Sending out last call on our Fall CSA that were MIA this last Saturday.

By Peggy | Published: August 23, 2012

Good morning to you, Just a quick note for some of our fall shareholders that missed their first pickup. If you would like to pickup your missed share this Saturday (the farm is closed this weekend) we will offer a pickup between 12-3pm. here at the farm. Only those shareholders that missed the gathering and their 1st. fall pickup please.

thanks, Peggy

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FALL CSA Gathering Saturday!

By Peggy | Published: August 16, 2012

Welcome Fall Shareholders! We here at the farm are excited to have all of you be a part of our fall CSA season. We will be kicking off the season this Saturday August 18th. at 10:30 am. with our gathering and your 1st. pickup as well as Brunch on us! I realize most of y’all are not new to the our program here at the farm and some of you have been apart of our CSA for years. That being said of course you can come and get your basket when the farm opens to the public. Y’all know the drill…but if you want to come and have a little brunch and hangout talk with the newbies that would be wonderful because you know this is a slow food system and heads & tails different then going to publix or Krogers. It takes some time to understand how it all works and to feel at home and part of the hippest little joint this side of Nashville.

Now addressing the newbies to our CSA: remember to bring your flower snips (we have some here too if you forget) and if you want to get in on the market’s fresh pies, breads and muffins get here a little early…they will be gone before you know it. You can always set your goodies back until you are ready to leave…I tell you all about it when the gathering starts. One thing to understand right off is this is YOUR farm too…you can cut flowers, herbs all day long if you want too. These are all part of your CSA share. This is your place to breath and relax…take your time and enjoy it.

We’ll kick off this new season kinda at the end of a hot, dry summer season and believe me our last summer CSA pickup got a taste of how bad it was for farming during their last pickup. We will be bring our summer shareholders back for missed pickup dates in the weeks to come as well.. Right now it is the peak of the tomato season and eggs plant coming in. You shares will start off reflecting this late summer season and you too may feel the pinch of the outcome farmers all across this land is feeling from this extreme heat and drought we all have faced this summer…I will tell y’all though the weather as gotten better (a lot better) so I think we are in for a wonderful fall season just like it was April through early July for our spring and summer shareholders. So with that being said…your shares will start out on the not so great side but they will get better and better with each pickup. This is a great time to dig in to harvesting those flowers and herbs while are all part of your shares.

 

The Market will be open to the public this Saturday 9am. Y’all come say hello:) It is a apple pie Saturday!

Fresh batch of Apple Mint Jam

Spiced Apple Jam

Carmel Apple pies

Myers lemon Chess pie

Apple butter bread

Chocolate zucchini muffins

Lemon Basil muffins

And who knows what else:)

Little Rockin’ Soap Co. will be in full glory here at the farm…so get your dirty on…we got that covered! Clean & Natural..

Can’t wait to get y’all back on the farm!

 

August 25 & Sept.1 the farm will be closed to the public…we have a big wedding to prepare for…oh yes,  We can rock a wedding!

Farm Wedding Beautiful!

 

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Setting the season Straight

By Peggy | Published: July 28, 2012

Here we are at the end of July heading into August after a long excessively hot couple of months. I am not going to say this has been a wonderful summer season and I do count my blessing for we got through it without too much in the way of crop loss..but, man oh man will I be glad to put this summer behind me and head into fall. A couple of things that were a loss for us this summer were the flowers and mid-summer snap beans. During our busy flower planting time just so happen it landed during one of the worst droughts we have had in Tennessee. The beans were eaten down by rabbits…new beans are now getting planted for early fall harvest. It was so strange to look out into the field and not see it on fire with color from the flower like the years past…but all in all we made it through without disrupting our CSA or putting too much of a big dent into the farm’s market.

We are now coming to the last pickup date for our Summer CSA next weekend. Our shareholders have been a good group this spring and summer and I want to remind y’all you can still harvest herbs and flowers through the fall. Just the same as our fall shareholders can visit the farm even before their season starts which is coming up in a few weeks. Also you shareholders be sure to remind Jane or whom ever is working the market that you are CSA shareholders for your 10% off at the market.  Now that we have all that out of the way…lets talk about eating in season and what to expect coming up…

Heirloom Tomatoes will still be the headliner here on the farm until cool fall weather comes a calling although some of our varieties will poop out long before that…many will indeed hang around.

Peppers they love this hot weather and will continue to produce right along with the tomatoes.

Eggplant and okra will be showing up asap at the farm market and CSA they will keep coming for several weeks.

Mark’s Melon patch will be ready to harvest sugar baby watermelon by next week.

Squash & Zucchini love hot weather too so they will stick around a little longer.

For the next few weeks it’s about a season adjustment…summer turning into early fall then to late fall. The crops will vary and produce less and less until the fall crops kick in an thus starts the abundance again. Everything in nature is about preparing for the next season. Our bodies when we eat in season does much better as well. The greens of fall is all about storing iron for the long winter. It is a beautiful thing.

We will be spending much of the next couple of weeks planting many of those fall vegetables as well as giving the hard working crops of summer a little shot of love via compost tea. They need a nice treat to keep working hard for us.

CSA News & Updates

Summer Shareholders y’all have your last official pickup Saturday Aug 4th.  I will post 2 make up pickups for those that have miss any this summer or spring for Sept. and Oct. Unless we see we have a good crop in Aug. Just keep an eye out for a shout out from the farm calling our MIA shareholders for a missed pickup. I see y’all on Sat…looks like a wonderful pickup yet again this coming weekend:)  Remember your baskets.

To our Fall Shareholder: Our CSA gathering will be Saturday Aug 18th. 10:30 am. This will be your introduction to the farm with a farm tour and ah yes…Lunch on us! This is also your 1st pickup. How exciting! Now like I said you all are welcome to visit the farm anything Saturday before your official season starts…cut flowers, harvest herbs and shop the market…remember to let them know your are shareholder 10% off…

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CSA pickup Saturday

By Peggy | Published: July 20, 2012

Just a quick reminder for our shareholders…you have a pickup in the morning…fresh corn in the baskets this week! Please bring your baskets for those that have them and if you can’t make the pickup please send me an email…phones are no good out in the field…I will set you a basket back in the cooler for Sunday. ..we are running close so please let me know by tomrrow.

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Farming and Family..Ole farmer Mark

By Peggy | Published: July 18, 2012

I was thinking the other day…I am truly a lucky woman. Sure the farm is wonderful, the singing is great, being a mom to my two beautiful babies and my fabulous step daughter. But it is my husband that keeps me feeling like I got this life right…and okay..this all sounds good and sappy and it is true my hormones are taking that left turn again…But it is only right to share with you how wonderful and talented ole farmer Mark really is. He doesn’t get patted on the back too often and truth be known he really should.

Mark

Mark was born in Pittsburg PA. and lived there until his family moved to Mt. Hope West-by- God-Virginia (I have no idea why the folks from W.VA call it that) anyway this was a small coal mining town of about 2000 people. Mark dad Bud Marchetti worked with The Bureau Mines under the U.S.Department of Interior. After high school Uncle Sam called Mark’s name for service in the Army during the Vietnam war. Mark served his country in 1970 stationed in a valley in Vietnam returning home with no or little welcome home  and thank you for your brave duty from his country men. His dreams of being a songwriter brought him to Tennessee landing a publishing deal at the famous Stax records in Memphis. After having some country chart success as a country writer Mark moved to Nashville and signed to Sony Tree publishing Nashville’s largest and most successful publishing giant in music city. Mark was living in East Nashville at the time and that is where we met…he lived across the street and then just down the street later on. Looking back on that time period this little block on a lets just say not so great part of town was an island in itself. Most of us that lived on that street were signed to either a major recording contract or had landed staff songwriting gigs or both. Most of us on the entire street were in the music business and all of us were hungry and moving up in the world. Our front porches of those old houses were the place we gathered to write, to sing, to heal and to come together for support and friendship. Mark and I in those times fell in love..one day I looked at our neighbor and friend Steph after three years of daily porch meet ups as I watched  our old buddy Mark Marchetti come walking down the street to take his place amongst us and said “You know Mark sure is handsome isn’t he”  Her month dropped open and she was shaking her head going…oh no…oh no.. That was that and less then a year later Mark and i were sitting in my jeep one late summer evening hand in hand looking over the land here that is now our home. I said I want you and I to build a life here on the land of my father, the place I was born. He took a long look across a run down, over grown horrible site of a place and said…well it kinda reminds me of West-By God- Virginia.

 Mark had never farmed nor had grown anything in is life. His grand father that came from Italy used to have a small garden in inter city Pittsburg and Mark would run after the hucksters wagons to collect their droppings for that garden. There is not a chance in the world if someone were to have told Mark just 15 years ago he would be out in this hot..dewy field like he is tonight thumping his watermelons to see if they are ready for him to harvest for this weekends market and CSA he would of called you crazy and sent you packing back to Franklin pretty boy. No Mark never in his wildest dreams thought one day he would find such joy in his watermelon patch. But that he does. Mark gets up early every morning and works this farm. He mows, plants, feed the farm animals, digs out the beds and shovels load after load of compost. He has been known to work men more then half his age into tears begging for a break. He puts a lot of time and love into this place…never once has he ever said to me I wish we didn’t build this farm…although he will tell you he thought I was crazy when we started it…he has never once lost that sparkle in his sweet chocolate brown eyes when he is out there in the hot sun cutting kale or pulling carrots for a shareholder or farm visitor. One of our shareholders told Mark not too long ago “You have changed my life with this little farm…thank you Mark”. He still beams about her telling him that. After years of dreaming about hit songs and fame and I guess fortune I think he may just have found that there is more then one way to change lives..and the funny part is…both of the way he has tried consisted of a lot of manure.

This morning was humid so much so by 8am is felt like a sweat lodge in that field. Mark was beating back the heat pulling up spent crops and weed eating the whole creek front. I opened to door to find him soaked with sweat and grass stuck to him from head to toe. I said you need to come on in and call it day..its too hot for all that and you know it. He said I will be in soon I have work to do…I love him.

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It will all be just fine and dandy

By Peggy | Published: July 10, 2012

Tucked away in the back of my mind is my eternal optimistic view of the world outside my kitchen window. I don’t get too worked up about the things for tomorrow is alway another day. I only came to that reasoning after 30 years of living though. Before I had any life experience everything seemed like the end of the world. As a farmer there are going to be good years, bad years…so so years and a bad year here and there. You take it as it comes that is the part of all farmers that tend to be a little bit of a gambler at heart. The heat and the drought this year has taken a toll of the farm there is no denying that, we don’t have near the flower crops we would normally have this time of year and a few crops we planting the end of May and into June wouldn’t even germinate because of the heat and drought. The rabbits and deer have moved into this bottom land for a quick snack before heading to a fairly dry creek bed for a drink or I should say in search of a drink and snack. Who could blame them there food source in the wooded hill behind us are suffering just as much leaving them with very little to eat…down here is easy pickings. Most of the things we can do little about…it is beyond our abilities as farmers to control…but some of it we can help move along and protect.

One of these things is drip irrigation. This is a watering system that allow for water to drip for a long period of time at the root base of the plant. By dripping water slowly at the base of the plant water is not wasted or evaporated before the plant can take it in. You can water more deeply and completely this way while using 1/3 less water then if you tried to hand water the crop. Not to mention it is hands free…farmer free and time is money. There isn’t a worst waste of time then standing over one of these 40 foot bed watering when you could be using your time planting, weeding or fixing something that needs fixing.

Heat and drought mixed together is a crop killer and even if it doesn’t take out the crop completely it will reduce it’s productivity greatly. It was shocking to have blackberry plants loaded with berries and only one harvest under our belt..3 days later nothing…the berries gone. The plant drops the berries trying to reserve it’s energy during the super hot day we went through. I took one of our CSA shareholders out to the field to collect a container of black berries and stood there with my mouth open wide…I couldn’t believe these vines were bare. Lesson learned! Pick them fast if you know it’s going to get hot..way hot.  Now the good news is we have had some rain fall on the farm in the last couple of days. And what a difference that makes because as much as you water it is not the same as that oxygen hydrogen rich life giving rain. The plants respond with stiffened up stems and heads held toward the sky. The seedling break free of that cracked hard ground ready to fight to good fight. it is amazing what nature can do. So this farmer is breathing a little easier and ready to battle on with a renewed sense of we can get though this smiling. 

I spent yesterday planting more flowers and some beans. It has been many years that my field isn’t a glow with hot summer colors from reds to yellows. And that just won’t due. I field of flowers a field of food…that is my farm…and that it will be…thank you Lord for the rain and the cooler weather…but most of all thank you for knowing this too will pass..and I will live to fight another day out there in the field where love grows.

 

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CSA & Farm Market Saturday

By Peggy | Published: July 6, 2012

I don’t have to tell you all what kind of summer we have been having this year for we are all in it together. Hot and dry no matter where you get your news those are words you have been hearing a lot i am sure.

Believe me it has been just that here on the farm with field temperatures reaching well…there is the picture. The field radiates heat much like a dark roof wood. Only early mornings or near dusk can we really get much done in the field. I certainly can’t remember a summer with this many days over 100 degrees and of course the farm is showing the effect. Plants that are outside the irrigation systems reach are by far the worst for the wear. But all in all I would say we are doing okay. Not great…would love to see more of the late May planting and June planting coming on better but okay. I am missing many of my flowers this time of year. We have some but not near what we would normally see in the field. Seed without the good rains don’t like to germinate and even with daily watering they don’t fair well in this heat and the water table this low. But this is now to say we don’t have crops to harvest and we are still planting in hopes for some rain. It just looks a little bare without the colors flowing in the field like normal.

The good news is the Heirloom tomatoes are coming in and we will be seeing more and more of them over the coming weeks. These heirloom take their time readying themselves and they may not be the first the the market place but they are the best. Early boy, early girls and all those other f1 type tomatoes fill that gap with a lot of farmers trying to get that tomato to market first. I don’t get into all that early bird stuff…for me it is more about taste and those other tomatoes may look like a perfect little kiss of summer, but like most things that look too good to be true..they just don’t hold up to the real deal. So my choice to be a farmer was a good one for I am patient.

The market this Saturday is open to the public starting at 9am. 

Farmhouse Pesto

Southern style Banana pudding

Blueberry pies

Myers Lemon Chess pie

Muffins, breads and all sorts of goodies.

Farm Eggs, Jams, and pickles

Rockin’ Little Soap co. will be here in full glory!

Y’all come see us Saturday morning:)

CSA News & Updates

The Shareholders that didn’t pickup last weekend Saturday is your pickup day. If you need us to sit your basket in the cooler for a late pickup or Sunday pickup please email me so we can do that.

Can’t wait to see y’all Saturday.

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Summer CSA Shareholder Update

By Peggy | Published: June 28, 2012

Heat wave weather advisery & drought advisory is now in affect for Sumner Co. and much of middle Tennessee. Forecast temperatures 104 on Saturday for Nashville. The farm field could reach 120 by noon. The reason is the greenhouse effect. The field radiates heat from the ground causing the field temps to soar during extremely hot days. Yes, we are more then dry here on the farm with our water table reaching 9.35″ below where we should be in rain fall year to date. The month of June alone we have had less then an inch of rain fall on the farm where normally we would see more than 4″ for the month. With all this working together it is a dangerous for farm crew and deadly for the crops.

We will need to split the CSA into 2 groups for pickups until we see a change in our weather pattern.  I am asking that our shareholders contact me via email  madisoncreekfarm@gmail.com  in regard to their pickup schedule.  I will need to have no more than 25 shareholders pickup this weekend June 30th. and the remainder of our shareholders pickup their share either next Friday or Saturday July 6/7th.  We may be able to schedule another weekday as well for those that can’t make the July 6/7th date. I will though request that this be an (only option) bases. Our time as farmers must be spent trying to save the crops that are in the field as well as planting new crops which will need extra attention due to heat and drought. This is an extremely crucial time for us…crop failure is a real possabilty as well so Mark and my attention has to be on the crops we have now and so on. 

I am going to post on Facebook to get the shareholder list for this Saturday started. First respondents will be those that will pickup this weekend. Like I said I need 25 shareholder for this Saturdays pickup. Thanks, Peggy

 

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Digging up a bunch of big ole farm love!

By Peggy | Published: June 25, 2012

CSA Pickup

I am a decent of irish immigrants that came to this country during the great potato famine. My father’s grandparents brought their son my grandfather here when he was 8 years old to keep their family from staving to death in their homeland. Most of these immigrant moved to the Appalachian mountians as my family did working in the coal mines struggling for a life..anything better then the land they left behind that now was riddled with rotten crops that no one had a clue as to why this happened to the very staple food they depended on. The great potato famine killed over a million people and left the country struggling to feed those that were left behind. My parents garden we never grew potatoes…I never even thought about it until one year I wanted to grow some in my garden. After talking with my mother and hearing the stories I understood the potato while we all still ate it…they were afraid to grow it. They were afraid somehow the blight that ravaged my great grand parents homeland would follow them here to the new land and they didn’t want to risk bring that forth. So we never grew potatoes in the garden when I was younger.  Mono cropping such as the one in Ireland lends itself to all sorts of problems itself, and when these staple foods are lost on a grand scale it affects everyone. We here in the U.S. where corn is king we should learn some hard lessons before its too late about how mono cropping and little diversification in our diet can be a civilization killer. Our body needs lots of different foods to keep it healthy. The same goes for the farmlands…they need to grow different crops seasonly to remain healthy and productive. I started growing potatoes some 10 years ago off and on depending on our crop rotation. Some years we grew lots of potatoes some years we don’t grow them at all. This year we have potatoes in the field…And I have to tell you…they are like butter…so incredible to eat fresh. I kinda look at potatoes as a treat from the garden…something i don’t have every year but something a kin to strawberries as far as liking them. They are amazing to watch grow…beautiful plant and their life cycle in which they start from this little seed potato..growing into a lovely plant…blooming with white flowers..then die back…then potatoes under the ground. amazing!

To keep blight from happening the same blight that caused so much death in Ireland crop rotation and education should be a the top of your list if you want to grow potatoes in your garden. It is best to keep potatoes and tomatoes at least 100 feet from one another for blight can spread and these 2 crops are both in the nightshade family along with peppers and eggplant all of which can be affected and damaged by blight. Here in the south Blight is very much an issue so you gardeners…learn about it and how to help prevent it and deal with it early on.

The reason I am talking about potatoes is that our crop is ready for both the CSA and Market this coming weekend. So…forget all those russet bakers we all get a the store…and try some freshly dug organic potatoes this weekend. You will understand they are a real treat and delicious..and why I say we are digging up a big ole bunch of love!

Another crop we are harvesting this week is Fennel. Truly an over looked vegetable in my opinion. Fennel is high in natural Vitamin C and delicious. I found this lovely little webpage about cooking with fennel.  http://www.itscookin.com/2008/12/12-ways-to-cook-fennel/   Check it out.

The Market will be open this Saturday as well as our CSA pickup. I don’t have to tell how hot it is going to be this weekend. We will be making a short day of on Saturday open 9-12pm With this heat harvesting becomes dangerous and the crop too stressed when handled.

Market

Please remember to bring your CSA baskets with you for your pickup.

 We are now opening the FAll CSA for signups. You can go to our farm’s website for more info and ordering. Remember these shares sell out fast…don’t wait.

Fall CSA

 

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CSA pickup schedule & Farm market dates

By Peggy | Published: June 13, 2012

Here we are in June…my..my. The warmer weather is kicking up the flowers on the farm and some are blooming and ready for cutting this weekend, which is great because our CSA shareholders are back on the farm for a pickup after 2 weeks of being absent. The farm is now entering into the summer season and with that come a lot of changes around here. The spring crops are being cleared and beds re-amended for mid and late summer crops. As it is with all seasons when they begin crops come in and we wait…and wait.. Our CSA baskets will have some color in them this pickup with lots of crops that are ready to harvest. One of these crops is Carrots…there is nothing like freshly harvested carrots. They are sweet and chalk full of vitamins and minerals. We will be pulling our first carrot crop of the season this weekend so i thought it would be fun to celebrate the carrot season with market theme. Carrot bread, honey glazed walnut carrot pie and of course carrot cake jam. Next on the list of harvesting is cucumbers…pickle season! You shareholders will be getting fresh cucumbers in your basket and I will be getting to make a fresh batch of farmhouse dill pickles. Beets and Swiss Chard and yes still a little kale left…great for kale chips. There are a couple of other things this week that I am hoping most of our CSA shareholders will get…you never know if you have enough ready to harvest b the time pickups are ready. But…Blackberries and snap green beans are looking great…fennel and dill as well as broccoli side shoots. We will see how far they all go…but remember if you don’t get something this pickup…you will get it…it just takes time…it’s a farm not a store so we are all under the rules of mother nature. This will be the first CSA pickup with the market going on…wow! Y’all ain’t seen nothing yet. It is busy from the word open…So to lighten up the load I am moving our CSA into the market shed…right next to the pavilion. You baskets and sign in sheet will be there. also if you want to shop the market remember you shareholder get a 10% discount on all farm products. Flowers are starting to bloom bring your cutters..

April

April Patel

CSA Shareholder & Farm staff writer

      Behind the Scenes of a CSA

By April Patel

 

 

Ok, so you have picked up baskets a few times now.  It’s starting to get a little regular for you.  You know the drill: sign in, check what’s in the baskets, wait for them to be filled, ask questions about items you aren’t familiar with, snap some pictures, maybe cut some flowers, share a few smiles and hellos, and then go on your merry way.  Right?

 

What you don’t know is what it’s like to be able to get your pick up to you each and every time.  For example, did you know it takes on average 100 hours a week for the farm crew to break their backs bending over while sweating in 100 degree heat to just tend to the crops already in the field or plant new ones as old ones die off?  Did you know it takes extra volunteers on pick up days just to handle the amount of work it takes to harvest, sort, fill, and hand out baskets to the share holders?

 

I’ve helped with several pick up and market days now and feel I can talk with some degree of authority the amount of hard work and dedication it takes to follow the CSA model.  A typical pick up day starts at 7 a.m. with all hands in the field starting to harvest the items that will not will as quickly as others such as onions, radishes, beets, etc.  Once harvested, each one has to be cleaned and washed, sorted, the bunched together for baskets.  Each item harvested for the day will need 45 bunches to fill all the CSA baskets.

 

Say there are 5 radishes in each bunch, that’s 225 radishes to harvest, clean, bunch, and fill.  Imagine how long that takes.  Then multiply that times 10 different items, sometimes more.  I have washed and cleaned so many beets, radishes, and onions that some days I don’t want to prep them when I get home!  It’s a lot of work to weed a bed and keep it weeded.  The raised beds on the farm take some time to keep weeded.  A fast farm hand like Viki can weed several a day.  I did good to get 2/3 of the way down the long flower bed by the fence line one day!  Mark and Peggy are so awesome and considerate of their help.  They know that once the temperature in the field hits a certain mark, it’s time to get out of the field.

 

Around 8 a.m. is when I show up on pick up days, then pick ups typically start at 9 a.m.  That hour between 8 and 9 is pretty crazy.  Viki, Peggy, and Mark are all harvesting and scurrying to get things setup so we can start assembling baskets.  The first wave of people starts promptly at 9 and there is usually no chance to breathe until about 11.  We only harvest about 10-15 baskets worth of an item at a time to help with things staying fresh and not wilting.

 

Let me just interject a personal note here, for those of you who don’t pick up your baskets and you are expected, please make every effort to show up.  Not only is the work, time, and effort wasted, but the produce ruins, too.  Once you cut something from the field it has to be used or thrown away.  Throwing something away that’s not picked up completely goes against the grain of the CSA food model.

 

The CSA food model is about the relationship between the grower and the community.  It’s a symbiotic relationship that is only successful when each side grows, learns, and works together.  Everyone shares environmental, social, and health concerns regarding food sources.  Consumers and farmers work together on behalf of the Earth and each other. While the farmer is tending the Earth on behalf of others, consumers share the costs of supporting the farm and share the risk of variable harvests.  CSA is not about cheap food or convenient food which is usually neither nourishing nor grown with care of the environment in mind. The CSA food model is about each of us being responsible.

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