Plants, Plans and Promises – 2014, The Best Year Ever

Posted on January 12, 2014 by wagnere1

Let me preface all this by an apology and an explanation – I wrote the first half of this in October annnnnnnd failed to post it. So to expand on our last catch-up post, and give you a look at the now, here we go:

And so came and went the last market of the season. And what a long and crazy ride it was.

So, we’re a couple months behind in all this. Last you heard there was another market and a field full of weeds that we cultivated way more lucratively than the vegetables. Never fear. I sprained my ankle –thankfully the day after the last market – so I had plenty of time to catch up on some of this writing.

After a couple hard days and some help from my dear friend Steve and his trusty John Deere, we took down the problem portions of the field, cured the onions and planted the fall crops. This was all like back in August, which came and went like a whirlwind. One day it was all ragweed and despair, the next the potatoes were all dug, the later broccoli was in and we were panting in the comfort of Katie’s, noshing on burgers and shakes.

And it couldn’t have come at a better time. I picked up a Tuesday afternoon market in the Borough of Northampton and had a lovely time for a few months there. I met some hilarious potato and sweet corn folks at Twin Maples Farm, Mark the kettle corn guy, Tom the Kiffle man, Kelly at Covered Bridge and the meat and eggs couple (who loved my heirlooms) at Sah-lee. It was a challenging new market, as it seems first year markets tend to be, but there is definitely a bit of interest there. It was fun being the girl with the weird stuff – my hometown area is certainly one that wants red beefsteak tomatoes, big peppers and sweet corn, but there seems to be a market for my Hakurei turnips and ground cherries and things customers have to ask questions about. It’s neat to talk to curious people and get them out of their comfort zone, for sure.

And Victor, the borough guy who spearheaded the whole thing, is hoping for the chance to clean up the lot space we set up in and make it a cute little walk-around park for a market. I’m in. Let’s give this a shot.

At some point after I became the only vendor in the South Philly market, we jumped ship to East Falls and that market closed for the season. I was sad to leave South Philly and would love to make it back there some day, but the East Falls market welcomed us with open arms. It was a great crowd and I learned a lot about what I should be growing, and growing more of. There are some big and beautiful plans afoot for 2014.

As the season winded down my mom, aunt and I harvested the last of our available vegetables – carrots, kale, turnips, kohlrabi, broccoli and salad mix. Some went in to the freezer, and we’ve been whipping up some really amazing soups with our stashed produce. Yesterday I experimented with a Tomatillo and Squash Soup from Sunny Anderson, which I was pretty happy with.

Winter has been full of broccoli. Yummmm.

After that, I got to go on an amazing adventure to visit my sister for a couple weeks in California. We camped in Joshua Tree National Park, hiked, absconded to San Diego, and I spent more times with my feet in the sand of state parks and beaches than the rest of my life combined. It was a beautiful place, with delicious food, a rejuvenating culture and an endless amount of adventures. I saw my favorite author read, hiked the Hollywood sign, and, most importantly, recovered from the season. I came home with Jess at Thanksgiving feeling refreshed and ready to do it all over again – but this time, bigger and better.

Joshue Tree, home of some of the coolest trees on the planet.

One day I wandered Laguna Beach and pretended I was a neighbor. People had awesome mailboxes, like this one. Between this and the air plant store in Venice, I figured out how I would survive winter in PA.

Hello, Pacific.

Yeah, there was a lot of this. For hours and days.

AND NOW, TO THE PRESENT!

Winter has come. But that’s okay. The gigantic Fedco order is in. The 280-pound potato order from the Maine Potato Lady is in. The Johnny’s seed order is here and cataloged. We’re more than doubling our quantities this year, and before this winter got too cold we uprooted the greenhouse that lived next to my house this year and started to rebuild it up at the farm, now that we’ve got water and electricity up there. I’ve ordered dozens and dozens of perennial herbs on the first step toward herbal tea making. The food dehydrator is waiting to be utilized for dip and soup mixes.

Plans on plans are afoot in crop planning, and I’m looking forward to some inspiration at the upcoming PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) Farming for the Future Conference next month. I was sick for a couple weeks and spent a lot of that time sleeping, sleeping, watching my get-well hyacinth grow, preparing to move the farm supplies to the field, and sleeping.

Because plants make me happier than pretty much anything ever, and my friends have learned this.

My childhood friend Scott took me to the Pennsylvania Farm Show on Friday, where I picked up some heirloom herbs, found a honey bee course to sign up for and watched a bunch of cows cowing around. Milkshakes, grilled cheese, mushrooms. Great times abounded.

Tractor Square Dance – only at the PA Farm Show

Followed by a now regular visit to Philly to see Derek and Matthew, my former farm-mate extraordinaires, this weekend has been indicative of how awesome it is to have some down time. While I know that in a couple months I’ll have a half of year of no breaks, for now, we party on. And dream big dreams – Storefront Dreams. More on that in the next few months.

Yeah, this is Panda Calf. One of the reasons I love my job.

I mean, look at him!

I’m still working at the dairy. It’s fun. I like working with cows. And I love my employers, and not just because they tolerate my bit of insanity.

I’m still working at the Health Habits store, which I also love. I ordered an enormous box of air plants have been learning about them and making planters to sell at the store.

Air plants, or tillandsia, are members of the bromeliad family that don’t need dirt for roots. It absorbs its nutrients through the air, and you soak them in water a couple times a week and mist them to keep them alive. The lack of roots leads to some pretty simply but elegant methods of display.

Tillandsia, or air plants, don’t need soil to live. You soak them in water and mist them to help them absorb their nutrients through the air.

I was enamored with the idea of these in Philly (though admittedly I did kill my first one), and this need to do something with them was reignited at a florist’s in Venice. The store looked more like an art gallery with all these plants in very basic and beautiful displays, and I knew I wanted to do it here.

Air plants – lighting the candle in 2014

Studies show that caring for plants in a work or home setting improves your quality of life! You should get one. Or a few. For you and all your friends!

How cool looking are these?! Seriously.

Start your year off right – with an elegant, beautiful air plant for your home or office. Yeahhhhh, working on some signs like that, haha.

Prettiest drink plant. Air plants bloom at intervals I still don’t quite understand, but they are beautiful.

And last week I spent a few days farm-sitting for my neighbors while they took a much-needed vacation. Four days of feeding pigs, sheep, cats, chickens and cows – which including hand milking Nana, a beautiful and docile Ayrshire, twice a day – gave me another new perspective on small-scale family farms. And in some of the coldest days Pennsylvania has seen in years, it was a good reminder of how much work can be involved in this lifestyle – especially while schools are closed and folks are being urged to stay inside around you.

A nighttime phone photo can’t do her justice – but Nana is a pretty cow.

Hand milking into a bucket, like a boss.

The CSA forms exist on the tabs at the top of this webpage. If you have questions like, “Hey, what is a CSA?” I have that answer, too. If you are interested or have any questions, you can give me a ring or an e-mail at liz.m.wagner@gmail.com. And if you have a spot to hang an 8.5×11 poster about this in your office or coffee shop, I’ve got that, too. Let me know if you need copies of anything.

On a side note, I’m also revisiting one of major reasons I made this life switch in the first place. At the start of 2012 I stumbled across this in one of my mom’s magazines. I was feeling lousy, spending most of my time indoors and not taking care of myself. For whatever reason this particular dose of meal planning (coupled with Back on My Feet Philadelphia) really got me, and it helped drive this whole “Liz quits her job to go play in the dirt and grow vegetables” business in the first place. So, since 2014 is going to be the best year ever, and because I want to focus part of this year on really learning how to cook my produce and consume it in new ways that are fun and filling for both me and my CSA shareholders, I’m starting this again.

If you’re having trouble motivating yourself in the weather, or you’re not feeling great about your body or your head space, give this a whirl. At the very least you’ll experiment with some food in new ways. And hey, if you like it, maybe you’ll want some Crooked Row veggies from the CSA this year. Eh?

After the challenges and stress and excitement and everything of 2013, I’m looking forward to 2014 with open eyes and an open heart. This is going to be the best year ever. I can feel it looking at seed catalogs, filing paperwork, waking up in the morning. Thank you for coming along on the next chapter of the adventure.

Hugs, Breatharian Plants and CSA Shares,

Farmer Liz

Crooked Row, A Fall and Winter Recap: We Survived and Thrived!

Posted on December 28, 2013 by wagnere1

I had a whole giant post about our adventures over the last few months, and it’s on my laptop, which has been in the shop for the last few weeks. What you need to know most is that we survived and conquered and are feeling great about the 2014 season.

Sooooooooooooo in case you were wondering what happened since July, here’s our recap!

We made a switch from the South Philly market to the East Falls Market, courtesy of Farm to City. It was the best move for us – we really thrived and gathered a home base for in this young market. The McCanns Farm and the crafters were awesome to work with.
We added a Tuesday market in the Borough of Northampton, near home. It was a first-time market but folks seemed really interested in what we had to offer. Grandma Wagner came with food and to hang out often, which was lovely. Fingers crossed we’ll be returning here, and maybe to another weekday market, in 2014.
Our CSA folks seemed to be happy with their season! This was the biggest accomplishment of all. We’re hoping to expand the CSA shares this season. You can find information about the forthcoming CSA here, and see our agreement which you can print and mail in with your payment here.
Oh yes, we canned. We canned and canned and canned SO MANY TOMATOES. So if you need tomatoes for whatever, holler at me.
In the last couple months of the farm work my aunt came on Fridays to help with the harvest for the Saturday market. Folks at the store I work at want potatoes – but we sold out! It was great to have such support. My friends continued to stop by and help and encourage, which was a much-needed and priceless boost.
We’re hoping to pick up some new merch in the upcoming season. I got a food dehydrator for Christmas and ordering dozens of herbs so we’re hoping to put together some soup mixes, dip mixes, and tea as additional market items. Look out, world!
My mom and I feel great. She looks great and is happy and is ready to be outside again for next season. I’ve already ordered 280 pounds of potatoes, which is three times more than last year’s planting. With actual irrigation, a working tractor and less part-time jobs, this farm is going to thrive. After two weeks in California in November, I can home refreshed and ready for more vegetables and varieties and markets and new CSA friends. And we’re psyched to bring all this to you!

Once the laptop is up, I will pass along our full road to recovery. But this is really all you need to know; we’re still here, we’re happy to be here, and we’re ready for more. See you in 2014.

Remember How The Blog Stops In Summer?

Posted on July 26, 2013 by wagnere1

It’s kind of like that, year two.

It’s weedy. Last week was insurmountably hot. I am still halfheartedly irrigating due to lack of electricity. The tomatoes are finally turning their appropriate colors. People are digging our sweet, sweet sungolds and the Borough of Northampton is all about lemon cucumbers. Oh, did I mention I picked up another market?

Okay, let’s try this again.

The Philly market is shaky right now. My partner orchard bailed so it’s just going to be me hanging out with you Philly folks, so get your friends to come buy some stuff. We may be moving over toward Front and Carpenter, I’ll keep you posted. And this week I just picked up a market on Tuesday nights in the Borough of Northampton, right on Main Street in front of the Roxy Theatre (for all you hometown folks). So come visit there, too. Or Health Habits! There’s always a couple items there, and I’m finally getting into the swing of adding recipes to products.

Weeds. They are everywhere and growing so fast. Ragweed has overtaken the world. It is a pain to pull and is, in some places, taller than me. Quickweed is overshadowing most of the greens (though the lettuce is so better it’s all a lost cause here anyway).

I have had some amazing friends and family help carry me through this month. Folks checking in, cooking meals and experimenting with vegetables, helping weed while they’re on vacation. You are all so amazing, and I’m so grateful to have you in my life. And for those choice folks (read: uncles who are putting off their vacations because they don’t want to get tricked into doing farm work while they’re here – looking at you, DAVE), you’ll be sad you missed the vegetables.

Lauren made us some amazing pizza two weekends ago. I want to include her master recipes here along with the beautiful shots of her.

CROOKED ROW PIZZA!
By Warrior-Librarian and Farm Friend Lauren Balliet

Pizza Dough
Makes two thin crusts or 1 thick

1 ½ C white flour
1 ½ C whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 packet yeast
1 C water or leftover whey
1 tbsp sugar or honey

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and add the water and oil. Stir in bowl until it begins forming a soft dough – don’t be afraid to add more water/whey to get it to the right consistency. Knead 10 minutes on a lightly-floured countertop and let is rise for an hour or until doubled in size. If you’re in a rush, you can skip the rise- with it just won’t develop as much yeasty flavor.

Preheat the oven to 425. Baking stone or 10” cast-iron skillet inside. Roll out dough and have your toppings read. Remove your stone/skillet. Transfer dough and top as desired and pop back in the oven for 10-20 minutes, until cheese is melted and lightly-browned and edges of dough are crisp.

PIZZA TOPPINGS!
Use any combination of the following for some amazing pizza toppings. Conveniently, all of these ingredients are available at Crooked Row Farm!

-Sliced Patty Pan or Yellow Crookneck Squash (the Patty Pan is a bit sweeter roasted on top)
-Chopped kale, spinach, arugula or chard (red dandelion or endive will work if you are also using tomato sauce to cut its bitter taste)
-Halved Sungold Cherry Tomatoes
-Basil, Parsley or other tasty herbs
-Chopped and roasted garlic or scapes

Ricotta

1 gallon whole milk (not ultra-pasteurized – look for a local brand if possible)
¾ C distilled vinegar
Salt (optional)

Combine liquids in large pot on the stove and heat on medium, stirring gently a few times until it’s just about to boil. Take off heat and let sit for 20 minutes. You should have a raft of curds sitting on top of why. Using a skimmer or slotted spoon, gently transfer curds to a colander lines with cheesecloth (or an old pillowcase or cotton t-shirt). Let drain 5-30 minutes, depending how thick you want your ricotta. 10 works well. Transfer to bowl and stir in salt to taste.

Use your leftover acid whey…

-In place of water or milk in bread, pizza dough and other savory baked good to add extra protein and make them chewy.
-To boil your pasta
-As a stock for soup
-To water your acid-loving plants like blueberries and hydrangeas (but dilute it first!)

So hey, there we go. I love you, I love vegetables, and hopefully when things slow down I can be more attentive to both. Until then, keep checking in. At the very least I’ll try to post lots of happy vegetable photos and recipes.

Love,

Farmer Liz

Toiling and Growing – The June Edition

Posted on June 25, 2013 by wagnere1

I’d forgotten June 2012. How quickly the weeds grew, how quickly the plants grew, how easy it became to get behind with work. Yep, we’re here.

Once there were onions in my field below the greens. Allegedly they’re still there. My mom spent the hours while I was at market yesterday toiling through a row of them, hand weeding through the heat of the afternoon. She stood up to leave and claims she couldn’t tell what she had done. This is going to be a regular feeling for the next few weeks while we fight the good fight against the fast-growing yellow nut sedge (of course, the biggest patch is in the onion field), quickweed, pigweed and the abundance of broad leaf bastards that are trying to overshadow our transplants with all their might.

Other pests include: The tomato horn worm, that cool but sneaky looking punk who eats all my plants. EDIT: As the worst farmer ever, someone finally pointed out to me that I’m a fool, and this is one o’ dem parsley-eating catepillars that turns into a swallowtail butterfly. I have a tomato hornworm picture somewhere that I’ll actually put up when I find it.

2) Distracting farmers and their motorcycles who want to come do work for free…oh wait. That is the opposite of a pest.

And the war wages on. For the first time in my life I look forward to the fall, when a good frost will freeze the quickweed in its tracks, and I’ll awake to pick kales and fall brassicas amidst its brown, dead foliage. It’s the little things…

But the vegetables and the market (for me) are growing by leaps and bounds. This week mulberries, peas and my first handful of summer squash flew off the tables. A man came into the stand asking after sorrel for a recipe he’s been holding onto for months. When I showed him my bags of it he threw his arms out and embraced me in his excitement. It’s hard to describe the hilarity/satisfaction/excitement of these kinds of interactions, but it’s a rush for sure.

Mama Wagner sorting alliums!

Radishes and spring onions getting pretty for market.

A radish wreath for all you watermelon radish fans

Scapes!

I still can’t convince folks that endive is the greens wave of the future, but I know we’ll get there (it’s all in the balsamic, I hear, to make this one edible and delicious. Or hot bacon dressing ,if you are of the PA Dutch persuasion – as my mother and her side of the family will swear by).

Everything is growing quickly except my tomatoes, which need irrigation. As you may recall from previous posts, I’ve been struggling with this from the start. The massive amounts of rain over the past few weeks worked for me up on the hill, but hurt some of my friends who had potatoes in standing water for days (as I did with some beans and the onions/weeds in the flat grounds). However, New Tripoli’s well-draining dirt means it’s time for more water, and I don’t have it just yet. Paper Bear Wagner took a generator up to the property to work with the well pump as we still don’t have electricity, and this afternoon we’re going to give it a whirl with the irrigation supplies I inherited from Keith and Tim. With the free drip lines, layflat and a prayer, we may have water. Which means we’ll have tomatoes!

Red potatoes!

Carola potatoes! White flowers.

Blue potato flowers – not to be confused with red potato flowers

Our pretty flower patch

THE FIRST SUNFLOWER

My chard is so pretty it looks like flowers.

Walking through the field is instantly calming. I’ve been ripping out tent ads from newspaper flyers, toying with the idea of overnighting up there for my mental health. I’ll pull the trigger on this soon, I expect, once I start sleeping again. Trying to juggle the farm work with a social life is working, but just barely, and involves a lot of late night adventures and early morning return trips. Which can mean slower pick days and planting days and weeding unless I morph into full-on Diesel Mode. Working on this. The store’s New Chapter ‘s Perfect Energy Multivitamin is carrying me through today (in a futile attempt to cut back on coffee).

But it’s an exciting time to play in the dirt. The calendula and cosmos and sunflowers are starting to bloom. The squash is growing big and beautiful . Mom and I are combating the Colorado Potato Beetles as best we can, trying to keep that beautiful potato foliage and flowers as pretty and healthy as possible. Glenn and I did some fairly-unsafe tractor maneuvering to sort of hill those suckers, and I’ve dug up a couple – they look great.

Okay, less talk and more photos. Huzzah!

Asparagus flowers!

Took this bad boy for a spin last week. Sadly, it doesn’t work so well on my hills. Apparently the answer is a bigger one…

Oh, and come out to the market at South and Passyunk on Saturdays, 10-2. I’ve got raw cheese, artisan bread, duck and chicken eggs, heritage grain flour and ALL THE VEGETABLES YOU WILL EVER NEED. I got snap peas and squash this week. Nom nom nom.

To Market. To Market (The Self-Employed Reprise) and Hey, Look at all these Vegetables!

Posted on June 4, 2013 by wagnere1

I’ve been thinking about trying to describe the rush of emotions I had at our first market on Saturday. There was the nerves, of course – anyone who knows me is aware that I can be a neurotic mess when prompted. Then there was the overwhelming excitement that comes with traveling to a market with food that you grew, which was a feeling I succumbed to every Wednesday morning at Keith’s Farm as we headed off to NYC.

But Saturday was all that and more. As Liv hopped up into my truck in Manayunk, pumped to come set up at market, I felt so proud to have something of my own like this to even be thrilled about. As my CSA-ers and friends came to pick up their shares and check out the stand, their energy and their excitement for their food (and for some, even their surprise at how good the stand looked) was so invigorating.

Liv, the world’s cutest market girl.

We set up right in front of my truck on South and Passyunk. It’s convenient and easy and a great location.

But the most overwhelming feeling of the day was gratitude. With every sale, with every smile, with every question and every customer that walked into the stand, I felt this leap of gratitude in my chest. My friends from college and my old office job and my running group believe in me. Strangers looking for good produce or just wandering Passyunk are intrigued at what this farm has to offer. Bob and Jana, the Farm to City folks, where impressed with the stand layout and the vegetables. The other vendors were all fabulous people, and we’re a good mix for a small market. I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity.

Get your tasty spring onions and bitter greens.

Market Girl Liv. At Keith’s Chelsea and I were the only girls last year, and we were often sent separately to fill the girl role at the stand (some say that people trust women with food more – clearly they haven’t had my cooking). It was relieving and cool to be able to restock and talk to people about the produce while Liv did the charming retail work.

Who knew yard saled DVD racks would be so handy? Folks loved this display, and we sold an incredible amount of transplants at our first market.

The first market was successful in so many ways, and a great learning experience. I know more of what I need to be doing in terms of quantity, variety, and layout. I have a better understanding of what people are looking for and what they are willing to spend. And I have an interested customer base that, with any luck, will continue to grow in the area.

To all of you who have followed this adventure, or bought into the CSA, or will wander through the market some time this year, thank you. You are the people who make this whole crazy and exhausting life so rewarding. And I can’t wait to continue to bring you excellent goods.

Baby patty pan!

All this good energy came out into the field this week, too. Suddenly we have squash coming on, some of the most beautiful lettuces, and all sorts of greenhouse babies ready to be planted into the ground. It’s a beautiful process, and I hope we can continue on this local food road together.

This is what asparagus looks like when it ferns out and flowers!

I can’t wait for Saturday, and all the Saturdays to come. And I can’t wait to show you the farm – come up and see this place. The rows are crooked and we’re starting to get into the weed wars, and I’ll probably try to put you to work, but I would love to share this journey with you.

Oh my gosh, market is tomorrow!

Posted on June 1, 2013 by wagnere1

Or rather, market is in a few hours. May has vanished almost right out from under me – but thankfully the plants keep growing no matter how lost at sea I happened to be feeling.

Here is a photo montage to make up for the last couple weeks of silence. We’ve got salad from a farmer’s market launch party in Manayunk, all sorts of growing veg and all that good stuff. Cheers! I’ll have a full report on market this weekend.

Monday Farming in Real and Rainy Time

Posted on April 30, 2013 by wagnere1

I am cold and wet and tired, and I am running.

The legs of my jeans are soaked through and caked with about an inch of mud. Each one of my muck boots has a crack at the big toe where, with each down step, an ooze of muddy water seeps in. My sweatshirt is filthy, and I can feel dried flecks of mud crack on my cheeks as I scrunch my face up to keep water out of my eyes.

I should mention that I’m also belting “Dancing with Myself” at the top of my lungs as I tear through the wet field. Because you need to know that I am enjoying all of this. Keith would kill me right now, I think to myself, watching my boot sink another couple inches into the path between the rows I am planting. He hated us walking on wet fields, compacting the soil. But sometimes these things just can’t be helped. My windows of opportunity to do field work – especially work that won’t require me to water in transplants with the tank on the back of my truck, are truly limited. It has been so dry, and the seedlings haven’t been too excited to be hanging out and growing in the field. But they are drinking this up.

Yep. That’s right.

It’s been raining since midnight. I’m stoked. For days I have been filling this giant white 275-gallon water tank ¼ of the way up on the back of my truck and driving out to the fields to do work and water. So I look like this giant camel-turtle monster truck riding around the Lehigh Valley. It’s unfortunate and not super-efficient, and I’ve been doing it as sparingly as possible, but we are still well-less and the soil on the slope is well-draining and dries out even quicker from the wind we’ve had. So you work with what’s been dealt.

It’s a camel? It’s a tortoise? It’s my very confused truck.

This morning I got up and by 6:30am had ordered my much-needed exhaust fan for the greenhouse and several boxes of tomato twine. I seeded in the greenhouse, prepped for some work later and headed off to the field for the day.

The tomatoes say, “hey.”

These teenage onions are almost ready to rock and roll in the real world.

Okay. I have an hour to pack up, drive home, un-mud, unpack, shower, eat and get to my retail job. No problem. I throw my boots in the back (realizing only too late that I’ll now have to get out in my socks to close my gate), strip out of my muddy jeans and toss them back there too (I’ve been wearing shorts underneath my work clothes for just such occasions), and roll out. I switch between rewinding the Billy Idol tape for “Dancing With Myself” a couple more times and the two local pop stations. There is something really fun about being a short, muddy lady driving around in a beat-up Chevy and blasting Taylor Swift’s angry break-up songs or some other party girl specials Something I could never really have appreciated until this moment in my life.

Chelsea, my only female cohort from Keith’s last year, called from Africa while I was down in the dirt. Talking to her while I dumped soil amendments into holes and planted was almost like being back in New York after she arrived on the scene. She loves her job and her dog and her life, and it was incredible to catch up with her. She referred to me as “crazy,” the second former coworker to do so (Derek called me that several times as The Tomato Boys and I planted potatoes with no tractor help Saturday) – soooooo I’m taking it as a compliment. I do feel crazy some of the time, but the satisfaction after hours outside and seeing what I can do alone totally outweighs that scared, flying-without-a-net feeling. Most of the time.

Thankfully, I’ve reconnected with some local friends that have been nothing short of miraculous. They take me to the movies and to grab beers and text me questions like “How long has it been since you’ve seen people?” They offer to help build things and work. I am trying to balance being a sociable adult with work, and last week proved I could do it – if you count twelve hours of sleep last night to catch up as an acceptable trade-off. Oh, and did I mention my awesome boss Ed is letting me sell plants at the store? Also you can find at out stop the finest grass from Artificial Grass Vancouver.

Ready-to-plant greens are here! Come and get ’em.

“Mony Mony” starts and I hit rewind on the tape. Again. We planted the Carola and Mountain Rose potatoes Saturday, followed by lunch at the ’50s diner down the road. So that’s lettuce, arugula, kales and chards, endive, mesclun patches, sorrel, herbs, beets, sweet corn, flowers, spinach, garlic, set onions and spring turnips in the ground right now. Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of my move to Keith’s Farm last year, and it was nice to lounge about and have a couple root beers in the field with folks who knew me as “the new girl.” I could never go back to the lifestyle of that farm, but I’ll always be grateful for what I learned there in and out of the field.

Okay, wolf down the cold pizza, unload empty trays, take a shower and go. Tonight I’m going to try out SquareSpace.com and make a website. Tomorrow is the dairy and more rainy farming. Can’t wait to see my lady boss and the cows and can’t wait to roll around in the mud again. And then off to the Extension organic vegetable class trip to Liberty Gardens in Coopersburg. Rinse and repeat.

If you had told me then where I would be now…well, I might have believed you. But only just.

“As we get older every day feels longer, and although I know I’ll struggle I will do my best to never get tired.” – Jeff Rosenstock, Bomb the Music Industry

Hey, What Happened to April?

Posted on April 24, 2013 by wagnere1

Somewhere along the way April came and went. But we’ve go so much done that it’s almost okay that it feels like a whole month has just vanished.

The family has been converging to work on a bunch of different projects up at the property almost daily (Glenn has his real person sized Tonka Toy set to prep his ground for the future retirement home), but yesterday we all rallied farm-side for some afternoon work. Mom weeded the garlic, Glenn dug a trench for 24 blueberrry bushes, and I planted mesclun, sorrel, flowers, fretted over the transplants and watered.

Oh, and Strider watched. He is getting better at walking on the baths and not through the seeded and transplanted areas. He was very excited about the blueberries, clearly.

It’s been amazing to watch things grow – even more so than at Keith’s since these are all my plant babies. We have a bunch of greens in the ground, carrots and beets and peas seeded, and the garlic is already coming up. But it’s nerve wracking as well. I don’t want these guys to get too cold or eaten by the wiley groundhogs up there. There’s a lot of factors at play I don’t have any or very little control over, and it has been challenging to just deal with that.

I’m super stoked about these blueberry plants. They are already so beautiful. We planted them inside the fence – Glenn dug a trench with his New Holland, mom collected bags of pine needles to lay in the bottom of the trench and mulch around the top, and I bought some Espoma soil acidifyer to help amend the PH levels since blueberries prefer crazy acidic soil.

My dear former roommate Olivia became the first non-Wagner to come do some work at the farm. It was also to show someone around and get excited. She planted broccoli raab and mesclun and lettuces, and as of yesterday they were all chugging along nicely. It was so great to have someone from college and Philly and everything before come up and see what’s happening here and be excited. Plus, she’s just the best.

And there it is again! Ruby streaks mustard, please grow big and don’t get eaten.

My friend Lauren as here a few weeks ago also on a rare trip home from New Haven, and she helped me seed in the greenhouse and then we went for a run.I realized how awesome it was to have girlfriends around, and I miss them terribly. Lauren and I have signed up for a run together for Back on My Feet in July, and I hope I’m together enough by then to make this all work.

Mom has been doing tons of whatever needs to be done. Hands down the best co-worker I could have asked for. She brings my car so Strider can come up (he’s hurt himself somehow so he can’t jump up into my truck right now), leaves to check on the greenhouse when she needs a break, and does everything from seeding to weeding garlic. She’s just the best.

Grandma Wagner even came up to plant peas and give me some grandma advice.

A couple weeks back I went north to pick up some food-grade, 275-gallon water storage takes in lieu of us not having electricity for a well yet, and since I was halfway to Keith’s farm packed his blueberries and headed up for a visit.He’s got a room full of set onions and potatoes, and enjoying having his new manager. He’s trying celery this year and incorporating broccoli raab into his rotation (go us!), and was excited to hear about my projects. He was looking forward to the arrival of his interns – who started work Monday. Derek and Matt and are back and have already created the New Boyhouse in the trailer.

I spent the night in New York with Jay at Peace and Carrots, the farm he is starting with his friend and former Keith’s Farm intern Laura. They’re using some of Laura’s family’s land for a CSA, and they’ve already been written up in Chester’d Dirt Magazine. At the time I visited, Jay was living in a camper while they built a shed/house to live in, and he was tending the greenhouse was Lara was away. They have a woodstove in there for heat and some happy looking plugs. We drank coffee and stayed up for hours talking about what we were nervous and excited about, and bounced ideas and planting notes off each other. It’s hard to explain how amazing it is to know someone pretty much in the same boat – I feel like I’m texting him a few times a week now with questions and to compare progress.

Matthew has his own projects in the works while he’s working at home in Massachusetts as well. He sent me some pictures of the cold frame he built to grow some vegetables. He is doing a small CSA of his own, and hopefully that bum gets down here to visit soon (because visitnig means free labor – you have all been warned).

The deer fence is up and functioning at 8,000 volts produced by a solar powered energizer. Mom and I put the whole thing up ourselves, and Glenn tweaked our end post so it wouldn’t short out. The fence is around about half the field – most of what I’ll be using to start. The alliums are off on their own because they don’t really get eaten. And after a bit more tweaking, hopefully today, I’ll have the end pushed out to incorporate a tractor path and I won’t have to do anything else but remember to shut it off before I shock myself (again) when I’m in there working.

The fence is up and working!

The greenhouse is well. The onions had a couple haircuts – a Keith trick to make stockier stems – the squash and zucchini is almost ready to be planted, and I’ve set up some plants to go out into the world as potted plants for sale. Going to try that tomorrow at the store, so we’ll see if folks are interested in gardening with kale and broccoli raab and arugula. I put together the Earthway Seeder and have used it for carrots, radishes, beets and spinach. The peas are starting to germinate, so I guess I’m doing it right!

Earthway Seeder! It rules.

Peas!

People are signing up for the CSA! I am so honored and excited and ready to bring you all delicious vegetables. If you’re looking for more info about that, I have some side and top links on this blog that link to the information and CSA agreement.

In other news, I’m moonlight (sunrising?) at a dairy farm, and have been for about a month now. I totally love it.I am now quick enough to dodge a swift cow kick, I have a whole new understanding of how the milking process works, and my boss and her family are really sweet and lovely folks. It’s a dairy right near my house that has over 100 cows – somewhere between 80 and 90 that need to be milked twice a day. The farm sells its milk to Land O’ Lakes, and they are a couple generation dairy farm. It has been fun to learn and work like this so early in the morning, and they’ve been great with everything from offering insight into the new farmer/old farmer mind sets and offering advice on everything from farmer’s markets to Lancaster Farmer articles to read to where to get the most affordable soil amendments.

Feeding heifers. They are so hungry!

And did I mention the calves and cows are super cute?

The other day Mom, Strider and I sat up where her house is going up and watched the sun set. It was incredible. And now that things are coming together, none of us can wait to be full-time farmers.

Chisel Plows, Seedlings and Getting a Move On

Posted on March 26, 2013 by wagnere1

Papa Bear Glenn gets his tractor on.

Saturday found my father and I seated in his Case IH , with him operating the chisel plow while I tucked myself up on the side of the cab to navigate, trying not to get launched out the back window pushes out but doesn’t lock (don’t tell the folks at my upcoming tractor safety course). Together, we plowed the south-facing slope of my hill.

Back by popular demand – more Strider pictures! He is wondering how the mechanics of a chisel plow work.

The chisel plow is attached to the back of the tractor with a three-point hitch. It’s actually amazing we got this done Saturday, because we started the morning missing the top link to this hitch. Thankfully, after a handful of phone calls to various tractor supply stores around the county, we found one a couple miles from the farm.

The plow is lowered into the ground and digs up the soil a couple feet down, which in this case was a cover crop of medium red clover.

Glenn and I rode together up in his tractor. He drove and I navigated.

My mom and I measured out tractor paths before we started to plow, so there are several sections where we left clover growing to act as a natural erosion barrier and tractor path for both sized tractors and to limit soil compaction. Unlike some chisels, ours is wide enough that two of the teeth run behind the tractor wheels, preventing compaction and wheel paths.

We let the ground set for a week, giving the organic matter time to break down, and then we’ll go through with the disc to chop of the ground further and smooth and even the areas into workable seed beds. We were missing the hydraulics in the disc, so we’ll be watching the mail and waiting for that to arrive before we can move on. This is just one way to prepare ground. Folks use rototillers or a number of other tractor equipment to similar results, but we decided this would be the most effective with the least amount of negative impact on the ground. Plus, Glenn had a bunch of fun dragging that sucker around the property.

And at the end of the day, we had a plowed field.

Beautiful, no?

Last night I drafted my CSA agreement. It’ll be out for the public later today after some experience CSA-purchasers give it a once over. I’m going to be at an Ambler market, and it looks like we’ll be starting in Mid-May. And I have seedlings in the greenhouse that make me smile whenever I walk in.

Who’s excited for broccoli raab?!

Good morning, little onions!

Yesterday I built a propagation box for tomatoes and peppers. It’s similar to the heating beds, but in a smaller space and with soil instead of sand. The orange cable is buried in the soil and will keep the ground warm. I’ll seed tomatoes and peppers directly into that box, and as the seedlings grow I will transplant them into individual cells.

Painstakingly setting up the soil heating cables in the tomato and pepper propagation box. The wires can’t touch or cross or they short out (or so I’ve heard).

Okay, tomatoes. Let’s do this.

I also had the opportunity to hang out with some area farmers Sunday night, which was awesome and welcoming and delicious. My friends Mario and Steph, who I met at the Greenmarket last summer, invited me to Eckerton Hill, Tim Stark’s incredible farm over in Berks County, for a farm dinner with their co-workers and Tim. One seafood soup, mesclun mix, roasted carrots and escarole later, my stomach was full and my energy rekindled. Tim and I talked about growing up in this area (his employees are transplants and find our PA-Dutch heavy world quite amusing), and everyone was curious about my endeavors and encouraging. It was a blast. They have a winter CSA, an upcoming summer CSA, a market stand in Union Square and numerous restaurant relationships that carry the farm.

Their small greenhouse on the property where we had dinner is full of thousands of seedlings, kohlrabi, lettuce heads and amazing greens. It was invigorating to see. And Mario used to be a chef in Manhattan, so his food (and recipes, some of which are on the farm’s website), are incredible.

I am about to head off to my new part-time dairy gig – more on that in an upcoming post. I’m hoping this will help me diversify my skills and will help me learn how to work with bigger animals, which is something I’ve never done before. But we’re rocking and rolling up here in the Lehigh Valley and can’t wait to start working this ground.

The beautiful and peppery ruby streaks mustard. Get ready.

-Farmer Liz

Why My College Made It Okay For Me To Become A Farmer

Posted on March 22, 2013 by wagnere1

La Salle University celebrated its 150^th anniversary on Wednesday. The basketball team also won beat Boise State in March Madness, an opportunity the school hasn’t had in something like 25 years.

I don’t care about sports. Never did. But yesterday, with all the buzz in the world about my alma mater, I couldn’t help but feel excited. When I saw my two of my oldest and dearest friends at my hometown gas station –Lauren and Kevin, who met in high school, went to La Salle, convinced me to go to La Salle, and just got married –I realized for the first time how proud I am to be a graduate from that school.

La Salle made it okay for me to care. I had spent my previous teen years investing my overbearing maternal energies into emotionally-disheveled high school boys with guitars. Now I had places to write and service trips to apply to, University Ministry and Service groups to join – and yes, emotionally-disheveled college boys with guitars to kiss – but there was a whole new world at that school, and a whole city outside the school to explore.

It was the first time outside of my home that I was really encouraged to take ownership of my world and my life. If I didn’t like something, I could change it. I could help improve my environment. I wasn’t sure how to start as a nervous freshman, but when Rob Kirkner, a sophomore on my floor, pushed me to join Project Appalachia, I felt like I was starting something incredible. And that feeling hasn’t stopped.

The service trips were also the first time I realized, “Hey, I really like building things, being outside and working with my hands.” Sorry, com and English degrees/

There’s really no way for me to write this without sounding hokey. But at the core of La Salle, though sometimes admittedly it can be hard to see, is a school based on creating generations of people who want to make the world a better place for everyone – and you can’t say that about very many institutions. It’s a bit of an anomaly because this school has created a whole offshoot of alums who have moved on to professional service work, – they’ve grown into Lasallians in many respects, but may never be able to financially support the establishment from whence they came (but that’s what the business school is for, right?). Lasallians are people who fundraise for good causes in their spare time, are friendly to strangers and hold the door for passerby. And this is the kind of person I want to be for the rest of my life.

Through my four years of college, I met some of the most upstanding and excellent people I could have ever hoped to meet. Many of my closest friends coordinated service trips, ran student groups, joined cancer walks and hunger runs. They’ve gone on to run and aid social services across the world, became teachers, started families moved into graduate schools so they can run future projects or political campaigns to try to fashion some change in this world, are active in their local communities.

My freshmen roommates and RA, who have gone on to be amazing people.

La Salle women are some of the toughest, strongest women in town.

These people are beyond amazing, and yet they still have time to make me feel proud of myself and what I’ve wandered off to do. There have been over half a dozen instances where I find an e-mail or a Facebook message from an old friend or acquaintance from school who has stumbled upon this blog or heard I was farming and wanted to wish me luck and share their hopes for success. Some of my professors have been following my adventures and offer the most heartening well-wishes for me. La Salle’s alumni magazine and one of my great friends ran an article (albeit with some outrageously embarrassing photos) about my journey into farming. Frank Cervone, my former employer and a La Salle grad himself, helped me see that the path to your destiny isn’t always clear, and he sent me from his offices with his blessing and a box of gardening tools for my crazy farm dreams. The guy I dated for four years still continues to be my biggest sidelines fan, and he is preparing to start his own quest to save the city, and I couldn’t be prouder.

La Salle gave me the chance to work with some awesome people (like Sam), and hold leadership positions in organizations – which I probably couldn’t have done at any other school.

These are people who are excited to be a part of their community, whether it be as a Lasallian or a Philadelphian or simply just a person making the smallest difference in the world. These are the people who keep me moving forward when I get scared, remind me of my mission and who make me believe that I can really do this. They are the ones who taught me how to be a courteous neighbor, an enthusiastic motivator, a wannabe game-changer, a steward of the earth. They greenlit this farm before I knew what I wanted to do. And now that I know, when I hear the name of my school – whether it’s in some morning sports broadcast, a hike gone amok or in regards to its anniversary, I feel nothing but gratitude for the opportuitnies I had and continue to have because of it. I finally get that freshmen lanyard. I am La Salle.

Thanks, La Salle, for thinking I’m worth TWO pages in the Alumni Magazine.

Farmer Liz

An organic journey in the Lehigh Valley

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Plants, Plans and Promises – 2014, The Best Year Ever

Crooked Row, A Fall and Winter Recap: We Survived and Thrived!

Remember How The Blog Stops In Summer?

Toiling and Growing – The June Edition

To Market. To Market (The Self-Employed Reprise) and Hey, Look at all these Vegetables!

Oh my gosh, market is tomorrow!

Monday Farming in Real and Rainy Time

Hey, What Happened to April?

Chisel Plows, Seedlings and Getting a Move On

Why My College Made It Okay For Me To Become A Farmer