CSA Plant-A-Palooza!!!!!

 

Day 1 of the 2012 PlantFest...very very good participation! Members came early and stayed till the very last task was done...This is the sign of a very good season to come. 

Here is the Bean Brigade

 In my opinion, the closer you are to the ground already, the easier bean planting actually is...

 New and Enthusiastic members - here is Brad, looking not displeased about the manual labor

 Here we have the Corn Crew

 ..and the Cucumber Committee! 

(this fence went up in less than 30 minutes believe it or not!

Here is some awesome fence-mending!

 and the Herb Ensemble...

all herb beds had to be cleaned off and the hay pulled back for tilling

 and the setting out of the baby Pak-Choi

 Valerie waters the seedlings

 The Men Fix The Tiller!

 Everyone is beat but obviously still in good humour

What a lot of things got done this morning! More than we expected, but of course our CSA members totally rock...we are so lucky. We will collapse tonight and get up in the morning and DO IT AGAIN!

Slow Food Tour

 Well - there was nothing slow about the Slow Food Farm Tour!..we must have had 70 cars of people come to see...what? Pre-Garden Farming! Hey! -we set up the market tent, got some mint tea etc and honey set out - there were Assistants (good move, Slow Food folks..) We were a little hesitant about being listed on the tour...it's so early in the season, and the garden isn't actually up and running yet - we weren't sure what we would have to show anyone....but the people who showed up were so happy to be out and about in the springtime and whatever we did have was exciting to them - that was heartwarming - We pretty much said things like  Look at this poster! This is what the farm is going to look like real soon! And Look! potted tomato plants - lots of them!

 ..and peppers in pots too!

 ..and basil and a gazillion other things in flats

 and here's the empty greenhouse where the tomatoes and peppers will live! and the herb beds which have yet to be cleared out...

 oh no! more potted plants!

 and see the plowed garden? you just have to have vision!..but you know what? People just wanted to wander around and indeed there are always things to see here - and it was a strikingly beautiful day...they just wanted to be in the open and feel the excitement of the preparations for this year's bounty. They were great. Yes, we wish the tour was in May - but the folks on the tour were impressed with what we have on hand at this time.

At 3:30 we finally just shut the gate! There was a 'Dinner on the Ground' at a magnificent place north of here - and I have an awesome picture of the many people lined up at the table under the oaks - but it's on my phone! and I don't have the right connector to get it onto my computer - I'll figure that our later. We were so so tired Sunday night after all was said and done.
The Slow Food movement people did a fabulous job getting people out and about looking at local farms.


Will stayed home from work yesterday to plow...again... (it's more than a one-time thing) and this and that...and yesterday evening we both went out to see if one of us could catch Mousey Tongue a fish - and I did...poor little guy - he had waited on the dock all afternoon and would cry if you looked at him. It had to be done.

Slow Food Farm Tour

The Slow Food Farm Tour out of Baton Rouge is this Sunday....and we are in the line-up of four farms on the list. It is mid-March, and there's probably not a farm within spitting distance that has crops in the ground at this time...mostly because of late winter rains, but it is always so. On the other hand, there are three other farms on the tour, and one focuses on chickens, one on goats...the rains don't count for much in those cases...but for ACTUAL farming...mid March is a risky bet. It is what it is, as they say, and there are lots of interested people bitten by the Spring Fever bug who would like to spend a Sunday going from one farm to the other and just enjoying the fact that winter is over. yes! And for aspiring farmers or avid gardeners, it would tend to light a fire.Not that this is necessary...anyone who loves gardening is already out there digging around in the yard!
We have seedlings, and bees and a bio-deisel machine and artichokes in the greenhouse and many other interesting things to show people....so it will be fun.
 A pictorial update of sorts: Even though the ground has just been broken, there are lots or pre-garden activities afoot. And this spring is a very powerful one indeed....everything has just BOLTED out of the ground - simultaneously.
Will decided to start tearing down fences...ok, so they were old and were going to fall down anyway....and they were a pain of sorts..but I am still ambivalent...on the other hand, he killed himself digging up monkey grass and forming new flower beds and who can resist that? Then we got out there and planted 200 Gladiola bulbs in there so that will be fabulous! Just envision this.

 The clover is up, of course...all over the place- you just can't mow it all down - you must leave patches of it here and there...

 The Cilantro from last fall is blooming..and this, as well as the arugula and broccoli, should be left for the bees because let me tell you the bees are very, very busy,

 The mint has busted out of its little beds...I did get out there a month ago and tear out the nastiest weeds so that we didn't just have two weed gardens! Mid-March and we probably have enough to harvest. amazing.

 Artichoke update: so ok...one from the middle, then it rises up on a stalk then another...then another...pretty much all from the center of the plant - pretty wild, no?

 In this one bed..things that have appeared from last year's plantings...tarragon, catnip, lemon balm, ox-eyed daisies. This bed is, in actuality, probably 70 feet long. Not pictured but also present: hyssop, bee balm (well, wild bergamot - same thing only the native variety) and butterfly bushes.







I would show you pictures of the re-potted tomatoes but I have a new camera and, if I take a vertical picture, I cannot seem to get the rotated photo to post...just the sideways original! I guess i'll have to figure that out...we have literally thousands of seedlings in the greenhouse - new post - maybe tomorrow.

And here we have the first plowing of the garden. To you it may look like dirt. But no. It is the beginning.........be still my heart.

Look What I Found!

So THIS is what they do! Well, I knew they did that, but was never sure from whence the actual artichoke would emerge..smack dab in the middle of the plant...I read that each plant would probably offer three or four, so I wasn't sure whether they would come up on stalks from the sides or what...but here you go! In one sense I really don't like sounding like a person who has never before seen an artichoke plant (and I have not), but here in Louisiana it's just not something we grow...and that's my excuse! let me adjust that thought...it's not something we've grown BEFORE, but I do believe we'll be doing this again in the future! These plants, grown from seed in the fall, have been in the greenhouse all winter and here it is early spring - they have outlasted the lettuce and all of the broccoli, and I wasn't convinced we were going to see any artichokes before it just became too hot for them. But there you have it! Here is a baby one...I have no idea how big they will actually get - we'll have to see. But after all of the that trouble, I cannot imagine why anyone would pick the little tiny ones...micro-greens I can understand; greens come and go so quickly - but not these!

Oh and by the way...the strawberries up above - picked them this morning...It's what I could snatch from the ants...the setup is a win-win for ants...black plastic under which to thrive and juicy berries right there! We'll get more, but not much without dealing with the ants. Sometimes, if you just mess up their living area, they'll get pissed and move. I don't think that will work in this case. In the meantime, some strawberries are better than no strawberries.