Seed Saving Time

Broccoli plant with flowers (not yet gone to seed)

Fall is seed saving time. I love saving seeds because I'm fascinated by their variety of forms and strategies, and I love seeing the plants through the full cycle from planting a seed to collecting seeds for next year. Typically a single plant will produce hundreds (maybe thousands) of seeds. We can collect seeds from the most successful plants and use them to replant next season.

There are some drawbacks to seed saving. For one thing, it requires letting the plants get messy looking. Seeds are the last thing a plant makes before dying, so the plants are often tall, dry, and mangy looking by the time the seeds are ready. Also, we are not too vigilant on separating plants in the same botanical family, so we may end up with some interesting cross-breeds next year. We'll plant some of them as an experiment and also continue to use some store-bought seed.

So far this year we've saved seed from kale, lettuce, endive, radishes, coriander, chard, mustard greens, and broccoli. Soon we'll be saving our tomato seeds, okra, peppers, and more. Last week I collected broccoli seed:

Messy looking broccoli plants full of seed pods

Close-up of broccoli seed pods

Inside the dry seed pods are a row of brown broccoli seeds ready to be collected and saved for next year's planting

There's Pumpkins in the Air

Sugar pumpkins hanging on their trellis. Almost ready for harvest!

Did you know you can grow pumpkins on a trellis to save space? I probably wouldn't recommend this for the giant carving pumpkins (though it is possible), but for smaller sugar pumpkins it works just fine. Pumpkins are renowned for spreading quickly over large areas, so training them to grow up trellises is one way to grow pumpkins in a smaller space, or in our case, to keep them from covering up the adjacent rows.

This trellis was constructed by our WWOOF farm volunteers. It consists of scrap wood tied together into tripods, with a long pole/branch set on top as a crossbeam. If you trellis pumpkins, it's important to start hanging them on the trellis early, when the pumpkins are still tiny and green. That way the plant naturally grows a strong enough stem to hold up its fruit.

Fall Crops are Planted

Our fall field is almost completely planted now and ready to grow. Many of the plants are growing under shade cloth because it's still too hot during the day for them. However, they really benefit from being planted when the days are still long. Fall crops are similar to spring crops, and we are trying again with a couple things that didn't turn out so well in the spring, like brussels sprouts and cauliflower. We've also expanded our planting area (and hopefully our harvests) for peas, garlic, and kohlrabi.

Overview of the fall field

Plants growing in a shade cloth tunnel (the hose is drip irrigation tape)

Corn is coming!

Corn time is here.

 It looks like this week will be our first week of corn! The peppers, eggplant, and okra are starting to come in too.

Things are getting very busy on the farm as we are reaching the height of the summer harvest season and getting ready for fall at the same time. This week we finished tilling (turning) the soil in our fall field and started planting fall crops like spinach, peas, salad greens, etc. 

Tilling the fall field to prepare for planting.

The artichokes are finished with their season and are blooming. Does it look like a thistle to you? If so, it's with good reason. They are in the same family. The artichokes we eat are actually immature flower buds.

Back to my Farming Roots

We took a quick trip last weekend back to my (Michelle's) hometown in rural northeast Pennsylvania. One of the best parts was getting to visit a childhood friend and stay on her family's farm. I spent a tremendous amount of time on this rural homestead as a kid riding horses, swimming in the creek, picking strawberries, and camping in the woods. This farm was undoubtedly a major influence in my life, and planted the seeds for the eventual One Acre Farm.

(Not our farm). This is the farm in PA where Michelle spent much of her childhood.

Taking a walk around the farm during a break in summer rainstorms.

We were glad to find after our long weekend away that everything was still doing okay back on our lovely little farm. Here's what it's looking like these days:

Back on One Acre Farm

New Subscription Options + Fall Planting

It feels like summer is just getting started, but we're thinking ahead to fall. We've started seeding trays full of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, leeks, and more. We're also going to try for a fall harvest of potatoes, too. This weekend we replanted our potato mounds, with the help of our friend Krista.

Krista planting the fall potatoes

In other news, we are excited to announce that we are now offering a variety of CSA subscription options. This is in direct response to the feedback of our members, some of whom wanted more veggies, some less, and some said it's just right as-is. Whether you are subscribing for the first time or renewing, you are welcome to choose from one of these options:

• Standard, same as it is now: $25/week, weekly delivery, 8-10 items, minimum 4-week ($100) subscription.
• Option #1, the healthy way to “supersize it”: For an extra $12 per month, we will give you a larger portion of any produce we have in abundance. $28/week, weekly delivery, 8-10 items + extras as available, minimum 4-week ($112) subscription.
• Option #2, every-other week: $25/week, bi-weekly delivery, 8-10 items, minimum 8-week ($100) subscription.
• Option #3, small: $20/week, weekly delivery, 5-6 items, minimum 4-week ($80) subscription.

Farm Party Pics and Many Thanks to Miki and Lulu

We had an awesome "open farm day" on Sunday, and we want to thank all of you who came out to visit. It's so exciting to share the farm with you, and we are really starting to feel like part of a community here. There were plenty of good eats at the party, all featuring fresh produce from the garden, but the biggest hit was definitely the homemade ice cream with fresh blackberries and strawberries. We even did a little folk dance together at the end (thank you, Juliet!).

Folk dancing on the farm

Everyone getting serious about ice cream making

Skylar wanted to eat the ice cream and the bowl!

Miki and Lulu

Miki and Lulu are off to their next farm stay. We are so grateful to them for all their help over the past couple weeks. The farm is looking great thanks to all their hard work! We wish them all the best in their journeys and hope to see them again soon.