Over the Fence Urban Farm

Cooperatively farming small patches of Earth in Columbus, OH


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(Sometimes) You’ve Gotta Reap, If You Want to Grow

Last weekend Thompson killed a bunny.

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I was cleaning out a wasted lettuce bed and I caught him out of the corner of my eye hovering over something on the ground just in time to see it twitch for the last time. Then, out of the other eye, I saw another bunny run out of the yard. Thompson didn’t pay it any attention. I’m pretty sure he was still processing his deed. He carried the dead bunny around the yard poking at it with his muzzle, licking it as if waiting for it to come alive and play tag some more. Reminded me of Lennie in Of Mice and Men…

I, on the other hand, didn’t feel sad at all. A few weeks ago, I transplanted some beets into the garden – about 50 plants which I individually set in the ground. Plants that I grew from seed. They were doing great for a few days and then one afternoon, poof, they were gone. I’m pretty certain John the Rabbit got them. So, while I think bunnies are super cute, the way I figure it this one kind of had it coming.

This week it was my turn to take some lives in the name of protecting our food supply. While, I didn’t draw any blood, this time (see a previous post about a time when I had to) I still felt bad about pulling a hundred plants up when they were still producing food. Food infested with bugs, and holes made by those bugs, but food nonetheless. We all know the saying you have to sow in order to reap, but sometimes it works the other way around.

photo 2Our 2014 greens beds are now fully replanted for fall/winter growing and harvesting – spinach, kale, swiss chard, mustard, radicchio, lettuce, arugula, herbs, scallions, beets, carrots, and boc choi. Just in time for the harvest moon.

Sorry John, we won’t be sharing any of these.
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Four, Make that SIX, Weeks of Photos

Has it really been four six weeks since our last post?! It was four when I first sat down to write this one. That seemed like a long time. Six weeks seems downright negligent. But, while we haven’t been blogging, we have been busy. Here are some highlights. (Note: We have been pretty good at posting on Facebook. If you aren’t following us there, maybe you should.)

The romaine we transplanted during our last workday came in full and crisp.

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We have harvested HUNDREDS of tomatoes, oftentimes in a single day…

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DSC_0114 photo 3We distributed a ton of them through our CSA thanks to our “sarcophagus” system. (Term coined by Julian Halliday)

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We made and distributed roasted tomatillo salsa to nearly all members of our CSA…

This was a goody batch we sent to Rosa and George's band instructor. The red bottle is a tomato version.

This was a goody batch we sent to Rosa and George’s band instructor. The red bottle is a tomato version.

We also harvested, shared, and ingested TONS of kale, chard, and arugula, herbs, onions, cucumbers, beans. You can check out some of our favorite recipes, including our own K-Word Smoothie, on our recipes board.  We canned pizza sauce, chutney, and salsa verde (a cooked and preserved version of our fresh salsa that doesn’t really compare but when you are sitting on a mountain of tomatillos what are you gonna do?). We made refrigerator pickles and jardiniere. It’s been awesome.

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We have lots to do to get ready for fall. And some things we hoped to get done probably won’t this year. But, we’ll be ready next time around.