043 Putting the vegetable garden to bed, late season farming, how to cook a heritage turkey

Updates from around the farmstead:

• #farmerandy shares his Big Buck story of dispair,
• We put the veggie patch to bed with compost and the rototiller,
• Pigs moved to a new section of pasture,
• Pig pasture maintenance and seeding on the old pasture,
• From the pasture to the plate we talk about canning chicken in the pressure cooker,
• Final sales of year and the risk to cash flow

In the CoopCast community:

• We talk about cooking a heritage turkey (http://www.localharvest.org/features/heritage-turkey-recipes.jsp),
• A listener who didn’t know he could raise his chickens on pasture,
• Some general listener feedback items from Facebook, iTunes and Stitcher.

In the news:

• We talk about a non-functioning pair of oxen in Vermont and what should happen with them:
  • http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/10/21/163257176/despite-protest-college-plans-to-slaughter-serve-farms-beloved-oxen

Foolow the links on the left to the full podcast feed!

038 Farming updates, garden raised potatoes (above ground), chicken and poultry processing

This weeks farm updates include:

• A discussion about pork cut sheets and pig preparations
• Turkey processing starting next weekend
• Egg layers- who’s laying? Dealing with  older chickens and refreshing our flock
• Last week of CSA
• Greenhouse - looking good

In the Veggie Patch:

• Our potato results!
• Do it yourself- note pesticide levels in store bought potatoes

Farm U: Chicken Processing

This is the first part in a series of Farm U’s talking about chicken processing.

• Equipment and set up, what do you need as the basics to start processing chickens
• What to buy vs not buy in a basic setup

Summer-spring

Not that I’m complaining, mind you, but this winter was mostly a joke in our neck of the woods.  Really, we didn’t have a winter.  With only 15 or so  days with 1” or more of snow on the ground (when an average winter is like 70 days), this was NOTHING!  The ground hardly ever froze.

Then March hit and the already moderate temps headed up.  As in way up.  Yesterday out weather-station recorded mid 80’s and today’s forecast is 90!  In March!  Those are the high temps in July and August.

While I’m not complaining (I hate the cold) I am a little concerned as EVERYTHING around here has their buds popping.  The raspberries are coming up, the trees and the lilacs are coming out, garlic is up and growing, even the grapes are starting to show leaves…  

Again - I like warm weather and springtime…  but the wine makers of the region have chewed off their fingernails with these temps.  Grapes are very delicate and now that they are out - a frost could be devastating for the season…  and seeing as how our last frost free day is Memorial Day - the wine makers have a bit to fret about, I’d say.  We are OK though because the grape and raspberry plants we bought last fall on closeout lived in their pots in the greenhouse all winter…  I’d like to say it was planned but it was because I was too busy to give them a permanent soil based home.

We are gonna get some peas in this week and maybe even direct seed a few other springtime goodies earlier and keep our fingers crossed.  I mean, we might as well take advantage of the nice weather, right :)

Getting those seeds started!

Seed starting under the lights

I spent some time in the basement (where we start a lot of our seeds this time of year) getting the first 4 flats of seeds started this weekend.  If you have been listening to our farming podcast (called the Coopcast) you will know this year I have been working with soil blocks instead of the traditional plastic 6 packs and standard potting soil and so far really like the results (the lettuce seedlings in the foregrond in the photo are “greener” than in the past and I attribute that to the higher nutrient content in the soil blocks).

At any rate, one thing people often struggle with, even if you have a lot of seed starting experience, is when to actually START the seeds for your climate.  The good news is there’s a few different resources on the web to help you along with these questions.

First off (And especially this year since the map was redrawn) you should check the USDA’s planting zone chart (here).  This and then a quick Google search will help you determine when your regions last frost date is.  Knowing that date is key in ultimately determining when to start those seeds.

After a little research into your last frost date now you are ready to calcuate when to start those seeds.  Well, a couple of years ago Johnny Seeds put out a pretty decent tool to calculate you starting date.  Likely if you are growing a small garden for yourself, this tool is all you need (here).  However, if you are trying to also plan a consistent harvest over the course of the season, you likely need a tool that’s got a little more math and flexibility at looking at the results.

That’s where we took the JSS tool and improved upon it.  All you need to run this spreadseet is Excel and you last frost date.  The spreadsheet will calculate the rest of the dates that tell you what and when you should start things.  now, certainly there are different varieties of say “tomatoes” that take different times to reach maturity, but this tool sorta takes the average time to tell you when to start the seeds and when to expect the harvest.

Honestly, no tool out there is perfect and there are a bunch of others you can choose from as well.  Really the only advice we can offer is make sure whatever tool you choose it’s easy and accessible while in the garden.  With this spreadsheet we just print a copy and keep it with us all season…  complex computer programs don’t all do that.

(Older post with this information as well here.)

Seed Starting Woorkbook

There is a time for everything...

I remember last years post like it was just the other day.  It's always bittersweet as the gardens wind down and Fall begins it's daily appearance.  After this Summer I think we are actually glad to have a break in the work and just enjoy life a little.  So, without waxing too poetically about the end of the CSA this year, let's ask the same question we have asked for the last 18 weeks one more time for good measure...  Hey, what's in the box?

The final harvested share of 2011 in the CSA 

Tomatoes- savor these red globes holding the last taste of summer. We didn't get a frost yet but it's been mentioned so these really are at their end.
Swiss chard - enjoy now or freeze for later- you'll miss the fresh swiss chard when it's cold and snowy (but it is planted in our greenhouse)
Another delicata squash - be sure to give this delicious squash a try- Wegman's and epicurious have great recipes.
Butternut squash- there are endless recipes for using your butternut squash but using it for soup is a favorite.  These squashes store for a long time so don't worry about using them right away. Save it for a holiday dish and brag to the family - "this is from MY farm!"
Edamame - one more container of edamame.  This is a different variety compared to last week- can you taste a difference?  We don't do anything fancy with out edamame - steam or boil  - add salt and shell and eat right at the table!  That's how it's served at our favorite asian restaurants when we order edamame (not that we really have favorite asian restaurants...  that just sounded cool).
Beets- one last bunch of beets for the season - you'll see there is a mix of bull's blood beets with the dark leaves and detroit red beets with the greenish leaves.
Small bunch of celery- celery doesn't grow as well around here because the growing season isn't as long but you'll see it's just kind of small.  What these little guys lack in size they make up for with taste!  It is time for making soups and stews so we're sure you'll put it to good use.
Banana pepper- these are hot but delicious. We love them on homemade pizza or in quesadillas.
Lettuce - a final head of late-planted lettuce for the year.  This is a golden, lime green colored lettuce that is freshly-picked and yummy... and we forgot the variety so we used lots of adjectives to throw you off.
Carrots!  They were just picked so use a vegetable brush to clean off the soil and then store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.  There is an array of carrot varieties and colors in your bunch of carrots - small and large orange carrots, yellow carrots and purple carrots!

Ohh, there's one more thing in the box...  a note from the farm to you...  Thanks.

And that's it folks.  The end of the 2011 Chicken Thistle Farm CSA!