Farm Fodder » CSA News

How do Our Gardens Grow?

admin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:13:53 +0000

We spent over 4 years building up our soil, only to have Johnson grass start taking it over. This last year, we had a lot of Johnson grass, so we decided to do raised beds and smother out the Johnson grass.
If any of you know wabout Johnson grass, you know that it is pervasive and nearly impossible to get rid of.
You can’t burn it out (it seems to like that and causes it to propagate), dig it out (it spreads by seed and by roots – so, if you dig it and break off the tiniest piece, it spreads), pull it out, and as far as we know there isn’t a weed killer that will destroy it – and we REFUSE to use any weed killer.

So our only recourse was to build raised beds on top of it, using weed barrier underneath to smother it.
Starting in February, I built bed frames from 2×6 wood and made the frames 4ft wide x 12ft long. I also put in a 48ft long x 1ft wide x 1ft tall bed for the potatoes,and two more 1ft wide x 1ft tall beds – one 24 ft long and one 10ft long.

By the end of April, I had 15 beds finished and Marilyn had them all pretty much planted. Below are the beds before planting/mulching and what it looks like now, at the end of April. I still have 15 beds to put in over the next 2 weeks, so you can imagine how much we can grow!

Garden beds in process

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:19:55 +0000

I have made 14 of the 28 raised beds frames and put them in the garden area.
Some of those are already populated with leeks, broccoli, pea seeds, lettuce seeds and other seeds.
We intend to put out potatoes this weekend (Easter weekend).

Garlic is in, strawberries are peeking out from under the winter straw/hay mulch covering.

I still have to mulch and fertilize the fruit trees, and blueberries, and fertilize the asparagus and strawberries.

Tomatoes, peppers and other plants are started in the basement to be transplanted into the garden beds after the dangers of the last frost have past.

Things are progressing slowly, but with the last frost around April 15th, we are ahead of the game.

Planning and Planting

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:30:36 +0000

We have been planting seeds for our CSA. We are trying to do several sets of plantings this year. (Last year we lost a bunch of plants due to chickens and didn’t have any to replace them with). We will be doing a lot of our beds in back like square foot gardening beds and will start assembling them next weekend (after the 12th). We will also be collecting all of our compost beds and materials to fill the beds with. Although we’ve been working on the soil in the garden for over 4 years, we have to stop the take over from the Johnson grass. We have to do it naturally and organically and NOT try to dig/sift it out ever again. We will be using the smother technique to a new level. We are adding a lot of beds out front to attract attention – can you imagine what people will say when they see 30 pound pumpkins growing on special trellis panels??? I can’t wait to get pictures!

We are getting the buck paddock ready for the rotovator. We will clean up anything that might be in the pen and spread the composting hay everywhere. Then Galen will come and rotovate it all. We will make mounds and put the 3 sisters garden out there. Corn/green beans/squash – just like was done by our ancestors to save space and to create the perfect growing environment.

We will be working on the garden beds, compost, paddocks, barn, bee hives and more! We’ll be out there pretty much every weekend through April.
We would enjoy having your company for any of our projects if you’d like to come help – and who knows? If you time it right – you might get to see the miracles of birth that happen this time of year!!! (Feb. 13th is when Star is due and the cow is due to calve in Feb/March, Beauty is due on Apr 2nd, Mia is due on Apr-29th and Whisper is due in mid-May). Call us or email us if you want to come help and learn how to survive away from the grocery store!

CSA update – Late January, 2010 –

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:04:39 +0000

We have started onions from seed and are planning our new raised beds for this spring. We have already outlined and reviewed all seed-starting, transplanting, succession planting and harvesting schedules for this year.

We are making additional areas available for gardening by moving some of the goat paddocks around, using raised beds on the long hill in the front and some additional growing areas in the orchard and greenhouse areas.

We will be planning a work day in the next few weeks, weather permitting. We will be building raised beds.

Hope you can all join us!

Welcome to our CSA

admin — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:58:01 +0000

Starting Spring, 2010 Weber Farms will be selling direct to customers using the CSA model.

So, what is the CSA model?
It depends. There are as many “flavors” as there are farms using it. But in a nutshell, it goes like this:

We open so many “shares” of the farm to “members”. Each member “subscribes” to the farm and is entitled to a share.

What does the shareholder get?

A share of all the bountiful goodness that is grown on the farm!
From Asparagus to Zucchini, the customer gets farm-fresh, vine-ripe, and nutrient-laden produce, eggs, honey, and sundries – all grown, raised, or made from the things produced on the farm.

The members, sign up for a share and pay for their share in the harvest – the farmer (us) promises to provide fresh foods to the customer for the length of the growing season (usually 20 – 22 weeks).

In some cases, the members, or “shareholders” will also volunteer to work on the farm – getting to know the farmer and their family, the farm workings, and how their produce is raised.

The farmer gets paid up-front for the seed, fertilizers and for his labor in getting that bountiful harvest to the customers.

I will be posting how our CSA works under the pages section, and there will be daily posting just prior to, and through the harvest period.

You may register on this blog and make comments or send us messages via email or phone.

–Pat