Week of October 20, 2014
Abbreviated Weekly Farm Report
From Friendship Farms & Fare
http://www.fffsite.org/
A Community Service To the Local Farming Community
Programs and Plans
Our 5th Year
We often receive questions about the Friendship Farms & Fare project. We are happy to send an information brochure with details on our mission and our various programs. Here is a brief sketch of our programs:
We offer heirloom organic seeds, including seeds from plants acclimated to local climate and soils. We have a good stock of several types of okra (including the much desired Red Burgundy), robust arugula, and our famous Calabrese Broccoli. Friendship Farms & Fare is a licensed seed dealer in the State of Florida, and a member of Seed Savers Exchange (with several listings in the SSE Yearbook). Later this year, in cooperation with local markets, we will begin offering an extensive line of Seed Savers organic seeds.
Organic seedlings are available throughout each growing season. We use our own seeds from previous years whenever possible, and otherwise, we use only organic seeds and heirloom varieties when available. We never use seeds from for-profit seed sellers, and we do not offer seedlings grown from such seeds. Friendship Farms & Fare is a licensed nursery in the State of Florida.
A developing area of our mission, is our fruit tree project. At present, we offer loquat and avocado trees, with a few native flowering shrubs. We are a state-registered nursery, and among a small number of nurseries in the region offering loquat trees. We also are pleased to host (along with Ecology Florida) the Florida Loquat Festival, held each spring in New Port Richey.
Our original project, and still our central focus is a Community Supported Agriculture program. This is a small (“boutique”) CSA, featuring organic produce from our gardens and local cottage industry foods. We are 100% organic and have a no-kill policy. Our program is recommended for single persons, couples, or (at most) three-person families.
When quantities are sufficient, we offer produce to the general public through local markets, such as Tasty Tuesdays and Market Off Main in New Port Richey. Folks can also make requests through our website. Non-members can request any and all items on the share list for $20.
Our newest project is a community garden, dedicating a portion of the 3F farm for use by others in the community. The community garden is located in New Port Richey, and operates through the City’s urban agriculture ordinance. The 3F community garden follows the standard policies of Friendship Farms & Fare. We are 100% organic, non-GMO, and have a no-kill policy. With the exception of the predatory Marine Toad, no animals are harmed on our farm. We follow permaculture principles, and working with and within our natural systems.
If you would like to know more about any of these programs or would like to volunteer to share in our mission, just let us know. Folks interested in the Friendship Farms & Fare project can contact us through our website. http://www.fffsite.org/ See the “Let’s Talk” section for an email connection.
Contributions to Friendship Farms & Fare are now tax-deductable. If you would like to offer financial support, your contributions will be a wonderful enhancement to our project – and they will be tax deductable.
Garden Overview
Fall Planning and First Plantings
(additional details and assessments follows)
As noted previously, shares are relatively light in October. We have arugula and the first small shares of collards. We might have enough late-season eggplant for most shares, but we cannot guarantee. Sweet potatoes and leaves are on last call. We probably won’t have any after this week. Okra is unlikely, and we’ll have last call on that next week
In this transitional period, harvests are light. This will continue until the end of the month. Rick Martinez reported that his seedlings were washed out or stunted and his farm (Sweetwater in Tampa) is about two weeks behind schedule. So are we – but we are beginning to catch up
We stated a lot of seeds, and accelerated our planting of seedlings. This will be our most extensive planting. We are going heavier on the cool-weather greens than we have in the past, and aiming to have at least 100 each of kale, collards, and swiss chard. We are aiming for 250 broccol
We have planted most of the kale shared by Cindy of Cadle’s Cove Farm. Some are doing better than others. Here is a link to Cadle’s Cove: http://ceeceesfarm.locallygrown.net/
We are beginning to recover from our early challenges. We have installed kales and collards, which are maturing nicely. Swiss chard is still lagging a bit, although the Five Color and Ford Hook Giant are showing signs of health and happiness. As expected, the famous Calabrese is doing well. Arugula is thriving.
Tomatoes will be testers only, and only in set asides in the South Garden. Septoria has just been too hard on our tomatoes in previous years. For all plantings, we’ll use seeds from our collection or heirloom seeds from Seed Savers Exchange (http://www.seedsavers.org/).
However, rather than the cooling and drying conditions we should have had, we continued to experience full-on summer weather patterns – heat, humidity, and heavy rains.
As recommend by the Florida Department of Agriculture, and various commercial planting guides, we started seedlings of fall and winter crops in early September. We lost most of the seedlings due to “new normal” heat stress and near-record rainfall. In recent years, September and October have been too hot for cool weather crops to develop. The new climate-change weather renders current planting calendars obsolete. We need new and revised planting guides that take into account climate change.
Kale
Kale is coming along slowly, but we should have some leaves in a week or so. We started more seeds this week, and installed most of the remaining seedlings received from Cadle’s Cove Farm.
Collards
So far, Georgia Southern Collards are the trendsetters for the fall garden. Plants established before the first wave of rain and “new normal” heat are now producing leaves large enough to harvest. Vates collards are developing more slowly.
Swiss Chard
Some of the swiss chard is starting to leaf out. It looks like it might be a couple more weeks before we have enough to harvest, but the cooler temperatures may accelerate growth. 5-Color chard is out pacing the others.
Broccoli
Our first broccoli seedings, seedlings, and starts were largely washed out. Only eight starts are still in the gardens. To get back to where we should be, we have started nearly 200 seeds in the past 10 days. The first substantial seeding had 100% germination.
COMPANION FAUNA
Where are the bees?
We observed only one honeybee this past week. This is really concerning. One of their favorite treats is loquat blossoms – and we have an abundance of those right now. When flowering, these trees are usually swarming with bees. We continue to expect to see these helpful creatures on the loquat flowers, which they love. There are also flowers on many native plants in the gardens – lantana, golden dewdrop, salvia, porter weed, and begger’s ticks. The solitary bee was observed flitting between the flowers in a little patch of begger’s tick.
It is possible that the release of commercial/residential “home and garden” insecticides containing neonicotinoids are destroying our once abundant honeybee populations. This is just a guess offered in an effort to understand what has happened to these important companions to human life.
“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”
– attributed to Albert Einstein.
Please do not purchase or use insecticides with neonicotinoids. Here are three reliable sources on the neonicotinoids, and the commercial “home and garden” insecticides that contain them.
http://www.xerces.org/neonicotinoids-and-bees/
http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/NeonicsSummary_XercesSociety.pdf
http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Are-Neonicotinoids-Killing-Bees_Xerces-Society1.pdf
3F Produce for non-shareholders
Non-shareholders may order shares for $12 per week. For this nominal amount, contributors may request any items they desire from the weekly Share. Although we will assist with transmissions, it is the responsibility of the contributor to make arrangements for pick up of the share.
As always, non-shareholders may request single items from the share list for $5 per item. A full share for one week (any/all items) is $12.
Just reply using the website contact link if you desire anything on the list. We suggest non-shareholders start an account to cover costs of items
The 3F Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Project
Friendship Farms & Fare operates a unique small-scale (boutique) CSA, involving few participants, and using very basic management techniques. We are 100% organic and use permacultrures principles. Our program is recommended for single persons, couples, or (at most) three-person families. The cost of a share is low by typical CSA standards: $300 per garden year (October through September). This works out to a bit less than $6.00 per week. Donations are also gratefully received, with all donations going to maintenance and improvement of the gardens and groves.
If you are interested, contact: friendshipfarmsfare@gmail.com
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Visit the Friendship Farms & Fare website for the Weekly Farm Report:
http://www.fffsite.org/#!report/c1tuh
Friendship Farms & Fare is a branch of Ecology Florida, a not-for-profit corporation. Contributions to Friendship Farms & Fare and Ecology Florida are tax deductible. To learn more about Ecology Florida, please visit the website:
http://www.ecologyflorida.org/
If you would like to support our mission and individual projects, you may share donations through our website (above) or at our mailing address:
Ecology Florida
PO Box 596
New Port Richey, FL 34656-0596
Friendship Farms & Fare reaffirms, restores, and advances agrarian ideals to reestablish a sustainable culture
Ecology Florida advances the harmonious integration of healthy natural, cultural, and economic ecologies to regenerate a resilient world
