Tag: Harvesting

Haying with Draft Horses at Full and By Farm

Another spectacular day in Essex! Perfect summer days mean great gardens, and soon enough I’ll be posting a garden update to show you how well the tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and Brussels sprouts are doing. But first I’d like to introduce you to one of the lifestyle luxuries we’re able to enjoy as Essex residents. Please meet Sara Kurak and James Graves of Full and By Farm.

We pick up our farm share every Thursday evening, and Sara emails the farm members in the morning to let us know what to expect. I’m including last week’s note in its earthy entirety below, and the video tells a little piece of the haying story described in in her note. I hope you enjoy both! Here’s the Full and By Farm note for June 17, 2011.

We are trucking right along this week—moving animals, planting crops, harvesting, weeding, cutting hay, cutting soap, building wagons, enjoying the moderately warm sunshine. This is our first year cutting our own hay and the learning and preparation curves have been steep. Given the uncertain weather predictions for the week and all of our new-to-us equipment we decided to cut one small field on Tuesday and get the process down before going for it whole hog. We took Abby and Lightning out on the horse-drawn mower, selecting the smallest field, but coincidentally the steepest and least rectangular. They took it on like champs, despite several problems with the mower, and the sneaking suspicion that lots of sharp scissors are following right at one’s heels. James is out now tedding the field, we plan to rake, bale, pick-up and unload all TODAY. Hay wagon building has largely been a late night activity. If we seem a little shell-shocked at pick-up tonight, please be nice, it’s been a long day and week.

The vegetables are perking up and getting green out in the fields. Our current harvests however are still being hampered by the earlier mud season issues of poor germination and cloudy skies, followed by the really hot week which caused the soggy, stressed out plants to bolt. All this to say that we are starting to harvest a little bit of a lot of things. Great news on the variety front, but hard to divide up 40 ways. We’re getting creative though and offering up some fun stuff at the share tonight and as well as sweet things to nibble on while picking them up.

Three important things to know today:

1) We are having our spring farm tour and member dinner two weeks from tonight, on Thursday June 30th at 6pm. We’ll provide a farm-fresh dinner and solid wagon ride. You all bring the desserts, a place setting and drinks to share. Please rsvp by email or the list in the csa room. I’ve put in the rainbow request already, but they won’t guarantee a thing this far out.

2) We are officially rolling out the Full and By Farm “Go Whole Hog” challenge tonight!!! The rules are simple: fill out a card for your household, this will live at the farm. Check off the boxes after you’ve used each of the cuts on the list**. When your card is completed you will get a hand printed “Go Whole Hog” shirt or grocery bag. **And don’t worry, we’ll help you out with some of the more challenging ones.

3) Our last spring calf was born on Monday into a muddy puddle. It was a rough entry, but his long legs helped him out. We had originally named him Gus after the legendary Texas Ranger Augustus McCrae. But after getting to know him a little the name just doesn’t seem right, mostly due to his challenge with direction (i.e. his tendency to walk the opposite way when we move the cow herd). We’re considering Gonzo and Gulliver. Bring your vote tonight, write in’s are welcome.

In the veggie share: lettuce, lettuce, lettuce, spicy lettuce mix, braising mix, stir-fry add-ins, spring onions, spinach, nettles (by popular demand) potatoes, celeriac, black and white beans. coming soon: garlic scapes, baby turnips and radishes.

In the meat share: pork, chicken and ground beef, lard and leaf lard, lavender soap.

See you all tonight between 4 and 6,
Sara

June 22, 2011
Garden Hod
Garden Hod (Source: Geo Davis)

Have you ever used a garden hod? I no longer recall when I first came across this ingenious garden tool, but I can attest to its indispensable and enduring place in our garden-to-table lifestyle.

A garden hod is basically a smarter, better harvest basket. Gather your produce, spray it down with the hose, and let it drip dry on the way back inside. Perfection!

Our garden hods (we have two, one large, and one medium sized for smaller, quicker veggie harvests) are constructed with hardwood ends and a sturdy handle to carry even the heaviest loads. The “basket” component of the garden hod is steel mesh covered with enamel or some other durable finish. After many years, still no rust on either one.

I’m thinking I wouldn’t be going too far in offering a compact but heartfelt ode to this clever invention. Bear with me?

Nod to the Hod
```
I pause today with
an admiring nod
to the humble but
handy garden hod.
Perfect to gather
fresh picked veg' and fruit,
hose it all down and
then haul off your loot.
```
Garden Hod or Shirt Hammock

Before wrapping up these fewer-than-warranted lines of praise for a convenient implement known as the garden hod, I’d like to knowledge that I’m not clairvoyant. And therefore I’m not always prepared with my garden hod in hand when I stop in the garden or orchard to gather vegetables and/or fruit.

What to do in the event of a capricious, and anticipated harvest? That’s easy. I highly recommend the shirt hammock. Untuck your shirt (it’s probably works best with a T-shirt or sweatshirt) and gather a fist-full of fabric in your hand creating a convenient “hammock” that you can fill with produce. I don’t recommend hosing it down in your shirt hammock; for that you’ll want a garden hod.
August 24, 2022
Tie Dye Dome

Tie dye dome behind carriage barn (Source: Geo Davis)

Last night — while walking out to the vegetable garden for a last minute harvest — the sunset tried to outcompete the colorful veggies. And the tie dye dome mounted a heroic campaign!

Even after all of the veggies were gathered for for our impromptu salad (a rainbow haul of red and green romaines, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, banana peppers, tomatillos, and a single looong radish) the hands-down winner was clear. Winners, actually. Sky for color, veggies for flavor.

Tie dye dome behind carriage barn and ice house (Source: Geo Davis)

Not sure I’d earned this reward, but I certainly did appreciate it.

A productive morning at my desk followed by an equally productive afternoon on the tractor brush hogging some of the back meadows with the new offset flail mower. If you think that’s the foundation for a perfect day, you’re right. But there was even more goodness in store. An end-of-day wake surf with Susan, Amy Guglielmo, and Brian Giebel was followed by a “Surprise, I brought sushi!” dinner made possible by Amy and Brian. The perfect accompaniment? A jumbo salad harvested at sundown!

Tie dye dome reflects on carriage barn’s West façade (Source: Geo Davis)

It was already well into nightfall when we walked from the house toward the barns, but the day wasn’t yielding without playing out a sky-wide drama. It was spectacular! We stopped and gawked. We acknowledged our good fortune. And then we gawked some more.

With last remnants of fading light, we made our way past the carriage barn and ice house toward the garden.

Tie dye dome beyond vegetable garden (Source: Geo Davis)

Once we removed the silhouetted buildings from view the tie dye dome appeared even more vast, more vibrant, more spectacular. Fortunately the still empty garden hod reminded us why we’d come.

Tie dye dome above the [uncovered] high tunnel (Source: Geo Davis)

For a moment I imagined the high tunnel sans cover as a vast ribcage, as if some prehistoric whale had emerged from the garden. Our very own Burning Man?!?!

With the final fiery light guiding us, we filled the hod with harvest and headed back to the house for a laughter filled dinner…

August 11, 2022