Elmer Farm

ABC'S of Farm Based Education

2011-03-11T11:35:00.000-05:00

i went to a really fabulous farm conference last weekend at shelburne farms. i have been wanting to go for the past few years. this year they offered scholarships to vermont farmers so i jumped on the opportunity to go. it was two full days of learning. the conference consisted of two days full of workshops on marketing farm programs to local schools, exploring hands on activities that help children discover the natural world and so much more.

when we purchased the elmer farm through the vermont land trust's farmland access program, part of our vision for the elmer farm included a strong educational and community aspect. as we are getting our bearings with our production and markets, we are slowly growing the community aspects of our farm.

one way we are doing this is through our on-farm pick ups for our csa. people come to the farm on a weekly basis from mid-june through the end of october to pick up their vegetables. another way is with our various efforts of farm tours with school groups of all ages. we are in a convenient location which makes us accessible to the local schools including middlebury college. these are the first steps in building community on the elmer farm.

there is more to come ... annual potlucks, music, cooking demonstrations. after the conference, i am excited to incorporate hands on activities as well as self guided opportunities to explore elmer farm. the possibilities are endless.

heirlooms... rich in history, taste and beauty

2011-02-25T10:48:00.001-05:00

the 2011 elmer farm growing season has officially begun. our first CSA member has signed up, the potting soil was delivered last week, our seed order is complete and this week we have been preparing the hoophouse beds for seeding mesclun.

i love this time of year when we are planning for the upcoming season and anticipating it's possibilities. i suppose this would be obvious. putting the seed order together is a highlight of the year for me. i am always ready to add something new to the elmer farm veggie line up. this year, we are going to bring back matt's wild cherry tomato and add the cylindra beet. both of these are heirlooms, seeds that have been saved for many years and handed down generation to generation in their original form. we grow many heirlooms. they often draw customers into our stand at farmers' market with their unique shapes and colors. for instance... rosa bianca eggplant is round with white and purple streaks and boothby blonde cucumbers are stumpy, oval and light yellow. heirlooms are rich in history, taste and beaty.

january update

2011-01-24T09:32:00.000-05:00

heirloom tomato seeds order - check
payroll taxes - check
facebook page for the farm - check
direct marketing conference - check
csa survey through survey monkey - check
greenhouse endwalls - check
letters for farm to school program - check
potting soil order - check
contact for logo - check
hired 2 employees - check

work in progress:
production plan
set up meetings with wholesale accounts
2011 csa brochure
update website
w2's
high mowing seed order
taxes
nofa bulk order

it is a super chilly morning. -20 degrees. a good morning to get some more office work done! registering for the NOFA winter conference this morning. as always... so many great workshops to choose from. this year, it is all about flowers, flowers, flowers for me. there are 2 advanced grower workshops just on flowers....

dilly beans

2010-08-24T01:28:00.002-04:00

i have been waiting for a rainy sunday afternoon forever. we have had some really great weather this summer. it has been hard to find the time to spend the day indoors canning tomato sauce, dilly beans and more. however, we have had two chilly, rainy august days which has been perfect for putting food away.

HEAT WAVE

2010-07-05T06:57:00.007-04:00

it is going to be sooooo hot this week, between 90 and 94 degrees for most of the week. this is great news for tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, corn. these crops could use a little boost after a somewhat wet june with some chilly temps.

the flowers are really coming along. i planted 3 beds of perennial flowers along with about 6 other beds of annuals. this small field is just about 1/4 acre and is situated near the road and where our csa members park. so, it is both convenient for our members to cut their own flowers and beautiful for people passing by. this year, we are also growing herbs, scallions and peas in this field. it is a nice mix.

farmers' markets continue to take off. our business has been building continually over the past few years. we have a great spot at market and people recognize us. those who don't know us, are drawn in by the heaps of early season zucchini and hakurei turnips that we grow. this weekend was an all star market where we sold over 50 pounds of snap peas!

so much more to come.........

CSA WEEK 1

2010-06-21T14:41:00.004-04:00

wednesday june 16th was our first csa pick up on the elmer farm. we offered our members the following:
head lettuce
garlic scapes
zucchini
beets (golden, chiogga or red)
haikurei turnips
kale
chard (swiss or rainbow)
broccoli
blue potatoes (2009)
black beans

we have a total of 18 members this year. we also partnered with a senior housing group in middlebury to offer 19 senior shares for a 10 week duration starting in mid-july.

black beans are looking great in the field. our best stand to date on the elmer farm. the flower beds are brigtening up with blooms of zinnias, snapdragons, cosmos, calendula and bachelor buttons. our first succession of snap peas have already passed and we are patiently waiting for our second succession.

we don't grow strawberries and haven't picked yet this year. i can't let the opportunity pass us by. we will try to pick this week.

A SNOWY APRIL DAY

2010-04-30T15:45:00.004-04:00

nothing should surprise us about farming in vermont. not even a snowstorm on april 28th.

it's beginning to look alot like spring all around the farm

2010-03-17T11:25:00.010-04:00

march 17th already! our csa brochures are finally ready to be mailed. i think this was a great first effort at creating an elmer farm brochure. next year we hope to come up with a logo that we can put on all of our materials but for now, we just used a few of our photos.

we have planted two successions of salad mix in our hoophouse. they have germinated and are growing, growing, growing. this weather has been really amazing for march. it has been warm and sunny for alot of the month which we hope will help to dry up the somewhat flooded fields. we also have some sandy soils that are dry enough that we could probably plant in but that would be quite a gamble. still too early. we all know the kind of april weather we could have... and even may has surprised us with unseasonably cold weather.

we built a new greenhouse this year. this house will be used to start all of our seedlings. so far we have sweet peppers, tomatoes and zucchini started. these crops will be transplanted in the ground inside the greenhouse in the following weeks. we also did a germination test for our onions and as we expected, it was terribly low. we had so much seed leftover from last year but unfortunately, onion seed just does not hold over. our new seed should arrive this week and then the seed starting frenzy will begin.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2010-01-19T11:32:00.005-05:00

farmwork never really slowed down as usual this winter. during the mild november, we were still harvesting carrots from the field for bunching. we had an opportunity to wholesale them at the middlebury co-op for a month. we had our largest sales to the co-op both during the preseason and extended fall season. maybe this is our niche as new growers in the area.

i would like to spend more time reflecting a bit on last year's growing season in some upcoming posts. for now, i am simply saying hello and we hope to make good use of our blog this season as we welcome new csa members and attract new customers at the farmers market.

WINTER WHEAT

2008-07-30T12:35:00.004-04:00

just before we had this last run of rain, we were lucky enough to have the perfect conditions for harvesting our 5 acres of winter wheat. the combine ran well, we found a way to store it and it appears to be a good crop. now we just have to follow through with our plans to make and sell whole wheat flour. in the past, we have gotten to this point and then end up selling the wheat as cover crop seed to other farmers because that is the easier thing to do. we are really committed to turning this year's crop into a value added product for all those hungry localvores.

yesterday, spencer attended a workshop at butterworks farm where our mentor and friend, jack lazor, has a successful bean, grain and dairy farm (they make awesome yogurt!). this workshop was focused on growing grains for food. jack has really built he has an amazing set up for storing, cleaning and processing grains and beans. currently, he sells a half dozen varieties of dry beans including black turtle, jacob's cattle, vermont cranberry and the soldier bean that you can buy in bulk at many local coops. he also processes an heirloom corn to make cornmeal and mills whole wheat berries for flour. i should also mention two other amazing bean & grain farmers that have had an incredible influence on us and have been so helpful... ken vanhazinga (tio grains) and ben gleason (gleason grains).

this workshop was perfect timing to really motivate us to keep moving forward in our bean and grain venture. there is an incredible amount of demand and excitement to buy these items locally. i want to do it all... rolled oats, cornmeal, popcorn, buckwheat and whole wheat flour, beans and sunflower oil.

ZINNIAS, SUNFLOWERS, POTATOES, ZUCCHINI

2008-07-12T11:12:00.005-04:00

just a few photos i took around the farm the other night. the close up of the sunflower center looks a little strange because it was kind of dark and i used the flash. it is still a cool photo though.

just a note on sunflowers, we are growing quite a few different varieties of sunflowers. we planted one and a half acres of a variety specifically for pressing the seeds for oil, another 50 plants for saving the seeds for eating, and then about 600 sunflowers including about 12 varieties for cut flowers. $1.00 a stem at the market.

2008-07-11T18:02:00.005-04:00

it always feels like summer officially starts when i eat my first tomato from the farm. this morning i made an egg sandwich with some fat slices of tomato and a handful of fresh basil. it was fantastic. maybe tomorrow for breakfast we'll make some buckwheat pancakes and add a bit of shredded zucchini just because we now have that too. there are many jokes about zucchini. have you ever heard the joke about it that goes like this... in the summer, be sure to lock your car doors when parking or else someone may fill it with zucchini. yes, zucchini can be abundant and for some, it is tiresome vegetable. i never seem to get bored with it. one of my favorite ways to use it is to shred a lot of it and add to homemade black bean chili to thicken it up.

markets are going well. we enjoy the pace and are meeting some great people both customers and other vendors. i imagine in a few seasons, we'll really feel at home. we just learned of some exciting news... both burlington and middlebury will be adding winter farmers markets. i don't have many details about the middlebury market. the burlington market will be held once per month from november to march. since this is only four markets, we'll probably go and just bring a ton of black beans. we have a lot of friends and family in burlington, it would be fun to catch up with some familiar faces at this winter market. hopefully, these two winter markets will have different dates and we will be able to make it to both of them.

AMBER WAVES OF GRAIN

2008-07-07T21:45:00.003-04:00

the time is quickly approaching to harvest our first crop of winter wheat on the elmer farm. we have 10 acres planted and spencer is excited at how well it has grown. the winter wheat always did well in the intervale on the rich river bottom soils. it is good to know that we can have a great harvest here too. however... we have to get the combine started and running. we didn't use it last year. the last time we ran it was in december of 2006 when spencer drove it from burlington to middlebury... a 5 hour adventure involving bill smith, jesse guertin, ben dana and another john deere.

BOSTON GLOBE

2008-06-25T21:53:00.001-04:00

remember, a woman from the boston globe called spencer a few weeks ago for an interview? here is the link for the article sited in the rutland herald today. enjoy!

CROPS UPDATE

2008-06-25T19:56:00.005-04:00

feel free to read this entry. it is more of a note to give a record for how the crops have done thus far.... the good and the bad.

first, the good:

good germination on most direct seeded crops including: radish, haikurei turnip, arugula, cilantro, broccoli raab, spinach

transplanted golden beets look good - no leaf miners (yet), could have been a few weeks earlier

greenhouse tomatoes & peppers look amazing- good fruit set, great vegetative growth but not too much

potatoes are surviving the colorado potato beetles very well (we have been picking them just about daily), plants are full and lively, flowers on the red norlands and the green mountain varieties so far

no complaints about our heat-loving crops that are covered with hoops and row cover (field tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, cucumbers) we'll see how they produce

scallions, fine... good amount planted; more successions next year

spinach, nice plants, good harvests, bolted with unseasonal 4 day heat wave

sunflowers... a new crop for us. all varieties of the sunflowers are doing well... for oil pressing, cut flowers and saving seeds for eating.

flowers in general are doing well in the rocky soil. added a fair amount of compost in this garden, makes a noticeable difference

3 varieties, started out very well, customers love it... didn't plant enough the first time around; starting to bolt & yellow

broccoli raab & arugula, didn't cover with remay... flea beetle damage but ethan saved us. thanks ethan for putting these holy crops on the flatbreads

garlic, scapes were super popular, only two varieties have sent shoots up so far, plants great, mulched well, not too weedy, just waiting

winter squash, aside from no germination on our first two seedings of delicata, plants went in the ground on time and look good so far, i am hoping for a plentiful harvest.

now, the bad:

biggest disappointment, onion root maggot. never even heard of this pest, common to land that has been in sod. flies seek out alliums by scent, lay eggs, bury into root and destroy. we lost over 1/2 of our onions.

carrots, didn't germinate well, spotty. then lost in the weeds by the time they were big enough to hand weed. lost two entire successions. try again with fall carrots. ordered a flame weeder. this will give the carrots an upper hand on weeds in the future.

lettuce. 5 successions total. not really growing, some yellowing and recent storm damage with flash flooding. never harvested "tom thumb" variety. side dressing would help, also planted in the shadiest spot. still no harvest.

broccoli, 3 successions - WOODCHUCK & HEATWAVE, did not stand a chance

radish - wire worm and not enough water

haikurei turnip: huge huge huge disappointment, roots totally eaten up by millipede. can't believe it. usually, millipedes aren't a problem. we had a massive infestation

dry beans started out great, now they are swamped, literally, from our flooding and continuous rain. starting to rot, yellow, not good - not sure that there is anything we could do differently accept plant in a different part of the field not as wet

calais flint corn - totally disappeared: BIRDS

popcorn - nearly all disappeared: BIRDS

peas, o-k germination but too shady, great first two harvests then nothing

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

2008-06-20T13:30:00.005-04:00

today is my mother's birthday and summer is just around the corner. the summer solstice marks a new season and i am sure it is my mothers favorite. what a gift. here is her grandson picking a flower in honor of the occasion. calendula is one of my new favorite flowers/herbs. i love its fragrance, the seed is easy to save and it is hardy. i am growing it this year because i am hoping to use it to make salve. a farmer friend once gave me a tin of homemade calendula salve and it was the best!!!

NEWS FLASH

2008-06-16T18:42:00.010-04:00

when we left the intervale to farm in east middlebury, i never thought we would really have to worry about flooding again. well, we had a flash flood here this weekend. a very isolated area among ripton and east middlebury received 7 inches of rain on saturday night. we happened to be in east montpelier for the night and were shocked when we arrived home sunday evening. we checked our rain gauge in the field and it was full, maxing out at 6". there were mini canyons through our slightly sloped field where water eroded away at the plants leaving little islands of head lettuce and basil. at the bottom of the field, soil settled onto our remay covered cabbage seedlings like lava running from a volcano. the rushing water and soil erased all of our footprints and tractor tire marks from the field. it looked as if we never stepped foot on the field to do any work. it really was a shocking discovery. there was an obvious stream of water still flowing nearly 24 hours after the rain had fallen. all of this happened ,while nearby burlington received a mere .38 inches of rain and rutland to the south of us received 2.45 inches.

some crops have suffered but most survived just fine as far as we know. we are lucky that this field consists mostly of our transplanted crops like cucumbers, broccoli, lettuce, chard, and tomatoes. all of our direct seeded crops are planted in the north meadow in a half acre parcel with much less slope and sandy soils. the force of the rain was rough on our greens but lucky for us we never had a chance to direct seed our carrots, cilantro and beans last week. so, it doesn't appear that any germinating beds were washed away. and to top it all off... another inch and a half of rain today in a massive thunderstorm.

FAREWELL, ELMER

2008-06-13T14:24:00.014-04:00

today was a terrific harvest. morning temperatures were chilly which makes great weather for gathering greens. our harvest today included... more spinach, kale, cilantro, beautiful rainbow chard, italian flat leaf parsley, broccoli and snap peas. it is always nice when we can offer more than greens, greens, greens. customers are always chomping at the bit for the more substantial, popular summer vegetables... green beans, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, peas.

this was a big work week for us. some of our tasks included: trellising and pruning our greenhouse tomatoes, planting winter squash & pumpkins (about 125 plants total), brushog mania and weeding nearly the entire farm... especially the wheel tracks between the beds. there is still a lot of planting to be done in the field over the next two months. we are close to finishing up with all of our major greenhouse work. we will seed more successions of basil, lettuce, scallions and zinnias. we are starting our second succession of cucumbers, zucchini and summer squash and seeding a bunch of trays for fall broccoli.

we had a heat wave earlier this week with four days over 90 degrees. wow! the best part of a hot day of farm work is a rewarding trip to our local swimming hole. amazing. we can't wait to share this gem with farm visitors.

oh, we got a phone call last night from a reporter for the boston globe. she is writing an article about grain growers in vermont. spencer had a good conversation with her. it is amazing how many opportunities we have had for interviews on this topic. it is all about the localvore movement. we have come into farming at the right time and in the right place.

i would like to close this entry by saying farewell to elmer, one of our three barn cats. he was hit by a car sunday night. elmer was a fun cat, not known for his hunting skills rather his endless need to be at your feet, his playful demeanor, and those crossed eyes.

FARMERS MARKET WEEK 3

2008-06-08T22:58:00.007-04:00

our peas are flowering.

this week we had more to offer at farmers market. in addition to spinach and radishes, we brought baby pac choi, arugula, kale and hakurei turnips. it was a great turnout for such a hot day. we had some returning customers. it feels good that we are already starting to connect with some regular customers in just 3 weeks.

we are doing well selling plant starts at the market. there are many home gardeners looking for peppers, tomatoes and herbs. some customers know exactly what they want by asking for specific varieties. i have been keeping a list of these customer requests. this will give me ideas fpr plants to offer next year. the most interesting discovery i have made is that many people want to buy hot pepper plants for their gardens. at past markets, we always have a hard time selling hot peppers.

finally,we have an abundance of delicous, fresh greens to eat from the farm. i have been eating spinach in omelettes, sandwiches, stir fries and raw. and kale too. tonight we made kale quesadillas for dinner. pretty simple... whole wheat wrap, onion, lots of kale and some cheddar chese.

the other day in the car, i tuned in to vermont public radio at the perfect moment. it was a story on the best 10 cookbooks for the summer (i added the link for this story so you can read more about them). it has been awhile since i bought a cookbook, but this story inspired me. i bought 3 of the 10 listed. fish without a doubt for spencer as a father's day gift, screen doors and sweet tea for my sister in law, emily's birthday, and summer gatherings because i just couldn't resist. i think cookbooks make great gifts! and i love cooking magazines. i subscribe to eating well magazine that is published in charlotte, vt. i got my sister a subscription to rachel ray for her birthday. and lately, i am intrigued by cooks illustrated. lately, my friend danielle has made some incredible treats from this magazine... scones and blueberry pie.

MY MOTHER'S GARDEN

2008-06-05T21:19:00.006-04:00

we have moved back to the farm and are temporarily camping out while we finish the house. it feels good to live here. we had a few rainy days this week. it was a good opportunity to bring angus to my mother's house for an overnight. rainy days are challenging with a toddler when living in a tent. i snapped these shots of the flowers in my mom's flower and herb gardens just before i left st.albans this morning.

FARMERS MARKET, WEEK 1 & 2

2008-06-03T21:22:00.006-04:00

the middlebury farmers market is in full swing. currently, the market is open on saturdays. starting in mid-june, it will also be open on wednesdays. our first two markets were a lot of fun. it's a wonderful opportunity to introduce ourselves and share the elmer farm story. some people already knew about our relocation from the intervale and farm purchase through the land trust. the sale of the elmer farm was made public in various newspaper articles. there were also about a dozen community members involved in the process of reviewing farm business plans and selecting a buyer. we feel welcomed by the other market vendors and customers. it was also refreshing to see a few familiar addison county faces since we are still fairly new to the area.

our first week, we brought black beans. we definitely made an impression by bringing something different completely new to the market. we sold over 50 pounds of dry beans. we answered many questions about growing them in vermont and preparing them for various dishes. we displayed them in a beautiful wooden bulk bin that spencer made. i used lunch sized brown paper bags with a simple label to sell about 2 pounds of beans or 1 quart to be exact. this mislead many people into believing this was coffee. we drew in many curious people and disappointed some. i guess a new coffee roaster would do well at the market.

it was a soggy day for the second farmers market. there was more activity than i anticipated and several black bean customers came back to report how they did or didn't use their beans. we brought more to market this week. plant starts were a big hit with home gardeners... tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil, lettuce and cucumbers. in addition, we brought our first harvest of spinach and radishes. many more greens are coming along... chard, kale, lettuce and beet greens. next week, i will sell my photo cards. the craft jury approved the sample cards i sent for their review. these cards were a hit when i sold them at the market in grand isle two years ago.
last wednesday was a huge planting day and we couldn't have done it without the help of spencer's parents. we planted 250 tomatoes, 100 eggplant, 75 more tomatoes, 20 cherry tomatoes, 50 zucchini & summer squash and 50 cucumbers. then we had to put wire hoops and row cover over all these crops. this is a lot of work and is by far the biggest planting day of the season for us.

as of last night, our dry bean crop has been planted. aside from black beans, we planted several other dry bean varieties. these beans will mostly be used to grow a larger seed bank for the following year. we also want to sample other beans to determine how they will yield and taste. these varieties have great names like calypso, painted pony, tiger's eye, vermont cranberry, boston's favorite, jacob's cattle and the good ole' solder bean.

FUTURE FARMERS

2008-05-26T13:18:00.003-04:00

there is a lot i could write about this time of year. here is a short list of our most recent activities: planting over 75 lbs of potatoes with angus, a wretched onion root maggot discovery, a successful first middlebury farmers market, seeding our first ever seed oil crop of sunflowers, a site visit with the organic farm inspector, setting up the drip irrigation for the greenhouse in addition to our usual chores... seeding in the greenhouse, weeding and watering.

today all i really want to write about is how much fun it was to watch these boys together on the farm. our son, angus, is the toddler with blonde hair in the photo. he will be a year and a half in july. the other boy is our friend william's son, liam. he is almost 11 months older than angus to the day. now that angus is older, they are much more compatible playmates. we had a great visit with them on saturday. aside from the obvious mudfest, the boys also sat on the tractors, chased the cats and climbed on the wood pile.

we have been working hard with the crops and we are trying to finish building our house so we can move in june 1st. spencer hasn't taken a day off in a long, long time. so, a spontaneous visit with william and liam was just what we needed. even though this is the beginning of our busiest time of year, it is so important to make time and recharge by going for a walk, visiting with a friend or making pies. we hope that our friends and family will always feel welcome at the elmer farm. we feel so fortunate to live on, work with and restore this land. we want to share all that our farming lifestyle has to offer. so, come visit!!! and as i told william... be sure to pack a change of clothes.

LILY OF THE VALLEY

2008-05-14T21:38:00.012-04:00

these flowers are so fragrant. we have a brilliant bed of them. another gem.

the farm.... wow, we are so busy. we have many crops in the ground now: peas, turnips, carrots, beets, broccoli raab, arugula, lettuce, onions, cabbage, broccoli, chard, kale, scallions, parsley, cilantro, dill and calendula. the greenhouse is bursting with seedlings... tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, winter squash, sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, basil, lettuce, endive, celeriac, more broccoli, more cabbage, lots of perennial herbs and more! today is a big transplanting day. the weather is cool and the rain is light. this is the first rainy day we have had for awhile so we are very appreciative.

one of our biggest tasks this week is to plant our potatoes. we'll have a 400' bed of potatoes this year. the varieties we are planting are green mountain (an heirloom), dark red norland, banana fingerling, canela russet and all blue. this seed came from the maine potato lady. i was very pleased that it arrived in great condition. in the past, i have received some nearly rotten potatoes. i got an itch to order a little more seed from wood prairie farm also located in maine. i ordered more of the banana fingerlings. in addition, elba, onaway and rose finn apple.

another big project is planting the first succession of greenhouse tomatoes. they look fabulous in their 4" pots but will outgrow them soon. spencer already set up the drip irrigation. we plant to mulch them with straw instead of using a greenhouse fabric this year. we will be growing them in our heaviest clay soil on the farm. this soil type is completely new to me. i have a lot to learn about its exception mineral values and sensitive structure.

this saturday was supposed to be our first market of the season but we will have to postpone another week. we don't have any crops that are ready for market. next year, we'll be able to get started much earlier since our greenhouse is now finished. what a relief that will be.

MORE FLOWERS

2008-05-06T22:20:00.007-04:00

i am in love with spring this year. maybe it is because it is our first spring on the farm. whatever the reason, it doesn't matter. everything is blooming... apple trees, lilacs, wild strawberries and who says dandelions aren't beautiful. after all, the bees love them.

the propagation area we set up inside the greenhouse is at maximum capacity now. actually, over maximum capacity. this is the crunch that happens when i get carried away sowing seed for all those varieties of tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. i start them in trays with 288 cells just for germinating. then i pot up each plant into larger pots. the tomatoes and eggplant go into 4" pots while the peppers get potted up into trays with 50 cells. next thing i know, i have 400 pepper plants, 80 eggplants and nearly 200 tomatoes starts. gathering this information to determine how much space we need will help us to plan better for next year. we are contemplating building a small propagation house closer to the farm house for easier access in late winter/early spring. it would be also more efficient to heat a much smaller space.

i am really excited about growing sunflowers this year both for seed oil and as cut flowers. spencer purchased a corn planter for $100 the other day which will be perfect for planting sunflower seed as well as black beans, popcorn and sweet corn. our farmer friend, ken, has worked with a few others on a grant to purchase an oil press. it is set up and ken has been pressing soybeans to see how it works. we hope to use this press to make food grade sunflower oil. wouldn't that be awesome! i am also growing an exciting flower garden that will include over 12 different varieties of sunflowers. i just started all 610 sunflower seeds in the greenhouse and will transplant them next month. this will give them a jump on our short growing season.

tomorrow is another big day of farm work.

MORE DAFFODILS

2008-05-01T21:24:00.007-04:00

i have never really been all that crazy about daffodils until this year. we have more daffodils coming up than i could have ever imagined. not only do we have a standard dark yellow variety, we also have white daffodils and two toned yellow daffodils. and look at this photo with the slight red ring around the center. beautiful!

now tulips are opening up and i see that there will be poppies soon. i know we have many lilies too. today, i finally picked up some flagging markers that i can stick in the ground where the various bulbs are located so i don't forget in the fall when i want to transplant. this was danielle's idea and i think it was a good one.

all of our crops did just fine with the hard frost last night. the greenhouse stayed a warm 50 degrees inside the propagation tent where all of the seedlings are kept. spencer is doing another late night fire tonight just to be on the safe side. we are expecting a warmer 34 degrees overnight.

only 16 more days until our first farmers market!

BRRRRR........

2008-04-30T19:26:00.003-04:00

we are expecting a frosty night with low temperatures around 26 degrees. this is not alarming news or that unusual for this time of year. it seems like right around mothers' day we always have a freeze. i am confident that our crops in the field will be fine. most of them are already covered with remay (a breathable row cover) for protection against the damaging flea beetles. the only crop i am somewhat concerned about is the chard. i covered it just in case. at 7 pm, the greenhouse was still fairly warm from the bit of sun we had today. spencer is going back at 9:00 to start a fire. i am a little nervous about all of our greenhouse plants as they are young, tender and not tolerant of frigid weather.

another chore to do... put up our deer fencing. spencer has taken the lead on this project. it turns out there is a free clinic this weekend put on by the dealer... wellscroft. spencer is thinking about attending. it will probably be worth the trip.

we are close to finishing our application for organic certification, all 16 plus pages. there is a significant amount of documentation required for field production, pest and disease management, fertility and soil building, neighboring farm fields, a three year field history, seed sourcing and more. in the end, keeping track of all this information is in the interest of the farmer. it is valuable information to track for future decisions on managing crops. anyways, i like collecting, recording and organizing data.

right around this time of the year, we start to feel a crunch with all of the field planting, greenhouse seeding and weeding. in just a few weeks, we will begin harvesting which adds a whole new element to our farm routine. there is enough time in a day to do it all. we do the best we can. after all, we are still finishing the farm house so we can move in on june 1st and we have 16 month old boy who keeps us on our toes. we love our work and having a son to share this farm life.

AN OLD BARN

2008-04-28T06:21:00.004-04:00

yesterday, we received news that the hay barn at the intervale had been set fire to and was totaled. since we were in st.albans visiting, we decided to stop in burlington on our way home to see the damage for ourselves. it was a sad sight. in the rafters of the old barn, you can see the wavy metal hanging still. these are pieces from a greenhouse that spencer had disassembled and stored here when he was the land manager for the intervale. the barn was old, classic, 130 years old. i am sure it was destined to be restored one day as the calkins farmhouse, corn crib and other horse barn have been. this malicious act has resulted in a true historical loss.

as i mentioned just above, we were visiting in st.albans on sunday... for the maple festival. i can't remember such fabulous weather for the event. my sister, julie ran in the sap run this year. congrats julie, well done! this race is an 8.5 mile run from swanton to st.albans along route 7. it is a fun run and i was sorry to have missed it. next year, i will resume training. we watched the parade and the high school band led as always wearing the same military like uniforms that were purchased my freshman year. the hats that go with these uniforms are black, fuzzy, draped with braided cords and stand about a foot tall on the head. and the best part of the maple festival, sugar on snow!

at 6:00 this morning, the skies are grey and it is calm. we are waiting for rain. today, there is 100% chance of rain with accumulations of 1/2" to 3/4". usually, in april, we don't wish for such showers but it has been a very warm, sunny couple of weeks. the fields we are planting are very dry... too dry for germinating direct seeded crops. we have been irrigating the field just north of the house. last week, we direct seeded more spinach, another planting of peas, arugula and broccoli raab.

we took the day off yesterday, but our long car ride served us well for farm talk... bookkeeping, strawberries, farm equipment. i also had a chance to browse edible green mountains. if you get a chance, grab a copy at your coop. this "edible" magazine is printed for many other regions besides vermont... boston, portland, san fransico. i think there are publications for about 25-30 different regions in the united states. look for one in your community.

ONE MILE IS 5280 FEET

2008-04-23T20:57:00.003-04:00

the garlic is doing well. it is growing fast and looks monstrous next to the beds of the puny onions we planted today. i am going to go through it with the hoe before i put the mulch back on.

today was a huge planting day. we were lucky enough to have a friend come and volunteer for half the day. we planted 800 bed feet of onions. this translates to 4,800 lineal feet of onions which is almost a mile of onions transplanted 6" apart. one mile is 5,280 feet. we had to get the irrigation going right away. super dry, super warm, super sunny, super windy.

too tired to write anymore. however, before i get off the computer, i am going to add a new list to our blog. it is a list of all the wonderful people who have given us their time to help on the elmer farm this year. we are so appreciative.

TOM THUMB

2008-04-22T14:02:00.002-04:00

tom thumb is the name of the heirloom variety of the lettuce pictured above. the heads are smaller than average at maturity, only about the size of apples. this is the first year we have grown them. in the tray, they are hypnotizing with their swirly centers. i love trying different varieties and crops that we have never grown before. it is just one of the things that keeps farming fresh... romantic.

yesterday was a big greenhouse day for me. i started potting up peppers... 300 so far and about 250 more to go. it is striking how vigorous some varieties are compared to others at this stage. one of the most notable, the carmen pepper. this sweet red pepper proved to be an outstanding new variety a few years ago. the production, flavor and market popularity are all reasons why it is becoming one of our new favorites. until recently, the lipstick pepper always held a special place on the market stand and in my heart. aside from its sassy name, the lipstick peppers are small, thick, sweet and taper to a blunt point. however, i find they get anthracnose fruit rot and the branches break easily during harvest. i didn't plant any this year and now i am having second thoughts... maybe it is not too late?

aside from working on potting up the peppers and eggplant, i also potted up cherry tomatoes. we have scaled down from 60 cherry tomato plants to just 25 this year since we don't have a market to sell flats of them like we did in burlington. 25 cherry tomato plants are still a lot of work. the 9 varieties create a beautiful mix of shape, color and size that make them irresistible at the farmers market.

tomorrow is our first big transplanting day with over 2,500 onion sets in addition to our spring brassicas and lettuce. it will be another beautiful day for field work. and we might even have an extra helping hand tomorrow!

ANOTHER SUNNY SUNDAY

2008-04-18T21:35:00.011-04:00

today was another warm april day, close to 77 degrees again. this makes quite a few sunny days in a row. spencer set up irrigation yesterday for the field with the direct seeded crops. we will use our overhead sprinklers for this area. the lower field by the greenhouse will be on drip mostly. next week we start transplanting into this other field. it looks great.

spencer started to prep the beds by discing some of winter wheat today. i finally had a chance to cut back the raspberry canes. i usually get them pruned before the new shoots start coming up. i was late this year. this is another perrenial crop that we plan to move around into a more permanent spot. i transplanted them last summer from burlington. these bushes seem so rugged. i am sure they will do just fine. i don't expect to get much fruit from them this year. that is fine. we have more than enough wild berries on the farm to keep us happy.

our washing machine is hooked up now. i have to say "thanks mom" for letting us wash clothes at your house these past 6 months. i also made a few trips to the laundromat that i won't miss. this weather has been perfect for line drying. i love the way clothes smell when they are dried in the sun. funny, yesterday i was thinking about the time when some of our clothes were stolen off the line the night before i started high school. my parents have a clothes line called an umbrella drying rack that i really like. i came across one in the real goods catalogue one day.

A BOUQUET

2008-04-16T20:45:00.008-04:00

today i cut flowers at the farm and made my first bouquet of the season... daffodils. it was just the kind of day you would expect to cut fresh flowers.

i worked in the greenhouse for a bit this morning. some seeding, some rearranging trays. i have really noticed that in the morning and late afternoon, there is quite a bit of shading on the bench. i put the trays in more strategic places... brassicas and lettuce in the more shady area and peppers, tomatoes and eggplant in full sun. next year we will take this into account when we are redesigning our propagation area. i also direct seeded beets and carrots today. i threw in some cosmic purple and creme de lite varieties of carrots at the last minute for fun.

this afternoon, angus and i spent a few hours working outside. angus had his first official farm chore. he watered about 8 of the rhubarb plants i recently transplanted. i put water in the can and showed him which plant to water. he was awesome. he is obsessed with the watering can i use for our houseplants and has even sought out the watering can at spencer's parents house. it was fun to play and work with him. i was digging up another bed for the rest of the rhubarb starts.

BITTERSWEET

2008-04-15T17:45:00.006-04:00

there isn't anything sweet about bittersweet. this photo of our house was taken in the early fall of 2006 before we purchased the elmer farm from the vermont land trust. as you can see, the front of the house is strangled by bittersweet. apparently, there is a variety of bittersweet that is harvested and used to make beautiful wreaths that has showy red berries. the variety we have is just plain obnoxious. the first project i did at the elmer farm was cut all of this back. instantly, the house could breath. i was 7 months pregnant at the time. last fall, i cut it all back again and dug down 6 inches in the entire area the bittersweet was growing and ripped out every piece of root i could get my hands on. then, i put down a thick layer of cardboard and raked all of our front lawn leaves onto the cardboard in hopes of smothering it. i haven't seen a sign of it yet but i know it will find its way to the light of day. then what? my plan was just to keep smothering the best i can with mulch. any other thoughts???

today i potted up parsley and i found some damping off which was a bummer. i still got a hundred healthy plants out of the sowing. i was hoping to have more plants to pot up and sell at the farmers market. i could still seed more but parsley takes a long time to germinate and then it wouldn't be ready for a few weeks after the market starts which might be fine.

this week i am moving onions, scallions, lettuce, chard, broccoli, cabbage and kale to a more exposed spot to harden off. a taste of the outdoors, more direct sun, a little wind, cooler nights. we don't have a set up for this so we'll probably put something together with hoops, pallets and some row cover (for evenings). a few days of this then off to the field. i have seen great set ups for cold frames at other farms. i really like how this was done at crossroads farm. wish i had made notes or took some photos from my visit last year.

i am seeding most crops with farmers market and our wholesale accounts in mind. some of the crops i have seeded are for dried flowers to make into wreaths, herbs for salves & tea, hot peppers for pickling and perennials for around our house. i might be taking on too much but it is hard to hold back in the greenhouse this time of year. it is so easy to keep sowing all these little packets of seed.

the weather is predicted to be sunny and in the 60's and 70's all week. really i think this is fabulous. it will help dry out the fields and give the growing season a little boost. i don't want to be ungrateful but why rush it... i would be over joyed with a few weeks 45 - 55 degree weather. i have a hard time acclimating. i never never never complain about cold, snowy, rainy, gray weather. i often complain about hot, sunny, humid weather. what is wrong with me?

FARMER POTLUCK

2008-04-14T10:30:00.006-04:00

yesterday, we went to our friend, fellow farmer, mentor... ken's place for an addison county farmer potluck. this was the last one of the season, understandably. these potlucks are informal social gatherings that take place throughout the winter at different farms in addison county. it was fun to have the potluck at ken's farm, tio grains, since he has just moved into his nearly finished house that spencer has helped build.

we met several dairy farmers, a beekeeper, a cheese maker, several grain growers and a few other vegetable farmers. suzanne of singing cedars farm was there. we have met on about a half dozen occasions and i always enjoy crossing paths. i forgot to mention to her that we enjoyed their eggs on the special salad at american flatbread this weekend. by the way, this special salad was amazing... frisee, white asparagus, crumbled hard boiled eggs with a caper dressing.

we arrived late to the party and stayed longer in the afternoon to visit with ken. here is a photo of spencer and ken chatting. ken's farm is located just 15 miles away from the elmer farm and the views are spectacular. neaby his farm, a creek/small river called lemon fare which which beautifully flooded some fields. i like the name of this river.

one last note, i transplanted about half of my rhubarb so far. i divided the plants when i dug them up and i am hoping to get about 20 new plants.

A FULL DAY'S WORK

2008-04-10T06:32:00.007-04:00

yesterday, i spent the entire day working at the farm while spencer took angus to his first farm auction. it felt great to put in a full day working on various projects. i feared that with all of this time to myself i would be overwelmed by my endless "to do" list. i just started with first things first and let the day unfold. it was fabulous.

i spent a little time in the greenhouse, mostly watering and looking for signs of germination in the peppers. it looks like some of the hots are coming up... serrano del sol. the peppers are seeded on trays set on heat mats to keep the soil temps higher but germination is taking longer than expected. seeing the hots come up today was a good sign.

i removed all of the mulch from the garlic. i found tons of earthworms which made me happy and lots of deer prints which didn't make me happy. the garlic looks pretty good. we planted 6 different varieties. the two most vigorous varieties at this stage are what we call ann elise stock (seed saved over the years from a former intervale farmer) and german white. the softneck is coming up fairly well while the ukranian red, phillips and an unknown variety that i have been saving from seed are slower. i originally bought this seed i have been saving from a garlic farmer about 7 years ago who is no longer vending at the burlington market. once the soil warms up a bit more and the garlic really emerges, i will put the mulch back on the bed around the plants. the mulch helps with retaining moisture and keeping the weed pressure down.

i finally assembled the seeder we bought with our wedding gift certificates from johnny's selected seeds. the seeder is alot like a planet junior. i like the heaviness of it and the hopper & seed plate configuration. the planet junior seems to have more sophisticated options such as using a scattershoe to plant peas, but over all i think this european push seeder is a nice option for us... far superior to the earthway.

then i used our new seeder in several beds that spencer prepped the other day. the small field north of our house has our best soils due to the soil structure and organic content. i planted peas, radishes, spinach and some hakurei turnips. i don't think any of these will be ready for our first market... may 10th.

and i did a little farm computer work... not as glorious.

spencer and angus had a great time at the auction. sounds like there is over a solid foot of snow just on the ground just to the east of the mountains and a mere 10 miles away. spencer purchased a stick welder. welding is another perfectly useful skill to have when farming.

SEEDLINGS

2008-04-07T15:43:00.007-04:00

i spent a few hours seeding this morning... eggplant, cherry tomatoes, more brassicas, lettuce. the parsley and tomatoes aren't quite ready for potting up. other exciting news... the garlic is starting to come up. i pushed away the mulch in several places to check. we planted over 1,000 cloves last fall. we are growing a softneck variety for the first time. i hope to make braids this year. when i apprenticed at approvecho in oregon, i learned to make them. that is also where i learned to bake bread and knit among many other usefull skills. a great opportunity to learn a little bit about forestry, alternative cooking technologies, gardening and homesteading.

this morning, angus was walking through the fields on the way to the greenhouse. though he is only 15 months old, i think he has deep inner wisdom to be a dowser. he strayed all over the field finding the largest pools of water.

A SUNNY SUNDAY

2008-04-06T18:46:00.013-04:00

wow, it was a beautiful day today. we spent the day as a family in burlington. spencer, angus and i headed out in the truck early this morning to pick up our washer and dryer at the house on manhattan drive. it will be so convenient to do laundry at home again and i can't wait to set up a clothesline. while we were at the house in burlington, i was also planning on digging up our rhubarb to transplant at the farm. the buds are starting to emerge but the ground is still frozen. i will give the ground another few sunny days to warm up. i was afraid of damaging the roots. i took a photo of the emerging rhubarb but it wasn't a flattering picture and the plants weren't recognizable. i am excited to bring the rhubarb to the elmer farm because it originally came from divisions of the plants at the intervale community farm where i worked for a couple of years.

the manhattan drive house looks amazing. danielle and benner are doing a great job on finishing up the trim and other projects like putting knobs on the doors. the windows look fabulous since they have been scraped and cleaned. they have made a wonderful home there. i felt like we never got settled when we lived there in part because we knew we were looking for farmland to buy and in part because we weren't completely finished building it. this house will always hold a special place in our hearts because this is where angus was born and spencer worked so hard to build it.

danielle gave me seed she saved from her garden last year. both of the flower varieties she gave me are heirlooms from seed savers exchange, calendula mixture and sea shells cosmos. i am looking forward to adding them to the elmer farm planting schedule.

the photo in this post was taken last night at the farm. it was getting very dark so nothing in the foreground shows except a hint of the greenhouse.

MAPLE SYRUP

2008-03-30T09:35:00.010-04:00

this weekend marked the 7th annual vermont maple open house event. throughout the state of vermont, sugarmakers opened their sugarhouses to the public to learn more about their operations, taste samples of different grades of maple syrup and hopefully purchase their products. last year, we visited the audubon center in huntington where our friend kim is the outstanding director. this year, i took my son to a friend's sugar house in rutland county, baird farm. it was a sunny and brisk day. the wind chill was a blizzardly 10 degrees. walking into the steamy house was a treat. imagine all of that steam smelling like maple syrup. wow! we had sugar on snow with a homemade dill pickle because that is the way it is done. we met a sweet dog named esta, took some photos, learned about a new technology called reverse osmosis and bought some maple syrup... some fancy and some medium amber.

this coming week is forecasted to be one of the warmest we have had this year. i think nearly 62 degrees on tuesday, april first known as april fools day and also our wedding anniversary. i suppose being farmers and all, we are april's fools. we are scheduled to start planting in the field in just a few weeks and there is still a fair amount of snow on the ground. see what i mean about being april's fools.

the onions are germinating. this week in the greenhouse, i am seeding celeriac and alot of peppers... sweet, hot, green. peppers are one of our best selling crops at the farmers market. we grow over 10 different varieties of sweet peppers. this is one of my favorite morning snacks in the field. when i was pregnant, there was no way i could even think about eating red peppers but my love for them has returned. and i am thankful for that.

A SIGN OF SPRING

2008-03-27T21:39:00.016-04:00

the other day, i came across these snowdrops. throughout the spring and summer, i think we will be surprised by the flowers growing and blossoming since this will be our first season living on the farm. i remember from frequent visits last summer that there were lots of lilies scattered around the farm along with other landscape flowers buried in weeds. this summer, i would like to mark where & which flowers are growing with small flags. it will help me to remember in the fall when i am ready to dig up bulbs and transplant them.

as i mentioned last week, i attended the FEED conference. it was a great opportunity to meet other farmers, teachers and school food service workers in our area. we now have a great contact from the east salisbury elementary farm to school team. the school is just 10 minutes away. this makes our farm accessible for field trips in the future. for now, they have asked us to be a part of a taste test this spring. the farm to school team wants to use our black beans to develop a black bean hummus recipe to serve in the school lunch program. i am excited for the possibilities. i have been involved with the vermont farm to school program for 4 or 5 years in various ways ... digging potatoes with first graders, attending school open houses & community dinners presented by elementary students, working on farm maps with 5th graders in the classroom, handing out samples of red pepper slices during lunch periods and more. part of our mission at the elmer farm is to be a resource and classroom for local school groups. we will start small. maybe first with this taste test and taking part in the farmer pen pal program.

in the greenhouse, we have seeded parsley, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, endive, onions, scallions, calendula, kale, chard and tomatoes. we have moved all of the trays from the house to the greenhouse. i think there are a total of 20-22 trays now. the rocket stove is heating fairly well. we have also been lucky with some sunny days to help with heating. we are learning alot and already coming up with ways to improve this design for next year.

another sign of spring... spencer shaved his beard but i am not supposed to write about this on the blog.

SPRING IS HERE

2008-03-21T14:45:00.016-04:00

hard to believe that spring is here. i am still feeling a little mixed up from starting daylight savings time so early. moving the clocks ahead gives us more daylight which many people welcome. the farmer translation: more daylight = working longer days. usually before the time change, we have worked in the greenhouse for a month, are getting our farm muscles back and are on our way to being organized. i guess the change feels abrupt this year.

i worked my way out to the barn this morning to gather more trays for seeding. what started out feeling like a brisk morning all of a sudden felt down right cruel. a wind chill below zero. i am sure it is spring in many places. for instance, dudley, NC where my dad lives or eugene, oregon where i lived for a few years. it is here that i first experienced an honest spring...flowers,warm temperatures, many bird songs, riding my bike, frisbee and yes, some slightly soggy days. i know our true spring will come here in vermont. march and april are a gift. i can sum it up in two words, maple syrup.

i went to the FEED conference yesterday. i saw some familiar faces and met new people. i enjoyed talking with other farmers about how the season is starting off. there aren't as many farmers at this conference as school teachers and food service workers. it is an amazing gathering of people coming together to find creative ways to buy products from local farmers for school food programs, connect children with area farmers, arrange farm visits and bring agriculture into the classroom. i heard many many more inspiring stories. this update is to be continued..........it is late.

here is a photo of our chicken coop. i don't know if we'll get chickens this year. we hoped to have a few layers and considered using the coop this year. next year we wanted to have more chickens and sell eggs. in the future, we plan to have a movable chicken house... many great designs out there. i am sure spencer will come up with something unique for elmer farm chickens. anyways, spencer said we can't work on cleaning out a house for birds until we have a house to live in ourselves. this makes perfect sense.

FIRST DAY OF SEEDING

2008-03-19T18:12:00.009-04:00

i am off with a slow start in seeding my onions but it feels good to finally get going. we are holding off a bit on moving into the greenhouse. so, today i got started and set the trays out in the house. we won't move into the house for another 6 weeks so, it is nice to have a large space to use in the meantime. i was a bit frazzled this morning digging through the barn and then the corn crib looking for odds and ends that i needed to get started... a pencil, tweezers, wooden popsicle sticks and watering can. this sounds like an unusual list of items but each one is helpful. i also ran out of seed which sent me running all over town looking for more mini purplette, walla walla and superstar... no luck. i am starting the italian flat leaf parsley here at the apartment. i have heard that pouring boiling water over the seed helps to break its dormancy. it is not unusual for parsley to take 3 weeks to germinate.

yesterday morning i stopped by field farm and the grapevine deli, both businesses within a mile of our farm, to see about wholesaling a few items. initially, we were going to only wholesale at american flatbread and the coop but these two opportunities have evolved and we are looking forward to building relationships with customers close to home. selling at these two farm stand type businesses, might be an alternative to having our own farm stand. something we go back and forth on.

i have also been working on the blog and making changes in some of the formatting. it is taking me awhile to figure out the tricks of layout. i am moving photos around a little bit and i have some lists with links i want to add such as my favorite vermont agricultural sites, recipe links and an index that will help me to organize the posts.

tomorrow i am heading to the annual FEED conference held in montpelier this year. FEED stands for food education everyday. i have been involved with this program in various ways. in a few days, i will write more about the conference and my love for this unique vermont program for elementary students. i look forward to this gathering each year.

ROCKET STOVE

2008-03-15T13:55:00.008-04:00

spencer and our friend william spent day #2 working on the rocket stove. william is a mason. he also built the heater in our home. his business is called turtlerock masonry heat and the website is well worth checking out. there are great photos of the many heaters he has built. the heater in our home resembles the elmore design.

the rocket stove is still a work in progress. by this weekend, it will be nearly finished. then we will fire it up to see how it does. our back up plan is to have seedlings in the house if the stove needs more adjustments and work after the test run. having the seedlings in the house isn't ideal but many small scale vegetable farmers resort to some sort of indoor seed starting.

ICE, ICE BABY

2008-03-10T21:13:00.009-04:00

we an ice storm this weekend. we lost power a few times for just 30 minutes or so. there isn't any apparent damage at the farm from the heavy ice, snow, rain. the greenhouse is holding up well. i couldn't resist using the title of that cheesy 80's song by vanilla ice to name this blog entry.

spencer drove to east montpelier with angus on friday to see his parents, pick up our potting soil from vermont compost company and do a few other errands. we bought one yard and i am sure that will be more than enough. we like the fort v mix. if we run out, moo-doo is just down the road from us. we are lucky to have a neighbor to supply us with potting soil needs.

all of our seeds have arrived in the mail except the potatoes. we don't expect them until april. i bought seed from the maine potato lady this year. i see her advertisement in growing for market in most issues. fedco was out of most of the organic seed we wanted. this was a good opportunity to try a new source. we would like to save our own seed for next year. it would be a great savings for us. potato seed is expensive and heavy on the shipping charges.

spencer is working on building the rocket stove for the greenhouse. this wood stove is basically made from 50 gallon steel barrels and burns wood quite efficiently. this stove will also heat a mass of stone and brick for a slow releasing radiant heat source. this is an experiment. we hope this innovative design will be a good start and over time it will improve with experience. creativity and vision are only two of many many reasons i love my husband. i have included a few photos that he took of the project on day 1.

we have a lot to do this month. i am excited to spend a little less time on the computer and a little more in the greenhouse. our start date for seeding is march 17th... onions, parsley.

angus and i are spending the night in st.albans at my mother's tonight. my grandmother lives here too. she loves seeing angus. as the farm season gets busier, it will be more difficult to make the trip here. so, we are trying to keep up with our weekly visits for now. i made enchiladas for dinner. yum!

ARKANSAS TRAVELER

2008-03-05T21:47:00.015-05:00

my seeds are arriving in the mail already. i have received packages from high mowing, johnny's and tomatofest. just waiting on my orders from fedco and seeds of change. so far, it looks like the orders shipped in full except two items, the red ace beet seed and hakurei turnip seed. these are back ordered and i will receive them at the beginning of april. this won't be a problem. i expected to run into many more out of stock items since i did my seed order so late. i did have a hard time finding leek seed that i wanted.

i have already started sorting the packages of seed into groups. i will probably track down some small food-grade buckets from restaurants to store my seeds in. we did this at a farm where i worked and it was a good system. we labeled each bucket with the name of a plant family.

seed packets are beautiful. the seeds of change envelopes are most striking with rich photography. i find the fedco envelopes just as beautiful in their stark whiteness and simple type. in the past, i have saved them and made cards out of them. i just remembered that when spencer and i got married, i made our wedding invitations from high mowing envelopes. romantic, creative, fun and practical.

tomatofest is a seed company that sells organic heirloom tomato seed. i really like this company. they always include a free packet of seeds to try. this year they sent me arkansas traveler. i ordered a few varieties that are new to me ... box car willie, glacier and a red cherry tomato called koralik. i can't find a red cherry tomato that i love. the last red cherry i grew was angora super sweet and the year before that was peacevine. two years ago, we grew 60 cherry tomato plants made up of 6 or 7 different varieties. we sold beautiful mixed cherry pints made up of dr.caroline, matt's wild cherry, green grape, yellow pear, black cherry, sungold and angora super sweet. in burlington, we had a great market for them. stone soup and penny cluse each bought 4 or five flats a week, plus i sold them at city market and the farmers markets.

we had a wintry mix of weather today.... rain, sleet and some wind. much milder though. i am starting to hear reports that the sap is running and sugar makers are beginning to boil. sugaring season always seems to come out of nowhere. we have about 30 maple trees on the property that we could tap. i hope we can integrate sugaring into our farm life eventually. spencer has some experience sugaring. the extent of my experience is endless school field trips to sugar houses in the spring and going to our annual maple festival in st.albans. eating all that sugar on snow has to add up to something. on a side note, i marched in maple festival parade with the school band from sixth grade until i graduated high school.

LET'S GET POLITICAL

2008-03-02T20:58:00.012-05:00

previously, i mentioned that i struggled with my seed order this year. here was my dilemma. a few years, ago monsanto bought a company called seminis. this company controlled 40% of the u.s. vegetable seed market... supplying the genetics for 55 percent of lettuce sold, 75 percent of the tomatoes and 85 percent of the peppers and had a hold on beans, cucumbers, squash, melons, broccoli, cabbage, spinach and peas. i found this background information from an article the New Farm electronic newsletter. seminis supplied seed companies with many well known and well liked varieties for both organic and conventional vegetable farmers. seed companies such as johnny's selected seeds, fedco and territorial seed company all sold the seminis varieties. under these new circumstances, some seed companies had to make decisions whether or not to continue carrying these seeds now owned by monsanto. well, it is a long complicated story so i will make it short and sweet.... monsanto is BAD for so so so so many reasons. i am sure there are blogs completely devoted to convincing people of how bad the "advanced" monsanto chemical technologies are. i found this quote from the fedco (a maine based seed company that is run as a cooperative) website which i think sums up the core of this issue:

We have chosen to use Monsanto’s buyout of Seminis as a wake-up call. We do so because Monsanto epitomizes the road down which we no longer choose to go…the road that leads to our complete surrender of control of our seed and therefore of control of our food system.

http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/monsanto.htm

i have been a little out of the loop. last year i didn't buy seeds because we were relocating our farm from the intervale to east middlebury and we had a baby. the year before that, this buyout was new and i don't think the seed catalogues were making the issue known yet. it is a reality for us this year. i support fedco's position. their catalogue educates their customers by explaining the issue, taking a stand and listing all of the vegetable varieties they have dropped because they were previous seminis varieties. reading this list broke my heart. i love packman broccoli, mars onions, fat'n sassy peppers and more. i can still buy these seeds from many catalogues, it isn't hard. but do we want to support monsanto? no, we don't. i had to say good bye and let go of the beautiful and delicious varieties that i came to depend on.

like fedco, i also feel like this buyout is a wake up call for us. and this excites me. as young farmers, our vision is always evolving. our values and passion shape the direction we are moving with our business. this is an opportunity to use more heirloom seeds, discover new varieties and learn more about saving our own seed.

so, i would like to end with a thank you to fedco and to high mowing seeds. thank you fedco for making this issue so well known to me and also for your amazing catalogue. it is more than a seed catalogue, it is a novel. well done. and thank you high mowing for having your business here in vermont, your dedication to sell all organic seed and your presence at all of the local conferences. we support both of these companies with pride!

one more note about "LET'S GET POLITICAL," it is town meeting day in just 2 days here in vermont. don't forget to vote!

A LEAP YEAR

2008-02-29T23:06:00.005-05:00

today really is a special day. i reminded myself of this all day. i thought about people who were born on a february 29th. i love birthdays and celebrating with people. i am known to 1) celebrate my half birthday 2) start a countdown for my birthday and 3) remember about 100 people's birthdays in my head including my eighth grade boyfriend's. now that i am a mama and birthed my son angus, i cherish "birth" days all the more. i have never met anyone with a february 29th birthday and if i ever do.... he or she will never be forgotten.

another reason today is so special is that i finished my seed order. yes, just 15 minutes ago and it feels great. i plan to write about my unique experience ordering seeds this year. there was a political twist for me and i had new considerations to take into account. but not tonight, this story will wait another day or two. this week has reminded me of late nights finishing homework in college. i will treat myself to some early nights to bed in the next few days.

i can finally take the seed order off my "to do" list. i started my thank you notes and i also bought a chalkboard tonight. i mentioned earlier that i thought it would be helpful for the farm. one of our chalkboard tasks is to map our our fields for planting.

one last thought... this morning was a brisk -10 degrees. when i woke up, i opened the window shade next to the bed. i saw the most beautiful frosted pattern on the window that i had ever seen. i photographed it.

A BIG DAY

2008-02-24T23:18:00.013-05:00

today was a big day for us. we now have plastic on our greenhouse. thanks to help from dad blackwell, jesse, jeremy and our new neighbor who just happened to be cross country skiing when he saw all the work being done. he stayed and worked for three hours (on my to do list for tomorrow is to write some thank you notes... another passion of mine, sending cards). today went very well. it was a calm day which was a tremendous help. this task is not an easy job. in the intervale, it took a dozen of us to put plastic on a greenhouse. the next steps for the greenhouse are to finish constructing the end walls, completely secure the plastic and build a rocket stove that will be used in conjunction with thermal mass to heat the greenhouse. more later about rocket stoves. it is so late. tonight i am excited to post these photos. enjoy.

I LOVE NUMBERS

2008-02-23T21:54:00.009-05:00

wow, what a beautiful vermont winter day. sunshine, snow glistening, bright blue sky and a comfortable 32 degrees. spencer worked on the greenhouse endwalls and preparing for a workday tomorrow with friends to put the plastic on. while my mom and dave took angus for a little while this afternoon, i chipped away at our farm production plan. i don't know how other new farmers put all of this information together. it doesn't seem like there is an obvious method. here is mine:

1. determine markets, wholesale accounts
2. put together a sales projection sales sheet for each account/market which includes - # of weeks each crop will be sold, how many units per crop per week, selling price per unit, total production, total sales
3. graph a harvesting schedule to determine flow of successions and workload per week
4. from all of this information, i create my production plan with about 20 columns of information regarding total units needed for each crop, yields per bed, total beds needed, lineal footage per succession and so on

this is how i get started. now, we have numbers to work with on bed space and projected income. at this point, we spend alot of time making adjustments. after all of our considerations, we end up with a solid plan to use as a base for our seed order, greenhouse seeding schedule and field planting chart. i like organizing this information. by keeping good records, each year gets a little easier because you can build on information from the previous year. it is important not to just organize this information in the beginning of the year but to stay on top of it daily while it is fresh in my mind and is a manageable task. however, i would be curious as to how other farmers put seed orders together. i thought this would be a good workshop topic for beginning farmers at the nofa conference. just another piece of information that makes all this a little crazier... seed companies all label seeds in different measurements... mini packets, packets, 1/16 oz, 1/4 oz, A, B or C. i need a translator. and i also need a solid chart for crop yields per 100 feet. this i can do a better job at tracking.

i love numbers, problem solving, the seed order challenge. being a farmer involves many different skills and roles. a mathematician is just one of them.

LUNAR ECLIPSE

2008-02-20T21:13:00.010-05:00

today is my stepdad's birthday and there is also a lunar eclipse. i read that there will not be another lunar eclipse until december of 2010. the skies have cleared up and we may see a bit of this show.

i had a great meeting with the kitchen manager at american flatbread today. we love the flatbread mission... food, community, farming. in waitsfield, american flatbread is a great destination for a night of great food, some beer and a bonfire with a group of friends. we love flatbread so much, spencer and i invited all 30 of our guests for an intimate dinner on the night of our wedding. anyways, i am excited to make this connecion and sell our vegetables.

the plastic arrived for the greenhouse today. spencer worked on assembling the cross-ties. there is still a lot of work to be done. my mom and dave are planning on watching angus on saturday for a few hours, this might give us a chance to work on some projects together. i miss that. most likely we will start our seeds in the house and move the seeding operation into the greenhouse by the end of april. i am very we built a greenhouse... there are many possibilities.

going to catch a glimpse of the lunar eclipse now and then get to bed.

HATS OFF TO NOFA-VT!

2008-02-18T11:35:00.007-05:00

another amazing nofa vt farm conference. enid, olga, abbie, nicole... they all work so hard to put this event together. i only have a glimpse of how much time and work goes into planning this event. i used to volunteer on the conference committee and with the set up/ clean up crew. last night, as i left the gymnasium there was all sorts of hustle and bustle of piling chairs, packing up boxes and removing banners. part of me wanted to join the crew and part of me just wanted to go home with spencer and angus who had just arrived to pick me up. yes, they picked me up at the end of the day which means i was at the conference all day... solo. i spent most of the day socializing with farmers friends... didi, ron, lauren, s'ra, tom, dan, jack and so many other wonderful people. i had this idea of photographing portraits of my farmer friends because i would like to start a page of photos titled, "farmers i know." i saw this on another website and i just loved this idea. so, i would like to recreate a similar feature.

my favorite workshop i attended yesterday was ross conrad's lecture on beginning beekeeping organically. what excited me most about the presentation was his enthusiasm for his working with bees and his approach in explaining bee culture. it turns out he lives in middlebury. i am hoping he will be a source for continuing education as we begin to keep bees. i hoped to speak with him after the presentation about other upcoming events where he will be teaching, but there were about 20 people waiting to speak with him. i have his book. i am sure it will be easy enough to contact him for more information.

spencer and i have been talking about getting chickens this year. i really want to make this happen. i picked up a nofa publication titled "humane and healthy poultry production: a manual for organic growers." it is a small handbook with a very basic information to help farmers get started. i read a bit this morning and it was definitely worth the $7.00 i spent. it seems like the timing could work out to get some layers this year. i have been saving egg cartons.

this morning i started to do a little research on the internet about finding a chalkboard. wow, they are expensive! i might have more luck looking on sites that sell teaching or school supplies. i think it will be worth the investment. when i worked at the intervale community farm, we had various chalkboards and used them often. i think we could use chalkboards for farmers market, weekly task organizer, harvest posting board and angus might like to play with it on the off season.

today is a very rare 50 degrees after a very cold weekend. spencer is happy for the snow to melt which will make working on the greenhouse much easier. there is so much to do.

I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START.....

2008-02-15T21:06:00.016-05:00

i have been considering starting this blog for some time and waiting until i have just the right purpose. i have thought about using this blog as a farm journal to keep track of our daily tasks and make it a useful tool for us to look back on during our planning. i also considered this an opportunity to share my photography and showcase pictures from our daily life on the farm. the blog could also be an opportunity to create an elmer farm community with stories, favorite recipes or book ideas. i like journaling, photography, farm life, being a mother and a wife, spending time with family, writing letters, reading, knitting, quilting and cooking. i have a knack for finding great finds at thrift stores and remembering people's birthdays. these are all of the joys i want to share with my friends, family and newcomers.

tomorrow is the nofa conference. this is the first time the event will be a two day affair. spencer is going tomorrow and i am going on sunday. it would be a wonderfully romantic weekend to spend two days together visiting with our farming friends, attending various workshops and talking about our newly inspired ideas. angus is just 1 year old and we haven't really started to leave him with a sitter all day. we will work on that. last year, i brought angus and he was just 6 weeks old. he just slelpt through the workshops snuggled in the sling. this year, i plan to attend workshops on beginner beekeeping, sweet potato production and perenial vegetables. i always have others lined up in case the room is just too packed or i am not really enjoying the topic. i always prefer to go to workshops that are given by farmers.

spencer is listening to our friends' band... bariki (a funky west african ensemble) at the monkey house tonight in winooski. i am exhausted and going to bed early. oh, i was excited that our farm business cards came in the mail today. they are just temporary cards until we figure out a farm logo. for now, we have MOO cards. they are half the size of regular business cards and i downloaded my photos to use on the backside of them. just in time for the conference this weekend.

i think i will end each blog with some sort of inspirational idea that i would like to implement on the farm. tonight i will say that i want to set up a huge chalkboard in the barn to help us stay more organized.