The CSA is officially done (this year)!

These boxes will be empty until next Spring

Last nights final pickup at 7:57pm concluded the 2011 CSA season! Thanks again to all who participated. Tough set of growing conditions this year but the shares never reflected the challenges.  Now we move our attention to the turkeys (this month and next) and then the pigs (November/December) and then...  we will be ordering seeds for NEXT Spring (January).  There's always a cycle to follow on a farm and with our level of diversification there's rarely a time where there's "nothing to do".

It's kinda nice to see a pile of EMPTY boxes now - not asking us to rummage through the gardens to find tasty crops to harvest and send on their way.

Now is the time where we can pick the remaining tomatoes and make some sauce for us over the winter - some salsa - some ketchup...

It was a really good season despite the weather and the feedback we had was super positive - so we are bittersweet about the end of the CSA this year...

Maybe I'll go reflect on the CSA's end in the greenhouse full of little green seedlings that will sustain us over the next several months until the days start to get longer again...

Things are getting busy!

Actually things have been so busy since the weather turned to dry that we have been doing several months of work in just weeks!  So busy we haven't had time to post that things are busy :)  The chickens are getting ready to head out to pasture soon, the turkeys are nuts in the head, ducks are out and bout now, egg layers are starting to integrate with the new birds we got this spring and the gardens are planted (now it's time to plant more for an abundance all summer), the CSA deliveries are starting NEXT WEEK and we are still waiting on pigs.

Actually - about this time last year we posted here to remind everyone that we really are a small scale working farmstead and that means BUSY!  So the volume of posts and discussions we will be sharing here is likely to be rather small over the next few months.  However - with the advent of social networks we can still share the highlights on the Farm in frequent and hopefully amusing snippets.  Lots of links abound:  visit us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/chickenthistlefarm), Tweet at us (twitter.com/chickenthistle), check out EXTRA photos on Flickr (www.flickr.com/chickenthistlefarm), watch a video or two on YouTube (www.youtube.com/chickenthistle) or catch us in the act on the live streaming coop-cam (menu above).

There's lots going on and we try to share as much as we can!

Also - for those interested in a farm tour or participating in some on farm activities / classes...  stay tuned and send us a note through any of the channels listed above...  there's a lot ahead as the summer is just starting!



First batch of broiler chicks at 2 days old

The dawn breaks

While you might not have noticed something big has happened in the last few days...  Something tremendous here in Upstate NY...  actually all long our latitude.  No, I'm not referring to the long overdue thaw we are getting this week (although that's GREAT!).  I'm also not referring to the cheese ball photo Western NY's representative posted of himself on craigslist (nice flex you jerk)...  No, I'm talking about something that happens this time every single year.  The days just got long enough!

Low tunnel peeking out of a melting drift!

Long enough for what you might ask?  For plants to start growing again.  It's in November that the day length drops below 10 hours of light and anything green kinda goes into a "standby" mode.  It doesn't grow without some additional input of light.  Well - in the last few days we moved back above that threshold and that means the greens under our low tunnel will begin growing anew.  With this thaw forecast this week that started today, we might even be able to harvest some of the greens started last fall and perhaps even have some of the last seeds planted actually germinate and get ready for a March harvest.

Sure, the lengthening of daylight may not be as revolutionary as the news out of Egypt nor as exciting as the political stories, but it does mean growth has subtly returned to our farm!

Light at the end of the (low) tunnel

Ahh - spring in December...  well, back to reality with the 22 degrees this morning.  It was great while we had those 50 degree hours over the New Year!  And we made sure to take advantage of that on January 1 by initiating repairs on the low tunnel.

The work began by digging out a bunch of the slush half melted snow that was still on top and around the edges.  You can see although there is a lot less snow in this photo - there's still a fair amount.

One of the challenges here was the fact that the ground was super saturated with rain before all the snow - so the melting snow generated muddy, slushy COLD puddles.

Hands got wet - then very cold...  but it was great being out in that warm air since we knew it was fleeting.



Once we got all the snow of the Agribond and from around the base - we then focused on breaking the stones and wood out of the ice so we could hopefully remove the covering for reuse in the future on other plantings. (it worked!)

We then decided we should take some time and reflect on the amazing oasis of green that was revealed under the hoop when we removed the covering and took this picture.

Pok Choi, Swiss Chard, Lettuce...  as well as some diakons, radishes and baby beets and other greens for an early spring harvest.

The entire length of the hoop - from older plantings to barely sprouted seeds seemed to be in very good shape - even with the breech we were taking the warm weather opportunity to fix.  COOL!



After the old covering was off we then took a little time to bend some additional hoops out of the 1/2 EMT conduit. As you can see from previous posts there was a fair amount of sagging between the hoops - and we wanted to play it safe.

After measuring out some fresh Argibond covering in the barn we brought it out to the hoop - if you have ever had a calm day and done something like this - you know what comes next...  Yup - the covering came out and the wind picked up.  Always.

After fighting with the wind we managed to get the new fresh covering pulled tight over the hoops and held in place by our fieldstone anchors.  Next to apply was the plastic greenhouse film - the part of the equation that had been missing up until now.



Here I must admit Kelli asked 5 times if I was cutting the length long enough on the plastic...  and I could have used an extra foot...  but she won't read this here (right).  Anyhow - we got the plastic cut and pulled over the tunnel as the winds and rains of 1/1/11 picked up.  Still it was in the 40's and that was enough to keep me outside and happy.

And the question - does this work?  Well - I'd say the pictures above are suggesting yes...  the fresh Pok Choi Kelli added to her stir fry tonight sugests yes...  and the fact that tonight after I closed up the chickens I checked on the hoop and even though it was a windy 24 degrees out...  there were little thawed droplets of water on the underside of the plastic.

Yeah - this is the way to do it!  Only regret in this experiment so far - we didn't plant MORE!

Recipe: Fall Farm Feast of Potatoes and Stewed Tomatoes

Image via Wikipedia

Recipe: Fall Farm Feast of Potatoes and Stewed Tomatoes

Summary: This recipe is more for a warm meal on an early Fall night. Fresh potatoes and some of the last of the tomatoes make this a delicious seasonal treat.

Ingredients

• For the potatoes: 1-2# fresh potatoes, 3-4T butter, 2 cloves fresh garlic, salt, pepper


• For the stewed tomatoes: several large late season tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 chopped bell pepper, 1 chopped yellow onion, 6 drops of olive oil, salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Instructions

1. For the potatoes:
   
   
   
   1. Remove any small blemishes or large eyes from the potatoes but do not peel.
   
   
   2. Bake potatoes in an oven at 350 until a fork inserted into the middle goes in easily.
   
   
   3. Remove and let cool until they can be handled. When you can pick them up - cut into slices about 1/2" thick.
   
   
   4. Place into a fry pan with the butter already melted.
   
   
   5. Add salt and pepper - stirring occasionally until the potatoes begin to become golden brown - at that point add crushed garlic (and more butter) and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.
   
   
   6. Remove from heat when potatoes are browned and before the crushed garlic burns.
   
   
   
   


2. For the stewed tomatoes:
   
   
   
   1. Chop onion, pepper and garlic - add to sauce pan with very little oil and cook until the oil is gone.
   
   
   2. Before the veggies start to burn add tomatoes that have been chopped into large 1/2" chunks and bring to a simmer.
   
   
   3. Cook until you are ready - yeah - that makes little sense... but some people like this really cooked - some like it really raw. Either way is great.
   
   
   
   

Variations

There are really lots of ways to enjoy these recipes - but we love them together... the stewed tomatoes over the fresh potatoes. Simple and super seasonal!

If that's not your thing the potato part is really an awesome home-fry recipe for a hearty breakfast and the tomatoes make a great warm side dish...  chill and food process for an awesome gazpacho.

Microformatting by hRecipe.