Tuesday, May 26, 2009

May Farm Update

Hello from the farm!

We are planting away, putting in thousands of lettuce heads, napa cabbage and bok choi transplants into the soil this week. Yesterday was an adventure as we ended up looking like the farm mud wrestling team as the rains came down. The strawberries are flowering and looking good for early June, the lettuce is freshly hoed, and the fields are filling up with vegetables in preparation for June. The warm season crops are cued up for transplanting later this week: tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.

*First Harvest is June 4, 5, 6 *

Thurs: 3-7pm
Fri 11-7pm
Sat 9-1pm [whichever day suits you best each week--flexible pickup]

Paying for your share:
Payment is requested before or during the first harvest pick up days.

Call for volunteers! We’re looking for a few people to serve as Share Ambassadors for the opening weekend at Homefields. Ambassadors will greet new shareholders and show them the ropes of shareholding at Homefields, including signing in, collecting a share (both in the barn and in the pick-your-own fields), and other general questions. Ambassadors will also welcome our youngest ‘farmers,’ handing out coloring pages, taking kids’ photos on the 'tractor,' and pointing them to a plant-your-own table. If you’re interested, please contact Heather at lawgirl924@hotmail.com (please put FARM in the subject line) or at 808-7060.


Looking forward to seeing you and starting the harvest,

Scott

April Farm Update

Hello from the verdant fields of the farm!

Everything is alive and growing gangbusters. We are filling the greenhouse with seedlings and getting ready to do the first transplanting outdoors. Here is some of what has been happening since the last update:

--Bradley Hagens joined the farm staff for this season. No stranger to the farm, he has both worked here before and been a shareholder, and his horticultural and agricultural talents are much appreciated.

--Elizabeth Swope and I grafted the tops of the pawpaw trees over to improved varieties--this should mean better fruit and fewer years to bearing.

--We applied loads of our own finished compost to the fields that had weed pressure last season and lower levels of organic matter. If you drop off any compostables at the pile you'll see that a whole lot of it has disappeared onto the fields.

--The trainees, some familiar and some new faces, have done an excellent job of mulching the blueberries for weed control as well as seeding in the greenhouse. Today they are seeding watermelons in the greenhouse! Mmm, melons…

Interest in the farm this year is very high and I expect that we will be full in the next few weeks. If you know anyone who is intending to get a share this season, please let them know that now is the time.

Looking forward to the June harvest,

Scott