This week I was spinning a lot of plates. This is normal for this month of the year, and it’s just part of the gig. In addition to the “usual” heavy harvest days for CSA boxes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I had to fit in time for my crew to harvest 2 big wholesale…
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We said good-bye to our old Elmore site cooler this week. Sonya from Tatum Park has been wanting to buy it for months now, so they have a place to store their veggies from their urban garden project. It felt really good to load it up onto a truck and drop it off at her…
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As you wade through all the sweet corn in your CSA share this year, you may discover that one of your ears has corn smut growing on it. If you do, don’t freak out (even though it looks pretty gross!) This fungus is actually a delicacy and highly prized in some cultures. And totally edible.…
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August 3, 2024 Well howdy everyone. We got some much needed rain this week. I haven’t had to irrigate quite as much. The birds are really bad right now in the sweet corn patch. My dad is getting frustrated. Those birds are looking for water, and they will land on the corn and peck on…
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Many people don’t realize the difference between sweet corn and field corn, despite both being staples in the American diet. A few years ago, while vacationing in Illinois, we saw a car pulled over by a field corn field. Two people were sneaking around, stealing a dozen ears of corn, and rushing back to their…
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If you visit our farm, you’ll notice an audible screeching noise coming from behind our barn at regular intervals. This noise originates from a dark green speaker box situated in our cornfields, which we affectionately call “Charlie.” Charlie is our state-of-the-art electronic scarecrow. How Does Charlie Work? Birds have always been attracted to Big Dave’s…
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I started out the week irrigating the farm for two days. Then the farm got 2 inches of rain from the hurricane. Luckily I planned ahead and had our crew preharvest for the CSA boxes a day earlier than usual. That kept us from slogging through the mud and messing up the fields. Corinna always…
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Watch out weeds. Here we come. This week, we trialed our new Flamewerks Flame Weeder on the back of our tractor. That’s right. We fight weeds by burning them. Want to see how it works? Watch this: Three burner units or baskets are mounted on the back of a steel frame, which hitches up to…
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In a few weeks, I’ll have cucumbers coming out of my ears on the farm. I get kind of tired of them after 2 weeks — not gonna lie. And my plants just keep producing. But then I always long for them during the winter. Then I learned you can freeze cucumbers. It’s true. The…
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This week was “Weeding Week.” Our guys spent a whole day weeding peppers, basil, and eggplant up front. They spend a half day weeding the leeks and kale in the back block. Purslane, red root, and lambs-quarter are our biggest problems — with purslane winning the contest by far. Ironically purslane is a superfood, highly…
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