Farm Happenings
This was a whirlwind of a week in the best possible way. We had a great clean-up day in Irene’s field while hosting St. Lawrence students, picking down the pepper plants, lopping the spent sunflowers, harvesting beets and feeding lots of plant material to the chickens.
The earlier parts of the season are a rush of planting and maintenance. At this point of the year, both those tasks have comparatively lessened, which makes it possible to enjoy the farm in a different way, by using it to host community events. See the photos throughout this update to get a peek at the Seed Walk & Talk as well as the Swap it! Community Trading event. One commonality of each event is that their strength lay in the diverse contributions of the participants. This is one our our favorite aspects of littleGrasse, using the landscape to bring people together around a topic or activity. We were blown away to hear the presentation by Dan Kelleher, giving a passionate explanation of the corn he has planted for his 40+ years in northern New York and the fantastic capacity of the corn to adapt to varying growing conditions. This presentation would have been a lovely morning in and of itself, yet the event also included a walk around the fields AND burying a custom seed bank crafted by shareholder Rachael Jones. Hear the NCPR story about the seed bank project here. It was a beautiful weekend.
Shareholders Rachael and Reslie are sealing the newly filled seed bank with melted beeswax during the TAUNY co-hosted event at the farm.
Shareholder Calvin with his family’s Swap it! items including black raspberry and currant jams, apple leather and hot sauces and salts.
We love seeing other farmers at the swap, including long-time participants Cat and Ann Bennett of Bittersweet Farm and Dulli of Birdsfoot Farm.
From the short-term satisfaction of chocolate zucchini muffins and cheese, to the long-term enjoyment of iris tubers and tie-dye, here’s a cross section of the items that Flip & Bob brought home post-swap.
Tips for Success
- Stock up! The 8 O’clock Ranch meat freezer will be available at the farm until the end of the share on October 31st. If there’s cuts you want that are not pre-stocked in the fridge, let them know (info@8oclockranch.com) and they can drop off a custom order for you at the farm freezer.
- The window for guessing the weights of the pumpkins is open through this Friday 10/15. We will then weigh and announce winners next weekend!
A new bed of butterhead lettuce is available this week.
Crops Available
This list and availability are subject to change, check the share whiteboard at the start of every visit. If you are unsure about how to harvest: ask us! In person, via text or email.
Cell phone numbers, Flip: 315-854-5399 and Bob 315-854-5395.
*New this week- Arugula
- Beets, candy striped
- Carrots, Deep Purple
- Celery stalks
- Cutting flowers
- Head lettuce, red and green
- Hot peppers, multiple varieties
- Kale, curly or dinosaur
- Leeks
- Lettuce greens
- Mixed lettuce greens
- Mixed salad greens
- Onions
- Rainbow chard
- Potatoes
- Purple daikon radish
- Scallions
- Tomatillos
- Tomatoes, cherry
- Winter squash
Culinary and Medicinal Herbs
- Cilantro
- Dill
- Fennel seeds
- Lemon balm
- Lemon verbena
- Mint
- Oregano
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Thyme
- Winter savory
The continued warm weather has allowed more peppers to ripen, including habanero and cayenne.
In seeds we trust,
-Bob & Flip