Week of November 10, 2014
Abbreviated Weekly Farm Report
From Friendship Farms & Fare
http://www.fffsite.org/
A Community Service To the Local Farming Community
3F to team with Ecology Florida and Market Off Main To bring Seed Saver Exchange Seeds to New Port Richey
Heirloom Seeds Coming in November to Market Off Main In New Port Richey
Through a cooperative arrangement with Friendship Farms & Fare and Ecology Florida, the Market Off Main, in New Port Richey, will soon offer a wide range of organic, heirloom, non-GMO seeds exclusively from Seed Savers Exchange. The seed display and sales area will be presented to the public at a ceremony on November 29. We expect the seed rack to be installed in the next week or so. See full story at Ecology Florida News: http://www.ecologyflorida.org/2014/11/organic-heirloom-seeds-coming-soon-to-new-port-richey/
Programs and Plans
Our 5th Year
Thanks to everyone who has renewed. Your support is empowering and encouraging. If you have any questions, send us a message, and we’ll answer or clarify.
So far, we have ten shares. We are expecting one new share this week, which will give us eleven – just one short of our goal of twelve, which is about what we need to break even.
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 above, the gardens were stressed by the cold front that rolled though on Saturday (11/1). It was not the cold, but the high winds and arid conditions that caused significant damage to seedlings and young plants. We lost about collards, kale, and most of the swiss chard. What happened was that the arid air mass rapidly dehydrated the soil, and the high winds toppled the plants, driving them into the ground. Leaves on the swiss chard were shredded by the winds and some were simply blown off the stalks .
All seriously damaged plants were replaced, and we planted more seedlings in the north garden. The north garden is now fully planted.
As noted previously, shares are relatively light, although production is increasing. We have arugula and the small shares of collards. We’ll have the first small (sample size) shares of kale. We’ll likely have enough late-season eggplant for most shares, but we cannot guarantee. Sweet potatoes are finished and leaves are on last call. Okra is unlikely, but there are still some pod producers.
See the Share Report for all items.
In this transitional period, harvests are light. This will continue until at least the middle of November. We are now beginning to catch up (slowly!) with our fall planting program.
As with last week, we did a considerable amount of seeding, and continued our steady 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 broccoli. We’ll forego cauliflower, and go heavy on broccoli. Our neighboring garden, Hart’s Family Farm, will be growing cabbage and cauliflower.
We have installed kales and collards, which are maturing nicely. Swiss chard is still lagging, especially after the beating it took. As expected, the famous Calabrese is doing well, but we are behind in getting seedlings into the gardens. 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/).
Arugula
Arugula is thriving. There is almost enough for full shares for all shareholders. We were going to start some seeds, but there have been so many volunteers springing up all over the gardens, we will probably skip the formal seeding.
Kale
Kale is getting stronger by the day. We should have a few leaves this week. We started more seeds this week, and installed more kale in the north garden. At this point, we are behind in the amount of kale we’d like to have in the garden. Recent seed starts have been less successful than expected. Scarlet Kale has failed to germinate on three different seedings. The strongest of the kales is the German Kale (Halbhoher Gruner Krauser), followed by the Lacinato.
Collards
Georgia Southern Collards are trendsetters for the fall garden, and the Vates are coming on strong now. We’ll be starting more Vates this week.
Swiss Chard
The swiss chard that survived the cold front is now doing quite well. A number of plants have large healthy leaves. It will likely be a couple more weeks before we have enough to harvest, but the cooler temperatures may accelerate growth. The most successful of the swiss chards are the Fordhook Giants.
Broccoli
We have started over 300 seeds, with 100% germination – remarkable. These are our (3F) Calabrese broccoli seeds. We have 40 seedlings in the gardens, with 22 planted yesterday in the New South Garden. We’ll plant more this week. We are aiming to have 200 planted this year. Last year, we had 144.
– If you are starting a garden, please check with us first for seeds and seedlings. Our broccoli seeds are from the Calabrese family, and we’ve been harvesting these seeds since 2008. They are listed with Seed Savers Exchange. We offer them (and all our seeds) for sale at $3.00 for a packet (with a minimum of 30 seeds).
All our seeds are from our own harvests of heirloom varieties that have become locally acclimated. They are heavy producers with extended seasons. They typically out perform any commercially produced and packaged seeds. Also, by acquiring seeds from us (or other responsible local growers), you are keeping resources in the community. All 3F income goes directly back into the farms. Friendship Farms & Fare operates as a not-for-profit business under the charter of Ecology Florida, a 501 C3 corporation.
Spinach
We missed our start date, and started spinach this week – a week behind. The seeds have not yet sprouted. We are trying a variety called “American.
Cucumbers
Cucumbers are not a typical fall crop, but we’ve had success before, so we are trying again this year. These are a Japanese variety, Suyo. All have sprouted and we shared some with the folks at the EcoFest. This week we planted another vareity we’ve had success with – Longfellows. The first Longfellow seeds sprouted yesterday.
Tomatoes
We are going with a good producer from previous seasons – the Wapsipinicon. This is a peach tomato, with ancestry going back to 1890. These are a bit larger than cherry tomatoes, yellow to almost white. They have a wonderful flavor. We are going with the Wapsipinicons because they have proven to be the most resistant to blight and septoria. We seeded 43 of the Wapsipinicons, and had almost 100% germination. Now, if we can avoid a freeze!
Eggplant
We are listing eggplant again this week. The volume is a bit of a surprise. Plants continue to flower and many are still setting fruit. We thought the Florida High Bush was spent for the season, but just this week we found six for fruit on several of the plants. We will probably have some small ones this week. Look for eggplant for another week or so. We’ll try to include an image of the Listada de Gandia, which is the most productive of the remaining eggplants.
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
