Farm NEWS
Click on the links below to view the news and information.  If you are unable to access the links - just go to the farm's web page (http://www.sandersridge.com/farm/farm.htm and select "March 26, 2009" from the right hand menu under "This Week's Farm Notes"...

• Photos of the Farm this Week
   
• We still have 3 Spring Session spaces available in Mount Airy - and we have a Lewisville member who would like to split a Spring session share...
   
• Organic Vegetable Gardening Seminar
   
• ITS A BOY!

Farm Notes

March 26, 2009

Hi Folks,

Well, the first Spring Food Guild delivery is just 2 weeks away and it was 38 degrees in the greenhouse this morning.  (Eeek!)  Carmen and Marizal are in there bundled up from head to toe - sipping hot chocolate and potting up tomatoes.  (I just wish I could give the TOMATOES something to warm them up too!)  Brrr.  And to think,  just 2 days ago we were all outside in short sleeves, madly planting out seedlings!   But its all good...  Angst, unpredictability - its what makes farming so much FUN!  (No kidding. What else would have all the farmers gathered at the back of Ben's store this morning around the stove?  Nothing bonds a community like adversity!)

Fellow gardeners know (as well as you Guild members from Springs past) - that vegetable gardening this time of year is especially challenging.  Rain and wind are the typical conditions hampering planting and also effecting the rate of growth, with temperature swings - and limited sunshine running a close second and third.  The big rain and heavy snow the first week of March, followed by the cold steady rain the following week, kept the ground way too wet to work until around St Patrick's day and the current steady rain forecasted through Saturday will set us back at least another week from additional planting out or direct seeding. 

Again - its all good...  To help keep us on track, I made a trip to VA yesterday to bring back another whole pallet of soil so we can just make more soil blocks and continue to seed, seed, seed - until conditions favor putting things in the ground outside.  We've temporarily converted the walk-in refrigerator into a germination room and it is filled to the max with flats of newly seeded soil blocks.  A little space heater is keeping it at a toasty 75 to 80 degrees in there -- helping to speed up germination.  Once the seedlings start to emerge, we have to quickly move the little sprouts under grow lights and keep them there until their first true leaves appear.  Then they are potted up into a larger container and taken to the little greenhouse to sit under lights again (if its not sunny outside) till the weather behaves and we can move them outside to spend progressively more time in the sun and wind.  This toughens them up so they will be hardy enough to transplant out into the real world (referred to as - hardening them off...)   Even things like okra, cukes, squash - which we would normally direct seed outside -  we'll start in soil blocks if we have to.  Its a TON more work and will cut into the farm's budget (the soil cost,  the farm's electrical meter is spinning like crazy with the extra lights and heater running, and the seeding, moving, and potting up labor means extra payroll) - but it will be well worth the effort by keeping us on track with all of the various vegetable's planting and harvest windows - not to mention on time with all of the Food Guild deliveries!    The big challenge will be to stay ahead of keeping everything watered, fed, and moved from stage to stage so that they will be at their very best - strong and healthy - when the conditions are right for them to go into the ground...  That's the key to organic/sustainable farming.  (Healthy strong plants are not attractive to bad bugs and fungi!) 

I can't say for certain that we will make the first Spring Session delivery on April 8th as planned - but it it looking like we will right now.  Everything that has been planted outside is looking very very nice.  (see link to photos, above)  Plus, every square inch of the greenhouse has been planted out or is holding flats of veggies ready to be hardened off and planted outside. 

So keep your fingers crossed!  (I'll write again by next Friday and give you a progress report...)

Please take a look at the links above some additional News and some more Notes from the Farm.

Warm Regards,
 

cindy

PS:   (And - not to worry...  If we do have to delay the first Spring session delivery, we will make up for the delay in full - by packing slightly larger shares until we're square!) 

Cindy Conti
Sanders Ridge Vineyard and Winery
Sanders Ridge Organic Farm
Certification ID #0827G by QCS of Gainesville, FL
www.sandersridge.com
2300 Sanders Ridge Lane
Boonville, NC 27011

336 677-1700