two sisters

First things first.
We harvested today. As much as we could as we are staring down rain for the next two days.

100 bunches of Turnips
100 bunches of Beets
101 lbs of Beans
530 lbs of Potatoes
540 lbs of Tomatoes

Phew!

On tap for tomorrow:

Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Broccoli
Summer Squash
Peppers
Eggplant
Arugula
Red Mustard
Golden Frill
Cabbage

Perhaps more. Perhaps less.

This morning E harvested the corn from the 3 Sisters Field. I got the squash after work today. The beans have been an ongoing harvest.
A quick update and comparison and then more pics.

3 Sisters Field today



3 Sisters Field 1 month ago



Yeah, kinda sad, but, 'tis the natural course of things.

On to the Squash.











The Corn









Misc photos











Moving Drip Tape



Leaves Turning



My Agricultural Tribute to Richard Serra



Dig

mowathon

Our power went out last night, incidentally.
Happy (or perhaps not) to have a cell phone as I would have had no other way to set an alarm for this morning. That being said I did wake up during the night to a restoration of power, but it was mad chilly in the room and there's NO way I was going to walk the 2+ feet to the clock to set it and its alarm. Gotta be kiddin. Anyway, thanks cell phone.

Buttered raisin toast, coffee and an apple was breakfast for me.

E and I first cleared all things from the W, Y and Z field areas in prep for mowing/weed whacking. She rocked the rotary mower and I the weed whacker. Happy to have done so as I enjoy detailing. I worked my way underneath the entire length of fencing in W.

D stopped by just before break and suggested that the blades of the rotary mower be either sharpened or replaced. After break, he and E set it up for inspection, removal of blades, etc. After a failed attempt to unscrew the nuts that held the blades, D gave up and took the assembly to a local shop that not only got the nuts undone, but had the proper model in stock. Eznuff

I took the riding mower to W and detailed the perimeter, inside and out. Finishing Y and Z area as well before lunch.

Oooooo, lunch was leftover pizza. Mad good cold pizza.

Afterwards I mowed the perimeter of the upper fields, in front of the chicken coop, all around the root cellar and the small hill behind the compost piles. Speaking of which, E turned 4 separate compost piles with the front end loader today. She also weed whacked the perimeter of Y/Z and the upper fields. Nice one.

The bench got my attention for an hour or so after work. Planing one of the broad sides with the adze.

Today's little respite from harvesting will not carry into tomorrow. We've got much to start harvesting for Saturday.

No worries though. I think I got my fill (maybe not) of groundskeeping for a "little" while longer.

dig

moving, mowing

So as not to tax my brain too heavily, I'm going to pass on the hour by hour recall of last Thursday and Friday. Suffice to say we harvested and the end result was this on Saturday:







Two newcomers to the harvest were Watermelon Radish and Daikon Radish (top pic, top row, 2nd & 3rd from left respectively).

Saturday's distribution was quite the juggling act for me as D and Marie were both out sick and E was off to Rochester to meet with a prospective landowner. Happily all went smooth.

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Spent Saturday and Sunday with H.

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Yesterday it was E and I as D was still a little under the weather.
We pulled in Radishes (All 3 varieties), Turnips, Mustard Greens, Goldenfrill, Summer Squash (whose productivity has fallen drastically) ....and Celeriac. Celeriac is one of the first pieces of farm produce I saw/ate this season and it was from last season's crop. We finally got to start harvesting this year's.
The process: As they keep well in the ground, we don't have to pull them all at once. Yesterday we took only 220, enough for one per member.
To harvest Celeriac you can do one of two things, try to pull it out by the stalks on top or lean the root to the side and sever the large taproots with a knife. When you remove it from the ground, hold it by the stalks and chop the mess of roots from the main bulb. Then slice off the stalks approximately 2" from their base.
Not too difficult, but glad D was there to "learn" us.

Gordon helped finish Celeriac and pull in Summer Squash. Before work ended I threw the rototiller on the Deere and turned in the former bed of lettuce in D.

I spent a couple hours on the bench after work (spent a little time on it today too, but didn't get that much more done).

At the moment:







Again.. coming along. Little by little.

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Today we finished harvesting for Tuesday distribution. Lettuce (which, good gravy, numbs the hands something fierce this time of year when cutting and washing), Broccoli and Kale. When D and Pam arrived we pulled some bunches of Cilantro and Dill.

It was time for a small break and then to pack the 70 bins for our remote distribution in the Bronx. Crazy, we culled what seemed to be quite a measurable percentage of the tomatoes that were left. Luckily we still had quite enough to make sure everyone got at least 3 lbs each.

During my extended break before distribution I worked on the bench a little more (as previously stated), cruised, showered and began to set up.
Things moved along without a hitch. Very nice.

Our plan tomorrow is to... get this.... MOW! Pretty much all day too... It will probably be the last mowing for the lands immediately surrounding Y, Z and the W's.

You will definitely be made aware of how things turn out.

Dig.

taking shape

I was stricken with a severe case of "mad-tired-full-belly" disease last night, hence, my lack of posting.

Speaking of "full-belly," when you have the means and time, roast the following in olive oil (together or separately): Delicata and/or Sweet Dumpling Squash; Potatoes; Turnips; Beets; Carrots; Fennel. Make a side salad. Eat. Pass out. Sooooo good.

Tuesday had us harvesting like mad to get the city shares packed by lunch. The last of the summer crops are in need of gathering as are the quick-to-mature fall greens and root crops. We started with lettuce (only one head this week. slowing down), then Tatsoi (thinning them), Turnips (two ginormous per), Radishes, Broccoli!(yay Fall Brassicas) and Chard (new bed in D). All of that coupled with what we had harvested on Monday left us with an insanely large share for our Tuesday people.
We were packing share bins until just before 1 o'clock. Worth it though.





The rest of my Tuesday was as usual. Drive shares to the city. Return and unload empty bins. Help tear down distribution.

After doing dishes and eating crazy good roasted food, I was toast. Slept well.

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I'm a coffee person. I drink 10-16oz every morning. Always enjoyable. Ritual at this point in my life. However, there are mornings when the coffee (same coffee as always) tastes so good one must wonder why it hasn't been outlawed yet. Maybe it was the cool cool air this morning too.

Anyway, we began by tackling the transportation of winter squash from the greenhouse to the back barn. Using the big wooden harvest bins, we filled them to the top with like varieties and moved them by tractor. After about an hour we moved to our rest-of-the-morning project: De-rocking the 3 direct seeded beds in F. Why? To actually give us a chance at proper cultivation, i.e. basket weeding and wheel hoeing. F field, while wonderfully low to nil on weed pressure, is quite high on rock pressure. Ergo, rock, young farmer... And that we did. Looks great and I got to go through the three beds with the basket weeder with ease. Spend time on one task, save loads of time on another.

-Lunch-

Afternoon was mostly wheel-hoeing and handweeding in D. The Purslane has no clue when to stop... so I gave it one. I also helped E finish moving the squash to the back barn. All done... and we now have a truly empty greenhouse. At least through the end of the season.

After work? 3 hours of bench work. The result?







Getting there! Nice. GORGEOUS wood too... really.

What I did:
After drawing the profile of the side of the piece, I flipped it so the underside was facing up. I made many parallel depth cuts with the chainsaw. And after knocking out the first few pieces in the middle (i worked my way outward) the rest of them came out pretty readily with 3-4 smacks of the adze.
With the "goof room" I gave myself, the bench is still a little thick, but now I can really shave it down bit by bit. Exciting.

One more pic before I forget. Hard to believe that just two weeks ago this field was crawling with winter squash. Now it's crawling with Oats.



Dig.

tomatoes, guitars and benches... good gravy!

We sure meant to harvest tomatoes on Friday and knew there would be a little more than usual, but we didn't expect it to be one of the major harvests of the season.

1,700 lbs of Tomatoes!!



...and that's not even half of them...





Mad thanks to Nancy, Katherine, Daniel, Judy and Johanna!

During the afternoon I wrote another newsletter article. This one on Pedal Power. Something I have posted about before. Around 2 it began to rain so E quit the cleaning of the pepper beds. We cleaned the front barn and set up for the next day's distribution.

Friday evening I was lucky enough to be invited to two different members' houses. Johanna and her husband Mike had me over for dinner. Mad tasty food and great conversation. Thanks! From there we went over to Bob and Marilyn's for some laid back jamming on guitar/singing. A little wine, some old union protest songs, good times. Thanks again.



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A few pics from this week's distribution. We are getting into fall root vegetables. Our turnips are other-wordly large. Just as tasty too.









During distribution I helped prepped the tractor and hay wagon that I would be driving in the town's Community Day Parade. Every year the farm participates. Some riding the wagon dress up in costumes, others are just along for the ride. Either way... really fun. Tomatoes were handed out from the wagon (and thrown) to parade attendees. People dug.











After all was returned and put away, I picked up hb for her "remainder of the weekend" visit. Laid low that evening.

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Sunday was kick started by groceries, coffee and a wonderful brunch. Yep.

From there it was time for me to "get back on the horse." The bench, that is.
The foot feels great and the weather, while a bit hot, was perfect for outdoor work. I rough planed the 3rd side of the log. 'bout 3 hours in all.
Take note of all the ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY precautions/gear when using a chainsaw. Very serious, potentially very dangerous stuff. Fun nonetheless.











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Today we began by harvesting Arugula, Tatsoi and Scallions (huge scallions). Beans brought us to lunch. After food I made my way to the newest (only) succession of Squash and Zucchini in F while E harvested/culled peppers. I joined the rather "rot"errific activity for the remainder of the afternoon. If you're wondering, a fair number of peppers rot on the vine and must be pulled out lest they spread bacteria/sickness to other plants. Not the most pleasant of smells/textures... but a necessary procedure for sure. Thanks to Gordon for showing up to help.

After the work day I made a beeline to the bench. Having only 1 more side to rough plane, I was excited. I chalked, chainsawed and adzed the final side in about 1 1/2 hrs. Not bad.











And, hey, I've already got some takers/sitters. Nice one.



Until tomorrow.

Dig.

state of the farm

D has not handed the reigns to E & I, yet he has taken a step back in order that we have a chance to call shots, together, for an extended period. As the workload becomes incrementally lighter, we'll have the breathing room to weigh decisions/priorities that would take little to no time for D. Of course, he'll be around to help with questions etc, but we're definitely planning/executing most things day to day. Exciting.

At this point in the season:

W1, 2 & 3 are sewn into cover, save for 5 beds still growing (Celeriac, Parsnips, Kale, Chard).

Y is cover except for Half a bed of Chard, 1 bed of Sweet Potatoes and 3 of Tomatoes.

Z is still pretty active. 3 beds of Brassicas and 6 rows of potatoes (just hilled today by E as the Purslane was getting a little too comfy).

A is in complete cover

B is in complete cover except for a very small patch of Cilantro/Coriander being allowed to go to seed. Curry comin up!

C & D are where most of the action is (Asian Greens, Lettuce, Beans, Herbs, Turnips, Radishes, Chard, Scallions.... mas y mas)

E has just gone to cover (E, the person, tilled in the newly vacant Leek bed)

F, as of today, is down to 4 active beds (1 Squash/Zucchini, 3 beds direct seeded, by me, to Asian Greens, Salad Mix, Turnips, Radishes)

Upper Solar is losing a little bit of steam, but still going fairly strong with Peppers and Eggplants (The plants are actually flowering AGAIN. Soooo much Eggplant this season. They just don't wanna quit).

Lower Solar is half in tomatoes (that have probably another week or two) and half in cover.

The 3 Sisters Field is sadly on its way out. We're holding on harvesting the squash. Some plants are still alive. I ate some Red Noodle Beans from the gazebo vines. Quite tasty. The other varieties are dry beans so they still have a while to go. The corn is also being given time to dry.
E harvested the Amaranth today and laid it out in the greenhouse to dry.

Speaking of harvesting, today we knocked out some more items from the endless list for Saturday:
Chard (cleared and cleaned the bed)
Turnips (which are HUGE right now and which, I have just learned, are "squircle" shaped. go know.)
Squash/Zucchini/Cucumber (what was left of the mostly spent plants. we mowed and tilled them in before and after lunch.)
Peppers (285. There are more there to get, but we'll be doing so tomorrow with volunteers who will also help us pull all the "bad" ones as well. nice to have extra hands)

After Peppers I mowed some seedy weeds in the strawberry patch near W, weedwhacked the path between Chard and Kale in W1 and moved back to the farm proper to corral all the drip tape that has been sitting (and will now remain) idle.

And that was the end of my workday... of course I couldn't help mowing more after work. Just NEEDed to be done. I know there are those that can relate.

One more thing. I want to thank the ragweed in the area for having gotten rid of most of its pollen. My sinuses thank you...

Dig.

square wednesday

A jacket this morning?
A jacket this evening?
Low of 40 tonight?
I am in heaven!

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Started with a tour.
Weed pressure, mad low.
Mowing must be done.
Pasture weeds are seeding.

Mile long harvest list.
3 days to gather.
Incl: Kale, Chard, Radish
Turnip. Have missed them.

This morning we harvested
the last of leeks,
the first fall radishes
and yellow wax beans.

I jumped the tractor.
Attached the potato spade.
We made a decision.
Adirondack Blue for Saturday.

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After lunch, harvesting potatoes.
One 400 foot bed.
Digging through the dirt.
900 lbs in all.



Finished up beans afterwards.
103 lbs in all.
Just scratching the surface
with what we harvested.

Finished up my day
by hitting the mower.
What else to do
in such beautiful weather?

Another thought on mowing:
I miss the angles
of the big city.
Nice to make some...

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Forgot to mention yesterday.
D planted cover crop
this past Friday afternoon.
Watered in by Hannah.

Oats, Rye, Vetch, Clover.
Oats slow to grow.
Rye is much faster.
This in 3 days.



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Here are a few
pics that I forgot
to post last night.

Err.. umm.. yeah. Dig.

what goes up...

be that an adze... moisture (rain)... plants/crops... 12ft tall sunflowers.

up and down. cycles.

Thursday, as I recall, began at 8am. E & I chose to do so (nts: start at 7. the day ends earlier. more daylight left.).
We transplanted the last succession of lettuce for the season.

(on the left)


We moved to harvesting leeks after that. D joined us as we were finishing.

I think we hand-weeded for the better part of the rest of the morning after that.
In the afternoon we cultivated sweet potatoes. The heat was strangely stifling as the temperature wasn't that high, yet we were all pouring sweat.
E and I spent most of the rest of the afternoon hand-weeding herbs and beets in D.

Then....

I continued working on the log/bench. I was consciously attempting to plane, what will be, the bottom of the bench (though it's just going to be cut out) with the adze. Getting away from gas powered tools where possible is of interest to me. Safety is also of interest to me. That's why when I put the corner of the adze blade into the side of my foot I was definitely, umm, surprised.

Yeah, I made a good swing with the adze, but it glanced off the surface of the wood and through my boot to give me a nice bit of "wood carving memorabilia."

In short, I'm fine. I am healing without stitches. I have pictures. I won't post any more than this one.



Very grateful to have avoided ANY serious injury. And now I'm anxious to "get back on the horse and ride."

So I was sidelined on Friday. Being chair-bound while everyone else was harvesting like mad, was, well, maddening. As both D and I knew I was going to be out for Saturday's distribution as well, I made the choice to head to the city Friday afternoon.

Happily, I got to rest my foot quite a bit and my short recovery time is a direct reflection of that. The rest of the weekend was great too...

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Oh, and thanks to the remnants of Tropical Storm Hannah for dumping (quite evenly) 3 inches of badly needed rain on the farm. And, yes, thanks to EVERYONE who did their own little rain dance. YOU ROCK!

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Yesterday was slow going for me as I was still in hop-along mode. I did, however, manage to work half the day on my feet. The other half was spent harvesting from a sitting position.

E and I got
Leeks
Squash
Cucs
Peppers
Eggplants
Tomatoes

We also had a few visitors throughout the day. D tended to them. The first visitor was a farmer from the lower Hudson Valley who wanted to see our operation and compare notes. The second group was from a different farm on Long Island. They were also here for the same reason. Talk to D and compare notes on operation.

Laundry was an evening necessity. Happy it's done now.

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Today began with a moderate harvest list as we got quite a bit yesterday. E and I cut lettuce first (as usual). We moved right to turnips next, but were unfortunately, lightninged and thundered off the fields. As far as we could tell from the online weather station, the stormy weather was going to be around for a couple hours (we ended up getting 1 1/2". nice).

Change of plans. Straight to packing distribution boxes for the city while the rain came tumbling. Seemed to all work out rather well. We got done what we needed to and the shares were still up to par.

I ran distribution in the afternoon. All went smoothly.

I ended the day by walking the farm and taking pictures.
There are quite a few examples of "decline" right now. Kinda sad, but definitely part of the cycle...









Dig.

get rhythm

There was a noticeably smooth rhythm to the day.
From breakfast to even now, it feels as if all events have taken just as much time as they've needed when they've needed it. Not sure if that makes much sense. A real internal flow to things today.

We began by moving irrigation (just E & I today as D was with his sons) from one side of the newer crops to the other. Turned it on. All was good.
Down to W field to move pipes from the Celeriac to the Chard & Kale (yes, the same beds that were planted in April and are still going. amazing).

With no D, we thought we should paint with the broadest strokes possible.
Meaning, tractor work. E harrowed all the bare fields with the Perfecta.
Yes, they are rather dry and we did lose a little topsoil (dust) in the process, but have no fear, our cover crop seed will be here Thursday or Friday and this is necessary prep for seeding. If you would like to help with soil preservation, do a rain dance for us. We need it. And we've already done our own....

I prepped 5 beds for transplanting and seeding. 2 in B and 3 in F (mad rocky in the lower half of F).
We took a short break (before which I switched irrigation flow from B to W) and I picked up the disc harrow with the John Deere and made some rounds on the recently vacated winter squash field. We use the disc for two main reasons: 1) It chops up the remnants very well without clogging, giving them a proper chance to fully break down so they can be turned back into the soil. 2) The disc doesn't tear apart the structure of the topsoil as much as a rototiller does.

Lunch

2 projects for the afternoon:

Harvest/Weed Tomatoes in Y (670+ lbs worth!). Thanks to Gordon for being an extra set of hands when we needed it.

Harvest Peppers. E z nuff.

Actually, while E and Gordon harvested Peppers, I made the 3rd irrigation move of the day. I switched irrigation flow from W back up to C. I also prepped the drip tape that's still in the Leeks in E so they can be watered in the morning.

A few minutes cleaning garlic and the day was done.

I immediately hopped on the riding mower and cleaned up the area around field A (former winter squash).



I'm a happy neat freak again.

After mowing I got the chainsaw ready for a little bench work. Made depth cuts on the opposite side that I rough planed two days ago. Like butter now that the teeth are sharp. However, cutting off each section laterally is still much more work than necessary so I figured I would try a hand method. The adze.
Worked like a charm! Made my way down the log, rough planing just as fast as the chainsaw and with zero gas used. I'm happy to be getting a better idea of the handtools' capabilities and how to use them. And, yes, I'm happy with how the log is coming along, but I must say that I am truly enjoying the PROCESS of working with the material. Discovering all the time.







That ended the day for me save for some eating and phone conversation.

A couple pics from my rounds closing up. Beautiful evening. For real.





Dig.

blogged

Oatmealed
Lettuce
Leeks
Squash
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Washed
Broke
Packed
Rinsed
Lunched
Drove
Dropped
Returned
Stacked
Wheel-Hoed
Benched
Squared
Closed
Shot
Ate
Showered
Blogged

Tomorrow we start @ 8am. Nice.



Dug

labor days

I've got a number of pics to post so I'll keep the words to a minimum.

Friday we harvested. Volunteers helped through the morning.
Arugula
Red Mustard
Goldenfrill



Dill
Cilantro
Parsley
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Potatoes (We finally pulled up the row of Cornell Co-Op Extension Trial potatoes. 15 different varieties. Some fared well. Adirondack Red/Blue. Marcy. Reba. Lehigh. Some not so well (riddled with Scab). Mostly Prince Harry.)
Squash
Zucchini
Cucumber
Peppers

Yep. That was a long one.

After work I moved straight to the bench project.
Made my first depth cuts with the chainsaw and ripped the first section off the deck.



While I was happy with the results, unfortunately the saw blades were very dull which made for about 3 times the work cutting out that piece. I remedied that today though. More later...

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Saturday's distribution was solid. I was there the whole time too. Nice.











Picked up H for the weekend.

Later that evening we were invited to Gayle's (a star volunteer) house for some drinks and tasty food. Thank you! Thanks to Jada and Frank too!!



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Sunday was a late morning and a wonderful brunch. Eggs, toast, fresh fruit, coffee. Man...

In the afternoon, H and I cruised to Rhinebeck. We stopped in at the Beekman Arms Tavern for a glass of wine. Lovely place. Lovely wine.

When we got back to the farm we fired up the drip irrigation in Y. Broccoli, Cabbages, Rutabaga, Kale. Patched some small holes and were good.

Took an early night as I was crazy tired. Good to "catch up" on some sleep.

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Today we had a great turnout of volunteers for our Winter Squash Harvest. Quickly, the process:

Clip squash from plant with lopping shears.
Line squash up the length of the field.
Place squash in bin that sits on tractor forks.
Full bins get taken to the greenhouse.
Squash is placed on greenhouse tables to cure.

We processed 6,500 lbs of squash in 2.5 hours!! Go team!!

















With the day finished after lunch (Thanks D!), I concentrated on all things "bench." My first focus was to visit our neighbor who (as a longtime woodworker) has loads of hand carving tools. After explaining what I was doing, he gave me: an Adze (or as he calls it, The Devil's Shinhoe. Funny), a Scrub Plane, and a Slick.



These in concert with a little chainsawing should get pretty much all the way.

Back to the farm to sharpen the teeth on the chain saw.



With that done I tackled the log.

I sawed with much less effort. Yay. With another 1/4" to 1/2" of planing to do to get to my desired depth, I took the opportunity to feel out the three tools I was borrowing. They all require one's full attention and quite a bit of finessing. But all were surprisingly easy to cut and shape with.

Where things stood when I finished for the evening?









So happy to have the first cuts out of the way. Feeling a little more confident that I'll be able to coax what I see in my head from the log. A little trial and error and A LOT of patience.

Dig.