Inspections, bye to Jake, and hello mud

It's been a busy couple of weeks here at Minglewood since the last posting. We had our annual farm inspection from NOFA-NY for organic certification. They usually come in the fall, but I guess they're trying to get a jump on things this year. The farm looked pretty good - a lot less weeds than what would typically be found in the fall. The inspection takes a couple of hours and includes a review of all our records, and a walk through the fields and greenhouses. All seems to have gone smoothly and no issues or concerns were brought up.

Sadly, this past week we wished a fond farewell to Jake, one of our most dedicated workers for the past year. If you've shopped with us at the Saratoga Farmer's Market, you have no doubt met him selling plants or tomatoes. Jake started out working at the farm with the idea of perhaps pursuing a career in organic farming, but after seeing the realities of the job, decided to work towards a better world in other ways. He leaves today, driving west to California to attend U Cal at Pamona for a graduate degree in sustainability. We wish him the best of luck, and we are sure he will be successful in anything he sets his mind to. We will miss him greatly.

We have started attending Wednesday markets in Saratoga. We skipped the first couple of the season, mostly because we just didn't have enough produce to make it worth going. Until this past Saturday, we've been selling out of everything an hour or two before the end of market. Finally, this past week crops have started to come in abundance and we have a nice selection on the table for almost the full market. This week we had all our salad mixes, sprouts, baby boc choi, stir-fry greens, salad turnips, radishes, spinach, and a few mushrooms and asparagus bunches. Plant sales continue to be strong - selling almost 600 tomato plants at the Memorial Day market.

Back at the farm we continue to get more and more crops in the ground. We planted the last field tunnel with bell peppers, and seeded the first planting of green beans. The weather continues to taunt us - a light frost on May 26, and then three days of rain. Yes, we needed the rain, but now we have gone from dust to beyond mud. I felt so bad for the crew harvesting on Friday, literally past their ankles in muck and goo! There was no way to get vegetables clean, no matter how many times we changed the wash water. So customers, please wash all your vegetables, even though they may look clean, they are not. Let's all hope for some reasonable and moderate weather in the weeks to come.

Wind Tunnels for Tomatoes

Here I sit by the wood stove on this Monday evening in mid-May and the temperature is dropping fast. The National Weather Service has posted freeze warnings for the entire area, low temperatures down in the low 30's and upper 20's. This really isn't that unusual; our records and our neighbors records, which they've kept for the past twenty years, often note a late frost into the third week of May. None the less, it always takes us a bit by surprise, and we find ourselves scrambling to move trays and trays of baby plants that have bee sitting outside to harden-off, back into the greenhouse. We've had several false alarms this spring, with warnings that have not been realized, but I think this time we are going to get hit.

All the threats of frost did not keep us from planting over 500 tomato plants this past week. We construct low-tech greenhouse tunnels for them and hope the one thin layer of plastic is enough to protect them on a cold night. We have used this system for 4-5 years now and have really come to enjoy the advantages of growing tomatoes under cover. Compared to years when we were growing outside, without any protection, our yields are nearly double. Unfortunately, the tunnels are a lot of work to put up and take down every season and they are a nightmare on a windy day. Despite this, I guess we will continue to use them.

We had lots of help constructing this year, allowing us to put up six tunnels in about seven hours. It was a perfect day - sunny, mildly warm, and very little wind. The following day we transplanted the tomatoes on what started as a perfect transplant day - cloudy, drizzle, and cool. However, an hour after completing the planting, the wind came up - and boy did it blow. I don't have a wind monitor, but the gusts had to be 40-50 mph. Stakes and rope were popping and blowing all over. Somehow with lost of extra sledgehammer pounding and frantic running about the tunnels survived the blast. Let's hope for calm days ahead.

Get ready to garden, but look out for frost

We had a good market again this past Saturday, selling out of all our greens by 12:00, an hour before the end of market. Plant sales were strong, with many customers getting their cool weather plants in the garden. There is a frost warning posted for tonight (Sunday) and maybe for tomorrow as well, so hold off on planting those tomatoes and basil plants. If the weather looks settled by the end of the week, we will be bringing the warm weather garden starts to next week's market. This year we have grown over 2000 tomato plants of 24 different varieties, mostly heirlooms, but a few hybrids as well. We will also have a selection of peppers, eggplants, basil, zucchini, cucumber, lettuce, and other herbs. So get your back and knees in shape, your hoe sharpened, and get ready to garden!

For what was forecast to be quite a wet week of rain and showers, very little rain actually fell. None the less, it was a stressful week trying to schedule field work during the dry windows and greenhouse work in the wet ones. This is a common dilemma which I stress out over every season and is totally beyond our control. The farm is both blessed and cursed with heavy soils (high in clay and silt, and low in sand), which while holding fertility well, takes a long time to dry out. Trying to transplant, seed, or cultivate soil that is too wet just makes a big mess and will eventually degrade the soil. In order to have lettuce and spinach throughout the season, we have to plant these crops every week from early April until early September. If we get a real rainy period and can't plant, there will be a gap in our supply four to six weeks later. So it's always a relief to be able to stay on schedule. After some last minute adjustments this week, we were able to get the scheduled plantings in the ground.

Crops continue to grow, although a little slower than desired. We are still waiting for our spinach to size up as well as the scallions, boc choi, and baby turnips. The next warm spell I'm sure will push these crops along. We were able to start picking asparagus this week, which is always a treat for us. We put in a decent size plot five or six years ago - something like 1200 crowns. Unfortunately, it's a mostly neglected crop, and after we stop picking it in the spring we rarely visit the patch until the next spring. This means it never really gets weeded, watered, or fertilized, and as a result it never produces any where near its potential. We seldom have more than a few bunches to sell at market, but we do manage to have enough to gorge ourselves on it throughout the spring. We've been feasting on asparagus risotto, quiche, and pasta dishes all week - yum.

Opening Day at Farmer's Market

The market season is off and running. Yesterday we attended the opening day of the Saratoga Springs Farmer's Market and it was a great start to the season. We joined a full house of over thirty vendors selling all sorts of fresh produce, baked goods, cheese, milk, plants, flowers, and crafts. I can't remember an opening day ever looking this good, with so much to offer. At the New Minglewood booth we had a selection of salad greens, sprouts, and vegetable garden transplants available. Dedicated customers were back in droves and were hungry for fresh local food. It was great to see so many familiar faces and to see so many of them with happy smiles on them.

Meanwhile back at the farm this week we continued to focus on getting as many crops as possible planted. The weather cooperated, eventually cooling back down to normal temperatures after the early hot spell. Moderate rain fell, just enough to water plants in nicely. The biggest accomplishment of the week was getting the potatoes planted. The first flush of dandelions is a good cue that soil has warmed enough and conditions are right for potato planting. This year we planted about a fifth of an acre, not a huge amount by potato farm standards, but definitely enough when you are planting them all by hand. This year we are growing three varieties: Russian Banana fingerling, French fingerling, and All Blue. We can't wait for the first tender spuds, hopefully by mid-July.

Our farm crew is gradually expanding for the season. Joining Jacob, whose been putting in some hours during April, is Martin who has returned for a second season and Molly, a Greenwich native, joining us between semesters at Skidmore. It's great to have the help.