The Farm at Miller's Crossing

The New Roof!!!!

2011-11-09T10:35:00.001-05:00

Mike Roper from Southpaw Specialties finished our Big Barn Roof this weekend!!!! When he tore off the old metal roofing and the original shingles...and the rotten boards, this is what it looked like.

Now it is clear why the barn floor was wet after the rain!!!

We were all amazed at the height he was working at...luckily we had some beautiful bluebird skies for the job!!!!

The old metal roofing is covering firewood pile now, if it was too damaged we took it to the dump

The whole job was done with scaffolding instead of a lift.

As the original shingles came tumbling down from the roof, and were loaded for disposal into bins, I wondered about the folks who last touched them. The post depression men who built and shingled that roof in 1949. How did this job effect them? What did they go on to do in their lives? Were they young, old, local men or from a distance? Lots of questions for us to research in the future. Lovely to live here in a place where there is a community memory of events that take place.

Here you can see the fixed and unfixed portions. We are looking forward to the first rain.

Thank you Mike!!!!

Winter???

2011-11-01T22:07:00.000-04:00

The season continues to stay interesting...right up until the end. Our last summer CSA distributions are this week, and while the snow was falling, we were preparing for the 10th annual storage crop sale coming up November 5th.

Chilled Arugula!

Our winter CSA distributions will start November 19th and we will be going through February 2012!!!!

Cozy under the remay!

Though mother nature has thoroughly tested us this season, we have had an incredibly bountiful year. We were able to freeze tomatoes, peppers, beans and collards and kale, all to be distributed along side our fresh from the field vegetables, as well as our fall harvested storage crops!!!!! It will be great eating all winter long.

Yikes it looks cold out there!

We are busy planning for next year....on the horizon is some new cultivating equipment to better kill weeds in the small grains that we raise for our cover crop needs....as well as field houses for our summer tomato crop...we really can't stomach another season like this past one (very few tomatoes)!!!

Cold Cold Cold

We are presently re-roofing our main barn in preparation for housing the inverter for our new solar system...going in before the snow flies...ooops I guess I should say before the winter really kicks in!!!

Mesclun in the Cooler

Because ...that is snow on the mesclun in that photo...

Out to the Hill

The kids had a blast this weekend and the snow forts and snow men are still standing.

Kale only sweetens with the cold

Fortunately the snow has left the fields and the vegetables fared well.

Haloween Fun

Pipi, the scarecrow, captain Jack and our little politician are ready for a great winter!!!!

Week of September 6th 2011

2011-09-06T12:23:00.001-04:00

From the farmers…

I have often thought of September as the best time to be a farmer. A majority of the work is behind you, the constant pressure to plant and irrigate begins to subside, and the pleasant weather and cooler temps make for ideal working conditions…Most years anyways.

Our 1st place Red Onions at The Columbia County Fair

The week of sunshine after Hurricane Irene helped to dry things out, and begins the healing from all of the flooding caused by this historic weather event.

Just as we started to think about things other than flooding, these past 3-4 days of heavy rains have put us right back into crisis mode. Unfortunately, whatever mode we are in, there is nothing we can do about the weather…other than hope and pray that the current trends change

We spend most of our time trying to anticipate the problems we may have, and managing things accordingly.

With our superb hard working crew, our years of experience, and a beautiful farm that is full of prime soils and level fields, we often feel “in control.”
This feeling of control has been lost—with the dramatic flooding and continuing rain, I feel like the hardest part of all of this is letting go of the idea that we can control our destiny.

Based on the most recent radar images, we will receive much more rain in the coming 48 hours, and then have a respite in the form of 5 days with no forecasted rain. We can only hope that our dangerously full creek can drain just enough in the coming 12 hours before the next rain event swells it again. We will not know how bad things will be until later in the week.

Despite all of this hardship and strife, we are still happy to say the shares should remain full for the foreseeable future, and we have our fingers crossed that our fall crops which are predominately planted on our highest fields will make it through all of these rains, and be there for us in October and beyond.

Chris Leading AnneMae on Ice Cream at the Columbia County Fair

Despite our own hardships, we know growers all around us who have lost everything—with no hope of any crops for the remainder of the year. Through no fault of their own, these competent and professional farmers have lost their entire years’ worth of work, and there is nothing that can be done about.

It is hard to imagine how that would feel, and our thoughts are with them.

We hope to be able to donate to these farms anything that we have in surplus, and will be reaching out to them in the coming days and weeks to offer our assistance.

In a good year, with plenty of sunshine and occasional rains, farming can seem to be an idyllic profession. We have often counted ourselves as lucky to have found a profession that we love so much, and gives us an opportunity to make a living off the land.

In the span of the last 4-5 weeks, this idyllic picture has been disturbed, and but not lost completely. We hope that these current challenges teach us things that will help us in the future (now we really know how high our creek can get!), and as the saying goes, that which does not kill you makes you stronger.

Thank you for all of your support, Chris

Recipes for The Farm at Miller’s Crossing, Week 8 – 2011

2011-07-26T14:26:00.000-04:00

Carol Hargis, The Market Fresh Chef

Collards w/ Onion & Bacon Serves 8

2 lbs. COLLARDS, trim tough stems, chop fine stems & leaves coarse

1/2 tsp. RED PEPPER FLAKES, to taste

1/4 cup CIDER VINEGAR

1&1/4 cups BROTH

3 ONIONS (red or other), chop coarse

1/2 lb BACON, chop

2 Tbsp. BROWN SUGAR

In stockpot crisp bacon, save fat, drain bacon on paper towels. In same pot sauté onion in 3T baconfat til golden & soft. Move onion w/ slotted spoon to bowl. To same pot add broth, vinegar, sugar, red pepper flake, 1/2 the bacon, & stir til sugar dissolves. Add 1/2 the collards, toss til a bit wilted, add 1/2 the collards, & toss. Simmer covered 30min. Stir in onion, simmer covered 30m til very tender. Serve topped w/ remaining bacon.

Pasta w/ Basil Goat Cheese Sauce Serves 6

1 lb. BOWTIE PASTA

1 cup lightly packed BASIL

3/4 cup packed MINT

1/2 cup SPINACH, steamed & drained

1/2 cup PARMESAN

2 Tbsp. BUTTER, soft

2 GARLIC CLOVES, mince

1&1/4 tsp. SEA SALT

1/2 tsp. PEPPER

6-8oz. GOAT CHEESE

Cook pasta, drain & save 2T. cooking water. Put basil, cilantro, spinach, Parm, butter, garlic, s&p in processor & pulse smooth. Blend in cheese. Mix pasta, sauce & cooking water.

EZ Salad of Orzo & Squashes

Sauté ZUCCHINI, yellow SQUASH & SCALLIONS in OLIVE OIL until tender. Toss with cooked ORZO, PARSLEY, DILL, GOAT CHEESE, s&p.

Roast Beets & Carrots w/ Orange-Rosemary Vinaigrette

1/2 bunch BEETS

1 bunch small CARROTS

1/4 cup ORANGE JUICE

3 Tbsp. RICE VINEGAR

1 SHALLOT, minced

Leaves from 2 sprigs ROSEMARY, chopped fine

OLIVE OIL

Set oven to 375. Put beets in dish w/ a little water, cover & roast 45-60min. Cool slightly, peel, quarter. Toss carrot w/ oil, salt, roast 25-30m. Mix oj, vinegar, shallot, rosemary in saucepan, bring to boil. Simmer til reduced by half, add a dash salt. Cool slightly, whisk in oil to taste. Toss veggies w/ dressing, plate. Eat warm or room temp.

Week of July 26th 2011

2011-07-26T14:24:00.000-04:00

A shift in weather has everyone, farmers, animals, and plants, breathing a sigh of relief after a nice bit of rain, and some cooler temperatures, for a few days at least.

What a cool spot!

Up to his knees

We made it through the worst of the weather with LOTS of irrigation, and lots of swimming in the creek!

Skipping Stones

Everything and everyone needs lots of water in that kind of heat—throughout that heat wave and dry spell, we felt like triage nurses attending to the worst patients in the fields.

Our new pump finds its home streamside!

We finished weeding our wintersquashes this past week, and they look good. The heat really pushed them along, many flowers have been open and are pollinated, and there even a few varieties with large fruits, and some with lil’ labies!

Squash Hunters

Fields of Winter Squash refreshed after the rain!!

There is an acorn in there!

If our season were a race, we would actually be heading towards the final curve of the track.

Butternut sizing up nicely

Acorn...some is already green

Besides a few lettuce, napa, and broccoli transplanting, and a few more rounds or direct seeding in the field, our main mission at this point is to shepherd our 40 plus acres of plants into the final big growing stretch.

With lots of weeding and irrigating over the next few weeks we should be able to insure a bountiful fall harvest—but we are not there yet.

Enjoy, Chris

Recipes for The Farm at Miller’s Crossing, Week 7 – 2011

2011-07-19T14:17:00.000-04:00

Carol Hargis, The Market Fresh Chef

Fusili w/ Arugula Pesto Serves 4

1 cup ARUGULA leaves

1 cup PARSLEY leaves

4 large SUN DRIED TOMATOES, soaked in oil

3/4 cup toasted PISTACHIOS

6 Tbsp. OLIVE OIL

4 Tbsp. finely grated PARMESAN

1 tsp. each SALT & PEPPER

1 lb. dry FUSILI PASTA (or another shape)

Boil pasta. Put arugula, parsley, tomato, nuts in processor & pulse to make a fine paste. Gradually add oil, Parm. s&p. Drain pasta, toss w/ pesto.

Garlic Herb Marinade 1 cup

1/2 cup Worcestershire

1/4 cup OLIVE OIL

1/4 cup apple cider VINEGAR

1/4 cup chopped BASIL or oregano

2 Tbsp. chopped GARLIC

1/4 tsp. SALT

Whisk all. Use with meats or vegetables as a marinade for 3 to 24 hours. Grill as desired.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bars

1 cup SUGAR

3 EGGS

2/3 cup OLIVE OIL

2 cup whole wheat FLOUR

1/2 cup regular FLOUR

1 tsp. BAKING POWDER

1 tsp. CINNAMON

2 cups ZUCCHINI, grated

1/2 cup RAISINS &/or chopped NUTS

1 cup CONFECTIONER’S SUGAR

1/2 tsp. CREAM OF TARTAR

1 POWDERED EGG WHITE

2 Tbsp. WATER

1 Tbsp. LEMON JUICE

Mix sugar & eggs. Add oil, flours, baking powder, cinnamon & mix well. Stir in zucchini & raisins/nuts. Pour in 13x9" greased baking dish & bake at 350' 45 min. Let cool. Mix confectioner's, cream of tartar, egg white, water & lemon juice to make lemon icing (or use your own recipe for a lemon glaze). When bars cool, drizzle w/ icing. Cut & serve.

Creamy Ranch Dressing makes 1&1/2 cups

Whisk 3/4 cup MAYO & 1/2 cup BUTTERMILK. Stir in 2 Tbsp. chopped PARSLEY, 1 Tbsp. LEMON JUICE, 1/2 tsp. powdered MUSTARD, 1/4 tsp. DILL, 1/4 tsp. EACH S&P. Cover, chill 1hr. to overnight. Store refrigerated up to 5 days. Dip those lovely RADISHES & enjoy!

Week of July 18th 2011

2011-07-19T14:15:00.000-04:00

Bringing in the harvest…….and keeping it cold!!!!!

We know summer is really here when the nights no longer offer relief from the heat, and it is now that we all benefit from the cooling system in our wash area.
Even in the early morning hours, the produce comes in hot from the fields. It is Eduardo’s job at this point to get it cool fast!

Eduardo King of the wash area

The water in the tank behind Eduardo (above) is cooled and held at 38 degrees. Dunking the greens into this cold water takes the field heat right out of the produce. From there it goes into our cooler and then into our refrigerated truck to you!!! Nutrient loss is significantly decreased by chilling produce quickly and maintaining that temperature until it is eaten.

The Cooler loaded with produce

This is what the Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment has to say about post harvesting handling and local seasonal eating.

Our truck...ready to load

The Bottom Line

While all of the factors affecting nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables – crop variety, production method, post-harvest handling, storage, and processing and packaging – apply equally to produce that is produced locally or on farms across the country, relying on local sources for your produce needs has some distinct advantages. First, even when the highest post-harvest handling standards are met, foods grown far away that spend significant time on the road, and therefore have more time to loss nutrients before reaching the marketplace. Famers growing for a local (and especially a direct) market favor taste, nutrition and diversity over shipability when choosing varieties. Greater crop diversity from the farmer means greater nutritional diversity for the eater. Third, in direct and local marketing strategies, produce is usually sold within 24 hour after harvest, at its peak freshness and ripeness, making consuming them a more attractive prospect. Fourth, during this short time and distance, produce is likely handled by fewer people, decreasing potential for damage, and typically not harvested with industrial machinery. Minimizing transportation and processing can ensure maximum freshness and flavor, and nutrient retention.

This may seem like an overly simplistic explanation of why local fruits and vegetables are more healthful than those from our conventional long haul agricultural system. In the Northeast, diets based on foods available locally can be nutritionally adequate year-round. Concerns over nutritional adequacy usually arise because people are unaware of what is available. Fortunately, this guide can provide you with information regarding the delicious seasonal items of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, and how to prepare and store them.

Our salad spinner

Past this link in your browser for an easy printable 3 page list of produce and how to store it…it comes from California…so it list many vegetables and fruits that we do not get locally here in the northeast, but I thought it was helpful for those of you looking for more information.

http://www.mylifestylediet.com/Berkeley%20Farmers%20Market%20Tips%20for%20Storing%20Produce.pdf

The Bulk tank that keeps the water COLD!!!

Enjoy your local, fresh, chilled share!!!! Katie

Recipes for The Farm at Miller’s Crossing, Week 6 – 2011

2011-07-12T13:30:00.000-04:00

Carol Hargis, The Market Fresh Chef

White Bean Soup Florentine

6 cups STOCK

2 cups WHITE BEANS, drained

1 sm. ZUCCHINI, sliced in half moons

1 ONION, diced

1 CARROT, julienned

1/2 tsp. each MARJORAM & BASIL

1/2 lb. SPINACH or other tender leafy greens, chopped

1/2 lb. spinach EGG NOODLES, cooked

1 tsp. LEMON JUICE

Put stock, beans, zucchini, onion, carrot, spices, s&p in soup pot, bring to gentle simmer. When vegetables are tender add greens, noodles, s&p, lemon.

Kohlrabi Parmesan Serves 4

3 Tbsp. BUTTER

4 small KOHLRABI (1lb), peel, coarsely shredded (3c

1 med red or green BELL PEPPER, chop (3/4c

1 med CARROT, coarse shred (1/2c

1/4 cup grated Parm or Romano CHEESE

1/2 tsp. THYME

Melt butter in skillet. Stir in kohlrabi, pepper, carrot. Sauté 4-5 min. til crisp-tender. Stir in 1/4 cheese, thyme, s&p. Serve w/ extra cheese sprinkled on top if you wish.

Radish Parsley Salad w Lemon Serves 2-3

Mix 10 RADISHES sliced 1/8”, 3 ribs CELERY sliced 1/8", 1 cup PARSLEY. Whisk 1 Tbsp. LEMON juice, 1/4 tsp. Kosher SALT, 2 Tbsp. OLIVE OIL. Toss all. Black PEPPER on top.

Spring Onion Soup Serves 6

1 Tbsp. OLIVE OIL EatingWell.com

2 lg. Vidalia ONIONS, sliced

2 cups chopped SPRING ONION (or leek; white, light green only)

2 Tbsp. chopped GARLIC

1 tsp. chopped THYME

1/4 cup SHERRY

1/2 tsp. PEPPER

3 14oz. cans beef BROTH

15oz. can CHICKPEAS, rinse, drain

1/4 cup minced CHIVE or scallion

6 slices whole wheat country BREAD

1 cup shredded Gruyère or fontina CHEESE

Heat oil in pan medhi. Add Vidalia, stir. Cover, set med, sauté soft, starting to brown 6-8m. Add spring onion, garlic, thyme, sauté til start soft 3-4. Stir in sherry, pepper; set to medhi, bring to simmer. Sauté til most liquid evaporates 1-2. Stir in broth, chickpea, bring boil. Set heat simmer, cook veggies tender 3. Remove from heat, stir in chive. Toast bread, put in soup bowls; top w/ 1/6th cheese. Ladle soup on. The chickpeas make it a hearty main.

Week of July 11th 2011

2011-07-12T13:25:00.000-04:00

The Garlic is in!!!!

We save our own garlic from year to year for planting

Sunday was garlic harvesting day! Four full trailers were loaded full of a beautiful crop.

The garlic is cured for many weeks on these trailers in our open air pole barn

The heads are not as large as last season, but they will be plentiful, as each year we plant a bit more for your seasoning pleasure.

You will notice how different this hardneck garlic is from the California supermarket type. There are no wasted small cloves in the middle, only large easy to peel cloves; between four and six of them.

The heavy workload is upon us….As the temperatures rise, and the rain becomes sparse, we are starting the heavy irrigation cycles that are typical of this time of year. Drip at night on the tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, peppers and eggplants and overhead sprinklers in the mornings and evenings on all the other crops. Moving pipe and traveling reel type sprinklers takes up a lot of our time.

Though Connelly does not have to water all the fields like this, he was in charge of watering the yard garden!!!

The first irrigation catastrophe...the bearing went on this pump...again!

In addition to irrigation, lots of hoeing and hand weeding needs to take place. After the wet spring any weeds that were not killed through mechanical means (using tractor driven weeders) now need to be handled by hand.

Still life...Hoes, Seeder and Garlic

With their roots firmly in the ground, the weeds are now reaching for the sun…attempting to choke out the crops we need. So with hoes and knives and hands our valiant crew is out there getting what needs to be done accomplished

These are grain bins on wheels getting ready to be filled with Rye.

Enjoy the share,

Katie

Newsletter Week of July 4th 2011

2011-07-12T13:05:00.000-04:00

FROM THE FARM….

As you can imagine, we watch the weather very carefully.

It is a source of comfort to have some idea of what is coming next, so we can prepare, and do the things we need to do according to the weather.

HOT!

I often wonder how farmers long ago could plan their weeks, with only their own instincts to follow.

While the forecast helps us plan, it can also inform us in other ways.

There have been reports of the dreaded Late Blight both on Long Island, in CT, and in Dutchess County NY.

Some of you may remember the 2009 season, when we lost our field tomatoes to this disease. Right now our tomatoes are looking great, growing like weeds, and starting to produce fruits. As they grow we stake and trellis the plants, which is extremely labor intensive.
To lose a crop of tomatoes after all the work in growing them is a very painful and expensive experience. All of that work and investment which began in March in the greenhouse goes right down the drain.
Organic farmers are allowed to use copper on their fields to act as a fungicide to kill Late Blight. The copper is mixed with water, then sprayed on the plants.

We have not yet sprayed this year, and the forecast is our main guide. Without cool and wet conditions to spread, generally Late Blight is not an issue.

Nothing is more lethal to Late Blight then hot and sunny weather, which is what we are supposed to have this week, minus a passing shower or two.

We are not big sprayers anyway, and really would rather not coat our plants with blue copper sprays—but if the forecast should change, and the conditions become favorable for Late Blight, we will apply it in order to protect out crop.

This past week we baled up another 90 round bales (about 70,000 lbs. of hay!) which puts us at our goal for the cattle’s winter feed.

Unfortunately there is not time to celebrate, as the vegetables are coming on now full strength. Winter squashes, melons and cucumbers are beginning to flower and vine out.

Our fall carrots are germinated, and we’ll seed carrots one more time this year for fresh bunching.

Our storage cabbage and cauliflower are going in the ground this week, and our brussel sprouts and fall kales are starting to root in the field.

We seeded our fall broccoli and cauliflower this past week, and after some Napa cabbage, lettuce, and one more broccoli seeding we’ll be done with greenhouse seeding.

Even though we are only in the beginning of July, the window of opportunity to grow things is closing…
We will now focus our energies on weeding, irrigating and picking!
Enjoy, Chris

Newsletter June 28th 2011

2011-06-28T12:51:00.000-04:00

FROM THE FARM….

As I was walking the farm on Monday morning observing the two sizable piles of round bales, neatly covered in plastic to protect them from the rain. I marveled that in this the wettest of Springs we were able to get over 210 round bales made, 50 bales of straw and 700 square bales for the horses. Last year we did not make more than 200 bales over the course of the whole season…every year is different.

First Cucumbers mulched with Straw

Nearly Completed Mulchig

My reflection continued towards thinking about farming. Specifically the varying careers that people have who are called “farmers”. There are Dairy farmers, sheep farmers, goat farmers, beef farmers, horse farmers….then there are vegetable farmers, crop farmers, hay farmers, grass farmers, flower farmers and often even friends of ours in the perennial greenhouse business are farmers.

Though we are all harvesting the bounty of the natural world and are often intimately connected to the rulings of Mother Nature and the animal rhythms, our day to day work is quite different.

It is fascinating to think that in one life time of work a grain farmer may only have 50 harvests. There is not much room for error there…a few bad years are hard to absorb for a small farm. It is easy to see why many of those farmers sold out to larger farmers…spread out over varying terrain and now even countries.

In contrast we seed lettuce every week during the growing season here at Miller’s Crossing. We are able to experience well over 30 harvests per year of that one crop. Lettuce, however, is one of many crops that we grow here. Tomatoes, cucumbers and summer squash are more similar to the grain farmers in that they are planted 2 times per year, three if you are lucky.

First Planting of Zucchini & Summer Squash

The contrast in those two crops is not without a lot of thought behind it…as a matter of fact the farm that we have today is the result of millions of decisions made over the course of our careers as farmers; decisions about fields, soils, customers, and family.

The decision to be a highly diversified vegetable farm is directly related to small farm economics. The diversity that keeps your meals interesting is directly related to the diversity that keeps this farm economically viable.

Growing so many different crops allows us to spread the risk out over many different types of soils, seasons, and customer preferences. You have all weathered the tomato disaster of 2009 and reaped the bounty of tomatoes in 2010. When the Kale gets hit by hot weather you eat Swiss Chard!!! For this we are thankful.

Many times the diversity feels inefficient. How much faster we could get things done if we only grew three things. How we could ease the human labor, if we only grew carrots and bought a carrot harvesting machine…..but how much carrot soup and cake and loaf can any one family eat?

The details are endless, the rewards great!

Enjoy this week’s harvest, Katie

PHOTOS FROM THE FARM

End of the First Summer Ockawamic Creek Run

Playing in the Wash area Drain

Is that an Organically Grown Rubber Band around my snout?

Newsletter June 21, 2011

2011-06-21T21:04:00.000-04:00

Big excitement here at the farm this week!!!!

The biggest digger our children have ever seen showed up here this morning…the bucket could easily fit all four children. With all of the major changes that happen with these large machines, we are always excited when these machines go to work on the farm!

The main goal of this project is to improve the drainage ditch that was dug over 60 years ago to drain our lower field.

Several years ago drainage culverts were place under state route 217, the two lane road north of the farm. As a result, in the spring, and any other time the rain and water needs to drain, it drains all the water from across the road into our fields. This has caused erosion, flooding, and really altered a small field of ours and turned it into a year round damp location.

The water management plan will allow the ditch to receive and contain the run off after snow melt or large storms by widening the ditch system and enlarging our holding pond. We are hoping this can prevent the flooding that some of our crops like we had in 2009 pictured below.

While all of this is exciting, and should protect in future wet years, we also have some other plans for the material which comes out of the ditch.

All of the excess material that comes out of the ditch will be used to create a level and self-draining area that can be used for horseback riding and any other fun activities we feel like.

Also, our farm roads, which are horrendous and filled with giant mud puddles, will be re-done in order to allow for all excess waters to drain off into the ditch.
While all of this will cost money, it will allow us to protect our fields and future crops, as well as create a new place for fun on the farm.

Have a great week, Katie & Chris

2011-06-14T13:59:00.000-04:00

FROM THE FARM….

Was it just last week that we were sweating away in 95 degree plus heat? Hard to imagine a week later the high temperatures will be in the low 60’s!

So far this spring the weather has been about as inconsistent as it can get. Once again, the forecast is calling for a return to normal temperatures later in the week, which we will welcome!

Despite the crazy weather we have been pushing ahead with our planting schedule, and we are just about done planting many of the full season vegetables.

Today we will plant out our last tomatoes of the year, which we hope we will pick in September and even into October.

In our greenhouse we have our last planting of kales, as well as our storage cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, fennel, pickling and slicing cucumbers, melons, and lots of lettuce.

Once we finish these large plantings, we will begin our spring/summer weeding campaign. With all of the moisture and heat we have experienced, every single weed seed on the farm has germinated, and we now have the task of beating them back.

This week things are supposed to get warm and sunny—(I’m ignoring the downpour that is happening as I write this) which is the perfect weather to kill the weeds!

While the weeds are still in their infant stages, with our tractors, hoes, knives, and hands we will till the soil, dislodge the weeds, and allow the sun to dry out and kill these little buggers.

Any tiny weeds that we miss in our first pass will immediately shoot up, and we will most likely have to go through the fields again once more later in the season to mop up the hold outs with hoes and knives.

The problem with this picture is that there are so many other things to do like harvest and plant, that finding the time to dedicate to weeding is tough.

Wednesday, half of Thursday, and Saturday are the only days at this time of year that we are not busy harvesting, so we are excited the weather looks promising this mid week.

Last week’s heat did accelerate our zucchini and squash, which are now bearing tiny little fruits. These past few colder and rainy days have slowed them down quite a bit, but we are hoping to begin picking them within the week. With any luck, we may have them in the share next week.

Despite all of the dramatic weather to date, the majority of the growing season is in front of us. If we are lucky, the weather will calm down, and all of the vegetables out there in the field really start growing as the heat and sun return—We are looking forward to another great season!

Enjoy, Chris

COMING SOON!!!!

!!!!!Beef shares still available!!!!!

Check out our website for beef share info.

http://www.farmatmillerscrossing.com/csa.html

call or e-mail with additional questions!

!!!!!Beef shares still available!!!!!

9th Annual Bulk Sale--Nov 6, 2010

2010-10-26T15:48:00.007-04:00

THE FARM AT MILLER’S CROSSING

9th Annual On Farm Sale Day

MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND EAT LOCAL ALL WINTER LONG

Certified Organic Vegetables & Beef

Saturday November 6th 10 a.m. – 2p.m.

Potatoes—Beets—Carrots—Onions--Winter Squash—Rutabagas

Special pricing on large quantities and selected cuts of Beef

Also Biodynamic/Organic Apples and Cider from Threshold Farm
Turkeys and Chicken from Grey Horse Farm

Bring your family and enjoy our 200-acre farm

For directions and information go to www.farmatmillerscrossing.com
or call Katie or Chris at (518) 851 – 2331

Fall on the Farm

2010-10-18T13:40:00.005-04:00

The stream is flowing, the kale is growing, the leaves are changing and the eagle is flying.

2010 Winter CSA Participation Agreement

2010-10-12T20:06:00.002-04:00

Sign up now for the 2010 Winter season. Down payment is due as soon as possible to secure your space. Thank you for being a part of the inaugural Miller's Crossing Winter CSA.

To view or print the CSA Participation Agreement go to: http://www.farmatmillerscrossing.com/docs/2010csaparticipation-winter-nyc.pdf

Hide and Go Seek

2010-10-12T14:27:00.003-04:00

Week 13

2010-08-24T13:50:00.000-04:00

This is my favorite season!
As we approach the end of August, it would appear that the hottest days of the summer are behind us. The days are shortening, nights are cooler, and the vegetables and the farmers are breathing a small sigh of relief.

After two days of steady rain, it looks as though the major irrigating is done, we’ll just water new planting and crops under mulches.

The stress of planting, weeding and irrigating subsides, and for the first time in 6 months it feels like we can take our nose off the grindstone for a moment and think about the next stage in the season.

Cabbage and children enjoying the irrigation

Our fall crops are looking good—there are thousands of cauliflower, storage cabbage, winter squashes, sweet potatoes, onions, leeks and potatoes to name a few that we will be picking for you over the second half of the season.

As we enter September, the only seeds left to plant are spinach, lettuces, arugula, tatsoi, and various Asian greens. With shorter days and cooler nights, the weeds do not grow as fast, and neither do the vegetables.

So, inevitably we begin to shift gears here on the farm.

From here on out, all we really do harvest and clean-up the fields for winter.

Before this past rain we seeded about 15 acres of cover crops in preparation for next season.

Oats, wheat, and rye will be emerging after this rain and grow right into December.

Our cows have been bred by our bull, and we will kick him out of the herd and into our neighbor’s herd where he will continue his role as the neighborhood stud.

In preparation of the incoming fall vegetables we have cleared barn space for storage and packing, and we have cleared greenhouse space to cure our winter squash and sweet potatoes.

Both of these crops need a week or so of sitting dry in order to maximize sugar content and shelf life. In addition to our own storage capacity, depending on our yields, we may be renting cooler space from neighboring farms in order to hold what looks to be a bumper crop of squash and potatoes—we’re not counting our chickens yet though!

The newest family on the farm

Speaking of chickens, our lone rooster and hen begun a family together, and we have 6 little chicks running around the barnyard along with our two ponies, one filly, and our thoroughbred.

Hopefully with one more push of cutting hay, we’ll have enough feed in the barn to last through the winter. Despite all of these autumn feelings, there is still quite a bit of work to do! Enjoy the share, Chris

Enjoy the share, Katie & Chris

Canning & Freezing Time!

2010-08-17T19:44:00.004-04:00

This is the year for canning, freezing and drying tomatoes!!!

The tomatoes are being harvested daily and they look and taste great...and who can have tomatoes without basil?

Paste Tomatoes (San Marzano): 25 lbs for $20.00

Basil: 12 bunches for $18.00

Send us an e-mail order and let us know when you would like to pick them up. We will have them ready for you (and we can even bill you online payable through paypal if that is more convenient.)

Thanks...and Happy Canning!

E-mail: kasorganic@hotmail.com

Staying Cool--Farm Style

2010-07-18T17:37:00.003-04:00

The city has fire hydrants to keep cool in the summer--we have irrigation! The kids were enjoying themselves last night in the cauliflower field next to my house.

Coming Attractions

2010-07-11T09:28:00.005-04:00

On our walk this morning with the dogs, we checked out the veggies--Here's a sneak peek of what's coming soon!

Up, Up and Away!

2010-06-27T11:28:00.003-04:00

We had some unannounced visitors "drop by" Saturday morning. Actually, they didn't quite land, but they sure came close! It's not unusual to see a few hot air balloons early in the morning--there is a place nearby that runs a business. One of these days, we'll go for a ride ourselves. In the meantime, they are beautiful to watch from the ground!

Old Turtle

2010-06-18T11:36:00.002-04:00

There have been quite a few of these large turtles saved around here recently. They seem to be seen often on roadsides...teetering on the brink of a fatal crossing. They end up in the back of the truck...and end up near the stream or pond.

This one Chris spotted as he was headed into the field the other morning and so the kids and I went to have a look. I have told our children many times about the plight of the giant sea turtles. Chris and I were able to witness them lumbering up the shores of western Costa Rica to lay their eggs 11 years ago on our honeymoon. They know that the turtles may not make it as they swim the ocean, they understand that many animals including humans relish turtle eggs, and then those tiny little turtles trying to make it back to sea...predators just waiting for those eggs to hatch.

Now...this is not a giant sea turtle, but it is a s close as Lael has ever gotten to one. The thought of us stressing this mother snapping turtle out as she lays her eggs was very upsetting to Lael. She would only let us get this close with the camera...we do not have a great zoom lens as you can see.

So here she is (from behind where she could not see us) laying her eggs in the middle of the hay field above the stream. We hope her little ones make it!!!!

Beef and all that goes with it

2010-06-16T10:28:00.004-04:00

It was a beautiful Spring Day and the kids and I went up to Pam's (our neighbor who has our cows on her pasture for parts of the season) to watch Daddy catch cows for market.

We also had to castrate two bull calves before they got too big and unruly to catch.

Connelly has always been a ca;f whisperer, so he had a go with this little guy.

Close, but he never did touch or pet this one.

Everyone else was waiting for the big moment. Lael has the elasticator and rubber bands in her hands in the photo above.

Christopher John and Pam are watching all the men trying to catch the calves...not an easy job.

OK Lael hand over the tools.

The elastic bands are tight...I mean really tight, and as they give the bull calves a pinch, they cut off the blood supply to the animals testicles and they fall off within a few weeks. Though this is surely unpleasant for the calf, it is better than an unruly testosterone laden 2500 lb bull within the year. We spend too much time with the herd to want to risk the unpredictable behavior of a bull.

The children all understand this, they have been with these animals from birth, they understand where all their food comes from and that eating meat means taking a life. Unlike some adults, the kids have no baggage about this issue, they love the cows, and recognize their importance to our farm..

Finally the calves are on their way to castration and the two animals that were going to the butcher were loaded.

Ice Cream's little Sundae

2010-06-14T10:13:00.003-04:00

Our pony was really so so so good...she did not mind being dressed up like this, she did not mind a four year old wrapping her from head to toe in purple fleece polo wraps, she came when we called regardless of treats.

But Ice Cream had Sundae...and that changed everything. I am unsure if you can train hormones, but it would seem that our new Mama needs to go back to school.

Time will tell, but somehow we had envisioned snuggling, petting and working with this lovely filly all day everyday.

That has not happened yet.

Week 3

2010-06-14T06:09:00.000-04:00

From the Farmers…

The past week has brought back memories of 2009—rain, rain, and more rain!

While we did need a good soaking, we got a lot more, so we’re hoping the weather pattern changes in the coming week

Into the Rye!!!

This past week we just about finished our big plantings for 2010. Our sweet potato plants finally arrived from Tennessee, and they were immediately planted into the ground. Sweet potato “slips” as they are called are just leaves of the plants that are planted into the ground. Once the stem of the leaf roots, the sweet potato begins to from on the roots

.

Sweet Potato Slips planted

Our storage cabbage, cauliflower, fall carrots and beets were all planted as the drops of rain began on Saturday morning.

We hope to finish mulching our peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes this week, and then we’ll just wait for the sun to come out again!

Our tomato crop (knock on wood) looks great, and we will begin the tedious job of staking and trellising this week as well.

While the veggies do need the water, they also need the heat, and so do we. We are hoping that the fields dry up enough so we can cultivate the crops with our tractors, and then get in there with hoes, knives, and hands, and kill those weeds!
Plenty of work to do….Enjoy the veggies, Chris

Beautiful Rows of Potatoes

Mower Breakdowns

2010-06-12T10:00:00.001-04:00

Equipment Breaks...that is a fact of life. Buying new equipment helps defer those breakdowns for a time. Our beef operation is not our biggest moneymaker and as we slowly capitalize with higher quality balers, barns and fencing, we still have to put up with the used equipment that has not been upgraded yet.

Slow and steady wins the race...unless you are always breaking down!

But having a little helper in the barnyard makes the breakdowns better....definitely more fun, and a great learning experience for our Little Apprentice!!!

He gets right in there, wrenches and all

Of course it is hard to know if what you are doing is getting you anywhere...even Daddy knows that.

But you keep at it, knowing that when the budget provides a new disc mower will be in order.

Ah...so much to look forward to.

Easy Dinners

2010-06-10T09:59:00.000-04:00

Dinner this week seemed so much easier than just a month ago when I

was still scrounging carrots, beets and celeriac from the root cellar...lets see

Sauteed turnips and their greens

Roasted garlic scapes

Red Leaf lettuce w/blue cheese and a maple vinaigrette

Berkshire Mountain Bakery olive Loaf

A close up of those garlic scapes, it is such a shame they come for such a brief time...we just love to eat them stem to (almost) tip (the tip is a little on the tough side).

Hope you are all eating well!!!

Week 2

2010-06-07T06:03:00.002-04:00

From the Farmers…
Our first CSA pickup here at the farm last Tuesday went off without a hitch--Little did we know what was in store for our first run to Long Island City and Flatbush Brooklyn on Wednesday. Our partner in the city Just Food was waiting for our truck at our first drop, and therefore went through this ordeal with us. Below is a letter sent out to board members of Just Food describing what happened…..
Wednesday of this week was the first day of distribution for The Farm at Millers Crossing. They loaded a truck with produce for 2 CSA sites and 2 Local Produce Link sites (our farm to food pantry partners). There were literally thousands of pounds of produce in the truck...and then, the truck broke down.

Abby [the Local Produce Link coordinator] went to Long Island City so that she could be there to greet the truck for the Local Produce Link drop-off. When they got the news, they began to relay the message to the food pantries and CSAs to let them know about the delays. Three hours after getting the truck to the garage they learned that the garage didn't have the right part and couldn't fix the truck that day.

Chris Cashen, the farmer, refused to allow the broken vehicle to stop him from delivering the produce - he didn't want the food to go to waste and he didn't wanted the families who were counting on him to be disappointed. He rented a truck, they moved all the boxes, and hours later, they were back on the road to NYC.

Here's the amazing part. The pantries and their volunteer staff hung in there. They stayed open late to receive the produce, they worked late to transport the produce from one pantry to another, they made sure that none of the food would be rotten or would go to waste. These are outstanding and dedicated individuals who serve their community every week, and this past Wednesday many of them worked long past 9pm to make this program work.

Abby rode with the truck to their final drop-off: a CSA in Brooklyn. Long past the end of their official distribution time, the members had stayed anyway. They greeted the truck as they arrived. Someone shouted "form a chain" and they helped these weary folks unload their truck - down to the very last vegetable.

This is why we do what we do. Our work is not just about building a food system, it's about building a community, it's about forging relationships in which people go out of their way for each other. I hope I've told this story well enough for you to see why I'm so deeply moved by it. I feel like this is the proof that that better world we're working toward is in fact coming to life.

In the heat of the moment, we only thought about all of our hard work being lost on a broken down truck. We were struggling with managing details of the crisis and a grumpy mechanic. After reading this note from Just Food, we were completely moved by the third party observation of what ultimately happened that day, and what the folks in the city had contributed to save the day.

We feel so incredibly supported by our members, the staff of Just Food, and the volunteers at all of the food pantries that we serve; their commitment to getting the food to people is truly inspiring.

While we do not hope for another harrowing story like this for awhile, we are thankful for the light it shed upon all of you who help us make this system of food distribution possible.

Thank you, Katie & Chris

New "Life" on the Farm!

2010-06-04T12:10:00.005-04:00

Meet Sundae--Ice Cream's baby girl foal, born on Sunday, May 30. She shares a birthday with Christopher John, who turned two that day. All are doing well, although Ice Cream's "mother" instincts have literally kicked into high gear and she is very protective of her little one. As you can imagine, we are all very excited about this new arrival--even the dogs! Gideon, the Jack Russell, has been trying to nibble her hoofs to get her to play, and good old Heddy is standing for hours outside the pen, ready to round her up!

Week 1

2010-06-01T05:50:00.000-04:00

So here we go again…another season is here! For the CSA, June marks the beginning, but here at the farm we have been going strong since the 1st of March.

Our greenhouse has been brimming full with transplants for the fields, and bedding plants for the markets.

As of now, most of our full season crops are in the ground, and we hope to get our sweet potatoes in sometime this week.

The heat has really brought the crops along quickly, and has forced us to do quite a bit of irrigating.

Besides the usual hiccups of broken equipment and shifting weather patterns, it has been an excellent spring for growing, and we are looking forward to bringing in the harvest.

June is about as busy as it gets on the farm—Between planting the summer and fall crops, irrigating, weeding, and harvesting the spring crops, and then the deliveries and the markets begin. It feels like there should be a couple of extra days built into the week to accommodate the work load.

Add to the mix 50 acres of hay and 10 acres of straw to cut, and before you know it the days just fly by…

We’re looking forward to a great year, and hope it is the best yet!

New Arrival

Our pony Ice Cream delivered a beautiful long legged filly on Sunday morning around 9:30. It was a short birth and all are doing well right here in the barnyard pastures.

Our once very calm and approachable pony has become a very protective and quick footed mother. Hopefully her hormones will calm a bit and we can get our hands on her little girl.
After many discussions about various frozen desert related names. We seem to have settled on Sundae, probably that will morph into Sunny (as it already has) but time will tell what names we will come up with as we get to know this little wonder.

Plant Sale--May 29, 9am - 3 pm

2010-05-27T17:09:00.006-04:00

The Farm at Miller's Crossing's
5th Annual Spring Plant Sale
Saturday May 29th
9am - 3pm

Certified Organic Plants

Vegetables

Heirloom Tomatoes

Peppers of all colors and temperatures

Salad and Cooking Greens

Flowers

Exotic and ever blooming annuals to make your gardens and containers bright from spring until frost

Hanging Baskets & Containers

Easy carefree color anywhere you like

Bring your family and enjoy our 200 acre farm

For more information call Katie or Chris at (518) 851-2331

Directions:

From Route 9 head east on Route 23 from the light in Claverack, +/- one mile take a left onto Route 217, +/- one mile take your first right onto Roxbury Road West End. The farm is 1/8th of a mile on left.

From the Taconic State Pkwy take Philmont/Harlemville exit. Go west on Route 217 through Philmont and Mellenville, past Ockawamick School on your right and take next left onto Roxbury Road West End (approx. 5 miles). The farm is 1/8th of a mile on left.

www.farmatmillerscrossing.com

To Market, To Market We Go

2010-05-24T12:42:00.002-04:00

The Hudson Farmers' Market is up and running. As the saying goes, "It takes a village," or in our case, "a large extended family" to make things run smoothly. This past week, Chris helped set up before he went off to NYC for a meet and greet with the Long Island CSA members. Katie came with the kids, who love to patronize the other vendors--especially the lemonade stand. Hannah (Chris and Katie's niece) worked along side Katy and Katie, helping customers with their plant choices, as well as fresh produce including mesclun, baby arugula, spinach, radishes and spring turnips. This week, we were treated to some wonderful live music which makes the market even more enjoyable.

Behold, The Strawberry!

2010-05-18T09:44:00.002-04:00

I had quite a surprise on my morning walk with Lucy. I was in the back upper field across from my house and as I was walking by the strawberry patch, low and behold, there were a few ripe berries. Don't tell Chris or Katie, but I ate one in the field and brought back this one, which, as you can see, was also devoured. What a great way to start my morning. Later this week, the temperatures are supposed to slowly rise, so I think we may have to pay another visit to the strawberry patch....just to make sure all is well. The deer love the berries too, so hopefully the double electric fence will keep them away.

Pictures from the Farm

2010-05-05T09:23:00.003-04:00

It was a beautiful, sunny morning on this Cinco De Mayo and I couldn't resist taking some pictures from around the farm. The Hudson Farmer's Market kicks off this Saturday, May 8, so stop by and give these plants a new home!

Staying Cool

2010-05-03T15:03:00.005-04:00

This past weekend we had a burst of summer heat. The kids stayed cool in the stream.

If a tree falls in the woods.....

2010-04-20T13:48:00.012-04:00

and no one is there, does it make a noise?

This one sure must have.

A few weeks ago while I was on a walk, I noticed this tree that is along side the path to the stream had "moved". As it turns out, the tree--a HUGE oak tree--had slid down the side of the embankment, roots and all. Because the roots are still in-tact, the tree is still alive and the buds have all come out. The tree is so big that Chris doesn't know how he will get rid of it. Right now, it's not in the way, although the embankment is a bit open and some of the ground has shifted. Further down the path, there is a dead tree that is leaning over the path. That tree will probably come down at some point--the only thing that is keeping it from falling are several smaller trees that are unwillingly supporting it.

New Farm Equipment

2010-04-18T17:43:00.000-04:00

Every year we add an arsenal of new equipment to make the hard jobs easier, the heavy jobs lighter and the inefficient jobs more efficient.

Here you can see our new electronic leaf. This little apparatus helps insure that we can sucessfully propagate herbs and plants for our bedding plant business.

When this leaf dries off it lifts up and turns on these misters.

The misters are different from the sprinklers that we have in both greenhouses. They have a very fine spray intended to keep the leaves moist, rather than soaking the soil. Below you can see the cuttings that we have taken. These cuttings are the vegetative (non-woody)tip of the plant that is stripped of it's lower leaves and planted into soil. Many greenhouses operations use a rooting hormone, but we have not found such a thing that is certified organic (though I have heard that a willow bark tea has small amounts of the hormone necessary). The cuttings are planted into 128 cell trays (128 plants per tray) and the trays are placed on the heated floor of our greenhouse. The floor is at a consistent 72 degrees. We have had great sucess with this new system....much better than the 10%-50% sucess rates in years past using a humid germination chamber.

We have improved our radiant floor heating with the oil fired boiler pictured below. Oil heats more efficiently than the older propane system we had last year, and we hope to see a reduction in fuel usage this year.

The water is heated to about 180 degrees before it is pumped out into the tubing which runs every two inches throughout the entire greenhouse. As the water heats the root zone of the plants that are growing on the floor, it cools off, and is pumped back into the boiler to be reheated.

This little contraption below is our much anticipated heat exchanger that warms the water coming out of the watering hose to a lovely 70 degrees. The plants no longer have to endure 50 degree water chilling them to their roots. The warm water just makes them that much happier!!!!

Here is our new offset Kubota cultivating tractor. Now with three tractors that fit into our narrow vegetable field system, we can cultivate, seed, and transplant all at the same time. We have a 1950's era Cub cultivating tractor which only cultivates, we also have a John Deere that seeds, transplants, and cultivates. Alot of time on the farm is spent changing equipment on the tractors. With only one tractor that seeds and cultivates, we were always one break down away from being without an important tool. With a second high clearance cultivating tractor that has a three point hitch we can spread out these important tasks and do them simultaniously.

Below is the new/used 14' disc harrow. This implement helps in the tillage process by cutting and leveling the rough plowed ground, and brings us one step closer to a smooth planting surface.

Above and below you can see our new box scraper. Hooked up to the three point hitch of our tractor, this heavy duty two-way steel blade with cutting teeth allows us to do basic road maintenance and barn yard clean up. We have declared war on the potholes that destroy our trucks and tractors on a daily basis.

So there you have it...a sampling of the equipment that will be hard at work here in 2010!

Stocking the Stream

2010-04-14T13:16:00.009-04:00

Today, the State En Con truck came and they stocked the stream with small and medium size trout. This is an annual event and luckily this year we got a heads up from a friend so we able to watch it. It takes less than 10 minutes and they drop in several dozen fish. There's quite a caravan of people that follow the truck as they make their stops. There was a woman and man fishing when the truck arrived. They thought they hit the jackpot when the fish were dropped in!

Katy with a "y"

2010-04-12T10:15:00.003-04:00

I'm Chris' sister, Katy and I'll be posting on the blog periodically. Lucy (my dog) and I walk most mornings and evenings through the fields, so I will be posting lots of pictures of life on the farm. I'm particularly excited this year because the fields surrounding my house are being put into vegetable production for the first time, thanks to the underground irrigation that Chris and Matt installed last year. Please be patient with me as I learn to upload pics and blog! Katy

Making Posts

2010-04-11T22:24:00.003-04:00

This is a photo of Day 2 of what will be 4 days of log milling here on our Farm. This winter/spring project is intended to provide the materials for several fencing jobs this coming season.

A local builder with a portable Woodmizer saw mill, Jeff Peister, has come to the farm to saw up some trees we have logged. Locust was logged for use as posts because of its longevtiy and toughness, and Oak was logged for the planks.

After the log is lifted (with the help of our tractor) onto the cutting platform, the bark is removed with the first cuts.

After each cut the log is rolled and cut again. The resulting wood is called slab wood, we think it could make a nice fence for our pig pen.....Connely, who just turned 6, will undoubtedly dream up all sorts of great building projects for these rejected slabs.

After the bark is removed the locust posts are cut...depending upon the size of the heartwood, we get 2, 4, or more 3 x 3 inch posts.

We plan on using these posts to fence in our 25 acre pasture up on route 217. The pasture will be for the cows as well as the horses.

Below you can see the pile of posts growing...in front of the 3 x 3 posts are 1 x 1 oak "stickers". The stickers are used to space out the posts so that they dry evenly and do not warp.

The next milling session will be to create more of the oak boards that you can see below. They will be the top line of the fence.

We have cut 375 locust posts, they will support about 3/4's of a mile of fencing around the open portions of the field. The remaining fence line will be high tensile going through tree lines surrounding the field.

New Construction

2010-04-09T22:18:00.001-04:00

We are rested and ready for the growing season and hopefully with a little help, I can get back into a regular "blogging" of all that is going on here...there is so much going on, that it is hard to know where to start.

Soooo...we will start with our new barn.

After having spent a good part of the 2009 season trying to sell our herd of cows, we had a change of heart.
We did not want to split the herd, and we wanted them to end up at the right place, so...we came full circle and decided not to sell.
You may wonder why we wanted to sell them in the first place???

We are vegetable farmers first and foremost. The cows help us to manage the land that is not suitable for vegetable production, and they are beautiful to look at grazing the verdant pastures at sunset; but when they get out of their pastures and are running over neghbors heirloom lawn balls, or tramping through the neighbors alfalfa field in the middle of our busiest time of year...well, Chris was ready to throw in the towel.."What are we doing this for?", "Do we even make any money on this beef operation?" "Wouldn't it be nice to only grow vegetables. imagine how much better we would be at it if that was really all that we did." These are all words straight from my husbands mouth, during the height of the season

The answers to many of the questions left little reason to keep them, no they do not make us a lot of money, yes, it would be nice to focus on only the vegetable production, but the answer to"What we are doing this for?" brought us slowly to the realization that we could not let them go.

Diversity is good for land, for the economy, for our diets.

Our farm is a diverse landscape of hills, lowlands, water ways, gravel and trees. Keeping this diversity in balance is our job.

Our farm business is heavily slanted toward vegetable production (albeit mixed vegetables) and selling beef and plants supports the vegetable operation while giving us added income.

We like to eat meat that has been raised here on our farm. As a former vegetarian, I only started eating meat when we began raising it.

And so the beef herd stays, in their new barn with their automatic waterer and when the grass greens up they will wander up the hill to graze to their hearts content.

The new barn is the beginning of a long term vision of more efficient and permanent systems. With better infrastructure and sytems we look forward to many more years of certified organic grassfed beef here on our farm.!!!!

The Great Flood of 2009

2009-08-01T07:30:00.012-04:00

The Ockawamack Creek flowed over it's banks and through the fields in ways that it has never flowed before.

The wheat is just barely above water here...some of it is now covered in silt and laying down flat...we have never combined compromised wheat like this...if we can get some dry days we will have to see what we can get off these seedings.

As the town of Claverack declared a state of emergency, our fields were filling and draining having soil removed and also deposited...while the rain continued.

The aftermath of flooding is not only soil erosion, but soil/silt deposits. Sometimes not a bad thing ...unless it is on top of a crop you are hoping to harvest.

Below you can see some very unhappy rows of soybeans, mesclun and arugula, swiss chard and beets...they are now known as the lost plantings....

Our five acre field has been fallow this summer being harrowed to kill weeds. It is always risky to leave a field open to the elements and it is the exception rather than the rule for us to not seed down open ground fairly quickly to protect it from erosion....hopefully we did not lose too much soil to the stream

Standing water has now been in the celery and celeriac for a few days...we will see how they survive.

Deep mud at the ends of the winter squash rows.

We have never seen water up this high....to the left is one of two entrances into our lower field, this bridge/water had to be crossed to harvest the potatoes for our end of the week deliveries.

Fortunately our new greenhouse did not float down stream.....there is normally about 50 feet between the stream and our greenhouse.

Fortunately less than 1/3 of our vegetable ground is in these lower fields. Only the fields pictured had standing and running water, all of our other fields are well drained and we are thankful for the diversity of terrain here on our farm. Though everything is water logged, the other crops are hanging in there and waiting for the summer sun and warmth to come.

Video Footage from our flooded Fields

2009-07-30T15:26:00.005-04:00

Chris took a drive out to the fields this morning, he starts out driving over the bridge...all that water is over the bridge...Then you can see the wheat and rye , or rather you can see water...the wheat and rye are under it...Fortunately most of our vegetable ground is not under water. A few crops we are worried about are the celery, celeriac and leeks. They are still under water as of this evening and we are expecting another inch of rain tomorrow...so it does not look like they will be getting dry any time soon. Our experience is that after 24 hours of submersion most vegetables suffocate and start to rot...we will see.

You can see in another view of the lower fields how hairy it was getting out to the potatoes to dig...after an entire night of steady rain (about 6 inches). Please disregard the amateur filming...It is hard to drive and keep on the road with a camera in your hand.

More photos to come...hopefully the rain will stop.

Garlic is in!!!

2009-07-29T21:16:00.004-04:00

Tha garlic was harvested a week ago. We have three trailer loads in our pole barn curing. After the tops dry down we will trim it and then once the wrappers are thouroughly dry we will trim the roots and grade it. We save the largest for replanting in the fall and sell and distribute the other sizes.
Though we harvest the garlic scapes for early season eating...a few slip through cracks. The kids and I thought that it was interesting to see the various stages of garlic scape development...so we lined them up for all to see. The scape which is the seed head, gets larger as the bulbils (seeds) swell. Eventually the outer casing of the garlic scape "flowers" releasing the bulbils. We do not plant the bulbils as they would take a full year and a half to become a head of garlic...we plant cloves in November and harvest full heads in July. Less weeding!!!!

One benefit of all this rain is that instead of having to hook up our bed lifter to harvest the garlic, or use a garden forks, we were able to pull it instead. Faster and easier.

Thankfully there is something good about all this rain.

Mourning tomatoes

2009-07-15T17:33:00.008-04:00

Last Friday we started picking cherry tomatoes. They are always the earliest, and always provide a glimpse of what is to come.

On Sunday night Chris and I pulled out the Compendium on tomato diseases, we were concerned about some yellowing on the lower leaves, we figured early blight...but wanted to be sure.
On Monday morning I went for early morning walk with my sister-in-law......I wanted to inspect the tomatoes more closely, there it was, as sure as could be the tell tale signs of late blight.

Yes, the blackened lesions around the stem, the gray spots on the leaves. Monday afternoon Chuck Bornt our extension agent confirmed it as late blight. We spoke with him yesterday and he has confirmed seven more cases in our area. Two days later some plants were pretty devastated, while others were still green.

In this picture below you can see the area/variety that was the most affected, brown amidst some green. We are in the process of pulling all of the heavily affected plants, saving the green ones. A chemical salesman came to the farm today, the first we have ever met. He came to bring us the Certified Organic Copper that we will be spraying on the still green plants and on our second planting which is still looking green.

We have very mixed feelings about copper, about spraying in general, we tend to be Luddites in this area, we don't tend to even spray the organic sprays. But the dilemma is that we have put a lot of work into these plants, they are among the earliest seeded in the green house, they are then transplanted into larger cell trays, they are then transplanted onto black plastic outside, they are then trellised each week to keep them from falling over. Hours and hours of labor. And trying to save them will be hours and hours more labor....so, is it worth it??? Of course it is if we get tomatoes.

There is no guarantee that pulling and spraying will even work, late blight is a persistent disease under the right conditions. It destroyed the Irish Potato Crop in the mid 1800's causing the Potato Famine.

This has been the perfect season for late blight. Wet and cold. And even now though the sun is shining, the nights were cold leaving a heavy dew...more moisture providing perfect breeding grounds for the late blight spores to spread.

Forward we move, we spent the first hours of realization feeling sick to our stomachs, the next morning we accepted complete loss, by the next afternoon we felt we should be proactive and try to at least save the second planting. So in some sick way things are looking up. Other crops look superb, the garlic is large and white and abundant, the purple carrots we will be harvesting in the next months are gorgeous and beans are sweet and crisp...time will tell for the tomatoes...we will keep you updated.

Purchasing Grass Fed Organic Beef

2009-07-09T13:53:00.006-04:00

We are excited to be able to offer beef to our members in the city and offer everyone the convenience of paying by credit card online. The wonders of technology.... Truly transforming our communication every day.

We have an updated availability list on our Blog, check it out to see what we have for the week.

E-mail us an order, remembering to tell us when and where you would like to pick it up.

We will put the order together and e-mail you back an invoice. Pay through paypal and the beef will arrive as specified...or come to the farm for pick up.

Be sure to read The Importance of Grass Fed Beef, it will give you an understanding of the scale and values behind our beef sales. It also offers some cooking advice.

Crop Update

2009-06-27T17:29:00.004-04:00

Yes they are here...our second planting of squash is now coming in and we have seeded our third planting...despite the rain and the rain and the rain...the squash still produce.

We are harvesting this amount of squash and zucchini every other day ...that is about 700 lbs every other day...Yikes!!!!

It seems that almost every day a new crop is ready...Friday the cucumbers hit there stride and today it was the green beans. Today Chris did a scouting harvest checking in on the onions and the garlic and the...yes, the potatoes.

The garlic is looking good, we will be able to offer fresh garlic soon, quite different from their drier later selves, the green beans are looking great, the onions need a little more time. They do the bulk of their top formation before the solstice and now will put their energy into bulb development.

Our first potatoes will be red skinned and as always extremely delicate. New potatoes must be handled with extreme care because of their super thin skin. In a few weeks the tops will die down, and then they are left in the ground for a bit for the skins to set. No longer so delicate we can harvest them with a machine and wash them in our barrel washer. But in the up and coming weeks, we will begin the potato harvesting.

Oh and we even have a first crop of baby carrots this week, sooooo tender and sweet!

Keeping out the deer

2009-06-19T06:46:00.003-04:00

Here are some pictures of the double lines of electric fence that we have throughout the farm to keep the deer out of some of their favorite foods. In a year like this, lush and wet, it is very upsetting to us that they choose lettuce and strawberries over all the tender alfalfa and grasses out in the fields
Deer are persistent. But this year we are attempting to use temporary fences surrounding close to maturity crops in order to break their routines. So far so good. The strawberries have a more permanent set up as the deer destroyed last years plants by eating every last green until they could no longer photosynthesize. Sad!!! Maybe will will bite the bullet and put up a permanent super high fence around the farm....we don't love that idea, it will feel a bit like a compound, time will tell.

Of course we also have a few nuisance hunters patrolling the property at dusk. The neighbors all know to expect shots this time of year. Jose, Carmello, Eduardo and Efrain will be eating well this summer, they enjoy the venison and hopefully the hunters will keep it coming.

Regardless of these attempts at deterring the deer, we try to plant enough with them in mind...
but they often take more than their share.

Here they come!!!!

2009-06-14T07:00:00.009-04:00

Over the years we have grown many different types of squash and zucchini. We seem to have honed in on straight neck squash, green zucchini and a yellow patty pan called sunburst. We have tried the light green Lebanese, the round shaped zucchini, even the green patty pan which are flatter than the Sunburst. It is not to say that we won't do some of them again, but the fact of the matter is, we grow twice as much zucchini as

yellow and patty pan...people like green, and the darker the better.
Our first harvest was yesterday, the zucchini came in first...500 pounds of it, very exciting!!!! Funny how the vegetable that is the most plain and probably the most given away come July is so very exciting in early June. To us it represents the first "hard" vegetable of summer.
Don't get me wrong, we have been harvesting beets and peas and delicious spring turnips for a few weeks, and lettuces and greens for months now. Squash and zucchini open the door to so so much more to come. They clearly state that summer has arrived....cucumbers and tomatoes will not be far behind!!!
So here they come...get out the recipes...post us any good ones that you love, I am particularly looking for some dessert uses. I am thinking about organizing a pot luck surrounding this over productive vegetable, we will see how that develops

The cucumbers are not too far behind. Here is one just waiting to mature to adorn you salad or hold center stage on it's own.....my children just love cucumber salads!!!!

Oats and Peas

2009-06-08T16:13:00.010-04:00

The oats are just heading up this week. Chris decided to turn in some oats and peas this week in order to prepare the ground for summer vegetables. We plant the oats and peas into ground that we plan on using late summer to early fall. Cover cropping is a practice which not only prevents water and wind erosion, it feeds the soil as well. There are many different types of cover crops, but oats and peas are nice in the spring because they are quick growing and can handle the early season cold snaps. The peas are a legume, which means that they fix nitrogen.

Here are some pictures of the nodules created by the rhizobia (nitrogen fixing bacteria)that are growing on the roots of the peas plants. They are the slightly pink small round things attached to the roots. The soil is teeming with many different types of rhizobia and when the peas roots begin to grow, they attract the particular rhizobia that will work with the pea plant, in a process called symbiosis, to fix nitrogen. Each legume has a compatible rhizobia and if your soil does not have the correct match, nitrogen fixation can not happen. Our soil has the right rhizobia judging by the pictures. It is possible to purchase rhizobia called inoculants which you mix with the seed to insure symbiosis.
The nitrogen is already present in the air spaces of the soil. The gas moves through the nodule at the root and then is converted by the rhizobia into amonia which the plant uses. The plant in return provides energy to the rhizobia...as much as 30% of the plants captured energy goes to feed the rhizobia.

When the plant flowers it release the rhizobia back into the soil and focuses it's energy on seed formation. The rhizobia can live in the soil for up to three years if soil conditions are right.

We turned in this small section of oats and peas before the flowering time because we needed the space. The rest of the oats and peas we hope to let mature and combine so that we have seed for next years cover cropping.

Chris is using the Soil Saver to turn in the oats and peas. It will take two passes over the course of a few weeks to kill this crop. It will take another few weeks for the organic matter to break down into fine enough pieces for the vegetable seeder to not get clogged up.

Playing in the Fields

2009-06-04T16:05:00.001-04:00

Fun in the fields

We went for a big bike ride, up fields and down
We walked through the crops and checked them all out!

There was even time for playing with the rocks ....who needs building blocks when the rock rake leaves this behind!

The Bees are Busy

2009-05-29T21:25:00.000-04:00

The locust trees are in full bloom right now and I wish that I could capture the sound while standing under the tree taking this picture. It was the sound of busy bees....Look hard enough and you can see one in this picture hard at work. We have thirteen hives on the farm managed by a local beekeeper and his son. They sell there honey at the Hudson farmer's market come mid-summer or so.
Bees are very important to us as they pollinate our squash and cucumber crops. Without pollination there is no fruit, so all the crops that are not self pollinating need bees to do the necessary work. Bees are very sensitive and have not fared well in the modern world of broad spectrum insecticides. We are happy to have these on the farm and be sure that there will be more pictures of these important unpaid workers on the farm.

Crop Update

2009-05-28T17:27:00.001-04:00

The view of the upper fields from the high spot behind the strawberries

We planted day neutral strawberries this year and look forward to picking them all season long. We hope to be able to give strawberries one or two times to our CSA groups as well as offer them to our Farmer's Market customers. Notice the black plastic and the white plastic....the black will bring the plants planted on it in earlier while the white plastic will reflect the hot summer sun keeping those berries producing better in the height of the summer.

Garlic...Planted in the Fall it is the first to jump up in the spring and it will stay there until harvested mid summer. We offer the bulbs freshly pulled for the first week or so before we put them in our barn to cure. It is amazing how much more water is in the garlic before they are cured. Though it makes perfect sense, it never ceases to surprise people.

Here are the onions...they are looking great this year. They quickly rooted after transplanting and seem to be growing quickly...we do have a mild thrips population in our fields that often slows the growth of our onions come mid June...we will keep you updated!!!!

Mesclun waiting to be harvested. This picture was taken last week which means that these greens are being enjoyed by folks from Western Massachusetts to NYC across the Hudson in Woodstock and as far North as Glens Falls. Many a Memorial Day picnic will include these humble lettuces.

More greens; arugula, tatsoi and rapini to the rear. We grow all of these crops under floating row covers to keep the flea beetles off.

Peas, the most anticipated of the spring vegetables. Sweet and crisp they are welcome on many tables cooked or raw.

Here is our first planting of Kale. We have already planted our second planting while our third was just seeded in the greenhouse.

So there you have it, a quick update of where some of the crops are. Other than a few woodchucks nibbling here and there as well as some deer damage in the first planting of swiss chard and beets, things are off to a good start.

Rock Raking

2009-05-26T21:04:00.001-04:00

This week we were able to get our friend Matt to come and operate our rock rake on a few fields that we wanted to get ready to plant. This field was potatoes last year and we will be planting it with sorghum sudan grass some time in June. As a cover crop sorghum sudan adds large amounts of carbon the the soil, also known as organic matter, it provides the nitrogen producing soil organisms with food to keep them busy all next year when we will plant this field to vegetables again.

Ahhhhhh!!!!! This makes us happy, rows of rocks ready to be lifted by our rock picker. Though these rocks will be gone from the field forever tomorrow afternoon, there will be plenty more coming to the surface over the year. It is the nature of rocky soil to stay that way despite all our human efforts to change it. It will however make life easier for machine and man in the short term and in a few years we will pick this field again.

Tomorrow this will be in action...the rock picker, you can see the rakes that lift the rocks and deposit them into the rear box. Once full you drive to the ends of the fields and unload the rocks. Much smaller than those rocks used to make the famous stone wall all around New England, there must be something we can do with millions of fist sized rocks...ideas anyone????

The First Mowing

2009-05-25T17:18:00.005-04:00

We are not baling hay yet...but today we got the mower out and started mowing for straw.

The Rye & Vetch last week The Rye & Vetch & Chris & Lael Today

We mowed all of our rye and Hairy Vetch today, it has been grown to enrich the soil with organic matter and to fix nitrogen. We grow many cover crops here on our farm, but the only ones that over winter (meaning they do not die with the frost) are Winter Rye and Hairy Vetch.

We will bale it up and use it as straw for our strawberries and garlic.

Freezing Temperatures

2009-05-17T21:24:00.007-04:00

Today was cold!!!! The weather is calling for temperatures in the mid-thirties tonight and so we spent the day covering all of the cukes and zukes that were planted out last week. The tomatoes peppers and eggplants were covered earlier in the week before another evening of projected frost.

We have never planted the above mentioned crops this early. Other years there has always been a multitude of reasons that we waited until we were not threatened by frost. Either the plants were not ready, the plastic was not laid, or we did not have enough floating row covers to ensure protection if the temperatures dipped towards freezing.

We bought hundreds of high tensile wire hoops to create mini-greenhouse conditions for the plants. The hoops keep the floating row cover from touching the plants (very abrasive on a windy day) as well as allows any frost to settle on the cover and not get through to the plants. We are hoping for the added benefit of reduced wind on our young plants.

The spring winds on our farm are enough to make you batty, on the days that it blows it is relentless, lifting plastic just laid, flying row covers into the trees, and wind whipping young plants; both dehydrating them and bending there often fragile leaves and stems. It will be interesting to see how the plants respond to them as well as how they respond to our field conditions...time will tell.

Trade Secrets Plant Sale

2009-05-16T20:58:00.002-04:00

Big plant sale this past weekend. It benefits Women's Support Services, a "Worthy Cause" to be sure. Martha Stewart came through our booth, apparently all of her heirloom tomatoes are doing just fine...so she did not need to supplement.

The hottest sellers were probably Sun Gold Cherry tomatoes and Brandywines, though we have one customer who comes each season and buys 54 SanMarzano Paste tomatoes; they plant over 100 tomatoes for themselves...they are eating, freezing and keeping them and swore to me that none go to waste...I love it... passionate gardeners keep us in business!! Of course our Nasturtium hanging baskets almost all sold out too, just goes to show...tomatoes and old fashioned flowers are the way to go!!!

We of course had a huge display and as always came back with lots. There is probably someone out there who studies the effect of dwindling display, no one like to think they are getting the picked over goods. We never seem to have that at our Markets and plants sales. We always think big and bring the full diversity of what we have to offer.

Thank goodness for the sunny day and the stonewall behind our tent, it showed off baskets and containers so nicely.

Vegetable and heirloom tomato displays...we carry 24 varieties of heirloom tomato plants...definitely our most popular greenhouse crop.

We went through over 100 cardboard trays in the 6 hours of sales...Leo keeping on task!!!

They look good, they taste good, so many lovely nasturtium basket went to new homes.

Spring! Spring! Spring!

2009-05-05T21:48:00.012-04:00

Lael and her friend Eleanor plant pansies by the front door

They look so lovely!!!!

The Lilacs are in bloom and they smell so great...too bad their season is so short!

This torenia is blooming in the Greenhouse...it is so beautiful!!!! It does well in sun or part shade....we have it in a magenta color as well.

Spring is full of blooming things...though the daffodils are past, violets of all colors are in all the woods, even some of the Solomon's Seal is blooming. With all the warm weather that we have been having, things are coming on a bit earlier than usual. Two of our three Farmer's Markets start this week...Hudson and Lenox.

We have been harvesting Arugula and Mesclun this week and look forward to selling lots of it this weekend. Plant sales are going well also...This is the first week that the Heirloom tomato plants are ready. While Brandywine and Striped German are the most popular plants, I am excited about Tigerella, Wapsipicon Peach, and First Light. I will trial them in a small garden plot to see if they are good enough to go out into the fields next year. We only let the proven winners go into production!!!

Nettles

2009-05-02T09:18:00.001-04:00

We all went out with our gloves on and our bags open, ready to harvest the nettle by the stream. I prepared them into a delicious twist on an Italian favorite...Stinging Nettle and White Bean Soup.......Why not.

Delicious surprises we find all around us.

Potatoes are in the Ground

2009-04-30T13:26:00.014-04:00

The Potatoes arrive early April and we let them sprout a bit while they are in their bags. They have names like Satina, French Fingerling, Keuka Gold, Austrian Crescent, & Red Cloud. Not sure who creates all these names, but the potatoes are all a bit different. Some are waxy...Great for potato salad, some are mealy ...those are the best for Baked Potatoes and French Fries, and some are all purpose, we love to roast those in the oven!!

Size determines whether a potato is cut in two, or left whole. We like them to be in the 2 oz range.

They are put into bins with their label and out to the fields they go.....into the hopper of the potato planter we borrowed from a farm down the road.

There they scooped up and dropped into the furrow approximately 6-10 inched apart.

Keeping an eye on the straight row...and the potatoes...and we will see in a few weeks how they look!

As the potato is popped into the furrow, the two discs in the back of the machine throw soil back over the potato, and voila, the potatoes are planted and hilled in one pass.

Fresh Green Grass

2009-04-25T08:43:00.002-04:00

The cows were beyond thrilled to get on some green grass...usually we walk them out of the barn and up the hill to our pasture on route 217. We had to do things a little differently this year as we are putting some hay land into vegetable production which forces us to be a little tighter with our hay making. We plan on cutting the 217 pasture for hay and for that reason do not want it grazed this spring. So instead of walking them through their normal rotation, we decided to trailer them up to their hillside pasture below our brother and sister in laws house.

Lets just say it went....OK. The trailer pretty much means only one thing to our herd...goodbye, not see ya later, but a permanent good bye, as in the freezer. They instantly get animated and noisy when it comes around. The move by trailer was a little more stressful for them than the walk though the fields...lots of mooing as they were momentarily separated from each other. A few jumped out the opening in the barn where the waterer sits...it definitely was not a boring job we really hate boring around here!!!. As you can see, they are happy now...and so are we.

New Ducklings

2009-04-24T20:28:00.005-04:00

Our neighbor's daughter Tracey moved back home this week and she brought with her five ducklings. Mom said no and there you have it, a few more feathered friends move in at Miller's Crossing. Our lone duck is thrilled, or at least he will be when they grow up and look more like him.

AnneMae and Connelly had a fun morning trying to catch them. If we sat still they would waddle right up to us, but one move and away they ran. They are so cute, somehow they seem less frantic than chickens.

Connelly perfected the catch method. He sat with his legs open and when they came in close to him he quick brought his feet together around them creating a little fence and picked up whichever was the closest. He never ceases to amaze his sister Lael with his brazen animals moves. She is much more timid, as afraid of hurting the animal as she is that the animal might hurt her.

Earth Day on the Farm

2009-04-20T21:01:00.003-04:00

Earth Day back on the Farm involved a whole lot less people than in New York City, while Chris was busy getting the last of the spring cover crops in (Oats and peas) the kids and I went out to do our part, we hit the road above the upper pasture on Route 217...plenty of garbage to pick up, the kids loved it.

The whole experience is almost like finding buried treasure, "look over there a plastic bag, quick who's going to get it?" "Me, me, me", and they all race to the spot. We got a big black garbage bag between us and went home to check in on the calves before the afternoon was over.

Earth Day in NYC

2009-04-19T20:19:00.003-04:00

What a party!!!!

The Farm at Miller's Crossing went to the big apple for Earth Day and it was fun!!!!

Greene Harvest CSA is just about full thanks to all of the hard work of the team down there...and the Habana Outpost was clearly a hub of activism, local food and environmental stewardship, inspiring and energizing...though we came home exhausted.

Lael, Connelly,AnneMae and Christopher John all enjoyed our first family trip to NYC. Grandma Cashen and Aunt Katy drove down to lend a hand and see the sites.

It is hard to leave the Farm...there is

so much going on here right now, Greenhouses full, cows having calves and plants going in the ground. All of it needs constant monitoring and management to be sure that everything goes well. Whether it is a cow with mastitis, a hot day and plants needing water, or 50 mile an hour gusts of wind ripping up plastic and floating row covers, when we leave, there is no one here to watch out for all that could go wrong. On the surface it seems so quiet and calm, and certainly feels different than the bustle and crowds of the city, but Mother Earth is keeping us busy and always on our toes!!!

First Plantings

2009-04-17T16:35:00.006-04:00

Black plastic warms up the soil a few degrees and that small amount of warming is enough to bring crops in a good two weeks before those planted on soil the same day. This year we are very excited to be trialing biodegradable plastic for our earliest crops. For more information, check out the article on our Links list.

The plastic is laid with a drip tape underneath it. This brings water to the plants (rain can not get through the plastic), providing optimal temperature and moisture for plant growth. The next step is planting....the beets are going in the ground. Normally we direct seed beets, but in an attempt to get sweet bunched beets and their delicious greens to members and customers early in June, we transplant them.

In this picture you can see our water wheel transplanter being used. The yellow tank holds water and the wheels (they are hard to see in this picture), poke holes in the plastic, deliver a shot of water to the hole, and in the small bunch of 3-5 beets goes. This afternoon Jose, Carmello and Chris transplanted 5760 beet transplants. Yikes!!!!! We always over plant and we especially did this year as we had significant deer damage in last years transplanted beets...we will of course keep you updated.
Here is a great view of the transplanters in action. Lots of holes, lots of plants...they are planted 6 inches apart on rows about 2 feet apart on 600' beds. Tomorrow the kales...laCinatas, Green Curly and Redbor to be specific, and Collards as well will be planted.

Calf Whispering

2009-04-16T15:44:00.006-04:00

This is the first season that we have had the calves born right here at the barn. Usually we get them out on fresh green grass before they start calving. We bred them just a little earlier last summer. It has been a real treat for this Mama and her kiddies to get to spend so much time with the herd and especially their new calves. Every sunny morning we have been out there after breakfast petting and talking to them. Connelly has become quite adept at quietly creeping up and itching them...they turn around..."THAT IS NOT MY MAMA" and usually run away. He has gotten a few to relax and become his friends.

They will be going up to graze on our neighbors pastures next week, so we are getting in all the time we can while they are right here.

They Made It

2009-04-14T21:44:00.003-04:00

This spring we lost our "pet" cow Tractor. So, we decided to befriend another special cow, and here she is with her first calf, Attaboy. A cow in our herd who becomes a pet is entitled to special privileges, and occasional treats. Once she knows you are always keeping something special on the side for her, she'll seek you out every time you enter in with the herd.

Before this cow was our pet, she was MC07, a two year old heifer bred to our bull Puglsey in 2008, and due to calf in the spring of '09.

When her day to calve finally came, she was still having contractions as the daylight faded on a rainy and cold afternoon. An hour after dark she calved, but to the large size of the calf, her uterus prolapsed, aka came out with the calf. Need less to say, it was not a pretty sight, and luckily we do not have any pictures to show you. After corralling her into the barn, and hoisting up a very large and very slimy calf into the barn as well, the vet arrived.

With every ounce of her energy this petite vet forced the uterus back into the cows insides, and back into the right place. She then placed a suture around the cows vagina to prevent another prolapse, and she was on her way! Two hours after we thought both cow and calf could be lost, both were quietly nuzzling in our barn.

Five days later we removed the suture and Mama (as she is now known) and Attaboy are out and about with the rest of the herd. It is always impressive how resilient and hardy these animals really are.

Baby Beets

2009-04-10T21:43:00.008-04:00

Here they are baby beets....really really baby...just a few weeks old. They look so good. Though I have to admit at this point in the year, I have eaten alot of beets, it is the greens I am after. If I could eat these greens right off the tray I would...except for the fact that eating my fill would probably decimate the entire first planting of beets. That would be bad!

These babies are destined for the fields. They will be planted in clusters of 3-6 (that is the number of seedlings in each cell of the seed flat) about 6" apart in two rows about 24" apart per bed. They will grow to golf ball size and then we will harvest, wash and send them out to the hungry masses.

Of course most people focus on the beets, but the greens are really amazing. They are far more tender than spinach, especially when harvested young. There is a generation of folks who remember going to the market to buy beet greens, they could care less about the root. But these days most customers ask if we can take the tops off...after we offer a few simple ideas of what they could do with the greens...sauteed w/garlic and olive oil, steamed w/ splash of vinegar...many try them, but we often bring plenty back for the chickens, or pigs, or us!

Ramps

2009-04-10T21:01:00.011-04:00

The first delicacies...after maple syrup that is...to be harvested in the spring are the ramps.

They grow in small clusters down by the stream bed. The ramps on our farm tend to grow between all kinds of tree roots, making them difficult to harvest. It is for this reason that we have never really sold a lot of them. But this time of year phone calls start trickling in requesting these seasonal treats. This week we will be sending some ramps down to Northeast Kingdom in NYC. Check out their blog link if you want to know more about them.

We will be harvesting 10-14 pounds for them...it may be worth searching the banks for a sandy spot...they really are hard to dig out where these pictures are taken!!!

According to The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink," the word ramp comes from "rams," or "ramson," an Elizabethan dialect rendering of the wild garlic. The word is first mentioned in English print in 1530, but was used earlier by English immigrants of the southern Appalachian Mountains.

Ramps of course are just the beginning...lots of other goodies out there to eat, a friend was raving about the wild dandelions she harvested the other day. I, however am really looking forward to the baby bokchoy and arugula that we seeded last week. Chris came in today and reported that the peas were all up.....they will be so refreshing after all the potatoes and carrots we have been eating of late.

Good Bye Old Friend

2009-04-08T14:14:00.006-04:00

Tractor has been with us since we moved here...she was inherited from the previous farm and they had gotten her from Camphill Copake long age. We figure her approximate age to be 29...pretty old for a cow. She gave birth to Surprise the first year we moved to the farm.. Her calf was...a surprise. And thus started our endeavors with beef cows. We soon took on additional animals with our neighbor, eventually bought her out of the beef business, and here we are manging our small 20-30 animal herd of grass fed organically managed cows.

Tractor was named by my nephew Nicholas...only a young boy could name a cow tractor!!!! She grazed the best views in Columbia County, she let our children sit on her and has always been the friendliest cow in the herd...as long as you were human. Dogs beware!!! Though it is hard to remember her as ever being aggressive, she chased our dog Snowy many a time riling up the entire herd into stampede formations through the fields. As he would run straight for Chris with all the cows following, Snowy was banned from the cow's pastures in summer.

Though she did not have another calf after Surprise, we decided that she would grow old and die here on the farm. She had a long retirement, eventually she had no teeth and stopped chasing dogs.

We told the kids that Tractor went to heaven, where she can chase Snowy again. She had a good life.

Rugrats on the farm

2009-04-08T08:59:00.006-04:00

Christopher John sitting up high on the cart

Searching for newborn calves after dinner on rainy night this week

The Little Helpers

Sneaking in under the door!!!!!

Things we get excited about!!!!!

2009-04-07T13:41:00.034-04:00

This is the inside of our new/used 30'x100' Harnois Ovaltech greenhouse. After construction, we dug 24" down around the inside walls, and placed 2" foam insulation to keep the cold outside ground from penetrating inside. and the heat from the flooring from escaping.

We installed a radiant heat floor, with tubing spaced every two inches running the length of the house. Delivering the heat to the root zone of the plants is more efficient than just heating the air, and we hope it proves to lower fuel costs as well.

The side walls of this Harnois greenhouse roll up for easy ventilation when the sun really shines

The system is made up of thousands of feet of flexible tubing that 175 degree water runs through. The water runs through the system realeasing the heat right at the root zone. Since heat rises...the plants get the heat first as it slowly rises into the peak of the house.

We have a on demand propane hot water heater heating the water to 185 degrees. After it goes through the system it returns and gets reheated. We plan to replace this heater with a larger, more efficient oil boiler when time and money are more available.

We ended up using just about 15,000' of tubing to cover the floor. You can see how much tubing was laid in just 1/4 of the house. We installed two zones one on each side of the greenhouse and turned them on as they were needed.

After the tubing was laid and turned on and double checked, we laid down a second layer of weed barrier cloth to protect the tubes and give the plants a solid layer to rest upon. You would never know anything was under there!!!

This is a picture of the outgoing and return systems coming off the header pipes. After the sytem was completed, we built a simple wooden box over top of the manifolds to protect against foot traffic.

After two and a half weeks of seeding and planting, the greenhouse is full.

The Wheat is Planted

2009-04-06T22:12:00.006-04:00

This is our third year seeding wheat. Our brother -in-law Chris Stearn was an avid baker. He got really excited about growing wheat for the Hawthorne Valley Bakery where he worked, and someday for his own bread baking venture. We found a very well taken care of Allis Chalmers All-Crop harvester pull behind combine which runs off the PTO of our tractor...and the rest is history.

Chris passed away in December of 2007. We miss him terribly, but are thanful for the wheat seeds that he planted here. 2008 was our first successful crop, so we saved our wheat, and planted a little over 5 acres this spring.

The grain drill was set to seed just over 100 lbs to the acre. The grain drill holds about 300 lbs of seed, and seeds the rows are 7" apart,

This field grew our fall carrots, peppers, celery, celeriac, and sweet potatoes in 2008. We seeded in late March this year, thanks to some early warm and dry days. After our wheat crop is harvested we will follow with oats or buckwheat, depending on when the harvest date actually occurs. Last year it was early August.

King of the Mountain

2009-04-05T08:09:00.001-04:00

Antonio born on April 1st to Daisy, is doing great. He is enjoying being the only calf in the herd, running around and kicking up his heels. This morning Chris found him nestled in the middle of a round bale sleeping quietly....cozy and warm.

The Greenhouse is Filling up

2009-04-03T13:48:00.001-04:00

Here is Lael age 6 transplanting herbs in the warm and sunny greenhouse

The greenhouses are filling up...we started planting and seeding the last week in February

Leo enjoying the sunny day planting up the hanging baskets

Our new second greenhouse is almost full. Hard to imagine what we did without it. Leo and Efrain have been busy. Lots of new lettuces this year as well as the standard varieties of greens. Next week we will begin the process of transplanting tomatoes, peppers and eggplants to their retail containers...then we will be packed to the gills!!