Growing Garlic

One of the traditional signs of spring around the farm is when the garlic starts to nose its way up through the straw mulch. It has been peeking out for about 3 weeks now, the earliest I've every seen, due to the early spring (caused by solar flares, but that is a topic for another day).

Garlic plant on March 26th

Late last fall we added HUGE amounts of composted manure and chicken offal to this garden. Garlic loves to have lots of compost to feed on, so we happily obliged it. After quite a few trips over it with our rototiller the soil was nice and loamy... ready to plant!

I had hoped to plant the garlic in early October, but the weather was so warm that I was concerned it might grow to much. So I waited until mid-October.  (Six weeks before the soil freezes is ideal)

Harvest time will be the end of July.  We'll have well over 1000 bulbs for sale at our market.

Flooding

We never imagined when we planted our garden this year that we would have to be concerned about the garden flooding.  In the spring, yes, it can flood, but in the nine years that we have lived here we have never had flooding in the summer!

In the picture above, you can see the corner of the garden is flooded.  We lost about 6 tomato plants, bean plants, and some corn.  The cucumbers seem to be enjoying the soggy soil.  Our raspberry plants, on the other side of our property, have just about quit producing.  We were puzzled at first because they looked so beautiful a couple weeks ago and we were expecting tons of fruit, but we just realized that they too are drowning in soggy soil. :(

Here you can see all our squash and zucchini under water.

The flooded area beyond the vines is our soccer field.  Soccer is one of our favorite summer activities.  We usually play Mike and me against the kids, and any time we have company we love to play against other families.  But this year the soccer field has been flooded since the snow melted!  Guess we will have to take up water polo or something. :)

Seed starting, a sure sign of spring

Well today we setup our growing area in the garage and got started planting seeds. Most of our veggies we can direct-sow in the ground, but a few things need a head start. So today, we planted onions, tomatoes and parsley. We also are experimenting by planting some various lettuce greens in a large flat, hoping to get some fresh salads while there is still snow on the ground. :-)

We are trying something new this year. Last fall before the ground froze, we hauled five-gallon pails of dirt out of our garden and stored them in our root cellar. Rather than trying to find a decent organic potting soil mix (that may be an oxymoron) and then having to feed the plants, we thought we'd just try the real deal -- good organic living soil.

Apparently that is how they did it in the old days before potting soil was invented. I suspect we'll hit some pitfalls - the first of which will probably be WEEDS. Oh well, we will let you know how it goes.

Aaaahhh.....FROST!

Most of the people I talk to are disappointed when the weather starts getting cold. They wish that summer would last longer. I have always enjoyed the season changes here in Minnesota, and they seem to come at just the right time....well, for me anyway! When I've had all I can take of processing food, Jack Frost is a welcomed friend in my yard. :) If I had to survive on the food that I grow, I am sure I would not feel this way, but for now, we are ready to be done gardening.

We considered not covering anything in the garden, but then decided we'd keep the basil and the cherry tomatoes a little longer. We still have some of the cold hardy vegetables in the garden - beets, cabbage, carrots, broccoli, and lettuce. We also have bushels of peppers, squash, and some cucumber in the cellar for the market. Since our Farmer's Market runs through October, we will continue to sell vegetables and then store what's left in our root cellar for the winter.

We will be butchering on the next six Fridays. I sure wouldn't mind some warmer days on those dates! :) We have decide to run the full market for those two Fridays in November, since there will be so many people coming out. So Friday, November 12th, will be the last day that you can visit the farm this year. Then it will be time to relax and get fat........I wish! :)

Once the market is over for the year, we'll have time to get our butchering done. We will process some of our ewes, a pig, and hopefully some deer. Then I will be busy rendering lard and tallow, and making soap. :) We should finish everything just in time for the holiday season! :) .....then we'll relax! :) January and February are usually pretty quiet on the farm, other than getting seeds started. In March we start making maple syrup, and after that it's "hold on to your hats, here we go again!!!!!" Do I sound like I am complaining? :) I'm really not (although I do that sometimes), actually I am feeling quite optimistic (probably due to the recent frost). :)

I've reasoned that I love the farm so much because I am a person who likes change. The mundane is always interrupted with the unexpected on the farm. That's exciting! It may be that an animal is going into labor or an animal is outside the fence, either way, you stop what you are doing and change course suddenly. Nothing stays the same for too long....keeps life interesting! :)

For now I am working on getting my last batch of pesto made, canning pumpkin butter, making elderberry syrup, and some tinctures and salves. Soon we will be picking apples, some we will store in the root cellar, and the "not so beautiful" apples will make great applesauce. After that, we will look forward to a freeze! Then we will hit the books hard and enjoy some ice skating! :)

Amazing Lettuce! By, Emily ;)

Our crisp juicy lettuce - spinach, romaine, and mixed greens are coming in here on the farm! Not only does this stuff taste AWESOME, but you wouldn't believe the nutritional information about lettuce. Rich in potassium, lettuce also has a good amount of Vitamin C and choline. It has small amounts of Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folate, pantothenic acid, and betaine! This amazing green also reduces the chance of hip fracture in elderly women, constipation, cancer, heart disease, and cataracts. It helps promote urination, it induces sleep, helps in liver health, and prevents anemia!!! Wow! Now that you are convinced that you need to eat more of this wonderful vegetable, we have the perfect solution! Come buy delicious, organic lettuce this Friday at Housman Farms!

Garden Salad in December?

For some reason going to the garden in December to pick spinach, radishes, beet greens, arugula, broccoli, and parsley for a salad is even more rewarding than it is in the summer. To think that I may have out-smarted the cold weather, at least for a month or two, brings a bit more satisfaction.

Early in the fall, we planted some cold-hardy crops in the garden so they could get a good start before cold weather struck. Then late in the season, Mike put some straw bales around these planting and set used glass windows and doors over them -a perfect little cold frame! This is the first year we have experimented with extending our harvest. Having put very little time and energy into it, we are still enjoying the fruits of our summer labor. It's been worth it to enjoy a fresh December salad!

Peas, Glorious Peas!

Hello everyone, its been a long time since I've personally written a post. I often times get involved in proof reading and such, but being the lead author is a dim memory from colder weather.

I thought I'd take a few minutes today though to share a little gardening success. For years I had given up on trying to grow peas. It was just one of those "black-thumb" areas in my gardening life. When I planted peas I was lucky if they reached six inches high, and even then they would just fall over and die. Last year I decided to try again, and had a very small amount of success, a couple plants actually flourished (out of many seeds put in the ground).

This year though, we have incredible looking peas. Thanks to what I'll call the "Mohrghaine Method". Mohrghaine is a friend from my "other life" of being a computer consultant. For years she gave me advice on how to plant my peas, but I was so burned out by my pea problems that I was reluctant to try again. HOWEVER, this year I listened. I'll let the pictures below speak for themselves.

Sugar Snap Peas by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: These are well over 5 feet tall! They started blooming a couple days ago, and there are a few little pods forming.

Cascadia Blue Snap Peas by Seeds of Change - these are bush style pea, they've been blooming for over a week and we started picking peas a couple days ago. Mmmm.

Oregon Trail and Pioneer shell peas, both from Seeds of Change. We had very poor germination on these, about 50%. But what came up is doing well, blooming and some pods are started.

Needless to say, we will have peas to sell this Friday. See ya on the Farm!

Fridays on the Farm!

Well, it's finally time to start the farmer's market. As most of you know, we will be open every Friday from now through October - selling fresh produce, pre-ordered meats, eggs, baked goods, herbs, and more.

Come on out, take a tour of our farm, visit with the animals, and get some delicious organically grown food! Currently we have asparagus, rhubarb, herbs, baked goods, milk, and eggs. The availability of our products will change weekly, and we will try to keep you updated.


Looking forward to visiting with you!

The Housman Family :)

Getting To Gardening!

Spring gardening has begun on the farm! The garden has had the annual addition of manure, and has been tilled up. Planting the early spring seeds is always an encouraging sign of warmer weather- but there are no guarantees in Minnesota! The hardy crop seeds are in the ground, and hopefully it will be warm enough for all of them to germinate. Some of the lettuce is up, and so are the radishes, garlic, some beets, and some onions. The planting will continue for a couple months, at least for lettuce, because we will want a continual harvest.

Ben is watering the perennials-asparagus and rhubarb. We have been adding to our asparagus garden every year hoping for a large harvest before we are old and grey. :) We added a red rhubarb plant to the garden this year-it makes the baked goods look nicer (as you know, we'd never think of adding red dye. :) )

Em and Jonny worked on planting the peas. In past years, peas have not been one of our best performing crops. But we will try again this year.

Brandon and Jonny worked on uncovering the strawberries. Last year we had a record strawberry harvest from the patch in this picture, and enjoyed strawberry kefir smoothies all winter long (up until a month ago). We have two strawberry patches, hopefully one does really well again this year.

Lest you think Mother is lazy, I did help in the garden! ;) I planted lots of seeds.....and took lots of pictures. :) It seems I always end up with the camera, or I hand it off to Emily, which she loves.

Well, I'm off to take more pictures! :)