Sun, chickens, rasberries and syrup.

The chickens got a new home today. Well, not really. I moved them back to the farm for the summer. I recently (yesterday) finished their new coop which is much bigger to house the entire group when the new chicks arrive. This morning Jim (a gentleman that helps me on Tuesdays) and I fenced off an area just adjacent to the greenhouse. The chickens will clean it up for me, I'll reshape the beds, install the track and move the greenhouse over it when the things in it now are more established.
They seemed to settle down after a while. They didn't care for the ride, or being put in their travel crate at 4 am today. (For those who don't know, when chickens are roosting for the night they become docile and very easy to handle. Nearly impossible to catch heritage breeds like these during the day.) I had to put up a sheet of cardboard on the north side to protect them from the wind.

A couple of weeks ago I went through and pruned the raspberry patch. I removed all of the old growth. This allows for more fruit and the air circulates better. This is especially important when the summer is like the one we just had.

I also moved our picnic table to the farm this weekend. Her it is in the sun. As you can sort of see (being there really does it the justice it deserves) it's the best seat in the house.

Finally, I tapped a few trees at the farm on Sunday afternoon. I brought home my first batch of sap tonight and it's currently evaporating on the wood stove.

In like a lion...may as well post a blog!

We've been very busy over the past few weeks and have a down moment tonight as some things opened up for me tomorrow as I don't have to go to Augusta to talk to the legislature. So I thought I'd post a blog. Here Lizzie and I are posing as Em takes our photo at the CSA fair I helped organize in Bangor Last weekend. We had a great turn-out and made all the local news outlets. You can barely make out our new tee-shirts. I had them partially designed (I designed the logo but they had to tweak it for screen-printing) at Liberty Graphics in Liberty, ME. This is the same company that produces the shirts for the Common Ground Fair every year. I wanted a local company to get me shirts that are organic cotton, made in the U.S. and printed with soy based inks. Liberty Graphics did great work.

Here is a shot of what we've been working on recently. Onions, onions, onions...and a few other things, have been started in blocks and put out in our new seedling house on our new heat mats. As you can see, I have already run out of room but I'm trying to cycle some things out. For instance, tomorrow I plan to put some of these flats into the ground at the farm under row covers or in the greenhouse. I actually have two tunnels within the greenhouse for added protection. I move things off the heat mats once the seeds have germinated. Below is a photo of the tunnel with the mats. It's very warm in this tunnel and I only open it to water things each morning. The other tunnel has no additional heat other than that generated by solar radiation.

Thought I'd give it a try. Why not when the end of February was like April this year. If I can keep it going it will be awesome to have early basil. We'll see.
Finally, since constructing the new tunnels in the seed house, the chickens have less space. However, that's ok because the weather is warming up so I let them out for longer periods of time each day. Here they are scratching around in a gully behind the house. Actually, the other day I let them out, went inside for a while, came out and couldn't find them anywhere after looking for an hour. Finally, Em got in the car and drove around the neighborhood. They had wandered over to the neighbors lawn. I took her a dozen eggs, apologized and walked them home. No harm, no foul but it was scary to be missing 4 chickens (one had stayed put to lay an egg!).

Here is Lizzie looking back at me innocently as I called to ask what she was doing. She wants desperately to touch a chicken. I can't seem to convince her that they are quick as lightening and the chances of that happening are very small. It's fun to watch anyway.

Warm weather spell.

Hi all. This little stretch of weather that is teasing us with thoughts of spring is an annual event around this time of year. It is a friendly and welcome reminder that the growing season is not far away! Below are photos of some of the things that we're doing right now to get ready. Trays of soil blocks are steadily multiplying in my basement. I'll be making quite a few of these little blocks over the course of the next few months!
We're also in the midst of receiving, cataloging seeds and planning our planting calendar and crop rotation. We will be expanding our variety selection on almost all crops this year as a result of last season. We want to work to be able to provide things even in an horrible season. That takes a lot of time, effort and experimentation to see which varieties might have a genetic habit that allows them to grow under stressful conditions. Luckily, I love the work!

Also, our new heat mats have arrived!!! Each year we try to make one large investment to further our goals. Last year's was the 6-row precision seeder. This year's is definitely the heat mat. (seeds don't count or they would always be the biggest investment) These are the best heat mats in the trade according to many farmers I know, including Eliot Coleman, Maine based worldwide organic farming guru. I've been wanting them for a long time and getting by without them. Hopefully they will give us a jump on many crops. The mats are heavy red rubber with electric wire running throughout to give even bottom heat to our seedlings. We were able to purchase 4 this year and one thermostat to control all of them. Onions are going in starting this Friday and we get to try them out. Can't wait!

Finally, our chickens are loving the warm weather. Whenever it's nice I let them out of their greenhouse to range around our yard. I let them out a little longer every day and I think I finally have them trained not to go in the road. Knock on wood. Here are three of them checking our our rhododendrons and saying hello to an elderly couple that walks by every morning.

"Off Season" - nealy ended

Well, the winter is drawing to a close. We've had a couple of nice days where temperatures actually reached into the 30's and the sun has been shining. I've been working hard to get our house projects done. To view some of the progress you can visit Em's blog at www.brinkleyparker@blogspot.com.
I'm also hard at work on things that won't get done during the growing season. Yesterday's nice weather gave me a chance to get into the woods to cut some of next winter's firewood. I pick away as time permits.
I've also been working on some administrative things over the past few weeks. This includes sending reminders and informational cards to our members who haven't yet signed up for the upcoming season. Another big project is the organization of the Bangor region's CSA/CSF Fair, which I volunteered to do this year. The fair is on Feb. 28th so the real work is just beginning!
I'm also doing some of the winter things that are essential to the growing season like painting the milk house after scraping the old peeling paint, cleaning it and organizing for the harvests to come, building bird and bat houses for the garden (hopefully I can get some photos on here soon) and beginning to work out our crop rotation/layout and planting calendar.
So much to do!!!
In other exciting news, I've been nominated (and accepted) to be the Chair of the Board of Food For Maine's Future, a small, grass roots organization that is trying to change the food system to reflect food sovereignty and local control values. It is an honor to work with the many people involved in FMF to make positive social change! To learn more about FMF and our work, please visit www.foodformainesfuture.org. I hope to post more frequently now that things are heating up!
Speaking of heating up. Lizzie and I were in the greenhouse today and the spinach I planted in late January is starting to come up! Wahoo, I miss fresh spinach. When the warm weather of March makes itself known we'll get some good growth.
Bye for now.

Holiday Harvest Share - December

Well, Christmas is almost upon us. Last night I delivered the first of the December Holiday Harvest Shares to Bangor. Below is a picture of one part of the share. I couldn't fit everything into the boxes so I had to add a bag for the potatoes and apples. The share consists of 1 Blue Hubbard Squash, 2 Long Pie Pumpkins, 1 Spaghetti Squash, 2 Baby Buttercup Squash, 2 Baby Butternut Squash, 2 Bulbs Elephant Garlic, 2 Bulbs German Extra Hardy Garlic, 4 lbs Red Cipollini Onions, 5 lbs Mixed Yellow Onions, 3 Bunches Danvers 126 Carrots, 1 Bunch Parsnips, 1 Bag of Tadorna Leeks, 1 gallon of Cider, pressed yesterday and 1 bag of apples. All Cider and Apples are from Mainely Apples in Dixmont http://www.mainelyapples.com/, a small, family owned and operated orchard. There is also a bag with 12 lbs of potatoes. 3lbs each of Keuka Gold, Kennebec, Butte and Red Norland.
Here is the share in all it's glory! This is quite a bit of food and frankly, should last the average family of four well past one Christmas Dinner. Everything in the share with the exception of the apples, cider, carrots and parsnips are from our root cellar and were harvested this fall. The carrots and parsnips were dug from the snow covered earth just last week. Everything can be stored in the root cellar at your home with the exception of the cider (unless you want vinegar) which should go in the fridge or freezer (if you want to drink it later [don't forget to take out about a cup or two to leave room for expansion]).
Some notes about a few things in the share:
The potatoes all represent different methods of culinary preparation. The Keuka Gold (which are the small gold ones on the bottom of the bage) and Red Norland potatoes are best for boiling or roasting as they are small and tender. The Kennebec (the larger yellow ones in the middle) are a great baking potato and the Buttes (the dark brown, long narrow tubers) are a russet. This makes them good for french fries or frying in general.
Parsnips are one of those root crops that really should be grown and eaten by the majority of the people in Maine. They are extremely hardy. I have the majority of mine in the garden still, under the snow and will harvest them next spring when they will be sweeter for the cold and snow. A great idea for cooking parsnips is to put them in a pie. There is a great recipe in the Fedco Seeds 2009 catalog but you should be able to find one on the internet by searching 'parsnip pie'. I don't recommend eating them raw as they are quite an acquired taste that way.
The Hubbard squash is a very large variety. The 'skin' as it were is actually more like a suit of armor. Cutting into it is not for the weak at heart. Make sure you are careful and have a big knife and lots of elbow grease.
Other than that everything is self explanatory. I hope you enjoy and that everyone has a safe, happy and local food holiday.

Inside activities

Well, the first part of the seed order for 2010 has been mailed. I work with a group of farmers in Winterport and beyond to compile a group order for Fedco Seeds and we just sent in that order today. I took this picture a couple weeks ago when I needed a slight break from compiling seed orders and perusing catalogs. (Photo ops make nice breaks.) This planning phase is one of my favorite times of the year. People seem to think that all of my work is done in the summer. I work just as hard throughout the year but on different things. Right now we're working on planning next year's crops, crop rotations and more. I've also been working in the greenhouse to repair the damage from our windstorm and cleaning up some of the things that took a back seat this summer. After the holiday the real work begins as I will need to begin to do things like oil tools, make soil blocks, prep work stations, get in applications for our apprentice program and so many other things. The list never gets shorter...but what a wonderful way to live.
Speaking of wonderful ways to live, here is a shot of part of our root cellar, which is broken into two major categories. As you can see, this is the section where we keep our pumpkins, squash, some onions and garlic and my home made beer and hard cider. On a day like today when it's hard to think of anything growing outside (actually it's hard to even think straight it is so cold) it's a wonderful sight to open the basement door and be greeted by a bounty like this. Why 'civilization' ever got away from subsistence living is literally beyond me.

On the bright side

Hooray! The greenhouse is finished (again) not a moment too soon. The new, improved design is simpler to allow for easier moving when the time comes and I bought some serious anchors for the corners. You can sort of see one on the near corner, it's sunk in the ground about 2 feet and then bolted and screwed to the foundation of the greenhouse. John also had two 50 gallon drums full of cement lying idle on a stone wall. They are now tied to the middle of the greenhouse. Just in time for another blizzard and wind storm yesterday. It's still standing and after yesterday I have confidence that it will make it through the winter.
Holiday harvest shares are coming up for the Christmas share folks. I went out in the garden today and shoveled the snow to reveal fresh carrots. Here they are, fresh from the garden, the good earth, spongy and sweet, still clinging to the sugary roots. Most root crops can be stored in the ground the way they grow until spring with a heavy mulch. An early, substantial snow like this makes an awesome mulch. Isn't nature grand when we get out of the way and recognize that she is providing for all her creatures?

Here is our meal from the other night when it snowed. How local are you? The dish shows pumpkin soup with dried thyme, both of which came from our gardens, (milk from grass fed cows at the Old Ackley Farm in Blue Hill), roasted garlic from the garden, spaghetti squash with fresh thyme, also from the gardens and root cellar. The bread was a last minute thing or it would have been local as well. But for the bread everything on the table came from no more than 30 miles from our house. We're getting better all the time, striving to be completely self-sufficient.

Finally, our beautiful baby girl helping daddy make pumpkin cookies from our Long Pie Pumpkins (another gift from the root cellar...and a summer of hard work). She loves to stand up on a chair and help us cook. She gets her own spoons, spices and pile of flour. A wonderful tradition passed down through the generations from my wife's grandmother.

Doesn't she look grown up in her apron and so strong to carry that heavy pumpkin all the way from the door to the cellar to the kitchen. She is very much enjoying the cookies as a reward for all of her wonderful help.

Until next time...

local food, global change