the good life

Hints of red hiding amidst the green tomato vine jungle... the first red ripe tomatoes.

A Sunday morning farmer's breakfast:
1. Sausage from the farmer down the road (Thunderhill Farm).
2. Eggs from our hens, sunnyside up.
3. Toast from the local bakery that uses local organic grains (Wild Hive Bakery).
4. Fresh tomatoes & scallions.

I walked past the summer squash row on my way to water the greenhouse, and I couldn't help but notice those poor zucchini that will be too big to be edible by tomorrow. So I picked 116 of them. Just the largest, the ones that would pass us by. I can't stand to see good food wasted.
By 9am I was sweating out of every pore of my body. I was haunted by this feverish dream I had last night, where Farmer Dave & I were walking across the melon field, and every single melon had been cracked in half & eaten by birds. Not a single one, even a tiny one or a flower, was left for us to harvest. I was so sad I woke myself up crying.

So of course I had to go out and remind myself that it was just a dream-- a sigh of relief as I looked over the hundreds of intact green cannonballs lying out there in the sun. I knocked on one close by, and it made the kind of sound a ripe watermelon makes...
So I took a chance... as soon as I got the knife in, the thing popped open, a good sign.
But alas, the seeds are still yellow... a hint of sweetness, but nothing like a melon should be.

I will wait a little longer, and trust the birds to share.

a full cooler

We started harvesting again today at 5:30am. The morning was dark and humid & it was hard to get out of bed. But better to work now though, when it's relatively comfortable outside, than to work in the afternoon swelter. We would harvest for 8 hours, then I could take a cold shower & my beloved after-work siesta!

Lettuce first, since it wilts easiest in the sun. Then beets, since the greens also wilt quickly. Then swiss chard, and lo and behold , 4 volunteers showed up to help us! We were able to pick the entire 400 foot long bed of beans, then harvest & wash up scallions together. Nick went to the onion field to pull up 100 huge onions, and the rest of us picked peppers & eggplants. Sweat was streaming down our faces. We have some dedicated volunteers! There's no way we could have picked so much just by ourselves. The cooler is full to the top:

Of course with all the lettuce in the field and this hot weather, we're getting some varieties that decide to "bolt" (start flowering & turn bitter). It's sad to watch this food that we so carefully planted by seed in the greenhouse, then transplanted on our knees into the field, go to waste. But at least there are some farm members who still enjoy bitter lettuce:

"Thanks, Erin!"

You spoiled things :)

the first...

This morning we started at 5:30am so we could get our work done before the heat of the day. Out in the onion field, moving irrigation pipes, we decided the large areas of fallow ground that Nick just plowed up should be worked some more-- not with the rototiller this time, but with the Disk Harrow. This heavy piece of equipment drags over the ground, pulverizing the clumps of sod left from plowing. The first set of discs throws soil out & the second throws it back. It was my first time disking! Feels sort of like a christening...
We moved irrigation pipe all day, turning on different fields every few hours. The melon field here was decorated with "flash tape" to scare birds away. We had noticed a few melons that had been pecked out by curious crows, but this tape claims to alert their danger-instinct, looking kind of like fire, I guess.
We staked & trellised the last 2 rows of tomatoes-- 800 feet of tomatoes! The straw mulch is doing a good job keeping the moisture in the soil.
The beans are growing fast... on tomorrow's harvest list.
And after work, I took a stroll down to the Sun Gold cherry tomato row, and lo and behold:
Oh, yes. They are here.


And Nick finally got a car (that runs):She's a beauty, ain't she? A generous loan from a CSA member! (Thanks Catherine!)

not waiting for rain

If I were to run a farm without any irrigation besides the weather, I would plant everything just before the raindrops started falling. Unfortunately, we have lots of seeds & plants to get in the ground, and no rain in sight for a week. And 90 degree days. So we plant anyway.

This old "Planet Jr." is pushed right down the row, following the nice straight lines we marked with the Cub tractor. The seeds fall through a hole & get buried in the soil at the (hopefully) ideal spacing. I am seeding carrots here:
The heat radiating off this dry field at noon is pretty intense.
After lunch I set up drip irrigation on all the seeded beds, as well as the lettuce we planted a few days ago. A few hours should be enough, then we have to start irrigating the other fields. A hot week without rain means more work for us-- the artificial rain-makers. Does anyone know a good rain-dancing method?
At least the garlic has benefited from the dry weather. The bulbs should be fully cured by now.
Every time I walk by the melon field I start imagining in my mind how good that first juicy piece is going to be, eaten in the field after a sweaty day of weeding. We cut one open yesterday, but it was just a pale pink inside. A lesson in patience.

celebrating summer

I continue to be amazed by the bounty coming out of the fields these days. Seems like these days we are doing nothing but harvesting... and the produce is getting larger. And more colorful.

This purple cabbage was one of my little projects, started in soil blocks in the greenhouse. Farmer Dave usually doesn't grow the purple variety-- it seems to demand lots of space to grow if you want to get large heads out of it. Some of the heads got large, but some stayed small. Next year I will try spacing them farther apart.

And the onions are getting to the "lunker" stage. Farmer Dave grows several varieties-- these here are harvested for fresh onions, whereas other varieties are grown for storage onions, that will keep for a long time once they are cured.
We wash them up in the field & peel off the outer layers until they shine!
And speaking of shine...
Some of my favorite summer veggies are here-- eggplant & peppers!
This week's share is huge. People will really have to stretch their stomachs for this one. Four heads of lettuce! 3 Eggplants! 2 zucchini and 2 peppers! Giant beets! Cabbage, scallions, onion!
We could hardly fit them in the boxes that we packed for the city distribution.
The winter squash are quickly taking over their field. Which is a good thing-- they will provide a dense shade to prevent weeds from coming up.
Another of my little experiments was okra plants... the variety is "North and South", supposedly growing well up here in the Northeast. The plants are a lot shorter than I remember them being in California, but they sure are producing. Picking them small is the key-- once they get large they are tough to pick and tough to eat. But they get big really fast! I love to eat them raw. But I am also going to try breading and frying them, traditional-style.

Here's me harvesting a beautiful head of purple cabbage:And here's Nick, Johanna, Pam, & I with our first eggplant bounty!
Yesterday Nick & I transplanted 2 rows of lettuce & scallions... we seed lettuce in the greenhouse every week the whole summer so we have a steady supply. It doesn't all mature at a steady rate... sometimes it all is ready at once! (Like this week's distribution of 4 heads)The 3 Sisters Garden is looking beautiful too:

The corn is starting to tassel, the beans are looking to wind, and the squash is thinking about running. And there are sunflowers blooming & magenta amaranth leaves. What a magical place.

organic no-till agriculture

Four Winds Farm Tour:
We do a lot of plowing & tilling of the soil, as most farmers do, but yesterday I visited Four Winds Farm which hasn't tilled their soil in 14 years! They just spread a lot of homemade compost on their soil to build organic matter & prevent weeds from emerging. Of course they have about 20 cows, who provide enough manure in the winter months in the barn to be the basis of their compost fertility. These beef cattle are Herefords:
The compost pile is turned/moved 3 times with the front loader, then aerated with this stationary manure spreader. Then it sits for about a year before it gets spread on the beds.
The beds are permanent. The tractor tires stay in the same place every year, so compaction never happens on the growing surface of the beds. Here is some kale, undersown about a month after transplanting with crimson clover, which will become a green mulch until the winter when it will be killed by frost. Then compost is spread right over it.
Check out these blueberries! Lots and lots of compost & mulch!
They are experimenting with this marigold variety bred especially to rid the soil of nematodes.
An interesting way to trellis peas... just pvc pipe and twine. Extensions are placed on the top as the peas grow higher than this.
A beautiful sunset as the almost-full moon rises over the fields.

visitors & visiting

Well!  A whole week without blogging!  

Lots of things going on... 

1.  We gave a tour & talked about mechanical cultivation to about 40 apprentices from different farms,

2.  A bunch of farmers came out for another tour with the theme of integrated pest management, organized through the Cornell Cooperative Extension,

3.  A flock of 13-year-olds from a local summer camp showed up to pull carrots & weeds! 

4. A few of my good friends came to visit for a few days & helped out with the work...

  

Here's what our produce share looks like these days:

And I visited my hometown of Rochester, where I plan to start farming next year on my own!  One unexpected land offer looks like this:

Lots of exciting leads... now I have a lot of work to do!

1.  Find people who want to help me start this farm.

2. Find land with good soil, location, etc.

3. Create a business plan.

4. Infrastructure:  greenhouse, irrigation, etc.

5. Equipment needed:  tractor, tools, etc.

6. Find a place to live!

7. Networking & marketing & community-building...