(if you’ve scrolled down this far)

Have a look at Neshaminy Valley. They’re in Ivyland, PA and do deliveries throughout NJ (as well as Ct, MA, NY, PA, DE, MD, DC and VA for anyone else who might be interested). For NJ there’s a $350 min order but most I know who have ordered via Neshaminy do it with friends.

I’ve never ordered from them (though I’m about to) but I’ve heard good things about Neshaminy from others.

Here’s a link to their catalogue:

http://www.nvorganic.com/catalog/catalog_may.pdf

-nicole
(also in NJ)

http://applejackcreek.com/blog/index.html

So, here’s a link to my longer post with some pics:

Independence Days Week 1

Planted: yet more spuds, lettuce, chard, spinach, filled in the holes where peas hadn’t sprouted.

Harvested: about 6 carrots that had over wintered unnoticed — very sweet.

Preserved: nil

Storing: nil

Prep: found the file I brought to sharpen the spade.

Managed/deculttered: put together makings for a salvaged crib quilt all in once place. Got out 2 large bags of clothes to families making sure that what was in them was excatly what they had requested or confirmed by email they wanted.

Cooked something new: Well, I made pot of soup from frozen broch. I gleaned. Rest of household claim it smells like boiled cabbage, and realized (once I tasted it) that it tasted like over-boiled cabbage. Decided I’d take it to work for lunches.

Work on local food system: asked permission at church to plant 10×20 foot bed of spuds for soup kitchen. Everyone expected it to be approved. Everyone expressed horried fastination tinged with disbelief that little old me could double dig that much. They ain’t seen nothing yet!

Compost: Just the usual.

Skill: nil need to learn how to sharpen spade etc.

Outreach: found out curtain to make another 8 school kits for MCCC. Delived stolen ham, 25 coloring kits and 50 mini hygine kits to soup kitchen. helped put in small garden for friend. Forced large amounts of seed potatoes on innocent friend. Humped what seemed like endless amounts of firewood saving for friend with who need a cord last year to heat and cook off the new potato bed where the tree cutters dumps them from my nieghbors dead tree.

Misc. Ingnored large, large heap of wood chips in from of house.

Sort of make seven.

MEA

Planted: my sweetie didn’t plant anything new in the garden that I’m aware of. However, I broadcast the oat groats with hulls still attached that I sorted out from my CSA oats. I’m not sure if they’ll grow, but I will soon be harvesting wheat that grew from doing this last year. It’s scattered all over my yard!

Preserved: Cooked up one of the last pumpkins from last fall. Will be freezing the puree leftover today after baking a couple batches of muffins for snacks.

Storing: Packed bulk foods into 5 gallon buckets with dry ice.

Prepped: Picked up more candles at a yard sale.

Managed: Collected another few boxes of clutter from about the house for yard sale this coming weekend.

Cook Something New: Merged two recipes to make so-so pumpkin pancakes.

Work on Local Food Systems: Nothing this week, but starting to think about guerilla gardening.

Compost something: Picked up 12 HUGE free bags of pine needles and oak leaves from craigslist. Adds important variety to mulch and compost.

Learned a skill: Not a new one, but will be re-learning an old one today when I remat two paintings. One will be sold, the other hung on the wall.

Thanks for getting me off my bum, Sharon! Doing something everyday really makes me think.

Harvested: nothing yet. But all our fruit trees and shrubs are in bloom; it is beautiful here. We could still get a frost, but I’m hoping not.

Preserved: nothing yet. But I’ve got DH primed to get me a pressure canner for my birthday!

Cooked new: Made polenta from millet (Italians used to use millet before corn arrived from the New World). Just cook the millet 10 minutes longer, with 1 more cup of water (for the cup of millet). Press into a pan. You could add cheese if you like. Works perfectly.

Made a pie from the last Hubbard squash, local eggs and honey, and on-hand coconut milk (I’m staying away from dairy for a while). Spices of course. It was delicious! I pat myself on the back for FINALLY using that Hubbard squash from last fall.

Prepped: stopped at a few thrift stores, bought some canning jars cheap, plus two glass gallon iced-tea jugs for practically nothing. I’ll use them for water storage in garage; they’re small enough I can carry and lift them myself.

My topbar beehive is ready to pick up. Now I’ve got to get serious on how to protect it from the Bear. I also need to pick up some beekeeping supplies; I sold everything I had many years ago.
I’m not doing this so much for the honey, but for the bees. We have a wonderful spot for bees, in a river valley, no agricultural poisons for many miles, lots of fruit shrubs and wild flowers. Honeybees need all the help we can give.

Local Food Systems: sent out the May list to our local food coop which I organized last month. I’ve used this opportunity to stock up myself too. I now have CO millet, CO quinoa, CO anasazis, CO pintos, CO garbanzos, NE popcorn, ND buckwheat, and CO whole wheat flour on hand. We’re using the delicious millet and the pintos every day.

Friends contacted me: they have a dinner group–get together once a month for a home-cooked gourmet feast. The theme this time was local foods; their responsibility was dessert. What fruit is available in Colorado in May? Nada! Except for what I have preserved. We settled on pannacotta (custard) decorated with wild plum compote (from wild plums I dried last year) and wild-grape/honey syrup (was supposed to be jelly ;-), made with honey from Colorado and wild grape from my yard. Sounds yummy!

1. plant something:
sat: out of town
sun: started weeding strawberries and asparagus
mon: transplanted basil
tue: planted 4 cauliflower, 4 green cabbage, 5 red cabbage, 2 brussels sprouts, 12 broccoli, finished weeding strawberries
wed: planted some nasturtiums, amaranth, borage, hollyhocks, calendula
thu: covered brassicas with row cover, finished planting onions, weeded horse radish, started weeding wheat feed, transplanted peppers, celery into larger containers
fri: planted 20# of potatoes with 2 little ones help, planted 5 zucchini, planted dill, parsley, cilantro, thyme, chamomile, wild tobacco, summer savory and chives, repotted holy basil and elecampagne, cut up last 20# potatoes

2. harvest something:
^harvested several wild morels found around our property and neighbor’s property
^harvested some of our asparagus
^harvested lilacs to make jelly

3. preserve something:
^made 2 batches of violet jelly
^made and froze 1 lb butter

4. prep something:
^got several sustainable gifts for my b-day this week: marcato atlas pasta maker with several attachments, butter churn, pampered chef bread pan, another large cast iron skillet and dutch oven (you can never have too many!)
^secured a load of firewood from neighbor
^searched for milk goats, berkey water filter and refrigerator (for storing extra eggs and milk)
^started reading making your small farm profitable

5. cook something:
^wild morels and homegrown asparagus were on the menu this week

6. manage your reserves:
^placed coop #1 order
^started coop #2 order which will be placed once #1 comes in next wednesday
^purchased several bottles of everclear to use for tincture making

7. work on local food systems:
^fed and watered broiler chicks several times a day (they go through food like crazy). hopefully the tractor will be completed today and we can move them out of the greenhouse and onto fresh ground.
^listed our eggs and meat on our local harvest online store
^separated seedlings to grow peppers and celery to hopefully sell to local restaurant and at market later this season

8. Compost something:
^every day, all our foods go into the compost bucket and get fed to the chickens who turn it into manure for the garden.
^i hold back apple cores, carrot ends and peels and a few other veggies scraps for goat treats
^the dog and cats eat most the meat/bone scraps (i feed fish scraps to the chickens for extra protein)

9. Learned a skill:
^tried out my new pasta maker (my daughters took turns hand cranking it)
^tried out my new butter churn (jaden tried cranking it but it was too hard for her)