Yesterday we had our first official family visit to our farm. Casey’s family braved the mud of Easter afternoon to tromp around the hothouse and empty fields. It was one of the coldest, wettest days we’ve had out here, so we very much appreciated their bright and sunny attitudes about slogging through mud puddles in their Easter attire! I guess that since they’ve now seen the farm at its worst (cold, dark, muddy, no food), the summer farm will be that much grander (warm, sunny, lots of yummy vegetables).
Two cute photos from the visit:
Our nieces Emma and Olivia on the Allis! They both fit where only one of us can sit.
When Easter clothing meets mud, styles collide. Our family members are exceptionally brave and loving souls.
And another recent picture of some intriguing plant displays:
On the left are green bean shoots popping up. We think that they look like monsters. The photo on the right is harder to see, but those are decorative corn seeds. They were so brilliant that I wanted to at least try and capture their beauty to show you all. Casey told me that when he first harvested one of these ears last fall, he glanced down and thought that he was bleeding—the red kernels were that bright and colorful!
Finally, a photo from this morning:
The new skyline here at Seven Spoke Farm, without the Haygrove! With help from Francisco, we finally finished the disassembly process. We’re excited to have an open field again. We’re keeping all of the bows and some of the other parts from the Haygrove to build another house like the one on the left (our hothouse). The new house, however, will be as long as the original Haygrove plan—100 ft—and will be open on both ends. We’re going to plant our tomatoes and peppers there, in hopes of extending our harvest season well past the first few light frosts that would kill tomatoes in the field … maybe into late October or early November?
Those Kullas are tough! I wish we could have joined you all in the mud. We have had two beautiful days in a row, but very cold. We had frost last night. My greenhouse was 34 this morning and 103 this afternoon. What can survive that?
I had a marketing question/idea. Have you considered promoting your CSA to folks who don’t know what it is by simply having a flyer that says something basic like: Seasonal, organic, locally grown produce! Sign up now and get a plentiful box of freshly picked produce each week from June until …
Somthing like that. I have yet to speak to one person who knows what a CSA is but they all like the concept once it is explained. The term share is intimidated and comunity supported sounds like a longterm commitment or a charity. I think that the terminology could benefit by being put into lay language.
By the way, I have an artichoke on one of my plants and my asparagus is huge! I have to wait another year before harvesting, drat.
Love, Kris