Things On Our Minds

The creativity level is not necessarily high.  When that happens, we tend to do blog posts that just throw a few things together and maybe we'll hit on something!

• We're working on setting up distribution of chickens and we have many still available.  If you want some, let us know.  They are currently in the Fredericka Locker.
• We're a bit annoyed with Sierra Blanca (white onion variety).  The seed became unavailable for last year's planting.  So, we bought plants.  The plants were about the only onions that matured last year because they are an early variety.  But, this year, we weeded them, treated them nice....and they really aren't all that wonderful to look at.  They taste fine - just small and inconsistent.  Why is it a big deal?  We pay alot more for plants.  They arrive when we're not usually ready for them (our heavy soils are workable later than most zone 4b areas)... and we don't get a good crop.  hmmmm. 
• Weeds - arg.  
• The "War of the Raccoon" continues on the farm.  We think we're down to a couple remaining bandits.  And, they still like to harass the hens.  The good news is that we haven't lost any hens lately, but have lost some eggs.  The critters that were enjoying trashing plants (they liked digging in the potting soil) are gone.  As near as we can tell, the score is now Raccoons: 6  GFF: 13
• Our CSA members are *GREAT*.  We had someone at each distribution kindly provide us with cold beverages.   The ice tea and the lemonade were both appreciated.  It's nice to get a little boost like that during a hot week.  Don't get me wrong - we come prepared with a thermos of water and water bottles full for distributions.  With this job, you have to be sure to take care of your fluid intake.  But.... these kind gestures still mean alot to us.  Thank you.
• Speaking of fluid...  The record has been set.  Rob had a six t-shirt day and a five t-shirt day this week.  It certainly made me wonder why I bothered changing clothing when it seemed like it took only moments to sweat through things again.  Then again, neither of us wants to develop a heat rash.  So....
• On that topic:  Neither of us is entirely sure what to think when clothing is tossed into the 'wash these soonest' pile and they make a resounding 'splat!'  Should we be proud of our hard work that led us to sweat through this clothing?  Should we be disgusted that we actually did sweat through clothing enough that you can literally wring them out?  Thoughts?
• Speaking of laundry...  we are noticing that our towels we use for hydrocooling and keeping things damp/cool in our containers for CSA distribution are getting threadbare.  If anyone has towels that they are looking to retire, we may be interested in them.  Anytime we mention things like this we wish to emphasize a couple of things.  First - don't give us something you can use.  After all, they are yours and you should use them.  Second, please don't treat us like a trash can either.  If they are already threadbare, they won't do the job any better than what we do have.  Definition of threadbare - we can see many holes in them as they hang on the line to dry.  Well-loved and worn is fine.  
• Speaking of hydrocooling...   We've added a step to the process this season.  For several seasons we have been picking greens into tubs, taking them to a shaded location and filled the tubs with very cold well water.  We push the greens that float down into the water and cover with a towel.  This makes sure everything stays wet and prevents any of it from dehydrating in wind or sun.  As a result, the greens (or other produce we do this to) will last in a crisper much longer.  Lettuce treated this way can easily last 2 weeks (or more).  We've been collecting the water used for hydrocooling in a tub this year (the new part).  Then we transport the water in buckets to the high tunnel to water plants in there.  We reuse the water (very good) but we realize it is inefficient in its current state.  We'll be investigating options for next season.
• Speaking of greens... the ducks love greens that bolt and can't be sold or distributed.  This is a good thing since the hot weather has sent some of our lettuce past prime very quickly.  
• Speaking of ducks...  we don't witness as much of the 'grab it and run' mentality we see with our chickens and turkeys.  In short, ducks seem to be able to share better than other birds.  Hm.
• Speaking of sharing....  we want to share the credit for the CSA distributions this week with all of the folks who fought through the heat to help us.  Thank you Andrea, Denis, Anden, JoHanna, Bailey, Sally and Jeff!  Well done!
• And finally, speaking of workers.  For those of you who have asked or are curious - we have no full time workers on the farm, but we do contract with several people to do work for us.  In many cases, they receive produce as compensation for a certain amount of work on the farm.  In other cases, they are compensated with pay for contracted labor.  And, we do sometimes receive volunteer work help.  Usually, our labor pool dries up when school starts again.