Seeds {Round One}

Below is the Seed information for those planted on March 8th, 2017, and can also be found in under the "CSA Menu" tab above. Comment below if you have any questions about individual varieties or have other varieties to suggest.

Variety: The type of seed planted, Seed company 
Planting Date: When the seeds were planted
Germination Date: Will be recorded when leaves appear
Days to Harvest: Number of days from germination to harvest
Harvest Date: Approximate date of "whatever's ripe"

Variety: Red Russian Kale, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 55
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Vates Champion Collard, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 70
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Blenheim Orange Muskmelon, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 85
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Red Pear Tomato, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 70
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Amish Paste Tomato, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 85
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Cherokee Purple Tomato, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 85
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Patty Pan Squash, Wyatt-Quarles Seed Company
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: Approximately 45 to 55 days
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Sugar Baby Watermelon, Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 65
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Painted Serpent Cucumber. Seeds of Change seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 65
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Calabaza First Prize Hybrid Pumpkin, Burpee seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 85
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Table Queen Acorn Squash, Wyatt-Quarles Seed Company
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 75-90
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: Waltham Butternut Squash, Wyatt-Quarles Seed Company
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 95- 110
Harvest Date: ?

Variety: True Green Hubbard Squash, Olds Seed
Planting: 3/8/17
Germination: ?
Days to Harvest: 95-110
Harvest Date: ?


But that zera/seed on the tov/good ground are those, who in an honest and tov/good lev/heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.  Luka/Luke 8:15

Best Regards,

The Garden's Transition from Winter to Spring

Wednesday was a big day! Thanks to good friends that were willing to lend a hand, here is the farm & garden update:

Left- collard greens, Top- brussel sprout tops, Right- carrots,
Bottom middle- brussel sprouts (turnips and kale not pictured)

• Rose bush pruned to a manageable size, which is very exciting
• Last season's herbs pruned to the ground (they will come up again soon)
• The 2nd greenhouse was constructed 
• Both greenhouses are now securely anchored in the ground in their new location for the season
• The extension of the garden was prepared, mowing the grass down and covering with clear plastic to kill the grass
• Bought peat moss for seed starting and crimson clover seed for the future cover crop, 5 lbs of seed!
• Mixed potting media, peat moss and worm castings, from my own vermicompost. Thanks to mother for keeping the composting bin in the kitchen all this time!
• The garden rows were weeded with the last of the winter crop removed (featured above) 
• Prepared the garden for the spring crop. No seeds in the garden yet, due to the uncanny threat of snow this weekend. 

Up next: the first round of seeds in the greenhouse, now called "Seeds (Round One)"

Then He said to His talmidim/disciples, The harvest truly is great, but the workers are few.

Make tefillah/prayer therefore to the Master of the harvest, that He will send forth workers into His harvest.  Mattituahu/Matthew 9:37-38

Best Regards,

Dreaming of Sunflowers @ Rooster Ridge Farms

"She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard." Proverbs 31:16

This wasn’t a vineyard full of grapes, but a field of flowers at Rooster Ridge Farms LLC. My cousin Taylor, and I were welcomed onto the farm for a tour. I had never experienced a flower farm before, so this was a very neat adventure.

A special thank you to Taylor Richards for coordinating this farm tour and taking all of the beautiful photos, visit Taylor's blog here!

Me on the left with Teresa on the right

Teresa Brown is a first generation female farmer and her dream was to grow sunflowers. This dream has come alive just in the last year when she purchased just shy of 23 acres in Bryan, Ohio.

Teresa is an art teacher in a local community school system. I am sure the artistic ability aids in arranging the flowers, but this is not your average art teacher! Teresa has a sunflower painting over fireplace and sunflowers growing outside!

In northwest Ohio, agricultural production predominately consists of the three crop rotation of winter wheat, field corn, and soybeans… But Teresa Brown has a different plan for her acreage. 

With being on the property only one year thus far, she has a great set up. Teresa has one main field in flower cultivation, but what an excellent view! Facing the woods, you’ve got a field to your left and a pond to your right.

The beauty is hard work, Teresa bought her tractors and got busy. She learns as she goes, which is a quality I very much admire. I once heard a saying “you just have to start”, and that is what Teresa has done at Rooster Ridge Farms. 

In the era of making money, Teresa has a different view. She does it for the aesthetics, it instills happiness in others. 

A few tips that Teresa shared with me:

*Cut your flowers early in the morning, so the stems retain their moisture.
*When marking your rows, use a pencil on your tags instead of permanent marker. The permanent marker may wash off!

Pricing

*Pint for $8 

*Quart for $10

*Refill for $3 this year

Flowers are now affordable, local, and perfect for “flower-bombing”.

“She is flower-bombing people”, Teresa told us of one of her customers. This now coined term refers to the customers that like to buy multiple flower bouquets at a time, and gift them to their friends. What a neat idea!

So, what does the future hold?

Teresa explained that there is a program called NRCS, which you can read about here, that provides high tunnels and irrigation for farmers, which she plans to pursue. 

A future for female farmers

I was very encouraged by Teresa’s start-up story as she talked to me about the resources available for female farmers, through Ag Credit and FSA(Farm Service Agency). Read more about these types of loans on the USDA website, here.

Resources

Teresa buys from Jonny’s seed company, check out their website here.

Field of Farmers Joel Salatin 

Midwest Gardeners Handbook Melina Myers

Contacts

Teresa Brown at Rooster Ridge Farm LLC

Facebook: here

or visit her at the Bryan, Ohio farmer’s market!

More Photos:

I took this photo of Teresa's farmer's market set up!

Seeds Of Change Grant

Crescent Academy, the day treatment program that my mother works for at Nazareth Children's home, is applying for a gardening grant through Seeds of Change. Check out the Seeds of Change website here. 

My Mother, Judy, pictured in the garden.

The goal is to use the grant money to revamp the raised bed garden already in place at Nazareth, potentially even to add a greenhouse or a hoop house, and would focus on teaching the students how to grow their own food! 

How To Vote 

• Individuals can vote once every calendar day. So essentially, you could vote for Crescent Academy every day, from now till April 18th! 
• The top 50 organizations with the most votes will move onto the final judging phase, where 20 organizations will be chosen to receive the grants. 
• The grant recipients will be announced around May 3, 2016. 
• For more specifics on the grant itself, visit the grant website here.

I would greatly appreciate it if you would vote at the link below!

Link: https://www.seedsofchangegrant.com/GalleryDetail.aspx?id=2238

I am really excited about this opportunity because I believe the $10,000 or even $20,000 grant could impact the lives of the students and the community of Rockwell, NC at large.

Let me know if you have any questions, as I hope to volunteering with Crescent Academy's school garden this summer. 

More pictures of the garden:

Planting Spinach

Hoss Tools

First off, I would like to introduce you all to the company that produced the wheel hoe I used before planting the spinach [see video below]. More specifically, the hoe had the oscillating hoe attachment: Check out the company website here. 

Using the oscillating hoe, I went over the row where the spinach would be planted and uprooting the existing weeds. These were the weeds that grew while the previous crop was there. I must say that these tools use a different set of muscles, that irregular farmers like myself may not be used to exercising... aka I was hurtin'!  The cool news is that Hoss tools states that you can adjust such tools to your personal height, which may be helpful for short folks like myself.

Seeds in the ground:

1. Within the desired area make 3 rows that are equally spaced apart the length of the row. This can be done with something as simple as a the end of a shovel stick.
2. Place a seed in the carved out row, each seed about 3 inches apart. 
3. Carefully cover the carved out row with dirt using a garden rake.

And there you have it, the directions that I received to plant a ton of spinach and now I have relayed them to all of you. I'll keep you posted as to whether my planting skills follow through! Here is the completed product at the end of the day. 

Who knew garden planting could be so simply stated....now we wait!