Here’s a bunch of photos from this past month. Those who follow us on the book of faces or instagrams might have seen some of these already. Lucky you. Reruns in the age of media bombardment ain’t all that bad…
May 19th we had a HIGHLY productive work day. A steady stream of CSA folks through the gates helped get lots of tasks knocked off the chore list.
I continue to be amazed by how great everything is doing this season. The plants in the ground are booming and so far the succession planning is going well. CSA members are impressed by the size of the bags they are picking up. One this past weekend asked, “This is all for us?!”
I’m going to say no more lest I jinx the whole thing. You can see the bounty for yourself. I’m proud.
I returned this morning after being out of town for nearly a week to visit my parents. I was anxious about leaving the farm since we hadn’t had any significant rainfall in a long long while and the temperatures had been really high. Luckily, it rained almost everyday I was gone(!) and I returned to see everything refreshed and thriving. This afternoon, we had another great turnout with lots of CSA members and other curious volunteers showing up to help with chores.
While I was away The Spurgeon General started to install this year’s tomato trellises (there’s one in the very front of this photo – see the rebar) which allowed us to tie up the plants today.
You might be wondering where the tomatoes are in the second photo of Julian cutting twine. They’re hard to see because they’re hiding in the fava beans (photo below) which were planted as an early spring cover crop. The hope is that these will produce some beans and we’ll chop them down in the next few weeks.
Nancy thinned beet seedlings, producing some very pretty little microgreens.
Brooke, Amie, and Claire attacked the weeds that made a home across our entrance threshold.
And Andrew made a rare appearance to spray beneficial nemotodes all over the place.
Things are looking brighter then a week ago. Let’s see what Mother Nature brings us next!
This afternoon our CSA members turned up and knocked out some seriously good and important work. Here are a few highlights.
Sarah and Emily helped my harvest nearly 40 lbs of new potatoes. Then Melissa helped me replant the row with some quick growing haricot-vert and cilantro.
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Carrie harvested beans that have already come in.
Liz and Melissa did some heavy weeding to help prep the old garlic bed for fall crops.
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Elizabeth pruned basil and Sarah followed behind with fish fertilizer.
We had a great day on the farm yesterday with lots of friends stopping by and helping us get through our chores.
Thanks SO much to Damon, Elizabeth, and Julian for completing the important, but not too exciting task of clearing weeds from the east and west pathways. (I promise to buy more wood chips like those we have in the central path to try to keep that task to a minimum in the coming months and years.)
Thanks to Melissa, Julian, and Nina for setting up the trellis netting for peas, beans, cucumbers, and squashes.
Thanks to Melissa and Nina for helping harvest greens.
And to Ezra, Asa, Cora, and Maya for harvesting our first (small) round of radishes! (There really are few things more magical than pulling edible roots out of the ground.)
Thanks to Emily for mounding the soil up around our tender leeks.
And thanks to Nina, Cora and all the kids for watering.
I hereby declare our first “Happy Hour on the Farm” of the 2015 season a smashing success. Thanks to Sarah, Melissa, Andrew, Julian, and Liz for coming out. I know it wasn’t easy, it being the first truly lovely afternoon this spring. The weather really was perfect for working outdoors and we’re so grateful that you put in your time with us.
Here’s a quick round-up of what we accomplished.
I started reading up on potato planting and got our potato seed out of the basement and into a sunny spot to sprout…We had such great success with sweet potatoes last year, we’re hoping to get these Satina multiplying.
Sarah and I thinned radish seedlings and set a few more seeds in the ground here and there. This is a before shot. You can see how overcrowded the row in the left-side bed were.
As with any great happy hour, Andrew and Dan dressed up for the occasion.
Melissa put her nimble fingers to work thinning and transplanting spinach seedlings. (Photo credit: Juilan Haliday)
Dan and George started pouring concrete footings for the chicken coop! (Chicks are coming May 4th.)
Liz leveled our work area to better accommodate the work table we got at the end of last season, the wash tub we got from a neighbor and will be installing soon, and the shed roof Dan has planned so we can store some hand tools and supplies on the farm including some speakers for a radio.
Andrew got the irrigation system up and running on the west side beds. He makes it seem so easy. (Photo credit: Juilan Haliday)
Julian communed with the kale – transplanting some overwintered, but now misplaced plants, and doing some light weeding. Liz and Melissa followed him with arugula starts to will out the space to either side of the kale.
I tucked everything in for the night. (Photo credit: Juilan Haliday)
There’s still a pile of compost on the driveway, but it’s less than half the size it was this morning. And it’s only there because I didn’t let folks mulch non-farm related areas. Those feel like personal responsibility. Not because we couldn’t have moved it all in a single day. So, once again, I am amazed by what a small group of people can accomplish when we come together and set our head, heart, and hands to it.
Here are a few highlights from the day.
The kids went worm hunting,
and they took the new wheelbarrow out for a roll.
Henry and Marc assembled our new farm toy – the broadfork.
Then Henry, David, and Andrew put it to work.
Cora, Melissa, Kate, Pam, Elizabeth, and I planted and transplated – leeks, cabbage, radicchio spinach, radish, kale, chard, peas, and fennel.
Then Carrie and I put them all to bed under a nice frost blanket.
And, of course, we moved about 7 yards of compost! (Go early team that didn’t get caught on film – Jess, Kathy, Damon, Emily, Mark, and Joanna, and Sarah!)
Last I posted here, the 2015 Compost Misogi was just a seed. That seed sprouted, took root, and will bloom this Sunday when CSA folks come by throughout the day to help us spread 10 yards of Price Farm Organics Zoo Brew compost all over the farm.
Everytime I talk or write about this, the voice inside my head sounds like a sports announcer, and I’m cool with that. This event has all the makings of a great test of endurance and determination – physical challenge + finite task.
Yesterday I picked up another load of burlap coffee bean sacks from Crimson Cup and laid them out in the paths between our rows. Don’t want folks sinking too deep in the early spring mud we’re sure to have. Sadly, it’s raining as I type, and we’re only 36 hours from the opening bell, but the pile is safely waiting for us under the world’s largest tarp. Thanks, Jenny! Something borrowed and blue for good luck, right?
Via Facebook: E.B. – “I woke up this morning feeling crummy, grumpy and anxious. I just got home from two hours at Over the Fence Urban Farm for a CSA work day and now I’m feeling energized, peaceful and content. I just needed a little garden therapy!” M. F. “Oh my goodness I brought the same feeling home with me! We came with a tired girl and an unhappy tummy. And left happy and well. . . It’s good therapy“
We had seven folks turn out with was just enough to get a huge amount of work accomplished and not too many to manage at once.
Ready for the troops to roll in.
Lesley and Emily cleared the pea bed while Pam tended (her) tomatoes.
Maya took her turn for the “Kids with Carrots” series.
Elizabeth, Maya, and Cora helped clear the carrots.
Melissa and Jessie moved mulch…
Romaine starts ready to go where carrots once were…
Kathy, Emily, and, Elizabeth trimmed and graded garlic by size and condition.
Over the Fence Urban Farm 