The Crew from Left to right: Hillary, Jeff, Brian, Daniel, Kat, Chris. Katie will be joining us soon!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
A new farm season begins!
In the yonder days of February and January, Peace of the Earth Farm lie snuggled deep in the frigid earth, waiting for it's caretakers to return. Although we sowed a few seeds here and there in anticipation of warmer days, the bulk of our seeding has just begun. March saw the return of our seeding greenhouse, a wwoofer from yester-year, the smell of fresh handmade potting soil, and eager new volunteers all arriving from far off places to help us make the season the best season for POTE farm yet. This year our volunteer crew consists of Daniel, Katie, Kat, Chris and Jeff. Daniel is joining us for a second season, this year acting as our assitant manager, or he isists I call him: "the assistant to the manager". I can assure you that Daniel is so talented, he's both. Katie is Daniel's girl friend and she will be our administrative assistant, handling phone calls, research, and the newsletters (and maybe swinging a hammer from time to time when we need her to). Kat, Chris and Jeff are all new to POTE farm and came to us from the organization "World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms" or WWOOF for short. We are looking forward to getting to know these generous souls as we work and learn together all season long. Here's to a fruitful season!
The Crew from Left to right: Hillary, Jeff, Brian, Daniel, Kat, Chris. Katie will be joining us soon!
The Crew from Left to right: Hillary, Jeff, Brian, Daniel, Kat, Chris. Katie will be joining us soon!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Burnt Ridge: A nursery worth supporting...
If you've been searching fruitlessly for a nursery that's worth a darn, search no more. Burnt Ridge Nursery is my pick for the best of the best for everything from blueberry bushes to strawberries to kiwis to nut trees. I had the opportunity to visit this nursery a couple years ago and get a tour by the owner Michael Dolan. This nursery, which has been in business 31 years, is both eco-friendly as well as beautiful. It is run by the thoughtful care a staff and owner that care as much about the environment and genetic diversity as they do about their customers. In fact, they have worked tirelessly to help preserve many hard to find varieties of vines, trees and shrubs that produce edible fruit and nuts. Enlist their help to add an edible landscape to your home, school or community. Their prices are affordable and their products are top notch quality. Also, their expertise about what will and what won't grow well in the Pacific Northwest is superior. Check them out online or give them a call:
www.burntridgenursery.com
360-985-2873
www.burntridgenursery.com
360-985-2873
2010 in Pictures
Hello Folks,
Since this is the quiet season for a farmer, I finally have some time to post some of our favorite pictures from 2010. We had too many photos to share here but please enjoy this small selection:
This was one of our first trays of seedlings, Early March 2010, broccoli:
5am sunrise at the farm. Spring time saw many early days for this farmer:
Spring time 2010 in our hoophouse, lot's of seedlings
This year we decided to lease some additional land. We call our original location "Heritage" and this new plot "Nettles". Here it is in May before we tilled.
Garlic Scapes and a wee bit of basil, Early July 2010
A few members of work trade crew, from left to right, Jessica, Natasha, and Daniel. Natasha, an artist and good worker, contributed about a month to the farm in June and July. Jessica, originally from Minnesota, stayed for about 3 weeks and filled all of us with a positive attitude and a strong back to go with it (did I mention she is also probably one of the most well read people I've ever met, well, she is). Daniel, a Georgia boy, will be returning with his girlfriend for another season of farm work. This year year, Daniel will be my assistant manager of the farm.
Breezy, another member of our work trade Crew. Breezy worked with us for nearly the entire growing season and we owe her quite a bit for her tireless efforts on the farm. Here she is with some freshly harvest garlic.
Our first CSA boxes of the season, early July. In case you've forgotten, here's evidence that June 2010 was the coldest on record. Almost everything in the box should have been harvested a month prior, however due to the cold temps, rain and lack of sunshine, it was not ready for harvest until July. Likewise, all those July type vegetables were a month behind too. No squash, tomatoes, or cucumbers yet! Even flower bouquets were very challenging at this point.
Our main growing plot over at the "Nettles" location. I think this was the end of July.
A happy farmer and her harvest
Some baby squash with their blossoms, destined for Brix 25 restaurant, August 2010
"Nettles" Farm location in late August 2010
"Nettles" Farm location in late August 2010
"Nettles" Farm location in late August 2010
Tomatoes at harvest time, early September 2010
Packing CSA Boxes in September 2010, photo courtesy of Josh Sitter
A view from the perennial garden at the "Nettles" farm location, Mid September 2010. On the left you'll see feverfew (white blossoms) which is great for migraines, and a floral variety of sage (purple). There is also some evening primrose peeking (yellow flowers). Evening primrose is good for treating whooping cough. Photo courtesy of Josh Sitter
"Heritage" Farm location, Mid September 2010, photo courtesy of Josh Sitter
POTE farm, photo courtesy of Josh Sitter
This year we were fortunate enough to be honored with a "Dinner in the Field" from a local restaurant, Brix 25 in Gig Harbor. The owners Thad and Katie, have been buying fresh tomatoes, greens, potatoes and other tasty morsels from us since 2009. This year, they pulled of one of the most memorable evenings of my life by hosting a gourmet 5 course meal on the farm. The meal consisted of local ingredients including fresh produce from our own farm. About 30 guests attended and it was a delicious success.
Brian and I were able to give a quick farm tour before the "Dinner in the Field"
Josh was one of our most memorable work traders. He stayed with us only a few weeks but made quite an impression on us. Josh, a photo journalist by trade, is currently writing two travel guides, one on hitch hiking and one on WWOOF-ing (That's "World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms"). We wish him the best of luck as he hitch hikes down to South America and back over the next couple years! PS- he's also a fantastic chef.
Carmit and her Son Christopher work traded with us at the end of the season. They helped put our farm to sleep and get it ready for a long winter. They are currently "WWoofing" together in Pennsylvania.
This year we opened a small weekly farm stand in Rosedale. It was never a big money generator, nor was it really supposed to be. It was simply our attempt to let let the locals know we existed and that they should start to see more of our produce in the community. We met some wonderful people, including my favorite customer, Roxi, who bought some of our giant zucchini squash for her special Zucchini bread. This is the Farm stand in Mid September 2010
Inside the tomato hoop house Late September 2010, photo courtesy of Josh Sitter
Ending on a sunny note....
This photo courtesy of Josh Sitter, September 2010
Since this is the quiet season for a farmer, I finally have some time to post some of our favorite pictures from 2010. We had too many photos to share here but please enjoy this small selection:
This was one of our first trays of seedlings, Early March 2010, broccoli:
5am sunrise at the farm. Spring time saw many early days for this farmer:
Spring time 2010 in our hoophouse, lot's of seedlings
This year we decided to lease some additional land. We call our original location "Heritage" and this new plot "Nettles". Here it is in May before we tilled.
Garlic Scapes and a wee bit of basil, Early July 2010
A few members of work trade crew, from left to right, Jessica, Natasha, and Daniel. Natasha, an artist and good worker, contributed about a month to the farm in June and July. Jessica, originally from Minnesota, stayed for about 3 weeks and filled all of us with a positive attitude and a strong back to go with it (did I mention she is also probably one of the most well read people I've ever met, well, she is). Daniel, a Georgia boy, will be returning with his girlfriend for another season of farm work. This year year, Daniel will be my assistant manager of the farm.
Breezy, another member of our work trade Crew. Breezy worked with us for nearly the entire growing season and we owe her quite a bit for her tireless efforts on the farm. Here she is with some freshly harvest garlic.
Our first CSA boxes of the season, early July. In case you've forgotten, here's evidence that June 2010 was the coldest on record. Almost everything in the box should have been harvested a month prior, however due to the cold temps, rain and lack of sunshine, it was not ready for harvest until July. Likewise, all those July type vegetables were a month behind too. No squash, tomatoes, or cucumbers yet! Even flower bouquets were very challenging at this point.
Our main growing plot over at the "Nettles" location. I think this was the end of July.
A happy farmer and her harvest
Some baby squash with their blossoms, destined for Brix 25 restaurant, August 2010
"Nettles" Farm location in late August 2010
"Nettles" Farm location in late August 2010
"Nettles" Farm location in late August 2010
Tomatoes at harvest time, early September 2010
Packing CSA Boxes in September 2010, photo courtesy of Josh Sitter
A view from the perennial garden at the "Nettles" farm location, Mid September 2010. On the left you'll see feverfew (white blossoms) which is great for migraines, and a floral variety of sage (purple). There is also some evening primrose peeking (yellow flowers). Evening primrose is good for treating whooping cough. Photo courtesy of Josh Sitter
"Heritage" Farm location, Mid September 2010, photo courtesy of Josh Sitter
POTE farm, photo courtesy of Josh Sitter
This year we were fortunate enough to be honored with a "Dinner in the Field" from a local restaurant, Brix 25 in Gig Harbor. The owners Thad and Katie, have been buying fresh tomatoes, greens, potatoes and other tasty morsels from us since 2009. This year, they pulled of one of the most memorable evenings of my life by hosting a gourmet 5 course meal on the farm. The meal consisted of local ingredients including fresh produce from our own farm. About 30 guests attended and it was a delicious success.
Brian and I were able to give a quick farm tour before the "Dinner in the Field"
Josh was one of our most memorable work traders. He stayed with us only a few weeks but made quite an impression on us. Josh, a photo journalist by trade, is currently writing two travel guides, one on hitch hiking and one on WWOOF-ing (That's "World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms"). We wish him the best of luck as he hitch hikes down to South America and back over the next couple years! PS- he's also a fantastic chef.
Carmit and her Son Christopher work traded with us at the end of the season. They helped put our farm to sleep and get it ready for a long winter. They are currently "WWoofing" together in Pennsylvania.
This year we opened a small weekly farm stand in Rosedale. It was never a big money generator, nor was it really supposed to be. It was simply our attempt to let let the locals know we existed and that they should start to see more of our produce in the community. We met some wonderful people, including my favorite customer, Roxi, who bought some of our giant zucchini squash for her special Zucchini bread. This is the Farm stand in Mid September 2010
Inside the tomato hoop house Late September 2010, photo courtesy of Josh Sitter
Ending on a sunny note....
This photo courtesy of Josh Sitter, September 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
POTE Farm Press
Howdy farmy folks. This article came out a while ago but I never posted a link. It originally came out in Gig Harbor Life Weekly.
Click here to view the article, in case you missed it.
Click here to view the article, in case you missed it.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
My PIcks for Seed Companies
A lot of people ask me where they can get heirloom seeds. I've decided to post a short list of who I buy from and why. Before I do, here's a little quote from Suzannne Ashworth's book, Seed to Seed...this book is a must have for any farmer or home gardener:
"The seed that gardeners hold in their hands at planting time are living links in an unbroken chain reaching back into antiquity. Today's gardeners cannot possibly comprehend the amount of history contained in their seeds, both what has come before and what may potentially come after their brief involvement".
One last word, before you go thinking that heirloom seeds are not important, or before you decide that seed is seed, before you make up your mind not to care where you get your seed from, and before you decide that $3 is way too much to pay for 25 seeds, please remember that hundreds of generations and thousands of years of heritage are contained in a single seed. People have literally starved to death protecting seeds, people have been imprisoned for their work to save seed, and many many varieties and genetic diversity are lost in this age of cheap seed from giant distributors. Today, most of the world's seed in now distributed by only a small handful of giant corporations. Most of the time these big seed company's biggest concern is storage life and a plant's shipability (not to mention making giant profits). Nutrition, flavor, local growing ability, or genetic diversity are typically of little or no concern to large seed companies. Please consider supporting your local smaller seed companies. Here are a few that I look to for my seed needs. I encourage you to save your own seed according to the methods described in Suzanne Ashworth's book as well as purchase from your own local seed companies.
In order of my personal priority:
**Uprising Seeds, located in Bellingham Washington: uprisingorganics.com
Uprising is a small family owned and operated seed company that grows 100% certified organic seeds almost entirely at their own small farm in Bellingham, Washington. What they don't personally grow is grown nearby on small farms in Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho. They have an emphasis on heirloom varieties and try to keep varieties alive that grow well in the Pacific North West.
**Wild Garden Seeds, Located in Philomath, Oregon: Wildgardenseeds.com
Wild Garden Seeds is another family owned and opperated seed company that grows most of their own 100% orgnaic seeds at their own home farm. They have exceptional lettuce and pepper seeds, as well some hard find heirlooms varieties of other vegetables.
**High Mowing Seed, Locaed in Wolcott, Vermont: highmowingseedseeds.com
High mowing is a larger seed company but I've included it here because it's a wonderful go to source for 100% organic seed with an heirloom influence. With 450 varieties of heirloom seed, I find that they have almost anything I need. Also, a lot of their seed is still grown on their own 40 acre farm, which is quite remarkable in this day of giant seed companies. The company is still family owned and is operated in ways that matche up with our own farming philosophy of building an ecosystem on the farm.
**Heirloom Seeds: heirloomseeds.com
This is a company composed of many farmers and gardeners who simply want to sell and preserve heirloom seeds. They have a lot of seed varieties that I've never seen anywhere else.
**The Sustainable seed company: sustainableseedco.com
I'm fairly new to this company but so far I've really enjoyed the seeds I've gotten form them. They grow all their seeds and don't import seeds form any where. They are also all heirloom.
"The seed that gardeners hold in their hands at planting time are living links in an unbroken chain reaching back into antiquity. Today's gardeners cannot possibly comprehend the amount of history contained in their seeds, both what has come before and what may potentially come after their brief involvement".
One last word, before you go thinking that heirloom seeds are not important, or before you decide that seed is seed, before you make up your mind not to care where you get your seed from, and before you decide that $3 is way too much to pay for 25 seeds, please remember that hundreds of generations and thousands of years of heritage are contained in a single seed. People have literally starved to death protecting seeds, people have been imprisoned for their work to save seed, and many many varieties and genetic diversity are lost in this age of cheap seed from giant distributors. Today, most of the world's seed in now distributed by only a small handful of giant corporations. Most of the time these big seed company's biggest concern is storage life and a plant's shipability (not to mention making giant profits). Nutrition, flavor, local growing ability, or genetic diversity are typically of little or no concern to large seed companies. Please consider supporting your local smaller seed companies. Here are a few that I look to for my seed needs. I encourage you to save your own seed according to the methods described in Suzanne Ashworth's book as well as purchase from your own local seed companies.
In order of my personal priority:
**Uprising Seeds, located in Bellingham Washington: uprisingorganics.com
Uprising is a small family owned and operated seed company that grows 100% certified organic seeds almost entirely at their own small farm in Bellingham, Washington. What they don't personally grow is grown nearby on small farms in Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho. They have an emphasis on heirloom varieties and try to keep varieties alive that grow well in the Pacific North West.
**Wild Garden Seeds, Located in Philomath, Oregon: Wildgardenseeds.com
Wild Garden Seeds is another family owned and opperated seed company that grows most of their own 100% orgnaic seeds at their own home farm. They have exceptional lettuce and pepper seeds, as well some hard find heirlooms varieties of other vegetables.
**High Mowing Seed, Locaed in Wolcott, Vermont: highmowingseedseeds.com
High mowing is a larger seed company but I've included it here because it's a wonderful go to source for 100% organic seed with an heirloom influence. With 450 varieties of heirloom seed, I find that they have almost anything I need. Also, a lot of their seed is still grown on their own 40 acre farm, which is quite remarkable in this day of giant seed companies. The company is still family owned and is operated in ways that matche up with our own farming philosophy of building an ecosystem on the farm.
**Heirloom Seeds: heirloomseeds.com
This is a company composed of many farmers and gardeners who simply want to sell and preserve heirloom seeds. They have a lot of seed varieties that I've never seen anywhere else.
**The Sustainable seed company: sustainableseedco.com
I'm fairly new to this company but so far I've really enjoyed the seeds I've gotten form them. They grow all their seeds and don't import seeds form any where. They are also all heirloom.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Garlic Harvest!
Last fall we planted about 25 pounds of hard and soft neck garlic and this last week we were able to harvest hundreds of garlic bulbs. Here's a hearty thank you to all our volunteers, Breezy, Daniel and Natasha (as well as Jessica and Erin), who helped make this fabulous harvest possible. Please enjoy the photos. Peace!!
Some of the garlic hanging to dry (thanks Natasha for this photo)
The garlic goodness from below
The Crew doing some of the harvest
Farm Hand Breezy with garlic goodness
Farm Hand Daniel tying up Garlic to be dried.
Some of the garlic hanging to dry (thanks Natasha for this photo)
The garlic goodness from below
The Crew doing some of the harvest
Farm Hand Breezy with garlic goodness
Farm Hand Daniel tying up Garlic to be dried.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
2010 Summer Vegetable CSA Begins!
Hello All,
Last week we begun our 12 week Summer Vegetable CSA program. Thanks to the help of our Volunteers, Breezy, Daniel, Natasha, Jessica, and Erin, our program began deliciously and beautifully. Just see for your self:
A portion of the delectable harvest:
One of our customer's CSA boxes:
Three of our Volunteers with Farmy-Flare: From left to right, Jessica, Natasha and Daniel.
Last week we begun our 12 week Summer Vegetable CSA program. Thanks to the help of our Volunteers, Breezy, Daniel, Natasha, Jessica, and Erin, our program began deliciously and beautifully. Just see for your self:
A portion of the delectable harvest:
One of our customer's CSA boxes:
Three of our Volunteers with Farmy-Flare: From left to right, Jessica, Natasha and Daniel.
Friday, May 21, 2010
May 2010 Photos
Here are a few recent picture of the happenings on the farm, enjoy.
Sage:
Kale goodness:
Fararo Cabbage
Prize Choy, an Asian Green
Echinacea and a Bumbly friend
In the Hoop House
Garlic and some Sweet Flowering kale
In the Green House
Lettuce and other green goodness
Spinach
Sunrise on the Farm, 5am
Nettles Farm, site of our farm expansion
Sage:
Kale goodness:
Fararo Cabbage
Prize Choy, an Asian Green
Echinacea and a Bumbly friend
In the Hoop House
Garlic and some Sweet Flowering kale
In the Green House
Lettuce and other green goodness
Spinach
Sunrise on the Farm, 5am
Nettles Farm, site of our farm expansion
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