Spring Update

The first CSA pick-up will be this Tuesday after 3pm. You'll have a variety of greens to choose from including mesclun, arugula, and baby spinach. We'll have more details posted on Tuesday. This pick-up will be different than usual — there will be no bags with your share name on them; instead there will be crates of bagged greens for you to choose from.

I ate my first mesclun and arugula last night, and it was amazing. Unfortunately, the mesclun and arugula are not as pretty as we're accustomed to. Many leaves have tiny holes in them caused by a common New England pest called a flea beetle. We haven't had much of a problem with them in the past, but this year, either due to the weather or just a gradual increase in population, they are a real menace. We can't do anything about our first beds of greens, from which we'll still get several cuttings, but we'll be using row covers from now on to keep the beetles out of any new beds that we sow. Fortunately they don't have much of a taste for spinach or lettuce!

The spring in general has been difficult due to the excessive rain and dimness. After we planted our first crops, the constant rain made it impossible to get the tractor into the field, or to use our push seeder. As a result, we were behind schedule. The lack of light also slowed the growth of our basil and tomato seedlings. This last week the field was finally dry enough to get the tractor into it and to use the seeder. We are now pretty much back on schedule — and all the plants (and weeds) have really responded to the addition of pure sunlight.

The initial delay means that some crops (radish, turnip, carrot, beet, raab) will be delayed, and the first share pick-ups will be slimmer than usual. However, as the season progresses we will be making up for it. We ask for your patience.

While the rain dropped, we were still able to plant certain crops like onions, head-lettuce, radicchio, collards, kale, broccoli, chard, napa, choi and cabbage. All those crops are right on schedule, and looking great.

The next few weeks we'll be doing a lot of weeding and planting. If you'd like to volunteer, please email or give us a call — all help is welcome!

Spring

The 2011 growing season began with the sowing of onions in our heated greenhouse back in late February. Since then, we've sown many more vegetables indoors, and have recently been sowing in the field.

Last week we added calcitic lime and sulphate of potash to our field, tilled it in, and built pea trellising. We then sowed our first beds of peas, fava beans, radish, turnip, beet, carrot, spinach, arugula, raab, and mesclun. Next week we will be sowing more cool weather crops, as well as planting potatoes and onions. All this work leaves one with a deep feeling of satisfaction.

We managed to grow a pretty decent cover of winter rye on a large spread of the field this past fall. That was also tilled in, but left the soil clumpier than was anticipated. It will need tilled again, and time to decompose before we can plant in that part of the field. This has caused us to change some crop planning and tweak the rotation, which thankfully was easy enough to figure.

The Spring has been colder than we've grown accustomed to. Some of our cold-weather flowering annuals were actually damaged by frost in the cold-frame — a first in the nine years I've been raising plants here. The wind has also been a bit maddening at times, pummeling us in the field and ripping up ground-cloth like great black sails.

We're fortunate this year to have a very diligent and hungry guardian hawk hunting the field. I've already seen him carry off two squealing rodents. We also have daily fly-bys from two Canadian geese who are likely nesting in the neighboring wetlands. They do not carry off any rodents, but cause our chickens to posture, which I suppose keeps them on their toes.

weeding, planting and watering

Every time we make a decision to attend a task at the farm, we leave several other tasks neglected. If we plant tomatoes, like we did yesterday, we don't weed the beet beds; and the beet beds get weedier and harder to weed. That's just how it is. That's the lesson the farm teaches — life is always one step ahead of your intentions. The only way to keep the initiative, is to keep moving; but one's endeavors will remain in some way incomplete.

That said, we are getting a lot done! Our days are split up between weeding, planting, and watering, as well as tending the ornamental plants that we are still gathering into blocks to be picked up and planted.

It's been an arduous few days in the field dealing with the heat of August in the month of May. Yet we've managed to get lots of work done. Kale and radicchio are planted, as well as many herbs. Irrigation has been lain, weeds have been pulled or decapitated, and much time spent watering the small plants that have recently found themselves in the too-hot earth. We've also been very busy organizing all the plant orders for the landscapers and retailers that use our material.

We are now a team of five. Nikki and I were joined by Krissy in March. This is her second year with us, and it shows! In May we welcomed Katie and Julia — they are both in college and will be with us until sometime in August. My friend Zoltan was our delivery driver for three weeks as well. For the next two weeks, we are generously being helped by Ethan and Skylar, two recent graduates of Berwick Academy who chose us for their senior project.

But if you want to volunteer — it's a big field with lots to do! We'll be planting and weeding like mad over the next few weeks, so anytime you want to lend a hand just email or give us a call and we'll accommodate you. We are here on weekends as well.

And thanks for all the kind words about our first cut of greens — we're so glad you enjoyed them!

Our first beds of cabbage and bok choi are planted. This week we'll plant napa cabbage, radicchio, and more onions.

Nikki and Lona received their bees this weekend and installed them in the hives yesterday evening. So far the bees look very healthy and happy!

We'll be harvesting mesclun and arugula this week for the farmer's markets in Exeter and Portsmouth. As usual, we will also have many ornamental plants for sale. Come visit!

Potato plants are pushing through the soil! And so are lots of weeds — earnest weeding has begun!

Also, today we planted three beds of head-lettuce, or about 1200 plants. Varieties included Waldmann's, Winter Density, Breen, Magenta, Olga, and Buttercrunch.

It is very likely we'll be harvesting mesclun greens for Saturday's Portsmouth market. If not, we'll have it next week for sure. We will have lovely scallions and a few sprigs of thyme for this weekend's market, as well as a large variety of ornamental plants.

growth

This is what we're seeing in the field right now: peas, fava beans, mesclun, turnips, radishes, carrots, spinach, arugula, garlic, scallions, and beets. The garlic is of course the tallest (one foot) as it was planted last fall; the peas and fava beans are one to three inches tall, whereas everything else is about an inch.

All the potatoes are planted, and we have now moved on to onions. The first onions to go in are scallions, mini purplettes, and pearl drops.

In the greenhouse, our seedlings are looking really strong. They're all growing a little slower than I expected, but now seem to be benefitting from the increased levels of organic fertilizer that I've been applying. We'll be planting head lettuce and radicchio soon!

Tractors, Mockingbirds and Wind

The tractor is not cooperating. Our big-equipment repair-guy is able to tweak the tractor so that it will work for about a day, but until we get the new part in, it remains unreliable.

We have a nest of mockingbirds next to our office. Thus far, as we have been respectful, we have not been dive-bombed. A few days ago, I walked into the office to find one of the birds perched atop Nikki's chair. The bird panicked and tried to push through the glass of the window; I had to cup him in my hands and walk him outside. Magic!

Yesterday's wind was brutal. We managed to plant another big plot of potatoes before the wind really found it's own, but then had to spend the rest of the day rescuing plants and repairing greenhouses. We were all pretty exhausted after.

Today, we will be preparing for the season's first Portsmouth Farmer's Market which takes place tomorrow. Come and visit the booth! We'll have lots of plants for sale — no it isn't too early! Most of the plants we'll be bringing are cold-weather tolerant — and they're not just pansies and violas!

Earth Day

Earth Day is also Nikki's birthday — Happy birthday Nikki! She spent it mending hanging plants that had gone wonky in one way or another.

I set up our new sprinkler, which worked beautifully; it will save us a lot of time this year. I also jumped on our hand-me-down tractor and re-tilled a particularly jungly part of our field. And then the tractor broke down. Which was a total drag, because I had been rejoicing all day at how having the tractor was like having a couple extra helpers. But a visit from Mr. Gallant, the equipment repairman, solved the problem quickly. And now I know, if the tractor won't start, to jiggle as many parts as possible until it does!! Meanwhile, we await a new key-socket, as that's where the problem seems to be.

Despite the setback, I was still able to sow the first beds of radishes, turnips and beets.

In the greenhouse, the kale and broccoli I sowed on Saturday have already germinated.

all the little veggies

Last week we sowed five beds of greens, five beds of peas, and two beds of carrots (our beds are generally 100'x3'). This week we'll be planting about half our potato crop, some early onions, more greens and carrots, as well as turnips and radishes. Nikki and Krissy also planted two more beds of peas today.

We'd like to plant more this time of year, but we also have our other job — growing the summer annuals for the Flower Company. Each year we grow over 50,000 annuals for wholesale to local landscapers and retailers; we'll also be selling them retail at the Portsmouth and Exeter farmer's markets.

This last Saturday I spent most of the day sowing our tomatoes, kale, and broccoli indoors. While doing this, the plants listened to records by Phoenix, Blakroc, and Them Crooked Vultures. I listened too. At some point, between records, I started singing Beyonce's song 'All the Single Ladies', except the words came out as 'All the Little Veggies'... (put your leaves up!)

peas and mesclun

Today, Nikki and Krissy assembled the pea trellis. It is 700' long and inhabits seven 100' beds in our field. They had to pound in 70, seven foot bamboo stakes and then attach the trellising. Tomorrow, they will plant the peas.

I was able to till the rest of the field. This was a great relief as parts of the field were getting pretty weedy — witch-grass and crab-grass are a particular problem. Afterwards, I cleaned up several beds that are to be directly sown with cool-weather greens. I was then able to sow two beds of mesclun: one mild and one spicy. Tomorrow, I will sow more greens.

fava beans

The first crop to be sown in the field this year is the fava bean. While Nikki was at the Exeter farmer's market selling Spring-plants, I planted two 100' beds, or 600' in rows of fava beans; that's five pounds of seed.

This week, we'll also be sowing carrots, peas, spinach, mesclun and arugula. The seedlings that we've started in the greenhouses are looking healthy, and eager to one day enter the soil outdoors. I'd still like to see our onions bigger at this time, so we'll have to continue to experiment with seeding mediums and fertilizer rates. Two trays of onions are bigger than all the others; they were planted in a different medium than the rest, which means next year I'll be looking into purchasing this more expensive medium for our starts.

I've been able to till about half of our field, and wait, a little anxiously, to till the rest as I watch the weeds grow. The bottom half of the field is still too saturated to get the tractor into it. Let's hope May and June aren't as wet this year!