Saturday, August 21, 2010

Planting day

This morning Selvin got up early and plowed and prepared two wide rows for planting. After breakfast he went over to the Feed and Seed store to pick up the broccoli and collard plants, while Edwina spread compost over the rows. Just finished up when a customer came by to pick up an order for okra.  Selvin arrived home with the news that we couldn't get a many plants today as we needed. We visited with our customer for a while and after he left, we planted out the two flats of plants that were available and watered them in. After lunch, two more customers came by to pick up their orders.  One of our customers was new to the farm, so we gave her a tour. We love to visit with our customers when they come by. Gives us a break and we make nice friends. The rest of the afternoon was spent just relaxing after a busy morning and week.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Sleeping In

We slept in a little later today thanks to the rain in the early morning hours. After the field dried off, Edwina picked four rows of butter beans and some eggplants that are hanging on in the garden.Selvin weed eated around the daylillies and loaded the truck with the remains of the woodpile and dumped it in the gully. During lunch, Edwina shelled out the butter beans while watching "The Young and The Restless" and packaged them up for a customer. We were featured in a local Blythewood newspaper, The Independent Voice of the People's Republic of Blythewood, Thursday, Aug. 19 issue. I spent the afternoon trying to figure out how to post the article to Facebook and will attempt to do so here. Thanks to Susan, a friend of ours for her help. After a supper of omelets, grits and watermelon, Edwina picked okra and Selvin checked the dryness of the soil to determine if we could start planting the broccoli and collard plants.http://issuu.com/crookedcedar/docs/vce081910pg5?viewMode=presentation

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Thursday, Aug. 19

Our friend and helper, Kirby came over today to help get the rest of the stakes out of the ground and then Selvin and he loaded the truck with the old rotted firewood pile and took it up to a gully on the back of our property and dumped it there. This should help control some of the erosion that we have every time it rains hard. Edwina baked and iced two coconut cream cakes for a customer to pickup on Saturday ,after returning from a dental appointment. Took it kind of easy this afternoon and then went out to pick okra toward evening when the temperature was a little cooler. Just leftovers for supper tonight, but did have fresh baked zucchini bread and ice cream for dessert. We are addicted to dessert.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Summer garden clean up time

Today was another hot, busy day. We have been trying to clean up the fields and one of these duties is to pull up the spent tomato plants and stakes. Not an easy task, but we decided to use the tractor to help pull the stakes out of the ground. We hooked a chain to the potato plow and the stake and used the hydraulic lift. Worked like a charm. Edwina picked the last of the tomatoes, pulled up the plants, and then we raked up the plants and removed them from the field. We like to get rid of the old plants in order to keep down viruses and fungi that can damage next years crops. Selvin plowed where the 500 tomato plants had been and also some of the other parts of the garden where we will be planting the fall crops. Edwina pulled the irrigation hoses out of the rows  of eggplants and peppers and put them away. While Selvin made a trip to Columbia, SC, Edwina picked and prepared okra for the freezer. For supper tonight we had baked chicken, fried okra, brown rice and for dessert, the rest of the apple pie that Edwina made with apples from our trees. Tonight we had a really good rain.

Introduction

Welcome to the diary of the Crooked Cedar Farm. This will be an account of the day to day activities of life on our farm. We hope you will enjoy reading about the workings of a small organic farm and that it will be educational and enlightening. We at the Crooked Cedar Farm are not as good yet with blogging as we are with farming, so please bear with us as we learn. Lets get started.