Newsletter 8/8/18 – Pigs!
Working hard is neither their purpose nor their strong suit. They’re often sleeping, eating, or roughhousing amongst themselves in the mud. Between long naps in the shade and endless veggie showers turned buffets, our fat, happy pigs are doing their best to transform any excess harvest into delicious meat. Every day, the group of ten pigs consume as many vegetables as the average human child is likely to willingly consume over a span of multiple years. They’re remarkably healthy eaters, but wouldn’t pass up a candy bar for the life of ‘em—in...
read moreNewsletter 8/1/18- Tomatoes: a Labor of Love
Every morning, I am greeted by a bouquet of smells when I arrive at the farm. The muddy stench of the pigs mixes with the sweet scent of basil being harvested; the flowers in the fields linger all the way into the break room by lunchtime. But my favorite of all, and the smell that – to me, at least – most signifies the arrival of August, is the warm scent of a sun-ripened tomato. Tomatoes require a lot of planning and preparation, but I think the payoff is worth it. We planted them when I first started working here back in May, being careful...
read moreNewsletter 7/25/18- Our Color is Rainbow
It’s becoming very colorful around the farm recently. The heat and long days, coupled with our good soil, hard work and attentive irrigation means that our crops our exploding with growth, nutrition and most fun of all, color! Sometimes the shear beauty of the produce is enough to make me swoon. Amazing that after so many years, I still feel in love with the sight of a perfectly shiny red radish, creamy white cauliflower, or endlessly deep purple bean. This year, our color is rainbow. We are growing so many varieties of several...
read moreNewsletter 7/18/18 – Ode to the Farmstand
Everyone’s day at the farm begins differently. Some of the crew heads out into the fields, destined for the long irrigation pipes that we rotate each morning to water our crops. Some of us jump into the farm trucks and sip piping hot coffee as the old engines begrudgingly awaken and splutter out to the fields. And I, weaving through the bustle of people and equipment, slip into the Farmstand. If you haven’t yet visited the farm, our Farmstand is located just off the drive in a neat little yellow building. There are a few parking spots in...
read moreNewsletter 7/11/18 – Farm Weavers
Just as summer is heating up, the crew here at the farm is too. As with anything, there are high and low tides, or what’s more commonly referred to as ups and downs. What everyone needs is a high tide; the best time to go get “it”—whatever “it” is. Fortunately for us the metaphorical water level is rising and, most importantly, our heads are still above the water line…five feet high and rising. Our harvest list has nearly doubled, our orders keep coming in only to fly out the door, and somehow the crew continuously handles each crop...
read moreNewsletter 7/4/18 – Carrot Love!
We spend a lot of time in the field talking about our favorite things. It’s a good conversation starter when new crew members are out in the field for the first time. “What’s your favorite vegetable?” is a question that always comes up, drawing some ew’s, oooh’s and awes inevitably. I’ve heard a lot of opinions the last three years on why certain vegetables are better than others, and while I certainly look forward to different seasons and the coming of new crops, carrots are always at the top of my list. One reason is we grow a lot of them,...
read moreNewsletter 6/27/18 – Everything has a season!
If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my time here at Red Dog Farm, it’s that everything has a season. Some of our produce is only available for a few weeks during the year and the anticipation that builds while waiting to taste that first bite of green garlic (one of my personal favorites), the sweetness of the first strawberry or perhaps the spray that hits your cheeks as you bite into the first ear of sweet corn can feel like an eternity. But it is worth the wait, I guarantee it! When something is only available part of the year, those...
read moreNewsletter 6/20/18 – Pollinators are cool!
Pollinators are really cool. When you spend a lot of time looking at plants (as we do here), you tend to notice pollinating insects bopping around the flowers. Whether it’s one of our crops, the weeds between the beds, or the native plants in the wetlands area and along the fence lines, if a plant is flowering, there is a good chance you could see something taking advantage of that pollen and sweet, sweet nectar. For us to harvest our “fruits” (botanically speaking) – like squash, beans, tomatoes, and strawberries – the plants first...
read moreNewsletter 6/13/18 – Blake is home!
All this past winter I was in search of what I thought would be an island that I could call my home; a place surrounded by nature, friendly people, common interests, and community driven goals. Unbeknown to me, the island I was dreaming of was in reality very much a peninsula—a beautiful one at that. I accepted my position here at Red Dog Farm and left sunny California in search of another equal paradise. In early April, upon my arrival in Chimacum, I was greeted with warmth and contagious smiles. The farm crew at Red Dog, which has grown...
read moreNewsletter 6/6/18 – June happens!
Somehow June sneaks up on me every year. All during May we are busy plugging plants into the ground, sowing seeds in the greenhouse and fields, and orienting new crew to the farm. May still feels decidedly mid-Spring; things are not serious yet. Then, out of nowhere, June happens! Suddenly the weeds start to grow in earnest, we’re harvesting more and more, and the pressure increases a bit to lay the groundwork for an abundant and successful summer. We have been doing just that this past week- our hoops houses are full of tomatoes...
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