Tomato, tomato, tomato

There is something wonderful about local tomotoes. Tomatoes found in the store throughout the fall, winter and spring just cannot compare. And, we love our tomatoes. This year, we're kickin' it up a notch - and we love heritage tomatoes, so here is a little bit about what we will be planting for heritage this year.*

Black from Tula: (above) A Russian heirloom described by a grower as “the ugliest, most delicious tomato I’ve ever grown.” Rich full flavor, great for slicing and canning. Good yields of 3-4", slightly flattened fruits on 3-4' plants. This is one I planted and harvested the seeds from myself for this year.

The rest of my heirloom seeds came from Local Harvest - my hero for the farmer - and next year maybe I can get some of my seeds out there. (http://www.localharvest.org/)

From Happy Cat Organics:

Amish Salad: (above) A beautiful cherry tomato that is an Amish Heirloom that has a fantastic reddish pink color and about 1.5 inches that grow in clusters of 7-9. Very sweet flavor that has a hint of earthiness.

Speckled Roman: (below) An open pollinated cross of Antique Roman and Banana legs. This one got lots of attention, everywhere I went people asked us about this tomato. It is really nice to look at and a delight to eat, better used as a sauce tomato.

Old German: Some fruits reach 2 pounds. Yellow over the shoulders and Red on the blossom end, the color meet in the middle like a tied dye shirt, the slices look like images sent back from the Hubble telescope. Wonderful sweet flavor, this old mennonite heirloom is indeterminate and takes 80 days from transplant.

From Sharon's Natural Gardens:

Cherokee Purple: Heirloom with outstanding flavor and almost blemish free. A mid- to large tomato with a purple cast and green shoulders. Very productive and long lived.

Pale Yellow Egg Tomato (I'm going to call it Henny Penny):
A rare find, perhaps an heirloom from France. I received it in a yellow tomato collection from a biodynamic growing circle and have grown it here every year since (5 years). It is a market and CSA favorite. It is the size and shape of a banty egg, and very productive.

From Garden Medicinals and Culinaries:

Belyj Naliv: An ethnic Russian variety brought to the U.S. in 1995 when we donated seed for food crops in exchange for starter seed of ethnic varieties. This one comes from a region 60 km south of Moscow.] As is characteristic of many ethnic varieties, the fruits are somewhat variable in size and flavor. The short vines (3-1/2 feet) are very productive and are well-suited for ground culture, staking, or growing in small cages. Fruits average 1.5 x 2" and are resistant to cracking. 'Belyj Naliv' was one of the better early-season Russian varieties that we trialed.

More soon on tomatoes and how to harvest your own seeds.

* Local grocer, Remke has agreed to buy our heirloom tomotoes, so in addition to the farm stand and farm market, you will be able to find them there.

Spring's Frenzy

It seems like only yesterday that I kept telling myself "I have a few more weeks before it really kicks in"...HA! Out of time, and now running behind. I am now frantic with the sheer number of projects I must complete in an unbelievably non-existent amount of time. In only a matter of days the grape hyacinths have burst out of the ground, risen and opened. I only blinked...

And so did the darn daffodils, one minute they were just slips of green, and today, they are open and bowing to the sun and wind.

And so, on today's farm visit, there was much to do. I had to run up and feed the bees. And because the second hive (the one I thought I had lost) was eating so very much less sugar water, I opened the hive. Level two, the second full hive was full of honey. But level one was ground zero for the destruction I had imagined. The cold had killed off most of the hive. There were some large cockroaches living inside, and hundreds of thousands of dead bees. I got to work removing all the frames and seeing what kind of condition they were in. Three frames appeared to have live bees, but I saw no queen or any real activity, so I guess I will order a new nuc for this hive.

Fran (my husband and farm partner), came over to the farm today as we started to address the chickens, and the chickens "free range". They have pretty much been allowed access to whatever they like, and that now includes the neighbors flower beds under their coating of mulch - an icing on a cake a chicken can not resist! So they have been digging in the flower beds, and we now need to limit their range to lessen their destruction. We are installing new fencing to limit their travels, while still allowing them farm access.

After that, I returned home, processed some eggs for the week, and enjoyed the 60+ degree weather on the back deck. I had some potting to do, houseplants and some herbs, and my assistant Clarence the Cat, was there to put his seal of approval on the potting projects.

The Girls

Well, there are certain things about daylight savings that are great: light longer, can get some farm and yard work done when getting home from the "real job" and nice to cook out on the grill. But did I mention, it is also light longer? That means the girls want to take advantage of every last moment of light to search for any worm, bug, blade of grass or chase the unknown moving object that may be edible before moving toward the henhouse to be locked in for the night. Which means that we can no longer just stop by the farm on the way home to shut the door. Instead, we have to come home and carefully monitor the levels of light before determining when it is just right - dark enough to shut them in BUT! not so dark that the predators are out...like the fox who was so in my face last fall. But, we love our girls...

Feeding the Bees

Yesterday got us to about 66 degrees. That woke up the bees. They will come out of the hive at about 45-50 degrees and start venturing out to see if anything is in bloom. Of course, at this time of the year, there is nothing for the little ladies. So, I feed them until spring really arrives. Their diet is a 50/50 mix of water and organic sugar, and yes, they turn this too into honey.

I was afraid I had lost one of the hives earlier this month, as one of the tops had blown off and the hive was open in that bitter cold we had. But I am happy to report that yesterday, that hive was very active. Unfortunately, I spoke to another beekeeper yesterday, and he lost all 5 of his hives and has to start over. We are hoping to add another 2-3 hives this spring, placing one at the house and two more here on the farm. This year, we should have honey available for sale.

Andy the Rooster

Andy (as in Dandy Andy) the rooster, was out back this morning crowing to let me know morning had arrived. Thanks, Andy...been up for hours now. Here he is...and even though I tried to "tame" him when he was young by picking him up a lot, he has turned into one nasty (and very big) rooster. Have to watch out now when walking through the yard that he doesn't sneak up and try to attack us. If he doesn't watch it, he may be dinner.

Little Slivers of Green

The wind is howling, but at least it is a warm wind. I did hear the peepers last night when I put the birds in at the farm. This morning, I went out to let the house chickens out, and visited my garlic beds. Cloves gone wild! They were all coming up. I planted three different types last fall: Silverwhite, which is a garlic that can be braided and has a warm pungency; Siberian, which is a marbled purple stripe garlic which has low pungency; and German Extra Hardy, with hot pungency. This is my first time growing garlic, which I love. The first harvest will be late summer. Mmmm.

Songs of the Birds and the Peepers

The Red-Winged Blackbird is one of the first harbingers of spring. He arrives with all of his brethren, staking his claim and awaiting the arrival of the ladies, who fly some weeks behind. I thrill to hear him, his song a loud, gurgling conk-a-reeee. This morning, there were the hints of the cacophony to soon come. The cardinals were in full chorus, the tufted-titmice, the song sparrows and the chickadees. This is what makes spring on of my favorite seasons. Tomorrow, the temperatures are on the rise, hitting the 60's for the first time in quite a while. It will be nice to feel the warm winds. The bees on the farm will be stirring, moving out of the huddled mass they spend the winter in, keeping each other warm. I will have to go up in a day or so, and start them on their spring diet of organic sugar water. This will help them to get through the last of winter's days until the first flowers arrive with their sweet nectar. And soon, tonight, more likely tomorrow night, the spring peepers will make their brief appearance. I love to go out on the front porch just after the sun has dipped below the horizon and wait for the first of the peepers to sing, soon joined by hundreds more in every low lying wetland to be found.