Taking Down the Clover
Sometimes the way we go about farming challenges ones aesthetic sensibilities. This occurred to me last week as I was mowing down the most gorgeous crimson clover ever. How could I not only bring myself to blast these flowers, but actually relish doing it? First of all, why was the crimson clover there? Well,...
Time to Lime
I’ve been studying soil testing for a couple of years now. Taking the test is the easy part, the hard part if figuring out what to do with the numbers you get back from the lab! I discovered that a few of our newer vegetable fields had a lower than optimum pH. The...
Spring Cleaning
One of the perks of living in the “country” is being able to have bonfires on a regular basis. But now that Loudoun County is considered part of the Metropolitan DC air pollution area, we must curtail such activities to the months of October through April. So, to celebrate the super gigantic full moon, the...
A few little changes in the works for 2011 CSA
Howdy folks. We’re enjoying the off season here at the farm. Most of my workmates are off in lovely tropical places (Guatemala and Hawaii) as I have opted to stay close to home and rest. But, we are busily planning the details of our 2011 season. The biggest news is that we have hired two...
Have Sweet Potato Greens for Dinner Tonight
We’re harvesting sweet potatoes greens for our markets and for CSA. You didn’t know you could eat them, did you? These are exactly what they sound like—the tops of the sweet potato plant—and a common green served in many Asian and African cultures. The greens have a flavor slightly sweeter than spinach, and with a...
The calm before the (tomato) storm by Julie Eden
July 15, 2010 Recently, I’ve been slowing down a lot every time I drive by one of the three — no four — wait no… let me think a second… SEVEN — different patches where we’re growing tomatoes on the farm. For the last week or so I’ve begun to see little glimmers of red...
What’s Happening at PVF West? by Becky
It’s May, and of course that means we’ve gotten a hard frost the last two nights. Everything seems to have survived by some miracle that we won’t question, and we’re breathing a sigh of relief as we stuff more plants in the ground. Because that’s what we do in May. We plant. And mulch. And...
Spudland
We grow potatoes here somewhat reluctantly, as we don’t see it as a cash crop. We think that we are breaking even at best. So, the only reason to grow them is that they are such an important and tasty food and we want our CSA customers to have them as often as we can...
18 tons of Rock Phos
I joked with Timothy, who drove by this morning, that in my “old” age, I’ve decided to use some actual fertilizer on the farm. He remarked that as far as mid-life crises go, this sounded like a pretty tame one. As I journey toward comfortability with my new role as Soil Consultant, I must learn...
Winter Whites
While all appears to be asleep at PVF, the farmers are inside, cozily planning the 2010 season. Most of the seeds have been ordered and are arriving daily. We are making changes to the CSA: tinkering with share sizes, delivery sites, and getting ready for the February onslaught of registering new customers. We cherish this...
Sweet Potatoes
Before frost comes each autumn, we spend hours and hours digging sweet potatoes. This crop is dear to us, one that not so many growers grow, and that is so tasty and nutritious. We start by transplanting “slips” into a freshly tilled and bedded field. Sweet potatoes are one of the few crops we grow...
Ladies on Vakay
This is what a happy hen looks like. We keep only hens, no roosters, so we call them the Ladies. I’ve learned from my hip young workers that the slang for vacation is Vakay. Thus the topic of my post. The ladies, all 183 of them, have been out in the field all spring, where...