Earlier this year, I was fortunate to visit and do a soil test at Oxford Farm, a relatively new project (started in 2018!) begun by Theresa Cohen, someone who has for many years been studying and supporting cutting edge enterprises seeking to increase nutrition in foods and to help humans relate beneficially with the land … Continue reading Working with animals on the farm
sustainable agriculture
Farm Fleet
Every organic farm has a farm fleet -- the equipment needed to make farming economically, environmentally and physically sustainable. On a recent working visit to Riverland Farm, I came across one of the nicest pieces of farm transport I've seen in some time. That's a blue Schwinn in front of a field of garlic; big … Continue reading Farm Fleet
Cover Crops
Cover crops help us begin to replace the tons (literally!) of organic matter taken from the fields during the growing season. Tons (again, literally!) of compost will also need to be spread before the next growing season if we are to even approach replenishing the soil. As you may be able to tell from this … Continue reading Cover Crops
Bedtime
We took the last of the tomatoes down today. Moved tomato stakes to their winter resting place. Mowed the pepper and eggplants. Used the disk harrow to chop up the plant debris and get the field ready for winter rye. It was a bit odd, though pleasant, putting the farm to bed on such a … Continue reading Bedtime
October garden
Much of my field is in cover crop now. Oats and field peas are growing where I'll plant first next spring. Winter rye will be sown early next week. Leafy greens that I'm growing for the Winter Share are lovely. Kathy stopped by to take photos. She makes the field look like a piece of … Continue reading October garden
September
September is a bountiful month on this farm. Summer crops like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zukes and cukes are still producing fairly well. Our fall and winter crops like napa, bok choy, leeks, purple top turnips, broccoli raab, radicchio, are sizing up and some are being harvested. It's lovely to be surrounded by veggies!We've planted the … Continue reading September
A watched pot never boils
It doesn't matter how many times a day I examine the second planting of tomatoes, they are still green. They are not the desired red, pink, rose, peach, yellow (marbled with red veins), burgundy, or purple. Green, green, green. I vow not to look at them at all tomorrow. Perhaps that will move them along … Continue reading A watched pot never boils
July Farm Update
Lots going on at the farm this past month. Lots of planting, weeding, harvesting, twining up tomatoes, sampling cucumbers, spotting coyote and wild turkeys. Lots and lots of rain.First, the veggie report. Our spring veggies were delicious, if I do say so myself! I grew some new-to-me vegetables, most notably fava beans, hon tsai tsi … Continue reading July Farm Update
June Farm Update
Yeow! Summer has arrived. Lots of moisture in the soil coupled with this intense heat -- this is just excellent growing weather. We've still a few cool season crops to enjoy (peas should be ready this week!), but soon enough we'll all be eating tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. TomatoesSpeaking of tomatoes, I tied three beds … Continue reading June Farm Update
Dirty Girl Farm and Healthy Soil
Or maybe I should write, "dirty vegetable farm", 'tho we girls did get pretty dirty during the harvest. The lettuce we harvested this morning for the CSA had more soil on it than usual. The much needed rain earlier this week -- about an inch on the farm -- came down hard, and it splashed … Continue reading Dirty Girl Farm and Healthy Soil
Shared Harvest CSA 