Rain!

Fresh Start

Freshly tilled garden with sections of winter rye cover crop.

It's mid March and it's feeling like mid May.  The gardens are dry and it has been perfect weather to till.  It would be perfect for planting, too, if the next 2 months didn't still hold the threat of nasty weather. 

With all the changes around here, it's been hard for me to know exactly what I would be capable of doing this season.  Namely, little Liza, who is now 3 months old, is the determining factor.  Luckily, things have been going smoothly, I am feeling good, and I have a great husband and family who are willing to help me.  And my plans are not grand, we'll be keeping things simple with goals of improvement and light production for our family and one farmers market.

Cover crops are a big part of my plan for soil improvement this season.  Since we won't be planting the whole garden this year, it's a perfect time to plant cover crops.  Cover crops, sometimes called 'green manures', are crops that you plant without the intent to harvest them for consumption.  They can be turned directly into the soil, cut down and used as a mulch, or cut and composted.  Either way, their purpose is to improve the soil by adding nutrients, organic matter, and preserving the soil structure by reduced tilling.  This season we'll be experimenting with different covers.  Right now I'm psyched that the fall planted winter rye seems to be doing reasonably well.  Cover crops are a great way to grow soil fertility on your property without having to import anything in from the outside.

With the start of a new season, I'm feeling optimistic and looking forward to a new way of managing the gardens.  Happy Spring! 

Garden goods

We've amazingly been getting vegetables up until this point out of the gardens and greenhouse.  Not enough to supply us exclusively (we buy a lot of carrots, broccoli and frozen green beans to get us through), but very nice supplements.  Salad lettuce up until Christmas, some small brussel sprouts which were nice in this kale salad, and now from the greenhouse decent amounts of kale, bok choy, 'spring' onions, kohlrahbi, and parsley. 

As we enjoy these treats, thoughts are turning to this season's spring gardens and the seed catalogs are coming out.  And this time of year it's easy to dream about what's to come in the spring (a cow! new chickens!  well, maybe not this year...at least for the cow :)).  We are certainly looking forward to reworking how things are set up in the gardens and focusing on improving the soil with better crop rotations, integration of animals to provide greater fertility, and aggressive use of cover crops.  We've decided to take another year off of the CSA model (Community Supported Agriculture - where customers buy a share of produce in the winter, ahead of time, and that produce is distributed throughout the growing season).  The focus will be on planning, restructuring, enjoying with our family and friends, and going to the farmers market.  Also look for us at plant sales in the spring and possibly a few open houses or farm stands at the farm.

Here's to a healthy 2012!

So many changes to the farm and our family this season!  With the expected arrival of our second daughter any week now, it has certainly been a different kind of growing season.

'Simplify' has been my mantra this year, and in doing this for the 2011 season, I found myself taking a break from having a flock of chickens.  I do miss the eggs and just having them around, but I am grateful to not have to worry about feed cost and pick up, another daily chore, and the fact that I need to get them into a more moveable housing set up.  These are things to figure out for next year, when we get another flock.

We also did not do a CSA this season, what a huge break for me!  CSAs are a wonderful way for customers to support a farm and for the farmer and customers to build a relationship.  They do require a lot of work and commitment from the farmer (and let's be honest here, and often times stress).  Scratched that off my list for '11.  I am thinking about doing a very small number of shares in 2012, and will keep you posted.

These are just two of the concrete ways the farm has changed and adapted this season.  We'll continue to make subtle shifts around here to accommodate our growing family's needs and continue on with the job of creating a working, sustainable small farm system.  We hope to post more frequently in order to share this journey.

Summer

 Early season goodness

 Plant Sales were great

 Strawberries and Jam!

 Lots of cut flowers

 A little beach time

 A new puppy

 A good 'old' dog

 Farmers Markets

 New, out the back door, garden beds (and dog beds?)

 Homemade Ice Cream

 Fun with long distance friends

Found the perfect berry pie.

A Wonderful Surprise

I visited the community garden plot that Sustainable Living Maryland is working after market on Saturday.  We have a small core group of volunteers sharing a plot and also working on improvements to the garden as a whole.  One of our main projects has been finding a way to get water to the garden, as this has been one of the main problems - gardeners have to haul water in to water their plants as there is no nearby water source.  We decided the solution was to bring in a large water tank, build a stand for it, and have the City of Westminster fill the tank, as there are no buildings around to collect rainwater from.  It was my job to orchestrate the building of the stand and delivering the donated tank to the site.  The former was accomplished quickly by a willing and able volunteer (thanks Joe!) and the later was my job - which wasn't getting done due a variety of issues; those being lack of transportation and lack of energy on my part.  I was starting to feel guilty about my procrastination.  So when I arrived at the site and saw a fully functional water stand and water tank, FILLED and in use, I was floored.  It was like I was dreaming, what a gift!  And I'm still not even sure where the tank came from.  What a relief!

On top of that, the garden is thriving.  I was amazed to see three melons growing, a small ripe tomato, large green tomatoes, full bean bushes in flower, great looking pepper plants, and a beautiful herb and flower patch.  All with little to no weeds.  Thanks to our volunteers who are maintaining the plot and also to the mystery deliverer of the water tank!  All this certainly made my day!

2011 Plant List

De La Tierra Gardens

2011 Plant List

Plant	Variety	Size	Price
Tomatoes	Sungold Cherry	4” Pot	$3.00
	‘Candy’ Grape Tomato	4” Pot	$3.00
	Supersweet 100 Red Cherry	4” Pot	$3.00
	Black Cherry	4” Pot	$3.00
	Rose (Heirloom Slicer)	4” Pot	$3.00
	Pineapple (Heirloom Slicer)	4” Pot	$3.00
	Prudens Purple (Heirloom Slicer)	4” Pot	$3.00
	Aunt Ruby’s German Green	4” Pot	$3.00
	Principe Borghese (Large Grape Type)	4” Pot	$3.00
	Cherokee Purple (Heirloom Slicer)	4” Pot	$3.00
	San Marzano (Paste Type)	4” Pot	$3.00
	Brandywine (Heirloom Slicer)	4” Pot	$3.00
	Black Prince	4” Pot	$3.00
	Cosmonaut Volkov	4” Pot	$3.00
	Rutgers (Medium Red Slicer)	4” Pot	$3.00
Peppers	Revolution Red Bell	4” Pot	$3.00
	Flavorburst Yellow Bell	4” Pot	$3.00
	Thai Hot	4” Pot	$3.00
	Ancho Poblano	4” Pot	$3.00
	Fish Hot Pepper	4” Pot	$3.00
	Jalepeno Hot Pepper	4” Pot	$3.00
	Chocolate Sweet Pepper	4” Pot	$3.00
Eggplant	Pingtung Long	4” Pot	$3.00
	Rosita	4” Pot	$3.00
	Snowy	4” Pot	$3.00
Tomatillo	Verde	4” Pot	$3.00
Squash	Yellow Straightnect	3” Pot	$2.00
	Raven Zucchini	3” Pot	$2.00
Cucumber	Pickling Cucumber	3” Pot	$2.00
	Marketmore Slicing	3” Pot	$2.00
Herbs	Fennel	4” Pot	$2.50
	Rosemary	4” Pot	$2.50
	German Thyme	4” Pot	$2.50
	Summer Savory	4” Pot	$2.50
	Winter Savory	4” Pot	$2.50
	Topas St. Johnswort	4” Pot	$2.50
	Lemon Basil	4” Pot	$2.50
	Sweet Basil (Genovese)	4” Pot	$2.50
	Red Rubin Opal Basil	4” Pot	$2.50
	Dill	4” Pot	$2.50
	Italian Flat Leaf Parsley	4” Pot	$2.50
	Curly Parsley	4” Pot	$2.50
	Sage	4” Pot	$2.50
Annual Flowers	Verbena ‘Tuscany Blue’	6 packs	$3.00
	Verbena ‘Tuscany White’	4” Pot	$2.50
	Lavender Wave Petunia	4” Pot	$2.50
	Purple Wave Petunia	4” Pot	$2.50
	Nasturtium	4” Pot	$2.50
	‘Imagination’ Purple Verbena	4” Pot	$2.50
	Calendula	4” Pot	$2.50
	Marigold ‘Queen Sophia’	4” Pot	$2.50
Perennial Flowers	Penstemon	4” Pot	$3.50
	‘Cherry Brandy’ Rudbekia	4” Pot	$3.50
	‘Indian Summer’ Rudbeckia	4” Pot	$3.50
	‘Prairie Sun’ Rudbeckia (r. hirta)	4” Pot	$3.50

**We also have our handmade potting soil mix for sale for $12.50/10 gallon bag.  Our soil will keep your container plants healthy and is also great for starting seeds.**

De La Tierra Gardens – Certified Naturally Grown

www.delatierragardens.com - 443.536.3581