Harvest
Surprise Potatoes! The fields where we grew potatoes in the spring have surprised us with a second round. Any potatoes we missed at harvest time have now sprouted into new plants and grown us new potatoes for the fall. They are small, colorful and delicious.
The fall tomato plantings are also coming on strong.
Also harvested this week: Carrots, Squash, Zucchini, Frisee, Eggplant, Peppers, Turnips, Basil, Beets, Winter Radishes, Okinawa Spinach, Kale, Collards and Kohlrabi Greens.
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| Market Harvest |
Production and Distribution
Fall CSA Week 8
Two Markets!
This week we had a special Friday night market along with our regular Saturday morning at
Peachtree Road. On Friday night we had special permission to serve prepared food. Cory chose three items to feature. Kettle Corn which we made from the popcorn we grew, Torched Okra which he marinated and roasted in the pepper roaster, and Boiled Peanuts. There were several local breweries and live music. We were also the only produce vendors who showed up so the few people who had a mind to buy veggies on a Friday night bought them from us.
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| Claire's second market, already a pro |
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Boiled Burge Peanuts.
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Maintenance
This week we turned in a lot of our first fall plantings including the Winter Radishes, Lettuce and Asian Salad, Purple Top Turnips and Rutabagas in Jeff Cook Field. First we mow them down low with the Bush Hog and then disk them into the soil. The plant matter breaks down and gets reincorporated into the soil as green manure. By continually adding organic matter this way we build the integrity of the soil humus.
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Parasitic Larvae eating a Hornworm from the inside out.
Gross! |
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| Winter Radishes bolted and gone to seed |
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| Shopping List |
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| Ivan sprays fertilizer on the leaves of the young brassicas. |
This week has been very dry. The weather has been incredibly pleasant actually requiring a sweater in the morning and sun screen in the afternoon. However, we have had to step up our irrigating game because there hasn't been any rain and it doesn't look like there will be for a while. We spent a good deal of time this week setting up, running and trying to remember to turn off irrigation at the appropriate times.
Planting
This week we planted winter cover crops in a few fields. We use a cone spreader to broadcast seeds over a large area. It is the red cone on the back of the tractor. Once the seed is spread Daniel goes back over the field very lightly with the disks to fold them in.
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| Daniel loads the cone spreader |
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| Cone Spreader |
Farm Life
Farm life for me is coming to a close. I only have 2 and a half weeks left at Burge Organic Farm and it's starting to sink in. Last week when I started seeds in the greenhouse I was acutely aware that I would not see them grow to maturity, harvest their fruit or get to taste it. It is a strange feeling. I have come to love this farm, the work I've done here and the fruits of my labor. I think I'll spend a lot of the next few weeks saying goodbye to it piece by piece. In the meantime, if anyone has a few acres, a farm house and a little start up money I'm your farmer.
Puddy Time
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| Aww! Eww!! Awwww! Gross!!!!! |
For better or for worse, Sprocket loves cleaning Puddy's ears.
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| Puddy inspects the carrots |
On Monday we finally knocked out this list, replaced lamps and made a plan to get the barn in order. Unfortunately we ran out of time to actually implement the plan. Hopefully we get a chance this coming week 
