Above & Beyond Farm

Anticipating the Tomatoes

2010-07-06T20:31:00.011-04:00

Here on the farm all we can think about are tomatoes. OK maybe that's not entirely true; we also think a lot about weeds, the weather, and where exactly to put the baby. But what we're really eager for are the tomatoes. Since we planted our crops so late in the season, it seems everyone but us already has beautiful fruit on their plants. And if you were one of the many who took a gamble and put your plants in the ground early this year you got especially lucky. No late frost means many of you have have been enjoying vine-ripened tomatoes for weeks. Our day will come though. Our first bright orange Sungold Cherry Tomatoes started appearing last week and soon enough we'll be drowning in heirloom varieties as well. With about a hundred plants in the ground in Roswell and 600 on the Canton land, the days of hurry-up-and-get-here(!) should soon be replaced with overwhelming abundance.

While we wait on the tomatoes, the land here in Roswell has been busy producing lots of chard, summer squash, basil, and okra. The peppers, eggplant, melons, onions, potatoes, and herbs are taking off as well, while the carrots, beans, turnips, and beets are just getting started. The two crops we've been disappointed by are the cucumbers, which haven't really been producing, and also the kale...it seems to be a favorite among the flea beetles. Luckily we haven't had to battle the bugs too intensely so far this season (knock on wood). Joaquin's picked off a few potato beetles and squash bugs, but overall the plants seem healthy and happy.

The crops in Canton are, once again, bearing fruit a-plenty. Allan, Alex, and Mike built another impressive fence and spent long days planting the field alongside my mom. They work hard keeping up with the garden as well, but specifically those 600 tomato plants. That's a LOT of trellising!

So, where can you find us this year? We're still deciding on markets. We have a vegetable stand on the corner of our property in Roswell where we decided to sell last weekend. We'd like to set up produce there if not regularly, at least sporadically. I haven't had much luck in contacting the coordinator of Roswell's Riverside Market, so we may be looking into other nearby Saturday markets as an alternative. And like last year, once the tomatoes start rolling in, you'll find us at a Tuesday market as well. I'll keep you posted!

EGGS! Stop by the house and pick up a dozen at your convenience. 1595 Old Riverside Road. We'll be putting the eggs in the carport refridgerator daily as we collect them. $4 donations are welcome. If you feel like sending me an email before you stop by I'll reserve a dozen with your name on them. And we'd be happy to re-use your empty egg cartons.

Finally I'd like to thank everyone who comes out to Volunteer on Wednesday mornings. We are lucky enough to have a few regulars, whose company I greatly enjoy, and without whom the garden would be over-run by weeds. I can't thank you all enough for your help. And the animals are glad for their weekly visitors as well :)
There's always room for more! If you have Wednesday mornings from 9:30 - 11:30am available and you'd like to come out and spend a little time in the garden, we'd love to have you. See my Volunteer Day post for more information.

The Sungolds are Oscar-approved

Until next time...happy eating!

Jessica

Volunteer Days

2010-07-06T20:22:00.002-04:00

We enjoy getting to know the community and we'd like to introduce ourselves to you as well. Volunteer days will be every Wednesday from 9:30 - 11:30am, beginning Wednesday, May 26th. These mornings will include planting, weeding, small farm projects, and possibly some harvesting -- depending on the time of season. More often than not, it's a lot of weeding! Children are not only welcome but encouraged to participate. Just be mindful because there is poison ivy on the farm. The garden and well-traveled areas are generally safe, but little ones should always be supervised. Once the produce is abundant, I will do my best to make sure volunteers do not leave empty-handed.

If you're interested in helping out on volunteer day, please send me an email so I can get a rough idea of the number of people who will be here any given week; it will help me plan the mornings well. (Jess426 @ gmail.com)

**Please note: In the case of inclement weather, volunteer day will be canceled. We can work in a little rain, but if it's pouring or storming....we'd love to see you next week!

Transplanted

2010-05-18T10:48:00.099-04:00

The past 1 1/2 months have been quite the whirlwind. Back in March Joaquin and I weren't sure what our growing situation would be for the coming season. At first we thought we'd "farm" an empty double lot next to our house in the Old Fourth Ward, but after receiving the results of a soil analysis we learned the land was badly contaminated with lead. We talked about putting in raised beds but questioned if it would be worth the investment. Then on April 1st we were informed that the lots had been sold to a new owner and that it wouldn't be wise to move forward with any plans.

Amazingly, after only a few brief moments of panic, everything managed to work itself out. The day before we received notice that the lots were no longer available, Joaquin had been browsing through the Georgia Organics Grower's Exchange looking for mulch. Instead, he stumbled upon a post by a lady who owns a 5-acre plot of land in Roswell. She was looking for a couple to tend to the farm and animals in exchange for living space. Honestly, it sounded too good to be true. Still, I had nothing to lose so I contacted her and the next day we drove out to see the property. We met with the owners, Carroll and Jim, and almost immediately we were trying to figure out how we could uproot our lives and replant ourselves in Roswell. We had wonderful luck finding renters for our home in Atlanta and on May 1st we officially made the move.

It would have been hard not to fall instantly in love with this land. For starters, the Chattahoochee River is literally in our front yard. The 5-acres are mostly wooded with the exception of 1/2 acre which has been cleared and fenced off for the growing area. Carroll and Jim named the place Rottenwood Farm, in part due to a large number of pine trees on the property that have been devastated by the pine beetle. Benches made out of these pine trees offer resting spots all around the land. I'm personally in love with the Magnolias, especially one right outside of Oscar's windowed "play-nook" that shades the small pond where he watches the ducks splash around.

There is ample room for all sorts of livestock. We brought our 23 laying hens and 2 goats to live with the 20 or so chickens that were already here. The fencing and animal housing is well-constructed and well, just plain fun! This month we're adding 15 heritage Blue Slate Turkeys, hatched locally, to be harvested come Thanksgiving. Two donkeys just moved onto the land this weekend as well, although we haven't yet carved out a purpose for these fellows. And I still have my fingers crossed that one day we'll be able to pasture a couple of pigs in the woods.

There are 6 raised beds in the center of the garden, and we're putting in several more ground level beds ourselves. In the raised beds we've planted several different varieties of basil, peppers, and onions. This week we'll also be planting one as a perennial herb garden and another we'll use for potatoes. In the beds Joaquin has prepared we've planted chard, okra, sungold cherry tomatoes, and summer squashes: crookneck, patty pan, yellow and green zucchini. Soon we'll be planting heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, kale, carrots, and melons, in addition to a few more peppers and onions.

We purchased a Top Bar Hive off ebay last month because, well, who doesn't love bees?! A worm bin is also planned for the near future. I can't wait to start mixing worm castings in with our homemade compost - oh, there's just so much to get excited about! As is true on any working farm, there's always plenty to do and never a dull moment.

This place is a dream come true for us and Oscar's just as happy as an earthworm in a compost pile. Everywhere you look there's something delicious already in the ground. Blueberry bushes and blackberry bramble, muscadines, strawberries, asparagus, overwintered garlic, a walking onion experiment, and a couple rhubarb plants. There are lots of young fruit trees scattered around the property as well - apple, peach, plum, even a bitter lemon tree.

1/2 acre of growing space is half the size of what we grew on last year in Canton, but we expect yields equal to or greater than last year as we are practicing new growing methods for small spaces. Last month Joaquin attended a Grow Biointensive conference by John Jeavons, author of How to Grow More Vegetables: Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine. Joaquin has been diligently double digging beds on the weekends and weeknights; in other words, whenever he's not working his day job in the city. This is a tiresome task that I'm personally in awe of and he deserves double credit for often doing this work while wearing a baby on his back. The double digging, in addition to quality compost (produced in our very own backyard in the city) and close plant spacing, should produce an abundant harvest of nutritious and flavorful fruits & vegetables all summer long.

Oscar, after putting in an honest day's work

But wait, there's more! My parents are planning to grow on the land in Canton again this season. In fact, my mom is responsible for all of the seedlings we've planted in Roswell, and we certainly wouldn't be able to grow our farm without her. Again this year my mom mixed her own organic potting soil from the recipe Daniel Parson shared at the 2009 GO Conference. Her greenhouse is absolutely beautiful.

Joaquin and I will help my parents put their plants in the ground in Canton this month as well, and we're excited to create a joint venture with them at markets this season. Because they have so much land to work with, we should find ourselves overwhelmed with tomatoes in no time.

Our plan is to sell our produce at Roswell's Saturday Farmers' Market off Hill Street this summer. Once we have enough to harvest mid-week, we will also be attending a Tuesday market. There's actually a great little vegetable stand right on the corner of the property that would be so much fun to sell from, but as of now the city will not permit it. So, if you see us working out in the garden in the coming months and you'd like a few fresh veggies, please stop on in. And as for eggs, we've always got 'em!

Volunteer Days

Volunteer days will be every Wednesday from 9:30 - 11:30am, beginning Wednesday, May 26th. These mornings will include planting, weeding, small farm projects, and possibly some harvesting -- depending on the time of season. Children are not only welcome but encouraged to participate. Just be mindful because there is poison ivy on the farm. The garden and well-traveled areas are generally safe, but little ones should always be supervised. Once the produce is abundant, volunteers will not leave empty-handed :)

If you're interested in helping out on volunteer day, please send me an email so I can get a rough idea of the number of people who will be here any given week; it will help me plan the mornings well. (Jess426 @ gmail.com)

We have knowledge to share and we have just as much to learn. We'd love to see the community become an integral part of our farm. Don't hesitate to stop in and lend a hand if you see us out in the garden. I know Wednesday mornings don't fit into everyone's schedule. You're always welcome to send me an email in advance if there's a particular day you'd like to come out. Also, I'll be posting on a few forums for help with harvesting for markets come summertime. I'd like to find a regular volunteer for Fridays and possibly Tuesdays as well. If you think this may be something you'd be interested in, send me an email and we can discuss it further.

**If anyone lives closer to Canton and would be interested in helping out occasionally on my parents' land, I know they'd love to talk with you. Send me an email and I can put you in touch.**

We couldn't be more excited about the coming season. Here's to a bountiful harvest, great company, and of course...

Happy Eating!

Jessica

Where Have We Been?

2010-01-17T14:08:00.016-05:00

It's been so long since I've posted anything, it's definitely time for an update. The big news around these parts is the addition of Farmer Oscar to our family. Oscar Moreno Lara was born on September 24, 2009 weighing in at 9 lb., 2.5 oz. and measuring 22 inches in length. And truth be told, I haven't done much of anything for the past 3 1/2 months except play with the little guy. Winter is definitely a good time for that.

Oscar at 12 weeks

We did process our turkeys on the farm right before Thanksgiving. With the help of a few friends we slaughtered, feathered, gutted, and packaged 16 turkeys over 2 days (there was a bit of a learning curve as it was our first real adventure in poultry processing). Most of our birds were smaller heritage breeds but we did have a couple standard white birds weighing in at 24 and 30 lbs which we kept for our own Thanksgiving dinner. Delicious is an understatement. Raising our own meat was a rewarding experience in all senses except the monetary...it was our first time around and we could have potentially done better cost-wise; however I still don't think we could come close to breaking even for raising the turkeys without doubling what we charged per pound. Organic feed is an incredible expense. It may be a while into the future before we are able to raise turkeys for anyone other than ourselves again.

Gutting "Big Tom"

Mom, Joaquin, & Amber

Byron & Me

Oscar sleeping in the Moby Wrap during processing

Mom, Joaquin, Amber, & Alex

So what does the 2010 season hold for Above & Beyond? I can't answer that question just yet. We may need to continue our farming hiatus due to several constrictions including the economy and my special situation with meeting Oscar's nutritional needs. The farm will be back, just redefined and to be announced. Oh, and our laying hens say hello. We're rolling in the eggs! Feel free to contact me if you're interested in a dozen.

Happy Eating!

Jessica

"FRESH: The Movie" Screening

2009-08-27T21:11:00.003-04:00

The Georgia Chapters of the Weston A. Price Foundation are screening the movie FRESH on Saturday, October 17th from 3-6pm at Five Seasons Brewing Westside. Above & Beyond Farm is excited to sponsor the event, which will serve as a fundraiser for bringing Sally Fallon to Atlanta next fall. Click on the flier below for more information, including how to buy tickets.

Visit the FRESH website to watch a trailer for the movie. Tickets are only $10 and there's a limited number available, so it is sure to sell out. There will also be a panel discussion after the film. Hope to see you there!

Jessica

Summer Season is Drawing to a Close

2009-08-01T22:17:00.016-04:00

(Posted Monday, August 10, 2009....not 8/1/09 as blogger says.)

Yes, lately we've had an abundance of heirlooms ripening on the vines and our glorious Sun Golds are trying to hold strong, but I can see the tomato plants are quickly giving in to the heat. We're also watching as our summer squash and cucumbers give us their last fruits. It's becoming more and more obvious that it's time to say goodbye to the season. Hard to believe that just weeks ago we had more zucchini and lemon cucumbers than we could sell at two Saturday markets combined, and now we view each piece we harvest as a precious victory that maybe our plants will hold out....just for one more week?

Which is also to say - this will be our last week at our regular Farmers' Markets. After Saturday (8/15/09), we'll be taking a hiatus for a yet-to-be-determined amount of time. Studioplex & F.A.R.M. : We'll miss you for a little while, but we'll be back! I really want to thank all of the volunteers over the past several weeks who responded to my ads for help with the harvests on Tuesday and Friday mornings, but especially Joann who came out to help every Tuesday morning before market. Not only couldn't we have attended the market without her, she was also great company in the field. And AMBER - You've been incredible. Thank you thank you thank you for everything you've helped with!

Fresh Onions & Leeks & Delicata

Cucumber Mint Lemonade!

The Whole Spread (8/1/09)

Hot Peppers (Jalepenos, Cascabellas, Habaneros, Cayennes)

Sweet Peppers (Banana, Bell, & Cubanelle)

Heirlooms, before we had too many to contain in one basket!

We've started planting a few fall crops, but on a smaller scale than what we planted this past spring. Joaquin and I will be welcoming a baby (and future farmhand, of course!) into our family next month, and our attention may just be called away from the field for a while. But in addition to already having our winter squash sitting in the field and curing for fall, we should soon have sweet carrots, more sugar snap peas, another round of chard and basil, spinach, beets, broccoli, head lettuce, and a few other cooler weather vegetables.

This winter we'll be spending a good amount of our time planning for next spring & summer - hopefully ensuring that by this time next year we'll have even tastier, more bountiful heirlooms. With any luck, plants that will hold out for 6 or 7 weeks, instead of just 4! We have high hopes for next spring; certainly we can only improve from here on out. Joaquin's been working a lot with compost tea lately, brewing up a couple batches a week and using it as foliar spray as well as drenching the soil near the plant roots with his concoctions. He's working hard to ensure a healthy eco-system between the bugs and the plants in the field. And it's been fun using the microscope I bought him for his birthday to see what exactly is going on inside that life-giving tea.

For our very first season farming our own land, I think we've seen an encouraging 4 months. We've brought in many beautiful harvests, grown a nice variety of crops, and most importantly, learned a good deal about farming in the south. There have been huge successes with a few failures thrown in to keep us on our toes. But to see so many repeat customers at the markets gives us the greatest sense of accomplishment. And it's not such a bad thing to have sold some of our harvest to a few great Atlanta restaurants either!

In what direction the future of our farm is headed has become the main topic of nightly discussions. It's been difficult for everyone commuting to the farm daily and it's definitely not sustainable to successfully manage a farm in this manner. Living on the land would be ideal and all four of us are continuing to brainstorm options to see how we can make that happen. Soon.

Livestock is another big part of the farm that we haven't fully tapped into yet. We have our pastured poultry but we'd really love to get our goat herd up and going this winter, in addition to some pigs. And on top of that, it's been suggested that we start cultivating mushrooms. We've taken a couple classes on growing mushrooms, and my mom even bought Joaquin an inoculated Shiitake log at one point, but that's about the extent of our mushroom growing knowledge. Still, I definitely think it's something we'll look into some more - so many untapped markets and opportunities out there just waiting for people who have the time!

I'll leave you with some pictures as well as a few administrative notes. First, we now have a live listing on Local Harvest. If any of you who have visited or shopped with us feel like taking a minute to write a quick review of our farm, it sure would be appreciated! Also, we've been lucky enough to have a good friend of ours offer to help start up a *real* website, rather than just this blog. He's given me a lot of "homework" to do in order to put the site together, but hopefully I'll be able to use some new-found downtime to tackle his outline and soon enough we'll have an official farm website. (Thank you, Byron.)

Until next time, Happy Eating!
Jessica

Our Egg Layers, just a few days old

The feather footed ones are my favorites

What a beautiful rooster!

They won't be little much longer (8/2/09)

One of our Guinea Fowl Flock

Big Tom day dreaming about lusher pastures

Studioplex Market

2009-07-07T15:53:00.016-04:00

The Piedmont Green Market was closed this past weekend for Independence Day, but since our plants didn't know to take the week off, we still had a harvest and needed a place to bring it. Luckily, Joaquin heard about the Studioplex Green Market conveniently located right in our own neighborhood. For those of you who live in or around the Old Fourth Ward, this convenient, quaint little market offers produce, herbs, crafts, and coffee Saturday mornings from 8am until 1pm. It's a great low-key alternative to the hustle and bustle of bigger markets, not to mention there's plenty of parking. We're glad we found the market and we're crossing our fingers that it will keep growing with vendors and visitors. Right now we're trying to find a way to sell at both Piedmont and Studioplex, so this coming weekend we're splitting up our produce and man-power and sending Joaquin off on his own to run his very first solo market at Studioplex. Depending on this weekend's turnout, we may be attending both markets in the future.

Our Sun Gold cherry tomatoes are on! We sold our first pints of this crop on the 4th of July as our small birthday present to this country. For those of you who have never ventured beyond the flavorless red cherry tomatoes from your local supermarket, or thought those little yellow pear tomatoes were adventurous, you really need to pick up a pint from our stand early one morning before they sell out! These are undoubtedly the best cherry tomatoes you'll ever taste. I won't even waste precious planting space on our farm with any other variety of cherry tomato. (Take my advice: save some seeds and plant them in your own garden next summer.)

Jalepenos, Turnips, Tomatillos, Musk Melons, and Walla Walla Onions also made their first appearances last week, and were quickly snatched up. And once again we offered Okra, Eggplant, Green & Purple Basil, Green Tomatoes, Rainbow Chard, Red Russian Kale, Green Onions, Delicata, Lemon Cumbers, Green Cukes, Yellow & Green Zucchini, Patty Pans, and Yellow Crookneck Summer Squash. This coming weekend we'll be bringing our first carrots...and perhaps even a few watermelons and pie pumpkins. Our heirloom tomato plants are still right on the verge of ripening, but I expect we'll be eating our weight in tomatoes within the next two weeks.

My Cucumber Mint Lemonade was such a success at the Studioplex Market that you can be certain you'll find it at all of our future stands. Our Tulsi Sun Tea may just lose its place as our signature farm drink, but for now we'll let them share the title. This doctored-up lemonade is a delightfully refreshing summer drink that's very simple to make and has such a great texture from the pureed cucumbers. And, if you're not pregnant, I recommend trying it with a splash or two of vodka, rum, or tequila!

On a note of gratitude: we have been overwhelmed with our customers kind words about how wonderful and fresh our produce looked (we promise it tastes even better!). I can't thank all of you enough who have come out to support local farmers at markets that reward such hard work. We're glad you're enjoying our harvests.

Happy Eating!
Jessica

Recipe Blog

2009-07-07T15:25:00.004-04:00

Here's a link to my recipe blog, for all of you who I've met at the Farmers' Markets and have promised recipes for various items. I'll keep adding new recipes as the season progresses. Be sure to go through the archives to look for specific recipes.

Above & Beyond Recipe Blog

Recipes are currently up for:

Chard Gratin

Grilled Patty Pans

Stuffed Patty Pan Squash

Summer Vegetable Ratatouille

Zucchini Bread

Broccoli Leaves

Kale - 7 recipes from around the world

Squash Blossom Soup

Fried Green Tomatoes

Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Also, I've posted these articles as resources on:

Benefits of Tulsi Tea

How to Best Store Your Produce

I hope this new blog serves as a helpful companion to your farmers' market ventures. And please, if you have any tried and true recipes for anything we're growing on the farm, email them to me. I'd love to post them.

Happy Eating!
Jessica

Our First Farmers' Market

2009-06-29T10:16:00.027-04:00

Well, we did it. And I think we did it pretty well. Over the weekend we sold our harvests at Piedmont Park's Green Market. Our stand and our produce looked beautiful, and we were impressed with the number of people who came out to buy fresh veggies and support local farmers.

We had a nice variety of produce for our first market. The Okra, Sugar Snap Peas, Eggplant, Squash Blossoms, and Broccoli sold out quickly - of course, the smaller quantities of these particular items helped in that regard. The Patty Pan Squash, Yellow Zucchini, and Lemon Cucumbers were also a big hit. Rainbow Chard & Red Russian Kale sold better than I'd expected; oddly I think we might have been the only farmers at the market offering bunched greens. Green Zucchini, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, & Delicata were steady, if slower, sellers throughout the day. The only items that didn't seem to garner much interest were the Yellow Crooknecks and Purple Basil. And, although we nearly sold out of them, I was surprised to leave the market with one bunch of green onions unsold. I thought those would be easy crowd pleasers, but Joaquin and I were happy to take that last bunch home for ourselves! My mom and I also made some delicious & refreshing iced Tulsi Sun-Tea that people really enjoyed. Next time we'll bring an agave sweetened version as well; this is the south after all!

All in all we had a very good experience and we're excited for the markets to come. Next Saturday is the 4th of July so we won't be at Market again until July 11th, but by then we expect to have cherry tomatoes, more onion varieties, and probably carrots as well. It's even possible we'll have a few melons and peppers by then. I have to say it's the most purely enjoyable feeling to walk out to the field on any given morning and see new plants fruiting.

My personal market favorite this week were easily the Sugar Snap Peas - they really were the embodiment of perfection! I'm glad people enjoyed them as much as I did, because they were our first and last harvest of snap peas off those particular plants, which were planted too late and quickly done in by the summer heat. We'll definitely be planting more this fall.

Our most enthusiastic customers.

Remi, eyeing the lemon cukes. I think he knows a good thing when he sees it! (Next week we're putting out a water bowl for you.)

Green & Yellow Zucchini, Patty Pans, Yellow Crookneck Squash, Green & Lemon Cukes

Green Onions, Delicata, & Sugar Snap Peas

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Back in the field things are growing like crazy. I couldn't tell you what's winning, the crops or the weeds. We have a few rows of tomatoes where the grass must be a foot high in parts. And there's little hope left for weeding the squash & melons, which were planted too close together and have themselves completely taken over the beets & turnips. We're trying to keep on top of things, one thing at a time, each of us holding down "paying" jobs too. It's a continuous learning experience in balance.

On the topic of balance, I'm happy to report the bugs seem to be keeping themselves in check so we must be doing something right! Our once horribly riddled eggplants that I feared would not make it have proved their determination to grow into strong plants and are now producing beautiful fruits. The squash bugs (that still concern me every now and then) don't seem to be taking over our plants. No aphids anywhere thus far; just ladybugs everywhere we turn! We're learning as we observe, rather than reaching for the chemicals, and I feel blessed that it's paying off. I'm sure at some point we'll lose crops to bugs, if not this season then in the seasons to come - but I hope we'll welcome it as a challenge to restore our ecosystem. And, I'm more than happy to share a little :)

The Pepper Plants are Fruiting

Okra Blossoms

Sea of Green - the Squash, Melons, & Cucumbers

Sugar Baby Watermelon

Honeydew

Casaba Melon, our one and only plant

Butternut Squash

Patty Pans

Yellow (Sebring) Zuchinni

Pie Pumpkin

Carrots

Broccoli

Tomato Jungle

Artichoke

Onions & Leeks

Sugar Snap Peas

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On the Pastured Poultry Front:

We've lost a few turkeys and guineas over the past couple weeks. First to a predator (we're not exactly sure what though, perhaps a weasel?), and then two more to the heat. We keep them as shaded and as hydrated as possible, and now there's a box fan blowing on them as well. But hot southern summers are notoriously hard on poultry. Still, our remaining turkeys are plumping up, and the guineas are really finding their voices. Plus the baby chicks arrived in the mail today, so keep your eyes out for cute pictures of peeps in my next post!

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As for our backyard goat babies, they're doing very well and have already doubled in size. They are so playful and fun to watch. Last week we took them to be disbudded, which I'm sure was a very painful experience for them as well as extremely disheartening for me. Joaquin and I debated back and forth - neither of us wanted to put them through the experience - but our main concern that ended up winning out was the potential for the goats to accidentally injure someone, especially a child, with their horns. Goats love to playfully "head butt," so it's a risk we just couldn't take right now. I guess I took it harder than the babies though, who seemed mostly unphased by it. They were back to bouncing around the backyard (looking less like themselves than little 4-eyed alien goats) only hours later.

Joaquin is trying out his novice carpentry skills as we speak, building a milking stand for MaryBell. Soon we'll start separating the babies from her for half days in order that we can all enjoy fresh milk. The goat babies have quickly become adventurous little eaters - trying out everything they see their mama eating as well as gnawing on the occasional stack of bricks and other inedibles. But, our dream of fresh raw milk from our own backyard is finally coming to fruition after 3 years of keeping "pet" goats. And it also means we're one (small) step closer to our goat milk dairy on the farm in Canton.

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Finally, I intend to incorporate recipes into the blog and/or main website soon, so that you can use it as a resource on how to prepare vegetables that perhaps aren't all too familiar to you. There are some great ways to eat those Patty Pan Squash, twice baked and stuffed with cheese! Not to mention southern favorites like Okra and Green Tomatoes. Kale and Chard can be pretty tasty too, if you give them a chance (and Joaquin wants to remind you not to forget the potatoes!). *UPDATE: Here's the new recipe blog.

We sure hope you'll stop by and see us at the market this summer.

Happy Eating!
Jessica

A Week's Worth of Updates, Plus: Special Deliveries in Our Own Backyard

2009-06-16T09:30:00.026-04:00

*Update on our harvests: Sunday brought our first harvests of head lettuce, summer squash, cucumbers, and kale, in addition to the chard and basil we've already been harvesting. Our scallions and kohlrabi are ready as well, and it won't be too much longer before the tomatoes and melons ripen. I wasn't ready for how quickly the plants began to fruit here in Georgia. It must be the heat and the generous amounts of rain we've had lately, because I don't remember our transplants taking off as rapidly last season in Colorado. I'm beginning to think we'll have Butternut Squash in July...Oops!

Sweet Green, Tulsi, and Purple Basil

Kale and Chard, soaking to remove field heat

Alex, Byron, and Alex's mom, Charmaine came out this past weekend and assisted with the harvest as well as some much needed and very tedious hand weeding. We made it through the peppers, a couple of tomato rows, and most of the carrots, turnips, & beets. As they were leaving a couple who my parents managed to recruit after just having met the night before showed up and helped me finish the basil and eggplant. The field looks better for now, but I know it won't last long!

Peppers, before the weeding crew arrived

Cabbage Plant - what a beauty!

Kohlrabi - ready for harvest

Tomatillos!

Our first Sugar Baby Watermelon - golf ball sized

Lots of Green Tomatoes in the field

Melon - now softball size

Cucumbers - ready for harvest

Our first Pie Pumpkins - golf ball sized

Butternut Squash - growing quickly

Zucchini - ready for harvest

Basil - getting bushy

Onions

Farm View (6/14/09)

*Updates on the Poultry: While we were harvesting and weeding, Allan and Alex were busy building two chicken brooders to house our laying hens which will be arriving at the end of the month. The turkeys and guineas will soon outgrow the home they currently share, and we'll have to build new turkey housing. Another month or so and hopefully they'll be large enough to turn out to pasture during the daytime hours without too much worry over hawks.

*Updates on Where to Find Our Produce: Saturday, June 27th will be our first ever appearance at a Farmers' Market! We'll be selling whatever we can pull from the field (cherry tomatoes, maybe, maybe?) at Piedmont Park's Green Market from 9am - 1pm. The Farmers' Market scene in Atlanta feels lacking compared to Boulder's well organized and hugely popular market. It may be because there are a few different market locations on Saturdays (all relatively close to one another), rather than one "central" market. In addition to the Green Market, there's Morningside, which is open exclusively to organically certified vendors; there's the Peachtree Road Farmers' Market, which we'll be checking out for the first time this Saturday; and of course there are also several small town markets dispersed throughout the state. I don't know yet that the Green Market is the best choice for us. I'm hoping we're able to sell a good amount of what we bring. I'm confident there's plenty of foot traffic through the park, but I just wonder how interested the park goers are in cooking kale. We'll find out soon enough.

*Farm Stand Update: It's still in the works, and becoming more of a necessity every day. One factor is that any structure on the property, no matter how simple, must first go through a permitting process. But the produce we're pulling out of the field right now is in need of good homes! Luckily this week we were able to send most of it home with our volunteers, but with more & more in the fields...well, we need to be able to put our fresh produce out daily.

*Update on the Organic Initiative funding: Two NRCS agents came out to the farm on Thursday to meet with us and see what we might qualify for. Not much at all, it turns out. I think in total we would be eligible to receive around $300 (before taxes!) because so far we have only about an acre under production. As the program is currently written, money is only alloted for the acreage that is currently planted. Never mind the fact that they are supposed to be encouraging sustainable measures such as cover-cropping, which we want to do in *preparation* for our future beds. Or that a main goal of ours for the near future is pastured livestock and they specifically list Prescribed Grazing as one of their "Core Conservation Practices" - they'll only pay for cattle and we're interested in goats & pigs. They'll help fund mulching as well - but, only for strawberries. Need help with pest management? The program allots financial aid to the tune of $25/acre. Pyrethrin alone costs around $75/gallon. The bottom line being, this "Organic Initiative" offers little support for *growing* a small farm.

So, when all was said and done, it didn't make sense to move forward with the application process. As it turns out, only 5 transitioning/organic farmers from Georgia even applied for funding, meaning the $2 million Georgia received from the USDA probably will not even come close to being fully distributed. And these aren't funds that "roll over." There's a good possibility the lack of distribution of monies will suggest to the USDA a lack of need, rather than the absence of a viable program. The agents were friendly and seemed to understand our frustrations, and took down our suggestions in hope that next year's initiative would be more....farm-friendly? We'll see. For now, the best thing that could have come out of it is the freedom to remain uncertified.

*Update on Bugs: The field is full of them! I wish I had more experience identifying them so that I could separate the "good" from the "bad." (I know the issue isn't black and white - that there's a healthy balance for all insects, and to wipe out the "enemies" also means wiping out those we consider beneficial.) At Cure, we didn't have too many problems with pests other than flea beetles, which were easily remedied by covering the susceptible crops with row cover. We'd find a hornworm here and there, but never in the tomatoes (the crop they threaten). I remember seeing cucumber beetles in the fields too - just not enough to cause noticeable damage. I think Colorado's shorter growing season and multitude of hard frosts during the winter must do wonders for keeping bug populations naturally in check. During the entire season I only remember using (organically approved) pesticides two times on specific crops.

We're lucky that our field is full of ladybugs, and that our soil is full of grubs and earthworms. But lately we've been noticing squash bugs & cucumber beetles, and LOTS of squash bug eggs tacked on to the undersides of the squash plants' leaves. We haven't found a lot of damage yet - but the question is, are we sitting on a ticking time bomb? Or are we lucky enough that our beneficial bugs might be keeping everything in balance? Of course we remove the eggs and kill the adult bugs as we come across them, just for good measure, but we can't dedicate the amount of time to hand-killing that it would require to ward off an infestation. And from all that I read about squash bugs, if an infestation occurs, those of us who are farming "organically" have very few options - the best of which seems to be sacrificing this year's crops destroying all but a few plants to be left as "traps," in hopes of burning as many bugs as possible at the end of the season so that next year the populations will dwindle. We're crossing our fingers that it doesn't come to this.

We are also starting to find potato beetles, mostly on our eggplant. Although we aren't currently growing any potatoes, the potato beetle attacks all members of the solanacea family, including eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes. Again, we've been removing them by hand, in hopes that we can stop them before they spread to other crops. Our lack of understanding of which bugs do what has led us to appoint Joaquin as our resident entomologist-in-training. Joaquin, our plants are counting on you! Please don't let them down :)

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Now let's break from the farm for a minute and switch to a little segment I'm going to call:

"News from the Backyard that Started it All"

Joaquin and I are excited to announce two new additions to our family: Goat Baby #1 and Goat Baby #2. MaryBell, our backyard doe, gave birth on Wednesday, June 10th to 2 of the most adorable little creatures I've ever met. Both baby goats are male, so unfortunately we didn't get the additions to our milking herd that we would have liked, but their playful cuteness makes it hard for us to hold any grudges. (We are still faced with the challenge of what to do with 2 new male goats when they reach adulthood, but that's another conversation for a different day.) Lucky for you, the goats are extremely photogenic and also make for great video footage. Enjoy!

MaryBell cleaning Goat Baby #1, minutes after birth

Goat Baby #1's first meal

MaryBell licking Goat Baby #2 clean

MaryBell with her newborns

Cuddles with mom & baby

Zoey meets Goat Baby #2

Goat Baby #2

Goat Baby #1

Hello, my friend - Tucker meets Goat Baby #2

More milk for Goat Baby #1

Family Portrait (6/11/09)

The goat babies make me so happy!

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Finally, it has come to my attention that my posts are a little long-winded. I'm new to this blogging world, so bear with me. I'm finding each post takes a lot out of me, and more time than I would actually like/have to dedicate to sitting in front of a computer - but the perfectionist in me doesn't want to leave out the details! So, a big thank you to everyone who reads my posts the whole way through - your ability to focus is truly rare in this day and age.

Happy Eating!
Jessica

Irrigation

2009-06-08T15:18:00.012-04:00

I spent hours upon hours last season in the fields of Cure alongside Donald (my co-intern), us both swearing off drip tape. Knowing that some better way MUST exist...somewhere? Well, I never found that better way but hey Donald, this here's for you: We laid the tape on every single row, no moving of lines. And no re-adjusting either -- we staked them down. Yes, we'll have to be extra careful to remove all the metal from the field before bringing the tractor back in (no, I wasn't proactive enough to spend this past winter widdling those wooden stakes we talked about).

So the drip tape I promised myself I'd never use on my farm is now irrigating our crops. My moral dilemmas with using the tape left me standing between a rock and a hard place. I've yet to devise a satisfactory alternative (if only rain worked the way it used to!). My main problem, aside from the fact that the drip tape will eventually end up in a landfill, is concerning water traveling through flimsy black plastic in the hot sun. Call me neurotic but this just doesn't seem to me like a healthy way to deliver water to the soil. Still, the other means of crop irrigation I'm aware of all present their own challenges. Namely, (a) finding a practical way around the PVC, (b) the need to use a LOT more water, and (c) watering the weeds the same as the crops. At the very least, drip tape has efficiency on its side. And let me tell you it feels like a god-send compared to our previous, almost laughable method of dragging an oscillating sprinkler attached to a green hose around every section of the field.

There was intense exhaustion mixed with a strong sense of accomplishment in the air around 4pm yesterday. We'd built a header pipe, drilled holes for the grommets and valves, and laid & staked 46 lines during the hottest part of a Georgia summer day...and on plants that were already well established to boot (this is a task that goes by much more quickly when dealing with new transplants). At the first sight of the water flowing through the lines my mom jokingly suggested we break out the champagne -- that summed up my sentiments exactly. Okay, there are still a few kinks to be worked out. Allan is working to fix the pressure so that the top of the field gets watered as well as the first lines in the system (luckily, he's a good trouble shooter). We're still awaiting electricity on the property so that we won't have to rely on a generator to power our well pump. But mostly I think we're all breathing a collective sigh of relief that watering the crops is no longer the extraneous measure it was up until 2 days ago.

Field view from yesterday morning before the tape was laid.

The addition of drip tape really gives the field a whole new feel.

On a harvest note, it's been so gratifying to see the first fruits come on many of the plants this past week. We also had our first small harvest yesterday - just basil and chard. We ended up with a few pounds of basil and several bunches of chard. Next week I expect we'll have summer squash ready to harvest as well, meaning we're about to be swimming in the stuff. Gotta get that farm stand up!

I'll leave you again with more of Joaquin's pictures. (How lucky we are to have our very own photojournalist documenting the farm's progress!)

Happy eating!
Jessica

First cherry tomatoes (Sun Golds, my very favorites!)

First melon (about the size of a golf ball)

First summer squash (yellow crookneck and green zucchini)

First Butternut Squash (about the size of a quarter)

Bring on the cauliflower

Speckled Amish Bibb lettuce

The tomato plants are really getting big!

Crops in. Weeds growing. Eagerly awaiting harvest.

2009-06-03T17:06:00.009-04:00

The garden* part of the farm is planted! It feels really good to have all of our transplants in the ground finally, after watching them outgrow their homes in the greenhouse week after week and having to entertain the possibility that we wouldn't get the land tilled in time to save them all. April came and we got our tractor (a stubborn, rusty '85 Ford whose only redeeming qualities seem to be a front end loader and the fact that it occasionally runs), and we broke ground at the end of that month. It took a couple more weeks before a fence could be built around the perimeter to keep out the multitude of deer with whom we share the property. Allan & Alex turned out an impressive 3-tier boundary, and by May 16 we were officially transplanting.

That first transplanting day was the hardest. The rows of onions and peppers seemed to take an eternity to get in the ground. But by the next day we had most of the field planted except for a few rows of root crops that needed to be direct seeded. Since then we've been tending to the details. Joaquin's been experimenting using hay to mulch some of the rows. We're still working out irrigation, trying to keep the weeds under control, replacing a plant here and there, picking rocks out of the field, and LOTS of tomato trellising. My mom is a tomato trellising junkie (and perhaps the most enthusiastic wheel-hoer I've ever met).

Trellising the tomatoes with my mom

I think we have a good variety of crops for our first year. We're certainly missing some notables, either because we didn't have the room to plant them or weren't able to obtain the seeds. Still we're off to a nice start. We've got lots of tomato varieties, including some favorites from my time at Cure Organic Farm: Pineapple yellow tomatoes, Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, German Johnson, Mr. Stripey, and Hillbilly. Walla Walla, Vadailia, and Red Flat Onions, plus Scallions. Peppers include Anaheim, Poblano, Orange Bell, Cayenne, Jalepeno, and Banana. Sweet Green Basil, Tulsi Basil, and Purple. Rainbow Chard, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Purple Peacock Broccoli-Kale, Fennel, Okra, Kohlrabi, Head Lettuce, Artichokes, Carrots, Parsnips, and a small patch of Sweet Corn. Sadly, our Eggplant and Sugar Snap Peas might not succeed this year (the former was riddled by flea beetles and the latter was planted too late in the season). But I have high hopes for our Oasis Turnips and our 4 different Beet varieties. And last but not least we've planted a huge assortment of summer & winter squash, as well as melons. Anyone who knows me knows how impatiently I'm awaiting my pie pumpkins.

In the near future we'll be putting in an herb garden, an on-farm Farm Stand, and hopefully selling at a market by July. In the years to come I'd like to add essentials such as beans, potatoes, garlic, asparagus, rhubarb & strawberries, to name a few. Plus a U-Pick blueberry and muscadine patch - we have just the spot for it. Oh, and a small orchard too, of course. The possibilities for the farm feels endless right now, and I haven't even mentioned the pastured livestock or goats' milk!

The end of the week should bring our first cutting of hay this year. We've made a trade with the neighbor to do the labor and he'll leave us 200 square bales of the hay. I'm not entirely comfortable with this deal because our hay feels priceless to me. Where else could we buy unfertilized, herbicide-free hay to feed our (future) livestock? I assure you the people who are growing it don't sell it. But, we need the hay and we don't have the equipment or the know-how to bale it ourselves. Hopefully the future will bring better connections and better negotiations.

In other exciting news, we should be walking the land in a couple weeks with an NRCS agent who is reviewing our application for funding from monies that the USDA has set aside for its 2009 "Organic Initiative." Depending on what we may receive from them, it also means that we'll most likely have to certify the farm as Organic, which feels a bit to me like selling out. I've never wanted to certify organic just on principle - I would of course hold myself to the USDA "Organic Standards" (Above and Beyond to be exact), but I'd prefer it to be on my own merit and not necessarily for government certification. That said, with the economy the way it is right now, I don't see how the farm can survive for long - let alone excel - without some sort of financial assistance.

Our young Turkeys and Guinea Fowl seem thrilled to have finally moved out of the confines of their heat-lamp-warmed "water trough" (conveniently stationed in my parents' guest bathroom) and onto the land. We'll have 50 chickens to add to the mix at the end of this month. We're still brainstorming options for more permanent (or temporary and mobile, as the case may be, depending on the flock) housing options, but for right now they're enjoying their accommodations.

More farm updates to come as the summer gets hotter and the crops mature. For now, it's time for much deserved R & R. I'll leave you with a few more of Joaquin's photos from the farm.

Happy Eating!
Jessica

*I can't help but cringe at my use of the word "garden" because that usually implies a smallish backyard venture, possibly out of hobby or perhaps intended to feed a single family. We're currently growing on just under one of our 23-acre farm, but with over 500 tomato plants in the ground, well...it just feels a little bigger than a garden to me.

Watering the greenhouse

Basil and Squash transplants

The Greenhouse and Hardening Off Area

Breaking ground

Transplanting the Onions

Alex and me with the Russian Bees

Onions

Head Lettuce in the A-Frame

The teeny corn patch

Field View