intensive gardening

These pictures capture how intensively we try to use our limited space.   There are two beds in the above pictures.  In one, Spring planted spinach was followed by a late melon planting.  The melons have created a living mulch for the leeks (planting in between beds) and at the same time have been allowed to sprawl onto the onions (grown in sets of 4) that have already finished growing.  In a couple weeks the melons will have been harvested and died back, making way for the leeks and red onion harvest.  Not perfect but it allowed us to get in a second space hogging melon planting.

All For The Tomatoes

This year we started 1200+ tomato plants from seed, including over 30 different heirloom varieties.  And then had to find space for all of them!  Back in June, our high tunnel, mid-tunnel, and two low-tunnels were filled with young plants just beginning to blossom.  Over the course of two or three days, we set about the meticulous task of stringing them up; each individual plant needed its own string to climb and provide support for its heavy fruit.

 

They sure are high-maintenance little buggers, but come August, SO worth it: Voila!

Clockwise from top left - Virginia Sweet, Mortgage Lifter, Big Beef, Carbon, Italian Heirloom, Stump of the World, Goldie, Hungarian Heart, Paul Robeson, Cosmonaut Volkov, Cherokee Purple.

The Wash Station Experience

Ever wonder how the veggies get so clean?  Take a tour of our washing station!  (We always try to leave a little dirt just to remind you they're grown in the earth.)

tower of (Hakurei) turnips

 Step 1: Soak.  It's important to submerge them in water right away to take off the field heat.  We fill up the tub and let them soak for a few minutes in a cold water bath.

cylindrical beets

 Step 2: Rinse.  Next, we lay them out on racks and spray them with water to rid them of excess dirt.  The root vegetables especially appreciate this extra rinse.

baby carrots 

Step 3: Dry.  This step is included just so we can admire their beauty in the sunlight.

Purple Sun potatoes

Step 4: Bundle.  Our favorite step (ha!).  Here, Jacob bundles the night away.  Notice the brick platform for drainage and the valley (newly tilled this year, now full of tomatoes, southeast corner of the property) in the background.  The white fence is electric to keep deer out and dogs in.

busy bundling beets

 Step 5: Store.  Our vegetable storage prayers were answered this year by the CoolBot ($299 + shipping).  With proper insulation and a regular old window air conditioner, any room can be transformed into a walk-in cooler of sorts.  This has made all the difference in our harvesting routine.  What used to be a nightmarish task is now a dream come true - and we sure appreciate those few extra minutes of sleep!

View From the Cupola

Last fall, we added a cupola on top of the barn.  (The project had been in the works ever since the barn was built in the early 90s - nothing like getting things done!)

cupola construction - Fall 2010

Now we're in the perfect position to gain a bird's eye view of the garden.  Look how far we've come since last year - and even since last month!

cupola view - Fall 2010

cupola view - May 2010

cupola view - June 2010

2011 CSA shares

For anyone still interested in joining, it's not too late! However, our shares are quickly filling up.  We plan on taking new members up until the season starts in early June, space depending - So be sure to get your name in before then: prairiegrown.com
or stop by the Brookings farmer's market and talk to one of us!

young onions

Springtime makes for busy chicks

April showers bring . . . worms! and other fun things living in the ground for our chickens to root out and snack on.

Meet the flock:

Cogburn, The Enforcer

Eve, baby of the family

Jude, aka Broody Judy

Henrietta and Georgette, Golden Girls

Our lovely hens give us four eggs each and every day - two brown and two green -  and we are so grateful, we let them freely scratch around outside in the yard (when the dogs are securely inside the house).  Two dozen eggs per week is just about enough to satisfy our baking needs!  This summer, we'll use these eggs in cookies and other baked goods we bring to sell at the farmer's market.  Someday we'd like to be able to sell the eggs, too; so this spring we'll be raising another handful of baby chicks (just as we did last spring), gradually adding to the flock until we've reached our optimum number.  In the meantime, we just enjoy their bounty and their peculiarities!

Brookings Register Front Page News

A nice article about the farm in the local paper

http://www.brookingsregister.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=10984&page=76

Hanna directing where the water should go.

our savior

Very small vegetable farms (under 5 acres) can rarely afford the luxury of automated farm equipment.  Our farm relies on small human powered tools  and very small engines which makes our venture very labor intensive.  We have a small tiller and a simple tractor, but most of the weeding, etc. is done by human power. But this year we decided to tackle the most hated job on the farm--plastic mulch laying.  Plastic mulch is one of the keys to our produce as it warms the soil and keeps weeds to a minimum.  The problem is that laying it by hand is back breaking and is the epitome of donkey work.

The jury rigged tractor in the photo is our reverse engineered version of an automated plastic mulch layer, which hopefully will end our long, grueling days of hand laying plastic mulch on the fields.  Mounted on the front are two small shovels for digging the trench.  The plastic roll is attached underneath with materials scavenged from an old weight set and on the back two coulters hill soil onto the plastic to keep it in place.  Its maiden voyage is the other picture.  As you can see it was somewhat of a success, but it is still a work in progress.

Garlic - picture update

04/2011 - new garlic poking through this spring!

 10/2010 - garlic planting last fall

2011 CSA Sign Up

03/2011 - new spinach seedlings reach towards sunlight

Let us know if you are in for the 2011 season!  You can sign up either by using PayPal, which we've set up on the new site (see previous post), or by sending us a check in the mail.  Either way, be sure to get your payment to us by Monday, May 2nd in order to reserve your space.  For those choosing to pay for your share by mail, you'll have the option of paying in full by the 2nd, or in two installments, as follows:

Full share - $275 by May 2nd, $250 by June 6th
Half share - $165 by May 2nd, $150 by June 6th

Please make checks payable to Hillside Prairie Gardens
and send to 47057 220th St. Brookings, SD 57006

Thanks for your support!
We look forward to sharing our third CSA year with you!

Questions?  605.695.0223 or info@prairiegrown.com

New Website Up and Running!

www.prairiegrown.com