I went to a "Finding the Salesman in You" workshop in Blue Springs yesterday. It was put on by Lane McConnell of AgriMissouri. It was informational and had lots of good common sense ideas. One of the marketing tools that is strongly recomended that be utilized is the internet. One way is to have a web site, do e-mail newsletters, and blogging. So I hope I make Lane proud or at least do her justice with my new blog site. She is after all the "Queen" of blogging! I will be contacting her for more help on getting this to be a very informative site. My hope is to be able to post pictures of the farm, and recipes or at least links to recipe sites!.

Another update on all those seeds we planted the other day, I have to go back and do some replanting as we evidently have a mouse or family of mice in the greenhouse!!! They have gone through some of they trays and dug up and eaten the seeds!!! So needless to say there was a quick trip to the store and several boxes of poison were purchased and put very strategically around the greenhouse! Now we give it a few days and try to replant again, but we want to be sure those pesky little critters are all gone!!!!! Oh, the joys of farming!!!!!

PLANTING HAS BEGUN!

Yesterday was such a beautiful day! We started planting some lettuce varieties in the greenhouse. The hope is to get them transplanted out in the hoophouse in another month or so! Today we planted some herbs; basil, thyme, parsley, cilantro & garlic chives. We also took some cuttings from Rosemary, oregano, chocolate mint, sage & stevia,(plants that we've been over wintering in the greenhouse) and putting them into rooting boxes to start new plants.

Now we need to get our hoophouses ready to go. We have 3 hoophouses, which are basicly unheated greenhouses. They are used as season extenders. We can plant in them earlier as they warm up the ground earlier and protect plants from cool temperatures. They have sides that can be rolled up to let heat out if needed during the day and rolled back down again at night to protect the plants. The trick is to remember to get out there early enough to vent and again in the late afternoon to roll back down to capture the heat for the night! Anyway our oldest hoophouse is going into it's 4th year, so the plastic has to be replaced as the life expectancy of the plastic is about 3 years. The spring winds last year took it off for us, and did a little damage, so we have now repaired the damage and waiting for a very calm day to replace the plastic! Our 3rd hoophouse is in the process of going up, too. We have most everything done on it, but the plastic. Then once the plastic is on them and the ground has a chance to warm up inside, we will be ready to start planting our lettuce plants we started yesterday!

Greg is in the process of going through all of his seeds to see what he has on hand and what he needs more of. All those seed catalogs have been arriving since before Thanksgiving, so now he gets to go through them and make his lists and see what new things he wants to try!

We have been going to some different fruit & vegetable conference around the area. These are always good to go to and see what's new out there, and how other people are doing things. We went to one in St. Joe the first of January, and there is another one down in Springfield that I will go to in mid February, (I will also get to visit our son who is going to school down there!). I went to an AgriMissouri/Missouri Farmers' Market workshops & meetings Jan. 17th at the Lake, and I will go to a marketing workshop in Blue Springs on Mon.

So even though you have not seen us since Oct. and may not even be thinking about fresh produce yet, it is a year round project for us and there is always something to be doing, planning, building, repairing or learning! We hope you are having a great winter, but hope that you are starting to think about all those fresh and delicious veggies & fruits, because they will be here before you know it!

New CSA in Fulton Missouri

Greg & Tammy Sellmeyer of Sellmeyer Farm from Fulton, Missouri are starting up a CSA this Spring. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. We have been growing and selling produce, fruit & eggs for the last nine years. We have sold at the Fulton Farmers' Market for nine years, and at the Columbia Farmers' Market for the last two years.

The concept of CSA's has been around for quite a while on the East & West coast, and even in the midwest, but it growing in popularity. The concept of the program is that the consumer buys a share of the crop in advance and therefore shares in the abundance or failure of the crop. By subscribing in advance you will receive a box of food once a week for 25-26 weeks. You can get a full share which feeds a family of 3-4 or a 1/2 share which feeds a family of 1-2. You will receive what ever is in season, picking up your box once a week at a designated spot. This will eliminate standing in line on hot days, the fear of missing out on something because you were late getting to market, etc.

We are having a meeting on Tues. February 3, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. at the Fulton Public Library in the Friends room. Please come to find out more about this new opportunity to get fresh, local & healthy produce in the Fulton area.