why, hello there

Once again it's been awhile since my last post, but here we go...

New spinach beds, protected by row cover and plastic. At the far end will be the hoophouse.

Winter is officially here and I am. not. ready. Shocking, right? The used hoophouse purchased in September is still not up. Good grief. I don't think I know anyone who can procrastinate like me. However, on Saturday my brother-in-law and my sweetie will be here to help and we intend to get that puppy up. I'm hoping my fall-planted spinach survives until then. It's been cold.

Happy silkies in the greenhouse.

broody hen

The greenhouse still needs to have the last of the summer plants cleaned out. Hard to imagine, but I was still harvesting tomatoes last week - in an unheated greenhouse! This recent onset of cold weather however, has done them in. A couple of weeks ago I moved the silky chickens out there until I got around to planting for early spring production. As a side bonus to procrastination, they have had a blast pecking around, finding weed seeds and bugs to eat while scratching up the dirt. They will be able to have free run of the place while I get the beds ready for planting, but once seeds start going in they'll have their own pen - still in the greenhouse, but contained so they don't kill the new seedlings. They love the sun and the warmth, and I love hearing their contented clucking while I work. One of the hens has decided she'd like to sit on eggs and so I gave her a dozen to take care of. They should hatch right before New Years and be ready to start laying by June. The chicken's pen in the barn has been converted to accommodate the geese. Their food and water bucket are in there and a corner has been set aside, ready for next year's brood of goslings.

The great wall of leaves.

In other news, sweetie has been collecting bags of leaves for me. I'll use them next year as mulch around garden transplants. The battle against weeds starts now.

auction items

Today I went to an auction at a greenhouse/farm market that went out of business. Sad to see them go as I've enjoyed shopping there for many years. But at the same time, they had a lot of good stuff for anyone involved in greenhouses, market gardening, farm stores, and the like. I spent what is to me, quite a lot of money, but it was all for things I'd planned on buying anyway. This way I spent about half of what I would have if purchased new.

I bought what I hope to be all the 4.5" pots I'll need for next year, some shade fabric, a hoophouse, some produce tubs, and two seedling carts. All told I spent nearly $900, and the biggest ticket item was, surprisingly, the carts at $300 each. The hoophouse I got for very nearly nothing since the only truly useable part of it is the rafters. Even so, I paid a small fraction of what I otherwise would have.

I am now exhausted, but it was a very, very good day.

farm update

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted anything! I blame it on spending time with friends, both new and old; weeds and their desperate and evil desire to get the best of me; and lack of anything that seemed important enough to warrant a post on its own.


On the bee front:  
As you may know, with a hive of bumbles in the greenhouse for pollination and a hive of honeybees for honey and field pollination, I am a recovering bee-phobe. Not quite there yet, but making headway. Or, at least I was, until a few weeks ago. Deciding to clean up some old wood, I disturbed a nest of yellow jackets. After much swearing, running, arm flailing, and finally jumping into the shower to get them off me, I was stung five times. Not that bad you say? I beg to differ. I am still jumping at the sound of buzzing. That little incident probably set me back a year in my relationship with bees. At least. As a result, last week a friend volunteered to inspect my hive for me. He borrowed my jacket and hood, but the tyvek suit was too small. "Not a problem", said he, "I'm not afraid of bees". Long story short, the bees were in a foul mood and he was stung at least ten times. Never having been allergic, he didn't worry until he started having trouble breathing. I gave him three Benedryl and after about an hour, he started getting better. Come to find out later, after hearing his symptoms, his doctor said he nearly died. We can just consider this another year of set-back with bees, okay? However, my friend's not a quitter and so asked me to order him a tyvek suit. Now, armed with an epi pen he is ready to tackle hive inspection once again. Maybe this afternoon. God help me.


Sheep:
The flock is doing great. Everyone is healthy and thriving. Due to a reduced pasture size, heat and drought, I've found it necessary to feed hay. No lambs have been sold yet, so it looks like they may be going to the butcher at the end of October. If you like lamb and are interested in some for your freezer, let me know.

Poultry:

There are now seven remaining silky chickens here. Out of 25. Twice, I forgot to close their door at night. The first night, twelve chickens disappeared. The second time, another six were taken. I blame foxes. And of course, myself. I've been way too distracted lately.

The geese are doing well. Several goslings were sold and just one remains. Unless sold by the end of October, he'll be butchered.

To round out the year's supply of meat, my plan is to get some broiler chicks in the next week or so and have them ready for processing at about the same time as the gosling and lambs.

Market garden:
I've officially lost the battle with weeds in most of my new plot. Probably the best course of action at this time is to mow it and start prepping for next year while vowing to do better. The greenhouse is chugging along and producing well. Fall and winter seeds were ordered and have arrived. Planting will start up for those crops next week. A little late, but still okay.

So that's what has been going on here on the hill. I've been distracted in the best possible way, but as a result, things have run a bit amuck. Time to buckle down and get back to business.

PA Herb Festival

a table of seedlings in the early morning haze of the greenhouse

Today is the first event that Tulip Tree Hill farm will be attending as a vendor - the Pennsylvania Herb Festival. It runs from noon until 7 p.m. today and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow. We'll have a booth full of heirloom herb and vegetable seedlings. Some unusual stuff, too, like artichokes, licorice, and cotton as well as more "normal" offerings. More normal would be 23 different varieties of tomatoes in all sizes and colors, many sweet and hot peppers, eggplants, cabbages, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, lettuces, broccoli, and numerous herbs. And how about Thai Red Roselle? It's flower buds are a key ingredient in Red Zinger tea. Fun stuff, folks! 

Be sure to stop by and say hello!

the buzz

The bumbles have arrived!

Inside this cardboard box is a sealed plastic insert that contains the bees. Upon arrival, all I had to do was lift out the insert, remove the lid from their sugar water feeder, replace the insert, and slide open that little blue door to let them out. Easy, do-able, and not very nervous-making. No special bee suit or equipment needed.

The bumbles are here in the greenhouse to pollinate the tomatoes, peppers, summer squash and lima beans. They aren't absolutely necessary, but supposedly the vegetables will be larger and more prolific because of them. However, since this is my first year growing in a greenhouse and I'm adding bees right away, there will be nothing to compare it to at the end of the season and I won't really know if they helped or not. But, they came highly recommended and so here we are. Coexisting. Hopefully peaceably.

I think that probably only my sister is able to comprehend how huge this is. Because you should have seen us as kids, hearts racing, adrenaline pumping, running for the house, flailing our arms and screaming whenever a bee chanced our way.

planting peppers

Yesterday was the day I decided to transplant pepper seedlings into their bed in the greenhouse. I had six each of seventeen varieties, and having planned it out well in advance, knew I had exactly enough to plant a double row in an 82 foot bed. NOT having written it down anywhere, I seemed to recall that the spacing between plants was one foot. As I was planting, I thought "my, they look terribly close", but happily kept right on going. When over half of them were in their new homes, I looked up and realized that I was not yet halfway down the row. Ooops. Quickly doing the math in my head, I realized the spacing should have been 18 inches between plants. Thinking how lucky it was that I had not yet watered them in, I started over. When I was done, I had maybe about four feet of empty row left. Clearly this was not my day for math. Too bad, because planting something twice is my limit. And besides, I'm sure I'll be able to find a way to put that extra row space to good use.

Lesson for the day: When planning in advance, write it down for future reference. And use the flippin' calculator.

early potatoes go in

A cold and rainy day here today – such a contrast to the sunny weekend, part of which was spent in a t-shirt in the greenhouse, prepping and planting the first bed of the year with early Rose Gold potatoes. I started out by tilling the bed twice, before adding a bale of peat moss, some organic rock phosphate, greensand, blood meal, and bone meal. I then tilled it one more time, made a furrow, dropped in the seed potatoes at one foot spacing, and covered them up. Now we wait. Hopefully, this planting was timed so that new potatoes will be on the market stand by early June.

Next on the planting agenda are the tomato seedlings. A little early to put them in, maybe, but they are growing like nobody's business and need to get in the ground.

Also, in the next couple of weeks many of the seeds will be planted for seedling sales at the herb and plant fairs in York, Lancaster, and Quarryville. More details on those events later.

spring preparations

Anxious to get started planting, but needing to wait for the proper timing, I finished three projects inside the greenhouse. All using salvaged lumber from old fencing here on the hill. Even though they are "new" pieces, they're pretty rough-looking due to the age of the wood. But since the only cost was some nails and my time they were a pretty good deal, really.

First, a potting/work table...

A heated transplant bed...

Wondering what those two pipes sticking up are? They hold up the heating unit in the southeast corner. There's a matching unit in the opposite corner. While these areas are awkward, square footage is at a premium so every nook and cranny needs to be used. Since the opposite corner is the shadiest and also the coolest (due to the attached barn), I've been pondering what to do with it. Now, with the likelihood of bumbles being part of the equation, that'll probably be their home since they need some shade in the summer heat.

And an unheated seedling bed...

The seedling bed will be used for starting leeks and onions, later to be transplanted outdoors. According to my self-imposed schedule, this seeding needs to start next week.

The main planting beds are marked out and ready to be prepared for planting - just as soon as the replacement belt arrives for the tiller. Maybe by the weekend, which is good since early potatoes are also scheduled for next week.

Seriously, all this talk of planting in the ground seems so very wrong when we are in the midst of our second blizzard within a week. This morning I re-shoveled a path to the barn so the sheep, geese, and chickens could be fed and watered. Looking out the window, it's as though the path was never there. Completely filled in. I'll be shoveling again for the evening feeding. If it weren't for the animals I wouldn't step foot outside in this kind of weather. I hate winter. Is hate too strong a word? Doesn't matter, it's true. Hate it.

vegetables and the bees that love them

I attended the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Growers Convention this week. So much information! There were educational lectures all day long as well as a trade show which was useful for learning about new products (and I also bought a very nice harvest knife and sharpener for about half what it sells for in catalogs). I'll tell you, since starting on this path of market gardening, there has been almost an information overload. So much to learn and know in so little time. And of course for once in my life I'm not starting out slowly, but instead am jumping in whole hog - so to speak. Of course, this is like heaven to me - I love to read, learn, and keep my mind busy. And busy it has been. For instance: just last week, I learned that a lot of folks use bumble bees in their green/hoop houses for pollination of tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and squash. Exactly the summer vegetables I'll be growing in mine. Apparently it's better than hand pollination in increasing the number and size of the vegetables. But, I thought, how could a semi-recovering bee-phobe like me intentionally bring bumbles into my greenhouse? No Way, nope, not going to happen. Then yesterday at the convention trade show, was an exhibitor with a display of the little monsters... in a clear plexiglass box to better see them in all their gruesome glory. ick. ugh. eeeeeew. But as a recovering anything, sometimes you have to face your fears. And so I spent some time talking with the very nice bee woman and learning about her "product". Sigh. There could well be bumbles in this farm's future. We'll see.

life

tomatoes

got dirt?

This is what my garage looks like right now.

2010 plant list

The 2010 plant list is now official, and starting in mid-April, plants will be available for purchase. All different colors and varieties of tomatoes and potatoes and eggplants, oh my! Seriously though, if you're into growing things, it's pretty exciting.

Now for some facts and figures...

With the exception of potatoes, all items offered are well-grown seedlings in 4" pots and are priced at $2.50/pot. Potatoes are sold by the pound at $2.50/pound. Onions are planted 4 to a pot and can be planted as a bunch of four, straight from the pot into your garden.

To purchase seedlings...

You can find us at three different plant shows this spring*. (I'll post about these shows again as their dates draw nearer.):

Pennsylvania Herb Festival in York, PA, April 16-17

Landis Valley Herb Fair in Lancaster, PA, May 7-8

SECA Plant Sale in Quarryville, PA

If you cannot make it to one of these shows and will simply perish if you can't find a Listada de Gandia eggplant, a Petite Gris de Rennes melon, or a Bloody Butcher tomato, then by all means send an email or give a call to make arrangements for farm pick-up. We'll also be at Eastern Market in Lancaster, but that doesn't start until the end of May, which is pretty late for planting anything other than the true heat loving plants.

*Tulip Tree Hill participation in these events is not yet official, so check back to make sure we'll be there. 

in the nick of time

Thankfully, the last of the work was completed (wiring and heating) on Thursday in the greenhouse. Just in time, too, because Friday night the snow arrived. Knowing it was coming and that we'd see significant accumulation, I set the heaters to 35°F, just enough to help the snow to slide off. Why? Because allowing a heavy snow load could cause the whole structure to collapse. Unlikely perhaps, but a possibility.

If any of you are considering a greenhouse in the future and want to know how and why I chose what I did, feel free to contact me. I'd be happy to help.

guilty (or is it innocent?) pleasure

Construction on the greenhouse is complete! The only things left are for the electrician to run wire to the heaters, fans, and roof vent; and for the fuel company to deliver propane tanks and hook them up.

I've been going out to check on the temperature the last couple of days and I must say that when the sun is shining, it is just delicious in there, even without supplemental heat. Today it was just to much for me - it was 26° outside with a bitter wind, while in the greenhouse, it was balmy and extremely humid. As the moisture from the soil evaporated, it condensed on the roof before dripping back down - my own personal rain forest. What can I say? I caved. Brought a lawn chair and a book and sat for an hour, basking in the sunshine and warm mist, reading. Heaven on earth.

greenhouse construction

Construction is underway! However, it's been slow-going due to the weather - one day of sun, then two to four days of rain. They started at the beginning of last week, but have only gotten in three days of work so far. Frustrating for everyone involved. I'm concerned about being in December and not having this thing built. Hopefully the cold and snow will hold off a little while longer.

it has arrived!

The greenhouse arrived yesterday. Or at least all of it's bits and pieces did. There are now boxes of parts and bundles of pipes stowed in the garage. I put a call in to the construction crew so they could get me on their schedule.

Now, the nervousness returns. Next to my home, this is the single largest purchase I've ever made. Normally I go into new things slow and easy. Test the water to see if I like it, so to speak. This time I'm diving in and the water is deep.

Although tendrils of fear curl around the edges of my thoughts, I'm still definitely excited about beginning. Saturday I borrowed a pick-up truck and got a load of leaf compost (for just 10 bucks - what a deal, right?), then on Monday spread it as a top dressing over the topsoil where the greenhouse will be. Once the house is built, I'll be able to start preparing the growing beds.

Fear and excitement - sort of like being on a roller coaster. Hopefully just like an amusement park ride, I'll also have a lot of fun. I think I will.

waiting and unfair

waiting...

All the prep work has been done for the "great greenhouse project of 2009". Now I wait. Wait for the greenhouse bits and pieces to arrive, and wait for the actual construction of said structure. So until these things happen, there won't be much new news.

hey, unfair!

This past week, a neighbor just down the road, not 1/4 mile from me, also put up a greenhouse. I mean to say he put it up in a week. I drove by last week and there was nothing there. This week he had a greenhouse full of drying tobacco. And according to my excavator, they didn't have to dig trenches and fill them with stones for storm water control. Apparently the township wanted them to, but relented when told it wasn't a permanent structure! Now wait just one doggone minute! Neither. Is. Mine. Two standards? Or is there something I'm missing? Could it be because he's a real farmer with many acres? Well, not if you're actually going to follow the zoning regulations. If anyone in their right mind would bother to actually look at the two situations, they would be able to see that my land is flat and the likelihood of storm water causing any damage is nil. The greenhouse is surrounded by seeded pasture and there is no possibility of erosion. They would also see that my neighbor's greenhouse sits at the edge of a plowed field which slopes down to the road and from there to the local creek. Huge potential for storm water run-off and erosion damage, not to mention increased potential for pollution of said creek. I am angered and frustrated, but at this point, it's all water under the bridge (or into the creek), so to speak. The trenches are dug and filled, the money is spent. I wish my neighbor had put his structure up before I went for zoning approval, because perhaps then I would have had an argument for them allowing me the same leeway.

I want to believe that this other greenhouse is truly temporary and will be taken down after the tobacco is dry and gone, but that's hardly likely. A more distinct possibility is that it will be there for years, growing tobacco seedlings in the spring and drying it in the fall and winter. If that's the case, I may have words with the zoning officer. Not that it will get my money back for work that shouldn't have to have been done, but so they know I know.

Seriously - priorities, folks. Food or tobacco? Which grower would you give a little leeway to?

Now, I need to go relax and calm down. Perhaps have a glass of wine and read a good novel. Something not about farming.

we have water!

Big and Ava are posing with our new outdoor water hydrant. They don't look very impressed, do they? To them, it's a non-issue. They'd much rather be sniffing everywhere that all the strange men have been walking and working. That is to say, strangers to the dogs, not that the men are strange. They've all been very nice. In the last two weeks, there have been tree trimmers, electricians, plumbers, and an excavator here doing work. All in preparation for the greenhouse. Then, in early November, the greenhouse bits and pieces should be delivered, followed shortly by the construction crew. Add to this the four loads of firewood delivered earlier this week, and, well, the dogs are just about to go nuts. There have been more people in and out of here than they've ever experienced before, and while they desperately want to defend the property against all these strangers, I won't let them, so they're quite frustrated. I keep trying to explain that all these strange men have been invited, but only Big seems to believe me.

All that aside, I'm very excited about the new water hydrant. It's a frost-free sort of set-up and so can be used all winter. No more pulling hoses across the yard to water the animals in the summer. No more carrying buckets from the house in the middle of January. Let's all give a hearty "wahooooo"!

I've hauled hoses and buckets for the four+ years I've lived here because when you're on a tight budget, running a new water line is a luxury. BUT, if you have to trench for electric anyway, then adding just a couple hundred bucks more for water seems to suddenly make sense.

digging in the dirt

Instead of digging the run-off trenches, the excavator spent much of the day trenching and laying conduit for the electric and water lines...

From the house,

To the barn. (The greenhouse will be at the other end of this barn.)

Take a good, close look at that pile of dirt. A lot of rocks, with just enough dirt to hold them together. This is why it drains so well here and it's rare you'll ever see standing water, even after days of steady rain. This is also why I hate digging any sort of hole, whether it's for fence posts or trees or anything else, really.

Tomorrow the plumber comes to connect the pipes in the basement. Hopefully the run-off trenches and any final earth-moving will also get done because I'd really like to get things re-seeded as quickly as possible while there's still a chance for new grass to grow before it gets cold.

breaking ground

Today's a big day at Tulip Tree Hill! First thing this morning saw me at the zoning office to pay my fines, I mean fees, and to pick up my permits. Then back home to have some coffee and await the arrival of the excavator. After measuring and staking it all out, he began work with the heavy equipment by first scraping off the topsoil and setting it aside. Tomorrow he'll dig the run-off trenches and use that dirt to build up the greenhouse pad, topping it up with the reserved topsoil.

I just can't tell you how excited I am right now. It's ridiculous, really. But how often do dreams become reality? When does something that is so outside of what you imagine to be possible for your life actually happen?

And by the way, look at that beautiful, low, mid-afternoon October light in the photo.