Sweet Local Farm

Hops Trellis Underway

Luke — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:49:42 +0000

The hops trellis that we’ve been planning on building for over a year now is finally underway, thanks to the help of our Mainer friend, Matt.

When complete, this trellis will stand about 15 feet tall. Digging in this rocky field was a lot more difficult than we anticipated. It took us over 3 hours to dig the hole for this post pictured above. If it weren’t for our quick ability to make up work songs on the spot, I don’t know how we would’ve got through this.

The long term plan for this trellis is to have grape vines and hop vines sharing the posts. The grapes will go in one direction and the hops will go on the far side between the posts, perpendicular to the grape rows. Stay tuned to watch how that unfolds.

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Dandelion Wine

Karen — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:17:48 +0000

Dandelions are in full bloom. Sure the leaves are edible and the flowers are bright and cheery, but dandelions have a bad rap as a nuisance. We have so many that I spent much of last Saturday trying to mow them down. Then I ran into my friend at a birthday party and she changed my perspective on the situation. Make dandelion wine!

I brought up the idea to Luke because he is the in-house brewmaster. He was down. So we picked a bunch of the flowers, washed off all the bugs, and now they are soaking in a crock of hot water for the next two days. Then we will add yeast, sugar (or honey?) and some citrus for flavor. It takes 6 month to a year for the flavors to develop. We’ll let you know how it tastes.

Has anyone produced wine at home from fruit or flowers? How did it come out?

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Brussel Sprouts – Gone to Seed

Luke — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:03:32 +0000

For the first time ever (thank you mild winter!), our Brussel sprouts from last year survived through the cold and immediately went to flower as Spring set in.

Our goal is to save seeds from everything we grow, so we were excited to see this happening. Having never saved seed from a Brassica before, we’re not sure when to attempt to collect them. Should we let them dry out on the plant or cut the flowers at some point and dry them out in a more controlled ‘collection’ zone? Our fear is that they’ll drop the seeds on their own and we’d like to catch them before that. Any insights on this would be helpful.

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Perennial Plants

Luke — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:12:09 +0000

…The gifts that keep on giving.

Each year, we have continued to increase the amount of perennials we have in our garden. With a little bit of maintenance, perennials can go a long way. Here is a glimpse of a few of our favorites.

Asparagus

Rhubarb

Strawberries

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Flower Garden Update | 4.22.12

Luke — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:48:08 +0000

Evening Primrose

Butterfly Bush

Japanese Maple

Tree Peony

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Eggs in Purgatory

Luke — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 22:44:31 +0000

We love this recipe. Quick, easy and delicious!

We used our homemade sauce from last year. Simply heat up in a frying pan about an inch thick. When it begins to bubble, crack the eggs into it and cover until the eggs are cooked thoroughly through, about 5-8 minutes.

We served this over toast with fresh sauteed greens from our cold frame greenhouse and a nice garden fresh salad.

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Vegetable Garden update – 3.24.12

Luke — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:53:57 +0000

I can’t complain that we are about two weeks ahead of schedule with our vegetable garden. Here is a glimpse at what we have going on.

Egyptian Onion

Hardneck Garlic

Spinach

Sweet Pea

Alpine Strawberry

Hops shoots beginning to sprout

Seed trays out on the warm patio

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Spring Flowers

Luke — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:29:11 +0000

I love when the vegetable garden is in its height of production, but there’s something admirable about the simplicity of watching the first plants awake in the beginning of spring. Here’s a quick glimpse at what is popping up in our perennial gardens.

Daffodil

Hyacinth

Daffodil ‘Rip van Winkle’

Peony

Sedum ‘autumn joy’

Tree Peony

We’re ahead of schedule from last year, but flowers can never come too early in my book.

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Scenes from the Farm – 3.21.12

Luke — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:31:40 +0000

Little Boy fishing by the waterfall

Birdhouse

Barn with thought bubble cloud

Perennial flower garden and pond

Rusty the frog greets you into the flower garden

Olive excited to pick the pedals off of the flowers

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Hazy Shade of Winter

Luke — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:10:08 +0000

Signs of Spring…

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