Welcome to the start of a new season at Sylvester Manor Educational Farm (formerly Shelter Island Farm – it’s going to take me a while to get my mouth around that new name)!
It’s February, and it’s really cold. Not too many people are planning for the summer months yet – or maybe they are, because of the cold. But in my head it’s already April, May, June – I’ve been spending a lot of time searching methodically through seed catalogues to decide what to grow this year, and for me it’s one of the best parts of the job (I think most farmers feel the same way)! I get very excited about the possibilities. The list is just about finalized – this year we’ll see lots more color/variety within our crops, as well as a good number of new crops. For example, in addition to green bush beans, we’ll also have golden and pink bush beans; alongside our beautiful orange carrots there will be some red ones. I’ve chosen different winter squashes (nobody even saw the ones that did the worst, because there was no fruit!), and replaced last year’s yellow watermelon variety with a new one that will hopefully do better. But of course, we’ll also see a lot of the same things we saw last year – if they did well – there was wonderful lettuce, cabbage, kale (HAHA!), soybeans, and cucumbers, to name a few. I’m hoping that this year will be a much better growing year – i.e., a normal summer, but i’m planning somewhat as though it won’t be – keeping varieties that managed to produce despite the bad conditions, and selecting ones that can tolerate the wet and cold better. Here’s hoping!
"Sungold" cherry tomato will be back, but "Black Giant" is getting the boot.
Another source of excitement and a reminder that spring isn’t that far away, are the new chicks we got this week! Five new varieties (do you see a theme here?), and for you chicken breed buffs (don’t get it? you will in a sec), here’s what they are: New Hampshire Reds, a very productive breed used by some commercial farms; Buff (ha!) Orpingtons, another productive breed especially good for winter laying; Blue Andalusians, beautiful blue-gray leghorn-type; Turken/Naked Necks, they look just like they sound, but are hardy and productive despite their frail look; Brahmas, another hardy winter layer, and we have a Brahma rooster already (Griffy); Salmon Faverolles, a fluffy, friendly breed that is also productive; and Cuckoo Marans, who lay beautiful chocolate-colored eggs. Whew! A lot to keep track of, but we will learn about each breed and its behavior, just as we did last year with our current layers (who are comprised of Brown Leghorns, Silver-Spangled Hamburgs, Americaunas, and Anconas – all but the Americaunas turned out to be somewhat nervous and escape-obsessed, much like the chickens in “Chicken Run,” except that we are much nicer and more considerate to our chickens than those farmers were, although I do love a good chicken pot pie).
Much of February will be spent in planning and preperation; besides deciding WHAT to plant, I have to decide WHEN to plant it, and make sure we have everything in place so that seeds can be planted when I decided they should be. That includes acquiring compost and amendments for the field, getting the greenhouse completely ready for seedlings, and making sure all our equipment is ready. This also means meetings with the CSA core group and restaurants to keep them abreast of what’s happening and plan out the year with respect to them. As the saying goes, there’s always work to do on a farm!
But I am very excited for the coming year – not only for the usual joys of warm weather, soil, insects, friends, music, and delicious food – but also because I think this year will build on the success of last year. We managed to meet our goals despite a LOT of obstacles, and this year many of those obstacles will be removed. I hope you can join us on the ride – it should be fun!
Coming soon: pig update, new faces, old faces, the greenhouse/seedlings….
