SUNDAY, September 28, 11am-4pm
We cleared all the plants between our "road" and the edge where we planted the squash. Rennie plowed under everything on that side of our road the following weekend - Oct 5th or 6th. That's as late as we dare let things go. The cover crop seeds (winter wheat) have to have enough time to set in roots before serious cold sets in. Plot members are responsible for closing down their plots. Harvest what you have before Oct 5th, move home what you can. Plots on the other side of our road (the side near the trees at the back) can stay in until October 18th.
SATURDAY, October 18, 11-4pm
This is Union College's service day. They send us as many students to work as we can handle. We'll finish up with putting the garden to bed. It will probably also be the day we dig out and move the raspberry bushes that someone is donating. WE NEED PEOPLE TO SUPERVISE THE STUDENTS !!! RSVP to let me know what you can commit to.
We are also currently working on moving as many plants as possible from the squash side of the garden into winter beds near the trees at the back, in preparation for planting winter cover crops on that side. If you have a warm, sunny place where you live where you could put kale, Swiss chard, mustard greens or Brussel sprouts, let me know and one of the experienced gardeners will help you figure out how and when to move them. Do NOT just dig them out without coordinating with me. We will keep several beds active for as long as possible, weather deciding how long. Kale, collards & brussel sprouts taste better after a frost and can last quite a while, but big plants are usually too mature to move.
Saturday afternoon, Sept 27
I'll work on moving plants from noon to 3pm. If the deer haven't devoured everything, I'll move greens into the winter beds. It's a good time to help or figure out what you can take home to plant in warmer, less deer-y places.
*****
* * * * HEADS UP - THE DEER HAVE FOUND US AGAIN!! * * * *
They love collards & kale, brussel sprouts & chard. If you can, bring shiny, dangly, noisy things to hang around the collards bed. Spread dog fur around. Let your dogs pee near the winter beds. If the deer demolish the winter greens over the next month, we'll just dig them under and give ourselves a break. Then we'll have to raid our freezers or actually start BUYING vegetables ! ! On the other hand - less time gardening means more time to cook the stuff we've grown.
Thursday Sept 11, 5:30-7pm - weeding, watering, harvesting, trimming . . .
Farm Friday 10-1pm
let me know who can coordinate our Friday lunch salad
Sunday, 10-4pm, info table at Agudat Achim's Carrot Festival
Go to our BLOG PAGE for updates and current information
*************************
Farm Friday August 29, 9:30 to 1:00. weeding, harvesting, etc.
12:30 garden lunch
FARM FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5th, 1:30 to 4pm
We will have 6 Union College freshmen working with us
as part of their freshmen orientation. I'll be in the garden 12:30 to 5pm instead of our usual morning time. I need some help to supervise or work with the students.
If your church, synagogue, or other service organization is interested in working with us for a day or a part of a day, please put them in touch with me. Putting the garden to bed in the fall is a big job that requires many people on multiple days.
*************************
Wednesday evening, August 20, 5:30 til dark
We'll mostly be weeding with some harvesting.
The weeds have gone CRAZY the last few weeks!
FARM FRIDAYS NOW DO LUNCH ! ! !
9am to 1pm, group work time & help on plots
every Friday unless posted otherwise
Come work for a a couple of hours and then join us for salad
made with whatever is ripe, 12-12:30
Yes, those summer squash in the photo are really ALL from our garden! They are:
Costata Romanesca Zucchini, early straightneck, patty pan, golden zucchini. And our lovely royalty purple pod bush beans, too.
We have been getting only a few people on group workdays lately. We know some people are away or busy with family, but the garden really needs attention at this time of year. Really try to make it for some of the group times or take care of a task that needs doing. Check with Cathy if you're not sure what needs doing.
"FARM FRIDAY" August 15, 9am to 1pm
get help with plots and do share work.
Weeding and tomato supporting are needed, plus some mid-season planting
IS ANYONE ABLE TO SUPERVISE A WEEKEND OR EVENING GROUP WORK TIME ?
Call or send an email to the main contacts if you can.
WEATHER: If it's only some showers, we're likely to be there. If it's thundering or lightning, we won't be there.
NEW LOCK ON THE WATER SPIGOT
note: it was missing Friday the 15th. Does anyone know where it went?
Kids have been leaving the water running, so Bernie asked us to put a lock on it (I lost the last one).
The new combination is D-I-R-T. Line the letters up with the two lines on the lock to open or close it.
WHAT FARM SHARE MEMBERS CAN HARVEST THIS WEEK - AUGUST 18
summer squash (pick biggest squash first, cutting off with a knife near stem)
The patty pan squash are about 15 feet from the Brandywine end, in the inside row of squash plants. NOT the winter squash at the other end. They are starting to fade, hit hard by powdery mildew
lettuce, in the peas row under the brown vines, or scattered among the peppers & tomatoes behind the row of peas, and also in the back row by the pines, mixed in with peppery arugula
(pick off lower leaves, leave the head & newer leaves)
beans - over by the pine trees, the low bean plants are producing a lot of beans. Leave anything smaller than
three inches. Be sure to use two hands so you don't pull up the plant!
kale - in the bed with the collards - big, blue-green leaves. Pick individual leaves from the BOTTOM and leave the plant
basil - scattered in clumps throughout the garden. Pluck of the TOP leaves on this one
tomatoes - OK, they're mostly green right now, but hunt and you can find some nice ones, mostly cherry tomatoes, some bigger ones
*** DO NOT PULL WEEDS unless you are SURE they are weeds ! ! ! When it doubt, leave it in the ground.
We have been falling into our old habits of being too busy when we are working on the farm to take any pictures. PLEASE take photos and send them to us!
We cleared all the plants between our "road" and the edge where we planted the squash. Rennie plowed under everything on that side of our road the following weekend - Oct 5th or 6th. That's as late as we dare let things go. The cover crop seeds (winter wheat) have to have enough time to set in roots before serious cold sets in. Plot members are responsible for closing down their plots. Harvest what you have before Oct 5th, move home what you can. Plots on the other side of our road (the side near the trees at the back) can stay in until October 18th.
SATURDAY, October 18, 11-4pm
This is Union College's service day. They send us as many students to work as we can handle. We'll finish up with putting the garden to bed. It will probably also be the day we dig out and move the raspberry bushes that someone is donating. WE NEED PEOPLE TO SUPERVISE THE STUDENTS !!! RSVP to let me know what you can commit to.
We are also currently working on moving as many plants as possible from the squash side of the garden into winter beds near the trees at the back, in preparation for planting winter cover crops on that side. If you have a warm, sunny place where you live where you could put kale, Swiss chard, mustard greens or Brussel sprouts, let me know and one of the experienced gardeners will help you figure out how and when to move them. Do NOT just dig them out without coordinating with me. We will keep several beds active for as long as possible, weather deciding how long. Kale, collards & brussel sprouts taste better after a frost and can last quite a while, but big plants are usually too mature to move.
Saturday afternoon, Sept 27
I'll work on moving plants from noon to 3pm. If the deer haven't devoured everything, I'll move greens into the winter beds. It's a good time to help or figure out what you can take home to plant in warmer, less deer-y places.
*****
* * * * HEADS UP - THE DEER HAVE FOUND US AGAIN!! * * * *
They love collards & kale, brussel sprouts & chard. If you can, bring shiny, dangly, noisy things to hang around the collards bed. Spread dog fur around. Let your dogs pee near the winter beds. If the deer demolish the winter greens over the next month, we'll just dig them under and give ourselves a break. Then we'll have to raid our freezers or actually start BUYING vegetables ! ! On the other hand - less time gardening means more time to cook the stuff we've grown.
Thursday Sept 11, 5:30-7pm - weeding, watering, harvesting, trimming . . .
Farm Friday 10-1pm
let me know who can coordinate our Friday lunch salad
Sunday, 10-4pm, info table at Agudat Achim's Carrot Festival
Go to our BLOG PAGE for updates and current information
*************************
Farm Friday August 29, 9:30 to 1:00. weeding, harvesting, etc.
12:30 garden lunch
FARM FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5th, 1:30 to 4pm
We will have 6 Union College freshmen working with us
as part of their freshmen orientation. I'll be in the garden 12:30 to 5pm instead of our usual morning time. I need some help to supervise or work with the students.
If your church, synagogue, or other service organization is interested in working with us for a day or a part of a day, please put them in touch with me. Putting the garden to bed in the fall is a big job that requires many people on multiple days.
*************************
Wednesday evening, August 20, 5:30 til dark
We'll mostly be weeding with some harvesting.
The weeds have gone CRAZY the last few weeks!
FARM FRIDAYS NOW DO LUNCH ! ! !
9am to 1pm, group work time & help on plots
every Friday unless posted otherwise
Come work for a a couple of hours and then join us for salad
made with whatever is ripe, 12-12:30
Yes, those summer squash in the photo are really ALL from our garden! They are:
Costata Romanesca Zucchini, early straightneck, patty pan, golden zucchini. And our lovely royalty purple pod bush beans, too.
We have been getting only a few people on group workdays lately. We know some people are away or busy with family, but the garden really needs attention at this time of year. Really try to make it for some of the group times or take care of a task that needs doing. Check with Cathy if you're not sure what needs doing.
"FARM FRIDAY" August 15, 9am to 1pm
get help with plots and do share work.
Weeding and tomato supporting are needed, plus some mid-season planting
IS ANYONE ABLE TO SUPERVISE A WEEKEND OR EVENING GROUP WORK TIME ?
Call or send an email to the main contacts if you can.
WEATHER: If it's only some showers, we're likely to be there. If it's thundering or lightning, we won't be there.
NEW LOCK ON THE WATER SPIGOT
note: it was missing Friday the 15th. Does anyone know where it went?
Kids have been leaving the water running, so Bernie asked us to put a lock on it (I lost the last one).
The new combination is D-I-R-T. Line the letters up with the two lines on the lock to open or close it.
WHAT FARM SHARE MEMBERS CAN HARVEST THIS WEEK - AUGUST 18
summer squash (pick biggest squash first, cutting off with a knife near stem)
The patty pan squash are about 15 feet from the Brandywine end, in the inside row of squash plants. NOT the winter squash at the other end. They are starting to fade, hit hard by powdery mildew
lettuce, in the peas row under the brown vines, or scattered among the peppers & tomatoes behind the row of peas, and also in the back row by the pines, mixed in with peppery arugula
(pick off lower leaves, leave the head & newer leaves)
beans - over by the pine trees, the low bean plants are producing a lot of beans. Leave anything smaller than
three inches. Be sure to use two hands so you don't pull up the plant!
kale - in the bed with the collards - big, blue-green leaves. Pick individual leaves from the BOTTOM and leave the plant
basil - scattered in clumps throughout the garden. Pluck of the TOP leaves on this one
tomatoes - OK, they're mostly green right now, but hunt and you can find some nice ones, mostly cherry tomatoes, some bigger ones
*** DO NOT PULL WEEDS unless you are SURE they are weeds ! ! ! When it doubt, leave it in the ground.
We have been falling into our old habits of being too busy when we are working on the farm to take any pictures. PLEASE take photos and send them to us!
Friday April 18, 1-4PM - We raked the winter mulch off the long flower bed parallel to the road, de-rooted and de-weeded some areas of it, and did some planting. AWESOME JOB!!!
April 12 - A large crew of volunteers - mostly from Union College - helped us haul leaves and wood chips to pack the paths in between the parallel beds to get ready for planting. It was a huge job, a gorgeous hot, sunny day