Farm Message for Saturday, April 24, 2010

Star Hollow Farm News

For the week preceding Saturday, April 24, 2010

Hi folks,

I have a little over an acre of ground all worked up and ready for planting our new crop of potatoes, one of the earliest times in the season that has happened. Many years I can't even drive a tractor into the fields until May. Most of our fields are down by the creek, thus low-lying, and tend to stay wet longer than upper ground. That's one of the reasons we're planning on bringing our one upper fields into production later this year. The soil isn't as good, it's rocky and on a slope, but it does dry out sooner. We want to reconfigure that field so that the patches for vegetables are laid out on the contour and are narrower than usual, so that there is minimal runoff. Once plowed, we'll need to call in a state conservationist who will mark the contours (level) for us so that we can lay things out right.

Produce, in general: Spring is definitely upon us, and it feels to me like the first week's offering that really shows it. The chives, asparagus and rhubarb of last week probably were the start, but now with ramps, radishes and the hothouse cukes and tomatoes, I feel like we're there. While I can – and happily do – eat potatoes year round, I don't really need any more turnips or rutabagas for awhile.

This is certainly an early season for us. Many of the trees have blossomed early, and certain perennials are early coming. Usually plants are smarter than we are when it comes to knowing if it's really time or not, but even they get surprised sometimes. Our local apple blossom festival is scheduled for May 1 and 2, but the trees are already past full blossom now! The orchards have been holding their breath that there's not a hard freeze while the blossoms are on the trees. So far I think they're okay.

Our asparagus is another story. We have a new patch – planted two years ago and left to establish itself until now – that includes our first attempt at purple asparagus. It's ready to start picking, and almost everything that's tried to come up over the last week has been ruined by frost. The spears are very tender, of course, when they first come up. If they have enough moisture and it's a sunny day, they will shoot up 3 or four inches in a day. We harvested several pounds worth of frozen spears and Chris cooked them right away, but each day that goes by we're losing asparagus to sell. Fortunately it's a perennial and as long as it doesn't continue freezing into June, the crop will recover. Once again, I'm thankful that some of our farmer friends over the mountain have not had the frosts that we're still getting and that we can fill in some of our shortages with produce from others.

This week, in addition to our own produce and that from Tuscarora Co-op, we have free-range eggs from the Horsts, greens and hothouse tomatoes from the Martins, asparagus and scallions from the Macks, spinach from the Hostetters, and ramps from the Derstines.

The list, in particular: (New or back-on-the-list items in red.)

*

Greens: arugula, beet greens, chard, dandelion, lambsquarters, microgreens, lettuce (bibb, red leaf, Simpson, Romaine), pea shoots, salad mix, spinach, stinging nettles, stir fry mix.
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Veggies: asparagus, beets, yellow carrots, English cucumbers, bunched green garlic, Jerusalem artichokes (END), onions, parsnips, potatoes, radishes, ramps!!!, rutabagas (END), scallions, shallots, hothouse tomatoes, turnips.
*

Herbs: basil, chives, cilantro, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, sorrel, spearmint, tarragon, thyme.
*

Mushrooms: crimini, portabella, shiitake, white.
*

Other items: eggs, butter, cheeses and preserves.

CSA-Specific Information

CSA volunteers: Many thanks to Katie, Andy and Alison for their help at the truck last week! We have a calendar at the truck for folks to sign up for a shift handing out CSA boxes. Please consider it if you haven't signed up already.

Planned CSA produce for this week:

This week: ramps, asparagus, spinach, lettuce, crimini mushrooms, onion, seconds potatoes.


Thanks for your support!

Randy, Chris and all at Star Hollow Farm

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