May 28, 2011
This week's harvest:
A few varieties of lettuce
Cilantro
Garlic Scapes
Swiss Chard
Beets & Greens
This week's farm news:
It was another gray, wet, & sometimes stormy week here in Bugtussle. The crew & I held down the fort while Eric was away at an animal grazing seminar in Pennsylvania. The timing of Eric's absence worked out well because, once again, the garden was too wet to do much work. The potato patch got a nice blanket of hay mulch but otherwise the week's work focused mostly on animal chores & maintenance. Whew, this spring has been a challenging one! We just can't get into the garden when it's so wet. It's very easy to get caught up in the springtime rush to get crops in the ground but working the soil when it's too wet can do long-term damage to the soil's structure - which can take years to recover. And that just isn't part of our holistic goal. So lovely, supportive vegetable eaters, despite the fact that your baskets aren't overflowing yet, you can rest assured that we are being good stewards of this land. May your bodies not only be nourished by the vegetables that you do eat, but also by the love & care that we put into growing them.
Thank you for supporting environmentally reponsible farming!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
2011 Season, Week Three
May 21, 2011
This week's harvest:
Swiss Chard
Red Russian Kale
Green Garlic (use like a green onion)
Tatsoi
Beets
Strawberries
A sprig of mint
This week's farm news:
Well, we burned firewood this week like it was the middle of March. The week was remarkably gray & cool! If I didn't know better, and if the trees & pastures weren't so green, I could have easily convinced myself that it actually was March!
Early in the week not much happened in the garden because of the cool wet weather. That was OK, though, because we had plenty to do welcoming all sorts of new arrivals on the farm. On Monday we set up a beehive to house a new (package) swarm of Russian honeybees. We installed them on Monday evening & so far they seem to have accepted their new home in Bugtussle. On Tuesday our new bull, a Red Devon, arrived on the farm - from Virginia! Eric purchased him about a month ago but has had to wait for a cattle hauler to be available to bring him here. Once he arrived, Eric was very anxious to get the poor traveller back on the grass and integrated with our herd. You never know quite what to expect, especially with a bull, but all seems good so far. On Wednesday we went to a farm just outside Carthage, TN to purchase about 30 young pullets (to make up for all the ones a wily fox has been snagging - Eric even witnessed an attack in broad daylight while working in the garden!) They were raised by a 12 year old boy much in the same manner we raise our own chickens. We were pleased to help support & encourage a young entrepreneur.
This week's harvest:
Swiss Chard
Red Russian Kale
Green Garlic (use like a green onion)
Tatsoi
Beets
Strawberries
A sprig of mint
This week's farm news:
Well, we burned firewood this week like it was the middle of March. The week was remarkably gray & cool! If I didn't know better, and if the trees & pastures weren't so green, I could have easily convinced myself that it actually was March!
Early in the week not much happened in the garden because of the cool wet weather. That was OK, though, because we had plenty to do welcoming all sorts of new arrivals on the farm. On Monday we set up a beehive to house a new (package) swarm of Russian honeybees. We installed them on Monday evening & so far they seem to have accepted their new home in Bugtussle. On Tuesday our new bull, a Red Devon, arrived on the farm - from Virginia! Eric purchased him about a month ago but has had to wait for a cattle hauler to be available to bring him here. Once he arrived, Eric was very anxious to get the poor traveller back on the grass and integrated with our herd. You never know quite what to expect, especially with a bull, but all seems good so far. On Wednesday we went to a farm just outside Carthage, TN to purchase about 30 young pullets (to make up for all the ones a wily fox has been snagging - Eric even witnessed an attack in broad daylight while working in the garden!) They were raised by a 12 year old boy much in the same manner we raise our own chickens. We were pleased to help support & encourage a young entrepreneur.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
2011 Season, Week Two
May 14, 2011
This week's harvest:
Strawberries
Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Beet with Beet Greens
Radishes
Tatsoi
Arugula - small shares this week
Sage Flowers
This week's farm news:
This week was a week full of strawberries! We harvested berries left and right. We had them in some form for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Strawberry pie, cobbler, and shortcake. Strawberry viniagrette on salads. Strawberries & cream, and just plain ole strawberries by the handful! We froze a bunch, too, and we still couldn't keep up with all of the berries. Rough life, huh? It's been several years since we've had such an abundance of strawberries so we feel pretty blessed. We hope you enjoy them, too.
The crew accomplished an insane amount in the garden this week. They spread over 10 tons of compost, worked up 1.5 acres of ground, cultivated all of the crops that were already in the garden, transplanted lettuce, summer squash, basil, parsley, cucumbers, and our main season tomato crop, and direct seeded yellow bush beans and zucchini. Eric was on the tractor just finishing the ground work for our sweet potato patch as the rain started pouring down on his head. We knew rain was coming and it was finally dry enough after a very wet spring to get some major work done. That's just the way it goes, little windows of opportunity. Always be prepared! Now we can envision very bountiful summer harvests because of this one short window of very serious work. Yeah! The harvests over the next few weeks, though, are probably going to be skimpier than we would like...that's just the way it can go. Especially when the spring was wet and wet and wet! There's a lot of crops in the ground that are so close... Thanks for your patience. There's so much goodness just around the corner!
This week's harvest:
Strawberries
Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Beet with Beet Greens
Radishes
Tatsoi
Arugula - small shares this week
Sage Flowers
This week's farm news:
This week was a week full of strawberries! We harvested berries left and right. We had them in some form for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Strawberry pie, cobbler, and shortcake. Strawberry viniagrette on salads. Strawberries & cream, and just plain ole strawberries by the handful! We froze a bunch, too, and we still couldn't keep up with all of the berries. Rough life, huh? It's been several years since we've had such an abundance of strawberries so we feel pretty blessed. We hope you enjoy them, too.
The crew accomplished an insane amount in the garden this week. They spread over 10 tons of compost, worked up 1.5 acres of ground, cultivated all of the crops that were already in the garden, transplanted lettuce, summer squash, basil, parsley, cucumbers, and our main season tomato crop, and direct seeded yellow bush beans and zucchini. Eric was on the tractor just finishing the ground work for our sweet potato patch as the rain started pouring down on his head. We knew rain was coming and it was finally dry enough after a very wet spring to get some major work done. That's just the way it goes, little windows of opportunity. Always be prepared! Now we can envision very bountiful summer harvests because of this one short window of very serious work. Yeah! The harvests over the next few weeks, though, are probably going to be skimpier than we would like...that's just the way it can go. Especially when the spring was wet and wet and wet! There's a lot of crops in the ground that are so close... Thanks for your patience. There's so much goodness just around the corner!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
2011 Season, Week One
May 7, 2011
This week's harvest:
Lettuce (Cracoviensis & Deer Tongue)
Swiss Chard
Strawberries!
Tatsoi
Arugula - medium shares only this week
Radishes
Lemon Balm
Sage with Edible Flowers
This week's farm news:
Well, hello again! Welcome to another season with Bugtussle CSA! This is our tenth season of bringing home-grown goodies to you all in Nashville - some of you folks have been with us for all those years. Wow! What a commitment! Some of you are just beginning your journey with Bugtussle! Thanks for your involvement & we hope you all enjoy the season!
We have two excellent interns with us on the farm currently. One more is due to arrive toward the end of the month. Jesse, who was a shining star for us last year is back for another season! (How did we get so lucky?) A big project for him this year is leading the development of a mid-week CSA pick-up in Gallatin at the new farmer's market there. Then there's Hannah, the sweet & quiet artist. She's originally from a small town in Kentucky but then moved to the big city of Chicago after college. Now she's decided the agrarian lifestyle of Bugtussle suits her more than life in the city. She is a welcome addition to our farm crew...if we can just keep our gregarious children from driving her insane.
The spring weather thus far has been wet, wet, wet. It's pretty challenging to stay on top of things with such short windows of opportunity for working in the garden. When it does dry up, your farmers will be busy!
This week's harvest:
Lettuce (Cracoviensis & Deer Tongue)
Swiss Chard
Strawberries!
Tatsoi
Arugula - medium shares only this week
Radishes
Lemon Balm
Sage with Edible Flowers
This week's farm news:
Well, hello again! Welcome to another season with Bugtussle CSA! This is our tenth season of bringing home-grown goodies to you all in Nashville - some of you folks have been with us for all those years. Wow! What a commitment! Some of you are just beginning your journey with Bugtussle! Thanks for your involvement & we hope you all enjoy the season!
We have two excellent interns with us on the farm currently. One more is due to arrive toward the end of the month. Jesse, who was a shining star for us last year is back for another season! (How did we get so lucky?) A big project for him this year is leading the development of a mid-week CSA pick-up in Gallatin at the new farmer's market there. Then there's Hannah, the sweet & quiet artist. She's originally from a small town in Kentucky but then moved to the big city of Chicago after college. Now she's decided the agrarian lifestyle of Bugtussle suits her more than life in the city. She is a welcome addition to our farm crew...if we can just keep our gregarious children from driving her insane.
The spring weather thus far has been wet, wet, wet. It's pretty challenging to stay on top of things with such short windows of opportunity for working in the garden. When it does dry up, your farmers will be busy!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
2010/2011 Winter Share, Basket #6
March 12, 2011 newsletter
This week's basket:
Parsnips
Sweet Potatoes
Swiss Chard
Kale
This week's farm news:
Happy almost spring y'all! It's been a very wet couple of weeks since we were last here. We have had flood after flood after flood - fortunately no major ones though!
Spring seems to be springing just a wee bit early this year. The grass is greening up, daffodils are blooming all over the place, the red maples are in full bloom. However, we are still hesitant to proceed in the gardens as it is is actually spring! Our instincts are telling us that we're going to have at least one more round of cold - winter's last hoorah! So, we've not done much actual work out in the garden yet (plus, it's been too wet to do anything even if we wanted to!) But our greenhouse is quickly filling up with little plants... Lettuce, spinach, broccoli, beets, Swiss chard, even a round of early tomatoes which we're going to experiment with planting in our high tunnel! That should be fun & exciting! Our first intern will be arriving on the farm in just 8 days! So things are rolling right along here. We'll be back with y'all in about a month with lots of eggs and asparagus! Until then, happy spring!
This week's basket:
Parsnips
Sweet Potatoes
Swiss Chard
Kale
This week's farm news:
Happy almost spring y'all! It's been a very wet couple of weeks since we were last here. We have had flood after flood after flood - fortunately no major ones though!
Spring seems to be springing just a wee bit early this year. The grass is greening up, daffodils are blooming all over the place, the red maples are in full bloom. However, we are still hesitant to proceed in the gardens as it is is actually spring! Our instincts are telling us that we're going to have at least one more round of cold - winter's last hoorah! So, we've not done much actual work out in the garden yet (plus, it's been too wet to do anything even if we wanted to!) But our greenhouse is quickly filling up with little plants... Lettuce, spinach, broccoli, beets, Swiss chard, even a round of early tomatoes which we're going to experiment with planting in our high tunnel! That should be fun & exciting! Our first intern will be arriving on the farm in just 8 days! So things are rolling right along here. We'll be back with y'all in about a month with lots of eggs and asparagus! Until then, happy spring!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Veggies and eggs this Saturday!
Hello everyone! We are planning on coming to the Nashville Friends Meeting House this Saturday March 12th. For anyone new the address is 530 26th Ave.N. We will be there from 9am-11am. (This is a pay when you come basket and not part of the main season which starts in May.)
Small baskets are just $15 and mediums $25 and no larges available. Here is what we will have: Kale, Swiss Chard, Sweet Potatoes, and Parsnips. This will likely be our last "winter" basket(keep posted about an April "Asparagus" basket.) Please let us know by Friday what size basket you want and any egg order.
Eggs: We have a LOT of eggs so it's time once again for our annual bulk-buying discount. It's time to eat eggs!! $4.50/dz. or 5 or more dozen for $4.00/dz. These are the best quality eggs anywhere around!
Thanks and let us know by(ideally before)Friday what you want,
Eric and the Bugtussle Family
Small baskets are just $15 and mediums $25 and no larges available. Here is what we will have: Kale, Swiss Chard, Sweet Potatoes, and Parsnips. This will likely be our last "winter" basket(keep posted about an April "Asparagus" basket.) Please let us know by Friday what size basket you want and any egg order.
Eggs: We have a LOT of eggs so it's time once again for our annual bulk-buying discount. It's time to eat eggs!! $4.50/dz. or 5 or more dozen for $4.00/dz. These are the best quality eggs anywhere around!
Thanks and let us know by(ideally before)Friday what you want,
Eric and the Bugtussle Family
Thursday, March 3, 2011
No Saturday delivery
Hello everyone,
With the forecast calling for heavy rain again on Saturday and the fact that we have a lot to do, we have decided to not come with veggies this Saturday the 5th. Sorry to dissappoint! We will aim for the following Sat. the 12th.
You are ALWAYS WELCOME to come directly to the farm to get what you need.
Thanks for understanding and we'll be in touch.
Cher, Eric, and ninos
With the forecast calling for heavy rain again on Saturday and the fact that we have a lot to do, we have decided to not come with veggies this Saturday the 5th. Sorry to dissappoint! We will aim for the following Sat. the 12th.
You are ALWAYS WELCOME to come directly to the farm to get what you need.
Thanks for understanding and we'll be in touch.
Cher, Eric, and ninos
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