Here are some photos from our day.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Picadilly Road Trip
Picadilly farmers Bruce and Jenny Wooster are well known in the eastern Massachusetts farming community as skilled organic farmers and exceptional teachers and mentors to new farmers. So, when I planned a road trip to Picadilly, I invited Newton Community Farm intern, Megan Talley, to join me. The Newton farm is about one acre in size; Picadilly Farm has 25 acres under cultivation. Seemed like a great learning opportunity. And boy, was it ever! While Megan mastered tractor seeding, I helped transplant the celeriac that will be in the winter share. In the afternoon we hoed beds and beds of newly emerged potatoes with the farm crew. A very special thank you to farmer Jenny for making this such a great learning experience for Megan!
Here are some photos from our day.
Here are some photos from our day.
Monday, May 24, 2010
New Web Site!
In this, the fourth year of the multi-farm, winter CSA, I've finally created a real web site. This Blogger site works just fine, but the web site -- even better! Let me know what you think.
Shared Harvest CSA, our shiny new web site!
The new site includes posts to this blog. So you'll not miss a thing, which ever way you like to get your Shared Harvest news!
Shared Harvest CSA, our shiny new web site!
The new site includes posts to this blog. So you'll not miss a thing, which ever way you like to get your Shared Harvest news!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Notes from Picadilly Farm
Picadilly Farm is one of the primary growers for the multiple farm extended season CSA. Picadilly farmer, Jenny Wooster, sent us this farm report.
Dear Shareholders,
We're halfway through May, and the first harvest is just around the corner! Sails are fully set here on the farm, with the full crew on deck and about a third of our 25 acres planted. The farm looks better than ever, as the relatively dry (but not too dry) spring has allowed for plenty of sunny-day time to spread paint, level and re-seed some of the farm roads (something we've wanted to do for several seasons now!), and clean up fallen timber and brush around the field edges. Now that the danger of frost has (likely) past, all of our focus will turn toward the fields, as we start in with planting the first of the cold sensitive crops in the field - first summer squash and zucchini, quickly followed by cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, melons, eggplant, peppers, and our second attempt at organic sweet corn.
Bruce and this season's apprentices, Jenny-Q and Andy, have taken advantage of a few recent rainy days to build a second mobile chicken-coop. Our spring chicks - we're calling them teenagers, as we have to catch them every morning and return them to the incubation box that they have clearly outgrown - will soon be out on pasture and enjoying the sunshine. The older laying hens have enjoyed the spring pasturing our marsh field, a part of the farm that it usually too wet for anything but bird nesting and a July haying. Three black lambs are grazing at the crew house, and six piglets will arrive from a Vermont farm in early June, to spend the summer here. Two of the three bee hives made it through the winter and are going strong - it's a survival rate that we are pleased about, given the poor weather for the bees to build their honey stores last summer. Our volunteer beekeeper, Brendan, will add two new "nuke" hives in a few weeks, to bring us back up to four hives. While we raise the bees primarily for crop pollination, we do like to get a honey crop, and it looks as if we just might, maybe, hopefully, this fall. Our well-loved barn cats came through the winter well, and have been valiantly protecting the greenhouse seeds and seedlings from those pesky little four-legged predators.
We've just learned that our farm will receive a grant from Natural Resource Conservation Service, a part of USDA, for construction of a new high tunnel (farm-speak for greenhouse). The high tunnel grants are geared toward low energy production - solar heat, manual ventilation, and season extension for local foods. We'll put up the new house next winter/spring, hopefully with a second one to match, filling up the open space between the current hoop houses and the distribution barn. Our plans include summer greenhouse tomatoes and winter greens growing, as early as 2011 - exciting steps for our farm.
We come into harvest season with nearly all of our CSA shares sold - a milestone for us in our fourth year on the farm. We're growing for 200 shareholders on the farm, and 200 shareholders who received delivered boxed shares in eastern MA. Thanks to all of you for your early support! You've allowed your farmers peace of mind, as well as the opportunity to focus our time on growing the veggies, training our crew, and enjoying our days of planting and weeding with you in mind. Thanks also for spreading the word about the farm, and we still have about 15 shares left... so tell your friends and neighbors!
We're looking forward to harvesting for you!
Jenny (for Bruce, Susie, Andy, Jenny-Q, Antonio, Adelina, Caitlin, Alejandro & Edgar)
Dear Shareholders,
We're halfway through May, and the first harvest is just around the corner! Sails are fully set here on the farm, with the full crew on deck and about a third of our 25 acres planted. The farm looks better than ever, as the relatively dry (but not too dry) spring has allowed for plenty of sunny-day time to spread paint, level and re-seed some of the farm roads (something we've wanted to do for several seasons now!), and clean up fallen timber and brush around the field edges. Now that the danger of frost has (likely) past, all of our focus will turn toward the fields, as we start in with planting the first of the cold sensitive crops in the field - first summer squash and zucchini, quickly followed by cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, melons, eggplant, peppers, and our second attempt at organic sweet corn.
Bruce and this season's apprentices, Jenny-Q and Andy, have taken advantage of a few recent rainy days to build a second mobile chicken-coop. Our spring chicks - we're calling them teenagers, as we have to catch them every morning and return them to the incubation box that they have clearly outgrown - will soon be out on pasture and enjoying the sunshine. The older laying hens have enjoyed the spring pasturing our marsh field, a part of the farm that it usually too wet for anything but bird nesting and a July haying. Three black lambs are grazing at the crew house, and six piglets will arrive from a Vermont farm in early June, to spend the summer here. Two of the three bee hives made it through the winter and are going strong - it's a survival rate that we are pleased about, given the poor weather for the bees to build their honey stores last summer. Our volunteer beekeeper, Brendan, will add two new "nuke" hives in a few weeks, to bring us back up to four hives. While we raise the bees primarily for crop pollination, we do like to get a honey crop, and it looks as if we just might, maybe, hopefully, this fall. Our well-loved barn cats came through the winter well, and have been valiantly protecting the greenhouse seeds and seedlings from those pesky little four-legged predators.
We've just learned that our farm will receive a grant from Natural Resource Conservation Service, a part of USDA, for construction of a new high tunnel (farm-speak for greenhouse). The high tunnel grants are geared toward low energy production - solar heat, manual ventilation, and season extension for local foods. We'll put up the new house next winter/spring, hopefully with a second one to match, filling up the open space between the current hoop houses and the distribution barn. Our plans include summer greenhouse tomatoes and winter greens growing, as early as 2011 - exciting steps for our farm.
We come into harvest season with nearly all of our CSA shares sold - a milestone for us in our fourth year on the farm. We're growing for 200 shareholders on the farm, and 200 shareholders who received delivered boxed shares in eastern MA. Thanks to all of you for your early support! You've allowed your farmers peace of mind, as well as the opportunity to focus our time on growing the veggies, training our crew, and enjoying our days of planting and weeding with you in mind. Thanks also for spreading the word about the farm, and we still have about 15 shares left... so tell your friends and neighbors!
We're looking forward to harvesting for you!
Jenny (for Bruce, Susie, Andy, Jenny-Q, Antonio, Adelina, Caitlin, Alejandro & Edgar)
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
A day at Powisett Farm
Yesterday was overcast, drizzly and cold. After an early morning field walk, I spent most of the morning in the greenhouse at Powisett (a Trustees of Reservations CSA farm in Dover, MA). The afternoon was spent transplanting kale and napa cabbage.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Farm Visits: Busa Farm Greenhouse
Parts of the field have been underwater or very water-logged the last few weeks, but it looks like spring in the greenhouse! I took these greenhouse photos at Busa Farm last week: peppers, parsley, geraniums, lettuce and geraniums again.
Farm Visits: Powisset
I've been visiting farms in the area this spring. Here are a few of my favorite photos of Powisset, a community farm in Dover.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
How to Choose a CSA
The most recent Local Harvest newsletter has a very nice article about how to choose a CSA. I've copied the first couple of paragraphs below and supplied a link to the full article.
Know Thyself
Utterly fantastic idea though it is, community supported agriculture is not for everyone. Deciding whether or not CSA is for you requires a healthy dose of self knowledge. Some of us confuse how we are with how we would like to be. Not that there's no room for movement, but if you truly do not like vegetables, signing up to receive five to 20 pounds of them a week is probably not going to go well. When considering whether or not to join a CSA, there are a few questions that you might ask yourself. Be sure to answer for yourself and the people you live with since asking other people to change their eating habits is no small thing.
* Do I like to cook and does my schedule allow me to make homemade meals most evenings?
* Will it be fun to [use] vegetables that are new to me?
* How will I handle excess produce? (Do you have a neighbor who would like to get some if you get "behind"?) Feeling bad about wasting food is one of the top reasons former CSA members site for not renewing.
* Am I willing to accept the unknowns involved in "shared risk"?
Read the rest of the article.
Know Thyself
Utterly fantastic idea though it is, community supported agriculture is not for everyone. Deciding whether or not CSA is for you requires a healthy dose of self knowledge. Some of us confuse how we are with how we would like to be. Not that there's no room for movement, but if you truly do not like vegetables, signing up to receive five to 20 pounds of them a week is probably not going to go well. When considering whether or not to join a CSA, there are a few questions that you might ask yourself. Be sure to answer for yourself and the people you live with since asking other people to change their eating habits is no small thing.
* Do I like to cook and does my schedule allow me to make homemade meals most evenings?
* Will it be fun to [use] vegetables that are new to me?
* How will I handle excess produce? (Do you have a neighbor who would like to get some if you get "behind"?) Feeling bad about wasting food is one of the top reasons former CSA members site for not renewing.
* Am I willing to accept the unknowns involved in "shared risk"?
Read the rest of the article.
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