fresh fields

it's been a long day, but...

yay! my neighbor Tony tilled the late spring and early summer sections of the field that we're done with. We had hoped to get it turned over last week, but a surprise storm the day before the field was just right meant we had to wait for it to dry back out again -- till when it's too wet, and you end up with huge clods and soil tough as bricks!

I was also able to get the cover crops spread and have my neighbor lightly till them in with his tractor as well. In the sections that are ready for fall/winter veggie planting, we put 1) buckwheat that will flower, set seed for next spring, and die off in frost, and 2) crimson and ladino clover, which are easy varieties to kill in the spring with a good tilling. In the sections of the field that we'll let rest now overwinter, I spread a little of everything 1) buckwheat (not a wheat), 2) annual ryegrass (not a rye), 3) crimson and ladino clovers, 4) austrian winter peas, and 5) hairy vetch; the first two work well as smother crops for other weeds, and the last 3 help add nitrogen back into the soil.

This week in my new field (can you tell I'm excited?), I'll be planting spinach, lettuce, collards, kale, beets, turnips, and other fall crops I may be forgetting as I write here. I'll start onions, scallions, and leeks in trays up by the house. I'm learning more about seed corn maggots that'll infest onion crops too. I'm reading and finding out, it's very important to wait 4-6 weeks after tilling before planting onions, and it's important to avoid tilling or disturbing the soil near the onions while they're growing. Those tiny, nasty flies like to lay their eggs in freshly tilled soil.

I brought the last of the second crop of corn to market today, still have some left over for Tuesday deliveries. We'll start harvesting from the third and final crop for the year in a couple weeks. Shiitake mushrooms doing well! Harvested one this evening after market that's 8" across! That doesn't beat the 9-1/2" shiitake measured and documented on a friend's camera earlier this season though!

Tomatoes vines are looking pretty sad from the constant raining earlier this season, but I'm trying to get a little more out of them. Basil, shiitakes, blueberries, and tomatoes are all in season. Plus, guess what, we harvested our first crop of winter squash for the year, so we again have a huge pile of butternuts, and we've added a big pile of acorn this year in Tony's barn this year. Spread the word to your friends that I'm willing to give a good price on these, and get your recipes ready! I'll be posting my recipes again this year that I found up.

By the way, I built a chicken tractor a couple weeks ago, and got 4 Golden Comet roosters for it from Phillip and Amanda. They are all doing well. I think I've pretty much figured out the

pecking order. Brownie's getting used to them too. today, I caught her napping in the tractor's shade, right next to them all. She only rarely barks at them, mostly just to show off when other folks come over.

We've been to a couple farm tours in the last few weeks as part of CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance? for Farmer Training). Sort of a farmer-to-farmer information exchange and tour. We got some great pictures from Full Sun Farm in Sandy Mush, and Mountain Harvest Organics in Spring Creek. I'll see if I can't get some of them up soon.

Have a great week!

-Mollie