Saturday CSA is FULL - still openings for the "extended season"

We opened up the CSA this past Monday to new participants. We had about 20 spaces to fill and they are now ALL GONE for our regular season (June-Oct).
We do still have shares available for our extended season which begins in mid-October and runs for 4 weeks. If you like greens, root vegetables and winter squash you may want to try this out. The fee is $100 for four weeks of late fall harvests. This is also a good way to be first in line for our 2007 CSA season. We will update the web site later with more details about the "extended season" It's been a busy week. whew. I'm off to the movies!
-Woody

Wednesdays are FULL

Hello and Good Afternoon. This is my first entry on our blog, so pardon my excitement.
Well, after fielding many a phone call in the past two days and getting a literal "haul" at the post office today, we are officially full for our Wednesday CSA pickups. We only have about 8 spots left for our Saturday pickups. It's exciting to think that it's mid-January and already people are excited about getting veggies this summer! I'm pumped to start getting into the swing of planting, even though it means long, hot days and lots of hard work. Some how that tiredness has vanished and I'm left with renewed energy (however that could be the mocha I drank to warm up speaking).
I believe this year will be truly exciting and fruitful. Yipee!
Ciao,
Farmer Adrienne

First Come First Serve For New CSA Participants

Today we opened up the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program to new participants. At this time we have about 50 of last years 72 participants returning. We have also updated our CSA web page with all new information including a revamped list of “Crops We Grow” and a Frequently Asked Questions page.

This year our CSA costs $450 for a total of 18 harvests over a span of 20 weeks. We are also offering an optional 4 weeks of “extended season” for those participants who LOVE winter greens, storage roots and winter squash etc. The cost for the 4 week extended season is $100.
For more info go to www.redwiggler.org

-Woody

Saving Seeds in January

Our crew of growers were out in the fields 3 out of 5 days last week. They were busy collecting seed from 3 different varieties of basil as well as seed from summer savory. They also harvested the remaining purple top turnips. These turnips are being stored in a cool dry place until mid March. We will then transplant them back into the ground and watch as they produce a seed stalk. Those seeds will be collected and ultimately planted again in August for our fall crop (2006). Seed saving is a great way to reduce our costs while developing strains of crops that are acclimated to our climate and soil conditions here in upper Montgomery County Maryland.

Winter Harvest

It was actually in the 60s again today. This photo was taken back in December of our farmer, Adrienne, harvesting kale! This past fall we ran a small "extended" CSA as a "pilot" to see if winter harvesting could be a viable way to expand our programs. As you can see here we were sucessful and we plan to "extend" our CSA in 2006 all the way to Thanksgiving.

Winter Work - planning out crop rotations

The temperature went just above 60 Fahrenheit today. We had one volunteer here working on a project in the barn. Adrienne (our Farm Manager) and I were also able to get out and walk the fields to discuss the upcoming season.

The bulk of our conversation centered around our “crop rotation” . That is, where the 50 some odd different crops (and over 100 varieties) are going to be planted in the field this season.
Legumes, like beans and peas, get planted where leafy crops ,like lettuce, were last year.
Fruits, such as tomatoes, get planted where legumes were last season.
Roots, like carrots or beets, go where fruits, like tomatoes, were.
It goes like this:
Leaf > root > fruit > legume > leaf > root etc...

Why? This is one tried and true "organic" method of ensuring that bad bugs and diseases do not linger in the same garden patch year after year. Additionally, legume crops fix much needed nitrogen into the soil where "nitrogen needy" crops like squash or tomatoes (fruits) get their requirements naturally. Our goal is to grow healthy plants for our community without the use of harmful chemical pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. At Red Wiggler we only use pesticides that come from plants. And if possible we prefer not to use even those natural sprays if at all possible. Rotating our crops help us to achieve healthy soil which can grow healthy plants which will nourish our community.
Woody