Sliding into the Fall Harvest: Delivery #11

Hello Moon Bears,

This is your second to last official delivery. A bonus delivery will occur, however, on September 17th.

On You Full Share Menu This Week

• Concord Grapes
• Honey Crisp Apples
• Super Sweet Corn
• A Dozen Varieties of Tomatoes
• Small Detroit Beets
• Wax Beans
• Viking Potatoes
• Last of the Summer Salad
• Purple Hawaiian Sweet Bell Peppers 
• Rainbow Carrots
• Garlic

Did you notice a theme here in the flavors: Sweet and Savory.

Blessing to you this last week of August.
Thank you for believing in this small farm.

Rick



(c) Copyright Rick Sievers, Moon Bear Produce, August 2015

Sweetness in Summer: Delivery 10

 Hello Moon Bears,

The tomatoes are really coming on strong. We harvested 110 pounds from the 35 mature plants this morning. Also the corn and concord grapes will be ready and SWEET next week.

Here's Your Menu For a Full Share

• Delicata and Carnival Squash
• Sea and Siberian Kale
• Ten Varieties of Tomatoes
• Green and Wax Beans
• Nantes Half Long Super Sweet Carrots
• Venersborg Garlic
• Savoy Cabbage (Frilly and sweet)
• Fresh Red and Sweet Basil
• Rose Finn, Pontiac and Yukon Gold Potatoes

Thanks,
See you Soon,
Rick


(c) Copyright Moon Bear Produce, Rick Sievers, August 2015

Rainbow of Roots: Delivery #9

Many Carrots Are Not Naturally Orange

 Hello Moon Bears,

Only 2 1/2 weeks left of August. Looks like the tomatoes have finally arrived. And we're seeing the final root crops coming in this week and next.

We had a funny frustrating occurrence this week. We've been discovering the pepper plants in the greenhouse eaten down to the ground. I thought of two possible culprits:  rabbits. But we'd installed a 500 foot rabbit proof fence around the perimeter of the north garden and greenhouse this year. Should be no rabbits, right? Well, I just saw a rabbit scampering around in the kale bed outside the window. The funny thing about armoring up is that it not only keeps the warm fuzzy creatures out. It keeps them in. Looks like I trapped a lonesome bunny in paradise this year. Now, if we could only trap him and drop him off at the neighbor's farm... only kidding.

Here's the Menu for a Full Share this Week:

• Green, Purple and Yellow Beans
• Barbecue Perfect Onions
• Tomatoes of Many Stripes and Colours
• Small Pumpkins... hey they're ready. Why Not?
• Spaghetti Squash
• Fresh Basil
• Lemon, Armenian and Tender Green Cucumbers
• Zucchini
• Maybe some Concord Grapes... We'll see
• Golden and Cylindra Red Beets (The last)
• Purple, yellow and White Carrots 
• Beira Kale
• Yukon Gold Potatoes

Coming Your Way

Thanks for Eating Local and Fresh.
See You in the Garden

Rick


(c) Copyright Moon Bear Produce, Rick Sievers, August 2015

Slowing Down in a Catawampus Season: Delivery 8

Almost Ripe

Baby Bears

This is a season of topsy-turvy surprises. Like how did the pumpkins get ripe before the tomatoes? Or the salad has grown strong almost all summer despite the big heat. What about the clouds of grasshoppers, when we've never even seen a hopper before this year?  There's no doubt about it weather and gardening know how is changing quickly. With this in mind I've been taking the following prescription for my befuddlement:

Just be still. Put down the tools. Stop the worrying about voles and moles. Find a shady patch of garden and simply sit there.

Bees LOVE the Corn Tassels

Sound simple? Well, it's the most difficult behavior in the world for this would be farmer. But I tried it again yesterday. I sat  down in the cool rustle of the corn rows. Silky fronds moved lightly across my neck. And then I heard it; not silence per se', but the bees. A thousand bees swarming and dancing and slinking their way through the tassels of pollen. There was a buzzing symphony of sweet contentment. There are no GMOs or sprays in this garden, so I knew the bees were safe. Then, listening to them I knew I was safe too.

Try the prescription sometime and simply stop, set everything down (and I mean literally empty your hands) and then just  be there the best you can. You may find some otherworldly visitors coming in the form of buzzing bees or the caressing hands of the rustling corn.

On Your Full Share Menu this Week.

• Alas, the tomatoes are still on the green side
• Ruby Queen Beet Greens
• Cylindra Beets
• Nantes Carrots
• Purple and Yellow Beans for 1/3 of the folks. More again next week.
• Venersborg Garlic
• Summer Salad Mix
• Mega Load of Lemon Cucumbers
• Armenian Striped Cucumbers
• Red Pontiac Potatoes
• Siberian and Russian Kale

The Pumpkins go into the root cellar until September.
Looks like just about everything else will come ripe next week including Squash, Tomatoes.

Thanks,
See You In The Garden,
Rick

(c) Copyright Moon Bear Produce, Rick Sievers, including words and all images except the bee, August 2015

Organic Choices and Integrity: Delivery #5

Hello Moon Bears,

Summer is nearly at its peak now. The garden is transitioning into hot weather produce, like tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers and corn.  The potatoes are also ripening. Check out the interior view of the All Blue Variety above. Mid Summer also brings its share challenging critters. Which leads an organic farmer into all sorts of quandaries. Consider the meadow vole. This is a small mouse-like rodent that lives in meadows and gardens. It is bigger than a mouse and it's abundant. In our area the vole can comprise up to 80% of the mammal life. Wikipedia Meadow_Vole

The Culprit

In our garden the vole is pest #1. In fact I have a difficult time not hating this creature. Yet, it has a right to live and thrive in our world. But where does a micro-farmer draw the line between rights and excesses? Or is it just a matter of surrender? This week, 70% of our beet crop has been chewed or hollowed out by these hidden creatures. This leaves one with some hard questions if one is to remain faithful to organic and compassionate beliefs.

The average farmer would poison the critters. But the poisonous rebound effect on predators such as owls and coyotes is devastating. Also, the neighbor's cats are at risk of death if they eat a poisoned vole. Some folks have suggested cats in the garden to patrol. But think about what cats do in well tilled succulent dirt. They leave deposits which have potentially dangerous pathogens to our customers. So cats are out.... They just patrol the perimeter of the garden. The natural predators are being killed by the locals who fear for their little dogs which run wild. So they are not in the picture either. Organic repellants are touted to be effective, hot pepper spray, something called Plantskydd, predator urine etc. But none of these have worked here. And trapping thousands of these creatures is out of the question. 

After a Vole Attack

Look at the damage they cause the beets. And when the beets are pulled up they will move to the carrots and the potatoes. Our strategies have been mostly to plant A LOT of roots vegetables and hope we have enough. They take an average of 25% of our entire root crops. That's a chunk. And a disappointment every single year. Every organic farmer has a nemesis or two. The regular world just poisons what ails them. Which ironically allows the same poison to enter the human food chain. And that's worse than crop damage.  

When you see organics being a higher price remember, this set of issues is one of the reasons. It can be hard to remain with integrity when faced with such predation on the plants and profits. Yet our customers and earth deserve only the best the earth's farmer has to offer.
 
On You Full Share Menu this Week:

• Summer Salad Mix
• Swiss Chard
• All Blue and the Best Russet Potatoes Ever
• Fresh Garlic 
• Beira Kale Also called Sea Kale. Great for Smoothies
• Siberian Kale
• Russian Kale
• Golden and Ruby Beets (What's left)
• Red and White Onions 
• Armenian Striped Cucumbers
• Sprouting Broccoli

Also, we are making another organic choice. We will begin transitioning to non petroleum based produce bags in the next couple of weeks. There's some fair amount of misinformation out there about "Bio-degradable" bags. Some supposed biodegradable bags are only petroleum based bags with unproven chemicals put in to "speed" degradation... which can still take 500 years. 

Last year we did an experiment with one of the potato chip bags that claimed to biodegrade within 90 days. We put the bag in our compost pile for a Year. Everything in the pile was composted Except the bag. It was still whole and even had all the lettering on it, like new. So buyer beware of eco-friendly claims. Here's a resource for info.: do-biodegradable-plastics-really-work

With that being said, we are buying into the corn based bags. The cost will be four times what a regular bag would cost. That's a small price for integrity. Here's info on the new bags: Bio Bag.



Thanks,
Rick


(c) Copyright Moon Bear Produce, Rick Sievers, July 2015

How to Bee Happy: Delivery #4

Honey Bee on a Wild Onion Bloom

Turnips Fresh From Their Beds

 Hello Moon Bears,

I had a moment in the squash patch when I Knew that This is what the Earth is Truly like underneath all the fierce challenges happening right now in our environment. The Summer Squash were bursting out of the plant bases. Their flowers waving lazily in the gentle breeze. All around me were honey bees and the big fuzzy native bees. They spiraled in and out of the flower forest. Some spun around my head. The buzzing was ecstatic. I felt the brush of their wings on my neck and arms as I reached in to harvest the bounty. And I brought back a smile along with the squash. This is what the Earth offers us in the garden: Joy, especially when we treat her with reverence and integrity.

FYI: If you want to make the bees happy, let some of your garden crops go wild and flower. Bees love radishes, kale and onions when they bloom. In fact, a single radish plant will stand about four feet tall, with a thousand blooms, if you let it bee.

Check Out Our Golden Beets

On Your Menu This Week:

• Rainbow Chard
• A Trinity of Kale
• The Last of the Ruby Turnips
• Tender Green and Armenian Cukes
• Golden and Detroit Beets
• The Best Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes
• Dutch Yellow Onions
• The Last of the Pre-Heat Wave Lettuce
• Small Summer Garlic

Tender Green and Lemon Cucumbers

Thanks,
See You in the Garden

Rick





(c) Copyright, Words and Images, Moon Bear Produce, Rick Sievers, July 2015

Star Shine Salad...Two Weeks Until CSA Launch

Our Star-Shine Salad Picked Yesterday

Mailbox for garden tools in Heather's garden

 Hello Moon Bears,

A welcome rain today, finally.  Thought I'd pass along a few photos of our week on the Art Farm. Looks like two weeks until the CSA Summer 2015 launch. Our membership is full now. More than 15 wonderful members signed up. Thank you!!

Today we begin planting the second succession of crops in the south field. When the first garden runs thin in August the second will kick in. Also, the greenhouse has tomatoes already and a few golden zucchini.

See you in a couple of weeks.
Rick

Me and Callie the Farm Cat

Singin in the flowers

The Art Farm Flag

(c) Copyright Moon Bear Produce, Rick Sievers, June 2015

Green and Hopeful Seedlings

Removing the cover crop before planting.

Onions being planted

 Hello Moon Bears,

Spring has arrived in waves of heat and rain. The land is fertile and endorsing the loveliness of the green and hopeful seedlings. We've planted spinach, onions, kale, chard, lettuce, garlic, brussel sprouts. The seedling greenhouse is full of summer and winter squash, tomatoes, broccoli and a flat of milkweed for the butterflies.

It's not too late to reserve your spot for the Summer Season Veggie Subscription Service. Only $340 for farm pick-up, $400 delivered right to your door and $175 for 1/2 share (farm pick up only). Check out the previous blog entries for more details.

Tools: Hand, Sharpie, trowel, mini-seeder, mallet and big seeder plates.

Tomato Seedlings

Greenhouse tilled, staked and ready for drip irrigation.

 Looks like the Summer deliveries will start about June 18th. Off course the Earth and weather have the final say when the first harvest begins.

Rick and Heather
(three six zero) 904-four three two one

The Upper Garden

Rick with the Earthway Seeder

See you in the garden.

These beds won't be bare for long

(c) Copyright, Words and Images, Moon Bear Produce, Richard Sievers, April 2015

Thanks-Giving

Happy Thanksgiving from the Art Farm

 Hello Moon Bears,

Thank You for being the best community of ever! 

Your faith in us, your financial support through subscriptions, your heartfelt feedback have all made for a most blessed year on our little farm. The earth is sleeping right now and spring seems like a long way off. We'll let the land rest and dream for a while. Through the long nights we will remember everything that grew and then fell into the harvest basket this year. 

Hope to see you in in 2015. It looks like we have seven members signed up already for next season. I'll be sending more info out in January regarding the garden, subscription rates, new offerings and visions for our humble CSA. Until then, please know you are appreciated. Thanks.

Here's a poem about our first freeze of the year.

Frozen Thinking

The hard frost finally

falls upon the land,

killing the bugs

that swamped the farm.

It’s a frosty hallelujah,

at a price.

The frog,

the praying mantis,

the spider,

how did they fare?

The frost cracks open

the builders

as well as the destroyers.

Good bug,

bad bug,

who is who?

How do I protect the heart

from frozen thinking and

fearful meanderings?

Suppressing one emotion

suppresses all emotions.

It’s not the heart

in the cold ground

that needs rearranging,

it’s the discerning

sky of the mind.

Blessing to You this Season,
Rick and Heather

(c) Copyright, Words and Image, Rick Sievers, Moon Bear Produce, November 2014