Here's a little of what we have been up to.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
CSA Sign-up window is closed.....
Hi Everyone! I cannot believe it has been more than a month since my last post, time is flying, flying, flying~~~ After a slow start and wondering if we were going to be able to do the CSA...We have had an overwhelming response to the CSA this year. We currently have about 25 memberships, the majority of which are 1/2 shares. We are looking forward to meeting everyone and growing delicious produce for you! Because of the response that we have had, we are no longer accepting memberships at this time. Keep us in mind for next year, and there are thoughts of a Winter CSA in the works.
What we have planted in the ground or ready to go in the ground now: lettuce, kale, broccoli, chard, spinach, peas, radishes, beets, potatoes, garlic, cabbages, tomatoes (in high tunnel), cauliflower, green onions.
What we are expecting to have ready for the first delivery: lettuce mix, kale, chard, radishes...maybe, possibly goat cheese from our goats. We had four pregnant nannies that had a total of 9 kids. Two had triplets, one had twins, one had a single, and 8 out of 9 of them are females. How's that for stats?? The herd is growing by leaps and bounds. All this from a one mama goat and her daughters that were all given to us when our almost 5 year old was just 1 year old. Did I mention time is flying yet?
We hope you are as excited as we are! Keep in mind that early in the season the variety is less, as are the amounts of produce, but as the season goes on you will get more than enough produce for your money! We have had a very wet spring, and hope we get another window of drying winds and higher temps to get in there and plant much, much more outside.
If you have joined our CSA, be on the lookout for an email from us in the near future making sure we have your email address on file and that it got typed into our records properly:)
What we have planted in the ground or ready to go in the ground now: lettuce, kale, broccoli, chard, spinach, peas, radishes, beets, potatoes, garlic, cabbages, tomatoes (in high tunnel), cauliflower, green onions.
What we are expecting to have ready for the first delivery: lettuce mix, kale, chard, radishes...maybe, possibly goat cheese from our goats. We had four pregnant nannies that had a total of 9 kids. Two had triplets, one had twins, one had a single, and 8 out of 9 of them are females. How's that for stats?? The herd is growing by leaps and bounds. All this from a one mama goat and her daughters that were all given to us when our almost 5 year old was just 1 year old. Did I mention time is flying yet?
We hope you are as excited as we are! Keep in mind that early in the season the variety is less, as are the amounts of produce, but as the season goes on you will get more than enough produce for your money! We have had a very wet spring, and hope we get another window of drying winds and higher temps to get in there and plant much, much more outside.
If you have joined our CSA, be on the lookout for an email from us in the near future making sure we have your email address on file and that it got typed into our records properly:)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Officially Spring Fever!!!
What a week, oversold the greenhouse crops (lettuce mix, arugala, broccoli raab, red choi) and have had an abundance of interest in the CSA. Thanks everyone for your emails and phone calls about the CSA this year. I owe a huge thanks to Dan and Phyllis for getting the word out, as well as some others that have just helped spread the word about our farm and what we are doing.
I think we are officially saying we are doing the CSA this year. We will have enough folks signed up to meet our goal of the equivalent of 10 full shares. It looks like most of the people that are signing up are signing up for half shares, which is great. I am so excited to meet more people this way.
This week has been awesome---great weather. We will be putting some tomato plants in the greenhouse/hightunnel in the next two weeks. We will transition from calling our hightunnel a hightunnel to calling it a greenhouse with the planting of the tomatoes. In the past few years we have not heated the hightunnel at all since the cost of propane is so high. This year we have left over propane in the tank from when we did cut flowers (maybe from 2006) and want to take another stab at extra early tomatoes. We are growing Oregon Spring and Mountain Spring varieties and two others, that I cannot remember right now.
Plants I started this week are: bunching onions, swiss chard, kale. spinach, parsley, cilantro, and dill. Plants already started are: broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. In a week or so we will be putting up a lowtunnel to plant our radishes, beets, more lettuce, spinach and carrots into. I am getting hungry and I just ate. Yum!
I spent the majority of my weekend weeding, as well. The chickweed is taking over in the lettuce beds. Conditions are perfect for this weed. If you get our lettuce mix, you probably are familiar with it. I do my best to keep it out when I am picking, but you know....I am not perfect!
If you signed up for the CSA you will be hearing from me the second week of March. I will call to let you know I will be depositing the checks and to say "hi".
More later!
Carrie
I think we are officially saying we are doing the CSA this year. We will have enough folks signed up to meet our goal of the equivalent of 10 full shares. It looks like most of the people that are signing up are signing up for half shares, which is great. I am so excited to meet more people this way.
This week has been awesome---great weather. We will be putting some tomato plants in the greenhouse/hightunnel in the next two weeks. We will transition from calling our hightunnel a hightunnel to calling it a greenhouse with the planting of the tomatoes. In the past few years we have not heated the hightunnel at all since the cost of propane is so high. This year we have left over propane in the tank from when we did cut flowers (maybe from 2006) and want to take another stab at extra early tomatoes. We are growing Oregon Spring and Mountain Spring varieties and two others, that I cannot remember right now.
Plants I started this week are: bunching onions, swiss chard, kale. spinach, parsley, cilantro, and dill. Plants already started are: broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. In a week or so we will be putting up a lowtunnel to plant our radishes, beets, more lettuce, spinach and carrots into. I am getting hungry and I just ate. Yum!
I spent the majority of my weekend weeding, as well. The chickweed is taking over in the lettuce beds. Conditions are perfect for this weed. If you get our lettuce mix, you probably are familiar with it. I do my best to keep it out when I am picking, but you know....I am not perfect!
If you signed up for the CSA you will be hearing from me the second week of March. I will call to let you know I will be depositing the checks and to say "hi".
More later!
Carrie
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Lost Shoes
Hi Everyone!
We have been losing our shoes and boots in the mud! The snow has finally melted outside and left behind a never ending trail of boot-sucking mud.
I have been busy picking about 40 pounds of lettuce and arugula each week, ordering seeds, plants, planting more seed. My kids have been very good about staying busy, even with the nasty weather we have had. Now I just let them go crazy in the mud and make them undress before they come inside.
I am getting kind of dismayed that the CSA isn't picking up like I had hoped. I have some families signed up, but we still need at least 5 more to go ahead and do it. I am still planning on growing enough produce to support a small one and if it doesn't come to fruition, then we will sell to The Root Cellar in Columbia and try and pick up some more wholesale accounts. That's the way it works, you need to order your seeds, plants, start your seeds now or sooner, so that is why I am growing enough whether enough members sign up or not. I have local farmers that would like to offer beef and bratwurst through the CSA as well as a honey producer that would like to offer some products through it. I hope that the local food movement catches on in this area!
Our lettuce has become very popular this Winter. It is exciting to think about all the places our produce is sold and served. It is funny to go to a restaurant and recognize the greens on the sandwich, which happend last Fall at Uprise Bakery. Our produce has been served at at least 5 restaurants in Mid-Missouri. The Broadway Brewery, Uprise Bakery, and Sycamore's all in Columbia, The Farmer's Merchant in Owensville, and Meramec Vineyards Winery in St. James.
We are growing all we can for our established accounts and can't wait to see what happens this Spring and Summer.
If you know someone that may be interested in joining the CSA please have them contact me soon, so I know it's a go for this year. I am willing to work with people and make payment plans, because I am well aware that it is a lot of money to pay out upfront. My email address is: readcarrie@hotmail.com
phone: 573-646-3789
Our website is under construction but has an easy to use link for the CSA membership form: http://sweetleaffarm.com/
We have added some wonderful equipment to our arsenal this year, too! I mentioned we bought a tractor, but we also purchased a bed-former and a mulch layer. We are getting serious, folks! I can't see what happens when you move into the 20th Century with equipment. Remember, we had been doing this by hand and with horses and our tough BCS tiller for the past 10 years.
More later! Try and keep your shoes on this Spring!
~Carrie
We have been losing our shoes and boots in the mud! The snow has finally melted outside and left behind a never ending trail of boot-sucking mud.
I have been busy picking about 40 pounds of lettuce and arugula each week, ordering seeds, plants, planting more seed. My kids have been very good about staying busy, even with the nasty weather we have had. Now I just let them go crazy in the mud and make them undress before they come inside.
I am getting kind of dismayed that the CSA isn't picking up like I had hoped. I have some families signed up, but we still need at least 5 more to go ahead and do it. I am still planning on growing enough produce to support a small one and if it doesn't come to fruition, then we will sell to The Root Cellar in Columbia and try and pick up some more wholesale accounts. That's the way it works, you need to order your seeds, plants, start your seeds now or sooner, so that is why I am growing enough whether enough members sign up or not. I have local farmers that would like to offer beef and bratwurst through the CSA as well as a honey producer that would like to offer some products through it. I hope that the local food movement catches on in this area!
Our lettuce has become very popular this Winter. It is exciting to think about all the places our produce is sold and served. It is funny to go to a restaurant and recognize the greens on the sandwich, which happend last Fall at Uprise Bakery. Our produce has been served at at least 5 restaurants in Mid-Missouri. The Broadway Brewery, Uprise Bakery, and Sycamore's all in Columbia, The Farmer's Merchant in Owensville, and Meramec Vineyards Winery in St. James.
We are growing all we can for our established accounts and can't wait to see what happens this Spring and Summer.
If you know someone that may be interested in joining the CSA please have them contact me soon, so I know it's a go for this year. I am willing to work with people and make payment plans, because I am well aware that it is a lot of money to pay out upfront. My email address is: readcarrie@hotmail.com
phone: 573-646-3789
Our website is under construction but has an easy to use link for the CSA membership form: http://sweetleaffarm.com/
We have added some wonderful equipment to our arsenal this year, too! I mentioned we bought a tractor, but we also purchased a bed-former and a mulch layer. We are getting serious, folks! I can't see what happens when you move into the 20th Century with equipment. Remember, we had been doing this by hand and with horses and our tough BCS tiller for the past 10 years.
More later! Try and keep your shoes on this Spring!
~Carrie
Saturday, January 30, 2010
I thought it was appropriate to post this picture from 2003 or 2004 that our friend Dave took, since we bought a tractor today! We haven't had one since 2000. We have relied on horses for the most part since then.
We'll be doing a lot more now that we are as modern as 1977, I think the year of the tractor is.
I will get a picture of the new toy up as soon as it arrives.....
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Some FAQ's about our farm and CSA
I have received some similar or related questions from some curious gardeners as well as people that might be interested in the CSA we are offering this season.
First off, I am afraid that some people may not be able to find or figure out the link to the brochure for the CSA. If this is the case, I would be happy to email one to you directly. My email address is: readcarrie@hotmail.com
Now...to answer those FAQ's:
What does the black irrigation tape do?
The black irrigation tape is what we use to water all of the crops in our high tunnel (greenhouse). By using this kind of irrigation we are able to reduce the spread of diseases and rot that are common when growing cool season crops like lettuce and arugala. It is helpful also for when we grow tomatoes in there for disease reduction. By keeping the water dripping onto the ground next to the plants, you reduce the chance of fungal cells or bacterial cells getting spread by water hitting them with force and bouncing up on the plant or to other plants nearby.
Why go organic if you're not certified?
This is an excellent question. My husband and I started farming and worked in health food stores in the years before anyone ever heard of organic certification. I am sure people were getting certified back then (I am talking within the last 12 years, not decades ago). It just wasn't really an issue and then the government got involved and tried to establish rules and regulations that would need to be followed by EVERYONE regardless of the size of your farming operation. That meant that a huge corporate farming operation would have the same certification requirements and fees as the small local farmer. This seemed like an extremely unfair practice to many of us that were involved in the organic/health food industry. This does not even get into the things that are allowed in the USDA certification classification of organic. Things that we just would not allow on our farm....Sewage Sludge For Example. To us it is more important that you know your farmer and his or her practices and their ethics, rather than see a label on a product. I have heard this phrase repeated by several people lately: Local is the New Organic. It is true, really. A greater impact can be made in the vertically integrated food model for our economy, health, and environment by buying locally. Just because you are buying organic milk from the grocery store for example, doesn't mean that the company really upholds your ideals. They may have the same or higher rate of infection, but those cows are taken out of production and go to a conventional milk processing set up. They may be feed organic feed on a feed lot, with little or no access to grass or clean pasture. They are not allowed to give them injections of growth hormones, if they are producing organic milk. The milk that is certified organic travels thousands of miles to get to us here in Missouri and is ultra pasteurized. That means that it retains far less nutritional value than milk produced here. I would much rather buy milk from my local dairy farmer that feeds their cows locally purchased/raised feed, allows them access to pasture that might have fertilizer applied every year or so, allows him or her to make a living or maintain their family farm while still working another job (as most of us have to do), and know that it didn't require hundreds of gallons of fuel to get from California to Here.
Great information on organic certification:
Attra Organic Farm Certification
What kind of soils do you use?
We go back and forth between mixing our own soil mix that included mixing peat, vermiculite, and perlite. We used this method for about 10 years. Other times would use the standard potting mix that is available at most garden centers. This is not considered organic, however because it does contain a wetting agent that is traditionally considered a non-organic ingredient. This past year we used Miracle Grow's Organic potting soil mix. It contains some fertilizer, I believe. We started using that as a matter of convenience, but is by no means an economical choice for large scale seed starting. A note: When you start your own seeds using a mix of peat, vermiculite, and perlite that you mix yourself you will need to establish a fertilization program. We always used fish emulsion. You mix it up with water according to the label for the size of your seedlings to be careful and not "burn" them with too much nitrogen. You can purchase fish emulsion in quart and gallon, and I think 5 gallon sizes. Fish emulsion reeks! so you probably want to look into something else to use as an indoor fertilizer, unless you find the smell of rotten fish guts appealing.
Some other general CSA FAQ's:
How many people do you hope to sign up for this CSA farm?
Our goal is to have 10 people minimum sign up and a maximum of 15 for the season. Right now, we have had about 3 seriously interested people contact us and have had a lot of traffic on the website. It is early and people are just now thinking about fresh produce.
Do you have an idea if the crops grow as planned (not great but not bad, just average)of how much produce that each full share would buy($725)?
In years past, when we grew for some friends in the St. Louis Area and they would meet us at the Clayton Farmer's Market they were paying the same amount and would get 2-3 walmart grocery bags full of produce. Of course it depends on the vegetables that week and how bulky they are. A typical week included: two pounds of tomatoes, a bunch of basil, greens (collard, chard,etc.), 5-6 cucumbers, 5-6 zucchini and other summer squash, 2-3 pounds of potatoes, 2 pounds of greenbeans, and 3 or 4 peppers. The variety will change, depending on the stage in the season. Early season would be heavier on greens and salad mix, radishes, beets, peas, carrots, spinach.
I don't know how much you plan to plant vs how many people invest in it?
I am planning on planting a large amount regardless of what the CSA does, we have a few wholesale contracts that we will grow for instead or in addition to the CSA. The CSA would not be feasible for us if there are less than 10 families signed up due to processing/packaging/delivering, etc. If you sign up and pay, and we don't get the 10 families we need, you will be completely refunded by late February, early March.
What would be my expected/estimated return of veggies be?
The goal is that you will not to buy produce that is available around here from the store and can build the majority of your meals around the produce we provide. In our household it is me and my husband and our 1year old daughter. We are a family with two small kids and we would eat this amount easily, but most of our meals are heavy on veggies.
If you made it to this point! Congratulations, you have a lot of endurance as a reader and/or are very interested in local foods, veggies, and farming and I welcome you to send me any additional comments or questions you may have to me at mailto:readcarrie@hotmail.com. One more thing, we don't have a tractor and have farmed with horses for the past 10 years, but are at a philosophical crossroads. We could get more done in a shorter period of time with a tractor, but....but...but....more on this next time.
First off, I am afraid that some people may not be able to find or figure out the link to the brochure for the CSA. If this is the case, I would be happy to email one to you directly. My email address is: readcarrie@hotmail.com
Now...to answer those FAQ's:
What does the black irrigation tape do?
The black irrigation tape is what we use to water all of the crops in our high tunnel (greenhouse). By using this kind of irrigation we are able to reduce the spread of diseases and rot that are common when growing cool season crops like lettuce and arugala. It is helpful also for when we grow tomatoes in there for disease reduction. By keeping the water dripping onto the ground next to the plants, you reduce the chance of fungal cells or bacterial cells getting spread by water hitting them with force and bouncing up on the plant or to other plants nearby.
Why go organic if you're not certified?
This is an excellent question. My husband and I started farming and worked in health food stores in the years before anyone ever heard of organic certification. I am sure people were getting certified back then (I am talking within the last 12 years, not decades ago). It just wasn't really an issue and then the government got involved and tried to establish rules and regulations that would need to be followed by EVERYONE regardless of the size of your farming operation. That meant that a huge corporate farming operation would have the same certification requirements and fees as the small local farmer. This seemed like an extremely unfair practice to many of us that were involved in the organic/health food industry. This does not even get into the things that are allowed in the USDA certification classification of organic. Things that we just would not allow on our farm....Sewage Sludge For Example. To us it is more important that you know your farmer and his or her practices and their ethics, rather than see a label on a product. I have heard this phrase repeated by several people lately: Local is the New Organic. It is true, really. A greater impact can be made in the vertically integrated food model for our economy, health, and environment by buying locally. Just because you are buying organic milk from the grocery store for example, doesn't mean that the company really upholds your ideals. They may have the same or higher rate of infection, but those cows are taken out of production and go to a conventional milk processing set up. They may be feed organic feed on a feed lot, with little or no access to grass or clean pasture. They are not allowed to give them injections of growth hormones, if they are producing organic milk. The milk that is certified organic travels thousands of miles to get to us here in Missouri and is ultra pasteurized. That means that it retains far less nutritional value than milk produced here. I would much rather buy milk from my local dairy farmer that feeds their cows locally purchased/raised feed, allows them access to pasture that might have fertilizer applied every year or so, allows him or her to make a living or maintain their family farm while still working another job (as most of us have to do), and know that it didn't require hundreds of gallons of fuel to get from California to Here.
Great information on organic certification:
Attra Organic Farm Certification
What kind of soils do you use?
We go back and forth between mixing our own soil mix that included mixing peat, vermiculite, and perlite. We used this method for about 10 years. Other times would use the standard potting mix that is available at most garden centers. This is not considered organic, however because it does contain a wetting agent that is traditionally considered a non-organic ingredient. This past year we used Miracle Grow's Organic potting soil mix. It contains some fertilizer, I believe. We started using that as a matter of convenience, but is by no means an economical choice for large scale seed starting. A note: When you start your own seeds using a mix of peat, vermiculite, and perlite that you mix yourself you will need to establish a fertilization program. We always used fish emulsion. You mix it up with water according to the label for the size of your seedlings to be careful and not "burn" them with too much nitrogen. You can purchase fish emulsion in quart and gallon, and I think 5 gallon sizes. Fish emulsion reeks! so you probably want to look into something else to use as an indoor fertilizer, unless you find the smell of rotten fish guts appealing.
Some other general CSA FAQ's:
How many people do you hope to sign up for this CSA farm?
Our goal is to have 10 people minimum sign up and a maximum of 15 for the season. Right now, we have had about 3 seriously interested people contact us and have had a lot of traffic on the website. It is early and people are just now thinking about fresh produce.
Do you have an idea if the crops grow as planned (not great but not bad, just average)of how much produce that each full share would buy($725)?
In years past, when we grew for some friends in the St. Louis Area and they would meet us at the Clayton Farmer's Market they were paying the same amount and would get 2-3 walmart grocery bags full of produce. Of course it depends on the vegetables that week and how bulky they are. A typical week included: two pounds of tomatoes, a bunch of basil, greens (collard, chard,etc.), 5-6 cucumbers, 5-6 zucchini and other summer squash, 2-3 pounds of potatoes, 2 pounds of greenbeans, and 3 or 4 peppers. The variety will change, depending on the stage in the season. Early season would be heavier on greens and salad mix, radishes, beets, peas, carrots, spinach.
I don't know how much you plan to plant vs how many people invest in it?
I am planning on planting a large amount regardless of what the CSA does, we have a few wholesale contracts that we will grow for instead or in addition to the CSA. The CSA would not be feasible for us if there are less than 10 families signed up due to processing/packaging/delivering, etc. If you sign up and pay, and we don't get the 10 families we need, you will be completely refunded by late February, early March.
What would be my expected/estimated return of veggies be?
The goal is that you will not to buy produce that is available around here from the store and can build the majority of your meals around the produce we provide. In our household it is me and my husband and our 1year old daughter. We are a family with two small kids and we would eat this amount easily, but most of our meals are heavy on veggies.
If you made it to this point! Congratulations, you have a lot of endurance as a reader and/or are very interested in local foods, veggies, and farming and I welcome you to send me any additional comments or questions you may have to me at mailto:readcarrie@hotmail.com. One more thing, we don't have a tractor and have farmed with horses for the past 10 years, but are at a philosophical crossroads. We could get more done in a shorter period of time with a tractor, but....but...but....more on this next time.
Planning, ordering, drooling
I have been having so much fun meeting new people lately. I have been getting the kids involved with a homeschool group and have met and re-met some great folks. This has been great for me, since I have been in front of the computer for the last couple of years for over 40 hours a week working. I was teaching online and wrote a textbook and now both are ended or coming to an end. I was extremely upset about the online teaching ending, but I truly believe it is a blessing in disguise. I have gotten some perspective and motivation to regroup and establish the CSA. If the CSA doesn't have enough members (ideally 10) to make it run, then the produce that is being grown will be ready for the commercial accounts we have already.
I ordered seeds today and should have ordered them sooner, of course. You never seem to be on time as a farmer. Either too early or too late. That goes for seed ordering, planting, weeding, getting the fencing up the keep the critters out, getting the irrigation set up, you name it.
The early batch of seeds that will be started as soon as they get here includes: broccoli, cauliflower, chard, cabbage, cilantro, parsley, kohlrabi. We have grown all of these before and have had much success with them. I have bought organic seed when possible and have peppered in some different varieties. For example I will be growing a lovely purple cauliflower along with the standard white one. I also ordered seeds and had some in the freezer already that will be planted out in the field under a low tunnel as soon as the ground thaws and dries out a little. Those seeds include: snap peas, beets (golden and red striped), radishes (long fancy ones), kale, spinach, carrots, lettuce. A low tunnel can be created a variety of ways. Johnny's now sells a contraption that will allow you to bend your arches so you can use them to support your plastic or row cover.
I am so excited for this season...and am starting to drool just thinking about the early stuff.
I ordered seeds today and should have ordered them sooner, of course. You never seem to be on time as a farmer. Either too early or too late. That goes for seed ordering, planting, weeding, getting the fencing up the keep the critters out, getting the irrigation set up, you name it.
The early batch of seeds that will be started as soon as they get here includes: broccoli, cauliflower, chard, cabbage, cilantro, parsley, kohlrabi. We have grown all of these before and have had much success with them. I have bought organic seed when possible and have peppered in some different varieties. For example I will be growing a lovely purple cauliflower along with the standard white one. I also ordered seeds and had some in the freezer already that will be planted out in the field under a low tunnel as soon as the ground thaws and dries out a little. Those seeds include: snap peas, beets (golden and red striped), radishes (long fancy ones), kale, spinach, carrots, lettuce. A low tunnel can be created a variety of ways. Johnny's now sells a contraption that will allow you to bend your arches so you can use them to support your plastic or row cover.
I am so excited for this season...and am starting to drool just thinking about the early stuff.
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