Sunday, October 30, 2011

2011 Fall Season, Week 6

October 29, 2011

This week's harvest:

Peanuts
Lettuce
Kale
Parsley
Sweet Potatoes
Potatoes
Butternut Squash
Pumpkins
Garlic
Ornamental Gourds

This week's farm news:

**Reminder** Next Saturday this market will be on the other side of the library - between the library and the playground. See you there!

So, this week the garden received its final planting of the season - a crimson clover and rye cover crop on about 1/3 acre.

Our entire crew went to visit our dear friends at Hill and Hollow Farm for a tour (as part of the C.R.A.F.T. - Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training - program that we participate in). It was a gorgeous day and so enlivening and inspiring. It's always so good to visit with our farming peers - to connect and help remind each other why we're doing all that we do. Ya know - pats-on-the-back kind of thing! Here in Bugtussle, we are beginning to wind down with the season. With some rainy days and lessening daylength, we can certainly see the shift from outdoor to indoor activities happening. More stories with the children, more knitting for mama, more reading for papa, and all sorts of unfinished house projects are resurfacing and begging for a little bit of long-overdue attention!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

2011 Fall Season, Week 5

October 22, 2011

This week's harvest:

Tatsoi
Kale
Greens Choice: Collard Greens, Red Mustard, Green Mustard, and/or Arugula
Beets & Greens
Daikon Radish
Salad Turnips
Butternut Squash
Acorn Squash
Pumpkins
Garlic
Tomatoes
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Eggplant - medium shares only
Sweet Potatoes

This week's farm news:

We kept our woodstoves burning a little bit more this week while enjoying some lovely, blustery fall weather. A few extra cups of tea were also in order! The change in the landscape is so rapid right now. The trees are really letting loose of their leaves and the sky is beginning to seem that much bigger!

The kiddos and I made a trip up to Fox Hollow Farm, just outside of Louisville, to visit a friend and to bring home the newest additions to our farmstead: four very fluffy Angora bunnies! We plan to utilize their wool for making warm woolen garments for the winter months.

The crew did a little more grubbing in the soil this week (the sweet potato harvest just didn't give them their fill! ha!) to harvest our peanut crop. Yes! Peanuts grow underground and you'll get to see what they look like on the plant when we give them to you next week!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

2011 Fall Season, Week 4

October 15, 2011

This week's harvest:

Sweet Potatoes
Butternut Squash
Garlic
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Tomatoes
Bok Choi
Salad Turnips
Lettuce (medium shares only)
Choose between: Arugula, Thick-Stemmed Mustard, Red Mustard, Mizuna, Kale

This week's farm news:

The week started out in full-steam-ahead fashion as we hustled to get all of the sweet potatoes out of the ground before rain. With a lot of perserverance and tiresome grubbing in the ground, we were successful in completing the task! We estimate just under 4,000 pounds of our winter staple was lifted from the garden. Our winter's food supply is looking secure!

After that big project, we slowed down our pace and took things a bit easier for a few days, enjoying some rain and relaxation. Jesse and Hannah took a few days off from the farm to celebrate Jesse's birthday and to look at some land/living prospects for the next stage of their life journey...life after Bugtussle. (Boo Hooo Hooo Hooo! We are so going to miss them when they do go!) They have a few options with great potential and lots of wonderful family support! We are so happy for them!

This week we also transplanted some kale into the high tunnel pretty much filling up the last remaining space in there! The high tunnel crops are looking great! More winter bounty to come!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

2011 Fall Season, Week 3

October 8, 2011

This week's harvest:

Cut Salad Mix
Salad Turnips with Greens
Kale
Acorn Squash
Potatoes
Garlic
Basil
Hot Peppers
Tomatoes
Eggplant - medium shares only
and a choice between Arugula, Mizuna, &/or Red Mustard

This week's farm news:

It was nice to get back to the farm after our family vacation. The gardens all look so beautiful. The cover and forage crops are growing and getting lush. The forest is beginning to be kissed with the colors of autumn. Ahhhh! As much as we relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed our time at the beach, we were all ready to come home. We are so, so, so grateful to Jesse and Hannah for taking such good care of the farm - even when faced with some challenges during their second week on the farm by themselves! (And for being champions and dealing so expertly with those challenges and not calling us at the beach and worrying us! The means a great deal to us!)

Now that we are back, we are ready to tackle one of our final big garden projects for the season - digging the sweet potatoes! Next week you'll have some in your baskets!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

2011 Fall Season, Week 2

October 1, 2011

This week's harvest:

Arugula
Kale
Salad Turnips and Greens
Tomatoes
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Eggplant
Potatoes
Acorn Squash
Butternut Squash
Basil
Garlic

This week's farm news:

Well, we survived! (At least so far!) A whole week went by, and the farm didn't burn down, the animals are all accounted for, and we even made it to market with your veggies! Actually, it was a very calm week. We've had some cooler temperatures and some rain, but the big news is that we started digging SWEET POTATOES! We were eager to get them out of the ground, since they need to undergo a curing process before they are fully ready to show up in your baskets. So GET EXCITED!

Although we have definitely enjoyed the peace and quiet on the farm this week, it is just not quite the same without the family. They are an essential part of what makes Bugtussle BUGTUSSLE - and so are YOU! Meeting all of you and connecting with your lives and your families is a huge motivation to us for starting our own farm someday. This was an absolute LIFE-CHANGING year for us both, and we cannot thank you enough for being part of it.

~ Jesse and Hannah