Sunday, August 19, 2012

2012 Season, week 16

August 18, 2012

This week's harvest:
Tomatoes
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Eggplant
Garlic
Onions
Watermelons
Basil
Cucumbers - medium shares
Okra

This week's farm news

We had a few more nice and gentle rains this week. As lovely as they were and as much as we are not going to complain about wet weather, we were still not able to get in on the gardens with the tractor to work up more fall ground. We were able to do a light hand-cultivation of the fall crops that we do have growing - kale, arugula, red mustard, lettuce, and salad turnips. Our seedlings that we started last week are growing nicely and will be ready to set very soon (which is why we really need more garden space prepared!) Otherwise on the farm this week we spent a great deal of time hosting a string of lovely visitors. We had a visit from a sweet shareholder family that is about to move from Nashville to Alabama. We had a visit from a grazing specialist from the Conservation Service of TN. And we had a visit from our dear interns of last season, Jesse and Hannah. They are doing well and send love and hellos to all of you!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

2012 Season, week 15

August 11, 2012

This week's harvest
Sweet and Hot Peppers
Eggplant
Tomatoes
Garlic
Onions
Basil
Parsley
Cucumbers
Melons - assorted
and a little Okra

This week's farm news:

Early in the week, when the gardens were still too wet to do much of anything, we worked on making and seeding soil blocks for fall crops. We started lettuce, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli and cauliflower. As the soil dried a bit, I hand-cultivated the patty-pan squash and Eric hilled up the ginger (!). We also pulled lots and lots of weeds from here and there throughout the garden - especially in the parsnip patch. By Thursday morning, a few areas of the garden were just dry enough to prepare for seeding... And we had to scramble to get some kale, arugula, parsley, red mustard, and salad turnips seeded and some lettuce transplants set before the next round of rain blew in. We had hopes of getting some larger garden spaces worked up for cover crops, but that just didn't happen this week... Next week...

And Friday was Eric's birthday. Forty-one times he's traveled around that big old sun! What a gift he received with the cooler weather. Ahhh... Can't you feel fall just around the corner?

2012 Season, week 14

August 4, 2012

This week's harvest:
Cucumbers (and a few Zucchini)
Potatoes
Garlic
Onions
Tomatoes
Basil
Parsley
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Melons for medium shares

This week's farm news:

We had a fun moving adventure with the livestock this week. For the first time ever, Eric grazed the animals down in the hollow, in the creek bottom near our house for a couple of days. But to get them down there, we had to walk nearly 150 animals (cows & sheep) the 1/4 mile down our driveway from the pasture, through the woods, to the creek bottom. Eric led the way on foot calling his herd (they are very accustomed to his call as he moves them to a fresh paddock daily - sometimes multiple times a day! His call equals fresh food!), and the girls and I followed behind in the golf cart... But I quickly realized I would also need to be on foot to help some rather bewildered sheep (they are not known for their wits!) find their way. We did this to start making use of under-utilized areas of our farm and for landscaping purposes! It's amazing what a mob of animals can do and how the land responds so positively to their presence. When managed properly, animals are the ultimate healers of the soil!