If you are interested in being a Pickup Coordinator, please come back for the Pickup Coordinator Training at 11:30. We’ll go over the basics and then choose shifts.

Pickups will be starting next week! Here’s to another great season!
Jill

It goes on all weekend long from 10am-4pm. We are teaming up with Phil and Ursula Altomare of Sacred Gardens to bring you a wide variety of annuals and perennials-some you know and love, and some real unique ones! We have delicious veggie and fruit plants for the home garden, bedding plants for the front of your house, shrubs and trees, exotic tropicals and medicinal herbs. You are sure to find something for mom!

Email sacredgardens22@gmail.com if you are looking for something specific so we can be sure to bring them to the HOG!

Also available are farm-fresh eggs, and on Saturday we’ll have a full array of early spring produce like turnips, radishes, arugula, mint, chives, and more!

Stop by the HOG to check it out! We are at 319 Beaver Dam Road in Brookhaven. The plant sale is open to all, so tell your friends! Come for the plants, and stay to enjoy the beauty of early spring at our farm!

onion planting

Spring is never an easy time on a farm, but this one has really been giving us high blood pressure! First a March so warm and dry that we’ve been hustling to be sure all our new seedlings have access to irrigation, and now a late April cold-snap! Nature’s way of reminding us that the frost-free date isn’t till mid-May. At around 10pm on Thursday night we gave up hoping the NOAA was wrong and dragged our butts to the farm to cover our fully-flowering strawberry beds. The warm weather pushed them to flower almost a month early, but temperatures below freezing will damage the flowers and ruin the crop. They look to be ok, though frost is a funny thing–some cold hardy flower seedlings were damaged by the patchy frost, as were the asparagus stalks. But a full tray of unprotected, very cold-sensitive peppers were undamaged! Anyway, we are soldiering on, hoping the feverish pace of April and May will yield an abundant supply of fresh vegetables for us all!

Lots coming up at the farm too! May brings our 7th (!) Annual Mother’s Day Plant Sale! Starting at 10am Friday May 11th til Sunday May 13th at 4pm we’ll be teaming up with Sacred Gardens to bring you a dizzying array of annuals, perennials, bedding plants, vegetable and fruit starts, exotics, tropicals, and medicinals you won’t find at the garden center! The Plant Sale is open to the public, to tell your friends! Then Saturday May 19th is our Annual Member Meeting! At 10am come to the greenhouse to meet the board, farmers, and your fellow CSA members. At our annual Member Meeting we go over the nuts and bolts of the farm, elect a new slate of board members, and take a farm tour, all over snacks, tea and coffee. We hope the first pickups will be the following week, Monday May 21st. There’s still a few shares left too, so if you haven’t renewed yet, there’s still time! Happy end of April everyone! Jill

praying mantis hatch

they climb out and spread out to dry

We are almost sold out!  If you would like a share, act now! Only Mondays at the farm left!  Here’s our application! Lots has been going on in at the farm–we are busy planting, transplanting,
seeding, up-potting and…setting up irrigation? It’s true we have been busy
like bees trying to get all of our irrigation equipment in place! This has been
an incredibly dry spring, and though the warm temperature is speeding plants up,
at the same time the dry ground is slowing things down.  Thank goodness for the 3 inches of rain we got this weekend!

Our Spring Fling was a huge success! We raised enough money to finish building our portable solar trailer! Thank you to Painters for all their help, and for donating many yummy appetizers and delicious sangria! And a big thank you to Blue Point Brewery, for donating their amazing (and aptly named) Spring Fling Copper Ale. The New Students deserve a big thank you as well, they provided the vibe that made the Spring Fling so fun and laid back. I know I had fun bartending (how else would I get to talk to everybody!) and talking with everyone.

Coming up at the HOG is our Mother’s Day Plant Sale! This year it is May 11-13th. It goes on all weekend long from 10am-4pm. We are teaming up with Phil and Ursula Altomare of Sacred Gardens to bring you a wide variety of annuals and perennials-some you know and love, and some real unique ones! We have delicious veggie and fruit plants for the home garden, bedding plants for the front of your house, shrubs and trees, exotic tropicals and medicinal herbs. You are sure to find something for mom that you can’t find at the garden center! The plant sale is open to all, so tell your friends! Come for the plants, and stay to enjoy the beauty of early spring at our farm!

And later in May we’ll be having our Annual Member Meeting and Farm Tour, our first pickups, and in June the Strawberry Festival! Dates have yet to be determined, but stay tuned!

Scenes from Potato Day 2011

So easy we hire babies to do it!

We will be planting our potato crop this Saturday April 14th starting at 9 a.m.. Yes, the day before the Spring Fling! Many of you have come in past years to lend a hand. With a good turnout, we expect to have the potatoes cut and planted by the early afternoon. Bring a clean sharp knife in the morning, and we will show you how it is done!
Looking forward to seeing you!
-Farmer Sean

The season is fast approaching, and shares are selling out quickly!  If you haven’t renewed yet, now is the time!  Please click here for info on how to join!  Also, our Spring Fling is April 15th–what a great way to unwind afer finishing your taxes!  Meet and mingle with your fellow veggie-starved members to the sounds of The New Students! With great excitement for a fabulous season, Jill for the HOG crew

Day and Night are balanced, Spring has arrived.  This egg-ceptionally warm weather has been keeping us very busy.  It has been so warm for so many weeks now we have moved many of our plantings forward and are trying to beat the heat that is sure to arrive early while simultaneously protected our investment of seed from potential late spring frosts that lurk in the subconcious of all farmers and gardeners.  What does this year hold in store for us all?  2012 is a year with a lot of potential.  We are excited about the way things have been shaping up for us so far…how are they shaping up for you all? Stay tuned for some spring work days coming up, we want to see a lot of volunteers helping out in the fields this year, making HOG the best it can be!

Here is the platform for our portable solar power station!  The panels will be mounted across the top and the batteries and other fancy electronics will be attached beneath the panels.  We will be able to recharge our electric tractor, run power tools for farm projects, amplifiers for live music, and lights in the greenhouse for those dark fall pick-ups.  Gary Minnick from GoSolar! is our solar energy consultant.  Thanks to the Bodkins at the All Trailer Warehouse for the trailer, and our unofficial HOG carpenter, Ben Disibio.   We will post again in a few weeks when the trailer is complete! ]]> http://www.hamletorganicgarden.org/?feed=rss2&p=1256 http://www.hamletorganicgarden.org/?p=1239 http://www.hamletorganicgarden.org/?p=1239#comments Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:25:53 +0000 Jill & Sean http://www.hamletorganicgarden.org/?p=1239 It’s (ALMOST) time for a Spring Fling!
Hamlet Organic Garden’s second annual SPRING FLING is Sunday April 15th, 2012 from 330:7:30pm at Painters Restaurant.  And no fooling, our favorite band The New Students will be there to entertain and delight us! Please check out their music at www.thenewstudents.com
Tickets are $10 per person (Children age 6 and under free) and include light refreshments, priceless music and the unparalleled companionship of your fellow veggie-starved farm members. Your ticket also buys you 10% off dinner at Painters that night! (good April 15th only, one discount per check!) Help us celebrate the coming of spring!

This event is open to the public, so tell your friends!

Painters Restaurant, 416 S. Country Road, Brookhaven Hamlet