(From 11/24/2013)

Hello All,


Well, we think the growing season is officially over! With a forecast low tonight of 15 F anything still growing out there is probably toast.

 The chickens are enjoying the “It’s going to die tonight anyways so might as well feed it to the birds” attitude we are having today!

However, the kale should make it through the cold. We are trialing three types of kale this winter to see which is the hardiest: rainbow lacinato, redbor, and winterbor.

Rainbow lacinato

We have grown rainbow lacinato for the past two years and have been very pleased. The 2012 fall planted plants gave us abundant kale raab (the broccoli-like flowers) for the shares in the beginning of spring 2013. And with the cooler than usual temperatures this year the spring plantings lasted all season. We doubled our fall planting this year.

Redbor

Redbor is one of the parents of the rainbow lacinato kale. It is a very pretty plant with ruffled red leaves that get even redder and sweeter in cold weather. The red color seems to confuse the cabbage worms too, which is a big plus in our book. Add in good cold hardiness and we are looking forward to seeing how it handles this winter, which is predicted to be very cold.

Winterbor

And to hedge our bets in this predicted cold we planted some winterbor. It is a smaller, compact plant that supposedly has the best cold hardiness of them all. We will see who is the last kale standing!

The oncoming cold snap had us trying new ways to quickly preserve crops. When you are faced with wheelbarrows full of Chinese cabbage (and bok choy, and tatsoi, and…) you become very inventive. The good news is we now have a lot of tested preservation recipes to share next year. So when the baskets are overflowing and you can’t possibly eat it all we can share how to freeze, can, and ferment for later enjoyment. By the way, oven roasted bok choy with olive oil and garlic is delicious and freezes well. And you can make sauerkraut out of almost anything with just a mason jar and some salt. Ask us how we know that!

Some of those large Chinese cabbage heads topped 7 pounds!

So what else have we been doing to prepare for next year? All our garlic is planted and mulched. We completely renovated 5 strawberry beds. Strawberry crowns actually become less productive after a few years, so we saved all the baby runners in a “nursery bed” and transplanted them all to a new area when it opened up. This rejuvenated strawberry patch will stay for around for another 3-4 years, and then we will repeat. It is a continuous cycle. Likewise the asparagus bed has been enlarged, crowns we grew from seeds added in, and a fresh batch of seeds picked from this year’s female plants started in a nursery area. Crowns from this year’s seeds will be ready to pick spears from in about 3 years.

 As some garden areas opened up we tilled and then let the chickens in.

They happily scratched up and ate a lot of weed seedlings, grubs, wire worms, and unfortunately a few earthworms! But they also broke down the organic debris and did some incidental fertilization at the same time.

Speaking of chickens, we had some interest in the survey monkey about having farm raised chickens available for sale. We’ve looked into the logistics and legalities and it is quite doable. Here is some preliminary information:

• For this first trial year of having chickens available we will have one delivery around May or June. While we have been raising chickens for our own freezer for a while, we want to make sure we work out the details before we do a larger scale production. You will get a frozen, fully cleaned and dressed chicken in a plastic overwrap.
• The chickens we raise are slightly different from the industry standard broiler. We raise Freedom Ranger chickens (more information available at the hatchery webpage http://www.freedomrangerhatchery.com/learnmore). These chickens take longer to grow and are more active than the standard Cornish cross. This has several implications.
• They are more muscular. Since they run around outside (we give them free access to pasture all day) they have meatier thighs. They also take longer to mature, up to 12 weeks, so they are older when they go to “freezer camp”. This also contributes to a stronger flavor. If you are used to bland 5 week old chickens it will be different. We think better, but that is a personal opinion.
• It is a dryer, more natural textured meat. Most commercial chicken is “pre-injected” with a salt solution to make up for the bland flavor. These chickens are not.
• It will need to be aged. Again, this is from the birds being older and more physically active. We have found the day or two it takes to thaw in the refrigerator after taking it out of the freezer is all it takes. But this is not going to be a quick “take it out of the freezer, microwave to thaw, and have on the dinner plate within an hour” dinner! Then again, a roasted chicken that you have been planning for two to three days makes a special meal indeed. And they are superb in a crockpot.
• Chickens will only be available to J&S MiniFarm shareholders.

They are cute-in the beginning!

If there is enough interest we will continue to gear up for chicken rearing. If you are interested just send us a quick email with how many you think you would need. Pricing will be dependent on the number raised, but will be comparable to the pastured chickens available in stores such as Whole Foods.

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving, and stay warm tonight!

Jeff and Sandra

(From 10/19/2013)

 Well, the results of the Survey Monkey are in, and okra has been voted off the Minifarm! It was mentioned the most as the least favorite vegetable. So while it has pretty flowers, and was EXTREMELY prolific, our subscribers have spoken.

Did you know that okra is a member of the mallow family along with cotton, hollyhock, rose of Sharon and hibiscus?If you haven’t filled out the survey please do so; it is not too late. Your feedback is very important to us. Any votes for a replacement crop for okra?

Speaking of the Survey, we are extremely pleased to note that everyone who responded gave us the highest possible score for their overall satisfaction with their produce. This is wonderful news for us, and lets us know that we are on the right track. We also received unanimous “excellent” scores for taste, freshness, and size of the shares. And everyone unanimously agreed that being a member of J&S MiniFarm has allowed them to “enjoy a wide variety of unique, non-commercial products” as well as improved “overall health, diet, and eating habits”. Thank you, everyone, for this vote of confidence.

Now, what have the results shown us where we can improve? Our two lowest areas (“average” and “above average” respectively), were in appearance and variety. We’ll address appearance in this newsletter, as it also has a philosophical aspect and is rather lengthy!

Bugs and weather cause the majority of cosmetic damage. While it is very difficult to get the “perfect” looking vegetables when growing organically and not in weather protected greenhouses, there are some minimally artificial measures we can take:

Barriers/repellants: We have already invested in several “row covers” to be used next year. These are lightweight cloths that float over the crops and should help with the eternal battle against our nemesis, the flea beetle. We also have stockpiled hot peppers and basil in the freezer to make more repellant in the spring.

Flea beetle damage

Predatory: We don’t spray pesticides so we allow natural predators to flourish in our gardens. This year we had an abundance of wheel bugs, a type of assassin beetle.

Eating an adult Mexican bean beetle on the bean trellis

Here’s a better shot, courtesy of NCSU:

They made picking interesting since as you can imagine they pack a very painful bite. But we were glad to see them and just had to look VERY carefully where we put our hands! We saved all the eggs on the undersides of leaves we could find and placed them in nearby bushes. Next year we will welcome their bright red and black nymphs, carefully place them in the gardens, and again watch our hands as we pick! We also do the same with all the praying mantises and their egg cases.

We are trying to find a reasonable source for a parasitic wasp, Pediobius foveolatus. Its larva eat only Mexican bean beetle larva. Not only do the beetles destroy the bean plants, but they also cosmetically damage the beans themselves. The wasps are very expensive for the amount we need. But having the bean beetle control would allow us to use less real estate having to make multiple succession plantings, and thus able to offer other crops. We could also offer lima beans. Lima beans can take up to 90-100 days to mature (compared to 57-65 for green beans). Without a bean beetle control the plants would be demolished long before we could get a crop. They would also save a LOT of time, as this year we hand-picked Mexican bean beetles for hours at a crack.

We also intersperse a number of flowering plants throughout the gardens to help support our native parasitic wasps and pollinizing bees. This, along with the lack of spraying, gives us sights like this daily:

Butterfly bush living up to its name

Philosophical: And then we realize that some things are beyond our control. Pesticide sprays, even if organic, still disrupt the predator population in the garden. Artificial environments such as greenhouses and hydroponics will give a weatherproof, dirt-free, perfectly shaped crop. But quite frankly, would greatly increase our prices.

Hydroponic lettuce.

From: www.prweb.com/releases/GreenhouseGrownLettuce/ProductImprovements/prweb9150384.htm

Remember the challah carrot?

It hit a rock and split while growing. It was a little harder to clean, but still tasted great!

Bottom line? Having gone into this long, philosophical ramble, appearance is really a balancing act. Are some “cosmetically challenged” crops acceptable, in fact expected, since we understand that Mother Nature is inherently messy? Next year we have plans to keep more of the predators at bay. As was also mentioned in the survey, we will pray for better weather! Can we modify our handling practices to improve appearance? We’ll look into it. The most important aspect is keeping open the communications between the Farm and you, our subscribers.

Next time we’ll talk about some of the new varieties we have planned for next year. The raspberries are already known, as they were so prolific that we started including them a year earlier than planned! We also had some interest in the survey in farm raised chickens. We’ll look into the logistics of this. It’s going to be an even more exciting year in 2014!

Yours in farming,

Jeff and Sandra

(From 10-6-2013)

The seasons move on…

Looking back at the 2013 season it was all about the weather. The unseasonably cool, wet, weather. And yet, it was still a very good year! We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again-it’s all about diversity. Rest assured, here at the MiniFarm we will always grow a diversified portfolio of produce!

So what is going on now? The 2013 season is over; are we planning our trip to the Bahamas? Are you kidding! We are just as busy now as in July. Probably even busier since in July we were stuck inside watching it rain. Again.

As we transfer over to a more farm-centric, sustainable feeding program for our livestock we will be growing more food for both people and animals. That way we can control our inputs and know our sources.

Root crops for overwinter feed for the chickens.

We have planted rutabagas, beets, turnips, kohlrabi, and cold-hardy greens for winter feed.  Next year we will trial barley, oats, and field corn to be even more sustainable.

Kitty escaping the heat in the turnip patch!

Senposai

We trialed senposai this fall. It is a cross between Japanese mustard spinach and regular cabbage. It is also HUGE, fast growing, and the chickens love it. Depending on its winter hardiness it will be a winter feed staple. We really like it too; it makes a wonderful addition to stir fries, pastas, and soups. We will start a fresh batch for the spring baskets next year.

We are also preparing for next year’s season.

Spinach

This fall’s spinach seedlings will become next spring’s early crop. The young plants overwinter quite nicely. As a backup-we have another batch started in the hoop house area.

Kale

 

Swiss chard

 

The kale will keep us and the chickens in greens throughout the entire winter. In the spring it will be a source of kale raab, those tender, broccoli like flower heads in the early shares. Then we will plant another fresh batch for 2014. This year that spring planting lasted all season. Next year it will last??? The chard will also overwinter and give us some early greens (and yellows, and reds…) in the spring.

Continuing our self-sufficient theme we are growing our own onion sets this fall.

We don’t weed them because we will be digging them up soon.

These are onions started from seed in August, then planted in the ground in September. They will grow a small onion bulb and then die off when freezing weather hits. We will then dig them up, store over the winter, and replant in the early spring. This gives the onions even more of a head start next year.

Depending on the winter’s severity, the other fall greens may or may not still be around come spring. They were late getting into the ground due to all the rain, and are just now coming into their prime.

 

 

 

 

 

 These were meant for the fall baskets.

That’s the good thing about gardening, you can always re-plant!

Now we’ve come to the part where we would like to hear back from you! Please take a moment to complete the 2013 J&S MiniFarm survey by following the link below. Your input will help us tailor our offerings to our subscribers’ needs.  We would really like to get your feedback.

www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZFJPY8N

Here’s to an even better 2014!

Yours in gardening,

Jeff and Sandra

Hello all,

Is the 2013 season almost over? Wow. Time has flown...again! This year has, to put it mildly, been a little challenging.  Between the 2012 drought and severe weather events and this year's imitation of Forks, Washington (temperate rainforest) we have now grown in the opposite ends of the weather extremes. At least there are no vampires, although plenty of broodiness.

This year we have received 21.24 inches of rain since May 1^st. This is almost 6 inches above normal.  Courtesy of The Weather Underground, here are the figures for the first two weeks in July, normally hot and dry:

2013	Temp. (°F)	Humidity (%)			Precip. (in)	Events
Jul	high	high	avg	low	sum
1	82	100	84	67	0.18	Rain
2	78	100	88	76	0.14	Rain
3	85	100	83	65	1.05	Rain , Thunderstorm
4	87	94	74	53	0.16	Rain
5	87	93	74	55	0.07	Rain
6	88	100	76	51	0	Rain
7	88	93	75	57	0.03	Rain , Thunderstorm
8	85	100	76	51	0.37	Rain , Thunderstorm
9	85	100	81	61	0.01	Rain
10	89	100	81	61	0.28	Rain
11	84	100	83	65	0.48	Rain , Thunderstorm
12	72	93	89	84	0.57	Rain
13	83	100	84	67	0.07	Fog , Rain
14	87	100	78	55	T	Fog , Rain
15	91	100	75	49	0

August was no better-raining 16 out of 31 days and only making it above 90°F on one day for the entire month. This meant that many of our growing techniques and crop selections, meant for low rainfall and high heat conditions, were not really of any use this season. As an example, we normally plant in wide rows with the plants very close together.

 

 

In theory,  during a high heat/low rainfall summer (you know, our normal weather) the plants will grow together and shade the soil, keeping it cool, conserving moisture by limiting evaporation, and reducing weeds by blocking the light. It usually works pretty much as planned. This year, everything being so close together only promoted fuzzy plants.  We even had mold growing on the beets!

That beet should be red!

And as for weed prevention? Well, let's just say that the weeds had a banner year, as for many days we couldn't even get to the garden due to all the standing water. We're not even going to mention what cool days/high rainfall does to tomatoes. We might start crying.

The high waters also played havoc with our crop rotations. In our detailed, some might even say obsessive, plans for what goes where after each succession planting, we allocated the garden areas where we had the most water retention for our fall crops, reasoning that the seedlings would need as much moisture as possible. Well, we couldn't even walk in that area until last week without sinking up to our ankles in mud. So fall greens will be slightly delayed in your baskets.



Walkways still wet

Finally all planted

Fortunately, we are adaptable. We spaced our later plantings farther apart. We made multiple sowings in case rain washed out the seedlings. We made lemonade out of lemons and used the time we would have spent training tomatoes to laboriously hand pick the bean beetles off the bean plants. By the way, bean beetles thrive in cool, damp weather. Ask us how we know that. Normally we put new seedlings in a little depression in the soil to catch any available moisture. This year we raised them on hills. We learned to like cucumbers. A lot.

 

One morning’s picking!

 We enjoyed the cucumbers in many different ways, including this great recipe for sweet pickles passed on to us from C in Charlottesville (they were really good!):

 

What this all means is that we understand that we do not control Mother Nature; we are just along for the ride. There are some cultural practices we can modify to reflect this season's reality, but by committing to local, seasonal eating we get whatever likes this season's conditions. The key is to have a diversified garden. The growing conditions that allow one type of plant to thrive inevitably stack the deck against another. If it is a good cucumber/bean year, then we eat a lot of cucumbers and beans. We'll fondly remember last year's tomatoes, be happy with what we did get this year, rejoice in the unexpected bonus raspberries (courtesy of all that rain), and look forward to next year's challenges!

Yours in gardening,

Jeff and Sandra