Work Day This Saturday
It is the second Saturday of the month this week and you know what that means…..
Volunteer Day from 9:00 until 12:00 right here on the farm!
Come join us for a morning in the garden weeding, cleaning, perhaps watering, mulching, and whatever else needs to be done. It’ll be a great opportunity to get some fresh air, exercise, and make a connection with nature.
Our farm has now achieved Googlemaps status, and you can locate us there all labeled and everything. Pretty cool, huh! I guess we’re legit now and all….
Potatoes!!
We planted potatoes this week (I guess I shouldn’t say “we” because I didn’t help at all). When we lived on the farm, we planted potatoes every year saving our own seed from year to year; we had an abundance because the soil was so fertile.
Last year we planted potatoes for the first time in the city… in the poor soil we have here. Between the lack of rain and the lack of fertility the harvest was poor and the quality decidedly non-stellar. So we bought seed potatoes again and with the eternal faith and hope of the farmer, planted in soil that has been lovingly tended for one more year. It is slightly more fertile than it was last year and, Lord willing, we’ll get rains this year … so, here we go!
Before the Rain
The weather was warm. The soil was drying. We were getting raised beds prepared and seeded and fields cultivated. The last of the winter carrots were harvested and much of the hoop house was planted. Then the rain was forecasted so we hooked up the rain barrels and connected up the water catchment system on the one side of the hoop house ( didn’t get the other side done yet). Then came the rain…and we were happy.
work force on its way
waiting for the doors to open
alternative morning activities
baby lettuce in the hoop house
mustard greens
handing out work assignments: carrot harvest
green onions
lettuce mix
spring kale
spinach
garlic popping up through the mulch
preparing the old hoop house area
assessing the compost
spreading the compost
discovering the fauna of the earth
planting chard
carrot harvest
germinating seeds
basil and cabbage seedlings
onion seedlings
more seedlings
water collection from our house
water collection from the hoop house
Peace,
Janice
Ah, Beautiful Rain!
I’m so glad to see the rain, feel the rain, hear the rain, collect the rain. It’s just wonderful…
But, that makes the soil kinda mucky and so I guess we’ll not be having a work day tomorrow (April 13). See you all next month, second Saturday, 9:00 for the work day in May.
Rejoicing in the rain,
Janice
First Volunteer Work Day Of the Season
Hurray! Spring has come…and with it all the spring tasks in the garden. Please come and join us on Saturday, April 13, for our first volunteer day of the season. We will be working Saturday morning from 9:00 until 12:00 cleaning out beds, picking up garbage, removing rocks, and generally preparing the area for the planting season. We need YOU!
Our volunteer days will continue to be the second Saturdays of each month during the growing season. Come to one; come to all; meet us; meet the neighbors; discover how nice the East Side can be!
See you then!
Janice
Artist Deadline Extended!
The deadline for artist submissions has been extended until May 3, 2013!
CALLING ALL ARTISTS!!
The Wilson Street Urban Farm invites
your creative participation to design our new sign!
The 2013 growing season is upon us! Wilson Street site needs a welcoming sign that reflects the essence and purpose of our operation.
JURIED DESIGN: Submissions will be judged and the winner selected by the 3rd/4th grade students at the Tapestry Charter School who raised the money for the new sign. The winner then, with the materials provided, will manufacture and install the sign.
PRIZE: The winning artist qualifies* to receive a full 21-week CSA share of super-fresh, naturally grown, local vegetables and herbs from the Wilson Street Farm.
Contest Rules:
- Design cannot exceed a $300.00 budget
- Materials used must be paint on signboard
- Completed sign must be able to be mounted on existing 4×4 wooden posts spaced 5’ apart and extending 5’ above the ground. (Current sign measures 30” X 96”).
- Designs should reflect the philosophy of the farm as seen on its blog site http://wilsonstreeturbanfarm.wordpress.com
- Designs must be submitted by May 3rd either via email in j-peg form to wilsonstreeturbanfarm@gmail.com, or by mail to:
Wilson Street Urban Farm Sign Contest
c/o Janice Stevens,
812 Fillmore Ave
Buffalo, NY 14212.
- Sign must be completed/installed by August 1, 2013.
- *To qualify for the CSA, winner must be able to pick up their shares at the farm site on Thursday
Figs Arrived!!
I mentioned in an earlier blog that this would be the year of the fig for me and so it’s happened. I ordered 3 fig trees and a dwarf everbearing mulberry bush from a green house in CT and the plants arrived on Thursday looking beautiful and healthy. They will wait in here (the kitchen) until more stable weather when they will be transplanted into larger pots and taken outside. The mulberry will remain in a pot for its life. As for the figs, I haven’t totally decided yet where their final destination is, whether it’ll be in the ground or in a pot. Let me introduce you:
The little one is a Hardy Chicago
Black Mission fig
an unspecified Ischia, the tallest one
My fig forest. The little bitty one in front is the mulberry
So, there you have it. I’ll keep you updated on the progress.
Until next time,
Janice
