Saturday, September 26, 2009

2009 Season, Week Nineteen

September 26, 2009
This week's harvest:
Lettuce
Arugula or red mustard
Acorn squash
Peppers -- sweet, mild, & hot
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Eggplant
Basil
This week's farm news:
We had a great time at the beach on vacation. It took us a while to relax into relaxing, but fishing proved to be an excellent way for us to get the feeling that we were still working for our food. We ate lots of fish & shrimp & crabs but sorely missed all of the fresh greens in our garden! The crew did a fine job of tending the farm & managing last week's delivery. We owe them a huge amount of thanks for making it possible for us to "get away". As with any time we leave the farm, the crew had to face some challenges & we've got some chapters to add to our farm storybook -- but our house is still standing...
As with most of the South right now, there is no shortage of moisture on the farm & it just started raining again as I write this. We are seeing some signs in the garden of excess moisture so we are really longing for some dry, sunny weather!
So next week is the last "Main Season" delivery. If you are not continuing with the fall share, please bring your basket back to us & also bring a bag to put your veggies into (we'll also have bags in case you forget).
Thank you!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

2009 Season, Week Eighteen

September 19, 2009

This week's harvest:
Arugula
Tomatoes
Sweet peppers
Hot peppers
Okra
Onions
Garlic
Zucchini
Eggplant
Basil
Yukon Gold potatoes
Deer-tongue lettuce
Butternut squash

This week's farm news:
The farm news of the week definitely settles around Eric, Cher, Opal, and Ira being away. Laura and Evan have been gracefully running all "operations" without as much as a runaway pig or cow. The animals and the gardens seem as happy and satisfied as ever! Eric and Cher would be overjoyed -- maybe even tempted to take one more week's vacation: maybe. I am left wondering if they miss home. It's quite a lovely place to miss. Even this week with all of our rain, the mist has blanketed the gardens, the lettuce "baby" transplants had a great start out there, the three pigs were ecstatic about the mud, and the streams gushed and gurgled with all of their new water. We have been busy sprucing up the cabin for the Smiths' return, and also to help welcome the wee one. We all have had quite a "bugtussle" this week in an attempt to remove regimes of Harlequin beetles off of the fall Brassicas. We're still fighting them...

Saturday, September 12, 2009

2009 Season, Week Seventeen


September 12, 2009

This week's harvest:
Arugula
Tomatoes
Sweet peppers
Hot peppers
Okra
Onions
Garlic
Zucchini
Eggplant
This week's farm news:
Today after filling your baskets with veggies, the Smith family is leaving the farm in the good hands of our interns & heading south to take a vacation at Gulf Shores, Alabama! It's a really big deal for us as we don't get away very often -- primarily because we seldom have such awesome helpers! Eric & Cher will be celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary at the end of October, almost exactly when the baby is due, so we're trying to squeeze in a little bit of time to relax & recharge & celebrate. So next Saturday we're leaving the entire harvest & delivery up to the intern crew! We've never done this before & it's a bit hard to give up the reigns, but we have complete confidence in the crew. A small way you could help them out next Saturday is to remind our helpers of your name & basket size. Thanks! We'll see you in a couple of weeks! Hopefully we'll come back from the beach with our bellies full of fresh fish & our minds full of fresh perspective!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

2009 Season, Week Sixteen


September 5, 2009
This week's harvest:
Tomatoes
Sweet peppers
Hot peppers
Okra
Basil
Onions
Garlic
Zucchini or eggplant
Lettuce
Galia melons
This week's farm news:
We harvested the butternut squash crop this week. We didn't take an exact count, but we estimate over 1,500 beautiful squashes! There's even some more still in the field on vines that crept well out of the squash patch & are hiding off in the peanuts & tomatoes, so we'll have to get them later! Fall really must be approaching as the squash are now in the barn & we've begun eating butternut squash porridge for our breakfast. Yummy!
Eric & the kids sowed a bunch more cover crops this week. They planted a wild medley of leftover seeds from this season -- peas, beans, beets, corn, cilantro, etc.; combined with more traditional cover crops -- crimson clover, wheat, & buckwheat. With that mixture we're probably certain to attract pesky deer into the garden! Our family milk cow, Darla, had her calf this week. During evening chores Eric noticed she was in labor & in the course of less than one hour he got to witness the entire event. The very healthy calf was up and nursing almost immediately! Eric hopes to start milking Darla this week for our family's own fresh milk supply!
Also this week we hosted the Allen County (KY) Master Gardeners Club on our farm for a farm tour.

2009 Season, Week Fifteen

August 29, 2009

This week's harvest:
Tomatoes &/or tomatillos
Sweet red peppers
Hot peppers
Okra
Basil
Onions
Garlic
Watermelon - medium shares
Zucchini
Lettuce
Galia melons

This week's farm news:

The biggest farm tasks we completed this week were simply keeping crops harvested & animals tended. Our focus instead was getting our cabin's addition under a roof. We took advantage of the dry weather to build the remaining walls & get the roof rafters on. We knew the chance for rain was greater in the latter part of the week so we ordered our roofing tin & kept our fingers crossed. We feel like we got so lucky as rain drops started to fall just as the final screws were being put into the tin! Yeah! Now we can chip away at the remaining parts of the project & not have to worry about rain! Our farm interns were completely instrumental in accomplishing what we did this week. Even though we didn't do much garden work, our interns learned some really valuable building skills & lessons in homesteading. It would have been great if they could have really seen the whole process -- the huge poplar tree, with its broken top from a storm, that Eric cut down; the portable sawmill that came & transported huge logs into usable lumber; etc. etc. We just attempt to provide an example of simple, sustainable living by growing our own food & building our own shelter.

Fall Shares Available

A message from the farm:

We thought you may be interested in the contents of Bugtussle Fall Shares. We consider this share the most nutritious of the season for these vegetables have been gathering the sun's energy all season.

In your share, you can expect:
Tomatoes
Peppers
Butternut squash
Acorn squash
Sweet potatoes
Potatoes
Greens such as kale, lettuce, spinach, arugula, turnips
Carrots (most beautiful fall carrots we've ever had)
Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Chinese Cabbage
Boc choi
Garlic
Onions
Scallions
Leeks
Turnips
Rutabaga
Kohlrabi
Daikon Radish

Remember, most of these items store very well and can be kept over winter, making this share also the best value of the season as well.

The season will run from October 10th to November 21st. We will have small ($150) and medium ($250) shares available. Feel free to bring your reservation form (attached) when you pick up your current share or mail it to us directly.

Please let us know if you are interested,
Eric, Cher, Ira and Opal
(270) 457-BUGS
(click on image below for a copy of the form)