New Farm Name....

Our new farm name will be announced soon, along with a new blog (which I am currently working on). We'll keep you posted.

Name Change?

It's been awhile since I've blogged...we are contemplating many things about the farm. One of those is a name change. When we named the farm "Picket Fence Farm", we thought it was unique to our area. Since then we have found out about Picket Fence Creamery in Woodward, Iowa that has been around longer than we have. In an effort to be more unique and original we want to rename our farm. So we are currently brainstorming ideas. We are also coming up with new marketing ideas, farming practices, and deciding what we will grow for the 2011 season. We are thinking at this time we will operate a small CSA and try out selling at area farmer's markets as well. Our goal is to try to make our farm our primary source of income in the coming years so that we can do it better. It is hard having the husband working full-time off the farm, as well as trying to raise a family and grow a business. This farm is what we are passionate about...providing local, farm-fresh, chemical-free food for our own family and our community.

Some Pictures...

Below are some pictures from today's harvest. Pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, and herb bundles (Chives and Thyme). I love the Fall colors of the pumpkins!

Sheep and Chickens

So, we are thinking of purchasing some Katahdin lambs and broiler chickens soon. Is there any interest from our local customers in buying meat? We would be raising them on pasture, naturally with no chemicals. I have been in contact with some breeders and they say the lamb chops from their Katahdins taste like ribeye steak and the lamb burger is better than hamburger. The chickens are bought as baby chicks and then butchered at around 7-8 weeks of age for whole fryers. If you are interested, please email us and let us know (especially for the chicken) so we know about how many we should order.

This is a pic from allposters.com of a Katahdin lamb:

Here is a pic of a broiler chicken from Murray Mc Murray Hatchery. Not quite as cute or cuddly as the lamb:)

Mowing in the Garden

Well, with all the rain we have had (almost 14 inches in the month of June alone), the weeds are growing like crazy. We resorted today to mowing in the garden. We have sections that had early crops that are now done, plus in between rows that are a mass of weeds, so we just mowed them down. We will have to start thinking about sowing seeds in July for a Fall harvest, so we will till these plots under again before we replant. We also have a new flame weeder we will be trying out. We are hopeful that it will help too. We also worked on putting weed barrier down around the tomatoes. There is A LOT more weeding to be done, but it felt good to make a dent in it anyway. Tomorrow we will start weeding melons, zucchini, and probably sweet potatoes.

Rain, Rain Go Away and a New Purchase

Well, this rain is just getting ridiculous! We haven't been able to get out in the garden and weed for a week and it's looking crazy out there! We need dry weather. I am hoping to get out there tomorrow to assess things and see what we will have to harvest this week. If it doesn't start to dry up I am worried we will start having mildew and disease problems on the plants. On a more exciting note:

We were able to make a new to us purchase for the farm off of Craigslist. We bought 2 high tunnel greenhouse frames, 1 is 18X84 and the other is 18X96. They need new end walls and plastic covering, but the frames are in good shape. We plan on making 4 moveable greenhouses out of them that travel on skids...allowing us to rotate plantings and extend our harvest. We are excited for this purchase! It will help us to get an earlier start and harvest later into winter. It will also be a more controled enviroment (more protected from pests and the weather). The below pic is off of Craigslist...the next big task is getting them to the farm!

Our first harvest this season...

Tomorrow will be our first harvest of the season. We'll have green onions, radishes, turnip greens, and MAYBE lettuce...we'll have to check it out and see if it is big enough to cut. On farm pick-up will be Friday afternoon and Pella delivery will be Saturday morning at 9:00 am. I have sent out an email to our members, so hopefully everyone will know to make it! We are excited for this growing season and hope our members are too. :)

Washout...

Well, the rain yesterday at the farm was very heavy and some of our rows that were just sowed with seeds got washed out...bummer. It seems to be worst along one edge of the garden, so hopefully most of the rows will still be intact. It even washed out a pepper plant already established in the ground...I replanted it and hope it didn't disturb the roots too much. So is life on the farm. Unexpected things happen sometimes. We are just blessed it wasn't worse (like hail--which they said was possible). On a happier note, the melons and cucumbers in the greenhouse are doing great and they will be planted out very soon!

What's Growing?

The garden is growing, and I thought I would give an update. We should have a few things ready in the next week or two...we'll be sending out an email to all of our customers about when to expect their first box. Things that should be ready soon include radishes, green onions, and greens. The peas are growing well, as is the spinach and chard, so they shouldn't be too far behind either. I'm sure you are all ready for fresh garden produce (I know we sure are)! It has rained ALOT this week at the farm. The garden needs weeded in the worst way, but right now it is a muddy mess in there. My rain gage says 3 inches total this week. I think it will stay dry for the next couple days, but another chance of rain Sunday night with more dry weather to follow after that. We have a bunch of transplants that need to go in the ground soon, so I hope it will be dry enough by this weekend. The greenhouse is full of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and herbs awaiting their new home in the garden!

Rain and Garden Progress

It had been really dry here for the past few weeks...so much so that I have had to water the garden. This weekend it finally rained and the garden needed it! I think they are saying we received over 3 inches total. It sounds like we will have a few dry days now and then more rain toward the end of the week. The sugar snap peas, shelling peas, onions, garlic, cabbage, and broccoli are looking good...I am seeing rows of greens, spinach, lettuces, radishes, kohlrabi, and chard coming up as well. I suspect that the potatoes are starting to come up or will be soon, but it is too muddy to go check today. Things are coming along in the garden and overall I am pleased. The rain is helping our newly planted fruit trees and bushes as well. We are looking into the possibility of purchasing a high tunnel for the farm...that would help us get an earlier start on the season and also be able to extend our season into early winter. We are reading a few books by Eliot Coleman about extending the harvest and they are very good. We would love to be able to provide a Summer share as well as a Winter share someday...maybe next year...we shall see.

Berries and Brambles

We received our berry bushes in the mail today! I ordered some from Hartmann's Plant Nursery and some others from Pinetree Garden Seeds...they are all alive, which is a bonus! The varieties are: Poorman Gooseberry (6), Encore Raspberry (6), Blueberries (2 each of Hannah's Choice, Jersey, and Blue Ray), and Seascape Strawberry (100). We also received our Jersey Knight Asparagus (50), and garlic. I would like to plant them tomorrow, but if it rains tonight (like they are predicting) it may be too muddy. We'll have to wait and see. This weekend is supposed to be sunny with nice temps, so we can get some more work done then. I should also be getting my fruit trees any day from Stark Bros. I ordered 2 peach and 3 plums. I can't wait until all of this fruit starts producing!

Spring Planting Has Begun!

Well, yesterday was a beautiful day and we were able to get much accomplished! We cultivated the soil and got it ready to plant, then we planted shelling peas, sugar snap peas, onions, scallions, garlic, chard, spinach, kale, kohlrabi, turnip greens, and potatoes (red new potatoes, Red Norland, and Yukon Gold). The rain today was perfect timing to water it all in too! Hopefully we will have a few more dry days next week to plant some more. So far things are looking good to start CSA deliveries Mid-May. Hopefully the weather will continue to cooperate with us!

We are also painting our honey bee hives and getting ready for the new bees to arrive in the next couple of weeks...that and finishing up and painting the new chicken coop. A few of our chickens are scheduled to arrive around April 20th, with the remainder arriving in June. Spring has finally arrived after such a long Winter, and I am thankful for it!

An Update

Well, I tried to get some pictures on here and it's not working, so I will try again soon. Anyway, we have been having some nice weather (with some rain too) and have been able to get outside and get some work done! We set up our greenhouse and I have green cabbage, baby bok choi, broccoli, and napa cabbage starts going. I am going to get my head-type lettuces in there today as well. We have been working on getting grass seed down in our yard, which is currently mud! And, the chicken coop is coming right along...we almost have it finished...hopefully I will be able to post pics when it's done. We are looking forward to next weekend (Good Friday)... weather permitting, we'll get our potatoes and some onions in the ground!

MUD!

The snow has melted, yay! But in it's place: MUD. The frontyard, backyard, garden, driveway...all mud. But, I am not going to complain because Winter seems to be over and the temps are going up. We can't wait for it to dry up so we can start working in the garden. Yesterday was beautiful, so we spent the afternoon working on the chicken coop and pruning our fruit trees. I brought the trimmings from the trees inside and put them in water, hoping to force the branches into bloom. If it works I'll post a picture. I also need to post pics of the coop, but my digital camera is giving me fits...I think it is time for a new one. Next on the agenda for this week...buying grass seed and more rock for the driveway. Hopefully we can get rid of some of this mud!

Is Spring in the Air?

I am hopeful that Spring will be here soon! They are saying temps should be in the 40's and 50's by the end of the week...such good news. I think everyone I speak to has been tired of winter for quite some time now.

In farm related news, we are starting to build our portable chicken coop. I will post some pictures when it starts looking like a coop. Our chickens will be arriving on the farm around April 20th. We are ordering pullets that will be about ready to lay once they get here. We are also working out our planting rotation and where everything will be going...and we just purchased a small greenhouse, so hopefully we can get that up with some of this nice weather and be ready to start some seedlings in the next few weeks. We also have plans to try growing some cool weather crops in it this fall and see how long we can extend the growing season. We would really like to purchase a large high tunnel (when money allows) to be able to extend our growing season for the CSA. Some CSA's provide a summer share and a winter share (through December anyway)...we would like to get there someday! More pictures will be coming soon...

Longing for Spring...

Is anyone else tired of winter? I am longing for a warm spring day to be outside in the garden. I've been looking through seed catalogs, putting together my orders and it makes me want spring here even more! It seems we have had all types of winter weather this year in Iowa...Lots of snow, frigid cold, fog and hoar frost, now an ice storm. Winter can't last forever, right???

Busy at the farm...

It's been awhile since my last post. We have moved, but not into our farm house...yet! Our drywall finishers just finished up this weekend, so we will be painting and installing cabinetry this week. Our floor will be installed on or around Nov. 30 (we had a special order), so it looks like move in time will be around Dec. 1. It as taken longer than we like, but we finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

In garden news, we have mowed and started plowing up the garden. Plowing in the Fall makes the soil much more workable in the Spring. We would still like to spread some organic fertilizer, but we shall see how that goes. Once we get the house done and get settled in, we'll start planning for our 2010 garden. It's always exciting to come up with a plan and start looking through seed catalogs to decide what to plant. If any of our customers have a certain variety or vegetable they would like us to try, let us know. We're open to ideas.

Hopefully I can get some new pics up soon. Lots is happening at the farm!

Creepy Crawlies

Our garden is FULL of these menacing looking spiders. They are harmless though, and actually good for the garden because of all the pests they eat. I think I've probably counted a dozen of these webs and garden spiders, and I am sure there are more. Most of them are yellow and black like the one here, but I have also seen black and white with a little yellow. The webs are really quite neat.



Okay, we saw this snake on the road by our farm...lovely, isn't it? Can you hear my sarcasim? I'm not a big fan of snakes. Anyone know what kind this is?

Farm Happenings...

Wow, I guess it has been a while since I last posted. It seems this summer is flying by! We have been busy working in the gardens, and we are being blessed with abundant harvests for our members! I thought I would share some recent photos from the farm.

Lots of summer squash, zucchini, and cucumbers.

A pumpkin growing...we planted Jack O Lanterns, Sugar Pie pumpkins, and baby types too!

A Sunflower...

Our corn field (and pumpkins) newly electrified...raccoons and deer beware!

And our electric fence charger...which seems to be doing an excellent job! No damage in this field that we have found.

Update from the Farm

Well, I haven't been able to update this blog as often as I would like to here lately. We have been busy harvesting, weeding (although the weeds are winning at this time!), getting our house in town on the market to sell, plus trying to make building plans for our new home on the farm. It has been a busy summer! The gardens are growing nicely (along with the weeds and grass) and we are getting great harvests. I hope to have our farmstand open in the next week or two, for those of you who are interested. I will post on here the day and time it will be open, if you would like to come email me for directions. I will probably try to post an ad in the local Reminder too if I feel we will have enough to sell. The CSA is going well and we hope to expand the garden and add more members for next season, so if you are interested email us and we will put you on a waiting list. I have one name on it so far. Some of the things we have been harvesting in the last couple weeks are:
zucchini
summer squash
cucumbers
bell peppers
jalapeno peppers
cherry tomatoes
onions
cabbage
radishes
green beans
red potatoes
sweet corn and large tomatoes (just this week)
mixed flower bouquets (this week)
and I am sure I am forgetting something...but we have been blessed with abundant harvests for our members and our own family as well. God is good.