I just had to share a couple more shots of the two girls who made it all possible in case you the reader don't make it to the gallery. These were some sunflowers we grew for a cover crop, selling a few at market. This is Melissa  a strong and dependable worker who grew so many of the vegetables that fed people this season.

Here is Kelly, finally out from behind the camera for her own shot in the sunnies.
Check out a few more 2012 shots down towards the bottom of the page in the gallery .

One final shot from the excellence of summer. Tomatoes,

 sunset.  

End of Season

Clemens Here,

Apologies for not writing more but farming season does not lend itself well to blogging. I will be adding some of the seasons best photos courtesy of our resident photographer, Kelly. Please, check them out in gallery.  I will also try to add thoughts and stories from the season in the coming months of down time. 

The season is wrapping up, leaves on the ground, squash in bins and onions tucked in boxes. The tomatoes were just torn up today and the irrigation drip line rolled  for use next year. Time has opened its brief window for assessment of the year and planning for the next. 

I would have to say this was the most difficult year yet. The lack of rain for six weeks tapped every resource, both physical and monetary. The irrigation system was upgraded to cover the entire farm, four acres now. That of course meant laying the lines for this endeavor and keeping pumps running late into the night to accomplish getting water to the four zones the system was separated into. In dry weather like that, by the time the last zone had been watered the first was ready to be done again. It was, "make or break" in that plants grew great with water and died a under a scorching sun without. 

It was a great season. The CSA was larger and better fed then ever. The members gave positive feed back which was always encouraging. The market stands were larger and better stocked through the entire season. All in all the hard work of surviving the drought payed strong dividends in both satisfied CSA members and success at market. 

I could not have asked for a better crew to do all this with. Kelly and Melisa were tough from first hour to  friday 12th hour. The fun, laughter and hard work we shared will linger with me for a lifetime. I hope to have them back some season as they have both expressed interest in continuing in agriculture. It seems these young ladies have some of their own adventures to pursue but they know the door is always open to them at Solstice Hill Farm.  

Special thanks to all our CSA members without whom non of this would have gotten off ( in ) the ground in the spring. Much appreciation needs to be expressed to our dedicated customers at the Saturday Delmar and Gloversville farmers markets. It makes it all worthwhile when folks not only come each week, rain or shine, but say when they come that we have the best stuff around. We work hard to produce the freshest, best tasting, most nutritiouse veggies possible and we're glad it shows. 

Farm News - May 14, 2012

Greetings from Solstice Hill! 

lovely lettuce in the greenhouse

Kelly here, with a bit of an update -- with the warm weather so early this year, the season is definitely getting under way. The first CSA pickup date is June 12, and will continue through November. We will also be at the market in Gloversville and Delmar again this year.

artichoke plants

This week was occupied, as always, with myriad tasks and activities. I am very excited about the mushrooms we started on last week. Although they won't fruit until the fall at the earliest (we may have to wait until next spring), it's always fun to try new things. We have inoculated several logs with shiitake mushroom spores, and will be working on oyster and lion's mane mushrooms as well. The inoculated logs are stacked in the woods, and we are working to keep them moist and happy.

a sea of tomato plants

We have lots of crops in the field. Last week we transplanted the summer squash, corn, and potatoes and seeded some beds of arugula, carrots, and spinach. Already coming up in the field are the peas, which are growing nicely and we trellised this week, beets, swiss chard, parsley, cilantro, turnips, daikon and regular radish, scallions, six types of onions, two types of kohlrabi, two types of cabbage, three types of kale and of course plenty of lettuce!

Coming up on our planting schedule are cucumbers, tomatoes, fennel, parsnips, brussels sprouts, and celery.

We have been working with a new tool, a raised-bed maker, by Nolts. It pulls and piles the earth behind the tractor, then smooths the edges and the top for a clean surface. This raised bed makes it a bit easier to hoe, and the extra inches are good for drainage, while giving the plants roots lots of room to grow. 

a forest of fennel

It takes a bit of time to understand the quirks of any new equipment, and this is certainly no exception. Personally I am enjoying getting to know the tools from their start at Solstice Hill, and really enjoying learning all this great place and people have to teach me!

A New Apprentice

Hello all! Kelly here, the first apprentice to arrive at Solstice Hill for the 2012 season. Melissa will be joining us this weekend. There is, of course, lots of work to do, and we are excited to get a larger crew and really get the ball rolling.

I arrived almost two weeks ago from New York City, where I have lived for the past year and a half. I studied English Literature and Film at SUNY Binghamton, but my love of fresh good food led me down a different path than what my undergraduate focus may suggest.

Spending time in the service industry in New York and working in customer service allowed me to focus my long-term goals. After extensive soul-searching, a future in farming emerged as a likely outlet for my interests and values. Hard work out-of-doors appeals to my body's yearning for exercise and growth, while the constant changes and challenges of agriculture stimulate my mental facilities.

Having been here for just two weeks, I have already learned so much. In the first week, I was lucky enough to witness the complete cycle of plant growth: seeding, preparing beds, transplanting, and of course, weeding... I convinced Clemens to pick a small salad for dinner on Friday night and voila! The farm-to-table loop was complete. Now I am settling in and getting to know the ins and outs of the farm, community, and everything in between.

Solstice Hill is really a beautiful place, and the methods of working with nature provide for near-constant rewards and surprises. I am really looking forward to the upcoming season, and to meeting the people for whom we are growing all of this delicious, nutritious food!

Winter Finally Here (sort of)

The moderate temperatures (it wasn't below 20 at night until last week) have allowed me to button the farm down for winter. Every little thing from the chaos of summer is picked up and tucked in. It was nice to have this time for firewood and projects before the drifts bury it all. The biggest accomplishment is by far the new road and recently cleared field. That means Solstice Hill will be doubling production for next year, four acres. Some bigger farms might think that "four acres" is a punch line but in our intensive multi-cropping (more than one crop on the same ground in a season) we can pull a lot out of a space like that. I shouldn't say doubling production. It's easy to look at that space, those extra acres, and think cash. We will need to put some of that land into cover crop to be sure we are caring for, not just mining, the land. 
 With the new ground I will be trying to get CSA members more corn and more peas. That seemed to be the main consensus from our surveys.
I will be putting out the call soon to let folks know it's time to join up for next season's CSA. Last year our first payment was in February. If you are new to Solstice Hill check out the "join the CSA!" page on the "home page" of the blog. I would say our lovely Kimberly did a great job of makeing all that clear.

Farm News for October 30th

Hi, Kimberly here. Well, well, well...three holes in the ground (bah dumm dum! that's one of my favorite bad jokes). But seriously, well, well, well, that was quite a one-two punch nature gave us early this year!! Though I am grateful that it waited until after market closed yesterday to begin again, and that we didn't get the two-feet of snow that areas of Connecticut received.


The cabbage in the front bed was done anyway,
but behind it are broccoli covered in reemay
and snow which we hope will survive.



Carrots peeking out from the reemay
just before harvesting.












We were able to harvest some carrots on Friday to bring to market, the reemay we put over them on Thursday kept the greens looking suprisingly lovely, and since they are underground even if the greens take a hit we should still have some for our last CSA distribution on Tuesday. Possibly even beets, for the same reason. What we had in storage in the garage (winter squash and onions) went into the house on Friday afternoon to be shielded from the repeated cold nights.

Some broccoli was harvested (a bit on the small side in an effort to get something out of the bed in case it was killed by the weather), and we noticed that the cabbage worms had infested it. The bright side of that is it's proof that we grow without pesticides, but I know most people don't consider them good eats so I'll also pass along that I hear that the best way to get rid of them is to boil the broccoli in salted water, they should float right to the top. Personally I pluck them off while I'm chopping it up, and bring them outside for the birds to eat (I don't like to boil food generally since nutrients leach away; I steam instead). A funny story from a couple of years ago, when I was helping run a large CSA distribution in Brooklyn: one young woman asked the week after we got broccoli about the small bugs on it. I mentioned the cabbage worms, and she said, no, no, much smaller than that. She added that they were also bright green and didn't move much and washed off easily, so she didn't mind them but was wondering what they were. I wasn't sure, I hadn't seen any small green bugs, so I promised to ask the farmer. About 30 minutes later, though, still at distribution but having that exchange run through my head, I realized she must have been referring to the cabbage worm poop.

In the greenhouse: some lingering snow
on the roof, and the tomatoes looking
sad and withered (though it's hard
 to tell because my camera lens fogged up)







Anyway, Clemens isn't sure what will survive the next few days, and so Solstice Hill Farm may not make it to the indoor Delmar market this year. On a personal note, my last day is scheduled to be this Tuesday, the last CSA distribution day, and so I will be heading back home to NYC for the winter this Wednesday. It has been a great pleasure getting to know all the CSA members, and all the regular customers at the Delmar farmers market, and on behalf of everyone at Solstice Hill Farm I want to thank all of you for supporting the farm this year, it wouldn't have been a success without you!!

P.S. to the CSA members: We would greatly appreciate your feedback, so please do remember to bring your completed survey with you on Tuesday.

Farm News for October 16th

Hi everyone, Kimberly here. The cold weather seems to be settling in after that beautiful week of warm, sunny weather; I guess that was Indian Summer, and winter really is on its way! The geese that fly overhead in ever larger groups are confirming this prognosis.

On October 6th, Clemens and I took the morning to attend the NYS Assembly's hearing on hydraulic fracturing natural gas drilling ("fracking") and stayed while they grilled the NYS DEC commissioner, Joe Martens, and his staff. (The photo above featuring your farmer, Clemens, is from the Times Union's coverage of the hearing. You can also catch a glimpse of us at the YNN coverage of the hearing.) I think they did a really solid job of raising all the questions, issues and problems. Many anti-fracking activists were there, and the hearing went well into the night as the Assembly allowed the public to comment and testify for the official record.

We at Solstice Hill Farm are very much against fracking because of its use of known carcinogens and other pollutants; how can one trust the drinking water near where that kind of drilling is taking place, or make a committment to farm organically nearby?! We encourage all of you to learn more about fracking, and to contact your local and state public officials if you are against fracking. Here are a couple of sources of information and how to get involved:
Catskill Mountain Keeper
Schoharie Valley Watch
Sharon-Springs-Against-Hydrofracking Facebook page

Back at the farm the broccoli  and cabbage are coming in nicely, the peppers in the field are hanging on nicely so far, and the kale and chard are still going strong. The greenhouse tomatoes are doing well, too. However, the peas we planted in the field for fall harvest are not faring so well; the deer came through and ate the tops off almost all the plants. The deer also methodically ate all the heads of lettuce in the field. Deer fencing is a top priority to put in place before the 2012 growing season!

This year Clemens and Jenny experimented with drying beans. We pulled up the first plants a couple of weeks ago, and strung them up with rubberbands and rope to hang in the garage. By hanging they should dry out so the pods become papery. The kids are looking forward to when they come down, when they can be stepped on in a large bunch to easily pop open the pods and gather the beans inside. The first batch were calypso beans (also known as orca, or yin yang, beans, see the picture for the reason why) and the batch last week were the gorgeous orangey-tan with deep red swirl tiger's eye beans.

We are also still working on preparing the field for winter. Clemens acquired a few large wire spools and welded a bar so it could be attached to the tractor. We were then able to put the spool on the bar and roll the irrigation system's drip tape onto it for reuse next year. This week we will also be taking the clips off the field tomatoes for reuse next year, too. The reemay has been rolled up and just needs storing, except for the few strips being used for the arugula out in the field.

This past week we also cut down a number of trees on the road up to the farm in preparation for the heavy equipment that has been hired to widen and regrade the road. The equipment will also be used to clear out the big roots from the land near the greenhouse which was cleared of stumps this year, as part of opening new farm land.

I've been updating the website and have posted a number of pictures in the Gallery, please check them out!Lastly, as this CSA season winds down we are very eager to get your feedback on your experience, and are planning a written survey which you can fill out anonymously. Of course we'd love to hear what you loved, but equally important are any ideas you have on what would have improved your experience. Thank you again for investing in the farm this year!