Blogger blues...

It seems like there is so little to blog about right now! Sorry for the lack of interesting topics. Today I decided to post some photos I meant to post before but never did...

Some of the seed tests. They are going well, almost everything is popping!

Barn last spring. I just love this photo, it makes me want Spring!

My dog. I don't think he looks big and scary although some people tell me he does...

I took this photo Janurary 8th! Can you believe how nice the plant looked? I had a whole row of bok choi that looked like this. Unfortantly, to small to use for anything.

What happens to your ground when 4 inches of snow melts in a day of rain!

Rat Tailed Radish!

Our germination tests are looking good.

I was VERY happy that our Rat Tailed Radish seed germinated. This is a radish pod variety, meaning you wait until it grows a seed pod on top and eat that not the root!

Very yummy, and great in salads or stirfry (he German's pickle it!)

We bought 4 oz of the seed in 2004 from Johnnies, we have 2 oz left and it is at the end of it's life span. And now Jhonnies does not carry it and most places only have it in small quantities.

This is a great canadiate for seed saving this year as we don't let any other radish go to flower!

So maybe in 2009 our Rat Tailed Radish will be our own!

Tossing seeds and germination tests...

This weekend I went through all our old seed.

Wow, was there a lot of it! What I did was check seed storage ages against a book we have, and toss seeds that are beyond their storage time, leeks and carrots, for instance, only last a couple years, yet I had a packet of each from 2003!

For more on the line seeds I am running a germination test. 5 seeds of each kind in a moist paper towel. Keep it nice and moist and warm and we'll see what happens!

Seed starting will ba happening starting in mid March, so the time is quick upon us. The BIG seed order will go out this comming weekend, when we see what pops and what does not...

(I will post pictures of this when I get home today.)

So much to buy!

The season for a farm to spend money is officially upon us!

In addition to all our seed, we need 3 new bee hives, a greenhouse, a post hole digger, fence supplies, a new solar fence charger, a roll of bio-degradable plastic mulch, starting supplies like trays and mix, and about 100 other miscellaneous things!
Later this year we will add a walk in cooler to our ever growing list.

At first all the looking and shopping is fun, but it slowly grows towards overwhelming! So we would like to thank all of our renewing and new CSA members for their support. When you come out to the farm and see the new goodies, you'll know you helped with some of all that.

For others on our waiting list, thanks so much for your interest. We still have spots and will be sending emails to our waiting list in small groups over the coming weeks. We have come up with a prioritized list based on if you wanted a share we could not give you last year, when we first heard from you, if you have bought shares from us in the past, and other things like that. In the future the list will be totally date based (as it is for anyone who contacted us past Nov 2007), but we did not keep track of that before. What we want to avoid is getting a ton of people excited and have to say "I'm sorry our CSA is full." 12 hours after we opened the spots. We think this way is more fair.
Thanks to everyone for your support of local food and our farm!

Happy Super Tuesday...

While those of us in Ohio just sit by, waiting for the Super Tuesday states to make their decisions, lots of you are voting today. Who do you really agree with?

Take this quiz and see...

Some of the answers are so close or you may want to pick more then one, be sure you click on the issues of the canidate you think you support when you are done. You may be more in line with them then the quiz shows.

Who did I come up with? I'm certainly not telling!

But where the canidates stand on milk labeling is not even on the quiz... :)

Back to milk...

I know I have not posted on the milk labeling issue recently. Basically because there was nothing I could say new! But I just recieved this email, so I thought I would bring the issue up again...

Copied from a Farm Sancturary Action Alert

"Stop the rBST Cover-up in Ohio

The dairy industry’s use of synthetic growth hormone (rBST) to boost milk production in cows has been under controversy since the FDA caved in to the lobbying efforts of Monsanto—a reckless and powerful agricultural biotechnology company—and rushed approval of the practice 15 years ago. State by state, the industry continues to lean on agriculture departments to silence debate on the issue, keeping consumers in the dark about the blatant cruelty and hazards of rBST’s use in animals. The latest battleground is Ohio, where lawmakers are preparing to decide whether or not to allow product labels that could expose industry’s use of rBST. Don’t let agribusiness dictate the fate of animals or deny the public’s right to know. Take action now!"

First seeds...

I went to our mailbox yeseterday and inside was a precious envelope from Seed savers exchange with our ARK of taste item seeds! I was so excited!

But alas, there is NOTHING I can do for anouther 6-8 weeks. And in the mean time we need to get our hoophouse up to start the seeds in. We have picked the one we want, and it should serve us for a good few years. We need to wait for final approval from the park to stick it up, which should come soon.

So far this year is looking great!