Milk In Glass Bottles-Yum!

Lori, one of our farm produce subscribers is getting a milk share arrangement and is looking for like minded individuals to go in a share of it with.

Here is her email-
I'm getting milk delivered from Noris dairy (www.norisdairy.com) but they require a weekly subscription with a minimum of $18 for delivery. Unfortunately I don't need quite that much dairy. I'm hoping you might know someone else who subscribes that I can piggyback my order with (preferably on the west side of Vancouver) or who might be interested in going in with me. They're a bit spendy but I love the glass bottles and how fresh everything is (the milk is typically "good" for only about a week). Any ideas?

I don't want to post her contact info online, so please email me at battlegroundfma@yahoo.com and I will forward your inquiry!

Great Two Days of Growing Weather!

Great Two Days of Growing Weather!

Spent the last two days intensively taking advantage of the pristine weather opportunities at the farm. The baby lettuce is starting to catch up with the scheduled timing of size. The strawberries have officially been reclaimed from the weeds that flourished during the weeks of rain and are flowering nicely with green berries. The apple trees have received their first spraying of a kaolin based protectant to help deter the "not so welcomed" pests. Though the tomatilloes( still in the cold frame) are not ready to take the strength of night temps at this farm-they are already flowering, yay! Spinach, chard and kale varieties had to be reseeded in the ground as the mice were real hungry and found a drive by veggie start pit stop. I had done these twice before in seed trays and finally gave up. I would see the seedlings appear and then the next day or two later, they were getting nibbled down. With the hopes of coming back I brought them to the outdoors and covered them with plastic and another barrier but they were too far eaten down to make any sense of them. The other direct seeded chard, spinach, beets that were done 2 months ago are just as big as what I direct seeded again a month later. The gourmet salad mix is a slow gower as well. Some of the pre-grown onion starts I had added to the regular onion starts that were planted a while back, to my surprise, are going to seed already???? When the temps go from high to low back and forth sometimes the plant is tricked in to making seeds. Luckily most of them are not doing this, just some. The peas should begin flowering now and just are not.....they will be ready later rather than sooner.
To sum this up things are delayed by at least a week of target harvest on account of the weather. I will touch base with you all in another week or so to see if we need to delay the 22 week subscriptions pick up. The subscribers who are starting later in the harvest season, things will be alot more predictable as far as greens are concerned. Let's all be happy for the sun and pray for more!!!
Til later :)
Clark County Farmerette

Posted by Battle Ground Farmers Market at 6:26 PM

The rain game.......

We have had record rainfall this spring....
Easy to work with when putting seedlings in to the ground during the luck of dry days and neatly tossing the direct seeded crops in short windows of opportunities to do so.
Peas are now about a foot long and the chard and lettuce starts are slowly coming around. The potatoes are revealing their green tops which means it is time to hill and straw them up for baby potatoes first and larger ones later. The tomatoes, peppers, tomatilloes and basil in the greenhouse are screaming to come out and play ! Unfortunately the questionable night temps and soil warmth is something that has to be more predictable during a safe time to take the chance of being on their own out there in the fields.
Yes on a small scale of warm season veggie production one could set them out and use various covers of frost protection but when it is a field of them, it would not be cost effective for us to do so as we work with mother nature and what she gives us for growing in. Seasonal growing and eating is part of what CSA is about. For some folks, the understanding of what goes on behind the scenes in this type of growing arrangement can be quite educational indeed.
The strawberries are showing the buds of blooms but not quite opening up yet. The blooming succession of apple trees is definitely one challenge to get to this year as the non-petro spray we will be applying can only be done in dry weather to make it effective. It is like a dance we do to have apples with pretty faces in the summer and fall.
Pending a corporate contract tied in with the CSA farmers I am sharing land with, it looks like this farm could be full. We are waiting for a few details that need to be firmed up from them to get a better idea of where the subscription status stands. This means I am taking folk's info through my website to be placed on a waitlist for the regular growing season. Fall and winter shares availability will be decided on at a later date in the Summer so there may be an opportunity there-will keep you posted!
Adieu!
The Clark County Farmerette!

Two Sunny Days In A Row!

Yay, two sunny days in a row!
Yesterday my son Joshua helped me transplant around 5,000 onion starts, water the plants in the greenhouse and rototilled some more soil amendments in the soil.
Today I made our special recipe soil mix (Steve Solomonish) transplanted peppers and tomatoes into larger containers as well as garden flowers for part of the insect management program I have in my growing spaces.
The lettuce is 1/2 inch tall in the fields, peas are about an inch-kinda slow going with the cold nights so they will most likely be producing later than planned.
Hunters Greens shared some wintered over veggies with me. Not enough to say hey let's do a late winter share but enough to perhaps bring to the BG Farmers Market when it opens on April 24th!
Just the nicest csa farm people!
Anyways, til next time enjoy your week!

The Clark County Farmerette

Weatherly Charms!

What really really nice weather to farm in for March! What really cold and wet weather to farm in March! This March we got some of both! It is great to be able to have some dry days in a row to till, then plant then have the rains come and water it in. Yet when we have the rainy cold days stacked up against each other, some crops that were wanting to get going are at a stand still out in the field. In the greenhouse hut I share with Hunter's Greens, there are tell tale signs that the previous 3 months of consecutively seeding away are finally paying off. Last week I was able to transplant the broccoli seedlings that were started in February. Also was able to safely remove the short growing tunnels in the "hut" plot where the bok choy, gourmet salad mix and baby lettuces were leafing out.



The bush peas have been veering through their soil beds as a reminder that the heavier winter soil did not do them in. Funny going out there today the pole peas planted 2 weeks later are also on their way to needing a climbing apparatus very soon!

The mesculine mix located in the same plot with the pea selections were subject to some yummy liquid fish fertilizer which I must say after visiting them today enjoyed it!

Two varieties of strawberries have been planted and are anchoring themselves nicely despite the down pours over the last few days. Hoods and an everbearing variety I reclaimed from my folk's place up north are now calling Rosemattel's their new home!

The "marking " rows of radishes are prevalent in all three major plots of the farm and had to be thinned today. Few more weeks and we will see how this original planting did. Every 2 weeks or so in the cool portions of the year I do consecutive plantings of radish, lettuce varieities.
The closer we get to the mid to late spring also known as x amount of days to last frost the carrots, beets, spinach and other cole crops are consecutively seeded as needed.

At the house I had started the pepper and tomato varieties, and now they are leafy and tall enough to pot up in to a larger amount of growing medium to then transfer to the farm growing "hut". It is such a cute greenhouse!

Lastly over the last month, the 3 varieties of french fingerling potatoes settled in to their soil future. Can't you just taste the butteriness already?? Of the potato that is :)

Til later,
Spring we welcome you back!!!
The Clark County Farmerette at Rosemattels!

Farm Activities Last 30 Days Part Two!

West field tilled and ready for seeding! Close up of almond tree blossoms, so pretty!

Pictures of Farm Activities Last 30 days Part One

West Field to left and House Field to right some "before" pictures taken in Late January 2010.
Gathering fresh cut grass after the field was tilled to continue my compost layering for summer crop amending after the spring crops are done producing.