The Last Week!

It's the last regular pick up week for the Farm. Be sure to come this week on Friday 9a-6p or Saturday 9a-3p. Laura may be there, or Stephanie, or Robin. Laura was out today, but Stephanie was working hard.

I didn't make a list of all the items available. You will surely find something you like which is fresh from the field! Don't forget to stock up on vendor items as well.

Robin asked me to pass along a sincere thanks from the Taliaferros for all the support from you wonderful members. She reminds me that they cannot do it without you!

When you come to the farm stand this week you might notice that the tarp awning is missing. Apparently it blew away last week with the high winds. It looks a like the stand is closed without the awning, but it isn't closed just yet.

Not closed. Just missing the tarp.

Two more announcements:

• Turkey Signups: If you wish to purchase a turkey in time for Thanksgiving, the deadline is Friday November 8th.
• Next Season: It is time to sign up for next season. If you sign up by Nov 15th and pay the deposit, you can come back on Tuesday Nov 25th and pick up a bonus Thanksgiving share. I have always been so happy to get that extra fresh organic produce in time to cook for the big meal.

Now I will leave you with some fun photos I took today. The first set is of Ian lubricating a John Deere 7410 tractor. He borrowed it from Paul Colucci of Full Moon Farms.

You can see the cutting blades better now.

I commented to Ian about the size of this tractor. He laughed and told me that it's actually not that big as far as tractors go. It's hard for me to to believe because it seems so much larger than other tractors around the farm.

John Deere 7410

 You can see the size of the tractor in more perspective now as Ian stands next to the front tire!

Pete told me that Ian is using the tractor to prepare the land down by the river for new apple trees. If you've been a member for a while you may recall that the farm used to have it's own apple orchard, but the trees outlived their useful lives and Pete removed them. For the last few seasons Pete has been able to rent orchard space in local small orchards. However, this is not very practical because organic apples require a lot of maintenance to keep the pests at bay. 

Since pesticides and systemic chemicals are not used, it is difficult to keep the apple trees at their peak. Normally, non-toxic surface coatings such a kaolin clay are applied to discourage pests. The disadvantage of this is that these surface coatings have to be re-applied often. When the orchards are far away, Pete has to use a lot of fuel and time to transport people and equipment to the orchards to apply the coatings. Let's not mention how difficult and dangerous it is for everyone when slow-moving farm equipment is on the same road as speedy cars. This season the crop was so small that it was not cost-effective to keep up the treatments and the decision was made to let the crop go. Consequently there is no apple harvest this year at the Taliaferros. 

Pete is a motivated farmer and is thinking of re-planting an orchard on his own local property. So we hope that there will be an apple crop if the new trees are planted and mature. It could be a while since apple trees take some nurturing before they give apples. I do not know if Pete plans to rent more orchard space while his trees are maturing. I guess this is a question to ask Pete next season.

Puppies

The farm has acquired two new puppies. Monty and Huxley are brothers.

Huxley (left) and Monty (right)

Monty (left) and Huxley (right)

Monty is the blonde/brown one and Huxley has the blacker fur markings. They both have the interesting blue eyes. They are already being trained to chase deer...and play with people. I'm sure we'll have fun with them next season too.

It's been a great season! 

Every member has been appreciated by the Taliaferros -- the family that farms. Come back next season! And don't forget to sign up in time to get this year's Thanksgiving share. 

Bock Bock! Eat more Turkey.