HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have much to be thankful for. All the crops are finished, picked and put in storage. We have all the plots cleaned and plowed. The only thing left to do is the hoop houses. We are still getting greens out of one of them. It has been a very different and trying year, but we are still here and planning on next years crop, we are already receiving seed catalogs in the mail!

To those of you that were in our CSA program this summer, I'm sorry we had to shut down mid season, but I felt family issues were more important and needed to be addressed and I'm sorry I didn't feel I could do that with the CSA commitments. That's life and I'm very grateful and thankful to and for my family. Thanks to those of you who supported us by participating in our CSA and buy from us at Farmers' market. We couldn't do what we do without you guys, so thank you.

We hope you all have a safe and great Thanksgiving and a joyous, stress free Christmas season! Thanks!

I thought I would post my Thanksgiving sweet potato dish that I plan to fix for tomorrow. I don't have amounts as I'm a kind of dump and go kind of cook at least where casseroles are concerned.

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
Sweet potatoes peeled and cubed, 1 sweet onion chunked, sliced dried apples (or fresh will work, too), peeled and chunked mangoes, salt and pepper to taste. I like heavier on the pepper than just a couple of sprinkles. Put all this in a baking dish and then drizzle with maple syrup and bake covered until potatoes are soft.

This works great also with winter squash! Hope you enjoy.

It's officially Fall, but you couldn't tell it by the weather this week. Yesterday and today up in the 80's! You can't beat that! So far we've only had a light frost and it hasn't killed anything.

We have tomatoes still coming out in the field, and in the hoop house we have peppers galore and eggplant. We've got all the winter squash picked and put in the barn. We had an abundant sweet potato crop, so we are looking good.

We've been working on winding up the electric fence around the old strawberry patch and getting ready to get it all tore up. We've been cutting runners off the new strawberry patch, they are just going to town with all this warm weather. Greg has got a couple of the garden plots plowed up for winter, so we are slowly making progress.

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only a month away. It's time to think back and remember all of our blessings and all the things we have to be Thankful for!

These have been trying times in more ways than one. I had to close down our CSA operation because of some family issues that I needed more time to deal with. The summer heat and lack of rain was hard on produce. Our dried bean crop was a total failure, we had no zucchini or cucumbers. Our field tomatoes did not do the best either. When the temperature gets over 90 degrees the blooms drop off and do not set fruit. Greg did start digging the sweet potatoes and they look to be promising. Will be anxious to see how some of the new varieties that we planted will do, and how well people will respond to them. He also got the strawberry tips that we had rooted earlier planted. We are getting okra still and the peppers and eggplant that we planted in the hoop house are really doing well. We have not started to pick any winter squash or pumpkins yet, but they don't look like they did really well either. This is the fun and frustration of farming. To be a farmer you have to be an eternal optimist, because you are always hoping that next year will be a better year than the last!

Well continued excessive heat for over 3 weeks now. Tuesday we had 108 degrees. As the local weather man said, and I quote, "We blew the record of 104 away"! Then I heard same weather man say yesterday that we had a cold front move through. So I went and looked at my thermometer and saw it was only 95 degrees and I realized I guess he was right, that was a 13 degree drop from the day before!

So what does this all mean? Well the green beans and dried beans are pretty much dried up. We do irrigate the green beans, but not the dried beans, but even with water they just won't set fruit when temperatures are around 85 or above. Same with the summer squash and cucumbers. The tomatoes are not doing to bad, but again when the fruit that's already set is ripe there will be a lag before more tomatoes are available because the blooms will have fallen off during this heat. The one thing that loves this heat is the okra. We've been cutting about 15 gallons worth each week!

Yesterday we went to pick up our 3,000 strawberry tips, so now we have to get those potted so they can get a good root system going. Then we have to put them under a misting system that sprinkles every 3 or so minutes for a minute at a time. Should be fun in this heat!

HOT, HOT, HOT!!!!!!!!!!! Wow almost 2 weeks of above 90 degree weather. It's burning everything up. We are running water on everything pretty much 24/7! We are getting some heirloom tomatoes now and the summer squash has started. Okra is coming along little by little, the deer won't leave it alone! We've been picking blackberries for a couple of weeks now, but don't get to many at a time. They got hit by a late frost and the winter was awfully hard on them. I've been dehydrating some tomatoes, okra and bell peppers, so we have something to sell over the winter. Continuing to plug away! Hope everyone is keeping cool!

It's been a while since I've last posted, sorry. We've been plodding along. A couple of weeks ago we had a storm that tore the plastic off our large hoop house with tomatoes in it. Now when people ask how they are grown, we can truly tell them they are outside! We've been digging on the potatoes and using Greg's new potato digger. It works pretty well, but we still have to do some digging to get the little ones out. We've got one of the little hoop houses planted with peppers and eggplant for late fall production, hopefully! The CSA boxes have been getting blackberries, carrots, fennel, basil, kohlrabi, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, peppers, leeks and potatoes. Hopefully soon we will have some summer squash.

At least today it has cooled off after an evening thunderstorm yesterday. That 96-98 degrees and humidity is brutal! Hopefully this reprieve will last a bit longer! Green beans are blooming, but things won't set when it's so hot. Hopefully everyone out there is keeping cool in all this heat.

We were needing rain, and now we've had rain. What we did not need was more wind. In last nights storm we lost the plastic off of our biggest hoop house that we plant tomatoes in, and a few more branches!

We've been planting beans, and have beans, summer squash and cucumbers all sprouting. We've got a few of our first summer squash starting to bloom. The deer had been eating on our okra plants, so Greg sprayed a hot pepper/rotten egg concoction on them and they are looking better, but now with the rain he'll need to respray them.

Over the weekend we worked at cleaning out one of the little hoophouses and tilling it and laying drip tape and plastic in order to get ready to plant some things to go late into the fall and early winter. This afternoon I've been working at doing a second stringing of our field tomatoes. Last week we worked on pulling weeds out of the potatoes, have quite a bit done, but still have 3-4 rows to go yet.

Our fennel, cardoon and carrots are looking great, may even have fennel this week for the CSA boxes!

This cooler weather has been a blessing, but looks like it's not too last! Talking 90 degrees again this week! Well it was nice while it lasted.

Good news! Blueberries are here! Everyone will be getting some today in their CSA boxes! There will also be eggs, lettuce, and onions. The half shares will get peas, and the full shares will get swiss chard, kale and kohlrabi. Now I know you're going to ask what's that so here is some information!

Kohlrabi shares its botanical name, brassica oleracea, with its close relative, broccoli. But Kohl, meaning "cabbage," and rabi, meaning "turnip," better describes this delicate vegetable. Kohlrabi, like other brassicas, thrives in cool weather. Kohlrabi also mimics its brassica relatives nutritionally. It offers generous amounts of vitamin A and C, and emphasizes the minerals potassium and calcium. It's high in fiber and contains only 40 calories per cup.

After washing, trim away any woody or tough portions of skin. Kohlrabi does not have to be peeled after cooking. Kohlrabi is excellent cooked or raw. Grate kohlrabi raw into salads, or make a non traditional coleslaw with grated kohlrabi and radish, chopped parsley, green onion, and dressing of your choice. Try raw kohlrabi, thinly sliced, alone or with a dip. Peel Kohlrabi and eat it raw like an apple. Steam kohlrabi whole 25-30 minutes or thinly sliced 5-10 minutes. Dress slices simply with oil, lemon juice, and fresh dill weed, or dip in flour and briefly fry. Saute grated kohlrabi in butter; add herbs or curry for enhanced flavor. Add sliced or cubed kohlrabi to hearty soups, stews, or mixed vegetable stir-fry. Chill and marinate cooked kohlrabi for a summer salad. Add fresh herbs. Mash cooked kohlrabi, mix with cooked potato form into patties and fry in butter. Larger, older kohlrabi are good stuffed. Scoop out center, fill with chosen stuffing mixture, and simmer, covered for 20 minutes.

Store kohlrabi globe in a plastic bag. It will last for 1 month refrigerated.

The above information came from "From Asparagus to Zucchini" a guide to cooking farm-fresh seasonal produce.

SWISS CHARD

Chard is high in vitamins A, E, and C, and minerals like iron & calcium. Minerals are more readily absorbed from chard than they are from spinach, chard also contains no oxalic acid, and element present in spinach that ends to bind minerals and render them unavailable during digestion.

Cooking Tips: If leaves are large and mature, remove stems to cook separately. Young tender leaves can be cooked whole. Chop leaves and stems diagonally across the leaf Cut stems into 1" chunks and leaves into ribbon like strips. Steam stem pieces 8-10 minutes and leaves 4-6 minutes. Raw baby chard leaves are wonderful in green salads. Saute the leaves in garlic butter or with onion. Toss steamed chard leaves with olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. For an Asian flavor, toss with toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Include chard in stir-fries with different colored and textured veggies. Serve over rice or noodles. For soups, add chard stem chunks 10 minutes and leaves 4-5 minutes before soup is done. Use Swiss chard in any recipe calling for fresh spinach, like quiches, lasagna, omelets, etc. Blend cooked chard (include cooking water) with a tart plain yogurt, herbs (like basil and thyme), and a dash of salt and pepper. This makes a healthy gourmet creamed soup that is easy, quick an delicious.

Chard freezes well. Blanch chopped leaves for 3 minutes, rinse under cold water to stop cooking process, drain, squeeze lightly and place in an airtight container such as a zip-lock freezer bag.

SWISS CHARD PIE

1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tbsp. oil
1 bunch Swiss chard
6 eggs
1 cup shredded cheese
1 tsp. salt
2 pie crusts

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brown onion and garlic in oil Trim and chop chard, add to pan, and cook down until center comes out clean, 30-40 minutes. Makes 2 pies.

ASIAN-STYLE CHARD

1 Bunch Swiss chard, cleaned
1 Tbsp. peanut oil
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
freshly ground black pepper

Cut off and discard thick stem ends of chard. Cut out ribs; chop ribs into 2" pieces; set aside in a pile. Stack the leaves in small piles; coarsely chop them. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high flame. Add ribs; toss and cook 1-2 minutes. Add leaves and garlic; continue to cook, tossing often, until chard begins to wilt, 2-3 minutes. Stir in soy sauce and hoisin sauce; cook until chard is tender, 1-3 minuets longer. Add pepper to taste. Serve immediately. Makes 2-4 servings.

Again all of the above came from "From Asparagus to Zucchini" a guide to cooking farm-fresh seasonal produce.

Hot, hot, hot!!!! And the singing cicadas! This could be a summer to remember and we haven't even got started yet! We've been busy watering, pulling weeds, mowing and planting. We've got green beans, edemame, and several varieties of dried beans planted. Worked last night getting the winter squash and pumpkin patch disced up and ready to plant. The strawberries are done, so this weeks CSA boxes will be more greens and you will have a baked bread probably applesauce. We've got the tomatoes in the hoop house staked and tied and even got 3 tomatoes out of there last week. Need to go out and check on the blueberries as that will be the next berry to be ready.

I thought I'd pass along a web site that one of our CSA customers found with tot soi recipes. Just click on the high lighted word tot soi and it will automatically take you there. Thanks for sharing, Brian, enjoy!

FULTON CSA DELIVERY TODAY!

Today is our second week of CSA! Today you will be receiving lettuce, kale, eggs, tot soy, onions, radishes and strawberries! Tot soy is a Japanese spinach, use it just like you would spinach.

Yesterday we worked on getting sweet potatoes planted. We planted around 32 dozen, mostly Beauregard, but we are trying some different heirloom varieties this year; Centennial, Covington, Nancy Hall and Vardamon. We still have a couple yet to come.

Our potato digger that Greg bought off e-bay arrived Sunday! That's a picture of it. Sure hope it makes digging the potatoes much easier! We are hoping to be able to use it on the sweet potatoes also, we'll just have to see.

So see you this afternoon and don't forget your boxes and egg cartons if you are done with them.

The rain has stopped for a while and it is finally drying out a bit. So we have been tilling and making beds, laying drip tape and plastic to get ready to plant out in the fields! We planted cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, radicchio and cauliflower out a couple of days ago. We've got tomatoes, peppers, okra, fennel, celeriac, cardoon, basil, parsley and eggplant ready to go in the ground. Greg is out planting more greens and radishes while I'm typing this. We picked a quart of strawberries on Friday, so they will be ready for your boxes next week! So we are making a little bit of headway. Greg bought a potato digger off e-bay last Friday, so now he's working on how to get it here from New York! Could be interesting..., but will be a very nice addition to the farm!

CSA DELIVERY!!!!!!

Don't forget those of you who are doing the Fulton CSA, today is your first pick up day! Pick up is in the back parking lot on Nichols Street of the Court Street United Methodist Church,(across from Curves). Today you will be getting lettuce mix, sweet bread, kale, eggs, radishes, onions. The full shares will also be getting dried apples and tot soy (like spinach). So I can here everyone now asking what do I do with Kale?! Here is some information about Kale.

KALE is a relative to cabbage. It provides calcium, iron, potassium, cancer-fighting antioxidants & vitamins A, B and C. And it is the highest in protein content of all the cultivated vegetables. Kale is interchangeable with broccoli and other hearty greens in recipes.

Cooking Tips: Remove stems from mature kale leaves by folding the leaf in half lengthwise and stripping or slicing away thick stems. Baby or very tender young leaves may be cooked stem and all. Steam mature kale leaves approximately 4-5 minutes, depending on age, size and amount in steamer. It is ready when limp but still retaining some texture. Toss steamed kale with olive oil, lemon juice, and a dash of salt & pepper. Try adding diced raw garlic. Add sauteed kale (chopped) to omelets, quiches, scrambled eggs, casseroles, or mashed potatoes. Add chopped or sliced raw kale to hearty soups and stews toward the end of cooking time.

EASY KALE & TOMATOES
1 Large bunch kale, stems removed & leaves coarsely chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
water or tomato juice
olive oil
salt & pepper
Place kale, tomatoes, & onions in pot with just enough water or tomato juice to keep them from burning while it cooks. Cook over medium heat until kale is tender, about 20 minutes. Add a little olive oil, plus salt & pepper to taste, before serving. This is also great with chopped dried tomatoes or home-made tomatoes instead of fresh. Makes 2 servings.

PENNE WITH KALE AND ONION
1 medium onion, sliced
2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 cups uncooked penne pasta
6 cups chopped fresh kale
1/2 tsp. salt
In a large skillet, cook onion in 1 Tbsp. oil over medium heat for 15-20 minutes or until onion is golden brown, stirring frequently and adding the garlic during the last 2 minutes of cooking time. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook penne according to package directions. In Dutch oven, bring 1" of water to a boil. Add kale; cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until tender; drain. Drain penne; drizzle with remaining oil. Stir the salt, penne and kale into the onion mixture; heat through. Makes 6 servings.

The above informations is from "From Asparagus to Zucchini A guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce" and Birds & Blooms Grow it Cook it A-Z veggie guide"

Well for those of you who signed up for our CSA program, we are getting ready to start deliveries. The Columbia Thursday group will pick up their boxes this Thursday, May 5th, the Columbia Saturday group will pick up next Saturday the 7th, and the Fulton Tuesday group will pick up next Tuesday the 10th of May. There will be eggs, lettuce, kale, radishes, green onions, and sweet bread of some kind.

Wow! The rain really needs to stop for awhile! We have missed the damaging storms so far, got a little bit of pea sized hail, but no damage. I think we need to build a boat and become fishermen or plant a rice paddy or both! We did manage to get about 60 blueberry bushes planted on Saturday, but the holes would fill with water before we could get the bush stuck in! Hopefully they will make it. We have not been able to get any more ground worked up to plant outside. We did get all the tomatoes planted in our big hoop house which holds about 250 plants. Our second hoop house is getting very close to being able to pick greens and radishes out of. I have yet to get our bees, they were postponed a couple of weeks, so should come this weekend. Hopefully it will quit raining so I can get the hives set up!

This is asparagus season. It's starting to show up at the market. Ours hasn't quite started it always seems to be a little later. I picked one stalk on Sunday, so shouldn't be to much longer. We do not sell asparagus as we don't have enough, just have a small patch, but for those of you who can get a hold of it here is some information and a couple of recipes.

Asparagus is related to onions, garlic, and other members of the lily family. Asparagus has been used since ancient times in many parts of the world. Its name is most likely derived from the Persian word asparagus, meaning "sprout." However, the Greek word aspharagos means "long as one's throat," and in England during the 18th century this vegetable was known as "sparrow grass."

Generally, raw asparagus ranks high in vitamins A, B-complex, and C, and is also rich in minerals from the soil, particularly potassium and zinc. Like other vegetables it will lose some, though not all, of its B-complex and vitamin C during the cooking process. Asparagus contains no fat and only 35 calories per one-cup serving.

Try tender asparagus spears raw. Chop into a salad or enjoy with a dip. Steam asparagus upright in a tall covered pot over one inch of water until tender, about 10 minutes. This method cooks the tougher bottoms more thou roughly while gently steaming the tender tops. Serve warm topped with butter, lemon, and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Storage tips: Wrap asparagus in a damp cloth and store in the hydrator drawer of the refrigerator. An alternate storage technique to retain vitality is to bundle spears with a rubber band and place upright in a container with an inch of water. Refrigerate immediately and use as soon as possible. Asparagus' sugars will turn rapidly to starches, reducing flavor quickly.

The above information came from "From Asparagus to Zucchini" a guide to cooking farm-fresh seasonal produce.

ASPARAGUS & PEAR SALAD

1 lb. fresh asparagus, trimmed
1 large pear, sliced
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
2 Tbsp. prepared honey Dijon salad dressing
8 romaine lettuce leaves.
In a large skillet, bring 1/2" of water to a boil. Add asparagus; cover & boil for 3-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain & immediately place asparagus in ice water. Drain & pat dry; cut into 1/2" pieces & set aside.

In a large bowl, combine pear & lemon juice. Add the onions, walnuts and reserved asparagus; drizzle with dressing & toss to coat. Arrange lettuce on four salad plates; top with asparagus mixture. Serve immediately.
Yield 4 servings.

This recipe came form "Birds & Blooms" Grow it cook it A-Z veggie guide.

We've been busy trying to beat the rain. Luckily the last rain they called for we didn't get. It is supposed to rain again tonight and the temperatures to drop down in the mid 30's. So will have to work at pulling on the strawberry row cover this afternoon before the rain starts, as it's next to impossible to pull when wet! The strawberries are blooming big time right now, so we want to protect them from frost!

We got 350 lbs. of seed potatoes planted, 2 plus bushels of onion bulbs planted and 4 varieties of peas planted. Hopefully we won't get too much rain, as the ground is finally drying out enough to start to work up really good!

I need to get out and go through the bee hives and check on them and get foundation put in some new frames. Have 2 packages of bees coming next weekend and need to get their new home fixed up!

We've been pulling a few radishes and picked our first greens last weekend. Did you know that radishes are full of potassium, vitamin C & fiber? If your like most people you usually only eat radishes in salads, but here are a couple of recipes I thought you might like to give a try for something a bit different.

ROASTED RADISHES
2 1/4 lb. radishes, trimmed & quartered
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. minced fresh oregano or 1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Transfer to a greased 15"x10"x1" baking pan. Baked, uncovered at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until crisp tender, stirring once. Yield 5 servings

BOK CHOY & RADISHES
1 head bok choy
2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
12 radishes, thinly sliced
1 shallot, sliced
1 tsp. lemon-pepper seasoning
3/4 tsp. salt
Cut off & discard end of bok choy, leaving stalks with leaves. Cut green leaves from stalks. Cut leaves into 1" slices; set aside. Cut white stalks into 1" pieces.

In a large skillet, cook bok choy stalks in butter & oil for 3-5 min. or until crisp-tender. Add the radishes, shallot, lemon-pepper, salt & reserved leaves; cook & stir for 3 min. or until heated through. Yield 8 servings.

Here's a recipe for arugula, also showing up at markets now.

ARUGULA SALAD WITH SUGARED PECANS
3/4 tsp. butter
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp. sugar
4 cups torn leaf lettuce
2 cups fresh arugula or baby spinach
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1/2 cup grape tomatoes
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. honey
1/8 tsp. salt
In a small heavy skillet, melt butter. Add pecans; cook over medium heat until toasted, about 4 min. Sprinkle with sugar; cook & stir for 2-4 min. or until sugar is melted. Spread on foil to cool.

In a large salad bowl, combine the lettuce, arugula, fennel & tomatoes. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the remaining ingredients;; shake well. Drizzle over salad & toss to coat. Top with sugared pecans. Serve immediately. Yield 6 servings.

The above information & recipes came from "Birds & Blooms grow it cook it A to Z veggie guide"
Enjoy!

We've got lots of flats of heirloom tomatoes just starting to sprout in the big green house, plus some cabbage, cauliflower, fennel, borage and kohlrabi. In the little greenhouse we have tomato plants about ready to go out into the big hoop house. In the little hoop house we have some greens, mizuna, arugala and radishes that we are starting to pick off. Onions have all been planted, and we have some onions that we overwintered that are about ready to start pulling. The row cover has come off the strawberries, so lets hope for no more below freezing weather so we don't have to pull those things back on! Ha-ha-ha! We've about got the third hoop house ready to plant some more spring greens and radishes. Has a bit of a wet spot that needs to dry out.

Boy what a difference a couple of days can make. Monday we had almost 9" of snow, and today is up in the 70's! Got to love that saying about Missouri, "If you don't like the weather, just give it a day"! This Sat. is our last indoor winter market, then the last Sat. of March we start out outdoor market. Hopefully we will have some of this 70 degree weather then! Last year we had about 2" of snow that first day of market, was not fun at all!

If you live close and are interested in our CSA, we are still taking applications, so give me a hollar if you have any questions.

SO SORE!!!! Yesterday Greg took off work and we planted around 1,200 long storage onions for this fall and winter sales, and around 1,800 candy onions, and around 180 leeks! I say "around" because some bundles have lot more than others, they make bundles a certain size and know that they have at least 60 plants in them! We plant them on raised beds covered with black plastic mulch and drip tape, so we have to poke holes with sticks and put the plant in and push the dirt around it. Lots of crawling and bending!

Seed orders have been coming in! We've got some tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli and basil sprouted in the little green house. I planted some cilantro this morning. I've taken more cuttings off my rosemary, stevia and mint. The little hoop house has some greens and radishes coming along in there. We've been working on the big green house, doing some updates and modifications, about to get it done, then have to clean it all up so we can start getting seeds started in there. We worked on the big hoop house a bit yesterday. Have some tears and rips that need fixing.

The snows all melted and now we are floating in mud! The sun is shining today, so come on spring, warm us up and dry us out! I saw where day light savings time starts in a little over a week! That's hard to believe, but it will be nice! Have been hearing the "peepers" for a couple of days now. I love hearing them, but I think it's little cold yet for them, guess they are getting antsy just like us!

Speaking of Spring it's time to start signing up for our 2011 CSA. If you live in the Fulton or Columbia area we'd love to have you join us. Just contact me if you're interested and I'll get you the information. Prices and pickup times and locations will be the same as last year.

We are starting to get in the seeds that Greg ordered! He got eleven flats of tomatoes planted Sunday, so we are slowly gearing up!

Also wanted to let you know that this week is Thank A Farmer Week! Just click on the green highlighted words for more information!

ORDERING SEEDS!

It's seed ordering time! What an ordeal! First the seed catalogs arrive and there's the fun of looking through them all and seeing all the pictures of all the wonderful, colorful, interesting, weird and new things. I hate the catalogs with no pictures! But they are of use when Greg starts comparing prices. Then you start marking everything that looks interesting, of course some particular seeds (Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce) are found in most catalogs, then there's those that are harder to find and only have one or two sources. Plus you have to go through your old seed and see if you think any of it's still good for this year, and do you have enough. That's where it starts to get "hairy"! O. K. now you've got to figure out who has the cheapest seeds, what's shipping going to cost. Is it really cheaper to get them from one source if you only need a couple of items plus the shipping, or from a more expensive source, but you are ordering more things from them because you can get bigger quantities of seed cheaper, but the new things you want to try you don't really want but a small amount of seed to see if you like it or how's it's going to do for you.....!!!! Who has organic seed, if that's what you want, who's seed is more reliable, etc.

As you can tell this is not my cup of tea! I have no problem looking through the catalogs and marking them all up and turning down the pages, but from there I turn it over to Greg! His engineering mind can handle all that detail stuff much better than mine! As we speak he's right dab smack in the middle of the mess! He's only got about thirty catalogs to wade through and make his choices from!

Some of the things we've decided upon so far are Purple Plum radishes, Nash green beans, Orient Express cucumbers, Simpson Elite lettuce, Queensland Blue winter squash, Kikuza squash, Jarrahdale pumpkin, Thelma Saunders squash, Galeux d' Eysines pumpkins, Buttercup Burgess, Guatemalan Blue, New Zealand Spinach, Australian Butter squash, Rouge Vif D'Etempes squash, Musquee de Provence, Triamble squash, Sunflower Collection, Cincinnati Market radish, Red Malibar Spinach, Galaxy of Stars gourd, Casius squash, Taybelle squash, Delica squash, Golden Impire Wax bean, Fordhood Lima bean, Batavian Escarole, Olympia pean, Cascadia Pea, Knucklehead pumpkin, Snow Sweet pea, Indigo Radicchio, Virtus Radicchio, Rhodes Endive, Concept lettuce, Magenta lettuce,Gremlin gourd, Imperial Start Artichoke, Super Red cabbage, Confection Kabocha, Cheddar Cauliflower, Aladdin pumpkin, Munchkin pumpkin and Lil Ironsides pumpkin.
As you can see there's not much lettuce or greens of any kind yet ordered, or beans, peas, corn, tomatoes, okra, eggplant, peppers, radishes, turnips, beets, onions, leeks,cucumbers, summer squash, herbs, potatoes, sweet potatoes, melons, etc..... Oh the fun of ordering seeds!!

BRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!! It's cold out there and we have around 4"-5" of snow on the ground! Well it's the middle of winter and so I haven't had much to post about as far as farming goes. We've been getting seed catalogs in the mail, so we need to get on that and get those ordered. Greg has been making plans and accumulating parts to put together 3 caterpillar tunnels for this Spring. We are still selling at Columbia's winter market. We've been taking winter squash, sweet potatoes, dried apples, jams & jellies, eggs, and baked goods. We sold the last of our regular potatoes last week.

Greg & Lucas got the big hoop house cleaned out of the old tomato plants, stakes, plastic mulch and drip tape while Lucas was home for Christmas break. They put up the snow load braces so we don't have to worry too much about them caving under the weight of the snow. We got the little green house refurbished and the plants moved over from the big green house, and the big green house shut down, which is nice as the little one doesn't use as much propane. The propane barrel ran dry before we got the little one finished, so all the heaters in the big one shut off. Luckily we caught it and had it refilled (emergency weekend call), before it had been out too long and we lost plants!

My amaryllis that my grandmother passed on to me years ago that had come from her mother, is now blooming! It has 20 bloom stalks, 9 of which have 4 bloom, 6 with 3 blooms, and 3 with 2 bloom, 2 still to bloom, making a total o 60 blooms so far!!! That is what the picture is of! It usually blooms around Christmas and again in July!