Today the air was lush with scent. We went out early in the shadow to plant. It was sopping, the rain yesterday soaking the beds to a sponge like quality. Today was tranquil compared to yesterday.
We had about 4000 seedlings to transplant with our trusty Planet Junior and Senior (Me and Gaelan's arms). The broccoli, cauliflower, kale, chard and onions do not wait for weather. Really though we should have waited,. but due to G's leaving for a trip, we've got to get these babies in the ground.
Yesterday started by G trying to fix the broken lug nuts on the tractor tire, which caused it to almost fall off! That in, in of itself proved okay, almost got the truck stuck in the mud while trying to help out! We got the tilling and planting mostly done, racing against the thunder and lightening. Just keep bending and keep planting , the rhythm almost mesmerizing, the motions done over and over. ..
As the thunder crashed we dashed to the truck and sat in a downpour. I asked " do you think we can get the truck out of here " as I see rivulets of mud streaming down the gravel path we are to take out. I guess I jinked us because it just got worse! The truck got stuck and then sort of in the way of a huge boulder we excavated out of the field some years ago. We had to use the tractor to move the boulder, in the process of which the irrigation tubing got all tangled in the spader which was dragging on the ground for leverage... Then the tractor had to push the truck out of the muck!! All said and done, covered in mud and soaking wet, we prevailed in getting the truck out of the field and home. Today all the plants were planted out and we did not drive into the field! We learned something for once.
The air was so fragrant today and the plants happy!!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Planting out
What a great day to plant out! IT was in the 70s again. Our neighbors from Mexico say "Marzo loco" and I agree, March is crazy! We started out the day setting out our onion seedlings - white and red. We hoed our little lettuces and spinach that we sowed in Late January. They're so cute! Direct sowed beets and carrots too. The tractor had a tire hiccup at the end of the day- the lug nuts broke on the back tire! That 's why I don't drive the thing! Hopefully we'll fix it tomorrow so we can prep the beds for all our beds of broccoli, cauliflower , cabbage and greens that need to be planted out before Gaelan leaves for the Grand Canyon Sat.
Farming is on!
Farming is on!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
February planting
It was 70 degrees today! What a day for planting. It's been nothing if not mild, so hopefully our January planting will give us an earlier start. We went out in the field today to plant another seeding of radishes, turnips, greens, arugula, spinach... We started off spreading one load of compost on the beds and as we returned for the second load, the tractor quit. It had been belching some black smoke earlier... IT took almost an hour of clearing the gas line of diesel junk to get going again. G spent some time sucking on the lines trying to clear it, but we had to disconnect hoses and thread wire through the hoses to get blockage out. Lesson: don't run the diesel down to empty..... we knew better...
All ended well, the girls helped on the tractor as Carmella chanted for me as I ran the seeder down the bed. The smell of soil and hot sun on the back felt great! Onward to Spring!!
All ended well, the girls helped on the tractor as Carmella chanted for me as I ran the seeder down the bed. The smell of soil and hot sun on the back felt great! Onward to Spring!!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
New season 2012
Wow, we haven't added anything since the crush of August. That can happen after August. It felt like a marathon.. September and October mellowed out somewhat but not enough to blog I guess!!
Well, 2012 is upon us already. We luckily ordered all our seeds right after Christmas and had a big package waiting for us on our return from Puerto Rico (our January getaway!).
It has hardly been a winter here and most places. So, ala global warming, we decided to plant some seeds outside a month ahead of when we normally do. Although it feels good, in a way, it also feels really weird. It's warm, the sun is shining birds are chirping but it's January (or was). We sowed spinach, turnips, radishes, lettuces, greens, fava beans, beet and carrots (all outside under remay cover). If it stays mild they should actually grow. We also started our onions in the greenhouse as normal.
Somehow even though it's warm, my body is still hibernating. I don't have Spring fever yet to be out and active entirely, at least in a farm work sense. I still feel the need for rest and reflection. The markets and serious busyness will be upon us before we know it and then I will lament the hours I can't spend reading by the fire.
I read Jane Austen's "Persuasion" in two days over the weekend. I hadn't read her since high school probably and while I"m not going to go on a Jane Austen spree, I enjoyed it. The writing is so subtle and the lifestyle expressed SOOO different from mine, that is in interesting.
I am also reading Galileo's daughter- mostly a book about Galileo and his life and work, but also about his relationship with his daughter reconstructed from letters she wrote him. Very compelling.
So, that's kind of where I am. Contemplating the busyness to come, the season is certainly spiraling our way. Intern references to check, market meetings to attend, seeds to plant, but also books to be read by the fire still!
Nicole
Well, 2012 is upon us already. We luckily ordered all our seeds right after Christmas and had a big package waiting for us on our return from Puerto Rico (our January getaway!).
It has hardly been a winter here and most places. So, ala global warming, we decided to plant some seeds outside a month ahead of when we normally do. Although it feels good, in a way, it also feels really weird. It's warm, the sun is shining birds are chirping but it's January (or was). We sowed spinach, turnips, radishes, lettuces, greens, fava beans, beet and carrots (all outside under remay cover). If it stays mild they should actually grow. We also started our onions in the greenhouse as normal.
Somehow even though it's warm, my body is still hibernating. I don't have Spring fever yet to be out and active entirely, at least in a farm work sense. I still feel the need for rest and reflection. The markets and serious busyness will be upon us before we know it and then I will lament the hours I can't spend reading by the fire.
I read Jane Austen's "Persuasion" in two days over the weekend. I hadn't read her since high school probably and while I"m not going to go on a Jane Austen spree, I enjoyed it. The writing is so subtle and the lifestyle expressed SOOO different from mine, that is in interesting.
I am also reading Galileo's daughter- mostly a book about Galileo and his life and work, but also about his relationship with his daughter reconstructed from letters she wrote him. Very compelling.
So, that's kind of where I am. Contemplating the busyness to come, the season is certainly spiraling our way. Intern references to check, market meetings to attend, seeds to plant, but also books to be read by the fire still!
Nicole
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Harvest week 14
Hey Everyone!
It's official, we have started the long slow slide from high summer to fall. Nights are now dipping into the high forties and the air has that crisp pungency to it. Swims in the river are quicker , lying in the sun has never felt so good. What a summer it has been, back torquing, mind bending, hand cracking river swimming, fruit harvesting. Literally thousands of pounds of fruits have been plucked by our fingers, f eeling for ripeness, twisting the stubborn stem until you hear the satisfying snap of fruit released from vine. Our hands are connected to your bellies in quite a visceral way. Priorities and color schemes change now, I find myself dreaming of lush greens and zesty root crops. Can't really say I would turn my nose up at a roated lipstick pepper though. The farm seems almost barren, the lush bushyness of squash, beans and tomatoes all but gone.A nimals are shifting in their attitudes, less needy, more calm. Lambs and hogs put the pounds on and I can detect a faint thickening to the cows coat. Still recovering from team Knife and Fork's win in the WNC Chef's Challenge. I was a team member under the genuis guidance of my friend, culinary mentor and brilliant chef Nathan Allen. We went through four rounds of competition to get to the final, matched up against the Biltmore. There is something so poetic about real food turning people's palates and hearts ,showing folks, that through the food we grow and then cook, we can create a revolution,or revelation. Maybe both. I cherish my relationships and my quasi membership in that exalted world of cookery. Honored to call someone like Nate my friend.
Anywho, you should expect a shift in veggies,tomatoes fazing out, potatoes in .Here's the list for this week.
taters
tomatoes
cherry toms
peppers
garlic
basil
eggplant
celery
Enjoy the season's change!
peace
gaelan
Harvest week 13
Howdy All!!
Sorry for not being in touch last week, but we were at the beach, leaving the farm in the capable hands of Nick and Grace for the week. They greeted us on our return with dazed looks on their faces and wild eyes, the farm it seems almost driving them over the edge. What would we do without them ! The farm has started to shift again, as cukes and squash fall away and you can almost hear the rustle of fall in the air and see it in the leaves, changing hues ever so gently. Nights are cool and the air is crystalline,l eaving every spruce tree on the ridge in clear view. Hasn't rained in a good while,but that good ole south toe river keeps the plants roots happy and wet. Winter squash lie naked outside, their lush vines dead and gone, the yellow squash gradually turning that smooth butternut color. Tomato vines are slowly dying, but the fruit cascades , leaving all of us in tomato bliss-land. Eggplant and peppers are filling up our boxes, almost leaping in of their own accord. It's time to think and imagine, whereas in June and July there was no time for daydreaming, imagining what next season will bring. Kale, broccoli, cauliflower, chard and many other fall greenage are growing well and looking good. So wonderful to merely tip the potatoes into the baskets, no more painful days of spud harvesting. The summer has seemed so full, bountiful, the way I dream of in the deep of winter,when all these wonderful veggies are mere figments of my fevered imagination. Hope you all are busy grilling, boiling, chopping and slicing,' cause I know I am! Here are the hitters for this weeks line up.
tomatoes
peppers
eggplant
garlic
cherry toms
basil
carrots
celery
Be well
peace
gaelan
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Harvest week 11:the midpoint!
Whew!!! There is so much dirt stuffed up underneath my nails as I write this, that it hurts.Just finished the mad potato dash,three hours of sunbaked madness,as tuber upon tuber emerged gold and purple from the crumbly earth.Some people employ all manner of gadgetry to harvest their solanum tuberosum,but I like to take it back to their Andean heritage,using the fork and the biceps in solidarity with the old ones.Also, I just do'nt like to spend money.Carmella staunchly refused to go swim with Asha,saying she had to finish working,after two hours of full sun and dirt,she finally relented.The yield so far has been fantastic,about 1.5 pounds per foot,that translates to about 900 lbs.harvested and about 1000 more to go.Needless to say,I can barely recall ripping my shirt off and sliding under the river,staying on the bottom 'til my lungs were screaming.Days now are heat induced hallucinations, polka dotted with melons and tomatoes.The pigs do what we all secretly wish we could do, lie blissfully in a soupy cool mud morass,grunting ecstatically whenever we approach.I love the heat,because the mornings and evenings are so cool and gentle,giving me time to make myself ready for the blast furnace.I am sorry I did'nt get to this before the Ashevegas folks received their bounty,but there are now 900 lbs. of Satina and Purple Vikings, neatly packed in boxes,waiting for your bellies.On that note!!!!! tomatoes cherry toms. celery lettuce melon cukes squash carrots beans garlic basil eggplant If that does'nt say MID-SUMMER I do'nt know what would.Anyway,enjoy it all!!! peace |
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