Charlestown Farm

Garlic Harvest

2009-07-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

It was a cool dry morning today, perfect for harvesting garlic! A group of students in a program called Food For Thought organized by the Triskeles Foundation are volunteering at the farm over the next month. Today, with help from Ellie Andersen and the farm crew, all the garlic was harvested and bundled. It is hanging in the top if the barn to dry. Tomorrow, Ellie and the Food For Thought volunteers will tackle the thistle in the strawberry beds.

Farm Pizza & Potluck!

2009-07-06T05:57:00.000-07:00

We had a great turnout for our first potluck of the season, and our pizza oven worked perfectly! It was a beautiful evening with good company, wonderful food and great music performed by Blake Allen. The children wasted no time getting started on making pizzas and the oven cooked them beautifully! We will be using the oven for a series of cooking workshops over the summer. If you didn't get a chance to make your own pizza at the potluck, plan to come to one of the workshops.

Updates from the interns a.k.a Transplanting Fools

2009-06-09T12:23:00.000-07:00

The days are getting hotter, the harvests are getting bigger, the strawberries redder, the tomatoes plumper, and our fields are getting fuller each day. It’s June 1st and we are ready for summer. Today we planted cucumbers, zucchini and melons. We now have a full farm team so planting went faster than ever!

We used our transplanter (of which there is a video post earlier in the blog) to plant the cucumbers and melons. This was my second go on the transplanter and it was much smoother than my first attempt. You see, from an observer’s standpoint it would look like the tractor was hardly moving at all it goes so slowly; but for the poor intern who is riding behind and frantically trying to simultaneously pop a seedling out of its tray, pull a handle to release water into each hole the transplanter is making, put the seedling into the hole and neatly cover it up…it seems like the tractor could not go any faster.

My first experience on the transplanter went something like this: The first few plants went in just fine and in the time it took me to think to myself that this isn’t all that hard I missed a hole. I rushed and stretched back to fill it in. No problem. Then two holes were passing me! I quick grabbed two seedlings, threw one into the hole that was now too far away to reach and stretched back to only just manage to get the second seedling in. It continued in this fashion for the next several feet, until I was so behind I couldn’t even toss the seedlings near a missed hole in order to plant them afterwards. I was watching multiple holes pass me by, I was tossing seedlings, I was dropping seedlings, I was a mess. I felt like Lucy in the episode of I Love Lucy where she and Ethel work in the chocolate factory. And then it was all over. I think I had only planted about 50% of the seedlings, the other half were either still in their trays or sprawled out on the bed. It was quite the experience!

Having done it for a second time, it really isn’t all that bad. All the other interns seem to have the hang of it already too, so I think it safe to say that your transplanting is in good hands! Until next time…

Jackie

Blushing Berries

2009-05-14T03:17:00.000-07:00

The strawberries are blushing more and more each day. We can't wait!

2009-05-14T03:11:00.000-07:00

Hoorah! After a long week of rain, we planted our early season tomatoes on black plastic. The plastic functions as a mulch (i.e. weed barrier), warms the soil, and conserves soil moisture.

Pigs at the farm!

2009-04-18T13:52:00.000-07:00

This morning, Ember and Paul Crivellaro, of Cuuntry Time Farm in Hamburg (http://www.countrytimefarm.com), brought us 3 piglets! They are crosses of 2 heritage breeds, Gloucestershire Old Spot and Large Black. The piglets are living with the hens and both seem to be getting along well!

Transplanter

2009-04-16T06:51:00.000-07:00

Last week we used the transplanter for the first time this season. The cabbages were all planted before the rain came.

New Plow

2009-04-05T19:07:00.000-07:00

We have been waiting for the new rollover plow and it finally arrived! As you can see in the videos, it is called a rollover plow because you can roll it over at the end of each row so that all of the furrows slope in the same direction. Rollover plows are used mainly in Europe where the fields are smaller and fuel is more expensive. The plow cuts deeper than our old traditional moldboard one and it rolls the earth completely over. Now we can grow nitrogen fixing cover crops until they are very tall, allowing for greater soil fertility. Because the plow turns the earth over completely, we can plow just a short time before planting. Our old plow just upended the cover crops so we had to plow 3-4 weeks before planting to allow enough time for the cover crops to break down. Take a look at the video to see the plow in action.

Sprouting Seeds

2009-03-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a month since we planted our first seeds- sunlight, soil, water and the warmth of the greenhouse have turned the tiny seeds into strong healthy plants that will feed our community. We are still having some very cold nights, but soon we will be planting seeds and transplants out in the field. The pace of work is quickening and we will make more frequent posts here so you can see our progress....

Seeding Time!!!

2009-02-24T10:27:00.000-08:00

Sarah Rider, our new farm manager pictured on the far right, arrived safely on the weekend and we got right to seeding onions! Soon the entire greenhouse will be full of seeded trays.