WINTER WHEAT

just before we had this last run of rain, we were lucky enough to have the perfect conditions for harvesting our 5 acres of winter wheat. the combine ran well, we found a way to store it and it appears to be a good crop. now we just have to follow through with our plans to make and sell whole wheat flour. in the past, we have gotten to this point and then end up selling the wheat as cover crop seed to other farmers because that is the easier thing to do. we are really committed to turning this year's crop into a value added product for all those hungry localvores.

yesterday, spencer attended a workshop at butterworks farm where our mentor and friend, jack lazor, has a successful bean, grain and dairy farm (they make awesome yogurt!). this workshop was focused on growing grains for food. jack has really built he has an amazing set up for storing, cleaning and processing grains and beans. currently, he sells a half dozen varieties of dry beans including black turtle, jacob's cattle, vermont cranberry and the soldier bean that you can buy in bulk at many local coops. he also processes an heirloom corn to make cornmeal and mills whole wheat berries for flour. i should also mention two other amazing bean & grain farmers that have had an incredible influence on us and have been so helpful... ken vanhazinga (tio grains) and ben gleason (gleason grains).

this workshop was perfect timing to really motivate us to keep moving forward in our bean and grain venture. there is an incredible amount of demand and excitement to buy these items locally. i want to do it all... rolled oats, cornmeal, popcorn, buckwheat and whole wheat flour, beans and sunflower oil.

ZINNIAS, SUNFLOWERS, POTATOES, ZUCCHINI

just a few photos i took around the farm the other night. the close up of the sunflower center looks a little strange because it was kind of dark and i used the flash. it is still a cool photo though.

just a note on sunflowers, we are growing quite a few different varieties of sunflowers. we planted one and a half acres of a variety specifically for pressing the seeds for oil, another 50 plants for saving the seeds for eating, and then about 600 sunflowers including about 12 varieties for cut flowers. $1.00 a stem at the market.

it always feels like summer officially starts when i eat my first tomato from the farm. this morning i made an egg sandwich with some fat slices of tomato and a handful of fresh basil. it was fantastic. maybe tomorrow for breakfast we'll make some buckwheat pancakes and add a bit of shredded zucchini just because we now have that too. there are many jokes about zucchini. have you ever heard the joke about it that goes like this... in the summer, be sure to lock your car doors when parking or else someone may fill it with zucchini. yes, zucchini can be abundant and for some, it is tiresome vegetable. i never seem to get bored with it. one of my favorite ways to use it is to shred a lot of it and add to homemade black bean chili to thicken it up.

markets are going well. we enjoy the pace and are meeting some great people both customers and other vendors. i imagine in a few seasons, we'll really feel at home. we just learned of some exciting news... both burlington and middlebury will be adding winter farmers markets. i don't have many details about the middlebury market. the burlington market will be held once per month from november to march. since this is only four markets, we'll probably go and just bring a ton of black beans. we have a lot of friends and family in burlington, it would be fun to catch up with some familiar faces at this winter market. hopefully, these two winter markets will have different dates and we will be able to make it to both of them.

AMBER WAVES OF GRAIN

the time is quickly approaching to harvest our first crop of winter wheat on the elmer farm. we have 10 acres planted and spencer is excited at how well it has grown. the winter wheat always did well in the intervale on the rich river bottom soils. it is good to know that we can have a great harvest here too. however... we have to get the combine started and running. we didn't use it last year. the last time we ran it was in december of 2006 when spencer drove it from burlington to middlebury... a 5 hour adventure involving bill smith, jesse guertin, ben dana and another john deere.