April on the Farm, Part II

Welcome to Part II!

Here are our six raised beds that were built by Doug and I in 2005. This picture was taken this evening, looking North. The beds are built out of concrete blocks and the blocks are filled with sand. They are about 20 feet long and 3 feet wide. For not being mortared, except for the sand, they are holding up really well. A draw back of these raised beds is remembering to keep them WATERED well during the summer months. They tend to dry out pretty fast. In the background is our small garden with compost ready to spread. We're putting two temporary hoop houses in this small garden.

Planted in our raised beds are carrots, beets, spinach, radishes, lettuce, parsley, chives, fennel, dill and cilantro.

This picture was taken looking northeast. The red carport is going to be moved and replaced with a permanent high tunnel and on the other side we will be building more raised beds. We (Tammy and Sara and I) spent today cleaning out all the dandelions around the beds. They look beautifu!

Blog to you soon,

Char

April on the Farm, Part I

Welcome to our first blog!

It's been a long, long winter! Glad spring is finally here. And with spring comes new adventures! Gosh, I can't believe that I am actually setting up a blog and will be able to share our farm happenings with you. (Thank you Timi for the encouragement and support! This first blog is dedicated to you, my friend!)

So, what's happening here on the farm? Well, we're getting ready for another Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) season. We're finding it extremely rewarding growing food organically, sustainably, and locally for our family and friends. (And reasonably priced.)


From year to year it's been a surprise as to which vegetables will like the weather that we are having ... and which need to be replanted. Which can actually backfire ... in one picking last year we had 90 lbs of slicing cucumbers because I replanted three times. It took a long time for the soil to warm up!


This year to help our plants deal with mother nature, we are going to install a couple of temporary hoop houses in one of our gardens and a permanently placed high tunnel for vegetable starts.


We will keep you updated on our veggies' journey through the season.


See April on the Farm, Part II for pictures of our raised beds.

We (Tammy and I) have been working really hard to get the farm cleaned up, and (cough, cough) weed free! Well, maybe not completely weed free! But close. Since our produce is certified organic our tolerance for weeds is high.

And Sara started this week too. Just this afternoon we must have "doug" up 14 lbs of morning glory roots!

On to another day! Check out the pictures in Part II!