FROG HOLLER FARM - August 8, 2020


Our view from the packing area



NOTES FROM THE FARM - WEEDS!

From Adrian Higgins, Home & Garden writer for the Washington Post:

If you had to define the purpose of gardening, the answer might be that it is the act of crafting beauty from nature.

That would be the poetic response. At its base, gardening is about holding back the immense, ravaging forces of weeds. A garden is, metaphorically, a quivering bunny rabbit surrounded by snarling wolves.

This sounds like hyperbole. It is not.

In the Mid-Atlantic, and surely in many other regions of the country, the weed pressure is unrelenting in every month of the year. In the heat and humidity of summer, the pace is supersonic.

Well, it sounds like Mr. Higgins has been weeding a lot - or maybe too much :-)! But here's another expert chiming in  - from Timothy Tilghman, the head gardener at Untermyer Park and Gardens in Yonkers, N.Y., a 43-acre former estate on the Hudson.

“If you can’t enjoy weeding, you won’t be a happy gardener,” said Mr. Tilghman, citing its importance to a garden’s health and visuals. “Everyone enjoys the neatness of a fresh planting, but unless you’re willing and eager to get in there and weed …”

So where does the Frog Holler crew fall between these two weeding attitudes? Holding back ravaging forces, or hoping to create order? They haven't published any articles about weeding to our knowledge so we will say they are willing, if not eager - determined, if not combative - and very good-natured as they go about the seemingly endless nose-to-the-ground, hands-in-the-dirt task of making space for our chosen plants to grow.

We realized that if you met any of our crew on the street, you might not recognize them, as most of our photos show them weeding away with their heads down. This week's cases in point:

Cleaning up the next beet patch

Liberating the tiny carrots (can you see them?) from too many weeds. This patch almost got away from us! 


We asked the crew to look up for this shot. These are the onions in early spring.






Neighbor and retired dentist Steve who grew up farming and missed weeding! He volunteers regularly and led the charge into the onion patch this spring (and into the carrot patch this week)!



More heads down as the crew plucks the results of their weeding labors from the onion patch this week.







Onions curing in the pole barn along with their garlic neighbors. Harvest complete!

And we don't think all weeds are bad; as some of you know, we offer fresh-picked medicinal herbs (aka weeds) on our produce ordering site, thanks to the interests and efforts of crew member Milan. And we are grateful that we live on a diverse piece of land that is chock full of wild plants, woody plants, pollinator plants all living together in a happy weedy jumble. We just ask for a few acres of admittedly unnatural rows and appreciate the efforts of the crew to maintain a little order!



Well they can't weed me from the garden!


Have a great week everyone!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Frog Holler Farm - September 26, 2020

Image
    Billy King warming up for this season's Sweet Potato Bowl! And Keegen makes the catch! RECIPE IDEAS: Well you just might feel like eating sweet potatoes this week! We like to simply bake them, either whole or halved (if whole, poke several times with a fork first), and when done, enjoy with a little salt, and (optional) butter or plant-based butter substitute. The skins are very edible and fiber-licious!  If you would like some basic info on roasting sweet potatoes, this post:  How To Roast Sweet Potatoes  is very helpful and includes some links to interesting-sounding sweet potato dishes. We enjoyed a Roasted Root Veggie Medley this week, prepared by Donya Huber, who cooks most of our farm lunches. Donya roasted Butternut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Potatoes, Rutabaga, Onion, and Garlic.   She added rosemary, sage, summer savory (and/or thyme), salt, and cooking sherry, and b aked it all at 425 for about an hour.   Optional to add butter when serving but we didn't and it reall
Read more

CSA Newsletter - Sept. 26, 2020 - Week 16

Image
  Billy King warming up for this season's Sweet Potato Bowl! And Keegen makes the catch! And then we tossed SWEET POTATOES into all of your boxes! Along with... CARROTS We had a grated carrot/watermelon radish salad this week - colorful! We added a miso dressing  - tasty! BEETS Boiled, baked, roasted or raw! Maybe Borscht weather is coming?  KOHLRABI Have you made "kohl" slaw? Martha Stewart has ! WINTER SQUASH - ACORN Nutty, dry flesh DAIKON/WATERMELON RADISH In stir-fry, salad or soup Watermelon in color only! ONION Did you know that inside one in every 3.14 onions is an opinion? GARLIC Garlic will keep for months if dry and at room temp. BEANS - ROMANO AND/OR GREEN But not yellow! POTATOES Why does Mr. Potato Head have a cell phone? In case Mr. Onion Rings! (sorry) KALE - CURLY, TUSCAN OR COLLARDS STORAGE TIPS: Nothing new except the potatoes and sweet potatoes can stay out of the fridge. If you don't get to them within the week, best to refrigerate them.  RECIPE
Read more

Frog Holler Farm - September 19, 2020

Image
   Winter Squash harvest almost complete - photo by Ashleh, who also helped pick them! RECIPE IDEAS:  In a completely scientific farm taste comparison (test sample of three), roasted beet flavor far surpassed the flavor of boiled beets. This analysis has been corroborated throughout the food blogs of the internet and this one from Tori Avey:  Every Day Inspired by the Past  for  Roasted Beets  seemed especially good. Most recipes call for wrapping the beets in aluminum foil, which works fine, but Ms. Avey is removing foil from her cooking and shows how you can achieve the same results with a Dutch oven or oven-proof pan with a cover. We applaud less use of aluminum foil in cooking as well as the appreciation of this delicious and nutritious vegetable! Ms. Avey includes a number of links to roasted beet recipes in this blog post as well - many many uses! Butternut Squash  is traditionally halved, baked and then used for pie or soup. Another way to prepare it, which we often do on the fa
Read more