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Monday, October 22, 2012

Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 17 No 20–Week of October 22nd

Great Work Day @ the Farm

We had great weather for the trip to the farm on Saturday. About 20 people showed up to help out with this project and we really appreciated all the help. Thanks to all who came and participated in our annual October work-day. We started the day by popping the garlic bulbs into individual cloves for planting. We had about 4-5 different groups, each popping a different variety. Once completed all went to the back field to plant, except for Farmer Sue who started cooking lunch for the crew when then returned. After all was done, Farmer Rich gave a quick tour of the farm and the last stop was the pumpkin patch where everyone could choose their favorite pumpkin to bring home.

GarlicPopping1-2012GarlicPopping2-2012

Popping the Garlic

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Planting Garlic

Franklin Greenhouse Report: We will be harvesting rosemary, carrots and the rest of the ginger for next week’s delivery. Our plan is to make sure everything is harvested and the greenhouse is cleaned up as we will be closing down the greenhouse the beginning of November.

From the Fields:  As usual this late in the season, some crop harvests are not enough to harvest to all drop-off sites, therefore we work with what we have to make sure there is equitable distribution across the board. Perhaps one site doesn’t get kale, but we harvest another green for them.

Sunken TractorFarmer Matt Faber helped ready the back field for garlic planting on Thursday, just prior to the heavy Friday rain storms that moved through. Without his help we would not have had the back field ready with plastic laid for our Saturday trip to the farm. There was one drawback however, his tractor sunk up to its axle while he was brush-hogging the upper field. He was able to get another tractor to pull it out as our tractor just wasn’t big enough to do the job.
 

The week ahead looks on the dry side so we should be able to finish planting our garlic varieties.

Weather Report:  2 ½” of rain fell on Friday which made for muddy fields. Fortunately the garlic beds were already wrapped in plastic and we put straw down between the rows in an attempt to keep everyone from getting too muddy when they planted on Saturday. The field that we planted the garlic in is probably our best draining field, though one area close to the end of the bed was pretty wet as when Tom made the holes to plant garlic cloves they immediately filled with water. Oh the joys of farming!

Animal report: There are a few deer roaming around the outside of the fence and not bothering us. Farmer Sue did notice the great blue heron taking off from the lower field as Desiree, Renee and Claire were walking back from the garlic field to the picnic area. It took off just in front of them. It was truly bigger than either Renee or Claire as it flew away!

Week of October 22nd - Pick of the Week: click on the links below or to the right to bring you to the delivery specific to your pick-up location. Deliveries will be of similar variety & poundage, but may contain different items at anytime during the season. Occasionally, some crops are ready to harvest but not enough to deliver to all our drop-off locations. What we do is start to filter them in each week to a different drop-off until there is enough to delivery to everyone.

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