Field Trip

Now that we have downsized we have been enjoying a couple of Saturdays meandering the back roads.  Today, we explored the Brattleboro Area Farmer’s Market in Vermont.  They have been around for 45 years, have lots of vendors and they bought the land.  It was a weedy, overgrown area along the river and they cleaned it up and called it home.  They jury their vendors.  What a fabulous place.  Spent lots of money too.

So apparently we parked in the wrong parking lot as there was no bridge to cross this stream.

I crossed it with my sandals and let me tell you – 90 degrees outside and that was very refreshing.  Keith found a bridge and used that as he had boots on.

Our first stop was this small little booth where this young lady did a lot of wildcraft harvesting.  This beautiful collection of harvested flower petals makes a great cold tea which we sampled.  We currently have some brewing in the sun.

Next up, wine tasting at 10:30 in the morning.

We bought two kinds pictures above.  Actually, we went back and bought two more bottles of the ginger liqueur.  Boy was that one good.  I will be enjoying this over ice tonight.  Keith tasted their blueberry wine and said his tasted better!

Over 50 vendors and lots of neat things to see.  Some vendors had harvested their early garlic and we bought some huge bulbs.  We picked up 4 honker ones.  They had wood fired bread bakers there and some nice looking focaccia.  Oops there goods the paleo diet, grabbed some basil, pesto and red pepper.  Sorry, forgot to take a picture.  It’s gone!

Another awesome vendor, High Goose Farm.  They have 1,000 black currant plants!!  They were selling shaved ice flavored with black currant concentrate and some black currant soda which was made with seltzer water and black currant concentrate flavored with maple syrup.  We have 2 mature plants and just purchased 12 more this spring for our wine making.  Lots of powerful goodness in these berries.  Research it.

 

 

It took us 1 3/4 hours to get there but worth it.

 

 

Should stop here but after we left there we headed up Route 5 north and stopped at Walker Farm.  Pretty impressive farm right off busy Route 5.  Nice farm store with lots of things to purchase.  Lots of greenhouses and lots of things growing in the fields.  They had one huge greenhouse strictly full of tomatoes which had been growing for a while.

After our stroll, we continued on Route 5 until we came across Harlow Farmstand and Cafe.  We enjoyed a light lunch made out of fresh greens.

 

We continued driving around in our air conditioned Jeep.  Thought it was a great way to spend the day as we certainly were not working outside in the fields or in the greenhouse on this day.

Our final stop on our field trip was in Bradford, NH at The Sweet Beet Market.  They are doing something very similar to what we are doing at Gilmanton’s Own.  We had a nice chat with Bea there and it was a great place to visit and very successful as that.

Well, we hope you enjoyed reading about our day.  We certainly enjoyed living it.  Stay cool everyone.  Michelle and Keith

 

Announcement

Some of you will recall we sent out a survey about what 5 things you would like us to grow.  That might have tipped you off to possible change in the air.

We moved to Gilmanton in January 2011.  This was the only month that we worked on our home.  The rest of the time that we have resided in Gilmanton, we have worked to clear the fields, amend the soil, cut down trees, build a barn, amend the soil more, build a greenhouse, start a non-profit with others (Gilmanton’s Own) and build another greenhouse.  Our time never returned back to our home, which has and continues to need work.  The constant busyness of the summer and always playing catch up never led to any time to do anything but harvest the vegetables and weed the gardens.  Seven years of trying to build our business but never being able to get to the next level has made us rethink our future.  What were we doing wrong?

We know we grow great food.  We have heard it from our customers, countless times over. And we love hearing the feedback.  We cannot give it up.  So we decided to scale down.  We are giving up our land lease and growing only on our property.  We will be using our greenhouses to get a jump start on our season and to extend the season.  We will no longer be participating in farmers market or offering a CSA.  What products we grow, will be exclusively for Gilmanton’s Own and area chefs.

So what will we be offering?  Carrots, cucumbers (slicing and picklers), tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, head lettuce and garlic.  In the spring and fall we will have spinach; in the spring/early summer we will have broccoli; in the fall we will have cabbage.

Keith will be offering consulting services to all you home gardeners out there.  If anyone is struggling with growing at home, he can help.  We will have more information about this on the website which will be updated soon.

What do we see for us?  We see the ability to work on our home.  We see a not so stressed out summer.  Maybe we can take a day and go hiking and actually enjoy the summer.  Keith likes to dabble in wine making.  Those of you who have tried Keith’s wine, it’s pretty good.  Maybe we can expand that? We see getting more black currant plants and making more wine.  Peach trees?  The sky’s the limit.

We are looking forward to this change.  Already, we are relieved about next summer.  I am excited about having my Saturdays off.  Maybe I can go to yard sales now.  We are excited about having the time to spread Keith’s knowledge about growing nutrient dense vegetables to  home gardeners.  We thank all of our customers who have supported us in our CSA and at farmer’s markets during these past years.  Remember we will have product at Gilmanton’s Own (April through December) and encourage you to support them as well as your support of your local farmer.

Thank you, Keith and Michelle

 

 

 

Greenhouse Going up

It’s a mad dash to put the greenhouse up. Today was a gorgeous day. Keith invented this wood contraption which helped steady the heavy frame while we put them into each side’s ground post. We continue tomorrow.

Oh My Aching Body

So we’ve made it through three days straight of greenhouse building. Michelle has taken the week off to accomplish this task. The two of us have worked continually for the last 3 days. It’s amazing the muscles that you didn’t realize you had in the aches that could be even possible. Makes me realize how sedentary my life is sitting in an office chair. Today invites snow which does not allow us to run the electrical tools we need to start framing the end walls. Our bodies are thankful for the day of rest. It is beautiful outside watching the snowfall.

Garlic

Garlic coming along nicely. Scapes should be appearing soon.

Rain & Wet

If you haven’t noticed, it’s been a little rainy and wet around here.  We had high hopes of planting in the field Friday night but that was quickly dashed away when Keith starting sinking in his boots.  We had been soaking our spinach seeds and we needed to figure out a way to get those seeds in the field.

Because of space constraints in our larger greenhouse (30′ x 72′) we decided to use our smaller greenhouse (15′ x 48′).  In there, we planted broccoli, eggplant and peppers, all planted this past week.  In our larger greenhouse, we put in our tomato plants and some peppers.  We also seeded some cucumbers in there too.  We’ve been harvesting spinach for a while now.  Very, very soon will be radishes and soon will be lettuce mix.  Our new bed of spinach is looking very nice and with the weather forecast in the 70’s this week, hopefully, we will be picking these new beds.

So back to the soaking seeds dilemna.  Keith had the great idea of planting in the raise beds that we already have out there.  Last year those raised beds had plastic on them and contained zucchini, summer squash and cucumbers.  So we quickly readied the beds and planted away.  One bed of beets, one bed of carrots, one bed of spinach and that last bed containing lettuce mix, radishes, turnips and arugula.

Needless to say, a very productive evening last night getting this done.  Very happy for the extra daylight as we started late and finished before the sunset.

 

CSA DAY FEBRUARY 23, 2018

CSA Day Offers Second Chance for New Year’s Resolutions

Celebrate Community-Supported Agriculture on Feb. 23 with Still Seeking Farm

Are your New Year’s resolutions already in the rearview mirror? If so, you’re not alone, but you still have time to make good on those resolutions. We are pleased to join other farms from around the country for the third annual CSA Day on February 23, when you can join other like-minded people around the country who are committed to:

• eating healthful foods and preparing them for their families;
• supporting their local farmer;
• being kind to our planet;
• learning something new; and
• being adventurous in the kitchen.

CSA (community-supported agriculture) is a subscription to a season’s worth of sustainable, locally grown produce that is distributed to members throughout the harvesting season. It is a form of investment that allows small farmers to continue growing on a scale that may not be sustainable without the CSA model. CSA members enjoy the quality of fresh fruits and vegetables for their family, while supporting their local farmer.

According to Small Farm Central’s CSA Farming Annual Report, the most popular time to join a CSA each year is at the end of February. To promote this important time for farmers, CSA Day was coined, and each year it falls on the last Friday in February. It’s an entire day dedicated to the celebration of community-supported agriculture, and CSA farmers enjoy an influx of sign-ups from members, which gives them revenue when they need it most for the growing season.
Getting food from a CSA is different from going to a farmers market or using a grocery delivery service. As a CSA member, you make a seasonal commitment to a small farmer in your area, and the produce is either delivered to your door or you pick it up at a local distribution point. CSA members take pleasure in knowing where and how their food is grown, and typically have an open line of communication with their farmer.

“Community-supported agriculture is all about relationships and feeding families,” said Simon Huntley, CEO of Small Farm Central, a company that provides marketing support for small farms and started CSA Day. “CSA farmers typically teach members what’s in season throughout the year, and help them appreciate and cook food to which they may not otherwise be exposed.”

How to Get Involved with CSA Day

If you would like to celebrate CSA Day and support Still Seeking Farm, sign up for a share on February 23, and use the hashtag #CSAday to join the online conversation.

Sign-up is easy. To learn more and to join us for the 2018 season, you can sign up here:

https://csa.farmigo.com/join/stillseekingfarmscsa/csa

 As an added incentive and to pass along our appreciation, anyone who purchases a CSA share on February 23, 2018 will receive an additional 10% purchasing power and a half-pint of maple syrup.  And to those of you who have already signed up, you too, will receive a half-pint of maple syrup.

Thank you for your support!  Keith and Michelle

Maple Syrup Sale-up to 15% off

We are offering a sweat heart of a deal good through Valentine’s Day.  Ten Percent (10%) off all of our maple syrup.  Heck, if you order at least $100’s worth, we will even deliver it (limited to a 20 miles radius from our farm).  Otherwise, you will pick it up at the farm.

Some of you may know that we are associated with Gilmanton’s Own.  So if you order anything through any of the farmers/vendors associated with Gilmanton’s Own, we will even take 15% of any maple syrup you order through us.  Same deal applies.  If you order over $100’s worth we will deliver it (limited to the 20 mile radius of our farm).

To order your maple syrup go  here and apply the code “Yum!” at checkout (don’t use the quotation marks).

To see a list of Gilmanton’s Own farmers/vendors go here.

Thank you for supporting local!  Michelle and Keith

Tomatoes in June?

As many of you know, our 30′ x 76′ greenhouse was put up at the end of 2017. We were very fortunate to get a grant for two greenhouses last year.  The second one, will be going up in the spring/early summer.

We will have spring veggies in this greenhouse that will be ready in the spring (April/May).  Yum!  Can’t wait!  Also in this greenhouse, we will be growing, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, basil and green peppers.  So….what does this mean?  It means, that we should have these crops ready one month earlier than they are typically ready in this area.

I know, I hear you saying, yeah but greenhouse tomatoes – they don’t taste like anything!  Ours, will have taste and they will actually taste like a tomato because of the way that we grow.  So look for us at the markets this summer with crops a bit earlier than the other folks.  Oh yeah, if you want to make sure you get some and don’t miss out if you come late to the market, think about signing up for our free choice CSA (you pick what you want) and your bag will be already set aside with the products that you want that week so you won’t miss out!  If you sign up by February 1st, you get an extra 10% in purchasing power.  Check it out here.  If you want to learn how to get a free CSA, check it out here.

Strawberry Plants

We just finished planting 2,000 strawberry plants. These are full size plants so by planting them in the fall they can get established and you get a full harvest in June. Conventional methods have you planting in the spring, waiting a year and then getting the bounty. We can’t wait to offer nutrient dense, chemical free strawberries to our customers next year.