1 bundle
Eggplant 13 oz.
New Zealand spinach 4 oz.
Flowers

FULL SHARE
Same as the Half Share but twice as much of everything but the herbs and with the addition of 1/2# of tomatoes.

MINI SHARES
Two items (plus flowers) chosen by the farm member.

For Extras go HERE

FARM WEEK # 10 - July 12, 2012 - MINI SHARE # 7

July 17, 2012

Hello, farm members!

Yikes, it's already Tuesday evening and I haven't sent you your weekly CSA email!  Sorry about that.  It's just been normal busy here but with some extra time spent watering the birds and keeping cool.  We, (the birds, the plants, and I), are hanging in there, but man, I sure would like some rain!

FARM NEWS

l covered the brussel sprouts and that seems to have kept them from being eaten up.  Hurray!  Something knocked down a few of our corn plants and since then I try to do something every evening to deter whatever it is.  (Best guess: raccoon)  I have lights on in the corn, we sprayed with hot pepper spray, and tonight I'll be sprinkling chopped rue leaves around the edges of the planting.  I have a few more ideas as well, just to keep the animals guessing, and away from the corn, please!

This past weekend I harvested some of the garlic and it is now curing in the woodshed.  Somehow, curing the garlic is very satisfying to me.  It looks so farmy.  And it creates space in the garden for planting more mesclun, carrots and spinach.  This year I am hanging the garlic in little bundles and have a fan blowing across the plants to keep the air circulating.  The bundles look like dancers twirling round and round.

Robin tilled the field and planted buckwheat as a cover crop.  It looks fantastic!  Thanks, Rob.  The field is really coming along and I have a feeling that next year it could really start producing for us.  This year we extended the tilled area and hope to build another hoophouse there for winter vegetables.  We'll be amending the soil this fall and planting crops next spring.  Then the "garden" area will be twice its current size.  Room for lots of vegetables.

Despite heat and dryness, the garden keeps on producing food for us.  Sadly, the lettuce, mesclun and peas are over for now.  I am planting more of these for the fall.  Some plants seem to love the heat!  The basil couldn't be happier and the chard is big and colorful.  We have at least a week before beans and squash gets started but I saw the first ripe tomato in the field yesterday and the eggplant is getting bigger.

Thanks for your patience and cooperation last week when I was just too tired to pick the flowers.  This heat is pretty challenging for me.

Oh!  and THANK YOU, Merry Lein!  Merry came by last Saturday and helped me weed the hoophouse that was completely overgrown.  Now there is room to plant some late summer and fall crops.  Yahoo!

MINI SHARES

Mini choices week #7 - Pick two or I will choose for you.  Sometimes it works well if people tell me their top 3-4 choices.  Then I can figure it out based on the harvest.

chard
basil
onions

cilantro

dill
rhubarb
fresh garlic (uncured)
Farmer's Choice (I give you 2 items from the garden, from this list or not, based on general preferences you have shared with me and based on the harvest.  Farmer's Choice may include items not on this list.  For example, last week two minis got raspberries.  I am hoping there will be some this week as well, although the crop is really small this year.  Berries will go to someone who didn't get any last time.)

PICK UP NOTES
Pick Up is 1:00 - 7:00 unless you arrange otherwise.  I'll send an email when the shares are ready.

Thanks for returning egg cartons and clean, dry bags, esp. the big freezer bags.  Keep up the good work.

THIS WEEK'S SHARE

basil
chard
kale?  Some rain would a big help to the kale.  The leaves just stay the same size week to week.

onions

garlic

carrots
dill

cilantro
eggplant
flowers

This seems like a smaller share week to me, although I am often surprised when it gets to be picking time.  Think of it as a bit of breathing space before the peppers, carrots, tomatoes, beans, and squash start rolling in.

Stay cool!

Laura

Laura Timmerman
910 Greenfield Rd
Leyden, MA 01337
413-773-8325
laurat-at-crocker.com

Lots more farm news and pictures
(You do not need to be "on facebook" to view this page.
If you use facebook, you can "like" the page for updates and pictures.)

FARM WEEK # 9 - July 12, 2012 - MINI SHARE # 6

July 9, 2012

Hello, farm members!

FARM NEWS

I've been battling weeds day by day here.  There are now some sections of the garden that look beautiful, and more importantly, the vegetables have room to get bigger.  Lots more weeding to go, though, and plenty of planting too.  I look forward to getting some more seeds in the ground.

One nice thing about hot weather is that many seeds pop right up in just a few days.  I planted more New Zealand spinach the other day, just to fill out the row, and they came up more more quickly and fully than the earlier, planting.  That is especially nice since NZ spinach tastes so good and thrives in hot weather.  There will be at least a sample for the larger shares this week and in the future, there should be plenty for everyone.

There are several kinds of Basil growing in our garden this year, Genovese - the standard plain green leaf, Thai - narrow leaves, purple stems, great for Thai cooking, Lemon - faintly lemony, nice for fish or anything where lemon would taste good, Pistou - strong flavored, tiny leaves, and 3 kinds of purple-leaved.  Mostly I put the Genovese in the bins for the shares but I can take special requests, if you have a certain dish in mind.

Aggravations/challenges: Something is eating the snow peas and brussel sprouts and the raspberry leaves are turning yellow.  Stuff to learn about; things to do!  

Satisfactions:  The tomatoes are weeded and mulch and full of little tomatoes and tomato flowers.  There are tiny peppers and miniature beans.  Robin was here for most of this past week and a whole lot of stuff got done, most notably, fertilizing and tilling the field, weeding the garlic, cutting firewood, and planting potatoes.  Thank you, Robin!

Biggest wish:  RAIN, please!

There may be a gap in the lettuce/mesclun after this week.  I got behind on planting mesclun and something is nibbling the next batch of head lettuce.  I need to erect some protective fencing or something.

FARM PICNIC:  I am changing the date of the farm picnic.  I'll let you know the new date when I figure it out but it will be mid to late September.

Freshly pulled garlic.  (I choose a goofy looking picture for fun.)

MINI SHARES

Mini choices week #6 - Pick two or I will choose for you.

If possible, let me know your choice before Wednesday as I spread out the picking over Wednesday so I can pick at a relaxed pace and keep those vegies nice and cool for you.

kale
chard
basil
scallions

rhubarb

fresh garlic (uncured)
snap peas
Farmer's Choice (I give you 2 items from the garden, from this list or not, based on general preferences you have shared with me and based on the harvest.  Farmer's Choice may include items not on this list.)

PICK UP NOTES
Pick Up is 1:00 - 7:00 unless you arrange otherwise.  I'll send an email when the shares are ready.

Thanks for returning egg cartons and clean, dry bags, esp. the big freezer bags.  Keep up the good work.

THIS WEEK'S SHARE

rhubarb

basil

parsley

wild peppermint? great for summertime tabouli
mesclun?
head lettuce
chard
kale
snow peas?
snap peas

favas - the last
eggplant?  There are bunch of small ones.  They will be ready this week or next, depending on rain.

a taste of New Zealand spinach

a taste of purslane?  I see some, possibly enough for us all to try some.
flowers

COOKING:

NZ spinach ideas: and here:

Purslane pickle recipe:

Laura

Laura Timmerman
910 Greenfield Rd
Leyden, MA 01337
413-773-8325
laurat-at-crocker.com

Lots more farm news and pictures
(You do not need to be "on facebook" to view this page.  

If you use facebook, you can "like" the page for updates and pictures.)