Sweet Local Farm

I built and planted my herb spiral about a month ago. I started most of the herbs from seed including cilantro, basil, chives, dill, and parsley. They all sprouted and are thriving! It is amazing to touch the stones and feel the heat they collect and store from the sun. It really makes for a unique microclimate.

Click here to learn how to build a herb spiral.

So many herbs in such a compact space:

The apple balm has grown so fast and lush. We have been enjoying it in our fruity cocktails:

We chop up the herbs and eat them on everything:

There is even cat nip for Tofu:

Having a newborn baby is time consuming. Especially when you have one as cute as this:

Our friends and proud parents of this baby boy had been wanting to build a backyard garden for some time now. Karen and I decided to start off their Saturday morning with a ‘Surprise Garden’.

Here is a step by step glimpse at the production of this garden. If you’ve ever wanted to build a simple raised bed, but were too overwhelmed to even start it, check out how easy it can be.

Gathering Wood

Measure Twice…

Cut Once

Assembly. It helps to do this step on a nice level surface.

Digging up the sod

Years worth of neighborhood compost

Lay down the bed and fill it in

Mini Herb Spiral

Lay out the plants

Plant them

Water them

And you’re done!!!

We planted some lettuce and carrot seeds in two small rows as well. Their family will be enjoying fresh vegetables (and hopefully watermelon too!) in no time.

I woke up today to a breakfast of fresh blackberries, mulberries, and blueberries. Life is good! The blackberries just began to ripen and they are delicious. They are sweet and numerous and provide a great snack while we work around the yard. We also have an abundance of mulberry trees. They are ripening now too and while they aren’t as sweet as the blackberries, they are still yummy. Our lone blueberry bush that came with us from our apartment is heavy with the best tasting blueberries. Luke and I are fighting over them!

A blackberry patch near the barn:

OOooo, look at all those berries:

Blackberry cluster:

Don’t be fooled, this is the fruit of the mulberry tree, not more raspberries.

One day in the near future, our hope is to host weddings at our farm. We’ve joked about not only supplying the space, but all of the food, flowers, seating, tables and even the entertainment (yes, we’re working on a wedding band).

In the meantime, my company, Street Attack, has launched a month-long pop-up wedding chapel at our space, 303 Grand. Located in hipster-central, Williamsburg, this revolving store-front provides a refreshing alternative to static shops.

The Pop-up wedding chapel spawned from an idea and has turned into a media frenzy. Martha Stewart Weddings quickly got on board as the presenting sponsor, and ABC News just ran a ‘live coverage’ story from the space.

Check it out:

It hasn’t stopped raining. The garden loves it, but everyone else is ready for some sunshine. Luke spent most of the day trying to fix the tractor, but long story short, no grass was mowed today. The bunnies love the long grass, and to our surprise, we found a baby bunny ! She stayed still long enough for us to pet her, but jumped away before we could get a picture. We have also seen a few snakes and some mole/gopher looking creature.

The garden is growing quickly with all the rain. We had a great crop of radish. Today I made radish relish and tonight I’m working on pickles.

Don’t the radish look crisp?

They are spicy and crunchy:

Washing the french radishes:

Cooking up a big pot of spicy radish relish:

I love to can:

This past weekend, we had the joy of attending my oldest brother’s wedding in historic Jamestown, RI. It had been raining all week up to the big day. But miraculously, the rain held off for a nice 8 hour period around the ceremony. Below are some of my favorite images from the wedding, as well as a nice video of me getting roasted by my brother at the rehearsal dinner.

Groom seeing bride for the first time

Karen and I

Groomsmen

Bridesmaids

Mom and Dad (mom in tears already)

Grandparents

Bride Dancing on Bar at After Party

Groomsmen at Rehearsal

Me Getting Roasted
o

For the past week, I’ve been hearing tiny chirps coming from the highest beams in the barn at all hours of the day. Since the adult bats remain relatively quiet during the day, I know these chirps are coming from the newest editions to the family.

Unexpectedly this morning, I opened the back doors of the barn to find a number of baby bats strewn about on the ramp. I gasped in horror to see so many (actually only 9 of them) in this one area. The location was directly under the hole in the peak of the roof where the bats exit from. A few were obviously deceased, but 3 living ones were clinging very tightly to a wood floor plank.

I was not sure what to do. I called the Ludlow Animal Rescue and got their answering service. I then began reading through forums and blogs to get answers. Most chatter about the subject was from the ’save the humans’ point of view, so advice I found was mostly stating, “don’t touch them, they have rabies.”, “kill them and put them out of their misery.” “If a child or sleeping adult was in the room, get them tested immediately for rabies.”

None of the advice I found was very helpful. I decided to carefully move them up to the top plank of the barn so they would be within 15 ft of the rest of the bats. I figured this would be the only way their mothers would hear their cries.

After talking to a bunch of people, the overall thought was that this was “nature taking it’s course.” Most mother bats only have 1 to 2 pups (baby bats) each year. Perhaps some mothers were to weak to care for their young, perhaps if they have 2 they choose 1 and discard the other, or perhaps the pups just fell from their nest. Either way, I still hear plenty of little chirps, so I’m confident the bat population will live on.

If anybody has any expertise or experience in this area, please share your thoughts.

The rain keeps falling on our garden and I’m grateful for it. More rain equals less work for me! The plants are thriving and growing fast. The lettuce is really enjoying the cool weather.

Luke mounds the dirt around the potato plants:

I harvest crisp snap peas:

Did you know you can eat the pea shoots as well?

The radish let us know they are ready to be picked by peaking out of the soil:

The radish are crunchy and spicy:

The chicks are all grown up! Well, sort of. They are finally growing out of their awkward stage where their feathers filled in. They are curious little creatures. They seem to like people, roaming around in the barnyard, and visiting Luke in the workshop.

This is how the little yellow chicks look now:

This is how the Rhode Island Reds look now:

This girl might be my favorite. She is the smallest chick. She likes scratching dirt and eating weeds.

Chickens chillin:

They pecked at this glass pitcher:

Are you a rooster?

…Literally.

This Thurs, June 11th, the American Institute of Graphic Arts will be hosting the BoNE Show Awards Ceremony in the Bakalar Studio at Mass Art.

Every two years, AIGA Boston celebrates the finest design work of the region with the Best of New England (BoNE) Show, which includes a competition, awards ceremony, catalog, and traveling exhibit. The BoNE Show is open to all New England designers, including residents and design offices in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

The Awards Ceremony consists of a gallery of all winners and top submissions, an animated light projection show, music, refreshments, and socializing with New England’s top designers.

The Art and Design aspect of the event even spans into the display of the event title, ‘AIGA BoNE Show’. 12 different designers were recruited to hand-craft each of the letters with the specific direction of using some sort of recycled material for the piece. I’m honored to be among these 12 designers, tasked with making one of the two A’s.

Just recently, I had recovered 8 sections of a fence from a nearby residence that listed the materials under the ‘free’ section on Craigslist. http://sweetlocalfarm.com/2009/05/18/recycled-fence/

The original intention was to use the materials to build a garden fence to keep out little ol’ Peter Rabbit there. Having been stumped by a few extra-large field stones, I’ve put that project on hold. In the meantime, the construction of the ‘A’ seemed like the perfect use for the materials.

Each of the 12 letters will be auctioned off to support the AIGA. I’m happy to contribute to such a great organization and I hope this piece finds a nice home in the near future.

To read the full story on the construction of this piece and to see more pictures, CLICK HERE.