We have recently completed our first year of organic market farming. Looking back over the year I must say that it has been full of ups and downs, but I have never regretted our decision to devote ourselves to farming full time. I love doing the work of farming and I feel most alive when I am outside working in the gardens and fields. I also enjoy challenges, acquiring new skills and obtaining new knowledge all of which farming provides in abundance.

Some of the big challenges we had to deal with this past year were the extended drought and heat wave that was devastating to farmers across Texas last Spring and Summer, as well as trying to build out the farm infrastructure at the same time that we were trying to raise and sell crops. We learned a lot as we struggled to meet these challenges, and we are still working on the farm infrastructure, but we have come a long way and now have almost 2500 square feet of raised bed growing area for our crops. Our chicken raising trial was a complete success so we have plans to move and expand the chicken coop and chicken yard this year. We lost our bee hives last year due to heat, wind and pests, but we moved our hives to a better location and our new hives are thriving. I am hoping we will have honey this year from our hives.

One of the obstacles to getting our farm stand started has been a scarcity of cold storage space to store harvested crops until it is time to fill shares or take them to market. I am happy to report that this obstacle will be removed very soon! Ron has been building a small cold storage unit for us that will provide plenty of space for keeping our veggies fresh and cool. It will probably be a great place to go cool off on hot days also.

Our crop production this spring has been such a big improvement over last year! We have onions, leeks, southern peas, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, okra, summer squash, and parsley growing in the market garden area.

In the one west field we have loads of PMR Delicious cantaloupes, Rocky Ford cantaloupes, Crimson Sweet watermelons, summer squash, eggplants, leeks, garlic, tomatoes, peppers and green beans.

We have been harvesting loads of tomatoes every day for the past several weeks. So nice after having so few last year due to the terrible drought and heat wave. I have already put up eleven pints of tomato sauce and made some kick-ass fresh salsa, the recipe for which is included below.

The big news this week is that we have agreed to participate in the weekly Dripping Springs Community Farmers Market starting Saturday, June 2, from 9am to 1pm. This is a brand new farmers market which will be hosted by the Texas Hill Country Olive Company ^[1] at their beautiful store just a few miles from our farm. If you have not had an opportunity to visit this store you are in for a treat (see pictures below). They sell a great assortment of olive oils and balsamic vinegars, as well as sauces and a good selection of lovely wines. Come by and enjoy the store and pick up some farm fresh veggies.

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Fresh Tomato Salsa

Recipe adapted from homesicktexan.com

Ingredients:

2 lbs Fresh tomatoes roughly chopped
4 jalapeno peppers diced
1 cup of cilantro leaves
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup diced onion
2 Tbs of chile powder (I recommend Penzey’s chile powder.)
Salt to taste
a dash of sugar
Juice from 1-2 limes

Method:

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings to suit your liking.
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Happy gardening!
Carol