strawberries!

i feel like strawberries might be the most anticipated crop of the year. everyone asks when the strawberries will be ready. we picked our first 16 quarts yesterday and another 16 quarts today. by next week we'll be picking 40+ quarts at a time. our strawberry plants seem to produce well and don't have too many pest problems (a few nibbled berries here and there). they bring in good money early in the season. the variety we go with is, i believe, considered a backyard variety, a type a home gardener would grow. (sorry, i can't think of the variety.) these varieties tend to be more flavorful and sweeter, however, not as big. most farmers grow varieties for a larger size and greater quantity. but as with most produce that has been bred for size, quantity and uniformity, they lose their flavor. you don't want strawberries just to look good, they should taste good, too! as i pick, i get to munch, too. it is always frustrating to pick a beautiful strawberry and find it to be nibbled on the other side. however, i don't mind sharing my berries with the critters... :-)

looooong week

mother's day weekend was a VERY busy weekend for all of us at the farm. friday and saturday was the landis valley plant sale. saturday was also the last winter market at eastern market AND the opening day at quarryville growers market.

monday, tuesday and wednesday was spent getting everything ready for the weekend - last minute transplants, getting signs ready, getting final counts of plants, getting boxes ready for customers to use to carry their plants, making a list of everything that needed to go to the plant sale, finding tables and chairs and which ones were to go where, the list goes on. and let's not forget the plant sale is just a side thing...there is a farm to run! we also planted another 250lbs of potatoes, another 24lbs of spring onions, another planting of salad beds, the farm stand was opened for the season selling eggs and asparagus and seeds were started.

thursday morning we took three truckloads of plants and supplies (tables, chairs, tents, etc) to landis valley and set everything up. thursday afternoon we got ready for saturday markets. we picked, washed and packed spinach, kale, head lettuce, herbs, rhubarb, spring onions, mustard greens and asparagus. we usually do all that the day before market, but since we would be at landis valley all day friday, we had to prepare for market on thursday.

friday we were at the plant sale all day. when we first got there, there was last minute set up to do. then we just let stuff sell. some customers had some questions, but for the most part, they knew what they were looking for. there was a lot of time spent just restocking and reorganizing plants. we also sold our bird seed, wheat berries and wool. we sold a lot of plants, though our numbers were down from last year. there was four of us at the sale all day, including my mom who we bribed to help us. :-) that was one eleven hour day...

saturday...eleven hour day number 2... dale went to eastern market. my mom and i went to quarryville market. allyson and becca went to landis valley. eastern market was a very slow market day, not bringing in nearly what it had at other winter markets. quarryville market did pretty well. we sold just about all the produce we brought with us, plus a good bit of meat. after markets, we all went back to the plant sale. again the numbers were down a bit from last year, but still not bad. when the sale was almost over, it looked like a bad storm was on its way. we all moved very quickly to get things loaded up before the rain. we got back to the farm to unload all the plants and head home after a looooong week.

so this is spring

as a farmer, spring is not a time to sit on your ass and watch the grass grow...

spring is a time to put your plan into action. all that time i spent over the winter planning things out - what goes where and when - is now happening out in the fields. most things work out the way i planned, but some don't. i look things over and reevaluate, try another idea and move on. where does the first planting of sweet corn go? in the chicken slab field below the winter squash. and the second planting? the third? the fourth? oh shit, that won't fit there, how about in the farm stand field below the peas.

spring is a time for the ground to be worked up and prepared for planting. if the ground had a winter cover crop on it, the cover crop needs to be killed - mowed and tilled - and tilled many times. you do all this and then it rains...you try again. work the ground to dry it out and see if you can plant before if gets wet again.

spring is most definitely a time to plant...and plant some more...and plant again. and being a farm with four markets to go to throughout the regular season, we don't just plant something once, we plant many things every couple of weeks. 150 pounds of potatoes was planted the beginning of april. today another 250 pounds was planted. last week the first planting of sweet corn and snap beans was planted. they both will get planted every two weeks or so for four or five times. today was the third planting of spring onions, a third bunch of 24 pounds. i think we are on about the fourth planting of head lettuce. four varieties are planted every other week. today, i did the third planting of salad beds (lettuce blend, mesclun mix, spinach, arugula, rhubarb swiss chard, cress and cilantro). last week, the first planting of cucumbers (three varieties), melons (four varieties) and summer squash (let's say eight varieties) was planted. two more plantings of each will occur. all of these successive plantings allows us to have one product for longer. it also allows for some 'woops.' if one planting doesn't do well or something happens to it, there is likely to be another planting already in the works.

spring is a time to be a little stressed out. i say a little because no breakdowns have happened (yet), but there are times when it seems overwhelming. in particular, this week is a crazy one. this friday and saturday is the landis valley plant sale that i have mentioned before. all those plants i started in the 72 cell trays have been transplanted into 4" pots. we had extra onions and leeks so i plugged those into 4-packs to sell. signs have been made for each and every variety. saturday is also the last winter market at eastern market and the opening day at quarryville growers market. that's three places for us to be on saturday. we are set up to be in two places at once, but three?? plus, we barely have enough people to be in three places. but things are falling into place. equipment (tables, pop up canopies, table coverings, information sheets, etc) have been divided for the most part. workers have been recruited and placed.

spring is a time to start seeing all your hard work mean something. asparagus is doing really well. rhubarb plants look good and ready to harvest. strawberry plants look really good and full of blossoms. the first planting of spring onions will be ready to harvest for this weekend. spring root crops are growing. we will have broccoli raab for this weekend as well as head lettuce (romaine and a greenleaf). some kale will also be ready. cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower plants look really good. swiss chard is kind of lacking. salad beds are growing, but the flea beetles have already found the arugula and salad mix. anyone for hole-y salad?? peas are growing and potato plants have sprouted. perennial herbs are looking good - oregano, savory, lemon thyme, thyme. all the herbs i planted this spring are small, but still alive. there will also be spinach for the saturday markets - spinach from the plants we've been cutting off all winter. harvesting, washing and packing all this will somehow fit into the plan for this week. so will setting everything up at landis valley.

it will all get done and we will be successful and tired.