Week of December 1, 2014
Abbreviated Weekly Farm Report
From Friendship Farms & Fare
A Community Service To the Local Farming Community
For the full Farm Report for December 1, go to:
http://media.wix.com/ugd/643592_78093d04c35f49b192cc3fd8ef862a5a.pdf
Black Cat Growers To Offer Jams To 3F Family
We are delighted to announce that Black Cat Growers has joined the 3F family. Black Cat is a small local grower, cottage food producer, and designer of edible landscapes. Some of you may remember the wonderful assistance of Black Cat Growers shared during our Loquat Festival last year.
Our work with Black may well evolve over time, and for now we are happy to list their line of outstanding local organic jams. Beginning with this report, we are offering the following Black Cat organic jams: Peach, Cherry, Blueberry, Strawberry, and (yes!) Loquat. The Cat will also offer a Fruit Spread. Shares can acquire these for $5.00, for a ½ pint container, which includes their CSA discount.
If you would like a sample of any of the jams, let us know in your share request this week. If you would like to order some for holiday gifts and parties, now is the time to order.
Planting & Harvest Notes
Fall Seeding and Garden Starts
Seedings: Collards, Vates (28)
Garden Starts: Collards; Broccoli; Kale
Garden Overview
Fall Plantings and First Harvests
(additional details and assessments follows)
Winter greens are coming in stronger. We have arugula, collards, kale, and the first (sample sizes) swiss chard. We might have some late-season eggplant, but not enough for all shares. Eggplant will be FCFS.
Our next planting of Romaine is coming along and should be ready in another week or so.
We’ve continued at a pretty good pace for seeding and garden starts. This year will be our most extensive planting ever. 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 doing better now. As expected, the famous Calabrese is doing well, but we are behind in getting seedlings into the gardens. Arugula is thriving.
Broccoli
We have 95 seedlings and young plants in the gardens, which reflects our planting 31 seedlings in the new south garden. We have started over 300 seeds, with 100% germination – remarkable. These are our famous (3F) Calabrese broccoli seeds.
We’ll try to plant more this week; we have plenty of seedlings, now. The only challenge is one of time – specifically the time to prepare the beds with new mulch. 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.
Kale
Kale is coming along very nicely now. We will have shares available this week. Depending on requests, shares may be considerable. Let us know if you would like a larger share than ususal. We started more seeds this week. We are catching up on in the amount of kale we’d like to have ready for harvest, but still not where we’d like to be. We planted more kale in the south garden this week.
Scarlet Kale finally germinated (on the 4th try) and is progressing slowly – it is a slow grower. The strongest of the kales is the German Kale (Halbhoher Gruner Krauser), followed by the Lacinato. We have an entire bed of the Halbhoher in the south garden.
Swiss Chard
The swiss chard continues to improve. Several plants have large healthy leaves. It will likely be a couple more weeks before we have enough to harvest, but the cooler temperatures should accelerate growth. The most successful of the swiss chards are the Fordhook Giants.
Last week we seeded a new variety for us, Gold Silverbeet. These were out of date seeds shared with us by Seed Savers Exchange. We thought we’d give them a try, and all germinated.
Arugula
Arugula continues to thrive. There is enough for full shares for all. 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.
Collards
Georgia Southern Collards are trendsetters for the fall garden, and the Vates are coming on strong now. We seeded more Vates, but it did not sprout – probably due to the cold. We’ll aim to seed more this week.
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. We also sprouted some Longfellows. We’ll be planting both as companions to our blackberries. They can train on the blackberry trellises.
Last week’s cold was hard on the cucumbers.
Loquat Fruiting
Exciting News About Young Trees
As expected, the fall buds are transitioning to fruit. The first tiny fruits appeared on the older trees last week. The young trees that flowered earlier have not yet set fruit, but we are watching carefully. We’ll try to include images.
This past week, we observed large numbers of bees at the loquat trees. The most we have seen thus far this fall. This is heartening.
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
Natural, Economic, Cultural…bringing three ecologies together to regenerate a resilient future for all.
PO Box 596 ● New Port Richey, Florida 34656-0596
Ecology Florida advances the harmonious integration of healthy natural, cultural, and economic ecologies to regenerate a sustainable world
