by Simple Gifts Farm | Apr 13, 2018 | Uncategorized
We are officially into the spring planting season now! And we sure had a busy morning getting into it! We had two crews going this morning, one starting to transplant kale, lettuce, scallions, chard, fennel, beets, onions, and bok choy into the field. And the other...
by Simple Gifts Farm | Apr 6, 2018 | Uncategorized
…At least that’s what T.S. Elliott said. As for me, it’s a mixed bag. It has been a challenge to deal with the constantly changing weather. We have heard from other farmers, and by driving around and looking out the car window, that a few brave souls...
by Simple Gifts Farm | Mar 30, 2018 | Uncategorized
We have started with the first of our balancing act decisions of the season. As the season heads on, the decisions will be coming so fast and furious that we develop a certain flow with them, and many of them will be responding to dominoes that have already fallen,...
by Simple Gifts Farm | Mar 9, 2018 | Uncategorized
Let’s take a minute to marvel at the power of seeds. It’s not often that I stop to think about it, but when I do, I’m amazed. Here is this little, tiny, brown, dead-looking thing. And it has the information contained within it to grow a whole...
by Simple Gifts Farm | Feb 22, 2018 | Uncategorized
I’m on my way back from my annual pilgrimage to California for the Board meeting of the Organic Farming Research Foundation. This time I am honored to announce that I have been elected to serve as the President of the Board! OFRF has been doing fantastic work...
by Simple Gifts Farm | Feb 16, 2018 | Uncategorized
We are in the midst of a new farming adventure right now. We have been cutting the heads off of some of our little tomato plants and sticking them on to other plants. What!? Grafting tomatoes is becoming a more and more common practice. The idea is that if you...
by Simple Gifts Farm | Jan 26, 2018 | Uncategorized
Microgreens are the quickest and most intensive crop that we grow. Parsnips take 120 days from seeding to harvest, heads of lettuce can be grown in about 60 days, while radishes and arugula, our quickest crops in the field, can be harvested as soon as 3 weeks after...
by Simple Gifts Farm | Jan 12, 2018 | Uncategorized
We seem to be at the end of this winter’s early cold snap, but it has been a doozy. The cold weather makes everything harder for us. Any time a hose gets used, all of the water must be drained out of it, or else it will turn into one long ice-pop. Even a little...
by Simple Gifts Farm | Dec 15, 2017 | Uncategorized
We are fully into the “Persephone Period,” that time of year when the days are short enough that there is very little growth in any of the salad greens. But by adding just a little bit of heat in some of the greenhouses, we can get some of the greens to...
by Simple Gifts Farm | Nov 30, 2017 | Uncategorized
One of our big early winter tasks is getting the low tunnels covered for the winter. We have about 2/3 of an acre covered in a mini-greenhouse system that will keep them relatively cozy and warm for the duration. One-third of an acre is a special variety of...
