Work day--mostly herding chickens and uncovering garlic

Another drizzle filled day, but at least its int he 70's. Herding chickens today and getting them moved to summer quarters. They are into everything and its time to start farming outside.
Tree branch fell on the car as I was driving yesterday, not a fun experience. Just a bit slower and it would have come through the windshield. Greenhouses are almost "flipped" and its time to start planting tomatoes. Cuke and zuke starts are looking good and the basil has germinated. Still about 2-3 weeks behind last year.
Soup sales remain solid mostly due to the bad weather. I am not selling soup at the Co-Op anymore. It was just not working out. Shifting everything to the new CSA we have started. Which should be sold out by next week. Should be interesting.
All the day to day stuff is getting done, its just the large projects that need attention. Trying to get to them over the next 2 weeks. Here is a photo of the new seedling shed. Yes that is some of the 2 inches of snow we had last Saturday.

Where is the sun? Damn chickens are incessantly curious......

Recovering from last nights "catering" event. I under estimated the amount of hungry concert goers at last nights Patty Casey show. Sold 4 gallons of soup in about 15 minutes. At least now we have something to go on for next year....everyone was very understanding and gracious. At least the salad held out until the last 10 minutes or so.
A bit of seeding done today trying to get a bit more done. Thinking I might have figured how to finish up the new greenhouse. Try and get after that this week.

Happy Easter.

Well something had to give....oh its snowing......again...

Snowing out, something about "free fertilizer and ions" comes to mind. Ah well. I took my soup out of the Coop the other day. Just needed to get something off my plate and direct retail grocery was turning out to need more of my time than I can allow right now. Ah well. Started pulling more salad yesterday, trying to get things "flipped" and back into production. Aphids are having a party in there right now. Need to get them under control. Going to try nematodes here once the soil gets nice and warm.
Busy selling CSA shares and trying to figure out the polite email response to new members trying to get the rest of the information we need for share delivery, etc. Need to figure out what is wrong with the webpage and my bad communication. Learning curve is steep on this one.
Actually got a bunch of beds tilled yesterday and composted a bunch of beds. Now to get stuff into them and get the "summer" season on track.

"Spring" and on the dirt....

So finally working outside yesterday, actually tilled a couple of beds. Covered them with plastic to see if I can run the soil temp up quicker and get them planted with early stuff. Chickens remain impressively stupid and curious. A very dangerous combination. Renovated one asparagus beds last night as well and finally managed to pull out a huge rock I have been working around for the last 7 years. Now to get it out of the field without causing more damage to the asparagus crowns. New greenhouse frame is up just need to get the carpentry done and get it covered. Chicken enclosure fence posts went up yesterday as well. Need to get them reigned in so we can start planting and I stop finding eggs everywhere.
Off to Canada to buy Ag supplies today...............

To market to market with a fat pig.............

Last market of the "winter" today 10-2 at VCFA gym. Cold up here this morning but not as cold as predicted. Salad, Spinach, Black Bean Sirloin Chili, Vegetable Minestroni, and plenty of wicked happy hen eggs. New greenhouse is coming along, I will try and get a few photos up as we go. Seeds getting started, the fields are drying out and the snow is gone.
I will be selling CSA shares at market today so stop by and ask questions.

CSA, SOUP, STUPID CHICKENS, TOO DAMN COLD STILL!

Well here I sit watching the thermometer dip towards 20 with 15 degrees on tap for tonight. My summer starts are not going to be happy, in particular the tomatoes. Ground posts were set yesterday for the new seedling shed. Trying to get the bows and purlins up this afternoon. Deliveries need to get done this morning. Just spinach heading out the door along with some black bean chili and a vegetable & stars pasta
soup with plenty of herbs. The last "winter market" of the season is tomorrow. Hope to see a bunch of you there. Plenty of eggs, spinach, and some salad. I might even have a few bunches of radishes. Need to go check on them today. Summer Market starts in 3 weeks the first Saturday of May down at our standard location at Elm St on State. Really hoping things warm up a bit by then. Finally took the snowblower off the tractor yesterday and hoping to get onto my fields and start prepping them next week. A fine crop of rocks has come up once again. Looking to prep the asparagus beds also and get after the weeds in there early. Compost pile has finally become accessible so its time to start top dressing everything in the greenhouses. Chickens are going to get moved to summer "pasture" pretty soon too.
CSA sales are picking up and its looking like we are going to sell out pretty soon. This is a good thing.

Rain and Chickens and Farmy Stuff

Good Morning, Well slipped on the ice, landed on my ass and really screwed up my wrist. Not a good thing. Plenty of rain means the snow goes away, finally, but what a muddy mess. Chickens continue to live under the coop instead of in it? Seedlings are moving along, the farm is coming to life slowly. A number of things to do but still too many off farm distractions. Time to start saying no to many of the requests I get and tend to things around here.
Hoping to get the over wintered fava beans unmulched and see how they do this spring.  Greenhouse plastic tear is patched with tyvek tape. We will see how that holds up. New plastic going on this August for sure.
Have a good day and stay dry.........

High winds are here---thus the name of my farm.

High screamin winds last night. Woke up this morning and the plastic on one greenhouse is split down one seem about 30 feet long. Another thing to deal with today......this has been a season/winter with lots of little annoying things to deal with. A few large problems but for the most part I am getting nit-picked like crazy with small issues. Lot's of deliveries today and plenty of potting on to get done. More seeds to get started as well. I should be able to get onto my fields by next week, the advantage of sandy soil.
CSA sales are picking up and we are getting ready for a great first year of our new model. Should be interesting and a lot of fun.  Last "winter" market this Saturday at the VCFA gym. Just think last year at this time we had held both markets outdoors because it was in the 80's! We will take a 3 week break and the summer market starts downtown the first Saturday of May.
Gotta go deal with stuff. Joe

Chickens are rototilling....snow is melting...work is piling up.

Good Morning, Plenty of rain and real warm temps today. Great for moving my starts out into the greenhouses and hardening them off. The peeps are in with the big birds and continue to be fairly dumb and not get the program the big girls follow. Mainly going into the coop and greenhouses at sunset. Ah well. Off to make soup, harvest greens, and figure out how to build my new greenhouse. Hope to get it built and covered this week.
So how about 38 billion in budget cuts? Not hearing anything about closing subsidies for the oil companies, substantive financial reform, or touching military spending..........very distressing. Once again the poor are taking the hit.  The middle class continues to disappear and income disparity grows larger and larger. We are looking like our 3rd world neighbors to the south.

So long snow. The rabbit ate my tomatoes.........

Well this season is looking to be more challenging by the day. Awesome warm weather on tap for the next several days and I have contracted the nastiest cold I have had in a while. It is now taking up residence in my lungs. Talk about feeling raw. Snow just won't melt up here, Gah! Went down to water my 5 week old tomato starts and discovered that the house rabbit had decided baby tomatoes were edible. She took out about 150 or so of my starts. What a bummer, have to go hunt for some now. CSA shares are starting to sell well and it seems we will hit our target of 100 members this season. Should be awesome. Demand for locally grown/produced  food in genereral remains high but issues with the economy still causing problems. Non-profits getting hit real hard still. Also the government shut down last night?! So does that mean the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan just stop "working" and come home? I will be spending the weekend doing paperwork (too damn much of it) and watering the greenhouses like crazy.
Still marveling at my tractor and trying to figure out how I managed to do things around here without it for 8 years. Latched onto a very large improperly located lilac bush yesterday and it was gone 3 minutes later, even shook the dirt off the root ball with the loader. I can start erecting my new seedling greenhouse and put it into service. The sooner the better.

Finally some Spring like temps on the way.

A nice time yesterday at Green Mtn Coffee Roasters meeting people, tasting soup, and talkin about our CSA. Visited the Alchemist afterwards since we were in the neighborhood and had a brew. Things are looking good to finally get the farming season into gear over the next few days. Need to get the plants out from under the grow lights and into the greenhouses. The new peeps have to go outside in the next couple of days. They are just too big for their current quarters. Off to make soup. Thinking a nice spring Spinach and Potato with carmelized onions and some fennel seed.

Rain and warm temps woohoo! CSA Shares

Well good riddance to the month of March! Temps were 20 degrees below normal the whole month causing all kinds of problems in the greenhouses. On tap the next few days is warmer weather and rain. I would love to see my fields this week and get the snowblower off the back of my tractor. Need to spend all day harvesting spinach and salad that has started to go to seed way too early. Busy trying to replant stuff as fast as we can.
My daughter did a great job with a soup tasting at the Coop this Saturday. Sold out the case and had a lot of interest in our new CSA. The same at the farmer's market. I am thinking the shares will sell out by the middle of this month. I will be at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters on Wend. for the wellness fair selling CSA shares also.
Going to try putting a temporary high tunnel outside and get some early greens going on the field.
Thinking about a Cuban Black Bean soup and a Split Pea for Tues.

Farmers Market Today-Come Eat, Play, Hangout, Buy Local!

Market Today Carrot Ginger Coconut soup and Herbed Roasted Chicken Potato Soup

 Of Course Plenty of Eggs, Salad, and Tender Spinach.

Winter versus Spring- Really hoping spring kicks it's ass......

So the snowblower is parked in the garage ready to go, most of the market work is done just so I can spend the day moving snow and keeping an eye on the greenhouses. Plenty of wet heavy snow on tap for today and then 4 days of wet rainy weather with some warm temps finally. Really hoping I can see my fields by wend of next week and start going on stuff. The colder than normal month of March has really confused the plants in the greenhouses and given the aphids an earlier than normal start. The intensity of the sun heats the greenhouses up regardless of the outside temp so I am seeing temps from 70-80 degrees in there even with venting. Then when the sun goes down and it is 10 degrees outside the nigh time temps drop to 20 or so under the remay. Not good. So we have been tearing stuff out and replanting with plugs like crazy trying to replace plants that should normally hold out until mid april. This is farming.
Please head on over and check out the CSA at centralvermontfoodhub.com. I realize the weather and snow tends to keep everyone from thinking summer vegetables but the shares tend to disappear fast and we are limiting the number we sell this year since it is a startup and we want to get it right.

Market on Saturday at VCFA in the gym hope to see you there. My daughter Olivia will be doing a soup tasting at Hunger Mtn Co-Op from 11-2 Saturday also. Joe