market here tomorrow morning, before it gets windy

2013-05-10T16:14:33Z

Greetings shareholders and friends of Abbe Hills Farm,

The hoophouse just keeps making really beautiful food! So, tomorrow, Saturday, May 11, we'll have another small market here at the farm, 10:00 until noon. We'll have lettuce, plus loads of very nice spinach, eggs, and mild and tasty radishes. There is a small bit of arugula left. We'll have some chard for the first time, and broccoli raab for the only time. Broccoli raab is a pretty special green, sweet and a little bitter, only available when the spring is cool (no problem there!), and gets overmature in only a week. It would be great melted onto a pizza or sauteed with eggs or mushrooms. So come out and get your mom some lovely greens and eggs for her Mother's Day gift!

There are also kitties who need to be held, so bring some helpers with you. Kitties do so well on Saturdays when people play with them, but they get an attitude by the next Friday and have to be reminded again to be nice. If you need a kitty, there are plenty from which to choose.

My able assistant, Andrea, has been working on getting the farm mailing list updated. Hopefully, there are many of you who find yourself on this list for the first time, either because you've just joined the CSA or else you like keeping up with what's going on at the farm. You should get a weekly newsletter from now on. Some of you may be getting this note twice. If so, please let me know so we can fix it.   The harder thing is figuring out if we missed anybody.   If you know of somebody who should be on this list but isn't, please zap them this newsletter and they can let me know.

I post the newsletters every week to the farm website, www.abbehills.com, and also to a national website called www.localharvest.org.   Localharvest.org is a great site. You can type in any zip code and find all the local food places, including farms and restaurants, within a few miles of that zip. Great way for your relatives to find a CSA where they live.

We had a productive week in the field, considering we had only a little more than two days when the soil was fit to plant. About half of the potatoes are planted (one month late, but still OK), about two thirds of the onions (more problematic), tons of kale and lettuce. Finally, the peas, radishes, and turnips came up - nearly three weeks after we planted them - an agonizingly long delay.   The soil is still surprisingly cold, so things are taking their time. We're looking forward to a warmer and drier week ahead.

Here's something that's probably not on your radar. An environmental chemist at Coe College has been keeping me updated on the water quality conditions in the Cedar River this spring. As of Wednesday night, because the river is running high and because lots of nitrogen is leaking out of farm fields in the watershed, there are more than 1,000,000 pounds of nitrogen flowing down the Cedar River at Cedar Rapids - EACH DAY!!!. That's 1 million pounds of nitrogen heading for the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico each day. And nearly $2,000,000 in loss each day to the farmers who bought the nitrogen and applied it to their cornfields either last year or this. Additionally, the concentration of nitrate nitrogen in the water is over 16 parts per million, 60% higher than what is allowed in drinking water. So those towns who process river water for drinking are faced with a big problem over which they have absolutely no control. Pretty big mess, don't you think! It happens every spring, but the numbers this year are astonishing because of the drought last year leaving so much soil nitrogen unused by the corn crop, and the surprisingly generous rain this spring washing it away.

You can register for the CSA any time now. We're still not full, so if you've got friends who are interested, please encourage them to join.

I post to Facebook as frequently as I can. You can see pictures from the farm at our account, called Abbe Hills Farm.

Hope to see you tomorrow,
Laura

Market at the farm tomorrow. Wear your mittens.

2013-05-03T17:54:59Z

Greetings shareholders,

Even though it's going to be dreary, we'll have a little market here at the farm tomorrow, Saturday, May 4, 10:00 until noon. I've got lots of lettuce and radishes, smaller quantities of spinach and eggs. We'll set up a table somewhere near the big shed. Just remember to keep your car on the gravel driveway! It's going to be soft everywhere else.

If you want eggs or produce during the week, just zap me a note to make sure I'm around. I've usually got some of everything on hand in the frig in my garage. Or shop at the farmers at the Mt. Vernon Farmers Market, 4:00 until 6:00 everything Thursday, at Memorial Park downtown.

The rain has been a good thing. We planted thousands of small leafy things and onions the first three days this week, and they were literally dying for a drink. The heat and relentless 72-hours of wind early in the week were tough. So, we're happy for a little rain, although the cold's not so great!

Thank you to so many of you who have signed up for the CSA this season. I really appreciate your support. Still need to register? Here's the form. If you have a friend at work or church or a relative or neighbor who has been talking about trying CSA, I sure wish you would encourage them to join Abbe Hills. We work hard to grow great food that is good for you, produced in a way that is environmentally responsible by fairly paid workers. If you know someone, or if you would like to join the CSA but can't really afford it, please let me know. We have scholarship money available I am happy to help anybody who needs a little boost. Everybody should be able to eat good food.

In response to your financial commitment to me and the farm, one of the principles to which I am commited is operating transparently so that you can know how and where and by whom your food is grown. Not all CSAs have this philosophy. If there is something you want to know about how we do things and I haven't explained it to your satisfaction, please ask me again. You are welcome to come look around any time - although you might have to work if you hang around here too long. I want Abbe Hills Farm to be a green, diverse, welcoming place where adults and kids can learn, eat, and develop community.

I'm still trying to get good at Facebook, although it is a challenge. I'm trying to remember to carry the camera with me so I can show you more of the day-to-day goings on here. Sounds simple enough, but it turns out, you can drive a tractor over a camera quite easily. And you can do it to more than one camera! We are on Facebook at Abbe Hills Farm.

See you soon,
Laura

www.abbehills.com

making our own market this weekend

2013-04-26T15:26:37Z

Greetings shareholders and friends of Abbe Hills Farm,

There is no farmers market this week, but we've got nice things so we're going to have a little market here tomorrow, April 27. 10:00 until noon. Use the farm driveway. We'll have lots of lettuce, eggs, some spinach, arugula, and radishes. And many kittens that need to be held. Sadly, Charlotte hasn't yet solved her oven problem, so there won't be any bread. But soon, very soon, she'll be making bread for us again.

We had about 12 inches of rain this month. That's great, but really slowed us down. I'm in the field every waking minute now. The soil surface is drying, especially today in the wind, so we can get in to do the primary tillage and make the seedbeds. Then we plant. Onions, peas, and potatoes are my big projects right now, plus the seeding of hay and cover crops over the rest of the farm. And killing the current alfalfa in the places where we'll plant field corn and sweet corn in the next couple of weeks. And pretty soon, transplanting thousands of little plants waiting to get in the ground. It's busy.

The scholarship account is well funded right now. If you are hesitating about joining the CSA because of financial worries, please let me know how I can help. Bad things happen - and they are usually expensive - but you still need good food. Especially when bad things happen, you need good food! Thank you to all of you who have contributed so generously to the fund. Your donation is going to make a difference for somebody.

Here is the registration form for this season's CSA.

Hope to see you Saturday,
Laura

Lots of rain, market tomorrow, beef!

2013-04-19T15:52:32Z

Greetings shareholders and friends of Abbe Hills Farm CSA,

Market this week is at the Mt. Vernon Community Center at the east end of downtown, 11:00 until 1:00. Charlotte isn’t able to make it, but I’ll be there will bells on – and with lots of very nice lettuce, plus some arugula and spinach, and eggs.

Sadly for me, this is the last market of the winter. The regular Mt Vernon Farmers’ Market starts on Thursday, May 2, 4:00 until 6:00 at the park on the west end of downtown. Of course, the hoophouse is finally full of lovely greens now that the market is ending! I’ll be in the field (hopefully) and won’t be able to make it to market in the afternoons, so you’re going to have to come to me to get your crunch.

I have to talk about the weather. It’s awful. We received 5.25” of rain last week. The first 3” soaked in completely. Perfect. The next 2.25”, not so much. Pile on about 6” so far this week, and we’ve got a problem. Then there is the cold. And wind. And clouds. Not such a great spring so far. Although the subsoil moisture is being replenished, which is a relief. And the pond and wetland are full to the brim, so that kind of water will actually recharge the aquifer, which also makes me feel better.

My best guess is that we will need about 5 days of sun, warm, and wind to dry out the soil enough to do field preparation. After that, if it continues to be dry, we commence planting. I’ve got over 2000 lbs of seed potatoes and 25,000 onion plants ready to go. Plus thousands of little plants in the germination house and hoophouse that will soon be ready for transplanting. We’re going to be BUSY when the good weather gets here.

One good thing - I think this might be the year of broccoli. I accidentally started too much in the germination house, which might be a good thing for you. Of course, I’m not making any promises until I actually see you walking out of here with broccoli sticking out of your bag. But it looks good so far.

There is grassfed BEEF. Here is what Dan wrote:

I'm excited to be able to deliver 20 lb. boxes of mixed beef cuts to Susan Jutz's CSA delivery site in SE Cedar Rapids on Earth Day, Ap. 22. Thanks to the help from Edgewood Locker, we've been able to divvy up my harvested beef into "snow flake" boxes. (No two boxes are identical, but I try to make them all equivalent.) All boxes have 3 packages of steaks; 2 roasts; minute steaks; stew meat, (no bones); boiling beef, (contains some small bones); and at least 4 lbs. of hamburger. No organ meats. Some boxes may also contain a small package of soup bones or short ribs. The boxes are priced at $120 per box. Place orders by replying to danspech@neitel.net , or 563-516-1007 by noon on Sunday April 21. Hamburger is also available, priced at $5.50/lb., while supplies last. Liver, heart, and tongue are available at $2.50/lb, and soup bones at $3/lb.

And finally, if you want to learn to burn prairies, there is a free program (and I think there is going to be smoke) tomorrow, Saturday, April 20, 10:00 to 2:00 at the Goose Pond Natural Area near Center Point, sponsored by Linn County and the roadside people. Please call Mary today at 377-5960 (x3) to register.

You can join the CSA any time by sending me your registration and a little money.

Hope to see you at market tomorrow,
Laura

Lettuce, tulips, and eggs this week

2013-04-12T19:52:47Z

Greetings shareholders and friends of Abbe Hills Farm,

There is no market this weekend. Next Saturday, April 20, the market will be in Mt. Vernon.

Even though there is no market this weekend, I have things to sell, including eggs, tulips, and the long-awaited lettuce! Give me about two hours after I send this message and I'll have the lettuce cut, bagged, and ready to go. It's too stinking cold and muddy to be tromping around the farm yard, so everything will be in the frig in my garage. If the sun comes out tomorrow and some of the mud dries up, I'll move things down to the shed. You'll be able to tell - if the big doors are open - stop there first to pick up your eggs, flowers, and salad fixings from the Pepsi cooler.

There's a lot going on on April 20, the next market day and also the Saturday before Earth Day, including the granddaddy of local Earth Day events, EcoFest in Cedar Rapids. It's going to be a fun place to take the kids (after you've been to market in Mt. Vernon, of course). While I'm on the subject, here's a great website you might like to check out to keep yourself posted on all kinds of food and environmental events and conversations, called HomegrownIowan.com . It's the best resource out there for to stay on top of what's going on in the Cedar Rapids / Iowa City area.

Remember that you can join the CSA any time. Learn the details and get the registration form at the farm website, www.abbehills.com .

See you soon,
Laura

Lots of eggs at Laura's house, no market this week

2013-03-22T13:36:01Z

Greetings shareholders and friends of Abbe Hills,

Sadly, there is no market tomorrow, March 23, or next Saturday, March 30. The next market for which I will send you a reminder will be the Saturday after Easter, April 6, in Mt. Vernon. Hopefully, I'll be harvesting lettuce by then. Nice sunny days help the things grow in the hoophouse, even if the outside air remains cold.

Even though there is no market, there are still lots of eggs. You can come by my house and get them nearly any time. Just zap me a note to make sure that I'll be home when you want to come. Or take your chances - I'm usually home or the garage door is unlocked. The eggs are in a frig in the garage for the winter.

We're still trying to figure out Facebook. The farm does have a working webpage with many of the start-up problems solved. Please check it out - Abbe Hills Farm is the name. There is a recent post linking to an article about our grocery shopping habits that you might "like" to read. Hopefully, by the time our garden season begins, I'll be able to use Facebook to send you articles, photos, late breaking news about what's going on at the farm.

You know I love growing cabbage; we start planting it in the germination house next Monday. Lots of it. And you love eating it - for a while - but it just keeps coming. File these twelve great cabbage recipes somewhere so you know what to do when coleslaw is no longer working for you.

And finally, what to do for your trees to get them through the drought? Here is some guidance from Trees Forever.

Remember that you can join the 2013 CSA season any time. The registration form and all the information about the upcoming season is on the website, www.abbehills.com .

Until later,
Laura

There is water in the pond! Join the CSA any time

2013-03-15T16:33:00Z

Greetings shareholders and farm friends,

Market tomorrow, Saturday, March 16, is at the Community Center at the east end of downtown Mt. Vernon, 11:00 until 1:00. I'll have eggs; Charlotte will have bread. It's possible a few early hoophouse vegetables might be there, too - from the smart farmers, not me.

It's been slow to get the hoophouse crops to grow here. Starting in December, I planted spinach and lettuce mostly, plus radishes, chard, raab, and arugula. But because it has been so cold, there have been many, many days when I should have been watering that I couldn't get the hoses thawed enough to get the water to run through them. I think we're on a warming trend so it should be easy from now on. Probably I'll be griping about how busy I am in two weeks when the frost is completely out and the oats are screaming to be seeded.

VERY GOOD NEWS!!!! The pond by my house is full (as is the wetland by the road). That means we can irrigate this summer. The water level in the pond dropped five feet !!!!! last summer, and it was difficult to imagine how I'd be able to manage the irrigation in 2013. The rain last weekend was highly destructive to fields that had been fall tilled or are without cover crops, and the runoff was enormous, but the good news is that the rain and fairly clean runoff from this farm mostly went into one of the water retention structures. The forecast between now and the end of June is for continued drought, but I think we'll be OK. Maybe not fabulous, but OK.

One family has already joined the 2013 CSA. If you want to join, the registration form is on the website, www.abbehills.com. I had hoped to introduce you to the farm's FaceBook page today, but FaceBook and I are having a tussle, and right now, FaceBook is winning. You might try looking to see if we have a site; it will be called "Abbe Hills Farm", and if you find it, please be my friend. I think FaceBook will take me more seriously if it appears that I know people. When my technology expert gets the page up and running correctly, that will be the place where I will post photos, upcoming events, news on short notice. Hopefully it will give you a better idea of what happens around here, and will help you explain to your friends why they should become shareholders in Abbe Hills Farm CSA.

Hope to see you tomorrow,
Laura

Eggs in the garage. Looking for 15" tires

2013-03-08T16:51:46Z

Greeting shareholders and friends of Abbe Hills,

Market tomorrow morning is 9:00 until 11:00 in the Community Center in lovely downtown Springville. I'll bring eggs and Charlotte will bring bread. There will also be plenty of bakery, a few crafts, honey, some vegetables, fresh dry beans and ground cornmeal.

Several times this winter I've seen cars pull into the farm driveway (I can't believe they haven't got stuck) and people go into the big shed. Either it is robbers, or else some of you are going in there looking for eggs and having bad luck. The eggs are in a refrigerator in my garage in the winter. MUCH easier to manage when there's not 450 feet of snowdrift between me and them. If you want eggs, just call or zap me a note to make sure I know you are coming, and I'll either be here, or leave the garage unlocked so you can get them yourselves. And if it is robbers, I hope they get stuck next time.

Dan Specht has three beef quarters to sell this spring. If you are interested, contact him directly. His email is above. He'll also have more 20 lb boxes when we start the CSA in June. We are trying to work out a plan where he'll make beef deliveries here on a regular schedule.

I'm looking for a half-good or better set of four 15" tires, 225 or 235 if possible. I need to take the trailer to Wisconsin to pick up the seed potatoes in about 3 weeks, and it's not very roadworthy in its current condition - four tires of 4 different sizes, whatever I could hustle up at the time I needed one. So, if you're getting new four new tires on your big car this month and are selling or giving away the old ones, please think of me.

Still looking for the free or cheap automatic washer to convert to a salad spinner, too.

Trees Forever is hosting a program called "TreeKeepers" for people who want to learn more about urban and suburban tree planting, care, and advocacy. Sounds like an interesting program. It wouldn't hurt us to have more people sticking up for the trees. Look at the link to get the registration information.

Here's something to get you thinking: "Human Teeth Healthier in Stone Age Than Today". Bummer.

Hope to see you at market tomorrow,
Laura

Eggs and bread tomorrow, home from Organic Farming Conference

2013-03-01T20:26:48Z

Greetings shareholders,

Market tomorrow is at the Community Center on the east end of downtown Mt. Vernon, 11:00 until 1:00. I'll have lots of eggs and Charlotte will have bread.

I'm not sure if I'll be there. Still trying to figure out if I am going to a giant farm equipment auction tomorrow, or staying home and saving the money for things I already know I need. If I'm at the sale, my competent staff - Roland (dad) and Aaron (brother) - will be standing in for me.

I had a marvelous experience at the Midwest Organic Farming Conference in LaCrosse last weekend. I learned so much that my head still hurts. Winter conferences are where small family and alternative farmers get our inspiration, encouragement, and ideas. I visited with a famous - and modest - farmer who has been organic for 40 years, longer than almost anybody else in the Midwest, and the title of his talk was "Transitioning to Organic Crop Production: Secrets from 40 Years of Trying". So even after most of a career, he's still trying! It's OK that I don't have it all figured out after only 25 years! What a relief!!!

There were about 3500 people at the conference, most of them farmers, at least half under 30 years old, with lots of babies and toddlers. Not exactly like a meeting of conventional farmers! I have great hope for the future of food when I spend time with young farmers. I learned about tools, pollinators, potatoes, irrigation, bugs, Facebook, climate change, small grains, soil fertility, crop breeding, food safety, and farm planning, and missed about two dozen workshops that I just couldn't fit in. Best of all, I met dozens of interesting, generous, and conscientious farmers who inspire me to keep trying to farm better.

Hope to see you tomorrow at the market,
Laura

Hard to sell eggs in an ice storm

2013-02-01T17:36:33Z

Greeting shareholders and farm friends,

Farmers market tomorrow, Saturday, February 2, is at the Mt. Vernon Community Center, east end of downtown, 11:00 until 1:00. I'll have lots of eggs that I wish you would come buy. Turns out that ice storms, snow, high winds, and below zero weather make it so people don't come to the country to buy eggs. After a couple of days, they start to pile up. Charlotte will be at market, too, with her lovely bread.

Here's the bad news on cats. They are waaaay worse than we like to think. I love it when we have kitties here, but agonize over getting them all adopted to homes. Sparky, in particular, is an exceptional killer, as I suppose are her babies. The problem is that she prefers eating endangered, neotropical, migratory songbirds over mice and rats!

I want to invent a giant salad spinner, and I need an automatic washer. First, I'm looking for one that still spins. Secondarily, it would be nice if it also agitates and is cleanish. And it has to be free. If you know somebody who has one to get rid of, I'll pick it up if they'll donate it to the cause of cleaner greens. I'm still not sure that I want to regularly wash greens for you. There are tradeoffs between cleanliness, workload, storage life, and food safety. But on some really muddy days, it wouldn't hurt. If I do, however, I have to get them dry. That's where the spin cycle comes in. Might work.

OK, if you think your head might explode if you read something from "Mother Jones", then don't click on this story about nitrogen fertilizer and natural gas supplies with an Iowa spin. But if you want to think a little more about the intersection between commodity agriculture, food, water quality, energy, and policy, it's a good one. Tom Philpott is a reliable researcher and good writer.

Do you have a group that needs a speaker? I've got a couple more months where I can make myself available to give talks. I'd love to drum up some more business for the 2013 garden season and educate a few more people on the value of eating locally. Talks that are hosted by people the listeners know and trust are a very good way to start the conversations.

Be looking for an Abbe Hills Facebook page pretty soon. You've begged for it, and I've resisted. I think it's finally time. I'm scared, but my people will help me figure it out. The best thing about it (that I know of right now) is that it is such an easy way to post pictures and videos of things around here that I'd like you to see.

Hope to see you at the market tomorrow,
Laura

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