Little Green Promises

At our little farm, August started in July and ended in September.  Our lovely spring and summer garden came to a grinding halt, much to our dismay.  Since then, we’ve had too many false starts in our fall garden to count.  Fragile fall seedlings of broccoli, lettuce, and carrots singed, even in the shade. For a while, only the weeds thrived around here.   Farming friends share similar stories, but they really don’t make us feel any better. 

When we least expected it, Mark and I, and everyone in our hometown rejoiced with the cool reprieve that came in just after Labor Day.  The ever so mild temperatures reminded us that our labor was once again, a labor of love.  More importantly, those tiny seeds, laboring to burst forth with new life, have finally achieved it in our fields.  They are bursting forth exactly on Mother Nature’s schedule, if not our own.  God willing, those little green promises will deliver nourishment for our family, the members of City Farm, and the locals who frequent the market. 

At this rate, the fall harvest may not come until winter.  But we all know Lafayette is not a 4-season town anyway, so we will not fret over seasonal semantics.  We’ll spend our days tending the garden and giving thanks for the hope of a bountiful harvest, which we can’t wait to share. 

Mary

Last weekend, at twilight, my son and I went out to cut some wild flowers that found our way into our landscape.  He knows how much I love having fresh flowers in the house and he was happy to cut them with Papa's red pruners.  As we busied ourselves, rushing to finish before nightfall, my daughter appeared, weighted down with a watermelon quite too big for her to handle.  Somehow, she made it all the way from the watermelon patch to our front porch, having selected just the right the melon.  Her face was sheer pride. We all celebrated! The first watermelon of the season! City Farm brings us many little celebrations.  Many "first fruits. " We are blessed to share them with our City Farm Members and everyone who visits us each Saturday at the Hub City Farmer's Market. Now, time for a sweet watermelon treat!

~Mary

PHOTO BY JASON MEAUX - jasonmeaux.com

From January seedlings to May's still young plants, the day has finally come to pick our first beautiful Tomatoes.  I give myself a pat on the back.   They are strong, beautiful, and healthy.  I spend one day away, ignoring them, while at my other full time job...landscaping.   Upon my return the third day, I discover there are worms sinking their ugly bodies into otherwise flawless flesh.  I kick myself "once" and move on, promising to never go a day without nurturing my babies.

An older man I encountered at the grocery store turned my tomato epiphany into a parenting epiphany.  He smiled as he watched my children climb all over the basket.  He turned to me and said, "Enjoy them while you can, you'll blink and they are out of the house."  His gentle eyes told me that he didn't ignore many days of his children's lives.
~Mark

The solitude and monotony of planting peppers leaves plenty of time for thinking.  This evening was no exception.  Though the mosquitoes were stinging my back, I fought the urge to call it a day and allowed my thoughts to play out...  Some 15 years ago I attended the University of Louisiana's study abroad program in London and France.  During the latter part of the trip, I found myself shut away in my dorm room reading while my classmates were taking in that all London had to offer.  While abroad, I picked up this little book on Beekeeping and I couldn't put it down. I spent that evening and the next day writing to my younger sister to let her know that I had a vision for my future.  The letter is no where to be found, but I recall the outline that contained my goals for living a homestead lifestyle. I was held by the idea of  feeding others and educating people (myself included) about where food comes from.

Tonight my sister took the long walk to our mailbox with me, only to find -fifteen years later- my dream coming to fruition with the first of our City Farm Membership Agreements inside.  Although I feel good about the peppers now in the ground, I feel much better knowing that a Higher Power has allowed this dream to germinate.   

"This is the season when despair may become so deep that only a total resurrection of the universe can be believed possible to melt the snow; but is is also the season for the miracle of faith-faith strong enough to believe even in the prophecy of a seed catalogue, which arrives an exact month before Lent...  We reminisce about the season past, and gradually discover our reminiscences to focus less on what has passed than what is to come."      John F. Adams, Beekeeping:  A Gentle Craft

It has been a joyfully busy spring.  While spring is always a busy time in the world of landscapers, adding an acre of organic vegetable production has brought on a healthy dose of  fatherly guilt. When I found myself encouraging my 7-year old daughter to train our dog to play tag, I realized the tomatoes can  wait for a little while.  Childhood  memories are forever, tomatoes come and go, especially when the horn worm is  around. 

I prefer chasing birds

Welcome to the 1st season of our market garden adventure, introduced to our community this March as Mark and Mary's City Farm.  After eight years, my wife and I are excited to officially offer CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) memberships.  Nationwide, there are numerous versions of CSAs.  City Farm will be a simple farm-to-family concept, with no sweat equity required on the part of our members.  

We invite you to follow our farming adventure here at City Farm Journal.  If you happen to be a gardening or fresh food enthusiast, or if you are just a little curious why 2 thirty-somethings with young children are excited about farming, then we invite you to visit City Farm Journal, and check out our progress.

By mid February, the hot house was loaded and I was forced to turn my attention to cultivation.   In the early winter, we spread a large amount of uncomposted manure and rice hull mixture to act as a mulch over the lush stand of rye grass cover crop.   It seems to have partially killed off the perennial weeds that pay us a visit each year.  By March 1, the plot was turned and the rows built.  March 7th was our first out-planting day.  It was exciting and daunting at the same time.  That day, I learned an important rule: Don't Look Up.  Not even for a rain drop.

Although, today, March 27th, we finally had our first rain drop just after installing our irrigation system.    I looked up and saw an acre fully planted!  Now, bring on the bugs, heat, humidity, weeds, disease, and oh yeah, loads of fresh veggies!  Happy Gardening!

Don"t Look Up

My enthusiasm was lifted when our fist of 32 loads of horse manure was delivered in October.  I was quite eager to start seeding trays and "Don't start too early" was a phrase I wanted to challenge.  By January, our humble 20x50 hot house had new little seedlings poking through.  If wisdom is gained through failures, then by February, I was a bit wiser. A large batch of tomatoes and basil were the victims of my experiment.  Point taken, "don't start too early."  But the survivors are flourishing, so I can't make any promises for next winter.

Piles and Piles