Check this out!

Video tour of the market

The Pantagraph did a great video article on navigating the Downtown Farmer's Market. It's only about 3 minutes long--see how many farmers you recognize! I'm in there....looking really, really bored.

Week 3

Good bye gloomy weather; hello sunny, warm weekend! Hopefully, the forecast will hold and we will have some nicer weather for Saturday. It's been busy around the farm lately, plus all the end of year school activities and trying to fit a holiday weekend or vacation into the mix--there just isn't enough time.

Bill and Carson are taking off for a much needed fishing holiday on Friday and some of our staff had other plans (can you believe it?), so Allie and I will be holding down the stand on Saturday. Our oldest, Kyle, is here for a bit, so maybe I can talk him into coming down, too. He and his family are moving from North Carolina to Arizona, so we get to enjoy them for a few weeks. Kyle got a new job in the Marine Corps and that entailed a move--but better than going back to Iraq! We're glad to have him here for a while.

We will have some of the best lettuce that I think we've ever grown. The cool, wet weather mixed with just the right amount of sun is just what you need to grow MASSIVE heads of lettuce! Plus, you just can't beat all the different shades of green of all the varieties of lettuce that we have this year: the light spring green of the leaf lettuce and Green Oak leaf, the intense green of Truckee, the bright red to burgundy of Red Oak Leaf and Red Sails to the deep green of the spinach and arugula. Plus, you can mix them all together for a dynamite salad!


Before Bill felt as if he could head up to the Great White North for some R&R, he had to get about 3,000 melons in the ground. Not only did he have to get them in the ground, but they had to be covered to protect them from the wind. Because we have the best crew ever, all this work was accomplished in the window of time between 4 & 8 pm....those guys rock!

The picture to the right shows some of the rows of cantaloupe & watermelon at the Manito farm. The rows go all....the....way.....back to the top of the hill. It's a long way back there. What's on the other side of the hill? Glad you asked!



It's where the sweet corn is at! This is taken about 1/4 of the way from the start of the field......no kidding, these rows are long! This is the first crop of corn that finally got planted in late April. Sadly, all the spring rains have really done for farmers is to put them WAY behind in their planting schedules. Luckily for us, we have some rolling ground and it is sandy, so unless there is a monsoon, we can usually find some dry spot to plant.

We've switched it up this year and moved some of our crops down to the Manito farm from the main homestead. We had run out of places to rotate our crops without putting something back where it was just a year or two ago. Plus, it was VERY rainy last year and we fought flooded areas and disease constantly. This year, we didn't want to take a chance with too much rain (we look pretty smart now, don't we?) so the tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squashes and eggplant are now growing in Mason county soil. The Manito farm is only about 2 miles south of the main farm and its where the corn is at, so not much of an adjustment for us.

This week, we are still celebrating all things leafy and green with lots of lettuce. I'll be manning the stand on Saturday, along with Allie (best helper ever!). What will we have for you:

• Lots and lots of beautiful head lettuce: Red Sails, Buttercrunch, Red & Green Oak Leaf, Simpson Elite, Giant Caesar and endive
• Radishes: regular red ones, long skinny white ones, round white ones and red & white French Breakfast, all still sweet and mild!
• Green onions--they never taste this good from the store!
• Leaf lettuce--so tender and sweet, its worth getting downtown by 7:30 to get some!
• Maybe, maybe, maybe, but no promises....turnips
  

Hope to see you all there Saturday morning!

Farmers at the (State) Farm

We are just 3 short weeks away from starting the 2009 Farmer's Market season! Excited?! We are.....and a little nervous. It is always this way at the beginning of the season: will the weather cooperate? Will anything be ready to pick? Will our customers show up? What did we forget THIS time? Actually, the only sure thing is that our customers WILL show up--you've never let us down yet!

We finally got into the field mid-April. We (and I am using "we" very loosely-I was at a soccer tournament!) planted over 11,000 sweet onions, lots of leeks, radishes, spinach, turnips, green onions, carrots and about 2,000 head of lettuce. Bill and his dad also got about 3 acres of sweet corn in as well. Now, it's a rush to get everything else in before we get busy with the markets. We have trays stacked up in the greenhouse, just waiting for the weather to warm up (and dry out!) so the warmer weather plants--tomatoes, peppers and eggplant--can get growing. Once we get stuff up and growing, I'll have some pictures. Right now, it's pretty boring.

ETA: There will not be a Buy Fresh, Buy Local booth at State Farm tomorrow. Sorry :( For those of you reading that work at State Farm, we will be participating in an Earth Day presentation on Thursday, April 30 at Corporate South. I'm sorry I don't have any other details than that......but we should be there with other eco-friendly folks over the lunch hours. So come look us up! We will have CSA information if you are thinking about beginning a healthier, more plant based diet. There are some CSA memberships still available---be the first in your department to sign up. Also, if you have a friend sign up for CSA at the same time, you both save $20 on your memberships. Come by and talk to me about it!

Finally, since I can't have a post without pictures, here are some to whet your appetite for some fresh veggies! These pics are examples of spring and early summer CSA shares. Both show what would be in your share for that particular week. The top photo has Red Oak Leaf loose head lettuce, 2 bunches of green onions, a bunch of French Breakfast radishes, white icicle radishes, Japanese turnips, and Napa cabbage. The second picture has a little more variety, as it is from about mid June: red radishes, yellow squash, zucchini, beets, leeks, sugar snap peas, butter crunch lettuce and rainbow swiss chard. As former members know, the later in the season is when the CSA REALLY pays off: sweet corn, watermelon and cantaloupe, plus tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes and onions, plus all the other stuff that I can't remember right now!

Probably the best reason for joining a CSA besides getting the quality, fresh produce is your return on investment. Really. Raise your hand if this has happened to you: buy a bag of lettuce at the store for $3, open it and by the next day, it is brown around the edges. Kind of a use it or lose it situation and very wasteful if only one or two people eat salad. Fresh, seasonal lettuce will keep for up to a WEEK in the fridge--with no browning! Radishes are crisper, onions sweeter, watermelon juicier.......on and on and on. Because we harvest when the produce is ready, your recieve a quality produce that has a longer shelf life.....maximizing your dollar by not throwing away food.

Anyway, the countdown to great local summer eating is underway! See you at the markets!

Come on spring!

It certainly doesn't seem like winter wants to give up....snow is being forecast for next week. What gives? We need to get plants in the ground!

This winter was brutal......remember our strawberry experiment? 100% fail. Every plant died. Very disappointing, but we had below normal temperatures for all of January and most of February and these plants were new baby ones; not mature or hardy. Very sad, but Bill has ordered some more, so there may be berries, but not until September.

The lettuce has moved out of our basement and into the greenhouse at the farm, making room for tomato, eggplant and peppers. This may be our most successful start to the season yet; all the plants look strong and healthy. Because tomato, eggplant & peppers are warm weather lovers, it won't be until the end of May before we set them out in the field and even then we'll cover them until it is consistently warm.

It is only 6 weeks until the start of the Bloomington Downtown Farmer's market! I've also heard through the grape vine that State Farm will again have a farmer's market for their employees this summer. No details yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I hear something.

Not much else going on; this is the calm before the storm! We've been taking it as easy as we can, just hanging out and watching Redbird Women's basketball! Can't wait for next season. Lots of local type things to do here in April: check these out!

• Synergy RAD presents a Dance Showcase to benefit the YWCA Stepping Stones this Saturday (4/4) at 7:00 pm. More info here! I'm dancing--come & see me!
  

• EEK! I'm running in a half-marathon! 4/11 in Champaign--come cheer me & Mercy from Blueschool House on to the finish!

• Health & Wellness Expo--4/17-4/18 at IWU Shirk Center--lots of things here both local and environementally good.
  

What's new? Lettuce tell you!

I know, first post of the new year and it's a pun.......sorry, I just couldn't help myself.

Thursday night, Bill got super-organized and busted out the seed trays, dirt & lettuce seed. I was allowed to help, 'cause it was late. So, six trays of yummy lettuce are off and running! The seedlings are up already and it won't be too long before we will need to put them in the ground.

We've been taking inventory of what we have and what we need to get started, touching base with our fantastic crew, getting equipment serviced and tuned up and attending pre-season market meetings. There are some exciting things coming up for both the Bloomington & Normal markets and we are glad to be back with both markets.


The Uptown Normal Trailside Market will again be on Tuesday afternoons from 3:30 to 6:00 in the Parkingson lot behind Wild Country. This should be the last year in this location--if construction schedules are on time, next year the market should be in a nicer location. As in the last two years, parking has been a concern in this area. There is parking over by the City Hall lot and on street parking to the east, so don't let a full parking lot keep you away!

There are more drastic alterations to the Downtown Bloomington Farmer's Market. We are still ringing the starting bell at 7:30 am, but some of the vendors will be in a different configuration. Farmers will still be on Main Street and on the adjoining block of Jefferson; however, the artists and a few other booths will be ACROSS Washington street to the south. While is isn't the best situation to have a major street run through a market, it's what we've got to work with, so we'll make it work! One benefit is that all the art and artists will be together. Sometimes the art gets lost in and among all us farmers; this new location will give them more visibility.

Another benefit of having the market extend a block to the south is the Lincoln parking deck anchors the end of the market. Already many market goers park here and walk up the short block to get to the market---now, the market will start a block closer, so take advantage of parking deck this summer.

In other news, we still have a few CSA memberships available for this summer. What's CSA? Short version is a CSA is an easy way to get top quality produce without having to visit a market or get up early on a Saturday morning. For a more detailed explanation, check out this page on our web site. I am also exploring ways for us to be able to accept debit and credit cards at the markets. We don't have all the details in place yet, but I'll keep you up to date on this development.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and we'll see you at the market!