Boy last week flew by! I wanted to post a bit about the chickens we are raising, but it seems as though I don't know enough about them to tell you anything yet. They are growing, and enjoying the variety of plants offered to them in our orchard. I find myself watching them each morning after I move them to fresh pasture to see what they eat. They graze like they are at a salad bar-a nibble of plaintain, a peck of clover leaf, and a small piece of chicory. I wish I could offer them a wider variety each day to see if they might like grazing in our fallow vegetable beds. Our long term plan for our farm involves grazing animals in parts of our vegetable fields to remineralize them. This batch of birds is our first step toward this goal.
Last week we made the decision to take control of pollinating our cucumbers ourselves. Usually we leave the crop exposed so bees can visit the flowers and impregnate all the female flowers with pollen from the male flowers. Unfortunately we are under attack by cucumber beetles. They are a small green and black striped beetle that carries the Cucumber Mosaic Virus from infected plants to healthy ones. Infected plants wilt and die within 2-3 days after infection. If we did nothing, we could lose our entire crop within a couple of weeks. We decided to spray Pyganic in the early morning and still found plants were wilting at midday. We covered the plants with row cover in a effort to keep any new beetles away from the plants. This is helping, but now we can not rely on bees to pollinate the flowers for us. Every morning now we must hit the fields, remove the row cover, locate a male flower (it has a straight stem and long pointy center), peel off its petals, and rub it in the center of the female flowers (it has a tiny, fuzzy cucumber on the stem and a creased center. We hope that we will be able to keep the cucumber beetles away from the plants long enough for us to get tired of eating cukes. More tomorrow night.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Rain, Rain, Go Away
If you were planning to come to help us weed this morning, don't. We are not going to be doing field work. We are considering growing rice. Our fields are paddys, and moving through them would be highly detrimental to the soil structure.
We do still need help though, so if you have a chance to help us once the weather changes, let Amy know. Our time in the fields has been condensed by all the rains, and when we can get out there we are planting and fighting bugs. Weeds are becoming a HUGE problem, and we are trying to keep up.
We do still need help though, so if you have a chance to help us once the weather changes, let Amy know. Our time in the fields has been condensed by all the rains, and when we can get out there we are planting and fighting bugs. Weeds are becoming a HUGE problem, and we are trying to keep up.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Week 3 already
The new traffic pattern seems to be working out thanks to all of you showing courtesy to your fellow members. Thank you all. After too many days of rain last week, I tried to order some stones in an effort to reduce the levels of mud in our lane, the parking area, and the new exit. The conversation between the scale master at the quarry and I went rather badly. After telling the grumpy lady that I wasn't going to buy stones from such a snotty person, and hanging up on her (it was warranted, I promise) I remembered that she was the most affordable quarry around. I just can't wait to call her back this week...
On a more professional note, the crops are growing great guns. We have some little tomatoes. They are tiny, but in another month or so, we should start to see some luscious fruits. The peppers are in blossom. Cucumbers are a good week away (though they have cucumber beetles worse than I have ever seen them). Some broccoli has begun to form tiny heads (we will watch for that %$#& tarnished plant bug that chews off the tops of all the florets leaving brown nubs for us). Some cabbages are starting to head up (some got lost in the grass that grew during the last period of rains). The kohlrabi patch is big and great looking thanks to Howard weeding it last weekend. And most importantly our corn is out of the ground and looking pretty good. One last thing to warn you about - shell peas. It is looking like we are going to have plenty of shell peas. We will show you how to shell them if you don't know how. Maybe I'll figure out how to post a video here...
We got behind last week with all the rains. There are many lettuces that need to be planted. Our flowers for the beneficial insects are ready to be planted. Some potatoes need to go in. Our onions and leeks are in desperate need of weeding. Bug pressure is lower than in past years, so far (weed pressure is going way up though). This week we will begin our seeding for our fall plantings, and we don't want to lose our spring and summer crops during that time. This coming Saturday we will have a working (weeding) Saturday from 8-10:30 am, but if you want to come during the week instead, let Amy know. The sooner we uncover the plants, the better for them.
On a more professional note, the crops are growing great guns. We have some little tomatoes. They are tiny, but in another month or so, we should start to see some luscious fruits. The peppers are in blossom. Cucumbers are a good week away (though they have cucumber beetles worse than I have ever seen them). Some broccoli has begun to form tiny heads (we will watch for that %$#& tarnished plant bug that chews off the tops of all the florets leaving brown nubs for us). Some cabbages are starting to head up (some got lost in the grass that grew during the last period of rains). The kohlrabi patch is big and great looking thanks to Howard weeding it last weekend. And most importantly our corn is out of the ground and looking pretty good. One last thing to warn you about - shell peas. It is looking like we are going to have plenty of shell peas. We will show you how to shell them if you don't know how. Maybe I'll figure out how to post a video here...
We got behind last week with all the rains. There are many lettuces that need to be planted. Our flowers for the beneficial insects are ready to be planted. Some potatoes need to go in. Our onions and leeks are in desperate need of weeding. Bug pressure is lower than in past years, so far (weed pressure is going way up though). This week we will begin our seeding for our fall plantings, and we don't want to lose our spring and summer crops during that time. This coming Saturday we will have a working (weeding) Saturday from 8-10:30 am, but if you want to come during the week instead, let Amy know. The sooner we uncover the plants, the better for them.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Weekly update week 2
Whew! We made it through the first week of pick ups with the new traffic pattern and through this last series of Rain. Now that we are drying out we will focus on pulling all the weeds that are overtaking most of our fields. If you would like to help with that, let Amy know.
Before the rains came we planted the first round of corn planted and all of the beans - green, yellow, purple, and lima. I expect to see sprouts in the next day or two. We have never done well with early corn since the Japanese beetles are usually out and about when it is pollinating and they eat all the corn silks off. (In case you didn't know, the silk carries pollen from the tassel to the kernel and only then will the kernel form. No silk, no pollination. No pollination, no fruit.) We are tired of trying to grow early corn only to yield a bunch of empy cobs. Our cucumbers have some blossoms, and are looking good. The tomatoes are doing well, and are sporting blossoms also. They are really starting to grow really fast. We must get our tomato stakes in this week. Today we planted more summer squash plants. The last round that we put in were transplanted from starts that we sowed in the greenhouse. They seemed to be doing poorly, so we are going to the old standby of planting seeds directly in the garden. I think it will work much better, and can't wait till I can have some summer squash. Our watermelons should be planted out this week, and if all goes well we will put out our potatoes. Usually we plant them really early and by now the potato bugs are eating off all of the leaves. I think that by waiting, we could miss the majority of the bugs and wind up with many beautiful late potatoes.
All of the spring crops are doing very well. The bugs are a bit annoying (slugs and flea beetles in particular), but the moderate temperatures have helped the cabbages and broccoli grow beautifully. This has been the best pea season in many years. The shell peas will be ready in a week or two and I suspect that we will all be tired of shelling them.
I posted a poll about lima beans on the right side of the blog. Please take it. My mom and I have always disagreed on the popularity of lima beans, and you can settle it for us (at least for this year). I can't wait to see the results. See you around the farm!
Before the rains came we planted the first round of corn planted and all of the beans - green, yellow, purple, and lima. I expect to see sprouts in the next day or two. We have never done well with early corn since the Japanese beetles are usually out and about when it is pollinating and they eat all the corn silks off. (In case you didn't know, the silk carries pollen from the tassel to the kernel and only then will the kernel form. No silk, no pollination. No pollination, no fruit.) We are tired of trying to grow early corn only to yield a bunch of empy cobs. Our cucumbers have some blossoms, and are looking good. The tomatoes are doing well, and are sporting blossoms also. They are really starting to grow really fast. We must get our tomato stakes in this week. Today we planted more summer squash plants. The last round that we put in were transplanted from starts that we sowed in the greenhouse. They seemed to be doing poorly, so we are going to the old standby of planting seeds directly in the garden. I think it will work much better, and can't wait till I can have some summer squash. Our watermelons should be planted out this week, and if all goes well we will put out our potatoes. Usually we plant them really early and by now the potato bugs are eating off all of the leaves. I think that by waiting, we could miss the majority of the bugs and wind up with many beautiful late potatoes.
All of the spring crops are doing very well. The bugs are a bit annoying (slugs and flea beetles in particular), but the moderate temperatures have helped the cabbages and broccoli grow beautifully. This has been the best pea season in many years. The shell peas will be ready in a week or two and I suspect that we will all be tired of shelling them.
I posted a poll about lima beans on the right side of the blog. Please take it. My mom and I have always disagreed on the popularity of lima beans, and you can settle it for us (at least for this year). I can't wait to see the results. See you around the farm!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
XPN talks sustainability
If you haven't heard it yet, you might want to tune in to WXPN in the afternoons. I was running a few errands this afternoon and was lucky enough to be in the car when they aired an interview with Judy Wicks, founder of White Dog cafe in Philly and cheerleader for local living economies in the Philadelphia region. She was talking about how much distance has been put between eaters and food producers/processors. She touched on how damaging it has been to our culture and economy that we have gotten away from enjoying the simplicity of using what is available to us - finding local investments, buying clothing produced as nearby as is legal (PA can't grow cotton, but can grow hemp.), and supporting local farms and food processors. I have given it a cursory review, but the webpage that XPN has developed, Sustainability: The New Frontier, looks intriguing. Check it out.
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