Wood Duck Farm

October 4th, 2011 

Well darn it we did not get any rain last week, but as dry as it is, the farm is really beautiful right now. It could be psychological, as it was 45F degrees this morning or perhaps it is all of the spectacular flowers in full bloom that we planted for this past week's wedding. Whatever the reason, we're so glad to be here and hoping that the "endless summer" of 2011 is about over.  

What's Growing:   We planted about 4000 "short daylight" variety strawberry plants last week. Depending on the weather, it may not be until December until they begin bearing fruit, but we're hopeful that they will begin earlier.  These plants were bare roots, dug up last January and placed in cold storage and shipped to us in August. We then potted them and placed in our greenhouses where they were protected from the sun. This was experimental on our part to plant early; so far so good though. We've got another 8,000 bare roots coming this week from Ontario, Canada, which should go in the ground later this month. Most of our arugula got attacked by aphids last week (dang them #%@&%!)  We have never had an attack like this as most bugs stay away from the peppery tasting arugula. Oh well, while we will not have any arugula in this week's CSA share, we will have lettuce mix. Fortunately arugula is a fast grower, so we should be okay in a week or two. Some of our tomato plants that were planted back in August just could not handle the prolonged days over 100F, so we transplanted another 1000 plants out into the field last week. We know we will be facing the challenge of frost by mid November, but we are hoping that row cover for frost protection will help us prolong their season a little.   

Congratualtions to Allie & Lonnie:   Mission Accomplished! We hosted our first wedding here at the farm this past Saturday and we think it was a great success. The ceremony was located on the lawn amidst a collection of sunflowers, zinnias, celosia and basil planted back in early August. I was nervous that everything was going to bud late, but the flowers began blooming last week and were all in harmony by Saturday evening's event. Our good friend, Drew Wilson, formerly the chef at Benjy's in the Village, put together a fantastic five course meal that focused on local ingredients. Dinner was served under the stars adjacent in the court yard next to the ol' school house.  Entertainment was provided by the Houston duo Smythe & Taylor. Photography by Todd over at STP Images. Flowers were largely grown here at the farm and arranged by my good friend Lesia Streckfuss.            

Fall CSA Begins This Week:   For those of you that are interested in participating and wish to register, please click this link Fall CSA Sign-Up   Interested, but ask where do I pick up at? Select this link CSA Pick UP Location Map & Times   I need to mention that we now require all CSA shares holders to register their contact information online via our website. Why? This way it helps reduce the possibility of us making mistakes via typos etc. You can still pay with a check or cash by selecting the "manual payment" option vs "credit card/PayPal, during your check out process. If you are splitting your share, make sure you provide their email info as well during your registration process.  Lastly, when you register, make sure that you receive a confirmation email.  

Farm Expansion in the Works   We just signed a sales contract to purchase about 30 acres bordering our farm to the north. Hopefully we'll close by November 15th. This land was clear cut timbered about three years ago, so it is quite a mess and will require a lot of work prior to being placed into cultivation, but we're optimistic that it will be a worthwhile addition to our farm over time. If nothing else, the deer and racoons will be pleased that their "salad bar" is expanding in size. (just kidding we hope!) 

CSA Open House   We're not really sure of a date just yet, possibly early-mid November, but we'll have an open house sometimes later this fall. In the past we've had a hay ride for the kids and farm tour followed by a pot luck dinner. This past spring we had a canning lesson as well, for those interested.  

"Think Rain" please,

Van Weldon

Cell 713 876 8645

www.woodduckfarm.com

csa@woodduckfarm.com

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