June 13th 2014
As my second week of work closes, LaFarm is really starting to get its production underway. On the 9th, Eric, Jenn and I took a few hours finally filling in the herb garden around the gazebo at the center of the farm. Now we have a nice rock-covered herb garden growing basil, bee balm, and several other healthy, fresh plants to beautify our scenic outdoor break room and meeting space.
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Our First Plot of Crimson Clover
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Strawberries being picked by our Farm Manager Sarah
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Our Second Plot of Crimson Clover
The cover crop that we planted just last week has already begun to push itself up out of the soil, and our peas and strawberries are ready to harvest!
We sold 2 ½ quarts of strawberries and almost three pounds of sugar peas and snow peas to Gilberts and Marquis, to be eaten right here on campus.
Our June 9th Harvest
On the 10th, we planted 515 row feet of tomatoes! That was a whole dang lot of tomatoes. Varieties from various Heirlooms to Roma to Amish paste are all in the ground now, fully staked and ready to grow.
Tomatoes, freshly planted. Featured stake drivers are Jenn Ruocco and Kelly Carpency
Flowers from the greenhouse, about to be planted
After getting so much produce in the ground, we planted 4 rows of flowers in the back of the garden too! Now we’ll have celosias, salvias, zinnias and several other flowers growing up and making the whole garden feel like home. To round out the day, we also planted leeks and thyme.
Taking a look around the Easton Farmers Market this week, I decided to take notes on what’s currently available in our area. Our local mushroom growers, Primordia Mushroom Farm, had 6 varieties for sale, white trumpet, white elm, shiitake, blue oyster, crimini, and portobella. The various veggie farms had for sale a long list: asparagus, arugula, beets, broccoli, bok choy, carrots cucumbers, escarole, fennel, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, onions, peas, radishes, scallions, and swiss chard, and anyone selling fruit is still just selling strawberries. As for the herb market, basil, cilantro, chamomile, dill, mint, parsley, and verbena were all around.
Also, this week my job gained a lot more purpose connected to the future of the farm. In conjunction with my myriad bosses, Professors Cohen, Reiter, and Brandes, and of course Sarah here, I’ll be doing my best to plan a packinghouse and greenhouse for LaFarm, so we can expand our production and get more people involved with growing organic and local. First thing I’ll be doing is going out to visit other small farms to see what they’ve done when they went through similar expansion. Keep a watch out for more about what we’re doing here!
-Joe Ingrao, Excel Scholar 2014
