Farm News

The Season in Review from Natalie

28 October 2007

I'm guessing that many of you are still working on your share from last week-with any luck it will last you a couple more weeks! Though the last week of harvesting was filled with very frosty, cold mornings, the majority of the fall was quite mild, helping us give you the big shares to round out the season. We're grateful that the season gave us a few extra weeks of tomatoes, even a few eggplants, and lots of greens since everything got off to a slow start this year.

If I were to show you a graph of last year's share (2006), it would have looked much like a bell curve-peaking during the "hot crops" season with tomatoes, melons, eggplant, peppers etc. The fall then got rainy and colder; shares got smaller. This year was different-a slow start (remember how cold it was?), a steady even line until September, and then a spike that continued up until the very end. The juxtapositions, at times, were funny, as we put eggplant next to parsnips, and tomatoes next to winter squash. Thanks to the weather for allowing us such a great fall bounty!

Along with the bumper crops like beans, garlic, tomatoes (later), celeriac, carrots and greens, there were also some crops that either fared poorly or did not produce at all. Our onions were devoured early in the season by onion maggots, our leeks disappeared from wireworms, and our winter squash battled cucumber beetles, extraordinary weed pressure, poor germination, and dry conditions. Our early broccoli planting fed a very hungry woodchuck. Our eggplants and peppers finally started producing in October, just before a frost killed them. These are the ebbs and flows of the season, and I like to think of it as keeping us all from getting complacent... you never know what will be good from one year to the next, so seize the beans, enjoy the tomatoes, and learn to love what nature, along with lots of hard work, gives us.

Today Abbie and I prepared the beds for next year's garlic, and will spend a good part of next week planting it. This is always a symbolic close to the previous farming season and opening to the next. I wish you all the best for next season.

~Natalie

Fall Farm Photos

9 October 2007

Dugan Emmons hangs out between the kohlrabi and the dill.

Sean Emmons helps harvest the long awaited celeriac.

The last planting of mesclun greens waits for harvest.

The pick your own garden is still blooming with cosmos.

Farm Photos by Louanne Genthner

3 September 2007

The pick your own garden by the barn. There are flowers and herbs by the barn and in back of the greenhouse. Pick yourself a bouquet!

Calendula makes great pressed flowers. It is also edible, and great in salves and soaps.

The cherry tomatoes are finally starting to ripen... there are a few cherry tomato plants hidden in the pick your own!

We're still picking beans... here Abbie picks on a hot day. Remember that you can freeze them if you don't want to eat them now...

August 2007: Pick Your Own: Photos by Louanne Genthner
24 July 2007: Open Farm Day
7 July 2007: Rain at last!
18 June 2007: It's about to begin!
4 June 2007: A Farewell to the Greenhouse: A message from Abbie
26 May 2007: Celeriac: Part Two
15 May 2007: Potato Planting
9 May 2007: Swimming! (Among other things)
26 April 2007: Rap-scallions: Deer, Apprentices, and Alliums
11 April 2007 (Still snow?): The plants grow on
3 April 2007 (April Fools?): The fun begins
23 March 2007 (Spring!): The apprentices are coming
15 March 2007 (Part Two): Onions are a sproutin'!
8 March 2007 (Part One): Is spring in the air? Sure it is
February 2007: Spring is in the air

Open Farm Day Photos

24 July 2007

We had lovely musical accompaniment

and great pancakes

and plenty of outdoor seating

Rain at last!

7 July 2007

Silas Peirce stands inside the barn before the rain comes.

It's about to begin! The first of the WPF newsletter entries

18 June 2007

I have created some sort of pressure on myself that this newsletter had better be good-after all, first impressions are lasting ones, and I am hoping you all will come back to read many more newsletters. Alas, I have to admit my brain is a little fried right now thinking about all the things that need to get done, and the fact that tomorrow, the farm goes public! I mean, tomorrow is not only when we bring the first harvest to you all, but when you all get to check out the farm. Indeed, we spent a good bit of the day on beautification efforts. It's like having people over for dinner-a good excuse to clean the bathroom and get the kitchen sparkly. We really needed to mow that grass anyway!

We also spent quite a bit of time today mulching the tomatoes, both an aesthetic delight and a necessity for keeping the tomatoes warm, the soil moist, and everything weed free. We send a shout out to Sean, one of our working shareholders, who spent his whole afternoon doing this. We appreciate it:. One of the delights of our new irrigation system is that we can put crops up by the barn that we never could before because of lack of water.

You'll see that the tomatoes are right next to the barn. Whoopee! This is all the more reason for us to stay on top of our trellising and mulching. We're all hoping for a bumper tomato crop like last year. If you're reading this online, you may also notice the older folks (sorry Grandma, but you're no spring chicken anymore) debating the proper way to take tomatoes out of their pots. My grandparents paid a short visit last week and helped put these tomatoes in the ground. I hope I am planting tomatoes when I'm 80.

I'm looking forward to seeing all of your faces around the farm.
~Natalie

A Farewell to the Greenhouse: A message from Abbie

4 June 2007

If I were a vegetable, I would be a celeriac.

Some people play this game with animals or cars, but we here at the farm amuse ourselves with if I were vegetable, I would be.. And I am like the celeriac. Celeriac is resistant to change - the plant gets attached to its surroundings and the routine of the day. At each transition point in the growing process, from the initial seeding in slot trays to the individual flats, from the flats to the transplant in the ground, the celeriac seems to hold back. As the spring leaves have popped and the grass is up to our knees, we have moved out into fields. I find myself dragging my feet, reluctant to let go of the greenhouse.

It was in this happy structure that I watched with great surprise that the first seeds of chinese cabbage we planted actually germinated. I relished in the soothing and methodic noise of watering the entire greenhouse. We spent hours of potting up peppers and tomatoes while listening to the daily dose of NPR or Neil Young. I loved walking into the greenhouse in the mornings to find plants had grown immensely in the past 24 hours, like the blue hubbard squash ready to fly out of their trays with their huge dumbo leaves. I enjoyed the satisfaction of rolling the perfectly round brassica seeds out of your hand and into the seeding trays. I loved the sound of rain on the greenhouse roof on a stormy day.

And now its all clearing out. The challenge of maximizing every inch of the greenhouse is gone. Look how willy nilly these trays are set up.

But these plants in the cold frame are gearing up for the transition to the fields and look how happy there are. Unlike the celeriac, these plants are excited to let go out of their trays and enjoy the next stage of life in the ground. I realize that I've got to let the plants go, and that the fields will have new memories, and before I know it I'll be reminscing about hoeing on a sunny day!

Celeriac: Part Two

26 May 2007

Last week was a crazy up and down week at the farm. Although most days here are happy, Monday hit us with a dose of bad news. Despite our best efforts to grow good onions, we found onion maggots in the crop. The leeks, scallions, and garlic appear to be unaffected, but our onions have been pretty much decimated by these buggers. On top of that, we had rodents eat nearly half of our broccoli in the cold frames. Many thanks to our friends at Crystal Spring Community Farm in Brunswick for giving us some of their broccoli starts, and to my mom for picking them up for us and bringing them down to the farm. It's nice to have support!

Other things in the week were great--the workshares started and we've enjoyed some great conversations and are certainly getting a lot more done with all the extra hands. On Tuesday, we planted the celeriac (remember the celeriac from way back when in the greenhouse?) with one of our workshares, Katie (see photo). We put up the first round of pea trellises, and the carrots have germinated.

Potato Planting

15 May 2007

I got an email yesterday asking who the "I" is in the farm news... I, Natalie, am writing this, and I figured it might be worth including a people shot so you know just who Peter, Abbie, and I are (left to right, Natalie, Abbie, Peter). Soon, our third apprentice, Leah, will be arriving and working full time with us in the fields. Tom and Amy have also started lending a hand a couple of shifts a week, and next week our ten working shareholders will start. Things are getting busy. You'll probably be seeing us around this summer if you swing by the farm, so here's your preview to figuring out just who everyone is... We're hoping to be in as good spirits as we were today when we planted the potatoes in speedilicious time.

For me, the potato planting definitely brought back memories of last year, when at this time it was pouring and our fields were flooded. We had to plant the potatoes two weeks late, and then they were flooded again... Things are certainly looking up this year on that front!

If anything, the fields are a little dry, but yesterday we fired up our new irrigation system for the first time, and it was incredible. We watered three areas at once, and it was certainly a big relief to know that all the things we just put in the ground will get water. Hope you all are enjoying the beautiful weather and newly popped leaves as much as we are.

Swimming! (Among other things)

9 May 2007

This evening after a long day of trying to pull together our irrigation system, get the rest of our kohlrabi in the ground before it got too hot, keep up with the incessant need for watering in the greenhouse, and make beds for lots of things that need to be planted, I had the great pleasure of going for my first swim of the year in the river.

Adrienne (of Wolf Pine Farm Team 2006), came over for dinner and we rushed to the river for a refreshing dunk. Seems like just yesterday it was snowing...

Rapscallions: Deer, apprentices and alliums

26 April 2007

It's hard to make this entry brief, as there's been a lot going on at the farm in the past couple of weeks. After a horrendous storm and flooding that washed out our farm road, things are looking great, and people around here are certainly in better spirits. In order to fix the road, we had to call in our man with the excavator--Boomie. While the equipment was here, we figured we might as well have him pick a few rocks out of the field as well. A few rocks turned into a veritable rock garden, pictured here (these rocks are BIG--you can't quite tell in this photo). Just thinking about how these rocks would have been on our equipment is painful...

Abbie, Peter and I spent a good couple of days putting up our electric deer fencing, and seeing how many deer prints are in the fields, we're really hoping it works. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when this was done and we could start putting stuff in the fields. Here, you can see Abbie and Peter planting scallions in the distance (through the garlic!)-- Peter insists on calling them (and many other things) "rapscallions" and I'm taking a liking to the word. It has many applications.

Sign-ups have started pouring in now that the weather has people thinking about summer, fresh vegetables, and being outside more. If you or anyone you know might be interested in a share, send them our way, and send them soon!

The plants grow on

11 April 2007

The farm was truly beautiful on the morning of April 5th, blanketed in over a foot of wet snow. That's about all I can say about that. I thought of taking pictures, but it pained me a little bit, and the beautiful moment soon passed. We won't be planting peas on April 16th as planned, but we're rolling with the punches, and enjoying the fact that not being able to be on the fields has allowed us to work on some carpentry projects. You all will be enjoying some lovely picnic tables, and perhaps even a sandbox. Yippee!

Since many of you only see the "finished" product (vegetables) coming off the farm, I thought I'd share the brief "life story" of celeriac. The little known, often underappreciated, and undeniably ugly root vegetable, is quite possibly one of the most labor-intensive things to get going in the greenhouse. We planted the celeriac seeds on March 13th. They require heat and a little bit of light (but not too much) to germinate, so we put them on heating pads and misted them every day, careful not to cover the seeds with soil. After they have formed their true leaves, they are ready to be "potted up" (as Peter and Abbie are doing here) into larger cells. This takes a while, as we try not to hurt their roots or their growing tips. Perhaps we'll check in later about their progress.

For now, I suppose that's about it. Notice the Chinese Cabbage on the end of that middle table... it wants to go in the ground already... let's all hope for warmer weather.

The fun begins

3 April 2007

Abbie and Peter started work yesterday with a warm Maine welcome-- 36 degrees and misting. Today, we had grand plans of trying to put up the deer fences, only to find that the mud goes two or three inches deep, and the ground underneath is still frozen. There's always something good and productive to do on the farm, so this afternoon we tackled the long-awaited project of cleaning plastic bailing twine from the manure spreader. This is not a job that should ever have to exist, but because of a load of seriously twiney manure last fall, we will be experiencing twine in all sorts of places for quite some time. Our neighbor, Tim, came over to help out with the affair, and with clippers, scissors, knives, wire cutters and a saw (yes, a saw), we were able to clean it all off in just under two hours! Not bad for four people. That means that by myself, this might well have been an all day affair. I'm so glad help is here.

The apprentices are coming

23 March 2007

It's time for me to move my sprawling stuff, and make way for the arrival of Abbie and Peter, our two full-season apprentices this year. After a winter of solitary living in the cabin, I am ready to re-enter the world of communal living. I'm hoping this will improve my eating habits, which tend to rely heavily on chocolate, chips, and salsa when I'm living by myself... even we organic farmers have our vices, and I'm just thrilled to know that I can now claim all the great health benefits of chocolate to make myself feel better about what once might have been considered an unhealthy treat.

This confession has made me decide to devote this evening to cooking a wholesome meal using that butternut squash (still so tasty after all these months!) and perhaps some parsnips and potatoes.

There are more reasons than just my selfish desire for better meals that I am excited about Peter and Abbie's arrivals. So far, I have been able to handle the work, and Amy has started to help out a few hours a week in the greenhouse and with marketing. Things really begin to pick up in April, though, and the job is far too big for one person to handle. Many hands makes for light(er) work, and many brains together can often come up with much better solutions to problems than just one. I look forward to their input, enthusiasm, and company.

Since I have no pictures of Abbie or Peter, I have included an inspirational picture of our little leeks in the greenhouse. They bear no resemblance to either Abbie or Peter, but they are certainly rarin' to go in this world.

Onions are a sproutin'!

15 March 2007

The weather has been great for germination, and just one week after my troubles getting the greenhouse going, the first onions have sprouted. You can't quite see them in this photo, but in some of these trays, there are a few white stems poking up, curling over themselves. Often, after they have uncurled, they still have the little navy blue/black seedcoats on their tips--so cute. It's supposed to get cold again, but the growing has started.

Is Spring in the Air? Sure it is.

8 March 2007

I should know not to trust a groundhog—a member of the same species that torments us throughout the summer eating lettuce, squash, broccoli... In fact, after finding a small amount of solace in thinking that it would be an early spring, a friend told me that Punxsutawney Phil actually has a record of being right 39% of the time, and wrong 61% of the time. As far as I can tell Phil is wrong again. Rodents should not be trusted.

This week, it has been cold. The snow cover has changed; it is now that oh-so-New England ice-snow. My mother showed me her tai chi walk the other day—moving so as always to have your weight directly over one foot. I feel like I have to walk this way in order to avoid falling. Gingerly walking home, I never know when I’ll punch through and bruise my shins. Ahhh! This is a Natalie rarely revealed to the public. Yes, I am a bit frustrated. Don’t worry, by the end of this monologue, I will have turned it around into something positive. I already have some ideas.

I have had my eyes set on March 5th for some time now. Monday, March 5th, was the day to start seeding in the greenhouse. The week prior to this, I lit the pilot light in the heater—no problem. I turned on the water in the barn—no problem. It was all very smooth and easy—too smooth and easy. Then, I called our propane provider. The rail strike in Canada, delayed shipments via sea, and a pipe leak in another state have led to a severe propane shortage in Maine. We can’t get propane to heat our greenhouse.

I did a little thinking and a little researching what other folks have done, and came up with a system to create a little greenhouse within the greenhouse. A much smaller tunnel would have a much smaller volume of air to heat—a volume that perhaps even an electric space heater could handle. This little system was all set up, and then I went to go turn on the water. These record low temperatures favor ice, not water. The water line to the barn was frozen—in the basement of the house. Putting a space heater down there in an attempt to thaw the pipe was met with little success, and I quit trying for the day. One more night of below zero temperatures and wind will probably not help.

Friday, the weather is supposed to warm up a bit, and Saturday it’s supposed to get above freezing. Thank goodness. I will wait for the water to flow, and the air to warm. I wonder—maybe I just wasn’t supposed to plant on March 5th? Maybe I should pay attention to nature more. It is hard when the greenhouse is already a somewhat “unnatural” environment to take a clue from the weather, but rather than get frustrated with the compounded obstacles, I think I will try just to go with the flow. I will plant seeds on Friday or Saturday. It will be warm, and they will be happy.

In the meantime, I have saved a good amount of propane by postponing the start date, and this feels good. The experience has also made me think about efficiency as I hadn’t thought about it before. It might make sense to have a tunnel within the greenhouse at the beginning of the season even if the propane is abundant. It is probably worth investigating other ways to make the greenhouse, and all of our operations more efficient. And this is a good opportunity for us to think about trying to find local solutions for our energy needs. Is wood a better alternative? Is it possible to have a compost-heated greenhouse in Maine? Sometimes it takes an extreme event to look closely at how we do things, and come up with ways to do them better.

I am reminded of our experiences last year with a cold, wet spring. As we looked at the days on the calendar passing, we got nervous as we got farther and farther away from our planting dates for some crops. Set on having our beans in as close to May 15th as possible, we pushed to get them in the ground even though it was still wet, and cold. Our first round of beans suffered because of it, with many of the seeds never germinating. We paid closer attention to our tomatoes, feeling the soil for warmth, watching the weather predictions, checking the roots of our plants in the pots and looking for flowers in the foliage, making sure there was enough air circulation under the plastic of the cold frames as it rained. We ended up putting our tomatoes in the ground more than a week after we had planned to, and we had fantastic tomatoes. Because of these experiences, I try to remind myself that planting dates are not set in stone… I try to pay attention, think, and do the best I can. I have a good feeling about it all.

Spring is in the air

16 February 2007

Punxsutawney Phil may have predicted an early spring, but as the wind rips the tarps off wood piles outside and blows the snow into drifts along the farm road, I don't feel like hanging up my hats, mittens and scarves anytime soon. Despite this, I got a little whiff of spring the other day when our shipment of potting soil arrived. We opened the door to the greenhouse and stepped onto… squishy ground! The humid air was a welcome treat after the dry air we've all been breathing in our wood-heated homes. I felt my muscles relax and my senses heighten.

Working in the greenhouse is one of my favorite parts of the season. During the day, even in March, it is often unnecessary for the heater to come on because the sun itself is so strong that the greenhouse heats up to a very pleasant temperature for the plants and us. It is as if we get a special sneak preview to spring. It is a time when all of us working at the farm get to be together, to start to know each other (those who don't already know each other), to learn each other's musical and radio tastes and distastes… I have fond memories of my first year here, as an apprentice, when Brooke and I got hooked on the Diane Reames Show on New Hampshire Public Radio. Whether we agreed or disagreed with the guests, it was always entertaining. Last year, with Adrienne and Sarah, the musical mixture was eclectic, from Mos Def to Gillian Welch to Zap Mama, and always interspersed with a little Johnny Cash. Can't put farm girls into boxes, I guess. Along with the germinating plants, the greenhouse is always a place of budding friendships, which usually last far beyond the harvest.

As the potting soil thaws on pallets, and I put the finishing touches on the greenhouse seeding schedule, I am filled with hope. In two weeks, we will plant the first seeds-onions. These will be looking like bright green blades of flavorful grass when the first two apprentices arrive at the beginning of April. Over the course of many more hours in the greenhouse together, we will put all of our love into hundreds of trays of tiny plants. I don't know what music will serenade these plants as they enter the world, but I look forward to it.
top