Spring Update!

Here it is!  Spring is upon us and we couldn't be more thrilled.  Now to get on with the business of planting, growing and nurturing our little corner of the world.

A lot has been happening on the farm.  We have been cleaning, shining, pressure washing, trimming trees, painting and tidying up the place. It is the farm version of spring cleaning!

We have also added:

--A new garden shed.  It was sorely needed to store our ever increasing number of tools and supplies.

--A new greenhouse.  Our old one was certainly temporary, and was blown over in a gust of wind last fall.  We attempted to erect a new one earlier in March, but it was of very low quality and it collapsed within days.  So, we upgraded to a more permanent structure, and it is fabulous!  It is currently filled with seedling flats and all of our seedlings will be growing like crazy over the next few months.

--A new "farm store" shed.  It is yet to be erected, but we can't wait to get everything set up.  This will be located near the house on the driveway.  We will be installing refrigerated storage, shelves and baskets and stocking it with everything that we produce, as well as partnering with other local farms and artisans to include their items as they are available.

As always in spring when the weather starts to turn nice, we get anxious to get our hands in the dirt and start planting!  And as always it seems that Mother Nature has other ideas.  Our lovely patches of radish and arugula were wiped out in the recent freeze.  Fortunately those are crops that grow quickly. We will just replant and go about our business.  The garlic, onions and strawberries were unaffected, so there are blessings to count.

Jasmine, the mini farmer, is really doing well learning the ropes in the greenhouse and gardens.  She is also a great chicken wrangler!  

We had our first farm event on March 21st.  It was great meeting new folks, and reconnecting with old friends!  We will have another event in April, and will be announcing the date very soon.  This will be a seed swap/plant sale, and we will also have activities for children as we have in the past.  

We hope to see you all soon!

Announcing our First CSA Season

     I've been asked many times if I would be interested in selling our veggies via a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) model.  In a traditional CSA, customers pay up front for a weekly share of the farms' output - often with no real say in what is included in the weekly box.  The farmer, in return, gets to defray many production expenses upfront.  Both take a risk however...the customers put a lot of trust in the farmer and risk getting less than what they expected, and the farmer's risks are the same as they've always been--too much rain, not enough rain, crop failure, pestilence...and in the case of a CSA farmer...possibly unhappy and disappointed customers.

   After weighing all the pros and cons of the various ways to sell our products, we have settled on a hybrid type of CSA --one that has an upside for both the customer and the farmer.  We are going to start selling our produce using a "buy-down" type of CSA.  Here's how it works, and why we are excited for what this year brings!

     When signing up for our CSA, customers will decide how much they want to spend, and what they spend it on.  There are 3 different funding levels -- $25, $50, and $100.  When joining and paying for a "share", an account will be credited that amount, plus 10%.  For example if paying $50, the initial account balance will be $55.  We are going to be using a website hosted by Small Farm Central to manage accounts and it will provide our customers an online store to place their orders.  Customers will be able to shop online, manage or check their account balance, shop at the farm on designated days, and at the farmers market using their account.  Online order pickups will be on the farm or at the farmers market.

     Here is where the upside for the customer is....if a they do not use all of their credit by the end of September, we will refund, by request, any remaining account balance.  Any unused funds not refunded by October 1st will be put toward next years seed purchases.

     We will also have a small egg CSA.  One in the Spring, and one in the Summer, each running for 10 weeks.  Those participating in the egg CSA will also receive a 10% discount on eggs.  We are limiting the Spring season to only 5 members.  Once we get an idea of how our egg production is going, we may increase this in the summer.  We don't want to over commit the ladies to more than they can produce!

     Here is some of the produce that you can expect from us this year:

Spring:  Sugar snap peas (my favorite!), radishes, lettuces, cabbage, spinach, swiss chard, cilantro, arugula, green garlic, scallions, and a spicy spring salad mix.

Summer:  Tomatoes, eggplant, cucumber, beans (many many types!), herbs, strawberries, sweet potatoes, peppers--hot and sweet varieties, summer squash, onions, garlic and shallots.

Plants:  Seedlings such as tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and companion plants for your home garden.

We will also have farm crafts for sale:  hand made planters, potted herbs and flowers, and hand sewn items.

Anyone interested in joining our CSA this year will need to either keep an eye on our Facebook page for announcements, or join our mailing list by clicking our logo on the right side of the blog main page.  We have 4 spots left in our egg CSA for spring, and we expect to begin selling our farm shares for produce by mid-March, with spring harvesting beginning in early to mid-April.  Seedlings, companion plants, and herb plants will be available beginning in mid April until July.

As a farm that is new to selling in this manner, we are hoping that folks will take a leap of faith with us and reap the rewards of a wonderful, productive and fun harvest.

Spring Veggies - Part One - "Green Garlic - You Won't Regret It!"

One of the new crops we will be growing this year is green garlic.  It is also known as spring garlic or baby garlic.  It is simply immature garlic, picked before it has a chance to divide into the multiple cloves that mature garlic forms.

Growing green garlic, or just garlic in general, is incredibly easy and something anyone can do at home, either in the garden, or in containers.  We plant garlic with a number of our garden veggies, as well as have dedicated space to grow as much as we can!  It is relatively pest free, and when planted as a companion it assists in repelling garden pests such as aphids and accumulates sulfur which is a naturally occurring fungicide that helps protect your plants from diseases.

You use green garlic just as as you would scallions, leeks, or regular garlic.  It is stronger in flavor than a scallion, but not as strong as mature garlic.  The tender parts of the plant can be chopped or sliced, and the remaining tougher leaves can be saved for making vegetable stock.

We plant garlic in the fall for a mature garlic crop in mid-summer.  We will plant garlic in the spring, in staggered plantings for green garlic harvests from May until late summer.  

Last garlic harvest--They were HUGE!

Garlic in the garden

A New Way of Doing Business

Here at Suburban Fresh Farm, most days I run a one woman operation.  What some don't know is that I do this in addition to a full time job AND another small business that I run....So my time is the most valuable resource that I have.  I started looking at what takes up the most of my time here on the farm and how I can improve efficiency and be more effective.

I strive to take as much of the labor out of my operation as I can.  The chickens are set up so that they only need feed/water once every 3 days.  I spend perhaps 15 minutes per day cleaning out nesting boxes, letting them in and out of the coops in the morning and evening, and gathering eggs.  I do get some help from the mini-farmer on these chores.  Mission accomplished...small time investment, big payoff. I, and my customers, get the freshest eggs we can possibly get.

Raised beds--built on an old tennis court

Last year I expanded the garden significantly -- from 21 raised beds to over 50.  It was very ambitious.  What I found was that every morning I was watering something...by hand.  It was a huge time sink, and I knew I could improve on that system!  This spring I am working on installing irrigation for all of my raised beds.  It will save time this year on watering, as well as reduce the amount of water that we use by directing this resource exactly where it is needed.  It is an investment of capital and time upfront, but this is one of the most important improvements I can make here on the farm this year.

Know your farmer :)

The next most time consuming activity is....the farmers market!  Between packing everything up safely, loading, unloading, marketing, making signage.....all of this IN ADDITION to growing food and plants--it is hectic, time consuming,  and takes me away from the farm and farm activities for an entire day of the week.  This is time that I just cannot spare.

I have decided that we will participate in ONE farmers market per month.  This is so that we can maintain a public presence, build our customer base and get out and mingle with folks.  I really do enjoy that aspect of the farmers markets.  This will free me up to do what I love to do best...tend to my garden and farm an extra three days per month!!

So how will you be able to get our fresh veggies, herbs, and plants you ask?  Well, we are blessed with a fantastic location right here in suburbia.  We are going to set up a farm store and between Facebook and our mailing list we can hopefully drive folks to the farm to buy our products.  It won't be limited to any day of the week.  As an added bonus, selling directly off the farm allows us to increase our offerings!  We can sell preserves, dried herbs, pet treats, baked goods...all created here!

You will be able to buy our products on YOUR schedule.  No more waiting until Saturday morning to stock up on goodies.

We will have more details for everyone as this model evolves.  We will have several different payment options and special events for customers.

I LOVE what I do, and this will give me more time to do it!  I am very excited for this year and what it brings!