Boot Camp

Today ends a week long vacation for Michelle.   Working at the farm as opposed to sitting in an office is like boot camp.  Off to work at 8 am and work sometimes until 6 pm.  Walking alot.  We’ve got Fitbits so we track our steps and active minutes.  It’s a lot.  You certainly work your core and back muscles and even your shoulders and legs.

This week has seen a lot of varied weather.  But still no rain.  WE NEED RAIN.  Did I mention we need rain?  Some of the tasks done this week as we scrambled to get things done:  destump part of the field, had a bomb fire with the branches, cleared the stumps and rocks from that part of the field, amended beds, layed plastic on those beds, threw rock and threw more rocks.  Planted the following plants: 300 tomatoes, 225 various varieties of peppers, 50 broccoli, 100 pac choi, 50 summer squash, 50 zucchini, 33 basil, seeded the following, some of which is a second planting:  beets, carrots, radishes, spinach, lettuce mix, green and yellow beans.  Got up at 4 am to water the strawberries as temperatures went down to 33 Degrees.  Good news – they made it.  More:  cut fire wood, watered plants in the green house, foliar fed plants, hand watered seeds in the field (that was a lot of work), meetings Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Aren’t the lilacs gorgeous this year?  Very plentiful. 

 So it’s been a very challenging beginning of the season.  Temperatures dipping almost to freezing – praying that nothing in the garden gets damaged, flats of vegetables getting eaten by something, flats tipping over onto the ground upside down.  Planting schedule very messed up this year – plants very small.  So we have amended them and fed them well in the hopes they will survive.  An entire bed of onions (300 feet long) lost to the weather.  Michelle forgot to order glad bulbs so they aren’t even here yet.    So we always like to stay positive but this season so far is picking away at us.  So, I will end this post with:  WE NEED RAIN.  Thanks for reading.  I feel better now.

Beautiful

What is beautiful?  I think this picture is.  This picture was not altered in any way, it was just the way the light fell.  Garlic and strawberries growing, with the sugar shack in the background.  We will be covering the strawberries in both fields later today as the are calling for freeze warnings tonight.  Let’s hope they make it along with all of the apple blossoms out there now.

Thank You, CSA Reminder and Gift Cards

I think we missed spring and jumped right into summer.  Crazy weather.  We want to thank everyone who has signed up for our CSA so far and want to remind those that have not, that we are still accepting sign ups.  We are offering something new and wanted to pass it along to our customers.  If you do not want to commit to a CSA this year, we now have available gift cards/pay ahead card in any amount you want.  You can give someone a gift certificate for our products this summer.  You can also pay ahead now for purchases this summer.  Our first market starts in Nottingham on Sunday, May 17.  In Laconia, the Thursday market starts June 4 and the Saturday market starts June 20th.  You can buy the cards at any market with cash or a credit card.  Or you can stop at the farm or call in a credit card number and we can mail it to the person of your choosing.

Again, we like to thank you all for supporting us in the past and hope you we be able to continue to support us and other local farmers in the future.  Thank you. 

 

Garden work

Sunday we were in the garden all day adding carbon (compost) and amendments to the soil. Amendments are useless without a carbon source to hold it in the soil. One main reason chemical farming doesn’t work. It burns all the carbon as well.