Good Morning Everyone,

Follow this link to a very interesting article, it will make you think a bit before you eat another hamburger.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html?hp

As for end of year reflections and resolutions I have just been too busy to have them or make them. Perhaps as I harvest salad today for market this Saturday I will find some time to think. Overall it has been a very challenging year on a great many levels that is finishing up with the farm and my mental state in a much improved place compared to last year at this time. 2010 is shaping up to possess a lot of promise and opportunity as long as the appropriate quantities of work and effort are applied. Hoping the month of January will allow me to actually sit and think. So much planning to get done and decisions to be made for a growing season that I sincerely hope will be warmer and sunnier than the last two. Well have to go deliver soup to Red Hen and get going.

A Happy and Safe New Year to all. Thanks to all of you for reading this intermittent rambling and buying the farms products this past year. Joe

Well here I sit. End of the year is approaching and things have not slowed down much....a good thing? Soups are doing well and so are the greenhouses. I have lost a few things in certain places so will move them next year or try other cultivars. Overall plenty of salad right now and things are looking good. Still no time to do planning yet..........

Good Morning! Finally some real snow! Forces me to slow down a bit and actually tend to the mounds of paper sitting on my desk....some of it from August. So soup and paperwork today. Just came up from loading the furnace and I must admit admiring the wood pile. We just had a huge insulation job done where they sealed every nook and cranny with dense pack cellulose. Wow what a difference so far. Should work out where the savings on fuel oil actually makes the loan payment every month. I will get out to check on the greenhouses and finally seal up the doors. I have been waiting to do that with the lack of cold temperatures until now. This weekend they are calling for single digit temps....ouch.

Well arrives this week. Scrambling like crazy to get the last few things put away or sealed up. Harvested alot of really nice baby cauliflower yesterday. I will have it at the Dec. 19th market in Montpelier. The soups sold real well and I had some very positive feedback. Any of you have a request for soup at market? Be happy to give it a try if I can source the ingredients. Delivered 200lbs of salad this morning and 10 gallons of soup. Then ran out of gas near the Intervale. Ah well, had a nice sandwich, got some gas and went on my way. Luckily not alot of walking involved. Debating whether to harvest my kale or leave it alone for another week and hope the snow we have on tap insulates it along with the remay that is covering it. I am thinking leave it until next week, fresher is better. I will go get the last of my cabbages out of the field though. They will hold just fine.

I will have CSA flyers at market on the 19th. I am only taking 15 families for the 2010 summer. Eggs will be included as well as soups and sauces like marinara and pesto. Plenty of free cooking advice if you need it also.

Well I am going to go eat dinner. I am having some of the duck I raised this summer. Man is it good!! That's another thing that I will be offering as and extra for the CSA is chicken and duck. I tried it this year and it went very well.

Joe

Good Morning all my secret readers.......hope to see all of you at the first winter market in Montpelier tomorrow. Lot's of great product coming to market with me. Winter salad mix, eggs, quarts of marinara sauce, pesto, green curry coconut squash soup served hot in a cup and quarts for take home as well as potato kale soup. I will also have some winter squash, really sweet kale, small cabbages at 3-5 lbs. The soups are made by me at the LACE kitchen in Barre and Red Hen Baking will also start selling them at their store in Middlesex.

The market is the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month this winter all the way through April.

Hope everyone had a great and tasty thanksgiving. This mild weather continues and it has been great for fall/winter crops. I am still harvesting from my outside fields this late in the season and the greenhouses look the best ever of my 7 years of winter growing. All my soups and sauces are being made with at least 80% local ingredients. This is a new adventure for me and I will be using all my own product or product from Dog River Farm and Littlewood Farm. So trying to keep things hyper-local.

Egg production continues to confound me. 150 birds and I am getting only 2-3 dozen eggs a day. Talk about freeloading hired help.....

Now onto my political soapbox. I have pasted a link to an article in the New York times below which quite frankly really pisses me off. Please give it a read it's fairly short. In my opinion this is exactly what is wrong with our industrial food system. Instead putting animals back on pasture where they belong and have spent thousands of years evolving to eat grass. Which means little to no E. Coli production in the animals gut we spend millions of dollars developing a vaccine that will be partially effective and continue feedlot confinement beef production. Damn!

Well gotta go.......Joe

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/business/04vaccine.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1259928132-SCsBbATgX5JI8Az51JC4Pg

Away for a few days, off the farm, or maybe I've "gone off the reservation" who knows. Nice to be with family and relax a bit with nothing to do. Very short lived though. Right back into things on Sunday and alot of deadlines to meet by Monday and Tuesday. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!
Joe

Made it! Sunday morning and the week is behind me. Market went well yesterday. I really need to get a bigger space next year. Too much stuff in too little space. Taking a few days off then soup making and winter market start. Soup will be available at the winter market served hot and ready to eat as well as by the quart and maybe the pint to take home. Looking forward to the slightly slower and different pace of winter. An enormous amount of planning and paperwork looming in the future. I will be cooking soup out of the LACE incubator kitchen in Barre. Really nice space and a great opportunity. I am really excited to be getting back in the kitchen and cooking. This is the start of combining my two passions, farming, and cooking in a way that will be accessible to everyone. Now to finish cleaning up the farm and putting everything to be for the winter. The list is long and made up of lots of little jobs. Have a great holiday everyone and thanks again for a great summer season. Joe

Well the ducks were slaughtered on Saturday. I will not be doing these again any time soon. Plucking of the muscovy was extremely hard. The hens weighed in at about 2-3lbs each and the males weighed in at about 7-8 lbs each. So an extra 8 weeks and alot of extra work. Need to make croutons tomorrow/today for Red Hen and get ready for the big Thanksgiving market that is this Saturday. Winter housing for the laying hens is being worked on. The snow has stayed away so far so I am trying really hard to get a number of things finished up. Need to seal up the greenhouses better for the winter and get a new door made. The really warm temps today make that a tough thing to do. Too hot in the greenhouses and everything will start to bolt and go to seed. Well going to go and try getting some sleep, really busy and charged week on tap, I will write more after this coming Saturday.

Last "summer" market yesterday. Still debating if October is worth going to market financially. It's always fun and it gives me the chance to see allot of friends and acquaintances each week. Regardless of the weather. A big thank you to all of my regular customers, new and old. Your support is greatly appreciated and I look forward to seeing all of you at the Thanksgiving Market and then the winter markets. I am working to have alot of spinach and salad for you this winter. The lack of sun is proving to be a big challenge. Temperature not so much. If any of you know of a hay wagon running gear set up that someone would be willing to part with I am very interested in finding one. I plan on building a very large mobile laying hen roost with it. So let me know. I am realizing they are as scarce as ........hens teeth. Ouch..... Off to my daughters swim meet this morning which brings me to daylight savings time........when will this crazyness be ended. Forgot about it got up at "5:30" and sat down with my coffee and my computers is telling me it's 4:45...another ouch. So I have given alot of thought to a winter CSA. I think it would be great to do one but I just not become a decent enough grower to get a sufficient amount of root crops put away. Perhaps I should get one going next winter but get together a cooperative of a few growers to put together the CSA. Let me know what you think. Deliveries would be at the Montp. Winter farmer's market every other week.

Well the greenhouses are finally planted, hooped, remayed, and the ditches are done. All the nick of time....I hope. Salad really needs to get a move on and fill out over the next 2-3 weeks or I things are going to be dire this winter. Cleaning up the farm today and trying to get all these other little jobs done that have to get finished before the serious snow flies. Once again I have promised myself no large projects next summer growing season. We'll see how that goes. Really need to focus on cultivation and weed control next year. Biotelo works very well but need to mulch the pathways heavily to keep weeds down there. No real easy way to do either without and tractor and the proper equipment. Need to find an old hay wagon too for the laying hens. All these little coops and the work that goes into moving everyone around is driving me nuts. Gotta go to the dump.......

Camp is closed and the weather was actually quite nice. The little apple tree in the corner is producing some really nice golden apples. I will try to get up there to harvest them next year. They were tart but tasted like a golden delicious. Neighbors got a little carried away up there trimming out brush and took out one of our cedar trees. Why don't people just call and ask? Market went reasonably well. Lack of product or variety of product is a big impact. Garlic and salad remain real popular. Weather is supposed to go back to normal this week. No frost and some sun. Finally have a chance to finish cleaning up the farm and getting a bunch of odd jobs done. Bye

Well the cold wave continues. 23 up here this morning. Supposed not warm up until Monday...finally some sun in the forecast as well. Trenching project is finished and the last greenhouse is 80% planted. Off to the market today, not sure how that is going to go. Quite a few people seem to be under the impression that the market ends on the 1st of October? My brother is up to help close the camp. Little late and a little cold for that but its going to happen with rain and snow tomorrow morning.Next job is to move the chickens into winter quarters, clean up the fields and asparagus, get the wood pile put into the basement, mow the lawn that one last time and then start worrying if the winter salad crop is going to come in and do well........ah well here's to next season and the hopes, optimism, and new ideas that always accompany it. Lot's of things to build and repair this winter for the farm and the house.

Snow on the ground and more falling out of the sky this morning. Transplanting continues today as well as filling the ditches as long as the rain does not become too abundant. Yes it is a wee bit too early for snow damn it! Well need to go find some salad for a customer. I'll try using a broom to sweep the snow off to locate it.

Well one greenhouse planted, one more to go. The clock is ticking. Really having to push to get things done around here. It's going to be close. No sign or word from the excavator to get the drainage project finished. I will try calling again........well off to the "office" which means the business end of my shovel. Only two more walk ways to dig/shape then I can frame the beds and start planting. October continues to be overcast and wet. Could really use a few days of sunshine to dry things out and get the plants going a bit.j

Good Morning, well more rain today......one greenhouse is almost replanted. Need to get the beds set in the second one. Last round of flats are getting seeded this week. Late plantings in the fields look good but the constant clouds for the last two weeks have really slowed them down. Chickens have been processed and sold. Ducks are next in mid-November with about 10 of the old laying hens. At least the lawn has slowed down so that I don't have to mow it. It does need one more cut before winter though. Alot of ground cherries out there but it's been too wet to harvest. These will be a great candidate for a temporary tunnel next spring. The list is getting smaller but still has quite a few things on it before the real snow starts to fly.

Well market went well and the rain held off until about 1:30pm. Meat chickens were done on Sunday morning. That job went very well and quick. Birds looked very nice and they are all sold. Planting in the greenhouses continues today. Time to rototill and reset the other large one. My list continues to get smaller, progress just seems so slow and something else always comes up. No frost in the forecast yet and hopefully we will see a bit of sun this week. Still trying to figure out winter housing for the laying hens. Trying to avoid the annual manual shoveling of the manure in the spring....

Well October has arrived looking and feeling more like late November, ah well. The greenhouse ditches are dug! Need to clean them up a bit and then I start laying the drainage tile and backfilling. Now to get the contractor out here to finish the project..........what is it with tradesmen in general up here? Winter planting get's started in earnest today. One greenhouse is all set so the plugs and direct seeding is going to happen. Alot of stuff to go in. Market this weekend in the rain.

A real nip in the air this morning. Frost is due this evening, then lots of rain for the next few days. Ground cherries need to be harvested today again. Need 300 pints for Tuesday. Ouch. One trench is dug, need to finish the last one. Should go pretty quick, it's the most shallow one with lots of sand in the soil. No word from the excavator yet, not a good sign. Today is friday so most of the day is spent prepping for market tomorrow. Alot of stuff to harvest and process. CSA finished up yesterday. A great group of members this year and all in all I think things went well and people were happy with everything. Chickens get slaughtered soon. Quite a few things coming to finish over the next week or so. This is the busiest time of year for me, busier than spring even.

Well I have jettisoned the tweets. What a waste of time, especially since I do not have a blackberry or text alot with my phone. Season is winding down and things are piling up fast. It actually occurred to me briefly yesterday that I need to decide what things are not going to get done this fall.....Ouch. Started framing all the beds in my greenhouses, call it an impulse buy of 2000 feet of lumber. The beds I have finished sure do look good though. Hoping for some rain today, it's been very dry and need to irrigate the outside crops. Greenhouses are in transisition. Trying to figure out what to do with the chickens for this winter. Ditch digging is still on the list. Flats are seeded but need to seed more. Can never have too many of those this time of year. Meat birds are looking good and selling like crazy. Quite a bit of interest in a winter CSA but I am just not sure I want to do that yet. Need to make a decision soon though. Plenty of product on hand for a small one. It's just the salad part. Hopefully my neighbor is going to get across the road and hay the field. I still need about 100 bails of mulch hay for this winter. Trying to shop for a tractor still....need to do it but with most large purchases indecision and hesitation about debt rule the day........Well need to go pack up the last of the tomatoes and try and find some salad for my wholesale accounts.

First frost tonight! I will be out checking the remay before midnight. Next batch of meat chickens are doing well. Ducks look great and will be ready around Thanksgiving. Veggies are hanging in there but some things are just done. I tore out all the cherry tomatoes this week and am looking real hard at the eggplant and slicing tomatoes next. Seeding flats like crazy and hoping I thought about things enough last winter to get the planning right. No time to sit, just need to follow the plan and get the seeds in some soil. After tonight we have nice weather on tap for another 10 days. Really hoping for a long and warm fall. Market in Montpelier continues to do well. Really need to make myself stand out a bit more since I am in the back around the corner behind the telephone pole...just kidding, kind of. Ground cherries are doing well need to find another 300 pints by next Tuesday. Should be fine. Ditch digging continues........ugh. Nice weather tomorrow, have to get a few things done, make a delivery and buy the NY Times. Joe

Well here are starting September. Time to get the fields finished up, replanted, etc. Deer are moving in, greenhouses are finishing up with summer crops and I need to get transplants going for the fall winter plantings in them. Spent most of today digging potatoes. Yes, by hand. No tractor so no digger. Crop looks good overall, my big russets have hollow rot. Need to research the causes of that. The Carollas look good though. Onion harvest was decent and I will be making Onion soup base out them for this winter. Other soups are in the works and planning for winter market has started. Winter squash crop is looking odd. Kind of like my corn crop. All of it is small (cute) and will be getting sold as mini, baby, or personal squash. No harvest until the first lite frost. Trying to start the rest of the ditching in the greenhouses tomorrow. This month is going to be really nuts with all the things that have to get done. October will be crazy as well but not too bad if I can push this month and get the work done. Large projects that just need to get finished. Once they are off my plate... no more large projects for a while, except maybe another greenhouse...........well off to see what the deer are into before I go to bed.

Hello there, not sure who reads this but Mom pointed out that I had not posted in a while......Last 2 weeks have finally been hot and dry. Amazing how the plants react to it. Harvesting like crazy right now and working on winter soup bases for sale by the quart( yeah winter..). Anyhow I have a gumbo base, roasted summer squash and garlic veloute, pesto base and am going to start working on corn chowder. The chowder is a childhood soup. Man I loved that stuff. Marinara and basil are next. Winter squash will get turned into something nice but not until the end of October. Next batch of meat chickens and ducks are on the lawn. The last batch of chicken turned out real nice. Doing forty this time around and they should be ready at the end of September. Ducks will be ready for Thanksgiving. Should be interesting. Montp. market has gone well the last two times. Trying to do a few more into October. Barre market continues to be a real challenge. We have a market, it rains. We have had rain at all but one or two of the this summer. So now I am thinking I need a commercial kitchen in order to become the soup nazi of vermont.........soup is good, I love soup...and winter is coming. Soup and salad? anyone........... gotta run.....

Just looked at a few of my last posts. Boy they seemed upbeat and optimistic. Balance is the key so here we go in the other direction. Currently raining.....again. Just tore out all my canning tomatoes because of the dreaded late blight that was graciously imported into our beautiful state by a few large box stores from an infested nursery down south. Another rather poignant example of why people should be buying locally. I am sure the dollar loss and the hardship to vegetable farmers is huge and growing. Being as small as I am it is very hard for me to replace that revenue. Going to try though. Please keep in mind as you buy local produce this summer and into the fall that the reason you are seeing lot's of salad and greens is because it is some of the only stuff surviving this extremely difficult growing season. I will be planting kale, chard, spinach, and salad greens in where my field tomatoes were this week in order to try and recapture the lost money. The tough choise was pulling the tomatoes. They were 2 weeks away from my best harvest ever. Had to do it though in order to try and keep this stuff out of my greenhouses, tomatoes in there are hanging on and producing. Hopefully I can get 4-5 weeks of harvesting out of them. Never to early to start but keep in mind I will have another 40 chickens ready at the end of September. All raised on pasture and fed with local grain. Ducks will be ready near thanksgiving.

I will also be at the Barre Farmer's market tomorrow and starting this Saturday I will be at the Montpelier Farmer's Market. Hope to see you there and keep thinking dry, hot weather. We could all use some. Joe

Well August 10th already. Summer continues to elude us around here. Had a high of 65 yesterday with lot's of grey matter overhead all day. Today is looking quite a bit warmer with sun still lacking. It would appear that I have contracted late blight in my field tomatoes. None in the greenhouses yet..... Potatos were topped last Friday. I could not stand to continue to gamble with all the disease that is out there. They appear to have sized up well so I am hoping for a pretty crop. Need to get into the fields and get after the weeds and prep beds for fall planting of spinach and salad. Started to seed out fall flats with brassicas and lettuce. Really struggling this year on a number of differant levels. Really need to get after the last greenhouse ditching project. Slicing tomatoes are coming in nicely. Cherry tomatos came on strong but have not been as prolific as I had hoped for. Managed to flip the garlic field and get it replanted with cabbage and broccoli for late October. Now to keep the deer out of it. Trying to focus on my two farmer's markets for the next 5 weeks. I will be in Barre on Wend. and at the Montpelier Market on Saturday's. List of product looks good as far as variety goes. Just hoping the volume holds up so that I am not just standing there smiling at my customers. Winter squash is trying hard to set some fruit and size up but the cool temps are really hampering things.

August First. What a crazy month this is looking to be. Everything on the farm is hanging in there and managing to grow. Staying ahead of the fungus so far. Tomatoes are coming in really strongly. Brassicas seem to be the crop that I cannot grow this year. Potatoes arelooking great so far, garlic is harvested and curing. My best crop ever. I start the Montpelier Farmer's market on August 15th. Things are looking pretty good for that. Quite excited about it. I really enjoy doing market. Barre market continues to be a bit of a challenge but it is also a rebuilding year. I think with time it will develop into a solid market with good regular clientele. 40 meat chickens arrived this week along with 25 Muscovy ducklings. These should be ready sometime in October and November. Thanksgiving Duck anyone? Made my first batch of pesto base and have started work on a roast garlic puree and some soup bases. Also going to start making my own tomato sauce.

Hello Vegetable fans or people who like to hear about my misery..........

Things are going well. Everything is coming in like gang busters. Now to get it harvested and sold. Peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, basil, garlic, cabbage, broccoli, shiso, herbs, potatoes, summer squash, corn, salad....and all of this is 2-9 differant varieties of each. Oh yeah the cauliflower too. Well talk to you soon.

51 degrees as I write this and it's July 15th. Tomatoes are finally starting to ripen but have quite a ways to go yet. Cucumbers are sizing up and I may even be able to meet a contract I have for them. Field crops overall are fine but very slow. Winter squash is just not growing. Flowering and the plants look healthy and happy but stunted. Garlic should be ready to come out by late next week. Looking to be my best year for potatoes judging from the tops. Melons are not happy and could really use some August heat. All the ducks and chickens are sold. A few guinea fowl left. All in all the meat bird "adventure" is going well. Need to run the numbers and look at making things a bit more efficient for the next go round. Next up 40 chickens and 25 Muscovy ducks. Chickens will be ready at the end of Sept. and the Ducks for the beginning of Nov., maybe hang on to them for Thanksgiving. Lawn tractor went down again last night, truck is on the fritz and needs service, and the duck enclosure gate came off in my hand...........then there is all the stuff that needs to get done around here.......ditching in particular in the greenhouses.

Well what a day yesterday. Really nice weather. Cold this morning, what a surprise! Colder tomorrow........All the meat birds are done. Need to pull pin feathers and package everything up today. Continue to hope things will finally come in. Trying to get away for a few days later this week so alot of work to get done so the farm is ahead of things a bit. Nat and Christa continue to be a huge help, especially with the meat birds yesterday.

Good Morning Agriculture fans, Sun is peaking out, day looks to hold some promise until the thunderstorms this afternoon. Summer continues to be unusually cool and wet. Yesterday was classic summer. So what do you think of the coming of the "star farmer"? Like star chef's. Grow vegetables and then publish a book and get lot's of press. I see it coming, NY Times already regularly promotes certain producers every month. Poultry is getting processed this Sunday. Need to put some time in today to get things organized and set up. Vegetables continue to make nice progress and over all look healthy. I am still really concerned about disease and fungus with all the rain we have been getting. Lot's of reports coming out from the Ag services out there warning of all this stuff. The sun yesterday really made things jump around here yesterday. Started to see a lot of color in the cherry tomatoes finally. Hope they pop this week, could use the revenue. Night feeding Asiatic chafer beetles still a problem in the older greenhouse. Well off to tour the "estate". Joe

Hi Farming fans, The sog as in soggy continues not saga although it is that as well. I will be processing (slaughtering) ducks, chicken and guinnea fowl this weekend. I will let you know how that goes. Vegetables want to ripen but just are not getting the sun they need. I am beginning to wonder if I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Portland, Oregon. So far plants are looking good considering all the cold and damp. If things all come in like I think they will, I am going to be one busy little fellow during August and September. Well have to go get ready for the Barre market and see what I have. Bye

Well Happy 4th of July weekend. It is Friday July 3rd, 58 degrees and............surprise! it's freakin raining. Great for working outdoors but the deer flies are so desperate that they are still out there in the rain. I think we are approaching something like 9 days with no sun and plenty of moisture. Incredibly the gardens look good so far. The continued lack of any kind of normal summer warmth however is keeping my plants 2-3 weeks behind. Greenhouses are loaded and things look good but the lack of sun is keeping the tomatoes from ripening. Very concerned about disease and fungus with all the ideal weather. I am convinced it is easier to grow things during the winter and am planning accordingly. Working on my winter CSA and looking forward to the winter market here in Montpelier. Just heard we will be at 43 degrees Sunday morning, then some sun. Rain again on Monday. Ugh! So off to go find some wild mint for a customer and pick the 6 cucumbers I have for her.

Friday is here and so is the end of June!? 4th of July next week? Where did that come from? Summer decided to make an appearance on Thursday. Nice and warm and sunny. Tomatoes are showing some color and things are moving right along. Cucumbers are growing about a foot a day. I have them all trellised this year. CSA pickup went well, Barre market show's some promise. Have to go harvest before the rain and get a few things done.

Here we go...the latest in weather whining.....so the meteorologists states that so far we are plus 1.5 inches of rain for June and minus 3-5 degrees in the normal temperature department. Continues to be cloudy, windy, cool, ah well. The bugs are out, the slugs are in, the deer got the phlox but not the veggies, yet. I am still in a very odd place with production. Things are moving along but ever so slowly. I really need my tomatoes and cucumbers to come in, zuchinni would be greatly appreciated as well. Pole beans were transplanted today (yes transplanted, the first 2 direct seedings rotted in the ground. I have run out of space on the farm to plant. I am eyeballing a blue spruce that serves no purpose but to shade my greenhouses. If it was not there I would be able to put in another 30'x100' bed.......and plant more veggies.

Cloudy and humid.....could not ask for better transplanting conditions. Last few things going in the next couple of days. Mostly melons and some beans, extra winter squash. Ate my first ripe tomato last night out of the greenhouse. June 19th with no supplemental heat! Insects are making up for lost time with the cold weather and are out in force. Plants are looking really good though and everything is lush and waiting for some heat. That is in the forecast for next week. Weeds are under control....so far......Headed out to the kitchen table bistro in Richmond for dinner this evening. Should be fun. Basil is going great guns and the garlic scapes are finally coming in. Cucumbers are sizing up nicely and I finished another ditch yesterday morning. Man what a work out. Need to get going on the next greenhouse so I can get the excavator in here for the summer. Gotta go.......

Things continue to keep moving right along around here despite the lack of heat. Warmer temperatures are promised for later in the week. Need to figure out what has to go into the ground this week. Going to till up some fields again due to poor germination on pole beans. Cold wet soil and they turned into worm food. Snapping turtles passing through this year are crazy. I keep finding them in my stone piles or greenhouses. Have had 4 of them in the last few days. Tomatoes continue to look real happy but am a bit concerned about the twine cutting into the main stems. Not sure if this is a big issue or not. Kids are out of school this Wend for the summer. They are going to start helping out next week. Well gotta go get a few things done this morning before we get the 1/2 inch of rain they are promising today. The ditching in the greenhouses is making progress but I managed to tweek my back pretty good on Friday.......ah well.

Good Morning Folks, Well not a great day at the Barre Market but the weather was nice. Glad I have sandy soils with them forecasting 1-2 inches of rain tonight. Ouch. I was up in Montreal this past weekend at the Toulon Market. Met allot of neat vendors and ate allot of great and interesting food. One stall was nothing but wild crafted edibles. Really neat and interesting. Seems white perch are the new scourge in Lake Champlain. Kind of a pain in the rump invasive non-native species that likes to eat fish eggs. Need to do more research on them. Greenhouses continue to look great ( big thanks to Liva for all the nice work) and the tomatoes in particular. Hoping to see some cherry tomatoes by the end of this month. Peppers are already setting fruit, eggplant are lagging behind big time. Head lettuce and mesclun are close to done in the greenhouses, it is just to hot in there. Field vegetables are about two weeks behind schedule because of wind damage and the cold we have had. Normal temperatures are on tap starting today through next week. Really hoping things catch up. Today is a big push to dig one of the greenhouse ditches and get it finished. Killing me to keep looking at an empty 100 foot row in there at this time of the year. Asparagus are still a mystery at this point. Not real sure why production is so off. Another research project. Need to get paperwork done and get ready to buy a tractor this fall. Lot's of stuff to get done in the office, ugh. Kids are out of school next wend and start helping out part time around here. Well coffee is finished and I have to go get started with the business end of my shovel.

Well the cold and the soggy continue......but not after 10 days without rain first. The field crops are way behind schedule and causing issues with my wholesale accounts because of the lack of heat. In the 40's again tonight with a high of 57 today.....not good for the heat loving plants. Lettuce is even slowing down out in the fields so that I am experiencing a mesclun gap. Greenhouses are planted with the last of the mesclun finishing up in there. Melons will go out on black plastic next week. Inside the greenhouses things look great. Tomatoe plants are all full of fruit already and so are the peppers. Eggplant are struggling this year? A few bugs are starting to show up here and there. I am sure the heat on tap (normal temperatures) for next week will kick them into high gear. Well off to make a delivery and then spend the day doing paperwork. Need to get caught up with that stuff so might as well let the rain do it's job. Ditch digging is still gotta get done. Last big thing hanging over my head for this summer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/health/nutrition/01recipehealth.html?_r=1&ref=dining

Follow the link above for some Asparagus lore, technique, uses, and recipes. See everyone Thursday. I am at the Barre Farmer's Market today....finally some relatively warm sunny weather on tap. Time to plant some more and water.

It was a dark and stormy night...(yes another one damn it!). Well  the wind came up to 60mph gusts and tore up all the black plastic once again. This was while the temperature dropped 20 degrees in about 20 minutes. Then the power went out until midnight and we had a frost advisory as well. Thanks to my daughter Nikita for braving the hale storm to get things covered back up in time. Had to wrap the baby chicks coops in remay since the power was out and the brooder lights were not working. Luckily they are far enough along that they did fine. Spent the morning surveying the mess and cutting a tree up that fell on my electric fence.  Have managed to get some stuff in but now Thurs is looking to be down in the 30's with an inch of rain on wend......G00d Grief!!  Well enough whining and complaining I need to go get something done. Internet is back up at least and the only thing I appear to have lost is my labor.

Crazy spring continues with a Frost advisory for tonight!!! Damn it, well at least it's paying off to be a bit behind schedule with planting. Still allot of remay to put out tonight, just hope the damn wind dies down. The wind this year is starting to drive me a bit crazy. Kind of like the mistral in the south of France. Shoveled out the winter chicken coop yesterday. Damn I hate that job. Going to have to invent some other type of housing so I do not have to do it anymore. I really hate that job. But.....the tomatoes in grown in there are just incredible! Planted my winter kiwi's out back, curious to see how that is going to work out. Blueberries got moved to a new location and appear to be really happy. Not even transplant shock. If they continue to look happy there is room for 500 more next spring. Ditch digging will resume in earnest this week. Just need to get it off my plate. Firewood is lurking in the background. Beginning to wonder why I ordered 10 cord of log length. Better than going to the gym though. Well gotta go, rototilling and planting today....again.

Cold and soggy, dark and stormy.....ah the weather continues it's frenetic pace into summer. Second CSA pickup went well. Nice to see all of you again. I was a bit cold and damp after being outside in 2 days of this stuff. Barre Farmer's market went well also. Glad I brought my cheezy little canopy and set it up. Lost quite a bit of an asparagus cutting to the darned frost. Oh well, saved the cilantro and dill and the asparagus will bounce back. Need to start planting the fields the next few days. Outdoor cukes, tomatoes, winter squash, zuchinni. Beans are in and so is the corn. Let's hope it gets some heat now. I was actually wearing my fleece line pants last night and sitting in front of my fire. I will not turn the oil furnace on though. Well take care and here are some ideas I sent to all my CSA members for some of the early season crops that are out there. Joe

Baby Turnips- slice and eat them raw with rice wine vinegar. Another tasty dish is to sauté them with olive oil very quickly add some curry powder and some chopped up scallions. Finish with a bit of coconut milk and serve on steamed rice. You can also sauté up the greens with the turnips.

Sage—In a heavy pan put some oil or butter and brown the chicken breasts on one side then turn them over, let them brown a bit more. Next add some Dijon mustard and let it cook for about 2 minutes. Pour in some white wine and scrape the bottom of the pan so it’s clean, leave the breasts in the pan while you are doing this. Next add enough heavy cream so that there is about an inch of liquid in the pan. Sprinkle the chopped sage leaves in and cover the pan. Let the breasts simmer for about 15 minutes covered then another 5 minutes uncovered. This is great served on rice or pasta. Don’t forget a bit of salt and pepper to taste.

Sorrel- this is a tart/sour herb that is used in classic French cuisine for Salmon. So go get some salmon ( I suggest trying the seafood at the Uncommon Market in Montpelier, it’s good quality seafood, something rare in Vermont) and you can either grill it or pan sauté it similar to the chicken above.  After you have either grilled or sautéed the salmon, melt a bit of butter and add the sorrel to it. Pour it over the fish and serve.

Oregano and Chives---put in a blender with some salt and pepper add about a ½ cup of olive oil. If it is still too thick add a bit of water to thin it out. Puree it until you have a smooth consistency. This stuff is great on chicken and beef, use it like a steak sauce or ketchup. If you want to get creative add toasted walnuts and a bit of lemon juice with some parmesan cheese and you have very different version of pesto.

Chives----Pan sautéed scallops. Chop the chives up and have them ready use all of them, scallions will work for this too. In a heavy bottomed pan (cast iron skillet is great) put some olive oil and butter. Let it get really hot and sear the scallops until nice and brown on one side. Turn them over and add the chives a bit of white wine and some salt and pepper. Be careful adding the white wine the oil may pop a bit. Let the scallops finish cooking, about 4 minutes and you now have the sauce also.  These are great with a salad for a lighter meal or serve with some linguini or egg noodles.

Happy cooking

Good Morning, Sorry for the delay in posting. It's that time of year when I hide the computer up in the office becuase there is too much to do around here for the next 2-3 weeks. Need to go out this morning and see what the frost killed last night. This growing season continues to be a great one but with extremely frenentic weather. Sunny weekend with high winds and temperatures 10-20 degrees below normal....ouch.  The meat chickens and ducks are growing really quick, portable coops seem to be working out real well. Black plastic will have to be layed once again (this will make 3 times this spring) since the wind continues to be a real challenge up here. Sweet potatoes are in the ground but not much hope there since they were left in the mailbox overnight with the frost last week. Stuff in the greenhouses is ready to go outside so hopefully we will get to that this week. Have to see what the weather brings. I have the first Barre Farmer's Market tomorrow and they are forecasting up to an inch of rain.....now why did I give up sitting in an office to make a living? Things around here are in transisition but the farm has never looked this good. Hated to pull things out of the greenhouses but the cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, and melons needed to go in. Outside fields are ready to be planted but frost keeps being an issue. Going to have to try the remay row covers and figure out how to make them wind proof.  Three Penny Taproom is a new place here in town, stop in and try one of the beers and they should have my eggs on the menu soon. They are pickling them to go with all the beers they serve. Well gotta go. 

High heat today, First CSA pickup this evening from 4:30-6. Hope everyone is happy, things are looking good. Farm really looks like I have been putting some time into it. Liva is a huge help and a nice person to have around. Trying to get the rest of the plastic down today, hopefully the wind will cooperate for a change. Have figured out that you really need to apply biotelo when the sun is going to be out and it's hot.  This holds true in my situation where we are hand applying it. The sun and heat causes it to "shrink wrap" the bed real quick. Wind is not an issue then. The high winds tore it all up last week, we applied it on a calm cloudy day. That we were being smart........ Finally got my far wet field covered in plastic. Have been trying to plant this field for 3 years now. The current and blueberry tranplants that I have put in look real happy. Could mean 500 pick your own blueberries next year. Going to expand the chicken enclosure today and build a few more chicken tractors. Ditch digging is not progressing very much. Perhaps this weekend. Well gotta go.

Good Morning Vegetable fans! The weather continues to be absolutely.....nuts! What a rain storm last night! Freeze warning for tonight.  Grass is growing out of control. Trying to get lot's of stuff in the ground today. Need to get after the asparagus also.  Really need to get after the drainage project in the greenhouses. If the rain continues it will have a huge effect on the outcome of my season. Already seeing downy mildew in my lettuces which I am sure is left from last year as well as the high humidity the last few weeks.  Need to harvest lettuce and radish today. 

Ouch! What a week!!! Orders are strong, CSA starts next week, asparagus is trying really hard to come up. Lost a bunch to the frost as well as most of my ground cherries. Debating whether to pull the mulch off the asparagus. Ground Cherries will have to be replanted. Wind has been unrelenting up here this year. Thursday was the first time I did not feel it was safe to be in the greenhouses. All my black plastic got torn up and blown all over the place and I had just planted 800 cabbage and broccoli plugs into it. Two chicken coops blew over and one of them had 2 dozen eggs in it that all broke. A huge thank you to Nat and Christa for helping out on Friday. Baby Ducks were not baby ducks but actually 25 Guinnea Fowl. What in the world am I supposed to do with them now? On top of that they are really noisy as adults. Ducks coming (again) next wend.  Tomato plants have turned a nice shade of purple so now I need to track down some bone char and work that into the soil as best I can. Also running back and forth from St. Albans trying to get the camp open with my brother who is up for a few days. I wish school would hurry up and let out so my kids can start working regularly for me. Well gotto go pack out some orders and "walk the estate" to see how things are doing. Finally solved the electric fence problem and just in time. 4 Deer every morning at the back wire, could be a problem as fields get planted. Hardy Kiwi arrived, just need to figure out where it is going to get planted. One last note check out the Capitol City Farmer's Market on twitter. Here's the link--https://twitter.com/Montpmarket

Gotta go Joe......

Ah the sun is still up in the sky. Haven't seen it for 2 weeks. Get to dry out a little bit. My farmer's tan was beginning to fade a bit. Well CSA starts next week and the farmer's market get's going in Barre the week after that. Still have a few large projects to get finished up before then. Asparagus is starting to pop up and the tomatoes are looking pretty good. Frost forecast for tonight so have to get ready for that as well. Need to get my fields covered and prepped this week for planting.  Still can't get my electric fence figured out, the deer have been polite so far but then again there is nothing good to eat planted yet. No woodchuck sightings as of yet either. Paperwork is piling up once again, ugh!  Ditch digging crew coming up this morning, hope to at least get one ditch finished today, perhaps a bit of forward progress on the next one. Here's to a sunny week........joe

Perfect light rain....mother nature has the misting system on. Great day for putting stuff in the ground. Next few days are wet and overcast. Very nice for the plants. Some of my best friends coming for dinner on Saturday. We are all chef's with discriminating spouses. So here's the menu so far.

Apero

Pastis with fresh radishes,butter, salt

Duck egg torta with wild leeks and grated parm served cold

Home made Ciabatta

Duck Breast with Cassis sauce

Duck confit

Baby turnips with spring parsley 

Endive salad with Chervil and Blue Cheese

Simple Vinaigrette

Friends are bringing Potatos, Dessert, and a Magnum of Pinot Noir

Almost all the ingredients including the duck and the cassis or from the farm here.

 

Well here comes another soggy month of May. Rain in the forecast for the next 7 days. We need it, it has been really dry the last month. Figures just as I get all the drip irrigation in place........ Things are going pretty well so far. Some seasonal pests starting to show up but nothing on a grand scale just yet. Tomatoes need to be pruned and trellised. Hope to get that done today and get the rest planted.  Lawn is need of it's first haircut of the season, that going to have to wait. Ditch digging volunteers coming on Friday. Should be interesting with all the water coming down. Glad I put in drainage tile and back filled yesterday. Need to get alot of planting done and but am waiting to get my biodegradable mulch down first. Wind is a big issue trying to lay that stuff. Try it again today when I have some help.  CSA starts in a few weeks. Need to add up my numbers but I think I am sold out or have one share left.  New real local accounts as well. Nice article in the Bridge about the farm and myself. Thanks Sylvia for the kind words.  Barre farmer's market starts at the end of the month. Still have a few things to track down so that I am ready for that as well. Bye.

Here is an article just published about what I do or try to do up here at the farm. Follow the link....http://www.montpelierbridge.com/profile.htm

Hello Folks, Here's hoping for a bit of rain. Way too many projects all going on at once. Getting some help from some great individuals and it gives me somebody to talk to besides myself while I am working. Ground Cherries are planted and mulch is down for some cut flowers and the onions are going in. Need to get the rest of the tomatoes and eggplant in and starting moving the rest of the flats out to the greenhouses. Almost done with field prep, resisting the urge to plant outside. Next wave of flats need to get seeded. Those of you interested will now be able to get my veggies at Kismet (been there for a while), L.A.C.E. in Barre, and the Uncommon Market on the corner of Elm and School St's in Montpelier.  Right now I have all kinds of fun stuff in early. Gotta go. Here's for that rain they are promising tonight. 

What a day!! and it was Monday! Trenching is well under way....what a job. I completely understand why ditch digging has not remained a viable profession in this country. 82 degrees and a nice breeze. Had a neighbor come up with his tractor and rototiller and prep 4 new beds for me. They look great and I can imagine the quality of the beds if I had spent 2 full days of my time with my walk behind BCS tiller. 20 yards of stone delivered also for the trenches and 10 cord of log length fire wood stacked way too high. Guess he realized I was a seventh generation flatlander and thought he was being funny. Dug up all the daffodils and put them next to the first greenhouse then tilled the field up. Farmer's Tan is in full swing and so early in the season. Busy week ahead and that does not include the farming I need to get done. Cooler temps for the rest of the week so this should be good for the field work.  

Market at the Doty Elementary School Today from 10-4. A little long, hope it goes well. Raining this morning but supposed to clear up and hit the 80's. Too warm too early, could cause the asparagus to pop up and then we get hit with few more frosts between now and June 1st. Have to bag up salad and get the truck loaded.

Feeling better, sun is shining, NO WIND, and the forecast is hot weather. Real busy today harvesting, delivering and getting ready for market tomorrow and wholesale deliveries. CSA has one or two shares left. Baby ducks today? I sure hope so for thier sake. Gotta go.

Still sick and going into day 8 of this thing. Baby ducks are overdue, they were supposed to have been delivered on Monday? Baby chicks now 10 weeks old are really stupid. Had to go out and carry them (75 of em) to the coop. I found them all huddled up on the ground outside and it was raining. Lost one because it was smothered by the others. Fields are almost ready for planting. Need to get the potatoes into the ground, will do that on Sunday. Worcester Mud season fund raising market this Saturday. Not very many calls for product this week. Just as well, I really needed the break. Got some work done in spite of being sick. Book keeping is hanging over my head though. Broccoli and cabbages need to go in this weekend too, as well as the peppers and tomatoes.....here we go......

Finally raining. April and way too dry, so typically May will be a deluge when I am trying to plant. Finally started tilling yesterday and put the snow blower away. Fields looked good. Not too sure about this biotelo degradable mulch. Thinking I need to do a much more thorough job of incorporating it into the soil in the fall.

Last winter market is done today. Things went well, boy was I sick, lost my voice the last half hour and sounded like death warmed over (what ever that phrase means?)  My small world moment was finding out that the one of the owners of the UNCOMMON Market in Montplier used to own my house and now I think I am going to sell them some vegetables this summer. Thanks to Princess the cheese maker for the barter today. Great cheese and I am enjoying it with some pinot noir. I think wine is supposed to help with a chest cold?

Thanks to Ruth and Lee it was fun sharing a stand with you the last 3 markets. Things went well and I was able to make some new friends. Once again proving that farmers are a nicer class of people. At least the ones I keep meeting here in Central Vermont.  Lastly I want to thank my customers, some of you were fanatical and very regular in your need for good salad. What a nice validation of all my hard work. It will keep me farming well into the summer. Already thinking about how to improve next winter. Soup bases anyone? Complete with recipes and a "hotline" to the chef/farmer for help. Well gotta go watch some "bubble gum for the mind" and try and convalesce. Need to start working my fields tomorrow before the rain comes. We need the rain.

Ok so.......I have 3 CSA shares left to sell. The temptation is incredible to start planting outside but we all know it's April in Vermont and 2 feet of snow is still a possibility.  Still fighting some spring version of the creeping crud that the family has been sharing with each other.  A few more flats to sow and trying to figure out what to do with all the flats of tomatoes, eggplant and peppers that I have. They need to go into the ground but the lettuce beds are still producing.  Lot's of harvesting and planting today, market tomorrow. Ducks arriving on Monday. Eletrical is done and water to the greenhouses. No more hoses and extension cords........

Thursday........last "winter" market this Saturday here in Montpelier. Barre farmer's market and the CSA get started at the end of May. I have also been accepted to the Montpelier Market for some of the weeks in August and September. Fighting a head cold......ugh! Trying to decide if I should start tilling the fields, it is ridiculously early to be able to do it.  Chickens will be moving into summer compound soon, ducks are arriving on Monday. Flipping the greenhouses continues slowly and seeding flats in the basement like crazy. Christa and Nat are due up to help out today. Great guys who are helping out alot this season. Going to get away for 2-3 days to go on college visits down in DC next week.   Well gotta go seed some flats and see how many chickens I have left.....forgot to close the door again last night.......

Well happy Easter, just hid all the eggs. It's nice my kids are all teenagers and still want to do the egg hunt, they just like to start hunting closer to noon instead of 5AM.....Lot's of tomatoes planted, will try and post some new photos to the website, it looks a bit surreal in there right now with all these pink walls of water. I am happy with the condidtion of the greenhouses it's just deciding when to tear something out and get it replanted. Radishes are almost ready and so are the green onions. Potted up a bunch of tomato plants just to hold them over until I get a bit more room for them. Garlic continues to look good and the asparagus has not made an appearance yet. Just as well I lost a bit to May frost last year. Well harvesting salad today. I have decided I prefer to grow salad next to "mesclun". Mesclun has just become this default collection of the same bland lettuces with little to no texture or taste. It is so tender that I think it feels soggy, no crunch either. So I grow salad.

 

Well something I am having to come to terms with is that I have spent my whole working life being a "loner" of sorts. Just used to doing things by myself, I will spare all of you the childhood psycology as to why I am like this. Suffice it to say I think it has something to do with being the oldest sibling. Anyhow the up side to this is that people have been offering help for some time now and I am finally getting used to the idea that it is ok to accept it and not feel guilty about it. Still have a ways to go feeling real comfortable with it but my new profession of farming definately allows me to work and meet a much nicer  class of people. So far I do not think I have met a farmer I do not like. I have had a rough start with one or two but once I have talked to them a bit they have turned out to be real nice people. So today I continue planting tomatoes in the greenhouses, need to go see how they faired with the 27 degrees we had last night. The real test will be this weekend with temps around 20 at night on Sat. and Sun. Seeding flats this weekend, trenching starts next week in earnest. Gotta get it done...... 

Sun is finally going to make a return but with continued below normal temperatures.....can't have it all I suppose. Continuing to plant tomatoes in the greenhouses as beds of lettuce go to seed. Got the chicken's summer compound fenced yesterday and the meat ducks arrive in about 2 weeks. Yes I am doing ducks for eating this year. Have to order up my chickens next. A friend is loning me his motorized plucker, will make things alot easier and cleaner. I will keep you posted. Thinking we will do ducks and chickens this year and not do Turkeys. Had a little snow last night and the damn deer are already coming into the yard and eating everything. Having trouble with the electric fence, venison sausage anyone? Well gotta start the day. 

Good Morning Vegetable Fans---how about being cold wed and soggy? Processed 80llbs of salad yesterday, talk about raw.....anyhow off to make deliveries this morning and then planting tomatoes all afternoon in the greenhouses. Time to get the next crop of salad greens rolling through.  Seeding flats this week as well.  

Good Morning Everyone,

Well the week is starting to get crazy and I have not even planted anything yet. Need to get into the greenhouses and plant today. One peep we have diagnosed with "bumble foot". Some kind of nasty infection. See if I can get it treated.  Grass is growing and the ducks are playing in the pond. Spinach is going crazy and so far no big pest issues like last year. Trying to get information about this new federal program called GAP that came about with the big spinach contamination issue a few years back. It's looking to be another big agribusiness/federal government one size fits all program that will do a fine job of putting small growers like myself out of business (competition) with the big guys. I worked in the restuarant industry for many years and am very versed in sanitation issues, protocals, systems that are food related.  This program is a potentail disaster for small scale farming. Here is a website everyone should check out. I realize I am starting to sound like a paranoid farmer with my subversive big government plots but...........Joe

http://www.LeaveMyFoodAlone.org 

Good Morning, Well nothing but rain in the forecast for the next 5 days. At least the temp is supposed to stay above freezing so.......time to plant tomatoes in the greenhouses. Montpelier Farmer's market this Saturday, come on by and say hello. I will also be at fundraising farmer's market in Worcester on April 25th at the elementary school. Snow is almost gone I was actually thinking about rototilling a couple of beds yesterday. Peeps are doing well, I have one in the house that was having trouble walking? She is eating and drinking just can't seem to keep her balance? Ah well time to check on all the flats, really need to get the rest of my stuff seeded out as well. 

Off to do deliveries today. Lot's of salad and spinach. Downey Mildew is showing itself in the lettuce again. Will have to treat again. Temperatures look good so am going to start putting tomatoes into the greenhouses inside my walls o water with remay. Should be an interesting experiment. Tomatoes 2 months early without supplemental heat. Still waiting on soil tests to come back. Need to get the packing shed cleaned out and my walk in cooler up and running for the season. Going to purchases a "cool bot". It's a gizmo that allows me to use a home window A/C unit to cool my cooler instead of a huge A/C unit and compressor $$$$$. Ditch digging starts this week. Oh boy. Just about 4 CSA shares left and I will be sold out for the season. Only taking 15 full shares this season. Going to also try and do meat chickens and ducks this summer on a small experimental scale. Well gotta go.

Good Morning Vegetable fans, today is looking to be a high of 60 degrees and sunny. Wow we are way ahead of last year. Hoping it stays that way too! So what's up on the farm? Well finally connected my underground water pipe to the greenhouse and starting to get the eletrical hooked up as well. No more extension cords and garden hoses running everywhere.  The chickens are into everything and hiding eggs all over the place. Who needs the Easter bunny. Seriously; it reminds me why I keep them free range in a fenced area with thier coops. The amount of damage they can do is amazing.  Soil samples finally were sent for the greenhouses. Getting ready to plant tomatoes. Need to get out there and sell some salad mix. The claytonia is starting to flower and looks great but need to harvest it. New plug trays are taking some getting used to. I have lost quite a bit of seed to them. I have another type that seems to be doing better so far but I am still apprehensive about how they are going to work when I need to pull the plugs from them.  The "big dig" on the farm starts next week. Alot of drainage trenching going in during the month of April. Drier greenhouses results in a better growing environment and hopefully alot less fungus etc. Just think digging ditches at my age........take care Joe

50 and sunny forecast for today. Going to try and get some stuff planted and weeds pulled. Beds prepped for tomatoes, all the trellis strings are hung. Need a few more.

Just in case.......my twitter account is under Vermontfarmerjoe

Well it was bound to happen, it's only March and it is snowing. Supposed to rain this afternoon. Makes me feel better about being in a dark basement seeding flats next to the furnace.  One of the last fires in the fireplace today.  I just posted a bunch of NY Times articles on my twitter acount. They are all about the state of nutrition, politicol nutrtition, organics etc. I thought they were pretty interesting. Here are some of the links.  

The 3rd article does an excellant job of articulating my thoughts and beliefs about why I am not certified organic.  It is a question that I have been struggling to form an answer to for this last week.  I had a customer who really needed 3rd party certification and I could not offer it to him. Instead I offered an open tour of the farm and honestly answered questions.  While I understand and see the need for 3rd party certification. I also see it becoming a crutch and an easy way out of the responsibility individuals need to take for the source and condition of thier food.   Convenience has priority, slow down, stop and participate in your lives. I really think we need to be looking at microcommunities. Let's pick a number and say that 75% of food should be sourced within 5 miles of your home. Imagine the economics of this as well as the benefits to the community, environment, and the quality of what you eat. Prices would/should come down.  I am going to think about this idea some more. Enough for today. Thanks Joe

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/dining/21sugar.html?scp=1&sq=sugar&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/business/22food.html?hp

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/weekinreview/22bittman.html?ref=business

Wonderful day at market. Girls are in training to learn how to run the farm. Well going to go relax, lot's of bed prep tomorrow, planting tomatoes in about 2 weeks. Very exciting. Joe

Sun is out again.....what a first official day of Spring. On quite a run of nice weather. Things are growing well in the greenhouses. Regrowth is spectacular. Joe

Well the sun is taking a break so I get to catch up on paperwork.  Just got some new plug trays that look to be real promising, very robust and reusable. Supposed to be real good for air pruning to have better tranplants. Just got done washing 30 dozen eggs. I am guessing the chickens are happy.........Joe

So the salad season is going full tilt. Harvested 80lbs this weekend and need to harvest another 60lbs today. Farmer's market this Saturday. Have three of them left then summer markets start at the end of May.  The patch of lawn keeps getting bigger. Warm weather and rain this week so I am thinking I will be able to start repairing the deer fence soon. Tomatoes are ready to transplant into the greenhouses, it's just a little too cold still. Grafting was a partial success, I have about 20 more plants to try it on. Went and got a grafting lesson on Friday so hopefully my success rate will be higher. Radishes and turnips look good, I think (once again) that I have lost all my onion starts. Cannot figure out why I have so much trouble with onions..........talk to you soon.

Ok so I gotta ask....is anyone out there? Is anyone reading this thing? Curiosity is killing me...just a bit. So I just finished getting the trellis cables run in the new Greenhouse. Going to clip and trellis everything this year. Even going to prune my pepper and eggplants and see what happens. 6 CSA shares left for the summer. Usually this goes quick. Greens are really taking off in the houses, new peeps made the transisition to the chicken greenhouse (heat lamps still) just fine. Next few days are looking to be warm and sunny! Feels great to be outside working again. Woodpile has few logs left in it. Will probably burn them just to save the heating oil.  Keep watching the economy and listening to the doom and gloom coming out of the urban areas. Real happy I chose to become a self-employed vegetable grower. A much better investment than that midlife crisis porcshe. Well take care and go get some of that Vitamin D.  Joe  Hey how many of you twitter? Signed myself up but am still trying to decide if it's just a fun waste of my time.............

Sun is out, sun is supposed to be out the next 4 days with temps in the mid 40's. Ahhhhh. 

Ugh! what a wet nasty day. Great day to work in the greenhouses and also seed flats in the basement. Tomatoes are looking great. My second atempt at grafting tomatoes seems to be taking, so this could be real interesting. Going to graft a few other varieties also and see what happens. Johnny's just started offering grafting stock for cucumbers also. May have to try that as well......well at least the snow is melting......

Good morning vegetable fans. Well it's snowing........spring is trying to make an early go of it and I am pulling for it to make it. Market went very well this past saturday and things continue to speed up in the greenhouses. So much to get done before the real season starts.  CSA is doing well with only a few shares left to sell. Have a great week.  Joe

Damn it's been Cold!! Plenty of sun though. Amazing that when it's 5 degrees in the morning and the sun is shining the big greenhouses are at 65 degrees already. Things continue to pop up in there. Direct seeded some stuff on Sunday and it was up by Wend.!  Montpelier market this Saturday. Spinach, Salad, and eggs. Will have fresh herbs for the next one. Last day of sun today before we head into somemore of this bipolar March weather......Joe

Well this time of year the weather and the sun offer the promise of spring and another growing season. Then it goes nuts and we get a nor'easter. Waiting for 4-8 inches of blowing snow they are promising today. At least I did not see any of the 50mph winds they were talking about last week. I have to drive to boston to pick up my oldest daughter this evening becuase her flight was cancelled yesterday due to this now behind schedule storm. Ahh well..... Chives look like some will be ready for market this Saturday. The chickens are wondering farther from the coop each day eating the grass that has been exposed....man are they laying alot of eggs right now. Flats of plants all over the place sprouting and growing. Lot's of new tomatoes to try and attempting some grafting.  Going to graft a few of my cherry tomato plants next.  All my onion starts look good (for once) and a bunch of lettuce survived the transisition out to the greenhouses.  Thinking I have figured out how to harden the stuff off correctly for a change.  Four flats of mesclun plugs have all germinated and should be ready to go into the ground in 2-3 weeks. Peeps are doing well and I have another 26 replacements that are supposed to show up in the storm today.  Well take care all and I am going to sit in the office today doing paperwork for the farm.

Well the snow has stopped, spent most of yesterday moving it around. The new peeps arrived and are doing fairly well. 9 of them did not make it. Lot's of eggs to sell, the salad is coming along and I keep seeding flats in hopes of the weather finally moderating and staying above 29 degrees. Good grief what a cold winter it has been. Well off to go start figuring out my taxes......

Well here we are. Saturday morning of market----watering all my seedling, feeding chickens, bagging salad mix, and all the other little jobs. Market is always fun though. Little bit of snow last night and today...just enough to remind me not to worry about getting seeds started. Plenty of time but am still anxious about having enough stuff going for this summer.  CSA has 8 shares left for this summer.  Barre farmer's market should be interesting and still waiting to hear about the Montpelier market. Intervale Food Basket is going to keep me real busy. Other offers keep rolling in for my produce. Going to have to sit down and evaluate where I want to concentrate my considerable efforts. The cold business calcualtion is the closer the  account the better, the fun side of me really enjoys the relationships and new friendships that I have gained with my long distance accounts. Hmmmmm, well have to go. Joe

Well so much for winter letting go early. 3inches of snow this morning. Planting seeds in the basement and moving flats all over the place. Put a bunch of transplants in the ground this week. Off to start harvesting for market this Saturday in Montpelier. Looks like I will be doing the Barre farmer's market this summer on Wend. evenings. It's going to be back in it's originol spot downtown. Still waiting to hear about the Montpelier summer market as to whether I have been accepted or not. Things are looking to be real busy this summer with alot of business. A very good thing with the state of the economy. Well gotta go get that spinach.--Joe

Mid February and the spinach is looking very good. Off to spend this morning cultivating the beds a bit and doing a little fertilizing to give everything a bit of a boost. Storm coming this afternoon. Winter market this saturday. Everyone calling for greens, trying to fill those orders. bye Joe  CSA is filling up, a bit slower than I would like but hey it's only February! I have about 8 shares left.

Sun is out and things are growing! In the greenhouses renovating beds. Tomatoes started to sprout today. Trying some grafting on 50 of them in about 2-3 weeks. Going to trial 3 differant types next to ungrafted and see how things go. The other experiment are my red "walls o water" for early tomatoes in the greenhouse. I set one up last night and am very pleased to report that with a low temp of 13 degrees outside the temp inside the wall o water hit a low of 32 degrees. This means putting tomatoes out on the 1st of April with no supplemental heat in the greenhouses. Well busy weekend with the NOFA conferances tomorrow and Monday. Have to go get stuff done. bye for now.  Joe

Good Morning Folks,

Well seeds are being planted in the basement and I am sowing spinach in the greenhouses. Trying to get my taxes done and look for a tractor and find an employee for this summer.  Conferance season is almost over for me. NOFA this Sunday and then going to listen to Eliot Coleman on Monday and see if I can learn anything. Lot's of anticipation building up on my end since this will be my first full season spent totally on the farm with no off farm job.  I have so many spread sheets set up, now to actually use them. The warm spell of weather this week was useful and nice. Salad continues to come to life in the greenhouse and still trying to figure out ways to improve winter systems. So many things to try and not enough time to do them.  Winter market in Montpelier next Saturday hope to see you all there. Joe

Hello All,

I apologize for the long time between posts. I was out in sunny and warm southern california last week for my sisters birthday. Also got by a few farmer's markets and one large plug operation. The plug operation was very impressive, learned a few things that will help me grow better transplants hopefully. Farmer's Market is on this Saturday. It's an odd one since we have had a 3 week break from the last one in Jan.  Days are longer and we are seeing some warmer temperatures. I am building lighting racks for my flats and a few other gadgets that I hope will save me time this summer. Head lettuce and tomatoes are going to be started this weekend. Stuff in the greenhouses is hanging in there. Always interesting to see what makes it and comes roaring back in the next 3-4 weeks. In years past the bed has looked dead and by mid-March it is full and I am harvesting every 10 days.  Take care and I will write soon. Joe

Well here comes the next "cold snap". Just finshed collecting a bunch of mulch hay from over in New Haven.  The chickens should be real happy for the rest of the winter be able to rummage around in that. I was wondering......a customer asked why my eggs taste better than other local eggs......could it be that my chickens are vegetarian for the most part. I feed them my compost but it is only vegetable matter. They also get alot of seeds from the mulch hay that I keep putting down....Greenhouses are at thier low point right now. Man things look depressing in there. That will all start to change about mid February though. March things will really get going again. Seeds are here now I have to get the grow lights rigged up and start things growing. First up alot of lettuce and the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. Well take care-Joe

The snow continues to fall and I keep buying seeds.........winter planning is in full swing. I only have 2 more conferances to go to and the scramble is on to do my taxes.. Farmer's Market in Montpelier continues to do well. I just wish I had more product for everyone.  I have learned alot and will hopefully be able to fix that next year. Talk to you all soon. Joe

Good Morning Folks, Joe the farmer here (not to be confused with Joe the plumber-not a relative). Well how about that surprise 12 inches of fluff we got this weekend? What a time for the snow blower to break. I fired it up and started moving snow and the clutch cable broke. So it was get it all done at once in one gear or not get it done at all...........I went for option 1 and managed to get it all done....almost.  Chickens are doing well and still laying lots of eggs. Transplanted some lettuce and Sorrel into the far greenhouse yesterday. We'll see if this weeks Arctic blast kills it or it makes it and I have early Romain (Late March) for the market.  The CSA is selling well. I have 11 full shares left and that will be it for this season. So if you are thinking about joining please consider sending in a deposit to hold that place. I sell out every year.  Now on to meat birds.....I have been doing some shopping and need to figure pricing out but I will do meat birds a few times this season for just the CSA.  I attended a seminar this weekend about state inspection and the laws governing on farm sale and processing.  So I can sell direct to you the consumer if you pre buy the birds. My understanding is that at that point you own the birds and are just paying me to raise them and process them. Sounds a bit odd but that's the way it works. I will also be doing Duck. A personal favorite. No pigs this year maybe next. My to do list for the season is starting to get pretty full and I can't take on any more projects.  If any of you know of someone who wants to work on the farm this summer have them contact me.  Need to figure my costs but at a minimum I want to hire a part time individual for 20 hours per week. This will be April to the end of October.  Don't forget it's the Montpelier Winter Market this Saturday the 17th at the Vermont College gym. That's the big brick building right at the top of State St. and College. We are there from 10Am to 2pm. Things tend to sell out by noon or so. I will have a limited amount of salad. Things are slow in the greenhouses right now and at least for another 3 weeks or so.  I attended 3 conferences last week.....ahhhh continuing education for the farmer.  I was hesitant to go thinking I had way too much to do on the farm ( I also tend to be a home body) but they were great. Saw allot of my peers and met allot of great people! Learned a great deal and actually realized how much I have managed to learn on my own over the last few years.  Still way too much to do but, as one presenter said...each season is a restart.  Really nice to meet and speak with Sandy and Paul Arnold about winter salad production.  Well have to go, talk to you soon.  Joe

Ah! One other thing. I was hoping that those of you interested in splitting a share could use this blog to post and find someone to split with..just a suggestion. Joe

Jan. 7,2009

Hello Folks, 

Just returned from a 2 day farming conference. Nothing like spending some time with your peers to reaffirm that what you doing is good and that everything is going to be all right! Had some fun learned an awful lot from the presenters as well as my fellow growers. Sleeting outside right now and the kids did not have school. I am still trying to figure out where my days go considering it's winter I am supposed to have "nothing to do" since I am a grower. Still trying to get those starts moved into the greenhouses and then transplant. This could be a great experiment with a lot of potential if they survive.  I am off to 2 more conferences later this week and presenting at one. Should be interesting and fun. Winter Farmer's market continues to be fun and go well. Makes me realize how many nice people I have gotten to know over the last 9 years up here, and how many of them appreciate good local produce and eggs. Well have to get back to my book keeping. I am paying the price for just letting things pile up for the last 8 months. Ouch! Hopefully I will get with a better system next summer. Trying to develop that too! Hope to see all of you at the January 17Th market. Joe 

Well Good Morning and Happy New Year! Getting ready for another Montpelier Winter Market day this morning. Things  have been cold around here and greens are slowing way down in the greenhouses. They have been holding up well so far and a few experiments are looking promising as far as winter growing goes.  That said I am still very anxious to get to March 1st. That's when day length has traditionally gotten things really moving again in the greenhouses.  Off to attend a few growing conferences next week and then it's tax and spring planning time. Have to get things done before mid-march.  As far as wildlife is concerned I now have a fox sneaking around a bit. Chickens are doing well and laying about 40 eggs a day. Well have to go, hope to see you at market today. Joe