Freshman Farmer | New Organic Farms Set Roots

Posts Tagged ‘eggplant’

3 weeks (almost)

July 3rd, 2009
Hand Sown Homegrown Heritage Farm | Blog

sara here! sorry for not blogging sooner. Jared Has been out on tour for almost 3 weeks now, and I’ve been going it alone. It’s funny how you think that you’ll have sooo much time, I mean, 3 weeks, right? well, best laid plans…
the first week was rainy, it rained, POURED for 3 out of the first 5 days, and then the winds came. They blew out the rain, but also everything else. One of our canopies is now out of commission, both of our chicken houses were damaged, and the plastic over the melons at the lincoln property just doesn’t want to stay on. The day it happened I was out on a CSA delivery, so suffice to say chickens were everywhere when I got back. I believe I recovered all of them, but a number of broccoli plants fell victim to the chickens. Gotta love those silly birds!
Now it’s sunny and warm, and the crops are loving it! The weeds were encouraged by the rain, so I’ve been working to get them out, and between that and harvesting for the markets, and CSA’s there hasn’t been much time for anything else. In the remaining time I have left I plan on tilling/cultivating and transplanting as much as I can. Hopefully I can get all the peas out of our last greenhouse and get the rest of the eggplant and peppers in. We’ll see how it goes! Off to it! I hope to figure out how to get my camera phone pictures uploaded so we can finally have some pictures back on! I also enjoyed our first ripe tomato the other day! delish!!

Tags: eggplant, peppers, rain, wind, chickens, weeds, tomato

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Last Market finito

October 29th, 2008
Four Frog Farm | Blog

I went to the last Tuesday market in Nevada City today. It was a busy market. So many people came out. We haven’t had such a busy market all year. It was nice to end it with plenty of shoppers.

For my part, I brought lots of kale, chard, eggplant, peppers, lettuce mix, winter squash, cherry tomatos, peas, basil, celery and broccoli.

It was a nice close to the season for me. Although, I have a solid week of work before the season is over for me.

Honestly, these last two months have been completely busy and nearly overwhelming for me. Not a “scary’ overwhelming, like in April when I was freaked out about the CSA and didn’t think I would be able to shepherd all this food into 24 weeks of 30 boxes. It’s been overwhelming as of late with the shear volume of work. Every day of the week is harvesting, or preparing the new 10 acres with irrigation. We’re coming close to finishing the irrigation and getting the cover crop in, along with some rock phosphate.

I’m pretty much exhausted, but in a good mental space. I’m dearly looking forward to some rest, and sleeping in. Farming’s a lot of work, and it doesn’t stop. You have to know that.

Andrew

Tags: basil, broccoli, celery, chard, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, farmer's market, kale, lettuce mix, peas, peppers, winter squash

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Market Today

August 16th, 2008
Four Frog Farm | Blog

Today is Tuesday and I leave for a market in Nevada City in a couple of hours. I wanted to get a few sentences in before I left. Yesterday and today have been heavenly. The temp is around 80, which is so much better than last week when it hit 104 here. I love the fall temperatures, and, although we aren’t in fall yet, it is right around the corner. Not a huge harvest today - some tomatoes, lots of peppers, beets, kale, basil, eggplant. It’s enough to go to market with, which… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: basil, beets, eggplant, fall, harvest, kale, market, nevada city, peppers, tomatoes

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A Transition

June 13th, 2008
Four Frog Farm | Blog

So much has changed in the past 5 months. Of course the physical layout of the farm has changed dramatically…going from virgin meadow to cover crop to intense/intensive vegetable cultivation. Alike, my mind is wrapping around and becoming comfortable with the ever-changing dynamic of the farm. We have completed six weeks of the CSA, a quarter of the season, with 18 more weeks to go. We have had broccoli every week, buy now that we are approaching consistent mid-90 degree temps at… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: basil, broccoli, cucumbers, eggplant, green beans, kale chard, lettuce mix, potatoes, summer squash, tomatoes, yukon gold

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Greenery

May 1st, 2008
Four Frog Farm | Blog

So, for the last time, I think we’ve turned the corner into frost-free weather…now? Who knows. I sure don’t. We had another frost…a hard frost - 34 degrees on Tuesday night. The forecast called for 40 degrees. What a surprise. Nothing was covered. Not the tomatoes, not the peppers, not the eggplant, nor zucchini, cucumbers, more tomatoes. So, to summarize, we didn’t lose anything!!! My heart was in a ball as I got out to the farm a little… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: cucumbers, eggplant, forecast, frost, greenery, peppers, tomatoes, weather, zucchini

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Onward into Summer

April 28th, 2008
Four Frog Farm | Blog

Well, after the freeze, we haven’t looked back. We’ve been planting out peppers, eggplant - we even put out zucchini and cucumbers today. We’ve direct-seeded beans, planted out basil. We’ve just gone to town with the summer stuff, and the cool weather stuff is just maturing. I am pushing the season. I’m sure this is a classic first-year, wet-behind-the-ears mistake, but it is working so far The tomatoes are growing like gang-busters (assuming “gang-busters”… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: basil, beans, cucumbers, direct seeding, eggplant, freeze, frost, peppers, summer, tomatoes, zucchini

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Freeze

April 21st, 2008
Four Frog Farm | Blog

Andrew labels varieties of tomatoes I haven’t been to the farm yet this morn. It got cold last night, even colder than Saturday night. We lost a few tomatoes to the frost on Saturday night, but not many. We had them covered with Agribon, and last night we put a double layer over every row. It seems like that was prudent. I don’t know the temp, but it feels like it got below 32 degrees. I have a couple of friends with me this week, so that eases the work load. … Read the rest of this article »

Tags: agribon, cold weather, corn, eggplant, freeze, peppers, squash, tomatoes, weather

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Not Out Of The Woods Yet

April 18th, 2008
Four Frog Farm | Blog

Andrew hauls out more Agribon to cover young tomatoes We’re not out of the woods yet, according to the forecast. Temperatures will drop to the low thirties for Saturday and Sunday. I have to make sure the hatches are batted on the tomato hoophouses. I knew the low temperatures were coming, thanks to a little thing I like to call “the internet”. I don’t know how farmers used to do it, but thanks to weather.com I now know that after Sunday I am pretty much… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: agribon, andrew, april, eggplant, forecast, freezing, frost, hoophouse, peppers, temperature, tomatoes, veggies

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Three farms are starting from scratch.

They are turning the dirt and hoping to be successful enough to turn a profit, and to become a valuable part of their communities as suppliers of organically grown food.

Peaceful Valley is giving them a head start by offering them special pricing as part of this Freshman Farmer program.

The Farm Blogs

Freshman:
New Farms Coming Soon!
Sophomores:
	Daily Grace Farms Crescent City, CA
	Freestone Family Farm Vernal, UT
	Wise Moon Farm Redding, CA
Graduates:
	Coyote House Farm Palermo, CA
	DeepSeeded Community Farm Arcata, CA
	Driftwood Farm Fort Bragg, CA
	EarthDance Farm St. Louis, MO
	Ellwood Canyon Farms Goleta, CA
	Four Frog Farm Penn Valley, CA
	Hand Sown Homegrown Heritage Farm Poulsbo, WA
	Home Plate Organic Farm Orleans, CA
	Honey in the Heart Farm Nevada City, CA
	Willow Springs Farm Penn Valley, CA