EverGreen Farm

CSA Newsletter, Week #4

In your share this week:

• Salad Mix
• Radishes
• Japanese Turnips
• Spinach, a small bag for everyone
• Chinese Cabbage
• Pac Choi
• Italian Parsley

Some projects checked off the list this week:  transplanted the last of the broccoli and squash; planted the potatoes; finished weeding greenhouse 4; and Shain has planted more carrots, spinach, and other crops.

Some projects we'll be working on this week:  transplanting romaine lettuce, tranplanting basil, starting some more basil and dill, repairing greenhouses, mucking out a goat pen, turning under spent plantings of salad and arugula, and hopefully some more weeding.

In todays efforts of harvesting and cleaning the Japanese turnips for this week's share, we learned that bugs have already gotten into them.  Nearly 25% of what I pulled today were eaten on or otherwise damaged by a larvae type creature that lives just below the surface of the soil.  The best thing to do now is harvest heavy each week, picking everything that is big enough to eat, and sort out the bad turnips for the pigs.  Too bad for we love the Japanese turnips.

I posted a farm update last night with several photos.  Please scroll down to read.

Have a great week and ENJOY your veggies!

Tara

 

Farm Update: May 29

A few pictures take recently on the farm, May 28 & 29, 2012.

On Saturday, May 26th, with a crew of about 10 people and a sunny break in the weather, we were able to get all the potatoes planted.  Then we shifted our labors to weeding the rest of greenhouse 4.  This was a lot of work to get done in one day!  (Didn't take any pictures.)

Then on Monday, Memorial Day, we had several more helpers come to the farm to help with our wish list of projects to finish in a day.  Some of us worked on our usual Monday chore of cutting and washing salad greens while others did a lot of transplanting.

Transplanting broccoli in greenhouse 4.  We use a strip of black plastic to block out weeds and to radiate heat back to the plants for a higher yield.  This method gave us a great crop of broccoli last year and we hope for the same this season.

Transplanting basil around the tomatoes in greenhouse 6.  We use basil as a trap plant and transplant it heavily around the tomatoes.  When bugs have a choice of eating our tomatoes or the basil, they will usually choose the basil.  Transplanting basil is a favorite farm chore.  The aroma is heavenly.

Washing salad greens in the front end of greenhouse 5.  On cold days, we bring our washing inside this cramped but warmer space.  The first 10 feet of this greenhouse is full of gravel and allows us a place to work out of the rain, wind, snow, etc. 

A photo tour around the farm.  Pictures taken Tuesday, May 29th.

Greenhouse 1, left to right: beets, second crop of Chinese cabbage and boc choi, and more newly planted beets.

Greenhouse 2, left to right:  newly planted carrots, beets, carrots, Japanese turnips and radishes.

Greehouse 3, left to right: salad greens, spinach , onions, leeks, Swiss chard, cabbage, and kale.  Shain weeded the rows here recently so this space is looking really nice.

Greenhouse 4, left to right:  newly transplanted broccoli, romaine lettuce, carrots, squash, cauliflower, parsley, cilantro, and broccoli.  This space looks rather empty now, but later in the season it will be very full, very green and over flowing with food.

CSA Newsletter, Week #3

Every crop in your share this week came from one of these rows in greenhouse 7.

In your share this week:

• Salad Mix
• Mizuna
• Radishes
• Japanese Turnips
• Arugula
• Chinese Cabbage
• Pac Choi

We are giving a bag of mizuna on its own this week.  We grow this asian green early in the season to include in our salad mix; however, we know the leaves have a tendency to grow rapidly in warmer weather and will quickly become too big for our salad mix.  A side benefit with mizuna is that even after it has passed the "salad stage" it can be harvested and enjoyed in many other ways.  Mizuna can be prepared in a stir fry, in soup, on pizza, briaised and served over meat, or even on it's own as a spicy salad. 

 
 
If you are new to our farm, it's possible you've never enjoyed Japanese turnips.  For many return members, they are a seasonal favorite!  They look like a white radish, but the flavor is more mild and sweet.  They are wonderful eaten raw and whole.  I've also enjoyed them on sandwhiches and in a salad.

It's been another busy week here on the farm.  Shain has three more weeks of teaching school, so our days start early and end late.  Every week I look back and am amazed at how much work we've accomplished.  We have great Workshare helpers that each come one morning a week to help harvest, package food, plant crops, and weed. 

This week we've planted zuchini, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, more salad greens, more spinach, cilantro, and parsley.  Probably a few other things too. 

The back field has been tilled and prepared for planting potatoes, hopefully this weekend.

Have a great week and ENJOY your veggies!

Tara

CSA Newsletter, Week #2

In your share this week:

• Salad Mix, a big 10 oz. bag
• Arugula
• Radishes
• Italian Parsley

The salad is growing very well, is free of bugs, and looks so beautiful over all that I decided we could harvest enough for a bigger bag this week.  Hope you enjoy it.  Sadly, the arugula is not doing as well but we managed to get enough for another small sampling.  The radishes were perfect to harvest today and I'm hoping the Japanese turnips planted in the next row over will follow their lead and be ready next week.  This harvest of Italian parsley was cut from last year's planting which grows back in the spring.  It will be tilled into the ground soon when Shain prepares this area for a rotation of new summer crops.

This week on the farm:

We transplanted the cucumbers and tomatoes - 30 cucumber plants and 90 tomato plants.  We are covering them every night with a heavy row cover to keep the tender young seedlings warm and to encourage growth. 

Shain has spent the last several nights preparing the back field where we hope to plant potatoes in the next week or two.  A big project!

Last Saturday we were able to get the plastic cover on greenhouse 4.  Thanks especially to the great help of several CSA members who are "fortunate" enough to also be our friends and neighbors.  When the weather is just right (NO wind), we have to move fast and get a crew of workers together just as quick as we can.  It only took 3 hours and the cover is holding strong.  We've already started weeding this new area for planting.

Here we are on Tuesday afternoon just before giving in to the heat.  The goal was to get the north half of greenhouse 4 weeded so Shain could work his magic on the soil so we can plant cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini and squash.

This is greenhouse 4 on Wednesday morning.  What a difference a day can make!  Tonight Shain will lay out drip tape and it's likely this area will be full of new life in just a few days.  (Weeding that south half is going to be a bugger!)

Have a great week and ENJOY your veggies!

Tara

CSA Newsletter, Week #1

In your share this week:

• 8 oz. bag of Salad Greens
• 4 oz. bag of Arugula

Sad to say there wasn't enough arugula to give bigger bags this week.  We could have waited one more week for a bigger bag, but the overwhelming majority of those I surveyed begged me to start giving it this week, even if not very much.  (OK, I didn't do an official survey.  I wanted arugula this week.  Pretty sure there are people who will back me up on this.  I know who you are!)

The salad mix consists of a spicy green called mizuna, red romaine, red oak leaf, and red sails.  These are all greens that grow very well this early in the year and don't mind a little cold.  Plus, they look good together.  We are only able to grow mizuna during the early part of the season, so eventually it will be replaced with some other green varieties of lettuces in our salad mix.

I've tried to look ahead and see what other crops are nearly ready for harvest.  While weeding the radishes yesterday, I noticed quite a few little red ball shaped tops sticking out of the soil.  I hope there is enough by next Wednesday, but not for me this time, for YOU.  I don't like radishes. 

Above are two pictures I took of the growing pac choi and Chinese cabbage plants.  I think they are so pretty.  Like little bouquets. 

I recently posted a farm update here on the blog with photos from inside all the greenhouses.  Shain's also been doing a lot of work in the fields, spreading manure, planting cover crops, etc.  This place is slowly getting into shape and looking like a farm again.

 Have a great week and enjoy your veggies!

Tara

May 6th

This blog is well over due for a farm update so I took a quick stroll around the farm on Sunday, May 6th and came back with these pictures to share.  We are fortunate to have seven greenhouses at EverGreen Farm which enables us to get a lot of planting done regardless of the weather outside.  We've been busy weeding every covered greenhouse space so Shain could plant or prepare rows for transplanting. 

I'm asked quite a bit just how early we can plant and even why we don't start planting earlier.  One reason is the cold temperatures.  Even with a greenhouse, even with row covers, plants need a certain degree of warmth to thrive.  Seeds wait patiently in the soil until the temperatures are just right.  Shain has kept detailed records of his many years of planting and just about has the timing figured out.  Even though the snow melted off the ground early this year, the temperatures for planting weren't necessarily that much ahead of what we've been regularly experiencing, at least that's what the seedlings are telling us.  I trust the plants.  I think they know what they are doing.  But it doesn't mean we don't try our best to coax them along just a little earlier.

Greenhouse 1 was the first greenhouse we built, 10 years ago.  It got it's first recovering this past fall.  We are really impressed that the plastic can last up to ten years if taken care of properly.

Inside this space, in the two far right rows, are planted beets; next (to the right of the white row cover) are new Chinese cabbage starts; and the row of empty holes will be filled with pac choi transplants this week (did this on Tuesday, May 8th).  To the left is more space for succession plantings of beets in the next few weeks.

Greenhouse 2 is where Shain planted our second crops of Japanese turnips and radishes (two rows on the left).  This is also where the first plantings of carrots and beets are growing (next several rows to the right).  Looks like we've got a healthy batch of weeds growing in there too.  We'll have to get after that.

Greenhouse 3 is also fully planted.  Left to right:  salad greens, spinach, yellow and red onions, leeks, Swiss chard, head cabbage, and kale.  This space is about 130 feet long.  One row grows a lot!

We are still working on finishing the ends of greenhouse 4.  We hope to have it finished this week and to get the cover on soon after.  Of course, we'll have to weed out the patches of quack grass before Shain can get it ready for planting.

Greenhouse 5 is used as our seed starting area during the earliest part of the season.  We start most of everything we grow from seed, either in seed flats to transplant or sewn directly into the soil with an Earthway Seeder.

Greenhouse 6, or sometimes called the big tomoato greenhouse, is where many of the seed flats are kept as the seeds germinate and grow large enough to transplant.  We keep a long row of them on the southern side for maximum sun and warmth.  This row is protected every night with multiple layers of covering, sometimes as many as 6 row covers on the coldest nights.  Happy to say we haven't lost any tender seedlings despite freezing temperatures. 

Last, is greenhouse 7.  This was the area we weeded and planted in first this season.  From left to right:  arugula, two rows of various salad greens, Japanese turnips, radishes, pac choi, more turnps, Chinese cabbages, and more arugula.  Again, you can see the row covers we pull over the plants on nights with threatening temperatures. 

Things can change quickly on the farm, given enough workers, a nice sunny day, or both.  Even after I've taken these pictures these greenhouses already look a little different.  I'm happy to report I've seen more growth in the plants and we've managed to work in some more transplanting and weeding. 

Tara

 

2012 CSA Meberships are FULL

All 2012 CSA Memberships and Workshare positions are full. Thank you! If you are interested in joining us in the future, I can add your name to a waiting list and you will be contacted when our 2013 CSA shares go on sale (about January 2013).

2012 CSA Start Date and Membership Availability

The first CSA delivery will be on Wednesday, May 9th.  I am putting together all the details (places, times, etc.) and you'll be getting that information soon.

We have 2 memberships that have not sold yet. If you are interested, contact me ASAP.

Tara

Farmers Markets in 2012

The rumors are true.  EverGreen Farm will not be selling produce this year at the Jackson Hole Farmers Market.  This has been a very difficult decision for us.  We love the Farmers Market!  I will truly miss seeing many loyal customers who have become our friends over the years.  We appreciate all the support you have given us and the kind words of understanding we've received. 

The reason behind this decision is that we have found our lives to be out of balance.  Both Shain and I have worked ourselves way too hard and this has taken a toll on our family and health.  We will continue farming and growing produce for our CSA families.  We will also sell produce directly to individuals from our farm in Smoot.  Please contact me if you have any questions regarding that.

Tara