Farm Friday

My chives are thriving

This week has been a great week for the farm.  We sold almost all of our produce at the farmers' market on Saturday and our customer base is growing.  Right now, baby lettuce mix and asparagus are our two best sellers.  

Yesterday, we resumed deliveries to Altavista, a town about 40 minutes north of us.  The owner of Vital Edge Nutritional Center graciously allows us to use her store as a drop point.  Last year we tried setting up a produce stand outside the store on Saturday afternoon but we didn't get many sales, so now we only do pre-orders.

For Mother's Day, I wanted to go to the grand opening of a new business in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, about an hour and a half from us.  The Honeysuckle Tea House offers a variety of teas, both hot and cold, kombucha from Asheville, handcrafted chocolate, gluten-free baked goods, and vegan soups.  For the grand opening, they gave a tour of their gardens and presented an elderberry bush to every mother. Now I just need to find a place for my new plant. 

I've been planting trays of herbs, along with a few flowers.  In one tray, I planted a variety of 4-packs and, since the basil was coming up so good, I decided to plant a whole flat of it.  I'll transplant it to one of my raised beds, plus I might sell some at the market.

We have a goose living in the pasture behind our house.  We're pretty sure she must have a nest somewhere out there and is furiously defending it.  We even saw her chasing a curious goat!

I've been pretty innovative this week.  My first light bulb moment came when we were trying to decide how to keep some of the baby lettuce mix chilled overnight.  The refrigerator in our basement was packed and our portable coolers are too small.  I came up with the idea of plugging in an empty chest freezer for a few minutes, putting some bags of ice that we had on hand in the bottom, turning it off, and then putting the bagged lettuce in baskets in the freezer.  It kept the lettuce at the perfect temperature overnight.

My second idea was to mix up a few batches of the dry ingredients for my version of Mark Bittman's no knead bread.  That way, when I want to mix up some dough the night before, all I need do is pour it into a bowl, mix in the appropriate amount of water, and cover it overnight.  That way it will be ready to go the next morning.  Here's a video explaining one way the bread is made:


Have a great weekend!