Friday Field Update No. 15

Happy Friday and happy summer! It really is making a presence recently. The rain clouds have finally parted for a spell, and the sun is shining generously. Of course, this means fruits and vegetables are really putting on lots of growth. The peaches are looking absolutely gorgeous and the earliest varieties are starting to color and finish sizing up. We are estimating only two to three more weeks until the first harvest! And there are a lot of them, that’s for sure. I have been debating on calling this the year of the peach. It has a nice ring to it.  

One crop we are really hauling in at the moment is beets. We seeded a large first planting this year and they sure are beautiful. We have filled several twenty bushel bins like the one pictured here with beets and there are still plenty more to go. They are a huge hit at Rochester Public Market, as well as with some of our CSA customers. I know not everyone loves beets, but those who do are very, very happy. The greens on them are just stunning, and loaded with nutrients. So if you do happen to have some beets to eat, don’t throw those greens out! Boil them like spinach, toss them in a salad with our lettuce, or mix them in with a quinoa or other grain salad. God save the greens!  

Like I mentioned, beets have been one of the items in our CSA share for the past two weeks. In this picture from week #3, the beets are packed in there tightly with garlic scapes, edible pod peas, a living basil plant, apples, zucchini, and buttercrunch lettuce. This is a full share box, and it is filled to the brim. I absolutely could not resist taking a picture of it. If anyone doesn’t know what a CSA is or how ours works, head on over to the CSA page on our website and there is all the information you need to know. If you do have a question, feel free to call our market or email us!

Moving on to one of my favorite crops: the pickle. I believe I have clarified our terminology before, but allow me to refresh your memory. There are two basic types of cucumbers in my mind and on our farm: pickling(pickles) and not pickling(slicing). For me, the only ones that really matter are the pickling cucumbers. Why? Because they can be sliced like a non-pickling cucumber, but also stay nice and crunchy when you pickle them! That is the major difference here. For some reason I don’t exactly understand, the pickles maintain their delicious crunchy texture much better than the slicers, but can still be sliced and eaten raw! So why do we even need slicing cucumbers? I haven’t the slightest idea…

These beautiful little darlings are the blossoms that pickle plants produce. There is a difference, can you see it? Like many other vegetables, especially cucurbits, there is a male and a female flower. Fascinating, right?! You can tell which one is female because of the baby pickle that is just beginning to take shape at the base of the flower. The male flower only exists to provide pollen in order to grow the seeds inside the fruit (pickle). I know, cucumbers sound like they should be vegetables, but in reality they are a fruit. This is because they are something the plant produces, not part of the plant itself.

Time for the mystery vegetable!! Or fruit? You tell me! This tall and ferny beauty is loaded with tiny yellow flowers and some little green balls too… hmm...interesting. Let me know what you think it could be in the comments!

Thank you for reading all about my life as a farmer, I truly appreciate it! See you back here next Friday!

Friday Field Update No. 14

Happy Friday! Not so happy rain, though. I think I’m pretty much over it. However I try not to complain too much because I feel like us farmers are constantly saying it’s too wet, or it’s too dry, or too hot! Most of the time these statements are completely accurate, but I’ll try not to go on about it too much here.  

The rain turns our soil into my favorite shade of brown. Ideal for photographing, especially when you have a beautiful patch of cucurbits coming up. The second planting of pickling cucumbers (we just call them pickles) is pictured here, but they also are sharing the field with more zucchini plants. The rain may have created wonderful contrast for a great picture and eye candy, but it can also have many negative effects. Too much rain can obviously be a serious problem, but that’s not what I will discuss today. *Here comes my weekly weed spiel* Weeds are astounding. Again and again they surprise me, and it has yet to be a good surprise. When the rain saturates the ground, especially as of late, cultivation does not work nearly as well. Whether you are using a Farmall cultivator tractor, or a big drag, the weeds are dug up with a tooth and relocated in the soil. Their roots are ripped and damaged, but most of the time are still present. So when the ground is nice and moist, the weeds are slightly displaced, but are planted back in wet, loose soil and sometimes continue to grow like crazy! This is why you shouldn’t plan on doing any cultivating or dragging in wet soil after a rain, it would be a complete waste of time!

The sun was hitting this pile of packed zucchini and I couldn’t help myself, I had to take a picture. 

Zucchini is one of our biggest early crops. Pictured are boxes that have been packed to be sent off to Wegmans. For those of you that didn’t know, we sell a considerable amount of fresh produce to Wegmans. If you keep your eye out in the produce section for our sign, you can probably see my dad holding a crate of sugar snap peas (which is our second biggest early crop). Throughout the year we make it to almost every single Wegmans in the Rochester area. They do a good job supporting the local agriculture. Delivering to them is definitely one of my favorite jobs. I love seeing our beautiful produce getting settled into it’s new home.

I think I will conclude this week with some pictures of this delicious, violet colored blossom called Borage. The first wave of clusters has started blooming. I think these might be my favorite edible flowers so far. When you bite into them, it is the softest crunch you have ever bitten. The taste is very subtle at first, but quickly develops into a cucumber flavored, big, juicy mouthful that you were not expecting. I think these would be great on certain desserts, maybe with cream cheese, and also as a garnish on cocktails. Or even just floating in a simple glass of ice water.

Thanks for reading everyone, it’s time for me to get farming. Have a great week and see you next Friday!

Friday Field Update No. 13

Happy Friday and happy Summer! The longest days of the year are upon us. Which is great for us, we now have plenty of time to get everything done that needs to be done, especially if we fall behind on some planting(which never, ever happens).

Yes, the summer is upon us, and there are about 15 hours of daylight now. All this sun certainly makes the flowers go crazy! Especially the perennials. I was watering in the greenhouse yesterday and I looked out the front and noticed how many beautiful flowers were blooming. So many colors. And that’s when I noticed this gorgeous monarch butterfly swooping through, having a late breakfast on our echinacea. I have been seeing a lot of different butterflies recently. That’s always a good sign. I also couldn’t resist including this picture of a snail this week. I’m sorry it’s not really farm related, but I thought it was fun. I think he/she really enjoys the cool, wet environment that our drip-tape creates.

These are aphids. I’ve noticed a lot of them enjoying this specific weed, which is lambsquarter. That’s fine with me, as long as they stay off my crops! If you look closely at this picture, you can see tiny drops of silvery liquid below the aphids. Those tiny drops of sugar-rich liquid are actually called honeydew. They are secreted by the aphid when their mouthparts penetrate the plant. This causes some sap to flow out of the plant, and some of it is actually pushed right out of the aphid. Sometimes you can see hundreds of ants pouring over these aphids, and at first you might think that they are chowing down on them. But if you take some time and observe, the ants are actually “farming” the aphids and collecting the sugary honeydew as a foodsource. They will even protect the aphids, and fend off predators like ladybug larvae.

Zucchini plants so thick and green you can't even see the plastic. Some rolling storm clouds above from this past week

Our high density orchard with powerful clouds looming in the background.  

Rain certainly has made a presence this year. Honestly, at this point for me on our farm with my vegetables, I am not complaining in the least. We may be seeing some fungal problems in the peas from prolonged cold and wet soil, but everything else is doing really well, and we haven’t needed to irrigate very much at all. There is one problem with the fact that the irrigation isn’t running: we aren’t fertigating (adding fertilizer to the irrigation system). So even though the plants are staying nice and wet, the rain water doesn’t have all the nutrients that our crops need, which we were planning on spoon feeding them through the irrigation. This means that even though it may be wet enough under the plastic, I will be running the irrigation anyway. This allows us to add fertilizer, but I will add it at a higher rate so I don’t need to use as much water, because the plants don’t need it. The frequency of these rain showers has been nicely spread out that it gives the fields enough time to dry out so I can go in with the planter and seed a few different crops. Then, usually within one or two days, there will be a nice rain that will help water the seeds in, ensuring that they are making proper seed-to-soil contact, and also have plenty of moisture to germinate. This next picture is a beautiful shot of one of our pickle seeds resting graciously in the perfectly prepared furrow, like a little nest. 

A freshly laid pickle seed, waiting to be tucked in so it can begin it's life.  

That’s all for this Summer Solstice week. Thanks for reading and see you back here next Friday!

A load of white salad turnips for the CSA this week. These are so juicy and delicious, very different than a normal turnip. Make sure you try some if you haven't already!

Friday Field Update No. 12

Another Friday has come, and another week has gone. Time flies so fast sometimes! For me, this time of year I am always very busy, so the time is always flying.

I will start with a bird, nest, and overall nature update, as per requested. Since I last mentioned the mystery bird(looks like a plover or sandpiper) and Killdeer nest, I discovered three other Killdeer nests. This week there was only one nest with a bird still sitting on eggs. I have seen the little mystery babies running around (they do this adorable little up and down bob thing with their head and butt), and also chicks from one of the killdeer nests (featured in the picture). I can only hope that the other two nests have hatched successfully and are now running the town(...field?).

Only one or two day old Killdeer chick! I apologize for the blurry picture, I don't want to get to close and give them or their parents a heart attack. 

One of our many common snapping turtles who ventured out to lay her nest. I'm pretty sure that is a leech on her back if anyone is wondering. 

Constantly being surrounded by nature is one of my favorite perks of this job. The fields around our farm market in Brockport are bordered on the South by a beautiful wetland. This includes a swamp and a pond brimming with wildlife of all different kinds. Driving by on the tractor I can always count on seeing painted turtles sunning on top of floating logs, or great blue herons and green herons soaring in. Occasionally, I can also catch a glimpse of our resident pair of yellow warblers or baltimore orioles flitting about the trees. The closest encounters I have had are two types of turtles: the painted turtle, and the common snapping turtle. I get to see them the only time of year they leave the water, to go lay their eggs in the field. They have a little trouble trying to run away from me. Pictured is one I found this week laying her nest.

Yellow nutsedge, twelve o'clock.

In the field right next to wear this snapper laid her eggs there was a stand of yellow nutsedge, one of my least favorite weeds, trying to establish itself. Notice I said “was”... Pictured here is me in the middle of destroying the nutsedge with our offset disc in preparation for our second planting of zucchini and pickling cucumbers. Yes, I take great pleasure in killing weeds, especially this patch of yellow nutsedge. We have been battling it in this specific location for a few years now. It may have won a few battles, but right now we are definitely winning the war.

I was SO disappointed this big guy wasn't quite ripe enough yet when I found it. 

Currently, we are in the heart of strawberry season, and it is absolutely delicious. Starting this weekend we will begin offering U-Pick Strawberries. You may not find one quite as funky as this monster, but I know you will find plenty of deliciously juicy berries if you come try your hand at picking! From what I saw while handing out the first CSA box of the season, everyone was thrilled with the berries. I am proud to report all of the berries that went out on Tuesday were fresh picked that morning. Keeping our products fresh is something we try to do whenever possible. It is the easiest way to maintain a high quality product, which is what we strive for on our farm.

You can see a blossom cluster above my thumb, as well as a couple pods to the right, one with a petal still hanging on. 

In other crop news, the peas are getting big! The first wave of pods is so very close to harvest. They are about 3 inches long now, and will start growing fatter any day. Pea plants grow their pods first, and then once those are established, begin to fatten up the peas inside the pod. In edible pod peas, the pod is where you get a lot of the juicy crunch and green flavor, and the pea is where you get the sweetness. Keep your eye on Facebook, we will announce when the first peas are picked!

Foodlink Executive Director, Julia Tedesco cutting the ribbon!

This week I will conclude with a very special topic. Wednesday was a great day for me. We were invited to attend the Grand Opening of the new processing kitchen at Foodlink. Rochester City Mayor Lovely Warren spoke, as well as a local hero, Danny Wegman. They are pictured here along with part of the Foodlink team, some of whom I have worked with, for the official ribbon cutting. It was a very moving ceremony, and educational as well. I learned a lot about how big of an impact Foodlink has on the Rochester community. We have been working with Foodlink for several years now, and it makes me very proud to be able to say that. As well as donating food, Foodlink has actually been able to purchase some produce from us when we have a surplus. They have been buying a large number of apples from us (over 1,000 bu!) which may increase this year now that their new kitchen is up and running. One of the largest rooms in this kitchen is called the value-added processing (VAP) room. The largest piece of equipment in this room is an enormous apple slicer. It has increased their capacity to slice apples by twenty! A lot of the food they prepare in this kitchen will be sent to inner city schools, along with these sliced and half cup packaged apples. Being a part of such a great force for good in Rochester is a huge inspiration for me. I plan to continue working with them, and helping them achieve their goal of not letting food go to waste.

Ok, time to get out to work. Hopefully today the zucchini and pickles are going in the ground! The rain was great for us yesterday, even though it was a deluge at times. The field is now moistened through, and these seeds won’t have any trouble germinating. Thanks for reading! See you back here next Friday.

Friday Field Update No. 11

Happy Friday! The end to another week and the beginning to a beautiful, SUNNY weekend! 

I would like to start off by apologizing for skipping last week. It was a very difficult and busy Thursday/Friday. And those happen to be the days that I write this blog post. I prefer to write it at the end of the week, so the information I share with you is as up to date as possible.

So, back to my excuse. Here is a little peak into an apple growers life in the spring. There is a fungus called scab. It creates a horrible “scab” on the leaves and fruit of apple trees. It is made up of pure evil. If you have apples, you will have scab, if you don’t protect them. It is everywhere. You cannot escape. Luckily, resistance is not futile! As long as you give up on having a social life, you are good to go. Scab works like many other fungi: spores. In the spring it exists as a structure called an ascocarp. These ascocarp grow ascospores and when they are wetted(mostly rain), release the spores to infect green apple tissue(leaves or fruit). In order for us to avoid an infection, we need to have a spray on the trees that creates a protective barrier so when the spores land, they are killed and have no chance to cause an infection. However, when it rains it also washes off the protective barrier. So when the next rain event happens, we need to have our trees covered again. So goes the almost endless cycle of scab spraying. Right up until around this time of year. Last Thursday and Friday we needed to cover the apples for the rain event Saturday night, but it was windy both days. That means we put in a normal work day, and then when the wind finally died down in the late evening, after dinnertime, sprayed the apples. There. That’s my excuse. I’m sorry I chose apples over this.

On to less depressing and stressful topics! We picked the first strawberries of the year Wednesday! When it finally stopped drizzling… These are some of the most beautiful berries you will see during the season because they are mostly what I call the “king berry.” In the field, the berries grow in a cluster, starting as blossoms. The king blossom is always first, and when it matures is always the biggest berry out of the cluster. Therefore, I call it a king berry! They are big, beautiful and so refreshing after a winter without homegrown fruit. Harvesting may be a difficult and sweaty job, but at the same time it eases the mind, and makes all that hard work of growing the crop feel like it was worth something.

Other good news, the raspberries are sprouting lots of beautiful leaves, they seem very happy. Just like I promised, what appeared to be lifeless twigs are now bursting with fresh, green leaf tissue! Yesterday we added mulch at the base of each plant to prevent the weeds from going crazy.

The string beans we seeded on the plastic have popped up and spread their wings to take flight. What I love about watching seedlings germinate is what happens to the seed itself. If you look closely you can see that the lowest pair of bright green leaves are actually what used to be the seed. I don’t understand exactly what has happened, but maybe it has actually turned into leaves; growing chloroplasts and digesting that beautiful sunshine.

Can anyone guess what this beautiful, green, leafy veggie is in the picture above? The first one to comment and get it right on Facebook or the blog gets a gold star!

Well, thanks for reading! I hope your week is as sweet as these strawberries! See you back here next Friday!

Bonus picture below: Pickle transplants making a pickle forest!

Friday Field Update No. 10

Happy Friday, and welcome back to my little corner of the internet. Today’s topic is my mortal enemy: WEEDS. But first, an adorable family picture!

If you look at the top of our website, you will find it says we are a farming family and this is the start of my own little family. I thought it would be nice to share so you could get to know me a little more. This is my lovely wife Mandy, and our ferocious canine Obi-Wan Kenobi (we call him Obi for short). Last night we were picking out some flowers to plant in our containers. We kinda just pick out whatever we like and then try to find some way to make it all look good. It’s really quite fun. Having Obi around always makes things more stressful- fun! I mean more fun. He’s a pure angel most of the time, but can turn into quite the devil...

A rather large weed erupting from our pea field. 

Tiny tomato plant that grew from the seed of a tomato from last year left on the ground. It is now a weed. 

Ok, back to the real devil at hand. Do you know what a weed really is? Have you ever taken time to think about it? I learned the true definition only a couple of years ago. A weed is any plant that is undesirable. That means that weeds are dandelions or quack grass growing in a strawberry field. It also means it is a tomato plant growing between the rows of tomatoes that we are actually cultivating, like in this picture. This tiny tomato plant will just be in the way, not getting enough water, getting stepped on, and possibly causing disease. Even if it did grow well, it is increasing our population(number of plants in a certain area) which is not what we want. It’s hard to believe that a tomato plant in a tomato field is a weed, but in this case that’s all it is.

High tunnel update! The plants are doing marvelous. As you can see, they are really filling out the space. Fortunately for us, we have been working with Cornell Cooperative Extension employees for the past couple years with their High Tunnel research. They have been sending samples of our leaves into a lab to get them analyzed in order to evaluate the nutrition of the plants. This has been extremely beneficial for us. With these foliar samples taken every other week, we can really fine tune the fertilizer we are feeding the tomatoes in order to give them exactly what they need to make ripe, juicy tomatoes. Our first foliar results are in and they look great! We are right on track to producing a great crop of early tomatoes in our high tunnel.

Over in the Strawberry field, things are happening. We have awesome looking green berries, plants still blooming, and a friendly bird nest. I haven’t identified the bird that laid this beauty yet. It is similar to a killdeer, but much smaller. Maybe a plover? But yes, green berries! Look how big that one is. They will be ready soon I hope, I can’t wait!

We are finally able to plant some of our more sensitive transplants now that the threat for frost is ninety nine percent gone. With mother nature, there is never a 100% guarantee. We planted our first planting of zucchini, and lettuce. This wagon is full of pickling cucumbers. They are on the wagon not to be transported quite yet, but to harden off, as we call it. When the plants are growing in the greenhouse, they are happy as a clam. No brutal wind to knock them around and a nice, consistent water to feed them and quench their thirst. If we were to put these plants out into the field right away, their survival rate would not be very good at all. By leaving them in their trays, and limiting the amount of stress we expose them to, we can help smooth their transition into the field, in order to keep our plants happy and healthy. Just the way we like them.

Ok, that is all for this week. Thank you so much for reading and hope to see you back here next Friday!

Friday Field Update No. 9

Happy Friday! I’m so glad it’s finally here, but probably not for the same reason most of you are. To some, Friday night may mean the end of the work week and the beginning of a relaxing weekend off. However, for others including us here at Kirby’s, Friday means you better have everything prepped for the beautiful weekend ahead. It means the truck should be loaded to the brim, ready to head off to Rochester Public Market at 4:30 in the morning Saturday and Sunday during May. The weekends are absolute craziness and I love it!

Anyway, on a lighter note… Apple trees are still blooming! Hopefully you’re not sick of seeing so many fruit blossoms, because I know I’m not. These baby apple trees are the SnapDragons, which may hold the title of Chad’s Favorite Apple. It’s a tough decision though, there are so many great varieties. Along with the apples, Strawberries have joined in with the fun! The stripes of green plants in between the golden straw have acquired thousands of white beautiful little flowers. Similar to other fruits, the earliest plants to bloom will be the first ready to eat! That’s how I like to look at it anyway. We prefer to plant three different varieties, that ripen at different times, so that we can be harvesting and selling strawberries for an extended period of time.

The sweet corn is looking just gorgeous! Can you tell which row was under the row cover and which was all on it’s lonesome out in the cold? (The more luscious, taller green stalks were under the cover in case you were wondering) Both of these rows were planted at the same time, however one was nice and warm under the row cover, while the other was left out. This is a great example of how row cover is supposed to work. Sometimes if you’re not careful, it can actually cook plants while they are “protected” under it, or so they thought. Fresh transplants can get severely damaged if it is placed on at the wrong time. The row cover we had on this sweet corn was one of the thickest you can buy. We also have very thin row covers that are designed for keeping bugs out as opposed to warming the soil. This is what we put on our radishes this Monday. I had just seeded the radishes Saturday, and before they popped out of the grown, we got them covered. There are two pests we are primarily keeping out: flea beetles, and a type of root maggot. Flea beetles come in droves and literally chew holes right through the leaves of lots of different brassicas. They really love radish leaves and asian greens/vegetables. Root maggots are nasty little boogers that drill holes in the roots of radishes, turnips, and beets. These are a few of my least favorite things! Luckily doing a good job of covering the radishes will completely take care of them, so we don’t have to use any insecticides!

These lush, vegetative, and flourishing raspberry plants are among the crops we planted this week. Don’t worry, they actually are about to be lush and green. If you saw the powerhouse of roots that are on the bottom of these stark naked stems, you would not be concerned. They come as bare root, dormant plants ready to be put in the ground and take off. I’ll be posting more pictures as they grow. One way raspberry plants reproduce is by their roots. Once they spread through the ground underneath, they send fresh shoots up into the world. The plastic we have them planted on is going to give those roots a really well watered, warm, and weed-free space to grow.

Nasturtium seedlings! Aren't they the most adorable dicotyledonous seedlings you've ever seen? They definitely are mine. These are one of the seven edible flowers I seeded last week. They have all come up wonderfully. I can't wait to get them planted out in the cut flower garden and get a taste of them all! 

That's all for this week, thank you for reading! See you back here next Friday. 

Friday Field Update No. 8

It’s been a crazy week! We planted Raspberries today which I am super excited about. We started going to public market with hanging baskets and other annuals on Thursday and Saturday mornings, and for a few Sundays also. We have also been ramping up our market and greenhouse for mother’s day. Lot’s going on, like usual. Here are a few pictures I took this week with some interesting info.

A gorgeous full moon over our farm a couple nights ago. I learned this is called the flower moon due to the abundant blooms this time of year. You can just make out the apple blossoms past the sweet corn under the row cover. The closest trees are peaches and plums.  

Look at these crazy worms I found! Just kidding! They’re seeds. Calendula seeds to be specific! Calendula are beautiful, large daisy shaped flowers that have edible petals. They are one of the seven edible flower varieties I am trying out this year. I seeded all of them earlier this week and very eagerly await their germination! The lemon gem marigolds popped up after only two days. This didn’t surprise me because they were seeded very shallow, with only a light dusting of soil over the seeds. The red runner bean however, was seeded one to one and a half inches deep.

Do you notice anything unusual with this picture? There is more than just flowers and pottin soil. A gray tree frog! There have been a lot of them so far this year. I think they have been really enjoying all the rain. You can find these little guys in the craziest places. I saw a little green one hopping around the floor of one of our other greenhouses. They certainly are beautiful creatures.

Water is essential for plants to grow, however it also can cause many different diseases if there is too much of it in the air or ground. I found these dew drops in the tomatoes first thing in the morning immediately after we removed the row cover. Plants are constantly giving off water vapor, called transpiring. And if you leave them in the confined space under the row cover too long, all that humidity may cause some nasty things to happen. That is why we have to remove the row cover, and open the peak vents on the end walls of the high tunnel even if it is cold outside. Our large greenhouse is monitored by a computer that will turn on the fans in order to reduce humidity or temperature. Even if it is bringing in cold air, we have to do it in order to get rid of all that problematic moisture.

Thanks for reading and see you back here next Friday!

Friday Field Update no. 7

Apple blossoms strutting their stuff to no avail. 

Yes, all this rain is affecting the farm in a not so good way for many different reasons. Firstly, the fields are like mud puddles. Fortunately for us, none of them are flooded. However, there is still no way you ca​n drive a tractor in them if you plan on getting it back out. This is delaying lots of different work that needs to be done (preparing ground for a new apple orchard, preparing a field for the raspberry plants coming in next week, etc.). Secondly, the cool temperatures and wet weather is really interfering with apple pollination. The apples trees are really loaded with blossoms this year. A lot of apple varieties have a heavy crop on them one year, and then not such a big crop the next year. All these blossoms means future apples! Unfortunately blossoms can only become apples if they are pollinated by arthropods like honeybees. Bees are fair weather creatures, and aren’t coming out to work if it’s too chilly, and definitely not if it’s chilly as well as rainy all day. The high humidity also causes the pollen to clump together, and therefore not properly spread to other apple blossoms. We really are helpless to Mother Nature sometimes.

Pollinator plants on the left, planting number one on the right. 

Greenhouses have so many benefits, and one of them we all have been taking advantage of recently is the fact that they give you somewhere to keep busy if it’s raining. There are lots of vegetable and fruit transplants coming along splendidly. I am very pleased to announce some of these transplants are seedless watermelon! I am very excited about these. I seeded them Tuesday, placed them in our germination box, and they were already popping out of the soil this morning! Along with melons, we have Bok choy, lettuce, tons of tomatoes and peppers, and herbs. Zucchini and summer squash are some of the largest plants we have at the moment. They grow so fast! In this picture, you can see two different sized squash plants. The larger ones are the pollinator plants that we seed first. Like apples, all cucurbits (melon, cucumbers, zucchini) need pollinator insects to help them reproduce. Some grow male and female flowers separately. You need the male flowers present at the same time as the female flowers so the females can be fertilized and produce fruit (the squash). For some ridiculous reason the squash plant produces the female flower first, and then a week or two later decide to grow the male flower. This means the first female flowers are pointless and will just fall off because they weren’t pollinated. So, in order to counteract this, we put a little extra effort into growing a small number of plants ahead of the main planting, and in bigger pots. This ensures that when the main planting puts out it’s female flowers, the pollinator plants will be there with male flowers ready to go. While male summer squash flowers seem to serve no other purpose than reproduction, they are actually used as a food ingredient in several Italian and Hispanic dishes.

Dianthus, pansies, and marigolds, all delicious, edible and going in with my asparagus for dinner!

I recently discovered that many flowers we see every day are edible! I haven’t tried very many varieties yet myself, but I did order a sample pack of edible flowers to add to our cut flower garden this year. I’m extremely excited about this. Flowers can add such a bright, beautiful and flavorful new addition to food. I was surprised to learn how different varieties of flowers have such different flavors.

With the cold temperatures coming up this weekend, I tucked my babies (high tunnel tomatoes) in really well today. Yes, sometimes I call my plants my babies. We seriously put a blanket over them, literally tucking them in. I think that right there is justification for my case. I even buttoned up the high tunnel nice and tight, to keep out the cold air as much as possible. The “blanket” we used is called a row cover, like I mentioned we put on the corn. Here in the high tunnel, we don’t really need it to capture heat from the sun, the plastic roof does that pretty well on its own. We are using it to insulate the tomato plants from these cold nights coming up. Possibly three nights in a row getting down into the thirties. No fun. No fun at all.

My tomato babies all safe and sound.

Well, that’s all for this week folks. A little lengthy, but all this rain really gets me in the mood to type. Thanks for reading, and see you right back here next week!

Friday Field Update No. 6

Biggest news this week: our grafted tomatoes are planted in the high tunnel! It feels great to have that task behind us. They are a little late this year, but they will still give us delicious, juicy tomatoes earlier than the field tomatoes. They will even have the same great flavor because we grow them right in the soil behind our market! The plants are tied up already too. Usually, when we plant them in the field, the plants don’t need the support for at least two weeks. However, it was a little breezy today, and these plants are extremely sensitive because of the surgery they went through so we didn’t take any risks.

Back on our Albion farm, we are preparing ground to plant some new apple trees. We have a beautiful young orchard that we have been working on over the past decade or so, slowly adding more trees every year. This orchard is planted in a style called high density, which means a lot of trees per acre. They are only planted about three feet away from each other in rows twelve feet apart, as opposed to 15 to 20 feet like they did many years ago. They are also trellised with large wooden fence posts and wire which takes a lot of work. This is how all of our Snapdragon and Rubyfrost trees are planted. I will have pictures of this next week, and more later when we get our new trees planted.

In other news: The peas have broken ground! You can see the beautiful little cotyledons stretching their smooth blades and soaking in all this amazing sun. This means we will be putting in planting two very soon. All of the greenhouses now have plants in them! We moved hanging baskets into the last one today, and even the high tunnel got filled up. There is so much life and oxygen flowing from our plants, it really gives you an amazing feeling.

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading and see you next week!

Row cover Justin and I put on half of the sweet corn planting last week. Beautiful sight. The row cover I mean...

Friday Field Update No. 5

PEACH FUN FACT. These are strong independent blossoms, and don't need a pollinator like honeybees, or other native nectar lovers. Similar to tomatoes, all these flowers need is a little breeze and they are good to go, unlike apples and many other fruit. 

We don't like to count our eggs before they hatch, but I will share this bit of news with you. For the first time in three years, the majority of our peach blossoms are still alive at the end of April! Again, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but we are very excited to see some of the early peach varieties in full bloom at this moment. It is interesting to watch different rows bloom at different times, based on when that variety will mature. These flowers are a good sign that the ovary of the flower is still viable(not frozen), and will produce a fruit. We are not out of the woods yet, however. There are still many hurdles to overcome until harvest, but at least now we are mostly in control of the situation. The blossoms are still in danger if nature decides to send a heavy frost our way.  

Early yellow Shiro plums!

Along with peaches, the earliest sweet cherry and plum varieties are in full bloom. Right outside the window of my house, actually. It's only a matter of weeks now until the bird squawker is blasting it's cacophonous distress calls(scaring the birds as well as ensuring I wake up with the first rays of sun). These calls imitate a bird in pain, or imminent danger. It tells the other birds to "Run while you can! Save yourself!" This is a very useful tool when the cherries are ripe and juicy. It helps us fend off the Robins, Starlings, blackbirds, and many other pesky birds while we harvest what we have worked so hard for!

Beautiful morning sun gracing our first pea planting. 

As the fruit trees blossom, we are hard at work getting the vegetables in the ground. Planting season is finally upon us, and I couldn't be happier! Sowing seeds in the ground and helping bring so much life and nutrition into this world are some of my favorite parts of being a farmer. The first planting of beets, peas and sweet corn are in the ground. I just checked on the peas yesterday, about a week after I planted the seed and they are already halfway to the surface! Peas, along with the beets, are great at germinating in cooler soil temperatures like we have in the spring. Sweet corn has a little more difficult time with colder soil. However, we can use row cover to help warm it up a little bit. The row cover we use is a very large, white cloth-like material that holds in the heat while keeping out the cold by slightly insulating the ground. This is extremely effective on a cold day when the sun comes out, warming the ground and the row cover even more. More sweet corn, beet and pea plantings soon to come along with lots more veggies and fruits. 

I want to apologize for the lack of a Friday Field Update last Friday. I decided to take a holiday blog break, thank you for understanding. Also thank you for reading this week and see you back here next week!

Donut peach blossoms! 

Friday Field Update No. 4

Oh Spring... I thought only March was supposed to enter like a lion. Then today happened. Nature sure does the darndest things.  

Every year I am extremely grateful for many things about the land we grow our crops on. In the spring especially, I enjoy being able to work our ground behind the market extremely early. This is because the land is very porous due to the large amount of gravel it contains. Having well drained soil is why I am not worrying too much about our fields getting too wet from the alarming amount of snow that fell today. Our fields are experts at dealing with all this spring precipitation. 

Beautiful Spring view of the new Strawberry patch planted last year. 

I always find it fascinating when someone says they don't know why strawberries are called strawberries. I suppose not everyone grows them, so not everyone knows that you are supposed to cover them with straw for the winter to help insulate the plant and it's roots from the harsh cold. But low and behold, this is where you get the straw in strawberry! In the late fall after a few hard frosts, we go out and spread straw over all the plants. Then, in the spring, you know its time to rake the straw between the rows (that nice comfy cushion to kneel on when you're picking) when the forsythia is in full bloom. We let nature tell us when it's safe. This will probably be happening within a couple weeks!

Garlic coming up!

Right next to the strawberries you can see our beautiful rows of garlic. Garlic is planted in the fall, and over winters in the ground, similar to tulips and daffodils. The tips of the plants appear to be burned, and we think this is from the cold, cold temperatures. However this happens every year and it doesn't seem to cause any problems. If you look closely, you can notice lots of holes in the black plastic we use to cover the rows. Sometimes severe wind can damage to the plastic, but these appear to be caused by our friends the deer. We have an abundance of them, and last year they ate our corn plants, cucumbers, zucchini, and apple trees. Pretty much anything we planted down there they helped themselves to. Such fun. 

Thanks for reading!

Friday Field Update No.3

The tomato plants have been grafted! So far it has been going very smoothly. The grafting process itself took some time, but with teamwork, patience, and perseverance we have prevailed! Currently, they are tucked away in a corner, protected from the evil world in the cozy, warm germination chamber with 100% humidity and no sunlight. Completely stress free. The plants are handling the aggressive surgery incredibly well. Initially, they were wilting a little too much for my comfort right after the graft, but have since bounced back once they had time to settle down. 

Even the Mrs. got in on the grafting action last weekend.

Our lovely, homemade germination chamber. This really does the trick.

Hanging baskets are moving on up! Almost half of them are already hanging in the greenhouse. If you have driven by, I'm sure you have noticed how green everything is getting. Along with the hanging baskets, our vegetable transplants for the field are coming along nicely. They have been germinating alongside our marigolds and petunias in the germination chamber. We seed these in row trays to get them started, then transplant them over to larger trays to prep them for the field. These crops include eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes. Eggplants sometimes suffer from similar soil-borne diseases as tomatoes, so this year we are actually going to graft those as well! 

That's all for this week! Thanks for reading and Happy Spring!

Friday Field Update No.2

Spring is finally here! And with it some more typical spring temperatures. With the deluge of snow Stella dumped on us, the fields are soaking up all that meltwater. I'm hoping that extra moisture is not going to delay the pea planting too much, which we prefer to get in the ground in the first week of April. It is only about a week away after all! We also put the beets in at that time. Both of these seeds germinate well in the cold soil, and are hardy plants that can do well in cooler Spring months.

Sweet Cherry buds getting ready to bloom.

Unfortunately the tomatoes have not been grafted yet. That is scheduled in for the next couple days. I will have lots of photos and details about that in next week's update, don't you worry.

Inside our germination chamber, a baby pepper plant emerges.

Grafting was delayed partially due to the large amount of annual and perennial shipments we received this week. Managing this and actually getting the job done right demanded most of our time. We filled hundreds of flats worth of plants, which means we had to have all those flats prepared and ready to go. These come in many different shapes and sizes as many of you know, and we fill them all ourselves. We are very meticulous on how we go about this process. Each pot and cell needs to be filled right to the top with loose soil. This is important so the roots can easily grow and breathe. Airflow to the roots is just as important as water. Also, consistent soil level is crucial for all the plants to grow evenly which makes the enormous and endless task of watering more manageable. The machine we use is actually homemade, constructed back when we first built and opened the greenhouse in the early nineties. This is actually one of my favorite jobs on the farm. 

Thanks for reading, and catch you back here next week!

Where to Find Us This Spring

We will be out in the world, sharing information about our CSA this Spring. If you would like to meet us face to face and ask questions about Kirby's CSA, here is where you can find us! We would love to see you!

• Saturday, April 1st, "Find Your Farmer" Rochester CSA Fair and Happy Hour, (Open to the Public)

• Tuesday April 4th, 12pm, Gleason Works (Employees Only, including  Conifer, CCCSR and Triline)

• Tuesday April 4th, 6:30pm, Ogden Farmer's Library (Open to the Public)

• Sunday April 9th, 11am, Community Christian Church (Open to the Public)

• Thursday April 13th, 12pm, General Code in the Great Room (Employees Only, any businesses in Building 1)

Friday Field Update

Our baby rootstock plants, taking the transplant very well. 

It’s the Friday Field Update, with Farmer Chad!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! Our greenhouse sure is repping it's green, I hope you are! In this brand new weekly post, I will keep all of you updated with a brief overview of the happenings during the past week on our Farm, along with some pictures, maybe a video or two, and some fun facts.

Another winter is coming to a close (maybe…) which means our greenhouses are filling with green again! From Superbells to Tomatoes to almost every vegetable we grow, the heat is pumping and the oxygen is flowing.

What I am most excited about this past week is our high tunnel tomatoes. High tunnels provide several great benefits to growing tomatoes. They protect the fruit and plants from the damaging elements, especially water. High tunnels also hold in a little heat to help extend the homegrown tomato season, which for us is mainly the spring so we can get those awesome tomatoes as soon as possible! Lastly, they are still grown in the earth so they maintain that excellent field flavor.

This will be the third year we have grown tomatoes in the ground under cover, but this is the first year we will be grafting all of our plants. Growing any crop in the same soil repeatedly is not a good idea. This leads to a buildup of soil-borne diseases which can be really nasty. However, it is no small feat to move a high tunnel. So in lieu of moving the tunnel, we graft the plants. We select a variety of tomato that will provide the fruit we desire as the top half of the plant (scion), and the variety that will give the plant a vigorous and disease resistant bottom half (rootstock). So even though we only need 400 plants for our tunnel, we grow 800 for the grafting process. 400 scion plants and 400 rootstocks, with a little extra of course, in case we have any casualties. We cut the tomato plants in half and attach the top half of the scion variety to the bottom half of the rootstock variety, and let them heal together. Last week we bare-root transplanted the seedlings, and this coming week we think the plants will be ready for grafting! Stay tuned next week for pictures.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading and I look forward to sharing more of our farm activities next week!

Brockport CSA Fair, 2/24/17

We're excited to announce the Brockport CSA Fair, featuring the farms of Brockport and surrounding towns! We hope you stop by to learn more about CSA's, or just say hi! We're going to be in a really neat setting too: the Clarkson Academy was recently restored by the Clarkson Historical Society and it's beautiful inside.

NEW! Smaller CSA Share Option

In response to requests for a smaller CSA share, Kirby's is offering a new option this season! 

Our brand new Quarter Share is designed for anyone that doesn't need as much produce, but still wants to be a part of our CSA. Quarter Share boxes will basically have the same contents as our Half Share, but with half the amount. As far as what's in the box, we might not be able to fit everything in every week (examples below). However, we know that variety is important, it's one of our main focuses, so we'll do our best to make sure you get a little bit of everything.  Read on for pack list comparisons!

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The following comparisons were created using 2016 packlists.

Quarter Share

June
2 Heads Lettuce
1/4 lb Rhubarb
Pint of Strawberries
5 Garlic Scapes

July
1/2 Pint Blueberries
1 Pint Sweet Cherries
1 Pickles
1 Kohlrabi
1 lbTomatoes

August
1 Cantaloupe
1 lbs Carrots
1 Pickles
1lb Tomatoes
2 Peppers

September
1 Quart Apples
1 Cabbage
5 Assorted Sweet Peppers
1 Eggplant

October
1 Quart Apples
1 Cauliflower
1.5 lbs Onions
1 Delicata Squash
1 Garlic

November
1/2 lb Brussel Sprouts
1/2 Gallon Cider
1/2 oz Mulling Spices
1 Acorn Squash
1 Sweet Dumpling Squash

Half Share

June
2 Heads Lettuce
1/2 lb Rhubarb
Quart of Strawberries
5 Garlic Scapes
1 Cilantro Plant
1 Bunch Radishes

July
1 Pint Blueberries
1 Quart Sweet Cherries
3 Pickles
2 Kohlrabi
1 lbTomatoes

August
1 Cantaloupe
2lbs Carrots
2 Pickles
1lb Tomatoes
4 Peppers
1 Watermelon

September
2 Quarts Apples
1 Cabbage
5 Assorted Sweet Peppers
1 Eggplant
1/2 Gallon Cider
4-5 Beets with Greens

October
2 Quarts Apples
1 Cauliflower
3lbs Onions
3 Delicata Squash
3 Garlic

November
2 Quarts Apples
1 lb Brussel Sprouts
1/2 Gallon Cider
1/2 oz Mulling Spices
1 Acorn Squash
1 Sweet Dumpling Squash



 

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End of the Year Sales!

On December 24th we close our doors for the 2016 season. (We'll see you again in the Spring - our doors will be open on May 1st and our greenhouse will be overflowing with flowers!)  

For the last week of the season, stop in to take advantage of our awesome end of the year sales! Stock up on homegrown and locally grown produce for the winter, and finish up your Christmas shopping.

25% off  Apples

25% off  Poinsettias

20% off  All Gift Shop

20% off  Jams

Produce Available

Homegrown: Apples, Winter Squash, Garlic

Locally Grown: Potatoes (5lb, 20lb, or 50lb bags, while supplies last), Onions (3lb, or 10lb bags, while supplies last)

Christmas at Kirby's

We're open until December 24th!

There is so much to find at Kirby's this holiday season:
Ornaments and Gifts; Christmas Trees;  Poinsettias;  Handmade Wreaths

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Trim the tree with vintage inspired glass ornaments, warm and cozy embroidered felt, rustic country themed clip ornaments, elegant snowflakes, or sparkly-Christmas-under-glass style ornaments, just to name a few examples.

We have a great selection of affordable gifts at $20, $10, even $5! Our brand new "Cherished Treasures" section is packed with an ever changing variety of vintage and antique items, such as beautiful glassware, bowls, kitchen implements, decorations and furniture. 

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Brighten your home with a colorful poinsettia.

Traditional red, festive Glitter (red and white speckles), beautiful white, Marble, Pink, or Picasso (speckled pink) are available from tiny 4.5" pots to impressive 8" pots. A poinsettia can also be a thoughtful hostess or host gift.

With our many years of experience growing poinsettias, you can be confident in selecting a high quality plant to take home or gift.

Below, from left to right: Picasso, a stunning break from traditional red; Marble, Pink, and White; and our 8" pans, a low and wide plant, perfect for centerpieces.

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Christmas Wreaths and Local Christmas Trees

Our wreaths are especially thick and fluffy, handmade on extra-sturdy, heavy-duty metal frames. We use a variety of greens from frasier fir, to pine and juniper to create fantastic texture and color variations. Custom order a wreath and we'll create a masterpiece just for you!

Our trees are grown right here in the Rochester area. Choose from Frasier Fir, Douglas Fir, or Concolor. Prices range from $20 for small table top trees, to $60 for our tallest trees.

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Apple Gift Baskets: four quart, eight quart, or half bushel baskets of Kirbygrown apples are a unique present for clients, coworkers, friends and family. Choose the gift you would like to include, or select from our Gift Basket themes: 

• Caramel Apple, with delicious Annie's Caramels, caramel apple dip and a handy apple slicer
• Afternoon Tea, with a scented fabric coaster, maple sticks, and a mug of your choice
• A Taste of New York, with Kutter's extra sharp cheddar cheese, local maple sugar candy, and Seward's chocolate Santas.