Visit Us at the Franklin Farmer's Market

Did you know that there's a winter farmer's market in Franklin, TN? It's every Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. So, grab your jacket and head on over to visit us there. We'll have fresh turnips along with easy-to-make recipes for you to try. We'll also have Beaverdam Creek Homemade Soap and Tricia Ann's adorable and trendy aprons for sale. We'll be taking reservations for our 2009 CSA, too! 

~Trish

Greenhouse Construction

We've been taking advantage of the warmer weather to work on some of our outdoor projects. The most urgent project right now is the greenhouse. Jacob keeps reminding me that it is not technically a "greenhouse" because it will not be heated. It is actually a "hoop-house". But, since I will be growing my transplants in it, I'm going to call it a greenhouse anyway. We might have other hoop-houses out in the field later for season extension. And besides, "greenhouse" just sounds better.

Jacob has done most of the work by himself and has done a great job, I might add. He learned all about building hoop-houses at the SSAWG conference in Chattanooga. So far, he has gotten all the hoops up and has framed in one side. When it is finished, it will have a double layer of plastic on top.

Hopefully, we will get it completed in time for me to start planting transplants in about 2 weeks.

Tricia Ann

Looks Like Daddy's Been Squirrel Huntin' Again

or In Which Daddy Learns that Jacob Has a Very Hard Head

The Seeds are Coming!

Our seeds are starting to come in! I got the first of several shipments yesterday. The box weighed 16 pounds! I've never seen so many seeds in my life! I can't wait till the greenhouse is finished so I can begin planting.

During the last month or two, I've spent a lot of time looking at seed catalogues (I have at least 10 different ones), and deciding what to grow for our upcoming CSA season. Johnny's Select Seeds is my new favorite catalogue, so I ordered most of my seeds from it. Take a look. It contains lots of helpful information, and is geared toward small-scale commercial growers.

I went kind of crazy and ended up with about 130 varieties to grow. I selected them according to their flavor, appearance, and adaptability to our region; not according to their long shelf-life, durability during shipping, etc. I decided to grow some tried and true varieties, as well as some new and specialty ones. Here are just a few:

• Super Sugar Snap Peas
• Honey Bear Acorn Squash: delicious mini squash, *All America Selections winner
• Cherokee Purple Tomatoes
• Encore Lettuce Mix: great all-organic baby lettuce mix
• Specialty potatoes such as Cranberry Red, Butte, Russian Banana Fingerling, and Caribe
• Wrangler Cantaloupe
  
• Specialty Greens such as Tatsoi, Bok Choi, Arugula, etc.

Lord willing, we'll have lots of delicious vegetables at harvest time!

-Tricia Ann

Top 10 Excuses

I know...It's been a really, really, really, really, really long time since we've posted. We hope our faithful readers will forgive our negligence, as we've been exceptionally busy and have had a series of technical difficulties.  Here are our top 10 excuses for not blogging. "For the sake of consistency, we will start with the 2nd one first."

 2. Our whole family got sick with the flu the first week in January. Nobody felt like blogging. :(
 10. Thanksgiving, Jacob's birthday, and Christmas came in quick succession at the end of 2008. So we were out of town a lot, and besides, we were too busy celebrating to blog. ;)
 9. I got a paper cut on my left index finger.
 8. The camera cord disappeared. :/
 7. Due to an office remodeling project, the Mac had to be temporarily unplugged and relocated, making it almost impossible to upload pictures (even though the camera cord had been found).
 6. Jacob started wondering if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about.
 5. We went to a farming conference in Chattanooga. (Stay tuned for a post about it)
 4. Mr. Bimbo had writer's-block. ;)
 3. Lately, the computers have been in great demand for farm planning and research.
 1. Mom forgot her purse.

I also haven't taken very many pictures, but here are a few from the past couple of months. 

More posts coming soon!
Tricia Ann (with various helpful insertions from Jacob)

Daddy carving the Thanksgiving turkey

The whole family helped cook Thanksgiving dinner. 

Looking at Scotland in the Atlas 

Smile, Jacob! ;)

Christmas with my not-so-little-anymore cousins