June 28, 2008
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First Farmer’s Market today!
Arrived in Brookings around 7 am and started setting up. The weather for our first market was not ideal…40 mph winds and 55 degree temps. Yikes! We tethered our canopy to some weights but it still nearly blew away several times. Despite the weather, we had dedicated customers showing up early and braving the wind and cold to buy veggies.
Our first market
for sale: gorgeous and delicious produce
a farm intern's first market
It was understandably a slow day, but we still sold most of our produce and came home with just a few items (mostly herbs). First market down, many more to come!
June 27, 2008
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Today we did our first harvest in preparation for our first farmer’s market tommorow. Got out to the field bright and early at 6am. Woo hoo!
We harvested head lettuce, spinach, kale, peas, green onions, radishes, green garlic, oregano, cilantro, sage, and dill. It’s a small harvest, but enough to fill several tables with beautiful veggies.
picking peas
first harvest
After harvesting the veggies we took them all to the barn to be weighed, washed, bagged, and bundled.
Kristianna washing spinach
Greens on the wash table
After everything was ready for market we spent the rest of the afternoon gathering all of our market supplies and setup items. I’m so excited for the first market!
June 17, 2008
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A daily part of my work here at the farm involves eggs. This includes taking care of the chickens who lay eggs, collecting eggs, washing eggs, candling eggs, and packaging eggs. The eggs here come from free-ranging hens fed with a special non-GMO organic feed that contains flax. These Omega-3 rich eggs are sold at the local grocery as well as through the Birds of a Feather egg cooperative. The Prairie Coteau Farm hens always have access to fresh air and green grass. The chicken coop is mobile and every month or so we hitch it to a truck and move it to fresh pasture. These chickens are happy and healthy and produce delicious and nutritious eggs!
Here’s a photo journey of Prairie Coteau Farm egg production:
eggs are collected from the chicken coop
they are washed and dried
then candled
and packaged
and labeled and boxed.
Now they’re ready to be sold.
And that’s how our eggs come from the farm to you!
June 12, 2008
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The weather has been dictating our work schedule lately. We’ve been trying to get our tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants transplanted but the rain and thunderstorms have cut some of that work short. As of today, they are finally all in the ground. It took an entire day to mulch our two tomato beds. Each bed is about 130′ long, and all the mulch had to be picked up with a pitch fork and loaded into a truck, driven over to the tomato beds, unloaded and spread down the rows. An entire day with a pitchfork in a hand! My arms never ached so much! (But I’m sure my biceps will be spectacular by the end of the summer
)
We’re growing peppers and melons in the greenhouse this year. Planting in the greenhouse required using a broadfork–a large tool used to break up the soil in preparation for planting. In order to use a broadfork one must actually jump on the tool and rock it back and forth in the soil. It’s kind of like being a kid again! Who says farming is all work?
Using the broadfork before planting in the greenhouse
Today the rainy/stormy streak we’ve been seeing finally yeilded to the sun. All of this rain is making the weeds go crazy! Much of my time is being devoted to using the wheel hoe to try to curb the weed growth.
rainboots and an onion row needing weeding
The garden is starting to look good! Veggies are popping up everywhere!
Garden Veggies!
