Summertime...

We are officially into the summer months and we can feel it out on the field! All of our spring crops are done and we are focusing on summer production. Below are some shots of the field this time of year as we begin harvesting the first crops of summer: green beans, squash, cucumbers and basil. Our tomatoes will be in very soon, along with the bell peppers and eggplant. We're watching the okra shoot up and the cowpeas start to flower. Our winter squash and melons are taking off as well and our sweet potatoes are growing like weeds (and that's something because we have some killer weeds!!). Enjoy the pictures and we will post more soon- as you can imagine we are very busy on the farm this time of year. Also, notice the shot of the new Rockmart Farmers Market, which is being held every Thursday from 4-7pm in historic downtown Rockmart (100 church street). We have had a great response and we are full of vendors selling homemade and homegrown products!

Full Swing

We are almost in full swing this year with all of our spring crops in the ground. We are harvesting many greens and expect some of our root crops to come in soon. The Marietta Farmers' Market has been open for a couple of weeks and we have been selling our kale, mustard greens, spinach, arugula and lettuce mix. People seem to like our vegetables and have been sharing some great recipes with us. The following recipe comes from an anonymous customer at our booth last Saturday with a few additions from us.

For kale, and possibly other hearty greens:
Saute garlic and a little onion if desire in some (2-3 Tbs) oil in a skillet or frying pan.
add red pepper flakes if desired.
Wash and de-rib kale and roughly chop. (1-2 bunches)
Throw into pan and coat with oil, stirring around a bit.
Once kale has some heat in it, add 1-2 cups broth or stock (chicken or vegetable).
Add 1-2 teaspoons stone ground mustard.
Simmer as long as desired, 10-25 minutes.
Serve warm, with slotted spoon or tongs if you still have liquid in the pan.

Internship Opportunity

Turtle Bend Farm is now accepting applications for summer and fall internships. We can host 1-2 people that are interested in learning about sustainable agriculture, community food systems, or southern foodways. Room and board and a modest living stipend are included during the internship. We grow 5 acres of certified naturally grown vegetables and raise pastured poultry for eggs. Work includes harvesting, weeding, planting and other farm activities. We also have a small library of organic and sustainable farming books and other interesting social, cultural and political topics as well as high speed wireless internet. Interns are expected to work a full work week with a day or two off each week. Plenty of local natural beauty, hiking, swimming holes, biking trails and more.

Contact Mecca at turtlebendfarm@gmail.com for an application or call us at 678-986-9776.

Irrigation is important...

Last year we learned just how important a proper irrigation system is for a diversified vegetable farm. I know it seems crazy to think about irrigation after all of the rain we have experienced in the past 8 months, but we can't forget last June, not to mention the previous years of drought. But irrigation ain't cheap, so we applied for a grant through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to install a drip irrigation system on 5 acres of our field. About a month ago we were awarded participation in their cost-share program, which would also include drilling a well. About a week and a half ago, Henry Duke of Abernathy Drilling in Armuchee, GA came down the old logging road into our field to drill the well. They had already come out and surveyed the road to see if their HUGE rigs could make it and decided they could do it in the drier weather. We got our well (200 ft. with 23gal/minute!), but what follows is our home video of two bulldozers who just happened to be in the nieghborhood pulling one of their rigs out of the swampy area beside the road. Just one tire ran off in the mud, but that was enough to strand the truck all day until both dozers could come and pull it out. Luckily, it was not the larger rig that got stuck! Thanks Henry Duke, Henry's son, Goat Cummings, Robin Brooks and the Rome NRCS for making irrigation a reality on our farm!

More photographs from Emily Dryden Photography

Check out Emily's latest visit to our farm- notice the well drilling rig in the background of the last picture. This was a crazy, hot day, but we hit water at 190 feet!
http://emilydryden.com/2010/04/03/turtle-bend-farm-project/

Spring!

Spring is finally here and the farm is rolling into action with more planting, soil preparation and fence expansion. In the past two weeks, we have planted approximately 800 broccoli plants, 1600 cabbage plants, 200 collard plants, 1600 cauliflower plants, and tomorrow we will plant another 1,000 onions and 400 bok choi. We are also beginning our weeding regimen, beginning with our garlic rows, and moving on to the onions next week. We are also happy to report that many of our english peas we planted before the 4 inch rain are popping up out of the ground! We are so thrilled to begin our 2010 season and are enjoying the hard work in the great outdoors. Our 24 hens are also beginning to lay and we are receiving over a dozen eggs a day at this point. We are pursuing our license to sell eggs at the farmers market, but we can still sell them from the farm, so if you live near Rockmart, give us a call or an email and we will tell you where to come pick up a dozen brown eggs from us for $3. We now have egg cartons too. Our chickens will provide a vital source of soil nutrients as we rotate them around our field in fallow areas throughout the year. We are also happy to report that our first CSA session is now FULL! We will have another session beginning in mid/late July and running for 10 weeks- this session will include a large portion of summer crops and then some early fall crops towards the end. Email us if you would like more information. Turtle Bend Farm is now in full swing and beginning in mid-May we will be attending both the Marietta Farmers' Market on Saturday mornings in historic downtown Marietta, and the Decatur Farmers' Market on Wednesday afternoons (4-7). You can find the websites for these markets here: http://www.mariettasquarefarmersmarket.net/ and here: http://decaturfarmersmarket.com/wordpress/

Next week we will also begin planting our 1800 kale plants, the rest of our bok choi, and seeding other crops like carrots, turnips, radishes and greens. Stay tuned! Pictures to come!

First Spring Planting!

What gorgeous weather we have had the past several days! We took advantage of it out here at Turtle Bend Farm and made our first spring planting. In the far right of the photograph you can see our 4,000 onion plants, including red, yellow and white onions, and 1,200 leek plants as well. This could not have been possible in one day without the help of our friends who were passing through, Maisie and Eric. Thanks ya'll!! Then, yesterday we seeded a large amount of sugar snap peas, snow peas, english shell peas, carrots, spinach and turnips. That's Adam on my dad's old ford tractor with our 5 foot tiller hooked up and running to make a good seed bed. Today, Adam went back and planted collards, more shell peas, more carrots and arugula! We were so excited and satisfied to have some seeds in the ground, and now we hope for a good amount of rain to water these seeds in the ground. Adam is now fertilizing the onions and our garlic (that we planted last fall) with fish emulsion fertlizer. We will be working on developing our trellis system for the climbing peas as well, and next week we will seed more spring vegetables. Later this week we will begin starting our tomato and pepper plants indoors. We are starting over 20 varieties of heirloom and hybrid tomato plants of all shapes, sizes and colors!! Get ready for some yummy vegetables this year from Turtle Bend Farm!!!