I know we planted Snow Peas but…
Kale don’t care. Look at it growing through the snow. Love Kale.
Swiss Chard on the other hand, while pretty against the white snow, is a little more spleeny. Leaves died shortly after these pics were taken.
Squash supply is holding up nicely along with the carrots and onions. Thanksgiving in many ways this year. Hope yours is a wonderful one too!
It’s been a great summer for vegetable growing at Mercy Hill Farm. Our customers enjoyed a mess of kale, sweet corn, tomatoes, summer squashes, green beans and more.
One of the dishes we dreamed up for dinner was “Farmer’s Market Fried Rice.”
Saute onions, garlic in a large saucepan or wok in 2 tbsns canola oil over medium heat until tender (3 -5 minutes). Add squash, saute 5 more minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring often, for 5 more minutes, or until everything is mixed well and heated through.
Bon Appetite!
This has been a wonderful summer on the farm; full of life, hope and beauty.
Thank you to all of our customers who bought eggs, tomatos, corn, carrots, squash, beans and truckloads of hearty healthy kale!
We went for a whole week where we ate kale at least once a day. Even had a kale smoothie yesterday…it’s an acquired taste. 😀 (we have lots more kale and will right up into November if you are so inclined)
The flower gardens are amazing right now. This Black Eyed Susan has been blooming for weeks.
Delicate cosmos dance and bob in the wind.
Sweet corn has been so delicious! We pick early in the morning for extra sweetness.
and those delicious sungold cherry tomatos. We love the harvest – the smells, the sights, the tastes and textures! Stop in and see what’s cookin’!
Photo Credits: Christy E Little – Nice pics girlie. Come get some more kale…
It’s funny, we talk to people who drive by all the time and they say: “wow, I didn’t know you grew so much there.” There’s a lot going on out back that can’t be seen tooling by at 6o MPH…
When you slow down and look, there’s an amazing menagerie of life happening all around us.
Our daughter Christie took these amazing pictures on her last visit to the farm and we sent her home with a mess of Kale, herbs and such.
She’s got a unique perspective and helps us appreciate even more the bounty that comes from the earth each summer.
Which reminds me.. I better go pick snap peas before they get past me again!
Piper says “Woof!” (translation: “pat me please?”)
The last of our snow melted last week. (a lingering pile out back of the house in the shade) and now tulips and Daffodils are in bloom!
These Tulips were the first to grace our walkway, poking up through the crushed stone border.
Meanwhile, the tomato seedlings wait anxiously to get into their beds. They’re going to need another week or two of protection. We set them out during the day to get used to the sun and wind, bringing them in at night to keep from jack frost from nipping at their noses.
What’s blooming and budding where you are?
Gardening in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire is trickier than many parts of the country. Here’s some tips we employ at Mercy Hill Farm. These heirloom tomato seedlings started life “under the lights” about two weeks back. They will need to be coddled in a cold frame to protect them from frost until mid to late May.
Making use of the heat from the lights, we’re sprouting the next round of seedlings on top, right above the lights. We like to add to the soil some flowers and herbs that will grace the beds along with the vegetables we grow. This attracts many beneficial insects and birds, keeps the bad insects away from our food and makes the garden much more appealing to the eye. After all, we’re not just about growing eats.
Meanwhile, some frost tolerant things like butter head lettuce seedlings are ready to take their place in the rich soil of our companion planting beds. Unlike traditional gardening, companion planting mixes up varieties of plants in the same bed. There are many symbiotic benefits that companion plants get from growing with other varieties. Here we put the head lettuce right down the middle between two rows of peas. Then we’ll plant flowers and herbs here and there in the bed as well. By the time the peas get big enough to shade the lettuce, the lettuce will be ready to harvest.
The yellow onions we planted last summer awoke from their winter slumber and started reaching for the sun. A little weeding and a top dressing of compost and they will be a great addition to our summer harvest this year.
Growing plants love our deep-dug, wide-row, raised beds. Because we don’t till them or walk on them the soil is fluffy and preserves the micro-life and nutrients below. The soil in our garden is so soft you can stick your hand down into it up to your wrist. Tap roots can go deep to grab more nutrients/water and weeds pull up real easy because the soil is hardly compacted at all.
What a great way to spend part of our Easter Weekend; digging into the rich soil, tucking new seedlings into their beds! In a month or so, we will have a nice variety of garden fresh vegetables to eat and to share.
Got a gardening question, comment or another great tip? email Mercy Hill Farm. We’d love to hear from you!
The month of March brings with it dustings of snow, like this one last Thursday, but they quickly melt away.
Meanwhile, the Daffodils are pushing up through the mulch,
Brocolli, Kale, Collards, Lettuce and Onions are sprouting indoors.
A thick layer of newspaper weighed down with fresh cut firewood will keep the growing beds free of weeds for another month until the soil temperature gets comfortable enough for our seedlings.
The girls even came out for a spring stroll, a scratch and some foraging.
and then tonight after dark – BONFIRE baby! Woohoo!
March 20 – Today we started 5 flats: Brocolli, Collards, Kale, Butterhead Lettuce and Bunching Onions.
In a month or two, we’ll have fresh salads!
For anyone who’s ever climbed Mt Washington you know it sports all manner of fancy weather instruments, but because we don’t get state and federal funding here at Mercy Hill Farm, we use our farm sign as a snowmeter. Long about January 1, snow starts to hide the bottom of the sign. Come February it pretty much disappears under a blanket of white. Then in March, it starts to poke out again.
Well this year we got a little anxious for spring, so we in fact dug it out a bit by hand. Nature was undaunted and kept on piling up the snow despite our best efforts. My brother, who loves the snow is probably making matters worse with his nordic “snow dance.” No telling what THAT does to the environment.
Guess I’ll just keep on strumming and wait it out.
One of our most favorite things here on the farm is when we get wee visitors. Yesterday we had a visit from Griffin, a curious and vivacious young family member from the seacoast who was very excited to check out the chickens up close and personal.
Because the hens have gotten used to the idea that anytime someone enters the coop, they are in for a treat, they were equally excited to meet Griffin, hoping he had some goodies to share.
Oh sure, some of the girls kept on working, pumping out those eggs. It’s their job after all.
But curiosity got the best of the majority. You never know. A scrap of stale bread, a melon rind, an apple core, sometimes even some cracked corn!
Ahh. Fruit of the Chicken. This is what it’s all about eh?
So we put a few dozen out to share with our friends.
and we make a little quiche for lunch; test the quality, you know.
And then it’s back to the gall darned knitting, because it’s so cold out there the snowmen are begging to be brought in at night!
Thanks for coming up Griffin, and for bringing your Ma (who snapped these great photos.) Come back soon. You’ll really get a kick out of the baby pigs here at the farm come April!
