Farm Journal

What Worked, What Didn't

date

The Berry Farmer's Wife

June 30, 2024

Who has time to write journal entries? Not I, said the berry farmer's wife! But today is Sunday, and we don't pick or sell on Sundays, and between church and playing games with the kids I have a brief moment to catch you up.

Now we have two Saturdays at the Eno River Farmer's Market under our belt, and what a great experience it has been! At the moment we are the only berry growers in the market, and we sold out both Saturdays, meeting some truly lovely people in the process. This week I had a chance to visit some of the other vender's stalls where I was seduced by an intoxicatingly delicious-smelling candle (hazelnut) which I bought, along with a couple cartons of creamy gelato--made by a genuine Italian. What a jewel this farmers market is in our community!

Chelsea

P.S. If anyone is wondering how my dahlia project is going, I'll just say that the dahlias are doing well (inspite of the Japanese beetles), but we are so busy with the berries that I'm just growing them for my own pleasure and to give to friends, as the thought of arranging, packaging, and selling flowers right now might send me over the edge.

Harvest is Upon Us

June 14, 2024

I am behind and I'll tell you why: as of June 1st our first row ripened and we've been swimming in blackberries ever since! Picking, scheduling pickers, hosting u-picks, and delivering berries to friends and businesses! In between all of that, we're expanding our culinary repertoire: we've made blackberry/peach crisp, blackberry syrup, blackberry custard pie, blackberry ice cream, blackberry cobbler and we have blackberry salads almost every day. We learned how to flash freeze blackberries (a very cool skill) and we haven't even started canning them yet!

The best part of this whole experience is to watch the face of a person--who insists that they don't care for blackberries--eat a ripe blackberry from our farm. A blackberry plucked at the apex of its ripeness is truly sublime.

Blossom Time!

April 25, 2024

All of our hard work of trellising and fertilizing and weeding is paying off and now we are starting to see the promise of what is to come! BLOSSOMS ARE EVERYWHERE! The buds are a blush pink color when they start out, and as they mature they whiten. When the petals fall off we are left with a funky pinwheel (you can see all three stages in the photo) that will eventually turn into a berry. Blackberries blossom 45-60 before harvest, so this means by the end of June we should be in business! I'm super excited to make my aunt's blackberry custard pie . . .

Cool House and Firewood Stand

February 21, 2024

Last weekend our Cool House arrived at the farm! This is very exciting, since this little building will keep the berries and flowers cool between the time they are picked and sold. Scott designed the house and it is insulated on every side--even the door, when we get one--and the cold air will be generated by a cooling unit installed on the side. Our main man Cayden built the cool house in his parents garage. When it was done the next big task was moving it from Cayden's house to the farm. Even though Scott designed the cool house so that it could be lifted with the tractor, it proved to be a bit heavier than anticipated. It took the tractor, Cayden, Cayden's dad and Josh to lift the cool house up on the trailer. Then, in order to get it to its resting place at the farm Scott had all three men sit on the back corner of the tractor as ballast so that the tractor wouldn't tip over! And of course, no one took photos. Boo.

But here is Cayden himself, the Crafter of the Cool House, looking through the hole where the cooling unit will be.

In addition to the cool house, the Firewood Stand is finally finished and ready for service. Naomi and Josh finished painted it and Scott added the money box, so if you are driving along Hwy 86 north of Hillsborough and you need some wood, stop by and grab a bag!

Chelsea

True North

February 3, 2024

I went out to the farm to scout out a place for my cut flower garden. When I told my teenage daughter that I was going to become a dahlia farmer she enthusiasitcally told me that I am "going to change the flower industry!" Meaning that we both know that probably all of my flowers will die. Nonetheless, it was very inspiring to stand out in the field with the wind in my face and imagine my prize-winning dahlias in long bushy rows, illuminating the dull cold landscape. I got out my phone and ordered more tubers.

It is recommended that you plant in rows north to south, with the larger plants on the north side so that as the sun moves across the sky the tall ones aren't shading the shorter ones. So I opened the compass app on my phone and found North. Later that evening Scott and I had to drive out to the farm to fix something. I told him which way North was, and he disagreed. He got out his phone, and told me north was a different direction! To prove I was right, I showed him my phone, which clearly displayed that what he thought was "north" was actually west . We had to settle the dispute the old fashioned way: we got out of the car, walked out into the field and looked up at the stars. We found the Big Dipper, followed the two bottom stars across the sky to find the North Star and . . . Scott was right. It was only after this that my phone decided, on its own, to point to the true north.

The good news is that, in addition to the fact that the groundhog did not see his shadow, the growing zones have changed (to account for climate change apparently) and that instead of being in zone 7b, we are actually in zone 8a! That means I can plant my dahlia tubers even earlier than I thought! Oo-de-lally! (Which will be the name of first dahlia I breed myself: Oo-de-lally Dahlia, a "Blackberry Fool Original". Just watch.)

Chelsea

Get Berries . . . and Flowers?

February 1, 2024

A couple weeks ago we decided we'd add another crop to compliment our blackberries: dahlias. (Yes, it was my idea. ) From the moment I first started learning about these flowers I've been able to think of nothing else. I think about them when I am running, when I'm making food, when I'm in the shower...I even dream in dahlias. I get loads of satisfaction as I scroll through endless varieties on the websites of dahlia growers. I am almost as obsessed with them as Scott is with blackberries, but not quite.

I've decided dahlia growers must make a killing in the winter because we, their consumers, are all cooped up in our homes, yearning for some sort of pastel-y, petal-y warmth that when we see the photos of dahlias we cannot help ourselves and we buy WAY more bulbs and tubers than appropriate. I can see how it can lead to addiction.

Let's just say I have spent all of my birthday money (and then some) dahlia tubers.

Chelsea

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