Driftwood Farm

Matt & Angela’s Story:
We both grew up gardening, which we have continued into our adult lives. Over time we’ve learned a great deal about the problems with – and vulnerabilities… Read Driftwood Farm's full profile here.

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Diversify

August 20th, 2011
Driftwood Farm | Blog

From early on, we have hoped not only to grow a diversity of crops, but also sell at a variety of “outlets.” Since we’ve done pretty well at the Farmers Market with what we are able to produce, we haven’t spent much time trying to find other places to sell our veggies. Luckily, there is a vibrant locavore community here, and two locally owned businesses (both of which had made the short list of ones we hoped to sell to) have approached us over the season at the market. Piaci is “the home of the adult pizza” and our favorite place for pie and suds, and Living Light is an internationally known raw foods “institution” based here in Fort Bragg, the largest coastal “town” in Mendocino. We have now been delivering kale weekly to Living Light for a couple of months, and have just started providing basil to Piaci. It’s really exciting to us!

It’s beginning to look and sound like autumn here: the barn swallow chicks are near fledging, the Canada geese can be heard flying over every evening on their daily migration, and we can finally close the animals in before 9 pm. Hard to believe that even with these signs of a waning summer, there are still over 2 1/2 months left in the market season!

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Vampires Beware

August 12th, 2011
Driftwood Farm | Blog

Ok, sorry, I know that’s a cheesy title.

We recently harvested our garlic. Last year, we hung it in the barn to cure, but it seemed a bit too cool. This year, it’s in the garage, which stays more warm and dry - so when we open the door, we are greeted by the strong, delicious aroma of a favorite crop! We have had great success with the variety called California Early White. In our compost-amended, sandy loam soil, the bulbs have grown large and healthy. We are especially vigilant to gophers around (or in!) the garlic bed, and trap at the first sign of burrowing activity. It’s hard to believe that it will soon be time to plant next year’s crop!

Peaceful Valley recently welcomed the lastest “class” of Freshman Farmers - welcome, and we’re looking forward to hearing all about your farms!

- Angela

Tags: garlic

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Finding Balance

July 27th, 2011
Driftwood Farm | Blog

Here we are, in the thick of the growing season, and we’ll be missing the farmers market today. A ‘perfect storm’ of busy season at the day jobs, lots of farm work, and variable weather have created a situation where we don’t really have enough produce (at harvestable size) to make attending the market this week as worthwhile as catching up on things here. The alternating foggy and sunny weather have meant that it’s been difficult to properly predict when our produce (mainly leafy… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: balance, hours, rest, timing, weather

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Zucchini

July 4th, 2011
Driftwood Farm | Blog

Matt loves zucchini (and other summer squash). I like them okay, but also retain that home-gardener’s fear of being engulfed in massive fruits. Our zucchini and yellow crooknecks are just starting to trickle in, but the multitude of miniature squash forming lets us know they are on their way in earnest. We’ll start selling them at the farmer’s market, of course. Last year, an early and severe cucumber beetle infestation meant that despite our best efforts to protect the plants with… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: zucchini, cucumber beetles, animal vegetable miracle, recipe

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Gone Broody

June 19th, 2011
Driftwood Farm | Blog

One of the coolest things ever just happened here. We had been contemplating adding yet another handful of hens to the laying flock, and finally decided this was the weekend. We inventoried the cardboard to-be-recycled pile and made sure there was enough duct tape to build a brooder. Check. Waterer, feeder, heat lamp? Check. Chicks from our local feed store, which has an awesome selection? Check. The will to raise chicks in the garage again… well, it had to be done. Rewind to at least… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: brooder, chickens, chicks, hen, broody, laying flock

Posted in: How-To Tips & Tricks

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Business Startup Costs

June 5th, 2011
Driftwood Farm | Blog

Looking at our taxes was a good way of getting an idea of the entire year’s expenses versus income. But it might also be helpful to those just getting started to know what our bare bones outlay was, just to get “legal.” Because we wanted to remain flexible regarding what we would sell, last year we obtained a business license (which required a fictitious business name statement and publishing of an announcement in the paper), registered with the Department of Agriculture to sell… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: producer's certificate, costs, registration, business license, fictitious business name statement, startup costs

Posted in: Farm Financials

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The spice of life

May 27th, 2011
Driftwood Farm | Blog

It’s nice to grow different varieties of crops for many reasons. Some are practical (disease/pest resistance, maturing at different times to ensure constant harvest), some aesthetic (who wants to look at the same things all summer?) – and some are apparently conversation starters at the Farmers Market. I’m in love with the savoyed (curly) leaves of Bloomsdale spinach, and the rich hue and crunch of the red romaine we’re growing. Market shoppers often stop to comment on these varieties. … Read the rest of this article »

Tags: farmer's market, lettuce, spinach, weather, soil blocks, bloomsdale spinach

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Wednesday’s Market

May 8th, 2011
Driftwood Farm | Blog

The first market of the year went off without a hitch. The weather was gorgeous (not like last year’s early season options of wind-tunnel and/or rain) and there were lots of happily shopping customers. It was great to see all of the other vendors again. The pattern we started noticing was that the customers thought this winter had been excessively long, whereas the growers were wondering where the time had gone… Here’s Matt (mid-market) with this week’s fast-selling… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: farmer's market

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Already that time

May 2nd, 2011
Driftwood Farm | Blog

It’s amazing that the first Farmers Market of the season (here in Fort Bragg) is in two days. We’ll be starting out with a decent amount of greens, but less variety than we had been hoping. However, seedlings are going strong in the greenhouse, and lots of lettuce, chard, kale, spinach, and arugula are ready (or nearly ready) in the ground. Happy spring! Read the rest of this article »

Tags: farmer's market, spring, greens

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For Tax Purposes

February 20th, 2011
Driftwood Farm | Blog

For the past month or so, most of the farm-related work around here has had to do more with forms and computers than with soil and seeds. Luckily, though, the taxes are done, most of our seeds have been ordered, and the weather has been good enough to allow us to get some tilling done (with our new tiller!). This was the first year we’ve done any business taxes at all, and I confess it’s a little intimidating. Because we also live where we are farming, we decided to be very conservative… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: expenses, income, tiller, taxes, profit, loss, Schedule F, tax preparation

Posted in: Farm Financials

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Matt & Angela Liebenberg

Driftwood Farm
Fort Bragg, CA

Farm Acreage: 4
Website: Driftwood Farm

The Farm Blogs

Freshman:
New Farms Coming Soon!
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Graduates:
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