Less weeds, more produce, and suddenly August! The garden looks good, all of the tomatoes are producing fruit, we are harvesting beans, garlic, lettuce, swiss chard, carrots, beets, and herbs. It is amazing at farmers markets the amount of greens and peas that are still showing up in August. That is due to the long spring that went into June.
As always a few pictures of life here.
Isabel getting the last of the spring peas, in July!
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| Oliver enjoying some fresh picked greens |
1 full share laying on the table from last weeks harvest.
Wow, a month already. That makes our son Jonathan a month already as well.
We have finally started to get our warm weather which is helping out our crops for sure. The area has had a long wet, cold spring that went into the month of June. In fact we had almost 3 times the average amount of rain this month which put us over 3 inches! This cold and wet has slowed down the warm weather crops with many in the region losing crops of corn, beans, tomatoes, etc... We have lost a few rows of crops ourselves. Fortunately we waited on the tomatoes as they were started in the greenhouse.
This past Tuesday we had our first cookout of the season for our members and it went well! We had about 30 or so people here for food and chance to sample some wines from Townshend Winery.
The recent harvest include garlic scapes, beets, radishes, turnips, various lettuces and greens, radishes, swiss chard, cilantro, chives, and peas.
As always we are in need of help with planting, weeding, and on Tuesdays harvesting. If you have any time at all, please we would love to have you spend it with us. We rely on volunteer help so we can keep our costs to a minimum.
Until next time, eat well, smile more, live better.
The Kinley's
Okay so I have neglected the blog because Emily gave birth to our son Jonathan Paul on Wednesday June 2nd. Things are settling down some here so we will get back to regular blog updates :) So until next time enjoy the pictures!
Yes weather in the title is intentional. Last year at this time it was 80-85 degrees and lovely. This year, 50-58, windy and wet. The weeds however are loving it, if I do say so myself. So for those of you local that are looking for something to pass the time and to come visit or to take out some aggression, please come on over and take out your aggressions on our weeds. The harvest this coming week will be some more greens and not sure what else yet.
We (the students and myself) did go out to Dalton Gardens, ID on Thursday to help shear alpacas because it was a downpour here. I liked it so much, Emily and I went back that night to visit them and help. We also picked up some manure for the gardens. I have to say coming from Detroit, I never imagined telling people I want their animal poop. My, how things have changed and moved towards alot of poop (kids, animals, you get the idea.)
Anyway, the couple was very nice and we discussed possibly getting two of our own which helps the garden. The ROI is breaking even but provides us with manure for the garden so it actually puts us slightly ahead because I no longer have to try and source manure. We would also be able to keep some of the fiber or fleece from the animal, which is super soft.
So until next time when we will probably have our new child and possibly two alpacas....
Eat well, be kind, and smile more.
The Kinley's
Great weather until tonight... Super high winds up here as I write this, the worst being about 20-30 minutes ago. It was so bad that we even thought a tornado or micro-burst was occurring. Fortunately everything is okay so far. We will have to wait until morning to know for sure, but running around in the garden tonight everything looks okay.
A huge thanks to everyone that came out on Saturday! We had a large number of students in all grades from roughly 3-11 grade. We also had several adults and we accomplished quite a bit. Again THANK YOU!
Our first harvest was yesterday (Tues 18th) and it was a little, well, light :) Radishes, chives and eggs (sounds like a great breakfast!) We were hoping for more, especially in the lettuce department but the cooler weather has slowed us down some. Fortunately we planned for cool weather crops so nothing has died, it just hasn't sprung (but then again neither has spring.)
For all of our members, a reminder that Tuesdays are the pickup days here at the garden. The farmers market downtown does not begin the Wednesday market until June.
Until next time.....
Fr. Casimir saying hello
Greg working hard
Oliver, not sure what he is doing with that look.
Emily weeding
Time for a little relaxation during lunch
French Breakfast Radish
Some of the purple plums
Cherry Belle radishes
So the weather last weekend scared some people off and others were out of town because of a Latin Convention in Seattle for our highschool kids. We did get two, actually three, very helpful and hard working ladies so we want to give a BIG THANK YOU (like that pun?) to Amy Vogel and Annie Urann as well as my mom. We were able to get our new drip tape lines started after re-rolling some of the other lines. The reason was due to the regulators we have not being able to handle the amount of tape we needed because what we already had was using too much water. Sounds confusing? Well it was when we tried to figure it all out so you are not alone.
SATURDAY MAY 15th
9:30AM until later :) (Probably 6PM)
Work social (hows that for a different term!)
RSVP by 3PM on Friday May 14th
and Lunch will be provided!
We will work rain or shine (pray for shine!)
Sandy Kinley, Amy Vogel and her sister Annie Urann
Thanks again ladies!
So it has been 1.5 weeks since the last update and we have had some great weather, a few friends and a visitor or two. Before we get to that however, quick announcement!
WORK PARTY SATURDAY MAY 1ST!
10AM-UNTIL AT LEAST 5 PM
Let us know you are coming by THURSDAY NIGHT APRIL 29th and LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED!
AND now back to our visitors. So the first one is my mom who is visiting/moving out here ahead of my dad. She arrived on Friday night and is adjusting to the time change and has been a big help with the kids which is allowing us to get more work done in the garden.
Our second visitor is this fella who has decided to take up temporary residence on the property:
No damage yet from the above and since the moose is fairly young I would be surprised if he stays.
We had students here last week helping to transplant broccoli starts to the garden as we took advantage of the great weather we had. Today's weather is not overly exciting to be outside in, but at least it is still possible to go outside and work on a few things. Saturday will also allow for alot of work to be done, including creating rows, setting up more trellis for the peas, some weeding, etc... So until we see you on Saturday, have a great couple of days!
Students transplanting broccoli
Isabel trying to plant, herself.
Of warm weather! In the 70's the last several days have really allowed us to crank some things out, including more rows created, seeds in the ground and water lines installed. The drip system works well, however we are working on the best way to add more lines to accommodate the added rows. For now we will have to use more traditional style sprinklers for the remaining rows. Plenty of water using this although it allows for more weeds to grow.
On the chicken side of things, the younger chickens are beginning to lay sporadically and the eggs are tiny as they are the first eggs. To be continued...
Kayla (student from the school) using the tiller to add a little
more width next to our garlic row from the fall.
Oliver helping to pack down the aisle by driving his truck.
HAPPY EASTER (a little late, but) HAPPY EASTER AGAIN!
So this week has been not ideal as far as weather goes. Even colder with some very high winds. So high in fact it ripped a roof vent off of the greenhouse, blew the glass windows in on the door and took off about a 1/3 of the back wall. Fortunately the glass did not break and everything was repairable.
We did get about 300 more row feet planted in the ground, including peas, radishes, various types of lettuce, and beets. The seedlings in the greenhouse are coming along well and I have included a picture of them. Already the 9th of April, before we know it the first harvest will be here, followed shortly by the arrival of the new baby. Who's busy? :)
What better place to find Easter eggs on the farm then the nesting boxes of the chickens?
Now if only our chickens really laid eggs that color, I would be scared..
What a "start" to life!
Tomatoes looking good.
Really it has been crazy weather for planting. Sunny and warm last week has changed to cold, with hail the last four days. Mix that with some rain, snow, and wind and the last thing you want to do is go outside and work in the wide open space. The positive side is the greenhouse has a ton of great starts going and there are crops in the ground that are covered. We are hoping to get quite a bit more done next week with a hopeful improvement in weather.
Exciting news for our CSA members! Townshend Cellar Winery has partnered with us for the 2010 season. If you are a member, you can go directly to them and receive a discount on your purchases! We are really excited as they are local and have fantastic wine. We have not had a bad wine from them and really enjoy the T3 and Vortex. Please check them out and let them know we sent you! Also if you are a wine club member from Townshend you can receive a discount with us. Contact us for more details!
So this past week we picked up our "new" truck which is a 1978 Ford F-150. It is mint green in color with only 52k original miles. The truck is needed to take produce to the markets and for picking up supplies for the garden/chickens. We currently pick up around 500lbs of organic chicken feed every 6-8 weeks from a local supplier.
Mr Russ Messing came over on Wednesday to plow the majority of the garden with his tractor (some areas were still too wet) for us to start directing seeding into the ground. We have starts growing in the greenhouse for some of the warmer weather crops, so this was for the cold weather crops (lettuces, peas, radishes, etc..)
We were accepted to the Spokane Farmers Market, but on an as needed basis because we have the same categories as other vendors who have been there for awhile. We have to call them ahead of time to see if we can go that particular week, but with the large variety of subspecies for each category we are think we will be okay.
My mom is moving out here from Michigan in about 3 weeks so we are looking forward to having some extra help as she will be staying with us temporarily until she can move into her own place. My dad will be following her after he is able to get retirement from Chrysler. As always more to follow!
Oliver loved watching the tractor.
SWEET! pea/mint green...
So on Saturday there was a meet and greet downtown with local area chefs in the morning hosted by Spokane Tilth. In the afternoon it was CSA farms that were there to answer questions to prospective consumers. Yes it is sales but it is not the same as it is in other businesses. The reason is that we know we can only feed so many people so it is great to see that everyone has access to food grown the way it should be, naturally without chemicals, without genetically modified organisms (GMO's.)
We did make some connections with chefs and other farmers. We are looking forward to the season as we are in full swing with seeding right now. This week we are looking to plant our cold weather crops provided the soil drys out enough to restructure the row widths from last year. We also had a blessing of the garden and seeds from Father Casimir today.
Our table with some display materials.
Father giving the blessing today.
We are blessed with the rainbows up here (if you have seen our brochure you know what I mean!)
No, not bench pressing, bench building. Still a lot of work, but one could argue this is even better for you (at least in our case) because these will be used to grow organic vegetables. The process of hard work combined with the use of growing vegetables is really positive both mentally and physically. Then add in our kids wanting to spend their time helping out and playing, it adds even more to the enjoyment of every day life.
While I was working on the benches, Emily has been starting seeds in the house, placing them in the small kitchen bay window. Next on the list this week will be re-creating the rows in the garden as the ones last year were too narrow for bio-intensive methods.
Looking out for a start to the day. The city is fogged out.
Isabel watching daddy use the saw.
Oliver using his drill like daddy.
All work and no play, means there are no kids working with you.
The greenhouse looking west in the evening.
Some flats for an idea of spacing.
Seed flats in the kitchen window.
The day is done, but still beautiful from our deck. (Same direction as top picture.)
We did finish the greenhouse last Monday, I am just a little slow at getting the pictures up. We also received all of our seed last week and I have to say it is amazing how many packages of seed we really have. It is also amazing that we are already about 1/3 of the way through March and things are in full swing. Every day there is so much to do. Seed starts, finish up the greenhouse, move the chicken fence, put doors in the fence, etc... There is definitely a peace that comes with this work that I never really understood until now. More to come.....
The finished outside (still some work to do inside)
Anyone like tomatoes?
Isabel saying hi.
I have my eye on you.....
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