new look and update

i realize i have not been able to keep up with writing a blog. i am going to change how i approach things a bit. my boyfriend had the idea that i should write a blog almost daily about the happenings on the farm...give people an insider's story of farming - a day in the life of a farmer. i am going to keep the same blog name, i may want to throw in some other topics as i go, but for the most part, i will be writing about my life on the farm.

update - life on a farm in the fall is, well, nuts. most people think summer is when you get local produce. honestly, summer was our least productive time, in terms of having a lot of product to take to market. the heat greatly effects plants' production - lettuce, and other leafy greens, just go to seed and die in extreme heat. there is nothing anyone can do about it. so when did everything become ripe and ready for picking? september. cooler nights, less sun (shorter days), everything we planted a couple of months or weeks earlier - all of a sudden, we had lots of product to sell. tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, beans, summer and winter squash, beans, tomatoes, peas, salad mix, herbs.....we struggled to fit everything on our tables at market. plus, bird seed, wheat berries and all the meat. there were many 50+ hour work weeks mostly spent picking, washing and packing for market and then going to market. unfortunately, we lost most of the fall crop of kale, cabbage, broccoli and brussels sprouts due to insects. i can't imagine if we had more produce, though we probably could have sold it. people loved our stuff. every week - 'your tomatoes are amazing.' 'your lettuce keeps so well.' it made all the long hours and hard work worthwhile to see produce selling and hear people complimenting us.

winter on a farm is not boring. when the first hard frost hit, it was both a happy and sad time. sad because there was a lot of product lost in the field. a lot of plants were still producing well and we were still picking and selling. happy because it meant less work. but winter certainly doesn't mean i am sitting back and relaxing. it means i try to catch up on all the work i don't have time to do during the regular growing season. i have been working on the plan for next year - i order seeds, i see what worked this past year and what didn't, i come up with a new plan for the next year (what to plant and where) and.....we have winter markets. we have two different winter markets, each one once a month (eastern market in lancaster city and oakmont market in havertown). it does take time to get ready for market and then go to market. and it is cold, baby!

my job did not end in november, as planned. there was plenty of work to do through november. i was told there would be part time work through the winter, maybe working with the animals and learning what they need. then the produce manger said she wouldn't be back next year. i am now filling her position. i am working full time through the winter and am pretty much in charge of everything produce related. i will also be staying on at this farm (lime valley mill, if you forgot) for another growing season. i am looking forward to seeing it grow and techniques being perfected, and to learning a lot more.