Hamlet Organic Garden

Our first onions, scallions, and shallots have germinated, and now our little greenhouse is filling up with the strong green seedlings!  What is hopefully our last snowfall is melting fast, revealing shoots of wild onions and crocuses.  We received the insurance money on the electric tractor that was destroyed in the barn fire, so Sean, Steve and Elliot have been working on rebuilding it.  They took it all apart, had it sandblasted, and are repainting all the pieces.

We will also be busy building a new greenhouse south of the new field, which will take the place of the Red Barn for the next few seasons.  Luckily our first apprentice, Diego, will be arriving ready to work in mid-March.
We have also been ordering all our supplies for the 2010 season, including seeds, plants, potting mix, fertilizer, trace minerals, and all the bits and pieces we will need to have on hand for the season.  About 70% of the farm’s expenses are due before the season even starts, so mail in your application today to secure your spot!  If you are already a member, considering paying down your balance by sending in $100 each month–it will help us have the money we need early in the season, and will lessen the strain on your wallet in May when balances are due!

Last week we officially kicked off the 2010 season by starting the first seedlings in our small, woodstove heated greenhouse behind our place in Brookhaven.  We seeded some scallions, mini onions, Walla Wallas, and a red variety called Red Wing.  Our new greenhouse is made of polycarbonate panels, which stay warmer and last longer than the 6mil plastic we were using on the old structure.  Not to mention, our cats can’t scratch holes in it!

Check out the great article about the Hamlet Organic Garden in the Long Island Green Guide!  Here’s an excerpt:

“Sometimes, to find a better way of doing something, all one has to do is look close to home. For hundreds of Long Island families who love fresh, organically-grown produce, that means being a member of the Hamlet Organic Garden, a local bastion of the ‘growing’ activity known as Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA.Since 1996, the “HOG” as it’s affectionately called by members, has grown certified-organic vegetables, fruits, herbs, and cut flowers on a five-acre farm field in Suffolk County’s Brookhaven Hamlet. Most of what’s produced is sold as CSA ’shares’ to it’s membership; whatever surplus exists is donated to local food banks…”  read entire article here.

Lots of people ask us what we do with our spare time in the winter…well to be honest, we spend a lot of that time farming, or thinking about farming! We spend the month of December coordinating our seed order–its so dreamy in the cold winter months to peruse the brightly colored seed catalogues and search for new varieties that may do well on our sandy Long Island soil. We send the order in by the end of December to be sure we get everything we need, the seed companies run out of popular varieties quickly!

In January and most of February, we are at the computer planning how the season will go–the summer is so busy, we try to do all our thinking in the winter! We’ll plan when everything will be seeded in the greenhouse, when it will be transplanted to the field, and where all the crops will go! We practice strict rotations, and rotate crop families so they aren’t planted in the same ground for 3 years. Once all that’s done, we make our weekly work schedules, so we know when to chisel plow, fertilize, and till the fields so they are all ready when they need to be! This is also when we start planning our cover crops, which means we’re also already starting to think about 2011!

This year we also re-built our seed greenhouse, trading in the 6mil plastic cover for more durable and warmer polycarbonate panels–it was a bit more expensive, but we won’t need to replastic our little greenhouse ever again! The first seeds will be planted mid-February, and then we’ll be off!

There are still shares available, so be sure to download an application and send in your deposit today!

photo by Jen Clement

Last night we had a fire at the Hamlet Organic Garden…like we have so many times, we gathered at the barn to eat a potluck dinner with friends. We started a fire in the wood stove, played some ping-pong, and called it a night around 8:30. Unfortunately, we think that creosote buildup in the stovepipe caught fire, and by 9pm the whole building was engulfed in flames. It collapsed and had to be bulldozed by the fire department. Luckily, no one was hurt. Our electric tractor was in the barn, as well as some personal belonging, and of course many items from the Puleston family’s travels.

The Red Barn had been most recently used by the HOG as a meeting space and pickup site, but many in the hamlet remember going there to watch community theatre and improv performances starring their children (one of whom was Farmer Sean). The barn has always been a community space, and its loss has left a real hole in Brookhaven.

Thanks must go out to the Brookhaven, Mastic, and Bellport Fire Departments, who responded incredibly quickly and were so professional, as well as to all the thoughtful neighbors who called our home to keep us updated. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and condolences. We’ll keep you all updated as we decide what the farm’s next step is. Jill, Sean, and the HOG

Happy Holidays from the HOG!

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2010!

Love Sean, Jill, and Ramona

The wait is over!  The Hamlet Organic Garden is now accepting applications from the public for the 2010 season.  Whether you are an old member who has let membership lapse, or a someone eager to try the farm for the first time, now is the time to secure your spot!  Just download an application, fill it out, and mail it in with a $100 deposit.

New wells are being drilled at HOG this week.  The Town of Brookhaven is paying to replace our existing shallow wells with deep wells that will access the clean, unpolluted water of the Magothy Aquifer.  This is the culmination of nearly two years of hard work to ensure that the HOG will continue to have access to clean water as the leachate plume from the Brookhaven Landfill slowly creeps southward towards us.  In 2008 we first discovered trace amounts of leachate constituents in our North Well, although our South Well has remained untainted.  Both wells are being replaced and we are very excited that next spring everything will be in place to insure pure, clean water for what we think of as our pure, clean farm, where we all can continue to have pure, clean fun!

We are now accepting 2010 applications from 2009 members ONLY.  Please print out the application and mail it in with your $100 deposit.

If you haven’t already, please take a few minutes to mail in your application and deposit for next season at the Hamlet Organic Garden! Right now applications are only available for 2009 HOG members so reserve your spot before we open it up the the public!  Unlike in previous years, we are not increasing membership for 2010, so be sure to act now to hold your spot. We will be inviting the our waiting list and the public to apply before the New Year, and as as many of you know we sell out of shares well before the season starts in June. Don’t miss out!

If you are not a 2009 member, and would like to sign up for next season, please email mail@hamletorganicgarden.org and ask to join our waiting list.