On Wednesday we made it to our first Farmers Market (we only missed the first week). We didn’t have a whole lot to sell, but we figured if we started going while it is still slow, we could ease into it. The kale, lettuce and eggs we brought sold quickly, and we were able to sell more starts than we’d expected. It was great to finally meet the market manager we’ve been corresponding with via e-mail for over a year! She, and the vendors we met, were so friendly and welcoming. Matt was right at home, socializing and making friends right off the bat. It took me a bit to feel comfortable - not being one of the great social butterflies of the world - but it was easy to relax with all the positive feedback (... as many other freshman farmers have attested!) Before next week, we hope to have finished our ‘farm name’ banner for the booth.
This week, we also did our first check-up on the bee hives, planted some heirloom “San Francisco Fog” tomatoes that are supposed to do well in our cool coastal summers, and continued with the routine seeding, weeding and chores.
The earwig situation has been slowly subsiding due in part to our night “hunting” forays into the garden, liberal application of diatomaceous earth in and around the greenhouse, home-made traps, and cleaning up of weedy areas.
One note for anyone completing your Producer’s Certificate online: make absolutely sure you verify that your county accepts the application via the CDFA website. I try to contain my impatience with application processes, and this time I allowed way too much time to pass before I started sending emails to find out what was up. We do have our CPC now.
Other than that, we’ve been seeding flats, watching everything grow in the spring sunshine, and getting plants hardened off to plant out after this random storm is done refreshing everything.
They are turning the dirt and hoping to be successful enough to turn a profit, and to become a valuable part of their communities as suppliers of organically grown food.
Peaceful Valley is giving them a head start by offering them special pricing as part of this Freshman Farmer program.
| Freshman: | |
| New Farms Coming Soon! | |
| Sophomores: | |
![]() | Daily Grace Farms Crescent City, CA |
![]() | Freestone Family Farm Vernal, UT |
![]() | Wise Moon Farm Redding, CA |
| Graduates: | |
![]() | Coyote House Farm Palermo, CA |
![]() | DeepSeeded Community Farm Arcata, CA |
![]() | Driftwood Farm Fort Bragg, CA |
![]() | EarthDance Farm St. Louis, MO |
![]() | Ellwood Canyon Farms Goleta, CA |
![]() | Four Frog Farm Penn Valley, CA |
![]() | Hand Sown Homegrown Heritage Farm Poulsbo, WA |
![]() | Home Plate Organic Farm Orleans, CA |
![]() | Honey in the Heart Farm Nevada City, CA |
![]() | Willow Springs Farm Penn Valley, CA |
| Coyote House Farm Palermo, CA |
| Daily Grace Farms Crescent City, CA |
| DeepSeeded Community Farm Arcata, CA |
| Driftwood Farm Fort Bragg, CA |
| EarthDance Farm St. Louis, MO |
| Ellwood Canyon Farms Goleta, CA |
| Four Frog Farm Penn Valley, CA |
| Freestone Family Farm Vernal, UT |
| Hand Sown Homegrown Heritage Farm Poulsbo, WA |
| Home Plate Organic Farm Orleans, CA |
| Honey in the Heart Farm Nevada City, CA |
| Willow Springs Farm Penn Valley, CA |
| Wise Moon Farm Redding, CA |