Over the Fence Urban Farm

Cooperatively farming small patches of Earth in Columbus, OH


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Scenes from the field: 5.16.17

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since my last field report. I’ve started and saved this field report with three different dates. It’s gotten longer and longer every time and its time to let it go!

Made my first restaurant sale! 11lbs of greens to Rooks Tavern. Chef Aaron was a great customer.  Flexible and appreciative. Not sure when I’ll get back down there again, but at least now I have an idea of how the wholesale thing works.

The high tunnel is always thirsty.

Raddicchio in the tunnel – almost ready!

Winter sown spinach is going to seed.

Moving the compost to make room for more flowers. Here’s a cross-section. Inside its all broke down and ready to go!

The mild winter harbored last year’s Dahlias which I was overjoyed to see. Then the near freezing temperatures took a bite. They’re back again now but this just seemed too ironic not to document.

Carrots and radishes coming up where cucumbers will eventually dwell. Radish is supposed to repel cucumber beetles, one of my greatest nemeses! Will report more later on the results of this little experiment.


Itty bitty field sown fennel.

Visited with Columbus City Council member Elizabeth Brown to talk about the City of Columbus Green Business and Urban Agriculture Strategic Plan. This deserves a blog post of its own. Will get to that ASAP!

First bouquet of the season. Happy Mother’s Day to me!

Pulled the final bulbs of 2016 garlic out of storage. Wondering if we’ll be able to stretch it until the 2017 scapes come in…

Trying some new bush varieties of sweet potatoes this year.

Beyond thrilled to be planting the majority of our sweet taters at our friends’ Melissa and Andrew’s new place, our farm annex this year. I’ve missed being in the garden with them, so much. If ever there were folks who wanted a BIG garden in their yard its these two and I’m so psyched to see them get growing.

I’ve been going out at night to hunt slugs. Seems to be making an impact on the cabbage patch. Next up, strawberries…

 


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Eating From the Garden, All Year Round

We haven’t been posting much lately, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy. While there isn’t much to do outside, these cold dark days beckon us to the kitchen to bake cookies and simmer soups.

Here are a few of our favorite things.

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Baked sweet potato fries with bulgar salad featuring our mustard greens and delicata squash. (12/23)

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Cream of butternut squash soup with roasted radicchio. (12/14)

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Foundation for a salad we brought to a holiday potluck – spinach, radicchio, and kale. (12/6)

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When we harvested the garlic scapes in July, we made a few pounds of compound butter, some of which we froze with the holidays in mind. (I don’t know how to take a great picture of butter, but these biscuits from Christmas dinner made a great vehicle for eating ours.)

Hoping to continue eating from our own backyard and basement as much as possible in 2015!


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A Harvest Worth Waiting For: Sweet Potatoes

Melissa.

Melissa.

Sweet potatoes are a long-term commitment.

(Like garlic which we are actively working on getting in the ground so we can reap the reward eight months from now…)

Early in the season our dear friend and CSA member Melissa suggested the idea of an x-ray machine that would allow us to see below the surface, to see the sweet potato tubers growing. I loved that idea and referenced it over and over in my mind and in conversation. Last week I broke down and pulled the soil from atop one of our 25 plants. The results were totally amazing. tubers that measured over a foot in length and weighed over 5 lbs.

Getting the rest of the crop out of the ground the past few days has been like digging for buried treasure. Now, the long wait ’til they are cured, sweetened by time (and some ambient heat and humidity in the basement next door), and ready to eat. You can be sure these will be part of our Thanksgiving feast.

Early June. Sweet potatoes were in the row to the right with the black plastic.

Early June. Sweet potatoes were in the row to the right with the black plastic.

Field pre-harvest.

Pre-harvest. (Since June sweet potatoes moved north and south taking over where carrots (to the left/north) and garlic (to the right/south) were.

Post-harvest.

Post-harvest.

Jodi.

Jodi.

Pam.

Pam.

Potato Fork.

Potato Fork.


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Happy Hour on the Farm

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It’s official. Over the Fence has our first tradition. Happy Hour on the Farm. Sunday afternoon. One hour of intense working followed by (more working) and a beer. It’s a high energy event that generates really good vibes and gets a lot of stuff off our perennial “to do” list.

Yesterday was about 90% harvesting, 10% pruning/composting. Next week will be all about planting garlic. Here are a few shots from the day.

DSC_0054I took a shot like this in June. Need to find that for a comparison post…

IMG_7909LOVE, love, love to have people working side-by-side.

DSC_0035So long irrigation.

DSC_0063Finally, we were awash in green beans.

DSC_0019Those beans don’t pick themselves…

IMG_7905Sneak preview. We’ll be harvesting the bulk of these babies next week. It’s gonna be sweet!

DSC_0033Not a bad haul for the first week of October. (Note to self: Fall CSA 2015)