I got out of the habit of blogging often and I'm going to try to get back to it. I almost considered giving it up because I've become so very busy, but I've met many people who say they read it and love it and I love meeting new people through this medium!
This past summer was a kick in the pants as far as the amount of work my mini farm seemed to require and the motivation that I had to complete it. I've made some changes in my philosophy on how I will continue and I think these changes will refresh my outlook.
The garden will change from being a market garden to a smaller garden for only my family. Hours and hours and hours of backbreaking weeding and garden work will do that to you! I felt like I missed the summer and many opportunities to enjoy time with my family.
Moving ahead, I'm going focusing on producing maple syrup, and most importantly, honey. Local honey seems to be the lost commodity that everyone wants and I'm happy to work the bees to provide. Next year you'll find me at the Farmer's Market with locally made or produced maple syrup and honey, and Jackson's preserves and jellies.
Sometimes it takes awhile to find your focus and sometimes the focus changes even when you think you've found it!
Late in August I did a small planting in the high tunnel. I'm experimenting to see what I can get to grow through the winter for fresh vegetables year round.
Yesterday I picked watermelon radishes. These giant sized radishes taste exactly like the smaller red outside-white inside radishes, but sure do put a nice punch of color on the dinner table!
I sliced them up to serve with a bit of salt. The rinds are a little tough, but the inside is tender and delicious.
You are busy. I do hope you continue to blog, but totally understand trying to find time to do it sometimes!
ReplyDeleteThe watermelon radish is amazing! I've never seen one before!
Beautiful radishes!
ReplyDeleteI sure understand about letting things get overwhelming. We can only do so much. I wish I lived up near you so I could get syrup and honey next year! :)
I agree with you that there are only so many hours in the day, and we need to enjoy life with at least some of them :) I grow those watermelon radishes in the greenhouse too but I find after about December they tend to rot. It just gets to cold for them.
ReplyDeleteWe have the same feeling about trying to grow food for the local markets, a lot of work and not much reward. Although there are a few loyal customers who support the farmers market, it is not being supported by the community at large. So, we have to rethink our marketing options both as individual farms and as a group to strengthen our ability to sell at fair, reasonable prices and make some gain from all of our hard work. Here's one thing that we can do as a group:
ReplyDelete1) Each vendor can list their farm and products on Local Dirt ( its free to join and the set up can be done ahead of time in the winter months)
2) When we have a number of local farms listed in Local Dirt website, we will set up a Farmers Market Group.
3) Each farm then joins our online Farmers market for our area.
4) Then we work on setting up the Buying Clubs also in Local Dirt (those are the buyers who support our farmers Market). This is all being done to make it easier for our customers to buy our goods. The idea is farms list their vegetables and products on a single price sheet in Local Dirt and then customers can per-order to lets us know what to bring to market ahead of time.