Work Work Work

Plant Plant Plant...

Here's Hannah

you can see what an excellent job she is doing...

Will calls her 'The Planting Machine'

Meanwhile, there are csa members all over the place doing the hard work of getting ready for the season: re-planting the spinach and covering it up; planting the little okra plants in amongst the garlic; we had to do this because we're flat out of room. But it ought to work - the only little problematic thing will be pulling up the garlic when the time comes and not puling up the okra along with it! setting out the teeny tiny pak choi, and also the rainbow chard;

some are too young to really help, but they're out in the sun in the morning, and that's good. Little Jackson wasn't so sure about all of this at first, but he got with the programWhen it's time to go, everybody gets fresh cut mint, a mint plant if they want one, and a bundle of green onions - these are the things that say 'ready or not, it's time'. Some folks carry their loot to the car, and others just stuff it into their purse! all in all, a wonderful morning. This CSA thing is the smartest thing we've ever done. SUCH nice people! And many of them spend the week in an office, and the opportunity to come out to a garden and listen to the birds and get worn out with this kind of work gives them renewed energy to meet the work week once again. I would say it's a 'win, win' if that weren't the corniest thing one could say.

Will Says..."I have a project for you!"

you see, that's the problem with farming...endless projects. And that's ok. Unless the other guy has a project that involves not him, but you!...Turns out it was relatively harmless - and well-meaning. He was going to go on a MOWING EXTRAVAGANZA. Translated, this means 'we got the mower back from the shop again, and I'm going to mow everything in sight before the mower breaks!'

He wanted me to go out and cut a boatload of mint, because it is so beautiful and so ready to harvest (early as it is!) and he didn't want to blow grass all up in it before I got a basketful to dry...and might I add, he completely re-worked the herb dryer this winter so it would be ready for just such an occassion...so who can argue with all of that?

Out I went...he thought i should use a knife, but I knew that scissors would do the trick just fine/

A giant laundry basket full of mint later - you would not know that I had even touched it. The mint beds look exactly like they did before - but the dryer is running and the whole house smells like mint...a first harvest of the year...very nice.

And so the carrots are weeded...

and the kids were well-behaved and adorable... you can always spot a Future Babysitter of America

Here's What Is Going On In The Background

...a message to our 2011 CSA Members this morning:

Port Hudon Organics "Early Bird Special"!

Greetings Members: We are happy to announce that, despite the heavy rains and quarter-sized hail of this past Tuesday, the garden is relatively unscathed. A few small holes in the greenhouse plastic and at least one tomato plant that took a direct hit are among the casualties - it could have been much worse. The larger problem is the packed soil and muddy conditions, which pretty much eliminates field work this weekend. This is where the greenhouse comes in. Unlike the fields, the covered greenhouse remains pretty dry, and the plants are in great shape, as are the weeds.

(left to right: carrots / eggplants / hot peppers / potatoes)

Of particular annoyance is the strong weed growth among the baby carrots. We have been doing hoe work around the edges, but there is just no getting around the tedious, but low energy work of sitting on your butt pulling weeds out from among the baby carrots, taking care to avoid pulling up what will become a bounty or orange goodness in May.

Now, the greenhouse is pretty much unbearably hot by 9:30 a.m., so we are offering an

early morning mingling of rustic farm work and fine French dining - our "Early Bird Special". For any who would like to come out this Saturday for a brief stint of delicate weeding in the 8:00-9:30 a.m. time frame, we will provide a light brinch of Mimosas, Croissants, and fruit - on the carport immediately after. You can sit in the shade and listen to the fountain and all of the birds while sipping your champagne beverage and nibbling on pastry and making small talk with your fellow members. The carrots will love you for it.

If this sounds good to you, please come out Saturday morning as early as you can make it. And remember to bring something either to sit on in the greenhouse, or to cover your seat in the car because there will be dust.

Here's hoping you can join us.

Thais and Will Perkins

Port Hudson Organics

I've Been a Very Bad Blogger Of Late

We've just been SO SO busy...If I could publish or Cut and Paste our GARDEN PLAN that shows the layout and everything that's been planted so far, I would...but i can't figure out how to cut and paste a Word document here...sorry. I've been toying with the idea if using one of the newer templates, but worry that I'll lose everything so far is I start to tamper with things...

I'd say 3/4 of the planting is done. And last night we had Hail! Big Hail! Other than knocking a couple of holes in the little greenhouse where seedlings are housed, there doesn't seem to be much damage. The little beets are flat - but we know they'll spring back up. I haven't had the nerve to go look at the tiny herbs set out last weekend. I'll do that in a while.

We have our quota of 40 member families for the CSA this season - and more knocking at the door. I wish we could just let everyone in who wants in, but we need to draw the line at what we know (or hope) we can do. There's been a lot of hands helping the past couple of weekends, and this is why we're a little ahead of the game.

In the meantime, I'll try to be better about pictures and blogging and such.

Here is the new sign (!)

It's SPRING! It's SPRING!!!!!

We have a few pictures of Spring...we're busy busy busy...flats in the greenhouse and more , many more you cannot see in this picture

and many more flats to be planted still...

I've been having fun planting flats of things I haven't tried before...Korean Hyssop; Lemon Catnip...and reseeding things that had to be plowed under because they were in the field (very sad); Wild Bergamot, Feverfew, Ox-Eyed Daisies, Blue Hyssop.

spent a moment weeding the mint beds again - I am trying to stay on top of it this year (this is before the weeding!) The rosemary is blooming... The yellow jasmine is crazy beautiful The Lady Banksia rose is busting a move...and of course the redbuds are red-budding

That's all I have time for now ...Will just bought I-Don't-Know-What at Whole Food so I have to go check it out...although I know that 20lbs of Yukon Gold Potatoes was one item...because we have to plant organic everything... and you can imagine the shipping on potatoes - so this is another solution to that. We already have one row up in the greenhouse and another one in the field he planted yesterday,. Hope our folks love potatoes. More later.

Every Day That Passes is a Day Closer To Spring

Frozen berries is all we have right now...but they're ours and that's a good thing. We decided not to plant strawberries this year, and we'll be moving the blackberry vines around in the early spring - so we won't have either of them this time around. But you can't have everything every year. right?

It's been a very cold and very wet winter. Many mornings of Will's 'ice happenings', formed when he puts the hose up in the bushes to drip it overnight... But there are flats in the new greenhouse, warmed with a heater and heat mats under the tomatoes and peppers...which are now UP! YEA! Go plants Go! And the green onions in the field will make you think it is spring, even though it's not.
bring it on

It's THAT time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yes yes yes...time to plant. Well, time to plant seeds in seed flats, that is. Which brings the question...once we do this, where will we set all of the flats?!

It's the age old question - because the seeds need warmth...and the regular (tiny) greenhouse is FULL OF PLANTS! And its only January, so we can't pull the plants out yet...
although we're pushing deadlines right and left, Will designed a new 'cold frame' for our flats...now, usually this kind of getup is just a lean-to up against the house or some such...close to the ground and only as big as you need at the moment...well. But no...this is what is happening (and I must say it is a beautiful sight) AND - we won't have to haul flats from the house to the garden.
pretty nice, no? Things feel hurried-the birds are back in town (well, the ones that left in the first place)' the cover crop in the garden is busting a move, as are all of the weeds...we can call it winter if we want, but nature does things in her own time, and we don't want to get caught behind the curve. It's going to be a big year around here...

MouseyTongue Takes Matters into His Own Hands – Er, Paws

It's not unusual to find little "gifts" on our doormat in the morning or late afternoon, left by our wildest cat MouseyTongue. In fact, it was the regular presence of these sometimes whole, but usually parts, of various rodents, amphibians, and reptiles that caused us to change his name from Mao Tse-tung to his current moniker. When parts show up regularly, you remember to look before you step. When the pace slows - and you forget - you get to play the game of "what was that I stepped on/in?" Then I get to examine the little multi-colored lumps of guts and gristle and use my Comparative Biology 101 skill set to try to identify the organism that they came from before I take the whole mat to the dock and dump the parts. Always me, because Thais won't go near it - and this is one of the truly masculine jobs at the farm with no contest. Usually it is mouse or frog parts. Sometimes only a hide. On occasion, a detached head sitting upright, eyes unblinking like something out of a Godfather movie.

Mousey is the cat we used to fish for on a regular basis. He likes his fish whole and flipping. Mercifully, he usually eats the small bream (his favorite) from the head down. If you go anywhere near the pond when he is in sight, he bolts for the dock, singing his desire for sushi. We haven't been fishing in a while... Now, how he managed to get this one-pound bass out of the pond and to the doorstep I can only guess. And my guess is that either the fish launched himself out of the pond while chasing prey or, more likely, a blue heron speared it but the fish was too large to manage and the cat took over. I would like to believe that the cat pulled it out by himself - and the mental picture is hilarious - but I don't think he could manage that. Anyway, Mousey was very smug this morning as I stepped out, and wasn't at all interested in his dry food.

And This Is Late November

I cannot believe we've been this lucky....we transplanted these from the field, where a gazillion zinnias were sprouting - but Will had to plow. They've had the chance to completely do their thing this time; thought I'd grab the images while I could...maybe fill the whole house with zinnias for Thanksgiving (thanks for the idea, Erbel!)

New Endeavors

Here We Go!!!!!!!!!!

...Work So Far On The Greenhouses

Over The Past Two Weeks!!

Many many thanks to the CSA Members who came out to help.

No end-pieces yet - no coverings yet

but I think this was the hardest part

and now it's raining...so we got this done just in the nick of time!

Early November Farm Update

Well...it is finally and definitely fall...leaves on the ground, little piles of dead branches etc. raked up. The zinnias we transplanted from the field to the fencerow gave a mighty spurt of flowers before our first frost, which was last night; we covered them with black plastic, and although they are a little worse for wear, they'll go a while longer. Will traveled down to Cameron, La. (for those who don't know, it's south of Lake Charles, kind of almost in the Gulf - and there's very little left down there since the hurricanes). He picked up a ton of...well...it is basically fish gut fertilizer - it's in a big plastic 'tote' on the back of the truck...because getting it OFF of the truck is a problem for now. But Will cannot go anywhere near a body of water without trying to catch fish - because that's just the way he is. Luckily, there was another dude hanging around by the edge of the water, and this guy had some bait with him - and he was willing to share. Will caught his limit of redfish in no time at all! very nice.

So that was Tuesday.

We spent most of yesterday (into the night) hauling potted plants hither and yon; first frost of the season has us scurrying. You bring what you can inside, putting plants in every possible spot by a window. Then you cram everything you can into the tiny greenhouse (which has to be cleaned out first) and then you STILL have stuff that won't fit in either place so you just drag it into the pool room and line em up. Hopefully you find time the next day to haul them back outside. It's all quite a job. I had no idea those avocado plants were taller than the ceiling in our front room - and that is VERY tall. I did most of it, because Will was out in the field putting black plastic on two long rows (greenhouse prep). Covering rows with plastic is not a one-man job, but it can be done. I felt kind of guilty not being out there with him, but there was just too much to do before dark. And it all got done.

Also, this week, we planted the garlic. The way that happened is like this: Will comes in from work and says...'you can come out and help plant the garlic, or you can desert me in my hour of need!' I suppose this doesn't leave room for much decision making on my part! Now those rows have to be mulched. But we can't do everything! At least not in one day. Now that I look back, I guess it was a pretty busy week.

And now it is Saturday, and Day One of the great High Tunnel Construction Effort.
We have your pieces and parts. We have the field preparation done (lots of dirt moving and row making). At some point (and I can't even remember which day it was), Will unloaded this GIANT piece of felt he got from Georgia Pacific. It was so heavy that the two of us could not even spread it out flat. But we did the best we could. The idea was to get on your hands and knees (that would be me) and, using one of those handy-dandy little razor knives, work your way backwards and cut a STRAIGHT line all the way down until you have a 42" strip about 80 feet long. Geez. I did that twice. That was all I had in me. Then it rained. and the felt is still there and i need to do at least two more. Maybe I'll get out there and give it a try. don't know how wet it will be...nasty job. The point is to have long strips to lay between the rows inthe greenhouses to cut down on weeds. A laudable concept - difficult to bring to fruition, but a lot of what we do is like that.

So we put out 'the call' to start greenhouse construction. Thankfully, somebody just showed up. This should take a couple of weeks, but it will move us in a new direction here on our little farm. Winter greens, planting peppers and tomatoes in January (more or less). Much more about all that later, I'm sure. I should quit writing and get out there and see what I can do to help.

Just Checking in...

...and now it is October! My oh my time does fly doesn't it? The hay is in - quite a beautiful lot I must say. Back in the summer, we were so excited to have the red clover hay. We assumed it would be soft and nice. not. It was scratchy and sticky sticky sticky! Live and learn. This time, there wa no special planting...just your regular mowing and baling of the grasses that live in this field. The hay is very, very nice. In addition, we finally got our order of honey jars. That took until mid-September. So we've been slowly decanting the honey, and have it for sale. A we all know, if you leave honey sitting around for any time at all, it begins to crystallize. We had ours in 5-galon buckets. Most people store it this way. But the honey at the bottom of each bucket had begun to set. So we had to figure out how to warm it up. Once you warm it, it achiees it's beautiful fluid state again, and all is well. No harm done. But we were concerned about heating up the plastic buckets. We didn't want to take a chance and accidentally overheat it, so placing them in the crawfish boiler outside, in the end, didn't seemlike a good idea. Will did a lilttle research and checking around, and in the end built this groovy box and hung a lightbulb in it. Voila!We are awaiting our 'government greenhouses' - ordered and now shipped. Two high tunnels that we will put up in the very near future. We'll be having a 'Greenhouse Raising' weekend. Much more on that later, I'm sure.

in the meantime, the field is plowed, it won't ever rain again, seems like, and the garden is resting.