The flora...

So, as some of you know, I've not been on the farm for the last two weeks (Sorry for being so lazy with my posts! More to come soon!) because I had to have minor surgery. I'm heading back tomorrow, but I've been planning for a long time to give you some idea of what's growing 0n the farm. These pictures are a few weeks old, though, so in a few weeks I'll post a new update. My next blog post is going to be about the fauna, though. We just got some goats, and a bull calf was born (While I was here in Tuscaloosa, AAARGH!) , so next week I'll be posting some stuff that will really melt your butter, so to speak. Anyway, here are some delicious things...

Starting from the east, moving uphill to the west, we have...


Delicious lettuces... at least twenty varieties, which we cut with scissors for spring mix. Spring mix, unfortunately though, is aptly named, as all the lettuce in this picture is now dead or bolted because of the heat. We have some baby greens planted in trays that we keep in the shade for harvesting all summer, but we won't have gobs of great greens again until the fall.






Tomatoes! We have since planted out more than 300 tomato plants, and they're a lot bigger. We trellis them between t-posts with twine, running a new row whenever necessary. Some of them are big enough to be setting fruit now, although ripe tomatoes are still a few weeks off. This picture doesn't really do our beautiful tomato garden justice, so I'll post another one soon.





Leeks! It took us a whole day to painstakingly weed this bed by hand, but man it was worth it. The leeks have really taken off. A few weeks ago, I made a leek and hard goat cheese quiche inspired by Thomas Keller's Bouchon cookbook. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but it was DELICIOUS. Leeks I've also found to be extremely versatile, and I end up adding them to lots of things... tuna salad, broccoli casserole, etc...
Ayla Ficken made a beautiful cooked leek salad with a mustard vinegarette dressing, and it was fantastic. Just cut leeks lengthwise, cook until tender, and coat with a thick, strong mustard dressing. MMM!





The strawberry season was far too short. For a scant three weeks, we had fantastic strawberries, and then they were gone. I'd often steal up to the patch for twenty minutes, and return with incriminating pink stains all over my mouth, hands, and clothing. As you can see, we covered the ground with landscaping plastic for weed control and moisture retention. It also made finding the strawberries a lot easier. I was a very slow picker of strawberries, a fact that I like to blame on my red/green colorblindness, but it was partly because of my strict quality control standards that resulted in many "imperfect" berries getting eaten.


These are garlic plants, which get planted in the fall and are harvested in the late spring. The flowers, which here have not opened, are beautiful pink puffballs. You try to cut them off, though, to encourage the garlic to develop more cloves. (You can also eat the flower stems, called scapes, in stir fry, soup, or anything else that needs garlic flavoring.) These were picked while I've been at home, and we're working on braiding them for drying.



Here we see what might be the most beautiful green that we grow, chard. Although mustard might give it a run for its money. Chard is a subspecies of beet that has been bred to produce large leaves instead of a big taproot. This doesn't come through too well in the picture, but the stems are the most beautiful colors... yellow, pink, purple, orange and white. It's quite dramatic. Unfortunately, I don't particularly like the taste. It's OK, but it's not great. Best is sauteed with just some butter, garlic, and a splash of vinegar.




Finally, here's a picture from the very top of the field. Closest is five rows of kale (which Frank asserts is the bedrock of organic farming), followed by some cabbage, broccoli, mustard and collard greens. Ain't it purdy!

The tractor sort of works!

Exciting news from Frank's shop... The tractor was for the first time in months! For a few hours, that is. A few weeks before I arrived, Frank was plowing a new field that he decided to lease for a few years, when the tractor started smoking. The smoke then turned into an engine fire, which subsequently devolved into a full-blown brush-and-diesel fire that engulfed the tractor and a good sized portion of the field. It was so hot, the radiator, tires and other metal parts surrounding the engine block melted. The fire department eventually came and put it out. So, ever since then, Frank has been working tirelessly to get this 1960 Massey-Harris tractor back into working condition... and it happened! A few days ago, the tractor ran for the first time, although it was hemorrhaging fuel out of the fuel lines. Frank, who is now a bit wary of fire, decided to work on it some more. A few more tweaks, and it was out running in the field! Then, a few hours later, it blew another fuel line, and it was back to the shop. But those few moments were GLORIOUS! Here's Frank looking like a proud dad. We're pulling for him to get it running again, but it needs parts that aren't made anymore.

Other exciting news... we got two new bee shakes (boxes full of worker bees, shaken from an existing hive into a box, along with a new queen) to put in the previously-vacant hives on the farm, just in time for locust season. More bee posts to follow.

Even more good news... Cari arrived on the farm last Thursday. Our productivity is through the roof. The grass is greener. The chickens are staying in their coop. Kale now tastes like ice cream cake. (SO much kale!) Cari and Julie talking business...

Cari and I manned our own stand at one of the farmers markets last Saturday. It was quite fun... I had to make up a lot of my "knowledge" about the plants.



Here's our greenhouse...




And here's a picture from on the drive to Asheville...


Quote of the week: "Ginger: I'm going to let the flower die, as a celebration of its ephemeral nature. Isiah: (5 y.o.) Is that really celebrating its ephemeral nature, though?"

Next week: Bee pictures, exploring the cemetary on the farm, Spring Creek, the abandoned automobiles of Let It Grow Farms, and maybe some other stuff.

Arrival

Hi y'all. On this blog, I'm going to be posting tidbits about what's going down on the farm that I'm living on this summer. I'm working on a 6-acre organic farm outside of Hot Springs, NC this summer. I don't have good cell phone reception or regular internet access, so I'm sort of incommunicado, which suits me alright, though it is a big change.

Above is a picture from the drive to the farm from Hot Springs. You have to drive through the Pisgah National Forest to get there, and this is a picture from a scenic overlook there. 700 feet below the place where this picture was taken is Spring Creek, which is stocked with brook trout and is absolutely gorgeous. I went fishing last weekend, and I caught a fish on my first cast! (3 inches)

That's the cabin that I live in. It's very cosy... three rooms, a gas stove, a wood stove for heat, (it has been getting cold here!) running cold water, and a composting toilet out back. (That's code for "shitting in a trashcan with a toilet seat over it") The showers are not too fun, but otherwise it's a good time.

The farm is run by a brother and sister. Her son, who is 5, is always running around the farm barefoot. It seems like the best place to grow up ever. He's a huge ham, and he likes to run around naked and chase chickens. Below is a picture of me and him.

The next picture is of the chicken coops and the schoolbus. If you've seen the movie "Into the Wild" the inside of the bus is just like that. Last Sunday, Frank picked up some hitchhikers who were trying to get back to the Appalachian Trail (which runs through Hot Springs) from Asheville. They ended up staying in the bus for a few days and working. That reminds me! If any of y'all want to come and visit, please do consider it! It's absoulutely beautiful here, and there's free room and board for anyone who wants to work for a few hours each day. You don't have to stay in the bus. The hikers were just crunchy types. Anyway, there are people who want to use this computer, so I should ring off.

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