First planting of the season

With the first farmers market about three weeks away, it was definitely time to get plants out of the propagation greenhouse and in the ground.

We were all feeling (mostly) better after a round of colds, so we headed up to the farm to plant kale (green curly, purple, and red), collards, Swiss chard, lettuce, and green onions. We’ll be seeding radishes and a few other things this weekend.

After a long break, Jason will soon get microgreens going for the Saturday, May 6, market at the Meadville Market House.

It was a beautiful, warm night, and we could hear the peepers in the woods. Ever since last season ended, Jason and I (and Silas, too) have been mostly working from our computers, and it felt good to get back on the farm. The garter snakes are back. The spiders and bugs are back, and so are the frogs, groundhogs, kale, and Ruggieros. See you all soon! Enjoy the lovely weather.

~ Stella

A little weeding...

Last year, the farm was aesthetically pleasing for most of the season. The rows were (mostly) neat and tidy, and we were proud to show it off. This year, it’s quite aesthetically displeasing. Yet, despite the weeds, it’s been a good year so far, so we’re just not going to worry about what it looks like this season.

We did, however, need to clear out one spot, or risk losing our celery, which Jason started from seed in February and tended to for weeks before we transplanted it in June.

This was the sitch on Sunday morning:

Believe it or not, there were four rows of tiny celery in this mess, as well as rosemary.

We pulled a few weeds by lunchtime. Haha!

Getting better. The celery looks droopy because it literally hasn’t experienced full sun in weeks.

Way in the back, there was a section of celery that was a lost cause. Some kind of grass that was nearly impossible to pull had taken hold (and was no joke 4 feet tall!). We salvaged any celery we could from that section and transplanted it. Then, we mowed the grass down. The celery and rosemary are tucked all snug in straw and getting a long watering. On the far left, you see heirloom tomatoes.

Here’s proof that we do crawl out from under the weeds every now and then. Fingernails mostly clean. We had my best friend and her children stay with us last week, and she took Silas and her boys on an adventure day. We declared that we were wrapping up farm work in the morning and doing something fun — just the two of us. We checked out Davenport Fruit Farm Cidery and Winery — what a cool place! It was so nice to relax for a few peaceful hours. And, yes, we spent much of that time talking about… the farm!

And I’ll close things out with a tomato photo because we’re elbows deep in tomatoes right now. Enjoy the rest of your August. Nights are getting cooler. School’s about to start and we’re half way through the CSA season.

~ Stella

Spring so far

It’s been a blur of baseball, cyber school, farming, and other work. So it goes with spring.

It’s Silas’s first year playing ball. Grandpa Gary mowed a ball field at the farm. We’ve had a lot of fun helping Silas practice and watching him play. By extremely lucky circumstances, I get to watch my 7-year-old and my 74-year-old dad play ball.

The photo above is how every season begins — with Jason starting dozens of seed flats. If you follow along, you know Jason quit his full-time, off-farm job in December. He also started his own company — a grant-writing and project management firm. We were both surprised — OK, stunned — at how quickly this took off. Another one of life’s plot twists. It’s been great for our family, but it’s re-shaping our year. We’re also going through the formal process of officially making me an employee of the new business. We’re still figuring out what a “typical” week looks like during the growing season, and trying to rein in the number of hours worked.

So this winter and early spring, Jason ended up poking seeds in potting soil late into the night once more. We thought days like that were behind him, but we were wrong. We were mistaken to think this new life would neatly click into place, but we’re figuring it out.

This garlic was planted last autumn. We’ll harvest mid summer.

The night Silas scored his first run!

First market of the season. You’ll find us every Saturday at the Meadville Market House at 9 a.m. We’ve been loving our market Saturdays. For one thing, the Friday harvest is so much easier and more enjoyable with Jason and me working as a team. The Market House has been a bustling place Saturday mornings. Opening the doors and at times seeing people milling all around has been awesome.

Down to the last chive. Someone came along and bought it.

Notice the change in attire from Week 1 to Week 2.

The Big Tunnel after Jason straightened it out and I put straw down thick. Green onions, oregano, spinach, broccoli, and radishes were growing earlier this spring. The empty rows now have tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers.

Here we have garlic, kale, broccoli, and lettuce. You may notice the lack of landscape fabric. We learned last season that fabric is a no-go for anything in spring, and unwise year-round for any crop voles find delicious and we hold precious — like lettuce.

The onions are doing terrific. We put down thick straw and planted directly into it. We won’t worry about those anymore until late summer.

Above is a photo of the tomatoes and peppers we planted Memorial Day weekend.

Hope you’re enjoying spring. The CSA will likely start in the third week of June. We’ll send out plenty of notifications beforehand. We’ll probably open our online orders around that time, as well.

In the meantime, if you’re in the Meadville area, come see us on Saturday mornings.

~ Stella

A reminder before Season 8 begins

While we sat drinking tea and coffee after breakfast, Jason shared a memory that came up on his phone for today from 2019. It was the day we put up the plastic on the Big Tunnel.

As Silas and I scrolled through the photos, we chimed, “There’s Angelica! There’s Garrett! There’s grandpa!”

On that March day, Angelica returned to the farm early to pitch in with the plastic. And Garrett, of Fat Hawk Farm, is community-minded, and well known to set aside time to help when he’s needed. Another person who has always been the first to volunteer a helping hand is Gene. He spent a long, frigid December day with us in 2018 putting up the trusses for the Big Tunnel. My dad, Gary, spent many cold days working with us on that project, too. And we couldn’t have done it without my mother, Darlene, caring for Silas. Friends of ours from Bradford, Fawn and Greg, drove down one day to help dig holes in the cold and snow before we realized we really needed to rent an auger! It is a credit to all of their natures that they lent us their time and labor.

Seeing the photos this morning whipped up feelings of gratefulness. They were a good reminder as we embark on Season 8. Few people reach their goals by sheer will alone, even when it may seem that way. The kindness of others helps lift trusses along the way.

~ Stella

That’s Garrett, of Fat Hawk Farm, in the air in March 2019.

There’s Angelica! Spring 2019.

Grandpa Gary and Jason drilling the post holes in November 2018.

Grandpa Gary, left, and Gene working on the frame in December 2018.

Jason giving his father-in-law a much-deserved coffee and doughnut.

From the time he could help, he often has. But on those days when it’s just too cold, or the work will be too dangerous or long, we’re lucky to have the support of his grandmothers.

Today's pepper harvest

Today’s pepper harvest, all for CSA members. The high tunnels give us a jump on pepper season. A bucket of jalapeno peppers came out of a tunnel, too.

~ Stella

First garlic harvest

Jason and Silas pulled the first garlic last weekend. It’s early for garlic around here. This Early Portuguese was in the Little Tunnel all winter. We’re saving these heads for seed garlic, which means we’ll break them open and plant the cloves.

A lot of the outdoor garlic has curly scapes. We’ll cut those soon for CSA members. Scapes, which are the start of a blossom on a garlic plant, have a delicious flavor. They must be cut to prevent the plant from focusing its energy on a flower, rather than a nice garlic head. This is our first truly serious dive into garlic growing.

~ Stella

Tomato progress (lean & lower method) - May 10 & May 29

This year, we’re trying the “lean and lower” system with vining crops in the tunnels. You can read all about that here. Here’s a look at how the tomatoes are doing. First, is a photo from the Big Tunnel taken May 10, 2021.

May 10, 2021: At this point, we only had tomatoes in the tunnels. There’s too much of a frost risk outside. Most of the tomatoes were still too small to clip to the string.

Here’s the same row, about three weeks later. They were all big enough to clip, and some of them now have two clips. So far so good.

May 29, 2021: Many even have blossoms.

~ Stella

Weeding beans with the wheel hoe & collinear hoe

The beans in the high tunnel germinated well, and outpaced the weeds for a time. (This is likely thanks to new 1-inch water line. I’ll write about that very soon because we’ve noticed a huge difference.)

When the beans were about 2 to 3 inches tall, we pushed a wheel hoe between each row and down the pathways. This tool does a fantastic job of uprooting relatively small to medium weeds.

After working over the beds with a wheel hoe, we used a collinear hoe to get in close to the baby beans. A collinear hoe has a long, thin blade that’s collinear to the earth. It’s a precise tool, unlike traditional, heavy, clunky hoes. It is one of our favorite tools. The hoe linked above also lets you stand upright. If you have a home garden, you may want to consider a collinear hoe.

But a word of caution. While wheel and collinear hoes are wonderful tools, you have to pace yourself, just like with any garden task. If you don’t, you risk injury. Slow and steady wins the race against weeds.

We also weeded these beans at least twice by hand, mainly to pluck out stubborn grass. To keep the grass from taking root again, we remove it by the bucketful. (All those clipped bits of grass are from when Jason used the weed trimmer along the sides of the tunnel.)

In the past, we’ve basically gone through this same process only to have deer mow down every last bean. The only beans that would survive were the ones that happened to be weedy enough that the deer didn’t notice them. What a relief to go through all this work and know they’re protected in the deer fence.

~ Stella

Today's achievements

Got a lot of work done on Day 2 of Jason’s vacation. But the BEST part of today was when Silas said OK to taking his training wheels off! Jason supported him with a light touch for just a few steps before he zoomed off on his own! He even rode down the big hill at the farm! What a day.

We learned a lesson with the landscape fabric in the high tunnels. Putting the fabric down in early spring might not be the best idea. We had a ridiculously annoying and costly vole problem in April. They offed about $400 worth of broccoli plants, and chomped almost a bed and a half of kale and parsley in the tunnel shown above.

With the broccoli wiped out, we seeded four rows of beans in that space as damage control.

To deal with the voles, we set traps and enlisted the help of two terriers. The remaining kale had a chance to get some size, and the parsley is recovering. This week, we’re replacing the eaten kale transplants.

The first two beds of landscape fabric are full of lettuce. The beds on the right are kale transplants.

There he goes!!!

~ Stella

First major planting! Almost 1,000 feet of deliciousness

It was a great couple of days on the farm.

On Saturday, Angelica and I redid Caterpillar 2 (the one dismantled by the wind last week), then Jason helped us fix Caterpillar 1’s wind damage.

After those issues were set right, Caterpillar 1 was filled with broccoli, Swiss chard, and kale transplants.

On Sunday morning, we planted in the Big Tunnel for the first time ever! We started with lettuce and pac choi transplants. Then, Angelica and I planted the first tomatoes of the season. (Returning CSA members will be happy to know that sungold cherry tomatoes went in the Big Tunnel! These bright, orange, cherry tomatoes are fantastic for snacking and cooking. They taste like sunshine.)

Doesn’t this Asian green look crunchy?!

Later in the day, Angelica practiced using the seeders. (We have a Jang and an Earthway.) Carrots, peas, beets, and French breakfast radishes were seeded in the Big Tunnel. Last spring, we spent hours weeding and trellising several hundred feet of peas, only to have the deer munch the vines down to stumps overnight. However, with the Big Tunnel, they should be safe. This was just our first major planting of the season. Many more to come! - Stella

Here’s the weekend rundown:

Carrots: 90 feet

Lettuce and pac choi: 95 feet total (Pac choi is an Asian green. Tasty in stir-frys and soups.)

Red Russian kale: 100 feet

Green curly kale: 100 feet

Swiss chard: 40 feet

Broccoli: 100 feet

Red cherry tomatoes: 80 feet

Sungold cherry tomatoes: 45 feet

Peas: 90 feet

Beets: 90 feet

French breakfast radishes: 90 feet

Baby broccoli under a Caterpillar tunnel.

Friends who would know - is this a silvery checkerspot?

UPDATE: CSA member Dianne checked with her husband, Rich, a zoologist. This butterfly is an Eastern Comma, one of the first butterflies to arrive for the season. Thanks, Rich! This particular Eastern Comma was rescued by Jason from under plastic.