Jenny-Jack Sun Farm "good food news"

Transcription

1 Jenny-Jack Sun Farm "good food news" I seem to forget from year to year how labor intensive fall season tends to be. A change of day length, temperature, and color does not translate into a slower change of pace. We do work less hours and those hours worked are moved through with a bit more admiration towards our distance from the sun, but the amount of tasks needed to be accomplished in a timely manner do weigh heavy. With winter fast approaching and many a weekly farm hour spent harvesting and marketing, those precious available minutes in between are spent feverishly attacking end of year field work. Finally on Saturday, just before our latest multi-day saturation, we finished plugging in the strawberry plants, a tedious, lengthy process of soil amending, soil mounding, soil covering, and then culminating with, the kneeling, slumping, slouching and bending over to plant the little difficult darlings. This year we re experimenting with a different type of soil-warming, weed-blocking black plastic. Typically, we staple down a reusable landscape fabric with two rows of burned holes every sixteen inches, but this year we purchased a biodegradeable plastic made from corn starch. It covers the width of the bed, about 30 inches, stretches tightly from end to end, and is secured with a contiguous line of mounded soil. SO many questions with this move. Come springtime, it could have us either jolly in stumbled upon strawberry success or dumbfounded, cross-eyed and cussing crankily into the wind. We tempered our risk by planting the majority of them under traditional landscape fabric, but even still, let us all hope mightily. The last of the baby ginger is just about removed from the high tunnel, and now we are looking for homes for these medicinal, peppery babies. Next to dig is the three one hundred foot rows of Sunchokes, or Jerusalem Artichokes as they are more commonly called. In the next couple of weeks, I will run the potato plow down the middles uplifting chunks of the ginger-resembling, nutty tasting root. All the cover crops will be sown once summer s foothold of peppers and eggplant is removed. The season extending high tunnels are almost fully planted for round one of winter, but both are in dire need of new plastic. Soil needs preparing for a November garlic planting, which means it s almost time for our annual methodical creep through leaf-bagging Atlanta neighborhoods in search of garlic bed mulch. It feels like some form of theft but no one ever points and yells. We re just grateful the urban folks are willing to gather and contain tree trash yard litter in easy to tote paper sacks and then conveniently stand them up by the road for us to steal. We work over a neighborhood and then dine finely at one of their many excellent eateries. The work is plentiful but good. As I was reminded today, quality of life can t be reduced to a line item on a balance sheet, it s far richer than that.

2 Market update for the Fall/Winter Our Wednesday on-farm market will continue until December 16 th and we will sell at the Saturday morning Uptown Columbus Market until December 19 th. Both markets are continuing to do exceptionally well. Thanks so much for choosing to shop with us and supporting a small, local farm! Farm Pork Our supply of pork is still available but selling fast. All cuts are from hogs we raised entirely at our farm on wooded lots where each pig had space to root, graze, stretch, and mud bathe. The pigs were also supplemented with a non-gmo, soy-free grain. The following cuts will be available at our on-farm market as well as a limited supply Saturday mornings in Columbus: Pork chops, link and patty sausage. Wednesday On-Farm Market What to expect this week on the table: Kale, Carrots, Turnip Greens, Spinach, Rainbow Chard, Mustard Greens, Watermelon Radish, Eggplant, Garlic, Sweet Peppers, Hot Peppers, Lettuce, Butternut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Baby Ginger! Fresh Turmeric! Pepper Relish, Pickled Jalapenos, Jacksauce (fermented hot sauce), NEW farm items: Hibiscus/Lemongrass/Peppermint Tea, Ginger Tea, Ginger Jam, Elderberry Tincture, Hawley Honey (from Pine Mountain), Lard rendered from our hogs, Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar, more canned items, White Oak Pastures beef roasts and marrow bones, Comerford Farms ground beef, Coverall Farms Pastured Chicken. ALSO, Sue Batistini will be here with her homemade sourdough breads and tasty baked goods. Sue s son and his friend will be selling bundles of fat lighter they harvested for all your winter fire starting needs. This market tends to be small but festive; folks shop while catching up with old friends, exchange recipe ideas, talk with the farmers and chef, and stroll through the fields where all the produce is grown. We would be honored to be a part of your weekly good food grazing routine.

3 Pictures of the Week Here I am showcasing my brand spankin new homeade farm tool, the PVC plastic plunger. I built this one morning last week out of a need to create an opening in the biodegradable plastic to plant strawberry plugs. Both bottom ends of the 1.5 PVC were sawed to form a blade which easily penetrates the black plastic. The piece of scrap wood 4 above the bottom acts as a depth guide and also marks the next hole 16 down with an attached nail.

4 Our good friend and CSA member Jenn Collins came over 2 days last week to help us plant our 2500 strawberry plugs. Her extra set of hardworking hands allowed us to finish the always energy intensive annual fall farm task by Saturday, which should give the plants enough time to get situated before winter gets cozy. We have finished planting this hoophouse for crops to be harvested this Winter. From the left: spinach, arugula/mizuna, collards, watermelon radish, kale and mustard greens. Now, we have to

5 carve out some time soon to finish covering the roll-up sides and ends with plastic before temperatures really drop. Where to find our produce and products: Our produce may be found at: Market on Broadway in Columbus from 9-12 on Saturdays On Farm Market Wednesdays from 9-5 (Ring the bell out back for service after 12!), When extra is available, at the FDR Market in Pine Mountain Saturdays from 10:30-12:30. We have a 100 member CSA with drop-off locations in Lagrange, Columbus, and Onfarm. You can also find our produce on the menu of Food Blossoms Catering out of Hamilton and Rose Cottage Café in Pine Mountain. Take good care, Chris and Jenny