harvest week nine

Hi All!!!

Whoee!!It's been hot, wet, in short, summer is hitting us with its best shot. I can tell how hard I work, by how early my eyelids rebel against gravity or obey it. Afternoons are a series of sweat soaked hours,cooled by frequent riverine submersions.Yesterday I cut open the first watermelon, one I had been keeping an eye on. It was'nt all the way ripe, but I could of sworn I was transported to some farmers nirvana, as the sweet juice rolled down my chin and under my shirt, soaking my shorts.And it wasn't even ripe yet!!!

The beans are beginning their green cascade, I  got a good case of Bean Belly yesterday, as we picked the first 60 lbs. Sweet taters are spreading out, battling the creeping winter squash, which if current trends hold, will bury us in delicate butternuts and zesty delicata's.My mind is like a calculator stuck on the multiplication button, constantly reviewing , planning and fretting as the farm is threatening to bury me with its bounty .We've had moments of panic recently when packing the truck for market. Stuff literally will not all  fit! It's like a geometric jigsaw puzzle. Last Wednesday when I left for market and looked out the window en route, my table was hanging out the window! Luckily we fixed it before it fell out.

 Last week we got rained on so much I was freaking out over the possibility of late blight on the tomatoes.So far so good though, as they remain startlingly green and the fruit set looks superb.The sheep love the cooler wet weather, not greeting me with a cacophony of baaing when I see them, but contentedly munching on the lush grass.Gerda our cow is producing enough milk for an army,a full three gallons a day.Such a great way to start your day, leaning against her warm flank, listening to the milk streams hiss into the bucket, getting whipped in the face with her wet poopy tail....

.Hope you all are enjoying this years bounty, we feel it has been a great one so far. On that note.

lettuce

cukes

squash

eggplant

cabbage

beans

carrots

Enjoy this while it lasts, fall will be here before you know it!With a bit of melon and tomato thrown in isoon enough .Happy eating!

peace

gaelan and nicole

harvest week seven: garlic harvest

Hey all!

Not sure if Nicole already let you in on this weeks secrets, but if so, here's a double dose.If not,hallelujah!Pulled the garlic out of the ground yesterday,thinking about it's central asian origins,connecting ourselves through the millenia with farmers the globe over.Sometimes that happens to me, when pulling carrots,staring into the mists of history,when the carrot was an unknown root born in Afghanistan.Maybe Alexander the Great, munched on one as he drove his Macedonians over the Hindu Kush and here we are in Appalachia,enjoying a similar treat.Mindblowing!The bulbs of garlic were covered in beneficial micro fungi, a testament to the health and vitality of that particular field, which we have been struggling with these last years.So great to pull the roots from the ground and then in no time to see them hanging jauntily in the barn.Carmella loved it, meticulously cleaning the fat bulbs.Now, garlic will once again cloak us in its smells and tastes,its health giving qualities and its culinary prowess.We have officially reached the mad dash stage, where weeds and plants grow tremendously.Harvesting, weeding,planting are all a blur and the only thing keeping you on your feet is the need to do just ONE more thing before collapsing in to the swift river water.I'm gonna keep this a short epistle,since Nicole is headed up to NY and we must pack for market.Here's the hoodlums!

cukes

squash

greens

lettuce

onions

broccoli

cabbage

fennel

maybe taters if I feel generous.

Anywho, enjoy the onslaught.Keep your bellies happy!

peace

gaelan

Harvest week eight:squash deluge

Hello All!

Another week of farm madness has passed, leaving us all feeling giddily chastened.In the fields, we are currently dodging the deluge of squash and cukes thundering into our harvest boxes,while looking at the beans and tomatoes. Bean Back and Bean Belly  are almost here and guess what? I really want to share the pain!I have been trying to harvest the squash at smaller and smaller size, thusly cutting down on the bulk of the larger fruit. As with all things though, good ideas are great on paper,but out there on the front rows, it's pick or be picked.We had our annual 4 of July party, a day for us to celebrate all that we are thankful for. Food, music , poetry, good friends , beer and of course pyrotechnics.Our good friend Nathan Allen again roasted one of our swine over a nice fire,as the party revellers worked up an appetite competing in the farm olympics.For me, this celebration represents my goals, bringing people together around farming and food.Looking at each other across the fire and sharing tales of daring doo.Nick and Grace constructed a giant papier mache eagle ,which was the grand finale of the fireworks show, bursting into flight while Jimi Hendrix sang about kissing the sky.

We are doing other things than partying here, watching the green tomatoes emerge from their flower buds, clustering in abundance on the vine.We have head sized watermelon and cantaloupe out there, fattening like a suckling pig, sweeter and fat free though. Somehow, our soil is doing something as yet unseen, showing its intense vitality through the color of green the plants are.I am amazed and thrilled. Must be doing something right. Hope you al are enjoying the summer, until next week, if I don't drown in the squash ocean!

Here's the hit list.

carrots

beets

cukes

squash

lettuce

broccoli

greens

fennel

cabbage

Hope you can eat it all.If not, there are numerous freezing and canning options,very simple.Have a fabulous week.

peace

gaelan

harvest week six

Hello Everyone,

It's been a great week.Watching those monumental thunder heads roll in, leaving us wetter and better,causing things in the fields to get even more abundant.Of course there are times when ,astride the tractor ,lightening creasing the black clouds hanging seemingly right over my head,that I wonder what good I would be to anyone as a farmer chip.But that's what it's all about right, risking life and limb for head lettuce and bok choi!You can really tell summer is here, by the varying shades of fruit that Carmella has been ingesting.One day, a black raspberry purple, the next,an orange tint from the sungolds .Her small mouth a great indicator of what's good eating at the moment.Yesterday we herded Gerda our cow in, she perched happy on my shoulders.Once down at the farm, we HAD to go see the baby watermelons.Halfway down the bed I looked back and Carmella was painstakingly smushing every squash bug she could find.It was all I could do to coax her away from the carnage.I think she even told me to hold on, she would be there when she was done.

We also began seeding the fall round of broccoli, cauliflower and greens,parsnips and other fall staples.Strange to do when the summer bounty hasn't even hit us full on yet.Seems the days race by,each a blur of soil, fruit, greens and cool deep water.I have enjoyed this spring and early summer immensely,watching the plants rocket forward towards your bellies,so generous in their giving.I will sing the melons a lullaby for all out there,it makes them sweeter!

Here's the goods!

lettuce

onions

broccoli

cabbage

greens

squash

fennel

new taters

Have fun in the kitchen!

peace

gaelan

harvest week cinco

Hey Folks!

Happy to announce the arrival of bright red new potatoes to your kitchens! Always an exciting time, where last week they were merely marbles, but with this great moisture we have had , they have puffed themselves up to truly delectable dimensions.As with the arrival of cherry tomatoes, they are the harbingers of our shift into the high gear of summer.These Andean tubers,which have played such an incredibly well travelled role in world history.Most notably of course the Irish potato famine.I love to imagine their spread slowly around the world,until now when they have become a much vaunted staple of many cultural diets.Looking down the bushy rows,I like to think I can hear the tubers expanding.

The farm is going great guns,as from day to day plants flower and fruit clusters appear.Broccoli, such a space hog, is here now for a couple weeks,but soon we will be gone,just in time for the arrival of full summer croppage.Moisture has remained well balanced so far this seasom, I only spent one week turning the irrigation on,fixing geysers and ignoring pesky mere leaks.Over the years I have received a PhD. in farm irrigation and invention.After endless cutting,splicing and knuckle skinning,our farm water system works almost like I want it to.Some people cunsult techno wizards, spending entire lunch breaks hyperventilating on the phone.I prefer to hyperventilate inb the field, plus I can cuss and kick the offending pieces .Sometimes I think I could diversify into farm therapy.I hope you all take the time to make a cold new tater salad,with plenty of green onion, salt ,pepper and dill.Here are the hoodlums for the week.

NEW TATERS

squash

broccoli

cabbage

head lettuce

onions

kale/collards

Enjoy!!!!!!!

peace

gaelan

harvest week four

Howdy All!

Been a hot one this past week, days, where the sweat trickles down your body in tiny rivulets,your mind struggling to keep the torpor at bay.Yet how could I possibly complain,when things are growing a mile a minute and the river,oh the river is what keeps it all in perspective.Planted out sweet potatoes this week,trying to imagine three months from now,digging those orange clusters from the sandy soil.Enough to make you run through the garden naked.For me it's always fascinating when the heaT bears down,yet the leafy greens hold their own with remarkable grit.I wander the fields aimlessly in the early morning, poking and prodding, feeling like some strange earth doctor,checking on my patients.This past week was also the celebrated first cherry tomato from the high tunnel.At first I thought I was seeing things,maybe someone had droped an orange golf ball, then remembered that noone plays golf in my field.Suddenly it hit me.Sungold!!!!As the trickle of hot , sweet -tart juice flowed over my taste buds,my body went to automatic,running itself out of the tunnel, whooping and screaming.Somehow,as we all know,taste can trigger such a whirlwind of memory and emotion.The taste of the first tomato, however small seems to me to say that everything, no matter how tough the going will be fine in the end.Maybe politicians should eat fresh, sun ripened sungolds.Perhaps then we would have happy down to earth people in office.Carrots are elongating,beets are rounding out,cukes are nascent on the vine and the melons spread stealthily over their beds,like good eats sliding down your gullet.I hope all and sundry are enjoying their food,I really think instead of carpe diem, it should of been seize the food.Here is your playlist for the week.

squash

onions

kale

lettuce

peas

choi

Tallyho!!!

peace

gaelan

Harvest week three: HOT!

Man, time is flying by.Today was a double dip day in the river, felt good to sweat some, really feeling like summer is here to stay.When it's so hot out, I relish the early mornings even more, the lush colors before the sun turns everything a blinding yellow.Today we worked on building an outdoor shower at the apprentice cabin. Nick and Grace are this year's crop of young folks, who give us their sweat and tears, minimal on the blood part. My personal ethic when accoplishing a project on the farm  is to find as much of the materials on site as possible.Saving cash, but also a creative challenge to see what one can create with random parts.We are using an old pressure tank for the water storage, set on a seven foot high platform,connected to the already existing water catchment system.

I've been in a pickle of late, at the end of the day, turning my hands over, wondering at the lack of engrained dirt this year. It's almost as if I have to intentionally rub my hands with schmutz to feel that I really am a farmer. I take pride in my farmer hands.Have to keep up with my peers the world over,whose hands I always admired,coursed with veins ,fingers like vise grips. I swear I'm working hard........really.

All vegetable matter is continuing its rapid expansion, lettuce heads ballooning like they're sucking helium. Melons are starting their slow spread over the black fabric . Peas are fattening on the vine and the tomatoes are putting out buds. This evening at dusk the girls and I were down at the farm, me fixing some last minute wrinkles with the irrigation, the girls, dancing through the fine spray of the sprinklers, yelling and singing.What a great way to end the day. Here's a who's who for this weeks eating!

kale/chard/collards

radish

peas

lettuce

onions

garlic scapes

Choi

Enjoy the Hot weather! Peace, Gaelan