Fork Mountain Farm

05/10/2014

Well, this week we went from Spring to summer!!
Peas are beautiful- starting to bloom which means delicious, spring peas are a few weeks away- my favorite spring vegetable.
A few weeks ago Kirsti Sandy visited and helped up put in our kale which is now almost ready to pick. It made us realize how much faster it goes with an extra person. Thanks again Kris!
Outside lettuce is almost ready and we are harvesting frisee and bibb lettuce from the hoop houses.
We planted leeks, leeks, and more leeks this week. Here is a photo of Tim pounding the holes to be filed with baby leeks by me. I took a video which I'll post when I figure out how to do that.

03/23/2014

Spring is quickly approaching and we have lots of seedlings growing and almost ready to go outside. Inside the hoop houses everything is thriving- we'll be eating lettuce in a week and have out first tailgate market April 9.
First photo- Baby turnips are growing quickly- beautiful greens soon to be followed by even more beautiful turnip roots!
Next are seedlings, including lettuce, and then lettuce a few days ago, in the ground and growing every day.

02/11/2014

This ends my updating efforts. Hopefully 2014 will be better- I think we said that after 2012 too. hmmm, maybe a trend!!
We do have a new raised bed- 60' x 4'- where we will be planting root vegetables. Until now, we could only grow them (successfully) in the greenhouse because our soil has so many rocks, but now we plan on having carrots and beets all summer. You can also see the abundance of weeds- thanks to the abundant rainfall!
The last photo is of lettuce and peas. Lettuce did fine- does not need a lot of sun. (because, along with the rain came less sun) The peas, however, were not so happy. They should have been 5' tall in this photo. Normally Tim has to pick the last week because they are too tall for me to reach. This year, I was sitting on the ground picking most of them!! Our 6 week harvest only lasted 2 weeks. And I LOVE peas!!

02/11/2014

So, farm wise our best effort was with ginger- baby ginger grown in the greenhouse. If you look at the last photo of Joey, you can see it growing in the background. Here are a couple of photos post harvest, before and after trimming. We harvested about 40 lbs and sold them to several restaurants and at the farmers market. Baby ginger has an incredible flavor and is not fibrous like "adult" ginger, nor does it need to be peeled. It is definitely back on the planting list for this year!!

02/11/2014

2013- We did not post much last summer. I'm afraid "no news is good news" does not exactly fit. We had an unbelievably wet spring and summer, almost double our normal rain fall. I guess we got what California did not. Anyway, there were a lot more failures than successes, but a few highlights. We planted beans 5 times before we finally got them to germinate without washing away. The good news is that we had beans well into September, so this year I'll plant a later rows as well as early ones.
Our highlight of the summer was a visit from our great nephew Joey Paen. He planted seeds in the greenhouse, weeded, and enjoyed the company of Happy, our neighbor's wonderful dog. Hopefully the hard work did not scare him and he'll be a regular summer visitor!

09/03/2012

time for our montly post....sadly we have to say that carmine our cat of some 17 years passed away.... now for the farm news..the flooded field is full of winter squash and the potatoes need to be tilled in...the melons have rotted due to the high water....we got some fall crops in the lettuce , frisee, and escorle is in....the cabbage and nappa cabbage are in ..broccoli raab is next to go in...the 2nd planting of romano beans and summer squash are starting to be picked... we have been making pickles and marmalade with the extra produce all summer..marg done a great job keeping up with all that..my job is pickled pepper and pickled okra..i get off easy...thats it for now....

09/03/2012

08/10/2012

well to top off this great season...last friday..aug3...we had a flood....the creek jumped the banks and went into the field...worst hit was the winter squash ...now we cant even dig the potatoes that may have been left...this has been the hardest season yet....alot of work and no return...cant wait till next year....

07/19/2012

to continue...we cut the potatoes plants down and hopefully will get some potatoes ..the tomatoes had to go all of them... and margarets basil all kinds has Downy mildew so now it all has to be pulled up ...all the fungi are liking the very wet conditions...we have had rain either shower or gully washers.everyday...for the past 14 days..its never dryed out..with the rain and dew at night ..cloudy and no sun most of the day...the perfect fungi...been spraying copper to try and keep the fungi off the beans and winter squash...will alternate with serenade every 7 days or until the sun comes out..this may be the straw that breaks the farmers back...peace ..out

07/19/2012

well here it is 18 july and the report is NOT good....we just found out we have late blight of potatoes and tomatoes...irish potato famine..Phytophthora infestans ..so we had to tear out the infected plants... more later...

06/26/2012

06/25/2012

well here it is end of june...cant believe it ....up date on the farm goes like this ...peas are over...cabbage is over...still picking cauliflower ..beria cabbage and kale...new is yellow squash, zucchini, and patty pan.... also fennel , basil, and cucumbers....tomatoes are ripe in the greenhouse...and margaret has been picking raspberries for a few weeks now..beans are up and climbing..winter squash are starting to take off and potatoes are flowering...see pictures it might help