Join Us For Farm Days at Foggy Ridge Cider!

Fat Bear Farm is growing asparagus for the third year, and it is finally time to harvest!  As the first spears of the season are emerging, it is with great pleasure that we invite you to attend a spring celebration at Foggy Ridge Cider (click here for link).

On April 28, from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., we will be selling asparagus and other Fat Bear goodies at the cidery.  So come on out for a hard cider tasting accompanied by a variety of prepared asparagus dishes.  I don't think it gets much better than that!

Turn That Frown Upside-Down!

Let's just say that I was having a very grumpy day.  It started from the get-go.  But I started to feel a bit better when I turned on my iPod to Buffalo Springfield.  Then, I started feeling a lot better when I saw this:

Now I've got a little spring in my step, so to speak.  The high tunnel strawberries are the only strawberries blooming at this moment (except for the handful of plants I have in the heated greenhouse).  The weather is supposed to become more pleasant today (last night was chilly-willy) and remain civil over the next few weeks, so I'm not too concerned about the wellbeing of the high tunnel gang.  But anything can happen, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and very actively keeping a positive attitude.  The asparagus will be waking up in a week or two, so I'm kissing winter good-bye.  

Au revoir!

Electrified At Last

It would be an understatement to say that we have a deer problem.  On second thought, it's the deer that have a people problem.  We've so encroached on their territory that nothing is "theirs" any longer.  Possibly even more importantly, we've destroyed the population of natural predators, so the countless herds go unchecked year after year.

My first buck.  Got'em with a peanut butter sandwich and a catchpole.

Fat Bear Farm has been a sweet spot for the white-taileds for quite some time.  They've been allowed to buffet on our blueberries with no repercussions whatsoever. Our dogs don't roam around the property, viciously defending their masters' cause; Thurgood and Miles spend their nights in soft, cozy beds (either of the dog or human sort), and they barely even lift a brow when we encounter groups of seven to ten does on our twice-daily walks.  Furthermore, Ben and I are vegetarians and have not found it in our hearts to hunt them down mercilessly.  

Last blueberry season that was the straw that broke the camel's back.  We had a late frost, and the berries were struggling.  The summer was oh so dry, and there wasn't a lot of other food for the deer to eat.  So, they hit our blueberry buffet hard.  

No more!  No more!  No more!  We are fully electrified!  Ben's Dear Dad made it happen, and we couldn't have done it without him.  I am ever humbled by his generosity.

Our strawberries and blackberries share the same patch of land as the blueberries, so they will also be safe from deer.  Now that we're protected, we'll be adding root vegetables to this same piece of land (deer especially love tender baby sweet potato vines).

We only have to remain vigilant about the rabbits, birds, and wild hogs.

Hiatus

We're all taking a bit of a breather here.  I'll spare you from the doldrums of our winter chores.  The greenhouse will be up and running again in a couple months.  

See you in 2012!

Asparagus: The Annual Disappearing Act

It's not that the work slows down in autumn, it's just that the type of work changes.  There's a lot of clean-up, mulching, pruning, and general putting-to-rest to do.  

Winter is on its way, but there's still no time to play.

At the moment, my focus is on asparagus.  The ferns have yellowed and died.  This means that the plants have made all food they can to support the root systems, so I can now cut them back.  This task is a much bigger undertaking than it was last fall.  We have twice as much asparagus growing now, so the work has doubled.

I have to cut them back for several reasons.  First of all, the ferns can harbor pests and diseases.  In our case, I've found quite a few slugs attached to the bases of the stems.  This is a plus for the chickens.  I like to throw them a few asparagus tops here and there so that they can enjoy the slimy snacks.  They tend to leave the actual ferns alone.  Secondly, it's a lot easier to mulch the rows with the ferns out of the way.  Mulching is extremely important in the fall.  It protects the crowns from heaving out of the ground as it freezes and warms, and it suppresses the early spring weeds.  And finally, if I were to let the ferns remain, they would shade out and slow down the emergence of new spears in the spring.

Although this job is long and tedious, it is very satisfying work.  When I'm all done, the asparagus field will look like nothing more than rows of golden straw.  It will all be weeded, mulched, and prepped for spring's arrival.