It seemed the right time. We get so many questions about how we grow and how others grow that we thought it was time to keep things simple. We are certified by an outside agency that requires detailed records and plans for our style of growing. Simply put- a layer of transparency for our customers. This does require more effort on our part but we love the idea of the simple answer!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
If he won't write I will
New stuff.
Interns are moving in next week. Wow. Cool.
Steve our new manager (who started late December) and two interns. We are growing, not only vegetables but people? Tough stuff.
We hope they will like it here and our wacky ways!
Our winter CSA is winding down. Three more weeks left.
This weeks share includes:
Eggs
Chicken
Chard
Minutina
Potatoes
Carrots
Mache
Lettuce
Beets
Garlic
Pea leaf
Purple Cabbage
Not too bad for mid-March.
Interns are moving in next week. Wow. Cool.
Steve our new manager (who started late December) and two interns. We are growing, not only vegetables but people? Tough stuff.
We hope they will like it here and our wacky ways!
Our winter CSA is winding down. Three more weeks left.
This weeks share includes:
Eggs
Chicken
Chard
Minutina
Potatoes
Carrots
Mache
Lettuce
Beets
Garlic
Pea leaf
Purple Cabbage
Not too bad for mid-March.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Monday, July 23, 2007
North Coventry's Finest
He knocked on our door this afternoon.
Just as I was coming out of the shop, looking for a drill, I saw him.
Dressed in khakis and olive green and a little black and a name tag.
I know this dress, maybe this man, through my driving habits.
The police...
I didn't feel anything as I approached him; I hadn't done anything wrong.
I'm at peace; it's my day off...
"Hi", I said.
"Hi, Do you have pigs down there in the woods?"
"Yes", I said.
"Oh, shit, they got out", I thought. "Now I have to get them back to their pen. Oh what a nightmare. I'm taking the day off after two straight Farmers market days and a lot of running around and harvesting and packaging and selling and getting up early and staying up late and driving and packing and unpacking and setting up and tearing down and..."
"I thought they were yours. They were in the middle of Scholl Rd. I drove them right back to their pen. They just went right back. They must like it in there. They went right back in; under the fence where they probably got out. You need to tighten up your fence", he said.
"Sorry about that... I'll get right on it..."
Scholl Rd. runs through the middle of that sub-division boardering our small suburban farm.
It's my day off.
So I put a fully charged battery on the electric fence and I trimmed under the darn fence and I tightened the fence and I put another post in the middle of the fence and I cut all the branches and vines that might have been touching the fence and I checked and now I have 4000 volts through the fence and I petted those pigs because they let me and I love them and I hope they love me and they act like dogs who just ran away, all exhausted from their travels into that sub-division and I fed them the corn cobs that my wife had left-over from freezing our first batch of sweet corn and I'm happy and the pigs are happy and it's my day off.
I sure would have liked a picture of those pigs in the middle of the road in that sub-division.
Just as I was coming out of the shop, looking for a drill, I saw him.
Dressed in khakis and olive green and a little black and a name tag.
I know this dress, maybe this man, through my driving habits.
The police...
I didn't feel anything as I approached him; I hadn't done anything wrong.
I'm at peace; it's my day off...
"Hi", I said.
"Hi, Do you have pigs down there in the woods?"
"Yes", I said.
"Oh, shit, they got out", I thought. "Now I have to get them back to their pen. Oh what a nightmare. I'm taking the day off after two straight Farmers market days and a lot of running around and harvesting and packaging and selling and getting up early and staying up late and driving and packing and unpacking and setting up and tearing down and..."
"I thought they were yours. They were in the middle of Scholl Rd. I drove them right back to their pen. They just went right back. They must like it in there. They went right back in; under the fence where they probably got out. You need to tighten up your fence", he said.
"Sorry about that... I'll get right on it..."
Scholl Rd. runs through the middle of that sub-division boardering our small suburban farm.
It's my day off.
So I put a fully charged battery on the electric fence and I trimmed under the darn fence and I tightened the fence and I put another post in the middle of the fence and I cut all the branches and vines that might have been touching the fence and I checked and now I have 4000 volts through the fence and I petted those pigs because they let me and I love them and I hope they love me and they act like dogs who just ran away, all exhausted from their travels into that sub-division and I fed them the corn cobs that my wife had left-over from freezing our first batch of sweet corn and I'm happy and the pigs are happy and it's my day off.
I sure would have liked a picture of those pigs in the middle of the road in that sub-division.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
This is Going to be Random
Where have I been the last weeks?
Boutique Farming...
Greenhouse #2 (I installed it last summer) so far, is working really well. We are in our second plantings now. In fact I dug the last of our early spring planted carrots today. It's amazing how carrots loosen the soil. Our second succession includes: okra,cucumbers,eggplant,and string beans. We've been picking beans, okra and cucumbers already and are patiently waiting for the eggplant to fruit. I guess I need to decide what will follow the carrots. I'll consult my wife...
Greenhouse #1 has been providing us tomatoes for at least the last 4 weeks; we planted English cucumbers in a third of it and they're producing well.
I do like greenhouse/high tunnel farming.
The joy of a February, March, April, May, you get the point, day sweating in the warmth of a mid morning sun.
The control.
Yes, the control.
I seem to operate better in a greenhouse.
We are more weed free, bug free (well the aphids are at the tomatoes) and I am more care free in those houses.
The intense rotations; efficiently utilizing the small spaces; planning the next crop; getting the fertility back; the feel and the smell of composted, freshly tilled soil...
They all appeal to my need for control and my tendency to over think everything, I guess.
Our outside field areas are doing great.
Tomatoes are ripening, squash is filling, onions swelling, garlic growing, potatoes might be ready soon, peas are winding down, strawberries are done.
The next successions of beans tomatoes, edemame, peppers and more all are being planted.
We're picking, we're planting, we're weeding and we're selling.
This is small farm life; I really like it.
The best thing, maybe, is the future potential.
Deb and I talk at length about the obvious opportunities for the next growing season. We love to talk about that kind of stuff. I keep a list.
If we hit our sales goal this year we're going on vacation.
It's going to be a working one too.
We're looking forward to it.
Boutique Farming...
Greenhouse #2 (I installed it last summer) so far, is working really well. We are in our second plantings now. In fact I dug the last of our early spring planted carrots today. It's amazing how carrots loosen the soil. Our second succession includes: okra,cucumbers,eggplant,and string beans. We've been picking beans, okra and cucumbers already and are patiently waiting for the eggplant to fruit. I guess I need to decide what will follow the carrots. I'll consult my wife...
Greenhouse #1 has been providing us tomatoes for at least the last 4 weeks; we planted English cucumbers in a third of it and they're producing well.
I do like greenhouse/high tunnel farming.
The joy of a February, March, April, May, you get the point, day sweating in the warmth of a mid morning sun.
The control.
Yes, the control.
I seem to operate better in a greenhouse.
We are more weed free, bug free (well the aphids are at the tomatoes) and I am more care free in those houses.
The intense rotations; efficiently utilizing the small spaces; planning the next crop; getting the fertility back; the feel and the smell of composted, freshly tilled soil...
They all appeal to my need for control and my tendency to over think everything, I guess.
Our outside field areas are doing great.
Tomatoes are ripening, squash is filling, onions swelling, garlic growing, potatoes might be ready soon, peas are winding down, strawberries are done.
The next successions of beans tomatoes, edemame, peppers and more all are being planted.
We're picking, we're planting, we're weeding and we're selling.
This is small farm life; I really like it.
The best thing, maybe, is the future potential.
Deb and I talk at length about the obvious opportunities for the next growing season. We love to talk about that kind of stuff. I keep a list.
If we hit our sales goal this year we're going on vacation.
It's going to be a working one too.
We're looking forward to it.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
YO YO
Somehow I feel like I've been hanging on a yo yo lately.
I guess I should be specific and say it's the butterfly one being organic and a gardener type.
The weather's been yo yo like hasn't it?
You know, the good and the bad of this racket show up daily. Especialy at this time of year.
The growth of the potatoes, peas and weeds.
The picking of strawberries and the defense from the birds.
The picking of everything that's ready; the prepping and seeding and planting of what's to come.
I saw my first groundhog today. Uh oh.
Yo yo.
I am now running from job to job.
I -AM-NOT-COMPLAINING.
I am on a yo yo.
I drove to the first chicken processing session of our year this morning.
The rush; the waiting.
The hum of the yo yo.
I like it.
I guess I should be specific and say it's the butterfly one being organic and a gardener type.
The weather's been yo yo like hasn't it?
You know, the good and the bad of this racket show up daily. Especialy at this time of year.
The growth of the potatoes, peas and weeds.
The picking of strawberries and the defense from the birds.
The picking of everything that's ready; the prepping and seeding and planting of what's to come.
I saw my first groundhog today. Uh oh.
Yo yo.
I am now running from job to job.
I -AM-NOT-COMPLAINING.
I am on a yo yo.
I drove to the first chicken processing session of our year this morning.
The rush; the waiting.
The hum of the yo yo.
I like it.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
sweat
Well, I guess spring is now here.
All of a sudden it's been hot.
I know, I know.
Not as hot as it's going to get over the next few months but hot enough that I'm sweating in the greenhouse and sweating as I make garden beds, and sweating as I plant potatoes, and sweating as I move chickens, sweating as I build fences, sweating as I mow grass, sweating as I chip branches and mulch blueberries...
Now you know what I've been doing lately.
Still this is a GREAT life. Sweating...
The peas are up, spring mix succession #2 is well on it's way, the garlic looks terrific (spring garlic is just around the corner), plenty of spinach to eat and sell, I even swiped the first pullet egg of our new laying flock today.
Yesterday, honest, my wife and I made a romantic walk to the greenhouse and ate the first strawberry of the season.
That was one sweet berry.
All of a sudden it's been hot.
I know, I know.
Not as hot as it's going to get over the next few months but hot enough that I'm sweating in the greenhouse and sweating as I make garden beds, and sweating as I plant potatoes, and sweating as I move chickens, sweating as I build fences, sweating as I mow grass, sweating as I chip branches and mulch blueberries...
Now you know what I've been doing lately.
Still this is a GREAT life. Sweating...
The peas are up, spring mix succession #2 is well on it's way, the garlic looks terrific (spring garlic is just around the corner), plenty of spinach to eat and sell, I even swiped the first pullet egg of our new laying flock today.
Yesterday, honest, my wife and I made a romantic walk to the greenhouse and ate the first strawberry of the season.
That was one sweet berry.
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