Author Archives: Mark

First Day at the Farmers Market

The big day is here – first sale day at the Elgin Farmers Market.  We got an early start, loading ice chests and boxes before 7:00am.  With the cooler weather, thankfully some of the bulky cabbages and lettuces were fine … Continue reading

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First Market Harvest

Several weeks into the season, we think have enough produce to justify our first trip to the farmers market.  Harvesting carrots, lettuce, chard, and other greens.  The team works past sunset preparing for the big day tomorrow.     

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Rapid Growth Toward Harvest

As the weather warms in April and May, the seedlings and transplants really take off.  To the left are potatoes.  We grew these under plastic, as you can see.  This made it difficult to hill the soil around the growing … Continue reading

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2013’s First Calf

Here’s the first calf of 2013 born April 16.  A young bull calf born to a first-calf heifer.  The birth went very smoothly and the calf was up walking and nursing within 30 minutes.  

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Spring Planting

Planting for the spring/summer season lasts about 3 months.  Cooler weather crops such as cabbage, lettuce, carrots, and broccoli are seeded and transplanted starting in mid February.  We plant in stages in order to spread out the harvest so we’re … Continue reading

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Fertilizing and Preparing Rows

The first few rows of the garden were amended for mineral deficiencies last year.  So the next step is preparing and spreading organic fertilizer.  We measured and marked off the rows and planted the first rows before our order of … Continue reading

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Breaking Ground

Late January, work began on the new garden expansion.  Our family garden of the past has great fertile soil but is too small for the vision of growing a surplus to sell.  The expansion is in a bermudagrass pasture so … Continue reading

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