October 28, 2008

vegetable garden politics

I came Micheal Pollen’s letter in the NY Times this week (I’m a bit late, I’ve been too busy): “Farmer in Chief”, a letter to the NY Times by Michael Pollen (link): I added a few excerpts here, because its a great topic, but you can go ahead and read all 8,000 words (!) yourself.“After cars, the food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy — 19 percent.” “…chemical fertilizers, pesticides, farm machinery, modern food processing, packaging and transportation have together transformed a system that…

October 27, 2008

my first CSA distribution

My first CSA share! I picked up 50 lbs of fantastic vegetables from my local CSA (Gretta’s Farm) this weekend. The farm is 1 mile from my house. Not only am I really excited to enjoy eating these, I’m also considering what I would like to grow in my own garden next fall. Gretta (and partner farms) grow all of this locally using sustainable organic methods. The distribution included: oak leaf lettuce, broad leaved escarole, rainbow chard, hakurei turnips, spinach, parsley, green and red peppers, a couple jalapeno chiles, fennel,…

October 23, 2008

gathering leaves

Spades take up leaves No better than spoons, And bags full of leaves Are light as balloons. I make a great noise Of rustling all day Like rabbit and deer Running away. But the mountains I raise Elude my embrace, Flowing over my arms And into my face. I may load and unload Again and again Till I fill the whole shed, And what have I then? Next to nothing for weight, And since they grew duller From contact with earth, Next to nothing for color. Next to nothing for…

October 22, 2008

winterizing the vegetable garden

I was looking at The 2009 Farmers’ Almanac and see they are predicting a “numbingly cold and snowy” winter for the Northeast US. OMG! I hope they’re wrong. I’m never ready for winter. I keep hoping we’ll skip it somehow. Nevertheless, my garden is winterized now. “How do you winterize you vegetable garden?” I see this question around a lot so here’s what I did. (Do you do the same?) To winterize, I removed all debris and summer plants. I pulled all the squashes and tomatoes and tomato poles and…

October 22, 2008

salt marsh hay

I found a nearby store with salt marsh hay. I bought 2 bales to mulch my fall vegetables. A bale of hay is enormous and easily covered all of my veggies. I’ll have left overs for next year.

October 20, 2008

planting bulbs

I hope these will look pretty in my plot next spring.

October 20, 2008

winterizing the garden

It was pretty chilly this morning. I guess winter will come again after all …. Skippy and I did a few chores to continue to winterize the garden. “We” planted spring bulbs, turned over the bird bath, watered the dry fall greens, and “our” main job – mulch. I collected freshly cut grass from the fields and started mulching my beds. Mulching with grass trimmings: I feel good tonight knowing my plants are tucked in with a nice covering of mulch. The fields nearby were recently mowed, so I collected…

October 19, 2008

as pretty as a pea

I wish this was an early spring pea blossom. I read at the Tiny Farm Blog that pea plants are hardy, but the pods are not. Interesting. If cold temps hold off a week or two, maybe I could see this in action.

October 18, 2008

Gretta’s distribution

I went over to Gretta’s CSA farm this morning and took some photos of her distribution. It has a number of new items that will need identification for her customers. I’ll be posting a photo labeled with mouse-overs on her blog later today. I spread all the vegetables on a bench in her hoop house, along with a box of each of the five apple varieties (each distribution includes just one bag of apples). Lots of roots, squashes and greens. Skippy seemed to like hanging out here. He seems to…

October 16, 2008

fall greens

radicchio treviso grown by Gretta at Belmont CSA and salad bowl with radicchio and escarole my garden plot with escarole in front and fall peas mixed fall greens and black-seeded simpson lettuce arugula and red summer crisp lettuce The fall greens are still looking good this week. And they are not all ‘green’, but are often red! The top photos are a beautiful radicchio Gretta gave me. I like to eat this fresh, sliced and mixed with my escarole and lettuce. The heads in her fields are wonderful (photo here)…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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