Week #1 CSA shares and recipes
Week #1 shares include: Red Romaine, Green Leaf Lettuce, Red Kale, and Arugula.
Following are a couple of recipes for the Kale and the Arugula.
Stuck Tractor
So here are the pictures of the tractor, axle deep in mud and completely stuck. I was working on trying to use the front end loader to lift the front tires high enough to get some boards under when..... along came neighbor Ted, who brought over a John Deere backhoe he borrowed from a friend, to help pull me out. We hooked up a chain, and 5 minutes later I was on dry ground with one very muddy tractor!
Before......
After...
Thanks Ted!!!
May Update
What a great Memorial Day weekend! It was extremely busy and very productive. We put plastic on hoop house #2 on Saturday morning and then worked in some compost and filled it up with strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. On Monday, we finally got to start planting in the outdoor fields, they are still very wet in places, as I was reminded this afternoon as I buried the tractor up to the front axle trying to (stupidly) plow a furrow across a very low spot. Fortunately, before losing use of the tractor until things dry up, I did get quite a bit of drier ground worked and we have gotten potatoes, sweet corn, and beans in, and are hoping to get most of the transplants in over the next couple of days as well.
While the weather has delayed a lot of the planting outside, we did get the first two rounds of hoop house vegetable planting in and those plants are looking good. I am optimistically hoping for the first CSA pickups to be the week of June 23, but will keep everyone updated as we go!
Orchard
The Macs, Primas and Red Delicious were in full bloom last week and were beautiful! The Spys and Golden Delicious are a bit later and are coming out now. As part of our organic pest control we recently spent a Saturday afternoon placing 800 mating disruption ties in the trees. These plastic ties are laced with pheromones that confuse the male Codling Moths and Oriental Fruit Moths and prevent them from hooking up with their female friends and as a result we have fewer moth eggs/larvae to deal with.
Red Delicious blossoms
John hanging mating disruption ties
Chickens
150 lbs of feed and 4 weeks later the chickens have gotten a lot bigger and have just about completely feathered out. I moved them onto pasture on Friday and they are doing a fine job of foraging and fertilizing a small section of our orchard. The kids have been a huge help in rounding them up and getting them all back into the coop at night as we have a few stubborn birds that don’t like to come in for the night!
Hoop Houses
As I mentioned earlier, the first round of plantings were put in about three weeks ago and I put the second round in last week. Red and Green Romaine, Green Leaf Lettuce, Spinach, Arugala, Kale, Beets, Radishes, Carrots, and Snap Peas are all up and doing well. The kids are pulling daily watering duty, I’ll need to install some irrigation lines at some point, but they are doing a great job with the watering cans so far!
Getting plastic on the second hoop house this past Saturday was a breeze, largely because there was none. :) It was perfectly calm at 7:30 am as we started pulling the plastic over and remained calm as we completed the whole process in just under and hour. Huge thanks to Joe Delisi, Gary Nolan, Christina Hines, and Dave Bertrand for getting up early and joining Cindy, myself and the kids!
Cindy's Uncle Dave and cousin Christian Hines helped us get plastic on Hoop House # 2 in less than an hour
Veggies in Hoop House #1
Other Activities
While we are not “Certified” organic, we are attempting follow and comply with organic regulations as if we were. Under organic standards, the use of pressure treated lumber is not allowed, so we will be using posts cut from the some of the hundreds of dead ash tress (emerald ash borer) that my dad has cut on their property over the last several years. Thanks to the efficient work of Steve Hilgendorf’s portable saw mill, we were able to turn about 15 logs into 50 4x4 posts and a whole bunch of ¾” and 1” boards. I’ve treated the posts with linseed oil and they are ready to be put in the ground.
Cutting posts from ash logs
Ash posts treated with linseed oil
I was too frustrated to take a picture of the tractor today, I’ll try and bring myself to post one before I get it un-stuck …..
Just a reminder, if you click on the Like button on our Facebook page, you will automatically get our updates and pictures included directly in your news feed. The link to our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/deckerfarmandorchardllc
Additional information can also be found on our website at http://www.deckerfarmandorchard.com/
Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!
-Wade
April Update
Wow, April is flying by! Those sunny 70 degree days have felt great, too bad we’ve had so many cloudy 50 degree days sandwiched in between. The response to our CSA program has been fantastic and we are now officially sold out of shares! I’ve had several inquiries about shares for next year so I’ve started a contact list for anyone that was not able to join this year, so we can notify them when 2015 shares become available. If you know anyone that would like to be added to the list, please let me know.
2014 share pickup times are initially set as follows:
| DAY | AM | PM |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday | 10:00 - 12:00 | 5:00 - 7:00 |
| Friday | 10:00 - 11:30 | 5:00 - 6:30 |
| Saturday | 10:00 - 11:30 |
Chickens – Chicks are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday April 30! Our initial batch will consist of 25 Cornish Rocks and 25 Freedom Rangers. I’m very interested to compare the feed consumption, growth rates, and taste of the two varieties. Our chickens will be housed in the recently completed mobile chicken coop, which will provide secure shelter but allow us to pasture them in different locations. We had lots of help framing, roofing, and painting the coop. Big shout outs to: Noe and Ethan Contreras; Dan, Mae, and Vincent Clark; and John, Kate, and Clare Decker for all of their help.
Hoop Houses – We finally got the plastic on Hoop House #1, thank you to Tim Datsko, Shannon & Adam Smith, and Mom & Dad Decker for all of your help! It’s now plenty warm (74 degrees inside while 46 outside) but still too wet, hopefully it will finish drying this week as several of our early tomato and pepper starts are ready for their permanent homes. I started laying out lines for Hoop House #2 on Tuesday, it will house the strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries that are arriving this weekend, so getting it framed and plastic on is high on the priority list over the next two weeks!
Orchard Work – Cindy, the kids and their cousins had the “privilege” of spending two days of their spring break at the orchard hauling brush from all of the winter pruning. The cold spring has delayed leaf and bud emergence but green tips are finally showing up on the McIntosh!
Seed Starts – All of the transplant vegetables and herbs have now been planted. Big thank you to Dan, Mae, and Vincent Clark and to Clare and her friend Maggie for helping plant the last 200+ seeds! Our south facing front room has been re-assigned to greenhouse duty.
Just a reminder, farm activity updates as well as additional pictures and other news can be seen on our website at http://www.deckerfarmandorchard.com/ and on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/deckerfarmandorchardllc
-Wade