Spring is Here! Fresh Veggies are on the Horizon.

The ground is finally bare, and under all that snow green shoots were ready to pop.  The rhubarb is getting going, garlic is pushing through mulch, and perennial herbs are sending new shoots up and out.

Tomato starts under lights in the house

Our little hoop house is full of plants

More starts in the larger hoop house getting ready to go in the ground.  You can also see some logs inoculated with Reishi mushroom spawn under the table.

We have starts all over the place, getting ready for planting in the hoop houses and garden beds.  We are now spending a lot of time seeding and preparing the soil.  Since we don’t till the soil, this time of year means a lot of forking, hand weeding, spreading compost, and mulching in preparation for planting.

Lovely baby arugula that I cut last night from the hoop house

Future salad in the hoop house

We should have plenty of greens, asparagus, rhubarb, and other early veggies for the first CSA shares coming up in June.  We may even have some shiitake mushrooms to offer by then.

We still have room for more CSA members for the year, if you are interested please sign up soon!  You can sign up by filling out this survey  click here

or check out our CSA page for all the details about share options, sizes, prices, and more.

We also have loads of eggs right now, both chicken and duck.  You can pick up a dozen of either type from the farm in a self service cooler.

The ducks are out of their winter hoop house and on to the summer grounds.  For just a few days they will have access to the mushroom yard so they can clean up any slugs and other bugs that want to chew on the mushrooms once they start to come out.  

Advertisements

Early Bird Special 2018!

Fresh salad greens, ripe juicy tomatoes, crisp baby carrots, juicy blueberries, and pungent basil feel a long way off at this time of year.  When managing snow and firewood are your daily chores, the summer’s bounty seems a far off dream.  Even though we won’t be tasting much fresh produce from the soil until May or June, there is a lot of planning and preparation that needs to happen now to make things grow when the temperatures rise.  Seeds, plants, potting soil and amendments all need to be paid for in advance of the growing season too.  Here’s where aspiring CSA members come in…

Sign up for a 2018 CSA share and pay in full by February 28 to receive a free June share!

That’s right, you save $40, help us buy seeds, AND get to check sign up for a full growing season of fresh veggies, fruits, and mushrooms off your list.

We offer June 1/2 shares, small and large shares that run July – October, and NEW this year, a Medicine share.  For all the details, pricing and photos of the shares members received in 2017 visit our CSA page

Sign Up Now! Click Here

We also welcome early sign ups, even if payment is not possible until later.

or contact us with your questions 

by calling:  Rebecca Beidler and Jeffrey Ellis 802-755-6336

by emailing: peaceofearthfarm@myfairpoint.net

or via snail mail (checks can be mailed here as well):

Peace of Earth Farm

43 West Griggs Rd.

Albany, VT 05820

Building Soil, Decreasing Erosion, and Making Productive Garden Beds with Wood?

We’ve been slowly terracing the hill behind our house over the past 7 years in order to turn an unproductive hillside into prime gardening space. In order to build soil and improve water holding capacity, while using resources available to us on site, we’ve used a process called hugelculture. Simply put, hugelculture takes a mound of old wood, covers it with other materials that will compost in place, and lets it all break down over a long period of time, while still growing plants on the surface layers of soil.

October 7 1-4pm we’ll be offering a workshop on Hugel Terracing

The first section of workshop we will talk about the process and look at the different terrace beds we have built over the years. See for yourself how well the process has worked, and learn from our mistakes. We’ll talk about other ways that the same process could be applied to other terrain (like flat ground) and with other building materials (wood chips, spent hay, mushroom spawn…)

The second portion of the workshop we will build some new terraces. This will involve digging holes, setting posts, moving logs and brush, so come prepared for physical work (sturdy shoes, gloves, whatever you need to stay dry and comfortable)

Pre-registration for this workshop is required. We will cancel the workshop if we don’t meet a minimum of participants. $10-$20 sliding scale fee for participation. To register email peaceofearthfarm@myfairpoint.net or call 802-755-6336

Taste and Tour

September 9, 1-4pm All are welcome to stop by for our 5th annual open farm and tasting event.

We’ll have a tour of the farm starting at 2pm, and ongoing sampling of garlic, tomatoes, and perhaps some other seasonal produce.  You may think garlic is garlic, but there are surprising differences when you get the opportunity to taste different varieties in succession, and it’s kind of fun.  Which variety will come out on top this year?  Only your tastebuds will tell.  We’ll have garlic, other veggies, and perhaps some mushrooms for sale as well.

We love to talk about our farming practices and plans.  Come see and taste what is in season.  If you are coming back again- see how perennials have matured and what new ventures we are trying.  Visit the animals on pasture, and check out the ups and downs of no-till garden management.   Bring your curious minds, palates, and friends.

Peace of Earth Farm is at 43 West Griggs Rd. in Albany, VT

you can find directions here or give us a call 802-755-6336

 

 

 

The 99% Market, Sharing Fresh Veggies with the Newport Community

For the past two years, Diane Peel of the NEK 99% community group has faithfully picked up CSA shares from our farm.  Later that day the two large shares would be divided up into smaller units and offered at a free table outside the NEK 99% gallery for anyone looking for some fresh produce.  The table is always staffed with a volunteer to help with veggie identification and prepping tips, as well as recipes. We love to hear where the produce is ending up.  An elderly woman who wants enough cucumbers to make a small batch of pickles.  Kids who love the snap peas.  For many people this may be their only source of fresh vegetables for the week, no matter how small.

When we have an overabundance of a well received veggie we are happy to donate extra to the project.  At the same time we really appreciate that the NEK 99% raises funds each year to purchase shares from us.  It makes our time and labor feel valued, and our need to earn a living respected.  I like to say that the project “feeds two birds with one seed”, we get income, and many people have access to some fresh veggies.

This  year, the NEK 99%  has raised funds for one large share, but they would love to purchase another large share.  They will be raising funds at a yard sale this Saturday May 27, 8-2pm on School St. in Newport, VT.  Go support them and the veggie project and check out a myriad of other yard sales at the City Wide Yard Sale event.  I imagine you could also just drop by and give them a donation as well.

For more information about all the other cool projects that the NEK 99% is involved with check out their newsletters or follow them on Facebook.

New Greenhouse for Starts

We are happy to have a new tiny green house for starting plants in, just outside the house.  Though we have two larger hoop houses, they are both a good distance from the house and we’ve never felt justified in heating them.  We’ve always started our earliest plants inside the house under lights, until the weather gets warm enough to put the least temperature sensitive starts (like onions, lettuce, spinach) out into the hoop house.  We really feel like natural sunlight produces much better, stockier plants than those under lights, so we are happy to be able to get them out in the sun early now.

We retrofitted a greenhouse frame that originally had a pre-fab thicker cover.  We framed out the ends, making one solid end wall, and covering the rest with plastic.We originally planned to put in a wood stove, with the pipe coming out through the solid end wall.  My parents offered us a quartz electric heater for free, so we decided to give that a try instead.  We’ve also added some barrels filled with water to store and release solar heat overnight.  They seem to help keep the heat more even.  The little electric heater is just used at night to keep temps above freezing.  We’ll see how our electric bill is affected, and maybe switch it out for a wood stove next year if necessary.We’ve even have nifty ski pole window props!

Early Bird Special

For some, this time of year means curling up by the fire, eating comfort food, trying to absorb a bombardment of political news or perhaps reading a good book.  Others may be dreaming of the spring to come, or planning their next adventure.  We are doing all of the above, and also putting together our seed order for the coming growing season.  If you are dreaming of fresh vegetables, fruits and mushrooms that could be on your plate, this is a great time of year to sign up for a CSA share.

In order to help pay for those aforementioned seed orders, we are offering an early bird special to anyone who signs up for a small or large CSA share and pays in full by the end of February 2017.  Payment by February 28 will get you a free June share, valued at $40.

The full description, pricing run down, and pictures of all shares from 2016 can be found on our CSA page

We also welcome early sign ups, even if payment is not possible until later.

If you are curious about where we order our seeds from, check out this post from last year for a variety of links to some great small seed companies.