Rain, Rain Go Away!

If you're in Cleveland, then you are sick of all of this rain we've been getting. The soil is completely saturated and we had a soggy Easter but we are still managing to get work done at Endeavor Farm and had a wonderful holiday with delicious food and wonderful family and friends.

Terry's latest project was to separate all of the tomato seedlings from the flats and put them into individual pots for our plant sale. We will begin selling plants soon at the farm stand and at the market. The first market day is coming up on May 21st, so mark your calendars!

Easter was a success and even though there were about 20 people and 4 dogs in Hannah and Ian's house, we all managed to have a great time. We had our traditional Polish menu complete with saurkraut made by Bev and Terry from Endeavor Farm's cabbage, fresh and smoked kielbasa, fresh and smoked ham, deviled eggs, potato salad, and lots of appetizers. We of course ended our meal with a lamb cake, as we do every year.

Fresh ham from Sand Farm which was amazing!

Beet-pickled deviled eggs

Lamb cake

Forsythia

Scrappy in his Easter finest!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

1,000 Onions

Today the Rieses bundled up in hats and coats and headed out to the garden to plant over 1,000 onion seedlings. They all fit in only 3 rows of planting and it was definitely tedious work but we were all grateful for each other's help and company. Anne separated the onions and got them out of the flats, Terry used a tool called a dibble to make the holes in the soil while Bev and Liz carefully placed each seedling in the hole and pinched very wet soil around the roots.

Flat of onion seedlings

Dibble

We planted 2 varieties of medium, dark yellow onions: Copra and Patterson. They are both fantastic storage onions and the only difference is that Patterson tend to be slightly larger. Good storage onions have characteristics of quick drying necks and firm skins. They should be stored in a cool, humid place in your basement or root cellar and should last through until the spring. We are very excited about all our onions and we hope you are too!

Liz planting onions

After planting the onions, we moved on to plant the rest of the cabbage and kale.

Anne, Bev, and Terry planting kale

Cabbage

Endeavor Farm!

Bev made a delicious beef stew for dinner (with our green beans from last year!) and meat from Emma and Brandon of Sand Farm. Sand Farm raises grass-fed beef and pork and sells their product at the Geauga Fresh Farmers Market. We were happy to find them at the market last year since they raise animals in a way that we support and now we get our meat exclusively from them.

First Plants in the Ground

This weekend was a productive one, especially with our near 80 degree weather on Sunday! Not only did we celebrate Hannah's birthday but we planted our first plants in the ground! Terry planted some Napa Cabbage and some lettuce into the upper bed in the garden and so far it looks like it has survived the heavy rains.

Terry and Liz also planted a bed of our lettuce blend which we hope to harvest in the next 3-5 weeks. We should be able to get about 3 cuttings from each planting.

Signs of life are showing now including rhubarb...

peonies...

and garlic, planted in late October of last year!

What looks below like some crabgrass is actually our winter rye crop. It is a cover crop and was planted in late October last year and the idea is that you till it into the soil and it adds organic matter and nutrients. We also sent in some soil samples from our garden this year and we added sulpher to this area to help lower the pH.

As all areas of the garden are still not ready to be planted, we still have plenty of flats that are growing strong in the basement under the grow lights. They were happy to get some sunlight and wind this weekend. The wind is great because it helps to strengthen the seedlings before they go into the ground.

Terry has finished digging up the new areas of the garden and the new fence posts were pounded in and await the deer fence to be attached!

Until next week...

Signs of Spring

Even though the garden still isn't completely ready to be planted, we are well on our way. Terry has been working hard digging up more of the field to expand the garden this year. We are running out of room in the house for all the flats of seedlings and they are everywhere from the basement to the upstairs bedroom. There will be about 450 tomato plants in 13 varieties that we will sell as small plants in pots at the market and at the farm stand. Here is a list of the varieties that we planted so make sure you leave room in your garden for some of these tomatoes!

-Striped German

-Moskvich

-Defiant

-Brandywine

-Black Brandywine

-Red Brandywine

-Yellow Brandywine

-Golden Girl

-Bonnie Best

-Mr. Stripey

-Amish Paste

-Pink Ponderosa

-Ivory Egg

The garden addition wraps around the corner of the fenced in area and more fence will be added to keep the deer out.

Terry seeding endless flats of tomatoes.

Onions getting some light in the bedroom!

Cabbage and kale gets a taste of some natural sunlight on a warm day.

Beautiful green lettuce under the grow lights.

Kale...makes me hungry for some crispy kale chips!