Archives
I’ve skipped out on updating this site these past couple of weeks, but not because things at the farm have been slow. Instead, the subscriber boxes have been getting heavier and heavier, and produce has started to fill up our fridge and pile over the dining room table. The contents of last week’s box: zucchini, [...]
In April, I planted a small bed of Early Italian garlic bulbs, ordered from Burpee’s. Last week, I noticed that the stalks had gone from green to brown, so on Thursday I harvested the bulbs. I lost a few to bugs (onion maggots, I think), but ended up with 30 bunches in all, just enough [...]
This week was a hot one. I arrived at the farm earlier than usual on Wednesday to finish the morning’s harvest fast, but was forced to stay later than expected when I realized that a horde of harlequin bugs had started chomping up my tomatillos. I spotted the stinkbug relative and ladybug look-a-like earlier in [...]
I was fortunate enough to have a bunch of help with this week’s harvest, so filling the boxes was a breeze. The contents: lettuce heads, zucchini, summer squash, one bunch Sierra Blanca onions, one bunch rainbow chard, one bag basil and one bag herb blend, which included sage, oregano and thyme. I still don’t have [...]
Low harvests led me to take last week off, but CSA deliveries were back to normal on Wednesday. The contents of this week’s box: fennel, zucchini, flat-leaf parsley, basil, arugula flowers and heads of lettuce. I thought the salad was dunzo when the weather turned hot and the plants began to bolt, but I was [...]
I found a tobacco hornworm earlier this week, hidden in the foliage of a tomato plant. I’m used to seeing these caterpillars with small white eggs emerging from their backs (the eggs of the braconid wasp), but this dude was parasite-free and eager to eat. Hornworms, so named for the sharp spike on their backs, [...]
Another week, another round of deliveries! The contents: one sandwich-sized bag arugula, one sandwich-sized bag mixed mustard greens and kale, one snack-sized bag sugar snap peas, one bunch flat-leaf parsley, one bunch basil, one bunch spring onions and one bag edible mustard and arugula flowers. While I wish the boxes could be bigger, I’m pleased [...]
This past Wednesday marked the season’s first CSA deliveries. The contents: one head lettuce, one gallon-sized Ziploc salad mix, one quart-sized Ziploc mustard greens, one sandwich-sized Ziploc arugula, one bunch flat-leaf parsley and one bag “garnish,” made up of a few sprigs of amaranth and six sugar snap peas (I know, ridiculous. But it was [...]
It’s hard to believe, but deliveries start next week. I am SO thrilled that the season is close to starting. I’ve been focused on planting since mid-May, and while that can be satisfying in a where-there-once-were-weeds-there-are-now-rows-upon-rows-of-tomatoes sort of way, it will be nice to harvest for a change. I’ve been combing through cookbooks looking for [...]
I’ve been paranoid about pests (deer! Groundhogs! Potato beetles!) ever since I started this project. Last week, I encountered my first one: the flea beetle, which has been RAVAGING the winter greens. A friend suggested I spray with a botanical insecticide. I picked up a bottle of pyrethrin last week and tested it out on [...]