Monday, January 31, 2011

chompin at the bit?


Well the Voles are chompin at the carrots.... (Hattie, this is an OLD HOLE, do not freak out & run to the hooper with yer headlamp!) I just happened to see the absolutely GAWjuss carrots workin hard to fill out their full orangeness even among the deficit of dirt. My opinion is that if they take one carrot a month, that ain bad odds. But if they ramp up and start competing with the clientele, well we may have to lock a certain meow in the hooper overnight, accidentally... just sayin...
Aren't those carrots ADORABLE???? Unlike the Voles. I am told they suck the carrots down like a cartoon! I have never seen this but I BELIEVE! Hattie tried to warsh 'em out but unlike a cartoon the water didn't geyser out of the ground with laughing voles reclining on the cushion of the water. The report was that it just kept going & going & going, never bubbling out of any nearby hole. This too I believe.
Now that the days are longer and .... no, I cannot tell a lie, there is hardly any sun or warmth most the time, its freakin froze yo. But soon, I'm sure of it, the sun will shine & the temps will rise and the carrots will be in full regalia for ya. That will happen, I'm sure of it.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

talk about delivery! WOOT

You will NEVER believe what showed up on Friday night!! If I was there I prolly woulda kissed the UPS person a million times. THE PLASTIC IS HERE! yup our cheeks are poppin off our face. I eyeballed the boxes early this mornin. ( If I was the UPS man, i'da shoved em off the truck & leavem lie- poor guy hauled em up to the porch) They are indeed massive. and beautiful. joy in the heart.

Now you know what that means for you, doncha? Veggies, that's RIGHT! Lettuce kale spinach arugula carrots; all kinda stuff. We are gonna get right on that.... as soon as we get back from PASA next weekend. Actually we probably won't be able to stand it & will break out at least one roll for some poor brutalized brassica freezing in the "challenging climate".

Ah so PASA- farming for the future conference http://www.pasafarming.org/conference2011/
This is where farmers go juice up, find the faith, inspire the guts it takes to do this stuff for a living, and meet a buncha others doing the same stuff. Talk about poppin cheeks.
Not to worry! Of course I will tell you all about it! Hope I don't stick out like my sore thumb.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Day after day one

I was happy that my plan to journal the goins on at HG was well received. I write like I think and thats what I gots. carry on...

Fridays in the winter are about getting the off-season delivery prepped for crack of crazy on Sat.
No, REALLY i love it. And when our blood sugar crashes we get as goofy as a pair of hyenas.

First thing this morning we got the second phase of seed ordering figured out, (maters ya'll, gonna love what we got comin for market!). that was really excitin and I also got a grasp of how freakin costly the seeds can be. makes me want to seed save. gonna learn it yup I am.

Yes we harvested our treasured turnips in the cold overcast chill, thats all I'm gonna say about that. If you ordered some you know you ain had nuttin like that in ... long time!! yumm I am chompin on one as I type...

Checked out the hoophouse progress (during the latest wintry mix, from the latest flippin clipper- yes every day its somethin) The sun actually winked for a fast second at 7 am, it must be tarred, it went back to sleep. Back to the plantings, the spinach is reaching and the arugula is peeking, another day & I bet the rest will make an appearance.

beginning today, as good a day as any...



January 27, 2011

The winter weather started in the fall. The first icey snow started mid December followed by a blizzard soon thereafter. We have been waiting for big agribon and big plastic for our wonderful hip high hoops since I swear Sept. but hattie says its only been 6 weeks plus holiday, so any day now, It may come... maybe. So a lot of potential harvest succumbed to the unrelenting cold, once it hit freezing, 'lawds child', it never left the 40s. This is apparently the 'new' weather of the eastern shore. I saw it referred to as the challenging climate.



We were able to plant the hoophouse in time ( sometime in Sept/Oct) and harvest while waiting for the temps to rise and the plastic to show.... well, we turned that soil last week (?) and replanted it with spinach, mizuna, radish and turnips.






The carrots from (planted early Oct see above foto) are happily greening, and hattie has the personal battle of the vole, for which she has enlisted the neighbor orange kitty to assist.

The arugula & radishes grow slowly along the sides, they like us are waiting for the longer days of the new equinox. We are all growling out of the persephone phase.

The good news is that we are discovering the hardiness of some & the wimps of the rest. Surprised by bok choi & lettuce.... See we harvested the last of the bok choi & tatsoi today for this weekends delivery. And tomorrow we will scavenge for turnips. I think we will find treasure.

Also of note, we covered the red russian kale ( a little wimpy) with some scavenged plastic from the ( hardier) curly kale & collards. and recovered the arugula with plastic after a much needed drinkie-poo during the last wintry mix. Oh & we also reviewed most of the seed order and Hattie is ready to make the order. After we shave down the tomatoes in the morning. (wink wink nudge nudge say no more say no more)