First Week Pick Up 2011

Things are off to a good start at the farm.  Loquats are flowering, sugarcane is ready, the roselle is tasting nice, and the bok choi looks awesome.  One half of the beans are doing phenomenal.  The other half is not looking so great.  I did the exact same thing to the two rows.  The front half is full of beautiful picture perfect beans.  The back half is still producing but not like the front.  Very perplexing.
A few of the usual suspects are back as well...aphids and my nemesis flea beetles.  Otherwise things are alright.  I am still trying to get the greenhouse set up for the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and strawberries.  I've got the tomatoes in and the irrigation drippers set up.  I just need to order the roof plastic. 
I planted a few trees over the last few months two pears and an apple.  Last week I planted three persimmon trees.  One was for Karl Rossa passing. 
I hope to have a few pictures soon. 
I will unfortunately miss the first week pick up because I will be doing Extension work in La Victoria, Dominican Republic.  I have been asked to see if I can help out the village agriculturally.  Jenn will have harvest duty for the first time.  I called my Dad out of retirement to lend a hand which he graciously accepted.  Thanks Dad!  I hope things go well for her.  I'm sure she will handle it just fine. 

Season's Start 2011

I've been somewhat dragging me feet to start the blog back because it is one of those things that will need to be done late at night when the kiddos are in bed and I have a few minutes to myself.  Well, we are off on our way to our 4th season at Steed Farms and the veggies are doing good.  Rain was well timed with our first planting and things got a good start.  Things have dried up considerably since mid October and we could use a few soaking rains.  Plants just do so much better with a rain instead of irrigation water.  We have had a few issues with some fungus on broccoli raab and some mites on our red kale but nothing too overwhelming. 

We planted two cover crops the first one has done well with perfect timing of rain.  I always try to sow the seeds before the rain.  The next cover crop was sown but the rain prediction was entirely wrong and we only got a fraction of the rain and the seeds that germinated died off.  So I'm not sure what I am going to do just yet. 

We added goats to the farm.  Well, at least a neighbor is leasing some of our back 1.5 acres for his goats.  I need to take a picture of them.  He did a great job of putting the fence up and is willing to offer goat meat to us.  I believe that the minimum amount he is allowed to sell under USDA rules is 1/4 of a butchered goat.  He would sell 1/2 to a whole butchered goat if you like.  We will send out an email if you are interested with prices.

Our pine trees that we planted all died again this year as our ground is so high and dry.  We got too dry in spring and early summer for them to establish.  So I am thinking of adding grass fed beef to our farm.  Stay tuned in to see how that goes.

On a sad note...my last blog post mentioned how we probably would not see some of our community members with the start of the fall season.  I didn't realize how prophetic that would be.  Many of our members will probably remember Karl Rossa.  The friendly gentleman who wore a Navy hat and loved to talk about the latest ongoings.  He passed away this October from a heart attack.  We are deeply saddened by his passing and he will be missed not only from our farm community but also our larger community.  Please keep Audrey and his family in your thoughts and prayers.  I was looking forward to giving him back a book he lent me over the summer "Internal Combustion".  I thought it might be nice to plant tree this weekend to celebrate his life.  We will miss you Karl.  I've included his obituary.  http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary-print.aspx?n=Karl-Rossa&lc=1543&pid=153998083&mid=4841434