Kitchen Garden Journal

This past week started just like every week does this time of year, with our Monday morning harvest. It takes us a while to wake up and get our heads around what kinds of superhuman tasks we're supposed to accomplish during the week. So it's nice to start with something utterly mindless like picking baby salad mix out of the weeds as the caffeine slowly kicks in. Caroline and Dan look like they are doing their best to focus on what good things have come from all this rain, like the size of our rainbow chard.

By Tuesday we're rushing around trying to get everything picked and washed and packed up for the Springfield market, wholesale deliveries, and CSA distribution. I like to pick beets because they're so colorful. Since I have to always tell everyone what to do, I always tell myself to pick the beets.

On Wednesday it started to clear up and it was a beautiful warm, sunny day. Caroline took a load of stuff down to the brand new Wednesday Amherst Farmers Market in Kendrick Park. I brought Lily and Oliver to hang out there after they got out of school. We sat on the grass and ate a lot of these beautiful Warner Farm strawberries as we caught up with so many friends. If you missed the market this week, come check it out. It's pretty nice. Lots of grass to sit on, produce to buy, and prepared foods to eat from places like Chez Albert (which are made with our veggies!).  

Wednesday night it rained hard again and it woke me up to the fact that I needed to seize every minute of sunshine to get caught up on my tractor work. On Thursday I was able to make lots of beds for planting, which was well-timed because Friday was the perfect day for it. Wet, drizzly conditions are good for some things--like setting out transplants. Heather and Alice dug out the leek seedlings from their nursery bed in the back corner of our greenhouse.

We got them in, buried up to their tipppy-tips so they will make long, white shanks. Just in time for some more heavy rain (WTF?!).

This is a shot from our Saturday market stand in Northampton. It was a busy day and we sold mostly everything we brought. The fennel really loves the rain. We also had the first of the fresh garlic, our Spanish Roja variety that matures a good two weeks before the other varieties. 

All in all it was a pretty good week and, as ever, we couldn't do any of it without our amazing crew. Thanks to Heather, Alice, Brian, Alissa, Dan, Joe and Ben, as well as Dorothy, Bob, Celia and Barbara who look after our kids. You guys are amazing!  

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Spring has finally arrived and we are starting fresh here at the farm. This year it feels that we are really taking an active step forward to make the farm nicer; improving the appearance of the place, our work environment, and our productivity. We even finally managed to get a cheerful sign hung up on the barn that identifies us to passersby.

Three seasons have gone by since we bought this land and started building our farm here. In the beginning we were in a big rush to get the basic infrastructure in place: greenhouse, pack room, irrigation, etc. But it has taken us a few years to figure out exactly what the farm needs and we’re finally shaping things the way that works best for us.

The farm is simply abuzz with new energy and new projects. The new greenhouse is all sited and laid out, the compost is ready to be spread and we should be starting construction any day now.  There will be a new heated propagation house for seedlings and a huge heated high tunnel for year-round production of vegetables.

The packing shed is getting a makeover as well. Three large new windows across the back wall will provide natural light and westerly views while washing lettuce. We built a new packing line that will make filling the CSA boxes go much quicker and take up less space. A new walk-in cooler was installed today. It will double our capacity for cold storage as well as provide a place to keep potatoes and roots through the winter. We are also investing in an actual washing setup for potatoes. It’s kind of like a small touch-free carwash for potatoes with belts and sprayers and rolling brushes.

Early spring trials in the greenhouse are starting to bear fruit, and it’s a wonderful treat to dig into the first radishes, arugula, spinach and kale at crew lunch. We like the results of the new pinpoint seeder so much that we used it to sow the first plantings of radishes, spinach and salad mixes in the field as well. It is a high-density precision seeder that will allow us to harvest about three times as much per bed as we were getting before, freeing up some space for other things.

Another major goal we set when we started this farm 5 years ago is finally coming to fruition: we will be joining the Northampton Saturday Farmers' Market on Gothic Street this year! We are so excited at this opportunity to share our vegetables with our friends and neighbors in Noho. We will of course also be setting up our market tents in Springfield on Tuesdays and Greenfield on Saturdays starting around the middle of May. See you there!

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The days are growing shorter. Frosts linger into the morning, covering the crops with an icy sheen that says: “don’t touch me.” We must delay our harvests until the sun frees them from the frozen dew.

One by one the beds are picked over for the last time, plowed under and sown with a cover of rye. Irrigation pipes and sprinklers, useless of late, are shedded until next season. The year’s tasks tick themselves off.

We are putting in far fewer hours at the farm than we did a few months ago.  I’ve been looking forward to this.

But we are racing forward to the time of year that is for thinking. Decisions need to be made. Will we build the greenhouses this fall? How many? One? Two? Three? Will they be heated? Will they be movable? Can we get the grant funding before the ground freezes?

Of course, to get the grant funding, we need to revise our business plan, write a budget and formulate projections of added crop yields and revenues.

There still seems to be a deficit of hours in the day even just to have the conversations we need to have to make these decisions. And it’s not just this one project, either.

It seems that every year as we transition into winter, everything about our business is on the table. Should we add a new market? Should we buy a new tractor? What should we give up trying to grow? Analysis, soul-searching, decisions.

And, after this season especially, what do we have to do to make July and August more sane? Anybody got any ideas?

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After our weekend getaway to Portland and the sudden realization that there are just 6 weeks left in our marketing season, we are suddenly illuminated by the light at the end of the tunnel.

This has been the kind of season where we thought we’d never see that light. But voila, here it is, and unexpectedly we find ourselves able to evaluate the season as a whole—both what we have endured up to now and what we might expect for the rest of the year.

I have no complaints. Or at least that’s the line that I’ve been using for months as I coast along on the verge of exhaustion. What do I have to complain about? An amazing and hardworking crew made up of people we truly adore? Weather that, though hot and relentless, gave some stupendous crops? Strong markets, record sales, and solid growth? Considering the alternatives, it’s been a really good year.

So why do I feel so ragged, burned out, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and capable of drastic action? And at a time of year when I would expect to feel some relief?

 I suppose I shouldn’t discount the two children under three that would be overwhelming even if we weren’t trying to run a farm that takes 110% of what energy we have already.

But even taken apart from that, this year, as blessed as it has been, was really, really hard, and here’s why.

Going into this season, we had spent the winter making all kinds of fabulous and ambitious plans for the farm: a new blog, a massive planting of heirloom tomatoes, increases in all our most profitable crops. We were going to grow at least 30% more stuff on the same amount of land as the previous year, without a substantial increase in labor. All of this has come to pass - but I’m getting ahead of myself.

April and May gave us nearly perfect weather for planting. Nice sunny weather most of the time and one night of rain per week. You can’t ask for better conditions to get a lot of crops in the ground. By the first of June, we had well-established plantings on about 80% of our land. And we were really keeping up with things. Our tractors were all running perfectly, our weeding machines were doing a lot of the work for us, and we had the right conditions to get in there with a big crew and do the hand work when necessary.

For the first time in the history of the farm, I felt like I was really getting a handle on how to do this. A word of advice to aspiring farmers out there: the first of June is a bad time of year to pat yourself on the back.

We started markets with a bang at the end of May. We couldn’t believe the turnouts and the seemingly insatiable demand. Wholesale orders were overwhelmingly strong, and we started our CSA share distributions. Very quickly, the complexity of our diversified marketing (historically a point of pride) became insane. Then one by one the field crops started to come in: first the beets, then carrots, squash, cucumbers, onions. The time we were spending harvesting, packing, and distributing all of these crops was ballooning at the expense of “farming,” (the tillage, planting, and weeding).

The first week of July we came back from our vacation. The heat wave had started while we were away. We had set out a large planting of broccoli into dry sand and we were facing a brutal 10-day forecast: no rain and temperatures in the upper nineties for as far as any meteorologist could see. Irrigation was imperative. And the garlic was ready to come out. No weeding happened that week. We were officially behind.

Then the tomatoes came in. July 15 was the first real pick. We picked about half a ton of tomatoes twice a week for the next six weeks. It was very time consuming and it was laid right over top of a schedule that was already impossible. A state of emergency was declared.

One by one, all of those wonderful plans that we had made were coming true. And it seemed that each and every one of them was threatening to do us in. The farm descended into chaos as we had one record sales week after another.

Then the engine of our main tractor blew. Yeah, the one I spent ten grand on. It’s been in the shop ever since.

Trying to maintain the focus to get all of our fall crops in the ground, irrigated, and weeded in the middle of all of this, and with an improvised and slapdash mechanical system, has been one of the great challenges of my life.

As July turned into August it got drier and drier. It got so dry that the slightest bit of tillage sent a suffocating cloud of dust up into the hot wind. Our soil blew away in plumes.

Still, no rain. Worse, every week there would be one or two days in the forecast with a significant chance of rain that never materialized. As a result we did a lot less irrigating than we would have because we were holding out for the inevitable rain. In the meantime, a lot of our crops just kind of shut down, and one planting of lettuce after another simply bolted.  

Needless to say, our spread of fall vegetables isn’t nearly as lush as it has been the last few years.

But that’s the reality of farming. You plan the best you can, and you live and die by forces you have absolutely no control over. I’m not really complaining, and I’m certainly not looking for anyone’s sympathy. This is the life we chose.

I just have to keep reminding myself why I do it. I love vegetables, and this is still the best way I know how to get my hands on the ingredients I want to cook with. 

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The recent break from the never-ending heat wave of 2010 (is it really finally over?) has us thinking about winter. Summer is barely over and yet all our thoughts are trained on that cold horizon: how much time do we have left before the end? Time is marching quickly toward vegetative slowdown and dormancy, so we have to make sure we can get the most out of the rest of the growing season.

We’ve pulled out the tomatoes, ripped up the mulch and drip lines, and tilled in a covering of rye. There’s really no rush for rye yet, though. You can plant it until the middle of October, but it does more of its good work (stabilizing the soil, absorbing nutrients and creating organic matter) the earlier you get it sown.

This week the last of the quick-maturing salad crops will be seeded in the field, but the greenhouses are empty. Our summer crop of cucumbers is long finished and our seedlings have vacated, so we can think about planting some extra late crops indoors for November harvests.  (Both of the Farmers Markets we attend have extended their season until just before Thanksgiving this year.) The warmth and shelter from wind created by the plastic covering gives us about one extra month of prime growing weather.

We are also doing some experimental plots of super late planted crops that will be wintered-over in the field. This has us thinking not just of the coming winter, but even to next spring. We’d like to have spinach, scallions, carrots and lettuce for the first market of next spring around May 1. So we’ll get the plants to about 4-6 weeks old and then cover them with fabric and sheets of plastic to hold them in suspended animation through the winter. They will begin growing again at the end of February, when the sun starts to shine again and well before we can think of tilling or planting anything new.  

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. It’s September right now and it’s beautiful: big skies, clean air, and the feeling of a fresh start. Let’s try to enjoy it, along with the last of summer’s bounty, while it lasts.

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We’ve been slowly sampling our vast array of heirloom tomatoes, some for the first time, some to confirm our devotion for our hands-down favorites. Among the “new” (to us) varieties, the standouts so far are Cherokee green (a green offshoot of the ever-popular Cherokee purple), yellow brandywine and great white.

Now, trying to describe the flavor of one tomato versus another may be an exercise in silliness, but we’re doing our best to inform you here.

The first thing we noticed about Cherokee green is that when you slice it open, it has this incredibly appealing emerald green color, in contrast to its vaguely yellowy skin. And the flavor is really outstanding as well, much more vibrant than some of the others, even slightly spiced-tasting.

The yellow brandywine was one of the first tomatoes to ripen this year so we got to taste it with a fresh palate. It has very light lemony translucent yellow skin and very pale, almost clear flesh. And unlike many yellow tomatoes which are “low acid” (i.e. tasteless), this one has an assertive acidity, just the kind that is required for pairing with bacon and mayonnaise on a BLT.

Great white has a ghostly appearance that I’ve never personally been attracted to in a tomato, though fully ripe specimens do have a lovely reddish sunburst on the blossom end. We grew this one on a tip from a friend for its unique flavor, which some say has tropical fruit overtones.  While I’m not ready to call out its notes of papaya or its pineapple finish, I will say that among really good tomatoes, it's a pretty special really really good tomato.

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Wow. It's hot. There are weeds everywhere. It must be July.

This year the weather seems determined to distinguish itself against that of last year. Mostly, this makes me happy. The two past seasons were rainy and cold. I was hoping for a hot, dry one this year, and it looks like I'm going to get it. While the tomatoes are absolutely healthy and gorgeous and laden with green fruit, and the squash and cukes and peppers and okra are growing rapidly, it's seriously dry out there. And just as cool wet weather creates problems in the garden, too much heat and dryness comes with other risks. 

So we are finally getting to use our irrigation system, but we have to make choices. Scheduled plantings can't be delayed, so we're watering our baby transplants. Our onions need water in order to make large bulbs at this crucial moment, so we'll try to get some on those. Tomatoes, cukes, and squash are easily watered through their drip feed lines. But what if the potatoes need water? There are just too many of them, so they'll have to wait for the rain.

Perhaps the best part about this dry spell (apart from hopefully ripening our tomatoes extra-early) is that this is the time of the garlic harvest (see photo above of our nicely ripening garlic crop), and dry weather makes it very easy to begin the curing process without the risk of molds and mildew developing. Of course, the garlic probably would be bigger in a wetter year, but we'll take what we can get. In this business, that's all you can hope for.

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It's officially crazy time on the farm but will get even crazier next month. We are full speed ahead on all fronts: planting, weeding, harvesting, maintenance (like tying tomatoes), and now plowing under finished early crops to make way for later plantings. The tomatoes have come through the recent rainy weather looking great and are looking forward to a hot and sunny week to really start making and ripening their fruits. Peas and squash are really coming in and onions, potatoes, beans, cucumbers, okra, peppers, eggplant and cherry tomatoes are only a few weeks away. We’re starting to think forward to fall as we plant out crops of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbages. We’ve got almost the whole farm planted now and we’re struggling to keep ahead of the weeds. A week of sunny weather is just what we need and it looks like we’re going to get it.

Wholesale sales and markets have been great. We are harvesting absolutely everything we’ve grown. The new Forest Park location of our Springfield market has turned out to be an amazing draw for old and new customers alike. And we’re proud to report that we have moved our stand up to the front space at the Greenfield Farmers Market (right off Main St). Come see us and on Saturdays and check out our new and improved look!

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Last week was incredibly productive. We not only distributed our first CSA shares of the season (always a logistical feat), shipped out large quantities of wholesale, and sold at our 3 farmers markets, but we also made great strides in the field tending to the crops.

We staked, pruned, tied and mulched our tomatoes: all 12 rows, or about 1800 plants. We laid out 10 beds of plastic mulch and planted our watermelons, cantaloupes, and next round of zucchini and cucumbers. We seeded our regular bi-weekly succession of 6 beds of greens. We cleared out the remaining carrots and beets from the greenhouse and replanted the entire house with middle-eastern cucumbers (you know those crunchy, succulent babies that come in packs of 5 at the supermarket?). We tied up the frisée and escarole for blanching, handweeded the entire crop of potatoes, and then side-dressed (fertilized) and hilled them with the Farmall Cub.

You can see why we love our crew so much. You guys are amazing and we couldn’t do it without you.

Hilling Potatoes from Tim Wilcox on Vimeo.

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After the last scape has been snapped off, ground into a puree, and stuck in the freezer, it's time to start monitoring the garlic for the proper moment for harvest.  Usually, the harvest begins the first week of July.  Always, it is one of the most hectic times of the year.  Just when we feel overwhelmed with our weekly harvests, behind on planting and swamped with weeds, the garlic harvest commands our full attention.  All other farm activities come to a grinding halt as we dig, bunch, and bring in thousands and thousands of garlic plants for hanging in the barn. 

The garlic is ready to harvest when 1/3 of its leaves are withered and brown.  The leaves that are still green will become the wrappers that protect the cloves during storage.  It is a good idea to harvest during a dry spell so the plants are not too moist when hung for curing.  This year, that piece of advice is going to be hard to follow, since it has rained pretty much every day for as long as we can remember and the forecast claims it will continue to rain, every day, forever.  So, we'll pick the sunniest day we can get, dig them in the morning, and leave them out in the sun for a while to dry as best they can before we hang them in the barn.

Garlic likes to cure in a dry, well-ventiiated, and mostly dark place.  Barn rafters, attics, and garages make good locations for curing garlic. The garlic is good to eat right away (in fact, it has a uniquely mild and sweet taste when freshly harvested), but curing takes about 3 to 4 weeks.  At that point it is ready to cut from the stalk and peel away the dirt and decayed leaves to reveal the beautiful bulbs.  It can be left hanging in its natural state until ready to use, but should be brought inside in late October for winter storage so it doesn't freeze.  Garlic harvested and stored properly will keep until the following April.     

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