Tricia Goes to Market

It's Wednesday, and that means Earth Mother Market! Last week I was not able to make the debut, but I was there this week! Thanks to my boss at ST (thanks, Tedd), I was allowed to get to work an hour early (which meant me leaving my house at 5am) to leave early to get to the market. I had iced and loaded the coolers last night, 49 dozen eggs waiting for a new home. And radishes, too.

Arrived around 3:20 and pulled in next to Thistlehair Farm's spot - they have a canopy - I do not, and rain was in the air! I set up my table and dragged out a cooler, leaving one in the car. Ready for business.

Of course, maybe the moniker of Napoleon fits here, since I was definitely the little man on the block. Most of the other vendors are pros at this, with lots of product, signage, canopies, and more. But we'll get there! I sold out of the radishes witin the first hour. As for the eggs, 25 dozen managed to make their way out of my coolers and into consumers hands. A very positive result of today's market trip, I now have a restaurant that wants to buy between 15-30 dozen eggs a week for their Sunday brunch - woohoo! (Shameless plug now: Virgils Cafe, 710 Fairfield Ave, Bellevue, web address: http://www.virgilscafe.com) So all in all it was a fun day. KY State Senator Katie Stine, President Pro Tem, whom I have a great respect for through my wine and grape connections, stopped by to buy a dozen eggs too. She really supports agriculture, and I appreciate it.

In the end, today was not as busy as last week, but I had a great time chatting with my other farm ladies, and it was fun to hear the Atwood Pickers playing thier bluegrass favorites (gentleman, Pink Floyd does not count as Bluegrass - but I was sure enjoying it!) Here's a shot of fellow farm ladies Vicky, right (Thistlehair Farm) and Ame, left (Fox Run Farm) hamming it up next door to my "space". I have to say I really have been enjoying meeting all these great people, and I feel sure you all will too.

The Joints are a Jumpin'

Yesterday was a whirlwind adventure in learning. The lower field, which Zack finished last Wednesday night was ready for the planting of our 1200 Roma tomatoes. So yesterday morning, bright and early, our farm friends and saviours, son Johnathan and father Dan Berkshire came to help. Our tractor is too small to carry the equipment needed to plant with a mulcher and planter, so Johnathan drove over his tractor with the mulcher on board, and we lay the plastic and t-tape (this is the irrigation hoses) in preparation for the planting later in the day.

This is Dan in the overalls, with Johnathan at the wheel of the tractor and me looking on. I did eventually do more like run to the end of the rows(see picture below), lift the arm and cut the plastic and hose. Fran ended up doing what Dan was doing, starting the row. So we got the whole field done in about an hour and a half.

Then, because Dan was going to get the setter (the tomato planter), I drove to Williamstown to get the 2400 tomato plants, 1200 of which were mine. That was 20+ flats with 120 in each. Mark at Trippleridge Greenhouses helped me load, and interestingly told me my tomato plants were more vigorous than any of the others. My tomatoes were the only ones started in organic soil and fertilized with organic feed. It was obvious in size and color they were different.

After dropping off Dan's plants and mine, Fran and I took a brief break (20 minutes) and jumped into the car to go back over to Dan's to see how to plant the tomatoes. We thought we would just be observing. Ha! We were told we would be setting the tomatoes, since we needed to learn how to do it anyhow. So onto the two seat we went, with flats of tomatoes in front of us. The planter is called a water wheel setter. I wish I had a picture, but I don't. There is about 200 gallons of water with fertilizer in it (in Dan's case he added insecticide too - but we only used organic fertilizer in ours). The whole rig lifts up off the ground, including us humans in the seats, and the tractor comes around to the head of the row, where the whole rig is lowered to the ground, and the right setter (me) starts the water. The water gushes into a wheel with big prongs spaced at 18" that punctures the plastic and fills the whole with water, making it easy to stick the plug (tomato plant) in. Well sorta easy. Meanwhile Fran on the left and I on the right are grabbing plugs from the tray and sticking them down in the holes. Not as easy as it sounds, believe me. But after a few rows, we did get in a rhythm. So we planted about 1000 at Dan's as he had not prepared enough rows. Then he was going to let us borrow his tractor to do ours, but we begged and pleaded with him to come help us with ours, as we are just wanna be farmers, and that was a big (100 horsepower to our little 35) tractor with equipment that has to be manipulated just so. So he drove it down to our farm, and Fran and I planted most of our 1200, 12 rows all together. Here I am way out in the field after everything was in, making sure to fill in holes where we missed one or two.

Now about those joints. I am sore in places I never knew I could be. Everything aches. So today, I will just move slower, but there is still so much to get done. Check in tomorrow for the update!

Earth Mother Market

It was a sunny and pleasant day in Fort Thomas, where the debut of Earth Mother Market took place. Northern Kentucky's newest farmer's market, which consists of wholly Certified Naturally Grown and Organic farms that are owned or managed by women, had people standing in line when the market opened. Five vendors were on hand for the day, and local television and newspapers covered the event. Napoleon Ridge was supposed to have been there with our eggs, but a conflict arose. None the less, we did stop by at 6pm, and business was booming. We even bought plants for the farm that we did not have. The market will be every Wednesday from 3-7 at 1038 S. Fort Thomas Avenue, Stables Building in the Midway district of Fort Thomas. It looks like it is going to be a well attended market, and there are lots of great surprises planned. Next week, the Atwood Pickers bluegrass band will be playing from 5-6pm, Future plans will include cooking demonstrations, flower arranging, clogging and so much more. How exciting!

Zen and Now

One of the really beautiful gardens that prompted me to buy this house is the Zen garden, full of cobbled stones. Of course, there is nothing Zen about taking care of it, and every year I have the spring fling, flinging weeds that is. This year, it took me on and off 4 days to get it cleared out (and there is still work to be done). Whoever lived here before us loved gardens as much as we do, but I think they must have had more time than us to keep everything clean. However, once the Zen garden has been cleaned out, it really does bring a peaceful aura to the evening if you are sitting on the porch.

And as is always the case in spring, the flowers are beginning to bloom. My peony is open and wafting its scent across the yard. I need to plant more of these...

And last for today, is the Japanese Iris. My good friend from Vermont, Glenn, gave me these several years back, and now I have them in two gardens and need to split them into some more gardens. While short lived like all the Iris, I love their beauty.

Strawberry Wine

I have been remiss in my blogging, if you are following, I apologize. Spring snuck up and did a Tigger...so I am trying to regroup. I Tweeted everyone and said to come visit I would have pictures of my new strawberry beds. A week has passed, but at last here they are.

Not much to look at now, I know. But considering they looked dead when I planted them last week, a dramatic change! They will not be allowed to bear this year. I'll pull all blooms and most runners until late in the season, then tuck them under a bed of straw for a winter nap. Next year, they will be allowed to bloom and we will have fresh strawberries. I will probably add two more beds so I can rotate them every couple of years and still have a crop.

Remeber the garlic I showed you back in February? Here is how it looks now, and I don't even harvest until late summer. I will probably expand garlic production, too.

And one more, to make the title of today's blog have some meaning. We started with strawberries, now for the wine. We have had bud break on the grapes, here is the little clusters of grapes to be, just getting started. This variety is Cabernet Franc.