Dust of Snow

It has been a terribly long time since I have written; my apologies.
The end of 2013 was a bit hectic....But now I'm just making excuses.

Naturally, the gardens are all closed up at this time of year, which gives us a bit of time to read lots of novels and seed catalogs!

November 16, 2001-November 23, 2013
R.I.P. Luna

The animals are doing quite well; we are expecting some new calves in the near future. Isabelle (the pig) spends most of her time lounging in her straw deluxe-sized bed, with the occasional interruption to get up and eat. The horses are all doing quite well, though there was an incident with Roscoe getting stuck on ice and having to take the tractor out to the field to rescue him (I was not at the farm, so I cannot give you the full account). Unfortunately, we had a sad loss at the end of November; our beloved farm dog, Luna, passed away after 12 years of companionship.

The weather here is, as usual, absolutely unpredictable. We get a snow storm about once a week (often on Wednesdays) and it's really cold around Wednesdays, then on the weekend it starts to warm up and thaw out --a lot-- and then the pattern starts all over again. The only thing you can really count on is it being perpetually damp. Also, the Groundhog totally did not see his shadow where I live today. Did he see his shadow where you live?

It's also very close to CSA brochure and registration time!

"Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy head; 
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.

Before the stars have left the skies,
At morning in the dark I rise;
And shivering in my nakedness,
By the cold candle, bathe and dress.

Close by the jolly fire I sit
To warm my frozen bones a bit;
Or with a reindeer-sled, explore
The colder countries round the door.

When to go out, my nurse doth wrap
Me in my comforter and cap;
The cold wind burns my face, and blows
Its frosty pepper up my nose.

Black are my steps on silver sod;
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;
And tree and house, and hill and lake.
Are frosted like a wedding cake."

-Robert Louis Stevenson

When the long dark autumn-evenings come

I saw old Autumn in the misty morn
Stand shadowless like Silence, listening
To silence. 

- Thomas Hood

All the live murmur of a summer's day.

We're halfway through the CSA season, and a few of the ten week CSAs will be finishing up this week.

It has been rather dry (though we finally got some rain on Friday, and then again yesterday).
The gardens are doing very nicely, our beans are doing excellently this year! The weeding is time consuming,  but it appears to be paying off.
We has started harvesting the garlic!
We have the bush-hog again, and we have been clipping many pastures and other areas where the grass has grown out of control. I am quite a mole-arian and mouse-arian; I swerve not to run over them as they flee the grass I am clipping. I could never live with myself if I saw one of the rodents and then chopped it up.


Vegetable List:
Kale
Swiss Chard
Eggplant
Zucchini
Green peppers
Green beans
Yellow beans
Broccoli
Cherry tomatoes
Slicing tomatoes
Plum tomatoes
Basil
Parsley
Potatoes
Rosemary
Peppermint
Sage
Fresh garlic
Carrots
Onions
Lettuce heads
Lettuce mix








That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease. 

-John Keats

CSA Week 6

We've been having some pretty warm weather lately!
The gardens are in desperate need of weeding, even though we spend hours in them weeding every day! We are thinking of having a weeding party next week; a select group of people come over and weed and then we feed them a lot of good food. I'd cook, of course, because I'm rather slow at weeding and I only weed with one hand (I just can't do the double-fisted thing).
We are baling round bales today.

The cherries, currents, and a few cherry tomatoes are ripening. We still have a few strawberries; we had a pretty good year with those! It's scape season again! The sugar snap and snow peas are producing very well; I picked at least 25 pounds of snow peas last week. The green beans are coming on, which is very exciting!
The sour cherries will need to be picked soon; that means cherry pie!
 
Vegetable List (subject to change):
Kale
Swiss Chard
Snow Peas
Sugar Snap Peas
Broccoli
Lettuce heads
Lettuce mix
Zucchini
Currants
Green Beans
Basil
Cilantro
Parsley
Purslane
Green Onions
Radish
Spring Turnips
Peppermint
Oregano
Garlic Scapes

CSA Week 4

2014 is less than 6 months away...I'll just let that sink in.

That past week on the farm has been mostly rain and some clouds, the occasional really hot day, and whenever you are working in the gardens you are surrounded by a haze of insects.  

Essentially, garden work is impossible. It's too wet to hoe, it's a bit too wet to weed, and and taking the tractors into the garden is not even a plausible idea. 

Berry is doing very well, and she's very friendly now!

CSA List (subject to change);

Kale

Swiss Chard

Broccoli

Garlic Scapes

Sugar Snap Peas

Lettuce Mix

Purslane

Radish

Strawberries 

Spring Turnips

Chinese Cabbage

Green onions

Facts about Purslane:

~It has more omega-3 fatty acids than any other leafy green vegetable (three times the amount that kale has!)

~It is an excellent source or Vitamin A, which is an antioxidant and essential for vision.

~Purslane is a rich source of Vitamin C, which is an antioxidant. Vitamin C is also needed for the growth and repair of body tissue.

~It contains some B-complex vitamins, including riboflavin, niacin, and pyridoxine.

~Purslane contains two types of betalain alkaloid pigments, the reddish beta-cyanins and the yellow beta-xanthins. Both of these pigments are powerful antioxidants.   

Happy Summer!

It's summer already! It seems to have come too soon, and also to have taken too long to get here.
We got quite a bit of rain for one week, and the next week sun shone down hard and baked the upper crust of the gardens. Th tomatoes have all been planted, and most of them have been tied up. We have started picking strawberries! We should have zucchini soon; little fruits have started to develop on the plants.

Berry

On Thursday morning we moved the cows to the other side of the farm, then on Friday night we noticed a small calf that had been left behind. She had been born in the pasture, then her mother died; by the time she us --humans-- she was quite wild. This morning we finally managed to catch her! We waited for her to lay down, then I slowly crept up behind the little orphan, continuously humming either "Moon River" or "Dream a Little Dream Of Me"(I don't know why I did that, but she seemed to enjoy it and she didn't run away). Eventually I managed to grab her; thank gosh she was small and thin from lack of food. Then I did a little T-Touch in her on our ride in the back of a truck to the cow barn. She became a lot more friendly once we gave her a bottle of milk. She will be quite a pet in a few days :)
We have decided to call her Berry, in honor of her late Mother, Raspberry.

Vegetable List (subject to change):
Lettuce
Spring Turnips
Kale
Swiss Chard
Leeks
Onions
Broccoli
Strawberries

The friendly cow all red and white,
I love her with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple tart.
She wanders lowing here and there,
And yet she cannot stray,
All in the pleasant open air,
the pleasant light of day;
And blown by all winds that pass
And wet with all the showers,
She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers.

-Robert Louis Stevenson

CSA, week 1

Wow, it's CSA time already!

A majority of the tomatoes have been planted, and now we just have to tie them up.
The market started a couple of weeks ago, and so far is going well.

CSA Vegetable List (subject to change):
Spinach
Lettuce
Kale
Swiss Chard
Green Onions
Spring turnips
Radish
Spring Garlic
Sage
Peppermint
Cilantro
Bok Choy

O come sweet June, my lovely June
The month when first the roses bloom-
A wondrous, colorful display
By sunlight kissed throughout the day,
So chasing all my cares away.

-Valerie Dohren