BOSTON GLOBE

remember, a woman from the boston globe called spencer a few weeks ago for an interview? here is the link for the article sited in the rutland herald today. enjoy!

CROPS UPDATE

feel free to read this entry. it is more of a note to give a record for how the crops have done thus far.... the good and the bad.

first, the good:

• good germination on most direct seeded crops including: radish, haikurei turnip, arugula, cilantro, broccoli raab, spinach


• transplanted golden beets look good - no leaf miners (yet), could have been a few weeks earlier


• greenhouse tomatoes & peppers look amazing- good fruit set, great vegetative growth but not too much


• potatoes are surviving the colorado potato beetles very well (we have been picking them just about daily), plants are full and lively, flowers on the red norlands and the green mountain varieties so far


• no complaints about our heat-loving crops that are covered with hoops and row cover (field tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, cucumbers) we'll see how they produce


• scallions, fine... good amount planted; more successions next year


• spinach, nice plants, good harvests, bolted with unseasonal 4 day heat wave


• sunflowers... a new crop for us. all varieties of the sunflowers are doing well... for oil pressing, cut flowers and saving seeds for eating.


• flowers in general are doing well in the rocky soil. added a fair amount of compost in this garden, makes a noticeable difference


• 3 varieties, started out very well, customers love it... didn't plant enough the first time around; starting to bolt & yellow


• broccoli raab & arugula, didn't cover with remay... flea beetle damage but ethan saved us. thanks ethan for putting these holy crops on the flatbreads


• garlic, scapes were super popular, only two varieties have sent shoots up so far, plants great, mulched well, not too weedy, just waiting


• winter squash, aside from no germination on our first two seedings of delicata, plants went in the ground on time and look good so far, i am hoping for a plentiful harvest.

now, the bad:

• biggest disappointment, onion root maggot. never even heard of this pest, common to land that has been in sod. flies seek out alliums by scent, lay eggs, bury into root and destroy. we lost over 1/2 of our onions.


• carrots, didn't germinate well, spotty. then lost in the weeds by the time they were big enough to hand weed. lost two entire successions. try again with fall carrots. ordered a flame weeder. this will give the carrots an upper hand on weeds in the future.


• lettuce. 5 successions total. not really growing, some yellowing and recent storm damage with flash flooding. never harvested "tom thumb" variety. side dressing would help, also planted in the shadiest spot. still no harvest.


• broccoli, 3 successions - WOODCHUCK & HEATWAVE, did not stand a chance


• radish - wire worm and not enough water


• haikurei turnip: huge huge huge disappointment, roots totally eaten up by millipede. can't believe it. usually, millipedes aren't a problem. we had a massive infestation


• dry beans started out great, now they are swamped, literally, from our flooding and continuous rain. starting to rot, yellow, not good - not sure that there is anything we could do differently accept plant in a different part of the field not as wet


• calais flint corn - totally disappeared: BIRDS


• popcorn - nearly all disappeared: BIRDS


• peas, o-k germination but too shady, great first two harvests then nothing

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

today is my mother's birthday and summer is just around the corner. the summer solstice marks a new season and i am sure it is my mothers favorite. what a gift. here is her grandson picking a flower in honor of the occasion. calendula is one of my new favorite flowers/herbs. i love its fragrance, the seed is easy to save and it is hardy. i am growing it this year because i am hoping to use it to make salve. a farmer friend once gave me a tin of homemade calendula salve and it was the best!!!

NEWS FLASH

when we left the intervale to farm in east middlebury, i never thought we would really have to worry about flooding again. well, we had a flash flood here this weekend. a very isolated area among ripton and east middlebury received 7 inches of rain on saturday night. we happened to be in east montpelier for the night and were shocked when we arrived home sunday evening. we checked our rain gauge in the field and it was full, maxing out at 6". there were mini canyons through our slightly sloped field where water eroded away at the plants leaving little islands of head lettuce and basil. at the bottom of the field, soil settled onto our remay covered cabbage seedlings like lava running from a volcano. the rushing water and soil erased all of our footprints and tractor tire marks from the field. it looked as if we never stepped foot on the field to do any work. it really was a shocking discovery. there was an obvious stream of water still flowing nearly 24 hours after the rain had fallen. all of this happened ,while nearby burlington received a mere .38 inches of rain and rutland to the south of us received 2.45 inches.

some crops have suffered but most survived just fine as far as we know. we are lucky that this field consists mostly of our transplanted crops like cucumbers, broccoli, lettuce, chard, and tomatoes. all of our direct seeded crops are planted in the north meadow in a half acre parcel with much less slope and sandy soils. the force of the rain was rough on our greens but lucky for us we never had a chance to direct seed our carrots, cilantro and beans last week. so, it doesn't appear that any germinating beds were washed away. and to top it all off... another inch and a half of rain today in a massive thunderstorm.

FAREWELL, ELMER

today was a terrific harvest. morning temperatures were chilly which makes great weather for gathering greens. our harvest today included... more spinach, kale, cilantro, beautiful rainbow chard, italian flat leaf parsley, broccoli and snap peas. it is always nice when we can offer more than greens, greens, greens. customers are always chomping at the bit for the more substantial, popular summer vegetables... green beans, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, peas.

this was a big work week for us. some of our tasks included: trellising and pruning our greenhouse tomatoes, planting winter squash & pumpkins (about 125 plants total), brushog mania and weeding nearly the entire farm... especially the wheel tracks between the beds. there is still a lot of planting to be done in the field over the next two months. we are close to finishing up with all of our major greenhouse work. we will seed more successions of basil, lettuce, scallions and zinnias. we are starting our second succession of cucumbers, zucchini and summer squash and seeding a bunch of trays for fall broccoli.

we had a heat wave earlier this week with four days over 90 degrees. wow! the best part of a hot day of farm work is a rewarding trip to our local swimming hole. amazing. we can't wait to share this gem with farm visitors.

oh, we got a phone call last night from a reporter for the boston globe. she is writing an article about grain growers in vermont. spencer had a good conversation with her. it is amazing how many opportunities we have had for interviews on this topic. it is all about the localvore movement. we have come into farming at the right time and in the right place.


i would like to close this entry by saying farewell to elmer, one of our three barn cats. he was hit by a car sunday night. elmer was a fun cat, not known for his hunting skills rather his endless need to be at your feet, his playful demeanor, and those crossed eyes.

FARMERS MARKET WEEK 3

our peas are flowering.

this week we had more to offer at farmers market. in addition to spinach and radishes, we brought baby pac choi, arugula, kale and hakurei turnips. it was a great turnout for such a hot day. we had some returning customers. it feels good that we are already starting to connect with some regular customers in just 3 weeks.

we are doing well selling plant starts at the market. there are many home gardeners looking for peppers, tomatoes and herbs. some customers know exactly what they want by asking for specific varieties. i have been keeping a list of these customer requests. this will give me ideas fpr plants to offer next year. the most interesting discovery i have made is that many people want to buy hot pepper plants for their gardens. at past markets, we always have a hard time selling hot peppers.

finally,we have an abundance of delicous, fresh greens to eat from the farm. i have been eating spinach in omelettes, sandwiches, stir fries and raw. and kale too. tonight we made kale quesadillas for dinner. pretty simple... whole wheat wrap, onion, lots of kale and some cheddar chese.

the other day in the car, i tuned in to vermont public radio at the perfect moment. it was a story on the best 10 cookbooks for the summer (i added the link for this story so you can read more about them). it has been awhile since i bought a cookbook, but this story inspired me. i bought 3 of the 10 listed. fish without a doubt for spencer as a father's day gift, screen doors and sweet tea for my sister in law, emily's birthday, and summer gatherings because i just couldn't resist. i think cookbooks make great gifts! and i love cooking magazines. i subscribe to eating well magazine that is published in charlotte, vt. i got my sister a subscription to rachel ray for her birthday. and lately, i am intrigued by cooks illustrated. lately, my friend danielle has made some incredible treats from this magazine... scones and blueberry pie.

MY MOTHER'S GARDEN

we have moved back to the farm and are temporarily camping out while we finish the house. it feels good to live here. we had a few rainy days this week. it was a good opportunity to bring angus to my mother's house for an overnight. rainy days are challenging with a toddler when living in a tent. i snapped these shots of the flowers in my mom's flower and herb gardens just before i left st.albans this morning.

FARMERS MARKET, WEEK 1 & 2

the middlebury farmers market is in full swing. currently, the market is open on saturdays. starting in mid-june, it will also be open on wednesdays. our first two markets were a lot of fun. it's a wonderful opportunity to introduce ourselves and share the elmer farm story. some people already knew about our relocation from the intervale and farm purchase through the land trust. the sale of the elmer farm was made public in various newspaper articles. there were also about a dozen community members involved in the process of reviewing farm business plans and selecting a buyer. we feel welcomed by the other market vendors and customers. it was also refreshing to see a few familiar addison county faces since we are still fairly new to the area.

our first week, we brought black beans. we definitely made an impression by bringing something different completely new to the market. we sold over 50 pounds of dry beans. we answered many questions about growing them in vermont and preparing them for various dishes. we displayed them in a beautiful wooden bulk bin that spencer made. i used lunch sized brown paper bags with a simple label to sell about 2 pounds of beans or 1 quart to be exact. this mislead many people into believing this was coffee. we drew in many curious people and disappointed some. i guess a new coffee roaster would do well at the market.

it was a soggy day for the second farmers market. there was more activity than i anticipated and several black bean customers came back to report how they did or didn't use their beans. we brought more to market this week. plant starts were a big hit with home gardeners... tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil, lettuce and cucumbers. in addition, we brought our first harvest of spinach and radishes. many more greens are coming along... chard, kale, lettuce and beet greens. next week, i will sell my photo cards. the craft jury approved the sample cards i sent for their review. these cards were a hit when i sold them at the market in grand isle two years ago.
last wednesday was a huge planting day and we couldn't have done it without the help of spencer's parents. we planted 250 tomatoes, 100 eggplant, 75 more tomatoes, 20 cherry tomatoes, 50 zucchini & summer squash and 50 cucumbers. then we had to put wire hoops and row cover over all these crops. this is a lot of work and is by far the biggest planting day of the season for us.

as of last night, our dry bean crop has been planted. aside from black beans, we planted several other dry bean varieties. these beans will mostly be used to grow a larger seed bank for the following year. we also want to sample other beans to determine how they will yield and taste. these varieties have great names like calypso, painted pony, tiger's eye, vermont cranberry, boston's favorite, jacob's cattle and the good ole' solder bean.