Finding Solace and Certainty in Summer Mileposts
The farm season is marked by certain annual events- some fun, some challenging, all ephemeral. Some of my most favorite revolve around wildlife- the return of the barn swallows and the first sighting of a toad in the greenhouse. There is the excitement of first crops- first strawberries, raspberries and cucumbers give way to first corn, potatoes and winter squash. There is of course the first frost, an event usually happily seen as a decrease in work since so many warm weather crops turn to toast. Late in the winter, there is the first firing...
read moreDiscovering Garlic Scapes
This January, I moved back to the Olympic Peninsula to work on a ship as a maritime educator with middle school students. As schools started to close in March, I found myself having to look for other employment options. This led me to Red Dog Farm, and a spring spent working closely with the land as opposed to on the water. Over the past couple months, I have gradually started to understand and appreciate the flow of farm work. There are many similarities to working on a ship – long days spent outdoors, close attention paid to weather...
read moreSpring Milestones on the Farm
There are so many exciting things happening on the farm right now. I thought I would take this opportunity to share a little of what the RDF crew has been up to. Each week we reach another significant milestone in the farming season. Last week we prepared the ground and planted our tomatoes and basil. We were all dreaming of BLTs and other summer delights, even though the weather was a little gloomy. The week before, we built two new hoop houses, which are mobile greenhouses we move around the fields from year to year. This year their...
read moreA Condiment of Choice
Because everyone on the farm has a radio, we also all have radio handles. Each year, new crew members choose their handles according to a theme. Last year, the theme was “mythical creatures,” and the year before was “the ocean.” This season is, wait for it . . . . . “condiments.” When I first showed up at Red Dog Farm in March, the list of radio handles on the wall resembled a fantastic bestiary. Now, with the addition of this year’s new crew members on the list, it reads like the sort of cookbook you’d consult if you were trying to...
read moreFarming: A Toddler’s Perspective
My farm day starts early as I see the light beckoning from around the curtains. I cannot wait for my first peek of outside each day. I especially like glimpsing Maggie, my dog, or watching the swallows dive and dip through the air. Once I have some food in my belly and my waterproof boots on, we head out to morning meeting. The crew and my mom stand around talking about the day- irrigation, harvest, transplant, blah, blah, blah. I’m more interested in the shiny various-colored water bottles everyone is holding, chasing after Maggie, or...
read moreIdeas for Eating French Breakfast Radishes
Radishes can be divisive. Working Red Dog’s stall at the Port Townsend Farmers Market last year, I encountered many radish lovers who eagerly scooped up four or five bunches at a time, and nearly as many outspoken radish skeptics. Now French breakfast radishes are back, in our fields, in your CSA share, and on the shelves of the Red Dog Farmstand. Love them or hate them, everyone seems to admire the French breakfast radish’s elegant elongated shape and dramatic white/magenta color combination. Their undeniable beauty and comparatively mild...
read moreWelcoming Back the Barn Swallows
Barn Swallows are back! Did you know that they fly up to 600 miles per day? Unbelievable. It’s well known that these metallic-backed birds assist farmers with controlling troublesome insects while taking refuge in the eves of buildings, but the story of their tail shape is lesser known. As legend has it, a Barn Swallow stole fire from the gods to bring it to the Earth people. As a result, one particularly angry god threw fire arrows at the swallow as it fled, singeing the middle of its tail. This explains the Barn Swallow’s...
read moreAn Ode to Raab
Maybe you thought I would write about the bursting beauty of the tulips in April, or the explosion of little plants in the greenhouse that make me feel all giddy about another season of vegetables. Or perhaps you imagined I would write about the longer days, the sunnier skies, the drier fields, the hopefulness that is spring. Oh we just got pigs! Maybe you wanted to hear about the cutest little pigs we just got that are nesting into their new home in out fields. Or maybe you thought I would write about “farming in the time of a pandemic.” But...
read moreLooking Forward to the Fun of Farming
The long winter lull is quickly forgotten with the arrival of spring. A small crew of hardy harvesters that kept the wheels of Red Dog Farm turning over the dark months has now blossomed into group of folks that can handle just about anything. We’re doing just about everything farmers do at the moment. Tractors are hastily turning in cover crop to make way for spring vegetables, and the crew is busy seeding in the greenhouse, planting out in the fields, and packing orders. This spring in particular I have spent a lot of time on the tractor...
read morePaige’s Poetry
Happy CSA week #2, all! I truly hope you all had some tasty meals from last week’s share. After all, a bouquet of kale raab is an edible arrangement – and it can even bloom into happy yellow edible flowers. Over the past few months, we’ve been working away at harvesting over-wintered veggies, getting the fields ready for seeding/transplanting, and growing tiny plants we hope will fill your gardens and one day feed the community. We’ve had rain and we’ve had shine and everything in-between, but what is even more fun is all the...
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