Category Archives: Sustain

Beautiful Work: Surviving June on a Small Farm

June 9, 2015 Susie Middleton 2 Comments

Blink and you will miss the best parts, like these baby apples. There’s just so much to do…

June on a small working farm is a blur of soil (most of it in the form of dirt under your fingernails and dark stains on the knees of your jeans), seedlings (hundreds of root balls and spindly stems), hoses and more hoses, old hand tools that give you splinters, plastic covers and metal staples and wheelbarrows of mulch. And weeds. And ticks. Did I mention we have baby apples?

We are drowning in lettuce. Cutting, washing, packing, salad mix every day.

It’s pretty much lettuce as far as the eye can see. Except for those potato rows…

Roy’s been hilling his potatoes–they’re already a few feet tall and blossoms have started to appear. (So have the Colorado potato beetle, our favorite.) The neat rows look really cool.

The peas are doing that thing they do–climbing the trellises fearlessly.

We’ve planted a 100-foot row of zinnias. Benary’s Giants in all different colors. Can’t wait! Gladiolus and sunflowers, too.

And in the hoop house, the early tomatoes are absolutely thriving–lots of little green Sungolds showing up.

And the hoop house basil finally settled in–some really cold nights left the plants feeling a bit queasy, but they’ve recovered, and with a nice boost of fish fertilizer, they’re greening up.

The first rounds of cucumbers (below) and summer squash (above) are in and they look happy.

The hardest thing right now is getting the tomato rows prepped (a LOT of rocks that need to come out), covered, set up with irrigation hoses, etc. But we’re making progress, with 100 or so plants in…and many more to go.

And back up at the farm stand, all our purple flowers are in bloom and Roy’s little lupine and hosta corner is looking smart. Pretty little things to rest your eyes on if you remember to stop.

But about that lettuce…there are certainly worse things to have a lot of–I love this stuff.

Happy June from Green Island Farm.

Farm life, Sustain, The Garden

An Evening Stroll Around the Farm

May 26, 2015 Susie Middleton

On my way out to the compost pile tonight with my kitchen scraps, I stopped to say hello to the pullets, who are grazing out on one of the nicest spots on the farm. They are just starting to lay in earnest; once a few of them really get going, it’s like the rest get the hint. We collected 24 eggs two days ago, 35 yesterday, 48 today. It will be 150 or so before we know it. That’s good–we’ll certainly need them this summer, if Memorial Day is any indication–over the weekend, we sold more than 100 dozen eggs (from the older hens, of course, not the pullets!), all at the farm stand!

That’s the way it goes around here…I can hardly believe how fast things are moving now. The potatoes are already up. Not just up, but tall enough that Roy did the first “hilling” on them (raking soil up and around the base of the plant).

I spotted the first pea blossoms yesterday on the sugar snap peas (a particularly early variety) and sure enough, there were dozens this evening.

It’s lovely to walk around in the evening light and see all our hard work taking shape. We are both exhausted and yes, occasionally cranky, so we have to stop and look around and see how beautiful everything is and also to realize that we’re pretty much on schedule–as much as you can be in a year when everything is late because of the winter. Now if we can just get those tomatoes in the ground …. and more carrots sown, and the brussels sprouts transplanted, and the rest of the squash seedlings started, and…well, you get the idea!

Farm life, Sustain, The Garden

A Reminder to Love Your Lilacs and Eat Your Japanese Turnips

May 19, 2015 Susie Middleton

Well the pace hasn’t gotten any more relaxing around here—no eating of bon-bons while reclining on the chaise happening any time soon. So I’m cheating again on the blog, treating you to a few of this week’s Instagram pics, so at least you’ll know that the colors are changing, and pink and purple (oh my!) have appeared. I swear the lilacs are early (maybe they like cold winters? I think I heard that). And the radishes are right on time.

I did such a good job with the spring bok choy (that’s the lovely purple variety below) that naturally I had to screw something else up.

After growing beautiful Japanese turnips last spring, this year I planted them too close together and never thinned them.

They are pretty small (see above) but still tasty. I think I may still thin them and see if the rest grow bigger. (In the meantime, if you see them at a proper farmers’ market, you can follow my tips for a yummy stir-fry from last year.) The greens are totally delicious, but kind of a hard sell on their own. (As are mustard greens AGAIN. Apparently I have been wrong about predicting that mustard green trend. Oh well.)

We have some lovely Ruby Glow romaine lettuce (above) about ready to harvest. There are zillions of strawberry blossoms. And the peas (and everything else) are breathing a mega-sigh of relief today with some long awaited rain. My dear farm helper Laura (more on her another time) helped me plant 16 of our tomato seedlings in the hoop house this morning and transplanted the first of hundreds of basil seedlings in the other hoop house bed. And everywhere you look, there’s something else to do. Why, there goes Roy on his tractor now…heading out to the back field to get the tomato rows ready.

Before you know it, we’ll be grilling eggplant. Just a reminder to stop and smell the lilacs (and eat the baby turnips) while you can!

Farm life, Sustain

How Can You Forget About Homegrown Asparagus?

May 7, 2015 Susie Middleton

I forgot about the asparagus. I mean, I forgot to go check and see if there was some to harvest this week. How could that happen? I mean it’s only the coolest and most delicious thing growing right now. Fortunately, when I went down there this afternoon, only a few spears had gotten away from me–shot up into the sky, tips set to burst open like little rockets.

It happened because we are busy. This is a snapshot of the market garden which I took this morning. This year, the market garden is going to be filled almost entirely with greens and other things that require cover at this point, so it is not a very bucolic look. Waves and waves of Agribon (fabric row cover). Underneath lie baby bok choy, kale, chard, germinating carrots, japanese turnips, radishes and lettuce–all things we have been planting like crazy. Fitting all that row cover over the hoops and stapling or weighing it down is a particular nuisance (it has to be uncovered for watering), but yes, we did sign up for this!

We’re still moving some seedlings (like the basil above) in and out of the house every morning, which is a bother, but until we get warmer nights, even the hoop house won’t quite do for these things.

Fortunately, I think our timing in the hoop house will be good–not long after these baby bok choy are ready to harvest, it will be time to plant the basil where they came out.

You’ll be happy to know that I haven’t forgotten to harvest the salad greens in the hoop house (unlike the asparagus). That would really be impossible since we are starting to sell them at the farm stand. Naturally, some of these make it into the house, so we are enjoying some mighty fine salads around here. Might be time for a little asparagus in that salad.

Or we might make asparagus fried rice! Yet another thing I forgot about–this recipe I developed for the latest issue of Martha’s Vineyard magazine!

Farm life, Sustain, The Garden

All’s Well Here at The Magic Kingdom

April 26, 2015 Susie Middleton

All’s well here at The Magic Kingdom, which is what my friend Judy likes to call this place. Despite chilly temps and a persistent grey tinge to the sky, the grass is green, the daffodils have bloomed and our first asparagus spear has poked up through its compost-y bed. Sure, we’ve had a little drama here and there, but mostly we are working away, planting like crazy, and pinching ourselves to make sure this isn’t a dream, and that three feet of snow isn’t lurking somewhere just around the corner of that chicken coop.

The new young chickens have all settled in nicely and are learning to explore the world outside their coops. They’re not entirely sure yet what all that green stuff is, but soon they will be devouring it.

We’ve started to harvest beautiful arugula from the hoop house, packing up and selling just a few bags a day at the farm stand. It won’t be too long before we’ll be harvesting Little Gem lettuces, baby Red Russian kale, and baby Bok choy, too.

Meanwhile, we’ve started seeding carrots, radishes, and Japanese turnips and transplanting lettuce, kale, and bok choy out to the market garden, so those familiar ghostly white tunnels have sprung up on the horizon!

Down in the lower fields, the onions are all planted, and the peas are already an inch high.

The young apple trees we bought last fall have their first buds. I can’t wait for apple blossoms!

The five apple trees make up the little orchard that Roy created in his two sister’s memory. I noticed he just moved a bench down there, and last week he planted some plants around the sign he made for them last year. I have to tell you, it is so touching.

Back up near the market garden, not only has the asparagus appeared, but all three of the rhubarb plants that I’ve been so unkind to managed to scramble to life. Wild black raspberry vines are leafing out, too, despite Roy running over them nonstop with the tractor.

This afternoon, probably because it was particularly cold and grey, I picked a little posey of the daffodils and grape hyacinths in the yard.

All’s well here at the Magic Kingdom. And yes, I am repeating myself, because sometimes I have to remind myself to look around when I’m tired and all those “to-dos” seem to clutter my vision. And besides, you have to keep your eyes open around here, because Roy is always up to something. Just the other day I noticed this half of a chair hanging on the farm stand. Sweet.

Farm life, Sustain, The Garden

One Little Farm, Thousands of Things To Do

April 12, 2015 Susie Middleton

For once, I am not exaggerating. There are literally thousands of reasons why I ran out of time to write a blog post last week–and for why my posts are going to be a bit less frequent and hopefully a lot shorter this farm season. Here are some of my excuses:

1. We’ve planted more than 3000 seedlings in the hoop house (in flats mostly, but also in the raised beds.)

2. The onion sets arrived — 1800 little onion plants that all have to go in the ground. Soon.

3. I have 1400 peas and sugar snap peas sprouting, ready to be planted tomorrow and the next day. Roy used our new tractor attachment to till up a big new pea bed in the lower field, and then he built a three-row trellis from bamboo and monofilament. All afternoon today I stared up at the blue-blue sky (yay-yay) as I tied deer fencing on to the trellis.

4. We have 200 new pullets (16-week-old hens) arriving tomorrow. Roy has moved his new coop and one of the old coops out to a new area of the back-4. Each has fresh shavings, food, and water. Ready.

Oh, and #4B: Currently, about 350 eggs to wash and package every day.

5. I have what seems like hundreds of recipes to develop for various projects and deadlines. One is a story I’m doing on things to make with a spiralizer. I’ve been given a Paderno model to work with, and so far, though I’m not a gadget person, I’m getting a kick out of it. And when you crank those veggies through the blades, you can wind up with one long ribbon that is practically the length of your kitchen (or my kitchen anyway!). Veggies by the thousands, who knew?

I will spare you the rest of my excuses–until next week. At least there were a thousand rays of sunshine to soak up today. Spring, at last.

Follow me on Instagram for quick bites throughout the week.

Animals, Farm life, Sustain, The Recipes

Our First Chicken Coop on Wheels

March 28, 2015 Susie Middleton

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Roy had started building our latest chicken coop in the snow (photo below). This was obviously not ideal, and fortunately, we were able to get our chicken delivery (200 16-week-old pullets) postponed to the second week in April. Nevertheless, with so much to do around here (and seemingly so few nice days), Roy went to work last weekend and built the thing in about a day and half.

We are excited because this is our first coop on wheels. Roy has now built 8 coops for us. The original one, built for our little flock of 8 ladies, was my favorite, because you could reach into the nest boxes to collect eggs from outside. (That design is in Fresh From the Farm, if you are considering getting a small flock of hens.) The next coop, for our first “big” group of 50 layers, was (is) pretty cool, too, because it has a divider with a storage area on one side. But when you start to build housing for 500 or more chickens, the coops have to get bigger and more efficient at the same time, so Roy’s coops have evolved. (Don’t worry, the 500 don’t all live in one coop!)

This coop is what Roy calls his “super coop” design. It’s the biggest of our larger coops and the second one of this size he’s built. It houses 100 to 125 hens comfortably, with roost bars, nesting boxes, and hanging feeder–plus plenty of room for humans to navigate when collecting eggs.

The chicken door on the front (photo above) has a door that easily slides up and open and is held in place by pegs. While the chicken door allows the chickens to go out to a protected, fenced grazing area, the human door on the back (photo below) opens outside of the fencing to allow us to easily get in and out to collect eggs or clean the coop without entering the chicken yard. (You can also shoo any birds in the coop out to the yard and shut the chicken door while you’re inside cleaning.)

All of our older coops are stationery, raised up on blocks, so our chicken yards are created with permanent fence posts and deer fencing. Every summer, we open and close parts of the fencing to get the chickens on to fresh grass, but it’s awkward, as we can never entirely close the main chicken yard off or the chickens wouldn’t be able to access their coops.

But Roy lucked into snagging an old trailer frame not long ago and decided to build the latest coop on it, so that we can try moving this coop around every so often to different areas of the eight acres we have in the back now. That way the chickens will have fresh grass much more often, and we can use them to clear some planting areas! We’ll be investing in portable electric poultry fencing to create protected grazing areas .

After staining the coop and putting the hardware on, Roy took the coop for a test-spin with the truck, moving it part of the way (successfully-yay!) towards the back field.

I was photographing the whole thing from behind, obviously!

Pretty cool. So far, so good!

When the new chickens arrive, we’ll keep them in the coop for a week or so to get familiar with their new home. Then they’ll head outside to enjoy their first fresh grass, weeds, bugs, and other delicacies. All good stuff for making delicious eggs. Bon apetit!

Animals

The Cows of Martha’s Vineyard, or What We Do For Fun Around Here

March 22, 2015 Susie Middleton

This is a bull. His name is Ziggy. Handsome, huh?

He lives at the Farm Institute in Katama. His job is to make more cows. Good life.

This is a young calf. Don’t know his name, so we’ll call him Junior. Junior lives at Morning Glory Farm. I’m sure it may seem strange to you, but one of our favorite family activities is cruising around the Island looking for cute (or handsome animals), especially in early Spring. So for Libby’s last day of spring break, we hopped in the car and went cow cruising. We were on our way to Katama when we passed the Morning Glory Farm cows out and about. We stopped to meet this calf, who Libby immediately took a liking too.

They had a chat.

And a pat.

While Libby was talking to Junior, I went over to say hi to Donald Sutherland. He was completely unimpressed by my curiosity. Yeah.

LIsten, I’m busy, he finally said to me. Can’t you see that?

So we drove on to the Farm Institute, met Ziggy, and then checked out the sheep, hoping for lamb sitings.

Bingo.

Blackie.

Bunny, nice to meet you.

Oh, now we’re talking. Little bitty guy.

Even littler! A baby goat. Hey Kid! Had a hard time dragging Libby away from him.

Though once she met this fellow, all was well.

In fact, as I followed my two animal lovers out of the barn, I heard some talk about getting a goat or two, maybe just a couple female pygmy goats…in the fall maybe. Dad promised daughter. I heard it. It’s a done deal. Oh my.

Bye Ziggy. You’re cute, but I guess we’re goat people.

Farm life, Sustain

Here We Go Again–Green Island Farm Turns Five

March 16, 2015 Susie Middleton

All of a sudden, just like that, there’s work to do. Lots of it. Winter has hung around so diligently (two more inches of snow last night), that spring now comes with a decided urgency.

Hard to believe we are starting our fifth season on the farm. It feels almost comfortable now—this routine, this life. But still, I find the promise of the very long hours and long days ahead a little daunting.

It isn’t pretty out there, but there’s been just enough melting, just enough warming, to let us get into the hoop house and the storage sheds and start cleaning and repairing—and seeding.

Roy patched up the hoop house on Sunday, repairing tears and replacing and removing lumber here and there.

Amazing that the hoop house came through the winter without major damage.

I cleaned and organized all the clutter, dumping over buckets of odd tools to sift through the detritus of fabric staples and worn gloves, balls of string and clothespins, and yes, plastic snakes.

I cleaned out one of the storage sheds, too, effectively meaning I just moved things from one place to the other…

…Things lIke fluffy clouds of fabric row cover, which I finally shoved under the potting bench in the hoop house, where they can live scrunched up until needed.

The Aracaunas stood outside the shed while I was working, shaking their heads.

Only a few heads of lettuce survived the winter in the hoop house.

So we went ahead and started clearing out the beds, bringing in some compost, and getting them ready for kale and arugula seeding.

This is the easy stuff, this little hoop house, that little storage shed. But you have to start somewhere.

Farm life, Sustain

A Winter Farmers’ Market Book Signing, plus Family Time

March 9, 2015 Susie Middleton

Saturday morning early-early, we (Roy, Farmer, and I) saddled up the little red Honda and boarded the ferry (aka the icebreaker) and whooshed our way over to Woods Hole. We picked up Libby in Falmouth and drove up to Wayland, Massachusetts, just west of Boston, where I was scheduled to do a book signing event at a winter farmers’ market held inside Russell’s Garden Center.

I had tried to get to the Wayland Winter Farmers Market in January, but that time we had boarded the boat, only to get backed off due to high winds. No way was I going to miss it this time.

Now, I only wish I could go back to the market next Saturday (which will be the last market for the season) as it was truly wonderful. I was so busy at the signing table (a very good thing, of course) that I didn’t get to poke around as much as Roy and Libby did.

Held inside a big greenhouse (my table backed up to an orchid display), the market was packed with farmers and vendors from all around New England. In fact, this Saturday was New England Cheese Day at the market, and next to me was Ann Starbard from Crystal Brook Farm (right) with her award-winning fresh goat cheeses. I could have spent a good bit of time sampling!

I brought along my own samples—three loaves of Spiced Butternut and Cranberry Quick Bread (top photo), a recipe from Fresh From the Farm. We cut the loaves into small pieces, but nevertheless they disappeared! Along with almost all of the books we brought with us.

The best part was meeting quite a few readers of my cookbooks—and friends of friends—who made a dedicated effort to come to the market. (Sisters Gail Lilligreen, right, and Linda Ohsberg, left, in the photo above, drove up from Rhode Island.) Such nice people.

The nicest of all was market manager Peg Mallett, who is not only super-organized and friendly, but saved me with three bottles of water and a cool spot to sit for a minute when I unexpectedly felt very light-headed and momentarily thought I had come all that way only to fall ill…’Jeesh, Susie,’ was all I could think.

While I regained my equilibrium, Roy and Libby manned the table, holding would-be book buyers hostage with farm stories until I returned. After that, Roy and Libby had a well-earned (and delicious) lunch of thin-crusted pizza from the Vesta mobile wood-fired oven at the entrance to the greenhouse. And then they gave Farmer a tour of the (outdoor) grounds.

We were all so tired at the end that we drove straight back to Woods Hole (one quick stop at Lowe’s) and got on an early ferry. There’s just only so much you can do in one off-Island excursion.

Now, as if Libby doesn’t get inundated enough with everything food-and-cooking (like trips to farmers markets on her school vacation!), we decided to do some cooking lessons together this week. First assignment: Making and baking Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies, solo. (Well, solo, with a few tips from teacher.)

Happy to say she got an A+ on this assignment. (Yes, that is Barney on the kitchen counter in the background of the photo at right.)

The cookies were a surprise for Dad, who is truly swamped with work, both on-farm and off. On Sunday he was starting to build a chicken coop in the yard on a trailer—until we got the call that our 200 new birds won’t be coming this week, after all, but three weeks from now.

What a relief.

The snow is beginning to melt, and it is predictably swampy out there now. But at least we can think about getting the spring work rolling. Oh goody.

Photo credits: Cheeses, courtesy ask.dr.cheese.com; photos of all people at market, Peg Mallett; photo of wood-fired oven, courtesy Vesta Mobile Wood-Fired Pizza; all others, Susie

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Category Archives: Sustain

Beautiful Work: Surviving June on a Small Farm

An Evening Stroll Around the Farm

A Reminder to Love Your Lilacs and Eat Your Japanese Turnips

How Can You Forget About Homegrown Asparagus?

All’s Well Here at The Magic Kingdom

One Little Farm, Thousands of Things To Do

Our First Chicken Coop on Wheels

The Cows of Martha’s Vineyard, or What We Do For Fun Around Here

Here We Go Again–Green Island Farm Turns Five

A Winter Farmers’ Market Book Signing, plus Family Time

Vegetables, flowers, and serenity with Susie Middleton