Running out of room

It is easy to “go big” when thinking of farming. We do not have that option. Downsize or die.

Mid April

The greenhouse is overflowing all over the property. Still I seems like there is not enough plants. The eggplants and peppers germinated almost as poorly as the cauliflower. We need to take another recount to see if we have enough of these plants to fill the allotted space.
We have room for more peppers and eggplants than last year. There is 130 row ft set aside for both of them. We better fill those rows so our members a good amount of each.
Speaking of members, we are no where close to filling up the 20 openings we have available this year. We really wanted the CSA to be primary source financing farm operations. We believe that it is the best way to interact with our customers, and provide farm fresh food of the highest quality.
We are prepared to go to market, and sell our vegetables in other venues if everything goes as planned and we get all the members for the CSA. If that does not happen, we will have to shift focus to go to market to generate income this season. We are all pulling for the CSA to work.
Today we planted 4 varieties of potatoes for our CSA

Over the top.

We got to peak around Runnymede Farms yesterday on our way to Ashland. It was good to compare what we are doing to another small farm in the area. Terry really has her shit together, I really aspired to be as prepared as she was. She always reiterates that her farm has been eight years in the making, the beginning of which was pittance.
Still, it would be nice to be at the level that she is at now. I have nothing right now, when i should be bringing early lettuce to market, along with overwintered vegetables. I should have starts ready to sell and hanging baskets of flowers. Tomatoes planted in the greenhouse would be nice, but we almost killed all of ours instead. And the list of what we should be doing goes on.
Our experience in small scale market farming matches how well planned we are. We are getting better at working the land. For those of you that were with us last year, we improved tremendously, and the quality and quantity of produce will represent that

Irrigation.

All the guess work is finally paying off. Spending all we have to get water to our plants this year turned out real well. Now we just need to sling some produce and make the money back.

wildflowers in bloom

After very careful consultation with the local wildflower field guide, this is what is in bloom right now on the property:

Hound’s Tongue; without all the licking.

Shooting Star is one of the more prolific flower this time of year.  They pair nicely with the increasing call of frogs.

Fawn Lily just started popping the other day. Ours are the maroon type.  Like the picture.

And there are tons of Western Buttercups.

plant the tomatoes just to kill them

I think that I might have killed all of the first two rounds of tomato transplants. It got really cold last night. The second round of tomatoes was just planted yesterday. Weak from the transplanting, the freeze last night finished them off. They were inside the greenhouse. Today’s warm sun might revive some them. Tomato Power.

Selling Time

We are now setting up our booth at Wooldridge Winery today. This will bring some needed attention to us in the area. Hopefully people will be interested, and we will get some more CSA subscribers.