Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has cabbage, onions, garlic, the last of the pumpkins, kohlrabi, rutabaga, carrots, beets, black radishes, and the last of the winter tomatoes. Field Notes. As many of you already know my husband, Ken died on December 19, 2017. Prior blog entries describe his illness and death and the obituary is posted as well. This was a difficult harvest from the root cellar for me as I thought …
We sprout grain for the poultry. Ken build trays with screens on the bottom to fit bread racks. With this cold, the entry temperature fell below freezing. So I emptied the rack. I moved the sprouts inside the house to the tub room – warmer and more moist They seem to be growing more slowly, but are doing fine!
Greetings from the Garden! This CSA box has onions, garlic, winter tomatoes, squash, the last of the sweet potatoes, winter kohlrabi, beets, and cabbage. Field Notes. We are glad to see the snow; it will act as an insulating blanket and slow the descent of the frost into the ground. It also provides a check against erosion and will provide moisture to the soil. Seed inventory is done, and next we hit the seed catalogs. …
Each year around Thanksgiving Ken and I discuss our season to plan how to improve in the coming year. We also discuss what we should grow more of and what we should grow less of in the next season. After that I do the seed inventory to see what viable seed we still have from the prior season. Then I start to go through seed catalogs. I try to get the orders in early …
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has onions, garlic, winter squash, sweet potatoes, cabbage, celery root, carrots, black radishes, rutabagas, winter tomatoes, and greens Field Notes. We have some greens in hoopettes in the garden, and we will see just how they do! This has been a season of extremes – 80 in October and a low of 5 in early November and this week may see the 60’s! Ken has moved poultry …
Ken has been moving portable shelters and coops to the garden. Why? Well, it is not only easier to feed everyone in one location fairly close to the house all winter, but also each of the poultry breeds by their nature will help us grow vegetables more easily next season! Geese will take out weeds. Chicken also take out weeds and weed seeds and any remaining insects. Turkeys will scratch the soil and …
Greetings from the Garden! This CSA box has pie pumpkins, garlic, onions, peppers – some hot, sweet potatoes, winter kohlrabi, Napa cabbage, greens and parsley. Field Notes. As the prior blog entry indicates we have had a 70 degree temperature shift in three weeks. October was unseasonably warm and last week was unseasonably cold. We are working with and around the weather. We need temperatures above freezing to harvest greens or they simply turn to …
This fall has presented challenges. We had some unseasonably warm weather – 73 degrees in October. This meant it was tough to keep the root cellar cool enough for the roots. Too warm and vegetables will either rot or start growing. Neither helps flavor of nutrition! Once it cooled off, temperatures plummeted. this made harvest tough. The weather needs to be cool but above freezing or the vegetables thaw and turn to mush. This week …
Yesterday while Ken was at a bee workshop, I moved the squash and onions inside to the north east corner of the main floor. The forecast of low temperatures below twenty degrees provided incentive! The squash had been on racks covered with a tarp and with a light inside the racks for heat. I packed bulb crates and got them inside. Then I opened the hay enclosure Ken had made for the onions and garlic …
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has salad mix, braising mix, stuffing tomatoes, peppers, carrots, beets, winter squash, salad turnips, onions, garlic, and herbs Field Notes. The “Big Dig” as I call it is well upon us. Spring and fall are the busiest times for a farm. In spring it is planting and in fall it is harvest. This year we have some help. Last Tuesday it was beets, carrots, …
