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Sauteed rutabaga, parsnips and potatoes applied to Couscous.

These beauties above are Parsnip, Rutabaga and Potato Fries. Half seasoned to taste Cajun style, half rosemary pepper. The root cellar here at the farm has been providing a bounty of last years well preserved produce. Today was "French" fries. I've grown used to calling them Belgian Fries since that is where the French believe the idea for soaking potatoes in hot oil originated.

New books! In preparation for preservation and experimentation. Still enjoying last falls apple wine.

Above are early morning Field Peas trying desperately to get big and fix as much nitrogen as they can before heading back to the soil. Called cover crops or green manures these plants are grown for there solar derived inputs. Conventional agriculture would add nitrogen in the form of a chemical fertilizer. Cover crops have additional advantages such as keeping out weeds, holding soil structure and water retention.

Melodie and Patrick came to visit for a weekend of Dutchess County fun.

We had a real day on Saturday. Up at the crack of dawn for Melo's famous crepes. Hiked to the local fire tower. Biked the rolling hills of the Hudson valley and still had time to get some local grown lunch at the Wild Hive Bakery at Clinton's Corner. Finished the evening with Melo's boeuf bourguignon (plenty of wine) and square dancing at a church in Bangall.

How do you keep frost vulnerable plants from being killed by spring frosts? How to you protect insect damage prone plants?

Reemay! or row cover

They stay on all day and night and even during irrigation.

Uncle Steve is proud to present,

Teddy and Luke, were born on Saturday, April 17, 2010.
Edward Lawrence Passmore (Teddy) was born at 12:45 am weighing 6 lbs, 3 oz.
Lucas Monroe Passmore (Luke) was born at 1:07 am, weighing 5 lbs, 8 oz.

Greetings fellow earthlings

Who would have guessed you can get 2 scoops of artisanal ice cream just a few miles from the farm. If ever in Red Hook be sure to stop by Holy Cow Ice Cream and get the "holy cow" flavor. Its vanilla with peanut butter chips and peanut butter swirls. For only 1.80$ you get a large and a sugar cone! Wow. The icing on the cake is the local meat burgers at Uncle Chippies across the street. Top notch with great dressings.

My Aunt Linda reminded me about kale chips today. I have yet to try this great idea that's been floating around the internet. As soon as we harvest our first Kale I'll give it a try and post the results. In the past shredded kale in mashed potatoes was a real hit.
http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/03/baked-kale-chips/

In other news I got some great suggestions for a blog name. Keep um cum'in bro.

Linked to a flickr set

I'm not much for creative writing. So, I'm toying with the idea of sticking to captions/comments with pictures.

"No, onions don't grow in the nice bags you get at the store. They each have to be planted."

"Bed progression from left to right Chisel plowed and compost spread, rototilled, marked for placement."

"Loading 128 trays with seeds"

Weekend bike rides resulted in two pictures on flickr enjoy.

Nature works in funny ways. Last night and this morning the rain irrigated our fresh transplants so we didn't have to. Other big excitements the New Holland tracker is back from the shop. First weekend in Dutchess County WOWHO!!!

Click for flickr album

Today I had an epiphany. While planting kale it settled in that feeding people is really satisfying. Pushing in the fava beans, rolling beet & carrot seeds down the rows, digging your fingers in the soil to bury the broccoli or lettuce roots. Nowhere else I'd rather be.

"Marking the vegetable beds with the Farmall Cub"


"Dave created this one of a kind bed marker"



"Checking the spacing for 5 feet"


Snap shots around the farm on flicker - click the picture

I think the weather man would describe today as a scorcher. We got our first taste of weeding today and boy was it sweet. Also, took Farmer Dave's excellent tractor orientation 101.

Farmer Dave asked if I could try and get a few macro photographs of Shadbush Blooms. Which is going to be the name of the farm on his property.

Accomplished goals today: Mulch Rhubarb and Asparagus, transplant peppers, level and seed grass under the new solar panels, rack pine cones, clean out chicken coup, pick up drip tape, bury dug up irrigation lines.

Also, I'm responsible for the greenhouse this week, a duty not to be taken lightly.

"snap shot from my room of the sunrise that woke me up to early this morning"


The first day went well. Took a tour of the farm and had what is best
described as an orientation. Then in the afternoon worked in the
greenhouse seeding vegetables and flowers. Also started my daily
chores of bring the chickens in/out and opening/closing the
greenhouse. Duties to be shared with Erin who is also apprenticing.

Link to a couple greenhouse shots. First day of work tomorrow at 8am.

Today I left Rochester for the Hudson Valley. Its only 4.5 hours to Stanfordville which lies east of the river and approximately in between Albany and NYC. Once I left I-90 and headed south it seemed to get greener. Maybe its a micro climate created by the Hudson River. Or maybe its just my subconscious wanting it to be an Eden that I'm heading to.

The Sister Hills Farm web page has been updated and looks great check it out!

https://sistershillfarm.org

Satellite view of the farm:

View 41.856231, -73.707502 in a larger map