Farm Update

Down on the Farm Talk about a series of unfortunate events.  A couple of days ago I was out collecting eggs.  If you have been by the farm you've seen the white webbed fence around the chicken yards.  That fence can be electrified to keep chickens in and predators out.  So... I'm carrying a pail of eggs and decided to get into the chicken yard for something. No need to turn off the fence.  I can get my legs high enough to get over without getting zapped. Apparently I'm not the Rock-ette I used to be and my second foot over got caught in the webbing and I was now straddling the fence on one leg unable to move.  I couldn't get my foot out.  A customer was driving down our lane witnessing me hopping around on one leg, holding a heavy pail of eggs with electricity shooting through my tender areas every 2 seconds.  Always wanting to be the best in customer service, I waved to the lady in the car as I went down.  Still trying to detangle my foot, I laid on the ground assessing the damage.  Many of the valuable eggs were now scrambled and to add insult to injury, a chicken had ambled over and started to peck at my head.  I heard the customer giggling as she drove away. This week in our market we have: Spring onions Red Russian kale Curly kale Radishes Arugula Mild salad mix Spicy salad mix Bok Choi Butter crunch head lettuce Swiss Chard Asparagus Spinach Eggs Honey Duck eggs Also,  last fall many of you were asking about free-range heritage turkeys for the holidays.  I may be jumping the gun a bit, but wanted you to know, I believe we have found a connection for these incredibly tasty birds.  Keep you posted.

Locally Yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

Down on the Farm Rain, rain, wonderful rain!  We needed it so badly.  You can water all you want, but it's just not the same to the plants as rain.  Vicky calls it the plants "vitamin water".  Just walking through the field, you can really see the new growth in just a day or two after a good rain like we had.  Actually received around 2 inches. Our new market hours are now Wednesday-Sunday 10-6.  We have been going through the awkward transition, as we do every year, of going from self serve to full serve.  So just to repeat..Self serve done, full serve has begun.  Wednesday through Sunday 10am - 6pm.  Closed Monday and Tuesday. In the market this week: Red Russian Kale Curly Siberian Kale Red Radishes Mild Salad Mix Spicy Salad Mix Arugula Spinach (limited) Spring Onions Bok Choi Mustard Greens Butter Crunch Head Lettuce Collards Pac Choi Heads Swiss Chard Asparagus (limited) Herb Plants Eggs Honey Duck Eggs We are working out the details for produce delivery to our area.  Is your relationship like this?  I want to find a used refrigerator truck for delivery.  Vicky thinks coolers with some sort of cooling contraption will be just fine.  I want a truck all painted up with vegetables all over it. Vicky thinks our farm pick up will do.  I want to wear some sort of old time milk man uniform. Vicky thinks I'm crazy.  We will keep you posted. Hope to see you down on the farm.

Locally Yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

Down on the Farm A new customer came in today and told me she had been to another farm asking about organic veggies.  They told her that she would never find a vegetable without some pesticide, insecticide, herbicide or chemically laden fertilizer on it.  My response included two words.  The first one started with a b.  Enough said. I need to apologize to Brandon, a customer who comes in regularly.  For some reason, I thought he had emailed me about saving him 5 tomato plants.  So when he walked into the market I immediately started talking to him about his tomato plants that I saved for him.  He looked a bit confused.  I got his honey he wanted and told him to not forget about his plants.  He looked more confused.  He got his eggs and I showed him where the plants were.  The poor guy finally said,  "I guess my wife could use one or two plants."  I looked confused.  Off he went.  I checked my saved email about the tomato plants, it wasn't Brandon who wanted them it was another customer, Ryan!!  Brandon, if you really didn't want those plants and you bought them just to stop me from talking to you about "your" tomato plants, I will be happy to give you a full refund.  Guess I've been in the sun to much. Speaking of the sun, a lot of it and no rain.  We have received less than a quarter inch of rain since April 19 that's 25 days.  Not good for seeds to germinate and new plants to take hold.  We are watering like banshees. Melanie at Putnam Hill Nursery, once again this year, is sharing her wonderful herb plants with us. Now through the weekend we have: English Thyme Silver Thyme Italian Oregano Hot and Spicy Oregano Curly Parsley Dill African Blue Basil Sweet Basil Thai Basil Holy Basil Chocolate Mint Mint Julep Kentucky Colonel (spearmint) German Chamomile French Tarragon Lemon Verbena Stevia And we still have a few Cherokee Purple and San Marzano tomato plants left. Also this weekend in the market: Asparagus (will go fast), arugula, salad mix, red Russian kale, collard greens and red radishes.  There will be a limited amount of all the items as things are just starting to get large enough to harvest.  Eggs and honey available as well. Have a nice weekend!

Locally Yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

Down on the Farm First the bad news...our egg prices will be rising on May 1 to $4.50 for large/extra large and $5 for jumbo.  Now on to more pleasant conversation. We are interested to know how many of you might take advantage of produce delivery from the farm if it were available. We would deliver once a week to customers within a 10 mile radius of the farm.  Please let us know if you have an interest. This cool spring has raised havoc with the cole crops.  All the veggies are still alive, but are just sitting there.  It almost seemed like I could see plants growing today as it warmed up a bit.  Also as you come down the drive to the farm, you will see chickens "every where" as one customer commented today.  We have changed our strategy with the girls a bit.  Instead of fencing them in, we have fenced in our crops!  So the chickens have much more freedom that way.  We'll see how that works out. Getting back to the cole crops, which as you know I always thought was cold crops for most of my life, our friend Andy told us something quite interesting the other day.  Where do you think the name "cole slaw" came from.  It came from the cole crop it's made from, cabbage!  I just have always excepted the name without ever thinking why this concoction was called "cole" slaw.

Locally Yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

Down on the Farm Still no asparagus popping through the earth, but a lot of veggies have been planted in the last week. With Vicky and I now in couples therapy after days of  "discussing" the planting map for the year, we have finally come to an agreement on where things should be planted.  When I suggested that, maybe, next year we should start working on the map in January, she suggested that, maybe, I should stick the map in a place that doesn't get a lot of sunshine. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage (green and red) spinach, various greens and lettuces, kale, chinese cabbage, pac choi, carrots, radishes, peas, onions, collards, kohlrabi, turnips and garlic are in. We have 230 pounds of seed potatoes to prepare to sow this weekend.  Reds, whites, yukons, blushes and purple potatoes! We roasted some of our Jerusalem Artichokes or "Sunchokes" for dinner tonight.  Cleaned them off.  Cut them into small pieces.  Tossed them in olive oil, salt, cumin,and pepper.  They tasted very much like home fries.  You could add a multitude of other ingredients that would work with them. Still open for self serve eggs, honey and artichokes 10-6 each day.  Honey in 1, 2, and 3 pound jars  Or bring your own container to save a buck.

Locally Yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

Down on the Farm I can't tell you how excited I was when I hopped on Hank the tractor today and headed out of the barn to till up the lower field as we get ready to start planting for the season.  The first group of cold hardy veggies is called cole crops.  For years I thought this group was called cold crops, which makes much more sense.  Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Swiss chard, scallions, onions, bok choy, radishes, turnips, carrots, kohlrabi, spinach and some early greens will get us started for the 2015 season.  One thing that was so evident to me as I tilled the field was the color of the soil.  When we started the farm the ground here was a red heavy clay.  With adding literally tons of organic matter over the years, our soil is becoming a darker, healthier terra firmer. The number one question I've been getting the last couple of days from customers stopping in for eggs and honey is, "When will the asparagus be ready?"  Due to the harsh winter, I'm guessing it will be at least mid month before it shows. Speaking of this past winter, did you know that January, February and March, this year, was the coldest first quarter in history for our area.  The average temp for the three month period at BWI was 31.8 degrees. If you don't see the chickens out much, it's because we are having so many hawk attacks. Once they find the all you can eat buffet, they keep coming back until, it seems, we break the cycle by keeping the hens inside for a few days. We will be getting our first group of broiler chicks in two weeks and have our first chicken for the dinner plate in mid June.  From that point on we will have chicken through the rest of the year. Self serve eggs, honey and Jerusalem artichokes available in our market every day 10-6. Our produce CSA is filled for the year.  Still a couple of spots remain in the Chicken CSA.

Locally Yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

Down on the Farm

It feels like spring!  Ok, we know snow is predicted for Friday, but let's not think about that now.  We have made a promise to ourselves that we will not plant a thing until April because of past experiences, but when we have a few days like today it makes it tough to hold back.

The guy who grows our organic veggie plants in Delaware called us last week and said all the spring plants were ready to pick up.  I told him we still had snow on the ground and the ground was frozen solid.  He said he could hold them for another week or two, but he couldn't stop them from growing.  Duh.  We are starting a lot of our summer plants ourselves.

Our produce CSA is filled for the year.  Our chicken CSA still has a few spots left.  Our market is still in self serve mode for eggs and honey.  Our first produce item of the year is usually asparagus. The spears start popping around Orioles opening day, but this year we already have organically grown Jerusalem Artichokes available at $6 per pound.  If you haven't tried them before, the artichokes are potato or turnip like, only a bit sweeter.  We  will package them in pound bags and put them in the egg cooler so you can grab and go.

We're excited about supplying another restaurant this season.  One World Cafe, a popular vegetarian/vegan restaurant and cafe near Johns Hopkins University will be serving our organically grown produce.  It's a great spot.  If you are on University Parkway and hungry, stop in.

We can't wait to get the first plants and seeds in the ground.  It won't be long, well, depending on Friday's snow and the never ending winter of 2015.