Saturday, May 29, 2010

2010 Season, Week Three

May 29, 2010 newsletter

This week's harvest:
"Deer Tongue" Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Garlic "Pigtails" (Scapes)
Carrots - "Rainbow Mix"
"Hakkurei" Salad Radishes
Tatsoi
"Red Russian" Kale
Shelling Peas
Cilantro

This week's farm news:

Mother Nature turned up the temperature on us this week. Most days we saw the mercury rise to 90 degrees or more! With the hot days our routine summertime after lunch swims at the creek have begun! The water is still a bit chilly but oh-so refreshing, especially after the hot & sticky chore of mulching the tomatoes with hay, which the crew tackled & completed very quickly one morning this week. Then they worked on the slower task of staking & caging the tomatoes - which is almost completed, too!

This week we also planted our 2nd & 3rd plantines of sweet corn, peanuts, yellow pole beans, & more flowers. We transplanted our eggplant, zucchini, & muskmelons. Our entire two acres of gardens are in some form of cultivation right now! Whew!

Our fourth season-long intern, Beth, arrived on Thursday evening & got right to work with us on Friday bringing in this awesome spring harvest. Enjoy!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

2010 Season, Week Two

May 22, 2010 newsletter

This week's harvest:
"Cracoviensis" Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Spinach &/or Cut Lettuce
Cilantro
Tatsoi
Green Garlic

This week's farm news:

The week was fairly dark, rainy, & cool. All of the spring crops are loving this weather! But, the summer crops are eager for more sun & warmth!

This week we transplanted our main crop of tomatoes & all of our sweet peppers plus a few hot peppers. We started a bunch of summer lettuces in soil blocks in the greenhouse as well as watermelons, muskmelons, & cucumbers. Eric has also been experimenting with planting various native grass seeds in our pasture to hopefully increase the biodiversity of forage for the farm critters.

During rainy times, we kept busy on the barn's remodeling project as our fourth intern, Beth, is arriving next week & she would probably like to have a place to stay!

We introduced 5 new piglets to the farm scene this week. They were born & raised to weaning right next door on our neighbor, Davis's, farm. They've been cared for so well & we're so happy to have such healthy piglets!

And finally, after years of searching, we've found a new van this week. It's almost exactly like our old van but two years newer & 200,000 fewer miles!

Friday, May 21, 2010

2010 Season, Week One

May 15, 2010 newsletter

This week's harvest:
Swiss Chard
Spinach
Lettuce (lettuce mix &/or head lettuce)
Arugula
Green Garlic
Oregano

This week's farm news:

Howdy once again lovely vegetable eaters! Welcome to another season with Bugtussle! Despite severe floods & unseasonably late frosts, we are gearing up for an awesome CSA season - our ninth! We are excited about this new venue here at Richland Park and hopeful that we can adjust to the new scene quickly to minimize, as gardeners would say, "transplant shock". Please keep us informed about how the new market is working for you!

We've got a super intern crew lined-up for the season. There's Jesse, Ben, & Nadia who are on the farm already & Beth who is arriving in about 10 days. You'll be learning more about these fine folks over the course of the season. Because we've accepted more season-long interns than we've ever had, we've been working on remodeling the barn to create more living spaces. So the barn is getting a new life as the "Intern Headquarters"!

Jesse, who is with us today, formerly lived in Brooklyn, NY & worked in a boutique wine shop that specialized in organic & biodynamic wines. Every week he'll be recommending a wine to pair with our "recipe of the week".

Otherwise, we've been busy on the farm planting & transplanting , cultivating & weeding, tending baby plants & baby chicks, watching tiny white lambs frolic on the bright green grass, & eating fresh delicious salads straight from the garden... ahhhh, Spring!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

In case you didn't receive this email...

I'm so excited for farm fresh veggies this Saturday. I received this email from Eric and wanted to post it here, just in case you didn't get it. Here's the email address to respond to: info@bugtusslefarm.com

Hi folks, PLEASE RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL confirming you are aware of this Saturday's delivery [SEE NOTE BELOW ABOUT DETAILS ON TIMES]. If you are not a current shareholder, please also confirm whether you want to stay on the mailing list.

This Sat. May 15th is our first veggie delivery. We will be at the West Nashville Farmer's Market at Richland Park at 46th and Charlotte Ave. There is a slight time issue...the market is 9-12 but we've requested an earlier start and have been given an "O.K." for an 8 a.m. start. This may still be a little too late for those of you who work on Saturdays. We will pre-pack a few baskets and have them ready as we set up our scene around 7:30. So if you must arrive before 8 just look for our big red and white van and we'll give you your early bird basket.

WE NEED EVERYONE TO REPLY with a simple "got it" so we know for sure you're aware of the first delivery {even if you can't make it - just let us know} or "keep me on your mailing list". So please do respond. Thanks, and we're so excited to see you all!!

Your friend and farmer, Eric {e-mailing from our cabin in the woods!}

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

First delivery May 15th

Hey everybody! We just wanted to update everyone on the delivery schedule. The first delivery will be Saturday, May 15th. We wanted to start this Saturday the 8th, but the flooding has seriously hampered the situation. The first delivery will be to the West Nashville Farmer's Market. We will send a reminder email out early next week. We look forward to sharing spinach, chard, lettuce, green garlic, and arugula with you. Eric, Cher, Ira, Opal, and Olivia

And for anyone who missed it, there's a great article on the local CSAs in Nashville, click here for the recent coverage in the Nashville Scene.

Also, I'm just catching up on my email after being out town and then without internet access. Here's an earlier email from the farmers about flooding on the farm:

We hope everyone is doing OK with all the flooding. We had the worst flooding to date on our farm this weekend. Nearly up to the floor joists, ruined everything in the cold cellar, set the intern camper afloat and flooded the barn. That said, we are all fine and surely less impacted that others. We hope to let everyone know very soon about whether we will be in Nashville this weekend. Just thought we'd send out good thoughts to everyone and hope all is well.
Bugtussle Farm