Tuesday Morning we arrived at the designated location at 6:30 a.m. to pick up our bees. Why so late? We were really happy to find bees that were overwintered in northern Minnesota. The over wintered bees are ready later than those that come from warmer climates and are often coming from large colonies in bee ghettos pollinating crops like oranges or almonds. The southern and western bees we have gotten recently have been weak, full …
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has salad and braising greens, herbs, garlic scapes, green onions, snap peas, carrots or beets, asparagus, and strawberries. Field Notes. Ken has started mulching. First he cultivates, then pulls any larger weeds, then spreads mulch to cover the soil – it keeps soil temperatures moderate to promote microbial life in the soil, and it lowers weed pressure. Ken tries to keep soil covered with either mulch or …
Once the bulk of the planting is done, and the heat of summer arrives, Ken starts mulching. Some years the weather is such that Ken focuses on planting green manures rather than mulch; most years he does a lot of both. With the season forecast as hot and dry Ken will focus more on mulch this year, He ALWAYS plants some green manures, but it is difficult to get green manures established in heat – …
I love strawberries. They are usually the first fruit after a long winter. And I don’t mind picking a limited quantity bent over or on my hands and knees. The Germans, I am told, call them ground berries – and for good reason. Finding strawberries grown without chemicals is challenging. They are usually one of the top crops listed on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen crops with pesticide residue. Strawberries are …
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has lettuce, salad greens, braising greens like kale or chard, green onions, asparagus, herbs, and snap peas. Field Notes. Ken is busy; that seems to be a common spring theme. He is wrapping up the full season plantings with sweet potatoes (they came late) and next season’s strawberry plants, and starting fall plantings of root crops like beets and carrots. In between rain he cultivates. And when …
Here we are at the solstice, the longest day of 2016. Then the days slowly shorten, and the crops grow; their goal is to set seed before the season ends or in the case of biennials, store enough energy in the root for seeds next season. Ken has moved a step ladder to the mobile high tunnel and has begun the regular task of trimming and tying up tomatoes so they continue to grow and …
Mark your calendars! We have set the date for the annual Farm tour. SUNDAY, JULY 24TH 2 – 4 P.M. RAIN OR SHINE $10 per person Tour includes garden, fields and green houses with a garden lunch after tour Reservations appreciated so we know how much food to prepare
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has lettuce, salad and braising greens like beet thins, endive, and Napa cabbage, the last of spinach, asparagus, sun chokes, green onions, radishes, herbs, and the first of the snap peas. Field Notes. This is one the year’s busiest times for Ken. He is juggling so many things: planting the sequential crops like lettuce, planting the last of the “full season” crops like potatoes, …
The days are lengthening; summer approaches. Ken has been excited that we have been getting rain; the same rain has kept him busy keeping his crops ahead of the weeds. Once the soil is no longer wet and gummy, Ken cultivates; it is easiest when the weeds are small, not once they are large enough to require bending and pulling!. Most sunny days, he announces, “It’s a fine day for slaying weeds!” He continues to …
The spinach season varies each year with weather. Spinach, like most greens, does best in cool damp weather. With the sharp weather changes in spring, there is a time when the plant leaves get thinner and smaller as the plant starts to shift energy from making leaves to producing seed. When growers say bolt, this is what they mean. The plant has shifted its energy, and it is only a matter of time until the …
