Growing ons in May, 2010

Things are coming up and away at the farm. The garlic is over a foot high and many early spring plants are peeking out of the soil. The greenhouse is full of greens, which the pictures will show.
Last night we had to move our seedlings of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant from the hoop house to the basement, as the temps in SW MN dipped dangerously close to freezing. We have not had the snow that has been talked about, but it was cold enough to need the furnace turned on after a two month off age.
At our other plot we have 5 rows of potatoes in with plans for 15 more, to accommodate taters nearly every week this summer. We have a few rows of early corn in as well, and the summer squash and melon is started indoors and will be moved outside once we are safely past the cold snap.
We are still hoping to begin deliveries late May / early June...The first will be heavy on greens, but if we get the head start we are hoping for we may have more deliveries for our members than the 17 we have promised.
We experienced very heavy winds last week, gusts of over 50 MPH and the greenhouse survived with no injury. This puts our minds at ease a bit, as with any new adventure it doesn't come without a bit of worry. Hope you are all enjoying spring!

The greenhouse...

Up up and away!
The greenhouse has been an act of courage as we set it up without a proper kit. We put it up on a calm day and then spent the next two nights up listening to wind tear into it, wondering if it would stand. It has and is complete. If anyone ever has questions on how to set it up, please contact us and we will help walk you through, parenting is so much easier with friends!

Everything starts small...

A post with pics from our newest arrivals!
The first is of the seedlings we have in the greenhouse. Currently we have leeks, onions, tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower. We have pepper, eggplant, herb, and cucumber seedlings inside. Direct seeded rows of spinach, lettuce, and beets are now in the ground.
The second pic is of the garlic rows poking out of the straw covering. They are growing leeps and bounds!
The third is of our "new" garden tractor, a circa 1970 Wheel Horse. The Beast has the potential to do all we need to do, but could use a few more attachments, like a tiller. We bought this beauty in Mankato with a mower and snow thrower. No more getting stuck on our gravel road! We are looking for a plow or some such to attach to make this the complete needs vehicle.
The last picture shows our new baby ducklings. These pictures are taken at about two weeks old. We are unsure of the breed or exact age of the babies.

2010 Kicking Mule CSA is SOLD OUT!

And we have you to thank! We are pleased to report that we have filled our available shares for the 2010 CSA season. We look forward to growing food for 15 shares and our local community farmers market this season.

I have attached some photos of our work in progress on the hoophouse. Our goal is to have it up and ready by the end of this month. Our house is full of seedlings of celery, red bulb onions, leeks, various tomatoes and eggplant and peppers. Green shoots push through rich soil at first slowly, and then overnight seem to burst towards the light. We urge them along and give them a helping hand in the watering department.

The snow is all but gone now. I have to say I don't mind if I don't see it again soon. This winter was long and I am absolutely loving the sunshine and warm up that we have enjoyed lately. I cannot wait to get into the garden, and we already have a list of wonderful friends that are gearing up to come and help with planting. We are blessed.

Thanks for your support!

March in MN

We are almost to spring and almost filled with memberships! Thank you, thank you, thank you! We have quite a few new members that have heard about us from last year members, which is the highest compliment we can hope for. Thank you for your trust in us, we are gearing up for a great season.

We will be in the April/May Seward Co-op publication, The Sprout, which will give co-op members a bit of information on our farm and our CSA. We will be at the Seward Co-op CSA Fair on April 24. If we have not personally met you yet, please come to the fair and meet us and many other CSA farmers from MN and WI. We know a few of the other farmers and it should be a lot of fun to see what everyone is up to. If you are still undecided about where you are going to get a CSA, it is a great place to make an informed decision, as there are loads of great hard-working farms represented there.

Currently we are busying ourselves with starting seedlings and getting our hoophouse up and going. Frances played the part of sow midwife last week as her grandpa welcomed 11 new piglets into the fold. She sat directly behind the sow and caught piglets, taking them to the mama to nurse. I see large animal vet in her future! Miles is working on the pork side of things and helping his grandpa with their website and blog for his enterprise, Miles of Pork. In Stephen's "spare time" he is installing a new bathroom with a tub! Oh glorious bath tub!!
Life is good and we continue to count our blessings. Winter has been hard this year, as poor weather has made for many days spent indoors and not many visitors or visits. We are looking forward to spring!

Here are a few photos from the season:

2010 CSA Registration time is here!

2010 is here! Sign-up for for a share of our vegetables, fruits, and herbs soon to reserve your space.
To print a copy of our registration contract, click it to open in a new window; then print it from your browser.
Return the completed contract to us by mail along with your deposit.
Thank You, Molly and Steve

Winter 09-10

We are in the middle of a very cold spell that has followed a very snowy spell. Over our Christmas break we received 24+ fresh inches of heavy, dense snow. This through most of our plans for family out the window, but allowed us to slow down and relax as we found ourselves homebound until a plow finally rolled through. Our friend Val arrived after the plow, bringing with her snowshoes which made the snow fun again. We tracked miles through it, right across fields surrounding our home.

Now cold has settled in, yesterday when I got up the courage to check the air temperature I found it to be -27. The animals are doing quite well, the horse and mule have grown their winter coats and the chickens have lost interest temporarily in being "free range" and have opted instead to hunker down, or roost down as it may be, together. Ah, January in MN.

We have started working on our upstairs bathroom project, and even the kids joined in the demolishing of the old walls last night. We found a wonderful resource in Marshall, MN; it is a reuse store of sorts. We purchased a window and are on the lookout for a sink and tub. We also finally installed baseboards in Miles' room.

In Novemeber Stephen took a spill from Blackie, the Kicking Mule. He broke his wrist in a way that has required eight pins and a plate. This has slowed down our farming plans a bit, but we are still ready and anticipating our growing year. We ordered seeds this week, which I wanted to share with you to give you an idea of what will be growing.

As far as fruits go, we plan to pick mullberries and strawberries. The strawberries were planted last year, and should produce enough to send at least one weeks worth this season. Mulberries are great used quickly on oats or cereal. We are hoping for some apples, plums, pears, and perhaps cherries as well.

Here is the list of vegetables:
Green bush beans
golden and red beets
a spring and fall broccoli
brussel sprouts
green cabbage, napa cabbage and choi
carrots
spring and fall cauliflower
celery
sweet corn
pickling and slicing cucumbers
orient express and rosa bianca eggplant
dino and red russian kale
5-color swiss chard
collard greens
leeks
garlic
green bib, red leaf, and green romaine lettuce
spinach
cante and honeydew melon
red and yellow onions
sugar snap and shell peas
red, orange, mini yellow, and jalapeno peppers
yukon gold and adirondack red potatoes
pie and carving pumpkins
easter egg, d'avignon, and diakon radish,
zephyr, flying saucer, and sebring summer squash
delicata, butternut, honey bear, spagetti, and sunshine winter squash
cherry, roma, and heirloom tomatoes
sorbet swirl, little baby flower, and sweet favorite watermelon
rapini
thai and italian basil
sage
italian and curly parsley
oregeno
chives
dill
mint
cilantro
rosemary
thyme

We order most of our seeds from Johnnys Seed Company. Their web address is www.johnnyseeds.com. We anxiously paged through their 2010 calender and found our favorites from last year, as well as some new additions. If you notice anything missing from the list that you would love to see, please don't hesitate to let us know. As I have said before, we are growing for you and you are our priority.

From all of us at Kicking Mule Farm, have a wonderful new year!