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Saturday, December 22, 2012

Merry Christmas!





I haven't written in quite a while. Did you miss me? I have been busy farming away at Burge and Crystal Organic. The fall CSA ended and Peachtree Road Farmers Market is done for the year. The cold weather and short days have slowed the growth of all the plants but it is the south and we have hoop houses so we continue to produce amazing food, just a little bit slower. Slower is kind of nice after the blistering heat and speed of a Georgia summer. 

My Christmas gift to you is a few new recipes and a ton of pictures. I won't bore you with much more writing. On to the good stuff:

Nursery



Baby Chicks! They are growing up so fast. I cleaned out their chicken coop which was covered in pig weed and then moved them in. Now they have a little yard and get fresh greens every day. At night they go inside where they have heat lamps, hay and space to roost. 


Pig Weed Galore

Moving Day. 

They keep growing...


and growing...


and growing.

Endive Salad being triple washed. 

Winter Salad Miz
Spin Dry

Cleaning Sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichokes)

Sunchokes drying

Surprise Sunflower Bouquets



Purple Carrots at Crystal

Over and Over

Endless weeding of the Asparagus beds at Burge

Tiny Beauty


Tomato Seconds that I turned into tomato paste

Playing with wet concrete 

Farm Hand Roll Call at Crystal



Fall Colors at Burge
Restaurant Orders

Poor Hand Turkey
Kale :)

Matthew's Hamper House of wonder




Parsley at Crystal- we sell lots to Whole Foods

To Do


Fennel

Egyptian Walking Onions

They multiply!



I found this. It was unsettling. 


Sweet Onions

Peppers



First frost casualties


Fall Market Spread

Fall Market Goods



Purple Sprouting Broccoli 


Farm Fresh Eggs from Crystal. They taste as good as they look.

Puddy Time! With Special Guests.


Puddy likes the cold weather just about as much as I do.

                                   
Art Shot

Thanksgiving wrestling with Murphey


Post wrestling nap

Eli, our foster puppy


Puddy being the perfect hostess
And Introducing Willy, the Crystal Organic Farm Dog


Monday, November 5, 2012

Now What?

After 29 weeks as an apprentice I now have to figure out what to do with all this knowledge and experience I have gained. As of yet the only thing I have truly figured out is that I have a lot left to learn. For the next several months the plan is to work a few days a week at Burge and a few days a week at Crystal Organic Farm.  Long term I hope to find a situation on a small farm where I can take on more responsibility either as an assistant or full fledged farm manager.

I haven't quite decided what format the blog will take from here on or how often I will update it. I would love your feedback. What would you like to know, see or read about?

For now I'll post a bit about my first week as a "professional" farm hand.

Welcome to Crystal Organic Farm!

...where we have Chickens! And this week we got in a shipment of baby chicks. They arrive in the mail, USPS, in a cardboard box with holes. I got to help move them into their new home, 3 large plastic bins in the garage. Each bin has bedding, a feed tray with starter food, a poultry waterer, a screen on top and a heat lamp. They are so cute when they are this little. I took a video for you!



Chick nursery
So. So. Cute.
and Fluffy!




  


















My first day at Crystal was humbling. We harvested all day for Whole Foods, Turnip Truck (a local produce distributor that supplies high end restaurants in Atlanta), and restaurants. The crew at Crystal have been there for years and are real pros. I felt horribly slow but everyone was very gracious and welcoming. I went back on Friday and tried to focus on working faster and more efficiently. I felt good at the end of the day. It may be a while before I can keep up but I have a clear goal of getting faster.

Harvest list



Dried Okra Pods

Pac Choi
Rainbow Chard

Cherry Tomatoes

Tomatoes














Back at Burge

At Burge this week I helped harvest for the CSA on Tuesday. I also worked Thursday helping to get things winterized. 
Harvesting Wild Persimmons

Orchard Persimmons

Wild Persimmons
Fall CSA Week 11


We closed the doors on the Hoop Houses that had them. In HH 1 the rolled up doors had apparently trapped hundreds of butterflies whose wings came fluttering down and now litter the ground. It looks like a butterfly bomb went off in there. It would be sad except that I know how much damage their larvae (caterpillars) have caused in this Hoop House. It seems like poetic justice.

Butterfly Bomb

There were literally hundreds

Row covers provide protection from wind and cold

Hoop House Tomatoes

Tasty






Thursday Ivan, Daniel and I build end caps for the newer Hoop Houses that don't have doors. It is getting cold enough at night now that we are closing the doors to keep the heat in over night.


Left: Done, Right: up next

Wiggle Wire

How it works: We have one large sheet of plastic for each end. There are channels running across the top of the hoop house where you place wiggle wire to hold the plastic in place.

We pulled the center up and placed the wiggle wire, then stretched the bottom, keeping the bottom of the plastic centered, and attached it to the sides. Then we went back up and place the wiggle wire all along the outside edge.

These end caps are in place for the duration of the winter. When it is warm (most days) we will roll the sides of the hoop houses up to allow the wind to cool them. At night we will roll them down to hold the heat in.

Top Center and Sides in place


Happy Halloween!

Trick



Rat Trap, complete with victim :(

Sweet Potato Skull Carving by Daniel


















Treat!



Ella and Finn- Carrots and Peas