Red Wiggler Community Farm

Spring in the Greenhouse

May 6, 2013

by David

We plant all different types of seeds from vegetables to flowers.
	We also transplant the vegetables and flowers to bigger pots when they get fully grown and out grow their smaller space.
When they really get fully grown we put them on the back of the golf cart,
	and then we take them into the field to plant them and then water them with fish emulsion so they can get nice and healthy.

When the customers come to get their vegetables they will be happy with the produce that we have grown. The flowers are the best seeds to plant because the customers love to pick our beautiful flowers. We plant different kinds of herbs like basil, chives, cilantro, dill,thyme, oregano, parsley, and mint. Some of the vegetables that we plant are eggplant, hot peppers, green peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, radishes, beets, turnip, kale, collards, lettuce,mustard greens, tomatoes, mizuna, pac choi and spinach.

New in the fields in 2013

April 25, 2013

Spring is a time for renewal here on the farm. After a winter of resting, planning, attending conferences and coming up with new ideas, spring is the time to put our new ideas into action.

We are trying a few ideas new to Red Wiggler in 2013:

Rolling out the row cover Floating Row Cover

We decided to spend the extra money on floating row cover, so instead of covering 1 bed at a time, we can now can cover 5 beds at a time. We rolled it out and were immediately amazed how easy it was to work with.

Our 5 rows of brassica plants (kale, collards,kohlrobi, mizuna & turnips) are enjoying the extra moisture contained by the larger row cover and the cover crop of oats and clover in the aisles between the beds is also benefiting from the protected conditions. So far, this looks to be a great decision! We love the ease of uncovering all the beds at once and being able to hoe without dealing with additional hoops and rock bags, making the area more accessible for all of us.

floating row cover

Rye/vetch Roller Crimper

After reading about how planting rye and vetch as cover crops may suppress the Colorado Potato Beetle, we decided that the potato field was a perfect candidate for an experiment. Since we already had rye and vetch planted in the field, we only tilled the strips that we wanted to plant in and left rye/vetch aisles between the potato rows to continue growing. We will then use our new walk behind roller crimper to kill the rye/vetch and use it as straw to deter the beetles. Rye/vetch in between potatoes

Right now the field looks nice, and we’ll do a update later after we’ve crimped the rye/vetch cover and determined the success of our experiment .

We are also excited to experiment using the roller crimper to crimp the rye/vetch down for our last tomato plantings. Stay tuned for another blog post in June that recaps our process.

Salanova Lettuce

Also new in 2013, we are planting more ginger and Johnny’s new lettuce variety, Salanova. Since the Salanova lettuce seed is pelleted, more of our growers are able to seed the lettuce. And the lettuce sure does look nice! It even comes with it’s own special lettuce de-corer. We can’t wait to try it!

: Seeding the Salanova lettuce

The Salanova ready for transplanting

Sweet Potato Soup!

December 20, 2012

A big thank you to one of our super star volunteers, Claire, for not only sharing this recipe, but also sharing a crock of soup with us!

Creamy Sweet Potato Soup Recipe

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/creamy_sweet_potato_soup

Ingredients

2 Tbsp (1/4 stick) butter
1 cup chopped onion
2 small celery stalks, chopped
1 medium leek, sliced (white and pale green parts only) *
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1 1/2 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 5 cups)
4 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth (use vegetable broth for vegetarian option and gluten-free stock for gluten-free version)
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups half and half *
2 Tbsp maple syrup
The leafy tops of the celery stalks, chopped

Method

1 Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté for about 5 minutes. Add chopped celery stalks and leek, sauté about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 2 minutes.

2 Add sweet potatoes, chicken stock, cinnamon stick, and nutmeg; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.

3 Remove cinnamon stick and discard. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return to pot.

4 Add half and half and maple syrup and stir over medium-low heat to heat through. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cool soup slightly. Cover and refrigerate soup and celery leaves separately. Bring soup to simmer before continuing.) Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with celery leaves.

Yield: Serves 6 to 8.

*Claire’s Suggestions: use half the amount of half&half called for, and use green onions if you don’t have leeks!

Enjoy! And don’t forget, if you have a sweet potato you’d like to share, please email it to kara@redwiggler.org!