First Post in Awhile

CSA Week 12

Green Beans (3 varieties)

Garlic

Carrots

Celery

Eggplant

Green Leaf Lettuce

Chard

Cucumbers

Fresh Red Onions

Green Bell Peppers

Red Potatoes

Summer Squash

Cilantro

Sage

Hot Peppers(serrano and jalapeno)

Pears

Melons

CSA Week 11

French Green Beans

Green Beans

Dragon Tongue Beans

Royal Burgundy Beans

Chioggia Beets

Cucumbers

Green Leaf Lettuce

Zucchini. Crookneck and Zephyr Squash

Fresh Tropea Onions

Basil

Kale(Green, Red and Lacinato)

Swiss Chard

Hakurei Turnips

Green Bell Peppers

Serrano Peppers

Farm Visit: Kings Hill Farm

This previous week I was able to take part in an amazing opportunity here at Michael Fields. The basic program is providing students with the opportunity to go work, live and learn from other farm operations around the state. I chose Kings Hill Farm, near Mineral Point, WI. Kings Hill a very large farm compared to our operation here at Michael Fields. They have forty acres in annual vegetable production and lots of perennial/ permaculture designs are in the establishment phase. This opportunity was an amazing way to see what other farms are doing, how the manage their fields, market their produce and utilize their employees. This week also taught me a great deal about working on a large farm, including the energy and commitment that is needed to make it through the days.

CSA Week 10

French Green Beans

Green Beans

Dragon Tongue Beans

Royal Burgundy Beans

Carrots

Cucumbers

Red Currants

Green Leaf Lettuce

Red Leaf Lettuce

Zucchini and Zephyr Squash

Fresh Walla Walla Onions

Parsley

Raspberries

Kale(Green, Red and Lacinato)

Swiss Chard

Celery

Red Cabbage

CSA Week 9

Apricots

French Green Beans

Green Beans

Dragon Tongue Beans

Royal Burgundy Beans

Red and Golden Beets

Cucumbers

Red Currants

Green Leaf Lettuce

Zucchini and Zephyr Squash

Fresh Red Onions

Purple and Genovese Basil

Cilantro

Dill Pickles Recipe

Ingredients:

Pickling Cucumbers

Dill Flowers

Water

White Vinegar

Sea Salt 

Cream of Tartar

Steps:

Making the Brine:

Combine 9 1/2 cups of water, 4 1/2 cups vinegar and 1 cup salt in a stock pot and bring to a boil.

Filling the Jars:

Place one dill flower and 1/8 tsp. of cream of tartar at the bottom of every jar

Fill with cucumbers, and add one more dill flower on top

Fill jars with brine solution, 1/4 inch below the rim

Close the lids and let jars sit for 4-6 weeks

Chocolate Mint Raw Milk Ice Cream Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup whole raw milk

2 cups raw cream

1 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

2 cups fresh chocolate mint

1 tsp organic vanilla extract

Steps:

Whisk egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar together

Place 1 cup milk and 2 cups chocolate mint in a sauce pan

Heat to just below boiling, milk should just begin to steam (don't let milk boil or milk will curdle)

Remove from heat and stir in egg yolks mixture along with remaining sugar

Simmer on low heat until mixture thickens (about 5 minutes)

Turn off heat and and run mixture through a fine sieve

Stir in cream and vanilla extract

Add entire mixture to ice cream maker and let it churn for 20-30 minutes

Transfer to another container and place in freezer for at least 1 hour

CSA Week 8

Green Summer Crisp Lettuce

Zucchini Squash 

Zephyr Squash

Leaf Fennel

Curly or Flat Leaf Parsley 

Cucumbers

Fresh Walla Walla Onions

Red Currants

Golden Beets

Green Beans

French Style Green Beans

Swiss Chard

CSA Week 7

Red Summer Crisp Lettuce

Green Summer Crisp Lettuce

Zucchini

Zephyr Summer Squash

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Red Beets

Cutting Celery

Basil

Cilantro

Swiss Chard

Red Kale

Green Kale

Lacinato Kale

Purple and Green Kohlrabi

Green Cabbage

Fresh Red Onions

CSA Week 6

Arugula

Red Butter Lettuce

Green Leaf Lettuce

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Sugar Snap Peas

Snow Peas

Swiss Chard

Scallions

Cilantro

Chervil

Garlic Scapes

Zucchini Squash

Zephyr Squash

Purple and Green Kohlrabi

Strawberries

Farm Sitting

I am now in full swing of my daily farm sitting chores for the Goldstein's. This is a really great opportunity where I get to live at their house and truly experience the daily chores of caring for animals. The Goldstein's own a small farm about 10 minutes south of MFAI and on this farm they raise sheep, approximately 50, 30 or so chickens, and one Jersey cow named Kua. They also grow numerous fruit crops including pears, peaches, apricots, persimmons, hazelnuts and more. My daily responsibilities include milking the cow twice a day, bottling the milk for members to pick up, filling the water tanks for the cow, sheep and chickens, feeding and letting the chickens out of their coop, collecting and washing the eggs, and closing up the chicken coop again at night. Although this adds a lot of work to my already busy schedule, approximately an hour in the morning and an hour at night, it also provides me with an invaluable hands-on learning experience. This opportunity allows to be fully immersed in the farming lifestyle that I plan to continue for the rest of my life. I am able to realize how much work goes into raising animals whether it be for milk production, meat, wool or eggs. It also forces me to recognize how doing farm chores in the early morning, farming all day and repeating the chores at night is a tiring yet rewarding ritual. Other great upsides to this opportunity is that I have ample access to nutritious raw milk, all the eggs I can eat and the amazing companionship of animals. Another  perk is witnessing the playful nature of a new litter of kittens who live right outside the back door. Please bear with me while my blog posting slow down, I will be more diligent about posts when my schedule slows down.

June 22-27 (Day to Day)

Monday: Today was another amazing harvest day. New produce this week includes cauliflower, cilantro, leaf fennel, and garlic scapes. Garlic scapes for anyone who has yet to try them are a great early season produce item. The are slightly fibrous and very garlic flavored so make sure you cook them. The simplest way is to treat them like green beans, stir-fry 'em, boil them in a soup or steam them. this afternoon was very hot, but we pushed through and harvested 76 pints of strawberries. These strawberries will be for our CSA members, two pints this week, and for sale in the cooler. We will also be initiating a U-pick program for strawberries where you may come to the farm and pick as many pints of strawberries as you like. The pints you pick will be $ 2.00/pint(the normal price is $2.50).

Tuesday: This morning I went to Tracey Hall's Grace Note Farm, one of our cooperative instructors. Tracey has an amazingly diverse farm with goats, layer chickens, broilers, turkeys, ducks, honey bees, and a vegetable and flower garden. Tracey makes goats milk soap and cheese, sells multi-colored eggs, and also sells chickens and turkeys for meat. Obviously there is a lot I can learn from this experience and the days I spend with her. After lunch, Janet and I hid form the heat and worked on freezing and bagging strawberries. The strawberries are in one pound bags and will be sold later this season when the fresh strawberries are gone.

Wednesday: Today was day 3 of this heat wave, but we still accomplished a lot. I worked on setting up the trellises for the tomatoes that are growing outdoors in the Children's Garden. So far so good, and next we move on to setting up the trellises in the hoop house (hopefully the we'll get a break from the heat). After weaving the trellises I jumped into helping Shawn, Mara and Kirsten finish up processing the rest of the harvest for the CSA pick-up tonight. This included washing and trimming cauliflower and broccoli, weighing out bags of sugar snap peas, and washing romaine lettuce. After the mid-day siesta I started out brewing a batch of equisetum tea which I will use on the tomatoes sometime this week. While the tea simmered I mixed up a batch of fertilizer (chicken manure and kelp) for the peppers in the hoop house. Every plant recieved a generous tablespoon of this mixture and hopefully we will reap the rewards later in the summer. I finished out the day pulling thistles in the walkways of the hoop house.

Thursday: I had today off and it was great to have a rest/recovery day.

Friday: This morning started off with a lot of work, I worked on putting in the last of the t-posts in the hoop house. After that I set up the trellises for the tomatoes in the hoop house. Other students worked on planting pickling cucumbers in the solar house. In the afternoon we, the students, attended a lecture on energy use and conservation in relation to agriculture. We were also fortunate enough to see the workings of the PV solar panels here at MFAI and see the batteries that the panels charge. Essentially the pv panels around MFAI charge two large batteries that will keep the cooler running for 36-48 hours if grid supplied power goes out.

Saturday: This morning I woke up early and prepared a comfrey and nettle tea, used as  foliar feed where comfrey provides potassium and nettle supplies trace minerals. I sprayed everything in the solanaceae family: tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. After spraying I moved into harvesting strawberries, we picked around 80 pints today. I finished up the morning by mulching the walkways between tomato rows with straw.

Harvest/CSA Week 5

Broccoli

Arugula

Spinach

Red Romaine Lettuce

Easter Egg Radishes

French Breakfast Radishes

Kohlrabi

Cauliflower

Cilantro

Oregano

Leaf Fennel

Garlic Scapes

Snow Peas

Sugar Snap Peas

Strawberries

June 15-20 (Day to Day)

Monday: This morning was raining and foggy but who can complain when it's a harvest day. A new crop this week is kohlrabi, which I highly recommend to anyone who hasn't been fortunate enough to try it. It is an amazingly crisp and juicy vegetable. 

Tuesday:

Wednesday: After lunch all of us students, along with Shawn and Janet, went to Ruth Zinniker's farm to press valerian flowers. The juice will be used to make the biodynamic preparation 507. Today also marked the 4th week of our CSA this season and therefore a special thanks is goes out to all of our members for supporting this great season. 

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday:

Harvest/CSA Week 3

Broccoli

Arugula

Spinach

Green Romaine Lettuce

Mustard Greens

Asparagus

Salad Mix

Radishes(Purple, Red, Pink and White)

   Garlic Chives

Scarlet Queen Turnips

  Red Pac Choi

     Pea Shoots

June 8- June 13 (Day to Day)

Monday: Harvesting in the rain! It was a little wet and cold this morning but still exciting and rewarding. This week for our CSA we still have a lot of greens, but also a few new crops including: Scarlet Queen Turnips, Broccoli, and very colorful Easter Egg Radishes. This morning I harvested romaine lettuce and then I worked on washing and packing the produce for CSA members, cooler sales and a few wholesale orders. After lunch we went to Ruth Zinniker's farm and stuffed yarrow flowers into stag bladders for biodynamic compost preparation 502.

Tuesday: This morning I worked alongside Janet weeding the perennial beds. This was a great way to learn the names of a lot of the perennials here at Stella Gardens. I also planted marigolds, irises and thyme in the areas we removed weeds. In the afternoon I went to Ela Orchard with Bob and we worked on pruning the trees grafted earlier this spring. We also walked the orchard and scouted for pest damage. We checked traps for codling moth and plum curculio moth, and also looked for signs of black scab on the leaves. After Bob's I used the broad fork to turnover the soil in the two remaining beds in the hoop house.

Wednesday: This afternoon was our weekly CSA pick up here at Stella Gardens. During the pick up i worked on scuffle hoeing the spinach, mustard greens and arugula beds.

Thursday: At one, I went to work with our beekeeping cooperative instructor Dan O'Leary. We inspected the hives at Stella, the North Farm and the Zinniker Farm. The bees are looking great and we have started to add supers to the hives which means one thing... Honey! After beekeeping I started to planet peppers in the hoop house, however our weekly beer brewing session cut my planting time short.

Friday: This morning I started out by attaching the plastic mulch layer to the 5320 tractor and driving the tractor to the Creek Field where we are planting pumpkins and winter squash such as butternut and acorn. I then went back to Stella and finished up planting the peppers in the hoop house, the varieties planted include: jalapeno, habanero, serrano, bulgarian, anaheim, poblano, gourmet orange, sweet chocolate, apple, lipstick and ace. In the afternoon our biodynamic lecture series, instructed by Janet, continued with a discussion of the 501 field spray (horn silica). After the lecture Shawn and I worked on harvesting rhubarb, radishes and herbs for weekend cooler sales. 

Saturday: Another day of rain forced us to work inside this morning. So instead of planting and weeding, we worked on freezing excess spinach, making hominy and tortillas. After lunch we decided to try our hands at baking and made challah and sticky buns.

Harvest/CSA Week 2

Rainbow Swiss Chard 

Arugula 

Garlic Chives

Thyme

Mustard Greens

Lettuce (Red Leaf and Green Butter)

Hakurei Turnips

Rhubarb

Spinach

Salad Mix

Pac Choi

Radishes

Pea Shoots

June 1-June 6 (Day to Day)

Monday: Harvest Day! Today we harvested chard, arugula, garlic chives, thyme, mustard greens, lettuce. hakurei turnips, rhubarb, spinach, salad mix, pac choi, and asparagus. After lunch, Janet and I worked on laying plastic mulch and drip tape in the children's garden, tomatoes go in tomorrow! Shawn and I also used pieces of old drip tape to make straps for rolling up the sides and doors of the hoop house. The day finished with the nice relaxing task of weeding and thinning carrot beds. 

Tuesday: This morning we switched chores and my chore is now the cooler inventory and washing of harvest bins and seedling trays. After chores I moved on to start planting tomatoes for my project which is an experiment assessing the effects mycorhizal fungus and tomato plants. After lunch I went to Ela Orchard and helped Bob mulch under the remainder of young apple trees.

Wednesday: This morning I finished off the tomato plants. The varieties that I planted in the field include: Big Beef, San Marzano, Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, German Johnson, Mennonite Tiffen, Ruth's, Rose De Berne, and Pineapple. I also planted a bed of eggplants, 168 plants to be exact. The varieties include: Nadia, Orient Express and Rosa Bianca. After lunch Mara and I went to beekeeping with Dan O'Leary.

Thursday: In the morning I worked on shaping a bed in the Children's Garden for the next succession on swiss chard. I also roto-tilled the rest of Spin 3 to prepare the beds for my next succession of arugula and the coming planting of beans.

Friday: Today we worked on a harvest to stock the walk in cooler for the weekend and fill some orders We harvested asparagus, spinach, pac choi, rhubarb, green butter head lettuce,  .  I then moved onto shaping and planting a bed of arugula. I finished the morning by measuring and marking the beds in the hoop house. After lunch all of the students along with Shawn went on a tour of Prairie Dock Farm in Jefferson County.

Saturday: This morning we prepared the raised beds in the hoop house by shaping the beds, laying drip tape and plastic mulch. Next we planted three beds of tomatoes including: Big Beef, Estiva, Martin, Red Pear, Sun Gold, Hillbilly, Striped Roman, Garden Peach, Black Seaman, and Black Plum . 

Harvest/CSA Week 1

Asparagus

Arugula

Mustard Greens: Tatsoi, Red Giant and Mizuna

Pac Choi

Hakurei Turnips

Rhubarb

Oregano

Onion Chives

Head Lettuce- 2 heads of red leaf & 1 head of green butter

Rainbow Swiss Chard

Tomato Seedlings

Basil Seedlings

This week, May 25-30, represents a significant change in the season for us. Harvest Time! Our CSA begins this week and members will be coming to the farm to pick up their shares in a farmers market style setting.  Basically we lay out all of the weekly produce and members walk along and pack their own boxes or reusable bags. Due to this significant change my blog format will also change. Instead of listing what is growing every week I am going to attempt to list what is being harvested. I will post updates every week above my day to day activity log, hopefully by Tuesday night, which will give CSA members a heads up on what produce they will be receiving. 

May 25-30 (Day to Day)

Monday: Today was officially the first harvest of the season! We harvested lettuce, chive, oregano, rhubarb and pac choi (more will be harvested on wednesday morning). After harvesting, I picked up the 5320 tractor and worked on tilling several passes in Field A and tilled the Children's Garden in preparation for the tomatoes, eggplant and chard that will be planted this week. After lunch, I switched out the rotovator for the water wheel transplanter and we planted a bed of lettuce and beets.

Tuesday: Rain is in the forecast for the next couple days, so this morning was crunch time to get all the soil work done. I worked on tilling down the wheat cover crop in the hoop house. I also used the riding mower to mow down an old perennial bed in the Main Garden and mowed the weeds in Spin 3. After moving Spin 3, I used the roto-tiller again and began prepping beds for the next two plantings of Arugula. This afternoon, Mara and I went to our weekly cooperative instructor Bob at Ela Orchard. While at Ela Orchard we filled up the hay wagon with hay and mulched underneath some of the younger honeycrisp apples. I also was able to bottle feed the new lambs some formula which is always fun.

Wednesday: We finished up the harvest this morning, in the pouring rain(but it always worth it for fresh vegetables). We harvested mustard greens, arugula, asparagus, chard, more lettuce and hakurei turnips (definitely up there with my all time favorite vegetables!). After the harvest it was up to the greenhouse to start planting the second succession of summer squash, head lettuce, and start more pea shoots. After lunch we worked on setting up for the first CSA pickup, which was a great success. 

Thursday: Today was still too wet to work in the soil, so I broke out the weed whacker and cleaned up the edges of the hoop house. Shawn and I also put the zippers on the end walls of the hoop house(now we finally have doors to get inside). Next, I got out of the rain and went to the greenhouse to plant the next succession of chard and transplanted the tomatillos into a larger plug tray. After lunch I cut stinging nettle and comfrey to make "tea" out of that we will use as foliar spray's throughout the season. After that Janet and I noticed that the local Canada's Geese population had decided to go to town on our lettuce. To try to salvage what was left of the lettuce we put up a fence around the fields and we'll see if that works. I also set up a huge rat trap that will hopefully catch the gopher or whatever is eating the other lettuce beds.

Friday: We finally finished the hoop house this morning and put the plastic on. The rest of the day I worked on weeding(with the scuffle hoe) the spinach. salad mix and mustard green beds. Shawn, Kirsten and I also mulched the aisles between the zucchini and summer squash with straw. At the end of the day other interns involved with CRAFT, Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training, arrived for the orientation weekend here at Michael Fields. 

Saturday:

May 18-23 (Day to Day)

Monday: This week began on a busy note, and we worked on planting until 8:30 tonight. First off, I worked on rotovating 5 passes in Field A, preparing the soil for transplanting. Next, I drove the tractor back to the North Farm and switched out the rotovator for the transplanter. I then proceeded to drive the tractor while Stephanie, Kirsten and Shawn transplanted lettuce. I then switched places with Stephanie and we planted a pass of celeriac. In the afternoon, we went to Ruth Zinniker's Farm for the first of a series of lectures/hands on training with biodynamic preparations. We then finished out the day by picking up the tractor and planting beets and calendula. 

Tuesday: Mara and I went to Ela Orchard with Bob and helped move the electric fence to set up a new pasture for the sheep, we also helped bottle feed the new lambs. We then walked all around the orchard scouting for pests and scab on the apple leaves. 

Wednesday: I had today off as rest day due to the busy weeks coming up.

Thursday: Today started out with the students working on a variety of projects including scuffle hoeing all of our crops currently in the ground, and setting up irrigation/drip tape. In the afternoon, Mara and I went to beekeeping and helped Dan set up a nuke, used for splitting a hive before a new queen has hatched from a queen cell.

Friday: This morning I began by weeding an existing chard bed and then planted a new succession of chard between all the existing plants. After lunch all of us students packed up and drove to Mark Sheperd's New Forest Permaculture Farm near Viola, Wisconsin. I camped out on Friday night, drank hard cider and picked Mark's brain on a variety of agricultural topics.

Saturday: The rest of the students arrived in the morning and Mark gave us a very extensive and quite amazing tour of his 100 acre permaculture farm. We learned about the use of swales, pocket ponds and berms for slowing rainwater runoff and encouraging infiltration into the soil. Mark Sheperd also showed us the perennial crop species he focuses on including chestnuts, hazelnuts, apples, pears, raspberries, grapes, asparagus and so much more.

What's Growing (May 11-May 16)

If you haven't already noticed this list of crops currently growing in the ground is cumulative. I chose list crops this way in order to give a good representation of exactly how many vegetable crops we are growing this season. I also am listing it this way in order to give CSA members an idea of what to look forward to this season.

Shallots

Chervil

Kohlrabi (White and Red)

Celery

Cutting Celery

Potatoes (Red Norland and Yukon Gold)

Leeks

Carrots

Radishes (red, white, purple and french breakfast)

Oregano 

Dill

Spinach (Space, Tyee and Bordeaux)

Turnips (Hakurei and

 Scarlet Queen)

Salad Mix

Arugula 

Mustard Greens (Red Giant,

 Mizuna, Tatsoi, Mispoona and Komatsuna)

Peas

Pac Choi (Red Choi, Prize and White Choi)

Lettuce(Nancy, Outredgeous, Jericho and Rouge D'Hiver) 

Rhubarb 

Cabbage

Broccoli                            

Cauliflower

Garlic   

Asparagus

Swiss Chard (Bright Lights)

Onions (New York Early, Copra, Red Wing, Walla Walla and Cortland)

May 11-16 (Day to Day)

Monday: Asparagus picking started the day off in a great way! After that I moved on to planting the next successions of arugula and spinach, I also began shaping beds for more successions of both arugula and spinach. In the afternoon we met with Clarissa Hammond from DATCP,Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, to learn how to trap and monitor insect pests for the Wisconsin Pest Bulletin (an online weekly publication of pest occurrences (weeds, insects of diseases that helps farmers monitor problems). We are focusing on cucumber beetles and cabbage loopers. After that meeting we participated in an instructional session on how to properly freeze vegetables, specifically asparagus.  

Tuesday: Today started off as usual with the morning ritual of picking asparagus, Katie and I pick at the North Farm when we finish our greenhouse chores and everyone else picks back at Stella. The rest of the morning was occupied with a soap making workshop(goats milk soap to be exact). After lunch we moved on to shaping beds, weeding, planting, rototilling etc. 

Wednesday: After the usual asparagus picking, both at Stella and the North Farm, all of us students worked with Tim on the hoop house(it's coming along and should be finished really soon). This Afternoon Mara and I went to Ela Orchard, with Bob, and worked on setting up pheromone lures for codling moths, the pheromones are designed to disrupt mating patterns. And as a huge bonus we found a lot of morel mushrooms growing under the apple trees!

Thursday: In the afternoon Mara and I went to beekeeping, with Dan, and inspected the hives at Stella and the North Farm. We split one hive and added a honey super to another. After that I worked on shaping beds for spinach and mustard greens. We finished out the day with a home brewing session, taught by John Hall, where we started making a Wisconsin Badger Amber Ale (an update will come in 4 weeks after the first tasting). 

Friday: Today I started out by going to the greenhouse for my morning chore, and also picked asparagus while I was up there. After I returned to Stella Gardens I jumped on helping Tim with the hoop house (we finished the end walls and all that is left is to put up the plastic). I also worked on getting caught up and planted spinach, arugula, and mustard greens(red giant, mizuna, mispoona, and komatsuna). After lunch I worked along side Stephanie and planted radishes(french breakfast, red, white and purple) and kohlrabi. We also set up Reemay to help with the flea beetles. 

Saturday: Today all of the students and many more community members went to the Zinniker Farm(the oldest biodynamic farm in the country) for a morning of dandelion picking. The blossoms will be used to make the biodynamic preparation 506(stuffed into pouches made from cow mesentery and buried in the soil in the fall). After the picking, all participants celebrated with a potluck lunch. The rest of the day we dug up the preparations(buried in the previous fall at the Zinniker Farm). These preparations included: 500, Horn Manure which is made by stuffing fresh cow manure into cow horns. 502, Yarrow stuffed into stag bladder and buried under ground. 503, Chamomile stuffed into cow intestine and also buried in a separate pit. 505, Oak bark stuffed into the brain cavity of a cow skull and buried in a stream bed. And finally, 506, which is the end result of a portion of today's dandelion picking.

Sunday: Today all of the students drove up to Sun Prairie to visit JenEhr Family Farm for workshop/field day on berry production. The event was put on by CRAFT, Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training, and focused on strawberries, gooseberries, currants and blueberries.

What's Growing (May 4- May 9)

Potatoes (Red Norland and Yukon Gold)

Leeks

Carrots

Radishes

Oregano 

Dill

Spinach (Space, Tyee and Bordeaux)

Turnips (Hakurei and

 Scarlet Queen)

Salad Mix

Arugula 

Mustard Greens (Red Giant,

 Mizuna

 and Tatsoi)

Peas

Pac Choi (Red Choi, Prize and White Choi)

Lettuce(Nancy, Outredgeous, Jericho and Rouge D'Hiver) 

Rhubarb 

Cabbage

Broccoli                            

Cauliflower

Garlic   

Asparagus

Swiss Chard (Bright Lights)

Onions (New York Early, Copra, Red Wing, Walla Walla and Cortland)

May 4-9 (Day to Day)

Monday:  Today we started out harvesting asparagus at Stella Gardens and the North Farm, which is available for sale out of the walk-in cooler here at MFAI. We then continued work on the hoop house. In the afternoon I started out driving the Allis Chalmers G ( a small tractor used exclusively for cultivation or weeding ca. 1940) down to the North Farm. Next I hooked up the water wheel transplanter to the JD 5320 and drove it back to Stella. I then drove it in Field Block A while Katie, Kirsten and Mara rode behind and transplanted lettuce. I finished up the day by washing off the transplanter, driving the tractor back to the North Farm, and hooking up the potato planter for tomorrow morning.

Tuesday: As I mentioned earlier, today we planted potatoes, more than 4,000 row feet of them to be exact. The potatoes went in the Creek Field and took all of the morning and most of the afternoon as well. However, Mara and I continued our Tuesday routine and went to Ela's Orchard with Bob, our cooperative instructor. At Bob's, we set up a fence in order to move the sheep out to pasture, mulched the honey crisp trees that were planted last year, and began walking around the orchard, setting up insect monitoring traps and looked for signs of black scab fungus. 

Wednesday: This morning started out with harvesting asparagus at Stella Gardens and the North Farm(this is starting to become a great morning ritual). The rest of the morning we worked on preparing and shaping beds for the weeks to come, including roto-tilling the area under the soon to be completed hoop house. The afternoon was split, some students worked on individual projects and the rest of use worked in the gardens. I worked on scuffle hoeing(probably my new favorite hand tool that is used for weeding) the beds of chard and spinach. 

Thursday: Today things slowed down a little due to the rain, and Shawn, Katie and I went to the greenhouse and worked on planting rutabagas, tomatillos  and starting peas shoots for our CSA members. In the afternoon Mara and I went to work with Dan, our cooperative beekeeping instructor, and continued our weekly recording and observation process.  And as a special treat I found my first Morel mushrooms today, only 7 but hopefully more will come!!

Friday: Again asparagus harvesting started out first thing in the morning. After harvesting for a little while I drove the G down to Stella and cultivated my first two beds of lettuce. The afternoon consisted of a lecture on biodynamic preparations, and then more garden work. I worked on shaping beds for spinach and arugula, which will hopefully get planted tomorrow.

Saturday: It rained again last night, but we stayed busy harvesting and processing asparagus. After that we went out to Earth Care Suri Alpaca Farm and helped shear their alpacas, which was a very interesting and extremely informative morning (picture to come soon).  

What's Growing (April 27-May 2)

Spinach (Space, Tyee and Bordeaux)

Turnips (Hakurei and

 Scarlet Queen)

Salad Mix

Arugula 

Mustard Greens (Red Giant,

 Mizuna

 and Tatsoi)

Peas

Pac Choi (Red Choi, Prize and White Choi)

Lettuce(Nancy and Outredgeous) 

Rhubarb 

Cabbage

Broccoli                            

Cauliflower

Garlic   

Asparagus

Swiss Chard (Bright Lights)

Onions (New York Early, Copra, Red Wing and Cortland)

April 27-May 2 (Day to Day)

Monday: This morning not a lot happened in the field due to the heavy rains over the weekend. The students split up and a few of us went to the greenhouse and started seedlings including watermelon, lettuce, and swiss chard. The rest of the students planted hakurei turnips and mulched the strawberry beds. 

Tuesday: The soil was still really wet today so planting was delayed again, and on top of that something is eating the head lettuce in the field (maybe a rabbit?). To help with this animal problem we covered the rows of lettuce with Reemay (a thin polyester fabric row cover). The heavy weekend rain also uncovered the recently planted pea seeds so we spent the rest of the morning raking soil back on top of the seeds.

Wednesday: This morning we continued to work on the hoop house and prepared a couple of beds for planting. In the afternoon Shawn and I planted a one bed of spinach and one bed of salad mix. After planting we worked on preparing a bed for planting more cauliflower and broccoli, however we ran out of time and hopefully the planting will happen sometime this week. 

Thursday: It seems rain is the theme of this week, and as you might have guessed it rained all day today. So all of the students used the time to catch up on repairs, cleaning and other projects that will be necessary when harvests begin. I repaired a washing station for potatoes and other vegetables (basically a large table made out of a screen). Other students worked on cleaning up the herb room (where we dry and store herbs harvested at the farm).

Friday: This morning was very productive. First of all we planted A LOT of winter squash in the green house, including acorn, carnival and butternut. For the rest of the morning we split up and some of the students worked on repairing the hardening off area(a small hoop house where plants come form the warm greenhouse and acclimate before going out into the field). Mara and I went back to Stella Gardens and began cutting seed potatoes in half to prepare them for planting and increase our numbers. In the afternoon, Mara and I met up with cooperative instructor Dan for beekeeping. 

Saturday: Today was a very busy/productive day of finally catching up. I worked on shaping beds and planted mustard greens (three varieties including red giant, tatsoi and mizuna). After that was finished I moved on to planting arugula. Other students worked on mulching the walkways between onion beds, setting up trellises for the peas and planting pac choi.  

April 20-25 (What's Growing)

Lettuce

Rhubarb

Brassicas (Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower)

Garlic

Asparagus

Chard

Onions

April 20-25 (Day to Day)

Monday: Transplanted tomato seedlings into four packs, for sale and for future field plantings. Lecture series, with Janet, on biodynamics in the afternoon.

Tuesday: Finished transplanting tomato seedlings and worked on weeding the greenhouse floor. Went to Ela Orchard in the afternoon and planted newly grafted Honeycrisp apples into pots.

Wednesday: Worked on the hoop house in the morning, which should be finished next week! Transplanted raspberries, mulched currant bushes, and pruned/propagated rose bushes in the afternoon. 

Thursday: This morning we began shaping beds in the main garden, and transplanted one bed of New York Early onions. In the afternoon, we began transplanting eggplants(Rosa Bianca, Nadia and Oriental Express) and hot peppers(jalapeno, anaheim, poblano, bulgarian, habanero and serrano) into four packs. The chickens also just arrived and we have 23 laying hens and 1 rooster. And to make things even better the first egg was laid at about 8 PM tonight.

Friday: Today we went to the class tractor safety II (part of the Whole Farm Workshops) and practiced driving the John Deere 5320 and 6420. In the afternoon, bed shaping continued and Red Wing, Copra and Cortland onions were planted. I also was able to drive the JD 5320 from the North Farm down to Stella Gardens(on County Road ES) and used the rotary tiller to begin bed shaping in the hoop house!!!

Saturday: On Saturday morning we split into groups and tried to get as much work done as possible before the rain. I continued to work with the 5320(tractor and rotary tiller) and prepared beds in Field A, B and the Old Intern Gardens. These beds will be used for peas, which were planted today, spinach and salad mix. Other students weeded the bed planted with chard, and planted peas in Field A. Then the rain came, and we spent the rest of the morning in the greenhouse transplanting sweet peppers, thinning brussles sprouts and lettuce and much more. In the afternoon all the students got a break from work, however the rain continued and several escaped chickens needed to be caught. 

New Format / Ideas

Hello and Welcome, 

I have decided that I am going to use this blog as an online journal for me to record my experiences here at Michael Fields. I plan on making updates once a week that will attempt to include everything that happened on the farm. The purpose of the blog is to update friends and family members, document my experiences for prospective students and hopefully to connect CSA shareholders with events and happenings on the farm. I plan to include photos that seem appropriate for each week as well as a day to day synopsis of activities. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, suggestions or words of encouragement. I also encourage visitors to join this blog community by signing up to follow this blog. This will help me stay in contact with everyone and let me know if this is an effective community outreach tool.

Thanks and more to come,

Alex

Basic Overview/ Introduction

As I mentioned before this blog is an outlet for me to share my experiences here at Michael Fields and into the future. Therefore, I feel like a basic introduction of what I am doing is in store. I am enrolled in the New Farmer Foundation Year Program at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute(MFAI), which is a research and education institute for biodynamic, sustainable and organic agriculture. It is really hard for me to include everything that goes on here in this program, but I will try. First of all, I am one of 5 students enrolled in this particular program including Katie, Mara, Kirsten, Stephanie and Shawn(2nd year farm management apprentice). All of us are under the direction of Janet Gamble, Farm and Food Education Program Director. We, the students instructed by Janet and Shawn, are running a 50 member CSA here at Stella Gardens. Stella Gardens is part of the land here at MFAI and where the hands-on instruction explores all aspects of the farming lifestyle. The garden includes:

-About 1 acre of raised beds worked by hand (rotor tillers and hand tools)

- 2 acres of larger field plots (using a tractor)

- A greenhouse for starting seedlings, and a passive solar A-Frame style greenhouse for season extension(earlier planting in the spring and later into the fall)

- Perennial herbs, flowers, shrubs and trees including raspberries, currants, apples...

- Hoop house where tomatoes and peppers will be grown(under-construction )  

In order to plan the crops and manage the land for this CSA the students divided up the responsibility of crop families early on. My crops include tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, eggplants, potatoes, head lettuce, salad mix, swiss chard, arugula, spinach, collards, and mustard greens. So I apologize in advance if i show a bias towards these specific crops.