Freshman Farmer | New Organic Farms Set Roots

Posts Tagged ‘market’

CSA begins

May 8th, 2010
Ellwood Canyon Farms | Blog

I had a good first day with the CSA. Ten members showed up at the farm and picked up shares last monday and I have 14 people signed up for next week. I was happy with the produce and I hope the members are happily eating it. Contents included 1 bunch carrots, 1 bunch chiogga beat, 1 bunch turnip, 10oz sugar snap peas, 1 bag green lettuce, 1 bag red lettuce, 1 bunch kale, 1 bunch chard, 1 red onion, 1 purple kohlrabi, 1 green garlic, 1 pound broccoli/caulilower, 1 bunch culinary sage.

The Farmers market I’ve been attending is slowly getting better…...

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The field is looking good, with the last week of sun and warmer weather stuff is really starting to grow. I have been busy taking care of everything I have growing, keeping pests at bay, as well as planting new crops.

The next two weeks I will be planting more warm weather crops….. tomatoes, squash, beans, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, melons….. as well as more lettuce, carrots, beets, radish, turnips, onions, leeks, chard, kale, and mustard greens. I direct seed the squash, beans, cucumbers, carrots, beets, radish and turnips and the rest are from transplants that I started last month. I am fortunate to have Oscar Carmona and Jeff Kramer of Healing Grounds Nursery (completely organic and a very unique wholesale nursery, check them out at healinggroundsnusery.com) literally right next to my field. Oscar is a great guy and has been big help to my cause. He is currently allowing me to use space in one of his greenhouses to do my starts.

As far as field pests go the weeds are definitely number one, gophers in a close second, and beetles really picking up the pace. My remedies include lots of hoeing (I’ve been borrowing a Glaser wheel hoe which is amazing), consistent gopher traps (cinch traps), and the a vacuum that I’ve been sucking up cucumber beetle with (craftsman shop vac). Nothing works perfect but my remedies are slowly improving and with a bit of luck I feel confident I can keep things under control so that plants are healthy and still producing come harvest time.

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Tags: CSA, farmer's market, gophers, pests, glaser wheel hoe

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The good life

May 7th, 2010
Driftwood Farm | Blog

I know my last few posts have focused mostly on pests and paperwork, but there really is a lot more to our farming life than that! While spring has brought more bugs and gophers, it has also brought some reinforcements in the form of birds: check out the picture of the great blue heron hunting gophers in our garden, and the scrub jay pecking insects out of the split rail fence in the front yard. When we keep the orchard mowed low, the neighbor’s cats like to stalk any pesky rodents that may be around. Barn swallows (which will collect bugs to feed the kids) have started building their nest in the barn where one was last year - time to tarp that firewood pile! We’ve gotten more lettuce and some arugula transplanted out into the rows, and yesterday set out summer squash under row cover. Tomatoes, a few winter squash, more lettuce, kale, broccoli, bush beans, leeks, basil, and more are approaching their time of being set out. Bed prep is ongoing (...and going).

Lots of people in Mendocino have second (and third) part time jobs. We had decided to think of farming - in the first years anyway - as our “side job.” Now, we’re realizing it’s really a second full-time job. But it is enjoyable and fulfilling, even though it’s a lot of work. We’re finally starting to get into a rhythm. And we’ll be selling at the Fort Bragg Farmers Market starting this coming Wednesday, May 12.

Tags: farmer's market, row cover, great blue heron, barn swallows

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Farmers Market season is upon us

April 26th, 2010
Hand Sown Homegrown Heritage Farm | Blog

Sara here! we have two weeks of farmers markets under our belt for this season so far! The Poulsbo market has pretty much doubled since last year, and it’s a whole new market! I’m now a raw goat milk convert, and can’t wait to try some locally made pasta! So far we’ve only had our overwintered kale, duck and chicken eggs and plant starts to offer, but it’s getting me super excited for the new season! The arugula and bok choi is looking good, we have some lettuce and… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: farmer's market, planting, seeding, transplanting, greenhouses, chickens, seed starting mix, low tunnels

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Amazing Journey

April 12th, 2010
Hand Sown Homegrown Heritage Farm | Blog

Sara here! I know that we’ve said this before, and I don’t want to come off as an amateur, because I’ve learned a lot, but Jared and I have absolutely no experience with agriculture prior to 3 years ago, this being the 4th, so we are still encountering new experiences almost everyday. We are also a newly married couple who are working out the kinks of sharing life, work and a business. I’d love to brag and say that we’re handling it all with amazing finesse, but, well,… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: farming life, Poulsbo Farmers Market

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First Farmer’s Market of 2010

April 7th, 2010
DeepSeeded Community Farm | Blog

The Humboldt County farmer’s market season began this last Saturday with a special early market at the Plan-it-Green conference in Arcata. It was fun getting back to into that social dynamic that is unique to farmer’s markets, and of course it is good to have another stream of revenue early in the season. We had a nice spread, combining winter storage crops, overwintered crops, and early greenhouse crops. Folks were happy to once again have access to super-fresh veggies, and I sold… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: market, conference, early, overwinter, Plan it Green, Local Food System

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The market season is about to begin

April 5th, 2010
Hand Sown Homegrown Heritage Farm | Blog

hey it’s me, Sara. We have been working really hard to get this season off to the right start. The two Markets that we will be attending most (if not all) of the season start this next week! We plan on bringing some plant starts, and info on warmer weather starts that we’ll have available a little later in the season. (we’re in the process of potting up about 4000 heirloom tomato, pepper, tomatillo, and ground cherry plants). I’m so excited to see all of the vendors and customers!!!… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: farmer's market, CSA is not grocery delivery, plant starts

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Ellwood Update

March 25th, 2010
Ellwood Canyon Farms | Blog

Everything has been going good here at Ellwood Canyon. Yesterday was big day, after three months of paper work, phone calls, ag-inspector visits and meetings I finally got into my first farmers market. The one they are currently allowing me to attend is every Wednesday afternoon at Harding elementary school on the Westside of Santa Barbara. It is a new market so the crowd is very slow but I am hoping that in time it will gain in popularity. I am also hoping that I will soon be allowed to… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: beans, CSA, farmer's market, peppers, squash, tomatoes, egglplants

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Greetings from the “frosty” north!

March 14th, 2010
Hand Sown Homegrown Heritage Farm | Blog

Sara here! Just wanted to drop in and say how excited I am about this season! Jared and I have both been working the farm full time essentially. Jared hasn’t toured since last season and has been working part time in seattle, and also working with me for a landscaping company in nearby Bainbridge Island. We’ve been both trying to blend our farm work styles (with, admittedly, a little conflict) but so far I feel that we are on track (although, feeling a bit behind…). We’ve… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: CSA, seed starts, first market, work styles

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Paperwork, some fieldwork

December 18th, 2009
Four Frog Farm | Blog

First of all, I am so, so sorry for falling behind on the blog here. I just got addicted to using facebook…you can check out all of the pics I’ve been posting by becoming a fan of Four Frog Farm on facebook. It’s actually pretty sweet. Facebook is pretty manic-it’s all about the one-liners because our society has fallen into ADHD as our default-mode. Whatever…I guess if you can’t beat them, or change em, then I’ll just join em. And, I’m hoping,… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: farmer's market, facebook, twitter, paperwork

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Harvesting in the rain

November 22nd, 2009
Four Frog Farm | Blog

Friday: Logan and I arrive later to the farm than desired. We get in a couple of hours of harvesting before the rain picks up. Then, the mild downpour ensues for about 5 hours. As soon as we’re done harvesting, the rain ends! Admittedly, I was pretty miserable. I’ve grown soft in these last 25 years of life. I guess this is what farming year-round is like -it shows you where you’re soft. Anyway, not harvesting wasn’t an option: we had big order from the co-op and… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: farmer's market, thanksgiving, harvest. rain

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Three farms are starting from scratch.

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.

The Farm Blogs

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