Welcome back to Emerson Farm!

Our next adult volunteer day will be Friday, August 24 from 1 to 3 PM.  Come on out and learn a little about gardening while we get this year's fall garden in order.

Over the summer, the hens and their rooster settled in very nicely.  Two of our hens are now brooding on 11 eggs.  Thanks to some help from summer camp participants and East Chapel Hill High volunteer Skyler, we now have a chicken tractor to help with bed prep for spring planting.

While our weekly student visitors (3rd grade and 7th grade) will not start coming out to the farm until September 10, sixth grade will come on Tuesday and Thursday of the first week of school to prep beds and plant brussels sprouts. 

Pictures coming soon!

Volunteer day cancelled today

I apologize for the short notice, but I spent the wee hours of the morning in ER with a child who needed stitches and then had to get up at 4:30 am to drive a friend to the hospital for surgery.  I've had 2 and 1/2 hours of sleep and do not feel up to gardening today!

Volunteer Days August 12 to August 18

I'll be at the garden from 9 to 9:30 on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.

On Wednesday and Thursday, 8/15 and 8/16 I'll be there in the evening from 6 to 8.

Please stop by if you can.  Even if you come at a time when I am not there, there is plenty of weeding to do and plenty of food to take home.

Volunteer Days August 5 to August 11, 2012

At this point I am only able to keep up with mowing and watering at the garden.  I'll be there from 9:00 to 9:30 every morning this week except Monday morning.  On Monday I will be there from 10:00 to 10:30.

I'll also be there on Wednesday and Thursday, August 8 and 9 from 6:15 to 8:15 to mow.

The garden is desperate for a good weeding so please do come out if you can and spend some time weeding.  If you can't come during the times that I am scheduled to be there, please come on your own and weed any bed in which you recognize what is growing.  The garden really needs it.

Thank you!

Volunteer Days July 28 to August 4

I will be at the beach for this upcoming week, but please don't let that keep you from enjoying the farm.  The green beans and tomatoes in A2 will be ready for harvest again by August 30.  There are okra, tomatoes and banana peppers in B5, chard and celery in A1, basil and stevia in C5, sorrel in D2, sweet potato greens in D4 and D5, and flowers all over the garden.  When you do come out to pick, please take a moment to weed any of the beds that you pick from - even 15 minutes will make a big difference.

Volunteer Days July 23 to July 29, 2012

During the last two weeks, the farm hosted a summer camp and then I took a week off to recover.  The children had a wonderful time working on projects like building a worm bin, adding a rainwater catchment system to the chicken coop, and building a chicken tractor at the farm.  Each day, before the heat got to us, we harvested a little something from the garden and then headed back to the kitchen on the main campus to turn it into herbed butter, pumpkin pie, salsa, pesto, and pizza.  After lunch, the kids hung out with Science Jim doing physics challenges and experiments.

As of this week, the chicken tractor needs a latch and a few more diagonals added to some corners.  It should be ready to try out by the end of the day on Monday, none too soon because it's time to start prepping beds for fall planting already.  It will be nice to have the chickens helping out.

This week's schedule will be:

Monday, July 23, 9:30 to 11:30:  We'll finish the chicken tractor and put the chickens to work.  We'll also stir and spray fermented equisetum and milk and honey.

Wednesday, July 25, 9:30 to 11:30:  We'll start prepping beds for fall leaf crops and weed the leaf crops that are still growing during the summer.

Wednesday, July 25, 5:00 to 8:00 PM:  We'll have another potluck and open grill.  When we're not cooking and eating, we'll start prepping beds for fall root crops, weed the leeks, parsnips and sweet potatoes, and check on the ginger.

Thursday, July 26, 9:30 to 11:30: We'll spray fermented nettle and continue working on the root beds.

I will be out of town July 28 to August 4, but I will post what needs to be done both in the shed at the farm, and on the blog.  Please come out and help out if you are able to.

Thank you and I hope to see you in the garden this week!

Volunteer Days July 8 to 14, 2012

This week I've been showing up twice a day to water because of the heat.  So far everything seems to be holding up very well.  I've gotten a lot of food from the garden and have been able to keep up with the harvest myself, but the tomatoes are promising to start coming on strong in the next few days and the basil will follow close behind so please come out and get some!  We don't want this good food to go to waste.  We also have a lot of pumpkins that will be ripe in the next week or so.  Don't be shy about picking one up.

Next week, I will be running summer camp at the farm in the mornings.  I invite everyone to come join us in the mornings any time between 8:30 and 11:00 Monday through Friday.  I could really use help with weeding, mulching and harvesting!

If your child is looking for something to do next week, consider signing them up for Farm, Food and Fun with Physics camp.  We'll be meeting at the farm in the mornings, taking care of the chickens, doing various farm projects and chores and harvesting.  Once the heat gets to be too much, we'll head over to the school kitchen where we'll turn our harvest into a yummy snack and/or addition to lunch.  After lunch we'll hang out with Science Jim as he leads us through fun and exciting physics challenges and experiments.  Each day will have a different theme that will apply to both the farm and physics halves of the day.  Those themes are Earth, Water, Air, Light and Heat/Fire.  Your child is likely to get wet, eat yummy healthy food, play with fire (in a safe way), and figure out some more pieces in the puzzle of how the world works.  If you are interested in signing your child up for camp, please contact Shannon O' Connor at sheadoc@earthlink.net.

Hope to see you at the farm next week, one way or another!