Water n' weed, Weed n' water!

Seems like that cycle is never ending here on our farm. I was set back in my tracks early this morning when I went to take a look at the few herbs that I had planted just a couple weeks ago, over near our greenhouse. Lo and behold, the pigweed is waist high! Way too tall to pull out (it has the sharpest bristles on it-they can hurt big time) so the weed whacker will come in real handy! Pigweed and Johnson grass are our nemesis. But the good news is that the herbs are thriving even under those conditions. Will be planting more that are perennials as soon as we get a rain that blows in ....from somewhere soon I hope. Too hot right now to plant anything that is not absolutely essential. When conditions are this extreme, even with irrigation, the plants get stressed and that will set them back, so you really don't gain much by planting in this kind of heat. If we do plant, it will be very early, irrigating things really well before and after planting, or late in the afternoon so they can have overnight to adjust somewhat.

Everyone we know is at the lake or enjoying a nice cool dip in a pool somewhere, this week end and boy does that sound good to me right about now. But someone has to stick around to water the veggies don't they?

As our harvesting, cultivation and planting continues throughout the summer, we are in the planning stages for our Autumn/Early winter CSA from the farm. Many of the delicious root crops that are enjoyed in the autumn and winter, must be planted in the heat of the summer to take advantage of the long hours of daylight to get them off to a good start. Once we have the summer solstice in June (on the 21st I believe), the days grow shorter and the daylight hours decline. In the winter time with it's short days, less sunlight and daylight, everything grows more slowly.

We had to move our poultry fence today, into a shady nook in the pasture. It was dreadfully hot for our hens, just as it was for us. But they are happy and content with their new shade! Egg laying declines when they get too hot, just as it does when they get cold in the winter. Gotta'keep those hens happy!

Guess that's about all of our news for now, until the next visit..

Blessings,

Judy

Field Notes from our Farm!

We try as best we can to keep you "in the loop" about our work done seasonally here on our farm. Sometimes things move along at such a pace that it's hard to cram everything in a paragraph or two to pass along but we try anyway! We always hope that we are shedding some light on the production of food here on the farm, so that you may stay somewhat connected to the land, which of course is the focus of our CSA here at the farm.

It's raining again here today, quite gloomy in fact, with a dense fog that rolled in overnight here in the foothills. But we need not complain too much about the rain as it is needed and is vitally important to our plants and the soil surrounding the plants.

Every day we must take into account the weather, plus the weather in previous days as well. Is the soil too wet to drive our equipment over which would risk soil compaction, though we need to plant more today? Are the fields too wet to work in, and by doing so would risk spreading any disease by hand that's present on one plant, to many others? These are just a couple of things where risk vs. benefit is taken into consideration.

Along with daily harvesting from the fields, weeding continues. And, we have more transplants to plant and seeds to sow. We are in the process also of finalizing our plans for our late Autumn-early Winter CSA season. Registration for that will begin in July.

John has been making some adjustments on our irrigation system. Seems like this is always needing some "fine tuning". But, it has been such a lifesaver!

We are praying that there will be no droughts this summer!

It won't be long now until our wonderful, much requested Tomatoes will be being harvested. The Heirlooms, Slicers and Cherry tomatoes are all looking really good! I could eat tomatoes 3 times a day, they are so good! There's something about our soil that just turns out the most delicious tomatoes!

Judy's Kitchen tip: Always keep the following on hand: Olive Oil (the finest you can find for using on your salads), balsamic vinegar, honey, and lemons for creating your best salad dressings. Fresh herbs also. Nothing takes the place of fresh herbs for your salads! They are wonderful used in drinks, baked goods, salads, and soups!

Everything in your CSA box from Doe Run Farm can be enjoyed by Vegans! Most everything in the box can also be eaten raw either as a snack, in a salad, or used in stir fry!

Don't forget to visit our website often: http://www.doerunfarmtn.com/ Until next time, "Don't wear perfume in the garden, unless you want to be pollinated by bees" (Anne Raver)

Farm Day 2009 Has Come and Gone

Farm Day was last Sunday, June 7 and we had a wonderful turnout of families here to visit! We were blessed with lovely weather, although a bit warm, beautiful music from our shareholders, and lots of lively conversation! Everyone seemed to enjoy touring the farm and asking questions about how their food is grown. We especially enjoyed the children and we hope they had fun with the activity planned just for them. Bridget and Elisabeth kept them busy while Mom and Dad toured the farm.

We are busy here as usual, getting ready to do more planting, and pulling out spent plants. I'ts a constant cyle of planting, tearing out the old and putting in new plants here at the farm. Some of our different varieties of yellow summer squash are now ready, as well as beets for which we have many requests. Beets are so nutritious and delicious when roasted. To keep the color in beets when boiling, add a bit of lemon juice to your water.

Our cabbage is really looking beautiful this summer-the row covers have helped so much!
To keep the cabbage odor minimized when cooking, place a small pan of vinegar near the cooking cabbage. Helps a bit.

We lost one of our Delaware heritage breed hens this week to a predator. Not a trace left behind. Not sure what took her away, but she is gone. She was a pretty one too! Just have to accept the fact that we will lose a few, but we do what we can to keep it to a minimum.

Barry our son-in-law is driving for us two days a week now, delivering our CSA boxes. This is a big help to us, allowing us to spend more time on the farm and not loose two days per week here. Things get way behind here in a hurry if we are not here to take care of things. We harvest every day and we still have a hard time keeping up.

That's about all the news here for now, it's time to get back to work!

Have a wonderful week, and we thank you for visiting our Doe Run Farm - Farm Blog!

During the early part of July we will be opening our on farm Country Farm Stand. Watch for the opening date, days of the week and hours which will be posted in late June, under the EVENTS link on our website, www.doerunfarmtn.com.

Visit our website and the Farm Blog often to keep up to date with the happenings around here!