Happy Mother's Day

Happy belated Mother's Day to all of the wonderful mothers and mothers-to-be! We were lucky to have 4 generations of our family at Endeavor Farm yesterday...well...the last generation will be arriving officially in July!

We enjoyed a sunny weekend at the farm and it is so refreshing to see color popping up everywhere in the garden. Anne has always had a knack for flower arranging and you can look forward to our cut flowers at the market too! We should be getting our plugs for the flowers and herbs any day now and will plant those soon.

Despite having a few dry days, there is still a lot of standing water in the garden. Terry is trying to compensate by digging a ditch in some areas to avoid flooding in the beds.

The garlic is continuing to grow and coming in great!

The lettuce blend we planted a few weeks ago is also starting to pop up and there is fresh produce in sight!

We are now official with this brand new vinyl sign for the market! You will easily be able to spot us at the market and should be in the same spot as last year. Just a reminder, the first market Saturday is in just 2 weeks on May 21st!

Slow Spring

Despite all the rain, we have been taking advantage of the sunny days to get ready for the market and to keep making progress in the garden. This past week we did more planting and enjoyed the flowering trees.

Lots of cabbage!

Sour cherry tree beginning to bloom...Bev's sour cherry pies are to die for!

Radish seeds

Tomatoes ready to be sold at the market!

If you have never had Jeni's ice cream then you are definitely missing out. Jeni's ice cream was started in Columbus by...Jeni...and she focuses using fresh and local ingredients. She gets her cream solely from Snowville Creamery in Ohio. (We buy only Snowville milk and it is delicious and not homogenized and it is pasteurized at a very low temperature. The cows are also pasture raised which we really support!) The flavors of the ice cream are unique and above, Anne enjoyed a cone of Wildberry Lavender and Savannah Buttermint. I can't say enough wonderful things about Jeni's and so when you come by our farm stand or go to the market, swing into Chagrin Falls to go to their brand new location by the falls!

Speaking of eating local ice cream, we wanted to share with you another way we support local food. Every week we get eggs from a small farm on Music Street and they are amazing. Their shells are beautiful shades of greens, blues and browns, and the yolks are a bright yellow that you can't match in an egg from the store. These eggs are organic and free range, and most importantly the chickens are raised humanely and right down the street from us!

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!

Seedlings Up!

Happy Spring! Finally! Terry has been busy getting the seeds started in the basement under the grow lights and there are already signs of life. So far we have onions and napa cabbage sprouting and I can't wait for more. The garden is currently very wet with all the rain and snow we've had but I know we are all eager to get out there and start the season.

Onions

Napa Cabbage

Scrappy checking out the grow lights!