The Birth of an Egg- Video!

Well, kids, this is where eggs come from. I hope this isn't too gross, but I think it's pretty darn cool! The little miracle was captured by my dear friend, Jen, who was visiting our farm over the past week. She was checking for eggs at just the right time and was ready with smartphone in hand to capture the moment. The details are especially visible because this egg was laid by a chicken that doesn't have a lot of feathers around its nether-regions. Enjoy!

Herb Beds-- Our new addition

This was our latest project on the farm, a series of raised beds for perennial herbs. We constructed the beds out of salvaged wood from an old gazebo that was on our property. They are actually in our backyard, rather than out in the field, a bit of edible landscaping that will hopefully regrow from year to year and keep our CSA members stocked in fresh and dried herbs. So far we have planted oregano, thyme, rosemary, tarragon, lavender, sage, lemon grass, chamomile, and dill. We've left some space to add other herbs, so let us know if you have any suggestions.

Row Covers, We Love You

A forest of green peas.

The spring veggies are off the hook! It's looking like it will shape up to be a big summer season too, though it's still a little too early to tell. We're attributing a lot of our veggies' success this year to the use of row covers. We have three kinds of row covers we use at various times, plastic, floating row cover (aka remay), and shade cloth. In the winter the covers keep the plants and the soil a little warmer, and in the summer the shade cloth keeps things a little cooler. In all seasons, they help keep the bugs off and protect the plants from wind and birds. This year our produce is ready earlier than last. It has less bug damage and is more succulent. It doesn't come without extra work, though. Row covers were especially difficult during windy days when they kept blowing away, and those windy days often coincided with some of our coldest nights of early spring (i.e. when we most needed the covers). We spent a lot of energy weighing down the covers in various ways so they wouldn't blow away. Right now, though it all seems worth it.

It's looking to be a big year for zucchini.

We have about 150 tomato plants in. We just switched out their row covers for trellising last week.

Spring Chickens

Hello, spring chickens!

We just got 8 Barred Rock chicks, that are happily peeping in a box in the living room. Pretty cute. With any luck, most of them will turn out to be hens, and we'll have lots more brown eggs coming about 6 months from now.

We've also been selling tomato seedlings at People and Planet in Morgan Hill. The varieties are Stupice, Amish Paste, and Red Velvet Cherry Tomato. We're planting about 150 tomato plants on our farm (about double last year), but we've still got plenty of seedlings to spare. This year we're growing about 15 heirloom varieties, including the favorites from last summer.

Springtime on the Farm

The CSA has been on winter break for the past couple months, but we have been quite busy around the farm getting ready for spring and summer. It's been an unusually dry winter, which has allowed us to till and plant a bit earlier than last year. We have doubled the size of our asparagus and strawberry patches, tilled and planted a large area of spring crops, pruned our fruit trees, filled up our new greenhouse with summer seedlings, and much more. If all goes well, we'll be re-starting our CSA in about a month.

Some pictures of the spring farm:

A veritable forest of tomato seedlings in the greenhouse!

Luscious artichoke plants

Broccoli seedlings under a floating row cover. Row covers protect from frost, bugs, birds, and other nasties.

Peach tree in bloom. The wood and other doo-dads are helping it grow into a good shape.

And the delicious eggs keep coming!

Spring Seeding has Begun

The seedlings are up! This hopeful little guy is a brussels sprout.

We planted several trays of spring crops last week in our new greenhouse. We've planted mostly Brassicas so far because they are the most cold-hardy of plants. Brassicas are cabbage-family crops, like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, kale, etc. They just started peeking their heads up a couple days ago. So far, so good. The greenhouse is sheltering them from our weird weather. At night it keeps the frost off of them (temps in the low 20's....brrrr!), and during the day we open the doors to keep them from roasting.

Gal made these awesome new tables for our greenhouse this weekend.

This bizarre looking plant is Romanesco, related to broccoli and cauliflower. It's been growing since July, and this is the first one that's ready to harvest! (The white bits are frost.)

A busy and happy New Year

We actually left the farm for a day!

We had a wonderful past week filled with visits from dear old friends, delicious food, and a walk on the beach. Once again we are reflecting on how fortunate we have been in the past year to have continued moving toward our life goals while living in this beautiful place. Thank you all for being a part of it!
The CSA is back this week with regular deliveries on January 4th.

Kristoffer and Christian enjoyed getting to know the chickens.

Farm volunteer, Natalie, was a huge help in finishing the floor of the new greenhouse.

We visited Shumei Farm in Santa Cruz for a farm tour and to learn about the "Natural Agriculture" method.