fig leaf farm

Around the house, 14 November

2010-11-14T15:04:00.000-08:00

ch- ch- ch- changes

2010-09-23T10:11:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone. We apologize for the radio silence on our end. At the moment, we're getting ready to become new parents - around Thanksgiving we're expecting a baby boy!

Also, and with some sadness, we're putting the farm on the market come November. Our jobs are taking us away from this beautiful, special place and we'll have to hope there is someone out there willing to take it over.

See figleaffarm.com for details.

Love,

Joe and Sara

a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

2009-11-15T16:11:00.000-08:00

Autumn is upon us here on the farm, & mother nature has been profusely apologizing for the months of soggy awfulness by way of providing endless glorious days, one after the other, beautiful & just the right temperature. We've been putting the farm to bed: bush hogging, pulling up stakes & irrigation, mulching, sowing cover crops, putting in garlic & strawberries & over-wintering flowers. Generally slowing down with the season, responding to that old cue: time to work less, stoke the fire, and curl up in contemplation. We're looking ahead to a time of wizening, of rest. It's been a great year, if challenging.

at market

2009-07-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

Highlights

2009-06-15T11:24:00.001-07:00

Our first shiitake mushrooms! We're thrilled and hoping to be taking these to market this weekend. We're just figuring out how to grow these. One of our neighbors has a tree removal service, so logs are plentiful - we used oak and black cherry. Supposedly, oak is best (shii means oak or a kind of oak in Japanese, and take means "fungus of", apparently). YAY!

Our baby chicks: splash cochins (with feathery feet!), speckled sussex (old English rare breed), salmon faverolles, and auraucanas. And two geese: a (someday) breeding pair of Toulouses. From Cackle Hatchery in Missouri. They came in the mail as day-old chicks about 3 weeks ago and have tripled in size!

What's good for the gander is good for the goose.

Sara's beautiful flowers - lots in bloom for beautiful bouquets!

It's not summer without sungold tomatoes. These are our first. TO DIE FOR. Or, if you have a more positive bent, TO LIVE FOR.

Family and Friends in the Garden

2009-06-07T15:37:00.000-07:00

I could not, would not, by myself.

I should, would not without an elf,

Or some such other friend as that,

A friend in overalls, a friend in a hat.

Farmwork is best when you can sing

with another while tying tomato string.

Who wants to plant flowers all alone

when, with another, you'd already be done?

Few are as lucky as Joe and I

With family and friends who always stop by

To lend a hand or hoe a row.

Manure they spread and seeds they sow.
My cousin, en route to our ol' home state,

Put her hands in our dirt- is it her fate?

Daughter and niece of farmer Ken,

where else would we have been?

getting ready for market

2009-06-07T15:14:00.001-07:00

For my uncle Ken, aunt Libby, cousins Sunshine and Jon; for my aunt Carol and uncle Steve, cousins Becky and Tim; for my friends Alice and Stuart, George, John, Kat Darling, David and Margaret Ann; and for thousands of others across America, Friday is "get ready for market day." Before the heat of the afternoon, farm workers have to cut flowers and greens. New potatoes must be dug and washed. Squash must be picked and packed. Carrots, beets, and onions must be plucked from the ground, washed, bunched, and boxed, ready for sale the following day. For some, there is one day each week that validates all the work that they have done, work that began not on the Monday before but in February when she started the broccoli seed and November when the onions were planted. The farmer relies on the Saturday sales for December's bills. So, getting ready for market is a big task and a fun one. Harvesting the fruits of your labor is so satisfying.

In the "raw," a bucket of batchelors buttons or a box of dirty carrots is not so appealing. Magically, though, when washed and bunched or made into bouquets, a quiet yet radiant beauty reveals itself from these humble plants. I love Fridays, "get ready for market day." And I love the fact that I have so many friends and family members for are moving through the same traditions, however far away they are.

Pepper Place Market, May 2009

2009-05-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of our stand at the Saturday Birmingham market, the people's market I'd call it since you have to raise the food yourself in order to sell there. I was surprised at how many people asked us if we actually grew the food ourselves. Proudly, we can say "yes."

Yesterday, we sold out early - we need to get to work growing more! It was a lovely day for the market and a great crowd. For our first two markets, it was cloudy and raining at least some of the time.
There are very few folks with flowers so I am going to try to emphasize that in my garden planning.

There is quite a variety of foods available at the Pepper Place Market. You can come to get your fresh veggies and go home with artisanal breads, fresh,local cheese, or green eggs!

winter finally loosening his deathly grip...

2009-04-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

We're nothing if not ambitious this season. We've invested in some good irrigation to do the majority of our growin' in our lower field, alongside (what I'm calling) Fancy Creek, and now that winter has finally moved on, we got lots of planting and transplanting to do. Yay!

Spotted in the greens patch! Get back to work! Those broccolis aren't going to weed themselves!

AH, SPRING! And the strawberries are very much IN at the moment, which has made for lots of crepuscular pickin' sessions after work. We're trying to freeze 30 gallons.

2009-04-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

The greenhouse: baby plants germinating & taking their first little breaths of CO2. Waiting for that frost date, which seems so far away - April 15th seems outrageous for Alabama, but we tend to have late cold snaps. We'll no doubt break down and put out tons of things and then run around covering things at least once.

The Farm in the Snow

2009-03-30T18:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, here in AL we do have snow! One lovely Sunday morning, Joe and I woke up to find the farm blanketed in white. Alas, it did not last long but here are some pics of the farm in the snow.
(Ok, so it was only 2 inches for about 10 hours but, heh, exciting nonetheless.)

Salvador loves his little house that Joe built.

"What is this crazy white stuff?," Fancy asks.

Even parts of the creek and pond were frozen over.

Joe does love Biddy afterall.

The chickens experience their first snow.

Laying in the snow!!

The garlic- no harm done.

2009-03-16T05:37:00.000-07:00

Well, the start of another season is well upon us. We've spent the last several weeks starting seeds & preparing the soil for planting, among many other things. Yay!

When the inlaws visit, crazy things happen

2008-12-29T09:57:00.000-08:00

Currie, Farmer For A Day. Someone should really do something about our dog thing.

spotted: scooter, the possum. welcome.

2008-12-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

the farm in fall...

2008-11-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

A proud moment...

2008-10-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

October 12th, picking 1 lb. "Brandywine" heirloom tomatoes. Most of the time, I feel like a second rate grower because it is a part time thing. And then, when I harvest beautiful tomatoes in mid Oct., I am so PROUD!!!

undeserving

2008-09-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

Really, I do not deserve to see these lovely, wispy strands of asparagus fern in the photo. I planted it in the spring, mulched 1/8 of it, never watered it, and let the weeds take over. Great strategy, huh? By the time things slowed down enough to look at it, I couldn't see any growth for all of the crab grass that was seeding. Still, I thought it was worth a shot. I weeded, carting 3 or 4 wheel barrow loads of pulled grass out of the bed. I put down Sustane, composted turkey litter, ( the best wedding gift that we received, THANK YOU to Jean and Carol) to fertilize it. I mulched and watered.

New growth is still appearing and quickly growing these fronds. Don't give up is not the lesson to learn here. Don't let things get to this point is the moral of this story.

As high as an elephant's eye

2008-09-15T19:40:00.000-07:00

This is not an edible corn but a decorative variety called "Broom Corn." This stalk grew to 12 feet. One summer a fellow farm hand and I went to sleep next to the rows of broom corn in the garden, for, when their dry leaves rustle in the wind, it is a most sweet lullaby.

2008-09-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

There is a long stretch in the hot Southern summers when no leafy green foods are available. I took a chance and sowed some arrugula seed early this August. We are so grateful for the much wetter and cooler August we have had this year and have been enjoying fresh salads for 3 weeks now.

Eggcelent idea

2008-09-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

An unfamiliar sight for most folks, I am pretty sure that they don't sell them at our local grocery. These Asian Eggplant are superb- thinner skin, easier to cut up, less bitter, and amazing sauteed in olive oil, garlic, and balsamic vinegar.

2008-09-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

If you have never tried roasted butternut squash or a soup made from them, you don't know what you are missing. Here is a photo of ours growing. I had hoped to grow enough to see us at least part way through the winter. Alas, I think they may not see the end of this month.

Please, rush to your local farmer's market, buy one, cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, rub it down with olive oil, and roast on 375 for 45 minutes. Enjoy.
Butternut squash is a wonder food along the lines of spinach as far as nutrients goes, as if you would need another reason to eat it. For an Authentic Southern delight, after you have eaten all of the flesh, batter and fry the skins. My hubby is a genius for thinking of this. OMG, so good.

2008-09-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some photos from our farm as the season progressed.
This first one is of a Hubbard squash growing, one of the five varieties of winter storage squashed that I planted this year.

The farm in July

2008-07-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

Larry the snakey snake

2008-07-15T16:46:00.001-07:00

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOA. THIS fella - length: four & a half to five feet - was caught red-handed today robbing eggs. He just peeked up out of the nest box, so I had to wrangle 'im outta there. He's been rusticated, banished to Tannehill State Park, about a mile away. There to frolic and subsist on what mother nature provides in the form of voles and whatnot.

Actually, we've known this snake for a while, seeing him occasionally slinking round the front yard and hanging out in our shed. We'd even named him: Larry. We thought he was keeping the rats out of the feed, and maybe he was, but it was clear today that we were working at cross purposes on the chicken front.

Poor Larry, we'll miss you.

What hops shortage??

2008-05-21T12:22:00.002-07:00

We're growing hops! This will be key to our all-Alabama beer effort this year. I've got 18 plants (6 different varieties) and they're growing like mad. Fun.

from around the farm...

2008-05-21T12:22:00.001-07:00

I'm a fun guy

2008-05-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

Mushrooms are wonderful. This is our first batch of logs for shiitakes; we put in 300 plugs and I've got 1000 more going in this week. This is really exciting.

2008-05-21T12:16:00.001-07:00

Bachelor's buttons out in full force!

First Market

2008-05-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

The season has begun with the Homegrown Alabama farmers' market at Canterbury Chapel in Tuscaloosa. We'll be there every Thursday from 3pm - 6:30pm through October 9th. This is a new market - we in New College have been working with Homegrown Alabama and others to get this off the ground for a very long time, and the first market was fabulous!

Yesterday we had spinach, loads of lettuce, cilantro, and baby plants for sale - we sold out of everything by about 4:30, so try to get there early next time!

See you at the market!

chickens: better than TV

2008-04-13T20:07:00.001-07:00

transplanting away & battening down the hatches

2008-04-13T19:34:00.001-07:00

Today we transplanted lots of our baby plants. Jean and Carol asked us today whether we had been suckered into setting plants out - the weather had been great for a while, and (predictably, given Alabama's capricious climate) now a cold snap's hit us, with lows in the low thirties for a few days. There's a reason our frost date is in the middle of April. Hopefully, this week'll be the last of near-freezing temperatures. So we spent a couple of hours today covering up the few peppers and tomatoes and squashes and cukes that we were foolish enough to plant. We're hoping for the best.

Also, an armadillo fell into our dry well. We're lowering him food and water and trying to figure out how in the world we'll get him out. Can armadillos climb?

2008-04-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

Getting baby chicks today! And I saw this here lizard hanging out by the worm bin.

2008-03-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

So I traded our nice, pretty 8N Ford tractor for a big, burly, ugly awesome International B414. More horsepower, diesel, better transmission, more...character. After having it two days it began to leak fuel from the injection pump, so I spent a week fixing it. Last night as it was getting dark and I was at my wits end, I finally bled out the last of the air and she started right up. I love these old tractors: the simplicity of the technology is comforting. It's quite a learning curve but once you figure out the basics it feels great.

Apart from our spinach, things are looking and growing great now. I just found a source of rock dust in McCalla, so there's another organic amendment located. One of the biggest challenges we're facing is where to get some of our trusted amendments like feather meal (natural source of high-powered nitrogen). Slowly but surely we're sorting it out.

Spring has definitely sprung. Happy days.

on the farm

2008-03-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

ah, onions are coming up big now, greens are going strong, & lots of things are getting ready to go in the ground. seems like spring has indeed sprung here on the ol farm.

so the redneck barbarians who lived here before us left little trash dumps for us to dig up and haul away. a couple of them have some interesting junk: i'm guessing we'll reuse or recycle about a third of what's there. thankfully, none of this nonsense is near where we are growing food. it'll take a week or so to clean up the mess they left behind.

buddy, our 250 lb potbelly pig, seems a touch unhappy. his tusks are growing out, and he has a mohawk - that's the good news. he does like to be fed, so feeding time sees him grunting away with satisfaction. i built him a new trough yesterday and that seems to enhance the experience for him. i've heard that pigs are inherently clean beasts. i wouldn't say that applies to buddy, exactly, since he does like a good waller now and again. but it might be true in a general sense. he responds well to a good brush down, especially on the flanks. but who doesn't?

our chicken house is going through major renovation. a student from new college, piper, is out here a few times a week and is helping us get our chicken and rabbit systems going. we aim to get 8 hens, a rooster, and at least 2 rabbits for our vermiculture (worms). we got 1000 red wigglers in the mail last month and have started them. they make twice as many of themselves in a month, with adequate vittles & space.

we're both working hard teaching, but coming home to our lil farm is really the life. peace.