The weather in farming can be your biggest ally or foe. This year it is not cooperating well with us. It reached into the 80's again this week and the plants are really thrown for a loop. The lettuce that was just about to be picked, bolted and is useless now. The brocolli raab crop is starting to bolt and not mature properly. Last year we planted it in the spring and it bolted due to the heat. It really seems that it is warmth sensitive and does best in the cool. It would be nice to see some moderately cool temps last for some time.
We are seeing nice garlic in our trial. We tried that before and nothing ever happened but I think that we planted it way too late and it rotted before it sized up. I am also building up my courage to try tomatoes again as well as some melons. It takes me a few seasons to forget how awful I feel to watch all those fruit rot. But I am going to try something different this year. We will see what happens.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Community Support
As part of our Community Supported Agriculture operation, we envision a community farm whereby members support our farm and how we far. We, in turn, also want to also support our community.
Here is an email from one of our member supporters:
THE PLANT CITY COMMUNITY CHOIR will be performing its 2nd Annual Christmas Concert on Thursday December 17, 2009, at Trinity United Methodist Church, 402 West English Street, Plant City, FL. (English Street is off CR 39, a few blocks South of I-4.)
This year's concert is titled "CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE!" and will feature a harpist as well as solos from among the 30-voice choir. The concert will include traditional and contemporary holiday music, as well as pieces the PCCC is scheduled to perform as part of the invitation-only Disney Candlelight Celebration in Orlando, FL, on the 26th of December.
The performance will begin at 7:00 p.m. and should end at approximately 8:00 p.m. with one intermission.
Admission is by cash donation.
For additional information, please contact:
LARK UNDERWOOD, PCCC Secretary813-757-0212TAMPALARK@JUNO.COMPLANTCITYCHOIR@AOL.COM
We hope that we can support our community of members in their endeavors by sharing dreams and inspiring each other to build a true community.
Here is an email from one of our member supporters:
THE PLANT CITY COMMUNITY CHOIR will be performing its 2nd Annual Christmas Concert on Thursday December 17, 2009, at Trinity United Methodist Church, 402 West English Street, Plant City, FL. (English Street is off CR 39, a few blocks South of I-4.)
This year's concert is titled "CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE!" and will feature a harpist as well as solos from among the 30-voice choir. The concert will include traditional and contemporary holiday music, as well as pieces the PCCC is scheduled to perform as part of the invitation-only Disney Candlelight Celebration in Orlando, FL, on the 26th of December.
The performance will begin at 7:00 p.m. and should end at approximately 8:00 p.m. with one intermission.
Admission is by cash donation.
For additional information, please contact:
LARK UNDERWOOD, PCCC Secretary813-757-0212TAMPALARK@JUNO.COMPLANTCITYCHOIR@AOL.COM
We hope that we can support our community of members in their endeavors by sharing dreams and inspiring each other to build a true community.
Season progresses
Christmas is quickly approaching and I am not ready as usual. I plan on taking one whole day to do all my shopping about a week out. This mix of Christmas cheer and adrenaline rush is usually the way I take care of my gift purchasing.
The CSA is going well and we are getting lots of feed back from the members which is a great thing to make it better for the future. We are finding out that the greens are cooking down quite a bit, our supporters cannot remember what vegetable is what when they get home, and we are learning quite a few new recipes.
I am also learning how much to plant per supporter. Things like collards, mustard, kale, and dandelions need to have about 2.5 to 3 per person. Scallions you will need about 6 per person per week to harvest about 3 good plants per member. So it is great to figure these things out and adjust.
This year aphids and ants seem to be the biggest problems. We are getting a handle on the aphids but I am about to declare war on the ants.
We also broke our digital camera. We were getting a kick out of Anna discovering how to take pictures and the many shots she was taking of things like her toys, shoes, the blinds, Copper, and a number of countless items in the house. She wound up a little too over zealous in her photography and dropped the camera and now we have a black screen of death. We will be working this out shortly also.
The winter cover crop of rye grass seeds are coming up on half of the plot and is filling out nicely. This will be great for the added organic matter and weed control it will provide.
The CSA is going well and we are getting lots of feed back from the members which is a great thing to make it better for the future. We are finding out that the greens are cooking down quite a bit, our supporters cannot remember what vegetable is what when they get home, and we are learning quite a few new recipes.
I am also learning how much to plant per supporter. Things like collards, mustard, kale, and dandelions need to have about 2.5 to 3 per person. Scallions you will need about 6 per person per week to harvest about 3 good plants per member. So it is great to figure these things out and adjust.
This year aphids and ants seem to be the biggest problems. We are getting a handle on the aphids but I am about to declare war on the ants.
We also broke our digital camera. We were getting a kick out of Anna discovering how to take pictures and the many shots she was taking of things like her toys, shoes, the blinds, Copper, and a number of countless items in the house. She wound up a little too over zealous in her photography and dropped the camera and now we have a black screen of death. We will be working this out shortly also.
The winter cover crop of rye grass seeds are coming up on half of the plot and is filling out nicely. This will be great for the added organic matter and weed control it will provide.
Friday, December 4, 2009
First Pickup
We had our first farm pickup the week before Thanksgiving. It was great to meet out new community of supporters. We have heard back from some saying that they really enjoyed the greens that we grew. We also gave them an extension handout on how to cook greens. It is always nice to have new folk visiting the farm and sharing stories about their lives and traditions. I find it really refreshing to visit with everyone.
We are slowly catching up to speed on the vegetable harvests. Finally the lettuce is getting ready after missing about 4 weeks of growth. Now that it has cooled off, the cole crops are doing what they should have been doing a month ago.
We planted a cover crop of rye grass on half of our plot to reduce the weeds for the spring and summer crops. We also have been watching the weather the last two days. We are experiencing a violent front that moved through the area but it has treated us very mildly so far.
We are slated to have our next pick up this week.
We are slowly catching up to speed on the vegetable harvests. Finally the lettuce is getting ready after missing about 4 weeks of growth. Now that it has cooled off, the cole crops are doing what they should have been doing a month ago.
We planted a cover crop of rye grass on half of our plot to reduce the weeds for the spring and summer crops. We also have been watching the weather the last two days. We are experiencing a violent front that moved through the area but it has treated us very mildly so far.
We are slated to have our next pick up this week.
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