June 19, 2010 newsletter
This week's harvest:
"Sweet Valentine" Lettuce
Green Beans
"Yellow Crookneck" Squash
Fresh Garlic
Basil
Broccoli
Beets & Greens
Swiss Chard
This week's farm news:
The crew had a super busy & productive week - despite the heat & everyone's desires to sit in the creek & sip kombucha! (Our current fetish!) Not only did they cultivate the entire two acres of gardens to keep the moisture from the last rain in the ground & knock out any weeds, they put up about 400 feet of trellis for the yellow pole beans; they staked & trellised all of the pepper plants (a few hundred of them); they kept the tomatoes tucked in their cages; they kept all of the farm critters moved daily (or twice daily!) to fresh green grass; they harvested the remaining 3/4's of the garlic crop & neatly stored it in the barn for curing; and they composted & planted another patch of winter squash! Whew! We even took a field trip to another farm one day this week that got us all excited about the possibilities of growing ginger in our high tunnel! Oh, there's so much to do on a farm in the height of summer! These long summer days are really helpful for getting all of our many projects completed! Happy Summer Solstice!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
2010 Season, Week Five
June 12, 2010 newsletter
This week's harvest:
Carrots
Lettuce ("Buttercrunch" for medium shares & "Sweet Valentine" for small shares)
Swiss Chard
Beets & Greens
"Yellow Crookneck" Squash
Very Fresh Garlic
Basil
Flowering Onions
This week's farm news:
The temperatures were hot again this week but, unlike last week, we had some very lovely & timely rain showers. The crew planted our butternut squash patch this week. Every year we select & store several baskets of squash from last fall's harvest to save for seed. Then when it's time to plant, we cut open the squash, harvest the seeds, & go straight to the garden to plant them. We get excellent germination this way because the squash keep the seeds in the perfect storage environment. That also means our seed stock is coming from squash that actually stored for the entire winter, therefore (hopefully!) improving the overall keeping quality of the squash from year to year. We also planted our sweet potato patch this week & with Eric & four interns working together it was a pretty quick job. The sweet potato slips got watered-in by a fabulous rolling thunderstorm. We rejoice when our timing works out like that!
The crew also yanked out the spent pea vines & spinach to make room for our late planting of tomatoes & they began the garlic harvest - you're getting some of this juicy uncured goodness in your baskets this week! Enjoy it while it's so fresh!
During rainy spells throughout the week, both Beth & Ben worked on Beth's room in the barn & got the majority of it completed! Now Beth can finally get settled in!
This week's harvest:
Carrots
Lettuce ("Buttercrunch" for medium shares & "Sweet Valentine" for small shares)
Swiss Chard
Beets & Greens
"Yellow Crookneck" Squash
Very Fresh Garlic
Basil
Flowering Onions
This week's farm news:
The temperatures were hot again this week but, unlike last week, we had some very lovely & timely rain showers. The crew planted our butternut squash patch this week. Every year we select & store several baskets of squash from last fall's harvest to save for seed. Then when it's time to plant, we cut open the squash, harvest the seeds, & go straight to the garden to plant them. We get excellent germination this way because the squash keep the seeds in the perfect storage environment. That also means our seed stock is coming from squash that actually stored for the entire winter, therefore (hopefully!) improving the overall keeping quality of the squash from year to year. We also planted our sweet potato patch this week & with Eric & four interns working together it was a pretty quick job. The sweet potato slips got watered-in by a fabulous rolling thunderstorm. We rejoice when our timing works out like that!
The crew also yanked out the spent pea vines & spinach to make room for our late planting of tomatoes & they began the garlic harvest - you're getting some of this juicy uncured goodness in your baskets this week! Enjoy it while it's so fresh!
During rainy spells throughout the week, both Beth & Ben worked on Beth's room in the barn & got the majority of it completed! Now Beth can finally get settled in!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
2010 Season, Week Four
June 5, 2010 newsletter
This week's harvest:
"Buttercrunch" Lettuce
"Speckled Amish" Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Shelling Peas
Carrots
Beets & Beet Greens
"Yellow Crookneck" Squash
"Hakurei" Salad Turnips
"Easter Egg" Radishes
Garlic Scapes
This week's farm news:
It was another hot week in Bugtussle! We had a few light rain showers that maybe totalled 1/20"... so not much rain this week. But, I can hear distant rumblings of thunder as I write this so we are hopeful for a good rain this (Friday) evening. Our crops are doing well aside from a pretty intense infestation of cabbage worms on the spring brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, etc.). The crew dutifully (& laboriously) hand-picked worms from the plants this week but the little boogers are so camouflaged that many are inevitably overlooked which likely means another worm-picking will be on next week's "to do" list!
Our turkey poults arrived on the farm this week (via the post office). This is our first experience with day old turkeys (as last year we got them at 4-8 weeks old from a local breeder). We also chose to raise broad-breasted bronze & white turkeys instead of the heritage breeds we raised last year to hopefully avoid the near fiasco of the mature birds flying away! We figure that the broad-breasted turkeys will be able to forage more freely on pasture (since they can't fly) than we could allow the heritage breeds to do.
This week's harvest:
"Buttercrunch" Lettuce
"Speckled Amish" Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Shelling Peas
Carrots
Beets & Beet Greens
"Yellow Crookneck" Squash
"Hakurei" Salad Turnips
"Easter Egg" Radishes
Garlic Scapes
This week's farm news:
It was another hot week in Bugtussle! We had a few light rain showers that maybe totalled 1/20"... so not much rain this week. But, I can hear distant rumblings of thunder as I write this so we are hopeful for a good rain this (Friday) evening. Our crops are doing well aside from a pretty intense infestation of cabbage worms on the spring brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, etc.). The crew dutifully (& laboriously) hand-picked worms from the plants this week but the little boogers are so camouflaged that many are inevitably overlooked which likely means another worm-picking will be on next week's "to do" list!
Our turkey poults arrived on the farm this week (via the post office). This is our first experience with day old turkeys (as last year we got them at 4-8 weeks old from a local breeder). We also chose to raise broad-breasted bronze & white turkeys instead of the heritage breeds we raised last year to hopefully avoid the near fiasco of the mature birds flying away! We figure that the broad-breasted turkeys will be able to forage more freely on pasture (since they can't fly) than we could allow the heritage breeds to do.
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!
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!
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!
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!}
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!}
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