'Bout Time

Well, it IS about time to write a post.  It is also about time that I haven't posted in a while.  Running around with six athletic kids is very tiring.  Sitting down to write a blog post seems like an extra homework assignment.  Finally thought I would summarize what's been going on at the farm.

This season has been one of the hardest seasons of our ten we have been growing.  We have had very wet, very hot, very cool, and very damp- making for another typical, atypical fall/winter in the Bay area.

Ants are a real problem this year.  They have been chewing the stems of transplants and killing them.  We lost two crops of broccoli, one crop of kale, and a collard crop due to their behavior.  This is the first time they bothered  cole crops.  Thankfully, we are finally getting things under control (even if half of the season is behind us).

This season we are growing on the eastern side of the property that borders Hwy 39.  The soil has doubled in organic matter.  This means our soil fertility has increased with additions of cover crops and organic soil amendments.  Our annual soil test reported we only needed to input nitrogen this year.  Looks like things are working out in building up our soil.

There are some growing changes this year.  We are growing strawberry 'Sensation' instead of 'Camino' with much success.  This variety produces berries earlier in the season and they are much larger than Camino.  We added pole beans, baby bok choy, downy mildew resistant cucumbers, and screened our greenhouse so bugs can't enter.   We have been late with tomatoes but they are growing with reckless abandon.  We should soon be picking them.  Pole beans did well for a few weeks but seem to have slowed down.  They are very tasty and extra long and I can grow them in the greenhouse during the winter.

Snow peas are just starting to yield.  Beets, beans, carrots, mustard greens, scallions, lettuce, and sweet corn are being planted this week.

Hope to keep you updated from time to time... 

Season 2018-19 Start

The summer rest goes by too fast, and again the new farming season is upon us.  This will be our tenth anniversary of growing produce for our community.  We had a great produce season last year.  We added a few crops to the mix such as spinach, 'Kickoff' sweet corn, and mulberries.  We struggled a bit with kale, eggplants, and beets.  But over all I would rate our season as an "A".  When I rate our crops, I generally mean how much did I plant and what did I harvest versus the expectation.  We always have room for improvement to attain the coveted "A+".  Maybe this year...

We already started the new journey by breaking ground in the eastern-most plot on the farm.  The ground has rested for a few years with replenishing cover crops and shredded tree trimmings added to increase the organic mater and the biological activity in the soil.

The first crop that leads off our 10th season of vegetable farming is the sweet potato.  We were a little late last year getting the plants in the ground, but this year we should be on time.  We had early season drama of losing a box of plants in the mail.  Then we received a replacement second shipment on the day before we left for a two week family vacation.  Despite all that, I was able to hold the slips under a mist bed and plant them upon my return.

Next in line are the tomato, cabbage, pepper, and collard greens.  These were planted in trays and should be placed in the field in about 30 days as seedlings.   

We are looking forward to seeing all our old friends,and the new ones, in a few months.  Here's to a great tenth season.

 

Week 21, Season 2017-18; Peak Tomato

We celebrated Earth Day this last week with a farm clean up.  We gathered about 60 lbs of trash from the road and fields, mostly plastic trash.  Thank you to the boundless energy of the Steed family.  

While picking tomatoes this week the thought of peak tomato occurred to me.  Similar to the concept of peak oil.  We have reached peak tomato! The season is winding down and the crops are starting to show it.  We have reached the point in the tomato crop where maximum yield has occurred and now we are on the decline.  We have had a great tomato season with the varieties, ‘Celebrity,’ ‘Juliet,’ and ‘Charger.’  My peppers are doing very well and we have not reached “peak pepper” yet.

We are picking our potatoes and have had extremely tasty strawberry onions this year. 

Our corn plants are looking beautiful and I hope they can finish out strong.  They look like they will pick on our last week of the season. I am trying a new variety this year and it looks like we might get two ears per plant.  I can’t wait!

Around our house I have been watching collard greens in the crisper getting less and less crisp over a few weeks.  Jenn is reluctant to cook them as I am usually the only one who eats them.  So they hang out in the crisper until they are ready for composting.  This time I rescued them and tried something completely different.  Here is a recipe that I came up with.

In a deep frying pan, sauté a couple cloves in olive oil and then chop about a cup and a half of tomatoes and let them saute with the garlic.  While the garlic and tomatoes sauté, chop the collard greens and add them to the pan.  I add a little water at this point and create a steam with the lid.    You can add some pepper and salt or your favorite spices.  After the collards start to turn dark green turn the pan to a simmer and let it cook with lid on for about twenty or thirty minutes until tender.  Enjoy!  I even had some of the kids saying how good this was.  Now I look forward to seeing more collards in our crisper.

Here are a few pictures from the farm.

Collards, tomatoes, garlic, yum!

Tassels emerging

Guardian of the Corn