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.